A soft push nudged her shoulder. Xu Wen tipped backwards. In her eyes, everything slowed down. Jiang Cheng stood there quietly. His smile faded into the dark.
“No…” Her last words were clogged by the blood that flooded her mouth. A cane pierced her heart from behind. She fell back into the mirror. On the other side, Zhen Jianren had been waiting for a long time.
The cane was slowly pulled out. Life flowed out of Xu Wen’s eyes. She convulsed violently before… letting go. Xu Wen… was dead.
Zhen Jianren dissolved into a black mist and disappeared into the mirror. The door buzzed loudly.
Jiang Cheng took a huge stride forward. A few seconds before the door collapsed, he walked through it.
After the familiar sense of vertigo, he found his footing. He saw his office and a rotund figure.
“Doctor!” Fatty rushed over happily, “You gave me such a fright. The door is about…” He glanced at the door. The black door cracked and then disintegrated into dust. Only the normal wall remained.
Jiang Cheng sighed, looking quite dispirited.
Fatty guessed something and consoled him, “Doctor, you’ve tried your best. Furthermore, that woman was not a good person anyway.”
“Doctor,” Fatty was impressed, “I didn’t expect you to be such a moral person.”
Jiang Cheng looked out the window. A half-moon hung in the air. Melancholy traced the surroundings. “Fatty,” Jiang Cheng began slowly, “No matter their identities, backgrounds, and experiences, everyone in the nightmare realm is pitiable. We are like rootless lilies in the chaotic world. We can’t see the start and can’t fathom the end. If we can help, we should help. Saving a life is the greatest deed.” Jiang Cheng said sincerely, “Do you understand?”
Fatty stared at Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng frowned, “Why are you staring at me?”
“Doctor,” Fatty opened his mouth, “I wish Brother Zhen Jianren were here to hear you say those words. He’d be so happy that he’d probably split open his coffin and use the coffin board to cook a stew for you to eat.”
Jiang Cheng tutted and looked at Fatty. “Fatty, I feel like you’ve improved tremendously.”
“Have I?” Fatty scratched his head shyly. Then, he whispered, “Actually, I can feel it too.”
“Yes.” Jiang Cheng nodded. “So, you can attempt the next mission on your own.” He turned around and walked up the stairs. Just as Fatty recovered and was about to explain it to Jiang Cheng, the latter’s words travelled down the stairs. “By the way, I forgot to tell you. Chen Yao came back with me. She is probably going to stay with us for a few days. Be careful when you use the toilet at night. After all, she’s a girl, and we’re gentlemen.”
Fatty hugged the blanket and knocked on Jiang Cheng’s bedroom door. “Doctor, are you asleep?”
“That’s great.” Fatty pleaded. “If you can’t fall asleep, I can accompany you.”
“You should accompany Chen Yao.” Jiang Cheng turned over in his bed. “She has been alone for so many years. It’s not easy for her.”
That night, Fatty slumbered while gripped by extreme fear. In his dream, Chen Yao came to grab his neck. Thankfully, she was fought off by a man in black. Fatty cried and thanked the man. However, the next second, the man in black pounced at him. He also came at Fatty’s neck. He yelled, “Your neck is mine and mine alone!” The man… had the Doctor’s face. Fatty was scared awake at 5 am.
To fix his relationship with Jiang Cheng, he planned to make a date porridge. He remembered Jiang Cheng saying that he just hit puberty, so dates were perfect. Fatty washed his face with cold water. Then, he used the extremely blunt fruit knife to cut the leftover vegetables into strips. He mixed the strips of vegetables with some condiments to make a simple salad. Fatty saw a bag of frozen fermented mustard greens in the fridge, but Fatty thought they lacked nutritional value. Plus, he believed Jiang Cheng had eaten too many of those already.
Fatty thought Jiang Cheng was quite pitiable. Based on the way he conducted himself, Fatty thought Jiang Cheng would be quite rich. However, after some time together, Fatty realised Jiang Cheng could barely feed himself. Jiang Cheng once mentioned casually that before he met Fatty, he only had two meals per day.
“Maybe I’ll cook some ribs for Doctor this afternoon…” Fatty thought to himself, “Doctor liked it a lot last time.” Well, Doctor technically seemed to like everything.
Fatty had been paying for the groceries from his own pocket. Jiang Cheng merely asked him perfunctory once. Then, he unwillingly pulled out a few ten-dollar bills from his pocket and gave them to Fatty. However, when Fatty came to the market and wanted to pay, he realised only the first and last bills were 10. The rest were 5 and 1. To make matters worse, one of the ten was a fake!
Even though Fatty tried to explain it, the auntie who sold the meat glared at Fatty like he was a scammer. She drilled into his soul until he left.
Calculating the time the porridge would need to boil, Fatty left the office with a vegetable basket. He found it in the kitchen. He also didn’t understand why Jiang Cheng would have a vegetable basket since he never cooked.
The vegetables at the morning market were fresh and cheap. Fatty purposely took a long detour to avoid the auntie who sold him the ribs last time. Fatty was still quite embarrassed.
After buying the ribs, Fatty passed by a seafood stall. Fatty picked a fish that was quite fresh. He planned to make a fish soup that night. He wandered for a long time, waiting for the fish to die. Once it died, the price would drop. That was the rule.
Fatty paced around the stall, occasionally poking the fish he wanted. Eventually, the fish stopped moving.
The uncle packed up the fish and grumbled that it was Fatty who poked the fish to death. Even if he didn’t, he would have angered the fish to its death.