I Rule Fortune-Telling Livestreams-Chapter 38: My Husband, Does He Blame Me?
[AAAAAAHHH, is this a story I can watch without paying? What a melodramatic romance!]
[I can’t believe a plot from a horror movie is happening in real life. Art really does imitate life... but this is too scary!]
[Right? What if a beautiful girl takes a liking to me and starts appearing in my dreams too!]
[To the person above, don’t worry. With a face like yours, no one is going to take a liking to you! And no one is going to appear in your dreams.]
The handsome roommate, unaffected by the bullet comments, continued, "Today marks the third day. Nothing unusual happened during the day."
After he finished, Shen Zhiyao understood everything.
When a person repeatedly dreams of someone, and the events in those dreams connect into a continuous story, it only happens under two circumstances:
The first is a Dream Demon. A Dream Demon will take the form of someone you like in your dreams. By interacting with you and forming a relationship, it devours your emotions. This is how they survive. However, in return, the Dream Demon will cause good things to happen to you in your real life.
Clearly, Ziyou’s situation wasn’t this.
The second is what’s known as a "Yin Taohua," which is a deceased person. This usually occurs in dreams. An entity of the opposite sex expresses their love for you, tempts you, and takes on the appearance or type of person you like, starting a relationship with you in the dream world. Eventually, they will ask to "take you away." A more formal one might even propose. Once you agree, your days are numbered.
After hearing Shen Zhiyao’s words, Ziyou’s face turned as white as a sheet.
He shook his head, saying, "That’s impossible. Impossible! Mu Bao can’t be dead."
He’d always dreamed of finding Mu Bao in the real world so they could be together forever.
He believed that dreaming of the same person for so long had to be a sign of destiny. He had tried to find Mu Bao in the real world, but he’d had no luck!
The handsome roommate said, "Streamer Xiao Shen, can you figure out where that girl lives? Ziyou won’t give up unless he sees for himself."
Shen Zhiyao glanced at Ziyou’s face and said, "The girl’s home isn’t far from you all. It’s at 401 Chen Family Village."
As soon as Ziyou heard this, he shot to his feet, muttering as if possessed, "I’m going to Chen Family Village right now. I don’t believe Mu Bao is dead!"
The handsome roommate said, "It’s already dark outside. We should go tomorrow instead."
The other roommates chimed in, trying to persuade Ziyou, "Let’s just go tomorrow! It’s past midnight now. Going to Chen Family Village definitely won’t be safe!"
Ziyou shook his head. "I can’t wait. I can’t even wait another minute!"
With that, he grabbed his backpack and bolted out the door.
"Little Feng, wait up!" The handsome roommate chased after him. He snatched Ziyou’s phone and said to Shen Zhiyao on the stream:
"Streamer, I have a bad feeling something will happen if Little Feng goes over there just like this. Could you please not end the stream call? If anything happens, can you help us?"
Shen Zhiyao hadn’t planned on ending the call anyway. "No problem."
"Thank you, Streamer!"
One after the other, the two ran out of the school, hailed a cab, and headed straight for Chen Family Village.
[Wow! The couple is finally going to meet! That girl must really love him to be able to enter his dreams so many times!]
[I have a feeling that girl would never hurt him!]
[Being this love-struck is terrifying. He’s basically serving himself up to a ghost on a silver platter!]
[The ghost does love him, but what she really wants is for him to go down and keep her company!]
[Watching this stuff late at night is pretty creepy. I’m a little scared. The night before last, after seeing that little girl’s smile, I had nightmares all night. I’m definitely going to have nightmares tonight too, but I can’t stop watching.]
Shen Zhiyao said, "It’ll take them over an hour by taxi to get to Chen Family Village. While we wait, let’s do another divination."
Shen Zhiyao casually sent out a lucky bag. The winner was a sixty-year-old woman named Meng Man.
The woman was dressed simply. Her face was thin, and she appeared weary.
Shen Zhiyao asked as usual, "Meng Man, what would you like me to divine for you?"
Meng Man said, "My husband passed away five years ago. I want to ask if he resents me for not saving him back then."
Shen Zhiyao said, "Since he’s already gone, why are you still so fixated on it?"
Meng Man said anxiously, "I just have to know if he blames me or not! After all, I had a chance to save him, but I gave up. I gave up his only chance to live!"
As Meng Man spoke, the rims of her eyes reddened.
Even though five years had passed, every time she thought of that moment, it felt like a knife to the heart.
She and her husband had been married for over forty years and had always been very close.
Her husband had even planned to take her traveling after he retired, to see all the beautiful landscapes of their country.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.
Five years ago, her husband’s respiratory condition worsened. By the time he was taken to the hospital, his life was hanging by a thread.
At the time, the attending physician asked whether they should attempt resuscitation.
If they were to resuscitate him, he would have to be immediately put on a ventilator, with tubes inserted all over his body to supply him with oxygen.
The equipment was expensive, costing thirty to forty thousand a day alone. After that, the daily cost would be tens of thousands more, and it wasn’t covered by health insurance.
But even with the ventilator and tubes, due to prolonged oxygen deprivation to the brain, even if they managed to save him, he would be in a vegetative state.
Caught between saving him and not saving him, Meng Man found it hard to choose.
To make matters worse, she couldn’t get through to her daughter. She tried calling several times, but her calls were repeatedly declined. She had no one to consult.
Meanwhile, the hospital was racing against the clock, urging her to make a decision, as any further delay would mean it was too late, even with the equipment.
Meng Man had once been a doctor herself. She had seen many similar situations and knew how much suffering a vegetative state involved.
So, after a brief hesitation and at the doctor’s urging, she decisively chose to let go.
By the time her daughter rushed to the hospital in a panic, what she saw was her father’s body.
Her daughter blamed her, asking why she didn’t try to save him when she clearly had the chance. Even if the equipment was expensive, could it be more valuable than their father’s life?
Meng Man patiently explained to her daughter that she couldn’t bear to watch her husband live on in a vegetative state.
Furthermore, their daughter still had to get married. If they wiped out their savings to save her father and were saddled with enormous debt, she would be looked down upon and bullied no matter who she married.
She was so rational, her analysis so clear and coherent. She truly believed she had made the wisest decision.
She rationally organized her husband’s funeral, patiently comforted her daughter, and rationally accepted condolences from all their friends and family.
Only after the funeral was over, after she had seen off all the visiting relatives, when she looked at the empty rooms, did she finally realize that the man who had been with her for most of her life was gone.
The rocking chair he always sat in was still gently rocking, but now it was empty...
His big yellow dog was still barking in the yard, but there was no one there to play with him anymore.
The park where he walked every day was still bustling with people, but his figure was no longer among them...
She suddenly burst into tears. Just when everyone thought she was fine, the delayed grief, carrying with it an immense guilt, came rushing in all at once, overwhelming her.
They say time heals all wounds, but for her, the more time passed, the more her heart ached, and the guilt inside her grew ever stronger...
