Chapter 80: Death

Tan Xueci was holding He Xunye’s head, kissing him for a while, when he felt him suddenly suck and press his lips together. His face flushed bright red, and he pushed the dead ghost away.

He hurriedly gathered his clothes, his cold-white ears tinged with red beneath his dark, messy hair. He shot He Xunye a fierce glare, then jumped out of the car to run home. He didn’t realize that his movements, as he clutched his clothes, made him look like an inexperienced little mother.

The evil ghost’s eyes darkened. He reached out and pulled him back into his arms, then lowered his head and buttoned his shirt one by one.

Tan Xueci’s mind was spinning. He felt his little face was about to burn up, and he couldn’t lift his head.

He Xunye’s icy fingertips occasionally brushed against his skin, sending shivers through him. He couldn’t help but let out a soft moan, then tried to pull back.

But the evil ghost hooked his shirt and tugged him forward, making him stumble and fall directly onto him.

The evil ghost’s long, dark lashes drooped, his peach-blossom eyes half-smiling. His voice was lazy and hoarse. “What are you running from? At our stage, isn’t this sort of thing normal?”

Tan Xueci’s face reddened, but he had nothing to say.

Was it normal?

It did seem normal.

He Xunye had every right to kiss him.

But why did it feel so wrong?

‘Help, what do you do when your husband is a pervert?’

Tan Xueci thought about it for a moment. He figured the awkwardness came from He Xunye unilaterally kissing him. If he kissed him back, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal.

Tan Xueci, his eyes watery, stole a glance at He Xunye. His gaze drifted down to his chest, wrapped in a black suit jacket, and he imagined it.

If he were to kiss He Xunye…

He Xunye was still lowering his head to button his wife’s shirt. He didn’t want him properly buttoned, in case something dirty got in. The old men from the He family would make him want to tear their heads off.

But before he finished, his wife suddenly glared at him, his face bright red, and kicked him hard in the leg. Then he wrapped his coat around himself and ran off.

Domestic violence always came without warning.

Even the dead ghost stumbled from the kick. The evil ghost’s pale skin looked even paler in the night, his lips a sinister red. He let out a deep, hoarse laugh.

Tan Xueci insulted He Xunye in his mind as he ran. How could he kiss him like that? He was truly perverted.

Just thinking about it made him feel like he would explode. He Xunye wouldn’t explode; he would just keep kissing him, rubbing his waist, and calling him “baby” in that low, hoarse, slightly laughing voice.

‘Go to hell!’

Tan Xueci thumped up the stairs.

The butler, hearing the footsteps in the hallway, sighed helplessly from his bed and pulled the blanket over his head. The little mistress had gone from silent to soft thumps, and now to loud thumps. He had truly become the biggest master of the He family.

Tan Xueci ran to the bedroom door and pulled it open. In the pitch darkness, he reached for the light switch, but before he could find it, the murky darkness dragged him in.

Tan Xueci was startled, but before he could scream, a pair of cold, dead hands cupped his face, and dense kisses landed on his lips, nose, and cheeks. He felt sure his face must be red beyond saving, and the dead ghost kept sucking on him. He felt like he was going to be sucked into a mango pit.

“Baby…” He Xunye’s voice was very low. In the dark bedroom, he held him in his arms, as if he couldn’t get enough of kissing him.

Tan Xueci blushed, thinking He Xunye was about to say something sweet to him. But just as he perked up his ears, he heard the male ghost’s lazy, annoying voice in his ear. “Baby, you still haven’t finished drawing your hundred talismans today.”

Tan Xueci: “…”

‘Divorce!’

Tan Xueci’s face fell, but He Xunye turned on the light, then hugged him and carried him to the desk. He held his hand, helped him pick up the brush, and coaxed him to try drawing a few. Tan Xueci reluctantly drew a crooked exorcism talisman.

“Try sticking it here,” He Xunye said, a smile curling on his lips as he reached out to him.

Tan Xueci bit his lip. Although he had told He Xunye to go to hell, now that he actually had the talisman paper, he couldn’t bring herself to do it.

He met He Xunye’s eyes, knowing the dead ghost was up to no good. Before he could speak, he wrapped his arms around his neck and clung to him, mumbling, “I don’t want to. I like my husband.”

“…”

He Xunye paused. The playful, teasing smile in his dark eyes faded, replaced by a gentle emotion. He reached out and scratched Tan Xueci’s chin.

Since he agreed to be with him, he was always saying things like “Hubby, I like you” and “Hubby, I love you.”

Sometimes, when he was sleeping in his arms at night, he would suddenly lift his head and kiss him, making him feel like he had fallen into a little lamb’s trap.

If he missed saying it one day, he would subtly coax him, and if he didn’t say it at all one day, it was basically like the sky was falling.

The evil ghost lifted his head, his dark eyes fixed on Tan Xueci. He couldn’t help but kiss his soft cheek again, his voice faint, almost a sigh. “Baby, how are you so bad?”

He would love him, every day at least as much as the day before, even more. Otherwise, his soul couldn’t rest. He had been in this world for a long time, and he loved him more each day.

Tan Xueci had no idea what He Xunye was thinking. His dark, lamb-like eyes darted around. He didn’t want to draw a hundred talismans, but every time he tried to escape, He Xunye would grab him by the waist.

He would bite his finger, tears streaming down, looking like the bottom of the class.

Finally, when it was time for a midnight snack, he jumped up and climbed into the wardrobe to hide.

When He Xunye came back, he found his wife was gone. He stood at the bedroom door and called, “Little lamb?”

Tan Xueci was hiding deep in the wardrobe, afraid He Xunye would find her. He even held his breath.

“Little lamb?” He Xunye stood outside the wardrobe, seeming to let out a low laugh. In the snowy, misty night, it sounded very gentle. He called again, “Where’s my baby? Where’s my little lamb baby?”

Tan Xueci bit his lip, his lashes trembling. He didn’t want to come out, but He Xunye had called him his baby.

Just as Tan Xueci was hesitating, black mist seeped through the gap in the wardrobe door. The wardrobe was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything. When he noticed, the mist had already tightly coiled between his legs, startling him almost into a scream.

The black mist covered his mouth, wet and sticky, winding around every inch of his skin like slick, slimy tentacles. Tan Xueci couldn’t find anywhere to push it away.

Just then, He Xunye’s footsteps approached the wardrobe, and he knocked on the door. His husband’s voice came from outside, very gentle. “Is my little lamb in there?”

Tan Xueci let out a muffled cry, but the black mist pressed close to his ear, its wet, cold tongue licking his earlobe. It let out a hoarse, low laugh, with a hint of cold, ghostly air. “Your husband is calling you. Don’t you want to say something?”

Tan Xueci: “…”

‘Dead thing.’

He suspected He Xunye had a cuckold fetish.

Tan Xueci was covered in sweat from the black mist’s touch, his dark hair sticking to his cheeks. Being touched by this slippery thing was both disgusting and pleasurable. He was so absorbed he forgot he had a husband outside.

Until someone knocked on the wardrobe door again, this time harder. The evil ghost’s voice was thick with ghostly aura, sounding very dangerous, cold and deep. “Xiaoxue.”

Even though he had a cuckold fetish, if his wife really ignored him and fooled around with someone else, he would still get angry.

A very unreasonable dead ghost.

When Tan Xueci was carried out of the wardrobe, his clothes were all wrinkled. He had escaped for now, and He Xunye didn’t force him to draw talismans.

He cheered, then after eating his midnight snack, he washed up and lay in He Xunye’s arms to sleep.

For some reason tonight, he tossed and turned several times, unable to settle. Then, around one in the morning, his phone suddenly rang.

Tan Xueci rubbed his eyes, reached for it, and saw it was Tan Shangli’s wife calling.

That was his sister-in-law, whom he had only met once.

Tan Xueci didn’t know why she was calling, but he answered anyway. “Hello?”

“Xiaoci,” the woman’s voice was flustered and choked, as if she didn’t know who else to turn to. Finally, she had called Tan Xueci. She took a deep breath and said, “Your eldest brother is dead.”

Tan Xueci froze.

The other end of the line sobbed. She told Tan Xueci that they had been having dinner at the Tan family’s old house. At the table, Gao Ying had asked when they planned to have children, and why there was no news after a few months of marriage. Her tone was aggressive.

Gao Ying often urged them to have children, starting from the engagement. Before, Tan Shangli had patiently explained that it would happen. But tonight, for some reason, he suddenly darkened his face and put his chopsticks down on the table.

Tan Shangli was a very filial person, otherwise he wouldn’t have listened to Gao Ying and married three times at such a young age. This was probably the first time in his life he had shown displeasure to Gao Ying.

Gao Ying was immediately unhappy. In the past, Tan Shangli would have comforted her, but tonight he didn’t. He simply took both their coats and led her away.

Tan Shangli dropped her off at home, then suddenly handed her a divorce agreement. He told her not to wait for him tonight, and that he was going to find Tan Xueci first, then go to the company.

She became more and more uneasy at home. Just as she was about to call the company, she received a call from Tan Shangli’s secretary.

The secretary was at a loss. He told her that Tan Shangli had jumped from the top of the company building and died instantly.

Tan Xueci didn’t have much emotional attachment to Tan Shangli, but his mind was blank. How could Tan Shangli suddenly jump off a building?

In his memory, Tan Shangli had always been strong and steady, as if nothing could break him.

While he was still dazed, Lu Qi sent her a message.

[Lu Qi: Damn, check the trending topics!!!]

Tan Xueci quickly opened the trending topics and saw that the hashtag “Tan Family Real Estate” had exploded.

Although the Tan family’s real estate company was huge, this kind of business wasn’t entertaining. It would never trend unless something huge happened.

And it had a deep red “explosive” tag.

Tan Xueci clicked on the hashtag and found that Tan Shangli had posted a scheduled Weibo post, very long, several thousand words.

At the beginning, he said that after his death, he hoped everyone would supervise and forbid the Tan family from adopting any more children.

Tan Yanning’s fans already knew about his car accident and were very concerned, but couldn’t reach him. When they saw Tan Shangli’s Weibo, they all flocked to it.

Tan Shangli had just registered a Weibo account tonight and set a scheduled post that only went live after his death. Now it had over a hundred thousand reposts, and the heat was still rising.

In his Weibo, Tan Shangli wrote about the emotional abuse his adoptive parents had inflicted on their adopted sons, and also mentioned the death of the other Tan Yanning.

Tan Xueci sat blankly on the bed.

That Tan Yanning had been killed by Tan Shangli.

After Tan Shangli was adopted by Tan’s parents, he was initially grateful. But his personality was much more mature than Tan Xueci’s. Soon, he sensed something off about his adoptive parents.

Tan’s mother was always polite to him, saying she would treat him like her own child, but it was just to please her husband, to show she was a good wife.

Tan’s father’s concern for him also seemed like a formality. Not just for him, but even for Gao Ying, they weren’t as loving as they appeared on the surface.

But at that time, the other Tan Yanning hadn’t been born yet, and Tan Shangli was the only child in the family. So overall, he still received some care.

Until Tan Yanning was born, everything changed. And Tan Yanning was born weak and sickly, so Tan’s parents devoted all their attention to him. They didn’t even know whether Tan Shangli was home or when his exams were.

Tan Shangli thought he could understand. After all, he wasn’t their biological child. After his parents died, he was passed around among relatives and faced a lot of disdain. The Tan family taking him in was already a kindness.

He shouldn’t be ungrateful.

But the human heart was the hardest thing to predict, and it changed in an instant. He couldn’t control his own heart.

At school, he was bullied, and his adoptive parents turned a blind eye. At home, he was increasingly marginalized. The servants were also sycophants. His situation in the Tan family became more and more difficult, until it was almost the same as when he was with his relatives.

Tan Shangli had to admit that he began to hate them. Why couldn’t they keep pretending?

He had played the part of the irreproachable son so well; why couldn’t they keep up the act?

Under this twisted mindset, he developed an intense disgust for Tan Yanning. Toward Tan Xueci, he felt relatively okay.

When Tan’s parents suddenly adopted Tan Xueci, he didn’t know the reason, but he sensed it was suspicious. Tan Xueci was just another sacrifice, nothing to worry about.

Besides, in this family, while his parents ignored him and the servants ostracized him, only Tan Xueci clung to him, called him “big brother,” and sometimes shared half his dinner with him.

Tan Xueci was always sneaky about it, looking lovely as jade and snow, but like a little mouse that had wandered into human society. He would even hide cookies in his pockets to bring to him.

At that time, there was a nanny’s son in the Tan household. He was about the same age as Tan Shangli and also lived there. He usually helped with chores and was responsible for pushing Tan Yanning’s wheelchair.

Tan Shangli knew that boy liked him.

But even though Tan Shangli wasn’t valued, he was still the young master of the house, so the boy never dared to approach him. Until one evening after school, Tan Shangli initiated a kiss with him in a secluded spot.

The boy froze and stammered, “Young master…”

Tan Shangli had a few months of ambiguous relationship with him, even sleeping together. The boy realized that Tan Shangli wasn’t gay, and he also understood what Tan Shangli wanted him to do.

He had a crush on Tan Shangli for a long time and felt sorry for him. If that young master Yanning died, Tan Shangli would surely become the most favored child again.

Tan Shangli thought the boy would do anything for him, whether it was drugging Tan Yanning or something else, as long as he died.

But he never expected the boy loved him too much. That day, Tan Xueci went out to catch small fish for Tan Yanning, without any adults. The boy saw Tan Xueci’s back, steeled his heart, followed him, and first kicked Tan Xueci into the pond.

He didn’t know why Tan’s parents had adopted Tan Xueci; he only saw that, although both were adopted, Tan Xueci was treated like a little Bodhisattva by the whole family, while Tan Shangli was constantly marginalized.

Since he was going to kill anyway, he might as well kill them all.

He originally planned to go back and kill Tan Yanning, but he didn’t expect Tan Yanning, worried about Tan Xueci, to follow them. He saw Tan Xueci struggling in the water, went to save him, and drowned in the pond.

Lost in his own love, he was both scared and exhilarated at first, thinking that they were all dead and the young master could rest easy. But under the cold, dark night, facing Tan Shangli’s pale, trembling face, he realized what he had done.

He had killed people, maybe more than one, and Tan Shangli was afraid, afraid he would spill the truth.

Tan Shangli was indeed terrified.

He hadn’t wanted Tan Xueci to die, and he didn’t expect Gao Ying to blame Tan Xueci for Tan Yanning’s death.

He didn’t know Gao Ying was insane enough to come at Tan Xueci with a knife. He thought at worst he would be locked up for a few days, but he heard Tan Xueci’s screams and knew he was being beaten.

What should he do?

Should he tell Tan’s parents that Tan Yanning’s death was his fault, not Tan Xueci’s?

Tan Shangli backed down. He didn’t approach that door.

The boy saw his fear. In this world, only dead people kept secrets. To reassure Tan Shangli, he hanged himself that night.

Tan Shangli never imagined that a single thought of his would end up killing three people, weighing on his heart like several heavy mountains, making him feel like he couldn’t go on. He could only force himself to forget, to erase everything he had done.

He hadn’t slept with that boy, hadn’t seduced him into murder, hadn’t heard Tan Xueci’s cries, and hadn’t harmed his younger brother.

He would just blame it all on Tan Xueci. That was the only way he could breathe.

But he couldn’t completely deceive himself. He knew he had caused the death of Tan’s parents’ biological child, and he felt guilty. So after marriage, when he couldn’t have children, and his adoptive mother ordered him to divorce and remarry, he agreed. He did owe her a child.

His first wife was the only person he had ever truly loved. After divorcing her, he suffered for a long time, feeling like a breeding machine. But he deserved it.

On one hand, he wanted to push everything onto Tan Xueci, but on the other, he knew clearly it wasn’t his fault. So he couldn’t help but want to buy him a phone.

Of course, he knew his kindness was cheap, and Tan Xueci probably didn’t need it.

He thought he would live like this forever. Until the current Tan Yanning had a car accident, throwing the Tan family into chaos. The world seemed infested with ghosts and demons, and he could no longer hold on.

Let it end here.

He knew that after his death, not only his adoptive mother but even his adoptive father would want to adopt another child. But this farce was enough. Let it all end.

Tan Shangli hadn’t written every detail, to protect Tan Xueci’s privacy, like his mental issues or the fact that he had never attended school.

He only mentioned that Tan’s parents had mistreated every adopted son, illegally imprisoned Tan Xueci, that he had committed murder, and that he and Tan Yanning had often targeted Tan Xueci.

The whole internet exploded.

Tan Shangli also dropped an even bigger bomb at the end.

Tan Chongchuan had high expectations for him, hoping he could elevate the Tan family from a small wealthy clan into the upper echelons of the capital. He constantly pressured him, and whenever a project went poorly, he looked at him with contempt and humiliation.

Under this pressure, in order to secure partnerships, he had slept with several bosses, both men and women.

Some were older than his own father.

He also released some financial records, hinting at problems within Tan’s father’s company, hoping someone would investigate.

The comments were too shocked for words.

[Holy shit, holy shit, I don’t even know what to say. Is the Tan family for real?]

[Oh my god, Emperor, your son is gay! And he’s selling his ass!!! Green frog yelling.jpg]

[Are they even human? I ask you? If you can’t raise kids, send Xiaoxue to my house. My beagle chewed up my couch and springs shot into my butt, but I didn’t even lock him up.]

Tan’s father was woken up in the middle of the night by the secretary’s call. At first, hearing about Tan Shangli’s suicide almost gave him a heart attack. Losing such an excellent son was painful, but after hearing the full story and seeing the trending topics, he nearly passed out again, this time from anger.

After reading it, Tan’s mother fainted on the spot, scaring Zhang Ma half to death. She was rushed to the hospital.

Tan Shangli’s request for supervision wasn’t out of kindness. It was more that he found the whole thing disgusting and wanted to take revenge on them, using all the filth of his life.

Tan Xueci had the text read aloud to him. He was stunned. He never imagined Tan Shangli had intended to kill the previous Tan Yanning. He hadn’t seen such deep hatred in him.

He Xunye didn’t say anything. He wrapped him in his arms, leaned his head on his shoulder, and silently accompanied him for the whole night.

Just before dawn, Tan Xueci dozed off briefly. When he woke up, he received a message from his sister-in-law saying that Tan Shangli’s funeral would be held that afternoon.

Gao Ying was still in the hospital.

Tan Shangli’s move had caught everyone off guard, nearly destroying the entire Tan family business. The company was in turmoil, and Tan Chongchuan was busy dealing with various investigations. He had no mood to care where Tan Shangli’s corpse rotted, wishing it could be flushed down the drain.

Tan Shangli had few friends in life, and the funeral was hastily arranged. Apart from his sister-in-law, only Tan Xueci and He Xunye attended.

His sister-in-law waited for them at the funeral home, holding a slim woman’s cigarette.

She had married Tan Shangli purely for business reasons; there was no love between them, not even a s*x life after the wedding. She wasn’t opposed to having a child, but she couldn’t accept a husband who was perpetually absent-minded.

Tan Shangli was always polite and respectful to her, never missing flowers or gifts, and was always well-spoken. But being with him always felt oppressive to her.

Although she didn’t have deep feelings for him, his death still shook her. She didn’t like Tan’s parents, so she contacted Tan Xueci.

She didn’t want to comment on what Tan Shangli had done. That had nothing to do with her. But considering their marriage and the inheritance he left her, she decided to hold a simple funeral for him.

Tan Shangli’s grave was bought in a hurry. Everything was rushed. After they buried him, they parted ways at the cemetery.

Tan Xueci didn’t want to leave. He climbed onto He Xunye’s back and made him carry him.

He felt a bit dazed. He didn’t feel much hatred toward Tan Shangli, only a tangled, web-like complexity in his heart.

The weather in the capital was strange. At the end of January, it started to rain mixed with snow, with more rain than snow.

Tan Xueci wrapped his arms around He Xunye’s neck, holding the black umbrella over both of them.

He was cold. His dead ghost husband wasn’t warm either. He shivered like a lamb drenched by rain.

“Didn’t your husband teach you fire control?” He Xunye shifted him higher on his back. Seeing Tan Xueci so listless, the evil ghost showed some humanity and coaxed him, “Can you light one?”

Tan Xueci buried his face against the back of He Xunye’s neck. After a long moment, he lifted his head, his voice muffled. “…I can’t. I don’t want to learn.”

“Are you going to leave me?”

He Xunye always made him learn this and that, just like he had left He Pinglan three thousand talismans and a note. Tan Xueci knew that ghosts like him were best at leaving without a word.

He knew He Xunye was tired of this world overrun with ghosts, just as Tan Shangli had been tired of the Tan family.

Flesh was too fragile. He Xunye had originally planned to become an evil ghost after death, shedding the shackles of the body, becoming stronger, and then going to find that evil god to end it all.

He Pinglan could start a new life too, no longer having to guard those ancestral tablets.

Tan Xueci felt that after death, He Xunye’s mindset had changed. He found humans too disgusting and thought everyone dying would be fine.

He Pinglan could as well. No one said she couldn’t die. If she died, she wouldn’t have to be sad anymore, right?

He Xunye had always been stubbornly trying to drag him into his grave, often threatening to kill him, half-jokingly or half-seriously.

At some point, He Xunye stopped wanting to kill him. Now, whenever he went out, he would stuff his pockets full of talismans and often followed him.

If He Xunye gave up his original path, he would have to take the other one he had planned.

Tan Xueci touched his belly. It was warm, very warm. Inside was his husband’s remains.

Even if He Xunye failed, even if this place turned into hell on earth, with this yang fire, no ghost could harm him.

But that meant nothing to him. If he called out for his husband and no ghost answered, he would cry forever.

And he couldn’t die. He couldn’t even commit suicide. He would just wail very loudly.

Tan Xueci bit his lip. Tears welled up hotly, and he wanted to cry right now. All the people he hated were dead, and the person he loved was dead too. That feeling wasn’t good at all.

“I won’t learn,” Tan Xueci struggled free from He Xunye’s back. His lashes were wet and matted. He hugged the black umbrella, wiping his tears, sobbing, “Wuwu… don’t make me learn.”

He Xunye paused. He pulled him into his arms. His dark eyes sank into the rainy night, and his already dead heart tightened. Finally, he bent his scarlet lips into a smile, his voice giving in, hoarse. “Mm. Little lamb doesn’t have to learn anything.”

“Your husband is here.”