The living room.
On the coffee table sat a photo fra. Inside was a picture of a young Bai Han and his wife in front of a white watchtower, both of them beaming.
"Boss, this family must have been very particular," Song Sisi said softly, her finger gliding over the spotless piano lid, leaving a clear streak on the dust-free surface.
Li Xu nodded, his gaze drawn to an old-fashioned video cara in the corner.
Next to the cara were dozens of videotapes, stacked neatly. Each one had a label with a date and a brief description of its contents.
The most recent tape was dated exactly one year ago, from before Bai Han had fallen ill.
Nearby was a locked door.
Li Xu tried the key. After opening the door, he found a pile of paper rabbits on the floor.
The paper rabbits were folded from paper of all different colors.
Most of them were white.
They were scattered across the floor, making the room feel like sothing out of a fairy tale.
A strange-looking platypus toy was mixed in among them, its significance unclear.
Exiting the room, he went to the bedroom. A double bed was made immaculately. On the nightstand, there was another handmade paper rabbit.
The clothes in the closet were hung by season, each piece protected by a dust cover.
In the deepest part of the closet, Li Xu found a small tal box. Inside was a stack of yellowed letters and a faded old photograph—in it, Bai Han’s young wife stood beneath the white watchtower, holding a platypus toy.
The entire house was like a piece of amber, frozen in ti, with traces of the owner’s ticulous life everywhere.
That almost obsessive neatness and order stood in stark contrast to the ntally unstable Bai Han of today, who could only repeat, "Where do I have to go?"
"Boss, do you think the clues we’re looking for are on these tapes?"
Song Sisi walked over to the pile of videotapes.
Li Xu surveyed the old house, so full of mories. His gaze finally settled on the white watchtower visible through the window. "No rush. Let’s go check out the watchtower first."
The two of them left the courtyard.
The watchtower was built on a hill just outside the village.
On the other side of the hill was another village, completely deserted—an abandoned village, most likely.
"Boss, there’s a grave here."
Song Sisi jumped in fright.
Li Xu walked over.
The grave was built of neatly stacked stones, quite exquisite. There was a headstone on it that read: *In mory of my beloved Fang Xiaoxi*.
Fang Xiaoxi was Bai Han’s wife.
But the grave had been untended for a long ti, and tall weeds grew all around it.
In a few more years, the weeds would probably cover the entire grave.
"Let’s go."
Li Xu led Song Sisi to the watchtower.
It was a watchtower built in the 1950s or 60s, used for observing the forest and as an early warning system for fires.
It had long since been abandoned.
The two of them expected it to be a complete ss inside.
But to their surprise, aside from a layer of dust, it was perfectly clean.
There was even a broom in the corner.
’Did Bai Han co here often to clean?’ Li Xu wondered, climbing the stairs to the top of the watchtower.
The top was an open-air loft.
It was enclosed by glass panels.
The original glass had shattered long ago.
The current glass was new—the sa tempered glass used in the house, highly impact-resistant and unlikely to be broken by the wind.
"There are paper rabbits here, too?" Song Sisi said in surprise.
Li Xu nodded. He had seen them.
There were just as many paper rabbits here as in Bai Han’s house.
He guessed that Bai Han had replaced the watchtower’s glass with tempered glass to protect these paper rabbits.
"Is there sothing special about these paper rabbits? Could using them help the patient regain his senses?" Song Sisi’s eyes lit up.
Li Xu examined the paper rabbits. "It’s not that simple," he said.
"Huh?"
He had found a peculiar paper rabbit.
The other paper rabbits were mostly white or so other solid color.
This one, however, was multicolored and particularly eye-catching.
But other than that, there was nothing else in the watchtower.
Li Xu and Song Sisi turned and left.
「Back at the old house.」
Li Xu began to go through the videotapes.
He found the most recent one, dated a year ago, and put it into the old VCR to play.
Fortunately, though the VCR was old, it still worked properly after being plugged in.
The video began to play.
Beneath the watchtower,
Bai Han was pacing in front of his wife’s grave.
A voice ca from the recording: "Where do I have to go?? How could I forget?? Xiao Xi, I’m sorry, I forgot where I have to go!!!"
He was deeply conflicted and in great pain.
The place he needed to go must have been incredibly important.
So important that the thought of forgetting was driving him mad.
But no matter how hard he tried to rember, even hitting his own head, he couldn’t recall where he was supposed to go.
He only knew that he had to go.
It was a promise.
The video ended abruptly.
Li Xu hadn’t gained any useful information.
He glanced at the tapes and picked out an older one.
He pressed play.
On the screen,
Bai Han was playing the piano alone in his house.
The pile of paper rabbits was still on the floor.
The platypus toy sat on the piano.
Li Xu watched the screen intently.
He noticed a jar of pickled radishes in the living room.
There was also an old backpack in the corner.
"I can’t believe he can play the piano," Song Sisi said, amazed.
Li Xu added in admiration, "Yes, and he’s very good."
The video finished playing.
Li Xu put in another tape.
「This one was from even earlier.」
This ti, the scene was set in the rain.
Bai Han stood holding an umbrella, watching over his wife’s grave.
The platypus toy was still beside him.
Seeing this, Li Xu and Song Sisi exchanged a look. They both sensed that the platypus toy might be sothing special.
Finding the toy might be the key to unlocking Bai Han’s ntal block and helping him recover.
The video continued.
Bai Han muttered to himself, "It’s all over, Xiao Xi."
"Xiao An must be... grateful to you, too."
The video stopped.
The room fell silent.
Song Sisi couldn’t help but ask, "Who’s... this Xiao An now? Did... did he have an affair?"
Li Xu frowned, unsure of the situation himself.
’Did Bai Han really have an affair? And his guilt is what made him lose his mind?’
"Don’t jump to conclusions. Let’s keep watching."
...
「A new tape, from even further back.」
Inside a room.
A hospital bed.
A woman lay on it.
It was Xiao Xi.
Li Xu and Song Sisi’s spirits lifted. They had finally reached the ’leading lady’.
Perhaps through her, they could find the ’truth’.
A voice ca through, choppy and intermittent.
Bai Han: "It’s still enough."
"Even after paying for the surgery, there will be more than enough left over.
...So, don’t worry about the money."
Xiao Xi: "I’ve calculated our assets. I know our family’s financial situation very well."
"But if you believe in my dream, I hope you’ll use the money to finish building that house."
...
The two of them were discussing money.
Xiao Xi was clearly seriously ill and didn’t want to continue treatnt.
She told her husband, Bai Han, that she wanted to use the remaining money to finish building that house.
She also asked him to take good care of ’her’ and hoped ’she’ would no longer be lonely, adding that this was the source of her happiness.
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