Who Moved My Ashes Chapter 3

Translated by Novice Translations

Chapter 3

　　Chen Man sat at the head of the bed. The moon outside rose high and slowly fell. The blood between her fingers gradually seeped out and solidified slowly. No matter what happened in the outside world and her body, Chen Man's time was paused. She couldn't move, hurt, cry or laugh.  

　　When Jiang Xichu was killed, she didn't expect that Chen Man would be hit like this because of her own death.

　　She was so shocked that she missed a detail.

　　No one would have been devastated by the death of a good friend.

　　This was the loss of their favorite and their world was shattered.

　　For three whole days, Jiang Xichu stayed with Chen Man. She didn't go anywhere. She looked at the haggard Chen Man who only ate two meals in three days. She had one bottle of yogurt which was bought by Jiang Xichu for Chen Man. It was a snack for her to drink as a nutritional supplement. Now the yogurt was expired, although it hasn't deteriorated, but it shouldn't be consumed. Chen Man didn't even look at it and drank it.

　　The other meal was frozen stuffed glutinous rice which Jiang Xichu bought for her. Chen Man was extremely lazy. She was used to being the big boss lady and didn't take care of herself at all. Jiang Xichu was her chief secretary and would be her nanny behind her back. She would look for aunties who would come clean her house regularly. She dragged Chen Man to the supermarket and bought all the food in the kitchen as well. The stuffed glutinous rice has a longer shelf life than yogurt, but Chen Man directly placed the stuffed glutinous rice with the plastic bag into the microwave.

　　When Jiang Xichu first saw this scene, she almost became alive with anger.

　　Chen Man watched the microwave turn and turn. When she heard the "Ding" sound, she took out the plate, but found that the plastic outside the stuffed glutinous rice was deformed and melted. She looked at it and directly removed the plastic covering. As if nothing had happened, she continued to peel off the leaf from the stuffed glutinous rice.

　　Jiang Xichi scolded her angrily: "Do you have a sea in your head? Don't you know that food is poisonous?! Don't eat it, you'll be in the hospital if you eat it again!"  

　　Chen Man couldn't hear her. She peeled off the leaf from the stuffed glutinous rice and took a bite numbly. After biting down on it, she found that although it was hot on the outside, the stuffing was still cold, the more she bit, the colder it was. The red date in the middle was as hard as ice.

　　Now Jiang Xichu understood why she didn't see her for half a month, Chen Man has tossed herself and looked like a ghost.

　　She didn't plan to live well at all.

　　If Chen Man had lived like this since she pa.s.sed away, she would die in no more than a week.

　　At first, Jiang Xichu looked at her with a gloomy face. After staring at her for a long time, she finally bit her lower lip and decided to go back to the underworld to get backup.  

　　She couldn't save Chen Man, but the old man and the little brother in white would be able to. She couldn't watch Chen Man torment herself so much.  

　　After making up her mind, Jiang Xichu was ready to leave immediately. Chen Man was eating her meal and was biting into the stuffed glutinous rice. From her outsider's perception, she could only feel a gust of wind blowing past, but just now, her heart felt inexplicably hurt.

　　She sat in the office with her that day. It was clear that nothing happened, but her heart suddenly hurt. Within two minutes, secretary Yang ran into the office who turned pale from fright and told her that something had happened downstairs.

　　She recalled that scene from that day, Chen Man closed her eyes and didn't care about the pain in her heart for a moment. There wasn't a day when her heart didn't hurt. Unexpectedly, from that moment ago she wasn't surprised.  

　　When Jiang Xichu went to the gate, she wanted to go through it, but she was shocked to find that she couldn't leave.  

　　She stood at the gate for three seconds, Jiang Xichu suddenly remembered that secretary Yang liked to read all kinds of supernatural novels and sometimes she would pull her so they could read together. There was a kind of soul, called the Earth-binding spirit.

　　……

　　……

　　……

　　She wouldn't be so unlucky, right?!

　　As it turned out, she was so unlucky, no matter which direction she went, she couldn't get out. The house was like an enchantment, and she was completely trapped. At this time, Jiang Xichu never thought about whether she would become a stranded ghost. She only had one thought left in her heart. What's to be done with Chen Man?

　　She didn't go out, and no one visited. Chen Man's family was far away. As long as she didn't say anything, no one would find her strange. She wouldn't…

　　Jiang Xichu finally panicked.

　　To the exception of Chen Man's two words to the urn that night, the rest of the time, Chen Man was just like a puppet. She sat on the bed, held her urn in her hands, then slept without realizing it, slept, woke up from a nightmare, cried, slept, woke up and continued this process, and so on.

　　When secretary Yang came to the door, Jiang Xichu cried with joy. She looked at secretary Yang as if she had watched an angel who had descended from the sky.

　　But the angel's face wasn't good.

　　She pressed the doorbell for a long time, for about ten minutes, she just kept pressing it, and finally, Chen Man opened the door for her. Secretary Yang looked at Chen Man expressionlessly and her temperature from the bottom of her eyes were cold.

　　"President Chen, it's time for you to go back to work."

　　Chen Man wore a casual suit. She remembered Jiang Xichu's cleanliness habit, so she still cleans herself daily, which prevented secretary Yang from being able to see her unkept appearance.

　　She turned her eyes and didn't want to talk to secretary Yang. "You have Zhang Mei there. Go find him and don't bother me."

　　Zhang Mei was the vice president of the company. He was older than Chen Man. The man has always wanted Chen Man's company and schemed. Both Chen Man and Jiang Xichu knew, but when Chen Man's words were heard, Jiang Xichu was stunned.

　　She didn't even want the company that she founded herself?

　　Secretary Yang looked at Chen Man and found that she was serious, and she finally couldn't help it.

　　Chen Man opened the door, but didn't let her in. Secretary Yang directly squeezed in and closed the door with a bang. Then just like Jiang Xichu, scolded Chen Man with a crackle: "I know you're sad, who isn't? But you have to think for yourself, and for the employees of the company, life is still going on, there are so many tasks, you can't just throw away your responsibilities, right!"

　　Chen Man still had her eyes closed and didn't look at her, as if she didn't hear what she just said.

　　Secretary Yang choked for a while and her voice was more quiet, "President Chen, it's been a long time. It's time to let it go, I understand your feelings. My…it's also because it was an accidental death, but what about it? The dead has already died, and the living must continue to live."

　　Jiang Xichu looked at secretary Yang for the first time. She just seemed to have focused on a word, what is my, my friend?  

　　Chen Man finally had a small reaction. She looked at secretary Yang and shook her head gently, "It's different."

　　Secretary Yang didn't understand, "What's different?"

　　After a brief pause, Chen Man's answer came out of thin air. "I love her deeper than all of you. You can walk out of the shadow and fall in love with others, but I can't."

　　In the first second, Jiang Xichu didn't react.

　　When she reacted, she jerked her head abruptly. She stiffly looked at Chen Man in shock. The latter squinted her eyes and gathered all the strong emotions under her eyelids. Secretary Yang also had a concussion in her heart. After a long time, she sighed. "I won't persuade you anymore. Anyway, you won't listen to me, but I will come tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. As long as I haven't been dismissed by the company, I will come every day." 

　　Secretary Yang placed her hand on the doork.n.o.b and turned her back to Chen Man. She turned her head and said one last sentence, "But I'm not for you. There are many good general managers for subordinates, there are no shortages of you. There was for secretary Jiang, you may think that the company was gone as if it didn't exist. Anyway, your family is wealthy and doesn't care about it. But for secretary Jiang, it was where she had been struggling for many years, where her youth was built. You can start another company later, and I can move to a better place later, but for secretary Jiang, that was her only company."  

　　Jiang Xichu looked at secretary Yang's back dazedly when she departed. When she was alive, she didn't have a good relations.h.i.+p with secretary Yang. They just worked together and occasionally went out to play together when they were resting. She didn't expect that secretary Yang would say something like this here.

　　Chen Man seemed to have been touched by these words. After secretary Yang's departure, she finally took out the hand that she had been hiding behind her. She didn't want secretary Yang to find out. She tightly clenched her fist and didn't know what she was thinking.  

　　The next day, Chen Man went back to the company.

　　Chen Man left, but Jiang Xichu couldn't leave. She was still trapped in the house. From this day on, Chen Man would leave early at 6 o'clock in the morning and come back at 11 o'clock every night. If you go home and fall asleep, this kind of work was okay, but she wasn't like this.

　　When Chen Man returned home, the first thing she did was filled her stomach with fast food and junk food. The second thing was to go to the study and continue to work. At about two or three o'clock, she would go back to bed and sleep while holding Jiang Xichu's ashes.

　　She slept for less than five hours every day. So, Chen Man's eyes were obviously haggard. Jiang Xichu didn't know what she was trying to accomplish from her hard work. When Chen Man was working, she would watch. When Chen Man was sleeping, she would watch. She hoped that Chen Man would say two more words to the urn of ashes and let out her thoughts and emotions. But Chen Man was too busy, she was like a clockwork toy. She squandered all her energy and didn't know how to rest.

　　In this way, half a year later, Jiang Xichu finally discovered Chen Man's thoughts.

　　She wanted to personally promote a person to take over as general manager.  

　　The candidate was ready-made, that is, the sales director. Chen Man has been busy for so long, just to train her and pave the way for her. So, after the sales director took over, as long as she doesn't do too badly, the company will continue to thrive.  

　　The company has been saved, and the person she had chosen was also very good.  She had talent and will certainly run the company well.

　　After she transferred the position of general manager to the sales director, Chen Man never went back to the company again. Secretary Yang has come over two or three times, but each time, no matter what she said, she couldn't move Chen Man.  

　　In this period, Chen Man's parents also called, and video chatted her several times. Chen Man's disguise was very good. Even if there was something wrong, Chen Man would cover up the past with words. Her parents checked out the situation of their daughter's company and found that it was well. They thought she was self-confident and no longer had doubts.

　　So, even after a long time, they didn't find out that their daughter had a serious problem.  

　　Two months later, today was a different day.

　　Today, Chen Man received a phone call. The other party had told her the murderer was finally executed.

　　The reason for his murder spree was very simple. He had no job, his family was very poor, his wife couldn't stand him and ran away with his children. He didn't want to live, but before he died, he wanted to pull a few cus.h.i.+ons. Before his wife divorced him, he was a clerk of Chen Man's company, so he set the scene of his crime at the door of Chen Man's company.

　　She listened to the other party's words, Chen Man simply snorted, then hung up the phone.

　　Jiang Xichu looked at her silently. She has been trapped here for nearly a year. Chen Man didn't speak, and the oppressive atmosphere can almost drive people crazy.

　　She could see that something was different about Chen Man, but she couldn't say exactly what was different.  

　　In the evening, Chen Man held the urn in her arms again. She lowered her head and kissed it gently.  

　　"He's dead."

　　Jiang Xichu sat on her knees besides her and heard her words and snorted, whether or not Chen Man could hear.

　　"I can't avenge you because he has nothing, doesn't care about anything, and I can't retaliate against his wife and children because they are innocent, just like you."

　　Chen Man caressed the lines on the urn and gently asked, "Do you blame me?"

　　"No." Jiang Xichu hung her head, everyone had their own lives, Chen Man was right to do nothing.  

　　Chen Man placed the urn in her arms and curled herself together. Her very thin waist was like straw, which looked as if it would break from a touch. For a long time, she didn't speak. Jiang Xichu thought she was going to sleep, but abruptly added.

　　"…I'm so tired."

　　Chen Man's voice was too light, almost impossible to hear. "I'm really tired. I'm lazy. I'm afraid of fatigue, pain and sadness. I'm a coward. I can't be as strong as you. I know, you must want to scold me again, you yell at me."

　　Nothing came from the silent air. Chen Man gave a faint smile and her eyelids gradually fell.

　　Jiang Xichu looked at her and seemed to understand something. She stood up in a panic and looked around. Finally, she ran to the kitchen and saw that the gas stove, she didn't know how long it was turned on for. At that moment, Jiang Xichu realized what was more terrible than death.