Previous life.
July 8, 2022, 7:30 pm.
Hummingbird Restaurant.
Li Zishan sat across from Chen Tinghan, a smile on her face as she recalled the past, a past that both of them were incredibly grateful for. She said, "Do you remember when we first started talking to each other?"
"It was the summer vacation between my sophomore and junior years of high school. To be exact, it was the afternoon of July 6th." Chen Tinghan reported the time accurately.
"Actually, I've been paying attention to you since I was a freshman in high school."
Chen Tinghan scratched his head and shook his head: "I didn't pay attention to that. What's there to care about that Chuunibyou kid?"
Li Zishan couldn't help laughing and said, "Do you still remember the first time I went to your house?"
"Remember."
"That time, I went to the bathroom for a long time because you kept saying weird and hurtful things. Can you imagine? A little girl looking at herself in the mirror, fixing her hair, adjusting her clothes, wondering if she was wearing something weird today, whether her socks matched the right color, and so on. Little girls are always thinking about this."
Listening to her words of nostalgia, Chen Tinghan suddenly fell silent.
"When you took the initiative to find me, I was so happy. It was the happiest time of my high school life. I saw your diligence and your talent. I saw you hit rock bottom and climb back to the top. I was happy for you from the bottom of my heart. It wasn't until graduation that I finally realized that all your efforts and dedication were for one person: Wang Jinling, a senior who had graduated and left Haiyi Middle School a year ago."
Chen Tinghan's silence deepened.
"You have no idea what I was thinking back then." Li Zishan said with a wry smile, "Then things took a turn for the better. You were admitted to the university she attended, but you didn't end up together. Besides, the city where we went to university wasn't far away. We still kept in touch and made plans to go out together from time to time."
"Four years flew by. After graduation, we all returned to Wanghai, and it was another three years. Seven years in total. Do you know what seven years means?"
Chen Tinghan lowered his head and tore at the beef on the plate, feeling it was as cold as blood.
"It means that until today, I realized that the person you were looking for that summer vacation was not me, but my aunt. Until today, my dream bubble was burst. It was not me that you were waiting for."
"I knew you were obsessed with something, so I stayed by your side without moving forward or backing down. Until today, I realized that you didn't even love her."
"To this day, I still don't know what you are obsessed with or what you are pursuing."
Li Zishan choked up, tears dripping slowly and repeatedly from her eyes, wetting her black hair and making her look like a pear blossom in the rain.
And Chen Tinghan remained silent.
She was furious. She stood up, slammed the table, and roared in a suppressed, almost whispered voice, "Seven years, can't you see? I don't believe you. You are smarter than anyone else."
"But because you're a coward and a bigot, you neither push me away nor approach me. You remain frozen in your own ways and remain unmoved!"
Her tears had smudged her light makeup, but she actually didn't need it. Seven years hadn't hurt Li Zishan's face at all, and she still looked as sweet and fresh as when she was in school.
Everything seems to be unchanged, but now, some things can never go back to the way they were.
She wiped away her tears, her eyes reddened, and said, "My aunt told me that the Li family is not the Li family of Wanghai, but the Li family of Rongfu after all. I don't want to wait for another seven years."
She is gone, and this time she will probably disappear from Chen Tinghan's life forever.
After she left, Chen Tinghan remained motionless, holding his knife and fork tightly for half an hour.
Although he was not qualified to cry only when facing Li Zishan, he still cried.
Chen Tinghan felt that she was right. He was a coward, a bigot, and a self-righteous bastard.
He also wants to forget everything and take back his life.
But there are some things that one cannot forget no matter what.
He pulled out a pistol from his waist. It was Zhou Jinwei's service pistol. The upright police officer had saved his life from the Wang family, but died because of his mistaken trust in Wang Jinling. From that time on, there was no turning back for those of them who were still alive, because forgetting was equivalent to betrayal.
Zhou Jinwei hopes that Chen Tinghan will return the gun to the police station on his behalf. In fact, he hopes that he will forget everything. However, he hopes to use this gun to repay Zhou Jinwei's favor. His paranoia has reached the extreme.
It's crazy to the end.
He didn't want Li Zishan to see him as a murderer for the last time, and now that his wish had been fulfilled, it was time for Chen Tinghan to leave.
If there is an afterlife, he will return everything that the girl deserves.
…
…
Present world.
On the evening of October 18, 2014.
Who could have imagined that people could actually live their entire lives over again? There were countless regrets in the world, but only Chen Tinghan was incredibly lucky enough to have the luxury of a single regret pill.
He just suddenly remembered why Li Zishan ran into the bathroom today and stayed there for more than ten or twenty minutes.
Suffering has no value, only happiness has meaning. Since he started over, the tragedy will never happen again. Zhou Jinwei should not die, and the girls deserve happiness.
Now Chen Tinghan just didn’t understand why Wang Jinling suddenly sent him a text message in the middle of the night, which said: I have a gift for you, come over.
A gift? What kind of gift must be delivered in the middle of the night? This had never happened in my past life.
Chen Tinghan did not dare to delay and took a taxi to the Park Square, where he went to the gym on the top floor of a high-rise building.
The top floor was brightly lit. As soon as Chen Tinghan stepped out of the elevator and saw the scene in the gym right in front of the door, he was a little stunned, but then he understood.
He walked into the lounge area, took off his coat, threw it on the sofa, and said impatiently, "You called me here at 2:30 in the morning just for this?"
Wang Jinling feigned resentment and said, "You've changed. You never seemed so impatient before."
"......" The corner of Chen Tinghan's mouth twitched violently, and he held his forehead and sighed, almost unable to hold it in.
Wang Jinling was wearing light casual clothes, with a fleece sweater underneath that looked like pajamas, a coat on the outside, and a pair of flip-flops on her feet, revealing her plump, snow-white toes without any protection. It was obvious that she had also come at the last minute.
Shi Zirui was as reliable as ever, busy and energetic, pouring a cup of coffee for Chen Tinghan.
In addition to the three people, there was another person at the scene who was gagged, tied up and tied to a chair, struggling constantly.
Chen Tinghan rubbed his brows, feeling that magical realism plots beyond his understanding happened every day in this world.
This person is his class teacher, Liu Huawei.
"I didn't want to bother you so late at night, but it happened suddenly. Half an hour ago, I suddenly received news that he was going to flee."
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