Leaving the detention center, Yi Shi needed to sort out the existing information. The intel received from Lin Heyu was like an encrypted telegram, requiring a decryption process to get the final correct answer.
As Yi Shi prepared to return to the bureau, Yu Xue suggested after he had fastened his seatbelt, “Why don’t you come to my place? Qi Wenyu made some snacks before leaving, and my aunt brought back some coffee from her vacation. We can enjoy them together.”
“Where did your aunt travel to?”
“Colombia, I think? Or maybe Ethiopia. Anyway, it was a coffee-producing place,” Yu Xue shrugged. “After becoming a full-time housewife, she goes on annual honeymoons. By the time she returns, the local specialties have already been sent. By the way, you haven’t been to my place yet, have you?”
Yi Shi nodded, indeed he hadn’t been, otherwise, he wouldn’t have heard about Yu Xue’s place from others.
“Well, it’s a good chance to get familiar with the route. Next time, if there’s something, I’ll call you to come get it, so I won’t have to bring it to the bureau.”
Yu Xue’s place wasn’t far from the city bureau; it took about fifteen minutes by car. It was a mid-to-high-end residential complex delivered a few years ago. It was said that the house was bought together with Qi Wenyu, and neither of them took money from their families, resulting in a twenty-year mortgage. Fortunately, they didn’t have children, so their living pressure was somewhat reduced.
“Didn’t your family have any objections?” Yi Shi asked.
“Are you talking about children? Of course, they did.” Yu Xue sighed, “My mom always wanted a grandchild and suggested we adopt one. My dad disagreed; he doesn’t acknowledge children who aren’t blood-related. Qi Wenyu’s side isn’t so complicated; he has an older brother, so there’s no need for him to carry on the family line.”
Yi Shi gathered that it was probably Yu Xue’s father who was unhappy about this. Yu Xue was the only child, and him coming out meant the family line would end, which naturally upset his father.
“Anyway, I’ve already settled it for this lifetime. To avoid troubling my parents, we won’t adopt,” Yu Xue smiled, “Besides, Qi Wenyu always treats me like a child. Adding another one would just torment him more.”
??? Yi Shi found the additional layer to Qi Wenyu’s character even more enigmatic.
The route happened to pass by the Nanyi City Bureau, and Yi Shi felt a sense of disorientation as he looked out at the new buildings. The scenes from the morning seemed to overlap with what he saw now. The navy blue had a layer of dark gray, the wall paint was peeling, and there were mildew stains in the corners—marks left by the passage of time.
“What are you looking at?” Yu Xue asked, turning the steering wheel as they passed the street corner.
“The city bureau. The building there is quite old.”
“Really? The city bureau hasn’t been renovated, so it should have been newer many years ago.”
Yi Shi didn’t tell Yu Xue about the peculiar world where contradictions between people and objects occurred, nor could he explain why such contradictions appeared. He could only be vague, suggesting it might be an issue with the lighting.
“I can’t quite remember either. I’ll visit my aunt when I have time; she should have some old photos of the bureau,” Yu Xue said casually.
Yi Shi squinted, recalling the people he saw in the Nanyi office earlier. There weren’t many female officers; the most noticeable was the short-haired girl sitting across from Yan Runping. He asked, “Is your aunt single-lidded with very fair skin?”
“Hmm? Did you see her? Did Lin Heyu take you there?”
“Yeah, she was sitting across from Lao Yan.”
“Right, that’s her fixed position. It hasn’t changed until she left,” Yu Xue raised his eyebrows, “Our family all has double eyelids, but she’s the only one with single eyelids, so she’s easy to recognize.”
Yi Shi nodded. It wouldn’t be mistaken then. Yu Xue’s aunt, who had always been talked about in casual conversation and gossip, had been seen when she was still young and beautiful. It must have been fate.
Yu Xue held the steering wheel, tapping his index finger rhythmically, and remarked, “It’s amazing how something that usually happens only in sci-fi movies is happening right next to me. Let me interview the person involved. What’s it like traveling through time and space?”
“Nothing special,” Yi Shi, the person who experienced it, remained calm. He added after a moment’s thought, “As long as it’s not from the water.”
“From the water? Traveling through water?” Yu Xue smiled, recognizing that it was a common trope in movies and anime for time travel.
Entering the residential area, they took the elevator from the garage to the 15th floor. The apartment to the left was Yu Xue’s. The three-bedroom, one-living room apartment was bright and tidy. The balcony glass was spotless, everything was neatly arranged, and it was hard to imagine this was where two men lived. Yi Shi guessed it was Qi Wenyu’s doing, as he immediately noticed a faint smell of disinfectant upon entering, similar to what he encountered in the dissection room.
“This guy, can’t he stop bringing disinfectant from the bureau?” Yu Xue muttered to himself as he opened the windows to air out the place. He also opened the storage room door and beckoned Yi Shi over.
Yi Shi stood at the storage room door while Yu Xue angled his body, “Come in and choose. Take whatever you like. Don’t be polite.”
“…Is it okay?”
“What’s wrong with it? You’ve come all this way.”
Yi Shi mumbled an “oh,” walked around the storage room, and ended up taking a small bag of red tea.
“…” Yu Xue looked at his hand, “Is that all?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re okay with just ‘yeah’? How can you be so thoughtless? Can’t you take a bit more to give to Aunt Lin?” Yu Xue slapped him on the back of the head, “It’s really frustrating. Does it need to be taught?”
But Yi Shi refused to take more. He felt uncomfortable coming empty-handed on a first visit and didn’t want to appear greedy by taking too much. His sense of propriety hadn’t thickened that much.
In the end, Yu Xue couldn’t help himself. He went in and picked out a bunch of food and items, placed them by the door to prevent Yi Shi from forgetting them when he left. Yi Shi sat in the living room, took out his notebook, and started working seriously. Soon, a soft, sweet smell wafted from the kitchen. Yu Xue came out with a tray and set it on the coffee table in the living room.
Yi Shi raised his eyebrows, feeling as if he was sitting in a café. The tray had a plate of mini cupcakes and two cups of aromatic coffee. On the coffee table were two small jars; when opened, they contained sugar cubes and creamer cups, giving a full sense of the setting.
“I’m not sure about your taste, so you can add what you like,” Yu Xue said as he prepared his own cup and sat down next to Yi Shi. “How’s the work going?”
Yi Shi handed him the notebook. It showed the time “January 21, 9:24 A.M.” and the address “234 Hongfu Avenue, Pingsha District, Haijing City, Weiseng International Kindergarten.” The information from Zhao Chenghu didn’t match, with no specific time and an address that didn’t correspond. It seemed like they were dealing with two separate cases.
“It doesn’t match at all. What do you think?” Yu Xue asked.
Yi Shi dropped a sugar cube into his cup: “Their world is the opposite of ours. For time, it can be calculated using mirror imaging.”
Yu Xue took a marker and wrote “01.21.” Yi Shi drew a vertical line in the middle and wrote “12.10” on the other side. Yu Xue was stunned for a moment, his first reaction was to look at the calendar. There were only a few days left until December 10.
He quickly wrote down the time as well, which mirrored to “42:09,” frowning: “How do you convert this? Is it a 48-hour format?”
“Time cannot be in numbers.” Yi Shi drew a simple clock face, added the hour and minute hands, making it clear that, with mirror imaging, it was 2:41 P.M. Yu Xue patted Yi Shi’s shoulder: “You really know a lot!”
Yi Shi smiled faintly. He didn’t want to know so much about this, but he had encountered it and had to learn. With the time figured out, the location was simpler. Based on past experience, even if the building provided might not exist, as long as there was a specific address, they could deduce the crime scene.
However, there was an apparent issue this time.
After searching the map, Yu Xue looked confused, and Yi Shi was puzzled too. Both stared at the map, carefully checking the search bar entries, repeatedly studying, and confirming the address was correct, yet they couldn’t find Hongfu Avenue. The street didn’t exist in Haijing City.
“Could it be a homophone?” Yu Xue tried searching “Hongfu,” “Hongfu,” etc., but couldn’t find corresponding streets. Instead, there were two real estate developments named with these characters. Yi Shi found the kindergartens Zhao Chenghu provided; the first two were easy to find, but the last one, named xx Lu, had eight kindergartens in Haijing City with that name. Checking them all would be a waste of time.
It would be great to have a physical map. Just as Yu Xue thought this, Yi Shi pulled out a folded, colorful map from behind his notebook and spread it on the coffee table. It was a map of Haijing.
“You really have everything, huh? Had it prepared already?” Yu Xue laughed.
“Bought it after arriving in Haijing.” It was purchased when Yi Shi and Teng Xiaoyuan were doing inspections. While it’s the information age and navigation makes getting around easy, paper maps are still useful for defining suspect activity ranges during investigations.
Yi Shi marked the positions of Aimeite Kindergarten and Hongcai Hong Kong International Kindergarten on the electronic map on his phone, as well as the eight kindergartens. There still wasn’t a street that could be Hongfu Avenue nearby. In this situation, the only explanation was that this street either didn’t exist yet, was newly built, or had been renamed, like the Clover Mall, which only existed as a planned development in Lin Heyu’s world.
Yu Xue put down the pen and rubbed his neck: “It’s like doing a crossword puzzle. We have gaps in the information from both sides, and without a key hint, we can’t solve the puzzle.”
The key issue was that they didn’t know what Haijing City looked like now, and they were unclear about the exact location of “Hongfu Avenue.” Zhao Chenghu’s information could only narrow the search range but couldn’t pinpoint the exact location.
Five minutes later, Yi Shi put down his pen: “Don’t rush. Tomorrow, ask him for a map.”
Yu Xue brought over the now-cold coffee: “You’re so used to being independent and not bothering others. Why are you so impolite to him?”
Yi Shi and Yu Xue locked eyes, understanding the teasing in his gaze. Yi Shi hesitated to take the coffee: “He’s different, um… not around, so there’s no psychological burden.”
Yu Xue patted his shoulder, understanding. He’s not considered “someone else,” right? You see him as one of your own, so of course, you’re not polite. That’s a good thing.
“…” Yi Shi couldn’t explain clearly. Yu Xue was too sharp, and his verbal skills were better. It was better not to argue with him, as the outcome would only lead to being led around by him.
—
The sun was setting. Despite Yu Xue’s repeated reminders, Yi Shi had to take the large and small bags home. Aunt Lin opened the door, surprised: “Xiao Yi, are you out shopping for the New Year? It’s still early.”
“Yu Xue sent these.” Yi Shi placed the items at the door. Aunt Lin held her face and smiled broadly: “Oh, this child is too polite, sending so many things. The coffee he gave last time was really good. I haven’t finished it yet.”
Yi Shi took out a bag with unopened foreign-language labels. There, more new coffee had arrived. It would last until next year.
Aunt Lin busied herself, putting the items into the storage room, then went straight to the kitchen. She checked the cordyceps chicken soup simmering on the stove and took out the okra wrapped in plastic from the fridge to wash and cut it. She had bought it yesterday with plans to stir-fry it. Yi Shi liked it, so when he couldn’t come back due to his busy work, Aunt Lin would habitually wait a few days. If he still didn’t return, the okra would go to her husband and son’s plates.
Yi Shi was watering the hanging ferns and asparagus ferns on the balcony with a watering can. Although he wasn’t an artistic youth, taking care of plants was one of his favorite pastimes when he had free time. Before moving out, he had handled all the watering and weeding of these plants himself.
Sheng Yu’an was peeking through the glass door, his round eyes fixed on Yi Shi’s back. He wanted to greet him but didn’t dare to speak.
Maybe his gaze was too intense, because after a few seconds Yi Shi suddenly turned around with a cold and indifferent look: “What are you doing?”
Sheng Yuanan scratched the back of his head: “Brother, you didn’t come back yesterday, and I was a bit worried…”
“What were you worried about?”
“…Worried that you were angry.” Sheng Yu’an, tall and imposing, stepped out from behind the door with a pitiful expression. “I was afraid you would ignore me. Brother, why didn’t you come back yesterday? Is it because of what happened that night, I…”
Sheng Yu’an’s expression grew more awkward and anxious. Yi Shi stared at him, his gaze like a spotlight, sweeping from his forehead over his entire face.
It’s said that “nephews resemble their uncles,” but he was Lin Zhizhi’s son. How could he not resemble Lin Heyu at all?
Not just in appearance, but also in speech and behavior, Sheng Yu’an was completely different from Lin Heyu. Although Yi Shi didn’t know Lin Heyu very well, he was sure that he would never see such an embarrassed and flustered expression on Lin Heyu’s face.
Under Yi Shi’s unblinking stare, Sheng Yu’an’s hands had nowhere to go, his heart racing, his voice shrinking until it was barely audible. Yi Shi finally shifted his gaze back to the plants: “I don’t remember.”
“…?” Sheng Yu’an was confused, not sure whether this meant Yi Shi didn’t care or genuinely didn’t remember.
Yi Shi, too lazy to dwell on the young man’s troubles, handed the watering can to him and rolled up his sleeves to help Aunt Lin in the kitchen. Aunt Lin had just finished cutting the okra, and Yi Shi, seeing this, felt a warm sensation in his heart and spoke with guilt: “Sorry, I’ll remember to text in advance next time.”
“Oh, why say that? You’re busy with work; it’s normal if you can’t make it back in time.” Aunt Lin poked his forehead with her wet fingers. “You’re getting more and more polite as you grow up. Don’t you want to recognize me as your mom anymore?”
Yi Shi was a bit amused: “How could that be?”
“Well, that’s settled then. I can understand how hard you work, staying up late and working in tough conditions. After marrying your dad for so many years, I’ve seen it all.” Aunt Lin raised her eyebrows at him. “Police and civilians are like one family. I’m a model police wife, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” Yi Shi nodded, sweetly complimenting her for once. “Not just a model police wife, but the most beautiful one. No one can compare.”
Aunt Lin smiled with her eyes squinting, hooking her arm around Yi Shi’s, asking about his recent romantic life. Is there anyone special? Oh, you’re almost thirty; are you waiting for the country to send you a wife?
Yi Shi smiled helplessly. With such a busy job, where would he find time for a relationship? Moreover, it would be hard to find a partner as supportive and understanding as Lin Zhizhi.
So if he were to find someone, a colleague might be more suitable. Going on business trips, working, and resting together would not only provide common topics but also avoid the issue of drifting apart due to less time together—making it an ideal choice for a partner.
“Eh? Are you alright? Why are you blushing?” Aunt Lin blinked. “Who are you thinking about?”
Yi Shi touched his nose: “No one.”
“Still lying. I can see clearly, especially since you’ve always been so fair-skinned.” Aunt Lin elbowed his chest. “What’s there that you can’t tell your mom? If there’s a girl, I’ll screen her for you.”
“This…”
“Aren’t mother and son supposed to have no secrets? If you don’t tell me, I’ll be upset.”
Yi Shi murmured softly.
Aunt Lin was stunned, her expression clearly off. Her color drained instantly as she turned and covered her mouth, her eyelashes already wet.
Yi Shi supported her shoulder and asked tentatively, “Mom, what’s wrong?”
“…Nothing. Just that the girl’s name is really nice, something ‘He’ and ‘Yu’?”
The character for “river valley” (壑) and “to give” (予).
This phrase circled on the tip of her tongue, then was swallowed. Yi Shi softly said, “It’s ‘congratulations’ and ‘spring rain’.”1Here the characters used for Heyu are 贺雨. “He” (贺) means “congratulations,” and “Yu” (雨) means “spring rain.”
“It’s quite nice. We share the same surname, so it’s a kind of fate.” Aunt Lin took a tissue to wipe her eyes and managed a smile. “Bring her home to meet us someday.”
Yi Shi looked at the redness at the corner of her eyes and asked, “Is this name very special?”
“Mm, very special.” Aunt Lin lowered her eyes. “I have an older brother who has been missing for many years. His name is the same.”
