There had to be something strange about this nursing home.
Lu Xiaoqiao was not saying it casually.
Besides the creepy scene with Xie Xun just now, she also shivered every time she passed the small storage room beside Qin Shuman’s bedroom.
For no reason at all.
It was clearly just a room for storing things.
She could not remember exactly when it happened, but one day Qin Shuman’s chair broke. She refused to use another one. Like a child going through a phase where she was extremely sensitive to routines, she insisted on having the exact same chair.
Fortunately, there was an identical one in the storage room, so Lu Xiaoqiao volunteered to get it.
But while she was inside, she heard a strange sound coming from somewhere.
Knock, knock, knock.
It sounded like someone was knocking.
At first, Lu Xiaoqiao thought the sound was coming from Qin Shuman’s room. But after checking several times, she realized it was not. The sound really was coming from the storage room.
Yet she could not find where it was coming from.
The goosebumps on her arms appeared uncontrollably.
Lu Xiaoqiao even brought a caregiver in to listen with her. The caregiver patted her head, thinking she had a fever and was imagining things.
Clearly, she was the only one who could hear the sound.
The caregiver told her not to go inside anymore, saying that she might be physically weaker in certain ways and more likely than others to encounter supernatural things.
After that, Lu Xiaoqiao never dared to enter again.
Every time she passed the storage room, she would run past it as quickly as possible, like a thief trying not to be noticed.
Xie Xun must have encountered something supernatural just now.
But he certainly did not look like someone who was physically weak.
If there really was something strange in this place, then with him standing there, even the ghosts would probably recognize their ancestor and scream as they ran away.
Maybe he had been possessed because he had left the hospital before he was supposed to.
Lu Xiaoqiao was too lazy to think about it anymore. She also had no idea who had told him that she smoked.
After Qin Shuman woke from her afternoon nap, Lu Xiaoqiao helped her drink water and take her medicine before pushing her outside in her wheelchair to get some sunlight.
Xie Xun was nowhere to be seen in the little garden. Only the swing remained, swaying gently in the breeze.
Lu Xiaoqiao chased butterflies for a while but came back empty-handed. She pouted.
“Manman, I want to grow wings too.”
“That wouldn’t be good.” Qin Shuman smiled. “Xiaoqiao should be a human. People with wings can fly, and they’ll get caught.”
“…”
Lu Xiaoqiao helped Qin Shuman stand up, and the two of them squatted on the winding pebble path. Each picked up a small stick and used it to block the path of a line of ants.
“Manman, do you want a cat?” Lu Xiaoqiao suddenly asked.
She thought a cat could keep her company.
Qin Shuman hurriedly waved her hands. Her expression and movements were like those of a child.
“No, no. I don’t like them. I don’t like little animals.”
“What do you like, then?”
Qin Shuman smiled brightly.
“I like Aye.”
“…”
Qin Shuman’s missing husband was named Xie Chengye.
In Qin Shuman’s memories, she only remembered the period when she and her husband had been deeply in love. Everything that happened afterward had been deliberately forgotten.
“Aye is very handsome,” Qin Shuman told her. “He said he would treat me well for the rest of his life and never even look at another woman… But he hasn’t come to see me in so long. Xiaoqiao, can you help me contact him?”
Lu Xiaoqiao said nothing.
Men’s lies…
How many people could hear promises like that and not eventually lose themselves?
Lu Xiaoqiao used her stick to draw a shallow line in the ground. The ants were trapped in the middle, looking around in confusion, panicked because they could not find a way out.
Qin Shuman suddenly asked, “Where’s Minghe? Why doesn’t he come to see me either?”
Lu Xiaoqiao was already used to this.
“Big Brother is very busy. He has to make money so he can buy beautiful things for Manman.”
“Oh.” Qin Shuman looked disappointed. “Then tell him not to work too hard.”
“Okay.”
Qin Shuman mentioned many people, but never Xie Xun.
Lu Xiaoqiao chatted with her casually, talking about anything and everything that came to mind.
“Manman, do you want some roast chicken? I’ll bring you some next time…”
“Chicken?”
Qin Shuman suddenly interrupted her. Her delicate, beautiful features filled with fear.
“Chicken?”
Lu Xiaoqiao stopped talking.
Qin Shuman grabbed her arm and leaned close to her ear, speaking in a very soft voice.
“I’ll tell you something. He’s very scary…”
Lu Xiaoqiao’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
“Who?”
“He did!” Qin Shuman said anxiously. “Xie Xun!”
“…How is he scary?”
“He chopped off a chicken’s head,” Qin Shuman said fearfully. “A big rooster that was still alive and jumping around. He chopped its head off with one stroke. There was blood everywhere. His hands and face were covered in blood. Then he brought the chicken’s head and body to me. There was blood everywhere… Tell him to get out!”
Lu Xiaoqiao quickly hugged her. “Tell him to get out. He’s gone. It’s okay.”
Qin Shuman trembled. “He kills people. I’m scared. Don’t let him come. I don’t want to see him.”
“……” Lu Xiaoqiao paused. “Who did he kill?”
“A lot of people,” Qin Shuman said incoherently. “A lot. He’s so cruel. Whenever he appears, he always has blood on him. It’s terrifying.”
Lu Xiaoqiao quickly rubbed her back and comforted her. “I won’t let him come. He’s a bad person. I won’t let him come here to see you.”
Lu Xiaoqiao tried hard to change the subject.
Qin Shuman sat back in her wheelchair, enjoying the sunlight as she played with the winter jasmine beside her. Her profile looked calm and peaceful.
Actually, Xie Xun looked a lot like her. They had similar facial features, long, narrow eyes, and skin as pale as snow.
Lu Xiaoqiao stayed at the nursing home until evening before quietly leaving.
Her car was parked under a cherry tree outside. Pink and white cherry blossoms had fallen onto the windshield. Xie Xun was half-sitting on the hood of her car, one leg bent and the other stretched out lazily. The tip of his shoe drew circles on the ground, gathering the fallen petals into a small pile.
He seemed to find it amusing, a faint smile on his lips.
Lu Xiaoqiao did not bother being polite.
“Why haven’t you left yet?”
When Xie Xun looked up, the smile disappeared. He looked stubborn, almost crazy.
“Quit smoking.”
“……” Lu Xiaoqiao almost cursed. She held back her anger and said, “The cigarettes were for my sister. I bought them for her. I don’t smoke!”
Aside from the fact that Li Yundong had seen her buy cigarettes yesterday, she could not figure out how the news that she smoked had spread.
Xie Xun looked satisfied.
“Good girl.”
Lu Xiaoqiao was speechless for a moment.
“You know I have a sister?”
Xie Xun answered honestly, “I have information about your family going back eight generations.”
Lu Xiaoqiao glared at him.
“You bastard!”
“Hmm? What a lovely title.”
Lu Xiaoqiao: “??????”
“Move,” Lu Xiaoqiao said. “I’m going home.”
Xie Xun stood up. His leather shoe casually crushed the small pile of petals beneath it, instantly scattering the flowers into the dirt.
That was the fate of fallen flowers.
But Lu Xiaoqiao still felt that one could tell a lot from a small detail.
He really was a weirdo.
Xie Xun’s smile deepened.
“The driver left.”
“…What?”
“You’re driving me.”
“……”
A gentle breeze blew past, carrying the fresh scent of spring.
Lu Xiaoqiao lowered her eyes and thought for a few seconds before sitting in the passenger seat.
“You drive. I’m tired.”
Xie Xun seemed amused by how readily she agreed. He did not object and simply got into the driver’s seat.
The car was too small for him, and the new-car smell made him uncomfortable.
He casually removed the safety charm hanging from the rearview mirror and brought it to his nose.
It smelled like her.
Lu Xiaoqiao endured it and waited until he finished before letting him hang it back.
Once the car left the nursing home, Lu Xiaoqiao suddenly said, “Go to ONE.”
Xie Xun turned his head and glanced at her.
“Hmm?”
Lu Xiaoqiao stared at him.
“ONE.”
Xie Xun blinked his thick eyelashes.
“Where is that?”
“……”
He really did not know.
Had he really lost his memory?
“You forgot?” Lu Xiaoqiao asked casually, continuing to test him. “You made an appointment with someone to go there in the past few days.”
“Who made the appointment?”
He really did not remember.
Lu Xiaoqiao lost interest and entered the address into the navigation.
“Just go there. It’s where Tuantuan had his three-year-old photo shoot. The photos should be ready to pick up.”