Chapter 103: Both the living and the dead are in love, only the ghost with the distorted face is hurt.
But soon, the light in her eyes dimmed. She turned to look at the car window, seemingly to catch her reflection, but the glass showed nothing.
Touching her face, in that moment, her withered and wrinkled face displayed a rare emotion—fear. She recoiled.
"Enter his dream," Chi Shen said, lifting the ghost with the distorted face hiding under his hat, "I'll help you."
Gui Lian struggled desperately in Chi Shen's grasp: "It was I who helped her! Not you who helped him!"
Chi Shen threw Gui Lian aside: "It's all the same. Don't be so distant."
Gui Lian landed beside the floral-dressed figure, and despite a resentful glance back at Chi Shen, he hopped onto her, whispering, "In dreams, you can return to your former self."
In Li Xiu's dreamscape, the woman in the floral dress was as if she still lived, forever young.
The woman in the floral dress, looking anxious, nodded slightly at Gui Lian.
Xu Jiayuan provided the address to the floral-dressed woman. Before leaving, she glanced back at them. Li Xiu smiled and said, "Go. Make the most of the opportunity Chi Shen fought for."
The woman in the floral dress bowed to them and vanished into the night.
As soon as Gui Lian and the woman in the floral dress left, the smile on Li Xiu's face was replaced with a look of concern, asking, "Will there be any problems?"
Chi Shen replied, "Don't worry, I've made preparations for any aftermath."
Xu Jiayuan sighed, "Let's hope there's no need for that. Otherwise, it'll be harder for you to make such requests in the future."
Chi Shen chuckled, "Then I'll find another way."
It was Chi Shen who had arranged for the floral-dressed woman to be here.
Chi Shen pondered the deep yearning of the woman in the floral dress. The person who had harmed her was already dead. Apart from the torment of dying with her blood dried up, her only regret was not seeing that particular individual before her death.
He applied to the Special Security Bureau to bring the woman in the floral dress for a final meeting with the person she had longed to see, hoping it would allow her to find peace and move on.
This request, along with that of the headless ghost, were made simultaneously. Yuan Yiping approved it on the condition that the headless ghost, more terrifying than the woman in the floral dress, be first put to rest.
Last night, the headless ghost achieved his wish, finding his missing head. Only then was Chi Shen able to bring the floral-dressed woman to meet the person she wished to see.
The address of the person the floral-dressed woman sought was provided by the Special Security Bureau. Based on the information she provided, they conducted a series of investigations and easily discovered the individual was Duan Rongxi, a schoolteacher residing in the old district of Hongcheng. He was still teaching and had never married.
Yuan Yiping believed it would be beneficial for the two to meet, so he assigned Xu Jiayuan to accompany them that evening.
——
The sky resembled aged gray parchment, with its sallow, tarnished blotches manifesting as drifting clouds.
It was a road paved with earth and stone, flanked by a pear orchard. At this moment, the pear blossoms had already fallen, with new leaves not yet fully grown, giving the place a desolate appearance.
A girl in a blue and white floral dress walked the path, her steps once light and her face wearing a smile, but she suddenly stopped, even shuddering slightly.
"This is his dreamscape," a ghastly face suddenly appeared on a pear tree beside her. Its pale lips moving, it said, "He dreamt of you tonight, and so you've entered this dream and arrived here."
Confronted with this eerie sight, the girl wasn't scared. She stared at the ghostly face for a while before gazing deep into the orchard.
The ghostly face seemed a tad uncertain, hesitatingly remarking, "There shouldn't be... that incident won't happen again."
He knew what the girl feared. It was here that she had encountered the murderer and was dragged into this orchard.
The girl shook her head, trying to muster a smile, but it looked painfully rigid.
She hadn't smiled in so long. Devoid of blood, her body could hardly control her facial expressions; she mostly remained expressionless.
"Do I look good?" she asked the ghostly face with a somber tone.
The face eyed the girl for a moment before answering, "Yes, you do."
In truth, the girl was quite pretty, dressed with a hint of last century's fashion, exuding a unique charm. But her smile, that was somewhat eerie and stiff.
"Really?" she asked, trying to craft a more beautiful smile, "Would he be scared seeing me?"
"You are truly beautiful, very much so!" The ghostly face immediately responded, making sure to convey utmost sincerity in its gaze.
The girl seemed relieved, leisurely adjusting her hair, her expression slightly innocent, "Today... I wanted to ask him if he likes any girl."
"—Watch out!"
Duan Rongxi, with graying hair, suddenly charged from the other end of the road, grabbing the girl in the floral dress and positioning himself between her and the ghostly face.
The ghostly face was taken aback, having not noticed Duan Rongxi's arrival. He was too engrossed in responding to the girl's questions. Initially, he intended for her to meet Duan Rongxi on her own. Now that Duan had seen him too, what should he do?
"Evil spirit, you won't harm her!" Duan Rongxi glared at the ghostly face, eyes slightly reddened, the anger of many years evident in his gaze.
In that instant, the ghostly face realized that, due to his appearance on the pear tree, in Duan Rongxi's eyes, he represented someone else.
Duan Rongxi mistook him for Huang Qiang, the malevolent man who took and killed the girl in the floral dress.
Understanding this, the ghostly face's reaction became incredibly animated. He looked back at the girl, only to find her gaze fixed on Duan Rongxi.
Ghost Face didn't count on the girl in the floral dress to explain. With a determined grit, he displayed a menacing expression, mimicking villains from TV shows, and chuckled malevolently, "You won't be saving her today!"
The girl in the floral dress cast a perplexed look in his direction, evidently baffled by his intentions.
Glancing around, Duan Rongxi spotted no handy tools in the desolate surroundings. Without hesitation, he picked up a stone from the path and charged forward, shouting, "I'll risk everything today. Even if I die here, I won't let you hurt her again!"
The girl watched in shock. She'd always seen Duan Rongxi as a sensible scholar and hadn't expected such passionate fury from him. And now, although he still looked robust, most would call him 'uncle' or even 'grandfather' given his age.
To make the act convincing, Ghost Face fiercely engaged with Duan Rongxi, eventually succumbing — after all, how could a mere face without arms win?
Perhaps fearing Ghost Face might return, Duan Rongxi, having chased him off, immediately grabbed the girl's hand and began to run.
As he ran, he shouted, "Stay away from that place!"
The girl, still youthful, felt the wind in her long hair. The style she'd carefully arranged was tousled, but she just laughed.
Together, they ran past the barren pear trees, sprinting until they reached a hillside blanketed with wildflowers.
Duan Rongxi halted. The girl caught up and looked at him curiously, "Why are you crying?"
"Out of joy," said the man, well past his fifties, tears streaming down. He tried wiping them away, but they flowed more freely. Overcome with emotion, he choked out, "I finally managed to save you once."
The stern teacher, usually so dignified, now broke down in tears.
The girl shifted her gaze from his tears to the flower-covered hillside and said with a smile, "It's beautiful here. Is this where you've been waiting for me?"
"That day, I wanted to bring you here. I wanted to ask... I have a stable job, a house in town, and an understanding family. I wanted to ask if... if you'd be willing to..."
Overwhelmed, Duan Rongxi couldn't finish his sentence. Coughing took over.
Once his coughing subsided, he looked up into the youthful face of the girl.
Amidst a sea of blossoms, she smiled and stretched out her hand, saying, "I do."
In that moment, the wind swept through the hills, rustling the wildflowers. Clouds parted, and a beam of sunlight illuminated the two figures: one forever young, the other aged and gray-haired.
On the hilltop, they embraced under the passing sunlight.
At the hill's base, Ghost Face lay flat, blowing with all his might to rustle the petals above. Mumbling to himself, he said, "Why am I always the one getting hurt? Physical pain is one thing, but the emotional hurt? Next time, I'm charging for emotional damages!"
The scars and bruises on his face, the aftermath of Duan Rongxi's fury, made him realize how close he'd come to actual harm. If this wasn't a dream, he thought, he might've truly met his end.
Seeing that the time was right, Ghostface left.
He allowed them some time alone.
After all, Broken Floral Dress was a ghost, and she would naturally emerge once Duan Rongxi awoke, without the need to specifically create a dream portal for her.
As Ghostface exited the dream, he glanced out the window. Duan Rongxi hadn't secured the window properly before sleeping. The curtain had been blown open, letting in the streetlamp's light - the very sunlight from Duan Rongxi's dream.
"It's truly wonderful," Ghostface mused, "I wonder if I had a beloved when I was alive."
After saying this, he departed from Duan Rongxi's room.
Duan Rongxi didn't sleep for long. As the dream concluded, he awakened, rising from his bed. He touched his face, finding it wet with tears.
Chapter 103: Both the living and the dead are in love, only the ghost with the distorted face is hurt.
But soon, the light in her eyes dimmed. She turned to look at the car window, seemingly to catch her reflection, but the glass showed nothing.
Touching her face, in that moment, her withered and wrinkled face displayed a rare emotion—fear. She recoiled.
"Enter his dream," Chi Shen said, lifting the ghost with the distorted face hiding under his hat, "I'll help you."
Gui Lian struggled desperately in Chi Shen's grasp: "It was I who helped her! Not you who helped him!"
Chi Shen threw Gui Lian aside: "It's all the same. Don't be so distant."
Gui Lian landed beside the floral-dressed figure, and despite a resentful glance back at Chi Shen, he hopped onto her, whispering, "In dreams, you can return to your former self."
In Li Xiu's dreamscape, the woman in the floral dress was as if she still lived, forever young.
The woman in the floral dress, looking anxious, nodded slightly at Gui Lian.
Xu Jiayuan provided the address to the floral-dressed woman. Before leaving, she glanced back at them. Li Xiu smiled and said, "Go. Make the most of the opportunity Chi Shen fought for."
The woman in the floral dress bowed to them and vanished into the night.
As soon as Gui Lian and the woman in the floral dress left, the smile on Li Xiu's face was replaced with a look of concern, asking, "Will there be any problems?"
Chi Shen replied, "Don't worry, I've made preparations for any aftermath."
Xu Jiayuan sighed, "Let's hope there's no need for that. Otherwise, it'll be harder for you to make such requests in the future."
Chi Shen chuckled, "Then I'll find another way."
It was Chi Shen who had arranged for the floral-dressed woman to be here.
Chi Shen pondered the deep yearning of the woman in the floral dress. The person who had harmed her was already dead. Apart from the torment of dying with her blood dried up, her only regret was not seeing that particular individual before her death.
He applied to the Special Security Bureau to bring the woman in the floral dress for a final meeting with the person she had longed to see, hoping it would allow her to find peace and move on.
This request, along with that of the headless ghost, were made simultaneously. Yuan Yiping approved it on the condition that the headless ghost, more terrifying than the woman in the floral dress, be first put to rest.
Last night, the headless ghost achieved his wish, finding his missing head. Only then was Chi Shen able to bring the floral-dressed woman to meet the person she wished to see.
The address of the person the floral-dressed woman sought was provided by the Special Security Bureau. Based on the information she provided, they conducted a series of investigations and easily discovered the individual was Duan Rongxi, a schoolteacher residing in the old district of Hongcheng. He was still teaching and had never married.
Yuan Yiping believed it would be beneficial for the two to meet, so he assigned Xu Jiayuan to accompany them that evening.
——
The sky resembled aged gray parchment, with its sallow, tarnished blotches manifesting as drifting clouds.
It was a road paved with earth and stone, flanked by a pear orchard. At this moment, the pear blossoms had already fallen, with new leaves not yet fully grown, giving the place a desolate appearance.
A girl in a blue and white floral dress walked the path, her steps once light and her face wearing a smile, but she suddenly stopped, even shuddering slightly.
"This is his dreamscape," a ghastly face suddenly appeared on a pear tree beside her. Its pale lips moving, it said, "He dreamt of you tonight, and so you've entered this dream and arrived here."
Confronted with this eerie sight, the girl wasn't scared. She stared at the ghostly face for a while before gazing deep into the orchard.
The ghostly face seemed a tad uncertain, hesitatingly remarking, "There shouldn't be... that incident won't happen again."
He knew what the girl feared. It was here that she had encountered the murderer and was dragged into this orchard.
The girl shook her head, trying to muster a smile, but it looked painfully rigid.
She hadn't smiled in so long. Devoid of blood, her body could hardly control her facial expressions; she mostly remained expressionless.
"Do I look good?" she asked the ghostly face with a somber tone.
The face eyed the girl for a moment before answering, "Yes, you do."
In truth, the girl was quite pretty, dressed with a hint of last century's fashion, exuding a unique charm. But her smile, that was somewhat eerie and stiff.
"Really?" she asked, trying to craft a more beautiful smile, "Would he be scared seeing me?"
"You are truly beautiful, very much so!" The ghostly face immediately responded, making sure to convey utmost sincerity in its gaze.
The girl seemed relieved, leisurely adjusting her hair, her expression slightly innocent, "Today... I wanted to ask him if he likes any girl."
"—Watch out!"
Duan Rongxi, with graying hair, suddenly charged from the other end of the road, grabbing the girl in the floral dress and positioning himself between her and the ghostly face.
The ghostly face was taken aback, having not noticed Duan Rongxi's arrival. He was too engrossed in responding to the girl's questions. Initially, he intended for her to meet Duan Rongxi on her own. Now that Duan had seen him too, what should he do?
"Evil spirit, you won't harm her!" Duan Rongxi glared at the ghostly face, eyes slightly reddened, the anger of many years evident in his gaze.
In that instant, the ghostly face realized that, due to his appearance on the pear tree, in Duan Rongxi's eyes, he represented someone else.
Duan Rongxi mistook him for Huang Qiang, the malevolent man who took and killed the girl in the floral dress.
Understanding this, the ghostly face's reaction became incredibly animated. He looked back at the girl, only to find her gaze fixed on Duan Rongxi.
Ghost Face didn't count on the girl in the floral dress to explain. With a determined grit, he displayed a menacing expression, mimicking villains from TV shows, and chuckled malevolently, "You won't be saving her today!"
The girl in the floral dress cast a perplexed look in his direction, evidently baffled by his intentions.
Glancing around, Duan Rongxi spotted no handy tools in the desolate surroundings. Without hesitation, he picked up a stone from the path and charged forward, shouting, "I'll risk everything today. Even if I die here, I won't let you hurt her again!"
The girl watched in shock. She'd always seen Duan Rongxi as a sensible scholar and hadn't expected such passionate fury from him. And now, although he still looked robust, most would call him 'uncle' or even 'grandfather' given his age.
To make the act convincing, Ghost Face fiercely engaged with Duan Rongxi, eventually succumbing — after all, how could a mere face without arms win?
Perhaps fearing Ghost Face might return, Duan Rongxi, having chased him off, immediately grabbed the girl's hand and began to run.
As he ran, he shouted, "Stay away from that place!"
The girl, still youthful, felt the wind in her long hair. The style she'd carefully arranged was tousled, but she just laughed.
Together, they ran past the barren pear trees, sprinting until they reached a hillside blanketed with wildflowers.
Duan Rongxi halted. The girl caught up and looked at him curiously, "Why are you crying?"
"Out of joy," said the man, well past his fifties, tears streaming down. He tried wiping them away, but they flowed more freely. Overcome with emotion, he choked out, "I finally managed to save you once."
The stern teacher, usually so dignified, now broke down in tears.
The girl shifted her gaze from his tears to the flower-covered hillside and said with a smile, "It's beautiful here. Is this where you've been waiting for me?"
"That day, I wanted to bring you here. I wanted to ask... I have a stable job, a house in town, and an understanding family. I wanted to ask if... if you'd be willing to..."
Overwhelmed, Duan Rongxi couldn't finish his sentence. Coughing took over.
Once his coughing subsided, he looked up into the youthful face of the girl.
Amidst a sea of blossoms, she smiled and stretched out her hand, saying, "I do."
In that moment, the wind swept through the hills, rustling the wildflowers. Clouds parted, and a beam of sunlight illuminated the two figures: one forever young, the other aged and gray-haired.
On the hilltop, they embraced under the passing sunlight.
At the hill's base, Ghost Face lay flat, blowing with all his might to rustle the petals above. Mumbling to himself, he said, "Why am I always the one getting hurt? Physical pain is one thing, but the emotional hurt? Next time, I'm charging for emotional damages!"
The scars and bruises on his face, the aftermath of Duan Rongxi's fury, made him realize how close he'd come to actual harm. If this wasn't a dream, he thought, he might've truly met his end.
Seeing that the time was right, Ghostface left.
He allowed them some time alone.
After all, Broken Floral Dress was a ghost, and she would naturally emerge once Duan Rongxi awoke, without the need to specifically create a dream portal for her.
As Ghostface exited the dream, he glanced out the window. Duan Rongxi hadn't secured the window properly before sleeping. The curtain had been blown open, letting in the streetlamp's light - the very sunlight from Duan Rongxi's dream.
"It's truly wonderful," Ghostface mused, "I wonder if I had a beloved when I was alive."
After saying this, he departed from Duan Rongxi's room.
Duan Rongxi didn't sleep for long. As the dream concluded, he awakened, rising from his bed. He touched his face, finding it wet with tears.
