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Kapitel 5

"What should I give you after I open the package, hmm?"

"Ah! It's a wind chime."

Jie'er was overjoyed, so I helped her hang the six wind chimes in the six windows respectively.

Next came the candlelight dinner.

Jie'er cooked the steak herself, and it tasted good. But before I could even taste the meat, I could smell a strong Dettol aroma. I laughed and said, "Jie'er, you didn't soak the beef in Dettol, did you?"

“It’s not beef that’s being soaked, it’s knives and forks,” Jie’er replied casually. “All the utensils in my kitchen are sterilized with Dettol.”

I was speechless for a moment, so I lowered my head and ate my steak. The sound of my knife and fork clattering against the plate was constant, as if sparks were about to fly.

That night, I stayed at Jie'er's house.

Although I disliked the pungent smell of insecticide and ant powder, and didn't find the sound of the wind chimes pleasant, Jie'er's body did have a certain perfume scent, which made me feel quite relaxed. Moreover, when I touched her snow-white skin, the sexual desire I had felt since breaking up with Shen Anting unexpectedly spread throughout my body.

Jie'er and I decided to "sleep" together.

I'm planning to marry her and we'll honeymoon in Taiwan. After the wedding, she'll naturally move in with me. As for the house her parents left her as part of her dowry, we'll either rent it or buy it. I can't stand living in that tense, chaotic place.

Jie'er has no parents and only her cousin as a relative, who is also a colleague of my brother-in-law's company. Therefore, she obeys my arrangements in everything, big or small.

Just as the wedding preparations were almost complete, Jie'er suddenly fell ill.

She said she had a severe cold and wouldn't let me visit her.

I insisted on going to her door. She came out to see me wearing a mask, and I noticed that her ten fingers were peeling so badly that they were dry and red like char siu.

She said, "I'll call you when I'm better."

I said, "Promise me you'll see a doctor, or I won't leave."

She agreed, but I was still uneasy, so I called her every day.

She answered the phone at first, and her voice sounded very hoarse. But in the last two days, she hasn't answered the phone at all.

I went to her house and knocked on the door, but no one answered.

I found her cousin and asked where she was. Her cousin didn't know either, but she comforted me, saying, "It's okay! Jie'er has always taken good care of herself since she was little. Not even a mosquito can get near her. She probably doesn't want to infect you with her cold, so she's hiding and not opening the door. She'll be better in a few days, and then you can see each other again! Why are you so anxious?" She even teased me.

When I don't see Jie'er, I can't even smile at the company.

My neighbor, Xiao Wang, teased me, "Aren't you getting married soon? Why are you breaking it off?"

I scoffed, "Screw your jinx! She and I are the ones who are truly in love!"

Xiao Chen chimed in, "Hey! How do you show affection? Teach me a few tricks! I've been chasing Ellie so hard, she won't even acknowledge me, let alone make love to me!"

Ellie, another female colleague's name, immediately protested: "Xiao Chen! What nonsense are you spouting? I'll tear your mouth apart!"

Yunyun, who was connecting the dots, also chimed in with her gossip, asking with a laugh, "Hey! How did you manage to win over your Snow White? A dozen roses a day?"

"No way," I said, my heart filled with sweetness at the mention of Jie'er. "It's half a dozen wind chimes!"

My colleagues all said in unison, "Wind chimes? Half a dozen?"

Is there something wrong?

“Of course that’s inappropriate!” Ellie exclaimed. “Wind chimes attract ghosts! Giving away one is one thing, but giving away half a dozen? However, as long as it’s not one of those five-pointed, five-tiered tower-shaped wind chimes, it’s not too much of a problem…”

---janeadam

Reply [16]: "The wind chime I sent was a five-tiered, pentagonal tower!"

"Those wind chimes are what Taoist priests and Maoshan masters like to use to summon ghosts!" Someone said, though no one knew who it was.

By this point, I was drenched in cold sweat.

They were so scared they almost broke out of their skin.

I rushed to Jie'er's house with a burning desire and my heart pounding.

Upon arriving at the house, I didn't smell the pungent odor of insecticide or ant powder, but rather a stench of decay that was worse than feces. I wondered why her neighbors hadn't noticed. Without giving me a chance to think further, I immediately broke down the door, only to find that Jie'er was already dead.

She died on her wooden bed.

Her body is something I will never forget.

She had been dead for at least two days. There were at least thousands of maggots swarming around her body, as if her corpse was their multi-windowed mansion, bustling and arrogant as they moved about. In addition, there were red ants, black ants, termites, and lice, sharing the spoils among the maggots and the corpse.

No one can experience it without feeling their bones ache and their scalp tingle.

The six wind chimes I gave to Jie'er, which were hung in the six windows respectively, jingled in the wind, and the sound was just like Shen Anting's triumphant and arrogant smirk.

Jie'er is dead.

I also thought I was dead.

Because I was bedridden for more than half a month, unable to eat or sleep, whether I was in my dreams or not, I could vividly picture thousands of greedy red ants, black ants, white ants, and lice wriggling and gnawing on Jie'er's corpse. I could even clearly hear my own screams of agony from the depths of my soul.

It was the third week after Jie'er's death. I woke up in the middle of the night, threw back the covers, and, supporting my weak body, got out of bed. I shakily turned on the light in the room. The first thing I saw in the mirror was my face—pale as paper, my eyes sunken into two black holes. But I could see my eyelids twitching. And because of the twitching of my eyelids, my cheeks were deeply sunken, and my cheekbones were more prominently raised. I still looked like I had a trace of human life.

How did I end up looking so haggard?

Lose weight! Be afraid!

I collapsed to the ground and began to sob.

The crying startled her older sister.

She ran into the room and hugged me, calling out, "Brother! Brother!" Her concern for me was evident.

I heard my own crying, which started as a sob and gradually became high-pitched, sharp, and trembling, rising up in waves, sending chills down my spine.

"Sister!"

"Don't be afraid! Little brother, your big sister is here, don't be afraid!"

"Not afraid? Jie'er was killed by her!"

"Brother, Jie'er's death was an accident..."

"An accident?" I was overwhelmed with excitement and grief, reaching the extreme of my emotions. "It was clearly Shen Anting who killed her!"

"Brother!" the older sister said, forcing herself to remain calm. "Jie'er is dead. There's no need to dwell on the past. What's important is that you live a peaceful and safe life from now on."

"Live peacefully and safely? Is that what Shen Anting wants?"

“Your brother-in-law and I have discussed it. You will be staying here with me from now on. When you are feeling better, your sister will not let you move back. We have already found a real estate company to sell your room. In short, as long as you stay here, I guarantee nothing will happen. If Shen Anting’s ghost dares to come to our door, I will make sure she suffers the consequences!”

"Have you found a way to subdue Shen Anting's ghost?"

"In short, your sister will not let you be harassed or haunted again. A few days ago, your brother-in-law found several high monks to sprinkle holy water around the house. Even if Shen Anting turns into a vengeful ghost, no matter how high her cultivation level is, she won't be able to get in!"

---janeadam

Reply [17]: The days passed in the shadows. As soon as my spirits lifted, I went to work as usual, but my smile was gone. My colleagues did not mention Jie'er's death in front of me, and they were very careful in their conversations, clearly afraid of touching my heart and making me even more sad.

That day, the real estate company manager called the accounting office looking for me. He said that my apartment had already found a buyer, and the price had been agreed upon. The buyers were a pair of sisters surnamed Li.

So we arranged a time to meet at the real estate company, collected a deposit of 20,000 yuan, signed the first contract, and after the law firm finalized the formal purchase agreement, we collected a 10% down payment. Then, we spent another two months processing the title transfer and bank loan procedures, and the house was considered sold.

The Li sisters jointly purchased my house. The elder sister is named Li Peijing, and the younger sister is named Li Peifen. One is 29 years old and the other is 26 years old. The elder sister works in a large garment factory and is a skilled cutter. The younger sister is a nurse. Because they had suffered from the injustice of renting a house for many years, they took out their savings to jointly buy the house.

I don't have any particular impression of the Li sisters. In fact, ever since Jie'er died, I've lost all interest in the people, things, and events around me. I even feel utterly hopeless, as if I'm dying inch by inch, and this lovely world is dying inch by inch as well. Everything I can see and touch will also die inch by inch.

Until this day...

My withered heart was rekindled, as if it had been rekindled from ashes.

It was another lonely and desolate night. After work, instead of going straight to my sister's house, I went to a bar to drown my sorrows as usual. I don't know how I got through the days after Jie'er's death, but since I was alive, I just kept living day by day. After a few months, I developed an addiction to alcohol and cigarettes, and I became even more depressed.

That night, I got completely drunk. When I walked out of the tavern, I was staggering and bumped into a passerby. It was a woman. She was about to roll her eyes and yell at me, but then she suddenly changed her mind and said, "Oh, it's you?"

I turned my head to look at her, and felt that she looked very familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen her before.

"You're drunk!" she said, her tone exactly like my sister's when she spoke to me, and her smile just like her sister's face when she treated me. "Do you want me to call a taxi to take you home?"

“No!” I answered her impatiently, “I haven’t had enough to drink yet, I don’t want to go home, I don’t have a home, I sold my home.”

However, without a word, she stepped forward and helped me up. I struggled to shake off her hand, but I was too weak. So, I was half-carried, half-dragged into a taxi. As soon as I got in, I felt nauseous and managed to swallow it back with great effort, but I had to close my eyes and rest. I only caught fragments of their conversation; it seemed she told the driver my sister's address, and the driver asked her if I was her boyfriend. The man drove around and around like he was on a mountain road, making me dizzy. In that bumpy ride, I felt someone beside me, holding my hand tightly and sitting close to me, quietly without saying a word. My mind was in a hazy state, neither fully awake nor fully asleep, not feeling comfortable at all. Yet, I clearly felt that person's warmth, and in that overwhelming pain, it was as if I had found some support, preventing me from feeling lost.

I arrived home soon and got out of the car. The moment my feet touched the ground, I felt a wave of nausea. I quickly grabbed a lamppost and started vomiting right there. My stomach was churning so badly that I vomited up even bile. After vomiting, I felt much more awake and realized that the lamppost wasn't a lamppost at all, but a person.

That's the woman who took me home!

Her clothes were covered in my vomit, and she was staring at me with a bewildered expression.

It was then that I suddenly realized that she was Li Peijing, the older of the Li sisters who bought my house! That's how my relationship with Li Peijing began.

The day after we spoke, I found her phone number and invited her out for dinner. Whether it was to thank her or to apologize, I had to repay this favor.

She also kept the appointment with grace and poise, and smiled broadly as soon as she saw me.

My opening line was: "I'm so sorry about last night."

She smiled but didn't reply.

---janeadam

Reply [18]: I made conversation by saying, "Has the bank loan been settled yet? I haven't contacted the developer's lawyer, so I don't know how the transfer of ownership is going. The first time I saw you was at the real estate company, and the second time was at the law firm to sign the sales contract. It's been almost two months..."

She said, "It should take another two weeks, and all the procedures will be done."

I said, “If Miss Li needs anything, I can hand over the house keys before all the formalities are completed. I’ll do you a favor and give you plenty of time to clean or renovate. Anyway, the house will belong to you two sisters sooner or later.”

She smiled, her dimples appearing on her cheeks: "Thanks in advance. Cleaning is fine, but there's no need for renovations, since you just painted the house, and the design of the living room, bedroom, and kitchen shelves and cabinets is so novel and beautiful..."

That's right, because I was preparing to marry Jie'er, but who would have thought...

She suddenly said timidly in a low voice, "I...I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what??" I was taken aback.

"I must have stirred up something sad for you."

"Do I look terrible?"

“Your eyes betray your inner turmoil.” Though she spoke casually, there was a hint of emotion in her voice. “When I first saw you, I was shocked. The real estate agent had taken my sister and me to see your house, and I saw your photo on your desk; you looked so vibrant. But seeing you in person was a completely different story. The pressures of life alone couldn’t make someone this bad.” I felt a chill run down my spine. She could tell at a glance that I had suffered many blows and was utterly broken! I had always thought that, apart from being thin, I was at least outwardly calm and composed.

Li Peijing's words made me go through the whole story again. I couldn't bear such a commotion, so I turned my face away and a tear of sorrow rolled down my cheek.