A debt-ridden tycoon inherits a luxury mansion, but the tenants are not human.

At noon, steam rose from the small shop at the alley entrance.

Chen Mo sat at the greasy table, while the proprietress stirred the wontons boiling in the pot with a large spoon, her cloudy eyes fixed on the small television on the wall.

The TV was showing the launch ceremony for Xingyao Media's new drama.

"Xingyao Media has invested 500 million yuan to produce the highly anticipated drama 'Phoenix Dance in Chang'an,' which began filming today in Hengdian. Chairman Li Yaohua was present in person..."

In the scene, Li Yaohua, dressed in a sharp suit, his face reflecting light, is handing a red envelope to the lead actor amidst the flashing lights. He has a smile on his face, and the girl who fell from the high-rise building ten years ago seems to have never existed for him.

The proprietress slammed the bowl down in front of him.

"Young man, the wontons are ready."

Chen Mo turned his gaze away from the television and reached out to take the bowl.

"Thanks."

The proprietress glanced at the television following his gaze.

"Hey, look at the news, this Mr. Li is no ordinary person. I heard he's a huge believer in feng shui and donates a lot of money to temples every year."

The words "believe in feng shui" caught Chen Mo's attention.

The proprietress kept her voice very low.

"Yes, that old fortune teller Wang at the end of our alley, I once read her fortune and she said that she was born with bad luck and would need a benefactor to ward off disaster. But it's all just hearsay, don't take it seriously."

Chen Mo remained silent, lowering his head to blow on the steam as he ate his wontons.

He asked one more question when paying.

"Does Granny Wang still live at the end of the alley?"

The proprietress handed him the change.

"She lives in that red brick house, but she's old and doesn't look after people much anymore. Do you need to see her?"

"Just asking."

Chen Mo left the small shop clutching the old banknotes he had received as change. He paused at the alley entrance for a moment, then turned and walked deeper into the alley.

Granny Wang's house is easy to spot; a string of wind chimes hangs at the entrance, tinkling in the wind.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, and an old, hoarse voice came from inside.

Who is it?

"Grandma Wang, it's me, Chen Mo, the one who lives at number 17. I'd like to ask you about something."

The door opened a crack, and an old woman with a full head of white hair peeked out, her cloudy eyes glancing at his face.

"Number 17? Oh... Chen Banshan's house?"

"Yes, I inherited it."

Without asking any further questions, Granny Wang opened the door directly.

"Come in."

A musty smell of incense ash wafted out. The lights were off in the room, with only two candles burning on the shrine.

Granny Wang pointed to a bench.

"Sit down. What is it?"

Chen Mo sat down and began to speak directly.

Do you know Li Yaohua?

Granny Wang paused for a moment while pouring tea, then placed the teacup in front of him.

"I know him. I had my fortune told by him ten years ago. What's wrong?"

"I'd like to know, what did you see back then?"

Granny Wang fell silent; the only sound in the room was the steaming of tea.

"Young man, some things are better left unsaid."

Chen Mo stared at her.

"But this concerns a person's innocence."

Granny Wang sighed deeply, and the candlelight flickered.

"Li Yaohua is destined to be bloodthirsty. I told him back then that he would kill a woman between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five. To avert this, he had to accumulate good karma and do good deeds."

"Did he do it?"

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of Granny Wang's mouth.

"We've done it all: donated money to repair temples, sponsored students, and given a considerable amount to orphanages every year. We've done all the pretense of doing good deeds."

"But it didn't work?"

Wang the fortune teller's voice was very low, and Chen Mo felt a chill run down his spine.

"That bloodshed was foretold long ago. Didn't a female celebrity jump off a building in 2016?"

Chen Mo's Adam's apple bobbed, and he nodded.

The old woman looked at him.

"It was her. I advised him to go to the girl's family, apologize properly, and kowtow in repentance, but he didn't listen. He said the girl is dead, so who would he be doing that for?"

"So he felt perfectly justified in becoming his boss."

Granny Wang looked at Chen Mo.

"Yes, young man, you're asking about this... because you want to stand up for that girl?"

I want her to wait for an apology.

Granny Wang shook her head.

"It's difficult. Li Yaohua has connections everywhere now, both in the underworld and the legitimate world. How can an ordinary person like you fight against him?"

Chen Mo stood up.

"I understand, thank you for telling me this."

He had just reached the door when Granny Wang called out to him from behind.

"etc."

Chen Mo turned around.

Granny Wang opened a drawer, took out a small cloth bag, and handed it to him.

"This contains incense ash, which I have offered as a sacrifice. Carrying it with you might ward off evil spirits."

Chen Mo took it.

"Thanks."

Granny Wang's lips moved.

"And... Li Yaohua believes in this. On the first and fifteenth of every month, he goes alone to Jing'an Temple in the south of the city to burn incense, without fail."

Chen Mo made a note of this.

After leaving Granny Wang's house, he returned to his old home.

Inside the main room, the shadow of a clay figure stood beside the table.

The voice appeared directly in Chen Mo's mind.

"Did you find out?"

Chen Mo nodded.

"I found out. Li Yaohua will be going to Jing'an Temple on the 15th of this month."

"You want to ambush him at the temple?"

"There are many security guards at the company, and he can't get into his home. Only when he's in a temple and no one is around him should he have some reverence in his heart."

The spirit remained silent for a moment.

"The risk is very high."

"This is the only chance."

The earth spirit nodded its muddy head.

"Whispers of obsession allow you to hear them once in advance."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll give you a hand and let you hear what Su Wanqing truly wants in her heart, not just the apology she says."

Chen Mo did not hesitate.

"it is good."

The earth spirit stretched out its muddy hand and pressed it onto Chen Mo's head. A distinct chill instantly entered Chen Mo's head, and Chen Mo's body trembled.

The voice of the earth spirit appeared in his mind.

"Don't get distracted. Think of Su Wanqing, think of her face, her resentment, everything about her..."

Chen Mo's vision turned into a white light, and Su Wanqing's calm yet desperate face on the rooftop appeared.

A soft female voice, tinged with tears, echoed in his mind.

"I don't want to die..."

"I just want to sing..."

"Why does nobody listen to me sing...?"

"Why do you all have to force me..."

"Mom...I'm sorry..."

"I'm so tired..."

"I feel sleepy..."

The sound was intermittent, then turned into a repetitive whisper.

"I want to be heard."

"It's not about being scolded or talked about."

"It was heard."

"The songs I sing, the words I speak, and the person I am."

"To be truly heard."

The sound disappeared.

After regaining consciousness, Chen Mo opened his eyes. His cheeks were a little wet. He raised his hand to touch them and found his fingertips covered in tears.

He wiped away his tears and looked at the spirit of the earth.

"Is this her obsession?"

The earth spirit withdrew its hand.

"Yes, the apology is just a pretense. Her real fear is that she'll just disappear without a trace and she wants to be remembered."

Chen Mo remained silent for a long time.

Being heard and remembered is much harder than an apology.

His throat was dry.

"Then... what should I do?"

The earth spirit looked at him.

"Think for yourself, this is your job."

The clay figure turned and walked towards the basement, but stopped at the top of the stairs.

There's something I forgot to mention.

"What?"

"Su Wanqing's ashes have remained unclaimed and are still in the funeral home's storage area, numbered B section, row 7, number 24."

Chen Mo's heart skipped a beat.

Why isn't anyone claiming it?

Di Ling spoke in a flat tone.

"Her mother passed away the year after she died, and none of the other relatives wanted to be associated with her bad luck. For ten years, not a single person has come to burn paper money for her."

Chen Mo's throat tightened, and the sentence from his diary, "My relatives back home saw me on TV and I was very proud," kept replaying in his mind.

Nobody remembers her now.

The spirit descended the stairs.

Chen Mo sat alone in the main room, the kerosene lamp casting a swaying shadow on the wall. He took out Su Wanqing's record and played it again, listening to the lyrics word by word.

One of the songs is called "Echo," and the chorus goes like this:

"I shouted into the valley, and the valley echoed back to me."

I shouted at the crowd, and they responded with silence.

Is the volume too low, or do you simply not want to listen?

Then I'll shout it out louder, with all my might!

The song stopped at the last line.

Chen Mo turned off the CD player. The only sound in the room was the wind outside the window. He stood up and walked into the yard. Under the locust tree, the shadow of the woman in theatrical costume was still dancing her water sleeves and singing silently.

Chen Mo stared at her for a long time.

He returned to the room, opened the Book of Obsessions, and wrote down his plan on the page below Su Wanqing's entry.

I will meet Li Yaohua at Jing'an Temple on the 15th of this month.

Force him to issue a public apology.

If that doesn't work, then let everyone hear Su Wanqing's story.

Go to the funeral home to see her one last time.

He closed the booklet after finishing writing.

It was completely dark by then.

Chen Mo went upstairs, lay on the bed, and closed his eyes. Su Wanqing's song was still playing in his mind.

"I shouted at the crowd, and the crowd responded with silence."

He turned over and stared at the wall, where the moonlight cast the shadow of the locust tree, making it appear distorted.

Looking at the shadow, Chen Mo suddenly remembered when he was a child, he got the highest score in his class and ran home with the test paper to show his mother.

Mom was busy at the stove and didn't even turn her head.

"Okay, wash your hands and eat."

The emptiness I felt at that moment was what it meant to be unheard.

Everyone is shouting in their own way, wanting to be heard, seen, and remembered.

Some people became stars, while others turned to dust.

But in the end, they will all be forgotten.

Unless someone is willing to remember.

Chen Mo closed his eyes and fell asleep.

In his dream, he was standing on a huge stage with many people in the audience, but everyone was looking down at their phones. He sang his heart out until his voice was hoarse, but no one looked up at him.

Finally, he knelt on the stage and screamed into the microphone.

"Please... let me finish singing..."

There was still no sound from the audience.

One by one, the stage lights went out, and in the darkness, a woman's voice spoke in his ear.

"Thank you, at least you're willing to listen."

He suddenly woke up with a start.

It was still dark inside the room before dawn. He took out his phone, and the screen's light made him squint. The time was 4:23 a.m.

An unread text message from an unknown number popped up on the screen.

"Mr. Chen, this is Li Jing. I've found some information about that ring. Lin Xiulan's son, Zhou Ming, is currently working in Shenzhen. I have his contact information; do you need it?"

Chen Mo stared at the line of text, his finger hovering over the screen for a few seconds before replying.

"Yes, thank you."

He put down his phone and stared straight at the ceiling.

Two obsessions in one day.

A ring that took twenty-four years to arrive, and an apology that took ten years to arrive.

He, an ordinary person burdened with over 100,000 yuan in debt and oppressed by life, was going to help them collect the debt.

Chen Mo grinned, letting out a dry laugh that sounded jarring in the darkness. Before the laughter stopped, his shoulders began to tremble, and warm tears fell onto the pillow without warning.

He couldn't tell whether these tears were for Su Wanqing, for Lin Xiulan, or for himself, weary from the weight of life.

He cried for an unknown amount of time before forcefully wiping his face and sitting up.

The sky outside the window began to brighten.

A new day is about to begin.

There are still many things waiting for him to do.