La collection complète des cercueils fantômes de Yellow River

Chapitre 21

No, we can't, we don't want to die...

And Li Yuntong, Li Yuntong is also in danger...

Are we already surrounded by crises?

twenty two

At the hospital entrance, Xu Xiaobing asked me to accompany Ouyang for a check-up, but Ouyang insisted on refusing.

“Go back to the company and finish my order. I’ve already done half of it, and the document is in the shared folder,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me. I’m probably just sick with a cold. I don’t need you to come with me.”

“Okay.” I nodded. Xu Xiaobing and I both knew that Ouyang’s headache was related to Meng Ling. Judging from the fact that he would have a headache as soon as he heard Meng Ling’s name, it was probably not poisoning or any other disease. If it were before, I would have thought it was hypnosis, but now we both thought it was witchcraft or some kind of supernatural force. Even if we saw a doctor, it probably wouldn’t be of much use.

After watching Ouyang walk into the hospital, Xu Xiaobing and I got back into the car.

"You caught up with Meng..." Xu Xiaobing had just finished speaking when she suddenly changed her words, "Did you catch up with that person?" She looked very nervous when she said this. It seemed that Ouyang's headache had frightened her. She didn't even dare to say Meng Ling's name anymore.

“We saw Meng Ling.” I said the name deliberately. Xu Xiaobing trembled and stared at me: “What…what did Meng Ling do?”

"Nothing happened." I told her what I had seen. As I spoke, Xu Xiaobing remained silent, just staring at me with wide eyes, her fingers gripping the car seat tightly. The driver was focused on driving and seemed oblivious to our conversation, occasionally glancing at me in the mirror. Just as I finished speaking and Xu Xiaobing was about to say something, the driver spoke first: "That woman is going to marry someone else, isn't she?"

"Huh?" Xu Xiaobing and I were both completely baffled.

“The story you just told,” the driver said, “judging from the woman’s tone, she was definitely going to marry a rich man, but she liked this Ouyang, right? That’s how it is in TV shows. Whenever someone wants to dump another person, they usually say things like ‘Forget me’ or ‘Just pretend I never existed,’ hahaha.”

We remained silent.

Indeed, the driver was right; that's how it's portrayed on TV. If those past events hadn't happened, and I only saw what just happened, I would have thought the same. However, things aren't like that. This isn't some art film; it's real life. Meng Ling and Ouyang aren't an inseparable couple. If there's any love involved, it's only on Meng Ling's part.

I don't know why, but I felt like what the driver said reminded me of something. It was as if a glimmer of light flashed deep in my mind, but the darkness was so heavy that the light was too faint. Before I could find its direction, it disappeared. I kept replaying the driver's words in my mind, trying to find that feeling again, but that feeling completely vanished and never reappeared.

Our silence silenced the driver as well. He seemed to realize we didn't like him interrupting the conversation, so he turned on the car radio. As the music played, Xu Xiaobing turned to me and asked, "What do we do?"

I looked at her, thought for a long time, but didn't know how to answer, so I just shook my head.

"She really said she would never bother us again?" she asked.

I nodded.

“That’s good,” Xu Xiaobing breathed a sigh of relief. “As long as she doesn’t bother us, we don’t need to worry about this anymore.” She seemed to be talking to herself, but also to me. I glanced at her but didn’t say anything. I had a feeling that this matter wouldn’t end because Meng Ling withdrew; in fact, I felt that things were gradually escalating, and perhaps no one could remain uninvolved.

Just as I was struggling with this thought, Xu Xiaobing hesitated and said again, "Meng Ling, is she really not going to show up again? -- What if she's lying?"

“We’ll see,” I smiled and turned to look out the window. The car was slowly moving through the congested traffic. The sidewalk was sparsely populated, and a beggar sat forlornly facing the road, a hat placed upside down on the floor in front of him. He counted the thin wad of money he pulled from his hat, glancing around as he did so. Whenever someone passed by, he would quickly stuff the money back into his hat, making a pleading face. Those who passed him invariably walked around him, as if they hadn’t seen him or his hat. He didn’t seem discouraged; when the area in front of him was empty again, he would take the money out of his hat again and count it one bill at a time. The car moved extremely slowly; after the beggar had taken the money out of his hat five times, the car barely moved forward a fraction. I leaned out of the rolled-down window and looked back at the beggar, who was reaching out to yet another pedestrian, begging.

"What are you looking at?" Xu Xiaobing asked curiously, leaning closer and resting her head on my shoulder.

"That person," I pointed to the beggar, "do you see him?"

"A beggar? What happened to him?" Xu Xiaobing stared at him, wondering what had happened.

“Did you see that? Everyone goes around him when they pass by; no one even glances at him—did you notice?” I asked her.

“Of course,” she said, bored, and pulled her head back from my shoulder. “Isn’t that how it is with beggars?”

"Do you remember when I told you about Gu Quan?" I didn't turn around, still staring at the beggar. "Everyone's expression when passing by Gu Quan is the same as when they pass by that beggar—don't you think that beggar is just like Gu Quan?"

"Huh?" Xu Xiaobing gasped. "Are you serious?" She quickly waved to the driver. "Sir, can you see that beggar?"

The driver didn't turn around, tapping his hand on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the music on the radio: "I know, I see him every day."

Xu Xiaobing breathed a sigh of relief and shook me: "He's different from Gu Quan."

“How can you be so sure they’re different?” I asked.

“We all saw him, of course it’s different, is that even a question?” Xu Xiaobing scoffed.

“Li Yuntong saw Gu Quan, and the owner of the book rental shop saw Meng Ling, so does that mean Gu Quan and Meng Ling are like us?” I didn’t mean to argue, but Xu Xiaobing thought that was what I meant. She turned her head away with a straight face and said, “You just like to nitpick!”

I watched the beggar walk away silently, and suddenly I really wanted to know what he was thinking. How did he feel when everyone brushed past him and ignored him?

How does Gu Quan feel when all of us walk past him but can't see him?

Being ignored must feel terrible, and perhaps that's why they—I mean those unseen people—gradually infiltrate our lives in the way Meng Ling did. Maybe they have no ill intentions, they just want a place in our society… I was surprised by this thought of mine—how could I think like this? Those who are not of our kind are bound to have different hearts; who knows what kind of schemes they might have? I looked at the crowd around me, and the air between them, sometimes murky, sometimes clear, and felt a mix of emotions: this world is more vast and more crowded than I imagined. The spatial distance between us and those unseen people may be infinitely close, but the real distance may be infinitely far. Meng Ling may have already successfully entered our normal society, and perhaps many others have already entered our society… I found myself increasingly inclined to consider all of this according to my hypothetical possibility; Meng Ling's words to Ouyang almost confirmed my hypothesis.

But is that really the case? Perhaps only such an absurd assumption could fit such an absurd fact.

Whatever the truth may be, whatever will happen, I only hope that everything I have now will not be destroyed—so far, there are no signs of destruction. As long as the people I know can continue to live normal lives, I think… I hesitated and touched my forehead—well, as long as everything normal continues, even if some people who don't belong to this world want to join in, it doesn't matter, right? Actually, even if it does matter, so what? What way can I find to stop it? This time, it's truly a case of the enemy being in the dark and us in the light. I looked around and felt that I, the world I live in, and all the people in this world were exposed to an unknowable change. We are unprecedentedly vulnerable, utterly helpless in the face of such a powerful change.

Later, when the dust settled and the curtain was lifted, I realized that what I had seen and thought in that taxi had come so close to the truth, but I had gone down a completely different path.

I was enveloped by a strange sense of desolation and panic, and I didn't even hear what Xu Xiaobing was saying to me until she impatiently nudged me, which brought me back to my senses.

"I'm getting off now. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" The taxi stopped, she opened the door, stepped out with one leg, turned around and looked at me with a condescending expression, but her eyes were darting around. That look made me think of something. I wanted to refuse, but I couldn't help but nod—a feeling told me that it was a kind gesture.

"Okay then, I'll be back from grocery shopping. You should go home early." She frowned, as if carrying a heavy burden. Seeing her expression, I almost took back what I had just said. Before I could say anything, she had already gotten off the bus. I said "goodbye" to her, but she didn't hear me and hurriedly walked forward.

The car started moving, and I felt myself regretting it—why did I agree to have dinner with her? I can't cook anything, and she's always the one cooking for me, which I feel bad about. Besides, she doesn't seem to enjoy it... Speaking of which, it's strange. She clearly doesn't like me, thinks I'm immature and clumsy, and nothing I do pleases her, so why did she still want to have dinner with me? Her fleeting gaze from earlier flashed before my eyes again—it was that look that made me agree to have dinner with her. What did that look remind me of?

Where have I seen that look before?

I leaned my head against the window, sluggishly pondering the question, various kinds of eyes flashing through my mind. Gradually, several pairs of eyes overlapped, and I slowly sat up straight—those were their eyes—Meng Ling's eyes, Li Yuntong's eyes, the woman's eyes at Liufang Lake, Xu Xiaobing's eyes, the beggar's eyes from earlier… and, sometimes, my own eyes in the mirror—no wonder Xu Xiaobing's eyes were so familiar; it turns out I've seen that fleeting look in everyone before.

That look in his eyes was indescribable, revealing a unique emotion. I felt something like water spreading in my chest, and gradually my whole chest felt a little sore.

So what exactly is it?

I turned my gaze to the window, deliberately observing people's eyes. I discovered that the glittering light in Xu Xiaobing's eyes was everywhere. Deep in everyone's eyes, there was something like that, which made the bitterness in one's heart even more intense.

So what exactly is it?

I eagerly tried to capture the information, pondered it intensely, but found no answers. The crowds flowing through the streets, their faces filled with joy or sorrow, revealed something deep within their souls, something that shimmered in the depths of their eyes through layers of gaze, as if telling me all the answers. I felt like an intelligence agent who had intercepted enemy coded messages, holding the messages but not knowing how to decipher them.

Suddenly, I felt a closeness between myself and Xu Xiaobing—the whole world seemed to become closer, as if an invisible bond was tightly connecting us.

twenty three

When I got back to the company, it was already 4:30 PM. Li Yuntong hadn't returned yet. Several clients were looking for him. According to Zhang Lan, his phone was switched off, and they couldn't reach him. The sales manager, Lao Liu, had already lost his temper. The atmosphere in the company was tense; everyone spoke as if in whispers. Lao Liu stood with his arms crossed, staring blankly at his desk. As I passed by him, he looked up at me and asked, "Do you know where Li Yuntong went?"

"I don't know," I said cautiously, returning to my seat at the table. Xiao Geng stuck his tongue out at me.

It seems Li Yuntong is in trouble. What exactly happened to him? He even turned off his phone. Thinking about what happened this morning, I feel extremely uneasy.

"Where's Ouyang?" Old Liu asked again. "Wasn't he with you?"

"He had a headache and went to the hospital for a checkup." Both Ouyang and Lao Liu were supervisors, so I answered the question quite frankly.

"Hmph," Old Liu snorted, "They're all so undisciplined!"

I didn't respond. I turned on my computer, crumpled up some scraps of paper on my desk, and tossed them into the wastebasket. Looking down, I saw it was already overflowing, about an inch thick. This struck me as odd. I picked up a few sheets and examined them. They were two contracts signed with clients, dated just two days prior, and signed by Li Yuntong. I remembered the orders that Xiao Geng and I were responsible for. Li Yuntong had said at the time that this was a big client and demanded top-quality work. Why were they now void?

"Uncle Liu, why is the contract between Hongmian Group and Rainbow Company void? Do we still have to do our orders?" Since Li Yuntong wasn't around, I could only ask Old Liu.

"What did you say?" Old Liu walked over with a dark face. "Hongmian Group is a major client. When did their contract get voided? How come I didn't know?"

"Look." I handed him the two contracts that had been torn in half. He glanced at them quickly, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper, his face growing increasingly dark. I was uneasy, barely daring to breathe. Li Yuntong and Lao Liu had always had a tense relationship, and today he had lost contact with the company again. Seeing Lao Liu's troublesome expression, I secretly worried for Li Yuntong. Lao Liu and Li Yuntong were both good people; they just didn't get along and couldn't stand each other, which was unavoidable.

Old Liu glanced at the contract, made two phone calls, and then slammed it on the table: "What's going on here?" Caught off guard by his sudden action, I flinched and stammered, "I don't know either. I just found it in the wastepaper basket." Hearing this, Old Liu reached into the wastepaper basket and emptied all the scraps of paper, spreading them out on my table. I quickly stood up to offer him my seat, but he ignored me, examining each torn piece of paper, his face gradually hardening into a grimace. I quietly took a step back, lest he accidentally hurt me in his anger.

"What's wrong?" Aunt Xu came over and helped me out of the predicament.

"What's wrong?" Old Liu chuckled coldly twice, then looked around the office sharply and asked, "Who tore up these contracts?"

Everyone looked over in surprise, and my desk became the focus of everyone's attention. I shrank back again and stood with Aunt Xu.

"The contract we just signed has been torn up! How are we going to explain this to the client?" Old Liu roared, almost screaming. "Who did it? Step forward!"

Everyone fell silent, as silent as a solid rock. I could hear Lao Liu's heavy breathing. I didn't dare to move, or even look Lao Liu in the eye. My gaze darted around and I caught Xiao Geng's eyes. He was looking at me tremblingly. We all knew how serious this problem was. The company had lost clients before because of leaked contract details, so we were always very sensitive about contract issues. This time, so many valid contracts had been torn up. No wonder Lao Liu was furious.

After a long silence, Aunt Xu slowly said, "Old Liu, don't get angry. I've been thinking that maybe someone didn't do this on purpose."

"Not on purpose?" Old Liu roared. He didn't yell at Aunt Xu, but instead looked around at the others, shouting at each of them in a heavy metal voice, "Who did it? Step forward!"

A person trembled and slowly began to speak: "I don't know if it's me..." This person was Zhang Lan from the front desk. Her face was pale, and she looked at Aunt Xu for help. Before she could finish speaking, Old Liu's heavy metal voice had already overwhelmed her: "You don't know if it's you? What do you mean? Stop stammering and speak!"

Zhang Lan burst into tears.

Aunt Xu also got angry and shouted, "Old Liu, can you please let me finish? Why do you get angry so easily? Who wants to see this happen? What's the use of just getting angry?" She paused for a moment, and Old Liu snorted rapidly, suppressing his anger. He didn't say a word, but just waved his hand at her, signaling her to continue.

“This could have been done by Zhang Lan, or it could have been done by me, or maybe even by Xiao Geng,” Aunt Xu said. “Just now, Wei Feng asked us to organize the company’s files. The three of us reclassified the files and tore up the invalid ones. These contracts might have been accidentally torn up as invalid contracts. Why don’t you tell me, which of the three of us would do this on purpose?”

Old Liu glanced at Aunt Xu, put his hands on his hips, and remained silent, deep in thought. Wei Feng spoke slowly and deliberately: "Who threw the things in this wastebasket? Where are the other invalid contracts?" After he finished speaking, Xiao Geng's hand twitched, as if he wanted to raise it, then lowered it. After a while, he finally raised his hand: "I threw it." He lowered his head, his red hair covering his forehead like a veil, only his lower lip, which was being tightly bitten by his teeth, was visible.

"What about the other documents?" Old Liu glanced at Xiao Geng and asked.

Aunt Xu, Zhang Lan, and Xiao Geng exchanged glances. Aunt Xu made a gesture, and they started running around the office, collecting all the wastepaper baskets together.

"Is everything here?" Wei Feng asked.

"It should be," Aunt Xu said, swallowing hard.

"Let's check if there are any more mistakes," Wei Feng said, pulling Lao Liu along to check the discarded documents. "This is my fault. It was my job to have them do it."

"Blame whoever is to blame; there are company rules," Old Liu said bluntly.

They quickly sorted through all the documents, eventually finding two or three valid contracts. Before Lao Liu could ask, Aunt Xu and Zhang Lan had already admitted that they had torn them. In the end, they counted eight valid contracts that had been torn, but fortunately, they weren't badly damaged. Lao Liu could tell that they hadn't done it on purpose, so he handed the documents to Zhang Lan and ordered her to glue them back together.

"What's wrong with your eyes? Can't you even recognize a valid contract?" Old Liu said this before returning to his desk and closing his eyes to rest. Wei Feng was worried, so he pulled me and Aunt Xu together to check the other documents in the archives to see if any had been mistakenly destroyed.

The archives room had been thoroughly cleaned by Aunt Xu and her team; all the trash scattered on the floor had been grouped together and placed in a separate cabinet. Wei Feng handed us the file records, and we carefully checked each cabinet one by one, finding no other damage, which relieved Wei Feng.

"So that's how it is!" Aunt Xu suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, pointing to a few lines of text on the file record for us to see. We leaned over to look, and there were several contracts, including one from Hongmian Company, that had been registered there, but now they were all stamped with the "void" official seal, and the date on the seal showed that it was today. I counted, and there were a total of 20 contracts that had been voided today, including the 8 valid contracts that Lao Liu had discovered. In the column for the contract validity date, it was clearly marked that the contracts were still valid. Aunt Xu and I both looked at Wei Feng, whose face turned red. He looked at it carefully several times, and said embarrassedly, "It seems I was mistaken. I'll go tell Lao Liu." He said this and walked towards the door, but Aunt Xu stopped him.

"Never mind," Aunt Xu said. "What did you say to him? Just explain it to General Manager Li later. Anyway, all the contracts are already glued on."

“Hmm.” Wei Feng nodded. They turned around and continued organizing the documents. I stood alone to the side, holding the file record, looking at it again and again. Each time, I was utterly shocked—in the column for the signatory of those eight wrongly destroyed contracts, Li Yuntong's name was clearly listed! I felt my hands trembling violently, so I put the record on the table. I had a vague feeling that this matter was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

I heard the sound of paper being torn. Turning my head, I saw Wei Feng and Aunt Xu whispering to each other, each holding several documents. They were casually tearing the documents into pieces. A thought suddenly flashed through my mind. Without thinking, I rushed over, snatched the documents from their hands, and whispered, "What are you doing?"

They looked at me blankly at first, then saw the documents in my hand, and both of them gaped open.

"Oh dear, what happened? I thought it was waste paper. Look, I didn't notice!" Aunt Xu hurriedly explained, her face flushed.

"I wasn't paying attention either, really..." Wei Feng awkwardly took the document from my hand and started repairing it.

Before they took the documents away, I glanced at them quickly. These documents were all about to expire, and even if they were destroyed, it wouldn't have much of an impact on the company. The important thing was that the signatory of these documents was Li Yuntong.

I stared blankly at Wei Feng and Aunt Xu, who were busy repairing those documents. They looked completely at ease, showing no signs of any problem.

I felt like I remembered something, but I didn't want to think about it, and just walked out of the archives room in a daze. The office had quieted down, and everyone was busy at their respective seats. Old Liu's office was empty. I saw some documents on his desk, so I went over and flipped through them. I didn't find the eight contracts that Xiao Geng and the others had repaired earlier. Just as I was about to turn around and leave, my eyes glanced to the side and saw the wastepaper basket next to Old Liu's desk.

My heart sank.