A Midnight Visit to the Cemetery

Qi Gu exited his chat with Lin Han Zhi. Before leaving, he stared at Lin Han Zhi's profile picture, hesitating for a few seconds. Thinking that saving one photo was no different from saving two, he decided to save Lin Han Zhi's profile picture as well. Well, it was a nice photo, so he could just treat it as saving an online image.

On the other end, Mu Xing Chen, racing against the clock, finally remembered how to answer the question. Just as he was about to excitedly tell Qi Gu, he saw on the video call that his master was still wearing a smile he rarely showed in front of him.

"...Master, I've figured out this question. Did something good happen to you? Why are you smiling so happily?" Mu Xing Chen finally couldn't overcome his curiosity and asked.

Qi Gu's face stiffened slightly, as if he had only just realized he was smiling. "It's nothing. If you've figured it out, then continue memorizing."

Seeing his master turn serious again with his smile vanishing, Mu Xing Chen didn't dare argue further and obediently went back to reciting. Occasionally, he had to deal with his master's pop quizzes, which made him feel utterly miserable.

Just as Mu Xing Chen mumbled a certain sentence, Qi Gu corrected him in a detached voice that sent a shiver down Mu Xing Chen's spine: "When the character 'Bai' is used as a surname, it is pronounced 'bai'. Copy this sentence twenty times, and you must include the spelling. Send it to me once you're done."

Saying this, Qi Gu briefly felt like a primary school Chinese teacher.

Mu Xing Chen fell silent, his face flushing red. "..." The misery of being uneducated was something he finally tasted.

By the time he hung up with Mu Xing Chen, it was past nine o'clock. The dark phone screen reflected Qi Gu's calm face and straight lips.

For some reason, Qi Gu suddenly reached out with two fingers, pressing the corners of his lips and pulling them up slightly to form a smile. He adjusted it up and down. In the black screen, he was smiling.

So he really had been smiling just now.

But... there wasn't anything funny about their chat earlier, was there?

Feeling that he was acting strange, Qi Gu dropped his fingers and instead picked up a plump Xuemeiniang cake to start his late-night snack—his consistent principle was: when in doubt, eat first.

*

On the other side, Miao Yue could no longer tolerate Lin Han Zhi's bizarre smile. She couldn't help but mock, "Big brother, seriously, stop smiling. It's terrifying... Do you know what you look like right now? You look exactly like a psycho plotting a murder in a basement."

Lin Han Zhi glanced at her, accurately threatening his adopted daughter: "What, don't want the shop anymore? If not, I'll give it to Pu Bu Ge Sang."

"No, no, no, I was wrong! Smile however you want. You look handsome no matter how you smile. Even as a psycho, you're the handsomest psycho!" Miao Yue blurted out in one breath, then offered a flattering smile. "What does a kid like Pu Bu Ge Sang know about Lolita dresses, Hanfu, and JK fashion? Giving the shop to him would be a total waste!"

...

Amid Lin Han Zhi's indifference and Miao Yue's begging, the private driver expressionlessly drove the car to the entrance of a five-star hotel, then respectfully saw the two guests off.

In an instant, the driver's expression changed drastically. His legs trembling, he pulled out his phone and called his wife: "Oh my god, I just encountered two psychopaths. One changes his mood faster than the weather, and the other keeps talking about psycho killers. Plus, I picked them up from the mountains at night. It scared the life out of me... Honey, do you think I'm possessed? Should I visit a temple tomorrow?"

After a few comforting words from his wife, the driver finally dragged his jelly-like legs back to the car. Refusing any more fares, he drove straight home.

Lin Han Zhi and Miao Yue walked into the lobby to check in. Miao Yue glanced at Lin Han Zhi's room card: "Why aren't we on the same floor? Are rich people really that common now?"

Lin Han Zhi said, "I asked them to arrange it this way because I was afraid you'd annoy me."

Miao Yue: "...Only a ghost would want to annoy you. Scram."

The two entered the elevator. Lin Han Zhi pressed the floor button and said, "Think carefully about the decoration style of your shop. Contact the designer yourself, and just give Jing Ping the designer's bank account tomorrow. No extensions."

Miao Yue assumed Lin Han Zhi was just holding a grudge, so she immediately said, "Don't worry, I've already mostly figured it out. Don't even think about backing out!"

Lin Han Zhi was on the 5th floor, while Miao Yue was on the 7th.

After entering his hotel suite, he turned on all the lights, creating a brightly lit room. Then, he immediately headed to the window, lightly leapt out, and fell in a peculiar posture, accurately grabbing the railings of each floor to break his fall before landing steadily on both feet, his face only slightly pale.

Pausing in the bushes, he looked left and right. Confirming there was no one around, he bypassed the surveillance cameras and slipped into a dark alley, driving away in the Volkswagen he had rented from a service company earlier that morning and parked there.

To avoid drawing attention, he had rented a white Volkswagen. The ordinary car turned onto the main road and quickly blended into the traffic. No one knew he had left the hotel tonight.

The Volkswagen circled a few times before finally turning onto the road leading to the martyrs' cemetery. Flanked by lush green pines and cypresses, it reached its destination: the Shan Yin Town Martyrs' Cemetery.

The grave of the former Director, Yue Yuan, was located here. Having spent half his life moving around the country, his final wish was not to be buried with the deceased of the Special Administration Bureau, but to return to the small town at the foot of the mountain where he was born and raised—returning to his roots.

He had once said, "I've traveled all over the country in this life, but in the end, that place is where I feel most comfortable. It feels like home."

He had lived there with his mother and shared warm moments.

The reason he didn't choose the Yue family's ancestral tomb was because Yue Yuan himself was not of the main lineage. After the Yue family's bloodline declined, they had to find this illegitimate son to inherit the family's secret arts.

As a child, when Yue Yuan studied basic metaphysics alongside children from prestigious families, he was frequently bullied. After all, he had joined halfway, grew up rough, had a rigid mind, and possessed a low status.

No one respected him, and no one wanted to play with him.

Until Lin Han Zhi's parents appeared. The couple were childhood sweethearts who had known each other since youth. Both were simple-minded, barging into Yue Yuan's lonely world with bright smiles and bringing him endless joy.

When they graduated from school at age twelve, Yue Yuan thanked them for risking getting scolded just to play with him. The expressions on the two fools' faces were each more astonished than the other.

It turned out they were so oblivious that they hadn't even noticed Yue Yuan was being isolated by others.

However, even if they had noticed, they wouldn't have cared or let it affect their choice of friends.

In short, when Yue Yuan later asked them why they chose to play with him, the couple replied, "We talk too much, and you talk too little. This way, we don't have to fight over who gets to speak." They were truly a pair of absolute oddballs.