Sexy Ghost (Lily ABO) - Chapter 2

After the funeral, Xu Jinliang attended a wedding.

It was Old Wei’s third marriage. He invited her, and she couldn’t refuse.

She sat amidst the noisy banquet, a stiff smile on her face. Her eyes, when curved, were particularly beautiful, looking deep and gentle. Everyone who came to toast her felt comfortable, even delighted, experiencing a fleeting illusion of happiness when she smiled and looked their way.

For years, others had held both respect and affection for her.

But there were always those who, unable to obtain something, sought to discredit it.

These were relatives of the bride, a few men in their thirties. Initially, they merely whispered amongst themselves, saying she was too tall and strong, not like a woman, and that her attire was rigid and unfeminine. When she felt warm and took off her jacket, revealing forearms with visible muscle definition, a few of them saw it and remarked, “No one understands fitness better than me. For someone with her physique to dare to build muscles, does she want to be a man?”

Others raised their glasses to their lips but didn’t drink, eagerly agreeing, “It really is ugly.”

“Hey, actually, her face is really good-looking, and her proportions are nice, just too tall. Think about it, if her appearance and body were scaled down, maintaining the same proportions…” As he spoke, he gestured with his hand, and then a few men let out lewd laughter.

“A scaled-down version would be okay, quite exciting. But like this, tsk, tsk, you’d get thrown off trying to ride her! Hahaha!”

Their voices weren’t loud enough for their remarks to reach Xu Jinliang’s table.

Xu Jinliang watched several young subordinates at her table laughing and joking, discussing games, stocks, and the entertainment room. They even pulled a middle-aged woman from management over, “Sister Yan, come with us next time! We always win when we’re with you!”

Sister Yan was a bit embarrassed, twisting awkwardly as she said, “I can’t keep up with you young people.”

“Nonsense! Sister Yan’s deductions are amazing; she even stumped the NPCs, hahaha!”

Feeling their voices had gotten too loud, they looked around, especially glancing at Xu Jinliang’s expression. Then they huddled together, lowering their voices, “Sister Yan, join our group chat. You can just check the messages after work; it definitely won’t affect your authority in the department, hehe.”

Their actions were indeed meant not to disturb other leaders, but they also indicated they were “a nation” unto themselves, into which outsiders couldn’t integrate. Others, including Xu Jinliang, ignored them, having no intention of getting involved; it was just a minor interlude.

But Xu Jinliang smiled, picked up her bag, and went to the restroom.

Inside the stall, she was frantic, scratching at the door panel, her eyes unfocused but her pupils twitching uncontrollably and rapidly. “Why, why, why, why… why can they be so happy, why… why…” She mumbled quickly and very quietly with her mouth open.

She seemed to have suddenly fallen into some crisis, but her instinctual desire for “normality” made her try her best to recover and control herself. Her right hand, which was scratching, turned into tapping her head, and her left hand moved upwards in repeated grasping motions.

“Why, why, why…”

Finally, the tapping motion of her right hand stopped, and the grasping motion of her left hand also paused. She clenched her hands tightly, her knuckles turning purple.

She stopped.

Finally, she temporarily calmed down. After settling, her body felt cold, chills emanating from her bones. She walked out of the stall and began to wash her hands, rinsing them repeatedly, then used her wet fingers to tidy her hair.

She returned to the banquet. Because she took a different route, she happened to pass by the bride’s relatives. By now, the men who had been discussing her earlier had had several rounds of drinks, and their voices were louder, more unrestrained.

“Damn, I still think that face is wasted.”

“Come on, man, she’s not young anymore, do you like that?”

“What do you know? An old Bentley is still a Bentley, isn’t it?” After saying this, the person next to him nudged his arm lewdly and said, “She’s quite something, but an old Bentley still needs 98 octane fuel, can you handle that?”

The man laughed and cursed him: “Haha, screw you, I don’t want someone like her. She’s strong and old, who knows how loose she is. You wouldn’t find the edges inside, she’s a pure big universe, hahaha, ha, ha…” His peripheral vision suddenly caught a glimpse of a tall figure. Although he was sitting, it was clear this person was taller than him, even taller than all of them.

He fell silent, looked over, then guiltily lowered his head and picked up his wine glass. Everyone at that table remained silent for a moment in tacit understanding.

Because these men had been frequently glancing at her and whispering before, their guilty reactions when Xu Jinliang passed by only further proved that those unspeakable words were directed at her.

Xu Jinliang’s expression didn’t change; she still wore a smile, her eyes curved in a very tender manner. She continued walking inside. Passing by a server carrying a tray, she politely stepped aside and gently reminded them, “Be careful.” Seeing the server make way for her, she even smiled and nodded, “Thank you for the trouble.”

As the banquet drew to a close, colleagues from the factory gathered to discuss how to leave. At this point, Xu Jinliang frowned and rubbed her fingers. Someone quickly noticed her discomfort and asked, “Director, what’s wrong?”

She helplessly replied, “The weather hasn’t been good lately, it’s nothing, just an old problem.”

The person leaned closer to look and exclaimed, “Your joints are all red, is it a bone problem?”

“It’s nothing, I’m used to it. It’s just… it hurts quite a lot today.”

Many people came over to offer their concern. Someone took out a pair of cycling gloves from their backpack, “I only have these, I don’t know if they’ll work, but if you don’t mind, Director, you can use them?”

Xu Jinliang looked hesitant, “Will it affect your cycling?”

The person waved their hands repeatedly, smiling foolishly, “No, no, I’ve had a lot to drink today, so I won’t be cycling. I’ll take a taxi home.” Then he placed the gloves in front of Xu Jinliang.

The people from the factory quickly left. After a long while, a drunken man from someone’s relatives stumbled around, searching, “Hey? I remember I brought a raincoat, I… I saw the forecast said it would rain, I brought it, where did it go?”

In the men’s restroom, a man was relieving himself, constantly replaying “old Bentley” in his mind. After finishing, he turned around and accidentally bumped into someone. That person was very tall, wearing a raincoat and even a hood. “Oh, sorry, buddy, I wasn’t paying attention, my apologies.”

He didn’t get a response from the other person but didn’t pay it any mind and started to leave, muttering, “You’re pretty tall, buddy, hehe.”

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly let out a loud wail, but in the next instant, his mouth was muffled by something. It was a cloth, a common rag found in restrooms, but it contained broken glass. His instinctive mouth movement immediately made him bite into the glass shards scattered everywhere. Bl00d flowed from the corners of his mouth, but he still couldn’t scream, only groan in pain.

Even so, the person didn’t let him go. Fingers forcefully shoved the cloth deeper into his mouth. His neck was pressed down tightly, preventing him from looking back. He could only see a pair of dark gloves assaulting him. The person used immense force, so much so that he could hear the attacker’s hurried breathing.

He had already drunk a lot, and the suffocation and lack of oxygen made his struggles as futile as an ant trying to shake a tree. Soon, he watched with his own eyes as the dark-gloved hand that tormented his lips and tongue picked up a large piece of broken glass and brought it close to his eyes. Tears streamed down his face, but he was restrained and could only shake his head slightly.

Perhaps he was begging for mercy, but the attacker neither heard nor wanted to hear.

“Ugh—!!”

At the entrance of the residential complex, after the designated driver left, Xu Jinliang got out of the car. Soon, a car stopped beside her. She calmly stood still and looked at the car. The young person inside was Cai Hua, like a goddaughter to her. Xu Jinliang’s pupils constricted, and her body stiffened, a rare display of nervousness.

Cai Hua’s tone with her was as affectionate as before, but what she said sent shivers down Xu Jinliang’s spine.

“Auntie Liang, this time you’ve left quite a few traces. Don’t forget, this isn’t the old days anymore, especially with forensic methods.”

Not to mention that forensic methods are increasingly sophisticated, Xu Jinliang’s behavior was particularly abnormal; she had never been so impulsive, acting rashly without prior planning.

In reality, her mental state and psychological resilience were very poor. When she could frequently obtain that hard-won sense of pleasure, she would be strong, calm, quick-witted, and patient, like a spider weaving its web. But once she felt the inner void and nothingness for a long time, she would become incredibly fragile, out of control, sensitive and impulsive, standing on the edge of getting lost.

Xu Jinliang clasped her hands in front of her, an amiable posture. She forced a smile and said to Cai Hua, “We haven’t seen each other for a long time. Why don’t you come upstairs and sit for a while, and we can have a meal together?”

Cai Hua also smiled, “Won’t that delay you from disposing of the evidence?”

Xu Jinliang’s eyes curved even more, but this time she didn’t say a single word, neither denying nor admitting anything.