Chapter 28: Return of the Soul 08

  Xie Zhe had just finished putting away the books that were placed in the wrong position, and was walking along the passageway between the reading area and the bookshelves towards the bar when he suddenly heard a clear ringing sound coming from the bell on the bar. Xie Zhe's footsteps paused for a moment, then he walked around the bookshelf to look down the passageway leading to the entrance of the bar, and that was when he saw Xiao Rong.

  "Welcome, beautiful lady." Xie Zhe made an exaggerated inviting gesture towards Xiao Rong.

  Xiao Rong wore a white long down jacket, with half of her face buried in the scarf. Seeing Xie Zhe walking out from behind the bookshelf and making funny faces at her, she pulled down the scarf and smiled at him.

  Xiao Rong looked pale and thin, the paleness on her face was still there, but she seemed a bit more spirited than a few days ago, the smile on her face didn't seem as forced.

  "What would you like to drink?" Shen Wei asked aloud as Xiao Rong walked up to the bar.

  "It's still the same as before." Xiao Rong replied.

  "Cappuccino?"

  "Uh-huh."

  After finishing her coffee, Xiao Rong walked towards Qin Fei's exclusive seat.

  Xiao Rong used to choose a card seat not far from Qin Fei's position when she came to the bookstore. She would sit alone, reading or daydreaming. However, today she didn't want to sit alone. After asking for Qin Fei's consent, she sat down opposite him.

  Qin Fei nodded slightly towards Li Cheng, who was floating beside Xiao Rong, and then turned his gaze to Xiao Rong, "Want to read a book? I'll help you get it."

  Xiao Rong shook her head, propping up her chin with both hands, and looked at Qin Fei: "No need, I just couldn't calm down at home so I came here. Then I wanted to see you reading, your expression when reading always gives people a particularly calming feeling."

  Qin Fei smiled and said, "I have such an effect?"

  "Really!" Xiao Rong said, pausing for a moment, "Actually, I came to find you for another thing... are you free on Christmas?"

  Today is December 19th, Christmas is in 5 days. Qin Fei thought for a moment, recently he didn't have anything important to do. On Christmas Day, the bookstore might be busier than usual, but He Shidong will come over to help out part-time, and with three people they should be able to handle it.

  "That day I had nothing to do," said Qin Fei.

  "Can you go out with us on Christmas Day?"

  The "we" in Xiaorong's mouth refers to her and Li Cheng.

  This year, Li Cheng couldn't come back to accompany her on the Double Seventh Festival as promised, so he made a new promise with her to return on Christmas and take her to stroll through the night market in S city from start to finish, reliving the dating feeling they had before getting married.

  But for Xiao Rong, whether the promise was fulfilled or not didn't matter. When she heard Li Cheng make this promise, she was already happy enough. Moreover, being able to marry Li Cheng, Xiao Rong felt that it was the greatest happiness in the world and she didn't want anything more. She just wanted to be with Li Cheng for a lifetime.

  However, Li Cheng remembered that appointment firmly in his heart and never let go until he died.

  Xie Zhe walked over with the coffee made by Shen Wei and placed it in front of Xiao Rong, seeing that she was talking to Qin Fei and seemed not to want to be overheard, so he put down the coffee and left.

  Xiao Rong covered her hands with the coffee cup, looking down at the foam in the cup and continued: "Ah Cheng's situation is that ordinary people can't see him, so I think you follow us, even if it's just one person, I also hope someone can see him, to prove that he fulfilled his promise to his wife."

  "I know, I'll go." Qin Fei agreed, and at this point, he couldn't not agree. After Christmas, Li Cheng would probably really leave...

  Xiao Rong took a sip of coffee, looked up at Qin Fei and asked: "If I don't fulfill this promise with Ah Cheng, will Ah Cheng... will he not leave?"

  "Rong Jie, this is not beneficial for you and your husband, you should know that." Qin Fei's expression turned somewhat serious.

  Zhang Zhixin once said that Li Cheng's soul was weak and needed to attach itself to Xiao Rong, which would cause Xiao Rong to be affected by the ghostly energy. Moreover, staying in the mortal world for a long time is not good for Li Cheng's ghost state. The predictable outcome can only be two - disappearance or transformation into a fierce ghost, neither of which will be a pleasant situation.

  Xiao Rong lowered her eyelids again, and her drooping eyelashes trembled slightly as she said in a low voice: "Yes... that's not okay, can't do it that way..."

  On Christmas Day, Qin Fei waited for Xiao Rong at the agreed night market street entrance. At 7 o'clock in the evening, Xiao Rong appeared punctually at the agreed time.

  Tonight, Xiao Rong put on makeup and her pale face looked a bit better. After Qin Fei greeted Xiao Rong, his eyes fell on Li Cheng who was floating beside Xiao Rong. Li Cheng had a warm smile on his face and nodded at Qin Fei as a greeting. However, Qin Fei did not respond to Li Cheng's greeting and stared straight at him with a dazed expression.

  It's unclear if it was his misconception, but Li Cheng... seemed to have become much more transparent than when he first saw him.

  "What are you spacing out for!" Xiao Rong stretched out her hand and waved it in front of Qin Fei's eyes, "I'm going to the night market with Ah Cheng, there are a lot of people tonight, don't get lost."

  "Got it, I won't get lost."

  The night market is a place where you can eat and play to your heart's content, and there are always many people strolling around. Tonight, on this special day, the crowd at the night market has grown even larger, with groups of friends and couples everywhere, creating an extremely lively atmosphere.

  Xiao Rong wove through the crowds, strolling past shop after shop, Li Cheng closely following behind her, his eyes filled with tenderness as he gazed at her, just like all couples in the midst of a passionate love affair. Only, this couple couldn't openly display their affection to those around them; in the eyes of ordinary people, they only saw Xiao Rong alone...

  Qin Fei followed Xiao Rong and the others at a distance, weaving through the crowd. As they passed by a milk tea shop, he suddenly felt an uncomfortable gaze on him.

  Qin Fei Min|He turned his head to look, and saw a young man. The man had a rare head of jet-black long hair, tied with a silver hair ring in a loose bun, the braids hanging down his back. But the person was facing away from him, and didn't seem like the owner of that line of sight he felt.

  It was obviously not a realistic thing to find the person who had been staring at him among so many people. After Qin Fei scanned his gaze around, he gave up and followed Xiao Rong, who was about to disappear from view.

  It was almost nine o'clock when Xiao Rong finally reached the end of the night market. At the far end of the night market, after crossing the road, was the S City Plaza. Xiao Rong stopped in front of the fountain at the plaza, turned around and ran towards Qin Fei who was standing not far away, shoving his phone into Qin Fei's hand.

  "Can you help us take a photo? When Ah Cheng and I first came to this city, we also took photos here."

  "Good." Qin Fei took over Xiao Rong's mobile phone and opened the camera function.

  Xiao Rong ran back, standing by the fountain, making a gesture as if she was holding someone. Qin Fei saw Li Cheng stretch out his almost invisible arm from the gap in Xiao Rong's armpit, just like he was being held by her.

  Qin Fei picked up his mobile phone and pressed the shutter button.

  A photo was left on the phone screen, with only Xiao Rong in it, making a gesture of holding someone's arm.

  When Qin Fei finished taking the photo and looked at Xiao Rong again, Li Cheng's half-transparent figure that was originally beside Xiao Rong had disappeared. Xiao Rong still maintained the pose of holding someone's arm, with a smile on her face from when the photo was taken. Qin Fei looked at Xiao Rong, wanting to tell her that Li Cheng had left, but he opened his mouth and couldn't say anything.

  After a while, Xiao Rong's smile on his face gradually converged, standing quietly in front of the fountain.

  "Has Ah Cheng left?"

  "Uh-huh."

  Xiao Rong slowly squatted down, her hands clasped around her knees, and buried her face in them. The sound of suppressed sobbing rose intermittently, but before it could travel far, it was already swallowed up by the cold wind.

  Xiao Rong crouched in front of the fountain and cried for a long time, until snowflakes floated in the sky, before getting up and being sent home by Qin Fei who had been waiting for her all along.

  The day after Christmas, the streets were covered with a layer of snow, not thick but looking white and having a winter flavor.

  At 8:30 in the morning, Weicheng Bookstore had just opened its doors when Qin Fei saw Xiao Rong pushing the door open with her luggage. She was here to bid farewell as she would be leaving the city.

  "Everything will be alright!" Xiao Rong said to Qin Fei as she left.

  Although her eyes were still red and swollen from crying, and the sadness in her eyes had not dissipated, she seemed to be able to continue on alone.

  Not long after saying goodbye to Xiao Rong, Qin Fei's mobile phone rang.

  "Hello, may I ask if you are Qin Fei?" came a gentle female voice from the other end of the phone.

  "Who am I? Who are you?" Qin Fei asked.

  "This is the Third Hospital of H City. Mr. Zhang Zhixin was admitted in a coma. We checked his phone's contact list, but we couldn't reach any of his family members. The person who sent him here asked us to contact you."