Chapter 95: Dead
If Ji Buwang could see Shao Xi’s face, he would probably guess what was on his mind.
However, even though he couldn’t see Shao Xi’s expression, he could sense that Shao Xi wasn’t in high spirits. Gazing at Shao Xi, he urged himself and smiled.
Children still needed some coaxing. When Ji Buwang saw that there was someone selling popsicles not far away, he quickly told Mu Jingzhe, “I’ll go buy a popsicle. Wait for me here.”
Popsicles were really rare in this era. Eating one on a hot summer day would make one feel cool all over. Coincidentally, it was noon and the weather was hot.
Shao Xi salivated a little when he heard that. Then, he became even more confident upon recalling that he had received 100 yuan as a prize today! He could buy a lot of popsicles now. It was just that he wanted to save up to buy a car.
After Ji Buwang paid, he glanced at the popsicles wrapped in a cotton blanket inside the boss’s wooden box and quickly chose three.
When he turned around and saw the dense crowd, his face stiffened.
Where was Mu Jingzhe? Where was she?
Ji Buwang actually didn’t like going out in the streets because it was too crowded with people. All he could see was a sea of blurry faces.
At a time like this, it was very difficult for him to use his own memory method. Once he got separated from someone, that was it for him.
When he was young, Ji Buwang’s parents had taken him out to shop once. Because he had accidentally let go of his mother’s hand, he hadn’t been able to find his mother when he’d looked up again.
Although his mother had found him very quickly, the incident had left a trauma in his young heart and made him averse to crowds.
He was afraid that the people he went out with would be completely drowned in the crowd. That helpless feeling left him with an overwhelming sense of despair.
Ji Buwang looked at the crowd in front of him, his breathing becoming a little rapid. At that moment, he suddenly saw Mu Jingzhe.
It turned out that Mu Jingzhe had temporarily turned her head with her back facing him to say something to Shao Xi. Then, she quickly turned around.
Among the sea of thousands of people, Ji Buwang saw her at first glance.
Amidst the blurriness, a clear and bright face appeared.
Mu Jingzhe, who also saw Ji Buwang, raised her hand and waved. She remembered that Ji Buwang had face blindness, and that was why she waved at him.
That smile and the wave of her hand were forever engraved in Ji Buwang’s memory.
After searching for her hundreds and thousands of times in the crowd, he suddenly turned back, and there she was by the dim light.
Ji Buwang suddenly thought of an extract from a Southern Song dynasty poem. He smiled and walked toward Mu Jingzhe.
From now on, he no longer had to be afraid of crowds. No matter how many people there were, he would always be able to see her at a glance.
Ji Buwang handed the popsicles to them. “Eat them.”
“Thank you.” Mu Jingzhe thanked him as she took the popsicle, which was giving off cold air.
“You’re welcome.” Ji Buwang smiled.
His heart was thumping wildly, and he felt unprecedented peace.
Standing in the middle, Shao Xi looked at Ji Buwang and then at Mu Jingzhe and couldn’t help but frown.
For some reason, he felt that Teacher Ji Buwang’s eyes looked like lightbulbs, and they seemed to have become even brighter.
Shao Xi didn’t like the look in Teacher Ji’s eyes. It was as if he would snatch his mother away at any moment.
Shao Xi tugged at Mu Jingzhe’s hand to distract her. “Mommy, that building is so tall.”
“That building is the tallest in the city. There’s even a tower up there,” Ji Buwang added. “Let’s go and take a look.”
Mu Jingzhe and Shao Xi took a bite of the popsicles and let them slowly melt in their mouths as they walked over.
While walking slowly to the tall building, Ji Buwang was about to speak when he suddenly heard a short shriek.
A second later, something fell from high above and landed with a loud bang less than two meters in front of them.
Mu Jingzhe and Shao Xi, who were startled, looked over instinctively.
He merely took one look, and the popsicle in his hand fell to the ground. Due to the hot weather, after the popsicle fell to the ground, it instantly melted a little.
The white popsicle created a sharp contrast with the red color beside it. Mu Jingzhe saw the face she had just seen not too long ago.
Round, chubby, fair…
However, at that moment, his appearance had changed. His face had become grotesque and deformed, as though it had been dyed with remaining grievances.
Mu Jingzhe and Shao Xi knew that they shouldn’t look, but they couldn’t react at all at that moment. Their minds were blank.
Then, a pair of hands blocked their eyes.
“Stop looking.”
“Don’t be scared.”
Ji Buwang covered their eyes and pulled them into his arms.
Ji Buwang had naturally seen everything. This was also the first time he had encountered such a thing.
However, it wasn’t nearly as bad for him because he couldn’t see the person’s face. He just saw the fear on Mu Jingzhe’s face.
Ji Buwang covered Mu Jingzhe and Shao Xi’s eyes without giving it much thought.
Mu Jingzhe’s vision darkened, and she finally regained the ability to think.
She felt Shao Xi’s hand tremble and heard his voice quivering. “Mommy…”
When Mu Jingzhe heard Shao Xi’s voice, she was certain that it was Chubby Boy, the boy who had insulted Shao Xi by calling him a ‘country bumpkin’.
Perhaps because the sun was too hot, Mu Jingzhe felt dizzy.
She tried her best to calm down and grabbed Shao Xi’s hand tightly. “Don’t be afraid, Little Xi. Don’t be afraid.”
She tried to comfort Shao Xi, but her voice was shaking, and she couldn’t quite control her hands. “We have to call an ambulance…”
Mu Jingzhe momentarily forgot that they weren’t in the modern era. In a daze, she started looking for her cell phone, wanting to use it to call an ambulance.
Ji Buwang didn’t know what Mu Jingzhe was looking for, so he grabbed her hand. “Jingzhe, what are you looking for?”
Only then did Mu Jingzhe remember that she didn’t have a cell phone.
All Shao Xi could feel in his heart was iciness. It took him a long time to find the strength to grasp Mu Jingzhe’s hand tightly.
“Teacher Ji… can you save him?”
Ji Buwang furrowed his brows and looked at the pool of blood in front of him, feeling that it was too late for that.
When everyone heard about the accident, they gathered around. A man boldly stepped forward and shook his head. “He’s not breathing.”
He… had died.
Shao Xi’s heart sank when he heard this.
He had just won the competition and he had been feeling happy about winning the prize, but that very afternoon, he had seen his competitor jump to his death right in front of him.
Because they had quarreled previously and Chubby Boy had said mean things about him and scorned him, Shao Xi had found him really annoying. He had even been happy that he had beaten him, but a second later, he had died in front of him.
Why? Why had he died? Had he jumped because he had lost?
Was it because Shao Xi had won?
Shao Xi couldn’t help but wonder if this wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t come to the competition and won.
Shao Xi unconsciously exerted strength with his hand, and Mu Jingzhe, whose mind was still a mess, was suddenly woken up by Shao Xi’s forceful grip.
This wasn’t the time to be afraid. The most important person now was Shao Xi. Shao Xi was the one who had suffered the biggest blow.
Mu Jingzhe bit the tip of her tongue to calm herself down and hugged Shao Xi.
“It’s alright, Little Xi. Don’t be scared.”
Shao Xi let out a harsh breath when Mu Jingzhe hugged him. “Mommy, is it because of me…”
“No, definitely not. It had nothing to do with you,” Mu Jingzhe immediately replied firmly. “We just met him today. It had nothing to do with us.”