"I didn't say anything." With so many people watching her, she couldn't even raise her voice.
"You definitely said it."
"......"
"What's the point of talking about someone behind their back? If you have the guts, just say it out loud."
"......"
"Han Shu, I was sitting right next to her and I didn't hear anything. How do you know she was talking about you?" Chen Jiejie couldn't stand it anymore and tried to smooth things over with a smile.
Han Shu laughed, "I just want to hear what she has to say. Xie Junian, why are you backing down? If you weren't saying bad things about me, why don't you say it?"
"......"
"Speak quickly!" Han Shu noticed that Ju Nian had already opened her mouth, but still seemed hesitant.
Helpless, Ju Nian had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "I mean, since your scarf is so warm, you don't even need to wear clothes, you can just tie a scarf around your neck."
Han Shu refused to believe his ears, but Fang Zhi and the others were already chuckling quietly. He imagined himself standing there, completely naked except for a scarf around his neck, and the image made him blush instantly.
Han Shu walked over, pointed at the seemingly innocent and submissive person, and said, "Xie Junian, you female hooligan!"
Amidst everyone's laughter, Chen Jiejie said she needed to go upstairs to change her clothes. Girls love to look beautiful, and everyone was having so much fun that they didn't immediately notice the protagonist leaving. However, more than half an hour passed, and Chen Jiejie still hadn't come down. One of her closer friends volunteered to run upstairs to urge her. A short while later, this girl, along with Chen's nanny and parents, rushed downstairs in a panic.
Those downstairs sensed something was wrong. They asked around and learned that Chen Jiejie had closed the door to change clothes, and no one knew when the room had become empty. There were no unusual signs in the bedroom, except that the French doors to her balcony were wide open. Chen's parents, in a panic, checked the lawn below her balcony, but found nothing but grass. A bright and sensible young woman had vanished into thin air right before their eyes.
The situation quickly descended into chaos. Chen Jiejie's mother was frantic and wept, while her father searched the house thoroughly and berated the nanny. The nanny defended herself, feeling wronged. Then, community security guards arrived. What had been a joyous gathering turned into a hornet's nest that had been stirred up. No one cared about the children anymore, and they lost their will to play. Apart from those who were willing to stay and help search, some left in small groups.
Ju Nian felt as if she were in a dream. Her head was hot and dizzy, but her heart was cold. She vaguely guessed what was going on, but refused to believe it and couldn't put it into words. In her confusion, she didn't even bother to greet anyone and hurriedly left the Chen family. She only wanted to confirm that her judgment was wrong.
Just as they reached the fence of the Chen family's garden, Han Shu chased after them. "Are you walking alone? It's getting dark, wait for me."
Han Shu returned to Chen Jiejie's weeping mother, said a few words, then grabbed his coat and ran out. Ju Nian didn't wait for him; she had already walked quite a distance alone. Han Shu followed behind her, saying, "Do you know how far it is? I've already called a taxi."
Ju Nian seemed oblivious, as if an unseen fear was chasing her from behind. Han Shu followed while complaining, but she walked very fast without saying a word.
Fortunately, the taxi arrived in time. Without saying a word, Han Shu pulled Ju Nian into the car, saying, "Driving on foot in the middle of the night, you may not be afraid of ghosts, but I am."
Ju Nian suddenly realized something and turned to Han Shu in the car, saying, "Take me to my aunt's house. She lives near Taiyuan Village on the outskirts of the city. I'll pay you the fare next time, Han Shu, please."
The carriage wasn't spacious, and when Ju Nian unexpectedly turned to the side, Han Shu realized she was very close, their breaths mingling, and her face was horribly pale. He didn't even have time to ask what was wrong. Leaning towards the driver in the front seat, he said, "Sir, please go to Taiyuan Village."
City traffic is much smoother at night than during the day, and besides, they weren't on roads with heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic. They were driving very fast. Ju Nian rolled down her side window. She pursed her lips and looked blank, but her tightly clenched fist told Han Shu that the person next to him was extremely anxious at the moment.
More than 30 minutes later, they arrived at Taiyuan Village, and the car stopped at Ju Nian's signal.
Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Ju Nian had already pushed the car door halfway open, but Han Shuqiu stopped her, saying, "Are you looking for death?"
Ju Nian turned around hastily without saying a word. Han Shu was confused. What kind of person was she? What did she want to do?
He suddenly asked an unrelated question: "During the years you were away from home, did you live here?"
Ju Nian broke free from him and got out of the car. "My aunt lives here. I'll be staying at her house tonight. Han Shu, thank you. You'll go, right?"
Ju Nian walked into the quiet of this urban village. Even at night, she knew every corner of it like the back of her hand. Passing by her aunt's tightly closed gate, she didn't even stop to look at it, and ran all the way to Wu Yu's house.
There were no lights on inside the house, and the gate to the courtyard was tightly closed. Ju Nian simply reached out and pushed the gate open, which was meant to keep out honest people but not scoundrels.
The sound of a hand gently patting the wooden door was low and heavy. "Wu Yu, Wu Yu, come out!" Ju Nian knew very well that he didn't have to be on duty at the internet cafe tonight.
After a long while, the door opened a crack amidst a hoarse cough. Ju Nian had disturbed the sleeping old man, and Wu Yu was not home.
Grandma said he went out when the sun was about to set.
Ju Nian didn't know how she got to the bottom of the steps to the martyrs' cemetery. The night was dark and the path was rugged. She tripped and fell, but didn't feel any pain. Her body felt like it wasn't her own.
521 steps, standing at the bottom, stretching endlessly without end, leading to who knows if it's heaven or hell. Is Wu Yu up there? Under that pomegranate tree that belonged to him, will he be smiling down at it with another girl?
Ju Nian had never climbed the martyrs' cemetery at night. She dared not come because on the day she first met Wu Yu, he said that there were ghosts there at night.
She shouldn't have come.
As she stepped onto the last step, Ju Nian took a few steps toward the tombstone. Suddenly, she glanced at it and felt as if she had fallen into a freezing cellar. She was frozen in place and could no longer move her legs.
Everything Wu Yu said is true; there are ghosts here!
This ghost can transform; it appears as two people, yet also as one, coiled and entangled beneath the tombstone. The sound it makes is chilling, like crying, yet also like laughing!
Ju Nian took a step back, then two, her shoes landing silently on the soft grass. The ghost didn't even notice her presence, silently catching her slumping body as she leaned against it.
Day and night, under the "balcony"!
She was truly foolish. Of the countless martial arts techniques in the world, she only chose one to practice, and after practicing it for so long, it turned out to be the "Wedding Dress Divine Skill." For many years, her inner energy burned like fire, tormenting her endlessly, yet she could not use it for herself, so she could only pass it on to others.
She prayed to God, but God did not forgive her.
In the end, it's all for someone else's benefit.
Chapter Thirty-Three: Don't Be So Good to Me
Romeo jumped off the balcony with the princess. Even a great writer like Shakespeare could not have written about how Romeo's "most important friend" felt in this situation.
Ju Nian felt as if she were standing in a frozen wasteland, suddenly drenched in a torrent of snowmelt, the chill penetrating to her very bones, yet her mind remained as clear as frost.
How could she be so foolish as to think that just because they had walked hand in hand through the years, covered in the same dust of life, they should naturally spend the rest of their lives together? What could she blame Chen Jiejie for? If she had a million chances to hand that note to Wu Yu herself, would the face held in the little monk's hands like a precious treasure on this cold winter night, beneath the silent and desolate martyrs' cemetery, have been hers? Would her long hair have covered his chest like a cloud?
"You saw it too?" she murmured softly to the pomegranate tree beside her. It, too, was lonely, and every flower withered, unable to bear a single fruit.
How many times had she and he lay quietly under the tree, the fiery red petals falling on her face and resting on his too?
Humans have no roots, but they have feet, so they will naturally go further and further away. Fortunately, trees are different.
Ju Nian removed the hairpin from his head, took the sharp iron end in his hand, and began to carve strokes on the tree trunk. He had someone else in his heart, but he hoped that the tree would only ever remember the little monk and Ju Nian.
She was so timid and cautious, afraid that her hidden feelings would be discovered, that she deliberately went to a dark corner, and dared not speak that familiar name directly to anyone.
xhs&jn
No one will see these marks unless a pair of hands gently caresses them, but who will cherish the old and ugly trunk of this forgotten pomegranate tree? Who will remember its quiet existence in this corner? Unless he holds it in his heart.
When she first started working on the letter "x," her skills were still developing, and the engraving was faint. After finishing it, Ju Nian went back to complete it, but her hand slipped, and the hairpin slid out in a long line, piercing right into the web of her left hand, which was clenched below her thumb. The sharp object pierced her deeply; her hand had been exposed to the cold wind for too long, so at first it only hurt dully. She didn't react immediately, blinked, and saw blood slowly seeping from the wound.
Ju Nian was relieved that she hadn't cried out. Clutching her wound, she remembered the pack of tissues she'd taken from Han Shu's backpack earlier. He'd only taken one, leaving the rest behind, so she quickly found some on her person and pressed them against her wound. After treating this, she looked up and saw Han Shu climbing the steps dozens of steps below.
Han Shu saw Ju Nian sitting under the tree, his expression surprised. He opened his mouth, about to utter the word "you..."
Ju Nian was startled. Without thinking, she quickly put her index finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.
She didn't know how Wu Yu and Chen Jiejie would clean up the mess afterward, but the more people knew about it, the more chaotic things would become, especially since Han Shu had a close relationship with the Chen family. Ju Nian didn't want to disturb the couple under the tombstone, nor did she want Han Shu to see that scene.
Han Shu actually swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue. Ju Nian was still afraid that something might go wrong, so she quickly got up and went down to Han Shu's side.
"Thanks......"
"Shh, don't speak. There's a ghost up there!" Ju Nian's heart was pounding. Could the lie that Wu Yu had once told her deter Han Shu's curiosity?
Han Shu looked at her with an expression that seemed to say, "So you're sick, how pathetic," but his voice involuntarily rose in his throat along with Ju Nian's.
"What nonsense is this? What's going on in the middle of the night?" he said, stubbornly insisting on going up to see for himself.
Ju Nian swayed, and without thinking, grabbed his hand, their fingers touching and entwining tightly. If he tried to break free, she would hold onto his legs. She couldn't let him know about Wu Yu and Chen Jie Jie's affair.
However, Ju Nian never expected that her hand would actually hold onto the stubborn and unyielding Han Shu. Han Shu's hand struggled symbolically in her palm for a moment, then, along with his entire being, became completely still.
The winter wind whistled through the pine branches, escaping into the endless void, its sound like a mournful lament. Ju Nian's hands were cold, her wound still wrapped with tissue paper, while Han Shu's hands were warm and moist. Her numb senses returned to his fingertips, and she felt the pain of the bleeding.
Ju Nian silently led Han Shu down the steps. Given Chen Jiejie's parents' wealth and anger, the farther Han Shu was from them, the more likely Wu Yucai would be to be spared temporarily.
The steps quickly disappeared beneath the two teenagers' feet. Ju Nian's feet landed on the muddy ground at the top of the stairs, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, returned to his cold chest. He had almost forgotten that Han Shu's unexpected silence and submissiveness were actually his own problem.
Han Shu stood opposite Ju Nian, but looked at an unknown clump of dark, low-lying plants to the side. His hand was still in Ju Nian's grasp, neither gripping tightly nor breaking free, and his whole body was twisted into a strange posture.
He couldn't help but cough lightly, and the hand that was holding him released him in a flash.
The moment he withdrew his hand, Han Shu began to regret it.
He had to say something to break the deadly silence.
"Your aunt lives up there?" Han Shuxu pointed to the martyrs' monument, a mocking look familiar to Ju Nian on his face. "Are you trying to tell me that your aunt is actually the Black Mountain Demon, and you are Nie Xiaoqian?"
Ju Nian gave a vague smile. "I'm taking a walk; the air is nice here."
Han Shu looked around, too lazy to refute her utterly absurd words. The night was deep and dark, the wind was high and the mountains stood like ghosts. He didn't even want to recall the fear that had lurked in his heart when she followed him all the way. If he hadn't been sure of her back, if there wasn't only one road here, he would have thought he was having a nightmare about a supernatural event, having grown up under the neon lights of the city.
"What's up there?" he asked in a stern voice, his hands in his pockets. He was almost certain she was hiding something.
Sure enough, Ju Nian said, "I told you there were ghosts, I wasn't lying to you. Boys have strong yang energy, so you'll be discovered as soon as you go up to them. Those are girls who died before they were 18, and they can't be buried normally in the cemetery, nor can you visit their graves, otherwise their spirits will remember their families and the way home. These ghosts are the most vicious, filled with anger, because they didn't have time to experience many good things before being followed by these unclean things, and their whole family will never have peace again. In the past, people called them 'troublesome girls.' When they appear, there will be a cluster of fire at their feet, like candlelight, but a little dimmer. When they cry, it's like a baby wailing. They have no feet, they float clumsily but move very fast, and they're in front of you in the blink of an eye. You absolutely, absolutely must not look into their eyes!"
"How is it?" Although Han Shu knew she was talking nonsense, a tingling chill crept up his spine like ants. The wind picked up again, sounding just like a baby crying. What was moving in the distance wasn't fallen bushes, but shadows carrying a fishy smell.
Suddenly, Ju Nian leaned closer, widened her eyes, and said, "Because she doesn't have eyeballs at all!"
Han Shu jumped up, pushed Ju Nian back a few steps, turned and left. Ju Nian breathed a sigh of relief that he was finally leaving, and followed behind him, asking, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
"Afraid?" Han Shu sneered, "Go and ask around, the blood of the Han family from top to bottom is pure materialism. Do you think I'm afraid? I just think you're ridiculous!"
"oh."
After taking a few steps without making a sound, Han Shu felt uneasy about the silence. Just as he was about to turn around and look at her, Ju Nian suddenly called out behind him.
"Ah, you troublesome auntie!"
"Where?!" Han Shu was startled, then realized what he meant and gritted his teeth, "You're the one who caused trouble for your family!"
"His face turned pale; the blood of materialism fades quickly," Ju Nian said respectfully.
"You're really bored, coming to a place like this at night to tell ghost stories."
"Seriously, why are you following me?"
"I want to see what you're up to. Can't you do something normal?"
"For example?"
Han Shu seemed to think for a moment, "Have you heard about the badminton competition for middle school students that the city is planning to hold?"
"Yes." It's all over the newspapers, and everyone at school has heard about it.
"Speaking of which, I haven't had a serious match with you yet, so I don't know how good you are. Anyway, I don't mind. Why don't you join me in mixed doubles?" Han Shu casually kicked at the gravel on the muddy road.