So Pu Dong was an orphan.
Well, no wonder no one came to see his rented place after Pu Dong's death. I guess the police couldn't notify Pu Dong's family, and even if they could notify his relatives, they probably wouldn't pay much attention.
A boy who had been so lonely, drifting alone in this city of Beijing, was indeed pitiful. When a person dies, there is no one to help with the funeral.
I sighed and sat down at Pu Dong's desk, beginning to look through some of his writings or other records.
On his table, there was a thick notebook, like a dictionary.
I pulled it over, opened the cover made of cowhide.
The first line on the title page was: "I am only a part of your life, but you are my whole life."
Was this line written by Pu Dong to Yang Xian'er? I looked at it silently, feeling a bit sad for some reason.
I started to read through this notebook.
After reading two pages, I found that it was a diary.
I excerpted some chapters from Pu Dong's diary here.
February 12, 2007, Clear Weather
Today is the day I transferred schools. I handled my grandfather's funeral by myself. Now there is only me, and my home has only me left. I feel very lonely, but fortunately, my deskmate is a very beautiful girl.
Her name is Yang Xian'er, but she doesn't speak much. Maybe she, like me, has a rather tragic family background. After my parents died, I didn't speak much, and now that my grandfather has passed, I think I won't talk anymore, but I can't do that now. I can't say nothing at all, or else Yang Xian'er will speak less too.
I must pretend to be optimistic and give her some sunshine.
May 1, 2007, Cloudy Weather
Today is Labour Day, I have enough time to work and make money. Finally, I don't have to work secretly at night and can get a regular night's sleep like other students.
In the morning, I went to the reservoir and caught a lot of fish. In the afternoon, I sold them for sixty yuan. Although one fish was stolen by someone, it really upset me.
I had planned to sleep early in the evening, but I decided to go for a walk in the street instead. I spent ten yuan to buy a pen for Yang Xian'er. I planned to give it to her after the holiday. I'm sure she will be very happy.
September 1, 2007, the weather is sunny.
Today is the first day of the second year of high school. I finally saw Yang Xian'er again after two months. I was extremely nervous and ended up confessing to her. Surprisingly, she did not object. I am so happy.
From now on, I will take good care of her, and take care of her for the rest of my life, until we grow old, until the day our hair turns white, I will travel the world with her.
However, something really upset me today. The owner of the internet cafe didn't let me continue to work as a network administrator. He said he had found someone else. Looks like I have to find a new job at night.
Sigh, it's so hard to work at night and study during the day, but I will work hard. I want to be a role model for Xian'er and show her what the strongest and most optimistic person is like.
May 30, 2009
Yang Xian'er broke up with me. I am very sad, really very sad. She is my everything, I cannot lose her. I have to find her. I will work hard to get into a university in Beijing. Without her, I will go crazy.
...
As I read this diary entry, I realize why Pudong would sneak out quietly in the middle of the night as the landlord mentioned. He was going out to work and support himself.
At the same time, I also understand why Pudong was able to perform exceptionally well during the college entrance examination, it was because he had faith.
He didn't stop loving Yang Xian'er. On the contrary, he loved her madly.
A person who loved Yang Xian'er as his entire life, but was ultimately told by her, "I feel like he never liked me", I feel some injustice for Pudong.
I feel a little stifled in my heart and can only flip through the diary faster.
...
October 1, 2010
Today is the first long holiday of my college life. I told myself that I would go find Yang Xian'er today.
I went, but I found that Yang Xian'er was different from before. I looked at her from a distance, she had a separate car for her comings and goings, and she could eat in high-end restaurants.
She... didn't need me anymore.
She is no longer the pitiable girl from back then who needed my protection. Now, she is a big star, she belongs to the upper class. There is no place for me to take care of her.
Maybe it's true what she said, we are people from two different worlds, we can't be together.
October 7, 2010
Today is the last day of the National Day holiday. I no longer feel pained because I have a new life goal. I want to protect Yang Xian'er, every moment, I want to follow her. As long as she is in the least bit of danger, I will go save her.
If I cannot be with her, then I will secretly act as her guardian angel.
...
As I reach this point in the diary, I realize that Pudong has completely lost his sanity at this time. He made a very crazy decision.
This decision made him truly become a "madman".
Every day, he would quietly follow Yang Xian'er, never approaching her, just silently following her, he only wanted to stand up for her when she needed help.
This decision was truly foolish, but from the bottom of my heart, I couldn't help but admire Pudong's love for Yang Xian'er.
Despite this love being so abnormal.
From the National Day of Pudong's freshman year onwards, his life became very simple. He followed Yang Xian'er every day until she returned home in the evening. Then he would go out and work to earn some living expenses.
This kind of life lasted for nearly six years, until the day Pudong died.
I closed the diary and felt a sense of being choked up for a long time.
I was really choked up.
Pudong... was a love fool.
I picked up the diary and had a very foolish idea, I wanted to go and help Pudong claim his body.
His body was probably still being kept at the public security bureau, I wanted to pay money myself to give Pudong's body a proper burial.
I shouldn't interfere with something like this since I didn't even really know him, but having read this diary, I decided to help him. I just feel like someone who is so persistent should have a good outcome.
I took a car to the public security bureau, explained the situation to the staff, and asked if Pudong's body was still there.
The person checked for a while and said that Pudong's body was still stored in the morgue and no one had claimed it for over ten days. If there's no claim within a month, it will be cremated directly.
I understand this, having dealt with bodies stored in the public security bureau frequently, I know their rules.
If a body goes unclaimed, it will be cremated after a month, and such cremation means the body is simply disposed of in the crematorium without any ceremony or ritual, as there are quite a few unclaimed bodies nationwide, and providing a grand funeral for each one would be too costly.
They gave me a form to fill out and asked me to find a policeman named Shi Haishui after I filled it.
Shi Haishui was the one handling Pudong's case.
I took the form and went to find Shi Haishui.
Shi Haishui was a stern-looking man. As soon as he saw me, he asked me in a deep voice, "Who are you to the deceased Pudong?"
I said I wasn't anything to the deceased, just a classmate.
Shi Haishui's expression then relaxed, he patted my shoulder and said, "You are quite a good classmate, those relatives of the deceased are not worth a thing. When Pudong died, they didn't even show up, not an ounce of compassion!"
No wonder no one claimed Pudong's body, it turns out his relatives never came.
Alas, the world is declining.
Shihai Shui began to handle the formalities for me. After the formalities were completed, as long as I "paid" five thousand yuan, the body could be sent directly to the funeral parlor, where someone would preside over the funeral and the body would be cremated.
Halfway through the procedure, Shihai Shui suddenly slapped his head and said, "Oh, I remember now. The body of the deceased is in a terrible state, but his phone is not damaged. Moreover, after the deceased got into the car accident, he did something very strange."
"What did he do?" I asked Shihai Shui.
Shihai Shui said that Pudong, after the car accident, despite having a caved-in head, actually "took out" his phone and recorded a sound.
He mentioned that he also listened to the recording on the phone afterwards, did not understand its meaning, and felt like the deceased was babbling at the moment of his death.
After speaking, he handed me the phone.
It was a Motorola phone, quite old, and covered in scratches. I opened the phone and found the "Voice Recorder," turned on the recording function, and found a recording inside.
I played the recording, put my ear close to the phone's speaker, and heard a slightly blurred voice.
Although it was very muffled, I heard clearly what Pudong was saying.
He said: "If I cannot express love in words, then I will defend her with my life. I think I've achieved that."
Hearing this recording, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning.
And at this moment, in my mind, all the fragments of Yang Xian'er's encounter with the ghost were pieced together. I felt that I had learned every detail of this matter.
Now what I need is to... confirm something with Yang Xian'er.