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“Alright, then Sister Ming Zhu, you all take care, we’ll be leaving first.” Liu Ru Yan and Lan Ruo Yi said goodbye to the two and walked away. Watching them leave, Ming Zhu turned to Dong Li and said, “What do you envy about them? Without those two, would you even be sitting in this position?” The two who had just been amicable were now on the verge of arguing, exchanging sarcastic remarks.
“Enough, let’s go. They’re still waiting for us,” Tian Luo said as she and Zhang Baofeng each took one of the others and headed downstairs to the meeting room. As they opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, a dark staircase stretched before them, with a dim yellow light beckoning from the end. The stairwell was eerie and terrifying, with no glimmer of light in the darkness, and a chilling draft rushed into their clothes. From the outside, it looked like tendrils of darkness trying to tear them apart. Even though they had seen it many times before, it still shocked them each time.
“To be honest, even though I’ve been at this company for almost two years now, I still feel scared every time I see this,” Zhang Baofeng said as she shrank behind Bai Juan. Tian Luo rolled her eyes at Zhang Baofeng’s reaction. “Come on, baby, you’re a grown man; why are you so scared?”
“Everyone’s a sister here; what’s with the gender discrimination?” Bai Juan teased. Hearing this made Zhang Baofeng a bit unhappy; aside from him and Tian Luo, everyone else present was female, and he felt there was too much negative energy around.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching from behind. Reflexively, they turned to see who was coming later than them. It was Wang Liling, nicknamed “The Carefree One” in their group. She watched the group ahead of her as they walked cautiously and smiled helplessly. Well, it was indeed quite frightening here; maybe she should scare them a bit! With mischief ignited in her heart, she quickened her pace in her high heels and suddenly dashed forward to tap Zhang Baofeng on the shoulder.
“Oh my god! Ahhh! What is that?!” Zhang Baofeng exclaimed as he ran from behind Bai Juan to in front of her, raising his hand to swat away the hand that had touched him as if trying to brush off something dirty. He dashed up the stairs to the end of the corridor under the dim light; raising his hand to take deep breaths to calm his racing heart, he turned back to look at them. It was then that he remembered to check who had played this prank.
“Ling Jie!” he shouted angrily, his voice echoing throughout the basement level.
“What’s going on? Hurry inside!” Just then, a door opened behind Zhang Baofeng, letting light spill into the dark stairwell.
“Okay, okay,” everyone replied eagerly as they rushed inside.
“Do you think it’s strange that we ran into them here?” Liu Ru Yan still didn’t understand. Having already died once, why were they encountering people from their past again? Even those who had died before were appearing before them.
“It seems things aren’t that simple. We just arrived and encountered such events; there must be more behind this. Perhaps even our deaths weren’t coincidental!” Lan Ruo Yi stated confidently with sharp insight.
Hearing this made Liu Ru Yan start working her not-so-bright brain. “Oh my god! You really think so? Given everything that’s happened, it can’t just be coincidence; there must be a reason!”
The two chatted animatedly without realizing they were in a car. The driver glanced at them with an odd expression as they remained oblivious.
“Hey, I just thought of something! In this cold winter weather, isn’t it cold for the Emperor to wear leather clothes and pants?” Liu Ru Yan asked excitedly.
“Leather pants over cotton pants; there must be a reason,” Lan Ruo Yi recalled how Jiangnan wore leather jackets and pants and unconsciously recited a rhyme: “If not cotton pants thin, then leather pants lack fur!”
Just as Lan Ruo Yi finished her rhyme, the driver chimed in with the second half: “If not cotton pants thin, then leather pants lack fur!” Afterward, he looked at the two women: “Hey beauties, you both just got off work?”
“Yes.”
“Sure is,” he confirmed their answers with a nod. It seemed they were from this shift; his mind was starting to get muddled—who’s family had good people who died only to come back?
“Nowadays young people have it tough; it’s nothing like when we were younger—so many job opportunities with high pay and no late nights. My son is one of those who works until midnight.” Listening to the driver ramble on made Liu Ru Yan and Lan Ruo Yi feel as if their hearts were pierced by many knives while he remained unaware.
From their conversation with the driver, they learned he was also a local who had retired and wanted something to do by driving a taxi. He had just started today when he encountered them; only then did they realize they might have startled him earlier.
“Sorry about that, sir; our minds weren’t quite clear,” Lan Ruo Yi apologized as she got out of the car with Liu Ru Yan.
The driver happily waved goodbye as they left.
Liu Ru Yan looked complicated at that moment: “Did we just scare him?”
Lan Ruo Yi nodded: “We definitely didn’t think it through. We almost got caught without realizing it; let’s avoid discussing past lives in front of others!”
Liu Ru Yan agreed: “Let’s head to my place first; it’s nearby!”
While Liu Ru Yan acknowledged Lan Ruo Yi's words, there was something more pressing they needed to do—understand what was happening and why such situations were arising. As Liu Ru Yan thought about their destination while holding Lan Ruo Yi's hand tightly, they vanished from sight and reappeared in Lan Ruo Yi's garden. Liu Ru Yan's home was very close to their current branch—about a ten-minute walk—and was a standalone villa.
“I didn’t expect you’d have some assets at home,” Lan Ruo Yi teased as she looked at Liu Ru Yan's villa.
“Oh come on! Isn’t this just an ordinary house? Don’t you have one?” Liu Ru Yan didn’t understand why Lan Ruo Yi said that; based on her memories of working at this company, it had been one of her toughest experiences.
Lan Ruo Yi looked at her speechlessly: “Alright then, just shut up.” She didn’t want to hear any more nonsense from someone who still couldn’t speak properly after all this time.
“Oh right! Let’s hurry inside!” Liu Ru Yan pulled Lan Ruo Yi toward the villa while those following behind watched them enter safely before hiding away themselves.
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