JOS Chapter 127

Dreaming

 

“I will return to Hell, you need not escort me.”

 

The ghosts just stared at his eyes with pupils that emitted golden light, until he closed them, then they came back to their senses.

 

Where was that youthful-faced child from before? Standing in front of them was clearly a tall figure wearing a golden crown, radiating divine majesty like a divine lord.

 

The black robe on his body fluttered in the wind, gathering the two people lying on the ground behind him under his sleeves.

 

They had to crane their necks to see his face clearly.

 

Yama’s voice seemed capable of carrying across ten thousand mountains, deep and resonant like the sound of a bell hammer, exploding beside their ears.

 

“I could take you all back together.”

 

He brought his hands together and blew through the gaps between his fingers. Red fire clouds formed and drifted out.

 

What was most abundant in the underworld? Yin energy. Even though Yama was a divine lord, he was still a divine lord of the netherworld.

 

All the yin energy under heaven was his to command; there was no reason for it to intimidate him.

 

When the red clouds met the yin energy, they began to ignite, instantly setting the entire small path ablaze. Fire dragons crawled toward the distance, and the stone statues, surrounded by flames, transformed into blazing red flowers.

 

The firelight illuminated everything around clearly. Darkness was dispelled, and the vines crawling all over the ground began to retreat, wanting to hide in shadowy places.

 

The female ghost looked up at the night sky, then at her own hands.

 

After the yin energy began to dissipate, she discovered that wisps of black energy were drifting from between her fingers, and her power was flowing out like water through an opened floodgate. The wounds from her death could no longer be concealed by magic power—rotting flesh appeared on her face, half her skull collapsed, and her features became twisted and grotesque.

 

She must have been killed by someone pressing a gun to her face and shooting.

 

The female ghost screamed in terror. “No! No! It can’t be like this! Must kill them!”

 

The ghost lunged toward Yama, extending sharp fingernails, wanting to tear apart his soul. The ghostly wails shook the fierce flames momentarily, leaving only green fire, as if about to be extinguished.

 

The flames on the stone statues transformed into grimacing faces, and she opened her lips wide and shouted:

 

“Die! You all deserve to die!”

 

A flash of lightning struck through Chu Xuanliang’s mind. “Zong Ce?”

 

Jiang Feng extended his left hand, and in his palm lay a Register of Merits and Demerits with worn pages.

 

The register emitted ancient and mysterious divine light, then slowly opened to the middle.

 

In an instant, the ghost that had been only a fist’s distance from Yama froze in mid-air, only able to look at them in disbelief.

 

The Register of Merits and Demerits rustled as it turned, and blood-red names appeared on the yellowed pages. As each page was pressed down, the names flew out from the register and floated in rows above.

 

One ghost looked at the sky and murmured. “My name…”

 

Suddenly, the sky seemed to tear open. Fresh wind from outside blew in.

 

Having burned through that surrounding barrier, the suppressed flames immediately rekindled with the wind, continuing to leap higher and burning even more fiercely.

 

Soon the magical restrictions in all directions were also burned away. Tiny sparks connected with nearby flames, painting a sea of fire.

 

The ghosts screamed and wailed in the untouchable flames, trying to cover their heads and flee. The magic power they had cultivated due to the heavy yin energy was now worthless in the blazing flames, all swept away and scattered in the air.

 

Chu Xuanliang felt no heat, but was still forced back a step by the dazzling light. He raised his hand to block the light above his eyes and, seeing Miumiu and Xiao Xia still lying on the ground, went over to check their condition.

 

Chu Xuanliang patted their faces and tested their breathing. He found their souls were stable, but they just wouldn’t wake up.

 

“What’s wrong with these two?”

 

Jiang Feng said, “They’re dreaming.”

 

Chu Xuanliang sighed helplessly. “How can we wake them up? Where should we take them?”

 

“Send them to the hospital, don’t worry about it. They’ll wake up when the time comes,” Jiang Feng said. “Watch first, let the yin energy in this area burn out completely, so the ghost messengers can come in to arrest souls. This place cannot remain.”

 

They were indeed dreaming, but they themselves didn’t know it.

 

—–

 

Miumiu’s mind was a bit confused. She found herself back home.

 

She stood in front of the main door, reaching to feel for her keys. But she had left in a hurry and hadn’t brought them. So she called out for her mother to come open the door.

 

The auntie next door came out holding a string bean and said, “Why are you only coming back now?”

 

Miumiu: “I’ll come back whenever I want to. Where are they?”

 

The auntie pursed her lips and looked at her. “Your parents are both dead, what’s the use of you coming back now!”

 

Miumiu was stunned, then flew into a rage. “What? Who did you say died? How can your mouth be so foul?”

 

“I said your parents died, who’s cursing anyone!” The auntie craned her neck and shouted loudly, “Your parents died the day before yesterday! Tell me yourself where you went, do you know your own situation? You left without saying a word? How worried your parents were! To find you, they quit their jobs and were going to H Province to inquire about your situation, but they got hit by a car right after leaving home. We called your phone, you didn’t answer a single call, what do you want? What was the point of giving birth to you?”

 

Miumiu’s ears buzzed from the shouting, but she lowered her voice in fear. “What are you talking about?”

 

The auntie put down what she was holding, and once she started talking, she couldn’t stop, continuing to lecture. “I feel sorry for your mother too! Having a daughter who can’t even help handle the funeral arrangements, she worked herself to death for you her whole life, exhausted herself, never got a word from you, and in the end died because of you. Is that enough? Are you finally happy? Child, get it straight, those were your parents! Why can’t you grow up? This time you really got them killed!”

 

“Ahhhh—” Miumiu rushed over to grab her hair, “You’re lying!”

 

“You crazy woman made this mess yourself, who else can you blame!” The woman fought back, “Get some sense! You got your parents killed, who do you expect in this world to treat you this well anymore?”

 

People nearby also came out one after another to break up the fight, but clearly they were taking the other side.

 

She was pushed hard to the ground by someone, falling painfully, her vision blurring.

 

Adult faces looked down at her, their eyes full of contempt. All the faces enlarged and spun before her eyes. Miumiu was suffocated by this atmosphere.

 

“You little troublemaker, what are you hitting for? Who gave you the nerve to hit my wife?”

 

“What are you doing? What kind of decent work are you doing? Running away at such a young age without finishing school, what money have you earned? You only know how to eat, what else can you do besides eating?”

 

Miumiu bit her lip.

 

Someone came out to mediate:

 

“Why are you arguing with the neighbors? Are you stupid? Haven’t you heard that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors? Now that your parents are dead and their bodies are still in the hospital, don’t you need everyone’s help? Let me ask you, do you want us to help you transport your parents’ bodies home? Do you think cars for transporting dead people are so easy to borrow?”

 

Miumiu got up and said, “I don’t need your help! I can call the funeral home!”

 

The man came out to confront her. “Go ahead and call, let me see how much money you have left. Look what you’ve done to your family! If you’re so capable, don’t ask us for help with the funeral either!”

 

Miumiu: “If you won’t help, then don’t help, what are you to me!”

 

The man pulled out a receipt from his pocket and threw it hard at her, his face red with anger. “Pay me back! I paid for your parents’ hospital bills, give me back my money!”

 

Everyone sighed as they pulled them apart.

 

“Sigh, she’s still just a child.”

 

“Don’t push her anymore, where would she get money?”

 

Miumiu indeed had no money and no keys. She picked up the receipt and walked directly to the hospital to confirm her parents’ situation.

 

As she walked, she couldn’t snap out of it. Her chest heaved violently, her eyes wide open, not letting tears fall.

 

What was going on? This wasn’t right. Why did it feel so much like a dream?

 

She really saw her parents in the hospital. Both had been hit beyond recognition. But she could recognize their clothes. Those two sets of clothes had been worn for who knows how many years.

 

Standing in the hospital, at a complete loss. She had no idea how to handle her parents’ funeral arrangements, didn’t know the procedures, didn’t know where to find people, didn’t even know how to find a funeral home.

 

She had no money, not a single extra cent.

 

There were no relatives at home.

 

The medical expenses at the hospital were paid by the neighbors, and several emergency surgeries had been performed before death. She now had a large debt to repay.

 

Miumiu sat in a rest chair, touched her face, and found she had no tears at all at this moment. The panic in her heart far exceeded the sadness of separation.

 

Why? Her parents were clearly dead, but it seemed like just words, without any real feeling. Even though it had really happened, even though she really saw the corpses in front of her, she surprisingly felt no emotion at all.

 

What kind of heartless person was she?

 

Miumiu sorted through their belongings, wanting to see if there were any valuable items. Finally, in their travel bag, she found several bank cards.

 

She went to an ATM first to tentatively enter the password. She got it right on the first try.

 

It was her birthday.

 

Her nose felt a bit sour, but still no great sadness.

 

She knew they loved her. She had always known.

 

After using all the bank cards, she only collected 160,000 yuan. After deducting the debt and handling fees, there was less than 100,000 yuan left.

 

She looked it up online. The money for buying a burial plot, buying a coffin, cremation, and hiring people to help with the funeral and hosting banquets… it was completely insufficient.

 

She felt this wasn’t normal.

 

The two elders were very frugal, usually had almost no major expenses, and had worked for so many years—how could they only have this little savings?

 

She went to the bank to check the transaction records.

 

Line by line, all scattered expenses. Then there were the costs of building a house and buying a car from several years ago.

 

Miumiu was on the verge of collapse.

 

She contacted people from the funeral home to come help, then took the keys she had found and returned home first to search again for any hidden valuables.

 

Miumiu spent an entire night almost turning the whole house upside down, but still found nothing. Finally, in the back side of the bedside table drawer, she discovered an old account book that recorded their expenses line by line.

 

Her father’s salary was about 50,000-60,000 per year, and her mother farmed at home to supplement the household income.

 

In the three years she had been away, the two of them had spent only about 10,000 yuan total. They usually didn’t buy new clothes and rarely ate meat. The vegetables were all grown by themselves. She barely even saw any records of buying medicine. Every yuan and jiao was recorded clearly, down to the smallest amount.

 

The 160,000 yuan was all saved during these three years.

 

The records were very simple and repetitive, and every entry showed their frugality.

 

With this lifestyle, where was the money from before?

 

Miumiu simply started from the beginning, and on the upper part of the book she saw crooked handwriting.

 

Unlike before, it was all her name. Dense and uneven. Many were misspelled or written in pinyin.

 

Written most beautifully was her name.

 

“Miumiu said she wants to change to a new house.”

 

“Miumiu said she wants to buy a car for the family. Must be around 300,000 yuan.”

 

“Miumiu said she wants to buy a 2,000-yuan dress.”

 

“Miumiu’s birthday gift—1,800.”

 

“Birthday gift for Miumiu’s classmate—320.”

 

“School textbook fees.”

 

“Miumiu’s cream.”

 

“Buying shrimp and meat…”

 

When she reached a certain page, Miumiu looked at the date and suddenly stopped.

 

She hesitated for a moment, then turned the page.

 

“Miumiu wants to transfer schools. But there’s no money.”

 

In the bottom right corner of the page, six characters were written.

 

“Miumiu left.”

 

“Put 30,000 yuan into Miumiu’s card. What will she do?”

 

She turned another page, and messy handwriting read:

 

“Mom misses you so much.”

 

She took a deep breath, but still couldn’t control herself. Trembling, she continued turning pages.

 

“We’re saving money. Please come back soon.”

 

After that, there were no emotional statements, just the simple account records she had seen at the beginning.

 

They didn’t write anything, but Miumiu seemed to see it all.

 

She saw them sitting in the corner of the room waiting for her to come back.

 

She saw them holding chopsticks eating the simplest food.

 

She saw them enduring illness, lying in bed tossing and turning.

 

She personally witnessed herself cutting a wound in their hearts.

 

Was she really such a despicable person?

 

Biting her lip hard, tears still burst from her eyes.

 

“I came back…” Miumiu touched the corner of the page and sobbed, “Mom, Dad… look, I came back… look at me…”

 

When she was small, she didn’t understand. She never realized that what the teacher once said, “children wanting to care for parents but parents no longer being there,” contained such a sorrowful emotion.

 

To handle this funeral, she researched a lot online, did a lot of preparation, and ran to many places.

 

She thought the final funeral arrangements were the only way she could compensate her parents.

 

In the end, it still concluded hastily.

 

She learned to speak softly in various places, learned to bow and scrape. She learned that she was worthless, learned about the cold hardships of human society, learned that others’ help couldn’t be demanded willfully.

 

They were right. There would never be anyone in the world who would love her like they did.

 

After the funeral, she and the house together had only about 1,000 yuan left. She needed to find work.

 

The people nearby looked down on her somewhat. Without education, she couldn’t apply for suitable positions. She wanted to leave this place, but couldn’t even afford rent.

 

Her life was truly young and embarrassingly shabby.

 

Coming back from an interview outside, she made instant noodles and just settled for that.

 

Miumiu took a bite and really couldn’t eat anymore. Maybe she was too hungry, or maybe eating had ruined her stomach.

 

She carried the bowl and chopsticks to the sink, and was about to pour it out when she seemed to hear a voice she had heard thousands of times before.

 

“Making money is not easy, Mom and Dad work very hard. Listen to us, study well, live well, don’t be so impractical. Our money is also saved cent by cent, how can you be so inconsiderate? What will you do when you get married? “

 

“Sigh, if you’re not eating, give it to me, don’t waste it like this.”

 

She slowly turned around, but there was no one beside her. No one came to take her bowl.

 

Miumiu pulled her hands back, brought the bowl to her mouth, and shoveled noodles into her mouth in big bites.

 

Tears flowed into the noodles, and she only tasted sour sweetness. It stuck in her throat and wouldn’t go down, and finally she vomited it all out.

 

“Mom, I haven’t grown up yet…” Miumiu slid down the sink to the floor, crying uncontrollably. “Can you come back if I admit my mistakes? I’ll listen well from now on, please come back, I miss you so much too…”

 

When people make mistakes, they never feel regret. Because they think they can bear the consequences. Only when facing tragic circumstances in the future do they realize what kind of remorse that is.

 

But regret—it can’t change anything.