Ge Zhu asked me to go to her house in the evening. After dinner and a few drinks, we went into the studio. She took out a small box from her bag, opened it, and there were ice cubes inside.
"This is the skin of a man, a 17-year-old boy who died in strange circumstances."
I shivered and Ge Zhu glanced at me.
"I'm also quite timid."
“My first time.”
Ge Zhu looked at me and said, "I will make a painting with the skin. The painting is very troublesome. First, I apply glue, which is squeezed out from plants. I make it myself. Before the glue dries up, I stick the skin on. Then I apply nutrient solution, which is blood. Then I leave it for three days. After three days, the skin will come alive and I can proceed to the next step. I have explained it simply step by step, but the rest is very complicated and requires great patience."
I didn't leave that day and was busy until late at night. I slept in another room, which was cleaned up by Ge Zhu for me. I don't know when it was cleaned up.
When I got up in the morning and went to work, Ge Zhu and I entered the site together. The master saw us and left without saying a word. I knew he was very sad.
"We'll go our separate ways from now on."
Ge Zhu nodded.
I invited my master to dinner that day, but he said he didn’t have time. I knew that I had hurt my master.
I went home and played with my son for a while. The distance between us was always two meters, which was the distance between my son and me.
I live at home, and that is my room. My son never comes in, and Yunbai will never come in either. I can't sleep here every day, so I sit in front of the window, looking at the trees and streets outside.
In the morning, I went to work and didn't want to eat at home. My chopsticks were tied with a red rope and there were lines drawn on the bowl. They were exclusively for me. I was disgusted to the extreme, but Yun Bai just didn't suggest leaving. This was something I couldn't understand. If she didn't mention it, I couldn't mention it either. In that era, divorce was a shameful thing.
I'll never understand this.
I carried the corpse into the furnace. Zhao Tie said that he and his girlfriend would treat me to dinner in the evening. I didn't expect that Zhao Tie was in a relationship.
"What does your partner do?"
"Salesperson."
"Does she know what you do?"
Zhao Tie hesitated for a long time and said.
"I just mean the furnace worker who burns things."
I didn't say anything. I could understand what he said.
"My mother said, wait until the rice is cooked before telling her."
I think, in all likelihood, it would be pain, not happiness, and I can't say anything.
I still went to eat. I wanted to take a look at this girl. If she was really not suitable, I would go and talk to Zhao Tie's parents about this matter. It might not be a good thing to make things a fait accompli.
The girl was average looking, but very honest. I couldn't see anything wrong with her, and it seemed like there was nothing wrong with her, so I didn't want to say anything more.
Three days later, I went to Ge Zhu's house to do fingernail painting. I used dozens of knives and dozens of paintbrushes, all very small, and had to use a sleeve. It was a delicate job. That night, the face was completed, and all that was left was to inject the eye fluid into the eyes.
"I'll take this and watch."
This is difficult. The small bottle contains the liquid from the boy’s eyes. It is very little and will not hurt his eyes.
Everything was over, it was daybreak, and we went to work. Today I was sitting there doing nothing, and the manager came in and asked me to go to the office.
"Xiao Zuo, stay away from Ge Zhu. It's embarrassing for your master to spread rumors."
"There's really nothing going on between Ge Zhu and me."
"I believe this, but others don't think so."
"Oh well!"
I think from now on, Ge Zhu and I will stay in that old house and won't be able to appear in public anymore.
When I got home in the evening, Yunbai finally talked to me.
"I want to talk to you."
I didn't want to talk. I really couldn't stand her gloomy face. I didn't owe her anything, and of course she didn't owe me anything.
I sat on the sofa. Now my sitting position is fixed, and the cushion is always a different color.
"I think you should open a crematorium, or I can accept it."
"I'm sorry, I can't leave the crematorium. You know what I'll be like after I leave. The doctor can't explain why it's like this, and I can't explain it either. I'll die if I leave. If you want me to die, I can."
Yun Bai shed tears. I knew she was in pain. She could actually smell the smell of death. I was surprised. Others couldn't smell it, but she could, and it was so strong. Why couldn't she smell it when she was a girl? The master was also a refiner. The strangest thing was that she couldn't smell the smell of death on the master when she went home. I couldn't understand it. I thought, maybe she regretted marrying me? I could only think so. It was like this since I had a child. Why? I couldn't find the reason.
This matter is irreconcilable. I went to live at my father's house. When I miss my son, I come back to see him and play for a while. The eternal two-meter distance makes me painful.
That finger-cap painting was a success. I didn't expect it to be successful. Ge Zhu said that success is not easy and you will fail once in ten times.
When I went there again, she had hung seven paintings on the wall. They were small and delicate, and each one was perfect. She seemed to prefer girls. Except for this painting of a boy, all the paintings were of girls, and each one was more beautiful and lifelike than the other. This was something I had not expected.
"They will all mature and grow old over time, just like us. Decades later, when they die of natural causes, the painting will fade and nothing will exist."
There's something sinister about this.
"Why do I suddenly like this kind of painting?"
"It's hard to say, I just suddenly had such an idea."
Ge Zhu didn't tell me the truth, probably because he didn't want me to know anything. Everyone has secrets, so it's normal not to tell them.
That day, Ge Zhu asked me to kiss her, and I did, because I am a man. But I thought of my master, so I didn't do anything else.
We looked into the boy's eyes and saw someone, not clear.
"It will become clear in a few days. It seems that this boy was really murdered."
Was Ge Zhu doing a good thing or a bad thing? I think it was a good thing, at least the boy died peacefully and his family was comforted.
Liu Xiaojing has been very quiet. I thought she would spend her last days there and would not come to see me, but she came, which reminded me of Bai Jie.
"Please let Bai Jie go!"
"I have the final say in this matter. I will always make you feel pain. I can't do anything to you now. I only have a few days left before I board the corpse ship. That is a road of no return."
"I'm sorry, I really can't do it."
"I love you. I really do."
I was silent. I couldn't accept the love from these two different worlds, and I didn't know what to do.
"When I die, I hope you will burn me and give me a final comfort."
I nodded, feeling sad.
Liu Xiaojing passed away with tears in her eyes. I watched her blankly. Maybe I shouldn't have come to the crematorium in the first place, but I came, and after I came, I couldn't leave.
My father and I were drinking at home, and my father mentioned Liu Xiaojing.
"Actually, you should stay with her for a while."
I was stunned for a moment.
"She only has a few days left."
It seems that Liu Xiaojing has come to see my father. My father has always been against me and Liu Xiaojing getting too close. If this is the case, then I will accompany Liu Xiaojing as if I were accompanying Bai Jie.
"You stay with Liu Xiaojing, maybe she will let Bai Jie go."
I think, maybe, that's for the best.
I asked the manager for a few days off, and I stayed with Liu Xiaojing during those days, hoping to move Liu Xiaojing, release Bai Jie's soul, and make her feel normal again.
I didn't mention Bai Jie's matter, and Liu Xiaojing smiled, even though it had only been a few days.
Liu Xiaojing said to me when we were drinking that day.
"Tomorrow at midnight is the day I leave. I am very happy and glad that you can accompany me. Two hours after I leave, you have to burn me to death."
"But that's Bai Jie's body."
"What was burned was Bai Jie's body, but it was a fake one. I will return Bai Jie's body and her soul. But you need to do one thing, which is to go to No. 5 Xingfu Street. No matter what, you have to go. As for why you have to go, I won't tell you. You will know when the time comes. If you don't go, Bai Jie may not come back."
I'm worried that Liu Xiaojing is lying to me.
"Actually, I have to thank Bai Jie. Without her, you wouldn't be with me. These few days in this life have not been wasted. Thank you."
Liu Xiaojing cried and I wiped her tears. No matter what, we were husband and wife for a lifetime.
I told Master Yunzheng about this.
"Do as Liu Xiaojing says. You have arranged everything."
I arranged everything and asked Zhao Tie to light the stove at midnight and wait.
It was very quiet at night. At the place where Liu Xiaojing lived, the crematorium's corpse truck was waiting.
I didn't know what it felt like to wait for someone to die. Now I know. I am conflicted. I hope Liu Xiaojing doesn't die and Bai Jie comes back, but this is my fate. You can't die even if you don't want to. There is really nothing you can do.
After midnight, I took people up and took out the key. Liu Xiaojing was dressed beautifully and died. My tears fell. I hugged her. No one else was useful. She was so light. A woman who loved me, for love, chased me to this world, why should I give up? I really regret it, but everything is over.
Liu Xiaojing told me to just burn it like this, without putting on any dead body makeup, and that’s all.
I carried him into the refining room, Zhao Tie stood aside, and my tears kept flowing.
"Master..."
"Just get everything ready."
I never imagined that I would burn Liu Xiaojing with my own hands.
Everything went smoothly. Two and a half hours later, the ashes were put into an urn, and I carried them to the Lake Viewing Terrace. This time I actually got in. There was a light on the corpse boat, and I saw it from a distance. The corpse boat was already waiting there. Liu Xiaojing told me not to get on the boat, but to just put the ashes on the Lake Viewing Terrace and leave.
I did everything I was told, and Liu Xiaojing returned to her own world.
When I came back, it was already daybreak. I went to No. 5 Xingfu Street. No. 5 Xingfu Street is a large compound called the Widow's Compound. I was stunned. I had not expected to come here at that time. This was originally where the miners lived. There were a total of thirteen families, an absolutely unlucky number. In a mining accident, all the men from the thirteen families died at once. After they died, only one family lived here. So this place was called the unlucky Xingfu Street. Xingfu Street is not happy.
After the family moved in, they locked the door every day. I picked up the lock and knocked on it, and a woman came out, followed by a child, about seven or eight years old. I was stunned. That was Bai Jie. How could it be Bai Jie
"Bai Jie?"
"Xiao Zuo?"
Bai Jie recognized me and I was stunned.
Bai Jie opened the door, I went in and sat down.
"What's going on?"
"Liu Xiaojing returned my soul and body to me, but I am a widow with a child. Liu Xiaojing's revenge on me is the lightest."
I'm devastated, how could this happen
"Your home..."
"It's as if they knew this a long time ago, as if I have always been like this."
I am a little confused and can't figure it out. Can Liu Xiaojing change her current life? How can she do it? However, Bai Jie knows me and I know that she loves me. (To be continued)