Chapter 4: The Path of Yin and Yang

  "Yu Ci, can you hear me?"

  "Jade porcelain, jade porcelain, I'm here!"

  “……”

  No matter how I called out, no matter how hard I tried to push her, she didn't have any reaction. Feeling suffocated, disappointed and desperate drove me crazy, but my furious outburst was meaningless, she couldn't feel my existence at all.

  I sat on the edge of the bed for a while, then walked back and forth, my mind was extremely chaotic, I didn't know what to do, and at the same time, I was afraid that Liu Yiming would harm her. In my current state, if an enemy came, I couldn't do anything, I couldn't protect Yu Ci.

  Song Yuqi flipped through the album to the last page, closed the book, reached out and took her phone to take a look: "Wow, it's already past 11 o'clock, why hasn't he come back yet?"

  She was pressing on her phone, I looked over and it was just a bright screen, couldn't see the content. The words on the phone had no thoughts, no separate energy, I couldn't sense them, but I could feel her anxiety and concern.

  After sending a message, Song Yuci threw her phone on the headboard, smoothed out her hair, and shook it slightly to dry it faster. After shaking for a while, she let out a soft sigh: "Alas, it's all my mom's fault, being so materialistic and putting too much pressure on him. If only he treated me well, wouldn't I be happy?"

  I've lost my heart, but I still feel the ache in it. She was so good to me, she's beautiful, from a good family, knowledgeable and reasonable, gentle and kind, without any spoiled princess attitude. This is the blessing of who-knows-how-many lifetimes, we should have been a perfect couple, but now we're like strangers under the same sky, unable to communicate even when close together. Heaven, why must it be this way for me?

  I suddenly remembered a few lines of popular songs: …… I begged in front of the Buddha for thousands of years, willing to exchange several lifetimes for our one lifetime of emotional connection, hoping to move heaven. Can we still meet again? I begged in front of the Buddha for thousands of years, before I stepped on this Naihe Bridge, let me kiss your face again...

  I am willing, I am willing to trade several lifetimes for a lifetime of emotional connection, willing to suffer for thousands of years in exchange for holding her hand once again. If there are really gods and goddesses in heaven, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Jade Emperor, Buddha, Jesus Christ, please fulfill my wish!

  I knelt down to pray, with great longing, but after waiting for a long time, there was no god or Buddha riding on auspicious clouds and descending from the sky with radiant light. There was only a world that I couldn't touch, without temperature. No immortal would pity me, I had done evil things, my hands were stained with fresh blood, it's already good that I wasn't thrown into hell, who else would come to save me?

  Song Yuqi picked up her phone and pressed a few buttons, probably trying to dial my number, but ultimately didn't make the call. She knew I wasn't coming back because I was in surgery, and you can't answer calls during surgery. After repeating this process several times, she sent another message, then put down her phone, turned off the big light, and went to bed.

  Her expression was serene, with a smooth and delicate face, long eyelashes that were separate and distinct, a straight and elegant nose, and lips that were red and sensual. Looking at her made me feel soft... I stared blankly at her peaceful and beautiful face, suddenly feeling infinite tenderness, only wanting to stay here forever, until the end of time; suddenly hating heaven and earth, hating Liu Yiming to the extreme, all of this was caused by him; suddenly worried and heartbroken, afraid that she would be very sad if she found out I died, afraid that Liu Yiming would harm her.

  I can confirm that I'm already dead, but my current situation is nothing like the ghost stories I've heard since childhood. There's no heaven or hell, no Western Pure Land, no Ox-Headed Horse-Faced Judge, and no Meng Po's Soup. And unlike the vengeful spirits of legend, I'm unable to exact revenge on my enemies. I can't do anything at all. What's going on here? As long as I can kill that scum Liu Yi Ming and prevent Yu Ci from getting hurt, I'll do whatever it takes, no matter the cost.

  I have no sense of time, and before I knew it, the sky was bright. Yu Ci woke up to find no one beside her, hastily picked up her phone to check. She obviously didn't get the message she wanted, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, with a hint of worry and confusion, and dialed my number decisively, but no one answered. She dialed again, still no one answered, and her brow furrowed even tighter, her face full of worry. Then she hastily washed up, changed clothes, went downstairs to the parking lot, got in the car and rushed straight to the hospital.

  I was following her, sitting next to her, but she had no idea. Before long, we arrived at the hospital, where the person on duty hadn't finished their shift yet and there were few patients. She asked my colleague about me, and my colleague said I hadn't performed any surgery the night before and wasn't on duty, so they didn't know where I'd gone. My colleague tried calling my phone number, but it was turned off at the time. They comforted Yuzhen by saying that I might have gone out with friends to have fun and gotten drunk, and my phone had run out of battery, but I would definitely show up when work started.

  Yu Ce is aware of me, knowing that I won't deceive her by working overtime and sneaking out to have fun. She's extremely anxious. She calls my family members, but there's no news about me. Then she dials one phone number after another from her mobile phone, still without any news. On the side, I watch her being anxious and distressed, yet unable to communicate with her. My heart aches to the extreme, along with an indescribable sense of helplessness and sorrow.

  Yu Cai sat on the chair at my office door, waiting. The doctors and nurses who were on duty yesterday arrived one after another, and she asked each of them. Liu Yi Ming also came today, pretending to be surprised and saying: "I don't know either, I didn't arrange for him to work overtime last night, and when he got off work, I saw him leave."

  "But he told me he had to work overtime and didn't come home all night," Yu Ci said with a worried face.

  Liu Yiming smiled and said, "A big man like him can't get lost, right? Don't worry, he must have gone out to play with some friends and will be back soon. Think about it, was there anything unusual about him yesterday afternoon, such as a bad mood, arguing with someone, or wanting to do something?"

  Jade shook her head firmly: "No, except for telling me to work overtime in the evening and asking me to take care of my own dinner, nothing else was said, there's no unusual place."

  Liu Yiming's expression didn't change, but I could sense that he felt a slight relief in his heart. He was trying to probe whether Song Yuci knew about the recording or not. Fortunately, Yuci answered like this, and there is no danger for now. But the audio file in my email is like a time bomb, she will find it sooner or later, and then I'll be in mortal danger.

  Liu Yiming said, "Yesterday when he went to work, he was very normal and didn't say anything to me. Don't worry for now, go home and wait, leave a phone number with me, and I'll notify you as soon as I see him. Little Zhao is a good comrade, even if he goes out to play, he won't do anything reckless, don't worry, haha..."

  Song Yuqi forced a smile, probably feeling that she was too anxious and a bit embarrassed, left her phone number and said goodbye to Liu Yiming. On the way out, she met doctors and nurses who asked if they had seen me, and she was still very worried.

  A nurse at the inquiry desk in the hall told her that she saw me walking out when I got off work yesterday, but didn't know where I went. Yu Ci confirmed that I was no longer in the hospital and quickly walked towards the outer gate.

  I suddenly thought that she was temporarily out of danger, and I didn't need to follow her closely anymore. Instead, I should focus on Liu Yiming, see who he sent to monitor Yu Ci, and what other sinister plots he had. As long as there was even a slight opportunity, I would kill him, this would fundamentally solve the problem.

  I returned to Liu Yiming's office, he had already put on his white coat and was holding a pen and notebook to make rounds. I followed him to the inpatient department, passing by a ward when cries came from inside, and several family members of patients were wiping away tears at the door. I took a glance inside, just as an old woman sat up from her bed, floated down to the ground, but her body was still lying on the bed.

  Isn't this... isn't this the same situation as mine? I suddenly felt less lonely and hastily went over: "Hello, elderly lady."

  The old woman looked at me with a puzzled expression, then turned her head to look at the body on the bed, her face bewildered, her mind asking: "What's going on?"

  "You're already dead, your soul has left your body, and I'm just like you."

  "Ah......" The old woman stood there in a daze.

  I was just thinking of communicating with her again, discussing some insights on being a ghost, when there was a strange change, and I didn't know where it came from, but a soft and bright light appeared, illuminating all the places around me, making me feel warm and comfortable for the first time after becoming a ghost. Two people appeared in the light, I couldn't see their faces, only knowing they were two people, they were saying something to the old woman.

  Their conversation was actually a kind of mental exchange, I couldn't understand it, all I saw was the old woman looking very happy, nodding repeatedly, and then following the two people out. The soft and bright light disappeared quickly. The ward was still the ward, seven or eight people were surrounding the deceased elderly man, everything that just happened occurred in this room, but had no impact on anyone, it was as if it happened in another world.

  I'm shocked, I don't know what happened, that old lady was taken away by some "person", where did they take her? I also died, why didn't anyone come to pick me up? Is it that even ghosts have gender discrimination, females get picked up but males don't?

  I didn't believe in ghosts, but now I've become one. So do heaven and hell exist? The white light just now was bright and warm, maybe it's a messenger from heaven who took the old lady away. And me, I used to be kind-hearted, but I did bad things, so neither heaven nor hell will take me in?

  Hú thought for a moment, I think it doesn't matter if no one picks me up, I don't want to leave Sòng Yùcí, not killing Liú Yīmíng can't dispel the hatred in my heart, even if someone comes to pick me up, I won't go.

  Liu Yiming has already disappeared, I continue to move forward. As I passed by the outside of the bathroom, a young woman walked in front of me, her eyes were dull and confused, her hair was disheveled, she was wearing a hospital gown, from her abdomen to her thighs were covered with fresh blood, her expression was dull and numb.

  How can someone covered in blood run around everywhere? I focused my mind and took a "look", discovering that she wasn't human, nor was she the same as me or the old granny from earlier. She had a more "solid" feeling to her, and her body emitted a faintly cold aura, causing the air to ripple slightly as she moved.