After My Crush Came Back from the Dead - Chapter 3

No one could have expected that Qi Yuan’s life would end so quickly.

In just half a day, the news of her death became the topic of conversation throughout the entire school, spreading like wildfire. It was published in the newspaper, reported on the local TV station, and turned into a piece of social news.

Since Qi Yuan herself had been a well-known figure at school when she was alive, always surrounded by flowers and applause wherever she went, after her death, she was also loudly and ceremoniously put onto the screen.

Her parents were both powerful figures who had spent more than a decade navigating official circles. They had long since become stern and cold-hearted, yet under the reporters’ interviews, they still could not help breaking down in tears. As they recalled their daughter’s outstanding qualities, they seemed to regret not cherishing her properly while she was still alive.

The camera deliberately gave a shot of the faint white at Father Qi’s temples and repeatedly zoomed in on Mother Qi’s tear-reddened eyes. The background music was rendered deeply moving. Even someone with a heart of stone would sigh at the sight: Heaven envies the talented—

When Lu Xin learned of this, she was sitting at her desk in a daze.

The sunlight was beautiful. The sky was clear for ten thousand li, without a cloud in sight.

Suddenly, someone rushed into the classroom, and the terrible news exploded among the crowd. In an instant, the whole world seemed like boiling water. Different expressions appeared on everyone’s faces.

Excitement, screams, grief, confusion… all the sounds mixed together until nothing could be heard clearly.

Lu Xin sat there numbly, her mind completely blank.

She still found it impossible to believe. They had clearly met just that morning. They had clearly spoken only a few hours ago. Qi Yuan had clearly said she wanted to help her. And just like that, it was over?

Qi Yuan’s funeral was three days later. Father Qi and Mother Qi invited the whole class to attend.

Ever since Qi Yuan died, Lu Xin had spent every day muddleheaded. She often saw Qi Yuan’s figure—on the podium, beside the flower beds, beneath the shade of trees, in front of her desk. She was everywhere.

Qi Yuan had a face that looked as bright as sunlight when she smiled, and she had never been stingy with her smiles. Countless versions of Qi Yuan rushed toward Lu Xin all at once, smiling at her, as if making up for the secret crush she had quietly carried for three years, which had ended before it could ever bloom.

Lu Xin’s face was deathly pale. In her heart, she knew these were only illusions of Qi Yuan. And so she realized that it would be difficult for her to ever walk out of the other girl’s death.

Qi Yuan had become the cage that trapped her.

She sat on the school bus that had come to pick them up. The rain outside was pouring heavily, like some ancient beast from the primordial flood, trying to devour heaven and earth.

After sitting on the bus for an hour, Lu Xin felt a little dizzy. She suppressed the urge to vomit and looked at her reflection in the window. Her face was pale, the circles under her eyes dark, her gaze lifeless. She looked withered and frail.

Raindrops splashed against the window and slid down the smooth glass in hundreds and thousands of streaks, reflected over her shadow.

A heavy atmosphere drifted through the bus. Someone sat in their seat covering their face, shoulders shaking nonstop. Someone silently played with their phone, eyes red. Someone looked pained, as if unable to accept the truth.

The driver was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, with a protruding belly and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He sighed softly as he reached out to wipe the fog from the windshield. Their sharp-tongued, calculating homeroom teacher wore heavy makeup that tried to cover the wrinkles on her face, her expression solemn and sorrowful.

But Lu Xin felt as if she were not in the same world as them. She shifted her gaze outside the window. A suffocating sense of loneliness pried open the cracks in her heart and came crashing over her.

After being stuck in traffic for nearly twenty minutes, they finally arrived at the Qi residence.

A group of people got off the bus with rustling movements, only to be awed by the tall, exquisite building before them. The Qi family’s funeral was proper and luxurious. Flower baskets lined both sides of the road, stretching all the way to the front door. All the colorful parts of the building had been covered with black-and-white silk.

The homeroom teacher walked at the front and pressed the Qi family’s doorbell.

“Hello, this is the Qi residence,” a voice sounded from an intercom device on the wall.

The homeroom teacher cleared her throat softly and said, “Hello, Mr. Qi. We are Qi Yuan’s teacher and classmates. We were invited to attend the funeral.”

The door opened, and the crowd filed in one after another. Lu Xin fell behind at the very end, holding on to the wall as she slowly walked. The Qi family’s courtyard was broad and elegant, yet for some reason, it also gave people a feeling of emptiness.

She imagined Qi Yuan’s life here. Behind the deep doors of this mansion, people’s hearts were hard to read. Perhaps she had not necessarily been happy either.

There were many people inside the house, young and old, all dressed in black. They gathered together, their voices low and dense, like flies buzzing incessantly. It was impossible to hear clearly what they were saying.

Father Qi and Mother Qi stood on the spiral staircase, both dressed in black, their expressions calm and solemn. Everyone in the Qi family had fine features, but the coldness carved into their bones was deeply rooted.

Qi Yuan had inherited her parents’ looks, but she had been completely different from the rest of the Qi family—gentle, cheerful, and beloved by everyone.

Before the funeral began, they gathered in the mourning hall.

On the altar was a photo of Qi Yuan from when she was alive. Her eyes were bright, her teeth white, and she smiled with gentle warmth. Qi Yuan’s coffin was surrounded by lush white chrysanthemums. For some reason, these everlasting flowers seemed a little too flourishing.

The coffin lid reflected a cold light. Lu Xin stared blankly at the wooden box from afar, missing Father Qi’s overly formal speech.

The entire funeral process was quiet and cold, carried out strictly according to procedure. Many people’s eyes were red, but each had their own thoughts. No one knew who was truly grieving for Qi Yuan.

The Qi family had many children, and Qi Yuan had not been especially favored. Now that she was dead, there was one less competitor. For Qi Yuan’s younger brother Qi Si and older sister Qi Miao, it had to be said that this was a heaven-sent opportunity.

The Qi family favored sons over daughters. Qi Si had just entered middle school and had been spoiled rotten into a complete good-for-nothing—fierce in appearance but weak inside, bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Qi Miao was even more jealous of Qi Yuan. She knew that no matter what, the Qi family’s inheritance rights would fall to Qi Si, so she aimed her fire at Qi Yuan instead, obeying outwardly while opposing inwardly, hiding knives behind smiles.

Whenever the Qi family gathered, the dining table was filled with the smoke of battle and the flash of blades.

Lu Xin knelt in the mourning hall for a long time. She waited until the guests had left and the Qi family had also gone out to see people off, yet she still remained seated where she was.

Qi Yuan’s body was already dead, and her soul had lightly ascended to heaven, but Lu Xin was still stubbornly obsessed, clinging to her foolish affection.

She actually did not hope for Qi Yuan to know that she liked her. That way, she could spare Qi Yuan the awkwardness. After all, in Qi Yuan’s eyes, the two of them were only classmates who had just started becoming familiar with each other.

Lu Xin had originally wanted to hide this secret for her whole life, to keep it hidden from heaven and earth for a dozen years or so, until both of them were old and gray. Then, when they passed each other on the street, she would see that Qi Yuan had become successful and had a happy marriage.

They would not contact each other often. Only on some April Fool’s Day, she would pretend to send a mass message and speak of this love as if it were a joke. That would have been enough.

But all of that had ended three days ago.

Qi Yuan had died, taking away all of Lu Xin’s love and hope. Lu Xin suddenly lost the direction of her life and began to feel lost. It was like someone following the light of a lighthouse, stumbling forward, only for the lamp to go out before they reached their destination.

Lu Xin knelt on the cushion, lonely and fragile. Her swaying back looked as thin as a sheet of paper.

For a moment, she hoped Qi Yuan would walk safely along the road to the underworld. But in the next instant, she did not know which god she was praying to, begging for Qi Yuan to open her eyes again. She wanted to tell Qi Yuan everything about herself. She would give her everything.

The white candles swayed in the wind, and Qi Yuan’s memorial portrait remained dazzling. Lu Xin opened her eyes and stood up blankly, preparing to leave.

She took one deep look at the black coffin and was about to turn away.

Thud!

The instant she turned her head, a striking sound suddenly came from inside the coffin, like raindrops falling, as if someone were forcefully knocking on the coffin lid.

Lu Xin froze in place, staring fixedly at the black box where Qi Yuan lay.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud…

Lu Xin gathered her courage and took two steps forward. She saw the heavy coffin shaking slightly, proving that the knocking was indeed coming from inside.

She swallowed and asked nervously, “Qi Yuan…?”

The knocking did not stop. Instead, it grew more and more intense, each sound dense like rain, making one’s hair stand on end. But Lu Xin seemed to be drawn toward it, slowly walking to the coffin.

She gently patted the coffin lid with her hand. As if hearing a response, the knocking grew even crazier. The entire coffin creaked as it shook back and forth. Lu Xin’s throat tightened, and hope ignited in her dried-up heart.

If—if Qi Yuan was inside, if she really was not dead…

Lu Xin paced back and forth uneasily, her mind in complete chaos.

The coffin shook more and more violently. The person inside seemed to be using all their strength, constantly striking the inner walls with parts of their body, trying to break free from the narrow darkness.

Lu Xin could not help biting her lip tightly. She imagined Qi Yuan alone inside the pitch-black coffin, surely filled with helplessness and terror.

“I have to help her,” Lu Xin thought. “I’ll risk everything!”

She gritted her teeth, braced both hands against the coffin lid, and pushed outward with all her strength. Under the double force from inside and outside, there was a violent creak. The coffin lid actually snapped into two sections from the middle, shattering into countless pieces.

The person lying flat inside suddenly shot upright, straightened her back, and stood up with her hair loose and disheveled.

Her skin was pale. She was beautiful and tall. There was no light in her black eyes, only a faint, unreal aura of death. Expressionless, she looked at Lu Xin and slowly walked toward her.