Ch83 - The Mistake of Soft-Heartedness

t/n: the Lu in a character in this chapter is a different Lu than Lu Xu’s Lu, so don’t mistake them for being related!

The files were created fifty years ago; the brown paper bag had already begun yellowing.

These were the stowaway files that were causing Xie An lots of trouble, yet he didn’t know why Xie An still insisted on hiding them.

Although he was puzzled and couldn’t understand, he wasn’t Xie An, and naturally wouldn’t know what he was thinking.

Lu Xu didn’t waste any time trying to guess, and immediately opened up the files to read the materials inside.

Because Xie An’s attitude had been so secretive, almost everyone thought he had been cornered and was fighting for his life. The Southwest Bureau took this as a big case, and the Investigation Team also acknowledged that it was a big case. But when Lu Xu actually opened up the case files, he realized that the only thing inside was an extremely common client information file—

“Lu Xingliang, male, Dongcheng citizen, 1945-1970…”

According to the materials, this Lu Xingliang’s life was as normal as hundreds of thousands of others, except for the fact that his life had been shorter.

Lu Xingliang was born in the city, and was fairly good at academics, and was finally sent to a rural area to become an elementary school teacher. He married his childhood sweetheart at the age of 24; these events were no different than the lives of others.

If not for that freak accident, Lu Xingliang would have stayed an elementary school teacher. With a bit of good luck, he would have transferred back into the city to be with his wife. When he was old, he could live with his retired buddies, spending his entire life from sunrise to sunset like this.

Yet everything had changed in an instant.

That day, February 28, 1970, the air froze with raging blizzards.

Lu Xingliang’s students usually crossed  ice in order to return home, but didn’t realise that due to the slight warmth in the temperature, the ice would break just as a few of them had gone onto the middle of the ice.

First a child fell in,  the other two subconsciously wanted to pull him out, but also ended up falling in.

The other children didn’t dare to go forward, and cried at the top of their lungs, screaming for help. The Lu Xingliang who was originally supposed to go back to the city to see his beloved didn’t even think before jumping in.

When the villagers had heard what was going on, Lu Xingliang had already pushed the three children out. By the time the villagers reached out and pulled him out, he had already run out of life…

Xie An, who was still in his intern period, took this case. If he had followed standard procedures in sending him off, then the situation afterwards wouldn’t have happened.

In addition to the files regarding Lu Xingliang, there was a letter Xie An had written “For Xu ge”.

“Xu ge, if you are reading this letter, that means I have already been put under investigation. Fifty years ago, not long after I became a grim reaper, I originally wanted to focus well on my work, but I didn’t think I would be so soft-hearted…”

When Xie An had followed the prompts and arrived at the scene, the entire village was kneeling around Lu Xingliang’s body weeping.

But the person of concern was merely standing by watching, obviously unable to accept the fact that he had already died yet.

“Lu Xingliang, male, Dongcheng citizen, died at the age of 25 due to drowning…” Xie An proclaimed Lu Xingliang’s death, bringing the person back from his state of delirium.

Lu Xingliang looked at the weeping villagers and students, and looked at his own corpse with a complicated expression on his face.

Just before he had mentioned going back to Dongcheng to see his farway wife; who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the two of them would be separated from each other by the heavens?

The new clothes he had bought for his wife and all the little things he had clumsily prepared for his own child were placed by his body, making his already short life seem even bleaker.

Someone dying like this was truly pitiful, but life was life.

Xie An sighed slightly to himself, then said to Lu Xingliang, “If the information is correct, I’ll have to trouble you to sign this, so I can send you off.”

The Lu Xingliang who hadn’t said anything yet, kept shaking his head and asked Xie An, “Are you a master grim reaper? I have a request…”

Lu Xingliang originally wanted to go back to be with his wife and child. Although he had saved the children of others, he couldn’t see his own.

He bitterly begged Xie An, wanting to go back to see his wife because he had yet to see his own child.

Xie An’s heart softened for a moment, and finally nodded and agreed.

Due to Lu Xingliang’s unexpected passing, his wife became extremely upset and gave premature birth to their child.

Childbirth was difficult even in the 21st century, not to mention the conditions of hospitals fifty years ago.

After a difficult labor, Lu Xingliang’s wife finally gave birth to a child, and looked as if she were on death’s door.

“Yuanyuan, don’t sleep, hurry and open your eyes to see your child…” Lu Xingliang was extremely frantic, hovering by his wife’s side as if he could wake her up.

Xie An stood at the side, stunned as he kept Lu Xingliang company for two days, running around doing various errands in the meantime.

It was only after with much difficulty that Guo Yingyuan woke up that another problem was discovered. Because the labor had taken so long, the fetus lacked oxygen, and the little body was very frail and weak.

Lu Xingliang once again faced Xie An and pleaded with him. He knelt down directly  in front of Xie An, begging him to give him a bit more time. “Being by herself is too difficult for Yuanyuan, I purely want to keep her company, please I’m begging you…”

If it weren’t for the fact that he had gone to save the children of others, Lu Xingliang wouldn’t be in this state of being unable to hug his own child.

The family of three were originally supposed to live happily together, but now they were separated by the heavens.

“I’m really begging you…”

Xie An’s heart did feel somewhat sorry for Lu Xingliang. Along with the fact that he hadn’t experienced much during his internship yet, Xie An’s heart still softened in the end…

“I only felt that their family had met too many hardships, and agreed to let Lu Xingliang remain in the mortal realm to keep his wife company. Regarding the case, I left it and didn’t report it, thinking that I would just come back to finish it when it was time to send him off…”

Fifty years passed by in the blink of an eye and the appointed time for the two had come, but who knew this issue would occur.

“Xu ge, I answered his request, but I don’t want to see him go to the stowaway punishment district. If you can, I’ll have to bother you to help me send him off to the underworld and submit this case. As to the consequences, I will bear them all myself…”

Lu Xu had come to straighten things up; he didn’t find the events that had led to this unexpected situation unexpected at all.

Xie An was the kind of person who was good in all aspects, but because he was too good of a person, it was easy for his heart to be soft. Not long after he had come to the eastern district, Lu Xu always put him on the spot, because he didn’t want him to make a mistake based on human emotions.

In the days he had worked in the eastern district, Xie An’s behaviour was truly quite good, and Lu Xu had thought it was a result of his teachings.

He didn’t think that he had already made a mistake during his internship, and continued prolonging this mistake until today.

At that time, Xie An himself should have understood what kind of consequences this situation would bring him, but he still chose to do it, demonstrating that he had already prepared himself to take on all the responsibilities for the consequences.

Now that the situation was already like this, there was no point in continuing to judge Xie An for what he had done. It was best to solve the entire situation first.

Lu Xingliang…

Lu Xu glanced at this name, then opened up the Grim Reaper Comes Home app to search up his case files.

All living beings were their future customers, so their information would naturally be registered within their case files.

Every person’s physical health was saved and displayed within figures, in order to guarantee the progress of each grim reaper.

Lu Xu found Guo Yingyuan’s case files, only to discover that she was currently staying in the general hospital.

She was over 70 and had labored for over half her life, but was now in the hospital with her time running out.

Lu Xu organised his things and immediately flashed out of sight, then immediately reappeared outside the general hospital’s elderly sick ward.

It was called the elderly sick ward, but many elderly came there to recuperate.

Guo Yingyuan had been a teacher for decades. After retiring, her body couldn’t hold up, and she could only live in the elderly sick ward.

In the fifty-some years since Lu Xingliang had passed away, Guo Yingyuan never thought about remarrying. Because of a lack of oxygen, their child had received irreversible harm, and had a frail composition. Guo Yingyuan raised the child up with much difficulty and who knew how many hardships she had gone through in order to do so. But their child didn’t even live past fifty in the end. The father passed away at a young age and the child passed away middle aged. There was no telling how difficult it had been for Guo Yingyuan.

Lu Xu calmly finished reading the case files and entered the sick ward towards the direction of the elderly sick ward.

The ward was tranquil and quiet in the night, although spirits and wild ghosts were present. However the moment Lu Xu entered the hospital, everyone heard the movement and scrambled to all four corners. Anywhere he went, one could only find the shadow of a ghost.

But Lu Xu wasn’t in a hurry. He calmly and slowly headed towards Guo Yingyuan’s ward.

The lights in the hallway flickered in and out, as if giving off a warning for something dangerous that had entered.

After he arrived at the doorway of room 703, Lu Xu finally halted his steps, and looked inside through the glass.

The lighting inside the sick ward was dim, the atmosphere quiet. Only the bed in the middle of the three patient beds was occupied by a person. It had to be Guo Yingyuan.

She was 73 years old this year, her face filled with wrinkles etched with lines of suffering.

At a glance, the room was completely empty, as if there were no other people in there. Lu Xu wasn’t in a hurry to leave, and merely pushed open the door and walked in. He slowly walked step by step closer to Guo Yingyuan.

“Wait!”

Seeing that Lu Xu was about to arrive by Guo Yingyuan’s bedside, a streak of shadow suddenly rose from the ground, violently blocking the way in the middle.

Lu Xu had long since noticed that folded up shadow when he had entered through the door. Even though he had noticed Lu Xu’s aura and was trembling so hard he had become a sieve, he stood by his wife’s beside, refusing to move away even a step.

“Lu Xingliang.” Lu Xu didn’t think anything strange of this, and directly called out his name.

“Master Lu Xu, that’s me.” Having stayed an extra fifty years in the mortal realm, Lu Xingliang clearly knew who Lu Xu was. “My wife’s lifespan probably hasn’t ended yet, right?”

Lu Xu nodded. “I’ve come looking for you.”

“As expected.”

Truth be told, he had already seen Lu Xu coming to collect souls the day before. He knew that he would be found, but didn’t think he would have been found so quickly.

Lu Xingliang hadn’t seen Xie An recently, and felt that something was wrong. In the past, Xie An was always in charge of the hospital, but now that Lu Xu had suddenly come over, he was afraid something had really happened to Xie An.

Lu Xingliang hesitated for a while, but couldn’t resist asking Lu Xu in the end, “Master Lu Xu, is Master Xie An well?”