They bought plane tickets to pay respects at the graves.
Lu Yingjiu asked Zhang Shuwan for a list.
The list contained people she remembered, those who had participated in the plan and were aware of it.
Unfortunately, due to the passage of time and lack of other records, Zhang Shuwan could only recall about twenty or thirty people.
Among them, six or seven tombstones were in Lujiang City, including Zhang Nianyun and Chen Minlan. It took Lu Yingjiu some effort to find them all, and he bowed and offered flowers to each one.
He also tried hard to learn about their lives.
During the grave visits, he remained silent, looking at the unfamiliar names and faces on the tombstones, imagining what kind of people they were.
—He wanted to engrave these people and their stories in his heart.
The rest of the tombstones were in other places, and Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian were preparing to go there today.
The sky at the airport was azure blue, and the plane spread its wings towards the blue sky.
In the following months, they visited every cemetery.
Whenever they arrived at a tombstone, Lu Yingjiu offered flowers, and Jing Xian would bow deeply with him.
Lu Yingjiu said, “I thought you disdained such rituals.”
“I indeed don’t care about most humans, after all, our values are fundamentally different.” Jing Xian said, “But these people deserve respect.”
With plenty of time, they would slow down and enjoy each new place they visited.
Through long streets and short alleys, high and low buildings, they held hands and wandered through the steel forest. The grass was green and the birds were singing, the tender greenery climbed up the branches, they passed by lakes clearer than the sky, and then kissed each other.
In this way, they walked and watched, and along the way, they also took on some exorcism commissions, punished the evil and promoted the good, and dispelled evil thoughts.
By the time they finished visiting the graves, it was already midsummer of the following year.
The bar business was booming, Ah Mei was still carefully decorating the inside and outside of the bar, and had hired new staff to help. Yao Gou and Ye Feng would occasionally take on exorcism commissions, and new exorcists had heard of their reputation and wanted to join. They hadn’t seen Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian for a long time, and they missed them very much.
Lu Yingjiu indeed decided to return to Lujiang City.
But before he went back, there was one more thing he had to do.
On a certain day in midsummer, he and Jing Xian drove an off-road vehicle across the swaying plains of long grass.
They drove for a while, the lights of the small town behind them receding into the distance, leaving only the green waves and the silhouettes of a few trees around them.
The summer days were long, and even at six or seven o’clock, the sky was still slightly bright. The clouds glow with a dark purple light, intertwined with crimson. Lu Yingjiu rolled down the car window, took a deep breath of the fresh air, and looked out. Between heaven and earth, there were only the two of them. The wind howled from the horizon, bending the grass and stirring up the chirping of insects.
Keep going forward.
Keep going forward.
Until the deepest part of the long grass.
After passing a lake, Lu Yingjiu said, “This is the place. We’ll walk the rest of the way.”
The off-road vehicle stopped, and the two got out of the car.
The world was vast.
Lu Yingjiu took out a palace lantern from the back seat, lit it with a talisman, and a wisp of green flame silently lit up.
He held the lantern forward, the light was weak, but it illuminated the surroundings, illuminating the path they were walking on. Jing Xian followed behind him, holding several bouquets of blooming flowers.
Not far away was a grassy slope, which was their destination for this trip.
Upon reaching the slope, under an old tree, there was a small stone tablet.
The stone tablet was very broken, and it was impossible to see its original shape or what was written on it. Only half of it lay there, exposed to the wind and rain.
Hundreds of years ago, this was a small town.
The first green lantern was lit here.
In gratitude to those exorcists, the locals erected many stone tablets, of which only this half remains.
Zhang Shuwan could recall too little. There were so many strangers, so many nameless heroes drowned in the river of time, and Lu Yingjiu couldn’t pay tribute to each one.
That’s why he decided to come here.
He bent down to put down the bouquet, the gorgeous flowers clustered around the stone tablet. New life and old age, blooming and decay, the world has always been like this, where there was destruction, there must be vigorous growth.
A hundred years ago, the night walk with a green lantern.
Today the stone tablet was silent, but the fire was still burning.
They bowed deeply to the stone tablet.
— Paying tribute to all things, and to the nameless you.
Lu Yingjiu said softly, “Let’s stay here for a while.”
Jing Xian nodded.
Lu Yingjiu held the green lantern. They stood side by side in the long grass, listening to the chirping of insects, watching the last light of day disappear.
On the way back, Lu Yingjiu rolled down the window, letting the wind blow through his hair and clothes.
He was silent for a long time, then looked out the window and laughed, “The scenery here is really nice.”
“Yes,” Jing Xian also laughed, “Where are we going now?”
Lu Yingjiu said, “Let’s go back to Lujiang City first. If you want, we can go to the ghost world again.” He yawned lazily, “Anyway, we have so much time, we can go wherever we want, right?”
The off-road vehicle sped through the grass waves and the night, until it disappeared into the distance.
****
Recently, there was a new rumor in the ghost world.
It was said that a few days ago, a new priest had arrived in the palace of the Ghost King.
For a time, all the ghosts were gossiping, and finally unanimously determined that the Ghost King had abandoned the matchstick man and welcomed a new love.
As for what the new love looked like?
No ghost had seen it yet.
They were curious to the point of scratching their hearts.
Some ghosts swore that the new love had three heads and six arms, and could eat three ghost children in one bite.
There were also ghosts who guaranteed that the new love was a charming fox demon, otherwise how could she pillow talk the Ghost King every day?
There were all kinds of opinions, but no one had a definite answer.
Until the fourth day, a little ghost was tremblingly called into the palace.
Everyone wanted to get a job with the Ghost King—that meant a worry-free life and a promising future. But what could a little ghost like it, with no abilities, do?
As soon as it entered, a masked priest asked it, “I heard you used to work in a pet shop?”
“Yes, yes, yes.” The little ghost was terrified, “I floated there for a while and saw them working.”
The priest nodded in satisfaction, handed it a comb, and took it into the main hall.
It was late at night, and the candles in the hall were flickering.
A black furball was squatting in the middle of the hall, wagging its tail.
Its fur was a mess, knotted and pitiful. It was unclear where it had gone to play and got itself into such a state.
“Comb its fur.” The priest said, threw it a bag, and left.
The bag was heavy, filled with gold and silver jewelry. The little ghost was stunned, unable to believe that a pie had fallen from the sky.
“Awooo!” The furball called out.
For the next two hours, the little ghost carefully combed its fur.
It was already patient and meticulous, and worked meticulously… Under its hands, a soft and sticky, very good-feeling furball appeared again!
Just as the little ghost was looking at it with satisfaction, a voice came.
“Jing Xian, did you take it to the chaotic burial mound to play again?”
The voice of the Ghost King came, “How could it be? It stayed in the palace all day, and didn’t eat anything indiscriminately.”
“Really?” The person was doubtful.
“Of course.” The Ghost King vowed.
Footsteps approached, and the little ghost quickly stepped back a few steps, lowering its head and not daring to look. In the corner of its eye, it only saw a clean white figure.
Is that…a strange white-robed priest?
Oh right, it must be the Ghost King’s new love!
“Awoo!” The furball wagged its tail and pounced into the arms of the white-robed priest.
The Ghost King said, “See, it’s so clean all over, how could it have been to the chaotic burial mound?”
The little ghost thought to itself, it was just a mess a moment ago.
The white-robed priest was still doubtful, picked up hairball and rubbed it for a while, but didn’t see anything unusual.
Taking advantage of this moment, the little ghost secretly raised its gaze and quickly glanced at him.
— Where was the rumored three-headed six-armed, or fox demon?
Under the firelight in the hall, the priest’s eyes were bright, a few strands of hair hung by his ears, making his skin look fair and delicate.
He was handsome and good-looking, spotless, with picturesque eyebrows and eyes.
Standing next to the handsome Ghost King, they were simply a perfect match.
That day, as soon as the little ghost left the palace, it was surrounded by a group of ghosts.
“How was it, how was it! Did you get a good look at the new love!”
“Is the new love taller than a mountain?”
“Is he a fox demon?”
The little ghost took a deep breath. “What nonsense, he is clearly very good-looking! Where can our Ghost King’s taste go wrong!”
The ghosts were all in an uproar, even more eager to enter the palace.
Later, the little ghost went in and out of the palace several times.
Its daily routine was: secretly bathing the furball, secretly combing the furball’s fur, and with tears in its eyes, eating a lot of dog food from the two of them.
It also heard a lot of rumors.
For example, that person’s name was Lu Yingjiu.
For example, he was not actually a priest or a ghost, but an exorcist.
For example, he and the Ghost King frequently traveled between the ghost and human worlds, sometimes going to the human world for several months, and sometimes staying in the ghost world for a long time.
And Lu Yingjiu’s gentle attitude eased its tension a lot.
Until it gradually started talking to Lu Yingjiu.
One day, the Ghost King took hairball for a walk. Meanwhile, Lu Yingjiu sat at the desk, carefully drawing a talisman, waiting for them to return.
This was a great time for gossip!
The little ghost plucked up its courage, full of curiosity, and asked Lu Yingjiu, “May I ask, how did you and the Ghost King meet?” It quickly added, “Because, because humans and ghosts, usually don’t interact… I’m just a little bit curious.”
The more it spoke, the more guilty it felt, fearing that it might upset Lu Yingjiu.
However, Lu Yingjiu paused for a moment.
At this moment, her gaze seemed to drift far away, as if recalling countless people and countless fascinating stories.
Then he came back to his senses, “Our story is quite long, let me tell you the very beginning first.”
The little ghost’s eyes lit up, and it nodded repeatedly.
So, Lu Yingjiu smiled and said, “I’ve been plagued by bad luck since I was a child, and a master in the human world told me that I had to marry a ghost to survive.”
“So, the story starts after I married the Ghost King…”
He narrated the story, his eyes shining.
Until Jing Xian returned.
— The sun was shining, the sky was azure blue, it was a perfect day.
The handsome Ghost King, dressed in black, was already smiling before he saw Lu Yingjiu.
And Lu Yingjiu stood up, went to meet him, and was embraced by him with a smile.
