Paper Life 24

Shang Nan watched those few Little Paper People quickly escape without a trace. He was choked into silence by Yu Zhibai's bluntness and could only sit down on the stool next to him. "Can you make your skin very thick?"

Yu Zhibai didn't understand Nannan's meaning. Its gaze slowly lifted. "What the Little Paper People think is indeed what I am thinking, but I can control my own behavior. They may not necessarily be able to control their own behavior. What I think, they think. They not only think it, but will also go and execute the thoughts."

"Is this my fault?"

Shang Nan: "..."

Yu Xiaoyu's figure appeared at the room doorway. She looked at the two very seriously. "Are you guys quarreling?"

"No," Shang Nan and Yu Zhibai answered in unison.

"Grandma is a bit hungry and wants to eat noodles." Yu Xiaoyu scratched her head.

Shang Nan held down Yu Zhibai, who was about to get up, and said, "I'll go cook. You go take a shower. By the way, your eyeballs need to be changed."

Perhaps because it was about to rain, the air started to become very humid. The ink color in Yu Zhibai's pupils smudged into a blur. When staring at people, the non-human feeling was very heavy.

Compared to Yu Zhibai, Yu Xiaoyu liked staying with Shang Nan even more. Shang Nan had a feeling about him that made her feel very comfortable. No wonder Xiao Bai liked Shang Nan; she liked him too.

She squatted in the kitchen helping Shang Nan pick green onions. The bright white light fell on her disc-like face; it was eerie yet a bit cute.

Shang Nan added water to the pot. He didn't know if he could cook, but upon entering the kitchen, he could identify the seasonings on the shelf. Thinking about it, he probably could.

"Grandma has been coughing a lot at night recently."

Shang Nan turned his head back. "Does she need to go to the hospital for a check-up?"

Yu Xiaoyu looked up. "But we don't have money. Sigh, without money, it's hard to move a single step." Although she had never gone out, she knew a little bit. The soundproofing in the community wasn't good, and there were always people quarreling over money: sons complaining about too little living allowance, couples fighting violently over twenty thousand yuan of private savings during a divorce...

Even Xiao Bai, although the school waived tuition and miscellaneous fees, sometimes had to pay class fees or participate in various activities. Which of those didn't require money?

"Yu She's compensation money was originally a lot, but later Grandma spent it all treating her illness for a few years!" Yu Xiaoyu handed the picked scallions to Shang Nan. "With no money left, Grandma stopped seeing the doctor. Grandma said the remaining money needs to be saved for Xiao Bai to go to college."

"I'll take Grandma to the hospital to see a doctor tomorrow morning." Shang Nan rolled up his sleeves and chopped green onions on the cutting board.

He thought, if Yu Changyue could get better, Yu Zhibai might feel even more that this world still had some warmth.

Yu Xiaoyu: "Then are you very rich? It needs a lot of money, oh."

Shang Nan nodded. "Mn, I am very rich."

"Where are the noodles?" Shang Nan asked Yu Xiaoyu.

Yu Xiaoyu pointed to the top leftmost cupboard. "There."

Taking the dried noodles in hand, Shang Nan subconsciously asked, "How much should I cook?"

Yu Xiaoyu didn't know either; she didn't cook. She rested her chin in her hands, looking at Shang Nan.

The water in the pot was already boiling; bubbles rose from the bottom of the pot, and the surface was churning. At this moment, Shang Nan thought he probably didn't cook much; the previous feeling was wrong.

The dried noodles felt heavy in his hand. Shang Nan pulled out a small handful from the bag and threw it into the boiling water. Looking at it, it seemed a bit little, so he threw in some more. Considering Yu Changyue's current digestive ability, he didn't add a poached egg; it was just a bowl of very light noodle soup. Besides, if it were any harder, Shang Nan wouldn't know how to make it anyway.

The light was on in Yu Changyue's room. It was still an old-fashioned light bulb. The electrical wire meandered up the wall, climbing to the head of the bed, where a bulb with a yellow filament dangled from the end of the wire.

The style of the furniture in the room was quite old, but clean and tidy.

The old woman leaned against the headboard, covered by a thick quilt. A small table tray was placed on her bed.

Seeing Shang Nan, she asked, "Why is it you?"

Shang Nan placed the noodles on the table tray, then put the chopsticks into Yu Changyue's palm, supporting her back to make it easier for her to eat. "Yu Zhibai is taking a shower."

"It takes a shower? What shower does it need to take? Wouldn't wiping with a towel be enough?" Yu Changyue's hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly. She could only pick up a small amount of noodles at a time, and her speed was very slow. She stared tightly at the noodles, yet didn't forget to mock Yu Zhibai. "Thinking that by learning to live like a human, it can really become a human?"

Shang Nan pulled up the blanket that was slowly sliding down her shoulder. At this moment, Yu Changyue had successfully eaten the first mouthful of noodles. Her eyeballs shifted to the left, glancing sideways at Shang Nan. "You aren't a good thing either. Knowing clearly that it isn't human, yet you still get along with it. What is your motive?"

"I don't have any motive," Shang Nan sat down at the foot of the bed. The mattress was very soft and sank deeply. He knew Yu Changyue was just worried, worried about any human appearing around Yu Zhibai. Since he knew Yu Zhibai's identity, he was like a ticking time bomb. "I like him very much."

Shang Nan really did quite like Yu Zhibai. He had no resistance to things that were like small animals.

14 wasn't wrong, and the Main System hadn't predicted incorrectly either. Before he died, he was thinking of a cat, so he must have originally been a person full of compassion. The cat he was thinking of must have been his pet cat.

"It doesn't have a car or a house to give you. There's no money left in the bankbook."

Speaking of this, Shang Nan tentatively said to Yu Changyue, "I discussed it with Yu Xiaoyu. Tomorrow morning, I'll take you to the hospital to see a doctor."

Yu Changyue, who was speaking normally just a moment ago, suddenly became irritable. She flicked her chopsticks, and the still-hot noodle soup splashed onto Shang Nan's face. "I'm not going."

"Ouch." Shang Nan wiped the soup off his face with the back of his hand. It hurt a little. He didn't get angry but coaxed Yu Changyue, "I'll pay for it, okay?"

"You have money?" Yu Changyue picked the chopsticks back up.

"I do."

"Then I'm not going either," Yu Changyue gasped for breath; she was tired. "I never owe favors."

"Then let Yu Zhibai owe it." Shang Nan smiled, looking as if he always had a good temper.

Yu Xiaoyu, squatting at the door, was already stunned. He didn't get angry even like this!

No wonder Xiao Bai liked Shang Nan; she liked him too.

"What will he use to pay it back?" Yu Changyue scoffed.

"Work for me after graduating from college," Shang Nan said.

Yu Changyue coughed a few times, looking at the gentle Shang Nan before her. This boy... was exactly what she imagined Yu Zhibai would look like when he grew up.

"I'll consider it," she said.

Shang Nan nodded and said okay, not rushing Yu Changyue. Only after Yu Changyue finished this small half-bowl of noodles did he leave the room.

Yu Xiaoyu followed behind him. "A patch on your face was scalded red. Let Xiao Bai fix it for you." After saying that, she seemed to feel it was a bit wrong, so she said it again, "Let Xiao Bai find medicine for you to rub on."

"It's fine, it'll be better in a while."

Yu Xiaoyu looked shocked and suspicious. "Wow, you humans are too magical; you can actually heal on your own!!!"

Shang Nan: "..." That said, you Paper People are still a bit more magical.

......

Yu Zhibai finished the cleanup work in the kitchen. When he returned to the room, Shang Nan was wrapped in his quilt sitting on his bed. Shang Nan tilted his head, imitating Yu Zhibai. "Do you need to use the quilt at night? I need it."

Yu Zhibai's hair was a bit wet. As he walked from the dark into the light, Shang Nan realized his eye sockets were empty. Hollow, containing nothing.

"Xiao Bai, bend down, look at me." Shang Nan scooted toward the edge of the bed to be closer to Yu Zhibai.

Yu Zhibai obediently bent down, leaning over to look at Shang Nan. Without eyeballs, the two eye sockets appeared very large, pitch-black, allowing one to look right into them.

Shang Nan raised his hand. His warm fingers pressed against Yu Zhibai's brow bone. His fingers slowly moved down along Yu Zhibai's eye socket, tracing and outlining.

Shang Nan watched helplessly as blood-red color slowly spread across Yu Zhibai's lips, and finally, even the skin under his hand became cold, hard, and pale.

"You..."

The boy raised his eyes, but before he had time to speak, he was dragged into the Paper Person's arms.

Yu Zhibai bit the corner of Shang Nan's lips. It hurt a little. Shang Nan couldn't help but open his mouth, and a trace of wet coolness drilled in. Regardless of whether they are human or not, living creatures are born with a predatory desire, be it strong or weak.

Shang Nan was pushed against the headboard. He tilted his head back. Yu Zhibai didn't quite know the proper force, and as a Paper Person, its mouth was somewhat dry and lacked the softness humans possessed.

Shang Nan felt like a traveler trapped in a desert vortex—scorching heat, dry sand grains squeezing his internal organs, and hot wind scraping his face like adding oil to fire. He grabbed Yu Zhibai's shoulders and shouted for him to stop.

Yu Zhibai only paused for a few seconds, then moved forward a bit more, pressing the tip of his nose against Shang Nan's. "But I feel it's not enough."

"..."

Shang Nan felt his waist go soft. It took him a long while to regain autonomy over his body. "Stop even if it's not enough. We'll talk about it next time."

He wanted to tell Yu Zhibai about his plan to take Grandma to see a doctor tomorrow.

But Yu Zhibai's hand suddenly poked his face. "Why is it red here?"

Shang Nan said without much concern, "Grandma accidentally got some noodle soup on my face just now and scalded it a bit. It'll probably go away in a while."

If he had known earlier that this one sentence would cause Yu Zhibai to attack Yu Changyue, Shang Nan would have definitely thought for a few more seconds before answering, and he certainly wouldn't have mentioned Yu Changyue at all.

Yu Zhibai stared at the patch of red skin on Shang Nan's face for a moment, then suddenly turned over and got off the bed. Before Shang Nan could react, Yu Zhibai walked out barefoot. Outside, Yu Xiaoyu was speaking, "Xiao Bai, aren't you sleep... Xiao Bai!" Yu Xiaoyu screamed.

......

Shang Nan hurriedly got out of bed, not even having time to put on his shoes. He went out and saw Yu Xiaoyu holding her torn-off right hand, looking crestfallen. "Xiao Bai went into Grandma's room."

A muffled "thud" came from Grandma's room. This muffled sound felt like it hammered straight onto Shang Nan's chest. His heartbeat paused briefly, then started beating rapidly.

Before rushing into Yu Changyue's room, Shang Nan had already anticipated the scene he might see, but when he actually saw it, Shang Nan still felt disbelief and a heart full of pain.

Yu Changyue had been dragged onto the floor by Yu Zhibai. The quilt on the bed had also fallen to the ground. Without the thick blanket and quilt wrapping her, the old lady was tiny, just skin and bones. She was crawling on the ground with difficulty, probably wanting to crawl under the bed, but in Yu Zhibai's black-hole-like eyes, she was like an ugly worm squirming in vain.

Yu Zhibai's expression was very indifferent. He turned and pushed open the window. Cold wind poured in. He walked toward Yu Changyue.

At this moment, Shang Nan came in. After glancing at the wide-open window, he knew almost without thinking what Yu Zhibai wanted to do—Yu Zhibai wanted to throw Yu Changyue out the window.

It had forgotten. Forgotten Yu She, and also forgotten Yu Changyue. No, maybe it hadn't completely forgotten. Maybe they still had a negligible presence in Yu Zhibai's heart, but it fell far short of Shang Nan's status in the Paper Person's mind.

Just because Shang Nan was accidentally scalded by Yu Changyue.

"Yu Zhibai?" Shang Nan tried calling out to it. "She is Grandma. She isn't a stranger."

Wondering if it was an illusion, Shang Nan saw faint tears appear in Yu Changyue's eyes after he finished saying this sentence. The old woman's expression was both despairing and sorrowful.

But the only thing absent was regret.

"I... I don't know her," Yu Zhibai said softly. As he spoke, he bent down attempting to grab Yu Changyue's ankle.

Shang Nan rushed over and pushed it away. He squatted down and helped Yu Changyue up. Yu Changyue leaned weakly against Shang Nan and whispered, "See, I told you. No matter how much it learns to resemble a human, it can't cover up the fact that it is a monster."

"Grandma, she is also my Grandma," Shang Nan said unhurriedly. He looked up at Yu Zhibai, who had completely transformed. His throat was a bit dry because he wasn't sure if Yu Zhibai, in this state, would act against him too. "Didn't you learn very well at school? Why can't you do it now? How can you hurt even Grandma? Then will you also hurt me in the future? Yu Zhibai, you are a Paper Person, but you are also a person!"

Yu Zhibai's eye sockets were empty at this moment. Shang Nan couldn't guess what it was thinking through its eyes. He held Yu Changyue; the old woman looked withered, eyes closed, her expression ashen. His heart suddenly felt incredibly sour.

Grandma wasn't wrong, and Yu Zhibai wasn't wrong either. Then who exactly was wrong?

Yu Zhibai suddenly lifted his foot and walked out.

Shang Nan didn't think much. He bent down and picked Yu Changyue up from the ground, then picked up the blanket and quilt from the floor one by one, covering the old lady again.

He went to close the window. When he turned around, he found Yu Changyue crying.

"Grandma." Shang Nan walked over and pulled out a tissue to wipe away the turbid tears at the corner of her eyes. "It didn't mean to. It actually loves you very much."

Yu Changyue closed her eyes.

Shang Nan knew she probably didn't want to talk right now. He silently went to turn off the light and closed the door when he left.

In the living room, Yu Zhibai sat on the sofa. Seeing Shang Nan, he said, "You sleep in my room. I'll sleep on the sofa."

After the lights were turned off, Shang Nan glanced in the direction of the sofa. Yu Zhibai was still in the previous sitting posture, without any change. The streetlights on the road outside the window gathered into a faint light that shone into the living room. The Paper Person's face was an eerie ghastly white, but looking closely, its back was slightly hunched, and the expression on its face was innocent and helpless.

It didn't know what it had done wrong either. It needed to think about what it had done wrong so it could know what it had done wrong.

......

Shang Nan didn't sleep well at all during the first half of the night. The task was far from as simple as he had imagined.

['14: Nannan, actually from its perspective, it is right. From its thinking point of view, it is also right. This is a monster. Human social rules cannot constrain it, human thoughts cannot imprison it, and no emotions can kidnap it. Its feelings for you are just analyzed by us as love, but perhaps in its mind, it isn't the word "love," but something else.']

['14: You saved it. At the same time, you also became the catalyst for it to hurt people in this world.']

['14: The person who plants roses also has the possibility of being pricked by the rose's thorns. You should understand.']

Shang Nan covered his head with the quilt. "I understand~"

The night was already very deep. Shang Nan covered himself for a while and was about to fall asleep again. Just as his eyes were about to close completely, a roar from downstairs startled Shang Nan fully awake. He shuddered and looked out the window.

The bare locust tree branches still stretched out like bared fangs and brandished claws. Late at night, they looked exactly like twisted ghostly shadows.

Immediately after, there was another muffled thunderclap. The rumbling sound was hidden in the clouds, resounding long and heavy.

It was going to rain.

Shang Nan stood by the window looking downstairs. To the right was the community gate, where a group of people had gathered, making a racket. But because it was far away, Shang Nan wasn't disturbed.

That roar was emitted by a man. It was that man named Li Rongping. He was frantically banging his head against the wall.

The person beside him who kept trying to stop him but was constantly pushed to the ground should be his mother. His mother was wearing only one slipper; the other was long gone, and her hair was disheveled.

Li Rongping seemed not to know pain. Shang Nan counted; he smashed it about seven or eight times. Who knew how many times he had smashed it before? Finally, Li Rongping stopped. He turned around, and Shang Nan was startled. The man's face was covered in blood. The blood avoided his eyes, flowing down endlessly from his brow center and nose bridge, from his temples and cheeks.

He spun around aimlessly in place, muttering, "Ah She, Ah She, I miss you so much, Ah She, Ah She..."

['14: The Ah She he is talking about is Yu Zhibai's mother. He once harassed Yu She and spread rumors everywhere in the community that Yu She's private life was chaotic. He also pestered Yu She and even attacked Yu Zhibai on his way home from school, wanting to kill Yu Zhibai. That way, Yu She wouldn't have a drag, and could be with him.']

['14: I told you before, all acts of physical violence and verbal abuse directed at Yu Zhibai will suffer a backlash. This doesn't count as Yu Zhibai actively harming people. As long as they don't provoke it, it is harmless.']

['14: Nannan, this is what you humans call retribution, right? Then... the retribution has begun.']

The onlookers rubbed their arms. "Could he have encountered a ghost? Auntie Li, why don't you find someone to exorcise your son?"

Someone else said, "I saw on TV that this is mania; it hurts people, you know."

The crowd stepped back a few steps in tacit understanding, and then continued pointing fingers—

"Then is this disease contagious? Will he bite people like rabies?"

"It could be that work pressure is too high. Depression. Yes, yes, yes, it's depression. I heard many young people get this disease."

"How is this depression? This looks like insanity, mental illness, sickness in the brain. Auntie Li, you, sigh, restrain your grief and accept the change."

"A perfectly good son, look, gone mad. Really raised in vain."

Li Rongping's mother, Li Lijuan, picked up a handful of withered branches from the flowerbed. With disheveled hair and extreme anger, she chased this group of people and whipped them fiercely. Regardless of whether she hit them or not, she just wanted to deter this bunch of gossips. But she was also bitter in her heart, unspeakably bitter.

"You are the ones who are sick! You are the sick ones! If you have nothing to do, go back and play dead! Chatter about other people's business all day long. If you talk nonsense again, I'll tear your mouths apart! Get lost!"

The group of people laughed while being chased and beaten.

"Auntie Li, no wonder your son went mad. Look at yourself; why do you also look like you've gone mad? I'm afraid it's hereditary, right?"

Li Lijuan trembled with anger, almost rolling her eyes back and fainting right there. But thinking of her crazy son, she bit the tip of her tongue hard to keep herself awake.

Another thunderclap, an exploding one. The group of people invariably looked up at the pitch-black sky. "It's going to rain. Let's go, let's go, hurry back."

Seeing that it was going to rain, they scattered quickly. In less than a minute, only the mother and son, Li Rongping and Li Lijuan, were left at the gate. With no outsiders present, tears instantly rained down Li Lijuan's face. Li Rongping had started becoming abnormal a few days ago, not sleeping at night or during the day, constantly chanting "Ah She". But, but, what was Ah She?

Shang Nan watched for a while, closed the window, and turned around to meet Yu Zhibai's gaze. Shang Nan almost choked on his own saliva. "Why are you awake?"

Yu Zhibai's complexion was normal at this moment, and he had even put on his eyeballs—a gentle amber color, painted to imitate Shang Nan's eyes. They also suited the human-looking Yu Zhibai very well.

Shang Nan glanced out the window again. "Has he gone crazy?"

"No, he just loves Yu She too much." Yu Zhibai curled the corners of his mouth, showing not a trace of malice. "He loves Yu She so much, he should really want to go keep Yu She company."

"..." If Yu Zhibai wasn't being sarcastic right now, then Shang Nan really felt like he'd seen a ghost.

"About what happened tonight," Yu Zhibai lowered his eyes, "I am very sorry."

Shang Nan rubbed his eyes and yawned. "You should say this to Grandma."

Yu Zhibai's eyelashes trembled. He looked at Shang Nan, revealing a puzzled look. "Why?"

Shang Nan: "..."

"Then why do you apologize to me?"

"I should have listened to you and stopped immediately, but I didn't listen to you at that time," Yu Zhibai answered.

Shang Nan felt that a monster's thinking and a human's thinking were really very different, very different.

"Let's sleep." Shang Nan walked around Yu Zhibai toward the bed. When he lay down, he rolled the quilt up to the wall, covering himself tightly.

Having watched a crazy drama before sleep, Shang Nan had now developed a shallow drowsiness.

Yu Zhibai, standing by the window, remained still. Only when Shang Nan was about to fall asleep did he lift his steps, only not toward the living room, but toward the bed.

Shang Nan slept in a daze. Vaguely, he felt someone hugging him from behind. The hug wasn't tight, but he couldn't break free.

......

Li Rongping had been dreaming of Yu She a lot recently. Dreaming of her running in the morning, her coming home from work, her holding Yu Zhibai's hand sending Yu Zhibai to school. Yu She seemed to have good relationships with everyone, but it was all on the surface; they all spoke very nastily behind her back.

Young age, bringing up a son whose biological father was unknown, dressing up gaudily all day... there was really too much, too much, too much to say.

Li Rongping felt that only he was the person who truly understood Yu She.

It would be great if Yu She didn't have that drag by her side. He knew that many women chose not to remarry because of their children.

Li Rongping had ambushed Yu Zhibai on his way home from school several times. Whether attempting to push Yu Zhibai into the reservoir or attempting to stone Yu Zhibai to death, Yu Zhibai inexplicably dodged them all. He thought, it must be that old undying one, Granny Yu, protecting Yu Zhibai.

A grandson of unknown origin, what's there to protect? Even protecting this kind of little brat, one could well imagine that the moral character of this Yu family had major problems.

In order to get Yu She to agree to his courtship, Li Rongping used his greatest efforts, resorting to every conceivable means. He felt he was the person who loved Yu She the most in the world.

Even at Yu She's funeral, he cried uncontrollably. There would be no one in the world who loved Yu She more than him.

It was Yu Zhibai and Granny Yu who killed Yu She. If not for Yu Zhibai, Yu She wouldn't have been working so desperately. If not for Granny Yu wanting to prolong her life, Yu She wouldn't have gotten into a car accident. This grandmother and grandson, like devils, killed Yu She.

He was the person who loved Yu She the most in the world.

But when he saw Yu She in a red dress sitting bloody at the foot of his bed, he felt that he didn't love this woman that much anymore. Or rather, he didn't love this woman at all.

Yu She would come to sit at the foot of his bed every day, so Li Rongping dared not sleep in the bedroom anymore. He prepared to sleep in the living room but couldn't fall asleep. Every midnight, he always wanted to go walk at the main gate; he couldn't control himself.

Standing in the empty courtyard under the moonlight, he looked at his hands. They looked as if they were made of paper, two thin sheets. Li Rongping reached out and grabbed his little finger, pulling it back. With a "rip," the little finger was torn off. Along the arm, a long strip was torn off, hanging in the air, fluttering.

It must be a nightmare, it must be a nightmare, it must be a nightmare.

Li Rongping banged his head against the wall, but it didn't hurt at all. Until his face felt wet. He wiped it with his hand; his hand was covered in bright red. He could still bleed! He could still bleed! He wasn't a monster, not a monster made of paper!

Happy strange laughter issued from his throat, mixed with the low sobs of a woman coming from behind him. Li Rongping turned his head to look behind him. It was a woman with disheveled hair and a dirty face, bowing her head and covering her mouth, crying.

Li Rongping thought of Yu She. He widened his eyes in terror and scrambled forward, running away. He wanted to shout "Yu She, don't come over," but the air echoed with sound after sound of: Ah She, Ah She, I miss you so much.

......

Shang Nan was woken up by the heat the next day. He kicked the quilt but didn't succeed because he was pinned down. Yu Zhibai was face-to-face with him; the other party was already awake.

Seeing Shang Nan wake up, Yu Zhibai pressed a bit closer and kissed Shang Nan on the face.

Yu Zhibai's skin had always been like this, so Shang Nan wasn't surprised. He looked with difficulty at the foot of the bed. A row of Little Paper People were lying on top, pinning it down tightly.

"Yu Zhibai, make them get lost." Shang Nan didn't have morning temper, but seeing this scene, he had to get a little angry and show some temper to let them know he wasn't to be trifled with.

"You like to kick off the quilt at night. I was afraid you'd catch a cold, so I pinned it down." After Yu Zhibai explained, that row of Little Paper People had already jumped off the bed and run away.

One Little Paper Person ran away but then ran back. It struggled to run onto the bed, ran next to Shang Nan's head, and rubbed its head against Shang Nan's face, like a kissing motion.

Shang Nan thought it was quite cute.

Just as he wanted to tease the Little Paper Person, a hand with well-defined joints reached over in front of Shang Nan's eyes. The Little Paper Person was grabbed by Yu Zhibai. Then, the still-struggling Little Paper Person was thrown into Yu Zhibai's mouth—he ate the little paper piece.

Yu Zhibai, having finished eating the Little Paper Person, kissed Shang Nan's face again and whispered, "Don't be afraid. The ones from last night, I ate them all too."