Over a month ago, Cao A’yi had spoken with Lin Shilan on the phone.

Cao A’yi mentioned that she and her daughter had met the teacher who gave the robotics lecture at an exhibition, named Tan Ziheng.

But Tan Jin had said his older brother was dead.

These two statements were contradictory, and she had never figured out what had happened. Before the crossing, during Lin Shilan’s phone call with Cao A’yi, after hearing the name “Tan Ziheng,” she became suspicious of Tan Jin’s words, feeling something was off about him.

After returning, Lin Shilan thought again about contacting that “Tan Ziheng,” but by this time, she no longer held an attitude of suspicion toward Tan Jin.

Now she had only one wish: to find Tan Jin.

She had tried all other methods. Lin Shilan adopted a last-ditch attitude, planning to go and ask this Tan Ziheng, who may or may not exist, to see if she could dig up any news about Tan Jin.

Finding that call record from back then, Lin Shilan dialed the number.

The phone didn’t ring many times before Cao A’yi answered.

After a few brief pleasantries, Lin Shilan explained to her the reason for hanging up last time, then moved to the main topic.

“Cao A’yi, that Tan Ziheng you mentioned to me last time, I know him. Can you still contact him?”

The three words “I know him” she said with such certainty.

Cao A’yi’s end paused for a few seconds, and when she spoke again, she suddenly became somewhat evasive.

“Oh, so you know each other. Actually, I’ve been guessing for a long time whether you two were acquainted. My daughter went to hear his robotics lecture before and admired him tremendously. That teacher is such a charitable person. He even donated money to the prayer ceremony in the past, asking me to take good care of you…”

She rambled incoherently for nearly twenty minutes.

Listening, Lin Shilan more or less understood what Cao A’yi meant. It turned out that behind the phone call she had made to her before, there was a story.

After the flood, when the surviving Lin Shilan was still hospitalized, Cao A’yi came to visit her.

She told Lin Shilan to come find her anytime she needed help.

She claimed to be an old friend of Lin Shilan’s mother, but this was actually a lie.

Cao A’yi did indeed come from Yan County, but she didn’t know her mother. People from Yan County had a hometown association in the big city, and Cao A’yi was a senior member there.

At that time, the news of the catastrophic flood in Yan County had caused quite a stir, and the town’s miserable state worried many people. Cao A’yi gathered everyone from the hometown association to hold a prayer ceremony to mourn the deceased.

Some time after the prayer ceremony, Cao A’yi, as the organizer, received a donation. The donor’s name was Tan Ziheng, and he attached a letter specifying that this donation should be used to help the girl who survived the disaster, and that they didn’t need to reveal his name to that girl.

So Cao A’yi went to the hospital, met Lin Shilan once, and left her contact information.

In the days that followed, Tan Ziheng continued to send money intermittently.

So a year later, when Lin Shilan came to find Cao A’yi, she felt too embarrassed to refuse and took her in for a while.

However, Lin Shilan’s condition was too frightening. Every day she acted strangely, as if she could really see ghosts. Cao A’yi took her to burn incense and chant sutras, but nothing worked, making everyone in Cao A’yi’s household anxious.

In the end, their whole family drove her away, feeling it was too unlucky, and even deleted her contact information.

Lin Shilan was kicked out, but Tan Ziheng’s money continued to arrive.

He neither showed himself nor made contact.

His money came trouble-free and effortlessly, and Cao A’yi’s family had grown accustomed to taking it.

Until recently, when Cao A’yi accompanied her daughter to an exhibition, they ran into Tan Ziheng… He had recently returned from studying abroad and was working at a major robotics research company. He was an expert in robotics and often gave lectures.

Cao A’yi’s daughter attended Tan Ziheng’s lecture and admired him immensely.

Her daughter’s major happened to align perfectly with robotics research, and the company where Tan Ziheng worked was her dream destination.

Only then did they remember Lin Shilan.

They couldn’t afford to offend this connection with Tan Ziheng. Best case scenario, if they could establish a relationship with Tan Ziheng, perhaps he could provide an internal referral and get her daughter into that major company. Even if they couldn’t establish a relationship, if the fact that they hadn’t used the donations for Lin Shilan was exposed and Tan Ziheng thought her daughter had character problems, that wouldn’t be good for their family either.

So there was the phone call from a month ago—they wanted to probe and see how well Lin Shilan and Tan Ziheng knew each other.

Cao A’yi’s explanation mostly shirked responsibility; the parts about actual facts were told haltingly and vaguely. Lin Shilan didn’t express any opinion, just listened silently. Her ambiguous attitude instead prompted Cao A’yi to say more and more.

Lin Shilan wasn’t stupid. She understood clearly in her heart: their family had once kicked her out and withheld her money all these years. Now that they wanted to establish a connection with Tan Ziheng, they needed to placate her so that Tan Ziheng wouldn’t hold them accountable.

With a sigh, Cao A’yi’s tone became pitiful.

“Shilan, to be honest with you, we’ve been putting our own money into holding these prayer ceremonies all these years. Of the money he donated to our ceremony for you, I’ve still kept a portion for you. If you need it, you can come get it anytime. Auntie has been thinking of you and has been saving it for you.”

Lin Shilan didn’t pursue that matter with her either, only asking: “Auntie, do you have Tan Ziheng’s phone number or address?”

Cao A’yi naturally didn’t want them to meet, so she simply ignored her question: “Shilan, do you know Tan Ziheng? Are you two on good terms?”

She sensed Cao A’yi’s ulterior motives, and in order to get Tan Ziheng’s contact information, quickly pretended they weren’t close and pledged her loyalty to the auntie.

“Tan Ziheng attended the same high school as me; he was my senior. I’ve heard his name in passing. Cao A’yi, don’t worry, your family helped me out, and I’m grateful to you all.”

After a moment of contemplation, Cao A’yi still chose to continue evading.

“Oh, I see… Actually, Shilan, the main reason I called you was to tell you that you still have some money with us. We can pass along your thanks to Tan Ziheng on your behalf. Just collect the money and that’ll be fine.”

If Lin Shilan continued to press, Cao A’yi would definitely be able to tell that she and Tan Ziheng were close. Their family felt guilty about her situation, and if pushed too hard, they might flee again, becoming cowards who hid in their shells.

Lin Shilan forced herself to calm down.

She arranged to meet with Cao A’yi and thanked them for being willing to “give” her this money.

Two days later.

Lin Shilan had a brief meeting with Cao A’yi.

She received ten thousand yuan from her. Cao A’yi repeatedly emphasized: holding the prayer ceremonies over the years had cost a lot of money. Although the donation was designated for Lin Shilan personally, the hometown association had its own rules, and the prayer ceremony was a necessary expense. This money—she was keeping it safe for Lin Shilan; it wasn’t that she wasn’t giving it to her.

Lin Shilan sensibly took the money without a word of blame.

Cao A’yi still refused to give her Tan Ziheng’s contact information.

However, the conversation atmosphere was good, and through indirect questioning, she managed to find out which robotics company Tan Ziheng worked for.

Spending an afternoon, Lin Shilan successfully searched online and found Tan Ziheng’s email address.

She sent him an email.

Very quickly, Tan Ziheng replied.

He sent Lin Shilan his phone number.

At this point, Lin Shilan and Tan Jin had been out of contact for a full two weeks.

She watched the inbox, and as soon as the email arrived, she immediately dialed the phone number he had given.

During the few seconds waiting for the call to connect.

Lin Shilan’s mind fantasized about who would answer the phone.

According to Cao A’yi’s description, Tan Ziheng’s field of study and age completely matched the Tan Ziheng she knew.

Had he really not died?

If he was alive, what reason could there be for Tan Jin to say he had died?

While her thoughts wandered, the call connected.

“Hello.”

“Hello? Is this Xiao Lan?”

The male voice coming from the other end of the phone was definitely the voice of Tan Ziheng that she was familiar with.

Lin Shilan had a bellyful of words stuck at her lips, suddenly somewhat at a loss for where to begin.

She had long known that Tan Jin was a liar.

He had even admitted to her himself that he had lied to her.

Lin Shilan had thought she had never really trusted him much at all.

The bitterness in her heart couldn’t deceive anyone. At some point, her trust in Tan Jin had grown so much.

So what did this lie that Tan Jin told mean?

“Brother Ziheng. It’s me, Lin Shilan.”

Her thoughts were in disarray, her mind preoccupied with Tan Jin. She completely forgot to greet and thank Tan Ziheng, and in the next sentence went straight to the point.

“May I ask, do you know Tan Jin’s whereabouts?”

This question was truly very abrupt.

After a long while, Tan Ziheng finally recovered and replied to her.

“How would I still have his whereabouts…”

“In the flood four years ago, Tan Jin perished.”

Lin Shilan’s ears began ringing.

Goosebumps crawled all over her arms. On a bright summer day, she was shivering from the cold.

—Tan Jin had perished.

Tan Ziheng was still speaking, but she didn’t know what he was saying.

Her ears couldn’t hear anymore.