Thriller Night Talk

Chapter 141: Take it, it’s my gift to you

Translator-Rhapsodite

Editor- Koneko, Proofreader-Woojoo

It was reasonable to say that Zhang Yiping had been crying for a considerable amount of time, but from Wei Fu Yuan’s perception, he was the one who was crying.

Once she ran out of tears, she washed her hands and face, dabbing the stains on her dress with a paper towel as much as she could so that her appearance did not look too lousy.

However, when she returned to the private dining room where the banquet was being held it was completely empty. The company manager and clients had long left with no one informing her. Her handbag had been left on a chair in the corner while the contents such as her wallet and cell phone were all missing.

Zhang Yiping panicked and grabbed several waiters who passed by to ask who had touched her handbag, but everyone stated in a polite but perfunctory manner that they had been too busy to notice anything unusual.

Finally, Zhang Yiping’s nerves, which had already collapsed to the extreme, reached their limit.

She broke down, slumping at the door of the room, bawling.

Zhang Yiping felt that the world was too unfair.

She had graduated from a prestigious school, but failed the postgraduate entrance examination. Looking for a job was not as easy as she had expected. She didn’t want to go back to her hometown and miss the school recruitment program. But, when she finally found a company willing to hire her, she found the internship period was appalling, being treated like a mule by the manager and other colleagues. Working from 9 am to 6 pm every day, all week, was already miserable. She also had to accompany the clients and colleagues for drinks with a smile. She was like a tired dog, struggling every day ……

Now she was drunk, dizzy, and had a stomach ache. She had lost her personal belongings, and was now sitting alone, like a piece of garbage that no one cared about.

“No …… it shouldn’t be like this ……”

Wei Fuyuan heard Zhang Yiping crying and talking to herself.

Why is it that her best friend could find a good job, find a husband who loves and cares for her, buy a new house, and will even soon be getting married ……

They were the same age, practically from the same origin, and had a similar starting position, so why does Su Lan get everything and anything she wants while she has to spend her days slaving away, constantly feeling tired?

Wei Fuyuan felt Zhang Yiping’s complex view of Su Lan through her mixed feelings. In basic terms, she was both envious and jealous, but usually these thoughts were restrained by morals and reason. But, under the influence of alcohol, they became exaggerated with a trace of hatred ……

…… ……

……

——Alas, human nature is very complex ah!

Wei Fuyuan used Zhang Yiping’s five senses and spirit to feel her thoughts and emotions, silently sighing to himself.

These days, he followed Bei Quan to investigate the case of the Hui Guis, taking the opportunity to experience many human feelings and worldly affairs.

Whether it was Mo Yuqing, who had a million fans, Luosen, who made a wish to kill his roommate over some trivial matter, the trip to the haunted house in the USA filled with evil people, or the university girl who could kill people with her “spirit of words” that he met last week, each experience gave Wei Fuyuan an “eye-opening” feeling.

At that moment, a pair of feet suddenly stepped in front of “him”.

Zhang Yiping froze and raised her head.

Wei Fuyuan saw a strange man through her eyes.

The man seemed to be in his late 40’s, was slim, wore a black Zhongshan suit, and had a pair of thin, gold, wire-frame glasses. He looked handsome but there was something not quite right about him. A deep and gloomy feeling emitted from his presence.

Wei Fuyuan, was certain that he had never encountered this individual before, yet viewing him through the girl’s eyes gave him an unexplainable, vague sense of familiarity.

Zhang Yiping had consumed enough alcohol for her mind to be drunk, and her reactions were slow.

“What’s the matter?”

She asked with a heavy tongue, “Is there anything you can do for me?”

The man smiled lightly and pulled out a black velvet brocade box from his bag along with an envelope, gently placing it in front of Zhang Yiping.

“I think you may need this.”

The man in black said softly, “Take it, it’s my gift to you.”

Witnessing this scene, Wei Fuyuan immediately remembered the story of “marry the Golden Silkworm Gu” that Bei Quan had told him, and his heart suddenly rang with alarm.

He had imagined the origins of the gold bracelet, such as through family heirlooms, picked up from a second-hand store, and so on, but the result turned out to be such a simple and crude method of deception!

Originally, a young woman would be very disgusted with such rude conversation from a strange man, but perhaps the alcohol had paralyzed her vigilance. Zhang Yiping did not even ask who the other person was. She reached for the black velvet jewelry box on the ground and opened the lid.

Inside was the gold bracelet, laced with the auspicious cloud pattern and East pearl.

The bracelet was too exquisite and just by looking at the color and workmanship, she knew that it must be worth a lot of money. Zhang Yiping stared at the gold ornaments in the box with an open mouth from shock.

Wei Fuyuan was anxious, but as he was looking at Zhang Yiping’s memories he could not control her eyes to see what he wanted her to see.

Zhang Yiping stared at the bracelet for half a minute. When she came back to her senses and looked up sharply, the man in black was no longer there.

The girl stood up and looked around hastily before rushing towards the exit of the restaurant, but she couldn’t find the man anywhere.

Zhang Yiping held the antique gold bracelet worth hundreds of thousands in her left hand and the fluttering envelope in her right hand. She stood in front of the door in a daze until a passing waiter approached, and she turned around abruptly.

She stuffed the envelope and the box into her handbag then exited the restaurant, walking the hour and a half journey back to her rented apartment.

—————————-

Wei Fuyuan simply felt his vision darken and, after a little time of disorientation, he found himself in a room clearly belonging to a young woman, which he assumed was Zhang Yiping’s home.

After the drunken night, Zhang Yiping locked the jewelry box containing the precious bracelet deep in her desk and spent several days in a state of anxiety from always being worried that someone would suddenly find her and ask her to return the bracelet.

However, a whole week passed, and the handsome slender middle-aged man never appeared in front of her again. The colleagues who ate and drank together that night seemed to be unaware of the whole situation.

Zhang Yiping finally found the crumpled envelope in her bag and pulled out the letter from within.

Wei Fuyuan immediately concentrated his attention and borrowed the girl’s eyes to carefully examine the contents of the letter, word by word.

Eventually, he realized it was a handwritten “instruction manual” rather than a letter.

The characters were written with a fountain pen and used beautiful handwriting. The strokes were clear, strong, and powerful, making it obvious that the writer had some skills in hard-tipped pen calligraphy.

The content on the piece of paper was not long, only six short lines.

.

[The gold bracelet can be used for exchanging life.]

[When exchanging lives, two steps are required:]

[One, apply your blood on the East pearl and wear the bracelet so that the contract is completed.]

[Two, give the bracelet to the person with whom you need to exchange lives and make the other person wear the bracelet.]

[Do not touch the bracelet again until the person whose life has been exchanged dies.]

[The person’s life, including destiny, personality, physique, ability, health, marriage, etc., will be yours.]

Wei Fuyuan’s heart shuddered.

He never expected that the bracelet’s function was not “make a wish” as Bei Quan had predicted, but was actually a simpler and more brutal “life exchange”.

Wei Fuyuan had heard his father’s old acquaintances mention the word “life exchange” whilst they chatted before.

According to the stories he had heard, it was said that a rich old lady was dying of illness, and she was unwilling to go to the Palace of the Underworld. She invited a “knowledgeable” Mr. Yin Yang Master to help her figure out a way: He picked the youngest of her grandchildren and exchanged his life with hers.

Later, the youngest son died of disease, but the old lady was miraculously cured and lived a full eight years more.

At that time, Wei Fuyuan listened with horror.

Although at that time he did not believe in these strange things, thinking them more as a coincidence.

But, when he thought that such an old lady was willing to pay with her own grandson’s life just so she could live a few more years, he found it hard to believe that someone could be so cruel and undeserving of being called “human”.

At this time, another example of a living “life exchange” appeared before his eyes.

Zhang Yiping did not immediately believe the contents of the letter.

She just read the weird instructions back and forth three times to herself with a hesitant expression, before refolding the crumpled letter and putting it in the drawer of her jewelry box.

Now having seen Zhang Yiping’s memory, Wei Fuyuan knew that this girl was not as bad as he had expected.

Although her work made her feel undignified, and was unbearable to the point that it was difficult to endure anymore, she did not want to use the bracelet that is said to be “life-changing”.

In the following half month, Zhang Yiping often chatted with her best friend Su Lan on WeChat and talked on the phone without mentioning a word about the bracelet or the events from that day.

They had been discussing Su Lan’s upcoming wedding from the wedding dress, to accessories, to the snacks and cakes at the buffet. If it weren’t for Zhang Yiping’s work, she would have been a bridesmaid for her best friend.

One day, Zhang Yiping once again vomited because of drinking too much wine at the banquet, with the vomit carrying much more blood than the last time.

She finally had to take a sick day and went to the hospital for a gastroscopy.

However, the test results were cruel and unacceptable.

She had gotten stomach cancer shortly after graduating from college, only being in her early twenties.

Zhang Yiping felt as if the sky and the world beneath her was falling apart.

She used all her savings and underwent a series of tests at the hospital. After a week of tossing and turning, the doctor gave a conclusion.

The disease was discovered too late. The lesion had metastasized, and any chance of surgery to try to amend the situation had unfortunately become lost. The only way for a chance of survival was to rely on chemotherapy. As for the treatment effect, the doctor only promised that he would “do his best”.

On the night when the results came out, Zhang Yiping sat in her room blankly. She remained in the room without turning on the light, staring at the dim lights outside of the window, as expressionless and dumb as a clay statue.

She sat in the darkness for an unknown period of time until her cell phone suddenly flashed.

Zhang Yiping’s relationship with her parents and her sister and brother was not close, rarely keeping in touch with them but once a month at best. She didn’t have friends from the company she worked at either.

The only person who would call her at this time was Su Lan.