I Became Empathetically Linked to a Cold, Lonely Widower's Puppet

A paper effigy shop recently opened in Songgang Garden. Its owner, Lin Fan, wears his long hair and wide sleeves with suit trousers. His beauty is otherworldly, but the chill around him is enough to make you shiver.

Shen Ci has just returned from abroad and doesn't know his way around. He borrows the restroom and is startled when a "beautiful woman" barges in.

He's brash by nature, and sparks fly as soon as he opens his mouth. Then the other person pins him against a mirror without a change in expression, forcing him to call him Dad. That's how he and Lin Fan become enemies.

Shen Ci swears he'll get even before he leaves this godforsaken place. But one night, he suddenly feels something soft and damp against his lips, and is so scared he stays awake all night.

After investigating, he discovers the source is a little wooden puppet Lin Fan carries with him.

Every night, the icy, cold-faced Lin Fan from the daytime kisses and embraces the little puppet, confiding the words he keeps buried in his heart. Sometimes he tucks it against his chest, between his thighs...

Shen Ci can't take it anymore and storms straight into the shop.

Shen Ci: Give me the puppet!

Lin Fan: You want something that belonged to a dead person?

Shen Ci: ??

Shen Ci fails to get the puppet, but from then on, every night he feels what it feels: sometimes indescribable sensations, sometimes the loneliness and grief that belong only to Lin Fan.

Gradually, he gets used to it, and even... starts to enjoy it.

After that, he visits the shop every day, and Lin Fan begins to exude an air of sensuality in his eyes.

Until one day, at the counter, Shen Ci watches Lin Fan wipe down the little puppet with a tissue and asks, "You treasure it so much. Who gave it to you?"

Lin Fan: My late husband.

Shen Ci's world falls apart.

A late husband.

He had a lover.

Even after all this time, he still loves him so much that he can't let go, day or night.

Ha.

The living are better than the dead.

Shen Ci completely loses his head, shamelessly carrying on with Lin Fan, willing to play the "lowly" third party.

Until jealousy drives him mad, and he smashes the puppet. A wisp of its soul escapes and finds the person it was reincarnated from

Shen Ci sees memories from a thousand years ago. The person pressed skin-to-skin with Lin Fan, sleeping in his arms, looks exactly like him.

After remembering everything

Shen Ci (leaning against the headboard, raising an eyebrow): I'm your late husband?

Lin Fan (coolly lifting the covers): What, you want to catch me cheating?

P.S.:

They're both completely devoted to each other. Both are each other's first and only, happy ending.

The story is told a little more from the top's perspective.

Theme: None