Paper Life 27 Part 1

Shang Nan heard the movement of someone getting up outside, turned off the computer, and lay back on the bed.

The door was gently pushed open, and soon, Shang Nan felt Yu Zhibai lie down beside him. He just lay there, doing nothing else.

[14: It thinks quite a lot.]

Shang Nan closed his eyes, "Actually, it doesn't need to be so complicated. These are all things that happen naturally."

[14: You say that to it.]

"..." Shang Nan was silent for a while, "It does indeed still need to learn properly."

After Shang Nan fell asleep, Yu Zhibai lay a little closer to him. He liked the scent on Shang Nan; there was no pungent smell of industrial essence, nor the damp feeling that everyone in Huinanfang had. Shang Nan was gentle and fresh, like mist in spring, like morning dew in summer, frost in autumn, and the pure white first snow of winter.

From the moment of its birth, it had disliked the city of Huinanfang. The damp scent made it seem as if the entire city was covered in mold spots. As soon as it rained, all the colors of Huinanfang would slowly peel off, becoming gray-white and dim.

But Shang Nan's appearance slowly made Huinanfang become bright and warm.

It liked Shang Nan.

[14: Blackening value 20.]

......

In the period leading up to winter break, not a single drop of rain fell in Huinanfang, but the sun rarely showed its face either; most of the time, it was gloomy.

During this time, Yu Changyue had been staying in the hospital. Perhaps because she was no longer in pain, her tone towards the two young men was much better than before. Although she was still bossy if one listened carefully, Shang Nan didn't mind at all. He understood Yu Changyue's nature; Yu Changyue didn't need to deliberately disguise herself.

The day before winter break, Zhang Xueli walked onto the podium with a not-so-good expression. Her expression could even be described as grief-stricken. Seeing that the homeroom teacher's expression was off, the chattering in the classroom immediately vanished.

Zhang Xueli braced her hands on the podium and remained silent for a long time before saying, "Student Lu Yang passed away last night. The funeral is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. His father hopes that everyone can go to see Lu Yang off. I will send the specific time and address to the class group chat later."

As soon as these words came out, the classroom went into an uproar.

Lu Yang died?!

Shang Nan also didn't react for a long time. The aftermath of Lu Yang's kidnapping had been handled by the special assistant and the legal team in the company. They were all people from the Shang Family, so naturally, they would go as hard as possible on Lu Yang. Therefore, Shang Nan hadn't asked about it, but no matter what, they couldn't have sued the guy to death or angered him to death, right?

Yu Zhibai had learned to lazily rest his chin in his hand just like Shang Nan. He looked at Zhang Xueli on the podium, listening with a face full of seriousness, and even a hint of grief appeared in his eyes.

Shang Nan saw this and fell silent.

The class fell into a long pause, as if frozen in this instant.

They were all still young. Studying and their own hobbies were currently the most important things. Getting caught in a puppy love relationship, failing an exam, or parents not giving allowance were among the top three risks for their current age group.

They didn't like Lu Yang as a person, but they hadn't thought he would die, and die so suddenly.

Zhang Xueli didn't explain the cause of death, but the people in the class quickly used various connections to find out the reason.

It turned out that after being locked up in the detention center for a few days, Lu Yang began to stay awake all night, sometimes lowering his head and circling around his room alone. The people there were afraid something would happen, so they contacted Lu Yang's father and the Shang Family. After signing an agreement, Lu Yang was allowed to be admitted to the hospital for examination.

Lu Yang was escorted to the hospital and underwent a full set of checks, but the results showed no problems at all.

During a confrontation between several parties, Lu Yang suddenly broke free from the bodyguards' restraints and ran toward the hospital lobby. When Lu Yang's father and a group of people chased after him, Lu Yang's body happened to be thrown high up, landing heavily on the concrete floor. The blood beneath him slowly bloomed like a flower.

In Lu Yang's father's eyes, it was like a doll being knocked into the air, landing with a "bang".

Even though the car accident happened right at the hospital entrance, and even though the emergency room team arrived at the scene to perform rescue at the fastest speed, Lu Yang still quickly lost all signs of life.

The news was shared in the class group chat.

[Sports Committee Member: Holy crap, was it suicide?]

[Zhu Mai: It looks like he bumped into something evil.] After returning from Jinzi Lake, Zhu Mai firmly believed in supernatural legends. He explained all phenomena that couldn't be explained by science with ghost and god theories.

[Lin Xin: Maybe he felt that since he'd have to go to jail anyway if he lived, and would lose face, he might as well just die.]

[Classmate A: Actually, there was no need. Eighteen years later he'd be another hero. He was so young, why bother? His family is so rich; even if he went in, he could live very comfortably inside after spending money to find people, and with sentence reductions, he'd still be a young master.]

[Classmate B: Karma.]

[Lifestyle Committee Member: So are you guys going to the funeral or not?]

The answers were all yes.

[Lin Xin: After all, we were classmates. Besides, if we don't go, our parents will have to go.]

[Someone asked anonymously: Shang Nan and Yu Zhibai, are you going?]

This question was very sensitive. Everyone knew it, and the person asking knew it, which was why they were anonymous. The others in the group fell silent. Lu Yang wasn't in the group, plus he was dead, so they dared to complain so openly.

But Shang Nan and Yu Zhibai weren't dead.

Just before class started, a reply from Yu Zhibai appeared in the group. No one replied to it.

[Yu Zhibai: We were classmates; it is right to go and see him off.]

......

On the day of the funeral, it rained cats and dogs. The Lu family was considered a wealthy family in Huinanfang City. Regardless of whether they were truly mourning, quite a few people came.

White chrysanthemum petals covered the ground, washed down from the steps by the heavy rain, rushing toward the drain along with the water flow.

Exquisite women's high heels and polished leather shoes constantly stepped over the carpet. The person responsible for receiving guests wasn't Lu Yang's father. Lu Yang's father was sitting in a very inconspicuous corner. After Lu Yang died, white hair had sprouted from his black hair overnight, covering a whole patch; he looked very haggard.

Lu Yang's funeral portrait used his high school registration photo. The smile was high-spirited and incredibly flamboyant, but the classmates who were familiar with him felt uncomfortable seeing this smile—Lu Yang always smiled like this when he was smug, but when he was smug, it definitely meant someone had just been bullied by him.

Lin Xin was wearing a black woolen dress and a short black wool blazer, crossing her arms and fully adopting the posture of a wealthy young lady. "Freezing to death. It's rare to get a half-month winter break, and it has to be wasted on this kind of meaningless thing."

Zhu Mai sat on the bench, said "sin, sin," and then looked up at Lin Xin. "Lu Yang is already dead, have some respect."

Several people gathered together and bickered. When they saw the two people walking in from the door, they shut their mouths in unison. The Sports Committee member sighed, "Is Yu Zhibai repaying evil with kindness? Bullied like that, and he still comes to attend Lu Yang's funeral?"

"As expected of a top student, his thoughts are noble, not something you ordinary mortals can compare to," Zhu Mai shouted.

Shang Nan was wearing a black formal suit, even his bow tie was black. He held a white chrysanthemum in his hand. Lu Yang's stepmother came over to greet them, then walked away gracefully.

He walked over and placed the chrysanthemum on the ground in front of Lu Yang's photo. When he straightened up, Yu Zhibai was also standing beside him.

Yu Zhibai bent down and inserted the chrysanthemum into the bouquet beside it. Shang Nan even heard him sigh.

"Overacting," Shang Nan said softly.

"Oh." Yu Zhibai straightened up. As soon as he turned around, he met the shocked gaze of Lu Yang's father, Lu Huaihai.

Lu Huaihai seemed unable to believe it. He scrutinized Yu Zhibai closely, swallowed his saliva, and asked uncertainly, "Yu She, what is she to you?"

Yu Zhibai showed a puzzled expression, "She is my mother. You know her?"

Lu Huaihai's expression changed several times, from shock to heartbreak, then to nostalgia and melancholy. He raised his hand and patted Yu Zhibai's shoulder. "In the blink of an eye, you've grown so big. Did you know? Your eyes look exactly like your mother's."

"Back then, sigh, if Ah She was willing to go with me, that kind of thing wouldn't have happened." Lu Huaihai looked at Yu Zhibai, reluctant to move his gaze away from the boy's face. He saw the seventeen or eighteen-year-old Yu She in this boy—the one who stunned the whole high school as soon as she enrolled. No matter how expensive the gifts sent were, she was unmoved. The people who liked her were countless. Lu Huaihai was immersed in the past, almost forgetting that he was currently at his own son's funeral, while Lu Yang's stepmother stood not far away, her face gradually turning ashen.

Shang Nan glanced at Lu Yang in the photo frame. For a split second, he seemed to see Lu Yang's smile suddenly become distorted and grotesque.

Shang Nan suddenly understood why Yu Zhibai came to Lu Yang's funeral.

Lu Huaihai was like Shang Xuan; they had people they admired in their youth, but forced by family pressure, they had to marry people they didn't love for political alliances. On one hand, they couldn't let go of the 'white moonlight' in their hearts, and on the other hand, they coveted the huge benefits that the marriage alliance could obtain. The people around them suffered miserably because of this, yet they thought themselves to be deeply affectionate.

Lu Yang perfectly inherited his father's traits. He didn't dare to offend his father because he knew his surname was Lu, and he knew this meant everything he had came from his father's giving, so he shifted all his hatred onto Yu Zhibai.

He was already dead, and his father was still reminiscing about the white moonlight of the past in front of Yu Zhibai; nothing was more insulting than this.

Lu Huaihai had completely cast Lu Yang aside. He was extremely fond of Yu Zhibai, even taking out his personal business card from his pocket. "If anything happens, call Uncle Lu. I will definitely help if I can." He gave such a promise.

Only afterward did he notice Shang Nan, instantly changing from a kind uncle to a weathered old father. Shang Nan shook hands with him, "My condolences."

Lu Huaihai showed a mournful look.

Shang Nan looked away expressionlessly and looked at Yu Zhibai, "Let's go."

Zhang Hu and Zhu Mai, who didn't know the inside story, pulled Shang Nan and Yu Zhibai aside. "Uncle Lu seems to like Yu Zhibai a lot. What, does he also like top students?"

Yu Zhibai pressed his lips together and smiled, "Perhaps."

Zhu Mai: "..."

"Let's not talk about this. There's a thriller exhibition touring in Huinanfang, starting at seven tonight," Zhang Hu said mysteriously. "Tickets are hard to get. I got someone to give me ten tickets. Want to go play?"

"Not going," Zhu Mai said firmly. He had been scared during the exploration of Villa 11 before and now held a resistant attitude toward similar activities.

Zhang Hu: "Didn't ask you, go if you want or don't."

Shang Nan pulled Yu Zhibai's sleeve, "Sure."

Yu Zhibai never disobeyed Shang Nan.

Zhang Hu looked at the two people in front of him and choked, "With this posture, it looks like you two plan to take my tickets to go on a date..."

"Congratulations, you guessed right." Shang Nan patted Zhang Hu's shoulder.

The thriller exhibition was a horror house that had rented out the top floor of the mall, with the venue construction and design fully handled by their team. The internal horror elements included but were not limited to "Embroidered Shoes," "Red Veil," "Chainsaw Man," and "Evil Spirit Central Avenue." It was equivalent to an adventure game; running from the entrance to the exit counted as finishing. Of course, if you felt you hadn't played enough, you could go back and run two more laps, because there might be little cuties left behind inside.

It didn't require brains, but it required guts.

The ten tickets were quickly snatched up in the group chat. Lin Xin decided to go. Seeing that people he had good relationships with were going, Zhu Mai bit the bullet and said he wanted to go too.

The people who decided to go were all currently at Lu Yang's funeral, so there was no need to find a meeting place; they could depart directly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go play!" The boy who played Truth or Dare that day was named Zhao Xiaofan. He shouldered his umbrella and rushed into the rain, shouting and yelling, earning eye-rolls from passersby.

Shang Nan opened his umbrella. To fit today's funeral theme, Shang Nan had specially chosen a black umbrella. Considering Yu Zhibai's eyesight inconvenience, he chose the largest black umbrella, which was just right to cover two big boys.

"Are your eyes okay? If you're uncomfortable, we'll go back." Shang Nan raised his eyes slightly to look at Yu Zhibai's eyes. The amber eyeballs felt more gentle than the rain, showing no signs of smudging. For now, they seemed to be in a very normal state.

"I brought spares." Yu Zhibai took out a pair of eyeballs from his coat pocket. Soft and elastic, with a cold temperature. Shang Nan hurriedly stuffed his hand back in.

Although he hadn't seen complete human eyeballs, Shang Nan thought that the ones Yu Zhibai made were probably highly similar to human eyeballs. If he didn't know they were fake, Shang Nan would probably be scared half to death. At the very least, normal people wouldn't carry a pair of eyeballs in their pockets.

......

A group of people rushed boisterously toward the mall. This was the largest commercial center in Huinanfang. Even though it was raining, because it was winter break and the weekend, the mall was still incredibly lively.

"Let's go grab a bite to eat first. We'll meet on the top floor in an hour!" Zhang Hu finished speaking and ran off laughing with Zhu Mai and Zhao Xiaofan.

In an instant, they were all gone.

Lin Xin was the only girl who came, and she was left alone.

Shang Nan looked at her, "Let's go, we'll stick together."

The negative first floor was full of food, even featuring a whole snack street. Yu Zhibai hadn't been here before. He walked on Shang Nan's left, tilting his head to look around. Lin Xin walked on Shang Nan's right.

Yu Zhibai calmly moved a little closer to Shang Nan, closer than Lin Xin was to Shang Nan.

Lin Xin didn't want to be a third wheel either. She pointed to a random place, "I'll go buy some bread to eat. See you later." After speaking, she hurriedly walked away.

"What do you want to eat?" Yu Zhibai asked Shang Nan.

Shang Nan looked around, "I want to eat takoyaki, plus a cup of bubble tea."

Yu Zhibai hadn't eaten them, "I have heard of them."

Yu Zhibai wasn't interested in food. He had no need to eat, unlike humans. Humans had to eat three meals a day, and some would even eat from morning till night.