When visiting hours ended, Qiao Yang held Li Xiu back to talk for a long time at the small flower beds downstairs.

Qiao Yang wasn’t very old, but he was extremely verbose when it came to caring about Li Xiu’s life.

“It’ll be really expensive to go to the capital, won’t it? Prices are high there, and so are tuition and living expenses. The money I transferred you before was just a red envelope. Why did you return it to me? Really, you’re being too polite—”

Wearing a helpless look, Li Xiu desperately rejected the transfer again: “I’m not being polite. Jingbei University gave me free tuition for four years, and also provided me with other scholarships. It’s enough to cover my expenses for those four years, and I have money saved up from before. I really do have enough money.”

“That’s not the point. You’ll be alone in the capital and unfamiliar with the place. How can I feel at ease if I don’t give you more money…..”

Li Xiu softly scratched the tip of his nose and murmured: “I won’t be alone there.”

“Ah?”

“His university is right next to mine, so we can look out for each other.”

Qiao Yang gave a long “Ohhh,” and an interested smile emerged on his face.

“I understand. En, if Fang Qian’an is there, you really don’t have anything to worry about.”

When he met Qiao Yang’s gaze, Li Xiu felt a little inexplicably hot.

“It took a lot of effort to get that guy’s grades up. It wouldn’t be too much for him to act as a cow or horse to repay me. Having him help me familiarize myself with the capital’s environment and so on…..is already going easy on him.”

Qiao Yang nodded repeatedly: “Right, right, right.”

The young man glanced at Li Xiu’s face and gave a sigh, suddenly unhappy. “…..That wild boar is indeed too cheap,” Qiao Yang complained softly.

Li Xiu didn’t hear Qiao Yang’s words clearly, and was about to ask again when his phone rang.

When he saw the call screen, Li Xiu’s expression naturally softened.

Li Xiu’s voice was very casual when he answered the phone: “What is it?”

“How long has that guy been nagging you?” Came the boy’s hard voice. 

“Ah? How did you know I’m with Qiao-shixiong…..” Li Xiu was at a loss. In a flash of inspiration, he turned around with his cell phone in hand and happened to see a tall figure on the other side of the flower beds.

Fang Qian’an stood there, gazing at Li Xiu through the shade of the dense trees.

“Why are you here? Didn’t we say we’d meet at the station later?” 

Fang Qian’an put away his phone and strode toward Li Xiu.

“Hello, Qiao-shixiong,” he greeted Qiao Yang. Intentionally or otherwise, he stood between the two of them and then turned to face Li Xiu. “I finished everything in advance so that I could come and meet you early, but you’re focused on talking to others. I was standing here all alone, and you didn’t even see me.” The boy muttered as if in dissatisfaction, with a hint of grievance in his tone.

“I even brought you hot cocoa.”

Li Xiu scoffed and replied unceremoniously: “Clearly, you were standing in the wrong place. You happened to be blocked by a tree.” Then he took the cup of hot cocoa Fang Qian’an handed him and took a big sip.

“Wa, so tasty!” The youth’s eyes squinted happily. 

“Hiss, I can’t understand how you can drink something so sweet.” Fang Qian’an continued to watch Li Xiu. Although he kept complaining, his expression was extremely soft.

“Cough, cough.” Qiao Yang looked at the two adolescent boys who were unconsciously clinging to each other, and the indescribable lovey-dovey energy made his teeth ache. “…..Okay, since Fang Qian’an is here to pick you up, I’ll leave first,” Qiao Yang said with great self-awareness.

Before parting, he asked casually: “Where are you going to have fun later?”

Li Xiu and Fang Qian’an’s expressions were a little stiff for a moment.

After a few seconds’ pause, Fang Qian’an said calmly with a complicated expression: “I’m taking A-Xiu…..to see my mom.”

*

*

Mrs. Fang was in the final stage of her life. Years of life in a mental institution had completely drained the last bit of vitality from her body.

It seemed she was aware that she was about to leave this world, and the woman used various methods to beg Fang Qian’an to see her. But since he was aware of what she’d done in the past, it was difficult for Fang Qian’an to meet her.

The personal doctor who had been taking care of Mrs. Fang also called Fang Qian’an, and when he said that these two days might be Mrs. Fang’s last ones, Fang Qian’an finally made up his mind.

And Li Xiu also decided to go with him. He wanted to ask Mrs. Fang what she was thinking when she took the life of another innocent child for her own. Hadn’t she felt a trace of regret over the years?

Li Xiu and Fang Qian’an saw Mrs. Fang in the deepest ward of a luxurious private nursing home. She was completely different from the beautiful pampered woman in his imagination, and when he saw her, Li Xiu was a little scared — he almost thought he was looking at a ghost again.

How could a human look like this?

Like a living skeleton, the woman had sunken eyes. Her whole body was thin and frail, looking like a large handful of dry firewood wrapped in yellow skin where she was tied to the hospital bed.

She was indeed on her deathbed.

She had obviously been begging for her only child to see her one last time, but as Fang Qian’an stood in front of her now, there was only chaos in her eyes.

As she stared at Fang Qian’an blankly, a drop of gleaming saliva overflowed from her dry lips.

Her jagged chest heaved up and down, and it took a long time for her to squeeze out a few insensible murmurs from her dark throat.

“Sorry…..”

She looked past Fang Qian’an, as if gazing into an infinite void.

Even now, that voice was still full of fear.

“Spare me, Xuelin…..I’m sorry…..I was wrong…..I’m so sorry…..I was wrong…..”

Fang Qian’an lowered his head to look at the living skeleton on the hospital bed. He called hoarsely: “Mom.”

“Wuwuwu…..I was wrong…..it’s been so many years, please let me go…..it hurts so much…..I was wrong…..”

Li Xiu could feel Fang Qian’an’s slight trembling.

He turned his head to glance at the boy beside him and couldn’t help but gently stroke the back of the latter’s hand with his fingertips. In the next moment, his hand was grabbed tightly by Fang Qian’an.

“I’m grateful to you for giving me life, and I…..I hate you too.”

He heard Fang Qian’an say word by word to the woman on the bed: “You made me a sinner.”

Tears flowed from Mrs. Fang’s eyes.

Fang Qian’an took a deep breath, then reached out to help wipe the tears and saliva off of Mrs. Fang — but in the next second, Fang Qian’an abruptly retracted his hand and covered his face.

“I’m sorry, A-Xiu, I-I don’t feel very well.”

Fang Qian’an’s expression was extremely ugly, the muscles in his face jumping slightly as if spasming.

Before Li Xiu could respond, the other boy had hunched his back and rushed out of the ward.

Li Xiu instinctively went to chase after him, but after taking a few steps, he inexplicably stopped.

He turned his head to look at Mrs. Fang.

“If you hadn’t been tormented so much…..” Li Xiu returned step by step to Mrs. Fang’s hospital bed. Looking down at the woman, he murmured, “…..Do you still regret it?”

“Wuwuwu…..wuwu…..”

Mrs. Fang just opened her blank eyes and continued to sob.

She already looked miserable, but the perpetually soft-hearted Li Xiu looked at her with only indifference in his heart.

No, this woman didn’t regret it.

Although Mrs. Fang could no longer give him a response, Li Xiu already had the answer to his question.

“Heh…..”

He couldn’t help but sneer at the woman.

“I actually hope you live longer,” he said.

“It would be better to live a long life and continue to be tortured like this.”

When his words fell, Li Xiu turned around in preparation to go find Fang Qian’an. But at this moment, there was a sudden tight grip on his wrist — the woman who was senseless and haggard just seconds ago currently had a forceful grip on him.

“?!”

Li Xiu turned his head and met Mrs. Fang’s eyes in surprise.

The woman’s sunken eyes were glistening now, the blankness from before completely absent.

“D-Don’t be fooled.”

She stared at Li Xiu as she spoke.

“That’s not, not Xiao An.”

There was no longer madness on the woman’s features, only fear.

“I regretted it long ago. I regret it so much.”

With tears streaming down her face, the woman wildly repeated to Li Xiu:

“I killed my son. Do you know? I turned my son into a monster with my own hands.”

“That thing…..isn’t my son at all!”

*

*

In the nursing home bathroom.

Fang Qian’an splashed his face with cold water, but when he wiped his face, a stinging pain in the depths of his eyes made him gasp involuntarily.

“Hiss…..”

“Ouch,” the boy muttered with a grimace.

He moved closer to the mirror and peered closely at his throbbing eyes.

They were a little red, but there didn’t seem to be anything else…..

Just at this moment, Fang Qian’an abruptly realized that there was something wrong with his eyes.

He pressed his fingertips to his eyelids and opened them a bit to observe.

Then he saw the other pupils hidden behind his eyelids.

“Fuck me—”

The boy let out a scream and staggered back. The bathroom floor was slippery and he was about to fall, but his body stabilized in a bizarre way.

[“Be careful.”]

He heard a nightmarish sound.

And that voice…..came from deep within his own body.

[“A-Xiu likes this body very much.”]

[“Don’t break it, ah.”]

In that voice was an eerie gentleness.

*

*

In the ward—

He looked directly at Mrs. Fang.

“I know.”

The boy’s voice was eerily tranquil.

Mrs. Fang stared at Li Xiu with wide eyes. After a moment, her expression twisted.

The clarity in her eyes faded little by little.

Her lips rose and he said anxiously to Li Xiu: “You’ll be eaten.”

“It’ll eat you…..wuwu…..you’ll be eaten….”

Li Xiu ignored the woman’s whimpering.

Sunlight fell into the room through the window, casting light and deep shadows on the face of the handsome young man.

“Being alone on this earth with no help is so terrible.”

Li Xiu simply looked at Mrs. Fang. The corners of his mouth rose slightly, and a smile appeared on his lips.

“So what if it’s a monster…..”

*

*

[It doesn’t matter if it’s a ghost.]

[It’s still his only family.]

[Gege.]

The End

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T/N: That’s it for this short story! There are two more to go, but I’m going to catch up on my other translations before tackling them.

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Chapter 58 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 60