memory
"He died before...?"
"Yes, that's why your student status has been cancelled." Lin Nanyan took the girl's hand. "It's not your fault, it's not my fault, and it's not the fault of anyone else present."
"Sooner or later, it will come."
"Sooner or later..." Jiang Qing muttered, "She must be in so much pain after dying so many times."
"I asked her out." Her entire face seemed to be soaked in the tide, wet and never drying up. "If I hadn't asked her out, would...would the senior have left later?"
"Jiang Jiang," Lin Nanyan called her, "that was a man-made conspiracy. When it happened depends on the murderer, not you or Senior Sister."
"In this world, victims are innocent. No matter what they have done, at the moment of being hurt, they do not need to examine whether their behavior is appropriate."
He said, "Jiang Jiang, it's the murderer who should reflect on himself, not you or me."
The boy's face was slightly warmed by the light. Jiang Qing looked at him, her eyes slowly turning, "You're right, find the murderer."
She quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hands, "If you want to find the murderer, find him first."
"Since he committed crimes in every timeline, the police must have information about him. I'll ask Brother Song Qing, he must know. Where's my phone? My phone..."
A familiar cell phone was handed to her, and she quickly grabbed it, eagerly opened the screen, and made a call.
"Beep--" the phone rang but no one answered. She couldn't help but bite her nails anxiously.
Just when she thought the call was about to be hung up, the other end finally picked up.
"Jiang..." Song Qing was interrupted before he could finish his words.
"Brother Song Qing, sorry to bother you. Do you remember a girl named Jiang Qing who was one grade above me in our school? Jiang means river water, Qing means relaxed. I'd like to ask if you have any information about her case?"
The girl's voice was hoarse and rapid, and his brain, which had just been awakened, instantly became clear. He got up, took out a piece of paper from the drawer, and took notes with a pen.
"Jiang Jiang, don't be impatient. Talk slowly. I'm listening."
"Jiang Qing, female, 2015 graduate of Jiangyuan No. 1 Middle School, student ID XXX. Okay, I've taken note of this person's information," Song Qing put down his pen. "What happened to her? Why are you looking for her?"
"She was my senior, and we had a good relationship. I just recently found out that she..." Jiang Qing pursed her lips, her voice dry, "was murdered. I want to know what happened to her."
Song Qing instinctively noticed that there were many loopholes in Jiang Qing's words. She seemed to be hiding something, but the girl's emotions sounded obviously abnormal. He was silent for a moment.
"Jiang Jiang, you should know that I'm not a police officer. I can ask my friends about this case for you, but I can only ask for information that is publicly available. Some information is confidential to non-stakeholders according to regulations. Sorry."
Jiang Qing quickly responded: "It doesn't matter, what I know is enough for public information."
She just wanted to confirm whether it was that man, the man she had only met once, and whether he was the murderer.
Song Qing: "Okay, then I'll ask for you tomorrow. It's late today, you should go to bed early."
"Thank you, and thank you for your trouble, Brother Song Qing."
Jiang Qing hung up the phone and turned to look at the sky outside the window.
"Lin Nanyan, do you think we can wait until tomorrow?" she suddenly asked. "I want Song Qing to help me ask tonight, but checking the files has to wait until tomorrow at the latest, right?"
Lin Nanyan could sense the fear and anxiety hidden deep in the girl's heart. He asked, "Do you remember the time we went back the second time?"
"The second time..."
Jiang Qing remembered that when she came back that time, Song Yao had been blocked at the entrance of the alley, but when she returned, the girl had not yet reached the alley.
"Time is running backwards!"
Her eyes suddenly lit up. "If that's the case, we'll definitely be able to catch up with Senior before she dies next time we go back."
Lin Nanyan nodded, "You're right, don't worry, take your time, we still have time."
He stood up and brought another cup of hot water from the kitchen, handing it to Jiang Qing, "Moisten your throat."
The warm water flowed down Jiang Qing's thirsty throat, and the subtle chaos, restlessness, dullness and pain seemed to be buried deep in her heart.
The veil that obscured her mind disappeared, and her brain was clearer than ever before.
Jiang Qing took the hot towel handed to her by Lin Nanyan and covered her face with it. She was so dehydrated that when the water came pouring down, her skin gave a stinging warning, but Jiang Qing didn't care at all.
She stood up, took out a bottle of moisturizing cream from under the coffee table, and patted it on her face while looking at the man next to her.
His facial features were still the same, but after years of baptism, he seemed more mature and reserved, his eyebrows and eyes were extremely calm, but he was still the person she was familiar with.
"You said you were going back too?" Jiang Qing asked casually.
"Yes," Lin Nanyan placed the washed strawberries on a fruit bowl and pushed it in front of Jiang Qing. "To be precise, my memory has returned."
As if noticing the girl's confusion, he tapped his head with his index finger.
"Two unfamiliar memories suddenly popped up here," he said calmly, "My brain has been tampered with, like seeing flowers in the fog. In that sudden recollection, only your behavior deviated from the established trajectory."
"Then I'm different from you," Jiang Qing mused. "I really did go back to the past, where I met your younger self, Ye Meiyan, Song Shuang, Wang Huacheng, Chen Heng, and...Senior Jiang Qing."
"I see. I was wondering why you didn't seem to be abnormal at seventeen since you went back with me. It turns out you're different from me."
Jiang Qing was both disappointed and relieved.
Yes, it was enough for her to experience those things alone. After all...it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
Lin Nanyan turned and left: "Where is the medicine box?"
"Here, in the second drawer of the square wooden table." Jiang Qing watched the boy stand up. She stuffed a strawberry into her mouth, looked him up and down, and said with puffy cheeks, "What's wrong? Are you sick? Or injured somewhere?"
She didn't see it either.
"It's not me," Lin Nanyan sat on the sofa and pushed the girl's hair back from her neck, revealing dotted red marks, "It's you."
He dipped a cotton swab in iodine and carefully applied it to Jiang Qing's wound.
"??? What's wrong with me?" Jiang Qing took the mirror and looked at her neck.
"Hiss--" Looking at the long red mark there, she belatedly felt the pain.
"When did I get hurt?" Jiang Qing's neck felt hot and burning, and she grimaced in pain, "Be gentle."
"Um."
The man's breath sprayed on Jiang Qing's skin, and she couldn't help but dodge.
Lin Nanyan: "Don't move."
Jiang Qing stopped moving instantly.
"Don't scratch yourself in the future," Lin Nanyan said in a deep voice, "and cut your nails short."
The girl was quiet for a while before she replied, "Okay."
Jiang Qing stared blankly at her nails, which were neither long nor short, and suddenly realized that she had scratched them herself.
Lin Nanyan packed up the medicine box and put it back where it belonged. He rolled up his sleeves and asked, "Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?"
Jiang Qing's gaze fell on the man as his voice sounded, "I'm not hungry."
"Even if you're not hungry, you should eat something. You like spicy food, but eating spicy food on an empty stomach is bad for your stomach. I'll make some noodle soup first, and then..."
"Lin Nanyan," Jiang Qing looked at his naturally busy figure and suddenly called him, "I said I'm not hungry."
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
The man paused.
"Until you explain clearly, I have no appetite to eat the food you cook." Jiang Qing said, staring at his back.
Lin Nanyan turned around and seemed to have finally compromised. He walked to the opposite side of Jiang Qing and sat down.
Jiang Qing looked at him, the man she had not seen for nine years, the man she had once been brooding over.
He was sitting here at this moment, not a dream or an illusion.
She resisted the urge to cry.
She had cried enough today and couldn't cry anymore.
Besides, she shouldn't cry about his arrival.
"Why did you come back?" Jiang Qing asked, "Because of those memories that suddenly appeared?"
"No," Lin Nanyan's eyes were dark, like ink, hiding emotions that she couldn't understand. "I came back before those memories appeared."
He looked at the familiar girl in front of him, staring at her for a long time, tracing her outline with his eyes.
"The company needed someone for business development, so they sent me back."
Hearing this, Jiang Qing suddenly lost all emotion. All the sadness and affectation went to hell.
"Oh, so you came back for work," Jiang Qing said expressionlessly, sneering, "Then what scam link did you send me? Do you think it's fun to fake your death?"
Lin Nanyan was silent for a moment: "That's not a scam link, it's a game link."
"I'm not blind!" If she couldn't see such a big title anymore, she could just donate her eyes. She said angrily, "What do you want to say after 'right' in the game?"
She pondered and speculated about this question for a long time.
"sorry."
It turns out that these are really these three words.
How ridiculous, these three words are so late.
Jiang Qing suddenly felt bored.
After all, Lin Nanyan did nothing wrong.
She and he are from two different families and have two independent personalities.
Childhood sweethearts, lifelong friends, it's all bullshit.
Lin Nanyan is a person who comes and goes in a hurry. He appears and disappears unexpectedly, and he never cares about anything.
It was as if all the emotions had been burned to the extreme, and then a basin of cold water was poured over my head without warning, leaving only pale ashes, which no longer had the strength to burn.
If he had not appeared over the years, perhaps the fire, though weak, would still continue silently.
But he showed up.
Put an end to everything.
So, Jiang Qing seemed to be able to let it go finally.
She didn't want to ask any more questions. The more she asked, the more ridiculous she seemed over the years.
"I understand. I'm tired. Go to bed. It's up to you." She got up and went back to her room, but was suddenly grabbed by the corner of her clothes by the man.
Lin Nanyan was half-kneeling on the ground at some point, his eyes and ears were all red. At this moment, his hands were clenched tightly, as if he was holding a life-saving straw.
"Jiang Jiang, I'm sorry."
"Yeah." Jiang Qing had a blank expression on her face. She wondered casually why her parents hadn't come back yet.
"I should have said goodbye to you."
"Yeah." Should I make a phone call and ask?
"My parents are divorced."
"Hmm...Hmm?" Jiang Qing turned around suddenly. Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin were divorced. So...
"In your sophomore year?" she asked.
Lin Nanyan nodded. "The argument between the two broke out suddenly, and my mother took me abroad and cut off all contact with this place. By the time the dust settled, I couldn't contact you anymore."
He looked at the girl, "You changed your number."
Ah...this, Jiang Qing couldn't help scratching her head. Why was there still a question about her? "Isn't it normal for me to change my number? Who doesn't change their number?"
Lin Nanyan remained silent, "I didn't change."
"Then why couldn't I get through? Later, a stranger answered the call..." Her voice stopped abruptly.
She suddenly remembered that she couldn't get through the call before she changed her number. After changing her number, the contact numbers saved in her phone disappeared for some reason, so she called the boy's number in her memory. A stranger answered the call, so she thought Lin Nanyan had also changed his number.
I never called that number again.
According to what Lin Nanyan said now, it couldn't be...that she remembered the wrong number.
Jiang Qing felt guilty for a moment, but she quickly came to her senses and realized what she was feeling guilty about.
"Don't try to fool me," she glanced at him, "You may have gone abroad, but you're not completely without legs. My family hasn't moved, so you can always contact me if you want."
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