Chapter 1: Sniping

  Jiupin Literature welcomes you, any search engine searches for "Jiupin Literature" to quickly enter this site, this site permanently free of pop-up windows provides high-quality and txt format download service! Half an hour later, the floor of Gu Hanhao's living room was covered with white crumpled paper, Ling Lan had emptied a whole box of tissues from the tea table.

  "Alright, tell me, what's my task for today?" Ling Lan asked, having vented her emotions and wiped away the remaining tears on her face, taking a deep breath.

  Gu Hanhao took out a stack of photo albums from the TV cabinet, "You look at these to pass the time, I'll go clean up the battlefield."

  Ling Lan lazily opened one of the photo albums, and on the first page it was written: High School. It seems that this is a photo album recording Gu Hanhao's high school days.

  The silly look of Gu Hanhao, who was wearing a blue and white striped sports uniform in the photo, made Ling Lan burst out laughing.

  The next one is Gu Hanhao's preschool album. Ling Lan thinks that Gu Hanhao is really a meticulous man, and his family's albums are organized like files.

  In less than three minutes, Ling Lan looked up again to find that the mess on the ground had disappeared, and Gu Hanhao was sitting across from her with a cup of coffee.

  "Today your task is to look at these albums and also make a phone call home, asking your parents to pass over all the albums in your house."

  "Huh? What's so great about a photo album? Besides, my parents would never agree to such a request unless I tell them the reason why I want it."

  Gu Hanhao thought for a moment, "Can't tell them, let's do this, in two days I'll go back with you and bring the photo album directly. This is better. Fortunately, L City is not too far from here."

  "Do you want to come home with me? No way, if we go back like this, my parents will definitely think you're my boyfriend." Ling Lan waved her hand, "What's your intention?"

  Gu Hanhao opened one of the photo albums, "These few albums basically cover my life circle and interpersonal relationships from childhood to adulthood. The photos after college are all on my computer, there are more, I hope you can take a closer look, of course not at me, but at the people around me, see if there's anyone you recognize or find familiar. I think, maybe using this method we might be able to find some connections between us."

  Ling Lan curled her lip in disdain, "What kind of method is this? It's like looking for a needle in the ocean."

  "Do you have a better way?" Gu Hanhao was somewhat displeased.

  Ling Lan thought for half a minute, and indeed there was no better way. She and Gu HanHao were like two random samples picked from the vast ocean of people, trying to find the connection between these two samples was originally a needle in a haystack.

  But this is still better than having her own **being dug up and exposed to light**, Ling Lan calmed herself down and carefully studied these photos from the beginning.

  Gu Hanhao sat down beside Ling Lan, placing the large photo album on their legs. He then leaned his head towards Ling Lan and together they reminisced over the photos. As they looked through them, Gu Hanhao also told her about the time and place each photo was taken, introducing the people in the group shots.

  Ling Lan listened intently, and gradually, she found that Gu HanHao was quite good at telling stories. Some of his anecdotes from his youth even made Ling Lan forget the unpleasantness that Peng Ze had just brought her, and she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

  Gu Hanhao became more and more addicted to talking, and the two of them didn't even notice that their current state had already exceeded the boundaries of intimacy they had set for each other.

  Ling Lan pressed down on Gu Han's hand that was about to turn the page, "Was this photo taken at Jingjiang Park?"

  Gu Hanhao quickly wiped the smile off his face and asked seriously, "How did you know this was taken at Jingjiang Park? This pavilion and the surrounding woods were converted into a fitness plaza ten years ago. Ten years ago, you should have still been in L City, right?"

  "Ten years ago I was in L City, but fifteen years ago I had been to S City with my parents. After visiting a classmate of my father's who lived in S City, the three of us went to Jingjiang Park. I still remember this pavilion, at that time I wanted to eat ice cream, my parents told me to wait here while they went to buy some, and then..."

  "As a result, you didn't wait obediently there, but ran around everywhere and got lost." Gu Hanhao stared tightly at Ling Lan's eyes, and he saw surprise in her eyes, as well as a hint of fear.

  "My god, how did you know?" Ling Lan was indeed frightened. She and Gu Hanyu were complete strangers from different walks of life before they met, so why did he know about her such private childhood experiences?

  "Because something similar happened to me," Gu Hanhao pulled out the photo and flipped it over. On the back of the photo was written "1990, Jingjiang Park". "This is a photo of my parents and me when I was 7 years old. We chose this place for the photo because that day I got lost in Jingjiang Park too. Luckily, a kind-hearted uncle brought me back to the pavilion here. At that time, my parents were frantically searching for me at the pavilion, and I cried as I threw myself into their arms. After crying for a while, I remembered the kind-hearted uncle and turned around to look for him, but he had already left."

  Ling Lan let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, her experiences were not exactly the same as Gu Hanyu's. If they had been identical, that would have been too terrifying.

  "My experience was different from yours. At that time, I saw two little girls catching dragonflies in a nearby forest, so I went to play with them. Later, the three of us got lost together. Fortunately, one of the girl's mothers found us and sent us to the park management office. Afterward, my parents heard the broadcast from the park and rushed to the management office, where they finally found me."

  Gu Hanhao felt a little disappointed. Unlike Ling Lan's fear, he thought it was just an empty joy, "It seems that it might be a coincidence."

  Ling Lan nodded thoughtfully, acknowledging the "coincidence" theory. "But at that time, there was something strange. I was young then and didn't pay attention to that detail, my mind was only on meeting my parents at the management office. Now that I think about it, it seems off."

  Gu Hanhao's interest was piqued after hearing this, "What is it? Jiupin Literature welcomes you! You can quickly enter our website by searching 'Jiupin Literature' on any search engine. Our website permanently provides free and high-quality downloads in txt format without pop-up ads!"

  "At that time, there were three girls including me who got lost. I originally thought they knew each other, but it turned out that they and I were all temporary playmates who didn't know each other, not even knowing each other's names. Later in the woods, a very beautiful woman ran over, hugged one of the shorter girls tightly, saying 'Mengmeng, I finally found you, Mom was worried to death.' Then she held that girl tightly, and the girl seemed to be scared speechless until they arrived at the management office. When the woman took the girl away, the girl turned her head to look at me and another taller girl, softly saying 'She's not my mom.'"

  Gu Hanhao immediately fell into deep thought, this matter was incomprehensible, although he was good at making bold assumptions, but facing such a past that seemed like a coincidence and yet seemed to have a profound mystery, he couldn't make a move, it could only be inferred from these that the hypotheses that could be made were too many. It seems that he still needs more detailed clues.

  "My parents chose to take a photo here so that I would remember the lesson and not run around alone again. I remember it was August 19th, summer vacation had just ended, the day before school started." Gu Hanhao muttered to himself as he reminisced.

  Ling Lan almost knocked over the coffee on the tea table, and she trembled with voice, "August 19th, 1990, is my birthday!"

  Gu Hanhao suddenly raised his head, looking incredulously at Ling Lan, who was equally incredulous. A few seconds later, he stuttered and asked: "Isn't your birthday on September 9th according to your ID?" Gu Hanhao suddenly remembered that when he first met Ling Lan, before taking her statement, he had asked for her personal information, and her birthday was definitely September 9th.

  Ling Lan shook her head, "The date on my ID and household registration is incorrect. My actual birthday is August 19th. My mom said it was a mistake when registering, no big deal, didn't need to go out of the way to correct it. And besides, I got lost in the park that day, which just so happened to be August 19th, 1997. That day I turned seven years old and my parents finally agreed to take me to the park for fun."

  Gu Hanhao messed up his hair in frustration, "So to say, on the day I got lost in Jingjiang Park, you happened to be born in L City? Seven years later, at the age of seven, you also went to that pavilion in Jingjiang Park, also got lost, and also returned safely to your parents with the help of strangers?"

  "I wonder if the man who helped you, who did a good deed without leaving his name, and the 'fake mom' who took us to the management office, are in cahoots with each other? But why would that 'fake mom' pretend to be that girl's mother? She could have just appeared as an unfamiliar aunt." Ling Lan cast her inquiring gaze at Gu Hanhao, hoping he could make another accurate guess like before and provide a reasonable explanation for this puzzle.

  Gu Hanhao shook his head, "The clue is too little, and there's no way to start. Let's narrow down the scope, think separately about whether anything special happened in those years when we were 14, 21, and 28 years old."

  Ling Lan understood that Gu Hanhao got lost in Jingjiang Park when he was seven years old, and it happened to be his birthday. And he got lost in the park again at the age of seven, as if every seven years, that mysterious clue would appear once.

  Gu Hanhao imagined in his mind that there were two dark shadows, facing each other and making an appointment. One of them said: Every seven years. The other nodded in agreement: It's settled then.