The Light That Belonged to Xiao Ya

Wen Ning brought the timid little ghost girl back to his agency.

By then, night had fallen completely, making her frail figure look all the more eerie.

She stayed close behind Wen Ning, not daring to stray even half a step. She remained quiet the entire way, afraid to make the slightest sound. The sight of her was heartbreaking.

Pushing open the shop's battered door, Wen Ning went in first, then gently pulled it shut behind him.

The shop immediately fell quiet, with only the occasional sound of passing traffic outside the window.

He turned to look at the little ghost girl huddled in the corner and deliberately softened his expression and tone, afraid of frightening her.

"It's safe here. Don't be scared. No one will bother you, and no one will hurt you."

The little ghost girl lifted her pale face, her dark eyes gazing timidly at Wen Ning.

She nodded gently, her hands still clutching the hem of her tattered old clothes. Unease and apprehension showed in every inch of her.

Wen Ning pulled over a stool and sat down. Speaking slowly, he patiently asked her a question.

"Now, you can take your time and tell me. What's your name? Why have you been following me? Is there a wish you'd like me to help fulfill?"

He remembered how unclear her speech had been earlier and how she had struggled with her words, so he deliberately slowed the conversation down, giving her all the patience she needed to speak at her own pace.

At his words, the little girl's lips moved a few times. Only after a long while did she slowly make a faint, halting sound.

"My~ name~ is... is Xiao Ya~"

"My~ brain has always~ had trouble~"

Her voice came in fits and starts, and even speaking seemed to take an extraordinary effort.

Wen Ning seemed to understand something at once.

Trouble with her brain? Her unclear speech, her timid, withdrawn nature, and the difficulty she had speaking brought a possibility to mind.

Holding back the ache in his heart, he asked gently.

"Were you born with health problems? Is it difficult for you to speak?"

Xiao Ya nodded hard. Her eyes reddened slightly, and a trace of hurt surfaced in their translucent depths.

"My~ mom~ said~ I~ was just slower~ to... to get smart~"

"Since I was little, I walked~ slowly~ and couldn't~ speak clearly~"

Those few short sentences took her a long time to force out.

Wen Ning found it hard to bear the suffering people endured.

It seemed this little girl had Down syndrome. Born with a condition that affected her speech and mobility, she must have suffered countless cold looks, rejection, and bullying while she was alive.

She had been unable to run and laugh like other children or fluently say what she wanted. Even expressing her feelings was so difficult.

At fourteen or fifteen, she should have been carefree, yet her brief life had been trapped in illness and feelings of inferiority before she finally passed away.

The thought deepened Wen Ning's compassion.

He looked at Xiao Ya kindly, gently stroked her head, and comforted her in a soft voice.

"It's all right. I understand you. There's no rush. Whatever you want to say, just take your time. I'm listening."

Wen Ning's reassurance helped. Xiao Ya visibly relaxed a little.

Her figure was no longer quite so tense. After a brief silence, she continued recounting her past in halting words.

She had suffered from cerebral palsy since childhood. Her intellectual development was slower than that of other children, her speech was severely impaired, and she walked with an unsteady gait.

At first, her parents had taken her from place to place seeking treatment. Eventually, both of them had gradually lost hope and given up.

But her mother and father still loved her dearly and sent her to school.

She had barely managed to finish elementary school and finally made it into middle school, only to be mocked, excluded, and bullied by her classmates because of her physical impairments.

Loneliness, insecurity, and fear had filled almost her entire life.

"My~ classmates~ laughed at me~ for being stupid~ laughed because~ I couldn't talk~" Xiao Ya's voice grew quieter and quieter, heavy with hurt.

"They pushed me~ called me names~ I~ didn't dare fight back~ didn't dare cry~"

Wen Ning listened in silence, his heart aching more and more. He could picture the scene.

A timid little girl with limited mobility huddled alone in a classroom corner, cruelly tormented by children her own age, with no one to protect her or care about her pain.

"Back then~ there was only~ one boy~"

At that, a faint glimmer suddenly lit Xiao Ya's frightened eyes. It must have been the brightest light in her life.

She worked hard to arrange her words, speaking one syllable at a time with painstaking care. A sentence most people could express clearly in a second took Xiao Ya a very long time.

"He was~ thin~ and tall~ sat in~ the back row~"

"When others~ bullied me~ he~ stopped them~"

"When someone~ called me names~ he~ spoke up for me~"

Wen Ning understood at once.

When everyone else had mocked her, avoided her, and bullied her,

there had still been a kindhearted boy willing to step forward and protect her, to speak up for her, and to offer her a little tenderness and kindness, however small.

That tiny bit of warmth had become the only light in her bleak childhood.

"You miss him very much, don't you?" Wen Ning asked Xiao Ya softly.

Xiao Ya nodded hard, a faint shimmer of tears appearing at the corners of her translucent eyes.

"I~ want~ to thank him~"

"Back then~ I~ couldn't speak clearly~ didn't dare~ go near him~"

"Now~ I'm gone~ but I still~ can't forget~"

She had died far too young. Back then, she had struggled with her speech and been timid and insecure. When she graduated, she had not even managed to say a complete thank-you to his face.

That small regret had remained buried deep in her heart and become an obsession, keeping her from leaving. She had lingered in the human world until she met Wen Ning on his patrol that day.

She had followed him all that way, never asking for much. It was not attachment to the world or an unwillingness to leave.

She only wanted to find the boy who had quietly protected her back then and sincerely tell him, in her own voice: thank you.

Even after so many years, even if everything had changed, even though she was no longer alive.

"I understand."

Wen Ning looked at the frail, pitiful Xiao Ya before him, his gaze gentle but firm, and made a solemn promise.

"Xiao Ya, don't worry. I'll help you fulfill your wish."

"I'll help you find the boy who protected you in middle school. On your behalf, I'll make sure he hears that thank-you you've kept inside for so many years."

At those words, Xiao Ya's insubstantial body trembled slightly, and a faint, innocent smile appeared on her face.

Her smile was so pure, as though an immense burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

Seeing her relief and anticipation, Wen Ning silently renewed his resolve.

Xiao Ya had spent her whole life ill, lonely, and shunned.

He would make sure this final, little wish of hers was fulfilled.

It would both release her from her lingering obsession and preserve the few moments of tenderness and light she had known in her life.

Perhaps this was what becoming an immortal truly meant.

As the night deepened, a man and a spirit stood facing each other in the little shop.

A tender memory buried in youth, a thank-you long overdue—he was about to bring them to their rightful conclusion himself.