Chapter 26 - Root of Miseries in This Life (2/2)

Dong Ci told the ghost official her name and date of birth. The ghost official led her to a cold room, in the middle of which was a huge red stone.

Gradually, the stone gave out light and began to show the film about Dong Ci’s previous life: The locusts flitted about in the air and she stood in the ruins with a frightened, broken face. Her fingers were bloody from digging a pit for her dead family members. Autumn Wind Teahouse was bubbling a cacophony of voices. A steamed bun fell to the ground. Nima hoisted her on to his shoulder and walked out of the teahouse with a triumphant smile. She played the Chines lute which was made of red sandalwood while singing. They embraced each other warmly in bed. Then he set off for the capital. They parted with reluctance and she shed floods of tears. The three women skinned the moles and her, and then wrapped her in rat furs. She failed to hug him again. They lost each other for all the wrong reasons. Many corpses hung on iron hooks in the backyard. Two of the three women were thrown in the pit of of ten thousand rats, and the other woman was disembowelled…

Dong Ci shed tears and whispered, “I did suffer a lot in my previous life. But I didn’t know of that till just now. Nima, where are you? I want to go back! I want to come back to you and tell you what happened to me.”

Black Emissary said, “Okay, I will send you to your past. But when the red rope turns black, you have to come back to the Hell. Otherwise, you will lose the opportunity to return to the human world.”

Dong Ci nodded, “Thank you.”

White Emissary said, “Go to find the Door 116 of Building 680. Open it, and you can go back to your past. Remember, when everything’s settled, you must go back the same way you come.”

Dong Ci thanked them sincerely.

There was a sign saying “the departure in the previous life is the root of miseries in the present life” at the fork of the road.

Everyone had trouble without end. Now Dong Ci only wanted to find that door and come back to Nima.

Luo Nan lingered next to Dong Ci’s bed. He sat staring at her quietly. She was getting thinner day by day. Now she was nothing but skin and bones, and he could even see her rib cage. As her face got thinner, her eyes looked sunken and much bigger.

“I will not leave you.” Luo Nan held Dong Ci’s hand and continued, “You must defeat the death. If you wake up, I will be obedient to you in every matter. Wherever you want to go, I will accompany you…”

Dong Ci couldn’t hear him.

Chen Qi always came to see her at midnight. He had looked high and low for her like mad. Now he found her, but she lay deathly and soullessly in the bed. He sat in the ward until the small hours. Before he left, he kissed Dong Ci on the lips. They had been warm and soft but now was cold, dry and cracked. Chen Qi had once met Luo Nan at the gate of the hospital. Luo Nan knew that the man was not Hai Ming because he had seen Hai Ming at the funeral of Chai Wenxiu. That silly bookworm felt deeply grieved at the death of his girlfriend and repeatedly reproached himself for not taking good care of her. Then he gave up his studies and started hunting for a job because he had to pay his mortgage. Chai Wenxiu had been responsible for the mortgage, but now she was dead and no one could help him. Hai Ming was very sad.

Both Chen Qi and Luo Nan hoped that Dong Ci would wake up as soon as possible because she was the most important person in their lives.