Extravagant Hope (End)
Jiang Qing is a person of action, so she immediately picked up the phone and called her mother.
Wang Hong was busy writing down the customer's menu. When she heard her daughter making a phone call, she quickened her writing speed, scribbled a few words, and walked towards the kitchen.
"Three lamb skewers, one green pepper, two enoki mushrooms..." She recited a series of dishes without pausing, the phone between her ears. "Jiang Jiang, what's wrong?"
When Jiang Qing heard the noise over there, she knew that her parents were very busy, so she went straight to the point.
"Mom, do you remember the birthday present you gave me in my second year of high school?"
Wang Hong thought about it carefully and had some recollection. "Sophomore year of high school, that voice recorder you cried and insisted on buying, and then lost?"
Jiang Qing: ...
She secretly glanced at the young man opposite her, and seeing that he looked normal, she breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it wasn't the old-fashioned phone with a big speaker like those used in high schools, so... it shouldn't leak any sound.
Jiang Qing turned around, covered the phone, and whispered, "Yes, Mom, it's the one you were talking about. I found it in a red shoe box when I was cleaning the utility room."
"Didn't I lose it? How did it appear in our house out of nowhere?"
Wang Hong's mind was still spinning with various menus. When she heard her daughter's question, she didn't even chatter. "The year you graduated from high school, I went to school to pack up your things. I stuffed all the messy stuff into a sack and brought it back."
"He must have sneaked in at that time. Anyway, I threw all the things you didn't need into the storage room."
Jiang Qing and Lin Nanyan exchanged a glance upon hearing this. This situation...
Wang Hong: "Anything else? It's dusk when there are a lot of customers, so I'm busy."
"Mom, you go ahead and do your thing. I'm hanging up."
Jiang Qing quickly hung up the phone. If it was any later, her mother would not have such patience.
"My things in school?" Jiang Qing frowned. "The hairpin clearly belongs to Jiang Qing, how could it be among my things?"
Lin Nanyan pondered for a moment: "Jiang Qing has a younger brother."
"Are you talking about Jiang Yu?" Jiang Qing vaguely remembered that there seemed to be such a person.
"Yes," Lin Nanyan nodded, "and those... portraits of you."
"If Jiang Qing didn't have time to destroy all of your portraits before he died, even if only one or two were left, and there was your audio recording in the recorder, Jiang Yu would not have found out since he is Jiang Qing's younger brother."
Jiang Qing thought thoughtfully, "So, Jiang Yu wanted to secretly return the property to its original owner."
Lin Nanyan: "This is the most reasonable guess."
Jiang Qing thought about it and had to admit that Lin Nanyan was right.
Only Jiang Yu has the motive to do this, and it seems far-fetched to put it on anyone else.
Only after thinking about this did things become clearer. Jiang Qing collapsed back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling above her head with blank eyes.
"A lot of brain cells have died."
Lin Nan stretched out his hand and pulled a thin blanket over the half of the girl's fair and soft waist that was exposed when she raised her hand.
Jiang Qing glanced at the man sideways.
Lin Nanyan: "Be careful about your belly button getting cold."
Jiang Qing snorted and said sarcastically, "Didn't you say we're going back abroad? Even abroad, we have to cover our belly buttons, too?"
Lin Nanyan looked at his nose and his heart, "Our company has announced that our future business will focus on China, and the international market will only be a secondary line."
The sneer on Jiang Qing's face froze, and she asked, "What do you mean?"
Li Nanyan looked at the girl: "Jiang Jiang, I won't leave."
"Who cares?" Jiang Qing paused for a moment, rolled her eyes at the man, but couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth.
She casually put her arms away and asked, "What about your dad? What did he say?"
"My dad is old now and retired from the company a few years ago. He lives in his hometown now, which is pretty good. He grows flowers and vegetables when he's free, which is like cultivating a new hobby."
Jiang Qing: "Really?"
Lin Nanyan nodded sincerely.
If Li Jiankang were here, he would definitely shout, "Don't trust this man!" If he hadn't seen the expressionless look on the young man's face when he forced his father Lin Chongshan to step down, he would definitely be deceived by this man's current appearance.
But Jiang Qing knew nothing about this. She only knew that Lin Nanyan said so, and she believed it.
"Yeah, don't elders need to cultivate their sentiments? Growing vegetables is also good."
"When we have time in the future, we can go visit Uncle Lin together." She suggested enthusiastically.
Lin Nanyan agreed with a smile.
The day passed with the two of them chatting back and forth, but no one noticed the passage of time.
It was not until Wang Hong and Jiang Shanhai came back together that Jiang Qing realized how late it was.
"Xiao Nan, have you eaten yet?" Wang Hong raised the bag in her hand while changing her shoes. "I brought some cold dishes, including your favorite cold lotus root slices. Would you like some?"
Jiang Qing: "He has eaten..."
Lin Nanyan: "Thank you, Aunt Wang."
Jiang Qing turned around suddenly. Here it comes. This damn familiar feeling is coming.
At the dinner table, she bit her chopsticks and stared fiercely at the man sitting opposite her who was chatting and laughing with her parents. The green tea girl acted up again.
Just eat, meal after meal, and never worry about being full.
Lin Nanyan noticed the girl's omnipresent gaze and hesitantly raised the lotus root slices in his hand, "Do you want to eat?"
Jiang Qing lowered her head speechlessly. She didn't have the good appetite of a man. She had just finished her evening meal and her stomach had no room left.
I could only lower my head and drink two sips of soup to show respect for the food.
Wang Hong watched with a frown on her face. Just as she was about to say something, Lin Nanyan spoke first, "I was a little hungry in the evening, so Jiang Jiang came downstairs and brought me something to eat."
Wang Hong's brows relaxed instantly. It was okay as long as her daughter didn't have a small stomach. How could someone not eat but drink soup?
Jiang Shanhai: "So you've eaten there before? Which one did you eat at? There's a new noodle shop downstairs that's really good."
"Okay, Uncle Jiang, although I didn't get to eat it this time, I will definitely try your recommendation next time I have time."
Jiang Qing was too lazy to pay attention to the two people at the dinner table who were bantering with each other. The news was on TV and she was watching it with great interest.
"Our station reports that recently, our reporter went undercover at a private hospital in our city to uncover the illegal sale of live organs. The police have launched an investigation. According to relevant reports, this may be related to a hospital in our city illegally participating in the sale of human organs nine years ago. The relevant departments received a report that year..."
Jiang Qing listened in a daze. Before she could react, there was a snap and the screen went completely black.
The three members of the family were all shocked by the young man's quick and abrupt reaction, and all looked at the young man standing in front of the TV.
Wang Hong: "What...what happened?"
Lin Nanyan's face was pale and he shook his head, "It's okay, the TV is a little noisy."
Jiang Shanhai said with a smile: "It's closed now, let's eat first."
Lin Nanyue took a step forward, keeping an eye on Jiang Qing's expression. Seeing the girl's rosy face slowly losing its color, his heart sank.
After finishing his dinner without any appetite, Lin Nanyan followed Jiang Qing back to the girl's room.
Jiang Qing sat in the chair for a long time without looking up.
Lin Nanyan squatted down, held the girl's hand, and called softly: "Jiang Jiang."
The pair of eyes that turned around were red, and tears rolled down.
"You must have guessed it a long time ago, so that's why...that's why..." She choked and couldn't continue.
Lin Nan stretched out his hand and gently wiped the tears from the corners of the girl's eyes, but the more he wiped, the more tears came, and he couldn't wipe them away.
"Jiang Jiang, don't look, don't listen, it's all in the past."
"But... I really changed the past..." Jiang Qing hugged the person in front of her tightly, absorbing the warmth from him.
Lin Nanyan's eyes moistened, "I know."
It is precisely because of the changes that extravagant hopes arise.
If I had known earlier, if I had known earlier...
But these things will only add to your troubles in the end.
There are so many unfair things in the world, too many to hear or see.
"Nine years ago..." Jiang Qing's eyes were hazy with tears. "If I had stayed a few more days last time and seen this news before leaving, would I have been able to change the fate of those people?"
Lin Nanyan placed one hand on the back of the girl's head and held her tightly in his arms. "Time has become a line, and there's no going back to the past."
"Jiang Jiang, just pretend you've never been back."
His chest heaved. "We're lucky enough that God has mercy on us and allows us to change a little."
"We can't expect too much."
Jiang Qing's tears rolled down, wetting Lin Nanyan's chest through his clothes and burning his heart.
He stroked the girl's back gently, always maintaining the same posture.
Until the person in his arms gradually stopped moving, until the girl's eyelashes became wet and stuck together, and until the lights outside the window gradually went out, Lin Nanyan carefully placed the person in his arms on the bed.
He covered the corner of the quilt and stretched out his hand, which then retracted in mid-air.
He did not tell the girl that one of the directors of the hospital involved was Feng Yunli, Feng Yaxuan's mother, and that one of the victims who died from illegal organ trading was Li Mingcheng.
Jiang Jiang was already very tired. He closed the door lightly and turned around to meet two pairs of worried eyes.
"How's Jiang Jiang? I felt something was wrong just now."
"Yes, you two are of similar age and have a lot in common. If you have any questions, you can give Jiang Jiang some advice."
Lin Nanyan: "I will, Jiang Jiang is just..."
He paused and said, "I was scared by the news. I never thought such a terrible thing would happen to me."
Jiang Shanhai echoed the sentiment: "Yeah, how terrifying."
Wang Hong rolled her eyes at him and said, "You're the only one who talks too much."
"Aunt Wang, Uncle Jiang," Lin Nanyan said goodbye with a smile, "It's getting late, you should go to bed early, I won't disturb you."
"Okay, Xiaonan, slow down. We'll play again later."
The door closed, Lin Nanyan turned around and his smile disappeared instantly. He walked downstairs while making a phone call.
“Zero zero zero——”
A hand stretched out from under the quilt, fumbled for the phone, and reluctantly opened his eyes to take a look. The next second, stimulated by the light, he closed his eyes again and answered the call.
"What's wrong with you? It's already so late, and you don't even check the time. The night owls are going to be kept awake to death, and the owls are going to have to wait for you to collect their bodies..."
"Help me contact a psychiatrist."
A cold voice came, and Li Jiankang, who was cursing, was like a duck whose neck was suddenly pinched, and his arrogance was suddenly extinguished.
He suddenly turned over and sat up, his mind clear as a rock.
"This... so fast?"
Lin Nanyan: "The sooner the better."
Li Jiankang frowned and said, "I understand. Wait for my news."
After hanging up the phone, he pondered for a moment, then got up and pulled out a bunch of contact information from his computer.
Risking being beaten to death, I went to each one of them.
【Hello, are you there?】
Your most beloved junior fellow apprentice is here to see you.
【Click】
Time never waits for anyone, and it still flows slowly and steadily.
When Jiang Qing opened her eyes again, her mind was in a daze and she didn't know what year it was for a moment.
After lying on the bed for a while, she habitually reached out from under the pillow to take out her cell phone, but found nothing.
She caught a glimpse of a shadow on the bedside table from the corner of her eye and raised her hand to take it.
But when I got it, I felt something was wrong, so I took a closer look.
Jiang Qing: ...
Very good, familiar feel, familiar appearance, familiar old phone.
I really don't know where her mother found this from.
"Mom, what are you doing again?"
"Xiao Nan said that you are not suitable for playing with smartphones recently. Be good and bear with it for a few days."
Jiang Qing was speechless as she listened to the distorted tone coming from the low-quality microphone.
"I still have work..."
Wang Hong: "You can put work aside for now. Your health is the most important thing."
Jiang Qing walked into the living room with a twitching eye and turned on the TV. The word "NO SIGNAL" in large letters occupied the entire screen.
Jiang Qing: ...
Wang Hong: "Oh, dear, our wifi is also unplugged. Please be patient for a while."
Without waiting for a reply, she immediately hung up the phone.
"Mom, hello—"
Jiang Qing was so angry, did she have such a lack of self-control?
She called another number without waiting for anyone to speak, and she took the initiative to attack, "Lin Dagou, what do you mean!?"
"Don't you know what modern life is? It's the Internet cable!"
"Unplug my internet, replace my phone, do you have any humanity left?"
Lin Nanyan listened to her quietly and said, "No, do you want to go somewhere with me?"
Jiang Qing asked suspiciously, "Where are you going?"
Lin Nanyan: "Hospital."
Jiang Qing: "...Cure you or me?"
Lin Nanyan: "What do you think?"
Jiang Qing took a deep breath and asked, "If I don't go, will this internet blockade last forever?"
Lin Nanyan smiled and said, "So, are you coming?"
Jiang Qing said viciously, "You're so cruel!"
She stormed downstairs, trying to glare at Lin Nanyan along the way.
Unfortunately, until the destination, Lin Nanyan still had that hateful look on his face.
The young man opened the car door for her with a smile.
Jiang Qing stood downstairs, looking at the unfamiliar building in front of her, not caring about her feud with Lin Nanyan anymore. "Aren't we going to the hospital? Where is this?"
Lin Nanyan: "Private hospitals have better service attitudes."
"Oh." Jiang Qing responded dryly. To be honest, this was her first time in a private hospital.
As soon as she entered the door, a beautiful young lady gently led her forward. Jiang Qing looked at Lin Nanyan, who nodded slightly and watched the girl leave.
The white door slowly closed between the two of them, blocking his view.
Li Jiankang suddenly popped up a head from nowhere. "It's quite cute."
Lin Nanyan glanced at him, and Li Jiankang tactfully made a zipper gesture, indicating that he should shut his mouth.
The silence didn't last long before he couldn't help but speak again.
"The kid you helped a few years ago came back recently. I think his name was Jiang Yu or Jiang Yu. Anyway, it was that kid who came, but this time he didn't come to get medicine, but to return the money. He said his mother's illness is almost cured, and he thanked you for your previous help."
Lin Nanyan could vaguely see the girl had walked to the end of the corridor through the transparent glass on the white door, "Yeah."
Li Jiankang curled his lips and made mouth shapes with his back to the young man, "Hmm, what are you talking about? Hmm, what a big-headed ghost."
Why pretend to be so profound? In the end, he still has to use his old arms and legs and be thick-skinned to invite his direct master to see him.
"Health," Lin Nanyan suddenly turned around, "Thank you."
Li Jiankang felt uncomfortable seeing him suddenly become so serious, scratching his head with one hand.
"Ahem, thank you for what."
He tilted his head back, trying hard to suppress the upturned corners of his mouth, "Who made me your only friend?"
"If you ask me, you should really thank me. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be able to say for sure..."
When I looked down, there was nothing in front of me.
Li Jiankang:!!!
Jiang Qing was led into a medium-sized treatment room, which was decorated in warm yellow tones and looked very comfortable.
A stick of incense was lit on the table, emitting the fragrance of flowers and fruits.
A woman in home clothes was pouring tea and turned around when she heard the sound.
"What would you like to drink?" Her voice was soft but with a unique gentle emphasis, which was very comfortable to listen to.
Jiang Qing: "Just plain water is fine."
"You can call me Tang Yuan, or Xiao Yuan," Tang Yuan smiled and came over with a cup of water. "I'm here part-time on someone's behalf, so don't be nervous. We can just chat for a while."
Jiang Qing took a sip from the water cup, "Thank you, Tang Yuan."
Hearing this, Tang Yuan's smile deepened. "It seems that I am very lucky to have met a friend who is willing to chat."
Jiang Qing was puzzled: "Is there anyone here who is uncooperative?"
Everyone knew that she was here to see a psychiatrist, and that she must want to be cured. And it looked like the place here, she looked around and confirmed her guess again, that it was very expensive, extremely expensive.
"Of course," Tang Yuan said with a smile, "coming here voluntarily doesn't mean I'm willing to open my heart."
“It’s never easy to let others see your innermost thoughts.”
"Jiang Jiang, what about you?" she asked, "Are you willing to open up and talk to me?"
Jiang Qing nodded. Even if not for herself, she would fully cooperate for the expensive medical fees.
Tang Yuan understood, "What's bothering you?"
Jiang Qing blinked. "Maybe."
Tang Yuan was willing to listen patiently.
Jiang Qing: "I'm wondering, if the past can be changed, then every piece of information and every clue we get now can become an antidote to the past."
"In that closed timeline, is there anyone I've overlooked? Is there anyone still hoping for a change?"
"Is it that I could have done it, but I didn't?"
Tang Yuan changed the incense stick and said, "You are too demanding of yourself."
"Yes, I know," Jiang Qing admitted that she thought too much, "but I can't control it."
Especially at this point in time when she had just traveled back and completed the closed loop, she suddenly faced a problem that she had never thought of.
Tang Yuan: "When did you develop these symptoms?"
Jiang Qing: "Yesterday."
Tang Yuan: ...
Jiang Qing: "What's wrong? Should I come later?"
Tang Yuan shook his head. "No, the sooner the better. I just didn't expect anyone to be able to do it so early."
Jiang Qing was a little shy for once. Actually, it wasn't her fault, but Lin Nanyan insisted on bringing her here.
Tang Yuan: "You have a very good attitude. Have you taken any preventive measures?"
Jiang Qing: "Does not being allowed to access the internet count? If I don't have access, I won't be able to search for past news, and I won't be able to think too much."
"Well," Tang Yuan looked into Jiang Qing's eyes. "Do you always have the urge to search the past?"
Jiang Qing paused, shook her head, and then nodded, "Occasionally, such thoughts flash through my mind."
Tang Yuan stood up and said, "The symptoms are not too serious."
Jiang Qing asked curiously, "What symptoms are considered serious?"
"It's serious—" Tang Yuan retracted his thoughts, "Those are not important. Now, let's relax first."
Across the wall, in another room with the same layout, Wen Youze, wearing a white coat, sighed softly.
"We meet again."
Li Nanyan nodded politely, "Hello, Doctor Wen."
"If it weren't for Jiankang crying and wailing in the middle of the night, with a voice so unpleasant, believe me, no one in our sect would want to take your job."
Li Nanyan nodded and apologized, "Thank you for your hard work."
Wen Youze looked at the document in his hand, but he couldn't accept it at all. This was the third time.
Each of the people in their sect took turns to show themselves to the person in front of them. Including this time, this was the third time he had met the person opposite him.
Looking at the person in front of him, from his youth to adulthood, he has always been polite and kept people at a distance. I don’t know what Jiankang is thinking. He is so determined to make this friend that he is so unreasonable and unreasonable that it is frightening.
Wen Youze looked at the man who had been sentenced to death by his teacher, and thought helplessly, his teacher once said that in this world, the only possibility for a young man to be cured is that he truly and completely wants to live, and he must live.
One day, the young man will find that reason, and he will struggle to survive without anyone saving him.
Wen Youze had never seen such a terminally ill patient before. It seemed as if a thin thread was hanging in front of him, shaky but never falling.
"Tell me, what do you want to discuss this time? Let me make it clear first, there's only a month's supply of pills, no more."
Just when he thought that this day would be another futile one as usual, Lin Nanyan's words shocked him to the spot.
"I had a dream," the young man said, sitting on the sofa, his fingers clasped together. The light from the window hit the side of his face, bringing out a hint of indifference. "A dream that lasted thirty-six years."
That recorder recorded the voices of three people.
The ignorant Lin Nanyan in the past also vaguely realized this, and from the initial resistance, he had to compromise.
Lin Nanyan withdrew his gaze from the window and said, "The limit is nine years, four cycles."
“The first cycle, I lived in ignorance.”
"In the second and third cycles, I wanted to change some people and some things, but things would go back to square one and even get worse."
"In the fourth cycle, everyone has changed, but I have to live according to the first cycle."
The young man raised his head and asked, "Doctor Wen, can this disease be cured?"
Those eyes were filled with calmness, so calm that Wen Youze felt a momentary chill.
He thought he finally understood what the teacher meant.
The young man was very rational. He knew clearly how he had gotten to this point and what his mental state was like.
In psychology, madness is not scary, what is scary is the extreme clarity.
Wen Youze had a premonition that this would be the biggest problem he encountered in his medical practice, and it would never happen again.
He crumpled the papers in his hand.
An hour later, Jiang Qing and Lin Nanyan met at the gate.
Jiang Qing stretched out her hand and said confidently, "Cellphone!"
Lin Nanyan looked down at the girl beside him and asked, "What did Doctor Tang say?"
Jiang Qing said angrily, "I told you to return it to me."
Li Nanyan smiled and handed over his cell phone.
Jiang Qing took it and looked at it in confusion, and instantly became furious.
"Lin Dagou!"
"Are you sick? Why are you in underage mode?"
The young man dodged skillfully, but failed to completely avoid the girl's hand.
Tang Yuan and Wen Youze stood in the glass window and watched the two people leave. She immediately noticed the strange look on Wen Youze's face, "Still not working?"
Wen Youze didn't reply, but asked, "How about that girl?"
In situations that don't involve patient privacy, Tang Yuan doesn't mind answering, "She's a very sunny girl. If we intervene early, there won't be a big problem."
Wen Youze turned his head and looked at the young man who was smiling like a normal person. He couldn't help but touch the hairs standing up on his arms.
[End of Text]
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