After finding 

a

 good spot, I lit three joss sticks and stabbed them into the ground. I opened the jade bottle gourd to release Aji. 

As soon as he got out, he took in a few breaths of smoke from the joss sticks. I stood behind hi

m and

 gently call

ed

 him. 

When 

Aji saw me, his eyes were bewildered. I softened my voice

 and said,

 “Aji, my son. Daddy misses you a lot!”

My skin crawled because of my voice. However, as it was for Aji, I had to endure

 it. 

When Aji heard the word ‘

D

addy’ his eyes turned blood

-

re

d. H

is face was full of hatred. He stared at me. A sob came from his throat as he dashed toward me. 

To not let him figure out that I wasn’t his father, I didn’t dodge his attack. He was quite strong 

and bit

 my throat. 

The strong resentful energy made me feel 

a heat

 in my throat. I had to vomit a mouthful of blood. However, I relaxed 

afterward

. He had a chance to kill me, but he had just wounded me. 

Aji, this little boy, had kept his grudge for over one thousand years

. I

n the end, he didn’t even want to kill his father… 

My nose felt sore as I was about to cry. I pulled myself together as I remembered that I was playing the role of his father. I lifted my head to look at him. 

Aji’s blood

-

red eyes showed his struggle as I 

hadn’t

 counterattacked

or dodg

ed 

him. He was confused

. His

 eyes 

flashed

 between dark and bright. The kid was moved 

that

 his father didn’t attack him. My heart ached further. 

I calmed down and 

went

 to rub his head. He didn’t avoid me

 and stood 

still. However, when my palm touched his head, he began to 

twist

 his legs and didn’t let me touch him. After a while, he stood still again

. Hi

s eyes were empty

. He looked 

puzzled. I squatted to level my eyes with his. 

After h

ugging his shoulders, I began to weep. 

“Daddy was so wrong. Aji, my son, you should go and reincarnate. We will be father and son in the next life. Please let me make up everything you’ve missed.” Although I was pretending to be his father, my tears for him were real. 

To this little boy, fatherly love was something that was always out of his reach. Aji was surprised. Then, blood tears slowly rolled from his eyes. 

While sobbing, he said something, but I didn’t understand. 

At this

 moment, 

my flaws could be

 exposed. I was worried. If he knew I was tricking him, his resentful energy could grow higher. 

I was so flustered

 and tried 

to find a solution

. Then,

 Aji got on his knees. With a serious face, he gave me three kowtows. In each kowtow, he had pressed his head low. After that, I was thrilled 

to see that

 he had used his blood to write the words ‘

T

hank you’ on the ground. 

I was shocked

 and looked 

at him. Aji slowly got up and pointed at my backpack

. Then, he smiled.  

It turned out he 

knew

 I was pretending to be his father

. It was as if 

he knew that his father would never say such things to him. Still, he had been willing to 

act along with

 me in this play! 

I suddenly got it. Aji not only had hatred in his heart, but he also didn’t know how to express himself. I was only afraid of getting 

discovered

, forgetting 

that none had been

 willing to play this father-son roleplay with him before! 

Wang Ping’s son was his friend. However, they had only communicated their miseries. If they 

had been

 with each other longer, their grudge and fixation would have become deeper

. I

t would never disappear

 if it reached that point. 

“Son, I hope you 

will

 have a happier life in your next life. I hope that your parents 

will

 love you and care about you, and that you 

will

 have many, many friends to play with.” I couldn’t hold my tears anymore. While talking, I pulled the fake beard off my face. Weeping silently, I nodded at him. 

The kid smiled at me. His smile was so innocent and bright

, just like the time 

he appeared on the TV and watched the policeman. 

Gradually, his blood 

tears

 and blood

-

red eyes faded. In the end, he had 

clear

 tears. When a ghost cried, it 

meant that Nirvana was upon them, and they

 had a chance to reincarnate. I felt happy for him

 and

 hurriedly 

read

a

 mantra to help him ascend. 

Aji’s figure faded and slowly disappeared in front of me. 

After Aji 

was

 gone, I took a deep breath and was about to return to the hotel. But then, I saw a line of words on the floor

: I

 killed them because I 

didn’t

 want their kids to experience what I had suffered.

I sighed helplessly. In this age 

of materialism

, how many people were working for money? 

They wanted their family to have a better life, but they didn’t know that they had neglected their family to d

o so

. It was as ridiculous as harvesting the crops and ignor

ing

 the fruits underneath! 

In our country, there were more and more 

children

 who had their family with them but didn’t receive love or proper care.

Aji and Wang Ping’s son were just 

one of many

. What they had experienced could be happening to some children 

in

 the remote mountains 

else

where….

Those kids were lonely and lost. They were hurt, but they had hopes and dreams. They only wanted their parents to care about them. They didn’t want to 

befriend loneliness

! 

T

he next day, I reported the situation to Captain Liu, but I hid the fact that the boy was behind all of 

this

. Although Captain Liu sympathized with what Aji had experienced, he was a policeman who couldn’t stand when one took revenge 

upon

 society after getting hurt. 

However, as Aji was a ghost, he couldn’t punish him. In the end, he decided to 

mark

 the cases as unsolved. 

As the incident was over, I bid farewell to Captain Liu and returned to the hotel to pack 

my belongings

. I would take the afternoon flight home. However, when I went to the lobby, I heard a loud commotion. It seemed someone had died 

on the

 third floor. 

When I 

reached

 the front desk to check out, the front desk clerk was whispering to the room 

service

 wor

ker

. “I told you, we can’t let people stay in that room. Everybody who has slept there 

has

 died! 

It’s happened a 

few times already. Our boss didn’t believe 

it

. Now, look what has happened

.

” 

The room service person nodded. “Yeah, that

’s 

right

. Th

e deceased’s family 

is

 caus

ing

 trouble there. I wonder if they 

will

 affect the hotel’s business.” 

The front desk clerk pouted. “I wish it 

would

end

 soon. Twice every three days, one 

person

 dies. I’m sure 

it's paranormal

activity

. I don’t want to get bad luck! 

The two were chatting excitedly 

and

 didn’t 

notice

 my presence. I coughed, which startled them and caused them to look at me. When they knew that I just wanted to check out, they 

looked better

. However, they didn’t continue their topic. 

After I signed the check-out form, I pretended 

to have

 forgotten something in my room

. I went

 to the third floor

 and

 saw a memorial service being held in front of a room. 

White candles were lit on both sides of a black and white portrait. A few people were lining up and offering joss sticks. The hotel’s security guards and the deceased’s family members were 

quarreling. They were 

making noise

. There were also

 some other 

guests

 who were staying in this hotel gathered at the scene.