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Park Eun-hee was even more confused, wondering if Song Xiaomo had really entered through that door.

"I'm sorry, the door is closed today... Maybe, maybe she doesn't want to see you!" Song Xiaomo said awkwardly, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"It's alright, just focus on recovering. I'll come see you again another day!"

Song Xiaomo didn't say anything, and escorted Park Eun-hee all the way to the door. Only after watching him get into a taxi did he return to the villa.

The shock, stress, disappointment, and exhaustion of the past few days seemed to have reached an unbearable threshold. Song Xiaomo let out a long sigh, constantly asking herself: Is this how life is supposed to continue?

Perhaps it's time to calm down and seriously consider whether I've unintentionally set a trap for myself. Is being with a ghost a long-term solution? In the end, wasn't the tragic love story of Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian separated by heaven and earth?

This series of events was like a refreshing rain, waking Song Xiaomo up: she was clearly playing the role of Jin Renxuan. And now, what was prompting her to accelerate her entry into this role was Meixuan.

This nightmare cannot continue.

Section 102: Chapter Twenty-One Will Bring Retribution (1)

Chapter Twenty-One: Retribution Will Come

Another day has passed.

The window was slightly ajar, letting in half of the moonlight, which floated like feathers.

Song Xiaomo once again climbed that mysterious staircase and cautiously rubbed the key into the lock.

The door opened again.

Now, he has to face Meixuan again.

"You're back..."

"Yes, but I'm leaving now!"

"Why? Don't you like me anymore?" she asked in a trembling voice.

"No, I don't think I should be the one to love you!"

Silence fell. After neither of them spoke, the room became completely silent. The humidity in the air increased, and a chill crept into their bodies.

Song Xiaomo felt inexplicably nervous as he watched Meixuan pull a ghostly doll from behind her back. Looking at this strange little object in the pitch-black night, he felt as if she had become a different person. Meixuan's voice was very soft: "Do you remember this doll?"

"Isn't this a teru teru bozu (Japanese sunny doll)?"

"Yes, it's our child!"

"Our child?"

"Yes, it has a soul, and it can protect us so we can stay together forever! We swore an oath to the doll that if either of us dies first, the other cannot live either! If one betrays the other, the doll will punish him, hehe... whoever betrays first will be punished..."

"Meixuan, what's wrong?" Song Xiaomo broke out in a cold sweat.

Meixuan seemed not to hear Song Xiaomo's words, only looking out the window. Although Song Xiaomo couldn't see her expression, or even her eyes, she felt that Meixuan was smiling. A mysterious and profound smile.

"What's wrong, Meixuan! Don't scare me..."

"N-no...nothing...I'm so happy to be with you...Renxuan, will you always be with me? Don't leave me, okay?" She turned around, her bright and dim eyes revealing the throbbing in her heart.

Actually, I…

Song Xiaomo stared blankly at her, not understanding why she had suddenly become so deranged. Meixuan's smile gradually changed, from strange to sorrowful, and even Song Xiaomo could sense the endless pain hidden within her. He couldn't help but recall the school tragedy that Park Eun-hee had told him about.

"Tell me...how you died, okay?" Song Xiaomo mustered her courage and asked.

"I'm dead?" Meixuan was stunned for a moment, her body trembling.

"Yes, dead!"

"Tell me, what exactly happened? How did I die? Renxuan, is it because of you, is it because of you..." Meixuan's voice grew more and more shrill, her eyes like knives, piercing Song Xiaomo's heart with pain.

"It wasn't me, it was that person!"

"Shut up!" Meixuan said fiercely, her eyes fixed on Song Xiaomo like sharp arrows.

"I heard there's a third party involved between you two..." Song Xiaomo paused deliberately, "...a Japanese girl..."

"Ah...stop talking!" Meixuan groaned, clutching her head.

Song Xiaomo walked up to Meixuan and patted her shoulder. Meixuan was still holding her head, her expression and eyes unreadable, but the despair was undeniable. Every normal person, or every normal appearance, has a source of pain that cannot be erased by time.

"Actually, I'm not Kim In-hyun, I really am not!"

"No! Don't lie to me anymore! I know you have another woman! You're blinded by that little slut, aren't you?"

"I am indeed not Kim In-hyun. The person you're talking about is already dead!"

"Please stop, please stop..."

Okay, I won't say anything more!

After a long silence, Meixuan spoke again: "Renxuan, do you believe it?"

"What?"

"If two people are destined to be together, then no matter how many times they separate, they will fall in love again whenever they meet. Don't you agree?"

"Why are we suddenly talking about such profound topics?"

"Are you right?"

"I don't know. Hehe, maybe..."

"Renxuan, I'm so tired right now, I really want to go back to Peach Blossom Island. Would you come with me after we're done?"

"Peach Blossom Island?" Song Xiaomo felt the name sounded familiar, and then laughed, asking, "Do you Koreans also read 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes'? You even brought Huang Yaoshi's Peach Blossom Island here, hehe, interesting..."

Section 103: Chapter Twenty-One: There Will Be Retribution (2)

"I'm serious, I'm not joking!" Meixuan's expression turned serious.

"Perhaps if I died, I would choose that place, but now..."

"Perhaps if I died, I would choose that place, but now..."

"Hmph, I knew you wouldn't agree. You don't love me at all! You've never loved me! Two years have passed, and you still treat me like this! Hehehe...hehehe..." Some emotion within her was reignited, and she suddenly laughed through her tears, her long, disheveled hair trembling with the laughter. Her face was deathly pale, and combined with her current state of alternating laughter and tears, she was truly terrifying.

"Meixuan, I'm not..."

"Enough, Kim In-hyun, stop making excuses! Two years ago, I could tolerate you being bewitched by a Japanese woman; I could also tolerate you being unable to distinguish right from wrong and hurting me; but now, you don't even have the slightest remorse, not even a trace of pity or apology towards me... I've been waiting for you for two years... two years... sob sob..." Her shoulders kept shaking.

"Meixuan, I'm sorry, I can't keep deceiving myself like this! I want to live a normal life. I have parents, good friends, and I want to get married and build a happy family... We're not from the same world. And you, you should go back to where you belong and rest in peace..." Song Xiaomo felt her tone change slightly as she spoke. Was it guilt or fear?

"Do you want to get rid of me?" A sinister laugh came from behind my ear.

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant!"

"Do you know? In this world, only ghost dolls will never abandon me!" Meixuan picked up a ghost doll and said, almost in a mother's tone, "Doll, you see? Mommy has been abandoned again. Mommy is destined to be a wandering ghost! Will you punish these bad people for Mommy?"

After saying that, she blinked, and bright tears streamed down her face again. Song Xiaomo was at a loss, realizing that she had never truly understood the pain in her heart. But she wasn't Jin Renxuan, so what could she do? Was she destined to spend the rest of her life with a ghost?

"Mei-hsuan, don't be like this. I think Kim In-hyun might love you, right?" he comforted her.

"There will be retribution..." She just stared into the air, like a mummy or a wax figure.

Song Xiaomo realized something was wrong with her and called out in her ear, "Meixuan!"

She repeated, "There will be retribution..."

"Meixuan, look at me!"

"There will be retribution..."

At that moment, Song Xiaomo forgot she was a "ghost." He stood up, walked over to her, and placed the back of his hand on her forehead. Her forehead was cool, but there was no sign of fever. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, saying, "Meixuan, I know you've suffered a lot of injustice and pain. Tell me everything, don't be like this!"

"There will be retribution..."

Song Xiaomo lifted her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his, and said, "Meixuan, did you kill those two people at school?" But her thoughts seemed to pass through Song Xiaomo, vaguely landing somewhere, calmly repeating, "There will be retribution..."

"Meixuan, wake up!" Song Xiaomo shook her shoulders hard again.

Suddenly, something fell off Meixuan's face and rolled to the ground.

Song Xiaomo looked up and couldn't help but gasp.

Oh my god, Meixuan's right eye has turned into a sinister black hole, and the eyeball is gone.

"Hehehe...hehehehe...I...look...good...am I...?" She stared at Song Xiaomo with a smile, then her tone suddenly quickened, "Don't think you can escape me!" Her voice was sinister.

Song Xiaomo was stunned by this sudden change, standing there like a stone statue, unable to react for a moment. When she came to her senses, Meixuan had already disappeared.

"There will be retribution..." That sentence kept echoing in his ears.

He turned on the light and saw the eyeball on the ground staring at him. He carefully picked it up and realized it wasn't a human eye, but a dog's. In an instant, he understood: Meixuan's right eye had been damaged by Jin Renxuan with chopsticks, and she must have used this dog's eye as a substitute. Because in the animal kingdom, human and dog eyes are quite similar, many people with visual impairments choose dog eyes as adornment. No wonder he sometimes thought Meixuan's eyes looked strange.

Stepping out of the dark and gloomy villa, Song Xiaomo found that dawn was breaking. The cool morning breeze caressed his face, bringing a sense of returning to the world, but also making him doubt the events that had occurred in the villa, as if they had never happened at all. Those events were like images from another world, like an expired roll of film; you could see faint images on it, but you couldn't make out what was being depicted, whether those characters and stories had ever truly existed.

Section 104: Chapter Twenty-One: There Will Be Retribution (3)

Along the way, Song Xiaomo thought about many things. When she arrived at the school gate and was about to go inside, someone called out from behind, "Xiaomo."

Song Xiaomo turned around and saw He Zhiying. She was stunned for a moment, then ran over with a face full of joy, grabbed He Zhiying's arm tightly, and carefully examined her face: "It feels like a lifetime has passed! Where have you been all this time? Are you alright? Do you know how worried I was about you?"

"Look how nervous you are. I'm perfectly fine now, aren't I?" He Zhiying lowered her head shyly, looking at her green sneakers.

"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back..." Song Xiaomo looked at her, a surge of indescribable excitement welling up inside him. He gripped He Zhiying's hand tightly, a thousand words unspoken in his heart.

"Xiao Mo, you've lost a lot of weight compared to before, and you haven't shaved for days, have you?"

"I'm fine. Tell me, where have you been these past few days?" Song Xiaomo asked anxiously.

"Last year on this day, within this very gate, her face and the peach blossoms reflected each other's rosy hue. But where has that face gone? The peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze!"

"Hehe, haven't seen you for a few days, and you've learned a few lines of classical Chinese poetry?"

He Zhiying giggled and said, "It's nothing, I went back to my hometown, something happened there."

Song Xiaomo didn't pry, but pinched her nose and laughed, "You almost scared me to death! I was really afraid you'd never come back!"

"Do you really care about me?" He Zhiying's voice trembled slightly.

"How could I not care about you? I've always liked you."

"Hehe, it's just that you like it, right?"

He Zhiying's words left Song Xiaomo somewhat at a loss for words.

"Have you fallen in love with another girl? When I wasn't around, were you with her?" He Zhiying asked again.

"How could that be?" Song Xiaomo was startled, thinking: It is said that girls have a strong sixth sense about these kinds of things, and it seems that this is true.