Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
I froze.
I couldn’t believe he’d noticed how I felt just because I’d said one sentence.
“No. It just feels stuffy here.”
“All right.”
He said something quietly to the person on the other end of the line.
“Go ahead, then. Be careful.”
“Okay.”
I hesitated.
“Shen Yan, work hard.”
“Goodbye.”
This time, it really was goodbye.
When I returned,
I would drink Granny Meng’s soup, cross the Bridge of Helplessness, and begin a new life.
I hoped he would always be safe and well.
8
I found Granny Meng in front of my grave.
When I saw her, she was holding a handful of sunflower seeds and sitting before my tombstone, reading the biography engraved on the one beside it.
She was engrossed in the gossip.
When she saw me, she raised an eyebrow.
“Finally decided to come back?”
I lowered my eyes and said nothing.
She tossed aside the shells, dusted off her hands, and stood up to come over.
Her gaze circled me once.
Then she smiled suggestively.
“Did you sleep with Shen Yan?”
“!!!”
I stared at her in shock.
“You can tell that, too?”
She only smiled faintly and didn’t answer.
“All right, all right.” I gave up resisting. “He thinks I’m a substitute for myself. He took me away from that private room as soon as he saw me.”
“Then we were alone together. I like him, and for a moment I couldn’t control myself.”
The more I said, the hotter my face grew.
“Honestly, you’re thousands of years old. Don’t be such a gossip.”
“Fine, fine, fine.”
Granny Meng laughed at me.
“So now you have no regrets?”
My heart immediately settled.
I gave a soft “Mm.”
“Then let’s go.”
She snapped her fingers.
But I found that I hadn’t separated from the puppet body at all.
I stared, confused.
“What happened?”
Granny Meng frowned.
Her gaze fell on the Buddhist beads around my wrist.
I raised my hand to look at them.
“Did Shen Yan give these to you?”
I nodded.
Granny Meng said nothing.
More than ten seconds passed before she suddenly laughed.
“Fine. These beads can suppress your soul and let it merge completely with this body.”
“I can’t take you with me.”
“Yan Xi.”
It sounded serious, but Granny Meng stayed relaxed and even joked, “I think he saw through you long ago. Your little act of pretending is obvious to him.”
“I’m just curious how he knew this would keep you here.”
It took me a few seconds to react. Perhaps it was only a coincidence.
I asked hoarsely, “Then what do I do now?”
“You can only stay.”
She spread her hands.
“Unless you willingly take them off and come with me.”
I fell silent.
At the same time, I tightened my grip on the Buddhist beads.
“Su Ruannuan!”
Shen Yan’s voice suddenly rang out nearby.
Granny Meng clicked her tongue.
“All right. I’ll pretend I don’t know about this.”
“Before the underworld notices, treasure your time with Shen Yan.”
“Remember: in the human world, no matter who calls you by the name you had in your previous life, don’t answer. Don’t acknowledge it.”
“Otherwise, you’ll be discovered very soon.”
9
Granny Meng left,
leaving me with her warning.
I stared blankly at the tombstone in front of me. The photo on it had been taken when I was preparing to find a job before graduating from college.
Young, radiant, and full of life.
They’d chosen a good picture.
I just didn’t know why I hadn’t been buried with my parents.
While I was thinking, someone suddenly pulled me into a desperate embrace.
“Yan… Ruannuan, why are you here?”
I quickly came up with an excuse.
“I went to the hospital today. A lot of people mistook me for Miss Yan Xi.”
“Even you… brought me home because I look like her.”
I looked up at him with tearful eyes.
“When you ran over just now, you almost called me by the wrong name.”
“I was just feeling down, so I wanted to see how much I resemble this Miss Yan Xi.”
“And to thank her, since meeting you was a stroke of luck.”
“But Su Ruannuan is Su Ruannuan. I’m not Yan Xi.”
It took Shen Yan a moment to process that whole stream of words.
Just as I thought he was going to get angry,
he only raised a hand and gently wiped my tears away.
His voice was helpless and indulgent.
“Fine. As long as you’re willing to stay, I promise I won’t mention the name Yan Xi again.”
“I won’t let anyone else bring it up, either.”
“Let’s go home, all right?”
He agreed so easily.
It was completely beyond my expectations.
On the way back, he kept holding my hand.
He looked as though he were terribly afraid of losing me.
I thought it would only last a little while.
But for the next few days,
he wouldn’t let me out of his sight.
He even took me to work with him.
Afraid I’d be bored, he prepared an iPad and snacks for me in his office.
But I didn’t really know how to use them.
The underworld had no news from the human world. Everything that had happened during those five years was new to me.
I had even forgotten most of the economics I used to know by heart.
If… I could stay here forever,
I couldn’t let Shen Yan support me for the rest of my life.
With that in mind,
I began studying the things I’d known before.
Shen Yan noticed.
“Are you learning about financial management?”
I nodded.
“Mm. I’ve got too much free time, so I thought I’d try learning.”
“Sure.”
He answered casually.
“If you want to learn that, it’s easy. I’ll teach you.”
“No need…”
Before I could finish,
I felt him pull a chair over beside me. He leaned in to look at the stock chart on my screen.
Shen Yan didn’t like wearing suits to work.
Today he wore a white sweater with a wide neckline.
When he leaned over, a large expanse of his chest came into view.
We’d been together every day lately.
We were both normal adults.
My thoughts quickly wandered somewhere they shouldn’t.
I swallowed dryly. The air around us suddenly felt thick and sticky.
For some reason, my whole body grew hot.
Then he spoke again.
“This stock isn’t bad, but don’t invest too much all at once. I’ll pick out a few more stable ones for you. You can spread your money across them.”
His fingers quickly moved over the screen.
He analyzed the options seriously.
“This one, this one, and this one, too.”
His low voice sounded right beside my ear.
His arm rested casually across the back of my chair, making it impossible for me to focus.
“Understand?” he asked.
I froze for a few seconds.
“More or less.”
He looked at me without saying anything.
His expression seemed to say: I’m seriously teaching you, and all you want to do is sleep with me.