I was anxiously trying to peer inside when a light tap on my shoulder startled me.
“Xiao Ling? What are you doing here?”
I turned around to find the auntie I had greeted on my way to the food street last time. Seizing the opportunity, I tried to fish for information. “Oh, I was just out looking for a friend and wasn’t home. What’s going on here?”
She glanced left and right, then quickly pulled me out of the crowd. “Stop adding to the chaos here. Come over to my place first, I’ll fill you in slowly.”
Though I was uneasy, I really had nowhere else to go right now. Seeing how kind she looked, and knowing she seemed to have a good relationship with Wen Ling, I figured nothing could go wrong.
She led me into the adjacent building. From her apartment window, you could see right into the balcony of the unit directly opposite my home. However, the curtains over there were tightly drawn, offering no useful clues.
The auntie walked over and handed me a glass of water, following my gaze out the window. “You ran into your mother just now, didn’t you?”
I didn’t quite understand why she was asking, but I nodded honestly anyway.
She smiled, then let out a heavy sigh, leaving me completely baffled.
“That’s wonderful. You are a lucky child.”
The comment was completely out of left field and felt incredibly bizarre. I couldn’t help but frown.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked bluntly.
She suddenly stared at me, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on her lips. “Do you even know who I am?”
How on earth am I supposed to know who you are?
I shook my head. “No. But I think you are very kind.”
She let out a soft chuckle and turned her gaze away.
“You’re not Wen Ling, are you?”
A shiver ran down my spine instantly.
Seeing my silence, she seemed to have anticipated it. She smiled serenely, turning sideways to prop her hands against the window sill. “You don’t have to lie to me. From the very first moment I saw you, I knew you weren’t Wen Ling.”
“Then who do you think I am?”
Her expression froze. She snapped her head back toward me, her eyes filled with an unreadable complexity.
“Who you are doesn’t matter. For now, you just need to remember that you are Wen Ling, and just focus on living a happy life.”
“She… though she is incredibly busy, she really is a dutiful mother.” She looked down at the blurry figure standing by the police car downstairs.
I didn’t understand, and frankly, I didn’t want to listen to this anymore. I abruptly changed the subject. “So, what exactly happened out there?”
“Don’t ask me. Deep down, you already know the answer.”
My face hardened in disbelief as I stared at her.
She looked at me calmly and nodded.
“That woman and her husband are fugitives wanted for child trafficking and organ harvesting. The crying children you heard, the grocery cart you saw that woman wheeling out every single morning…those were all evidence of their crimes.”
A heavy weight settled in my chest. For a moment, I was entirely speechless.
As if reading my mind, she added, “But this case is far from over. Do you really think a couple in their fifties could pull off kidnapping, organ trafficking logistics, dismemberment, and body disposal entirely on their own…and evade the police for five whole years?”
“So you mean…”
She caught the look on my face and suddenly burst into a loud laugh, making me jump.
What is her problem? Acting all unhinged out of nowhere, scared the life out of me.
“You’re very sharp, Yu Ning.”
Before I could even process that, she patted my shoulder and shifted her posture against the window. “It’s about time. You should head back.”
I still had a million questions, but judging by her stance, she wasn’t going to tell me anything else.
Just as I reached the front door, she suddenly called out to me.
” Yu Ning. Some things are not your fault. Everything was just the result of being driven into a corner.”
Confused, I turned back to look at her.
She simply smiled. “The person by your side… she knows everything. She loves you more than anyone else. Don’t make her feel guilty anymore.”
Even after I was pushed out the door, my brain was still spinning in circles.
The sheer volume of information was overwhelming. Even for someone like me, who had lived three lifetimes, I couldn’t process it all at once.
The person by my side… who exactly is she? And who is Wen Yu Ning? What on earth am I missing here?
Lost in thought, I found myself back at the foot of my building.
“Ah Ling, what are you doing here?”
The voice startled me. I whipped around to see someone shrouded in the shadows. Her facial features looked twisted and distorted…it was genuinely creepy.
She took a step forward, and I instinctively took a step back. It wasn’t until she stepped under the streetlamp that I could clearly make out her face.
“Zhang Youning, why are you lurking around like a ghost? You scared me!”
She looked utterly bewildered and panicked. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to say hi.”
Then again, given her slow reaction time and bizarre train of thought, it was entirely on brand for her to do something like this.
Seeing that I wasn’t genuinely angry, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and followed me into the elevator.
To kill the awkward silence, I struck up some small talk. “Did you hear about what happened this evening?”
She nodded and handed me her phone.
The news was breaking fast. The incident had already shot up the social media trending charts, drawing an incredibly high amount of public attention.
The elevator doors chimed open. She pocketed her phone and waved goodbye. The question I had originally wanted to ask her remained stuck in my throat, so I could only bid her goodnight for now.
The elevator moved up one more floor and slowly opened. I stepped out into the pitch-black hallway, fumbling along the wall until I found the light switch. Once the light flickered on, everything looked normal. The apartment across the hall was sealed tight with police tape. Crouching down in front of their door, I noticed a faint, barely perceptible bloodstain on the floor.
Perhaps hearing my movements, the meows of my two little cats immediately pierced through the gap in my front door. They cried louder and louder, practically screaming their lungs out, likely terrified by the commotion earlier.
Brushing everything else aside, I fished out my keys and unlocked the door. The moment I stepped inside, both cats instantly wrapped themselves around my legs.
I scooped them up…one in each arm…and held them tightly against my chest, rocking and shushing them. “Alright, alright, Mama’s home. My good babies don’t need to be scared anymore. Mama’s here…”
Maybe it was because my soothing technique was so practiced, but the two little things gradually calmed down in my arms. Rong Cai was even on the verge of drifting off to sleep.
I was exhausted too…both physically and mentally.
Before long, with my two little treasures tucked against me, I fell into a deep, heavy sleep.
The next morning, I was shaken awake by my maternal aunt.
I was completely dazed, and so were Ning Yu and Rong Cai. The two little guys had been squished under me, their fur completely disheveled, while I was drenched in sweat from the heat.
My aunt didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the state of us. “Wake up, sleepyhead! Your mom asked me first thing this morning to come pick you up…and your two precious babies, too. Looks like you’ll be spending another summer break with us!”
Without arguing, I nodded, grabbed a change of clean clothes, and headed straight into the bathroom.
It was midsummer again. The same scorching sun, the same familiar place, the same familiar faces. It felt as though nothing had changed at all.
A whole year had passed. Time really flies.
Ever since the two kittens arrived at the new environment, they were intensely curious but equally terrified. They kept their bodies low to the ground, wide-eyed and hyper-vigilant, darting into small corners and sniffing absolutely everything they came across. It was the first time I had ever seen them react this way.
Since it was summer break, my uncle was free too. He joined me in hunting down and playing with the cats all over the massive house, constantly trying to find ways to make me laugh.
“Wen Ling, a sudden and important meeting just popped up at the university. I might not have time to take care of you at lunchtime.”
I looked at my uncle, who was in the kitchen packing food into an insulated lunchbox, and waved my hand. “It’s fine. I’m not a kid anymore, you don’t need to worry about me.”
He seemed relieved. He walked out holding the lunchbox, looking a bit apologetic. “In that case, could you help me deliver this lunch to your aunt? I’ll call a cab for you in a bit. Once you get there, I’ll have her come down and meet you. It’ll be quick.”
I waved him off, confidently taking the lunchbox from his hands. “Don’t go through all that trouble. I’ll just take the bus. It’s a good chance to learn the routes anyway. I’ve got nothing but time this summer, so delivering this to auntie will just be like taking a nice stroll.”
My uncle was thrilled. Before I left, he handed me the address along with a bonus 100-yuan “delivery fee.”
Naturally, I was delighted. Clutching the little lunchbox, I hummed a tune and skipped out the door.
The midday sun was brutal. To make matters worse, I had rushed out in such a hurry that I forgot my parasol. By the time I walked from the house to the bus stop, I was already dripping with sweat.
Fortunately, the bus arrived quickly. I hastily flagged it down, and the moment the doors glided open, I bolted into the air-conditioned cabin.
The blast of cold air was an absolute lifesaver for my sweaty self. I found a seat right next to an AC vent and let out a long, relieved sigh.
After a few transfers, I finally arrived at the hospital. Following my uncle’s directions, I found my aunt’s department, but she was nowhere to be seen. Unfamiliar with the hospital layout and hesitant to wander around blindly, I sat helplessly in the waiting lounge, praying she would pop out from some corner any second.
After I had been sitting there for a while, a young nurse stepped out of a nearby room. She seemed to notice me and walked over.
“Is that Ling Ling? What brings you here?”
I looked at the nurse but didn’t recognize her. Still, I replied politely, “I’m here to bring my aunt her lunch, but I can’t seem to find her right now.”
She offered me a warm, gentle smile. “Oh, you’re looking for Dr. Xu! A little girl was just rushed in for emergency resuscitation, so she went up to the ER. It might take a while. Why don’t you come inside with me first?”
Since she referred to my aunt as “Dr. Xu,” I figured this nurse must be one of my aunt’s students. She seemed to know who I was and was very sweet, so she felt safe.
“Okay, thank you. Lead the way.”
I followed her into the staff breakroom. She placed the lunchbox in the microwave to heat it up, pulled out a chair for me, and said, “Rest up here for a bit. I still have some charts to finish up. If your aunt catches me slacking, I’ll get an earful.”
I nodded and flashed her a sweet smile. “Okay, go ahead. I’ll wait here quietly.”
The young nurse patted my head in farewell and closed the door behind her. Soon, the sound of her hurried footsteps faded away…likely back to the grind.
Hospitals were always like this…chaotic yet orderly, day in and day out.
The breakroom was tiny and sparse, with nothing much to entertain myself with. After sitting still for just a few minutes, I grew restless. After a brief internal struggle, I decided to venture out and look around.
“Uncle, how did my sister end up like this? She was perfectly fine just a moment ago…”
I wasn’t even sure where I had wandered, but the sudden sound of a familiar voice startled me. Instinctively, I ducked behind a wall to eavesdrop.
Shen Leqing was sitting on a hallway bench, sobbing uncontrollably, while her uncle gently comforted her.
I glanced at the sign on the wall next to me. I had unknowingly wandered right into the vicinity of the emergency resuscitation rooms.
Looking at Shen Leqing, I couldn’t help but furrow my brow.