A Chan – CH 020

Chapter 20: The People in the Cycle (2)

Li Yunmo quickly slipped into the passenger seat, watching Zhang Jingchan shift gears, step on the gas, and skillfully control the steering wheel. He muttered, “What do you mean, ‘first time’? Your first time isn’t its first time. I’ve been driving it for three days, and you haven’t said anything, have you?”

Zhang Jingchan: “What three days? This car only arrived today!”

Li Yunmo reached out to touch his forehead, but Zhang Jingchan turned his head away. Li Yunmo: “Are you still running a fever? Are you dizzy? This car has been here for several days. I even drove it back from school for you yesterday.”

Zhang Jingchan frowned slightly, finally realizing he had overlooked something. His last memory was of rescuing a girl from drowning last Friday evening. He caught a chill, went home, showered, and went to sleep.

Now, it’s Tuesday.

Zhang Jingchan drove in silence for a while, then suddenly asked, “What else have I done these past three days? Tell me one by one.”

After sitting down in the classroom, Zhang Jingchan was still lost in thought.

Until the class monitor, her face slightly flushed, placed a stack of photocopied materials in front of him and said, “Zhang Jingchan, are you feeling better? Did you finish yesterday’s homework?”

Zhang Jingchan glanced at the class monitor. He knew she was interested in him. But he had always thought his rejection signals were clear enough.

“What’s this?”

The class monitor: “…The review materials we talked about yesterday. You said you wanted a copy too, so I photocopied it for you.”

Zhang Jingchan stretched out his long, slender, white fingers and rubbed his temples. “Thanks, I won’t bother you again.”

The class monitor’s face darkened. “Then hand in your homework.”

Zhang Jingchan’s body stiffened slightly. His hand slowly reached into his bag and pulled out his homework. He didn’t remember doing his homework, but inexplicably, he opened it—

Completely unfamiliar, delicate handwriting, filling two whole pages. He only glanced at it and could tell that at least half of it was wrong.

Zhang Jingchan quickly closed the homework. “I haven’t finished my homework. I’ll hand it in tomorrow.”

He pressed his hand to his chest, his heart pounding wildly—he’d encountered a ghost in the water! A female ghost who was a terrible student!

—

2022.

Li Weiyi left the Ningcheng bus station, hailed a taxi, and sped to her sister’s apartment complex. Two police cars were parked there. Her heart sank, and she ran into the residential complex.

From afar, she saw a small group of people gathered below her sister’s building. She rushed over, and they were discussing:

“…The parents of the girl in 2203 called the police…”

“They said their daughter was trying to commit suicide and wouldn’t open the door…”

“The police and her parents are upstairs…”

“We don’t even know if they’ve pried the door open…”

Li Weiyi rushed towards the building entrance but was stopped by the police outside the cordon.

“My sister is Li Xiaoyi; she lives in 2203. I’m her younger sister; let me go up!”

“No, your parents have already gone up, and the police have gone up too. We don’t know what’s going on up there yet, so we can’t send anyone else up. You wait here for a while.”

“But…”

Li Weiyi was about to argue further when suddenly a chill ran through her, as if a cold wind had blown into her bones. She turned around and saw a figure plummeting rapidly from a great height. A deafening thud echoed, and everyone present screamed, stumbling back several steps.

Li Weiyi’s legs felt like lead as she slowly walked over and knelt before her sister. Her sister’s eyes were still open, her life unfinished, and blood was spreading beneath her. In a daze, Li Weiyi heard her parents’ cries coming from afar. Staring blankly at her sister, she said, “Sister, I’m too late… too late… I’m useless, so useless… Sister, don’t die, don’t die…”

Li Weiyi collapsed to the ground, weeping bitterly beside her sister’s bloody remains.

At the same time, in the emergency room of Xiangcheng Xianghui Third Affiliated Hospital.

The lights went out, and the doctor came out, saying to Zhang Jingchan, “I’m so sorry; the patient ingested an excessive amount of pesticide. It was highly toxic, and we discovered the problem too late. Multiple organ failure occurred, and we couldn’t save him. Please accept my condolences.”

Zhang Jingchan had rushed in from outside, dressed in a suit and tie, yet he seemed shrouded in a layer of frost. He stood motionless and said, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Wu Xinhui, standing beside him, collapsed to the ground, sobbing. Li Yunmo, who had come with Zhang Jingchan, quickly supported Wu Xinhui, comforting her with red eyes, “Auntie, please accept my condolences,” but couldn’t say anything more.

Zhang Jingchan had already entered the emergency room alone.

But he seemed to have only gone in and out briefly. Just as Li Yunmo, supporting Wu Xinhui, reached the door, he turned and came out, his eyes red-rimmed, showing no other emotional fluctuation.

He glanced at Li Yunmo and said, “Have your secretary bring a few people over to help with the funeral arrangements. When they arrive, find me at the World Trade Center office building. My appointment with Hongyun Capital is at 1:30 this afternoon; I’ll head there first.”

Li Yunmo opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Wu Xinhui grabbed Zhang Jingchan’s arm, screaming, “Your father just died, and you’re going to work? You aren’t human! You aren’t human! Do you have no heart? You beast!”

Zhang Jingchan pulled her arm away from her mother’s grasp, her expression ferocious as she roared, “People die, but money still needs to be paid back! I still owe 700 million, which I can pay off in five years! But he gave up; he committed suicide! Did he think that would free me? You don’t understand anything. What he’s endured all these years, what I’ve endured, you don’t understand!”

Zhang Jingchan strode away.

—

Ningcheng.

Li Xiaoyi’s body was covered with a white sheet, awaiting removal by the police.

Almost half the residents of the neighborhood were watching. Mrs. Li had fainted from crying and was taken away in an ambulance. Mr. Li was also weeping uncontrollably, like a walking corpse.

Zhou Zhihao’s parents and sisters also arrived. Upon learning that their son had been stabbed to death by his wife, they let out a deafening wail and rushed over to attack Li’s family, but were stopped by the police.

Li Weiyi remained crouched beside Li Xiaoyi’s body, refusing to leave, no matter who tried to pull her away. After a while, she suddenly stood up and said to her father, “Dad, you have to hold on. Take care of Mom and Niu Niu. I’m leaving.”

Mr. Li was incredulous: “Where are you going?”

The daylight was blinding, buildings stood tall, and people around were noisy. Li Weiyi whispered, “I’m going to save my sister. I’ll definitely bring her back.”

Li Weiyi returned to Xiangcheng. On her way to the riverbank in a taxi, she received a call from Sister Zhou: “Weiyi, I need to tell you something. I received inside information. You… are on the list.”

This time, Sister Zhou notified her earlier than before. Probably because she wasn’t at the company during the day.

Night shrouded the riverbank, dark clouds gathered, and a storm seemed imminent.

Li Weiyi walked to the wooden steps by the water, exactly where she had been before, and sat down. This time, she didn’t cry; her tears had already dried up last time.

She had to get into Zhang Jingchan’s car at the same time. Speak the same words and do the same things as that day.

Everything must be exactly the same.

She didn’t know how long she waited, but the rain poured down.

Until a black umbrella shielded her from the rain.

Li Weiyi looked up; he looked exactly the same as last time.

Overcoat and suit, imposing figure, slightly furrowed brows, dark eyes.

But Li Weiyi’s mind flashed back to eight years ago, to that carefree young man with handsome features.

Her tears fell without warning.