Lei Qingyi reached out and pointed a finger at Lu Yi, as though he had seen a ghost. And what could it be, if not the ghost of a man two years dead? They had even cleaned his tomb and burned him hell money during Qingming Festival, the New Year, and the October Ghost Festival every year.
How did he come back alive, if he was alive in the first place?
“Your son?” asked Lu Yi as he took Little Lei into his arms. He had mistaken the child as Lei Qingyi at first and thought that he had gone back in time. Looks like he was over thinking things.
But it would appear that he had lost more of his memories than he had expected, he realized. He wasn’t even aware that Lei Qingyi had a son of this age.
Lei Qingyi nodded dully, then reached out and prodded Lu Yi’s face with a finger.
“You are…warm?”
Disbelievingly, he jammed his finger into his face once more. Still warm. When he was about to go for it the third time, Lu Yi slapped his hand away.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“No,” said Lei Qingyi as he quickly withdrew his finger. He was warm, and the pain on the back of his hand was real. Firstly, he wasn’t a ghost, and secondly, it wasn’t a dream.
Lu Yi shoved the child into Lei Qingyi’s arms.
“Carry your son properly. What kind of father loses their own child?”
Lei Qingyi quickly did as he was told. Thinking back to the events that had just transpired, he broke out in cold sweat from the shock, but it wasn’t as bad as when he first saw him. Seeing a person who had been dead for two years strolling back to his house was horrifying, even to him.
Lu Yi wheeled round and continued pushing the wheelchair inside.
“You…” Lei Qingyi quickly pulled him back. “Are you just gonna go in like this?” And who is she? He hadn’t even had the chance to ask that yet.
“Why can’t I go in like this?” retorted Lu Yi, raising an eye. This was his house, so why couldn’t he go in?
“What I mean is…” Lei Qingyi was usually a slick talker with a nasty tongue, but right now he found himself tongue-tied. He didn’t know how to explain it to him.
The circumstances were too extraordinary after all.
“How about I give everyone a heads-up first? I mean, you have been dead for two years. We even raised a tomb for you. For the past two years, we have gone there every year to clean your tombstone.”
Lu Yi paused in his tracks.
As he had imagined, he was pronounced dead.
But the pause had only been brief before he continued his advancement.
“You…” Lei Qingyi wasn’t done yet. “Shouldn’t you give them some mental preparations?”
“Does it make a difference whether you tell them beforehand?” asked Lu Yi. Was there a difference between seeing him alive and hearing about him being alive?
Lei Qingyi shook his head. “I suppose not.”
Lu Yi had already pushed the door open and was making his way in.
Inside, Madam Lei was watching the television while chatting with Ye Shuyun. Over the past two years, Ye Shuyun’s mood had been improving gradually. She had accepted the loss of her son.
Plus, they still had Yan Huan, who was even more filial than a real daughter and always kept them on her mind no matter where she went. For Lu Jin, she searched up and down for antiques. For Ye Shuyun, she picked out jewelry that would please her. She had kept at it for the past two years. Material gifts might not mean everything, but it was enough to prove her sincerity.
She had told them that she would be back soon, and that she had adjusted her mindset properly. She planned to put an end to her acting career so as to spend more time with the old couple. To be honest, Ye Shuyun felt sorry for her and wanted her to get into another marriage. She had only been 24 when Lu Yi died, and merely 26 now. Does she mean to abandon a whole life that awaited her?
On the television was the newest drama with actors she liked, but she couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
How good would it be if Lu Yi was still alive? She might even have a grandson by now. But what was the point of thinking about such things? All that was left for her to do was to accept reality and move on.
Her eyes were on the television, but her mind had drifted elsewhere. That was until she heard Madam Lei’s scream. She snapped out of her stupor.
“What is it?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. “What are you screaming about? A mouse?”
“Ghost…” muttered Madam Lei, pointing outside. “There’s a ghost…”
“A ghost?” asked Ye Shuyun, her eyes following the direction she was pointing at.
Pa! The remote controller in her hand fell to the ground and broke into pieces, almost like her wounded heart that had never truly recovered.
She staggered forward.
“Son. My son,” she said as she gripped his shoulders. They were warm. She then touched his face. That was warm too.
Suddenly, she broke into tears.
“Is that you, Lu Yi? Have you come back?”
“It’s me, Mom,” said Lu Yi, patting her shoulders gently. His appearance had been a strange thing; no one would believe that a person who had been dead for two years would suddenly come back to life. Yet there he was, living and breathing.
“I’m still alive, Mom,” he said with a soft sigh. It was real. He was alive.
Sun Yuhan was still sitting unintelligibly in her wheelchair. Their reunion was an awkward situation for her to be in. So this is Jiu Yue’s mother… and her future mother-in-law?
She was so young. And look at all the jewelry on her. They were most likely authentic too. She had not yet forgotten about Jiu Yue’s blue sapphire ring that had fetched her 1.2 million dollars. The woman’s diamond ring, necklace, earrings, and clothes all seemed costly and exquisite.
On the other hand, Ye Shuyun was done crying. What was there to cry about? She caressed her son’s cheeks with a quivering finger. “It’s a joyous event. A joyous event.”
This was no different from going from hell to heaven.
Was there anything else in this world that was more shocking and more rousing?
“Quick, Qingyi, call everyone. Tell them Lu Yi had returned. Tell them my son had come back,” she instructed Lei Qingyi. She wanted the world to know that her son was still alive. Her son did not die.
Her hand was still tightly wrapped around Lu Yi’s, fearing that it was all a dream and that she would wake up to a cold tombstone instead of her son.
“I’m on it,” said Lei Qingyi, pushing his son to Madam Lei, who was still
stupefied. Little Lei might have been the only one who kept his cool.
He continued toying with his little fingers, unsure about why his granny was crying. Even he never cried anymore, he thought. Granny ought to learn something from him.
“I’m bringing her to the bedroom to rest, Mom. I’ll explain later.”
