Then she sprayed the perfume onto her wrist, as though testing a trophy she had just claimed.
“About the car accident that year, are you sure you didn’t leave any evidence behind?”
My entire body went rigid.
The car accident.
Images from before my death suddenly flashed before my eyes, frame by frame.
That day was my wedding anniversary with Pei Zhou.
I had secretly ordered a cake, planning to surprise him at the office.
Our driver suddenly asked for leave.
So I drove myself.
As I was crossing the bridge over the river, the brakes suddenly failed.
The car smashed through the guardrail and flipped into the river.
The freezing river water instantly flooded the cabin.
I desperately tried to unfasten my seat belt and smash the window, my fingers sliced open by the glass until blood streamed down them.
My phone was right beside me.
Pei Zhou called again and again.
But I couldn't answer.
When the final call ended, the screen lit up.
It was a message from him.
【Suìsuì, where are you?】
【Don't drive too fast.】
【I'm waiting for you.】
Only later did I learn that—
Pei Zhou had jumped into the river and carried me out of the car himself.
My body was already cold.
But he refused to let go.
No matter how the rescue workers tried to persuade him, it was useless.
He held me and sat by the riverbank for the entire night.
When dawn broke, he lowered his head and wiped the water from my face.
“Suìsuì is afraid of the cold.”
“Let's go home.”
Everyone thought it had been an accident.
Even I thought so.
The system's voice rang out again.
【The vehicle involved in the accident was destroyed, and its repair records were also deleted.】
【The person in charge of inspecting the vehicle at the time also died unexpectedly three years ago.】
Lin Wantang nodded in satisfaction.
“Good.”
I lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat.
But my hands passed through her body again and again.
“Why?”
“I didn't even know you!”
“Why did you kill me?”
I screamed until my throat burned with pain.
The ghost messenger was still standing outside the door.
He glanced at me and sighed softly.
“Jiang Sui, it's time to go.”
I turned to look at him.
“You knew all along?”
“The karma of the living is not something we can interfere with.”
“She killed me. Doesn't that count as my karma?”
The ghost messenger fell silent.
When I was alive, I couldn't escape their schemes.
After I died, I couldn't even get a single truth to reach Pei Zhou's ears.
Lin Wantang put the perfume bottle back and asked with a smile,
“After the wedding, will Pei Zhou really forget her completely?”
【He will.】
【Once the world's correction is complete, every trace related to Jiang Sui will be erased.】
【Including his memories.】
I fell silent.
So throwing away my belongings wasn't the end.
They wanted Pei Zhou to forget me completely.
Forget the private island.
Forget the sweet osmanthus fermented-rice soup.
Forget the words “for one lifetime, for all eternity” that had been sawed off the headboard.
Even forget that there had once been a woman named Jiang Sui in this lifetime.
The ghost messenger rang the bell again.
“We can't delay any longer.”
I looked at the cracked return-to-living-world token in my hand.
Only the faintest trace of light remained.
If I followed the ghost messenger back now, there was still time for me to be reincarnated.
In my next life, perhaps I'd be born into a good family.
With more money than I could ever spend.
And more handbags than I could ever buy.
I wouldn't have to remain a poor ghost who couldn't even earn a single piece of underworld currency.
I hesitated for a long time.
In the end, I turned and walked toward the study.
“I'm sorry.”
“I can't go back yet.”
The ghost messenger frowned.
“What if you stubbornly remain in the mortal world and your soul scatters?”
“Then let it scatter.”
I lowered my head and looked at my bare wrist.
“Besides, I've already pawned all my jewelry.”
“At this point, there'd be no point in reincarnating anyway.”
7
7
The study was unlit.
Pei Zhou sat before the floor-to-ceiling windows, a cigarette held between two fingers.
He hadn't smoked before.
Because I couldn't stand the smell of cigarettes.
Once, a friend offered him a cigarette.
The moment he accepted it, I coughed twice beside him.
Pei Zhou immediately threw the cigarette away.
His friends laughed and teased him for being afraid of his wife.
He pulled me into his arms and said slowly,
“I can't help it.”
“The boss at home keeps me on a tight leash.”
Now the ash had grown into a long column.
But he hadn't taken a single puff.
He simply held it between his fingers and stared out the window.
I flew over to him.
“Pei Zhou.”
“Lin Wantang isn't a good person.”
“There’s something very strange about her.”
“She was the one who killed me.”
He once said that as long as I suffered even the slightest grievance, he would always stand up for me.
But now, I had placed such a huge grievance right in front of him.
And he couldn't hear me.
The more I spoke, the sadder I became.
In the end, I crouched beside his feet and buried my face against my knees.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“I don't have any money, and I'm not very smart.”
“I can't beat them.”
Suddenly, a voice came from above me, so soft I could barely hear it.
“Suìsuì.”
I immediately looked up.
Pei Zhou was still staring out the window.
Half of his face was hidden in shadow, making his expression impossible to see.
For a moment, I almost thought I'd imagined it.
“Did you call me?”
He didn't answer.
He only reached out and pulled open a drawer.
Inside were six phones arranged neatly in a row.
The oldest one had been discontinued many years ago.
I recognized it.
No comments for this chapter yet.