Cyber Ghosts

“What’s the matter with the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Garden?” Hao Ning felt something wrong when walking. The Sidney Opera House and the Big Ben in Loundon appeared in the distance, “I remember that there are no those things in the Garden. Have you misunderstood the Garden?”

“This happens after I get rich‒” Zhou Yuan explained, and he added when he saw Hao Ning’s strange eyes, “I mean my mom imagines that I become rich and I will build a new Yuanmingyuan Imperial Garden, so a lot of things are added into the Garden. In her imagination, all will cost 500 billion dollars with collaboration of 1.5 billion people.”

“It’s impossible!” Hao Ning muttered, “1.5 billion people! Are you insane? How could it be with 500 billion dollars with an average cost of over 100 dollars per person? That does not include the cost of sites and materials! Nobody will do that with so little money.”

“So little money? She imagines that I spend 1.5 billion dollars to pay the fee to 1.5 billion people, with an average of 0.1 billion dollars per person! If you get this chance, you must will come.” Zhou Yuan scratched his head and felt a little bit proud, “and it is easy to handle the issues of people. I can introduce labor from the Country Ah-san with 0.1 billion dollars per person. All will come.”

“Are you insane!” Hao Ning dragged Zhou Yuan and said seriously, “1.5 billion dollars with 0.1 billion dollars per person? Who does the account?”

“Me! What’s the problem?” Zhou Yuan answered strangely and started to count by his fingers, “look! 1.5 billion dollars for 1.5 billion people. Each person will get 0.1 billion dollars. So easy! You can’t figure it out?”

“Ha‒” Xiao Hong aside laughed, “it is lucky that we are not in a financial company, or you will sell the CEO out and you even do not notice that.”

“What’s the problem!” Zhou Yuan got a little bit crazy, “1.5 billion dollars for 1.5 billion people! Each one will get 0.1 billion exactly!” How easy the division!”

“Come on! Each one will get 1 dollar” Hao Ning felt funny and told Zhou Yuan after the old woman walked far away, “You miss the unit of 0.1 billion or 100 million! If each one gets 0.1 billion dollars, 1.5 billion dollars will get 0.2 billion dollars! Oh God! I am confused,” Hao Ning showed his phone to Zhou Yuan: “watch!”

Zhou Yuan watched the phone and got shocked: “Holy shit! So many zeros!”

“Stop counting!” Xiao Hong laughed, “it’s 1.5 billion times 1.5 billion, my great designer!”

“What the hell…” Zhou Yuan wiped his head, “so much, 500 billion dollars is not sufficient for the labor cost!”

“How brave your family is!” Hao Ning PRAISED Zhou Yuan, “your mom is so overconfident!”

Hao Ning and Xiao Hong stunned when talking and they saw a helicopter with the door opened.

“Where is my mom?” Zhou Yuan asked the servants aside.

“The Grand Madam flew away,” A servant bowed and explained, “she suddenly wants to watch the live Empresses in the Palace, so she took the private helicopter to go home. Now the imperial concubine Sun is in stage…”

“Ha, Bro Hao Ning,” Xiao Hong withheld his laugh, “you guess right exactly. She is not overconfident.”

“I surrender,” Hao Ning massaged his forehead and felt crazy, “how amazing the family is! I can’t compare them…”

“And then let’s go?” Zhou Yuan knew what Hao Ning was talking about and said nothing and pointed to the plain.

“What’s going on?” Hao Ning stared at the helicopter blankly, “where are we going?”

“We are going to my reception room!” Zhou Yuan said with a strange face, “OK, the room in my mom’s imagination, namely the Palace of Heavenly Purity.”

“Dong!” Hao Ning sat on ground, “You are the emperor?”

“What are you talking about!” Zhou Yuan blushed and said, “I am just the richest man, and um, is it not the imagination of my mom?”

“Stop bullshit!” Hao Ning sat on the ground and did not stand up. He shouted to Zhou Yuan, “there is no the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Garden! It’s common sense!”

“Don’t you remember?” Xiao Hong lowered his head and said to Hao Ning, “it is the imagination of Zhou Yuan’s mother—”

“Be polite, ok?” Zhou Yuan had been mocked by Hao Ning and Xiao Hong since they came in. Now he was at the right point and said in a pretending angry mood, “no cursing!”

“Who did I curse?” Xiao Hong laughed, “How rich the son of Zhou Yuan’s mom is! He built the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Garden! It’s not wired that 1.5 billion dollars is divided to 1.5 billion people and each one can get 0.1 billion dollars. How smart you are, Zhou Yuan?”

Zhou Yuan felt embarrassed and cursed angrily, “Let’s get in the car, no! The plane!”

“You want to get something special. How funny,” Hao Ning felt funny and stood up.

“Something’s wrong,” Hao Ning looked out of the window from the plane, “we are leaving the Garden but why do we not arrive at the emperor-level reception room? Where is your Palace of Heavenly Purity?”

“I did not build the Palace,” Zhou Yuan looked out of the window angrily.

“And then where are we going?” Xiao Hong felt confused, “now we are not in your home?”

“The Palace of Heavenly Purity is in the Imperial Palace,” Zhou Yuan looked back and explained, “I have bought the Imperial palace—in my mom’s imagination…”

“Xiao Hong, help me,” Hao Ning leaned against the window exaggeratedly, “I am in an oxygen deficit.”

“I need your help!” Xiao Hong held his neck and he seemed to be dead quickly, “my power is not sufficient! Thousand-year practice now is destroyed!”

“You two!” Zhou Yuan said in a bitter smile, “I beg to you. Don’t make fun of me!”

“Fine, let you go,” Xiao Hong looked at Zhou Yuan sympathetically, “you are good enough. He even bought the Imperial Palace to your mom! It’s not an easy task.”

“Hey, where is Zhou Yuan’s mom?” Hao Ning asked strangely, “your servant said she took the helicopter to the sky, and now, where is she?”

“Her room,” Zhou Yuan looked out of the window, “the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.”

“She is the empress dowager…” Hao Ning sighed, “ah, what does her plain look like? She took another helicopter?”

“No!” Zhou Yuan said in the accent of Beijing city and seemed he was in the capital. “She won’t take such low-level tools. She took the space shuttle.”

“Space shuttle? That is used by spaceman!” Hao Ning got crazy, “She takes that to her room?”

“There must be some differences between the imagined world and the reality,” Xiao Hong couldn’t stop laughing even if she promised not to laugh at Zhou Yuan, “The Grand Madam wanted to be richer than other people, even in the vehicle. The spaceship definitely takes her to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.”

As expected, the plane filed for a whole in the sky and landed on a square. After they landed, they found that the white railings carved by white marble were in front of them. Looking forward, a huge hall stood upright. There was a big horizontal inscribed board on the door of the hall, which read three big characters: Qian Qing Palace (the Palace of Heavenly Purity).

“Ah?” Hao Ning looked at the horizontal inscribed board and felt strange. He pointed at the board and asked Zhou Yuan, “the board in the emperor’s office. It is so…! I can’t describe it well!”

“Yes, I can’t find it if you do not mention it,” Xiao Hong looked at it carefully and found that it was not made of wood but by polyfoam with painted gold lacquer. Xiao Hong said, “Zhou Yuan, you bought a knockoff and it seemed that the board was fake too?”

“It is absolutely not a knockoff,” Zhou Yuan saw these two keep studying the board and said with a bitter smile, “the Palace of Heavenly Purity is not the imagination of your mom? She has not been to the real Imperial Palace so that those images are created according to those TV plays with low quality and cost. They are absolutely fake!”

“I see…” Xiao Hong could not help but laugh, “your mom is so smart,” and then Xiao Hong turned to Hao Ning, “let’s go. Let’s have a look at this Palace!”

“I can’t believe,” Hao Ning praised the scene unwillingly, “that it is my first time to visit the Imperial Palace and it should be the imagination of Zhou Yuan’s mom.”

“Disgusting,” Zhou Yuan had a glimpse at Hao Ning and he knew Hao Ning was making fun of him. He said, “let’s go and try to find the solution inside.”

When all came in, they found Zhou Yuan’s mom was sitting on the throne.

“Untie?” Hao Ning asked strangely, “Why are you sitting here instead of the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. Do you want to attend the state affairs?”

“Ah, you prince, stop making fun of me,” the old lady smiled, “you are funnier than the president of America yesterday who is fat and golden-hair, just like that he eats too many golden monkeys—”

Hao Ning did not get stunned by the lady’s words and shrug his shoulders. He continued the imagination of the lady.

“At present, we are in civilization with happy and content life and work. Who will miss the days of the feudal dynasty?” The old lady walked down with a smile, “Who wants to be an emperor? All the people beside me won’t agree with that!”

“Haha, you are right!” Hao Ning praised her words unwillingly.

“All the people beside me?” You were not one of us? Why did you separate you and us people? If you really did not agree with that, why did you live in the Imperial Palace and play in the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Garden? What did you want to do?”

“But Yuan, listen,” the old lady added, “look at the son of the WS president. He is so great to have two sons in his young age. Back to you, you are old enough even without a girlfriend. I am worried about you. Look at the two kings from Tianzhu the other day. They become kings at their young ages. Back to you, you are only the richest man in our country. How different you are! Don’t say that I chatter. All I do is good for your future. Look at the place we live in! Eh, I hear that the kings’ house has the gold-made floor in Tianzhu!”

“Actually, she thinks lightly of each girl friend of Zhu Yuan,” Zhou Yuan explained to Xiao Hong and Hao Ning secretly. Zhou Yuan answered to his mom, “I know mom. I’ll work harder.”

“Where is Tianzhu?” Xiao Hong felt strange, “isn’t it the present Ah-san? Your mom doesn’t know this? I, as a dirty ass boy in Journey to the West, know that.”

“My mom cares little about international news and she knows Ah-san only from the TV play Journey to the West.” Zhou Yuan said secretly, “so there is only Ah-san in the TV play.”

“And then the Jade Emperor has come to visit your mom?” Hao Ning laughed to ask, “she even can fly into the sky, right? She said just now that there was no emperor, so the president in heaven will be elected by your mom?”

“Ah, what are you talking about?” the old lady seemed to hear something, and she pointed to Hao Ning and asked, “elect what?”

Hao Ning tittered, “I mean—” He was about to repeat the words he said just now, but he saw that Zhou Yuan shook his hands heavily. So, he said: “I mean Mom loves her son, and she always thinks too far for her son!” Hao Ning saw that Zhou Yuan scratched his forehead and showed his thumb to praise Hao Ning.

The old lady laughed: “oh, so it is! I am a humble woman, so is my house…”

Just the moment the old lady said that, Hao Ning and Xiao Hong felt vertiginous and they held each other quickly.

The old lady did not see that scene and said: “I was about to go back to the next-door the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility to enjoy the show, but suddenly a thing came into my mind—Yuan, the prince of L’Oreal—”

“The prince of the European Union!” Zhou Yuan corrected her words, “L’Oreal is a brand.”

“Oh! You even do not listen to my words!” The old lady cried after she heard his words. She cried loudly, “I paid much energy and heart to raise you and hoped you could be a great person. I said nothing even if I knew that your dad has affairs with other women. All I do is for you. I would divorce as early as possible if you were not by my side. Oh, I am so unlucky! I gave birth to you this betrayer. You would leave me alone if I got sick. How poor my life is! …”

The old lady said those words as she sat on the ground. The tree crotch fell on the ground and tore her clothes apart. The old lady continued to cry. Hao Ning and Xiao Hong knew the whole thing, but someone who did not get involved in this issue must believe Zhou Yuan had done something very bad to his mom. They saw the crying old lady who sat on the ground, but they did not plan to comfort the old lady.

“It’s my fault! It’s my fault!” Zhou Yuan got panic and admitted his fault, “mom, please stand up. Yes, it is L’Oreal.”

“Yuan, the prince of L’Oreal,” Just in a flash, the old lady stood in front of them with her tidy clothes. She said with a smile, “does he come to borrow money just like the Dibai Prince? Yuan—”

“How perfect the acting skills of the old lady is!” Hao Ning and Xiao Hong stunned and looked at each other. The change in a flash, the perfect acting in the world! Hao Ning felt strange about the lady’s words and asked: “Dibai prince borrows your money?”

Hao Ning did not notice that he made a mistake. The old lady glared at Hao Ning and instantly fell down on the ground. She cried: “I am so unlucky to raise such a bad son. Why even can his friend break in my words. My son is so incompetent, and he has such a bad friend. I divorced with his dad for my son. I just lived in good days for only a few days and his friend cursed that I would die!”

“What the hell is that!” Hao Ning felt angry and got irritated. He did not get annoying by the cry of this old lady but by her words “I divorced his dad for my son. I just lived in good days for only a few days”, which was so funny for Hao Ning. The old lady thought that it was a nice thing to divorce.

How weird her thought was! Divorce is due to the unhappy life with her husband, not due to the kids. Zhou Yuan was very upset by this matter!

Hao Ning thought this too, but he knew that he was a little bit impulsive, so he wouldn’t speak that out.

“Hao—Hao Ning, please do me a favor?” Zhou Yuan got panic, “could you admit your fault?”

“What fault to admit? Don’t admit!” Hao Ning became more outrageous by Zhou Yuan’s timid behavior. Hao Ning said in a cold voice, “I dare to break in the words of Avalokitesvara, and there is nothing to fear!”

“Ah, my old sweetheart! Please don’t worry. I will be with you soon,” The old lady cried immediately after she heard Hao Ning’s words. Hao Ning heard the sound of water, and they found that the ocean appeared in the ground in front of the door with fierce waves. They turned back to find that the crying old lady had stood up and walked towards the ocean. Zhou Yuan could not pull her back. The old lady cried while walking, “My son is not filial, and my husband has fallen in love with others. I don’t want to be alive anymore!”

“Hao Ning! I am begging you!” Zhou Yuan held the hands of the old lady and lay on the ground, “Please admit your fault! Please, my bro!”

“It’s my fault! Auntie,” Hao Ning regretted to be here and said unwillingly, “I should not have broken in your words.”

“Yuan, the prince of L’Oreal,” Just in a flash, the old lady stood in front of them with her tidy clothes. She said with a smile, “does he come to borrow money just like the Dibai Prince?”

All got speechless. Is it when the old lady got back in front of them?

“Well, no,” Zhou Yuan said carefully, “we came here to talk about something.”

“OK, fine.” The old lady said and walked away, “Dibai can borrow my money because it is rich. However, the European Union. I have heard that it is not a peaceful land. Iran and Saddam…”

“Iran and Saddam—” Hao Ning was about to say. Suddenly he saw the old lady look back and asked those people, “do you guys hear something?”

“No, No, No,” Hao Ning said before Hao Ning answered. Hao Ning feared that the old lady acted the scene again and he did not want to admit fault again. He wiped his forehead and said, “we are listening to your words silently?”

“Fine,” the old lady continued to walk forward, “do not lend money to the prince of L’Oreal and just give them money. We do not lack this little money. The Dibai Prince borrowed 50000 billion dollars from us. You can give thousands of billions of dollars to the prince L’Oreal if you two are in a good relationship. Do not ask them to pay back. You keep chatting and I will go to the next door.”

The old lady turned and left.

“The next door is the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility?” Hao Ning came outside curiously and found the next door of the Palace of Heavenly Purity was the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, just like the conjoint villa in some housing estate. I did not know the imagination of the old lady was rich or poor.

“How?” Zhou Yuan saw the old lady walk away and sat on the ground. He clutched his hair and got crazy, “what could I do!”

“Interesting…” Xiao Hong looked at the front door and said strangely, “so interesting, extremely interesting.”

“What do you mean?” Hao Ning asked Xiao Hong. Hao Ning suddenly remembered something and covered his mouth. He looked at Xiao Hong on the alert.

“What’s wrong with you?” Xiao Hong felt strange when she found Hao Ning was so nervous, “am I going to eat you?”

“I am not scared that you eat me,” Hao Ning shook his head at ease, “I am afraid you cry to jump into the sea due to my interruption just like the old lady.”

“Zhou Yuan,” Xiao Hong knew that Hao Ning was making fun of Zhou yuan and turned back to ask Zhou him, “I have bad news and worse news. Which one do you want to know?”

“The good—eh?” Zhou Yuan said with his head lowering and raised his head to look at Xiao Hong, “where is the good news?”

“Which one?” Xiao Hong continued to ask.

“The bad one.” Zhou Yuan sighed.

“I may have methods to pull your mom back to reality,” Xiao Hong added after she found Zhou Yuan was excited, “but I do not know if the method can work or not!”

“The worse news is,” Xiao Hong squinted and looked out of the door, “If your mom gets back to reality and accepts the reality, matter does not end and even gets worse.”

“Why?” Zhou Yuan’s eyes got bigger.

“Because your mom’s soul,” Xiao Hong shook his head, ” maybe sick.”