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Bringing My Rival Back to Life (Accidentally) - Chapter 32

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  2. Bringing My Rival Back to Life (Accidentally)
  3. Chapter 32 - The End
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In the morning, what woke them up was not the alarm clock, but a knock on the door. Zhu Xiao had been exhausted from the previous night’s activities and was too tired to even open his eyes. He groggily nudged Wu Jiu, who was lying next to him, to go open the door.
Wu Jiu, who had woken up earlier and was enjoying the morning’s warmth with Zhu Xiao, reluctantly got out of bed and went to open the door. When he opened it, he saw that it was Zhao Zirui.
“Zhu Xiao—” Zhao Zirui’s words were cut short as he realized who had opened the door. His face turned pale with fear. “Holy crap.”
Wu Jiu looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
“You, you, you…” Zhao Zirui pushed past Wu Jiu, rushed inside, and dragged Zhu Xiao out, screaming at the top of his lungs, “Ghost!!”
With one hand clutching Zhu Xiao and the other pinching his own philtrum to prevent himself from fainting, he spoke rapidly, “Zhu Xiao, listen to me. I just saw Wu Jiu at your place. I don’t know if he’s here to take revenge or what, but you shouldn’t go home for the next few days. You can stay at my place. We’ll find a master together tomorrow. And for now, call 120, please.”
After speaking, he gasped for air, his legs buckling beneath him as he collapsed onto the floor, on the verge of passing out.
Zhu Xiao’s sleepiness vanished in an instant. He turned and saw Wu Jiu standing at the door, looking bewildered. He pointed at himself and mouthed to Zhu Xiao, “Is he talking about me?”
“Come over here and explain,” Zhu Xiao said, helping Zhao Zirui to his feet and calming him down. Once Zhao Zirui had caught his breath, Zhu Xiao said, “You’re not mistaken. He is Wu Jiu.”
“A ghost…”
“No, not a ghost.”
Zhu Xiao led Zhao Zirui into the house and poured him a glass of water to calm his nerves. Wu Jiu stepped forward and said, “Let me explain—”
“Wait, just stay there,” Zhao Zirui hastily interrupted, pulling Zhu Xiao closer to himself to avoid being too near the “ghost.” “Don’t come any closer. Just explain from there.”
Wu Jiu complied, staying where he was. He had prepared a story to explain his return to the human world, and Zhao Zirui was his first audience. He explained all the previous supernatural events as “a misunderstanding.” In his account, he was just an ordinary person who had gone on a field trip to a remote area, weaving in some fabricated tales of his adventures in a tropical rainforest and encounters with wild tribes—though far-fetched, Zhao Zirui actually believed him.
“So, you’re really alive,” Zhao Zirui marveled. “That’s incredible…”
It turned out that Wu Jiu was indeed alive, just as Zhu Xiao had always hoped, despite his jokes about Wu Jiu doing sit-ups inside his coffin.
Wu Jiu nodded and asked, “Are you feeling better?”
Zhao Zirui replied, “I’m okay, I guess.”
“There’s something else I need to tell you,” Wu Jiu continued.
Zhao Zirui looked puzzled. “What is it?”
“Zhu Xiao and I are together now. We can kiss,” Wu Jiu said, eyeing Zhao Zirui who was leaning heavily on Zhu Xiao. “So, could you let go of Zhu Xiao?”
“What!” Zhao Zirui gasped, feeling short of breath again as he clutched at the air for oxygen. “Is he serious?” he asked Zhu Xiao.
Zhu Xiao nodded. “Yes, he is.”
Zhao Zirui quickly released Zhu Xiao and grabbed a nearby pillow, hugging it tightly. “Are you possessed? If you’re not Zhu Xiao, please get out of my friend’s body.”
“No, it’s really me,” Zhu Xiao assured him.
Zhao Zirui felt as if the world had collapsed around him and wanted to bury his head in the pillow in despair. The two culprits remained silent, patiently waiting for him to process this shocking revelation.
After a while, Zhao Zirui finally recovered a bit and looked at Zhu Xiao reproachfully. “No wonder you reacted so strongly when Wu Jiu died before. You looked like a little widow.”
Wu Jiu chimed in excitedly, “Really?” He was already preparing to buddy up with Zhao Zirui again, eagerly offering him tea and water. “Tell me more.”
Zhu Xiao pushed Wu Jiu’s inquisitive head aside and changed the subject. “Alright. What brings you here?”
“I came to tell you that the master has finally agreed to help,” Zhao Zirui said. “But it seems like it’s not needed now.”
Zhao Zirui thought it was quite amazing. Zhu Xiao had acted as if he had seen a ghost before, but now he seemed completely back to normal.
“Anyway, I’m glad you’re okay now,” Zhao Zirui said, turning to Wu Jiu. “And since you’re alive, don’t die again. We don’t need another little widow visiting graves.”
“Of course, I won’t die again,” Wu Jiu assured him.
Zhu Xiao echoed, “Yeah, he won’t die again.”
Zhu Xiao knew that Zhao Zirui, a close friend for years, didn’t truly believe Wu Jiu’s far-fetched story. He was just pretending to be naive because he understood that there were some things better left unsaid.
“That’s good,” Zhao Zirui said, looking between Zhu Xiao and Wu Jiu. “I always said you two seemed like a couple… Why didn’t you get together sooner?”
Come to think of it, it didn’t seem so strange. He remembered back in school, Wu Jiu had been more attentive to Zhu Xiao than any of Zhu Xiao’s friends, to an almost excessive degree.
Wu Jiu, never admitting his own slowness, gave this phenomenon a sophisticated name: “We’re in a long-distance love race.”
Zhao Zirui suddenly felt that this place wasn’t very friendly to single people. The air seemed a bit sour. He rubbed his legs, which had gone weak from the earlier scare, and struggled to stand up. “Alright, you two can continue your love race in the bedroom. I won’t disturb you.”
Wu Jiu warmly saw him off and kindly reminded him to come at noon when the sun was at its hottest next time—when it was less likely to interrupt their affectionate moments.
Wu Jiu quickly adapted to living with Zhu Xiao. Everything in the house became a couple’s set, even the toothbrush cups had to be neatly placed side by side.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get to enjoy this for many days before Zhu Xiao had to go to the suburban archaeological site to lead his students for a field practice week.
On the day he left, Wu Jiu was as reluctant as an ancient wife seeing off her husband going off to war. Zhu Xiao had only walked a meter away when he started messaging that he missed him.
Fortunately, since Wu Jiu was now in the human world, he could directly communicate with Zhu Xiao via WeChat and even make phone calls.
During the lunch break one day, Zhu Xiao received a call.
“Zhu Xiao, what are you doing?”
“Just woke up, looking at some materials.”
“We haven’t seen each other for ten days, eight hours, and thirty-two minutes. I miss you so much…”
They chatted for a bit. For some reason, Wu Jiu’s responses were shorter than usual. Maybe the current affected the sound, but Zhu Xiao felt that the breathing on the other end of the phone was different from usual.
“Are you doing something strange with my photo?”
“What?” Wu Jiu quickly denied it. “I’m not.”
“Alright,” Zhu Xiao said noncommittally, pretending to end the call. “Do you have anything else to say? I’m going to hang up.”
“Wait, don’t hang up…” Wu Jiu whined. “Tell me something more.”
“Like what?”
“Anything,” Wu Jiu thought for a moment. “Tell me about your recent days.”
So Zhu Xiao began to tell him about recent events, from the troublesome students to the stars at night on the construction site, and the fieldwork that Wu Jiu was also familiar with—digging on sunny days and sorting on rainy days. Fortunately, the weather had been good lately, with no rain.
Wu Jiu was unusually quiet, just listening intently, with only his breathing audible on the phone.
Halfway through, Zhu Xiao stopped and asked, “Are you still listening?”
Wu Jiu’s response was just two words: “Listening.”
“What did I just say?”
“You said it hasn’t rained recently,” Wu Jiu’s voice sounded a bit eager, encouraging him to continue. “Tell me more… Zhu Xiao, I want to hear your voice.”
Life had been uneventful lately, so Zhu Xiao began to tell him about the artifacts they had unearthed recently, like a museum tour guide, but Wu Jiu wasn’t bored at all.
After another five minutes, Zhu Xiao glanced at the time; he had to go out soon.
So he stopped and called Wu Jiu’s name: “Wu Jiu.”
“Hmm… What is it?”
“It’s enough,” Zhu Xiao curled his lips, deliberately timing it. “Honey.”
The moment the word came out, Zhu Xiao heard the breathing on the other end of the phone become heavier. His voice no longer concealed his feelings, as if he had just broken free from a tipping point.
“Zhu Xiao, you’re really going to kill me with this…”
Zhu Xiao took it as a compliment and smiled. “I miss you too.”
Since Wu Jiu wasn’t around, Zhu Xiao clearly pronounced the title again.
From the other end came a gritted voice: “…Zhu Xiao, just you wait when you get back.”
…
“Teacher, I found this in my excavation pit,” a student ran over holding a black spherical object, excitedly asking Zhu Xiao, “What do you think this is?”
Zhu Xiao glanced at it and immediately knew what it was. But since he had just finished a call with Wu Jiu and was in a good mood, he rarely joked, “A chocolate ball.”
“No wonder it looks like Ferrero Rocher!” The student eagerly examined the black sphere, but after a moment, he felt something was off. Under Zhu Xiao’s affectionate gaze, he questioned, “Did they have chocolate back then?”
“Well, no,” Zhu Xiao replied.
“Then what is this…?”
Zhu Xiao affectionately said, “A dung beetle’s ball of feces.”
The student’s eyes widened, feeling utterly disgusted.
Zhu Xiao kindly informed him that there was a faucet at the base camp if he needed to wash his hands and also warned him not to eat round chocolates for the next week.
At the end of the month, Zhu Xiao was due to return.
Wu Jiu was counting down the days, and when there were ten days left, he started a countdown. When the countdown finally reached “1,” he messaged Zhu Xiao: [Zhu Xiao, we can meet tomorrow!!!]
They had been apart and met many times, but each separation still felt like an eternity for Wu Jiu.
Zhu Xiao returned a day earlier than expected, not with the school bus but by taking a taxi on his own. He arrived at their building in the afternoon.
Wu Jiu sent a message every ten minutes: [Zhu Xiao, why isn’t it tomorrow yet?]
Zhu Xiao smiled faintly; Wu Jiu was still as impatient as ever.
He typed a message and sent it: [If you can’t wait till tomorrow, let’s meet today.]
Wu Jiu’s heart raced.
He clung to a somewhat unrealistic fantasy and asked: [What do you mean?]
Zhu Xiao turned his unrealistic fantasy into reality: [I’m downstairs. Come get me.]
Wu Jiu quickly put away his phone and rushed downstairs in two steps.
The moment he saw Zhu Xiao, he ran over and hugged him tightly.
“Zhu Xiao!!”
Zhu Xiao was caught off guard and fell into a warm embrace. The nearly half-month of longing was now tangible, enveloped in this tight hug.
After returning, Zhu Xiao also attended his nephew’s hundred-day banquet with Wu Jiu.
Wu Jiu was filled with affection for his newly-born nephew, whom he had never met before. Before going, he and Zhu Xiao had prepared a particularly thick red envelope for the little one.
At the banquet, his cousin took their red envelope, felt its weight, and was surprised. “Why so much, brothers?”
Wu Jiu pushed the red envelope back to her and said earnestly, “It’s not too much. Keep it. He has a connection with us.”
Indeed, they were connected. Wu Jiu looked at the quiet, blinking baby and thought that he had almost been reincarnated into this very nephew. How could they not be connected?
Zhu Xiao seemed to think the same thing, looking at the nephew’s rosy face and couldn’t help but smile warmly.
His cousin, puzzled by their knowing smiles, asked, “Why are you smiling?”
“Oh, I know a bit about fortune-telling,” Wu Jiu said. “I just roughly calculated, and he will be a very happy child.”
“Really?” His cousin turned to Zhu Xiao, who also nodded, and immediately believed them. Zhu Xiao never lied and was acknowledged as reliable in the family. If he nodded, it was mostly true.
She happily said, “That’s great.”
Wu Jiu, of course, didn’t know fortune-telling, but the nephew’s living conditions had been thoroughly examined by Zhu Xiao. He was definitely going to be a happy baby.
Just as Zhu Xiao had said before, his cousin and her husband were a perfect match, and their child was adorable and lovely.
The more Wu Jiu looked at the nephew, the more he thought he was adorable. No wonder, with Zhu Xiao’s family genes. He had already fallen in love with him. Although the nephew was his cousin’s child, Wu Jiu had already considered him, in a way, a love child of him and Zhu Xiao.
“When he gets a bit older,” he asked his cousin, “can we take him to the school to play?”
“Of course!” His cousin smiled. “I’ll remember that for him. Don’t back out when the time comes.”
By the time they got home from the banquet, it was already after eleven at night. Zhu Xiao glanced at the time, close to Cinderella’s curfew—but fortunately, Wu Jiu no longer had to leave on time.
After washing up, they naturally lay down on the same bed.
The night was low, and moonlight leaked through the gaps in the curtains,洒在相爱的两个人身上。
Like every night before, Wu Jiu lay face-to-face with Zhu Xiao, close enough to whisper. When the conversation dwindled to the point where even the stars were ready to sleep, Wu Jiu wrapped his arms around Zhu Xiao, pulling him close, and murmured, “Goodnight, see you tomorrow.”
Zhu Xiao replied softly, “Goodnight, see you tomorrow.”
They closed their eyes in unison, holding onto the promise of another day together, and drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.
Tomorrow, when they opened their eyes, they would see each other again.
From now on, every day would be like today.
With every sunrise and sunset, they would be by each other’s side.
-The End-
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