Chapter 25 Anonymous Letter
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In the dream, She Ning fell into the water and had a high fever for several days, but in the end she couldn't hold on. She Hongmei's last breath dissipated, and she fell ill and was bedridden.
When Grandma She learned of her eldest granddaughter's death, she was so distressed that her already weakened health, which had suffered a stroke, worsened. She was bedridden for a short time before passing away along with She Ning.
Seven-year-old She Ni supported the entire She family with her small shoulders.
From then on, the child who would squint her eyes when she laughed and still smile brightly even after losing her teeth was never seen again. She Ning watched her become taciturn and cold. One day, after entrusting She Hongmei to Guan Xiuli to look after her temporarily, she went out for a while and soon after returning, she heard that She Yaozu had fallen into the river and drowned.
When Lin Xiufang saw She Yaozu's body, she went mad, constantly asking people where her son was.
Everyone guessed it was revenge from the She family, but unfortunately there was no evidence. She Lao Er wanted to take revenge on the She family, but the village secretary stopped him. Since they couldn't do it openly, they resorted to underhanded methods.
The She family's situation in the village became increasingly worse.
She Hongmei forced herself to eat and take care of her health. She worked hard to make a living and desperately earned money, but it seemed that the world was targeting them. Whenever life improved a little, an even greater disaster would be waiting for them in the next second.
As the people around them gradually started driving cars and living in apartment buildings, their tile-roofed houses became increasingly dilapidated. Then, during a heavy rainstorm, their long-neglected houses suddenly collapsed, and they were unable to escape.
"Ah Ning, Ah Ning, what's wrong?"
On the bed, She Ning kept her eyes tightly closed, tears streaming down her face, soaking the pillow she was lying on. She occasionally let out soft sobs.
She Hongmei has been a light sleeper for the past few years. Hearing the noise beside her, she immediately woke up and noticed that something was wrong with She Ning by the moonlight. She quickly carried She Ni to the bed and then moved closer to She Ning, gently patting her.
A gentle, familiar voice broke through the gloom of her dream. She Ning's eyes twitched slightly, and she was a little stunned when she opened them. But when her gaze focused on the person in front of her, she rushed over and hugged She Hongmei tightly. Tears streamed down her face like a burst dam.
Seeing her cry so hard for the first time, She Hongmei was at a loss, not knowing what to do with her hands and feet. "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
"Dreams are always the opposite of reality, so don't be afraid."
She hugged She Ning tightly one last time, gently patted her back, and softly comforted her.
Nestled in her arms, She Ning shook her head, but hugged She Hongmei even tighter.
It was a nightmare.
It's not the opposite; it actually happened. If she hadn't awakened, if the system hadn't been activated, the ending in her dream would have been their fate.
Thinking of the She family that disappeared in the rainstorm, She Ning's tears welled up again, and she tightened her arms around She Hongmei, holding her even more tightly.
She Hongmei could sense her unease, but She Ning didn't want to talk about it, so She Hongmei stopped asking what had happened and let her hold her quietly, gently patting her back intermittently.
Overwhelmed by grief and crying so hard, She Ning, under She Hongmei's comforting care, drifted off to sleep in her arms, losing consciousness in a daze.
When she woke up again, it was already bright outside. A beam of warm sunlight shone on the head of her bed. She Ning was still a little dazed. She lay on the bed staring blankly at the vent on the roof ridge, where there was a shape of light.
Knowing that she was the original owner of the body, She Ning felt a great weight lifted from her heart.
Her mother is her mother, her younger sister is her younger sister, and her grandmother is also her grandmother.
She didn't steal from the original owner's family, nor did she steal the warmth they gave her. She is She Ning, and She Ning is also her.
Without these worries and guilt, She Ning seemed much more relaxed, and she also had the leisure to learn about some things.
"System, was the incense lit yesterday by the Frog Taoist?"
The fragrance in the room was much weaker after ventilation, but you could still faintly smell it.
I didn't notice it yesterday, but now that I think about it, the familiar fresh scent I smelled when I pushed the door open was the same forest scent she smelled when she took out the incense sticks after she got them.
Without waiting for the system's reply, She Ning opened the interface and saw that the number of incense sticks had increased to 2, confirming with absolute certainty that it was Guagua Daoren's incense. She Ning spoke again.
"The incense sticks' annotations say they can induce sweet dreams, don't they?"
What she experienced yesterday was hardly a pleasant dream.
"Note: This was created by the Guagua Daoist from the cultivation world. It can make people enter a beautiful dream. (It is said)" The system remained silent and directly highlighted the text in red.
The system automatically opened the annotation for the half-burnt incense stick, and the words "#It is said#" were enlarged, bolded, and highlighted in red, appearing prominently in the center of the system interface.
Looking at the two words highlighted in red, She Ning couldn't find any words to refute them for a moment.
"Please explore the specific effects of the blind box items at your own discretion, host." The system's mechanical voice sounded, cold and indifferent, but She Ning could detect a hint of schadenfreude in it.
Is this guy getting revenge for the time she tricked him before?
"System, you..." Using your position for personal revenge?
She Ning narrowed her eyes slightly, looking skeptical as she prepared to speak.
"Please don't judge others by your own standards." Her expression was too obvious to ignore, so the system interrupted her, replying in a cold voice.
"The blind box system emphasizes freedom, democracy, and non-interference. Players are free to explore and experiment on their own during the mission process." After reciting the rules of the blind box system, the system arrogantly disappeared.
After sensing it moving away, She Ning squinted and pinched her index finger and thumb together.
The system seems to be getting more and more human-like. Thinking back to the small aperture system she first encountered, She Ning has a conjecture, but it may take a long time to verify this conjecture.
The most important question now is why the incense sticks were outside and, by some twist of fate, She Hongmei managed to light them.
She Ning recalled the scene of taking things out of the system before, and finally found a clue in a corner of her memory.
All her props were stored in the same storage compartment. When she took out rice from the compartment earlier, She Hongmei came looking for her. She was nervous and tapped the rice once but there was no response. She quickly tapped it again. The first tap had actually taken out the rice, but she didn't know that. She tapped it again and lit the incense stick.
He took out some rice, put it back, washed it, and put it in the pot to cook. He did all this in one go. Then he went to find She Hongmei, leaving the incense sticks in the kitchen.
It's possible that She Hongmei saw it later, picked it up, and put it away.
Each time an incense stick is used up, the system will deduct one use from the count. The next time you get a new half stick, the count of incense sticks in the system is currently 2.
She Ning couldn't quite figure out the definition of this beautiful dream. Her dream was a nightmare within a nightmare, but it restored her memories and resolved her inner conflicts, which was a good thing in reality. Could this be considered a different kind of beautiful dream?
She Ning was unsure.
"Sister, are you up yet?" She Ni gently knocked on the door, interrupting her thoughts.
Today is Saturday, no school. She Ni is used to school hours and got up early. When She Hongmei left in the morning, she told her not to wake She Ning.
She Ni was very well-behaved and was reviewing her textbooks and doing her homework in the main room until she heard some noise from inside the room, at which point she came over and knocked on the door.
"Get up, get up." Putting all that aside for now, She Ning got out of bed, put on her shoes, and quickly walked to the door. She couldn't wait and opened the door.
Outside the door, She Ni had two five-strand braids tied with red hair ties, and wore a beige dress. She smiled sweetly at She Ning.
Thinking of the quiet, aloof little girl in her dream, She Ning's eyes welled up with tears. Fortunately, she hadn't become like that. Suppressing her emotions, She Ning acted as usual, "It's too late to go to the beach today. Let's get ready, and I'll take you to dig for seashells."
Last night before going to bed, She Ning said she would take her to the beach to go beachcombing, but she woke up too late today and the tide had already gone out, so they can only go beachcombing another day. However, there is no requirement to dig for seashells, which is a small compensation for her breaking the promise today.
"Yay! I'm going to bring my little bucket and shovel." Wearing her little water boots, She Ni happily went to find her props.
She Ning watched her retreating figure with a look of relief in her eyes. Fortunately, the child who would squint when she smiled and still smile brightly even after losing her teeth was still there.
Police Station
"Detective Chen, there's a letter for you." In the morning, as soon as Chen Shengnan arrived at the police station, Old Li at the gate handed her an anonymous letter addressed to her.
The words on it were all cut out from newspaper and pasted on.
Chen Shengnan initially thought it was a letter of denunciation written by someone, but when she opened it, she was shocked and stood up from her seat.
Lately, bicycle bell covers have been frequently stolen in town. She has been following up on this case recently, and the more she investigates, the more she feels that this case is just something someone deliberately puts out in the open to attract attention, while actually concealing some other purpose.
She kept wondering if there was an even bigger case in the works.
This letter gave her a breakthrough.
"Director, I have some new information to report!" Holding an anonymous letter, Chen Shengnan hurriedly pushed open the director's office door.
Inside the office, everyone frowned, but the director finally spoke first.
"If what this letter says is true, then this case has an extremely bad influence and is seriously damaging to national interests and undermining social stability."
"First, send people to investigate and upgrade this case to the classified level."
"Yes!" Everyone left the office one after another. Chen Shengnan was the last to leave. Before she even reached the door, she was called back.
"Shengnan, stay here for a moment." The director looked seriously at the letter in her hand and beckoned Chen Shengnan over, "Come and take a look."
"Is the mountain you're talking about Ludong Mountain?" There have always been rumors in their area that Ludong Mountain holds treasure, but so many people have come and gone without finding it that everyone thinks it's just a rumor.
The letter mentioned the vicinity of Treasure Mountain, and the first place the director thought of was Ludong Mountain.
Chen Shengnan stood to one side, looked down at what the director had pointed out, then looked up and met her gaze. The two nodded to each other without saying a word.
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