Police station.
“Hey, hello~”
Cheng Minghao carried Lin Qingya into the police station, drawing the attention of several police officers and citizens.
“We’re here to find…”
Cheng Minghao briefly explained what happened yesterday.
“Oh~ that young man, his death was…”
Miserable.
The female officer shut her mouth, then explained:
“Dragon Twin Tomb Mountain. Go there yourselves.”
She finished and didn’t elaborate further.
“Dragon… twin?”
Lin Qingya, lying on Cheng Minghao’s back, blushed.
“Yeah,”
The female officer explained matter-of-factly:
“Old name. The elders named it. There wasn’t such a thing back then, so…
Well, that’s how it is.
Now the name has changed, but everyone got used to the old one.
The new name…
“
“Oh, got it.
Thanks.”
Cheng Minghao cut in, quickly carrying Lin Qingya out.
—
Outside the police station, Cheng Minghao continued to carry Lin Qingya, caught a cab, and headed toward the so-called Dragon Twin Tomb Mountain.
—
Dragon Twin Tomb Mountain, halfway up.
“This is it. See for yourselves.”
The Staff of Tomb Mountain brought them over, then left Cheng Minghao and Lin Qingya behind without another word.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Cheng Minghao thanked him, then gently set down Lin Qingya, who was struggling to move.
Lin Qingya clutched her lower abdomen, bending over in front of the Tombstone.
Her tight jeans and perky hips, along with the curves of her youthful chest, swayed before Cheng Minghao’s eyes.
Quite pleasing to the eye.
But at this moment, Cheng Minghao only glanced briefly, then looked away, took off his jacket, and draped his dirty hoodie over Lin Qingya’s waist and hips.
“Mm?”
Lin Qingya turned her head at Cheng Minghao, seeing he was now only in his inner shirt.
As a girl who had just transmigrated, she was completely unaware of how seductive her leg-hugging, hip-arching posture looked.
Cheng Minghao simply explained:
“It’s windy. Hot.”
While speaking, Cheng Minghao didn’t glance at Lin Qingya’s right leg-hugging, hip-arching pose, nor at the curves of her chest.
He only stared at the Tombstone, his gaze lingering on the black and white photo atop it.
The photo was of Chen Qing when he entered high school, looking very young, smiling brightly.
No one back then expected this smiling face would become a black and white photo on a Tombstone.
Listening to Cheng Minghao’s disjointed words about the wind and being hot, Lin Qingya didn’t understand.
She actually felt cold on the mountain, so she held Cheng Minghao’s jacket tighter, continued to squat, arching her hips, the full curves of her chest falling as she bent before ‘her own’ Tombstone.
They stood there for a while, neither knowing what the other was thinking.
Suddenly, Cheng Minghao turned and walked down the mountain, leaving Lin Qingya alone before the Tombstone.
“I’ll go buy something. Wait here.”
He explained.
“Oh, what are you buying?”
Lin Qingya asked, but got no answer.
She just watched Cheng Minghao slowly walk away.
“How strange.”
Lin Qingya muttered, then crouched down, wrapping herself tighter in Cheng Minghao’s jacket to avoid it getting dirty.
Then Lin Qingya touched the Tombstone with her right hand, mumbling:
“Hurry and jump out, won’t you? Your woman…
No, your secret crush has already ended up on someone’s bedsheet. Aren’t you anxious?”
After a while, Lin Qingya felt a bit chilly.
She clutched her own clothes and Cheng Minghao’s jacket around her waist, then turned to look left.
That was the path up the mountain.
Just then, she saw Cheng Minghao coming up, carrying liquor and flowers in both hands.
“So he went to buy wine.”
It’s customary to place wine at a memorial.
Quite thoughtful.
Lin Qingya thought silently, waiting for Cheng Minghao to come over.
“Pa~”
The red wine bottle was placed on the Tombstone base.
The flowers, though fake, were set there too.
After placing the wine and flowers, Lin Qingya watched as Cheng Minghao opened the bottle, then actually started gulping the liquor himself.
“Hey!”
Lin Qingya shouted in surprise, scolding:
“What if you get drunk? This mountain is huge—I can’t get down by myself. My stomach and legs are…”
“Still aching…”
Her voice grew small, her cheeks flushed.
“Gulp~”
Cheng Minghao ignored her, drinking alone.
Then…
“Cough!”
He choked, his cheeks flushed from the alcohol.
A mix of drinking and drunkenness.
“Stop drinking! Do you really not care about me?!”
The road down was long.
When they climbed up, Lin Qingya’s legs could barely move.
It was all Cheng Minghao’s fault, so Lin Qingya naturally clung to him.
Mainly, Lin Qingya had to come up the mountain.
Otherwise, she would have just gone home and slept.
If she possessed Lin Qingya’s body, or Lin Qingya possessed his body, and if Lin Qingya hadn’t been cremated but buried…
No, now there’s no more burial, so if Lin Qingya possessed him, she must have died.
Lin Qingya snatched the wine from Cheng Minghao, hugging it to her chest.
But Cheng Minghao opened another bottle.
Lin Qingya panicked, squatting down, forgetting about dirtying her clothes, reaching out to snatch the wine bottle from Cheng Minghao.
“Give it to me!”
She shouted, then suddenly toppled left, falling into Cheng Minghao’s arms.
“Ah!”
Lin Qingya cried out, startled by the sudden loss of balance.
Lying in Cheng Minghao’s arms, she looked up into his face.
His cheeks were flushed.
No! That was the alcohol!
The smell of wine filled his mouth and nose.
He stared at Lin Qingya for a moment, then his gaze slid down to her delicate, shy, slightly reddened neck.
Further down were her full, well-developed youthful curves.
Cheng Minghao didn’t linger, releasing the wine bottle for Lin Qingya to take.
He wrapped an arm around her slender waist, explaining:
“You know… Actually, I like you too, but…”
Cheng Minghao looked at Chen Qing’s Tombstone, at the smiling face from high school, and continued:
“But both he and I are orphans, with no family, no background.
We can’t give you anything good.
We didn’t dare ask you to wait.
A girl’s youth is short, and she deserves better.
So…”
“I think both of us could only admire you from afar.”
Cheng Minghao guessed aloud.
Hearing his words, Lin Qingya fell silent.
When facing someone you love, it’s natural to want to give them the best.
If you can’t, you can only watch from afar, longing but unable to reach.
Staying near her, unwilling to leave, yet afraid to get close.
Because life was hard for themselves, they understood it was hard for her too.
Since everyone suffered, how could they burden Lin Qingya more?
That’s why Chen Qing liked Lin Qingya but kept his distance.
Lin Qingya liked Cheng Minghao but confessed in vain and was met with coldness.
It seemed, judging by Cheng Minghao’s words now, his feelings were the same.
But now, if things couldn’t return to normal, if the dead remained dead and the living stayed alive, then everything Lin Qingya would have to bear herself.
The mountain fell silent.
Suddenly…