Yan Hongsha returned with takeout, harboring furtive thoughts. As soon as she entered, she noticed Luo Ren wasn’t in the room. She quickly put down the food and rushed to Mu Dai, who was sitting on the sofa: “And then what? And then what?”

Mu Dai asked: “What do you mean by ‘and then’?”

Yan Hongsha crossed her index fingers together, tapping them in a kissing gesture, a knowing little motion.

“You were interrupted.”

What? Yan Hongsha was shocked.

Behind her, Yi Wansan complained as he rummaged through the plastic takeout bags: “Rich lady, I know you’ve gone bankrupt, but can’t we keep our dignity even in bankruptcy? We have a mission tonight, and all you bought was flatbread?”

Yan Hongsha ignored him: “Where’s Luo Ren?”

Cao Yanhua said, “He just went downstairs. Didn’t you run into him on your way up? He said he was going to wash the car and do some maintenance.”

Yan Hongsha darted downstairs like a streak of smoke.

She arrived just in time. Luo Ren’s car was about to leave the hotel grounds. Yan Hongsha shouted a long “stop” as she ran to the front of the car with arms outstretched.

Luo Ren broke in on time.

He lowered the window as Yan Hongsha approached with a smile. Luo Ren said, “Red Sand, your car-stopping skills have improved a lot these days.”

Yan Hongsha smiled sheepishly.

“What are you smiling about? Do you think you can make me blush with your smile?”

Yan Hongsha said sincerely: “No, I can’t.”

Luo Ren couldn’t help but smile. After a pause, he said: “Get in.”

Yan Hongsha was surprised but knew the car couldn’t keep blocking the entrance. She quickly went around to the other side and got into the passenger seat.

The car repair shop was large, with seven or eight workers who gradually gathered around when they saw Luo Ren’s car, finding it quite novel.

Washing and regular maintenance wouldn’t take too long, but seeing such an unusual car, they wanted to look at it and touch it more. The young man taking the order looked at Luo Ren and stammered: “This… might not take a short time.”

Luo Ren didn’t call him out on it, saying: “That’s fine, just do a good job.”

Yan Hongsha sat waiting in a small flower bed near the repair shop. From a distance, she saw Luo Ren buy two bottles of drinks. As he approached, he tossed one to her.

Yan Hongsha caught it deftly.

Luo Ren said, “Nice catch.”

Yan Hongsha smiled. Whenever Luo Ren complimented her, she felt unusually happy.

She asked Luo Ren, “Why did you bring me out here?”

“Nothing special, just to chat.”

Yan Hongsha twisted the bottle cap: “You and Mu Dai, you’re back together now, right?”

Luo Ren asked: “Was it uncomfortable for you?”

“Those days when I was staying at Hong Yi’s house, she told me when she came back that you and Mu Dai had probably broken up.”

Luo Ren smiled and placed his drink by his feet. The flower bed wasn’t meticulously maintained, giving off a sense of decay with wildly growing weeds. The sun was almost setting, and the light on the flowers and grass had dimmed.

There’s a saying that’s quite accurate: we see the color of objects because light enters our eyes. Think about it—when darkness falls, no matter how vibrant the colors are, without light, everything appears pitch black.

Luo Ren said, “It’s quite complicated. I’ve been thinking a lot these days.”

Yan Hongsha was surprised: “You’ve been thinking a lot? I thought you hadn’t been thinking at all. You look like nothing’s wrong.”

Luo Ren said, “Before, when I was in the Philippines, I had many brothers whom I would die for. The one I was closest to was a Japanese man named Aoki.”

Yan Hongsha pursed her lips: “I don’t like Japanese people.”

“Aoki spoke Chinese very well and loved Chinese culture. He said his favorite Chinese word was two characters: xin tian (heart field).”

Heart field? Yan Hongsha frowned: Is that so special?

“He said that every time he thought of this word, he felt it was profound. When each person is born, their heart is a square piece of land. Then you sow seeds in it, and this land flourishes or withers with the passing years of life, gradually becoming unrecognizable.”

He extended his hand and pointed to his heart, looking at Yan Hongsha: “Here, which parts grow lush, which parts wither away, which parts are colorful, which parts are untouched by light, which parts are infested with poisonous insects—would you know?”

Yan Hongsha listened in a daze, feeling there was some truth to it.

She asked: “So what have you been thinking about?”

“I’ve been wondering whether this Mu Dai and the former Little Pocket are the same person, and whether we should continue. Later, I thought that one shouldn’t complicate matters. People always change. As long as the foundation of our love still exists, I can accept this change.”

Yan Hongsha didn’t understand: “What is the foundation of love?”

Luo Ren asked her in return: “Do you know why I like Mu Dai?”

“Why?”

“Do you know Pin Ting?”

Yan Hongsha nodded.

“Pin Ting and I grew up together. Between young boys and girls, there’s often a vague feeling. It’s a bit much to call it love, but there’s affection. This affection can develop or it can stop.”

Later, I went to the Philippines. The environment was different, with constant danger. Naturally, I felt it was better to be alone, not to burden a good girl.”

During that time, he made a brief trip back to Xiao Shang River. By then, Pin Ting had grown up. One day, she subtly expressed her feelings for him.

Yan Hongsha’s eyes widened.

Luo Ren smiled: “Pin Ting is like that—she’s a very shy, very reserved girl. When she likes you, she won’t say it directly. She’ll use hints and speak between the lines, hoping you’ll understand.”

Yan Hongsha was dying of curiosity: “Then what happened? You rejected her, right?”

Luo Ren said, “I spoke very indirectly as well, saying my situation was complicated and I wouldn’t consider personal matters for a while.”

Pin Ting didn’t say anything at the time, but the next day, when Luo Ren saw her, her eyes were so swollen they were hard to look at. Uncle Zheng probably thought he had bullied Pin Ting and scolded him severely.

Later, when he was leaving, Pin Ting gave him a necklace, saying: “Just consider it a blessing from family. You must accept it.”

It sounded… not too bad, Yan Hongsha thought, feeling relieved.

Luo Ren looked at her: “What do you think my psychological state was at that time?”

Yan Hongsha thought for a moment: “Relieved?”

Luo Ren shook his head: “To be honest, I felt a bit lost.”

Yan Hongsha’s eyes widened instantly.

Luo Ren smiled: “Yes, that’s men’s psychology. When a person faces a difficult situation and asks someone to leave so as not to burden them, if they leave immediately versus not leaving and instead fighting to stay by your side—these mean different things to you.”

“Later, when I met Mu Dai, I had never seen such an adorable girl. She got anxious when teased, cried when scared—I always wanted to tease her and be close to her. I didn’t think too much about it then. It was just normal: a man likes a woman and wants to be near her.”

“But soon after, I received some news. There were some unfinished matters from the past. At that time, I felt the timing wasn’t right again.”

A gentle smile appeared at the corners of Luo Ren’s lips.

At that time, what did Mu Dai say?

She said: I only know that the best time for two people to be together is when you like me and I like you.

Mu Dai being able to say such things surprised Luo Ren. This adorable girl had courage about love—she didn’t retreat with teary eyes when frightened; instead, she stared at you with teary eyes, leaving you speechless.

Luo Ren smiled: “It was from that moment.”

Before that, he had only placed her in his eyes. After that, he suddenly placed her in his heart.

He brought the topic back: “You asked me what the foundation of love is. It’s just as Mu Dai said: ‘you like me and I like you.'”

“When Mu Dai was with Dr. He, I felt that between us, we were both uncertain if we could still like each other. I went to see her once, and at that time, she seemed very unfamiliar.”

At this point, Luo Ren fell silent for a moment.

Back then, when Mu Dai left a note and ran away, he had an intuition that she didn’t want to contact them anymore.

Then, Huo Zihong received a call from Mu Dai, and Luo Ren immediately rushed to South Field.

He remembered that night at Zheng Shuiyu’s small restaurant when he asked Zheng Li about Mu Dai. Zheng Li told him many things.

“Mu Mu Sister said she has a boyfriend.”

“Mu Mu Sister always mentions him and smiles when she does.”

“Sometimes I think it’s not true, because if she had a boyfriend, why wouldn’t he look after her? But every time she says he’s busy.”

…

The small restaurant was noisy. When he was talking to Zheng Li, her aunt kept coming over to urge her to serve dishes. But Luo Ren felt it was truly the most beautiful indirect love confession he had heard in his life.

His girl, who had quietly left, was in a strange place, in a shabby little restaurant, wiping tables and washing dishes every day, but still smiling, mentioning him, thinking of him.

There could be no more beautiful scene than that.

When leaving the restaurant, Zheng Li suddenly called out to him, saying: “My Mu Mu Sister’s boyfriend is you, right?”

Luo Ren smiled and said, “Who else would it be?”

It was completely dark now. Nearby, the worker from the car shop waved in their direction, indicating that the car was ready.

Yan Hongsha stood up and took a few steps before realizing that Luo Ren wasn’t following.

She turned back curiously.

Luo Ren was still sitting there, looking at her, softly saying: “Thank you.”

“Thank me for what?”

“Today, I had almost given up. Mu Dai had already given up. Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua, I knew they had accepted this outcome too. Only one girl ran out crying and stopped the car.”

Yan Hongsha felt embarrassed.

Luo Ren said, “Actually, at that time, I was already looking for a way out for Mu Dai. All those things she said about getting Dr. He to issue a certificate—I was already considering them. Thinking back now, it’s a bit frightening. If we had stopped there, Mu Dai might have had to spend her whole life in prison.”

He looked at Yan Hongsha, his voice very low.

“You don’t know how grateful I am to you.”

Cao Yanhua had gone through virtually all the information about Tengma Diaotai that could be found online.

Heartbeats and mysterious winds aligned with Phoenix Lock’s hints, but the connection to an abandoned concrete platform was filled with absurd humor.

He turned to look at Yi Wansan and Mu Dai: “Tonight, we should all go together, right? Although these posts all say it’s best to go at midnight, alone, for the best effect.”

Yi Wansan laughed nervously: “If it’s related to the Death Bamboo, of course, we’ll go together. Right, Little Inn Owner?”

Not hearing Mu Dai’s response, Yi Wansan turned to look. Her brows were tightly knit as she pondered something.

Yi Wansan waved his hand in front of her repeatedly.

Mu Dai came back to her senses: “I remembered something. Luo Ren said at the time that the criminal investigation sequence was: someone reported the case, police investigated and questioned people in the vicinity, Song Tie provided information, and based on this, the police found Ma Chao.”

Yi Wansan nodded. That’s right.

Mu Dai said, “Why didn’t this Ma Chao report to the police?”

Ma Chao and Zhang Tong were acquainted, and he witnessed the crime. Although he was scared and panicked at the time, shouldn’t his first action after escaping have been to report to the police?

Yi Wansan was stumped by this question. He hadn’t thought about it.

Cao Yanhua also sensed something strange: “This loophole is quite obvious. The police must have asked him about it. On the bridge at that time, apart from Zhang Tong, there were only Ma Chao and my little master sister…”

He suddenly had a thought.

“Do you think it might have been Ma Chao who did it?”

Yi Wansan’s first reaction was that it was impossible: “Him?”

Cao Yanhua became excited: “Third Brother, that night, there were three witnesses. Except for Ma Chao, who directly pointed to my little master sister, the other two didn’t see the crime occur. And the other two saw both my little master sister and Zhang Tong.”

“Honestly, if this Ma Chao hadn’t identified anyone, and the police had only found Song Tie and Wu Yuping, then according to their descriptions, there would have been two suspects.”

Yi Wansan fell silent.

It seemed to be so. It was like a vote—Ma Chao had two votes, Mu Dai had two votes, and then Ma Chao voted for Mu Dai.

So, 2:2 became 3:0.

Yi Wansan looked at Cao Yanhua, his tone increasingly suspicious: “Ma Chao is suspicious?”

Cao Yanhua was certain: “I think he’s suspicious.”

Yi Wansan took out his phone: “Anyway, we’re only going to Tengma Diaotai at night. How about I invite him for a meal to test the waters?”

Cao Yanhua was now viewing Ma Chao completely as the murderer who had framed someone else: “Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

Yi Wansan was unconcerned: “It’s just a meal. I’ll arrange it in a busy place with people coming and going. What could he possibly do to me?”