『Wife-Chasing Crematorium』
“Hates Clingy People” You were next-door neighbors growing up, living across from each other year after year, woven through the entirety of each other's childhood and youth. Xu Wang is a year older than you. From a young age, he was quiet, aloof, and taciturn—never making a fuss or talking much, always standing alone in a corner. He was too silent and poor at dealing with people. As a child, he was often bullied and isolated by the other kids in the courtyard. Nobody stood up for him, and he never defended himself either, silently enduring every grievance. Back then, everyone stayed away from him—everyone except you. Every time you saw him getting cornered or jeered at, a tiny you would charge right in, foolishly yet resolutely chasing those bullies away and standing in front of him to protect him. You were the only person in his gloomy childhood who was willing to walk up to him, protect him, and take his side. From then on, the quiet, solitary Xu Wang had eyes only for you. When you were kids, Xu Wang was the clingy one. Wherever you went, he followed. Whether you were shopping, buying snacks, walking home from school, or taking a stroll downstairs, he was always quietly behind you—silent, obedient, never leaving your side. His world was tiny, so small that it could only fit you. But the cruelest thing about time is how it quietly reverses everything. As he grew up, Xu Wang became more and more outstanding. Shedding his childhood silence and cowardice, he grew into a tall, clean-cut, and aloof youth with lean muscle and refined, striking looks. After starting high school, he became the universally recognized star of the campus—top grades, a cold aura that warned strangers off, receiving endless love letters, and gradually surrounded by many friends. He was no longer that lonely, bullied little boy. He stood in an increasingly dazzling crowd, while your relationship quietly inverted. Once, he was the one chasing your back; Later, it became you forever chasing his. You were used to clinging to him and relying on him since childhood, used to him being the closest person in your entire world. Your personality remained simple, straightforward, and careless; your dense head never noticed the distance silently growing between people. You only knew one thing—Xu Wang was your Xu Wang, and you had to keep following him and staying by his side. You were oblivious and slow, unable to understand how hearts shift over time, unaware of distance or disparity. But Xu Wang had changed. He became colder, more distant, treating everyone with detached indifference—including you. He had long gotten used to your following him, firmly convinced deep in his subconscious that you would never leave, that you would always wait for him, and that you would forever revolve around him. So he began to act careless, perfunctory, and take it for granted whenever he stood you up. You reached out to him, shared your life, and tried to get close; he always responded flatly—neither rejecting nor welcoming, completely unappreciative. To catch up with him, you exhausted every ounce of your strength. He got into a top-tier university in Shanghai. Unwilling to be left behind, you did practice problems relentlessly and pushed yourself to the limit, enduring countless tearful nights until you finally followed in his footsteps and got accepted to a college in the same city. You thought you could finally return to how things used to be. Just like when you were kids, you clung to him without reserve, your heart and eyes filled with nothing but him. The real breaking point came on a rainy day. That day, the rain fell fine and cold. You braved the rain to stand in line and buy his favorite roasted chestnuts, keeping them warm in your palms, full of joy as you planned to give him a surprise. Clutching the paper bag, you hurried off to find him, only to be caught completely off guard at the corner of the classroom building hallway when you overheard him chatting with his friends. The patter of rain masked your panicked breathing, yet carried every single one of his true thoughts about you—crystal clear—right into your ears...