Chapter 233: Parents
One week later...
“After you all escaped, the ghosts realized they couldn’t stay in that village anymore. Most of them have already run away.”
“As you know, only ghosts can truly fight other ghosts. But our team found some of their ‘cores’ at the clinic and destroyed over thirty of them.”
“All the victims have been rescued. Most of them were tourists visiting Longfeng Mountain. One of them had been locked up for fifteen years... yes, that was Liu Shenglong’s mother.”
“And your parents too...”
“They were hiding really well. They started living in the village over ten years ago. Little by little, the ghosts took over all the villagers. If you hadn’t come across it, there might have been even more victims.”
“Of course, it wasn’t all a coincidence. We were already suspicious of that village. We were hoping to catch all the ghosts at once, but sadly, many still escaped.”
“Long Zihan isn’t very good at this kind of thing.”
Chen Yi stood beside Li Mu. After a pause, he asked, “Aren’t you going to go in and see them?”
In the hospital hallway, she looked through the small window on the door into the hospital room. Her face was calm, but inside her heart was restless.
She didn’t know what kind of expression to wear when facing her parents again. Behind her cold face was a storm of feelings.
“Let them rest a little longer,” she said as she sat down on the bench in the hallway.
“Maybe those ghosts weren’t just in that one village. If not, your parents wouldn’t have been in that car crash years ago,” Chen Yi said with a sigh. He folded his arms and leaned against the wall, then looked up as footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Yu Fan arrived at the hospital, holding Xiao Jing’s hand.
Xiao Jing was too short to see through the window into the room, and she was very excited.
“Where are my mom and dad? Where are they?!”
Her biggest wish was to find her parents.
“They’re inside the room. Still unconscious,” Chen Yi replied.
She immediately opened the door and ran in loudly. But just moments later, she came running out again, covering her eyes.
“What happened?” Yu Fan asked, finding her reaction funny.
“I can’t do it! If I see my mom and dad, doesn’t that mean my wish is completed?” she said, panicking as she turned her back to the door. She really wanted to look again but forced herself not to. “Does that mean I’ll disappear?!”
“Didn’t Liu Shenglong already disappear after finishing his wish?”
Li Mu and Yu Fan fell silent. Chen Yi nodded like it was expected. “Yes. As soon as we rescued his mother, he faded away.”
“When a ghost finishes their last wish and feels satisfied, they disappear. It’s better than being stuck forever, haunted by what they can’t let go. It’s a good ending for a ghost.”
But Xiao Jing suddenly looked upset. “But… what about you and brother-in-law…”
She grabbed the corner of Yu Fan’s shirt and looked hopefully at Li Mu. “I still want to see you two get married… and have a baby I can play with.”
Li Mu’s mouth twitched awkwardly.
“Okay, I won’t talk about it anymore,” Xiao Jing said quickly. Then she grabbed Li Mu’s hand. “Let’s go! Let’s go out and play with brother-in-law!”
Li Mu stood up helplessly. She and Yu Fan each held one of Xiao Jing’s hands and walked together down the stairs.
“Sister! You found your parents, so why aren’t you super happy?”
“I am happy,” Li Mu said, forcing a small smile. “It’s just… complicated.”
After being away for years, her parents would now see that their son had become a daughter. She really didn’t know how to explain that.
And the ghost inside her, which had never once moved or acted, remained like a thorn stuck in her heart.
Yu Fan could understand what Li Mu was feeling, but all he could do was give her a gentle smile. “It’s okay, I’m here with you.”
The hospital was in the capital of the province, and they weren’t familiar with the nearby streets, so they didn’t dare to take Xiao Jing too far for a walk.
“How are your parents doing now?” Yu Fan asked.
“Uncle Chen Yi said they were in contact with ghosts for too long, so their minds are still not very clear,” Li Mu replied.
Xiao Jing kept looking around, trying to find a restaurant that caught her eye, while Li Mu and Yu Fan chatted over her head.
After a pause, Li Mu asked, “You say you're here for me, but what if my parents accept me as their daughter… and end up not liking you?”
“They don’t like me…?” Yu Fan was surprised. “Then... will you run away with me to some far place?”
“That’s not really possible,” Li Mu said honestly.
“But they know my grandpa, and they know Uncle Chen Yi too. I don’t think they’d reject me,” Yu Fan said, trying to stay positive.
“But what if they do?”
"I won't give up... I'm deeply serious about you..."
“Things like this… maybe we shouldn't think too much about them, okay?” He sighed. “Even if they say no, does that mean we can't be together?”
“......”
“No way, right?” Yu Fan’s eyes widened. “Don’t just go quiet on me.”
“Don’t worry! Sister’s not that kind of person!” Xiao Jing said with a big smile, looking up.
“True.”
“She loves her mom and dad more anyway!”
“......”
Li Mu reached out and lightly tapped Xiao Jing on the head. She was about to say something, but her phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from Uncle Chen Yi, letting her know that her parents had woken up.
Now, the worries they had just talked about would soon become real things to face.
Li Mu and Yu Fan looked at each other, then both turned around and walked back toward the hospital, holding Xiao Jing’s hands.
……………………………………………
Inside the hospital room, her parents still looked weak. Uncle Chen Yi sat on one side, softly explaining everything that had happened recently.
Li Mu’s mother had a pale face. She was leaning against the bed, listening and nodding slightly.
Her father was already up and standing by the window. He took a careful puff from a cigarette Chen Yi had given him, but it made him cough so hard that tears came out.
“Li Mu and Yu Fan are together?” the mother asked in surprise.
They had known Yu Fan’s grandfather before, so they also knew Yu Fan.
“Yes. Also, Li Mu is now a girl,” Chen Yi said with a nod.
The mother looked shocked and turned to her husband. “But… our son never had mental problems, right? Why would he get surgery as soon as we left?”
The father started coughing even harder and couldn’t stop for a while.
“It was because of a ghost,” Chen Yi explained with a helpless smile. “Xiao Jing also has her body back, but she seems to have forgotten her past.”
“I see…”
But the mother suddenly looked worried again. “We were gone for so long. Xiao Mu must blame us, right?”
“I don’t even know how to face her now. And she’s a girl... her personality must have changed a lot too.” She muttered sadly, but just then, they heard a sound at the door. She looked up and caught a glimpse of a pretty young girl passing by.
Her eyes lit up, and she pointed at the door. “That girl just now!”
Chen Yi turned around. The father threw away the cigarette and walked to the door. Outside stood a pretty girl, nervously gripping the edge of her shirt, head down, not daring to look up at him.
“You…” the father stared at her. She looked familiar. Then he looked to the side and saw a young man, someone he didn’t know, smiling at him in a friendly way.
“You two are...?”