Chapter 6 The Girl Keeping Vigil
There were still some people in the folk custom shop, they should be Old Deng’s relatives or friends.
They were gathered around the hall, and from their actions, it seemed they were helping with the funeral rites.
When Liu Haoyu entered the hall, a short-haired young girl walked over angrily.
“Hey! Where were you last night? Your phone was unreachable, and you didn’t reply to my texts!”
This person was Bai Anting, who had witnessed what happened last night. She was extremely angry that Liu Haoyu was not present.
Facing Bai Anting’s questioning, the latter opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn’t.
Fortunately, Qin Liu explained for Liu Haoyu.
“He went to Lingnan Town to catch ghosts last night, a very strong fierce ghost.”
But upon hearing this, Bai Anting became even more upset.
“Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts! You caught so many, and now a ghost is robbing the house! And you ran so far away to catch ghosts!”
Bai Anting was quite tomboyish, so she was very loyal and righteous. Liu Haoyu understood this and didn’t get angry at her, he just patiently asked.
“Can you tell me what happened last night?”
“…Tsk…”
Bai Anting clicked her tongue, then roughly explained so that Liu Haoyu could understand what had happened here.
“If it wasn’t for that mysterious netizen asking me to help watch the place, White Impermanence wouldn’t have found this place either!”
“Uh, this…” Although Liu Haoyu remained silent, Qin Liu pointed at Liu Haoyu and said, “The mysterious netizen you’re talking about is him.”
“Huh?”
This stunned Bai Anting.
“Since you knew what would happen here, why didn’t you come?”
“…”
Liu Haoyu couldn’t explain.
No matter how strong he was, he was still just one person. He couldn’t take care of everything.
“Forget it…”
Seeing Liu Haoyu’s silent demeanor, Bai Anting stopped questioning him and turned to say.
“Ever since Deng Xiaolin woke up, she’s been keeping vigil here, from two in the morning until now.”
“For a full ten hours, she hasn’t moved.”
“I bought her breakfast and advised her to eat something, but she refused to eat anything.”
“She even fainted just now. We finally managed to wake her up, and then she started kneeling here again.”
“Sigh… Go and persuade her.”
After speaking, Bai Anting turned to get busy.
Liu Haoyu looked at Deng Xiaolin, who was kneeling on the ground, and felt a little more at ease. He walked over and asked.
“Have you eaten?”
Deng Xiaolin’s dry lips parted, and she spoke in a barely audible voice.
“No…”
Seeing her like this, Liu Haoyu didn’t say much more, he just took a bottle of water from his backpack and offered it to her.
“Have some.”
The people around left one after another, and soon only Deng Xiaolin, Liu Haoyu, and Bai Anting were left in the folk custom shop.
Liu Haoyu handed the water to Deng Xiaolin, and then walked towards the center of the hall.
The ground was covered with white paper money, and in the middle of the memorial tablet were many white wreaths. Judging by the inscriptions, most of them were from people Deng Lao had saved in the past.
Walking around the paper money on the ground, Liu Haoyu gently walked to Deng Lao’s coffin. He placed his hand on it, without saying anything.
The heaviness and sadness turned all the words in his heart into a sigh.
“I’m sorry…”
Qin Liu stood behind him, remaining silent, just watching his back.
Deng Xiaolin also walked over at this moment.
She was very quiet, in stark contrast to her usual playful demeanor. This was the first time Qin Liu had seen this optimistic and cheerful girl with such an expression.
As Deng Lao had said, she had lost everything…
Her swollen eyes from crying looked so pitiful and sympathetic.
Qin Liu quietly walked over and placed her hand on Deng Xiaolin’s shoulder.
The young girl flinched slightly, turned to see Qin Liu, and then lowered her head.
She wouldn’t blame anyone else; it was all her own fault.
If she hadn’t wanted to be a ghost exorcist, she wouldn’t have caused her only relative to die in front of her…
“I saw Deng Lao.”
Qin Liu said faintly, her tone as soft and gentle as possible to avoid any drastic emotional changes in Deng Xiaolin.
“He told me not to blame yourself, this is not your fault.”
“But…”
Deng Xiaolin wanted to say something, but she felt the warmth gradually transmitted from Qin Liu’s hand.
The conversation between Deng Lao and Qin Liu was conveyed to Deng Xiaolin’s heart, word for word.
After listening to Deng Lao’s instructions, Deng Xiaolin lowered her head even further.
The faint sobbing was heartbreaking.
Qin Liu sighed, took off Liu Haoyu’s coat, and draped it over Deng Xiaolin.
It was already autumn. When she touched Deng Xiaolin’s shoulder just now, she could feel her icy coldness. If she didn’t take proper measures to keep warm, her body would be in trouble.
After draping the coat on her, Qin Liu ignored Deng Xiaolin’s dazed and numb gaze and instead looked at the photo in front of her.
The candlelight on the altar flickered constantly.
As the wind blew, paper money would occasionally float down from under the eaves, falling in front of the three of them.
Seeing that the incense in the censer was almost burned out, Liu Haoyu went up to light another one.
He watched Deng Xiaolin tightly grip the coat draped over her, and then he handed over his own vest as well.
“It’s exceptionally cold today. Wear more clothes.”
The care and warmth from the two made Deng Xiaolin shed tears again. She kept wiping her cheeks, but couldn’t stop them. In the end, she could only give up struggling and threw herself into Liu Haoyu’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Liu Haoyu looked up at Qin Liu, only to find that the little ghost generously waved her hand.
After an unknown amount of time, Deng Xiaolin’s voice became hoarse, and only then did she let go of the hand holding Liu Haoyu.
“Let it all out, it’s okay.”
Qin Liu’s voice sounded from behind Deng Xiaolin.
The young girl just shook her head and said.
“I’m okay now…”
But anyone with eyes could tell that Deng Xiaolin’s voice was too flat, with no emotion at all.
Perhaps there were even more hidden sorrows weighing on her heart.
“You haven’t eaten for half a day. I bought some bread, would you like some?”
Bai Anting’s voice sounded from behind them.
But Deng Xiaolin just shook her head.
“I’m not hungry yet, give it to Hao-ge.”
“I’m not hungry either, just leave it there.”
Liu Haoyu also had no mood to eat, and just as he was about to sit down and continue keeping vigil, Deng Xiaolin suddenly spoke.
“Before my grandpa passed away, he said he had something to give you…”
As she spoke, she searched her pocket for the item.
Soon, she took out a pocket watch.
The time on this watch was forever fixed at 3:17, and it was unclear whether it was 3 AM or 3 PM.
And on the back of this pocket watch, a name was engraved – Liu Jianjun.
