Chapter 79: Bringing People Home
"Sister! Sister, are you all right?" Miao Anji asked, looking at Jiang Li, who had been startled awake. They quickly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her brow.
"I’m fine. I just had a nightmare."
Jiang Li leaned back in her chair and tilted her head to look at Lu Xingye beside her. "Did it rain last night?"
Lu Xingye looked at her and shook his head. "No, but it rained in C City."
Hearing this, Jiang Li nodded, then got up and went to the hospital room to check on Yu Huannian.
Yu Huannian had been awake for a while, quietly observing his surroundings. He only turned to look at Jiang Li when he heard the noise.
"Does your head still hurt?" Jiang Li walked over to take a look.
"It doesn’t hurt anymore."
"Good. When you’re discharged, I’ll take you and Aunt Yu back to C City. I’m there often. We’ll buy Aunt Yu a burial plot with good feng shui, and we’ll be able to visit her whenever we want."
Yu Huannian looked at Jiang Li. "Okay. I’ll do whatever you say."
A nurse came in to change the dressing, and Jiang Li quickly stood to the side. Through the open door, she could see Lu Xingye and Miao Anji glaring at each other outside.
Jiang Li walked out and gestured for Lu Xingye to follow her a short distance away.
"I dreamed about a body being dumped at sea. Why don’t you contact Officer Zhou and the others and see if there’s any news about that?"
"Okay." Lu Xingye quickly took out his phone, opened the group chat, and typed: [Captain Zhou, Brother Huo, Jiang Li said she dreamed about a body being dumped at sea. She wants you to keep an eye out.]
The moment the message was sent, Lu Xingye’s phone started ringing off the hook, and the group chat began pinging non-stop.
Huo Qing: [Jiang Li???]
Ji Qinghe: [Jiang Li isn’t dead? Where is she now? Is she okay? Is she hurt?]
Lu Xingye looked at the messages from the group, then glanced at Jiang Li in the distance. He didn’t know the answers either.
[I don’t know. I haven’t asked yet.]
Wu Ming popped up: [What! Jiang Li! I’m coming!]
Seeing Lu Xingye’s message, Wu Ming scrambled out of bed, packed her gear, and then snuck outside.
Once outside, she squatted in a corner and performed a divination. The result was the same as before—a chaotic reading.
Wu Ming squatted in the corner, thinking about why she had succeeded before. ’Could it be that I can’t get a reading because I’m too far from Jiang Li?’
She took out her phone and called Lu Xingye, but he didn’t pick up!
Wu Ming clenched her fists in frustration.
...
「Three days later」
Jiang Li checked Yu Huannian out of the hospital. They returned to her rented apartment to terminate the lease with the landlord, taking only some photographs with them.
Lu Xingye saw the urn of ashes in her arms and immediately looked away, his heart aching.
"Let’s go."
"You bought a car?"
Seeing Jiang Li in the driver’s seat, Lu Xingye stared at her in surprise.
"Yeah. I assume you have your car, so I’ll head out first." With that, Jiang Li turned on her GPS.
"Total distance: three thousand seven hundred kilometers. A route has been planned for you..."
Lu Xingye had no choice but to get into his own car and follow them.
After nightfall, they rested for the night at a service area. They set off again the next day, arriving in C City in the early morning hours.
Jiang Li parked the car in the downstairs lot and led Yu Huannian and Miao Anji upstairs. Neither of them looked well, a result of motion sickness.
At home, Lu Xingchen heard a commotion in the hallway outside. She opened her door, and when she saw Jiang Li and the others, her eyes immediately reddened. She stepped forward and hugged her.
"You’re back. I made food; it’s still warm. You’ve been on the road for two days, you must be starving."
"Sister Xingchen, have you been waiting for us this whole time?" Jiang Li asked, looking at Lu Xingchen who had come out to greet them.
"Xiao Ye gave me a rough idea of when you’d arrive, so I just made a little something. I’ve already eaten."
Lu Xingchen looked at her brother, who had also come up, and the anxiety she’d felt for the past few days finally subsided. ’Honestly, that Xiao Ye. He knew about Jiang Li but didn’t just come out and say it, making me worry for nothing.’
Lu Xingye met his sister’s gaze and felt a little intimidated. A friend had called him, saying he’d seen someone who looked a bit like Jiang Li, but the video had gone by too quickly for him to be sure.
That’s why he hadn’t been certain it was really her until he arrived and saw her in person, so he hadn’t told anyone.
"Thank you, Sister Xingchen. We’ll head over to our place first."
Jiang Li opened the door to the apartment next door and led the two inside.
Yu Huannian looked around the room, almost afraid to move.
"Sister, is this your home? It’s beautiful," Miao Anji said, sitting on the sofa and looking at Jiang Li. Their motion sickness didn’t seem so bad anymore.
"It’s a rental. When I have the money, I’ll buy a big house."
Jiang Li smiled at the two of them. ’Before I met them, I never thought about buying a house. But now, I think having a house would be nice. Even if I don’t live in it, they can.’
Jiang Li poured them both some water. A moment later, Lu Xingye came over carrying pots of food.
Jiang Li was taken aback. "We could have just gone over..."
"It’s getting late. My sister told us to bring it over so we can all eat together." Lu Xingye placed the pot on the table. His sister had said Jiang Li might feel awkward coming over, so she’d told him to bring the food to them.
"Thank you."
Jiang Li gave Lu Xingye a grateful look.
"It’s nothing, we’re all friends." Lu Xingye handed chopsticks to Yu Huannian and Miao Anji. "My sister is a great cook. Hurry up and eat."
After dinner, Lu Xingye took the pots and bowls and went back.
Jiang Li made a pallet on the floor in another room and let Yu Huannian and Miao Anji get some sleep. After returning to her own room, she also fell asleep.
Early the next morning, she was stunned to find Zhou Tiancheng and Ji Qinghe in her apartment.
"They said they were your friends."
Yu Huannian had woken up early. He was planning to go downstairs to buy some groceries, but when he opened the door, he saw two people standing there who didn’t look very friendly.
It was only after the neighbor from next door—the one who gave them dinner last night—said they were Jiang Li’s friends that he let them in.
"Yes. Officer Ji, Officer Zhou, hello."
Hearing those titles, Yu Huannian’s expression darkened, and he turned and went back to his room.
"Jiang Li, you had us worried sick!" Ji Qinghe said, holding her and looking her over from head to toe.
"I’m fine. Just some burns. I was laid up for a while, but I’m much better now."
Lu Xingye, who was just arriving at the door, happened to overhear this. He froze on the spot. He looked down at the breakfast in his hands, then walked inside anyway.
"I bought you guys some food. Eat it while it’s hot." Lu Xingye put the food on the table, turned, and left.
Ji Qinghe watched Lu Xingye’s retreating back and sighed helplessly.
"Officer Ji, about that matter... I assume Lu Xingye has already told you. Has there been any progress?"
Zhou Tiancheng took over. "It’s still under investigation. You should get some rest for the next few days. Contact us immediately if anything else comes up."
"Okay."
Ji Qinghe and Jiang Li exchanged phone numbers again. "Well, we won’t disturb you any longer. We’ll be heading back now."
Seeing that Jiang Li had company, Ji Qinghe knew it wasn’t convenient to say too much.
"Okay. Take care, Officer Ji, Officer Zhou." Jiang Li saw the two of them out. When she returned, she looked at the breakfast on the table.
"Go get Xiao Nian for breakfast."
After eating, the group rested at home. The sounds of Miao Anji and Yu Huannian bickering could be heard from their room from time to time.
Jiang Li couldn’t help but smile as she lowered her head and began searching for a burial plot.
Jiang Li bought the burial plot that same day and chose an auspicious date to lay Aunt Yu to rest.
Exhausted after returning home, she lay on the sofa, wondering how she could thank the Lu siblings.
Her thoughts drifted, and she fell asleep.
In her dream, she saw a shadow walking toward her. It stopped a short distance away, its pair of yellow eyes staring straight at her.