After Being Watched by My Paranoid and Gloomy Deceased Wife - Chapter 14

However, I still didn’t take the wet wipe.

It’s strange to say, logically, the feeling a person’s eyes give should be the same as the feeling the person gives.

But she happened to have a pair of round eyes. Her eyelids weren’t puffy or heavy, yet the overly dark pupils gave a sense of cold loneliness.

I had never seriously examined a stranger’s eyes like this before, but today I did so inexplicably.

It wasn’t appropriate to stare at her, so I just glanced at her as if by chance when she spoke to me.

In my peripheral vision, the shadow’s hair was flying, smooth and flowing, with a substantial volume.

As the young woman and I walked forward, He deliberately slowed down a few steps, as if pouting at me.

To prevent the separation of my body and His shadow from being too obvious, I could only slow down my pace, lagging slightly behind the young woman.

The shadow seemed a bit smug, holding His head high. The hair stopped flying.

I guessed that the wind in His world might have subsided.

The slightly darker shadow, slender as a finger, fell on the back of my hand, feeling like someone was gently tapping me with a fingertip.

If this weren’t my shadow, I might even think that the protagonist of this shadow play was acting gentle and lovely.

Alas, my condition is worsening +1.

The shadow can’t speak, but my brain has already started providing its own commentary.

This can only mean one thing—

I absolutely have to go to the psychiatric department.

“…My roommate went on a ‘special forces’ trip these two days and said she brought me local specialties…”

Even though I didn’t speak, the young woman kept the conversation lively on her own, not at all worried that I was a conversation killer.

I don’t know why, but her eyes were so peculiar that I would subconsciously look at them until she suddenly paused and asked me.

“By the way, I still don’t know your name, Miss!”

She looked at me with those overly dark pupils, yet I surprisingly saw tenderness and deep affection in them.

How very strange. For people who just met by chance, where did all this emotion come from?

This unadoptable mistaken perception made me swallow, feeling I was being too self-important.

Regarding her question, I was hesitant about whether to answer or vaguely put her off.

After all, we’ve only met twice; there’s no need to exchange names.

Before I could figure out how to answer, the young woman spoke first.

“My name is Ai Jiaxin. Ai from the youth’s admiration (shàonián mù ài), Jia from a match made in heaven (jiā’ǒu tiānchéng), and Xin from warmth (wēnxīn). What about you, Miss?”

She smiled brightly and looked at me with her eyes, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Her gaze was too focused, too… familiar.

In a momentary trance, it felt like I had met those eyes countless times over many years, yet this was only our second meeting.

I’m truly going crazy.

I am absolutely certain I have no feelings for her, yet when I met those eyes, I heard my heartbeats connect into a single, continuous rhythm.

Because of this sudden flutter, I didn’t quite dare to look at her anymore, and I didn’t really want to have more interaction with her.

A subtle sense of resistance always lingered in my heart, making me desperately want to pull myself away from any close relationships with others.

Yet, it was also because of those eyes that, prompted by a strange impulse, I still opened my mouth.

“My name is Xin Lu, Xin—”

The scene before my eyes shifted. I stopped walking, knowing I was having an episode again.

To avoid falling flat, I pretended to stop to admire the scenery, my gaze falling specifically and blankly on a long bench.

In my ear, I could still hear the young woman asking me which Xin and which Lu my name was.

However, before my eyes was my university campus, a place I was extremely familiar with.

I still remember that long bench. I used to read books and enjoy the view there countless mornings, always in this spot.

Because it was so remote, it had practically become my exclusive seat.

“I” and myself spoke almost simultaneously. We said:

“It’s the Xin from ‘forgotten hardship’ (蓼蟲忘辛), and the Lu from ‘Reeds are verdant, white dew is frost’ (蒹葭蒼蒼，白露為霜).”

In a trance, I heard someone say, “The one I call my own, resides on the water’s side.”

“It suits you well.”

When I looked over following the voice, I met a pair of dark, gentle eyes. Piercing through the years, I heard my heartbeats lose rhythm, chaotic and flustered.

The long bench vanished in an instant, and what I saw was the young woman’s eyes.

Overly dark pupils. She looked at me intently, her smile bright, radiant, and cheerful.

Completely different from the person I just saw, but exactly how they were different, the memory just now was like frosted glass, unclear.

“Wow, Miss, your name is so lovely!” Ai Jiaxin praised sincerely.

I hadn’t fully emerged from that hallucinatory fragment, and my mind was a little dazed.

Those eyes, so familiar.

Yet, as soon as I emerged from the hallucination, I forgot the person’s face.

What kind of appearance could match a pair of eyes like that?

Their eyes are too similar. I always feel that such a pair of eyes shouldn’t belong to such a cute and harmless face, but rather to…

I’m not sure what it should be.

“How should I address you, Miss? Your name is Xin Lu. Can I call you Sister Xin or Sister Lu Lu?”

The particularly lively young woman asked.

My waist hurt slightly, like someone had pinched it.

I glanced down, and sure enough, the shadow there was darker, with slender finger shadows menacingly remaining on my waist.

I twitched the corner of my mouth, feeling that this hallucination was really absurd and overly controlling, even meddling in my friendships.

“Either is fine,” I said.

The young woman, Ai Jiaxin, was very happy and immediately asked, “Sister Xin, what are you planning to do after throwing out the trash?”

I actually don’t quite like such an overly familiar personality, but her face was full of sincerity, and she was enthusiastic and lively, not someone with ill intentions.

I wanted to sigh, but sighing now would make it seem like I had an issue with her.

“I don’t know,” I said.

I truly didn’t know what I was going to do next.

As Xi Rong said, I am currently unemployed. The only thing I have to do today is go sing karaoke with Xi Rong tonight, and it’s still early.

“Wow, what a coincidence.”

Ai Jiaxin’s eyes curved in a smile.

Because her pupils are dark, the overall tone is cold, yet when she looks at people, it carries a deepness that inexplicably appears gentle and affectionate.

Facing such a pair of eyes, I couldn’t look directly at her and could only shift my gaze to other places.

“I didn’t know what to do this afternoon either, so I came out for a walk. I didn’t expect to run into Sister Xin. I’m so lucky today!”

She always seemed full of energy and infinite enthusiasm. When she said such things alone, it didn’t sound exaggerated at all.

I was a little impressed by Ai Jiaxin’s youthful vitality.

I remember when I was her age, no matter how bored I was, I was too lazy to go out. I just wanted to stay home, nestled on the sofa and… watching movies together.

With whom?

I can’t quite remember. I’m guessing it was most likely Xi Rong. Besides her, it’s unlikely I would have been so close to anyone else.

Even with Guan Lan, because of our respective personalities, we never achieved this level of intimacy.

The young woman exaggerated too much, making me feel embarrassed.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” I said.

How is running into me considered lucky?

I glanced at the shadow on the ground. He stood with His arms crossed. Then my gaze returned to myself. The shadow on my waist had already returned to normal.

Not being human is truly carefree. The only one who needs to worry is me.

“Why isn’t it a big deal? It’s great to run into Sister Xin! I was still wondering how to ask for your name on WeChat without being presumptuous. I didn’t expect to meet you today.”

Ha… I just remembered I added her as a friend. I’ve added many people I’ve met just once, and I never paid attention to her.

After all, I only have a few friends I consistently contact, and they’re all in my friend group.

As for others, there’s usually no interaction, so I didn’t bother to create a separate group.

“There’s a beautiful park nearby. Have you been there, Sister Xin?”

I definitely haven’t been. I’ve only been to Xi Rong’s place a few times. I’m either at her house or out eating and drinking. I haven’t really done any sightseeing, let alone visited a park.

Neither of us is a particularly diligent person.

Xi Rong’s most diligent activity is inheriting the family business and becoming a small boss who has to clock in for work every day. She also has Auntie Xi watching over her, so she has to clock in.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have to wait until she gets off work to go sing karaoke with me.

“I haven’t been. I rarely come here.”

I said, even finding my own attitude a bit cold and dry.

Ai Jiaxin didn’t mind. She reached out to link arms with me.

A chill wrapped around my other arm, and a strong gust of wind suddenly blew on the path.

I felt like my wrist was being tightly gripped. Looking down, my wrist indeed had a faint red mark circling it.

But I hadn’t intended to be so intimate with a young woman I had just met, so I naturally took a step to the side, pretending to admire the flowers, and took out my phone.

“They’ve planted peonies here too.”

I casually took a few photos. In fact, I only just noticed this small peony garden here.

Xi Rong’s neighborhood is ridiculous. It’s clearly a villa area, yet the property management has changed hands several times.

Each one only aimed to scam money from the rich residents. The service was poor, they took the money without doing the work, yet the property fees weren’t cheap.

Because they drove away several such property management teams, it became difficult for them to find a new one.

In this world, both the rich and the poor have their difficulties, but the difficulties of the rich are definitely much fewer than the poor.

Even without property management, most families here can afford housekeepers, nannies, and drivers, which doesn’t affect their daily lives much.

After all, they park in their own underground garages. For them, anything that can be solved with money is hardly a problem.

The wicked rich people.

Fortunately, I am barely one of them.

The young woman was probably used to linking arms with friends. Although she was a bit surprised to reach for nothing, she didn’t insist on crowding close.

This made me sigh in relief.

“I think it’s planted by the owner of North Court No. 8. Their family runs a landscaping and flower business. When the neighborhood lost its property management, they just took over this whole area, saying they couldn’t stand seeing the messy green belts every time they went out.”

Tsk, how arrogant.

“By the way, Sister Xin, what do you do?” the young woman asked, a little curious.

I thought for a moment and answered truthfully, “I’m unemployed. I probably don’t plan to look for a job anymore, starting retirement early.”

She could find something to praise in everything.

“Wow, that’s so cool! When I told my mom and them I didn’t want to work after graduation, they insisted I go out and experience the working life.

They said I live too comfortably and don’t know the hardships of the world, and that aside from being sick and having surgery before, I know too little about society and am easily fooled.”

I forgot. This area is full of rich people. It’s common for rich kids to stay home and be unemployed, living off their parents.

“Surgery? Was it serious?”

I looked at her rosy face, looking particularly healthy and full of vitality, and couldn’t imagine she had reached the point of needing surgery.

It couldn’t have been a connective tissue removal surgery on the head (haircut), could it?

“Well, it wasn’t too bad! I thought I’d be unwell for the rest of my life! But I was super lucky and met a very kind and wonderful sister who donated her eyes to me.”

“I heard she signed the voluntary donation agreement very early in life. She got into an accident on the way to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register her marriage with her fiancé.”

“Otherwise, the doctor said if it had been any later and missed the optimal treatment time, I might never have been able to see again.”

“My mom and I are both very grateful to her, and we also hope that if there is a next life in this world, she and the person she loved will have a long and happy life and never encounter anything like this again.”

For some reason, hearing her say this, my heart trembled, and I was on the verge of tears.