June 4, 2012.
The rain finally stopped, and the sun made a rare appearance, peeking out from behind the thick clouds.
Jian Mengyan walked under the setting sun, hugging herself and shivering slightly. She had almost covered the entire West District but still hadn’t found Shen Tinglan.
Where did he go?
Just as Jian Mengyan was about to give up, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. In the distance, she spotted Shen Tinglan, and her eyes lit up instantly.
But…
She glanced at the construction site nearby, confused as to why her teacher would be there.
However, that wasn’t important.
Jian Mengyan cheerfully raised her hand, about to call out to Shen Tinglan, but her hand froze in mid-air.
She saw one of her classmates bump into Shen Tinglan, then charge toward him.
Jian Mengyan was stunned, a strangled, meaningless sound escaping her throat.
Then she saw Shen Jun push Shen Tinglan to the ground, pick up a stone from somewhere, and smash it against Shen Tinglan’s head—again and again.
In that instant, all Jian Mengyan could see was red.
A world filled with red.
“Teacher?”
In that moment, her world crumbled.
——
May 31, 2022.
“Teacher!”
Jian Mengyan jolted awake from her dream, screaming.
The sky was already dark, and the hospital room was quiet, with the muffled sounds of people talking filtering in through the door.
In the darkness, Jian Mengyan let out a long sigh, whispering softly, “Teacher…”
After a while, the hospital room door opened, and Director Zhong quietly walked in. Adjusting his glasses in the dim light from the hallway, he asked, “You’re awake?”
Jian Mengyan stared at Director Zhong for a long moment without responding.
As if anticipating her reaction, Director Zhong chuckled warmly, closed the door, and turned on the light. “No one’s here. Your boyfriend had to go out for something this morning, and he hasn’t returned yet. Don’t worry.”
Jian Mengyan remained silent.
Director Zhong clicked his tongue softly. “No need to be so cold. You know I wouldn’t betray you.”
Jian Mengyan shot him a cold look.
Director Zhong, unfazed, kept smiling. “For example, I won’t reveal that your memory loss is completely fake. After all…”
“Dr. Zhong!” Jian Mengyan interrupted suddenly, her expression icy. “Watch your words.”
Director Zhong smiled pleasantly. “Alright, alright. I’ll be careful. I won’t say anything more. But, Jian Mengyan, times are changing, and with inflation going up, don’t you think you should raise the price for me keeping your secret?”
Jian Mengyan looked at him, her voice hard. “What are you talking about, Dr. Zhong? I don’t understand.”
Director Zhong sighed. “You’re pretending not to remember anything, but then you give your boyfriend hints at crucial moments. What exactly do you want him to find out? Where is your dear friend now? Or who really killed your high school teacher? As someone who has a bit of history with you, let me give you some advice: don’t get involved in these matters. The person behind all of this might be too powerful for you to handle.”
Jian Mengyan remained silent, her gaze still cold as she stared at Director Zhong.
After a long pause, Director Zhong sighed as if conceding. “Your boyfriend seems to genuinely care about you. Last night, he stayed by your side without rest. If he realizes you’ve been using him, he might resent you.”
Jian Mengyan turned her head away. “That’s none of your concern, Dr. Zhong.”
Seeing her like this, Director Zhong could only shake his head helplessly. “Alright, since you’re so determined, I won’t insist. But are you sure you don’t want to reconsider raising the price? Otherwise, I might just let everyone know that you never really lost your memory.”
Jian Mengyan’s expression remained cold, and she didn’t say a word.
Director Zhong made a show of leaving, but when he reached the door and saw that Jian Mengyan hadn’t stopped him, he snorted and opened the door to leave.
However, the moment he opened the door, he found Zou Shuyang leaning against the wall outside, his expression unreadable. It was unclear how much he had overheard.
“Mr. Zou.” Director Zhong greeted him.
Zou Shuyang lifted his gaze slightly. “Dr. Zhong, I didn’t know you were involved in Mengmeng’s care. I thought you weren’t her primary doctor?”
Director Zhong’s expression didn’t falter. “Jian Mengyan is like a good luck charm for me, so naturally, I’ve been paying more attention to her case.”
Whether Zou Shuyang believed him or not wasn’t clear. He just nodded and brushed past Director Zhong, entering Jian Mengyan’s hospital room.
Jian Mengyan was half-leaning against the headboard, her head slightly lowered, lost in thought.
Hearing the sound of someone entering, she lifted her head and smiled faintly when she saw Zou Shuyang. “Why didn’t you come in earlier?”
Zou Shuyang gently touched her forehead. “I was taking a moment to collect myself.”
“Collect yourself?” Jian Mengyan chuckled. “What happened? Why would you need to do that?”
She reached for Zou Shuyang’s large hand, gently rubbing it.
Zou Shuyang stared at her lowered head for a long while before saying, “There’s still no news about the person who attacked you. We checked the surveillance around your home, but either the cameras were broken, or nothing was caught on them.”
His expression turned a bit strange. “But Mengmeng, we did find footage of a man entering your house at around 8 o’clock. Who is he?”
Jian Mengyan stared at the small mole on Zou Shuyang’s face for a moment before suddenly smiling.
She laughed for a while before finally stopping. “What? Are you jealous?”
Zou Shuyang blinked, looking a bit dumbfounded.
Jian Mengyan reached out to touch his face, poking his cheek. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. He’s a doctor.”
“A doctor?”
Jian Mengyan laughed again. “Didn’t I tell you before that my high school memories are a bit hazy?”
Retrograde amnesia.
Those words flashed through Zou Shuyang’s mind.
Jian Mengyan explained, “I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I started wondering if maybe I do know something about the case you’ve been investigating. So, I called a doctor to come and check on me.”
“And this person is…?”
“Oh, his name is Yin Zhuo.” Jian Mengyan smiled. “I met him during a multinational project back in college.”
It made sense, and her expression seemed entirely natural.
Zou Shuyang quietly suppressed the strange feeling that had begun to rise within him.
“The person who attacked you is likely connected to the case we’re investigating, so your case has now been transferred to our team.”
Jian Mengyan nodded, her gaze fixed on Zou Shuyang. She didn’t seem overly concerned about the attack on her.
“Mengmeng!” Zou Shuyang felt both worried and helpless at her attitude. “You can’t keep acting like you don’t care. You’ve been targeted by a killer with over a dozen victims.”
Jian Mengyan rested her head on Zou Shuyang’s shoulder, playfully saying, “I’m not indifferent. I just feel safe with you by my side.”
Seeing that his expression softened, Jian Mengyan continued to flatter him without missing a beat. “You’re the second crime-solving genius to emerge in Jiangzhou after He Yushan. With the vice-captain of the Jiangzhou City West Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit, Zou Shuyang, by my side, who would dare to act so arrogantly?”
Zou Shuyang lightly tapped her on the forehead. “You’re flattering me a bit too much, and isn’t that title a bit too long?”
Jian Mengyan laughed, leaning softly against him, making Zou Shuyang’s heart feel impossibly tender.
“By the way, Mengmeng, what was it you wanted to tell me before the attack?”
Jian Mengyan, who had been playing with Zou Shuyang’s hand, suddenly froze. After a moment, she released his hand and sat up. “I wanted to tell you that I remembered something about Jingjing.”
Seeing Zou Shuyang’s eyes light up with excitement, Jian Mengyan shrank back slightly and held her fingers a short distance apart. “But it’s only a little bit. You should prepare yourself.”
Zou Shuyang nodded.
Their understanding of Ding Jing was still too vague and fragmented. Even though they knew Ding Jing was at the center of everything, they were still grasping at straws when it came to the details.
For instance, Ding Jing’s boyfriend.
They had spent the day interviewing Ding Jing’s teachers, classmates, and even her parents, who were still in prison.
But they had found nothing.
Even Xiao Tang was starting to doubt whether the information about Ding Jing having a boyfriend was true.
Seeing Zou Shuyang’s expectant gaze, Jian Mengyan cleared her throat. “I remembered that after Ding Jing’s family went bankrupt, she lived in this old, rundown house. She said it was rented, but the landlord was a kind old man who felt sorry for her being a young girl on her own. He refused to charge her rent.”
Zou Shuyang nodded. “Do you remember where she lived?”
Jian Mengyan looked at Zou Shuyang, then took a deep breath. “That’s the scary part.”
“Scary?”
“Do you remember the person who jumped off the building that day?”
Zou Shuyang nodded. How could he forget?
Jian Mengyan fell silent.
Zou Shuyang froze for a moment before suddenly standing up, unable to control his voice as he exclaimed, “Are you saying that after Ding Jing’s family went bankrupt, she lived at the scene where Cheng Hao jumped?”
Jian Mengyan nodded. “I visited a few times. The landlord was indeed kind, but the landlord’s son wasn’t so friendly. He would cause us trouble occasionally.”
“The landlord’s son?”
Jian Mengyan tilted her head, thinking for a moment, before finally giving up with a frustrated sigh. “I can’t quite remember him. I just know he was a boy around our age.”
A boy, the same age!
For some reason, Zou Shuyang suddenly thought of what Principal Sun had mentioned—how Ding Jing had been assaulted in the school’s storage room.
Although it was unscientific and baseless to connect this boy with that incident…
“Ah-Yang, do you think…” Jian Mengyan tugged Zou Shuyang back to sit on the bed and resumed playing with his hand. “What really happened to Jingjing back then? Why can’t I remember?”
Words of comfort caught in Zou Shuyang’s throat.
Jian Mengyan’s parents were successful business people, which meant they were rarely home. Though she had never lacked for material things growing up, she had always been emotionally lonely.
When she finally found a good friend in high school and had a teacher who treated her like his own daughter, who could have known it would end like this?
Director Zhong had said that Jian Mengyan’s retrograde amnesia had been caused by the trauma of witnessing the death of her teacher, whom she saw as a father figure.
She had been so young back then, burdened with so much.
Zou Shuyang sighed and gently embraced her. When Jian Mengyan looked up at him, his eyes were red as he promised, “Don’t worry, I will uncover the truth of what happened back then.”
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