Leaning back in his chair, Ren Yu's eyes held a look of reminiscence.
It was the Spring Festival of '93. That year, because Ren Mo had a fever, the family uncharacteristically stayed in the city instead of returning to Beijing for the holiday. They usually spent New Year's in Beijing every year.
At that time, his mother, Ren Yuanying, was less than thirty years old, and her words and actions always carried a hint of casual, uninhibited pride. KuAiδugg
His father, Zhou Ren, was then just an ordinary civil servant in the municipal office. Yet, their home boasted two interconnected three-bedroom apartments.
Of course, all of this was thanks to his mother, or rather, his maternal uncles.
Ren Yu had a good memory. Even though he was only five years old then, he still remembered the day he took his younger brother, less than three years old and feverish, and sneaked out to play. He saw his father, Zhou Ren, handing a stack of money to the household nanny.
He didn't understand then how large a sum that stack of money was. In the afternoon, after his mother's nap, the nanny, carrying Ren Mo, announced they were going out for an injection.
After the two left, Ren Yu stood on his tiptoes on a small stool and watched from the bathroom window as the nanny took Ren Mo to the opposite building. When they returned, Ren Mo did indeed have a needle mark on the back of his hand.
But Ren Yu knew that there was no hospital or clinic in the opposite building.
A few days later, Ren Yu felt a pain in his arm in his sleep. When he quietly opened his eyes, he saw the nanny drawing blood from his arm.
As a child, Ren Yu even believed he was dreaming. Why else would such strange things happen? The nanny liked him the most, so why would she draw his blood?
Later, she took him and Ren Mo out and then disappeared. Fortunately, kindhearted people noticed and helped call the police. The police took them back.
After that, there were frequent accusations from his father towards his mother, accusing her of not fulfilling her duties as a mother in the marriage by letting a nanny take the two children out alone.
His mother, in turn, argued that his father's work was not as busy as he made it out to be, accusing Zhou Ren of pretending to work overtime to shirk his responsibility of taking care of the children. She also accused him, pointing out that his father had said the relative from their hometown was trustworthy, which was why she had trusted her so implicitly!
As their arguments escalated, the reason for the nanny's disappearance was revealed: she was hit by a drunk driver on a motorcycle while buying groceries and died at the scene.
Ren Yu kept this event buried in his heart. As he grew older, he once thought his father suspected his mother of infidelity and had the nanny draw blood for a paternity test, even harboring doubts about whether he and Ren Mo were truly his biological children.
As for the nanny's death, it was just an accident.
However, now, as he thought about it, was there a possibility that the nanny's death was not an accident, but a meticulously planned "accident," much like the issue with the brakes?
With this thought, Ren Yu couldn't help but sigh. He held his forehead and said in a weary tone,
"Perhaps there was some misunderstanding. Otherwise, he would have had countless opportunities over the years to get rid of me and Ren Mo without a trace."
Having said this, Ren Yu began typing on his keyboard, trying to find any more clues from Ge Jian.
---
Liu Chen, meanwhile, was thrown into a state of agitation by Ren Yu's words.
"Be my girlfriend? What does that 'be' mean? It sounds a bit hesitant?"
Liu Chen mumbled to herself, clutching the quilt with her hands under her armpits, and wrapping it around herself, pressing half of it beneath her.
"Sigh, why didn't I just agree to him just now? If Ren Yu thinks I don't have feelings for him and like someone else, what then?"
"No, no, if I had agreed directly, wouldn't it seem like I was also very fond of him, like I'd been waiting for him to confess?"
At this moment, Liu Chen felt that both agreeing and not agreeing were wrong.
Finally, she even began to think:
"If only I had been in many relationships before. Then I would clearly know what to do now."
In the end, Liu Chen still lacked confidence. In the year and a half since her rebirth, she had accumulated wealth unimaginable to her peers and built her own career.
But all of this was built upon the system. Without the system, Liu Chen felt that even with a rebirth, she might have just focused on studying hard, gotten into a decent university with luck, or perhaps not even a 985.
It was this mindset that led Liu Chen to constantly feel a sense of insecurity when facing Ren Yu.
The next morning at breakfast, Liu Chen, as expected, appeared in the dining room with a pair of dark circles under her eyes. She startled Liu Fang, who was eating breakfast. While tearing apart fried dough sticks and dipping them in soy milk, Liu Fang chided,
"Playing on your phone until midnight again! Look at how dark your under-eye circles are! You're taking advantage of your youth to stay up late carelessly. What will you do when you get old!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Elder Chen also walked into the dining room, sporting a pair of dark circles.
Liu Fang, seeing the dark circles on the elder's face, paused with the fried dough stick in her hand. She then tilted her head slightly, observing the dark circles on both of them.
Liu Fang stated with certainty:
"You're hiding something from me."
Liu Chen spread peanut butter on her bread, and upon hearing this, her eyelashes didn't even flutter. This was because Liu Fang had often used this line to trick her in their past life, and the deceptions she had fallen for could fill the peanut butter jar in her hand.
The elder, a cunning fox who had navigated the business world for decades, chuckled and picked up a fried dough stick.
"It's been many years since New Year's Eve was this lively. Liu Fang, how about we let off fireworks all night tonight?"
The old hand spoke, and Liu Fang's attention was immediately diverted.
After discussing the fireworks and firecrackers for the day and the late-night snacks with Elder Chen, Liu Chen had already finished her meal and disappeared.
Meanwhile, outside the gate, a young man and woman, dressed in tracksuits even in the bitter winter cold, arrived.
The gatekeeper, seeing the two young people, was highly vigilant. It was during the New Year, and they were standing at the entrance of the Chen family's old residence dressed in tracksuits. They didn't look like they were here to pay respects.
Moreover, looking at the two, he felt a strange sensation, something like what was described in novels.
"Killing intent!"
This was Liu Chen's first impression of the two.
In fact, she had received a call from Elder Shen that very morning. It was likely that Elder Shen had heard about the car accident from Shen Hong the previous night, which instantly made him think of the matter of being poisoned so subtly for years.
The elder had not slept all night. He had hastily selected eight retired special police officers. Two of them reported for duty that day, and the other six would arrive after the New Year on the second day of the lunar month.
After confirming their identities with the two individuals multiple times, Liu Chen finally instructed the gatekeeper to open the gate and let them in.
Liu Chen took the two to inform Elder Chen, hoping to ease his mind. As they approached, they encountered her mother, who was frowning and holding a phone.
Looking at the two standing behind Liu Chen, Liu Fang turned to Liu Chen and asked again:
"What exactly happened between you and Jiang Di yesterday?"