Exorzismus - Kapitel 28
At the same time, faces flashed through his mind—some were already dead, some were still in prison, and some were still his best friends, but only one person was forever etched in his heart. "Xue'er".
Ye Xiao softly uttered her name. He hadn't thought of her for a long time, but he knew he couldn't forget her, because she was an indelible mark.
He breathed heavily and closed his eyes, but Xue'er's face seemed to become clearer and clearer. She stood in a northern snowfield, the world behind her a pure white expanse, like an ice sculpture. Ye Xiao couldn't remember when it was—seven or eight years ago? Back then, he was studying at the Public Security University in Beijing. Female students majoring in criminal investigation were extremely rare, and someone like Xue'er was even rarer, naturally attracting Ye Xiao's attention.
Xue'er comes from a small northern city. Although she will become a policewoman in the future, she is definitely not like the wild senior sister; she seems more like a liberal arts student. No one would guess she's a sharpshooter, always ranking in the top three in school shooting competitions. No matter how hard Ye Xiao trains, he always manages to rank one place lower than her.
The year before graduation, Xue'er finally became Ye Xiao's girlfriend. As arranged by their superiors, they went to Yunnan for an internship together. He still clearly remembers that at dusk in Yunnan, he held Xue'er's hand and suddenly felt a sense of impending separation.
Suddenly, his phone rang, pulling Ye Xiao back from his reverie. He fumbled around, nearly dropping the phone, before finally answering. But there was no sound on the other end, only the faint sound of breathing. Ye Xiao waited, trembling. He had a premonition; some ghost was lurking on the other end of the line—he heard a girl crying…
Chunyu woke up around 7 a.m. and realized she hadn't even taken off her clothes, having spent the night lying in bed like that. She quickly got up and drank some hot water to make sure she wasn't cold. Looking at the cold campus scenery outside the window, she thought about what had happened last night. She wondered when Gao Xuan had fallen asleep. Damn it, why was she thinking about him? Chunyu cursed herself inwardly and rushed out of the dormitory to wash her face.
At nine o'clock in the morning, after speaking to herself in the mirror, Chunyu went to work.
The most convenient way to get around is by subway. As she passed through the ticket gate, she suddenly felt a chill down her back, but when she looked back, there was nothing unusual. It seemed like there were an unusually large number of people on the subway today; it was almost like queuing to get off at the platform.
The train roared into the station, and Chunyu followed the crowd into the carriage, struggling to find a seat facing the window. The lingerie advertisements outside the window quickly disappeared, replaced by a dark tunnel. The air inside the carriage was stuffy, and with the constant ringing of cell phones and text messages, it felt like a free market, where everyone was forced to haggle and bargain, just waiting for the moment they could escape.
The lights inside the carriage shone on the opposite window, reflecting a dozen tired and pale faces.
Chunyu finally found her face, which was slightly distorted in the glass, especially her eyes, which she would only open so wide in a state of extreme terror.
Suddenly, a face came into her field of vision, which made her eyes open even wider.
Time seemed to freeze for her, no, it seemed to flow backward in an instant. In the crowded subway car, she seemed to smell that familiar scent again.
She saw a face reflected in the glass opposite her, about two or three meters away. It was the face of a middle-aged man, not very old but already aged—compared to the person Chunyu knew, he had many more wrinkles, and his hair was not as thick and black as before; the hardships of life over the years had made his eyes dull.
But Chunyu knew who he was. Time could not change his identity. To Chunyu, he would always be the most important man in her life—her father.
She saw her father.
In the speeding subway car, Chunyu's lips trembled as she stared at the face reflected in the window. It was undeniable; it was her father, someone she could never mistake. Yes, more than ten years had passed since they parted. He looked much older, sculpted by the relentless passage of time. Chunyu truly wanted to reach out and smooth away his wrinkles.
Finally, she slowly turned her head to look at the faces around her. Suddenly, she saw a middle-aged man turn around and squeeze to the other side of the carriage.
Yes, that's the man.
"Dad!" Chunyu almost cried out as she followed the man and squeezed her way in. But there were just too many people around, and several women let out sharp screams, cursing Chunyu for hurting them by pushing and shoving.
But Chunyu couldn't care less about anything else; all she wanted was to see her father again and hug him, saying countless things to him. But the man pushed his way through the crowd faster and faster, and all she could see was the back of his slightly balding head.
Seeing that he was about to disappear, Chunyu finally couldn't hold back any longer and cried out, "Dad!"
Everyone in the carriage turned around and looked at her as if she were a mental patient. But the man didn't turn around and kept pushing forward. Chunyu was so anxious that she was about to cry, but there were two huge fat men weighing several hundred pounds in front of her, and she couldn't move no matter what she did.
Just then, the train arrived at the station, and Chunyu was standing near the door. Many people rushed out, and no matter how hard she held onto the railing, she was pushed out of the train. When she wanted to go back, she had no strength left.
She could only watch helplessly as the train pulled away, leaving only the advertising lightboxes on the opposite side of the tracks staring back at her. She then realized her face was covered in tears. She gazed into the deep tunnel ahead, letting the tears slowly drip to the ground.
Although there were still many people on the platform, she desperately wanted to cry out loud, to let the whole world hear her pain. She stood there for several minutes, still thinking about her father's face that she had just seen. She was certain she hadn't mistaken him for someone else; perhaps the carriage was too crowded and her father hadn't heard her calls. However, Chunyu now had to face this question—her father was long dead.
Chunyu's father died ten years ago.
So, is the man we just identified as the father actually a "person"?
Although her lips were still trembling, her feet slowly moved away from there.
She arrived at the company on time. She tidied her hair and clothes in the elevator, looking much better than before.
Seemingly oblivious to her unusual behavior, they each began their work. Chunyu hid behind the computer monitor, and although she had already accessed the company server, her hand never touched the mouse.
Chunyu kept her head down, still thinking about what had happened on the subway—her father, who had been dead for many years, had suddenly reappeared, just a few meters away from her. But when she went to look for him, he hurriedly squeezed into the crowd and disappeared.
Isn't this a bit unbelievable? But she's already experienced too many unbelievable things these past few days. Yet, she doesn't believe that what she's seeing is her father's ghost.
But her father couldn't possibly still be alive, because she witnessed his death.
It was winter when Chunyu was eleven years old. The three of them lived in a small house. Her father was an ordinary man, and her mother was a frail woman. They were both very ordinary people, living ordinary and normal lives.
However, during that unusually cold winter, eleven-year-old Chunyu saw snowflakes falling outside the window, and the little girl immediately ran out of the house excitedly. With her hair in two pigtails, she stood on tiptoe and looked up at the snowflakes falling from the sky. The cold snow melted on her face, and she danced like Cinderella in a fairy tale when she met the prince.
Many children were frolicking in the snow, and Chunyu joined in the revelry. She gradually forgot the boundary between the road and the sidewalk and walked onto the fast lane where everyone was speeding by.
Just then, a truck roared by. The daring driver, who had just had a few drinks and was also distracted by the swirling snowflakes, didn't even notice the little girl on the road.
Chunyu was terrified, staring blankly as the truck drove towards her—if her father hadn't happened to be passing by, Chunyu's life would have ended at the age of eleven. However, just as Chunyu was about to be hit by the truck, her father rushed into the road like a madman, shoving Chunyu forward forcefully, while he himself was hit by the truck.
The father was instantly airborne, spun 180 degrees in the snowy air, and then crashed to the ground in front of Chunyu.
The crazed truck finally came to a stop. Chunyu knelt in the snow, dumbfounded, watching her father's face gradually turn purple, blood flowing from his body, slowly forming a bright red stream. In his final moments, her father still looked at Chunyu, his eyes wide open, but he couldn't utter a word. As his soul lingered in his body for the last time, the only thing he saw was the incomparably beautiful snowflakes, and the most beautiful princess in the snow—his daughter.
Chunyu watched as her father breathed his last.
She was terrified and didn't shed a single tear. Later, seeing her mother crying her heart out, she finally cried too. She knew her father had died saving her; if she hadn't recklessly run into the middle of the road, he wouldn't have risked his life to save her. Many years later, she felt she owed her father a life, a life that could never be returned. She often wept in the dark, hoping for a miracle, for her father to return to her. If heaven truly existed, she thought she would be reunited with him there. But now, perhaps they would meet in hell?
Chunyu then realized her tears were flowing again, and she quickly wiped them away with a handkerchief. Looking back at the city outside the French windows, in this vast sea of people, had she truly missed out on a miracle? Suddenly, a strange voice came from behind her: "You're crying?"
She nearly jumped in fright, only to realize it was her boss, Yan Mingliang, standing behind her. Chunyu quickly lowered her head and said, "I got some sand in my eye." "Is there sand in the office?" Yan Mingliang moved closer to her, his narrow eyes seeming to see right through her. "Tell me, what happened that made you so upset?" "Manager Yan, I—"
Chunyu swallowed her words, unable to explain the situation. She feared being seen as mentally ill. "You must have some unspeakable difficulty, something you can't easily say, just like I did when I was in school," Yan Mingliang said, unusually revealing...
A smile appeared on her face, even if it was just a comforting one. "It's okay, you'll get better." "I'm sorry, I'll start working right away." "Working when you're in a bad mood makes you most prone to making mistakes. You should rest for a bit. Go home early this afternoon."
Yan Mingliang's eyes still frightened her. He actually patted Chunyu on the shoulder twice, then went back to his office. He immediately turned to Chunyu, opened his mouth wide, and said, "The sun has really risen in the west! The boss never cares about us, and he never tells us to rest more if we're in a bad mood. It's like he's a completely different person."
Chunyu sensed the hidden meaning in his words, which made her feel embarrassed, so she could only lower her head and let him continue.
Next, Chunyu stared at the computer screen, completely clueless about how to use the mouse. The entire morning slipped by like that. Finally, at 2 PM, she left work early. On her way back to school on the subway, Chunyu lingered on the platform for a long time, a sliver of hope still clinging to her heart. But a miracle was impossible.