Free Web NovelChapter 155: Chapter 154: The Ex-Girlfriend Who Was Burned to Death_1
Exiting from the clinic of the psychologist Shi Tianxiao, Zhou Ning let out a long sigh of relief.
As soon as he got into the car, Mr. Zhao opened his eyes, which seemed a bit hazy from sleep.
"You’re out, why did it take so long?"
Zhou Ning shook his head, he had remembered some things again just now, but they were still fragmented dreams, and he didn’t know whether they were real experiences. That was the hardest part.
The worst thing was that since dealing with that dismemberment case in Xinghua, the system had crashed. The transparent big screen was still there, but it could only display Zhou Ning’s information. Things like the accumulated points hadn’t changed at all.
He didn’t know whether the system going on strike had anything to do with seeing the psychologist, but these two things, for Zhou Ning, regaining memories of his parents was more important, so let the strike be a strike.
He sighed, then glanced at the time.
"Mr. He should be here by now, let’s hurry over."
Mr. Zhao stepped on the gas, and the car drove off, him still sighing continuously.
"You’re getting a car, and our legs are becoming thinner from all the walking. Have you made up your mind this time?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"I went home yesterday, and my grandpa gave me a card. I couldn’t say no to it. He told me not to hesitate, to hurry up and buy a car, and then take him to see my new place, since he hasn’t been here yet."
"Your grandpa is just worried about you, especially knowing you’ve remembered some of your past, it must have made him reminisce about the old days. Perhaps the old man has regrets too."
Zhou Ning didn’t say anything, just pushed his glasses up, and at that moment, the upgrade points on the big screen changed.
It soared from 60 straight to 460!
Zhou Ning blinked, making sure he wasn’t seeing things, his heart seemed to skip a few beats, with 460 points, there were only 40 left until the upgrade threshold of 500. Could it be that for these two cases, because he hadn’t taken on any tasks, the system defaulted to upgrading?
But that wasn’t right. According to the previous rules, if you didn’t take on a task, the points would accumulate automatically and could be used together the next time you exchanged rewards. So what was this about?
Unable to figure it out, Zhou Ning stopped thinking about it. This time, case 7.4 was solved without the system’s urging or task prompts and in a short period of time too. Perhaps this was also another kind of training. In that case, he just needed to find the clues quickly every time he took on a case.
The car jolted and pulled over to a stop. Zhou Ning looked up and realized they had arrived at the car city. Mr. He was standing on the roadside with his arms crossed, obviously having been waiting there for a while.
The two of them got out of the car, and Mr. Zhao walked over with a smile and hugged Mr. He’s shoulder.
"Buddy, sorry to keep you waiting, that psychiatrist held us up a bit too long. Let’s hurry up and order the car for Zhou Xiaozhou, and then we can go for some barbecue and drinks, how about it?"
Mr. He grunted twice but stopped complaining after hearing that the delay was due to the psychologist.
"Did you remember a bit more?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"I can see those three people a bit clearer now, one with blond hair, a short and chubby one, the one who was shooting was wearing high-top boots but I couldn’t see his face, though he is really skinny. When I remember more details, I’ll get Mr. Xia to help me sketch them out."
Mr. He hummed in response, offering comfort:
"Don’t rush, it’s not something to be anxious about. Look, we’re making progress naturally."
Zhou Ning smiled. He knew that both Mr. Zhao and Mr. He were concerned about him, afraid that he would put too much pressure on himself. Otherwise, if his memories didn’t return, he might drive himself mad.
"Don’t worry, I’m not in a hurry. If my father had an accident, his friends and comrades wouldn’t let the perpetrator get away with it. It’s just that we might not know the outcome, and I want to remember not to be trapped in my own memories. To use Doctor Shi’s words, I need to learn to let go."
"That’s right, let’s talk about it now, which car did you finally decide on?"
Mr. Zhao sighed, patting He Shancun on the shoulder.
"Zhou Xiaozhou doesn’t want to spend too much money, absolutely no more than 150,000 yen for the car. He wants a big brand with plenty of space, and also an SUV or similar type of spacious vehicle. Can you guess what it is?"
Mr. He blinked and glanced at the 4S shop behind him.
"It’s not a Touran, is it?"
Half an hour later, after completing all the procedures, the three of them came out, Mr. He sighed.
"Your granddad really cares for you a lot. He has been comforting your uncle’s family, gave you money for home renovations and even provided the funds for the car. Does he lack a grandson or something? Should I also go and adopt a god-grandfather?"
Mr. Zhao squeezed between the two men, wrapping an arm around each, but his height made the gesture seem somewhat comical.
"Mr. He, I have to tell you, there’s a queue for that. I’ve already taken the lead and talked to the old man. You’re behind me."
"Damn it! Why are you competing with me for this?"
Zhou Ning laughed.
"Let’s go eat, just to be clear, the budget is 200 yen. I’ve just bought a car and the monthly loan payments are already set, so I can’t be spending recklessly."
Mr. Zhao shook his head, Zhou Ning’s frugality wasn’t something new, having 200 yen to spend was already quite generous.
"Alright, barbecue is enough, come on, let’s go to the seaside."
The three of them went straight to Haikou Road, next to Shi Laoren, to enjoy the view for a while before turning into a small alley. This small restaurant, with many sunshades set up in front of it, was elevated enough to offer a view of the sea.
Oysters grilled on a wire rack kept twisting over the charcoal fire, Mr. Zhao looked at the beer in front of him and then turned to look at the car, giving Mr. He a white look.
"No wonder you’re single, you keep all the clever ideas to yourself. Just now you rushed to park the car at your workplace so that you could drink, didn’t you? What about me then?"
"Call a designated driver!"
Seeing Zhou Ning say so, Mr. Zhao grinned, picked up his beer, and clinked glasses with Zhou Ning.
"Zhou Xiaozhou really has a clever mind, but Mr. He I feel like you’re different from us. We’re the true bachelors, the ’single since birth’ kind, while you feel like you’ve got a story."
He Shancun smiled, and Zhou Ning got interested, handing Mr. He a skewer of flat tendons and tilting his chin at him.
"Come on, share so we can have a laugh."
He Shancun took a few sips of beer and gave Mr. Zhao a white eye.
"Now that I think about it, it’s almost like something from a past life. At the start of my freshman year, I dated a girl, also from Qindao. We studied together, interned together, and took the postgraduate exams together. Then, right before I graduated, she disappeared.
"No one could find her, her phone was unreachable, and her things from the dorm were gone. Her roommates had no idea where she went. I asked around a lot and even ended up reporting it to the police.
"Later her father came to see me, saying she was already engaged and the wedding was imminent. The groom didn’t want her to work, had bought her a house and car before marriage, and even gave a dowry of 500,000 yuan, asking me to no longer seek her or disturb her life.
"I was dumbfounded at that time. We had been together for nearly eight years. When did she get herself a fiancé and arrange all these things? Even if we were not to continue together, or she felt I was unsuitable, couldn’t she at least have told me? But no, she just vanished like that."
Zhou Ning listened and was somewhat stunned. No wonder Mr. He never mentioned it; it was such a history.
Mr. Zhao raised his bottle to clink with Mr. He.
"Buddy, don’t be gloomy. Your ex-girlfriend probably couldn’t resist her family’s arrangements. Maybe she was forcibly taken away. She couldn’t change any of it. See it in that light."
He Shancun smiled and shook his head, tilting his head back and finishing the bottle of beer, then lit a cigarette.
"I comfort myself with that thought, after all, she was just a student with little exposure to society. Maybe it was all arranged by her family. At that time, I just regretted not having visited her home. If I’d known the address, I could have at least seen her once."
Zhou Ning fixed his eyes on He Shancun’s eyes and saw him looking in the direction of the sea, seemingly reminiscing. It appeared that the matter of this ex-girlfriend wasn’t as simple as it seemed on the surface.
Mr. Zhao kicked Zhou Ning’s shoe lightly and gave him a look, obviously hoping Zhou Ning would offer some comfort to Mr. He. But with such matters, consolation from others isn’t what pulls one through, just as Zhou Ning could not find solace while seeking the memories from ten years ago.
Can comfort really stop the thoughts?
Can comfort release one from the torment of those memories?
Impossible. You have to accept it yourself, no matter how unbearable, how raw, how heart-wrenchingly painful. Acceptance allows you to move forward, and then those memories are not so frightening. Though recalling them might still hurt, they’re no longer torturous; that’s the true letting go.
At this moment, the absent-minded Mr. He continued.
"Last weekend’s night shift, I saw her, just, I didn’t expect to see her in such a way. When she was brought in, her body was 80% burned, and her fingers were missing. Her daughter was already showing no signs of life when she arrived at the hospital.
"She held on for six days. By yesterday morning, she was gone. I wanted to save her, to ask her why she left without a word back then. But she didn’t make it. She left just like that."
"An accidental burn?"
He Shancun shook his head.
"I don’t know if it was an accident. She was transferred from Jingkou District Central Hospital. Her husband and father came together, but later a lot of police came too.
"I heard her husband was arrested, suspected of arson murder. But as a father, even if he hated his wife, would he burn his wife and daughter to death together?"
Mr. Zhao blinked and leaned in with curiosity on his face.
"When did you break up with this ex-girlfriend?"
Still immersed in sorrow, He Shancun was taken aback by such a sudden question but then thought and said: frёewebnoѵēl.com
"Eight years ago. Why?"
"What’s her name?"
"Fang Hua."
Mr. Zhao leaned forward with his plump face, tilting his chin at him.
"How old was that girl?"
He Shancun thought for a while.
"Seven or eight years old, I don’t remember exactly."
"Ask the nurses in the emergency department, they’ll have this on record for sure."
"Why?"
"Just ask, man. Ask for her birth date, and be quick about it!"
Unable to resist Mr. Zhao, Mr. He made a call and sure enough, the nurse remembered clearly. The child was seven years old, born on March 1, 2004. Hearing this, Mr. Zhao slapped He Shancun’s shoulder.
"We need to look into this. Could that child be yours?"
He Shancun was taken aback and then waved his hands repeatedly.
"Get lost, get lost, get lost. I thought you were going to say something serious, not that you were waiting here for me. I’m grieving, you know? Although I’ve resented her for leaving without a word back then, I didn’t wish for her to die like that. Besides, although we were intimate, we hardly saw each other for over half a year before graduation. How could she possibly be mine?"
Zhou Ning had remained silent all this time, but Mr. Zhao nudged his shoulder.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I’m wondering, since her husband is suspected of arson and killing his wife and daughter, perhaps the forensics department would know, right?"
