This study looked a lot like Jiangg’s office, which he had visited before.
The sa plain, unadorned wooden cabinets. The windowsills, shelves, and desk were all filled with plants.
To say it was brimming with life would be no exaggeration.
He scanned the esoteric books once and decided the dical report couldn’t possibly be hidden in a place like this. Anyone who reads often knows you shouldn’t hide important things in books; otherwise, you’re bound to lose them from all the flipping back and forth.
Under the desk lamp, the study tools were so artfully arranged. A look of deep admiration appeared in Chen Yuan’s eyes.
A fountain pen, an eyeglasses case, a hairpin, research papers, an iPad for taking notes—everything was placed just where one would imagine, within easy reach. Looking at this desk, he could even picture what Jiangg Ning looked like when she was studying.
The surrounding plants would sway, the window cracked open just a sliver to let in a breeze. At that mont, Jiangg Ning would surely reach for her pen to hold down a curling page.
Chen Yuan sat down in the chair, bent over, and began to search the drawers one by one.
The desk really did hide many important docunts. He hadn’t been rummaging for long when a resignation application for Lanjing University caught his eye.
He gave it a quick read. There was nothing special about it.
It had Vice Principal Zhang’s signature, and the application date was from before the new year. Ningning hadn’t been lying; she had started planning her resignation a long ti ago.
He continued to dig deeper.
He found a jewelry box, a Yale University graduation photo, and underneath it all, the diploma.
Chen Yuan touched the diploma. The material felt like parchnt, a bit rough but with a nice texture. It had intricate patterns, and above the large, gilt-stamped letters were a few lines of minuscule English text. The college’s insignia was only visible on the back. For so reason, Chen Yuan was reminded of a novel he had read, about a magical school called Kassel College.
"When you are at your loneliest and most hopeless, a door will open for you."
"Lu Mingfei waited for eighteen years, and in the year of his greatest misfortune, the door opened."
That door, that acceptance letter that had crossed the vast ocean.
Chen Yuan had never been abroad, yet this diploma sparked a bit of curiosity in him. He shook his head with a bitter smile and didn’t open it.
It was a one-of-a-kind item, and he didn’t want to damage it for Ningning.
’So the Yale graduation is the real deal,’ he thought. ’That makes sense. No matter what, that scholarly aura Jiangg has couldn’t be faked. So things just can’t be feigned.’
Chen Yuan picked up the photo and looked at it, but it was just a sea of foreign girls’ faces. After scanning a few rows without finding Jiangg Ning, he gave up.
The jewelry box. He pried it open to have a look.
The mont he opened it, he fell silent.
The ring that could be considered their token of love was nestled safely inside. The little thing, which had only cost a dozen or so yuan, was actually being treated like a precious piece of jewelry, professionally held in the middle of the box’s colorful brocade. Its shiny surface faintly reflected Chen Yuan’s face.
He had once suspected the thing was cast from stainless steel. It was certainly hard and hadn’t faded.
Chen Yuan gave a self-mocking laugh. ’It would be nice if this relationship were really like stainless steel. What’s all this about being as true as a diamond? Where in the world is there a love like that? A love that’s simply hard enough to be unbreakable is already what many people dream of their entire lives.’
How many lovers who had sworn their vows ended up just drifting apart?
Chen Yuan put the things back, arranging them neatly.
He pulled open the third drawer.
There, like a treasure that only appears at the very end of a quest, the dical report lay folded right in the middle of the drawer.
Chen Yuan’s eyes widened, and he hurriedly took it out.
This was definitely the one Jiangg Yao had shown him that day. Even the ink smudge on the back was identical. The impression it had left was too strong.
His breathing instantly grew ragged. With a trembling hand, he unfolded it.
"Lanjing City Second People’s Hospital..."
"Psychiatry Departnt, Attending Physician: Cheng Ya."
"Schizophrenia, significant anxiety symptoms, diagnosis..."
’I knew I rembered correctly. It wasn’t the psychology departnt; I rembered it being a psychiatric illness. This lined up perfectly with what Professor Fu had said. Multiple personality disorder is an extrely rare psychological condition. Schizophrenia is often triggered by external factors, making it hard to live normally or tell what’s real. But multiple personality disorder is an internal psychological barrier—a deformity, even—that originates from within.’
And its incidence rate is more than ten tis lower than that of schizophrenia.
Such an obvious error could only an one thing: the dical report was a forgery. But it clearly had the official stamp of Lanjing Hospital. ’Could that be fake, too?’
He was touching the truth.
Chen Yuan was one hundred percent certain. He had been deceived.
He had gone to such great lengths to find this dical report, and now, here it was in his hands.
But Chen Yuan didn’t feel happy at all. He sat numbly in the chair, a clenching pain in his heart... He was so tense he couldn’t stop swallowing. He desperately wanted to take a deep breath, feeling as if he were suffocating.
A thousand thoughts tangled in his mind.
The weight of his disappointnt made his shoulders slump, and he couldn’t sit up straight.
Right now, he just wanted to dissolve into a puddle of mud and seep into the cracks of the floor.
Chen Yuan didn’t even want to think anymore.
’Why lie?’
’Wasn’t this sothing we could have just talked about openly?’
’Didn’t we agree to work hard for our relationship, to strive for the future we dread of? We had planned such a beautiful future together.’
’Built on a foundation of lies, does this love even have any aning?’
Chen Yuan put the dical report back. The simple action seed to drain all his strength.
He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what purpose Jiangg had in presenting the two personalities, Ningning and Yaoyao, separately to him.
Without a doubt, Chen Yuan was only one step away from the real answer.
But as he was now... he, who had always believed he was on the righteous path of pure love, was deeply wounded.
Pursuing a pure love is undoubtedly difficult.
If Chen Yuan were to stop now, he might remain in the dark for the rest of his life, but he would also have a relatively happy one. Knowing less isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
[In the space of a few short minutes.]
He fought the urge to smash the glass vase on the desk in front of him, suppressing his emotions and telling himself to be calm.
At that mont, the afternoon sun was at its most brilliant, a stark contrast to his gloomy mood. To call the light magnificent would be no exaggeration. It stread directly through the window, half of it falling on his back, the other half blocked by the curtain.
The vase on the table was also bathed in it.
The water, refreshed a few days ago, subrged the stems of a small money plant.
The sunlight passed through the glass, casting rippling patterns on the desk, making it impossible to tell if they were ripples of light or water... Chen Yuan lightly touched the vase, and in an instant, the ripples shattered into pieces.
Just like his heart.
...
"I thought you’d left," Jiangg Ning said, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she ca out of the bedroom. She looked at Chen Yuan sitting on the sofa. "I woke up and you weren’t beside . Turns out you were in the living room."
Chen Yuan said nothing, his gaze fixed on the balcony.
"What ti did you wake up?" Jiangg Ning stretched and walked to the sink, splashing water on her face.
She instantly felt more awake.
She had slept especially soundly during her nap. Two hours had passed, and it was now three in the afternoon.
Perhaps just having Chen Yuan nearby gave her a sense of security.
Wiping her face, Jiangg Ning ca over and sat down next to him on the sofa.
"Would you lie to ?"
Suddenly, Chen Yuan turned his head, looked her in the eye, and asked, enunciating every word.
"Wh... what?"
"Nothing," Chen Yuan said, glancing at the ti on his phone. "I woke up at two. You were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to disturb you."
Jiangg Ning had been stunned by the question but now snapped out of it.
"You woke up that early?" she asked, forcing a smile.
"Yeah. I should probably get ready to go. I have my part-ti job this afternoon. What about you?"
"I have things to do, too."
"See you tonight, then."
Chen Yuan smiled at her and even reached out to hug Ning. He did a good job of hiding his true emotions.
Now, he needed to seriously consider whether or not he should confront Jiangg.
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