June 3, 2012.
Jian Mengyan walked forward in a daze.
Jingjing was ahead.
As she walked, she noticed someone sitting by the riverbank, hair loosely tied, hugging their knees.
Jingjing…
Before Jian Mengyan could call out, a thin figure appeared beside Ding Jing, bending down as if speaking to her. In the next second, the figure stood up and pushed Ding Jing into the river.
“Jingjing!”
Jian Mengyan tried to run forward, but her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground.
She didn’t have the strength to get up.
She could only watch helplessly as the person on the bridge, whose face was obscured by the darkness, disappeared.
Why?
Why kill Jingjing?
Such a kind Jingjing…
——
Jian Mengyan woke up in a fright, disoriented and confused, only to find herself being held by Zou Shuyang.
Sensing her rapid breathing, Zou Shuyang asked, “Had a nightmare? You were still scared, weren’t you?”
After taking a few deep breaths, Jian Mengyan quickly oriented herself.
It turned out she was still in the car with Zou Shuyang and Xiao Tang. Somehow, she had fallen asleep.
Listening to Zou Shuyang’s comforting voice above her, Jian Mengyan raised a hand to cover his mouth. “Alright, alright, Zou Dad, I get it. I promise not to do anything to make you worry anymore, okay?”
After that, she said, “I just dreamed about something that happened before.”
Pushing Zou Shuyang away, Jian Mengyan leaned against the car door and rubbed her eyes. “June 3rd, 2012—the day Jingjing died.”
The car suddenly came to a halt, and Xiao Tang quickly turned around from the driver’s seat. “What did you say? Ding Jing died?”
Jian Mengyan looked at Xiao Tang’s still perfectly fine waist and gave him a silent thumbs up.
Ah, youth.
“Yes, Jingjing died. She’s been dead for ten years now.”
Jian Mengyan said, “Ten years ago, I saw with my own eyes someone pushing Jingjing into the river.”
Though her tone carried sorrow, upon closer inspection, one could see that her eyes were filled with nothing but indifference.
Zou Shuyang sighed and gently patted her head.
Even though Jian Mengyan and Ding Jing had been close friends, it had been so many years since they last saw each other. How much of that bond could possibly remain?
Jian Mengyan’s sadness when mentioning Ding Jing now was probably just grief over the passing of an old friend.
The more he thought this, the more Zou Shuyang’s heart ached for Jian Mengyan. The six-foot-tall man found his eyes turning red from holding back tears.
Jian Mengyan: …
“Wait, A-Yang, what are you doing? I’m not even crying. Don’t tell me you’re about to cry.”
His feelings of pity abruptly halted, and Zou Shuyang closed his eyes, turning to look out the window.
Noticing Zou Shuyang’s embarrassment, Jian Mengyan couldn’t help but laugh quietly. Feeling the atmosphere getting more somber, she quickly tried to coax him, “Alright, alright, I know you’re just worried about me.”
Forcefully turning his head back toward her, Jian Mengyan smiled. “You don’t need to feel sad for me. Even though I can remember things from the past, it’s like…”
She thought hard for a moment before finding the right words. “It’s like watching a movie. I know the plot, but I find it hard to connect emotionally.”
Xiao Tang, twisting his neck painfully in the driver’s seat, still hadn’t gotten any information about Ding Jing’s death but had instead been fed a mouthful of dog food.
In a small voice, he said, “Team Leader, Sister Meng, shouldn’t we be talking about Ding Jing’s death right now?”
Jian Mengyan thought for a moment before asking, “Are we heading to the station, or should I just talk about it here?”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Tang glanced at Zou Shuyang, who remained silent. With no other option, he fumbled for his law enforcement recorder, setting it up properly before saying, “Alright, Sister Meng, you can talk here.”
Giving Xiao Tang a look of approval, Jian Mengyan recounted the dream she had just had.
At the end of her retelling, she sighed regretfully, “It’s a pity it was so dark that night, and the streetlights weren’t great either. Jiangzhou Bridge hadn’t been rebuilt yet, so I couldn’t see the person’s face clearly.”
“But even so, this is still a big help to us.” Xiao Tang packed up the recorder, sighing, “I didn’t expect Ding Jing to actually be dead.”
Xiao Tang had followed Ding Jing’s disappearance case from the start, so he knew a lot about her life.
To be described by most people as a “decent person” she must have been quite admirable, right?
What a shame.
“By the way, Mengmeng, you said that ten years ago, while you were walking, you ran into Lin Shaohuai?”
Jian Mengyan nodded, deep in thought. “Back then, I didn’t think much of it, but looking back now… Lin Shaohuai’s appearance was too much of a coincidence.”
“It was raining really hard that day, and he lived far away. He wasn’t normally that enthusiastic.”
Her face growing pale from her own speculation, Jian Mengyan raised her head, her throat tight. “Do you think that maybe Lin Shaohuai knew what happened to Jingjing? Do you think Jingjing’s death might be related to him?”
——
After parting ways with Jian Mengyan, Lin Shaohuai didn’t head straight home. Instead, he returned to the office.
To be fair, Lin Shaohuai was probably the most successful of all of Jian Mengyan’s classmates.
At just under thirty years old, he had already become an executive at a major corporation.
Those on par with him were either much older, having climbed the ranks through seniority, or had family connections that helped them leapfrog over the competition.
“President Lin.”
“President Lin.”
Colleagues he passed greeted him respectfully, and even a few interns looked at him with admiration in their eyes.
Such treatment was nothing new to Lin Shaohuai.
Ever since that incident, his life had been like a green light, smooth sailing all the way.
To put it bluntly, Lin Shaohuai felt like he was a character straight out of a rags-to-riches web novel.
After nodding to the colleagues greeting him, Lin Shaohuai headed straight for the top floor.
The top floor housed the office of the company’s big boss.
Their boss wasn’t just wealthy—he was one of the top second-generation heirs in Jiangzhou. On top of that, he was competent and had even been named one of Jiangzhou’s top ten outstanding young people.
As soon as he entered the office, Lin Shaohuai flopped onto the sofa by the window, his not-so-tall frame sinking awkwardly into the cushions in a strange and uncomfortable position.
The young man behind the desk glanced at Lin Shaohuai before lowering his head again to review the endless financial reports. “You’re back? Did everything go smoothly?”
Lin Shaohuai snorted, “Of course it went smoothly. I mean, come on, I personally went out to handle it. Do you really think I wouldn’t be able to deal with a high school teacher?”
The man raised an eyebrow at Lin Shaohuai before returning his gaze to the reports. “So Jian Mengyan hasn’t remembered anything?”
Lin Shaohuai nodded confidently. “She hasn’t remembered. I tested her specifically—her reactions were completely natural.”
“But now that you mention it,” Lin Shaohuai scratched his fingers, “it seems like Zhong Langming has been targeted by someone. He called me last night, but after I answered, he didn’t say anything. It gave me a weird feeling.”
The man switched to a new report, his tone indifferent. “Is that so? Then deal with it. Just don’t make it too obvious.”
Hearing the man’s casual tone, Lin Shaohuai grumbled, “Now? Isn’t that too obvious?”
Before the man could respond, the door was pushed open, and his secretary walked in, frowning. “Boss, Zhong Langming and Chen Fang have been taken away by the police.”
“Click.”
The pen in the man’s hand dropped onto the desk, and Lin Shaohuai shot up from the sofa. “What did you say?”
The secretary repeated in a steady voice, “Zhong Langming and Chen Fang have been taken away by the police.”
Lin Shaohuai collapsed back onto the sofa, his energy seemingly drained. He muttered to himself, “They’ve been… arrested?”
Then, stumbling to the man’s desk, he grabbed his sleeve, pleading, “They’ve been arrested. They’ll definitely give me up. You have to help me! I only did all of this because you told me to.”
At that moment, Lin Shaohuai was a completely different person from the one he had been just a minute ago.
The man slowly pried Lin Shaohuai’s fingers off his sleeve, turning his head upward. His calm, detached expression looked even more frightening under the lights.
“Lin Shaohuai, don’t make yourself out to be so innocent. Without me, do you think you’d be living this good life now?”
Seeing Lin Shaohuai’s lips move as if he wanted to say something, the man chuckled. “And before you do anything stupid, remember your family.”
Those words made Lin Shaohuai take a step back.
Looking at Lin Shaohuai’s stunned expression, the man smirked. “Lin Shaohuai, all those dirty deeds have nothing to do with me. You’re the one who arranged for Shen Tinglan to be killed, who pressured Zhong Langming, who did all that. Oh, and let’s not forget Ding Jing—weren’t you the one who lured her out that night?”
“But… but…” Lin Shaohuai stammered, slumping to the floor in shock. After a long pause, he looked up at the man, whispering, “But all of this was your doing. You had the money…”
The man nodded. “Exactly. I have money.”
Giving his secretary a look, the man watched as Lin Shaohuai was dragged out of the room, sneering. “You know what kind of person I am, so don’t try to drag me into this. If you make me unhappy, well, who knows what might happen to that newlywed sister of yours, or your mother still in the hospital.”
The struggling Lin Shaohuai froze at those words, then stared wide-eyed at the man.
How could he do this?
Weren’t they best friends?
Why? Why would he do this to him?
It wasn’t until the secretary closed the door behind him that Lin Shaohuai seemed to snap back to reality. He turned around and grabbed the secretary’s pant leg, begging, “Please help me! Ask the boss for mercy. We’ve been best friends for years—he wouldn’t just sit back and watch me die. Please, I’m begging you.”
The secretary looked down at the man groveling at his feet, then crouched and patted his cheek. “Exactly because you’ve been friends with the boss for so long, you should know how the Hao family operates, right?”
As Lin Shaohuai’s face grew paler, the secretary smiled faintly. “If you’re smart and keep your mouth shut, maybe the boss will take care of your family for you, out of the kindness of his heart.”
Be my Patron ~ Buy me Ko-Fi
✨Be a part of the story – support my translations✨
✨Buy me some Ko-FI | Paypal to support my effort✨
✨✨Advance chapter at Patreon✨✨
