Time pressed into December, intense and relentless. To squeeze in more studying, Lian Xia's days had narrowed to just two points: work and books. She existed under enormous pressure.
Under prolonged stress with no outlet, she grew increasingly irritable—like a small animal sensing approaching disaster, perpetually bristling.
Whenever she paced around the apartment, Gu Xichen no longer dared to dangle freely from the ceiling as before. Instead he huddled in the corner, barely breathing, terrified of making the slightest noise that might affect her exam performance.
At night, when startled birds circled the window, he even manifested his true form to chase them away.
You could say he'd become exactly like those parents who pushed their kids to the point of madness.
There's a saying: the more you rush, the more things go wrong.
On the morning of the exam, he watched her move her admission ticket from her pocket to her bag, then from her bag to her pencil case, obsessively shuffling it between several spots before finally transferring it—with great care—into the side pocket of her backpack.
Among all her pockets, only that one was broken.
She left the apartment, and that little folded admission ticket slipped out in the hallway. Gu Xichen watched as person after person stepped on it, quickly grinding it into a filthy mess.
Lately he'd seen her studying while standing, studying while eating, even reciting classical texts in her sleep.
She'd worked so hard—only to fall short at the final hurdle. What would happen to her?
Would she fall apart? Would she sob uncontrollably? Or would she end up like him...
Hanging alone from a window, undiscovered?
And most importantly—if she took her own life... would she become an existence like his?
If so, he wouldn't be so lonely anymore, would he?
The vengeful ghost's heart waged a furious battle. After a long while, in the windless room, a sudden gale erupted, ghostly wails filling the air.
"Damn it, I owe you this!"
A ghost from the underworld cannot blow the wind of the living world.
The movement of wind was like being rolled through a forest of blades for a ghost's spectral form—especially on a bright, cloudless day like this one, it felt like being deep-fried in boiling oil by the King of Hell himself.
Gu Xichen scrambled through the shadows of pedestrians on the street, desperately chasing the figure pedaling a shared bicycle at breakneck speed ahead.
Lian Xia!
Turn around!
Turn around and look at me!
Look at me—the one going through blade mountains and boiling oil for you!
Under the blazing sun, Lian Xia arrived at the exam center. The first thing she did was pull out her admission ticket.
She checked the side pocket first.
Inside there was nothing but a heart-stopping slit.
...
...
The exam was about to begin, and Lian Xia was still rummaging through her battered bag.
"Where's your admission ticket, young lady?"
The invigilator walked over, rapping sharply on the desk.
Whispers surrounded her as others snickered at her dishevelment. She felt as if she'd fallen into an icy pit, her eyes drifting helplessly through empty space. "I swear I remember bringing it..."
The tall windows across the room were flung wide, and a biting north wind blew against her flushed cheek.
In that moment, she so desperately wanted to...
"It's right here."
The invigilator picked up the crumpled piece of paper from the desk and gave her a stern look. "Sit down. The exam is about to begin."
...
...
After two days of exams, Lian Xia's spirits finally lifted.
She'd thought she'd lost her admission ticket and had nearly thrown herself out that window. Now, she couldn't help but feel a giddy sense of survival.
"Great One, that was a close call the other day. Let me give you an extra stick of incense—thank you for watching over me!"
Gu Xichen, of course, accepted the offering with lofty dignity.
In his view, Lian Xia was celebrating too soon.
When the results came out, he watched with a clenched heart as she climbed onto the windowsill and sat there, staring blankly into the distant night, lost in thought.
This high floor had no safety bars, and the window frame was a bit loose. It was genuinely dangerous.
Fortunately, she climbed up of her own accord, realized it wasn't a good idea, and climbed back down.
It had been months since the day he'd been scorched, and Gu Xichen's spectral form still hadn't fully healed. He was standing by the window bathing in moonlight when she passed through his body several times, which felt rather strange.
These days he'd been forced to cower in the darkest corner, nursing his wounds alone. Watching her oblivious figure, a flood of venomous thoughts surged through his mind:
*Do you want to see me like this—riddled with wounds for your sake?*
*Would you run, or would you lose your mind?*
The moonlight was cool and clear, the mortal world beautiful, but the temperature around Lian Xia suddenly plummeted, as if she'd been dipped in ice water.
She turned her head. Under the window, the space was empty. Nothing there.
Where she couldn't see, Gu Xichen squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
After being human for so long, you no longer want to be human. After being a ghost for so long, you no longer want to be a ghost.
This world was just too hard.