‘SEE YOU MORNING’ 079 Cross-Dimensional Pact

Life went on day after day, week after week. Lin Yuhui felt that if the weather dropped any further, he would probably need more clothes and bedding. It wasn't until he spoke with another colleague that he realized he wasn't the only one experiencing this. There was a young man who had also come to the Shanghai headquarters for his probation period, but he had already been working there for half a year.
Lin Yuhui figured they couldn't hire locally—no wonder, really. How many young people these days could endure living in a dormitory long-term, being on call twenty-four seven, with absolutely no personal life? His agreement with the company had been remote work, traveling irregularly with the Shenyang project lead. So, he requested to end his probation and leave Shanghai. The company agreed quickly, as there was a project in Jilin requiring on-site support. However, he first needed to accompany Tong Fei, the manager of the Shenyang project department, to Fushun to meet a client.
It was only when they shared a hotel room during a transfer in Beijing that he understood why they were struggling to hire. The man snored like thunder, and to save costs, they had to share a room. Lin Yuhui realized that doing this job meant never getting proper sleep or rest for his heart, which could be fatal.
The schedule the next day was so frantic there was barely time to eat or use the bathroom. By then, he had made up his mind to resign. He just wanted to return to his hometown, tough it out for the rest of the month, and at least get that month's salary.
Stepping out of the train station into his familiar, beloved hometown, he was hit with the reality that there were simply no jobs here for him to make a living. Riding the bus, the neon lights of the roadside shops flickered past, giving him a feeling that was both strange and familiar. It was past seven in the evening by the time he got home. Finally back in his comfortable, familiar environment, he sat down and launched a game, only for the company phone to ring again. Lin Yuhui couldn't help but lament how truly "free" his working hours were.
The on-site service the next day was at a local chemical plant. Knowing how biting the wind was in the winter suburbs, Lin Yuhui put on extra layers of cotton clothing. They had set up specialized incinerators to handle organic volatiles from the sewage tanks, and equipment layout and pipeline construction were currently underway.
Two colleagues were already on site. Upon arrival, the top priority was completing safety education and obtaining the necessary permits. Lin Yuhui noticed some tension between the two. One, a young technician, was fine, but the other, in charge of site operations, looked very robust. Whether due to lack of intelligence or a deliberate attempt to make things difficult for the other two, he kept changing demands—first this, then that. He led them on a wild goose chase through the factory area against the northwest wind, walking several kilometers for no apparent reason.
At that moment, Lin Yuhui's knee injury flared up again. He tried moving it around, attempting to adjust the joint surfaces to see if something was misaligned, but it didn't work. He had no choice but to tell the others to go ahead while he moved slowly behind them with small steps.
Lin Yuhui often wondered why his body had so many problems. He was usually careful, yet over the years, he still hadn't managed to maintain his physical condition. His left knee had been crushed in a car door, his right knee bruised; neither were major issues, but they would act up unpredictably, needing a few days of rest. He had a lumbar sprain from carrying luggage while traveling for work; he had managed to save himself on the road with kicks and stretches, preventing himself from collapsing. He suffered from chronic throat and upper respiratory infections, requiring regular antibiotics. And he had a congenital myocardial bridge causing poor blood supply; it had acted up when he was thirty-six, but thankfully, he had pulled through.
The only thing he was satisfied with was his brain. He had judgment, but he was also a natural perfectionist and kind-hearted—traits that didn't suit this filthy society. Through years of adversity, including his wife's betrayal and his parents' scolding, he had doubted himself. Was it his fault? One day, he decided to test his IQ. He found a free foreign website with a quick twenty-question test and scored 110. Not bad, at least he was normal. Then he found another site with more questions. He missed one because he didn't recognize an English word, scoring 129. Very good. Later, he took a comprehensive sixty-minute domestic test and scored 138. Excellent—just shy of being a genius, though geniuses often had tragic fates.
After resigning, that month's salary gave Lin Yuhui a bit of a financial cushion, but he was still in despair. Given his health and the current job market, there really weren't any prospects left. He even considered renting out one of his rooms, specifying "female tenants only" for safety and to solve his personal life issues. What a beautiful thought, haha. Only one person asked, and she wanted to bring her boyfriend. What was she thinking? It was a non-starter.
Another harsh winter passed. In March, the weather warmed slightly. Opening his eyes in the morning, Lin Yuhui realized he had just woken up from a dream. A beautiful woman in a white dress walked past him. In the dream, she was his university English teacher, though her face wasn't actually his teacher's. She was stunning. Anyway, in the dream, she was his teacher. Many boys followed behind her, staring at her with lecherous eyes. Lin Yuhui simply appreciated her beauty, without any lustful or malicious thoughts. As she walked past him, he noticed one of her canine teeth was very long and white, exposed outside her lips. That's when he decided she must be a fox spirit.
Lin Yuhui thought about the dream, dismissed it, and fell back asleep, only to have another dream. This time, he was in his university dorm, getting ready for the English teacher's class, but he was dawdling and nearly late. It seemed the room he was staying in was rumored to be haunted. He thought to himself, "I have done nothing wrong; what do ghosts have to do with me?" Then he woke up again.
Lin Yuhui thought about it, found it a bit strange, but didn't want to get up, so he fell asleep once more. This time, a man burst into the room—middle-aged, with terrible skin covered in pockmarks, looking like a bad guy. He said the ghost was coming. Then the door was blown open by the wind. Lin Yuhui felt some invisible force trying to control him, but he resisted with all his mental strength and wasn't taken over. But when he turned around, he saw the man had been possessed. Lin Yuhui tried to poke him with an umbrella to break the possession, but it didn't work. Then, he began to speak under the entity's control, saying, "You are the only good person." The scene switched to a beautiful woman—a fox fairy, perhaps—posing seductively, rubbing her lips against the edge of a table, looking at Lin Yuhui sideways, saying she needed his help with something. He thought, "You don't need to seduce me like that; I'm happy to help others anyway." Suddenly, the scene shifted to another beauty floating toward him, also in a white dress, with an oval face and short hair at chin length. She told Lin Yuhui to prepare a wooden empty coffin, covered with red cloth. Lin Yuhui thought, "Where am I supposed to get a coffin? My bed is wooden and hollow, but it's stuffed with clutter. Can I use my red blanket or bedspread instead?" She said nothing and drifted away slowly, her long dress flowing elegantly. Lin Yuhui chased after her asking if it was okay, but she didn't answer. He woke up from the dream again.
He had three dreams in a row that morning, and the plots seemed connected. Curious as to why, Lin Yuhui figured that since he had promised, he might as well cover his bed with the red bedspread from home.