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墨書 Inktalez
In the final discussion, I learned what the price mentioned by Shangguan Mingyue truly was.
It turned out that when a person dies without memories, Mingchen Yuan has already passed, leaving no attachments behind.
Logically, the female ghost should have reincarnated long ago. Why does she linger in this world? Shangguan Mingyue explained that there are still people in the world who strongly remember the female ghost.
If one were to forcibly restore the ghost's memories, Shangguan Mingyue could do it, but the cost would be that the ghost would dissipate three days after regaining her memories.
The ghost was already aware of this news. I followed Shangguan Mingyue out of the park, leaving the choice to the ghost.
Back at the dormitory, Yuan Yuan was already asleep.
We quietly handled our nightly routines and then climbed into bed to sleep.
On the twenty-first morning, students returned to campus one after another, and I was awakened by my phone ringing in the early morning.
Still half-asleep, I reached for my phone and held it to my ear.
"Hello..."
On the other end of the line, my advisor's anxious voice urged me to come to his office immediately, startling me into sitting up straight.
As soon as I entered the office, a large shadow knocked me back forcefully.
Fortunately, Shangguan Mingyue was behind me; otherwise, I would have fallen flat on the ground.
Once I regained my composure, I saw that it was a middle-aged woman who had collided with me. Her eyes were red from crying, and she looked at me as if she wanted to kill me.
The advisor's office was crowded with people. Our advisor was relatively young, having graduated only two or three years ago. After finally squeezing through the crowd, he stood in front of the woman and said, "Liu Tian's Mother, I understand your grief, but you cannot treat my student like this before we clarify what happened."
It turned out that Liu Tian's parents were causing a scene. No wonder—her daughter had been murdered during the summer break. Although it was Liu Tian's own responsibility, the school had to notify her parents to come in.
Liu Tian's mother did not calm down because of the counselor's words; instead, she became even more agitated and pointed at me, saying, "It's all her fault. If she hadn't refused to go save my daughter that night, my daughter wouldn't have gotten into trouble."
I was stunned. How did it become my fault that Liu Tian was in trouble for not going to save her?
Shangguan Mingyue discreetly tugged at my sleeve, signaling me to look to the left.
I then realized that Yuan Yuan had already been sitting in the office, her face streaked with tears. Suddenly, I understood the situation; it seemed I had been dragged into this mess and stabbed in the back.
With the parents emotionally charged, the counselor had to intervene and asked me, "Gu Yanxi, when Yuan Yuan came back, she asked you to go look for Liu Tian. Were you unwilling to go?"
I was unwilling to go. After all, who was it that nearly lost their life in Wanhui?
"Is that true, Yuan Yuan?" I stared at her as I questioned the counselor. Yuan Yuan didn't even dare to look at me.
The middle-aged woman became agitated again and lunged toward me. I had never dealt with such a scene before and felt a bit flustered.
Fortunately, Shangguan Mingyue stepped forward immediately, pulling me back and addressing the counselor. "Do you have any evidence that she didn't try to help? Helping others is a moral choice, not an obligation. Whether one helps or not depends on each individual. If you know there’s a problem and still rush in to help, that would be foolish."
The middle-aged woman shouted angrily, and the counselor could only step in again to ask about the relationship between Shangguan Mingyue and me.
Shangguan Mingyue stood tall in front of me and said, "I’m her cousin. Counselor, let me tell you the truth."
The counselor glanced at me, and I nodded. He then gestured for Shangguan Mingyue to continue.
"Counselor, you shouldn't blame my cousin; instead, you should give her an award. That woman sitting over there—who was too scared to save Liu Tian—sent my cousin instead. My cousin has a good heart and had no choice but to come to me for help. We rushed in and risked our lives to find Liu Tian's body and called the police. My cousin was even beaten unconscious by those security guards. If you don’t believe me, you can check with the police station if the name of the person who reported it is Shangguan Mingyue."
Shangguan Mingyue laid out everything in one breath, leaving everyone present shocked, including me. I couldn't believe how quickly she turned things around and deflected all blame.
The man holding Liu Tian's mother approached after hearing everything. Seeing his expression was off made me nervous; I worried something might happen to Shangguan Mingyue.
The man looked at Shangguan Mingyue and said, "Are you sure your name is Shangguan Mingyue?"
Shangguan Mingyue excitedly took out her ID and showed it to them. "It's genuine."
The man's expression softened a bit as he bowed to me and Shangguan Mingyue, apologizing, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you both. I am Liu Tian's father. My daughter's death has hit us hard; I hope you can forgive us."
Then he explained to the counselor, "Teacher, the police told us that the person who reported it is named Shangguan Mingyue. It seems these two girls are not lying."
After confirming that I had nothing to do with the situation, the counselor allowed me to leave, leaving Yuan Yuan behind.
That night, Yuan Yuan didn't come back, but I didn't think much of it; I figured she might be avoiding me out of embarrassment.
The next morning, I went to my first class, leaving Shangguan Mingyue alone in the dormitory.
As soon as I entered the classroom, a group of people surrounded me. Seeing their demeanor, I knew Liu Tian's incident had exploded.
A classmate on my left pulled me aside and asked, "Yan Xi, is it true that Liu Tian from your dorm really went to become a sister?"
Just as I was about to respond, someone on my right pulled me over and asked, "I heard she died a terrible death. Did you see her body?"
...
A barrage of questions came at me, and I didn’t want to answer any of them. I could only deliberately pull a long face and say to everyone, "I just got here; I'm not sure. Please don’t ask me."
Seeing my reaction, they gradually dispersed.
Throughout the entire class, I felt eyes constantly on me, as if they could read something from my face.
When the bell rang for the end of class, I rushed out of the classroom and hid in the restroom.
Just as I had released the pressure in my abdomen, I heard my name being mentioned at the door. I pulled my hand back from the doorknob and listened to the commotion outside.
A girl’s voice murmured, “I heard that before Liu Tian died, she was tormented by three men.”
From that voice, I recognized it was Zhao An'an, one of the gossips in our class. I had no intention of going out to face them, so I continued to hide in the bathroom.
“That’s what she deserves; who told her to be a sister? I heard Yuan Yuan went to their dorm too. She usually struts around like a peacock, but who knew she was so dirty? It’s disgusting,” another girl chimed in.
“By the way, do you have Gu Yanxi?” the second girl asked.
Zhao An'an jumped in to answer, “Of course! I heard that it was Gu Yanxi who reported it. If you weren’t working there, how would she know Liu Tian was in trouble and call the police? The point is, when I asked her just now, she lied to me.”
“Exactly, she’s really disgusting…”
After the second girl finished cursing me, the eavesdropping session in the bathroom finally came to an end.
I pushed open the bathroom door and stepped out, snorting coldly. Whatever they wanted to say was their business; it had nothing to do with me.
At this point, I couldn’t even focus on my classes anymore and headed straight back to the dormitory.
As soon as I entered the dorm, I saw Shangguan Mingyue sitting boldly at my desk eating instant noodles.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Yuan Yuan's bed was empty. I hurriedly asked Shangguan Mingyue, “What happened? Where’s Yuan Yuan?”
Without even looking up, Shangguan Mingyue continued eating her noodles while answering my question. “She came back not long after you left, made a racket packing up her things, and then left. She even warned me to watch out for you.”
In this day and age, being a good person really doesn’t pay off. The reason Yuan Yuan hated me was simply because I knew about her going to Wanhui. People’s jealousy is truly terrifying.
Ignoring Shangguan Mingyue’s endless chatter, I buried myself under the covers and went to sleep.
"Years have passed, and it seems that good times and beautiful scenery are merely illusions. Even if there are a thousand kinds of charm..."
Once, twice, three times...
In the darkness, someone kept reciting this poem. Who could it be?
Listening to her voice made my heart ache intensely, as if it were about to explode. Why was this happening?
My breathing grew rapid, feeling as though someone was pressing down on me, preventing me from getting up.
A wave of inexplicable fear surged within me; my scalp tingled, and my body felt as if it were pinned to the bed, unable to move.
Roar...
With all my strength, I broke through the darkness. Light pierced into the corners of my eyes, and I felt a cold chill on my face. Only then did I realize that tears had already soaked my cheeks.
The dormitory door was pushed open, and in walked Shangguan Mingyue. She looked at me and asked, "What's wrong? You look like you've been crying."
I didn't even know why that dream had made me cry so much.
Not wanting to reveal anything before I understood it myself, I changed the subject and asked her, "Where have you been?"
Shangguan Mingyue glanced at me and said, "I received news from that female ghost. I went to gather the items needed for the ritual."
Hearing Shangguan Mingyue's words didn't surprise me; I would have chosen the same path if I were in her shoes—unwilling to wander through life without knowing anything.
"Are you coming with me?" Shangguan Mingyue asked.
I nodded in agreement and followed her to the park.
Shangguan Mingyue tossed a bag in front of me. I opened it to find it filled with shovels and similar tools. "What does this mean?"
She glanced at me and said, "Digging a grave."
She actually wanted me to dig up the bones of that female ghost. I initially had no intention of doing it, but when I saw the pitiful look on the ghost's face as she pleaded with me, I could only resign myself to the task and picked up a shovel. After all, the ghost couldn't move her own corpse.
Having gone through several encounters with spirits, I had become much calmer around the dead.
I worked hard digging under that tree, and finally, just as I was drenched in sweat from exhaustion, a section of white bone emerged from the soil.
The night was dark and windy; fortunately, this place was relatively secluded. Otherwise, I would have really been caught by someone.
I gently extracted a leg bone, and next came the pelvis.
But why was this here?
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