After Being Widowed For Ten Years - Chapter 2

“Don’t come any closer!”

An Rong felt a wave of terror wash over her, and she kept backing away.

Yet, the woman across from her, the one who looked exactly like Pei Chongxi, continued to step closer, inch by inch.

She pressed her hand down over An Rong’s hand just as the girl was about to reach for the car door handle.

“Be good, An An. Don’t move, and be careful not to catch a cold. Look at you, out in the rain without even an umbrella.”

Pei Chongxi rambled on and on, not daring to shift her gaze from An Rong’s face for even a fraction of a second, terrified that An Rong would vanish the moment she blinked.

With stubborn insistence, Pei Chongxi lifted An Rong’s hands and wiped away the rainwater and dirt with a wet wipe. Holding that hand with absolute reverence, she pressed it against her own cheek.

Pei Chongxi’s body was so cold, so cold that she didn’t seem like a living person at all.

An Rong did recognize the pearl necklace hanging from Pei Chongxi’s wrist. But trapped in this atmosphere of sheer panic and confusion, she couldn’t think clearly.

“Let go of me! Who on earth are you? Are you in league with those thugs? I’m going to call the police!”

An Rong curled tightly against the door. The youthful innocence and gratitude that had just surfaced on her face a moment ago vanished without a trace, replaced by a look reserved for an absolute monster.

Pei Chongxi’s hand froze mid-air.

An Rong wanted to keep shouting and threatening to call the police, but in that exact moment, the words died in her throat.

The person before her looked entirely too much like Pei Chongxi. Aside from a completely different aura, she was a carbon copy of her. Facing this exact face, An Rong couldn’t bring herself to say anything harsher.

Pei Chongxi pulled her hovering hand back.

For a fleeting second, her gaze turned incredibly dark and obsessive, closely resembling a malicious spirit crawling out from the depths of hell. But a moment later, it softened into tenderness again.

“Why does even the An Rong in my illusions hate me?”

“An An, is this why you never let me dream of you? Do you dislike me? But it wasn’t like this back when we shared that cramped rented room. You said you wanted to be with me forever, that we’d go to the same university, that we wouldn’t even separate for work. You said you’d earn money to support me, buy me a house and a car… Look, this is my car. Do you like it…?”

Pei Chongxi mumbled about a past that only the two of them shared.

The tension on An Rong’s face slackened slightly as she caught fragments of those words.

Fragments only the two of them could possibly know.

“What did you say?”

Curled up on the leather seat, An Rong asked in a small, tentative voice, “Are you Pei Chongxi?”

Then, An Rong’s eyes caught the time displayed on the central control screen, 202…!

An Rong’s pupils contracted violently, her thoughts striking her like a bolt of lightning from the heavens.

The current year was ten years into the future.

Contrasting An Rong’s absolute shock, Pei Chongxi withdrew her gaze. She buckled her seatbelt again and placed both hands on the steering wheel.

“An An, let’s go home.”

Pei Chongxi’s tone was warm, a gentle smile gracing her eyes. “It’s my fault. I frightened An An just now.”

This was all an illusion.

Pei Chongxi didn’t mind letting the illusion last forever. As long as she could see An Rong again, it was better than anything else in the world.

An Rong cautiously observed the mature woman driving the car.

Strands of pitch-black hair clung to her cheeks and neck, making her complexion look exceptionally pale, almost to the point of translucency. Her lips were completely devoid of color, yet they couldn’t diminish her striking features.

Her eyelashes were very long.

There was a time when An Rong would insist on pinning Pei Chongxi down, counting her eyelashes one by one. Pei Chongxi would try to resist, but she would always be subdued by An Rong on that bed in their rented room, the one that creaked at the slightest movement.

An Rong could be willful sometimes, she refused to live in the school dorms and insisted on renting a place outside. Remarkably, Pei Chongxi had agreed, working weekend part time jobs just to satisfy her whim.

Analyzing the words Pei Chongxi had just muttered to herself, An Rong asked softly, “Are you really Pei Chongxi? Sister Pei, is it you?”

Even the An Rong in her illusion had such a wonderful personality.

Pei Chongxi’s expression grew incredibly soft. “Yes, it’s me. It’s very late now. Have you eaten dinner yet? There are still small wontons made by the helper in the fridge. You used to love seaweed wonton soup the most. Shall I cook some for you?”

The car drove further and further into a secluded area, finally pulling up to a detached villa in the suburbs.

It was quiet here, and the distance between the buildings was vast. It looked like a place reserved exclusively for the wealthy and influential.

An Rong pressed both hands against the car window, staring out at the massive, imposing villa. Her eyes blinked rapidly in disbelief as she turned her head to look at Pei Chongxi.

“You bought this? This car is yours too? Sister Pei, you’re amazing.”

An Rong had an easygoing personality, she wasn’t one to wallow in distress. If she couldn’t figure something out, she simply stopped thinking about it. No matter how many strange things were happening, nothing was more important right now than getting a full meal.

Pei Chongxi parked the car in the underground garage, ignoring the mess inside the vehicle, someone else would naturally take care of cleaning it up. Her gaze never left An Rong for a single second, terrified that this illusion would vanish into thin air.

An Rong tilted her head and smiled. “Sister Pei, how did you get so rich? Don’t tell me you’ve been a closet wealthy heiress all along?”

An Rong took a couple of steps forward and grabbed Pei Chongxi’s arm, pressing and rubbing her cheek against Pei Chongxi’s shoulder just like she used to do back in high school.

“I’ve always been an orphan. I just happened to get lucky with my drawings and made a bit of money.”

A sensation of warmth radiated through the fabric.

Pei Chongxi led An Rong inside the villa.

An Rong found everything novel, wanting to touch this and feel that. But the moment they fully stepped into the area where the homeowner frequently spent her time, An Rong froze right where she stood.

The floor was littered with wine bottles. Cigarettes were scattered across the coffee table, desks, and kitchen counters, some had spilled loose from their packs, while others were half-smoked and carelessly extinguished in ashtrays. There was also an expensive looking cigar humidor.

An overpowering stench of alcohol filled the air. Some of the bottles were full, while others had already been drained completely.

Looking around, almost the entire interior design was strictly black and white. If one didn’t know any better, they would think they had stepped into some intensely somber mourning hall.

“I’m sorry, my house is a bit messy. I don’t usually let the helper come in to clean.”

Standing amidst a pile of wine bottles, Pei Chongxi offered a hollow explanation to An Rong. Because of her guilt, she didn’t dare lower her gaze, keeping it stubbornly glued to An Rong’s face.

“I’ll clean it up right now.”

Pei Chongxi shoved all the expensive wine bottles into an unused cardboard box, quickly clearing off the sofa and the dining area. Yet, the persistent smell of alcohol and cigars lingering in the air didn’t dissipate despite the gentle humming of the ventilation system, instead, it continued to drift right beneath An Rong’s nose.

An Rong sat rigidly on the edge of a dining chair, not daring to move an inch.

“Sister Pei, you’re now…”

An Rong swallowed the second half of her sentence.

She had wanted to say. Pei Chongxi, the way you look right now scares me a little.

What scared her wasn’t just the black and white decor or the floor covered in smoke and alcohol. What truly frightened her were… the white chrysanthemums, still seemingly dripping with dew, placed carefully inside stark white antique vases.

Just what kind of morbid aesthetic did a person have to possess to meticulously tend to white chrysanthemums scattered everywhere around the house every single day?

An Rong anxiously picked at the edge of the dining table with her finger.

The solid wood table reflected the soft light overhead.

From the open kitchen, the savory aroma of small wontons began to drift over. An Rong swallowed her saliva. She rested her chin in her hands, burying her unease deep down in her heart.

“Maybe Sister Pei’s taste just took a bit of a turn. Isn’t there a term called ‘dark academia’ or ‘gloom style’? It was pretty popular back when I was in school.”

“Well, I personally don’t really appreciate it,” An Rong muttered to herself.

An Rong noticed a massive rectangular frame leaning beside the dining table, entirely covered by a black silk cloth.

“What’s inside?”

An Rong was never particularly well-behaved by nature. She quietly lifted a corner of the silk cloth, and through the dim light, she saw the contents within, an oil painting.

An Rong blinked.

She did seem to recall that Pei Chongxi used to love drawing and painting, but studying fine arts was far too expensive, so Pei Chongxi had always stuck to science and engineering.

Peeling back a corner of the cloth, An Rong saw that it featured a rose blooming to its absolute limit, bordering on decay. The roses on the windowsill were arranged in a glass vase, clusters of them blooming so violently that they were on the verge of rotting. A pearl chain was wrapped tightly around the roses, seemingly trying to strangle them to death in a bizarre, absurd fashion.

Right at that moment, a low roll of thunder boomed outside.

“Ah!”

An Rong let out a sharp cry and hastily dropped the silk cloth back down.

Clack.

A white porcelain bowl was placed in front of An Rong. Inside were the fragrant small wontons, complete with dried shrimp and a few drops of chili oil.

“I remember you like extra white pepper and vinegar, so I added them for you.”

Pei Chongxi stood before An Rong, her eyes greedily tracing the contours of the girl’s features.

“An An, what did you just see?”

Another loud crash of thunder boomed outside the window, startling An Rong quite badly.

“I took a little peek at this painting.” An Rong poked the cloth covered frame with her finger. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snooped.”

Pei Chongxi didn’t look toward the frame at all, her gaze remained fixed entirely on An Rong’s face.

Pei Chongxi leaned down, cupping An Rong’s cheeks with both hands.

“Do you remember what you used to say before eating the food I cooked?” Pei Chongxi coaxed gently.

An Rong saw her own reflection in Pei Chongxi’s eyes.

The young girl was so beautiful, the illusion was so incredibly realistic, the tactile sensation of her palms against those cheeks was so soft, everything felt entirely real.

An Rong tilted her head back and thought for a moment, then laughed. “Thank you, Jiejie! Sister Pei is the best to me!”

A completely cloudless smile appeared on An Rong’s face.

An Rong didn’t find Pei Chongxi’s touch problematic at all. After all, back during lunch breaks at school, the two of them loved holding hands under the desks, and after evening self-study when they returned home, they also liked shedding their school uniforms to hug each other tightly. Now that she was just touching her face, it didn’t really matter. Earlier, she was afraid because she hadn’t recognized Pei Chongxi, but now that she had, she wasn’t scared anymore.

“Since you’re so rich, you have to support me… You used to say, ‘When you strike it rich, don’t forget me’!”

Pei Chongxi leaned in further, closing the distance between them continuously.

“An An, your dress is wet. Go change your clothes so you don’t catch a cold.”

Pei Chongxi’s gaze adhered obsessively to An Rong’s dress.

That was the birthday present she had given An Rong in advance…

It was the very dress An Rong had been wearing when she died.

The young girl remained entirely oblivious to Pei Chongxi’s turbulent emotions. Seeing Pei Chongxi staring at her dress, she smiled and tugged at the hem.

“It looks good, right? You’re so good to me. It’s so expensive, only you would be willing to buy it for me.”

In the midst of the illusion, a sudden kiss landed upon Pei Chongxi’s forehead.