Separated by a wall, two worlds.
The corridor behind the wall was covered with a dusty carpet, in a wine-red Persian style, the pattern of which was blurred and illegible.
Shekh saw a large spider web in the corner of the wall, and the dust in the air was kicked up by his footsteps.
Walking in this corridor is like swimming in a pond full of plankton; the dust that hits you is so thick that you have to turn your head to avoid it.
She opened a door to a room with a bed and furniture inside. "It was all dusty, and no one had used this place in a long time."
Shi Jinzhe wiped the dust off the table with his finger. It felt very soft and slippery when rubbed, quite different from thick dust containing various impurities.
"Shekh, smell this. Doesn't it look like incense ash?"
Sher approached with disdain, waited for two minutes, and then said, "It's a very faint smell of incense ash. It's been sitting here for a long time, and the smell has completely evaporated."
Shi Jinzhe lightly patted his hands twice to brush the dust off: "These are all completely abandoned rooms, yet they are still being differentiated. There must be a secret in this half of the corridor. Let's search it."
The room was large, with several cabinets. Shi Jinzhe simply pulled out the nearest drawer.
Inside were some peeling paint flakes, nothing else.
Scroll down to the second one, and you'll find several black rubber bands and black hair accessories. These are the kind of net-like hair accessories that female employees at sales counters wear to maintain their hairstyles and appearance.
The mesh elastic band is very convenient for holding up hair in a bun, but not many people use it now.
Further down, the third cabinet was empty.
There are a few coins in the fourth cabinet.
He searched through the wardrobe and desk, and then looked at the bedside table.
"The room is fully furnished, with a bed, sofa, coffee table, desk, and TV cabinet, which is quite different from other rooms in the Peace Hotel."
“It doesn’t feel like a regular guest room; it feels like someone has been living here for a long time.” Shekh opened the bedside table. “Even the bedside table is of better quality than the one in our room. It has a door and the material is thicker.”
"There's something inside." Shi Jinzhe took a book out of the bedside table. The cover was yellowed, and the side that was in contact with the wooden board was a little moldy. The pages were stuck together.
"The Path to Genius Education: Find the Right Method and You Too Can Cultivate Top Students," by Wang Luan.
Shi Jinzhe asked Shehe to hold the book for him and opened the pages to read.
"This is a book I wrote based on my personal educational experience, about my daughter Zhang Wang..."
Shekh: "It's Manager Zhang's name."
“It matches what Liu Run said, except it wasn’t written by Manager Zhang, but by her mother, Wang Luan.” Shi Jinzhe continued reading.
After reading several pages, I finally understood why everyone here felt sorry for Manager Zhang and thought it was a waste for her to be a hotel manager.
Zhang Wang skipped grades all the way and was admitted to the best university in the country at the age of twelve. Unlike other child prodigies, in addition to studying, she also had strong self-care ability and did not exhibit the kind of premature growth behavior seen in the news.
They have excellent learning abilities, but lack all life skills.
The girl in the book is diligent and studious, optimistic and cheerful, polite, and organized. She is the perfect child in the eyes of all parents.
When Wang Luan wrote this book, Zhang Wang was twenty years old and had already completed half of his doctoral studies.
"This shouldn't be Wang Luan bragging. I've managed hotels before, and Zhang Wang is very professional and has excellent business skills. She must have specifically studied for this purpose."
"She's a very nice person." Sher had never sensed any malice from Manager Zhang; she was a person with almost no flaws.
Suddenly, Sher chuckled, "Luckily, the Cheng family didn't adopt a prodigy like her. Otherwise, the trauma left by such a genius would have caused Cheng You'an to break down on the very first day he returned home, without even having to wait several months."
Shi Jinzhe was amused by her and continued reading.
"When she was eighteen, her father sacrificed his life while trying to help others. She accepted the government's commendation on her father's behalf. After returning home, she told me, 'Mom, I will study harder. Only by climbing higher can I make the perpetrators receive the punishment they deserve.'"
“Over the years, I have worked hard to raise her. I quit my job to support her. After her father passed away, I lost my source of income. My good friend took pity on me and specially arranged a room for me in the hotel she runs. Although it was a bit noisy to stay with the other guests, which was not good for my child’s studies, I am still very grateful for her help.”
"The friend and hotel references are quite clear: it's Lu Xiaohui and the Peace Hotel, while Wang Luan..."
“That’s the bridesmaid,” Shekh replied. “This is the room Wang Luan stayed in.”
"This place is practically a second home now."
“But what she said…” Shekh turned back to the page and pondered the passage again:
"Don't you think it's a bit strange? This is as if you're saying that Lu Xiaohui could have done better but didn't. Also, Wang Luan sees Lu Xiaohui's help as pity, and this gratitude is not sincere at all."
"Are you trying to say that Wang Luan is a bit hypocritical? That's because her writing contains some personal emotional output, so it reads a bit strange."
Shi Jinzhe told Shehe to turn to the next page, "Look here, she didn't write much about her parenting style, but she did write about her best friend's love life."
“My good friend Ms. Lu has been neglected by her husband for many years and has no children, so she adores my daughter Zhang Wang. She often says enviously that she would love to have such an outstanding daughter.”
“Wang Luan doesn’t like Lu Xiaohui,” Shehe said, then added with a grumble, “How can such a low-quality book be published? I could write one too.”
Shi Jinzhe held back from saying that the fragmented character "Shehe" was better suited for drawing talismans than publishing a book; the sales would definitely be better.
A moment of silence fell, and Shekh's sixth sense suddenly kicked in: "Are you talking about me in your mind? I think I heard it."
...
Shi Jinzhe really suspected that she might have some kind of mind-reading ability.
“I was just thinking to myself that your handwriting is special.” He brought up the main point: “Wang Luan is trying to gain a sense of superiority from Lu Xiaohui. Do you remember that photo? Bright red lipstick. It’s not that she has low emotional intelligence, she just wants to put Lu Xiaohui in her place.”
Shekh was speechless: "Then what kind of friends are they?"
“It used to be,” Shi Jinzhe said. “Wang Luan’s dislike would always show in the smallest details. I wonder what Lu Xiaohui would think if she found out. She might even be killed by Lu Xiaohui.”
"What about Manager Zhang? She's been getting along well with her mother's killer for years. Is she waiting here for a chance to take revenge? And she's been doing so many things to protect Lu Xiaohui. Wouldn't it be even more damaging to Lu Xiaohui if all of these people died in the hotel?"
Shi Jin folded the book and put it away, rubbing his temples with his thumb:
"I've found that no matter how we push things, we can't get around Manager Zhang. The problem is, no matter how you look at it, she has a hard time fitting into the relationship between these three people..."
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