Chapter 34: In a Rush

Wang Jiexiang stood in the living room of the old house, the old clock directly ahead ticking precisely.

“Ding—Ding—”

It rang seven times in total.

The time was turned back to the evening, just before sunset, at 7 PM.

Wang Jiexiang went out, grabbed her bike, and rode toward the road that had been explored in the previous cycle, leading to Second Middle School.

The sweat on her body had dried, her clothes no longer clung to her, but the exhaustion had not faded in the slightest.

To reach Yin Xian’s school, she had to go through several uphill sections. The wind blew across her face. Though the surroundings were wide and empty, the air entering her chest was unbearably thin.

Wang Jiexiang breathed through her mouth, keeping her eyes fixed ahead.

Her ears could hear the sound of her feet pressing on the pedal, the thumping of her heartbeat, and her labored breathing.

Would she make it in time? She calculated in her mind.

Leaving at 7, no wrong turns, it was a five-minute ride from her house to the newsstand.

From the newsstand to the school, fifteen minutes. By 7:20, she could almost reach the school.

The security guard would bring Yin Xian out, and they would leave the school at 7:30, arriving at the hospital around 8.

The First Cycle—when the caregiver went home, she knocked on the door. What time was that?

At that time, the caregiver looked at the clock and said Yin Xian would return home shortly.

The evening self-study session ended at 8:30. Walking home was twice as slow as riding, so he wouldn’t reach home until after 9. Therefore, the caregiver would arrive home around 9. Looking back, Grandfather’s passing time was just after 8, not quite 8:30.

Time was too tight.

She still estimated the latest possible time of death. Grandfather might have passed even earlier.

So, if there were any delays on the road, Yin Xian wouldn’t be able to see Grandfather for the last time.

The bicycle had already reached its maximum speed under Wang Jiexiang’s pedaling.

She pedaled down the slope furiously, not even touching the brakes. The sunset light slowly faded, and she was chased by its rays. Sweat started to form again, soaking her back.

Arriving at the security booth of the second middle school, Wang Jiexiang jumped off the bike and knocked forcefully on the window.

“I’m a relative of Class 1, Grade 3’s Yin Xian. The elderly at home is seriously ill and about to pass away. Please help me call Yin Xian, I need to take him to the hospital.”

Sweat poured from her forehead in layers. She finished speaking the whole sentence in one breath, with drops of sweat falling from her forehead to her chin.

The security guard stared blankly at her. Wang Jiexiang realized: “Oh right, you still need a leave slip, I’ll write it for you now. Please go call him, I beg you, hurry up.”

The sun silently left the land, replaced by the moon and stars hanging in the sky.

The streetlights lit up, and Yin Xian appeared with his schoolbag.

Wang Jiexiang wiped her sweat with a tissue from the booth, saw him from afar, and waved for him to come over.

Her little boy still looked distant.

Wang Jiexiang knew what his first words would be, and before he could ask, she answered first: “I’m your distant aunt. Grandfather’s not doing well. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

No need to say more.

She got on the bike, and he walked over, quietly sitting on the back seat.

“Hold my waist.”

Yin Xian didn’t immediately do as told.

“Be good, this way I can ride steady.”

She began pedaling, and his slender, white arms wrapped around her waist.

Tired.

Really tired.

Her legs felt like they weren’t her own, sore and painful, then numb.

Her thighs felt like two cooked noodles, trying to push them, but they remained limp. Pedal, pedal, her soft legs were about to melt, fall to the ground, and be sucked into the wheel.

On the way to the hospital, Yin Xian and Wang Jiexiang didn’t speak.

She rode directly to the outpatient hall entrance.

Getting off the bicycle, Wang Jiexiang’s legs wobbled and she collapsed to the ground.

Yin Xian reached out to help her, but she fell along with him.

“Sister…”

“I can hold on a bit longer,” she gasped, supporting herself, as if lifting a heavy bag of cement. “Let’s go, together.”

In the outpatient hall, there was no sign of Yin Xian’s mother.

That was good news…

Yin Xian’s Grandfather was in the respiratory department on the third floor.

Wang Jiexiang, her vision dimming, leaned on Yin Xian, while she climbed the stairs, pounding her chest, coughing violently.

Reaching the ward, the nurse’s station was quiet, and there wasn’t a single person on duty.

After recovering slightly, Wang Jiexiang swallowed, then looked at Yin Xian.

He stared at the empty corridor, his expression uncertain: “Is Grandfather here?”

In reality, Yin Xian never saw Grandfather for the last time.

But this wasn’t reality, it was his spiritual world, and what he believed in was rational.

So…

“Yes,” Wang Jiexiang said.

She extended her hand to him.

At four years old, Yin Xian still had bad guys he couldn’t shake off.

“Run, Yin Xian.” She grabbed the little boy’s hand, and they ran together.

At eight years old, he didn’t have any good friends.

“Come, follow me.” Blocking his exercise book, she firmly clasped his hand with hers.

At fifteen, Yin Xian chose once again to trust the person in front of him and placed his hand in hers.

Their hands were tightly clasped.

Wang Jiexiang opened the nearest hospital room.

Like a miracle, like magic…

A sound appeared in the room.

Inside, there were the caregiver, Yin Xian’s mother, and a frail elderly man lying on the hospital bed.

He wore a blue and white hospital gown, and upon hearing the door open, his cloudy eyes turned toward the entrance.

The young boy walked to his bedside.

The old man smiled at him faintly.

Tears filled Yin Xian’s eyes.

He smiled gently at Grandfather, his nose red.

In the wooden house, Yin Xian’s bedside table held a picture of him and Grandfather together.

Both of them were facing the camera. The old man was smiling broadly, and the child, with similar smiling eyes, revealed his small tiger teeth in an innocent, bright smile.

Wang Jiexiang let out a long breath and stepped back outside the door.

In the hallway, she found a chair to sit down.

After riding for hours, she was glad to finally have a place to rest. She yawned and leaned against the wall, planning to nap for a bit.

Her limbs were weak, and her head felt like it had been filled with lead, leaning to one side. Her breathing became even.

She heard someone’s voice.

“Feifei.”

Sleepiness firmly glued her to the chair, unable to move.

“The dumbest Feifei.”

Her mouth moved, her eyelashes wet with tears. Wang Jiexiang didn’t understand what she was trying to say.

That person was really annoying, terribly annoying.

She felt aggrieved inside.

He treated her so poorly, calling her stupid, a pig brain, a meddler, insulting her so harshly.

He was always so stern, with a cold tone.

She was already so aggrieved.

She just wanted him to hug her, comfort her, and hide in his arms to feel better.

She missed him.

She thought about him every day.

“How about not breaking up?”

She murmured softly.

“I won’t be stupid anymore.”

…

When she woke up again, it was Yin Xian who woke her up.

“Sister?” He shook her arm.

Wang Jiexiang lifted her heavy eyelids. The sun was so bright.

Wasn’t she sitting on a bench in the hospital hallway before she fell asleep?

Now…

There was a large tree above her head. She was sitting on a bench under the tree.

Looking down, her clothes had turned into a black long skirt. Yin Xian was also dressed in black.

“Where are we?”

Wang Jiexiang was still not fully awake, looking left and right at herself, with a silly expression on her face.

“Funeral home,” the boy sighed, looking at the crowd. “Today Grandfather is being cremated.”

A circle of people surrounded the funeral hall, all dressed in black.

“Is it all… our relatives?”

Yin Xian nodded.

His relatives were almost all background people.

Yin Xian didn’t recognize them, and they didn’t recognize him.

The background people huddled together, greeting each other loudly.

The funeral home staff came out of the main hall and called out, “Time’s up, the immediate family may enter.”

Wang Jiexiang patted Yin Xian’s shoulder: “You go ahead.”

He stood up, and she followed him, blending into the other background people outside the hall, pretending to be his relative.

In the center of the main hall was a paper house.

Yin Xian, his mother, and several uncles and aunts knelt around the paper house to worship.

After their ritual, the staff poured something into the paper house.

“What’s that?” someone asked.

“Oil,” the staff answered.

The paper house was sealed and pushed into the incinerator.

“Thud—” A heavy sound as it dropped.

It seemed the relatives only then realized the arrival of death, and there were some sobs in the crowd.

The crying in the main hall was the loudest.

Yin Xian, who didn’t cry, was an absolute anomaly. He stood motionlessly in the corner, his side profile too calm.

The people crying were wiping their teary eyes, comforting each other.

He looked at Wang Jiexiang.

She was looking at him, their gazes met.

Yin Xian came out to find her.

“Are you hungry?” Wang Jiexiang asked him.

He shook his head.

“Oh,” she said, “I’m hungry, so you treat me to a meal.”

There was no food near the funeral home.

They walked around, only finding a small convenience store that sold simple grilled meatballs, sausages, and tea eggs.

Yin Xian rummaged through his pockets and managed to scrape together five yuan.

“Why is it always five yuan?”

Wang Jiexiang complained, but took all the money without hesitation.

She ordered five skewers of grilled meatballs and sat with Yin Xian on the bench under the tree.

“Eat too.”

Wang Jiexiang handed him a skewer of meatballs.

She stuffed two meatballs in her mouth, cheeks puffing out as she chewed with relish.

Yin Xian didn’t take it.

There were deep shadows under his eyes, clearly not in the mood to eat.

Wang Jiexiang raised her hand, and the meatball touched his lips.

“You touched the meatball, you have to eat it.”

He took the bamboo skewer she forced on him, bit a piece of meatball, then put it down.

Wang Jiexiang didn’t look at him, eating by herself.

“If you have something you can’t figure out, you can say it, I’m listening.”

Yin Xian fiddled with the bamboo skewer, staying silent for a long time.

Long enough that she thought he wasn’t going to speak, but then he did.

“Sister,” he asked, “What is death?”

Wang Jiexiang thought for a moment and answered.

“Death is when the soul leaves the body and goes somewhere else.”

“Heaven?”

“Yes.”

He looked at her, his eyes full of confusion: “What is heaven like?”

Jiexiang looked at the sky, her tone soft like a dream: “It’s like the most beautiful place we imagine.”

“What if… the soul is reluctant to leave the world?”

“A soul that has regrets for the world or has debts to repay will wander in the thin spiritual prison.”

“Can they eventually go to heaven?”

“They can,” she answered earnestly, “after they’ve resolved the regrets of the world.”

Yin Xian took a deep breath.

He lifted the bamboo skewer in his hand and finished the meatball.

The people in the main hall of the funeral home walked out.

The relatives received a small urn of ashes.

Those walking in front opened black umbrellas, while others carried portraits of the deceased.

The elderly man’s portrait was black and white, and he looked serious in the photo.

No one cried anymore.

The sadness of the world had evaporated cleanly.

The soul no longer stayed here.

Yin Xian’s gaze turned toward the sky.

The clouds were free, drifting freely.

Wang Jiexiang went to dispose of the bamboo skewer.

Hanging on the trash can was a small pink bag.

The bag’s shape was so familiar that she grabbed it without thinking.

It was the bag that the little rabbit Yin Xian had been carrying…

She opened the zipper.

The little rabbit keychain!

The key to the rental apartment was still there.

With a sense of foreboding, Wang Jiexiang immediately turned around.
The clouds in the sky were like shredded pieces of paper, drifting down toward the boy.

He was wrapped in the clouds.

She ran over, trying to tear apart the cotton-like white layers.

After a long while, the mist dispersed on its own.

What lay before her was the silence of the night.

Wang Jiexiang was back on Little Rabbit Island.