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 him and gently called 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 ‘Daddy’ his eyes turned blood-red. His 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. In 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 dodged 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. His eyes were empty. He looked puzzled. I squatted to level my eyes with his. After hugging 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 ‘Thank 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. It 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 do so. It was as ridiculous as harvesting the crops and ignoring 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 elsewhere….

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! 

The 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 worker. “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. The deceased’s family is causing 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.