Ch13 - Review

Sheng Canyang jumped up, still sucking on his lollipop, and worked his muscles. The sound of joints popping came from his shoulders.

The weather was immaculate today. Hai Ri was at ease. Although he didn’t earn any points this time, Sheng Canyang had won beautifully. More importantly, he’d even shared with him a few of his secrets. 

Was there any other fan under the whole sky who knew of them? None. Only me, Hai Ri pompously declared internally.

First-rate mom fan. A face that had mom written all over it. Personally chasing his idol. A winner at life.

But if he really had to pick out something unsatisfactory, there was still something. For instance, Hai Ri had always harbored a secret concern in his heart. It was an opportune time now, so Hai Ri decided to grasp this chance and ask, “Why did they say that your–”

Sheng Canyang: ? 

Hai Ri: “Death application wouldn’t get through?”

“Because it just won’t,” Sheng Canyang finger-combed his hair to the back of his head as he casually replied.

Hai Ri: “Why’s that? Are your points sufficient?”

“They’ve long been sufficient,” Sheng Canyang said. “In the third month I came here, my points were already sufficient.”

Hai Ri: “Then why?”

Sheng Canyang said self-mockingly, “How would I know?”

“They said it was an issue with the data,” Sheng Canyang explained. “I turned it in as stated, but they insisted that there was an issue and refused to let me through. I’ve been stuck for a very long time.”

Unable to understand, Hai Ri murmured doubtfully, “Isn’t it okay as long as the points are enough?” 

“Maybe that’s the case for you guys,” Sheng Canyang gazed at the sun ahead, his eyes in a squint. “I’ve sent many people off. All of them were successful, except for me.”

Hai Ri: “You just couldn’t get through?”

Sheng Canyang responded with the lollipop still in his mouth, “I’m being targeted, right? But I’ve never heard of anyone else in a similar situation., I asked around a few times before and no one got back to me. I’m number one in points now, not in our district but in this world. I just can’t die.”

Hai Ri was a little shaken. For a moment, he was at a loss for words. 

First in points in the world, yet his death application wouldn’t get through, so he continued to remain in this place. Finally regaining his sense of logic, Hai Ri asked, “Then why do you still participate in games?”

Sheng Canyang glanced at him. The smile that followed was a bit lonely, but seemed to also contain a bit of disdain. Hai Ri could tell – Sheng Canyang felt that he didn’t understand anything and thus didn’t want to comment too much.

Hai Ri continued on willfully, “Why don’t you rest?”

Sheng Canyang said very calmly, “To me, living is quite tiring. There’s no such thing as rest.” 

He said it in a somewhat lofty manner, prompting a laugh from Hai Ri.

The blend of auras Sheng Canyang gave off was too complex; there was the artistic air of gloom, as well as the masculine temperament of a man. Sheng Canyang was a piece of art. Hai Ri felt that the blemishes and cracks hammered into his body by fate were no different from ice-cracked ceramics, and instead brought about a unique dazzling light. Nobody could become Sheng Canyang. Even in his chuuni moments, people would only want to bestow on him a kind smile.

Hai Ri subconsciously looked at him. “How can I make you happy?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Sheng Canyang stared blankly. 

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Sheng Canyang was nonchalant about it. “I’m quite happy, but I’ll be even happier if I could die.”

Hai Ri: … 

The both of them made their way to the big bus. Hai Ri went to the rest area to buy a bag of hawthorns. He had just taken out his phone to pay when Sheng Canyang paid for him. Picking up two tangerines in passing, he settled the bill for everything, tossed the tangerines to Hai Ri, and then turned and left.

Hai Ri followed after him, cradling the two tangerines and the bag of hawthorns. With a single stride, the long-limbed Sheng Canyang bypassed the three steps and directly got onto the big bus. Several people were already seated at the front. Sheng Canyang didn’t sit down immediately, instead hesitating for a moment.

Hai Ri asked from behind him. “Something wrong?”

Sheng Canyang glanced back. “Let’s sit here.” 

Leaning to the side, he let Hai Ri take the window seat. Hai Ri asked, “You know those people?”

The first two seats of the bus were occupied by girls whose gazes floated over after seeing them board, though they didn’t greet them. Hai Ri thought that Sheng Canyang knew them.

Sheng Canyang stuck his head out, casting them a glance. “I can get to know them.”

Hai Ri: ? 

Sheng Canyang stood up all of a sudden and walked to the front, lowering his body to speak to the two girls. From his position, Hai Ri could see the smile in Sheng Canyang’s eyes and his gentlemanly demeanor.

Shortly after, the two girls got up and went to the back. When they passed by Hai Ri, they even sent him a smile. Realization dawned on Hai Ri. Sheng Canyang came over, angling his head at him. “Sit in front.”

Hai Ri instantly kept everything, stuffing his earphones, the tangerines, and the hawthorn slices into his pockets before following Sheng Canyang to the first row.

He heard Sheng Canyang politely thanking the two girls behind him. “Thank you.” 

Hai Ri wanted to turn around and thank them as well. But in the end, Sheng Canyang directly gave him a push from the back. “Go, the bus is about to set off.”

Hai Ri had no choice but to move ahead. Sitting in the front row wouldn’t make him carsick. Hai Ri was touched, so touched that his cheeks were on the brink of streaming with tears. But not knowing what to say, he could only silently cry on the inside. His son truly was an angel, the kindest, coolest child in the whole world.

Hai Ri: “How did you persuade them?”

“By saying you get carsick,” Sheng Canyang stated. “What else can I say? I said it’s all right for you to just sit on your own, but they didn’t want to sit with you out of awkwardness.” 

Hai Ri: “Ai, you really…”

Hai Ri wanted to say that he really was too much like a 1. He was a warm gentleman with a cold face but a kind heart; everyone would relent to such a person. However, he couldn’t exactly say it out loud, so he swallowed the words back down and asked, “How did you win?”

His sudden change of topic caught Sheng Canyang by surprise. His gaze was blank. “You’re still thinking about that?”

Hai Ri: “Didn’t you say you’ll explain it to me!” 

Sheng Canyang rifled through his pockets with little interest and fished out a wrinkled piece of paper. Hai Ri opened it up and saw a few words written on it: “Shan Xing: Ghosts seem to be haunting the residence very often recently. I talked with the little miss about it, but she warned me not to tell anyone else with a panicked look.”

This was Shan Xing’s clue. Sheng Canyang had hidden it.

Hai Ri mulled over it. “Even if this clue was found, I don’t think it would have much impact.”

Sheng Canyang rifled through his pockets once more and took out another piece of paper. 

“Shan Xing: The little miss often stares at the cherry blossom tree outside, lost in thought. I heard that if someone doesn’t die, their soul has to attach itself to a living creature after leaving their body.”

Hai Ri recalled how Sheng Canyang had stood along the corridor on the first day and stared at the enormous cherry blossom tree in the yard, telling Hai Ri, “Do you believe that Shan Xing will die tonight?”

Hai Ri believed it now.

Turns out, Shan Xing didn’t die for no rhyme or reason, nor was she killed because she was free of suspicion. It was because there was a clue from her viewpoint. 

Sheng Canyang: “If she remained alive, I wouldn’t be clean.”

Hai Ri: “Where did you find it?”

Sheng Canyang: “One of them was given to me by Chang Ze and I found the other in Xue Chuan’s room. Shan Xing is a maid; she should be most familiar with me and Xue Chuan, so I searched Xue Chuan’s room.”

Hai Ri: “So that’s how it is.” 

Sheng Canyang was quite nonchalant about it, as if he cared for naught. He took his phone out for a look and then crossed his arms in preparation to take a nap.

Hai Ri asked curiously, “So how did you do it? What was the murder weapon?”

Sheng Canyang replied patiently, “There wasn’t a murder weapon, it was the ghost who did the killing. Do you know whose ghost it was?”

Hai Ri plopped back down, muttering to himself as he reviewed. “The Xue Chuan we saw isn’t actually the real one, she was taken over by Yu Shang’s soul, correct?” 

Sheng Canyang nodded apathetically.

Hai Ri: “Then where did Xue Chuan’s soul go? Her soul was the killer?”

“En,” Sheng Canyang said. “Smart.”

Hai Ri wondered internally whether he was ridiculing him or being genuine. 

Sheng Canyang’s next statement answered his unspoken question. “Smart, you found out who was the killer after everything ended.”

Hai Ri: …

Sheng Canyang pressed down the corners of his mouth, suppressing a smile. Closing his eyes, he asked, “Anything else you want to ask?”

Sheng Canyang was evidently not fond of reviewing. Logically, a killer who had won by a landslide ought to feel pleased to some extent, yet Sheng Canyang clearly didn’t even have an iota of interest in reviewing. Everything was entirely to answer Hai Ri’s questions. 

Hai Ri really did have a bellyful of questions, so he asked, “Then how did you commit the crime? Xue Chuan was the one who killed, so how did you become the killer?”

Sheng Canyang sighed with some helplessness. Opening his eyes, he glanced at Hai Ri. “Ge, Xue Chuan is a ghost. After the doll Yu Shang made of Xue Chuan was placed behind the mirror, that cherry blossom tree was reflected in the mirror. Xue Chuan’s soul was then naturally attached to the cherry blossom tree.”

Hai Ri thought about it for a long time. “So during that period of time you got Chang Ze to testify for you, you were actually luring Xue Chuan’s soul out of the tree?”

Sheng Canyang: “It was that needle.” 

Momentarily stunned, Hai Ri asked, “The needle was for this purpose?”

Sheng Canyang: “You guys were too easy to fool. That drop of bleed on the doll was there for so long, how could the needle still be in the room? It was because it was just used. I used the blood to lure Xue Chuan. Once Xue Chuan is released, she’ll naturally kill the person she hates most. Chang Ze then testified for me. You good guys really aren’t up to scratch.”

Hai Ri smiled good-naturedly. He had similar sentiments; the good guys really hadn’t figured anything out. Sheng Canyang had hidden the clues in plain sight. Without them, they really weren’t able to understand anything. After seeing that there was blood on Sheng Canyang’s doll, they should have thought that the ghost could have been lured out by blood.

Hai Ri: “Why didn’t Xue Chuan kill Yu Shang? Yu Shang took over her body and even subdued her.” 

Sheng Canyang: “Didn’t Xue Chuan tell you? She said it before leaving.”

Hai Ri pondered over it, confusion all over his face.

Sheng Canyang closed his eyes, his voice low. “She was a mother when she was alive.”

“Xue Chuan would never kill her two daughters no matter what,” Sheng Canyang said. “No matter how her two daughters make use of her, she won’t think of killing them. A mother’s love is the most primitive instinct. The role of Xue Chuan has Yu Shang in it, but roles are inanimate and humans are living. She took herself as a mother and got too deep into the role. Even till the last day, she didn’t push me very hard, nor did she struggle much.” 

Sheng Canyang didn’t continue after reaching this point. His lips thinned and he shut his mouth somewhat grimly.

Understanding struck Hai Ri. “Ah, a mother’s love.”

Hai Ri couldn’t claim to understand, but he also couldn’t claim to not understand. In any case, a mother’s love was the most primitive of love, the first of all human emotions. Many other emotions would branch out from this emotion in the future, but whether man or woman, all hearts contained the bud of a mother’s love. Moved, a layer of goosebumps rose on Hai Ri’s skin.

There was unexpectedly something blatantly sincere in this wholly dismal, secretive, hair-raising story. 

Sheng Canyang: “That was what led to her loss.”

Thinking about the words she had uttered right before she was voted out, a sense of suffocation rose in Hai Ri’s heart.

Sheng Canyang slid down a little. “Eat your tangerines.”

Hai Ri glanced at Sheng Canyang’s stubbornly cool face and thought inwardly that the reason why Sheng Canyang was not prideful was likely due to this. Besides, getting someone to lose was never the intention of winning. 

Hai Ri peeled the tangerines and a clear, sweet scent instantly assailed his nostrils, freshening up the musty air in the vehicle. Hai Ri pulled out the white threads and delivered one to Sheng Canyang’s mouth.

Sheng Canyang opened his mouth and ate one with creased brows before opening his eyes once again. “So sour?”

“Is it sour?” Hai Ri popped one into his mouth. “…F*ck!”

Hai Ri nearly bit his tongue. He searched for something to dilute the taste, but realized that he didn’t buy any water. Unable to stand the momentary suffering, he slapped his thighs repeatedly, pulling at his ears and scratching his cheeks. 

Sheng Canyang opened his eyes and was met with Hai Ri’s extremely sorry figure. Not able to hold himself back, he lowered his head in delight. A moment later, he suddenly burst into explosive laughter, collapsing onto the chair. Feeling that it was quite funny, Hai Ri burst into laughter as well. In the vehicle, only the crazed, stifled sounds of laughter could be heard from the two fools in front, intermingled with the occasional slap on a thigh.

The bus driver turned around to look at them. His mood brightened as well, and he declared, “We’re setting off!”

Ilyz: Happy New Year! Wishing everyone good health and many happy moments in 2022~