Volume 1, Chapter 7: I Saw Zhiyi

Standing by as a spirit, I watched my own corpse kneeling in a gesture of piety before the Buddha statue. My body was headless, with decay visible across the limbs. The neck was a mangled mess of flesh and gore, a sight too gruesome to behold.

The guests at the banquet were already whispering in a frenzy. Seeing this, Jiang Ze hurried over and pulled out his phone to call the police. Fearing that Meng Xiangyi might be frightened, Bo Congnan quickly stepped in front of her. "Sister Xiangyi, don't look."

Meng Xiangyi didn't react much; instead, she patted Bo Congnan's head. "It's fine. Why would the living be afraid of the dead?"

As she spoke, her eyes darted toward the corpse. Her red lips curled upward. Beneath the massive Buddha statue, the headless female corpse knelt in devout silence. The attendees were in an uproar, many pulling out their phones to take pictures. I didn't know when the killer had dumped the body, nor why they had chosen to do so publicly at the Jiang estate. I felt only humiliation, for apart from the black plastic bag wrapped around me, I was almost completely naked.

I stood before the crowd in a state of agitation, forgetting that I was merely a spirit, unable to block the flashes coming from every direction. I hugged my corpse helplessly, wanting to weep but unable to shed a tear, only able to sob in agony.

*Don't take pictures... please... stop... I beg you...*

No matter how I screamed, no one could hear me. People’s phones were aimed directly at me and my remains. Bo Congnan shielded Meng Xiangyi, desperate to keep the sight from sullying her eyes. Yet, in a moment of distraction, he thought he heard a woman crying, sobbing something about "don't." He brushed it off as a mistake, but when he looked up, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a long-haired woman crouching beside the body. She possessed a graceful figure, glowing with a faint white light, and her crying was so wretched that the mere sound of it was heart-wrenching.

The figure looked exactly like...

"Zhiyi?"

Bo Congnan snapped back to reality, instinctively walking toward the corpse in a state of unease. But just as he took a step, Meng Xiangyi grabbed his arm.

"Congnan, where are you going?"

Bo Congnan looked back. "Sister Xiangyi, I saw Zhiyi. She was crying so sadly; someone must have bullied her."

Meng Xiangyi glanced toward the corpse and saw nothing. "There is nothing there but the body. I don't see Zhiyi."

Bo Congnan didn't believe her. He whipped his head back, pointing toward the remains. "I clearly saw..."

He trailed off. Looking toward the body, there was nothing there. The woman from a moment ago was gone!

Meng Xiangyi took his arm. "I think you’ve been too busy with work and stressed over Zhiyi running away, so you're having hallucinations."

Bo Congnan stared at the corpse, now surrounded by police, unable to speak for a long time. He had clearly seen a woman who looked exactly like Zhiyi. Could he really have been seeing things?

After the body was removed, the scene was cordoned off by the police. Each person present gave a statement at the Nanjiang Precinct before being allowed to leave. Before departing, Bo Congnan felt a lingering strangeness in his heart. He went to the office to find Jiang Ze, who was busy recording statements. Because the headless corpse had been found at the Jiang family’s ancestral home, Jiang could not lead the case directly and could only assist in the investigation.

As Jiang Ze emerged from recording a statement, he spotted Bo Congnan standing by a trash can in the hallway, smoking. He must have been waiting a while, as the bin was filled with cigarette butts.

"Need something?"

Bo Congnan stubbed out his cigarette, his voice raspy. "Have you identified the headless corpse?"

Jiang Ze opened his thermos to drink some water. "Since when are you interested in this?"

"Never mind that. Just tell me if you've identified her."

Seeing the seriousness in Bo Congnan’s expression, Jiang Ze grew solemn. "No. The body is severely decomposed, making the autopsy very difficult. However, the precinct has already reported to our superiors to request assistance from a renowned anatomy professor."

Bo Congnan persisted, "Is there no way to identify her quickly?"

"The technical department is already cross-referencing recent missing persons cases. I believe we will have leads soon."

Hearing this, Bo Congnan’s tone softened. "That’s good."

Before Jiang Ze could reply, Bo Congnan turned and left. Based on Jiang Ze’s tone, the body could not be her. I watched his retreating back, the light in my eyes fading. We had been in love for so many years—if he had been as anxious for me as he was for Meng Xiangyi, surely he would have called the police immediately upon seeing such a scene. But Bo Congnan had only asked a few simple questions before walking away.

Bo Congnan, have you really grown this indifferent to me?

Perhaps shaken by the headless corpse case, Bo Congnan pulled out his phone, intending to call me, when a familiar female voice drifted from behind. "Congnan, could you give me a ride home?"

The night had grown late, and having attended the banquet, Meng Xiangyi was dressed thinly. She stood alone in the cold wind. Bo Congnan’s hand, poised to dial, froze.

Meng Xiangyi noticed his mood. "What’s wrong? Do you have something else to attend to?"

"I was about to call Shen Zhiyi. We’ve been married for so long, it’s time I visited the old estate."

A sudden gust of cold wind blew, and Meng Xiangyi coughed into her hand. "Then you should call her quickly. Zhiyi didn't grow up struggling for a living like I did; she hasn't experienced much. I just hope nothing has happened to a young girl like her."

Meng Xiangyi’s words stirred Bo Congnan’s sympathy once again. He knew that before Meng Xiangyi returned to the Shen family, she had been raised by the Mengs, living a very difficult life.

Seeing Meng Xiangyi turn to leave on her own, Bo Congnan took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, his arm quietly wrapping around her. He said, "Sister Xiangyi, with me here, I won't let you suffer anymore."

"Thank you, Congnan."

I had thought Bo Congnan was finally beginning to worry about me, but it was nothing more than my own delusion. He had the brain of a fool; the moment Meng Xiangyi appeared, I was cast to the back of his mind. Meng Xiangyi had that talent—building an image of a modern, independent woman while effortlessly relying on men.

Bo Congnan drove Meng Xiangyi back to the Shen house. When they arrived, Meng Xiangyi took advantage of him unbuckling her seatbelt to kiss him on the cheek, then quickly hopped out and left. Bo Congnan stood there, staring blankly at her retreating figure.

Watching him look like a lovesick fool, the only word I could use to describe my mood was "speechless."

Bo Congnan didn't drive away immediately. He pulled the car into a secluded spot and lowered the window halfway, staring blankly at our chat screen. I leaned over to look—our messages were still stuck on the time before our wedding. I had asked him to go ice skating with me.

He had replied: "Okay, baby."

Even though our relationship had already been strained back then, we had both kept up a facade before the wedding. When I discovered he had secretly kept a pair of high heels that Meng Xiangyi had worn, he had knelt and promised me that he had no ulterior motives toward her—that he simply admired her capabilities.

But what was the result? The moment I died, he hooked up with Meng Xiangyi, and who knows how many times they had already rolled in the sheets! A man’s promise is absolutely not to be trusted.

After staring at his phone for a while, Bo Congnan posted to his social media, setting it so only I could see. The photo was of him and Meng Xiangyi eating and watching the stars together. His goal was obvious: he likely thought I was still being stubborn and not answering his calls, and he wanted to use this to provoke me so that I would contact him.

Oh, Bo Congnan, when will you ever believe that I am truly dead?