Chapter 185

Chapter 185

After Seventh Master called, Song Xiaotian immediately drove me over.

By the time we arrived, it was already past ten at night.

Seventh Master lived in Huangshikou. The place was bustling during the day, with people coming and going, but at night it was very quiet. There was hardly anyone on the streets.

Seventh Master was standing outside his front door, waiting for us.

My emotions were a tangled mess of excitement and uncertainty. I quickly asked him where the child was, and how he had found him.

“He’s inside. I was afraid he’d run around, so I stuck a Talisman in the room.”

Seventh Master said, “I went out for a while tonight. When I came back, I found him at my front door.”

Song Xiaotian and I were both surprised.

“The little ghost came here on his own?” Song Xiaotian asked.

Seventh Master shook his head. “Probably not. When I got back, he was lying at my doorstep, crying the whole time, but he didn’t run off. My guess is Anning brought him here. Anning must have told him not to run around.”

The moment I heard Anning’s name, I hurriedly asked, “Then where is Anning?”

Seventh Master said, “She must have left right after dropping the child off. I went out to look for her just now, but I couldn’t find her.”

I frowned. “What is she trying to do? She quietly brings the child back, but refuses to show herself.”

Ever since Du Yuwei died, this child was basically her only family left in this world.

Now she had brought her nephew here without showing her face. Could it be that she was planning to do something?

Seventh Master sighed and said, “She followed Du Yuwei before and did some wrong things. Although she never killed anyone directly, she indirectly caused quite a few deaths. I want to find her too, to persuade her to turn back to good. Otherwise, the second half of her life will definitely bring retribution.”

“Speaking of which, her background is pitiful too. No education, no skills. From childhood to adulthood, all she ever knew was cheating and tricking people. I imagine she isn’t having an easy time either, so she had no choice but to bring the child here.”

“This child is a ghost. Since he’s a ghost, he needs Exorcism. If an Infant Spirit doesn’t receive Exorcism and go on to reincarnate, sooner or later, trouble will come of it.”

My heart trembled. I quickly asked, “Does this child… need Exorcism right away?”

Seventh Master nodded. “That’s why I called you here. I wanted you to try to persuade him. He’s been looking for his mother and refuses to reincarnate. That makes this very difficult.”

I said I understood. I would go persuade him now, persuade him to reincarnate.

When I walked into the house, the sound of an infant crying came from one of the rooms on the first floor.

I tore the Talisman off the door and pushed it open.

Inside the empty room, a simple Array had been set up. The child was in the middle of the Array, trapped there. No matter how he crawled, he couldn’t get out.

But he was still crawling, trying to get out and find his mother.

The moment he saw me, he cried even harder than before and quickly stretched his arms toward me, wanting me to hold him and carry him out.

Other than his mother and Anning, perhaps I was the person closest to him.

I walked over, picked him up, and held him in my arms.

His body was icy cold, but the instant I held him, my eyes blurred before I even realized it.

All the things I had experienced before-the death of Fang Man, the deaths of my dad and my grandfather, Du Yuwei’s death, and the death of my other father-each of their departures was like a needle stabbing into my heart, filling me with pain.

There was a limit to how much a person could bear. Losing all of them was enough to make me unable to find any meaning in continuing to live.

But the words my other father said before he left made me understand that I couldn’t belittle myself or give up on my own life.

Even so, I could never pretend those things had not happened. All I could do was run away from them. But sometimes, when I thought of those things while lying in bed at night, I would still shed tears.

Now, holding this child, I thought of Du Yuwei again. I remembered when I was little, when I was at my most helpless, it was Du Yuwei who left the last bit of warmth in the final three days of my life.
After all the trouble I went through to reunite with her as Li Fuguang, it happened at the moment her soul and Po were scattering into nothing.

If she were still alive, I would have treated her like my own little sister and taken good care of her.

But she was gone. She no longer even had the chance to reincarnate. The only thing I could do now was persuade her son to go on and be reborn.

The child was extremely agitated. He kept gesturing at me, wanting me to take him to Du Yuwei.

“Your mom… she’s gone. She’s gone down below.”

“There’s a place down there. Once she goes there, she can start over from the beginning and become as little as you. She’ll have a mom too, and a brand-new life.”

I didn’t know if the child could understand me, and I didn’t dare tell him the truth. All I could do was make up a relatively beautiful lie.

It seemed like he understood, and yet also like he didn’t. But he cried harder and harder, so he must have understood at least one thing-that he would never see his mother again.

He began gesturing at me again, pointing at the ground, then at me and himself.

I froze for a moment before realizing he was asking me to go down below with him to find Du Yuwei.

My tears almost broke free right then. Those simple, clear gestures might have already used up every bit of awareness he had.

“I’m sorry. I can’t go down with you. I promised my dad I’d live well.”

“So you have to go by yourself, and then reincarnate. Maybe we’ll meet again someday.”

He froze, then clutched my hand tightly, refusing to let go.

“Be good.”

I stroked his head and said, “If your mom knew you were going to reincarnate, she would definitely be happy. You don’t want your mom to be sad, do you?”

He shook his head. He could understand that he mustn’t make his mother sad.

Perhaps because he knew I wouldn’t go down with him, he hurriedly drew a circle on his left arm.

Soon, a red mark appeared on his arm, just like a birthmark.

I was stunned for a long while before it dawned on me. “You mean after you reincarnate, you want me to find you by this birthmark?”

He nodded, hugging my neck tightly.

I choked up and said nothing. After a long time, I finally nodded. “I understand. I’ll definitely find you.”

I stayed with him for over an hour, coaxing him to sleep before carrying him out.

Outside, Seventh Master and Song Xiaotian were burning paper offerings.

I asked Seventh Master how we were supposed to send the child off.

He was so little. He probably couldn’t find the way on his own like my dad could.

“Someone will come pick him up in a bit. They should be here soon,” Seventh Master said.

I asked who the person coming for him was. Since they were taking him down below, could it be someone from the underworld?

Heibai Wuchang?

Seventh Master shook his head. “Don’t ask too much yet. After he’s been taken away, I’ll tell you. And when that person arrives, don’t ask about their identity either.”

I nodded. Of course I wouldn’t act recklessly.

Seeing my eyes were red, Song Xiaotian comforted me. “This kid died before he was even born. He never got the chance to see this world. Reincarnation is a good thing for him.”

That’s right. Reincarnation meant life could continue.

We believed that when a person died, that was it-that life ended there.

But if people truly had reincarnation, then death, in our eyes, might not be quite so terrifying.

Yet the person living this life only lives this life. In the next life, they will no longer be the same person they were in this one.

So the meaning of reincarnation has never been to make us look down on life.

On the contrary, reincarnation teaches us to cherish the people we have in this life.