Chapter 25: A Choice—Reduced to Ashes
Qin Mochen said solemnly, “When educating people… or ghosts, you can’t let the other party affect your emotions. You have to keep a straight face.”
Su Keke widened her eyes slightly at him, then nodded slowly. “Got it, Uncle.”
Qin Mochen gently patted her little head. “Go on.”
So Su Keke went on, doing her best to remain impassive, and said to the water ghost, “I won’t let you possess anyone. But since you haven’t harmed anyone, if there’s anything you want to say, you can tell me and I’ll pass it on for you.”
Water ghosts cannot leave the water—it’s very easy for their souls to disperse. If not for Su Keke’s soul-summoning talisman and Auntie Zhou’s black silk umbrella, the water ghost before them wouldn’t even have had the chance to leave the river.
Xue Hui looked at her and finally nodded.
After a long pause, she slowly began to speak.
“…Please help me tell my parents that I’m sorry. They wanted me to succeed and hoped I’d get into a good university, that’s why they cared so much about my grades. But I never understood them. I even thought they were annoying. The things I said to them in a moment of impulse that day—I didn’t mean any of it. I love them. I love them very, very much.”
The water ghost lowered her head, her eyes filled with endless regret.
If she were given another chance to choose, she would never have killed herself—not even if there were endless homework every day, or scolding from her parents for poor exam results.
Thinking about it now, compared with the icy river, the despairing loneliness, and the struggle of trying to find a substitute, those pressures were nothing at all…
Su Keke gave a soft “oh,” poked the ground with the tip of her foot, and asked, “Anything else?”
Xue Hui suddenly smiled at her. She wasn’t particularly pretty, but with that smile, she gained a gentle, demure grace.
Softly, she said, “Tell my parents that in my next life, I’ll still be their daughter. That time, I’ll study hard and make them proud.”
Su Keke thought to herself: As if you even have a next life.
“Thank you. I’m going to leave now,” Xue Hui said.
Su Keke looked puzzled. “Leave? Without my soul-summoning talisman and Auntie Zhou’s black silk umbrella, how are you going to leave?”
Xue Hui smiled faintly. Enduring the searing pain brought by the talisman, she reached up and tore off the ghost-suppressing talisman stuck to her.
Perhaps because she forcibly removed it, her body became half-transparent, looking extremely weak—as if she would scatter at the slightest breeze.
The female ghost turned and left.
Before long, another pair of wet footprints appeared on the floor. This time, however, they slowly moved toward the front door.
With a creak, the door opened.
“Hey—wait, you—!” Su Keke hurried after her.
“The water’s too cold. I don’t want to go back…”
Exposed to the sunlight, the female ghost was reduced to ashes, leaving nothing behind.
Su Keke stared at the spot where the ghost had vanished, momentarily stunned.
“Kid.” Qin Mochen had come up behind her at some point and gently patted her shoulder.
Su Keke frowned and muttered, “Why does this female ghost like suicide so much? I hadn’t even finished talking. Even if she can’t reincarnate, she could cultivate herself. As long as a ghost cultivator doesn’t do bad things, we won’t interfere.”
Qin Mochen also looked toward that spot, his expression indifferent. “People who commit suicide are all very cowardly. For her, this was actually a kind of release. It was her own choice—it has nothing to do with you.”
“Uncle… are you comforting me? You think I’m really sad?”
Su Keke lifted her little face to look at him, then suddenly broke into a wide grin. “Uncle, you’re really nice. But don’t worry—I’ve seen this sort of thing many times. I’m not that sentimental. Everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions. There’s no such thing as a regret pill in this world.”
Qin Mochen gave a low “mm.”
She was a sensible little girl.
Raising a child didn’t seem as… troublesome as he’d imagined.
