Accomplishment
"May 1st is my birthday."
Jiang Qing suddenly mentioned something irrelevant.
"That day," she looked at Jiang Qing, "my mother gave me a voice recorder as a birthday present. It was white with a shell sticker on it."
Jiang Qing's eyelashes trembled slightly as she listened silently.
"I brought it to school on May 7th. That day happened to be the monthly exam day, Thursday. I was busy with the exam and was in a hurry. I don't know when I dropped the recorder."
"Jiang Qing," she asked, "Do you know when I came here?"
That morning, Lin Nanyan looked at Jiang Qing. Everything that was wrong started from that morning.
"That morning," Jiang Qing said to herself without waiting for Jiang Qing's response, "after the recorder disappeared, I traveled through time."
Jiang Qing felt as if he was soaked in ice water. His whole body froze and he didn't even dare to think deeply about the meaning of the girl's words.
What does it mean... after the recorder disappears?
"From then on," Jiang Qing continued, "whether it was at the art museum or in Aoki Park, it was counted as a loop node."
"I chose to approach you after the art museum, but the amazing thing is, it happened three times."
There was surprise in her words, but her expression was calm.
"From the time I first met you to the time I invited you to the park, we met three times. I never found you in your class. We always met in the corridor, on campus, or wherever I was."
Jiang Qing stared at Jiang Qing and said, "You have to make things clear."
As she said before, right now, right now.
"To be more precise, it's not me who's looking for you, it's you who's wandering around me."
The girl's words fell, hitting Jiang Qing's heart hard. She moved the corners of her lips, wanting to say something, but she knew that nothing she said would be right.
Jiang Qing: "As long as I want, I can always find you nearby."
Lin Nanyan looked up at Jiang Qing. He was always surrounded by others. It would be fine if he was not noticed by the Jiang Jiang in the past, but what about the current Jiang Jiang?
Jiang Jiang, who traveled from the future to the present, Jiang Jiang, who doubted her own experiences, and Jiang Jiang, who paid attention to her surroundings, how could these constant encounters not attract attention?
Once, twice, and not three times, three times was enough for Jiang Jiang to judge and confirm.
But Jiang Qing didn't point it out. She continued making friends and holding parties as usual, as if she had never noticed.
"At first, I was surprised by your attitude. I was surprised that you knew you were going to die, and you instinctively knew that Li Qingyun was not your murderer. But I suggested it, and you still did it."
"Everything is according to my wishes and my ideas. You do whatever I say, and you just smile and say 'OK' to everything."
It was later that she gradually confirmed this discovery through repeated events.
"Jiang Qing," Jiang Qing looked at Jiang Qing and said softly, "You are just indulging me."
Indulge another person infinitely and without principles.
Jiang Qing found it hard to understand how a person's self could disappear so completely in front of another person, so completely that he became like a flexible yet obedient puppet.
"I didn't," Jiang Qing insisted, as if this would prevent others from seeing through him. "That was another Jiang Qing, she..."
"She just thought it was funny." The girl spoke a little quickly.
Jiang Qing looked at her quietly without exposing her.
"Your attitude and movements are so unusual, even those who have been watching you can see some clues."
Therefore, the future Li Qingyun knows her so well.
But at that time, she knew nothing about Jiang Qing.
Later, when she mentioned Jiang Qing's name, Li Qingyun's attitude became so abnormal, so abnormal that it seemed a little crazy.
Li Qingyun from the first timeline knew better than anyone that Jiang Qing did not know Jiang Qing.
I don’t know him, and I shouldn’t know him.
Jiang Qing: "Li Liang is the same. He calculated that I became the most crucial link in his hand."
The attempted car accident, Li Liang's subsequent aggressiveness, and Jiang Qing's words that she forced to stop, all reminded her of something.
Li Liang wanted to force Jiang Qing to tell the truth in front of her, wanted to expose everything about Jiang Qing to others, and even wanted to completely cut off Jiang Qing's will to survive.
Jiang Qing had always wondered why Li Liang was so convinced.
She didn't think that Li Liang's unnecessary actions were just done aimlessly.
Because of Jiang Qing's hidden story, and her guilt and self-blame towards her father, Jiang Qing originally thought that she had completed this logical chain.
But later she found out that there was more to it than that.
It was not until she saw the portraits covering the wall and the shocking brushstrokes that she glimpsed a paranoid and scarred soul.
She then realized that—
It’s because of her.
And Li Liang knew this very well.
Jiang Qing never thought that her existence was so important to another person, so important that it could be linked to the life and death of others.
Jiang Qing didn't understand why, but Jiang Qing understood, and Lin Nanyan understood too.
When you meet the light, it feels like you are warm too.
"At school," Jiang Qing raised her eyes, paused for a fraction of a second, and mentioned this last straw. "Is that rumor related to Yu Mushi?"
Jiang Qing was stunned.
"Is the matter between Yu Mushi and Jiang Qing the result of your indulgence?"
A cold voice sounded, and the clean and bright floor reflected the figures of two people confronting each other. During the tense conversation, the atmosphere was normal.
Mina narrowed her eyes slightly. "No matter what I say, you already have the answer in your heart."
She was noncommittal, "Isn't it?"
Ye Meiyan lowered her eyes, no longer wanting to speak, and turned to leave.
"You think—" Mina's unique, slightly lazy voice sounded behind her. She said, "Doesn't Jiang Qing know?"
Ye Meiyan stopped and turned around, her cold eyes meeting Mina's.
"Mina, not everyone has the capital to get on your chessboard, and not everyone can leave unscathed."
"You started this game, but you don't have the final say on whether it ends or not."
"It's the same for me, Jiang Qing," she said, "and for everyone else."
After saying that, she turned and strode away.
Mina looked at the girl's back, a back she had seen countless times. At this moment, she inappropriately recalled the scene of their breakup.
"You're not the only friend I have. Don't you have other friends? Stop interfering in my life!"
friend?
Mina scoffed, her eyes falling to the large pile of photos scattered on the coffee table.
Who are her friends?
Jiang Qing? Or Yu Mushi?
On the rooftop, Jiang Qing showed an ugly smile, like a ball that was swollen to the extreme and suddenly punctured, but she was completely unaware of it.
I should have thought of it earlier.
She should have thought of it as early as the moment Jiang Qing approached her, as early as the moment she wanted to kill herself but couldn't stop the course of events, as early as the moment the car accident didn't kill her.
She just didn't expect it to come so quickly, so early, and so unexpectedly.
Even changes occurred that did not happen in the first timeline.
Jiang Qing, you shouldn’t know this.
It was clearly just one step away. She looked at the stars in the sky. It was just one step away, and time would be reset.
Jiang Qing unconsciously exerted force in his hands, and his brows wrinkled slightly in the unconscious state.
Jiang Qing took the expression on the girl's face as her agreement.
"I felt that Yu Mushi's attitude was wrong in the studio before. It turns out that she had already thought of a way to deal with us at that time."
She was angry, "Jiang Qing, this is not just your problem, she is coming for both of us."
"No," Jiang Qing came back to his senses and shook his head suddenly, "It's not directed at you, and it's not something she spread."
Looking up at the girl, her eyes were slightly red.
No one understood better than her what this rumor would eventually become, and no one understood better than her where its root cause lay.
Everything she went through should not affect Jiang Qing because of her.
That is a consequence more unacceptable than death.
"Maybe..." Jiang Qing's throat was so sore that her voice gradually became rough and frictionless. "Yu Mushi knew, but she was just adding fuel to the fire. She wasn't the original source."
Is it Li Qingyun? Or Zhang Yuexuan? Or even Li Liang?
That didn't matter anymore. The only thing she knew was that if she hadn't followed Jiang Qing, if she hadn't held onto that glimmer of hope, if she hadn't expected that glimmer of dazzling light to shine on her as well, things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.
So, what is the root cause?
——In her Jiang Qing herself.
It was her, she was the one who had been enduring, enduring the bullying that was strange yet familiar to her in an unfamiliar environment; enduring being made a fool of by others; enduring having her edges deliberately smoothed over.
She kept telling herself to be patient, because of her parents' rough and deformed hands, because of the huge table of steaming hot meals when she returned home at night, and more importantly, because they had spent all their money on her.
She endured and endured, gritting her teeth and bearing it.
Until her world completely collapsed, until her father died because of her, until Jiang Qing was also implicated by her.
Before she died, she looked back on her short life and realized how pathetic and burdensome it had been.
In the past, she never gave up and would move forward as soon as she saw a glimpse of hope. Even if she looked awkward and was laughed at by others, she still wanted to climb to the end.
Then, her family suffered because of her, and Jiang Qing suffered for her.
Jiang Qing thought, she had nothing, the only thing she had was her life.
A life that so many people want is actually no big deal.
If you want it, take it.
She looked deeply at Jiang Qing, and the girl's figure was clearly reflected in her eyes.
"It has nothing to do with you, nor with Yu Mushi. I just..." Jiang Qing looked up at the sky, the stars were blinking, and she smiled, "I'm just tired of living, so I want to make others feel a little more relaxed."
"I'm such a selfish person," she asked softly, "Jiang Jiang, can you help me?"
She asked softly, and Jiang Qing could even hear the pleading tone in her words.
She was trying to persuade her to let go.
but--
"No, I can't." Jiang Qing refused expressionlessly and firmly.
Is Jiang Qing the kind of person who obeys others? No, she is also a stubborn person who is terrifyingly strong.
Lin Nanyan took two steps back calmly.
"Jiang Qing, you asked me if I could fulfill your wish. Then I also want to ask you," Jiang Qing said each word with force, "Why don't you fulfill my wish?"
Jiang Qing looked at the girl in surprise with his bloodshot eyes, and was shocked by her words.
What can a person like her do for others?
"Three times," Jiang Qing gritted her teeth and raised three fingers. "I schemed against Li Qingyun and Li Liang for your sake, and now you tell me that my final opponent is you, Jiang Qing!"
"How dare you!" Jiang Qing was furious. "How could you make such a cruel request?"
"Jiang Qing, you are a very selfish person, but I am even more selfish than you!"
She said loudly, "Why should I fulfill your wish?"
"I tell you, I won't accept it!"
"The word 'lose' doesn't exist in my dictionary."
Jiang Qing was so stunned by the yelling that he didn't know how to react.
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