backing
The air was stagnant.
The undercurrents aren't about direct confrontation; they're about a hot potato being passed back and forth.
Her forced smile grew increasingly awkward. Cui Lin hadn't expected Wen Dai to turn the question around, and her pupils dilated for a moment. She asked tentatively, "Is...I should be alright?"
With no intention of making things difficult for Cui Lin, Wen Dai's smile widened, her dimples deepened, and her gaze fixed on Cui Lin was filled with complex emotions. She nodded slowly and heavily, saying, "Yes, it's alright, at least I've managed to live on my own until now. Aunt Cui Lin, I'm braver than when I was a child."
A moment of disorientation occupied Cui Lin's mind. Her hand holding the teacup loosened, her thumb resting on the handle of the teacup. Her eyelashes fluttered twice in her unfocused pupils. "Yes...yes."
She raised her chin, glancing sideways at Wen Dai now. The woman before her was no longer the little girl she had locked outside her door, sobbing. She remembered how, back then, she and little Wen Dai were separated by only a door, and she stood inside, watching the girl crying outside through the security camera—
Losing both parents and becoming an orphan overnight, discarded by everyone, must have been incredibly painful and helpless; but at that moment, little Wen Dai only rang the doorbell for a while, knocking on the door without banging, but with solemn, repeated knocks. She stood inside the door, completely ignoring the person outside.
People who were separated by a door back then are now face to face.
"Tsk... What do we say when we meet again after so long? Never mind, let me introduce you." The awkwardness in the air was too thick, so Qi Ya tried to ease the tension. She patted Cui Lin's arm and gestured with her chin towards Wen Dai, saying, "Look, she's not just brave now, she seems intelligent and compassionate, and her divination skills are impeccable. The friends who came to our house just now were all impressed by her."
She sighed regretfully, "I wanted to take her in as my goddaughter, but she didn't want to." This was the umpteenth time she'd said this today.
Cui Lin understood the implication: this was a way of showing her Wen Dai's importance in the Chen family.
“Xiao Dai…is indeed a very good child. Sigh, I still have some things to take care of at home. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and I have to get up early to rush back to my hometown, so I won’t sit down for now.” Cui Lin tightened her grip on the cup handle.
She placed the cup on the coffee table, patted Qi Ya's arm twice as she stood up with her, and said with a smile, "Alright, you don't need to see me off. I wish you all the best for next year. Goodbye, goodbye."
Cui Lin's hand slipped off Qi Ya's arm, and she hurried to the door in the blink of an eye. The next sound was the door closing.
Looking at Wen Dai, who was leaning on the sofa with her head down, holding her phone and not saying a word, Qi Ya exhaled through her nose and slumped her shoulders. She walked over and sat down next to Wen Dai, raising her hand to gently massage Wen Dai's shoulder. "Cui Lin is a pretty good person. I've been her neighbor for quite a few years. She doesn't have any other flaws, except that she's timid and shrewd."
“I understand.” Wen Dai smiled and raised her face. Under Chen Sizhe’s gaze, her eyelashes lifted her upper eyelids, and the radiance made her pupils sparkle.
"People's first reaction in a dangerous situation is to protect themselves, which is normal and I can understand."
Qi Ya didn't ask too many questions rashly, but Wen Dai's words left room for endless imagination.
...
The New Year's Eve dinner table is filled with fine wines and delicacies, from Pathu to Wagyu beef, and the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup contains an astonishing variety of ingredients.
The main thing was that Wen Dai clicked her tongue in amazement.
The crystal chandelier on the ceiling cast a pale yellow light, reflecting off the glass and revealing bright spots. The glass contained red wine, its rim tinged with a pale red—a luminous glass of fine wine.
Chen Wenkang raised his wine glass, turned to look at Wen Dai who was lost in thought, and said, "Xiao Dai, I'm glad you're willing to come here and celebrate the New Year with us. You must have suffered a lot in the past; but in the future, I hope that when you encounter difficulties, you can ask us for help. Sometimes, you don't have to be too strong."
Qi Ya echoed, taking a long-handled spoon to scoop a bowl of soup for Wen Dai. The bowl was handed to Wen Dai, and her sharp, upturned eyebrows softened inexplicably under the light. "Yes, when there's no one to rely on, you have to be strong. We're happy to be your support."
"It's time," her inner voice said. Wen Dai placed the hot soup on the table, her first words being "thank you." Her expression was a mixture of embarrassment and reluctance, her eyes initially lowering then raising, as she gently scraped the soup with a spoon, her cheeks displaying a bitter smile.
She sighed softly, "Actually... I am indeed troubled by a very troublesome matter, but it is a matter that many people would avoid at all costs. If I involve my uncle and aunt, I'm afraid the mud on my feet will splatter on them."
Chen Sizhe, sitting to Wen Dai's right, blinked and glanced at her, but his lips, which had been pulled down, ultimately did not part.
Wen Dai's actions successfully drew the attention of Chen Wenkang and Qi Ya. Chen Wenkang put down his wine glass, frowned, and said, "What is it? Speak up. Your uncle and aunt will definitely not stand idly by if they can help."
"It's my parents' business."
The spoon slipped from her hand and slammed against the rim of the bowl with a crisp sound. As Wen Dai looked up, she bit her lower lip, lowered her chin, and laughed self-deprecatingly, "Actually... my parents died in a fire when I was ten years old, which should be twelve years ago now. The official explanation was a gas leak, but I've always believed that the fire wasn't an accident."
She looked up again, her gaze shifting between Chen Wenkang and Qi Ya, whose expressions had straightened, and said in a heavy tone, "Because my mother was a chemistry teacher; and my father was the deputy manager of the water resources department back then."
His hand, which had been hanging on the table, clenched into a fist. An inexplicable intuition etched two words into his mind. Chen Wenkang met Wen Dai's eyes with a grave expression and slowly opened his lips: "Your father's name is..."
Meeting his gaze, Wen Dai enunciated clearly: "Wen Zheng."
Chen Wenkang blinked, his back slumped against the chair, and his gaze toward Wen Dai grew increasingly complicated. He shook his head gently and sighed, "Life is truly unpredictable... life is unpredictable—do you remember I told you before that I had a close friend in high school whose surname was also Wen? He's your father."
He raised his hand and pinched his brow, "I never expected this, I never imagined this."
If Wen Zheng hadn't had that accident, Wen Dai, the daughter of the deputy waterworks manager more than ten years ago, would probably not have ended up having to drop out of school halfway through her studies.
Qi Ya's lips parted slightly, and she looked at Wen Dai with a complex expression of pity. She sighed and said, "Your father's profession is special. If he holds a high position, it's easy for him to offend people. Dealing with this kind of layered protection is very tricky, so it's no wonder you said that."
With her hands clasped tightly together on her thighs, Wen Dai resolutely said, "It's not only tricky, but it could also be life-threatening, so it's okay if Uncle and Aunt can't help, but I won't give up."
She still had the energy to laugh, her dimples and canine teeth reappearing, her peach blossom eyes filled with determination, and her tone light and cheerful: "Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose. I am not afraid of death. As long as I live, I will find a way to overturn the verdict. I am afraid that I will not be able to wait for God to give me retribution. I don't like to do things that are just waiting. I might as well work hard myself and let them know what 'retribution is not impossible, it's just that the time has not come yet' means."
Chen Sizhe, who had been silent at the dinner table, finally opened his mouth: "How's your progress going?"
He turned his head and gazed at her intently. The yellowish, dim light fell on his face, and the shadows were not as dark as his pupils, so the color of his eyes could not be seen.
She shrugged, her tone calm and serene: "Well... I consider myself alright. I have witnesses, but I currently lack the ability to protect myself or the witnesses, so I'm still in the 'hidden dragon' stage. The next step, 'emerging dragon in the field,' depends on whether the lord is willing to see me, because I've already paved several paths to see the lord."
Chen Wenkang, who had been covering half his face by pinching his brow, lowered his hand. A hint of fatigue was visible between his brows, and his eyes, which had turned red at some point, stared at Wen Dai. "You are very much like your father. Neither of you is willing to admit defeat."
The hoarse voice might be due to the alcohol he had been drinking earlier, or it might be due to the sudden surge of emotion.
The man's voice was exceptionally strong: "It doesn't matter if you can't protect yourself, the Chen family will protect you; you can continue to use your methods to overturn the progress of the case without worry, I will be your backing, and I will also use my connections to investigate. Your father... used to be my close friend, and the fact that I was able to meet you and know about his murder is all due to fate. Now that I know, I will not stand idly by."
The "tap tap" sound interrupted her, and Qi Ya stopped patting the table.
Her back was ramrod straight, her chin held high, and her gaze swept over Chen Wenkang and Wen Dai's faces before she said in a serious tone, "I have always been a devout Buddhist. Now that I know two lives have been taken, I will not stand idly by. My family is not incompetent either; checking some information and smoothing things over is a piece of cake. The people in charge in Lizhou are indeed of mixed quality; it's time for a major reshuffle."
"But let me make this clear first, I can't handle reshuffling the deck, but I can gather some of their shady information for you. Alright, alright, let's put this aside for now. Our New Year's Eve dinner has turned into a conspiracy meeting. Let's eat first, and we'll discuss this later." Qi Ya took the bowl in front of Chen Wenkang, filled it with soup, and then used the serving chopsticks to put a circle of food on each of them, as if to shut them up.
The occasional brilliance outside the window comes from the New Year's Eve fireworks. The darkness won't last forever, and the stars won't always be hidden behind the clouds. Even if they never appear, there will be artificial fireworks to light them up.
In the winter as she turned from twenty-one to twenty-two, Wen Dai found the remnants of a star and knew that hope was coming.
-
The Chen family has nowhere to return to for the Spring Festival. The older generation has either passed away or are scattered all over the world. They raise their children to see the world, and their mindset is exceptionally good. Their way of reuniting is through group video calls.
After the first day of the Lunar New Year, Wen Dai stayed a few more days at Qi Ya's urging, and on the sixth day, she moved back to her old, dilapidated apartment in Feng'an District—she felt uneasy if she didn't start work soon.
While living at the Chen family's house, he lived a life of luxury, not doing any live streams for a while and not receiving a single fortune-telling order.
Wen Dai, feeling carefree and relaxed, almost succumbed to this lazy time, but after returning to her old, dilapidated apartment without central heating or underfloor heating, the cold jolted her back to reality.
Strangely, this old, dilapidated place seemed to have some kind of ability to attract customers. Wen Dai had just reorganized the things in her suitcase back into the closet when she picked up her phone and found a new friend request on WeChat, as well as a WeChat call from Dong Ying.
After accepting two friend requests, Wen Dai was about to call Dong Ying back when one of the newly added WeChat contacts interrupted her with a phone call.
Before Wen Dai could even open her mouth, a slightly mellow voice came through the receiver, asking, "Are you Wen Dai... Miss Wen? I am Dong Ying's father."
She remembered the wealthy young lady, but why was Dong Ying's father calling her out of the blue? The lingering effects of being forced into this situation by Chen Sizhe made Wen Dai instinctively suspect—was he going to call her a liar again?
After a brief hesitation, Wen Dai replied, "Yes, I am Wen Dai. May I ask what's the matter?"
Fortunately, Mr. Dong was not there to cause trouble; he was there to deliver some work.
"Happy New Year! I'm so sorry to bother you like this. My daughter told me about your situation, and I'm truly grateful that you helped her resolve such a huge problem. A friend of mine also encountered some difficulties. He has a little granddaughter who, after a car accident, always hides in the closet and refuses to come out. Whenever she's taken out, she trembles uncontrollably, cries and screams, and sometimes even has sudden convulsions. My friend's family first took the little girl to the hospital, and the doctor diagnosed her with schizophrenia."
He briefly described the situation: "First of all, none of my friend's family has a history of mental illness. Secondly, the little girl was always well-behaved, obedient, and polite before the car accident. None of us believe that such a young child would develop a mental breakdown and a drastic change in personality just from a car accident, so we're considering the possibility from a metaphysical perspective. This matter has been worrying my friend's family for months, and they haven't had a good New Year. When do you have time and could you help take a look?"
The man spoke quickly, a sense of weariness lingering in his tone, and a hint of caution in the final syllable.
The guesses based on the symptoms lingered in her stomach. Wen Dai's fingers, which were resting on the side of her phone, twitched slightly, and her thoughtful eyes shifted. "I'm available during this time. Just see when your friend and their family are available. The other person on my WeChat should be your friend, right?"
After receiving an affirmative answer, Wen Dai exchanged a few more words with Mr. Dong before hanging up the phone.
The profile picture of the newly added friend in her WeChat list was a landscape painting. She clicked on this friend's WeChat Moments and found landscape photos that matched his profile picture, followed by ink paintings.
"Tsk... No wonder he has grandchildren."
Unable to glean any further information, Wen Dai had planned to wait until he found her at the agreed-upon time, and then take the opportunity to learn some background information to aid her judgment, since directly asking the immortals was rather troublesome; but unexpectedly... she waited until the next evening without him appearing.
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