Seeing Shen Siyuan’s gaze on the scavenging old man, Ruan Hongzhuang vaguely guessed something.
Shen Siyuan pulled Ruan Hongzhuang along and continued forward.
However, the ghost descended from the old man’s back and came up beside Shen Siyuan, asking, "Can you see me?"
Although Shen Siyuan wanted to earn Merit, at this moment, he did not want to be disturbed during his date, so he ignored it.
Unexpectedly, the man did not give up and continued following Shen Siyuan, all the way to Yindu Building, where he finally lost track of them.
He thought the other party had left, but during the hotpot meal, he saw him lingering outside the restaurant again.
With too many customers inside, he did not dare to enter, only hiding in an unoccupied corner outside, spying on Shen Siyuan.
Shen Siyuan felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze, so he stood up and said to Ruan Hongzhuang, "I’m going to the restroom."
Ruan Hongzhuang raised her eyebrows and said, "Take your time, I’m not in a hurry."
It seemed she had guessed something.
No sooner had Shen Siyuan left than Ruan Hongzhuang’s phone rang.
Then she answered the call somewhat unexpectedly.
"She’s my mother," the man said to Shen Siyuan.
"Why are you clinging to her back then?" Shen Siyuan asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Because she owes me, I want to haunt her for a lifetime," the man said with a face full of resentment.
"What does she owe you?" Shen Siyuan asked curiously.
"She ruined my life," the man said with a mix of bitterness and melancholy.
Shen Siyuan raised his eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.
"After my mom and dad divorced, she thought all men in this world were no good, so she controlled me tightly, interfering with everything..."
"When I was sixteen, just because I dyed my hair, she thought I was going astray. She grabbed my hair and beat me until I ended up in the hospital; I laid at home for over a month while she cried, saying it was all for my good..."
"When I was in school, seeing her friends’ children attending tutorial classes, she insisted on sending me to one. Yet, my grades were good, I didn’t need any tutoring..."
"For the college entrance exam, with my scores, I could have gone to a top-tier university, but she secretly changed my application to a normal university in our province, because she didn’t want me to leave her side..."
"When I went to college, she personally escorted me to the dorm, made my bed, warmly greeted my roommates, got to know each one - my classmates said she was really nice, but she was just making it easier for classmates to monitor me. She’d call my dorm every day; if she couldn’t find me, she’d ask my classmates about my daily activities, whether I had skipped class, whether I had left the campus..."
"I was already an adult, I... I was about to break down..." For more chapters visıt 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
"In my second year of college, when I got a girlfriend, she directly stormed into the school, calling my girlfriend cheap and accusing her of seducing me, causing the whole school to know about it; I nearly had to drop out because of this..."
The man held his head; even in death, recalling these memories suffocated him.
Shen Siyuan listened and sympathized with him, his mother’s controlling nature was indeed too strong.
The man took a deep breath and continued to speak, "After graduating from university, I didn’t want to stay by her side, to stay in the same city as her. She called me ungrateful, cried, threatened to hang herself, and even got relatives and friends to blame me..."
At this point, the man was gasping for breath.
"She was like a resentful ghost, always hanging over me, tying me to her side, controlling my life."
"Since that was the case, upon my death, I naturally would continue to hang over her as she desired..."
The man said this and started to laugh loudly.
Shen Siyuan felt that his mental state must have been abnormal, referring to before he died, after which he merely retained the mental state from his life.
However, the man hadn’t finished his story yet, and he went on, "In the end, as she wished, she still managed to keep me by her side..."
"Every day I had to report my whereabouts, hand over my salary, and if I didn’t, she would call me ungrateful, cry and make a scene, make a scene at my workplace, at the school where I taught..."
"Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I quietly left her. She truly was ruthless, immediately hurt herself with a knife and then called the police, saying I tried to kill her. I hadn’t even left the province before the police caught me and brought me back..."
Upon hearing this, Shen Siyuan’s jaw dropped, realizing that not only was the man’s mental state problematic, but his mother’s was as well, and it was seriously problematic.
"In the end, I had no choice but to resign myself to my fate... to stay by her side, to comply with her..."
"She listened to others’ advice, married me to an ugly and fat woman, saying now she wouldn’t worry about her daughter-in-law leaving, as she was marrying above her status, so she could still be in control of everything..."
"She figured things out well, and I resigned myself to it, but... what she should never have done... she caused the death of my daughter shortly after her birth..."
"Eh? Why?" Shen Siyuan didn’t understand.
The man remained silent, and Shen Siyuan didn’t urge him.
After a while, he slowly began to say, "My daughter was really cute. Although her mother wasn’t attractive, she really was adorable. Truly, her cheeks were chubby, her eyes big and bright, always smiling when she saw me, stretching out her arms wanting a hug..."
"She claimed the child accidentally fell into the water, I simply don’t believe it. I know her too well, she did it on purpose because I loved her too much, loved her too deeply, I gave all my love to her..."
Shen Siyuan widened his eyes, hardly able to believe this twisted form of love.
"Believe it or not, when I was young I had a dog that I loved dearly. The first thing I would do after school was to feed it, and then she brutally beat it to death right in front of me. She said I loved that dog too much, it would affect my studies... Haha... affect my studies... And my daughter then... what about my daughter then... Wuu wuu wuu..."
"If you hate her so much, why didn’t you kill her instead of yourself?" Shen Siyuan was puzzled.
Given the man’s stature, if he had wanted to resist, the old scavenger from before should have had no chance to fend for himself.
The man who was weeping bitterly heard this and suddenly lifted his head, grinning with a smile.
"Kill her? No, no... to kill, you have to kill the person she loves the most, only then can she feel the pain..."
Upon hearing this, Shen Siyuan immediately had an inkling.
Sure enough, he heard the man say, "Her most beloved was me, so I killed myself, making her lose her loved one. Indeed... indeed... she broke down... she couldn’t eat or sleep, cried all night long... Look at her now, she used to care so much about appearances... Haha... Haha..."
Watching the man’s frenzied state, Shen Siyuan was rather speechless.
What kind of melodramatic story of love and hate this was, truly validating the statement about human diversity. There really was every kind of person.
"Then why have you been following me?" Shen Siyuan asked.
Upon hearing this, the man suddenly stopped laughing, his expression turning slightly eager and pleading as he looked at Shen Siyuan.
PS: Ah, I’m going crazy~o(╥﹏╥)o, dealing with this till now, still not sure if I can finish it on time tomorrow.