Chapter 2: Mourning

This is truly eerie.

She stood alone, abruptly, on the empty crosswalk.

The road was deserted, with puddles reflecting the iron-grey steel and concrete. The traffic light monotonously changed from red to green in the rain.

At the edge of the road by the alley, a pitch-black car was parked, and next to it stood a man.

The man was tall with long legs, dressed in a dark suit, exuding an aura of noble coldness. He was holding a sturdy black umbrella, as if he were mourning.

Hearing the noise, the edge of the umbrella tilted up slightly, and the man inadvertently glanced in this direction.

With just one look, it was as if he were nailed to the spot.

The girl stood in the middle of the road, looked around blankly, and then stepped onto the sidewalk. During this time, the man’s gaze remained fixed on her.

“Why are you staring at me?”

Ji Fanling walked up to him and couldn’t help but tilt her head to glance at him twice.

The man was strikingly handsome, almost unapproachably so, with deep-set eyes, a prominent nose, and thin lips. The light from the streetlamp was blocked by the umbrella, and in the dim light, his features appeared cold and indifferent.

The heavy rain poured down, covering his cold silver-framed glasses with a layer of mist.

The foggy lenses were like a thin layer of ice, obscuring the emotions in his eyes, revealing only the color of his pupils.

A rare, pure black—like a harsh stroke of graphite scraped across light gray ink-wash paper.

Ji Fanling found the man’s face excessively familiar, especially his eyes.

She hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do you know me? Are you Fu Yingcheng’s… brother?”

The man’s thin lips pressed tightly together, and he didn’t respond.

The raindrops pattered down along the ribs of the umbrella, masking the almost uncontrollable look in his eyes.

Ji Fanling waited for a while, growing impatient. She put on her hood and turned around, muttering under her breath, “Lunatic.”

…

The two brushed past each other.

Ji Fanling suspected she might have been knocked out by the car and had no idea how long she had been unconscious. She couldn’t help but worry about Little Xingxing, and quickly retraced her steps, hurrying toward Jiang Family Noodle Shop.

The snack alley behind the school was always bustling with activity. At night, the aromas of grilled skewers, spicy hotpot, teppanyaki, and cold noodles intertwined, filling the air with warmth.

In contrast, “Jiang Family Noodle Shop” was in a more secluded location, with a small storefront. It didn’t attract many customers, but it was affordable, and Aunt Jiang’s family was kind. Because of that, Ji Fanling went there almost every day.

However, from half an alley away, she could already see that “Jiang Family Noodle Shop,” which had customers just moments earlier, had now closed, with its shutter door tightly locked.

And not just that.

The light blue sign that once hung over the door had been replaced by a wooden, Japanese-style, lacquered red torii^[1]Lacquered red torii (漆红鸟居) refers to a traditional Japanese gate that is often painted in a bright red or vermillion color and coated with lacquer for durability and a glossy finish., with a banner advertising “Strawberry Crepes” fluttering in the wind.

As she looked down the street, everything appeared unfamiliar. The fried chicken shop had turned into a meat bun store, the stationery shop had expanded to take over three storefronts, and the claypot rice restaurant had started selling Chinese desserts.

Ji Fanling’s mind was in chaos as she turned and ran toward home.

She lived in a rundown, old community known for being dirty and chaotic. The walls of the residential buildings were covered in moss, and the long-neglected manhole covers were clogged, causing the rising rainwater to quickly flood the streets.

The building was still the same building, the road was still the same road, but it was hard to pinpoint what had changed. Yet, everywhere she looked, everything felt different, with a pervasive sense of discord.

When she reached her door, Ji Fanling pulled out her key, her hands trembling with urgency. After several failed attempts to fit the key into the lock, she resorted to pounding on the door.

“Knock, knock, knock, knock” A series of urgent knocks echoed through the door.

“Coming, coming.” The door was opened by a middle-aged woman Ji Fanling didn’t recognize. She was wearing pajamas with a coat thrown over them, frowning as she looked Ji Fanling up and down. “What’s the rush? Who are you looking for?”

“Who are you? Why are you in my house?” Ji Fanling gasped for breath, leaning on her knees and wiping the rain from her chin.

“What do you mean, your house?” The woman looked at her in confusion.

“Where’s Ji Guoliang?” Ji Fanling glanced past her into the apartment.

The entire setup inside the house had changed. The noisy, all-night mahjong table was gone, and so was the trash that had once been strewn all over the floor. The furniture was neatly arranged, giving the place a warm and tidy feel, completely different from how it had been when she left that morning.

“Who’s Ji Guoliang? I don’t know him. You must have the wrong place,” the woman said, unhappily blocking her view.

“I didn’t get it wrong. Ji Guoliang lives here.”

“I’ve been living here for seven or eight years,” the woman said impatiently. “You’ve got the wrong place. Try checking another floor.”

“Seven or eight years?”

The woman made a move to close the door, but Ji Fanling was quicker.

She lifted her knee to block the door, gripping the doorframe with her hand and yanking it back open with a roughness that didn’t match her delicate appearance.

“What are you doing!” the woman shouted in alarm.

“Just one last question,” Ji Fanling said, meeting her startled and suspicious gaze, her delicate brows furrowed.

“—What year is it?”

*

2022

That car crash forcefully knocked her ten years into the future.

Ji Fanling walked down the stairs, scratching her head irritably, accepting the reality.

After all, fate is such a merciless thing. Some people’s lives are like a box of chocolates—you never know what the next one will taste like. But for some, life is like a box of chocolates mixed with shit, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, with constant ups and downs.

And then there are some people, like her, who get a box of pure shit. At first, they’re slightly surprised, but after that, they get used to it.

Ji Fanling walked out of the community and turned into the nearest small supermarket.

The person manning the shop was a male college student in a hoodie. He was slumped in the chair behind the cashier’s counter, head down, furiously playing a game on his phone. The phone repeatedly blared out sounds like “Double Kill!” and “Triple Kill!”

Ji Fanling rummaged through her pockets and found that the only money she had was the two yuan she stole from Ji Guoliang’s jacket that morning. She placed the coins on the counter and asked, “Can I use your landline phone?”

“Landline? What year do you think it is?” The college student didn’t even bother to look up.

“Where can I borrow a phone then?”

“Wait until I finish this game, and you can use my phone. It’s no big deal, I never use up all my monthly plan anyway.”

“Thank you.”

After he finished the game, Ji Fanling took his phone.

Ten years later, phone screens were astonishingly large, and there wasn’t a single button on them.

Ji Fanling first dialed Ji Guoliang’s number.

“The number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check the number and dial again. Sorry…”

In ten years, it was only natural that Ji Guoliang had moved and changed his number. After Jiang Wan passed away, his gambling addiction had worsened significantly. He hadn’t worked a proper day since then, completely neglecting his daughter, who was still in elementary school. He stayed up all night gambling, piling up debt, gaining a terrible reputation among relatives and friends, frequently changing numbers, moving, and running away as if it was routine.

Ji Fanling’s second call was to her boyfriend, Cheng Jiali, but the prompt said the number was temporarily unavailable. Unwilling to give up, she called several more times, all with the same result.

Finally, Ji Fanling dialed her deskmate, Zhou Sui.

The phone rang for a while, and at last, it connected.

“Hello?” came a tired, hoarse female voice, but it was unmistakably Zhou Sui’s.

“Zhou Sui, it’s me, Ji Fanling.”

The other end of the phone was noisy, with the intermittent sound of a child crying in the background.

It seemed like Zhou Sui was busy with something, and after a brief pause, she said, “…I can’t hear clearly over here, hold on,” followed by the sound of hurried footsteps and the creak of a door, likely the one to the stairwell. The surroundings became quiet and echoey.

Zhou Sui then asked, “Who did you say you were?”

“Ji Fanling.”

There was silence on the other end.

The next second, Zhou Sui abruptly hung up the phone.

Ji Fanling: “…”

It was her mistake—revealing herself right away was a bit too hasty.

She re-dialed the number, and Zhou Sui hung up.

She called again, and Zhou Sui hung up once more.

Ji Fanling kept calling.

Zhou Sui finally picked up, and spoke with a sharp tone: “Are you some kind of scammer with a screw loose? Call me one more time, I’m reporting you to the police!”

“Calm down, I’m not a scammer. I’m your high school deskmate.”

Zhou Sui sneered, “Pretending to be dead people now, huh? Aren’t you afraid of ghosts knocking on your door in the middle of the night?!”

Ji Fanling spoke quickly: “Remember when you helped me take my tuition fees home? You even kept track of it in a notebook for me, it added up to nine…”

“Get lost!”

The phone emitted a busy tone as Zhou Sui hung up.

“Wait, Zhou Sui! Zhou Sui! Zhou Sui!!… Damn it!”

Ji Fanling glanced at the phone and couldn’t help but curse.

In the past, Zhou Sui was a timid pushover who wouldn’t dare make a sound. When she got bullied, all she would do was bury her head in her arms and quietly cry. Ji Fanling had listened to her sniffle for half a class period before she couldn’t take it anymore, dragging her aside to find out the reason. Zhou Sui had mumbled and hesitated, barely able to utter a word.

Ten years had passed, and her temper had grown.

After calling again, Ji Fanling found that Zhou Sui had blocked her.

Ji Fanling put down the phone, staring at the dial screen, and muttered softly, “What’s going on… I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

She couldn’t remember a fourth number to call, nor could she think of anyone else to contact, so she had no choice but to return the phone.

On this late autumn night, the temperature had plummeted, and the rain hadn’t stopped, with fine, transparent beads still dripping from the eaves.

Back then, even though Ji Guoliang was a scoundrel, at least she had a place to shelter from the wind and rain, and a bed to sleep in at night. But now, she hadn’t had a bite of dinner, her clothes were soaked through, and she was cold, hungry, and thirsty. Ji Fanling licked her lips. She only had two yuan on her, and using it to buy water felt like an extravagant indulgence.

The college student, having finished his game, stood up and stretched, and when he glanced down, he was surprised to find that the girl was still there.

She was wearing an oversized jacket that didn’t fit her, making her face beneath the hood appear as small as a palm. After being drenched by the cold rain, her skin looked almost transparent, and her eyes reflected the dark grey sky, appearing particularly misty through the rain. For some reason, she gave off the impression of a lost child.

“Were you calling someone? Couldn’t reach them?” The college student wasn’t sure if she had been crying earlier and couldn’t help but squat down, speaking softly.

Ji Fanling’s expression remained blank. “It’s them who can’t find me.”

“I haven’t seen you around before. Are you from the University Attached Middle School?”

“Which eye of yours sees me as a middle schooler?”

“I was just going by your height…”

The girl shot him a cold glance. “What, you think you’re tall? 1.7 meters with hidden height insoles?”

The college student blushed, stretching his neck defensively. “…1.75 meters! I’m 1.75 meters barefoot!!” He felt as if he’d been emotionally stabbed.

Ji Fanling averted her gaze and murmured, “…I’ll leave once the rain stops. I won’t get in the way of your business.”

“That’s not what I meant,” the college student was stunned. “Do you have somewhere to go?”

The atmosphere grew slightly tense.

The girl remained silent for a moment, then slowly lifted her eyes, fiddling with the two coins in her palm as she said lazily, “There are plenty of places I can go, trust me.”

“—Back when I was in school, you were probably still crawling around somewhere.”

“?”

The college student, unsure if she was being serious, scoffed, “You’re really good at making stuff up…”

As they spoke, a black car approached from a distance, speeding down the road and turning sharply at the entrance of the community, sending a spray of water into the air.

“Whoa, a Maybach,” the college student suddenly looked up, rubbing his hands together excitedly. “That’s so cool.”

“That car?” Ji Fanling seemed indifferent.

“Maybach S680. It’s the first time I’ve seen one in person.”

The college student, clearly a car enthusiast, rattled off information like a machine gun, “I’ve seen the S400, S450, and S560 on the road, but I’ve never seen an S680 before. Twin-turbo V12 engine, takes off like it’s flying, AIRMATIC air suspension, full leather seats, and look at those huge disc wheels—absolutely stunning… wait, why is the car stopping?”

The Maybach slowly came to a halt right in front of the small supermarket, directly in front of the two of them. In the dim light, rainwater trickled down the sleek black body of the car.

The two on the ground looked up as the rear window slowly rolled down.

The man’s face appeared as the window rolled down.

He was dressed in a high-quality black suit with subtle dark patterns, and a silver-gray tie clip pinned to his chest. His deep, sharp features and eyes were darker than storm clouds.

He sat in the car and looked at the person crouching on the ground.

One sitting high, one crouching low, they silently looked at each other.

“Ji Fanling?” The man’s voice was low, husky, and slightly grave.

The wind carried away the barely perceptible tremor in the tail of his voice.

For the first time in her life, Ji Fanling’s heart raced just from hearing her own name being called.

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Author’s Note:

The one in the car is about to explode from his racing heartbeat.)

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Translator’s Note:

My lovely readers, please take a peek of this, my completed translation novels:

• Becoming the Contract Wife of the Wealthy Male Supporting Character

• You ah, You

They’re really good ! I recommend you read them all! (ﾉ≧▽≦)ﾉ

Just click the blue words if you want to try it, and if you like it don’t forget to add it to your favourite! 😘

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Torii gate picture

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