Chapter 188: Goodbye. Until Next Time |
Under Zheng Dong Li’s piercing gaze, Yu Xiao found herself speechless.
Despite her admiration for Zheng Dong Li, she wasn’t about to spill all her secrets. Revealing everything would bring no benefits and could invite unforeseen troubles. So, aside from Misty and Precious, she planned to keep the hospital’s existence under wraps.
Zheng Dong Li watched Yu Xiao intently, expecting her to confess.
She averted her gaze, looking at the night scenery through the car window. Leaning back, she placed a hand over her chest. “Oh dear… I feel a bit dizzy.”
“Dizzy? Then why are you clutching your chest?”
Quick as a flash, her hand flew up to her head. “Dizzy… not just dizzy, it actually hurts.”
Zheng Dong Li chuckled. “Do you not trust me?”
Yu Xiao closed her eyes and began to hum and haw.
“If you don’t want to talk, I can’t force you,” he sighed, turning his head to look out the window, mimicking her. “I’m already 45. Since I recovered at 22, I’ve spent half my life searching for answers. I’ve travelled to many places and met many people. When Luo Jin told me you knew something, I thought, for a moment, that my search was finally over…”
Seeing no response from her, Zheng Dong Li grew agitated and said, somewhat helplessly, “You’re not reacting at all. Are you heartless?”
*Heartless?* Yu Xiao continued to stare out the window. *If he only knew, my heart was harder than granite, made of resentment of the dead.*
“Look at me!”
He reached out to grab her arm. “Didn’t you hear me talking to you? Ignoring your elders is very rude… eh?”
Yu Xiao: “?”
Zheng Dong Li began to feel her hand. She quickly pulled it back, turning to look at him with suspicion. “What are you doing?”
He extended his hand again. “Give me your hand.”
Yu Xiao hid both hands behind her back. “At your age? Have you no shame?”
- (耍流氓 [Shuǎ Liúmáng] – “Behaving indecently” or “acting like a hooligan,” a phrase used to describe inappropriate behaviour, often humorously.)
“Me? Old? Darling, I’m practically a spring chicken!” Zheng Dong Li grabbed Yu Xiao’s hand, his fingers surprisingly strong. “Come on, stop messing around. Give me your hand.”
“Don’t want to.”
“Tsk.” He let go of her hand and reached for her neck instead.
Instinctively, Yu Xiao covered her neck with both hands, giving him the opportunity to seize one of her wrists.
The driver in the front seat could take it no longer. “Oi, comrade! Hands off! I’m calling the police!”
Zheng Dong Li scoffed at the driver’s threat, his arrogance palpable. Yu Xiao intervened, “Brother Zheng, if we start a fight, the driver could get hurt. Let’s not involve the innocent.”
The driver, his voice filled with righteous indignation, added, “Young lady, don’t be afraid, I’ll call the police right away!”
Zheng Dong Li tightened his grip on Yu Xiao’s wrist, staring at her with disbelief. “You…”
Yu Xiao glared back, her eyes filled with defiance.
“You’re already dead?” he blurted out.
The driver, enraged by the audacity of the situation, exclaimed, “People like you need to face the law…”
“What’s going on?” Zheng Dong Li looked genuinely confused. “You’re breathing, you’re… not stiff…”
Yu Xiao tightened her grip on his hand, a mischievous glint in her eye. “Want to find out just how hard I can hit?”
Suddenly, the driver braked sharply, sending Zheng Dong Li’s head crashing into Yu Xiao’s elbow. He groaned and released his hold.
“Don’t worry, young lady!” the driver declared with righteous fervour. “We’ve arrived at the police station!”
Meanwhile, Zhao Lan and her group had arrived at the restaurant, but Yu Xiao and Zheng Dong Li were nowhere to be seen.
Yu Qing Lang, growing anxious, asked, “Is there a traffic jam?”
“No,” Zhao Lan replied, shaking her head. “We were all driving together. There’s no reason only they would be caught in traffic.”
“I’ll call Brother Zheng,” Lu Xu offered, pulling out his phone. “Let’s see what’s happening.”
Two minutes later, he hung up, looking bewildered. “Can’t get through.”
Zhao Lan didn’t say a word, but immediately dialled Yu Xiao’s number. Same result.
At the police station, Yu Xiao and Zheng Dong Li endured a reprimand from the driver and a lecture from the officers. Finally released, both of them looked gloomy.
Yu Xiao exhaled deeply, rubbing her temples. “Misty and the others must be worried sick.”
“Quit dodging the issue,” Zheng Dong Li demanded, his finger jabbing towards Yu Xiao, his face a canvas of bruises. “What’s the deal with you? No heartbeat, yet you breathe. Your body’s not stiff, and you’ve got warmth. No heartbeat means you shouldn’t be kicking. But you’re no zombie, no living corpse. So, what gives?”
“Can’t you ease up on the details?”
“Details are my lifeblood,” Zheng Dong Li proclaimed. “If you don’t spill the beans, I’ll hound you till the cows come home.”
“And how do you plan to hound me?” Yu Xiao attempted to negotiate. “I’m twenty, you’re forty-five. You’re practically on death’s doorstep. How long can you keep this up?”
“Till I leap over that doorstep.”
Yu Xiao’s disbelief was palpable. “Don’t you have better things to do?”
“Plenty,” Zheng Dong Li shot back. “But haven’t you heard? I’m a yin-yang master. Unravelling your mystery is my bread and butter.”
Yu Xiao was left without a word. She relented. “Alright, I’ll come clean.”
“Out with it.”
“Well, you see…” Yu Xiao hesitated, her gaze drifting towards the sky. “Do you know about Cthulhu?”
Zheng Dong Li’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“The truth is,” she continued, leaning in conspiratorially, “this isn’t really me. It’s just a human suit. Underneath, I’m an ancient ruler…”
Zheng Dong Li’s eyes darted around, his hand instinctively reaching for something, anything. “What are you looking for?” Yu Xiao asked, her voice laced with genuine curiosity.
He whipped off his shoe, brandishing it like a weapon.”Stop with the tall tales! Or I will beat you, woman. Do you think I fell out of a tree…?”He charged, leaving Yu Xiao to scramble away, the echo of his words swallowed by the chase.
At the restaurant, Zhao Lan and the others were running out of patience. They had been waiting for hours, their stomachs rumbling like an impending earthquake. The staff was beginning to eye them with suspicion, ready to brand them as troublemakers.
Finally, the door swung open, revealing a dishevelled Zheng Dong Li and a sheepish Yu Xiao. She seemed relatively unscathed, save for a muddy footprint staining her clothes. Zheng Dong Li, on the other hand, was missing a shoe, and a fresh bruise was blooming on his face.
Any complaints died in their throats. Lu Xu, eyes wide with disbelief, simply asked, “Did you two have a brawl in the street?”
Tang Xing Yin, ever the pragmatist, chimed in, “Robbed by a rogue taxi driver?”
Zheng Dong Li forced a strained smile. “No, no. Our car broke down…”
“…I have an elderly relative, who was pushing ninety and fading fast, in need of a final resting place. A place with good feng shui. Naturally, I turned to the expert, Brother Zheng. That’s when things went spectacularly wrong.
So far, everything seemed fine. That was until she continued.
“Who knew that finding a glorified hole in the ground would cost a hundred thousand yuan?” Yu Xiao lamented to her friends, her voice thick with frustrated disbelief. “I’m just an ordinary working-class citizen. I don’t have that kind of cash lying around.”
Zheng Dong Li: “…”
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not entirely his fault,” Yu Xiao admitted, a sheepish grimace twisting her features. “He usually charges that much. It’s just… well, my temper got the better of me, and let’s just say we had a bit of a disagreement.”
Zheng Dong Li: “…”
Tang Xing Yin, with an expression that was a mixture of amusement and exasperation, stepped in. “Look, it’s just a burial site. And Smiley is our friend.” He paused, biting back a comment about Brother Zheng’s exorbitant fees. “Tell you what, I’ll cover the hundred thousand.”
Zheng Dong Li felt bitterness rising in his throat and a nervous tremor in his lips. He was being portrayed as some money-grubbing charlatan, and there was no way to salvage the situation even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
- (黄河 [Huáng Hé; Yellow River]: In Chinese idiom, jumping into the Yellow River implies that even extreme measures can’t prove one’s innocence (跳进黄河也洗不清).)
“No, no, you’ve got it all wrong,” he choked out, “I wouldn’t dream of charging her.”
“Alright, everyone, enough about graves and fees,” Teng Jing Zhi boomed, slinging a friendly arm around Zheng Dong Li’s shoulder. “We’re starving! Food first, then karaoke. Let’s not keep the music waiting.”
The tension, as thick as smog, finally began to dissipate.
Yu Xiao joined her group of friends, settling into a chair. Zhao Lan leaned in, her voice a conspiratorial whisper, “Did he…you know…sense something?”
Yu Xiao nodded, silently confirming.
“He’s got to be some kind of psychic,” Zhou Xiao Zhen hissed, her eyes wide with awe. “How else could he have known?”
“Later,” Yu Xiao murmured.
Yu Qing Lang, pretending to be shocked, gasped dramatically, “I can’t believe Brother Zheng is such a tight-fisted miser! And to think I used to have a little crush on him. How embarrassing. Thank goodness he wasn’t interested in me!”
Tang Xing Yin handed menus to Yu Xiao and her friends. “Order whatever you like. It’s on me.”
As Yu Xiao offered a hesitant smile, he quickly added, “Seriously, anything at all.”
The night descended into a blur of laughter, chatter, and copious amounts of alcohol. By the time the karaoke bar finally ushered them out, many were well on their way to oblivion.
Yu Xiao, ever the responsible one, found herself shepherding her more inebriated companions home, the city lights painting the streets with a hazy, surreal glow.
Back at the hotel, Yu Xiao showered and collapsed onto the bed, seeking solace in sleep.
Morning sunlight, insistent and bright, nudged her awake. A faint itching sensation, like something stirring beneath her skin, drew her hand to her chest.
“Morning, Nightmare,” she murmured, her voice raspy with sleep. “Up already?”
Silence met her greeting, but a familiar feeling told her time was running out. Her temporary release was coming to an end.
“I wish I could live another five hundred years…”
The insistent ring of her phone shattered the quiet. It was Zheng Dong Li. “Up and at ’em, sleepyhead! I’m in the lobby. You promised me the truth.”
Yu Xiao groaned inwardly. Why did people have such insatiable curiosity? Was ignorance not bliss, after all?
Downstairs, Zheng Dong Li waited, looking remarkably fresh-faced.
“No hangover?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s some constitution you’ve got.”
“Trade secret,” he said with a wink. “Where are the others?”
“Sleeping off the baijiu, I imagine,” Yu Xiao replied. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast. I’ll tell you everything.”
- (Baijiu (Chinese: 白酒; pinyin: báijiǔ; lit. ‘white (clear) liquor’), or shaojiu (烧酒/燒酒), is a colourless Chinese liquor typically coming in between 35% and 60% alcohol by volume. Baijiu is a clear liquid usually distilled from fermented sorghum, although other grains may be used; some southeastern Chinese styles may employ rice and glutinous rice while other Chinese varieties may use wheat, barley, millet, or Job’s tears (Chinese: 薏苡; pinyin: yìyǐ) in their mash bills. The qū starter culture used in the production of baijiu is usually made from pulverised wheat grain or steamed rice.)
Over steaming bowls of rice noodle rolls (肠粉), Yu Xiao recounted the chilling events at the hospital. Zheng Dong Li had demanded the truth, and she knew he wouldn’t let it rest, not with his tenacious personality.
- (A rice noodle roll, also known as a steamed rice roll and cheung fun (Chinese: 腸粉), and as look funn or look fun in Hawaii, is a Cantonese dish originating from Guangdong Province in southern China, commonly served as either a snack, small meal or variety of dim sum.[1] It is a thin roll made from a wide strip of shahe fen (rice noodles), filled with shrimp, beef, vegetables, or other ingredients. Seasoned soy sauce – sometimes with siu mei drippings – is poured over the dish upon serving. When plain and made without filling, the rice noodle is also known as jyu cheung fun, literally “pork intestine noodle”, a reference to its resemblance of a pig’s intestines.)
As the tale unfolded, a strange emptiness settled over Zheng Dong Li. He listened, his face pale, as if hearing the story of a stranger’s life. The ghosts, the danger, his former friends, his own forgotten bravery – it all felt alien, yet a bitter ache bloomed in his chest.
He sat in stunned silence, the weight of her words heavy in the air. Finally, he spoke, his voice a low murmur. “So that’s how it is.”
“Yes,” Yu Xiao confirmed, her gaze steady.
“And you’re…stuck?”
“Unless,” she continued, “a patient takes my place, like Zhou Si Heng. But someone always has to stay. If not me, then someone else.”
Zheng Dong Li could only sigh, a heavy, resigned sound. “You’ve drawn a short straw, haven’t you?”
He looked at her then, really looked at her. Twenty years old, barely an adult, yet carrying a burden most couldn’t fathom. A wave of guilt washed over him. Had he made a different choice, stayed at the hospital instead of pursuing his ambitions, would she be trapped like this?
But the past, like spilled water, couldn’t be gathered. What was done, was done. And Yu Xiao, it seemed, was destined to pay the price.
Zheng Dong Li listened, feeling helpless as he witnessed memories that were no longer his own.
“Chin up,” Yu Xiao said, her usual pragmatism emerging. “It’s not so bad. I can still have some fun outside, right?”
“But a normal life…” Zheng Dong Li’s voice cracked, the thought catching in his throat. “And what happens when we’re all gone? Everyone who remembers you…”
He couldn’t finish the sentence. The image was too bleak.
Yu Xiao, ever practical, pushed a plate of dumplings toward him. “Enough of that. Can you help my elder find a feng shui blessed burial site today?”
Zheng Dong Li, a yin-yang master, was adept at charming clients. It wasn’t long before Old Master Mei was beaming, as Zheng Dong Li had pinpointed the perfect location for Mei Huaixin’s grave.
After assisting Grandpa Mei in choosing the auspicious spot, the four politely declined the Mei family’s offer of a meal and quietly made their way back to the cemetery, finding Mei Huai Xin’s grave.
The tombstone, weathered by time, bore fine cracks across its surface.
Zhou Xiao Zhen, peering at the faded photograph, let out a low whistle. “So this is ‘Flying to Someone Else’s Bed’?”
“Such a shame,” Zhao Lan sighed, shaking her head.
“Never met the bloke,” Zhou Xiao Zhen mused, scratching her head, “but he sounds like quite a character.” The action dislodged her wig slightly, sending her into a flurry of readjustments.
Zheng Dong Li stared at the weathered stone, lost in thought. Finally, he turned to Yu Xiao. “When are you going back?”
“Today, I think,” she replied, uncertainty present in her voice. “Though the exact moment…that’s anyone’s guess.”
“And when will we see you again?”
“You won’t even notice I’m gone,” Yu Xiao said, her gaze fixed on the endless blue sky. “Every time I leave, it’s like hitting rewind. Back to the exact moment I entered the hospital.”
Tears welled up in Zhou Xiao Zhen’s eyes. “But it’ll be ages before you can visit again, won’t it?”
Yu Xiao didn’t answer. A sudden chill, sharp and piercing, bloomed in her chest, spreading outward until it consumed her.
Nightmare’s voice, cold and insistent, echoed in her mind. “Time to go.”
“Goodbye,” she whispered, a sad smile gracing her lips.
Goodbye. Until next time.