After a long conversation, Deng Dan's emotions were much more stable. When she crouched down to speak with Duoduo again, she wore a smile.
"Duoduo, don't cry. Mommy has stopped crying too. Let's have a nice chat, okay?"
Li Daonian pulled Xu Shuangning aside to leave some space for the mother and daughter, recounting the whole story to her. Upon learning that Li Duo was only a year younger than them, Xu Shuangning felt a pang in her heart.
"I had no idea this spanned such a long time. I thought Duoduo was..." Xu Shuangning shook her head.
Li Daonian comforted her, "This is the first time I've encountered something spanning this much time either. There's no need to be too sad; the ending is good after all. Solving this problem gives us quite a sense of accomplishment, doesn't it?"
He smiled, went over to notify Qiuyang and Xiaobang, gave them a brief rundown, and told them to keep watch.
There was a minor interlude.
Xiaobang was smoking a cigarette and confronting a high school girl who insisted on going in to get her bicycle. The girl claimed she had faked a cold to get leave and had to go to school soon, so she needed to rush to the bookstore to buy magazines and extracurricular books, or her fake sick leave would be wasted.
"The bookstore won't be open this early," Li Daonian advised.
The girl glared aggressively, pointing at Xiaobang. "What are you people even doing? Watch out, or I'll call the cops. He even said there's a ghost haunting the place—is this supposed to protect me?"
Li Daonian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "There really is a ghost inside, I'm not lying to you."
"Do you really have to buy novels? You're a senior in high school, can't you just study properly?" Xiaobang exhaled a cloud of smoke with a distressed look.
"Hurry up and move aside. I'm a bad student, and I board at school for two weeks before I'm allowed out once. Without magazines and novels, I'll die of boredom."
With no other choice, Li Daonian said, "Miss, which bike is yours? I'll wheel it out for you."
The girl hesitated for a moment before handing her keys to Li Daonian. "The pink mountain bike. There's a Che Guevara sticker on the handlebars and light strips on the tires."
He thought to himself that she certainly had personality. He took the keys, unlocked the bike, and wheeled it out. As he was leaving, Xiaobang teased, "Hey kid, want a Liqun cigarette?"
The girl pushed her bike, turned her head, and retorted, "I don't smoke!"
"Aren't you a bad student?!" Li Daonian shouted.
Damn it, it cracked him up.
Back in the center of the park, Xu Shuangning shot him a sideways glance and said, "You two look like a couple of hoodlums harassing a schoolgirl."
"Crap!" Li Daonian laughed and scolded. "I was advising her to study hard, alright?"
"To tell you the truth, I read novels in my senior year of high school too," Xu Shuangning said with a pursed smile. "And you know what? Our head teacher installed a surveillance camera, so I tore my novels page by page and tucked them inside my study materials to read. One day during class, she even praised me for studying hard."
Li Daonian laughed. "I really underestimated you."
"I was studying dance back then, and arts exams were coming up. I felt restless and couldn't focus on studying."
"What books did you read?"
"<i>The Ferryman</i>, <i>Ten Deadly Sins</i>, things like that." Xu Shuangning frowned as she recalled.
"Such bullshit books." Li Daonian burst into a cheerful laugh.
"Hmph!" Xu Shuangning gave him a look of disdain.
At that moment, Li Daonian saw Deng Dan look up toward them, which probably meant they had said all they needed to say.
He and Xu Shuangning walked up to the mother and daughter to perform the final ritual. Deng Dan knew the time had come and couldn't help shedding a few more tears. These tears were not out of sorrow, but a sigh of emotion toward fate and a lament of parting.
The ancients said that at her age, one should have no doubts. Indeed, she had let go of many things.
Her tears were accompanied by a smile.
"Mommy, don't cry anymore. I'll wipe your tears for you." Duoduo smiled, stood on tiptoes, and wiped the tears from Deng Dan's face.
As her hand touched the moisture, it vanished once more.
Xu Shuangning reached to sprinkle more flour, but Li Daonian stopped her. "No need."
"Duoduo, remember that Mommy loves you forever. Don't worry about me; I'll bring Sister Jiajia to see you later," Deng Dan said, bidding her farewell.
Li Daonian and Xu Shuangning encircled Duoduo with the red string again.
"Mommy, let me ask you: between me and Sister Jiajia, who is the better-behaved one?" Duoduo asked with a show of spoiled pride. She shed tears, yet she was smiling, her face streaked with crying.
Deng Dan burst into laughter through her tears, stroking Duoduo's head. "You're the better-behaved one. You're the better-behaved one."
"Mommy, please don't be sad. I know you're doing very well now, and I know you didn't lie to me. But, Mommy, can you promise me one last thing?" Duoduo's smile was so radiant.
"Okay." Deng Dan stroked her daughter's face.
"Promise me you'll never forget me, okay?" The flour on Duoduo's body was falling off by itself.
"Okay, sweetheart, I promise you."
Inside the circle, Duoduo's figure slowly faded, and her voice grew increasingly ethereal.
Her obsession had been released.
"Mommy, you said you really liked eating watermelon in the countryside. Was it delicious?"
"Delicious."
"Is the scenery on Yangjiao Mountain really that pretty?"
"Pretty."
"Mom, I'm leaving."
Duoduo's figure completely vanished, and her voice drifted off into the distance.
Only Deng Dan remained alone, the red string circle before her empty.
Li Daonian went to call Qiuyang and Xiaobang back. Upon his return, he found Xu Shuangning weeping softly.
The three young men and Deng Dan remained silent, not uttering a word.
Li Daonian was thinking: *Damn it! Comforting girls is something I am completely terrible at!*
Qiuyang was thinking: *Damn it! Why is she crying?*
Xiaobang was thinking: *Dammit, Li Daonian, are you that clueless? Go over there and comfort her!*
Deng Dan was thinking: *Girls of this age are sentimental; let her have some peace and quiet.*
With red-rimmed eyes, Xu Shuangning gazed at the sky and sobbed softly, while the three guys began cleaning up the aftermath.
Li Daonian sprinkled a handful of flour into the red string circle.
The flour scattered in the wind without revealing Duoduo's figure, which meant she had truly departed.
They rolled up the red string, blew away the flour on the ground, and added Deng Dan on WeChat to say goodbye.
"It's this simple?" Qiuyang found it hard to believe. "The ghost just dissipated on her own?"
"It's mostly thanks to coincidence and a relatively simple obsession. I didn't expect that after all these years, Duoduo and her mother would still be so close. The whole thing didn't hit any major snags—a mother loves her daughter, and a daughter loves her mother. Everyone's happy." Li Daonian shouldered his backpack.
"Alright, Xu Shuangning and I will go back and clean up a bit more. You two head back."
"Damn, you woke us up so early, and we didn't even learn anything before getting chased off?" Xiaobang complained.
Qiuyang wore a mischievous grin, and you didn't even need to guess to know he was about to spout some cheeky nonsense.
Li Daonian quickly cut him off. "Hey, hey, hey! Tomorrow afternoon I have no classes, so I'll treat you two to hot pot with the money we earned, okay?"
"Alright, bro, wish you guys happiness." Qiuyang grabbed Xiaobang and trotted away happily.
"Get lost, get lost, get lost!"
After the two left, Li Daonian played on the fitness equipment for a bit longer. Seeing that Xu Shuangning was feeling much better, he said, "Let's go, let's head back and sweep the room."
Xu Shuangning walked back with reddened eyes.
Li Daonian followed behind her. "That egg soup you made yesterday was really good. Can you make another bowl?"
"Tell me," she said as she walked, "will Duoduo be okay?"
"Hah—she'll definitely be okay."