Kaleidoscope of Death

Tan Zao Zao's funeral took place seven days after the ceremony.

The weather was already in late summer, the funeral was held in a lush pine forest, and the noisy cries of mockingbirds on the tree trunks made the atmosphere even quieter. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu, dressed in formal attire, followed at the end of the crowd.

It was a grand funeral. There were colleagues, friends and relatives of Jujube Tan, and even her fans. The media was stopped outside the cemetery, but there were still people trying to get in, trying to get first-hand news of the funeral.

Lin Qiushi watched in silence as her ashes were placed in the cemetery and sealed with cement. On the tombstone is a picture of her smiling, with red lips and white teeth, smiling and laughing.

Her time was frozen in her most beautiful moment.

It was so unreal that Lin Qiushi even thought it was a bad joke. Tan Zaozao would still visit their place, bringing with her a mess of fruits, lying on the sofa with Cheng Qianli and chatting about everything.

Cheng Qianli also came to the funeral, and he stood with Cheng Yicher. They stood at the other end of the crowd, their faces all but silent. Whenever they see someone die inside the door, the people outside the door always feel the sadness of the rabbit's death. Because perhaps the next one to lie in this cold coffin would be themselves.

After the funeral, Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu returned to the villa.

For some time, the atmosphere in the villa was depressing, almost every TV program was broadcasting about the funeral of Zao Zao Tan.

There were many celebrities who died in accidents, but the only one who died in front of all the fans was Tan Zui Zao.

People who may not have known Zaizao Tan at all became her fans, and the distributors announced the re-release of the Blu-ray discs of her early films... The funeral became a carnival.

Lin Qiushi was a witness to this orgy.

He sat on the sofa and saw all of Zaizao Tan's friends being interviewed and questioned about the days when they knew Zaizao Tan.

Cheng Qianli picked up his cell phone and changed the channel with a sickly look, and he said, "Why is this happening."

Lin Qiushi touched his head.

"They're too annoying." Cheng Qianli said.

Lin Qiushi said, "Yes, they're too annoying."

In the evening, some guests came to the villa.

Bai Ming and Zhang Yiqing knocked on the villa's door, and it was Ruan Nam Candle who used to open the door.

"Nan Candle, long time no see." Bai Ming greeted Ruan Nan Candle with a smile.

Ruan Nan Candle nodded and made her way to the door, gesturing for the two to come in.

Lin Qiushi looked up and saw that Zhang Yiqing's face didn't look good, he should be one of the few closest friends of Tan Zaizao, otherwise Tan Zaizao wouldn't have come out and asked Ruan Nan Candle to bring Zhang Yiqing through the door.

Only now, Tan Jujube was out of the picture.

"I have something I want to tell you, so I'll bring him over for a visit," Bai Ming said.

"Let's go." Ruan Nan Candle and Bai Ming went upstairs to the study.

Zhang Yiqing walked over to the couch next to Lin Qiushi and sat down, he looked much thinner than he had seen at the funeral, but his temperament still looked very sharp and out of place with his surroundings.

Lin Qiushi didn't speak to him either, only eating snacks from the table himself with or without a hitch.

"The last door of Tan Zao Zao, did you accompany her in?" After a long silence, Zhang Yiqing suddenly spoke up.

"No." Lin Qiushi said, "Obsidian doesn't answer the sixth door." After he said this, he had thought that Zhang Yiqing would aggressively continue to ask questions, but he just dropped his eyes and made a low oh sound.

So the atmosphere was quiet again.

According to Lin Qiushi's previous temperament, he should have found some topic to ease the awkwardness. But now he didn't want to say anything and just wanted to sit quietly. As for the awkwardness and whatnot...just let it go.

Bai Ming and Ruan Nan Candle talked for a long time, not knowing exactly what they had talked about, and when they finally came down from the study Bai Ming was smiling, but Ruan Nan Candle kept his usual expressionless face.

"I won't keep you guys for dinner." Ruan Nan Candle said.

Bai Ming nodded with a smile and said, "Let's go, Yiqing."

Zhang Yiqing hmmmed, stood up from the sofa and followed Bai Ming.

Lin Qiushi looked at Ruan Nan Candle and said, "What did he come to see you for?"

"He's here to buy leads," Ruan Nam Candle said, "He's going to bring Zhang Yiqing to paint the door."

Lin Qiushi: "......." he thought of something.

Ruan Nam Candle's voice was faint, and he said, "Actually, after that time, I also contacted Tan Zao Zao, but she refused."

Lin Qiushi knew what Ruan Nan Candle meant, that time was a reference to the movie premiere, when Tan Zao Zao begged Ruan Nan Candle to continue bringing her through the door. Nguyen Nam Candle didn't agree - he couldn't risk his own life and the lives of his members. The sixth door had already had a qualitative change, and one careless person could die inside, and he couldn't take a vulnerable teammate with him.

It was normal that no one would like to enter the door if Tan Zao Zao didn't like it.

Ruan Nan Candle asked Tan Zao Zao afterwards, she had one last chance. There were still a few months until her sixth door, and as long as she continued to enter with Ruan Nan Candle during this time, Ruan Nan Candle promised to go through the sixth door with her.

But Tan Zao Zao refused.

Lin Qiushi said, "Why did she refuse?"

Ruan Nan Candle said, "Not everyone is as courageous as you are, she's just an ordinary person."

Lin Qiushi smiled bitterly.

For some people, entering the door was worse than dying, and he didn't notice the heart that had been eroded by fear beneath the dimple of Tan Zao Zao's smile.

The friends were gone, but life was still going on.

Ruan Nan Candle and Lin Qiushi didn't hide anything after being together, and they generously started holding hands, hugging and doing what lovers should do in the villa.

The villa was full of people shrews, it was impossible not to see such an obvious change in the atmosphere. Yi Man Man admirably patted Lin Qiushi on the shoulder and said, "Awesome, you've taken Ruan."

Lin Qiushi smiled, "Yeah, pretty impressive, I think it's pretty impressive too."

Cheng Qianli is the last one to see that he understands or because he crashed through Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu kissing in the courtyard one day.

The atmosphere that day was just too good, the moon was bright, the breeze was gentle, and Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle were sitting in the courtyard, chatting and leaning together.

Cheng Qianli had just returned from outside, and as soon as he entered the courtyard, he let out that trademark scream - to the same tune as the screaming chickens.

"Fuck, fuck, am I dreaming!" Cheng Qianli said, "Fuck, fuck, why did I see Ruan Nan Candle kissing Lin Qiushi!!!"

Cheng Yicher stood next to him, "What's your name..."

But it was too late for him to say that, and both Ruan Nan Candle and Lin Qiushi raised their heads and looked over this way.

Cheng Qianli: "They're looking at me!"

Lin Qiushi greeted Cheng Qianli with a smile, Cheng Qianli made sure he wasn't dreaming, he was still somewhat unconscious, he said, "Oh oh, good evening Qiushi, what are you two doing here? It's a beautiful day....

Cheng Yixie took one look at Cheng Qianli and kind of wanted to pick his brother's head apart to see if his brain was all stuffed with cotton. He apologized to Lin Qiushi and quickly took Cheng Qianli away. I'm not sure if this is the best way to go, but I think it is. His wrists were all red from scratching.

Cheng Yixie sneered, "Didn't you see the look on your brother Ruan's face?"

Cheng Qianli: "........"

Cheng Yicher said, "I'm afraid that if I take you away later, you'll be killed alive on the spot by your brother Ruan."

Cheng Qianli recalled Ruan Nan Candle's gloomy eyes and felt as if his brother had made a lot of sense.

Lin Qiushi looked at their backs and felt a little like laughing as he said, "How did Cheng Qianli develop such a personality."

"It's not like his brother spoiled it." Ruan Nam Candle said, "Sooner or later, he'll spoil something."

Lin Qiushi: "IQ can be spoiled low?"

Nguyen Nam Candle said, "It's a natural."

Lin Qiushi laughed, he was the one who thought Cheng Qianli was cute, he just thought he was cute and at the same time, he was a little worried about Cheng Qianli. After all, when you pass through the door, those things won't show you mercy just because they think you're cute.

"When is your eleventh door?" When it came to entering the door, Lin Qiushi suddenly remembered this.

Ruan Nan Candle looked at Lin Qiushi: "It's still early."

Lin Qiushi: "When is it still early?"

Nguyen Nam Candle: "The year after that."

Lin Qiushi thought that was really quite early. But the time interval between the last two doors was really long, so he suddenly thought of something and asked, "Right... I suddenly remembered, if you keep going through the doors at the slowest speed, can you live the longest?"

Ruan Nan Candle was a bit helpless when he heard Lin Qiushi's words, "Why did you only think of this now?"

Lin Qiushi laughed dryly, "Didn't you never pay attention before?"

"No." Ruan Nan Candle said, "For example, if you jump straight from the third door to the sixth, then the next time you get to the seventh door is counted from the third door."

Lin Qiushi gave a long, oh-so-sweet sound and thought to himself, "No wonder so many people want to jump from door to door, if you succeed in jumping from door to door, it's almost like extending your life for a good long period of time, and you don't have to worry about crossing the door during that time. It really is high risk, high reward.

Lin Qiushi was quite tempted to ask Ruan Nam Candle what he had encountered inside the tenth door, but when he thought that Ruan Nam Candle had been depressed for a long time after coming out of that door, he felt that it might be a bit inappropriate to ask just like that.

"If possible, I would like to enter the tenth door once more." Ruan Nan Candle suddenly spoke.

"What?" Lin Qiushi was a bit surprised, "Why did you..."

Ruan Nan Candle looked at Lin Qiushi, was silent for a moment, and said, "I got the clue to the eleventh fan."

Lin Qiushi still didn't understand, wasn't getting the clue a good thing, why did Ruan Nan Candle still want to take the risk, was it that the clue was already so difficult that Ruan Nan Candle didn't even dare to try?

"The clues I got were very wrong," Nguyen Nan Candle said, "so I wanted to see if there was something wrong with my door or the clues."

"Okay." Lin Qiushi Dao, he thought about it and remembered that his next door was the tenth, and he doubted it, "Is there really a problem? You didn't mean to say that to keep me company, did you?"

Ruan Nan Candle: "Am I the kind of person who does good deeds and doesn't leave a name?"

That's true, Lin Qiushi laughed, "It's not like that indeed."

The ninth door was passed by Lin Qiushi and Cheng Yixie together, but because Lin Qiushi had skipped many doors, so his tenth door still had a long way to go before he would go in and, Cheng Yixie's next door would be around next year, Lin Qiushi said, "Are we going in with Yixie?"

Ruan Nan Candle shook his head: "No, he's not coming in with us."

Lin Qiushi was a bit surprised: "Why-"

Ruan Nan Candle: "He's going to take Qianli through the tenth door alone."

"What?" Lin Qiushi was stunned, he even thought he heard wrong, "What did you say?"

"He's going to take Qianli through the tenth door alone." Ruan Nan Candle repeated, and this time Lin Qiushi heard him clearly, "to help Qianli jump directly to the eleventh door."

Lin Qiushi: "......." he remembered Cheng Qianli's silly appearance, but he didn't know what to say for a moment.

"I've advised." Ruan Nanzhu said, "He didn't listen, and I don't want to be involved in this matter anymore."

Only then did Lin Qiushi remember the previous argument between Ruan Nan Candle and Cheng Yixie because of this matter, but he didn't understand why Cheng Yixie had to make such a choice. Based on Cheng Qianli's strength, wouldn't entering the tenth door, where Ruan Nan Candle had even shed a layer of skin, be doomed to misfortune?

"There's nothing he can do." Ruan Nanzhu said, "He's afraid he'll leave first and won't be able to protect Cheng Qianli."

Lin Qiushi smiled bitterly.

Before Le Dong Yuan's death, he didn't have a clear understanding of the concept of death, then it was Wu Qi, Tan Zao Zao, and the successive accidents that made him clearly understand that death was accompanying him and could come at any time.

The gift of the door is not unconditional; it can take back what it has given at any time.

The dead are gone and the life of the living must go on.

The effects of Tan Zao Zao's death gradually subsided, and people's lives returned to peace.

Lin Qiushi found a time to go back to his hometown, he had wanted to go back alone, but Ruan Nanzhu insisted on going back with him.

Lin Qiushi originally wanted to excuse himself, but seeing Ruan Nanzhu's resolute attitude, he agreed.

It had been five years since Lin Qiushi had last returned to his hometown, and the last time he had gone back was because his grandmother had passed away, and then he had almost lost contact with his family.

Lin Qiushi's parents were divorced, and afterwards, each party started a family again, so Lin Qiushi became an extra person, neither side treated him well, and Lin Qiushi seldom contacted them.

By the time they returned to Lin Qiushi's hometown it was already autumn, the hot weather was getting cooler, the streets were covered with a layer of yellow leaves, Lin Qiushi looked at the unfamiliar scenery around him after leaving the airport and sighed, "It's been a long time since I've been back, I've forgotten what my hometown looks like."

Ruan Nam Candle didn't say anything, observing the surroundings.

"Let's go, we'll go to grandmother's grave first." Lin Qiushi had already planned when he came, "After that, we'll go to my mother's place..." he paused for a moment and smiled, "But I kind of can't remember her address."

Ruan Nanzhu looked at him, "I'll look it up for you?"

Lin Qiushi said, "Wow, you can find out all this?"

Nguyen Nam Candle: "Pay enough money, what can't you find out?"

Lin Qiushi: "I was the one who brought you back, how did it turn out that you helped me find my way."

Ruan Nan Candle: "What does that have to do with anything."

He said he was looking for it and took out his phone to dial the number, providing some information to the person on the other end of the line. Lin Qiushi was just watching him, and although he was a bit embarrassed, he had to admit that Ruan Nam Candle could be really good looking, and even with his expressionless face, he was so attractive. Even the people walking around would pretend to be carelessly looking towards this place a few more times.

It was as if they were peeking at some big star.

Thinking of this, Lin Qiushi laughed out.

"What are you laughing at." Ruan Nan Candle hung up the phone just in time to see the derisive smile on Lin Qiushi's face.

"Nope." Lin Qiushi said, "Did someone tell you that you're good looking?" He stretched out his hand and nudged the straight bridge of Ruan Nam Candle's nose with his fingertips, "It's especially pretty."

Ruan Nam Candle raised his eyebrows, "So?" He leaned in front of Lin Qiushi, "You mean you like my face better?"

The desire to live made Lin Qiushi sense the danger hidden in the words, and he said, "No, no matter, am I that shallow? Of course I like your soul!"

Ruan Nan Candle: "Oh."

Lin Qiushi: "......." scared him to death.

Within a short while, there was a message from Ruan Nan Candle that he had found Lin Qiushi's mother's address.

Lin Qiushi said, "Let's go."

Ruan Nan Candle nodded.

They took a taxi to the place where the address was and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, the door opened, revealing the face of a middle-aged woman who saw Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nam Candle with some confusion in her eyes, "May I ask who you are?"

Lin Qiushi called out, "Mom."

The woman was stunned, then hesitantly said, "You're... Qiushi?"

Lin Qiushi nodded, "Yeah." He said, "I came back to visit my grandmother's grave and stopped by."

"Oh..." the woman said, "Then come in and have a seat." The way she looked at Lin Qiushi was completely unfamiliar, as if she had completely forgotten that she had a son like this. It was no wonder, he had barely lived with his mother since Lin Qiushi's parents had divorced, and they hadn't had much contact for several years after that.

Ruan Nanzhu had been wondering how exactly Lin Qiushi had developed such a personality, but now that he saw his mother, this confusion was mostly resolved.

Mother Lin politely poured tea for them, and a girl's curious face was revealed at the bedroom door, she called out, "Mom, who is this?"

"This is your brother, Lin Qiushi." Mother Lin introduced him somewhat awkwardly, "He's here to see his mother."

The girl had heard of this half-brother, but had almost never met Lin Qiushi, and she said, "Oh... so."

"You quickly go and read the book well." Lin's mother said, "It's midterm exams..." she shattered for a while before remembering that there were two guests at home and quickly changed the subject.

They said they were mother and son, but they were more polite than strangers.

After sitting for a while and drinking a cup of tea, Lin Qiushi got up and took his leave, rejecting Mother Lin's invitation for them to have lunch together.

Ruan Nanzhu didn't say much the whole time, his airy and expressionless way of sitting there made Mother Lin not dare to talk to him at all.

Only when he came out did he say, "Do you want to go see your father?"

Lin Qiushi said, "No need." There wasn't much sadness on his face though, more helplessness, "It does seem like I don't have to worry about this place anymore." They looked like they were doing well and didn't need their extra son.

Ruan Nan Candle reached out and took Lin Qiushi's hand, hooking it gently in his, "It's really no good..."

Lin Qiushi: "Huh?"

Ruan Nan Candle: "I'll begrudge being your father?"

Lin Qiushi: "... "Ruan Nan Candle, can you not use this face as a serious rogue.

Seeing Lin Qiushi's expression, a smile floated in Ruan Nan Candle's eyes, "How are you so cute."

Lin Qiushi thought to himself you've really turned bad, you used to be so serious when you were outside the door, why are you like this now.

It was already late, so the two of them casually found a roadside stall and ordered some food, Ruan Nan Candle was not allowed to drink Lin Qiushi, but Lin Qiushi said he was now strong like a cow, not to mention drinking, and it was no problem to dry Ruan Nan Candle straight down.

Ruan Nan Candle seemed to be smiling: "You're such a good drinker?"

Lin Qiushi's drinking capacity was actually average, but men, well, they were all about saving face, so he nodded his scalp, "Yeah, it's good."

"Then come on." Ruan Nan Candle said, "I'd like to see who gets down first."

So he just had the owner carry a case of beer and they started drinking and eating.

It was such a great time, the weather was just right, the sun was just setting on the horizon, the wind was cool, and when they looked up they could see red fire clouds hanging over their heads. The noisy people around them weren't noisy, but rather a little more alive.

Lin Qiushi, however, remembered a saying.

Which of the world's affairs, apart from life and death, is not idle. When he thought of this, he couldn't help but look towards Ruan Nan Candle with a smile on his face.

Ruan Nan Candle didn't know what he was smiling about, his mouth was chewing the freshly roasted meat, because the meat was a bit spicy, his lips were red and looked delicious and tasty, so Lin Qiushi looked at him and smiled even brighter, he spoke, "Ah Ruan Nan Candle."

Ruan Nan Candle looked up at him and hmmed.

Lin Qiushi said, "Do you know that you are now..."

Ruan Nan Candle raised his eyebrows.

Lin Qiushi lowered his voice: "It looks delicious?"

Ruan Nan Candle put the cup in his hand down, he knew that Lin Qiushi was lying about his drinking ability, he didn't believe that Lin Qiushi would dare to say such a thing when he was sober.