Although Xin Zhu really hated that guy deliberately bumping into him, he hadn’t actually thought of doing anything to the other party.
He dawdled for a while at the entrance, then slowly walked over.
"You... what did you do to him?"
"Fired him." Chuzheng tapped the table, motioning for him to sit down and eat.
"Just fired him?"
Chuzheng asked back with a perfectly straight face, "Or what?"
Xin Zhu kept feeling that sothing was off, but couldn’t put his finger on it for the mont.
The next day, Xin Zhu saw a new assistant, much more steady than the last one, and already married.
Every day, besides checkups, all he had left was playing gas, watching TV, and learning about the outside world through the internet.
Chuzheng wouldn’t allow him to go out...
Xin Zhu cupped his face in his hands and sat on the steps, sighing.
He wanted to go out and have a look...
Ding dong—
The front gate doorbell was pressed.
Xin Zhu glanced over that way but didn’t move. Soone would go open the door.
But after waiting a while, no one ca out, and the doorbell kept ringing, so he had no choice but to get up and go open it.
Standing outside were people from the XX precinct. Seeing the young, handso guy who opened the door, they were slightly stunned.
In a split second, they rembered who he was.
"Hello, is Miss Liu at ho?"
"Yeah."
"Is it convenient for us to co in?"
Xin Zhu had seen them several tis, but had never spoken to them; every ti Chuzheng t with them, she never took him along.
Xin Zhu hesitated, then nodded and led them inside.
"Sir, are you Miss Liu’s boyfriend?"
"Mm."
"Then do you know where Miss Liu was from the end of July to early August?"
"..."
Before Xin Zhu could figure out what to say, Chuzheng’s voice ca from ahead: "You two, what are you doing here again?"
Xin Zhu hurried a few steps to her side and proactively grabbed her hand. The act was a bit childish and kid-like.
"Miss Liu, we have so new information we want to confirm with you."
Chuzheng: "..."
So annoying.
Chuzheng told Xin Zhu to go back to his room; she went to the living room with the two of them to talk.
The so‑called new information was nothing more than finding out exactly where Li Tian and the others had gone, and that soone had seen a woman suspected to be Chuzheng acting together with them.
Chuzheng, with a clear conscience and zero guilt, flatly stated that she had never been there.
In the end, of course, they didn’t get any useful leads out of her.
However, they shifted their sights to Xin Zhu, intending to find a breakthrough through him.
As soon as they left, Chuzheng imdiately went to find Xin Zhu.
"We were together the whole ti before, overseas. If anyone asks you, that’s what you say. Got it?"
"Those people..."
"Xin Zhu, don’t stick your nose into other people’s business."
"..."
Helpless against Xin Zhu’s silly, sweet naivety, Chuzheng could only use a heavier hand: "If you ddle, you’ll get killed. Understand?"
Sure enough, Xin Zhu’s face changed slightly, and he quickly nodded. "I... I got it."
"Good boy."
-
Sure enough, those two tried, in roundabout ways, to get sothing out of Xin Zhu again. Xin Zhu kept Chuzheng’s words firmly in mind and didn’t dare say anything off script.
As days passed with no other leads, the case was gradually shelved.
Chuzheng also allowed Xin Zhu to leave the villa and go outside.
Xin Zhu looked at the completely unfamiliar city, unable to find a single overlap with his mories.
The people here, the buildings, all had beco strangers.
"Can we go to Tianhe Road?"
The answer ca from the driver up front. "Mr. Xin, Tianhe Road was demolished years ago."
Xin Zhu froze for a mont.
Demolished...?
He hesitated, then spoke up. "I... still want to go have a look."
Chuzheng nodded slightly, and the driver made a U‑turn and headed toward Tianhe Road.
Tianhe Road used to be a stretch of old, run‑down buildings. Now the whole area was full of high‑rises, a fully developed comrcial district.
Standing on the street, Xin Zhu felt such a chill of strangeness that it reached the bottom of his heart.
He once again clearly realized that he had really said goodbye to this world for over thirty years.
Everything had changed.
"What are you looking for?" Chuzheng asked him.
"I used to live here." This was his ho.
Chuzheng fell silent for a mont, went back to the car, took out a file, and handed it to Xin Zhu. "Your family’s information is in here."
Xin Zhu was stunned. He stared at the file for a long ti without taking it.
"You don’t want to look?"
Xin Zhu drew a small breath, took the file, and opened it.
The first thing he saw was a family portrait. At first glance, everyone in it seed unfamiliar, but if he looked closely, he could still see the faces he used to know in their brows and eyes.
The two elderly people in the middle were his parents.
And next to them, a middle‑aged woman held a photo of him.
That was his little sister, but she was already this old...
Xin Zhu’s chest felt tight, waves of discomfort washing over him.
Including him, there had been four children in their family.
He was the third; he had two older brothers and one younger sister.
His father had already passed away. His mother was still alive, but not in good health, living in a care facility.
"I want to... go see her."
"Mm, let’s go."
The care ho needed a quiet environnt, so it was in a rather remote place.
After Xin Zhu arrived, he sat in the car, not moving an inch.
"Let’s just go back." Xin Zhu suddenly backed down.
"You’re not going?"
"I... I’m a little scared." Looking like this now, how could he let them see him? How was he supposed to explain where he’d been all these years?
Chuzheng took his hand. "Don’t be scared. I’m here."
The warmth from her hand gave Xin Zhu a sense of peace. He took a breath. He’d just sneak a look, just one look...
-
An old lady with silver hair sat on a bench under the shade of a tree. Beside her stood a middle‑aged couple, talking to her about sothing.
The old lady seed very happy and broke into a smile. With her face full of wrinkles, she looked particularly kind in that mont.
Standing at a distance, Xin Zhu stared without blinking.
He didn’t dare go over, let alone say he was Xin Zhu. He only dared to stand here, far away, and steal a look.
Xin Zhu tugged on Chuzheng’s sleeve. "Let’s go."
As the two of them turned around, a child ran into them and fell to the ground with an "ow."
"I’m sorry..." Xin Zhu hurried to help the child up.
The kid didn’t cry. With a pair of big, bright black eyes, he looked at the big brother in front of him. "Big brother, you look a lot like my Third‑Grandpa in the photo."
Xin Zhu’s heart gave a jolt. He let go of the child and grabbed Chuzheng, hurrying away.
The kid had no idea what he’d said wrong to scare the big brother off. He dashed back toward his grandparents.
"Grandpa, Grandma, I just saw a big brother who looks exactly like Third‑Grandpa."
"What nonsense are you talking about, kid?"
"It’s true, it’s true. That big brother looked exactly like Third‑Grandpa in the photo."
"..."
The child insisted he looked exactly the sa. Even though they didn’t believe him, they still followed the child out to take a look.
But at the entrance, they didn’t see anyone.
They did, however, run into the eldest brother who had just arrived.
Nobody expected the first thing the eldest brother said to be: "I think I just saw Third Brother."
"How is that possible..."
"Where did you see him?"
"On my way in, I saw him from the car. He looked exactly like Third Brother when he was young."
"It’s just... just a coincidence."
Third Brother had been missing for so long. Even if he were still alive, he couldn’t possibly look exactly the sa as when he was young.
In the end, they all wrote it off as a coincidence.
Don’t the news sotis report people who obviously have no blood relation to each other, yet look incredibly alike?
User Comments
0 comments from readers