Chapter 3: Recalling Memories

  Fang You and Yang Rong sat in the school cafeteria, eating a tasteless dinner, exhausted, without any clues, neither of them willing to break the silence.

  Watching students coming and going in the cafeteria, the two suddenly missed their school days. Carefree and without worries, that should have been the happiest time.

  This society is too big, everyone lives their own life, Liu Xilei's death will not have any impact on anyone, those who should attend classes will attend classes, those who should date will date, the death of someone next to them will not have any impact on them, at most it will just be a topic of conversation after dinner.

  "This earth will continue to rotate without anyone, don't take yourself too seriously."

  When I previously asked the boys about Liu Xilei, when they heard the news of her death, they didn't show any sadness at all. It was as if someone who had nothing to do with them had died. Have people's emotions become so numb?

  If people really have souls after death, at this moment, Liu Xilei looking at her former classmates and friends would not shed a single tear for her own death. How desolate she must feel in her heart, and whether she would reflect on how she had failed as a person.

  If I had known that I would end up like this after death, wouldn't I regret not following that person and living a good life instead of ending up like this?

  If... if only, there are too many ifs, but life has no ifs. Life's journey is a one-way ticket, once you depart, you can't turn back.

  "Alas..." Yang Rong placed the steamed bun that had been in her hand for a long time without being eaten on the plate, and let out a deep sigh. What a wonderful place school was supposed to be, how could such a thing happen.

  "What's wrong, no appetite?" Fang You heard Yang Rong's sigh and looked up at her with a worried face. Not only did Yang Rong have no appetite, but he also had none now, having run around for half a day without finding any clues.

  Watching the students coming and going, Yang Rong suddenly became sentimental. "The Buddha said that all encounters in this life are reunions from the previous life. If you love, it's a continuation of the story from your past life; if you hate, it's settling old scores. There is no encounter that can be prepared for, no reunion that can be rehearsed. Life is an unexpected event in the midst of emotions and reason."

  "Alright, stop venting your emotions here and hurry up to finish eating. We need to get back to the team and report to Captain Guo. Fang didn't understand women at all, sometimes they just liked saying strange things. A woman's heart was something he couldn't guess, wasn't there a song lyric that said so? Don't try to guess what's on a girl's mind, no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to figure it out."

  "Alright, spoilsport!" Yang Rong gave Fang You a glance. This man just didn't understand women's hearts at all. If she were to meet a man who could understand her, even if it was dangerous, she would still be willing to take the risk.

  He didn't understand why Yang Rong suddenly got angry, he wanted to ask, but was worried that his question would make her even angrier, so he chose to remain silent instead. At least he knew one thing: the more you speak, the more mistakes you make, it's better not to say anything.

  Yang Rong picked up her bag and walked ahead, her footsteps quick. Fang You didn't know how to coax her, so he just followed behind, keeping a safe distance from the danger zone.

  Because of the conversation with Bai Tian and Guo Yining during the day, Wu Hui's mood became extremely bad, and the wound in his heart was something he really couldn't touch at all. Once touched, it would make him feel unbearable pain.

  "Don't... please... don't..." Wu Hui muttered to himself in his sleep, he had another dream, again dreaming of that person who had been haunting him. His face was always smiling, but to Wu Hui, the smile seemed like it came from the Asura hell, making him stand still and unable to move, even if he wanted to shout out loud, but his mouth wouldn't listen to his commands.

  This feeling is fear, it's the fear of death, a deep-seated fear from the soul. Is this chill just the feeling of life slowly slipping away?

  Wu Hui was terrified, it was a fear that came from the depths of his soul, and to him, that man's smile was the most terrifying thing in this world.

  At the man's feet lay a person, an extremely weak woman, who was limp in a strange posture. The woman around her was slowly dyed red, like a rose, a huge rose wrapped around her.

  Who is it, who lies there, hurry up and run away from there, or else you will be swallowed by the rose, who is it?

  The man standing there bent down, carefully looking at the woman lying on the ground, as if watching a work of art, extremely intoxicated.

  Wu Hui wanted to move his body, but he couldn't even move a small finger on his face. He wanted to pick up the woman and run, knowing he had to do so. He struggled to shift his body, but it was all in vain.

  Perhaps feeling Wu Hui's struggle, the man's gaze finally shifted from the woman to Wu Hui, still with that smile, that hellish smile. He grabbed the woman's hair and stood up, dragging her towards Wu Hui.

  Wu Hui wanted to go save the woman, but when he saw the man dragging her over by her hair, he became afraid. In his heart, he was shouting "Don't! Don't come over! I don't want to see it, I don't want to see it!"

  That huge rose was dragged by the man to become very long, just like a woman wearing a long red dress with a trailing skirt behind her.

  Little by little, slowly, the man got closer and closer, Wu Hui seemed to hear his breathing, feel his nasal breath.

  The man flung the woman in his hand to Wu Hui's face, and when Wu Hui saw the woman's face, the suffocating pain made him wake up from his dream.

  It's another nightmare. Wu Hui sat up in bed with his body arched, panting heavily, and cold sweat slid down his forehead.

  "Jingran, is that you, Jingran?" For four years, Wu Hui had not dared to utter the name out loud. Every time he called out, he felt as if he was cutting his heart with a knife. But it was better this way. At least the pain reminded him of the mistakes he made back then. At least the pain let him know that he was still alive in this world for a reason.

  Wu Hui got out of bed and came to the closet in the dark, opened the closet, on the top layer there was a box, that box had been placed there for four years, he hadn't opened it, didn't know why, tonight he wanted to open it and take a look.

  It was a red wooden box, about the size of a shoebox, with a carving of a lotus flower on its front. A stem with two flowers is called a twin lotus, symbolizing a harmonious and unchanging love between husband and wife.

  This box was seen by Wu Hui and Jing Ran when they were traveling in Guangzhou, at an antique shop. At that time, Jing Ran thought it looked good, so Wu Hui bought it.

  Jingran said this was her secret box, inside were her secrets and the love of two people she collected. After they got married, she wanted to bring it as her only dowry, then collect the bits and pieces of their lives, and open it again when they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.

  Since Jingran disappeared, Wu Hui has never opened it, he dare not open it, he is afraid.

  But today, for some reason, he really wanted to take a look at what was inside this box.

  Wu Hui took off a bracelet from his wrist, with a small key tied to the red string, which was the key to this box. It was picked up at the place where Jing Ran disappeared that year. If Jing Ran hadn't encountered an accident, she would never have dropped this bracelet.

  When Wu Hui was about to insert the key into the lock, his hand trembled. Did he really have the courage to open this box? This was the emotion he had been suppressing, the memory he dared not touch. Was he really going to open it?

  "Ding!" In the darkness, this crisp unlocking sound was so clear. Before Wu Hui had time to hesitate, his hand had already opened the box of memories.

  Wu Hui let out a long sigh and opened the box. There were only a few things inside, but each one was related to Wu Hui.

  One of the Polaroid photos shows Wu Hui and Jing Ran skiing in Beijing, with the caption: "February 14th, 2000 Valentine's Day, first time skiing with Hui."

  Wu Hui remembered that time when they went skiing, Jing Ran didn't know how to ski, but because Wu Hui liked it, she suggested going. At the ski resort, Jing Ran fell many times, and Wu Hui felt a little heartache, but Jing Ran laughed and said it was very interesting. She always thought of Wu Hui first and never thought of herself.

  A plastic ring with a big candy on it, because Jingyan's family had a history of diabetes, she never dared to eat sweets. Wu Hui didn't know that and gave her the plastic ring with the candy, saying he would give her a real diamond when they got married.

  Jingran said she didn't want any diamond ring, as long as Wu Hui was by her side, this plastic ring would do. Wu Hui still remembers how Jingran ate sugar while happily holding his arm at that time.

  There was also a green scarf, which was the first scarf Wu Hui used to tie up Jing Ran's hair. At that time, Wu Hui was clumsy and pulled out many of Jing Ran's hairs, but Jing Ran not only didn't cry out in pain, she even said that Wu Hui combing her hair made her feel like the happiest woman in the world.

  If these things weren't kept by Jingran all along, Wu Hui would have forgotten them long ago. It turns out that she even kept such worthless things.

  At the very bottom of the box was a diary. Jingran didn't have the habit of keeping a diary, but she said that if Wu Hui made her unhappy, she would write it down and then when she had time, she would settle accounts with him one by one.

  Wu Hui looked at the diary, not knowing how many things he had done to make Jing Ran angry. If Jing Ran were by his side, he would definitely change his bad habits that made her angry and make her happy every day.

  As Wu Hui opened the diary, he was stunned. There were no notes about him, but instead, it was filled with his own photos. There were pictures of him watching TV, cooking, lost in thought, and sunbathing. Under each photo, there were notes describing what happened when the picture was taken.

  She wrote down everything that happened between the two of them every day in her diary, with each event marked with the time, which year, which day, and what time, some even accurate to the minute.

  Looking at the handwriting that looked like a child's, Wu Hui could no longer control himself and hugged his diary and sobbed.

  "Jing Ran, Jing Ran, where are you..."