◎ A very important matter. ◎

Shi Li tried several times but still couldn’t get out of Chen Du’s body.

After many struggles, the dizziness in her head grew worse. The wound that had just stopped bleeding started bleeding again.

Shi Li didn’t dare to move anymore. She lay on the bed quietly, her face pale and frightening.

Was she temporarily unable to leave, or—

Shi Li blinked anxiously.

If she could never get out, what would happen to Chen Du?

Was Chen Du’s soul still sleeping?

Shi Li raised her hand and gently pressed on her chest, feeling the slow heartbeat inside the chest.

This was Chen Du’s heartbeat, warm and soft, pulsing right under her palm.

Yet even so, she felt no presence of Chen Du at all.

Her soul seemed perfectly fused into this body.

Shi Li bit her lip in panic.

Please don’t be like this. She hadn’t come to fight for Chen Du’s body. She just wanted to complete that so-called “unfinished business” early and return to save up for reincarnation.

Chen Du should live well.

One of them in the underworld, one in the human world, they should not interfere with each other.

Now it had become like this—what kind of situation was this?

Shi Li cursed the underworld manager hundreds of times in her heart.

The doorbell rang.

It should be that pretty older sister—Chen Du’s girlfriend—Shu Yun.

Shi Li sighed in relief but was a little puzzled at the bottom of her heart—she didn’t have a key to this home.

She supported Chen Du’s body to stand, stepping slowly to the door to open it.

The wind was strong at night. When opening the door, the cold air pierced her respiratory tract and stabbed her lungs.

Shi Li coughed a few times, and with the effort, a sudden pain appeared in the upper right abdomen.

The pain was strange, coming from an organ inside that she had never felt before.

She was stunned. In those few seconds, the pain suddenly worsened as if a rusty knife was stirring inside her abdomen, radiating along the nerves to her shoulder and back like a rising tide.

Shi Li cried out and bent her back involuntarily, almost curling up and losing balance to one side.

“Ah Du!”

Outside the door, Shu Yun looked anxious and hurried forward to hold “him” firmly.

She was still wearing a white coat, probably rushed over from the hospital.

“What happened? Did you stay up working overtime again?”

Shi Li wanted to answer but the pain made it almost impossible to speak.

She couldn’t understand the sudden pain, suspecting it was a side effect of the soul possession.

But… it really hurt too much.

It felt like a life-threatening pain.

Shi Li bent over pressing her abdomen, her knuckles whitening as she gripped her pants, her fingertips nearly digging into the fabric.

Within just half a minute, cold sweat soaked through her shirt on her back.

Shi Li gritted her teeth and endured it, not crying out.

The last bit of awareness and conscience told her that since she was in Chen Du’s body, she shouldn’t embarrass him in front of his girlfriend.

Seeing that Shi Li had no strength to respond, Shu Yun’s face turned pale, realizing the seriousness.

She helped “Shi Li” sit at the door, then ran into the living room to get a coat for her.

“Can you still walk? Hang on a bit longer, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Shi Li pressed her abdomen and barely said “Mm,” standing with Shu Yun’s support.

On the way to the hospital, Shu Yun drove.

Shi Li sat in the passenger seat, the pain almost making her want to roll and curse.

She bit her lip tightly and looked out the window, trying to distract herself.

In the thick night, the car window was like a mirror with a tint, clearly reflecting Chen Du’s pale and bloodless handsome face.

His full forehead was covered in sweat beads, his eyebrows drooped and lifeless, his delicate features distorted, and his bitten lip bled red.

His figure was far from his usual upright posture, curled like a shrimp in the seat.

A look Shi Li had never seen before.

So miserable.

A wave of radiating sharp pain hit again. Shi Li gritted her teeth and hissed, biting Chen Du’s knuckles.

She suddenly felt a bit grateful she couldn’t get out.

This sin was caused by her, and she should bear it—

No, just now Chen Du suddenly fainted, maybe it was from the pain?

He wasn’t like her, always able to bear it. In college, he never went to the hospital even when sick or feverish.

The more Shi Li thought about it, the more possible it seemed, and she felt her heart turn weak.

Such misery.

Once she returned to the underworld, she would pray for Chen Du every day, wishing him a long life.

At the hospital, the tsunami-like pain finally subsided, draining all her strength.

Dazed, she was supported by Shu Yun into the emergency room.

When the nurse helped bandage the wounds, Shu Yun calmly asked Shi Li about other symptoms.

Shi Li replied drowsily, listing headache, dizziness, stomachache, arm pain, fatigue… all of them without shame.

Too many symptoms scattered all over the body made Shu Yun feel relieved.

What worried her more was—

“His” voice sounded softer and more delicate compared to usual calmness.

Shu Yun carefully watched “him” try to pout and hold back tears, feeling both unfamiliar and sad.

In a daze, she seemed to see him as a child again.

A three or four-year-old boy, handsome and shy, like a doll following her, weak from illness, walking slowly but stubbornly keeping up, only to stumble and fall, crying and screaming “Sister” heartbreakingly.

The reunion happened when he was twenty-two.

She was working in a neighboring city then, and after much effort found his contact and called him.

He rushed from Beilin overnight to see her.

In a snowy night café, the young handsome man dressed in black pushed the door open, glanced at her casually, but seemed to immediately recognize her.

He lowered his head, pulled out a chair, and sat opposite her, expression indifferent, his deep eyes like wells staring at her.

Shu Yun carefully examined the familiar features inherited from her own lineage, but the expression was completely strange.

So strange that she didn’t dare to acknowledge him.

That was six years ago.

Shu Yun shook her head, reached to check “Chen Du’s” forehead, and smiled.

“He really has a fever. No wonder he’s delirious. With headaches, stomach pain, and weakness, it must be the flu.”

Shi Li knew very well that kind of unfamiliar pain was not the flu, but she didn’t argue.

She couldn’t say it was a possession issue.

Seeing her silence, Shu Yun smiled: “I told you not to keep running to the hospital all the time, but you didn’t listen. Now look at you, paying the price.”

She leaned close, her hand on his forehead, her soft breath nearly blowing on Shi Li’s face.

Shi Li blinked. She was about to melt in that gentle smile.

Chen Du’s girlfriend was so gentle. It was not like caring for a boyfriend but more like taking care of a little child.

No wonder Chen Du went to the hospital every day.

If it were her, she would go too.

Shi Li nodded mechanically like a robot, continuing to help him improve his favorability: “Okay, baby, thank you for your hard work, baby.”

“……”

Shu Yun silently tugged at his hair — normally, if she had a little more courage, she wouldn’t dare do this either.

“Alright, for the next couple of days, you just focus on resting and recovering. I will take care of her there, so don’t worry. I change the flowers in the hospital room every day. When I have time, I read her stories, so she won’t be bored.”

Hearing this, Shi Li frowned.

She… who is she?

Hospital room? … Flowers?

Reading what kind of stories?

“I will go find Dr. Liu, let him take you for a virus test, and also a full body check-up.”

Shi Li didn’t understand what she was talking about at all and nodded vaguely.

That was normal.

Chen Du’s world was completely unfamiliar to her.

After the wounds were bandaged, Shi Li finally relaxed.

As for the physical examination, she didn’t take it seriously — since it was a side effect of the soul possession, modern medicine probably wouldn’t detect anything.

She sat on the chair outside the clinic, inhaling the hospital’s distinct disinfectant smell, curiously observing the surroundings.

Hospital, huh? It had been many years since she last came.

Ghosts don’t get sick, so the underworld had no hospitals.

Ghosts only faded into ashes in the furnace if they couldn’t get reincarnation qualifications or couldn’t pay the residence fee.

A few minutes later, Shu Yun walked over with a tall male doctor.

It should be the “Dr. Liu” she mentioned.

Shi Li didn’t know whether Chen Du recognized him. Afraid of revealing herself, she kept her mouth shut.

“Well, Professor Chen, you’re so sick but still so arrogant, didn’t even say hello.”

Dr. Liu patted Shi Li’s shoulder. His grip was strong and made Shi Li’s shoulder tilt painfully. She glared at him angrily.

“Oh, you’re really burning your brain, glaring at me.”

Dr. Liu waved at Shu Yun and smiled: “Alright, don’t worry and leave him here. I will take him for the check-up. Don’t you have surgery soon?”

“Okay, then I’ll leave my brother to you.”

Shu Yun said, bent down to give Shi Li a few instructions, then turned and walked away quickly.

Shi Li didn’t catch a single word of what she said.

… Brother?

What does that mean?

Isn’t she Chen Du’s girlfriend?

Chen Du actually has an older sister?

Shi Li felt like her thoughts were tied in a knot she couldn’t undo. She tilted her head, eyes full of clear confusion.

… Sister, sister.

This word somehow felt… a little familiar.

Fragmented images suddenly flashed before her eyes.

It seemed to be on a vast snowy night, for some unknown reason, she was filled with disappointment and worry, unable to speak.

Someone rushed back from afar and called her.

At around one o’clock in the early morning, she wore pajamas, panting as she ran down from the dormitory building, her bare ankles red from the cold, eagerly throwing herself into someone’s arms.

He held her with one arm, spinning her around in the snow, breathing heavily and warming her hands.

Usually cold and quiet, his eyes were bright when looking at her, emotions and joy almost overflowing.

He whispered something gently in her ear, sharing something with her.

“… Found … sister … birthday … love …”

Some scattered words.

It seemed that besides the cold falling snow, there were hot tears falling on her neck.

“That’s great, that’s great… I’m so happy, happy for you, now you have family, besides me, someone will love you…”

She hugged him tightly, tears streaming and words confused, her heart trembling with him, full of softness, a softness she had never felt before…

As if in this cold world, only she and this person depended on each other.

But these memories were completely blurry, and these intense, burning, gentle feelings were even stranger — as if they didn’t belong to this soul she was inhabiting but came from another fragment of a soul, not hers.

That soul fragment was wrapped in a barrier. No matter how hard Shi Li tried to explore, she couldn’t break through.

… What are these images?

Shi Li was certain she never had such feelings.

She had grown up thinking only about studying hard and leaving that city and that family.

She was someone who worked herself numb.

The only emotional experience in her life came from Chen Du, another person who worked himself numb.

— Two cold and numb people, whose hearts had long decayed at a young age, inexplicably together, inexplicably comforting each other for two years, inexplicably quarreling, inexplicably breaking up.

People like them had no right to talk about expensive youth or splendid exuberance.

Their feelings were ordinary.

Shi Li always remembered her first love story was very cliché, no romantic scenes, no flowers or grandeur, only the smell of car exhaust and dust in the wind.

So she died alone, and even after she died, he never came to see her.

Never burned incense for her.

Five years had passed; he had long found a new girlfriend and a new life and had already forgotten her.

Wasn’t that the case?

Those fragmented images became blurrier and finally disappeared. Shi Li reached out trying to grasp them but suddenly felt a headache, clutching her head and moaning unconsciously.

“Xiao Chen”

“Xiao Chen, how are you?”

The man’s voice seemed to come from another world.

Shi Li opened her eyes and saw Dr. Liu sitting beside her, gently patting her shoulder.

“Xiao Chen,” his tone completely changed from playful joking to full of sorrow and pity, “aren’t you going to tell your sister? If I keep helping you keep secrets, I will really become a sinner.”

Shi Li’s headache was splitting, unable to understand what he said, only making an unconscious “mm” sound.

“Xiao Chen, you are only 28 years old, still young. If you actively take treatment, there is still a 10% chance of cure, at least you can extend your survival. But if you keep delaying, it will be too late. Do you know what you are doing?”

“…” Shi Li still held her head, confusedly asking, “Doing what? What… ten percent?”

Dr. Liu sighed and continued: “Even if you don’t want surgery or chemotherapy, at least you take the medicine on time, right? You are bleeding from your nose and fainting, which means the targeted drug has severe side effects on you. After the checkup, we need to talk seriously.”

“…”

What… medicine?

“I really don’t understand what you are avoiding. The surgery fees are not low, but you should still be able to afford it, right? Are you really short on money? What money is more important than life?”

“Can you tell me, why exactly?”

His voice was distant and near, Shi Li couldn’t hear clearly, only watching his lips move.

She wanted to hear clearly what he was saying.

It seemed important.

But the next second, helplessly and unwillingly, she was forcibly “separated” from this body — or rather, violently torn away.

The pain of soul and body being ripped apart was unbearable, she almost wailed and cried, forced by the same strange, irresistible force as last time, rapidly retreating back to the apartment.

Shi Li rolled around on the ground in pain.

After a long time, exhausted, she lay limply, turning her head.

In the dark night, the spirit’s vision was incredibly clear.

She saw that medicine bottle again.

Quietly lying under the sofa, silent and mysterious, covered with dust on the obscure English letters.

Shi Li crawled over and stared fixedly at the small white medicine bottle.

After a long while, she tilted her head, belatedly reaching out to touch her chest.

Huh, strange, she clearly had no heart.

Why did it feel so uncomfortable here, as if a piece was bleeding out?

She felt like she had neglected something.

Something very important.