The city where Lu Changxue's parents lived was just a four-hour high-speed train ride from City A.
Once settled on the train, Lu Changxue emerged from her jade pendant. Reveling in her invisibility, she drifted through the carriages in her ghostly form before eventually settling back beside Yun Jianyue.
Yun Jianyue wore headphones, pretending to be on a call to facilitate conversation with Lu Changxue without appearing insane.
"First time I've ridden the bullet train without a ticket," Lu Changxue said with a thrill, enjoying the illicit feeling of skipping the fare.
"Your ID's been canceled. You couldn't buy one even if you tried," Yun Jianyue countered bluntly.
Lu Changxue gave a mock whine, then enthusiastically recounted her explorations to Yun Jianyue. The spoiled brat in Car 2 screaming and running amok, hauled off by a burly man while his mother shrieked. The couple in the Car 5 bathroom... busy.
They chatted for a long while. Yun Jianyue suddenly asked, "Why didn't you kill Wang Hui?"
When Lu Changxue had used her phone to call Wang Hui, she'd trapped him in a nightmare. Everything he experienced was illusion. Though traumatized, he hadn't suffered any physical harm from her.
That delay had allowed his mother her chance at revenge. Had Wang Hui died immediately at Lu Changxue's hands, the subsequent events wouldn't have unfolded.
Lu Changxue had thought Yun Jianyue had forgotten. The question caught her off guard. She bit her lip, uncertain how to reply.
Finally, she confessed sheepishly, "I wanted to drag out his torment before killing him. Who knew his mom would show up wanting revenge too?"
After what he'd done to her, a quick death felt like letting him off easy. Ironically, that hesitation had spared her later – killing him would have guaranteed the SRB's lethal retaliation.
"Thought maybe your lovesickness wasn't cured yet," Yun Jianyue admitted, relieved.
"That kind of lovesickness deserves death!" Lu Changxue spat viciously, then immediately crumpled, wailing, "I truly was a fool."
Her foolish devotion was why she'd been with scum like Wang Hui and ended up dead. Yun Jianyue had warned her countless times at the start.
The four hours passed swiftly. Yun Jianyue arrived in City Z. It was Saturday; both of Lu Changxue's parents were home.
Yun Jianyue presented Lu Changxue's death certificate and explained the horrific circumstances. Mr. Lu's eyes instantly reddened; he seemed to age a decade. Mrs. Lu nearly fainted, kept conscious only by her husband gripping her philtrum while fighting back his own tears.
"Xue'er… my Xue'er…" Mrs. Lu sobbed inconsolably against her husband. They'd faced family pressure for a son after their daughter's birth but refused. Their daughter was their world. Now they faced this unbearable pain.
Lu Changxue watched it all unfold invisibly. She threw herself at her parents, trying desperately to hold them, her spectral form passing helplessly through them. While a ghost, her diminished resentment meant she couldn't manifest.
"Yueyue, what do I do? I want to hug my parents," Lu Changxue pleaded, eyes burning crimson but shedding blood instead of tears.
Yun Jianyue gave her a reassuring look, stepping forward to pat Mr. and Mrs. Lu's shoulders. "Uncle, Auntie, don't be too sad. Ah Xue is right here beside you."
The revelation only made Mrs. Lu sob harder. "Xue'er? Where?"
"Believe me, she's here." Yun Jianyue produced a small vial of Ox Tears obtained (at a steep 200 RMB cost) from Du Minghao.
Applying the tears allowed Mr. and Mrs. Lu to see their daughter's ethereal form.
"Dad! Mom!"
"Xue'er!"
The family wept together. Yun Jianyue discreetly placed a couple of Du Minghao's talismans on the parents' backs for support and retreated to the balcony, giving them privacy.
She stood facing away from the living room, gazing out at the gleaming city skyline and teeming streets below. A beautiful, sunny day overshadowed by the agony imposed by a criminal.
The family embraced and cried for a long time. Eventually composed, Lu Changxue explained her tethering to Yun Jianyue.
Hand in hand, Lu Changxue's parents led her to the balcony, trembling as they called Yun Jianyue's name. She turned to find them bending shakily, ready to kneel.
"Thank you, Little Yun. Our family owes you everything!"
Yun Jianyue reacted with lightning speed. She slid forward and crashed to her knees first with an audible thud, creating an awkward 'couple bowing to each other' tableau.
Mr. and Mrs. Lu stared, stunned, words of gratitude frozen in their throats, tears momentarily forgotten.
"Uncle, Auntie! Seniors kneeling to a junior? Absolutely not!" Yun Jianyue hissed through the pain in her knees – dodging that premature aging!
Before Yun Jianyue left, the parents pressed a bank card into her hand. "For anything Ah Xue might need," they insisted, "and to repay the jade. Please."
Yun Jianyue accepted graciously without protest, pocketing it swiftly and promising frequent visits.
Seeing her accept eased their burden slightly. Both Lu parents took time off work, spending the precious, ephemeral days with their ghost-daughter.
The first day, they burned incense, offered paper money and tributes, transforming Lu Changxue into a wealthy phantom overnight.
The second day, they held her ghostly hands, advising her on ghostly conduct.
The third day, they admonished her about maintaining good habits as a ghost: "No more staying up all night! Get your rest at a reasonable hour!"
By the fourth day…
Lu Changxue snapped. She clutched her head in agony, banging it (virtually) against the wall. "Mom! Dad! I'm dead! Are you seriously telling me to watch my bedtime?! Who keeps regular hours in the underworld?!"