58: Like smoke, old stories; twin souls of sisters

In the evening, the three of them returned to the hotel Lin Wenyuan had booked in Hangzhou.

The room was on a high floor, and outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was the night view of West Lake—Leifeng Pagoda was brightly lit, and the lake surface reflected the city's neon lights. But no one was admiring this beautiful scenery; the atmosphere in the room was as heavy as lead.

Lin Wenyuan was on the phone, using all his connections to investigate leads on "Liu Ruyan."

Zhao Xiaowen was organizing the photos taken today—tombstones, the cemetery, and those blurry archival records.

Li Muchen stood by the window, looking toward Nanshan Cemetery in the night. Chen Shuyi's soul drifted beside him, equally silent.

"Abbot," she suddenly spoke up, "tell me... why did Sister Ruyan marry him?"

Li Muchen didn't look back. "We'll know once we find some clues."

"But I don't understand." Chen Shuyi's voice carried confusion. "Sister Ruyan was smarter and more sensible than me. She said that women should be independent and shouldn't live by relying on men. How could she... how could she marry Chen Shiru?"

"People change."

"But not so completely." Chen Shuyi shook her head. "In the twenty-fifth year of the republic of china, when she dropped out of school, she secretly wrote me a letter. The letter said... she was going to do something very important and told me to wait for her return. But after that, I never received another letter from her."

Li Muchen's heart stirred. "Where is the letter?"

"I don't know." Chen Shuyi gave a bitter smile. "When I left the Girls Middle School, I didn't take anything with me. That letter should still be in the dormitory. It's been ninety years; I'm afraid it turned to ash long ago."

Just then, Lin Wenyuan hung up the phone and walked over with a strange expression.

"I found it." He took a deep breath. "Liu Ruyan... was indeed Chen Shiru's wife. But they didn't marry normally."

"How so?"

"I asked a friend at the archives to look up marriage registration records from the republic of china era—though many are incomplete, the registration record for Liu Ruyan and Chen Shiru is still there."

Lin Wenyuan took out a photo on his phone, showing a yellowed archival page:

"Registration Time: December 3, 25th Year of the republic of china.

Registrants: Chen Shiru, male, 34 years old; Liu Ruyan, female, 19 years old.

Remarks: Special Marriage (Chongxi)."

"Chongxi?" Zhao Xiaowen said in surprise. "What is a 'Chongxi' marriage?"

"It's when someone in the family is seriously ill, and they marry a bride to 'clash' with the bad luck with auspiciousness, hoping the patient will recover," Lin Wenyuan explained. "This was very common in the old days, especially in wealthy families."

"Then... who was Liu Ruyan performing the 'Chongxi' for?"

"For Chen Shiru's mother." Lin Wenyuan flipped to the next photo. "The archival attachment has an explanation: Chen's mother had been bedridden for a long time, and a fortune teller said they needed to marry a woman born in the Gengshen Year for 'Chongxi.' Liu Ruyan happened to be born in the Gengshen Year, and... she was a distant relative of the Chen family. Her family was poor, her father had died early, and her mother was seriously ill. The Chen family promised that if she agreed to the 'Chongxi,' they would pay for her mother's medical treatment."

The room fell into silence.

Chen Shuyi's soul began to tremble violently.

"So... so Sister Ruyan married just to save her mother?" Her voice choked up. "She never told me... she only said she was going to do something important..."

"There's something even more shocking," Lin Wenyuan continued. "My friend also found one more thing—in the twenty-sixth year of the republic of china, which was the autumn Chen Shuyi disappeared, Liu Ruyan returned to Provincial No. 1 Girls Middle School once."

Li Muchen turned his head sharply. "When? The specific time?"

"The archives record: September 20, 26th Year of the republic of china, Liu Ruyan returned to the school as an 'alumna' and stayed in the principal's office for two hours. She left that afternoon, and there are no further records."

September 20th.

The last page of Chen Shuyi's diary had no date, but from the surrounding content, it could be inferred that she must have been imprisoned in late September.

The timing matched.

"What did she go to the school for?" Li Muchen asked.

"I don't know." Lin Wenyuan shook his head. "The archives only recorded the entry and exit times, not the content of the conversation. However..."

He paused. "My friend found a copy of the diary of the principal's daughter at the time—who later became Chen Shiru's first wife. It mentions this incident."

He pulled up a third photo.

The diary was written in fountain pen, with delicate handwriting:

"September 20th, sunny.

Madam Liu visited and spoke of Mr. Chen's past matters. I did not wish to see her, but she knelt and begged, so I had to agree.

She asked if Mr. Chen had any romantic debts at the Girls Middle School; I replied that I didn't know. She suddenly wept, saying a girl had gone missing and suspected it was related to Mr. Chen.

I was startled and pressed for details, but she refused to say more, only asking to check the old archives.

I granted her request; she spent half a day looking through them and left with a deathly pale face.

This matter is suspicious; I should tell Mr. Chen."

The diary entry ended there.

After reading it, Li Muchen had roughly sketched out the scene from back then in his mind:

After Liu Ruyan married into the Chen family, she might have sensed something. She went back to the Girls Middle School to investigate and discovered Chen Shuyi's disappearance, suspecting it was related to Chen Shiru. But she had no evidence, or rather... she didn't dare to look too deeply.

After all, she had married in for 'Chongxi' and held a low status in the Chen family. Meanwhile, Chen Shiru was to marry the principal's daughter, a 'first wife' who could provide him with a future.

She could only remain silent.

"So... Sister Ruyan knew." Chen Shuyi's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. "She knew I was missing, knew it might have been Chen Shiru's doing. But she... she did nothing."

The black energy of the soul began to churn, and resentment rose once again.

This time, it wasn't for Chen Shiru, but for the person she once regarded as an older sister.

Li Muchen raised his hand, injecting True Essence into the thunder-struck wood, and purple light enveloped Chen Shuyi's soul.

"Calm down," he said in a deep voice. "Liu Ruyan might not have hidden it intentionally. She might... have had her own difficulties."

"Difficulties?" Chen Shuyi laughed bitterly. "What kind of difficulty could make her watch me die with her own eyes?"

No one could answer this question.

Ninety years had passed, and all those involved had long since passed away. The truth was buried in the dust of time.

But Li Muchen knew there was still one place that might hold the answer—

Liu Ruyan's grave.

Or rather, Liu Ruyan's soul.

If her soul was still there, if she still had consciousness... "Layman Lin," he turned around, "first thing tomorrow morning, we're going to the cemetery again."

"We're going again?"

"Yes." Li Muchen nodded. "This time, I'm going to 'ask' Liu Ruyan herself."

Early the next morning, as the sky was just beginning to brighten.

The three of them arrived at Nanshan Cemetery again. The old gravekeeper hadn't started work yet, and the cemetery was quiet, with only early birds chirping in the treetops.

Morning mist filled the air, draping a hazy veil over the cemetery.

Li Muchen walked straight to Area C, Row 3, Number 8—Liu Ruyan's grave.

He stood before the monument, not lighting incense or offering worship, but simply looking quietly at the photo on the tombstone.

That gentle woman was smiling quietly in the morning light.

"Abbot, what are you going to do?" Lin Wenyuan asked in a low voice.

"Summon the soul," Li Muchen uttered two words.

Lin Wenyuan's expression changed. "Is... is this appropriate?"

"There's nothing inappropriate about it," Li Muchen said indifferently. "She had words left unsaid in life; she deserves a chance to speak them after death."

He took out three yellow talismans, bit his fingertip, and drew runes with blood.

They weren't Suppression Talismans or Heart-Clearing Talismans, but—Soul-Attracting Talismans.

The talismans were completed, blood-light swirling upon them.

He pasted the three talismans on three positions of the tombstone: top, middle, and bottom.

Then, he sat cross-legged and formed hand seals.

True Essence flowed, and his Spiritual Sense was fully unleashed.

"Liu Ruyan," he called out with his mind, "if your spirit remains, please reveal yourself."

In the cemetery, the wind stopped.

The bird calls stopped too.

All sounds vanished, leaving only an eerie, heart-palpitating silence.

The tombstone began to vibrate slightly.

It wasn't an earthquake, but rather some kind of energy gathering.

Gradually, a faint white light appeared on the surface of the tombstone. Within the white light, a blurry figure slowly coalesced.

She wore a floral cheongsam from the republic of china era, her hair in a simple bun; her face was gentle, and her eyes were sorrowful.

It was exactly the Liu Ruyan from the photo.

But her soul was much fainter than Chen Shuyi's, almost transparent, as if it might dissipate at any moment.

"Who... is calling me?" She slowly opened her eyes, her voice weak.

"It is I," Li Muchen said. "I have come at the request of Chen Shuyi to ask you some things."

Hearing the name "Chen Shuyi," Liu Ruyan's soul shook violently.

"Shuyi... Shuyi is still alive?" Her voice trembled with disbelief.

"She is dead," Li Muchen told her truthfully. "In the twenty-sixth year of the republic of china, she died in the well in the backyard of the Girls Middle School."

Liu Ruyan's soul fluctuated wildly, the white light flickering.

"As expected... it was true..." she murmured. "I knew it... I knew it..."

"What did you know?" Li Muchen asked.

"I knew... Chen Shiru killed her." Liu Ruyan's voice carried deep pain. "That day I returned from the school and questioned him. At first, he denied it, but then I pushed him, and he admitted... admitted Shuyi was pregnant, admitted he had locked her up."

"And then?"

"And then..." Liu Ruyan closed her eyes. "Then he said Shuyi was 'unreasonable' and insisted on keeping the child. He said this would ruin his future, ruin his marriage to the Young Miss of the Zhang family. He said... he had already 'handled' it."

"How did you know Shuyi was dead?"

"I eavesdropped." Liu Ruyan smiled bitterly. "That night, he and the butler were talking in the study. I hid outside the door and heard the butler say, 'The well has been filled, no one will find out.' I... I understood then."

She opened her eyes, and soul-tears fell silently—though soul-tears had no physical form, the sorrow was real.

"I wanted to report it to the authorities, but... but my mother was still being treated at the Chen family's expense. Chen Shiru threatened me, saying if I spoke out, he would stop my mother's medicine. I... I didn't dare."

Chen Shuyi's soul drifted over.

She looked at Liu Ruyan, at this sister she once trusted most, her gaze complex.

"Sister Ruyan," she said softly, "so you... did nothing?"

Liu Ruyan looked up sharply.

Although she couldn't see Chen Shuyi—souls cannot perceive each other without special means—she could feel that familiar aura that made her heart ache.

"Shuyi... is it you?" she asked with a trembling voice.

"It's me." Chen Shuyi drifted in front of the tombstone. "Sister Ruyan, it's been ninety years. I stayed at the bottom of the well for ninety years, and every day I thought, why didn't you come to save me? Why didn't you say even a single word for me?"

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Liu Ruyan's soul almost dispersed. "I am truly sorry... but I really had no choice... my mother..."

"What happened to your mother later?" Li Muchen suddenly asked.

Liu Ruyan was silent for a moment.

"She... passed away three months after I married into the Chen family." Her voice was very low. "The 'Chongxi' didn't work. Chen Shiru's mother also died half a year later. I... in the Chen family, I became a redundant person."

"What happened after that?"

"Later, Chen Shiru married the Young Miss of the Zhang family, and I was driven to the side courtyard." Liu Ruyan said, "He didn't allow me to go out or see anyone. I just stayed in the Chen family like that for over ten years, until... until the war broke out."

She paused. "Chen Shiru went to Chongqing; it was said he secured an official post in the National Government. He took the Young Miss of the Zhang family with him but didn't take me. I was left alone in the old mansion, living on a meager amount of savings."

"And then?"

"Later... after the founding of the country, I heard Chen Shiru had returned, but he soon died of illness." Liu Ruyan's voice calmed down. "His two sons—Wenbin and Wenhao—took me to Hangzhou to spend my old age. They were very good to me, treating me with the filial piety due to a mother. In 1985, I died of illness, and they erected this monument for me."

She looked at the tombstone—even though she was now a soul, she could still "see" her own grave.

"Those two children... are good people. They didn't know what their father had done; they only knew I was a poor, abandoned woman."

Chen Shuyi fell silent.

She looked at Liu Ruyan, at this aged, weak soul, and the resentment in her heart was gradually replaced by a complex emotion.

Did she hate her?

She did.

But did Liu Ruyan really do anything wrong?

She married into the Chen family to save her mother. She discovered the truth but was threatened by her mother's medicine and didn't dare to speak up. She endured cold treatment in the Chen family and was imprisoned for over ten years. Finally, she grew old and died alone.

She was also a victim.

"Sister Ruyan," Chen Shuyi said softly, "I don't hate you anymore."

Liu Ruyan's soul shook.

"Really... no more hate?"

"Yes." Chen Shuyi nodded. "We were both wrong. Wrong because... wrong because of this era, wrong because of those man-eating rules, wrong because of those men who treated women as playthings and tools."

She paused. "But Sister Ruyan, there's one thing I don't understand—why was Chen Shiru cursed after he died? Who cast the curse that he should never be reincarnated?"

Liu Ruyan fell silent.

After a long time, she He then slowly said:

"It was me."

Chen Shuyi was stunned.

Li Muchen also raised an eyebrow.

"You?"

"Yes." Liu Ruyan's voice was very calm, so calm it made one's heart turn cold. "Before he died, I went to see him secretly. He was lying on his sickbed, already incoherent. I asked him, do you still remember Chen Shuyi?"

"What... did he say?"

"He said he remembered." Liu Ruyan smiled, a very cold smile. "He said that ungrateful female student had his child and wanted to force him to marry her. He said he did the right thing, that such a woman should be 'handled.'"

She looked into the void, as if reminiscing about that scene:

"I asked him, do you regret it? He said he didn't. He said if he hadn't 'handled' Chen Shuyi, he wouldn't have been able to marry the Young Miss of the Zhang family and wouldn't have had his future. He said... he said Shuyi deserved to die."

Chen Shuyi's soul began to tremble violently.

"And then?" Li Muchen asked.

"And then..." Liu Ruyan raised her hand—though her soul-hand was transparent, her movements were as if she were performing some ritual. "Then I spent three years learning a secret technique. After he died, I secretly carved cursed runes on his coffin. I wanted him... to never be reincarnated, to suffer in darkness forever, to... atone for his sins forever."

Her voice was very soft, yet every word was like a knife.

"This was my revenge. This was all I could do."

In the cemetery, the morning mist gradually dissipated.

Sunlight spilled onto the tombstone and over the two souls.

One wore a cheongsam, gentle and sorrowful.

One wore a student uniform, youthful yet weathered.

Across ninety years of time, they finally "met" again.

There were no hugs, no bitter weeping.

Only a sigh, and a long-overdue:

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

The wind rose again.

Rustling the leaves in the cemetery.

As if saying:

It's all in the past.

It's all... in the past.