They're Celebrating Qingming Festival Next To My Grave Chapter 2

Author: Larza

Translator: Renkun27

Proofreader: KainGuru

After that day, I did not know if it was because of her guilt or because she had met me in her dreams, but every time this aunty would come to tend to the graves, she would clean my grave for a bit, as though she was doing it to compensate me.

Cleaning up my grave for a bit would mean doing things like cutting the gra.s.s, so that it did not look too cluttered; picking up the trash that was thrown by others, so that it did not look too dirty; and as for the need to wash with water, she must have forgotten about it.

…after that, she threw away all of the little boy's candies…

I understood that she meant well. She feared that if she left these candies here, it would make my grave an unsightly place, and by being unsightly, it meant something like seeing thousands of ants, encircling and clinging on to the remaining candies.

If possible, I really did not want her to throw the candies away. But if she had to discard them, leaving them, at least, until just before the next Tomb Sweeping Day would still be great, so that little boy would not get upset by seeing that I did not eat them again.

Even though the offerings would rot in the real world, in the spiritual world, they would not rot or deteriorate.

These would only disappear if I ate them or if someone on the other side eats them.

But even then, I still wanted to keep seeing the things that this little boy had left on my altar anyway.

With one hand, I picked up a chocolate tart for me to eat, and with the other, I flipped over the tag to check on the brand name. Based on my observation of the brand name indicated in the box, even though I was not familiar with this brand, I could tell that the price was not low at all.

Then…that kid brought me…?

Do people often offer expensive stuff like this?

For a short while, I began having a glimmer of hope that this boy could see me or hear my voice, but then I quickly swept that thought away.

There was no way that this was possible. I had been here for almost 11 years. I went out to travel to different places, but I had never met anyone who could see me or hear my voice.

Not even a relative, a shaman, a medium, or whatnot had ever seen me.

Therefore, there was no other way to go but treating this matter as sheer coincidence.

And then it became a really funny coincidence.

When the season of Tomb Sweeping Day came again, I went out traveling to different places, then came back to the usual place where this grave was in.

After a few days, the boy's family had arrived.

I looked at the white car with the registration number that I had been waiting for, to the point of learning it by heart, before immediately sitting up.

While the elders and relatives were preparing to pay their respects to the dead, the boy came over to find my grave, while holding something in his hands.

I tried leaning forward, wanting to see what he was holding in his hands, but I could not see what it was, even for a bit.

"P', how have you been this year?" The boy asked with his clear voice, before looking up.

For a second…I could feel that my eyes met with his.

My heart jerked immediately.

This was the first time that he looked into my eyes.

But…it may have been just a coincidence.

I tried comforting myself, then I gently smiled and happily replied.

"P' was fine. How are you? You came for Tomb Sweeping Day on a hot day like this without preparing an umbrella. In just a moment, you might get heatstroke."

I responded to him like that, even though I knew that this boy in front of me could not hear what I said. Nevertheless, I still replied for my own happiness.

"Oh, right, I brought meat and sweets this year. For the last two years, P' has only been eating candies. You might have been sick of it already."

As soon as he finished talking, he bent down, picked the bag up, and placed them on my altar.

After seeing the items in the bag, I immediately opened my eyes wide in disbelief. I leaned over and lowered my head to make sure I did not see it wrong.

Chocolates and mu ping [1]…?

([1] It is Thai-style grilled pork on a skewer that is marinated in pounded coriander root, pepper and garlic together and is then grilled over a charcoal BBQ.)

This was crazy…

I had to admit that I was shocked at first when I saw what he brought for me, but then I instantly became excited.

Even if I spoke or chat with others, it was impossible. But in the depths of my mind, I still futilely hoped for someone to see me.

In fact, I did not care about the offerings from the start, because there was no need to eat that much.

What I really wanted was someone who I could chat with.

I smiled with joy before walking down to stand in front of him. I stroked the head of the person who was standing in front of me with my hand and asked, "Can you see P'?"

Since the day that I had died, I had never touched a human again, in fear that if I touch them, it would only stress the fact out that I was already gone from this world.

However, this boy was a special case.

The boy did not respond whatsoever to my question. Instead, he was quiet until I began feeling nervous. I withdrew my hand with concern, while trying to find fault in the boy's response.

Or…was it only in my head…?

When I saw that he did not respond or show any emotions, the feeling of joy in my heart drastically fell into a sudden disappointment. For a moment, the disappointment I felt reflected on my face, before I gradually turned away with a bitter smile on my face.

After that, I slowly took a step back and returned to sit on my grave.

I tried hard keeping my sadness and disappointment deep inside, but even then, I still did not dare to look up at the boy's face again.

I heard his father's voice come over, calling out for him. I looked up and watched him take the boy by his hand to lead him back into the car.

But before getting into the car, the boy turned around and waved goodbye to me. I just smiled before waving back and looked at the car's receding back until it was as far as my eyes could see.

I heaved a deep sigh and crouched down, with all kinds of thoughts and the feeling of disappointment circling inside my head, until I could almost think of nothing.

It was not strange if he could not see me, right?

In the past, I had been living alone for many years without talking to anyone, and no one had ever seen me before as well.

I heaved a sigh and pressed my hand down on my chest that had started to ache.

Once, I had experienced the greatest pain in my life when I was dying.

At that very moment, my chest tightened and my body felt like it was going to explode. I could hear the sound of my heart throbbing as it resonated in my head, so loud so that it made me feel dizzy. My arms and legs were numb, as if they were not part of my body anymore.

But at this moment, the pain that I had felt was not at all different from that time.

Was it because…

…I wanted to talk with someone or was it because I was expecting something else from this boy…?

Usagi notes: Sorry for the delay guys. I already finished translating this days ago but something personal came up for me and chiangyus.h.i.+en so we couldn't do much for our projects. I already finished chapter 3 as well and will post it tomorrow after it has been thoroughly proofread. I'll work on chapter 4 later once I'm done proofreading the other stories for update. Thanks for your patience.