Yi Shi looked at Lin Heyu. Could it be possible that he had no recollection of the arrest? It had only been a day; it wasn’t like he had a goldfish memory.
However, upon closely observing his eyes and microexpressions, Yi Shi could tell that his reaction was genuine. If he truly wasn’t completely unaware, it could only mean that this person was an exceptional actor with extraordinary psychological resilience, rendering a lie detector useless against him.
Yi Shi rarely felt frustrated. He put away his notebook; what was left was a personal matter.
“How did you come to know me?” Yi Shi asked.
Lin Heyu was at a loss for words. He couldn’t remember how he had come to know Yi Shi either. He only knew that this young man held a place in his hippocampus, but the origin of this memory was completely untraceable.
Every relationship starts from a meeting and acquaintance; otherwise, there wouldn’t be lyrics saying “I didn’t like you the first time we met.” It was precisely this first meeting that Lin Heyu couldn’t remember, and he didn’t know how to answer.
He countered, “Then why don’t you know me?”
This left Yi Shi momentarily stunned. It seemed he had never encountered such unreasonable behavior before. Did he need a reason for not knowing someone? If they hadn’t met before, of course, he wouldn’t know them.
“You answer me first,” Yi Shi said coldly. “I am certain I don’t know you, and I can’t rule out the possibility that you are related to a major case suspect. If you don’t cooperate, I’ll have to ask you to come in for further investigation.”
A major case? Lin Heyu was about to inquire further when Miao Miao called out, “Uncle Lin is also a police officer!”
Yi Shi frowned. A colleague from Haijing?
He stared straight into Lin Heyu’s eyes, not backing down, not evading, not conceding. Lin Heyu nodded, “Haijing City Bureau, Criminal Investigation Team. You don’t need to show your credentials; I know you’re from Nanyi City Bureau.”
“…” Yi Shi had just reached for his pocket and now withdrew his hand, “Are you on vacation?”
“I took leave for personal reasons.”
With the kidnapping case causing such a stir, they had been working non-stop. Lin Heyu had been working overtime for half a month straight. Today was his master’s memorial day, so he took a half-day off but had to return to the bureau in the afternoon.
Yi Shi lowered his gaze. Was there someone named Lin Heyu at the Haijing City Bureau? The name wasn’t on the list Yu Xue had provided; could he be an auxiliary officer?
When Yi Shi pondered, he would subconsciously frown lightly, his eyelashes like little brushes casting shadows on either side of his delicate nose, trembling slightly with the minute movements of his pupils. As Lin Heyu watched, he impulsively reached out and brushed his thumb across Yi Shi’s brow.
Yi Shi abruptly slapped his hand away, took a step back, and his frown deepened into a tight furrow. His eyes were filled with vigilance, and his entire body emanated defensive spikes.
Lin Heyu felt awkward. He glanced at his right hand, the thumb still warm from the touch. He cleared his throat, “It didn’t look good.”
Yi Shi’s cold eyes looked at him as if he were a madman.
Miao Miao tilted his little head, looking at Yi Shi, then at Lin Heyu. The way adults conversed was so strange. Uncle Lin’s action just now—was it the “touchy-feely” seen in idol dramas?
The phone rang. Yi Shi glanced at it; it was Yu Xue. He raised his hand, signaling Lin Heyu to wait, then stepped a few paces away to answer the call.
Miao Miao stood on tiptoe and beckoned to Lin Heyu to come closer. Lin Heyu bent down and heard him whisper in his ear, “Uncle Lin, touchy-feely is for girls. Same-sex repels!”
“…” Lin Heyu was speechless, feeling an urge to understand the parenting methods of Lü Kanshan and his wife.
Xiao Shitou’s eyes widened, and in an instant, he grabbed Lin Heyu’s trouser leg.
He saw it again. The handsome uncle took a few steps further, also crossed through the transparent door, and, just like Miaomiao, vanished into thin air!
When Lin Heyu looked up again, the person was gone. He walked a few steps forward, looking around, but the entire cemetery was empty. It was as if Yi Shi had never appeared.
In the blink of an eye, the images flashed through his mind.
On a snowy winter night, the snowflakes turned into flying golden fireworks under the streetlights. Yi Shi’s fair and delicate face was stained with blood, his eyebrows and eyes softer than usual, and he smiled at him: “So it was you. Sorry, I just realized it now.”
He touched his own cheek with his hand, which was surprisingly beautiful, long and slender like scallion roots, cold as cold jade. He lowered his eyes, frowned slightly, and said softly: “You don’t need to know my name, and you won’t remember me, just as if I never appeared.”
*
Yi Shi ended the phone call with just a few words, but by the time he turned around, the person was gone.
A whole adult, along with two children, had disappeared.
Rubbing his temples, he thought to himself that too many strange things had happened today. Even he wanted to find a fortune-teller to explain, seeking divination and answers.
Nowadays, surveillance cameras are everywhere, except in cemeteries, where there are few. Perhaps people hold a certain reverence for these places. The internet often features “supernatural videos” taken near cemeteries, making people even more wary of these resting places for the dead.
“Surveillance wouldn’t help. This place is for the dead—no money, no people, and it’s inauspicious. What could anyone steal? Offerings and paper money?” The manager, wearing reading glasses, was watching Beijing opera on his phone. “I used to be the village gravekeeper, then moved to this cemetery. Decades have passed, and I’ve hardly seen anyone wandering around the graves without reason. Especially those who’ve committed crimes, they fear being haunted by vengeful spirits. How could they dare come here?”
Yi Shi was silent for a moment, then asked, “Has anything strange ever happened here? Like people suddenly disappearing?”
“I never heard of it. People who are missing wouldn’t come here. But if they’re found dead, they might be buried here.”
Faced with the old man’s smiling expression, Yi Shi used his eyes to convey: “Sir, you have quite a sense of humor.”
Confirming that there was indeed no surveillance at South Cheng’an Cemetery, Yi Shi tightly held the piece of paper in his hand. The clues had temporarily run out, so he decided to come back in a few days to see if he could find any new leads.
He had also forgotten to ask Lin Heyu for his contact information. Even if he didn’t bring him back, having his number would make it easier to find him, right?
For some reason, Yi Shi had a feeling that he wouldn’t have many chances to meet Lin Heyu and that it wouldn’t be easy to find him whenever he wanted. He had already asked Yu Xue to check if there was anyone named Lin Heyu within the Haijing City Bureau. He had a bad premonition and wasn’t hopeful about the result.
A colleague from the same team sent him the location, so Yi Shi took a taxi to the area they were investigating.
On the way, Yu Xue replied.
[No. Not just in the Haijing City Bureau, but the entire Haijing doesn’t have anyone named Lin Heyu.]
*
Lü Kanshan was already prepared to call the police dog team for help when Lin Heyu appeared from the north area, holding two children. Teng Xiaojun jumped up: “Miaomiao!”
Miaomiao waved vigorously to his mom: “Mom! Dad! I’m here!”
Teng Xiaojun ran towards him with open arms. Miaomiao let go of Lin Heyu’s hand and ran over, and mother and son hugged each other excitedly. Before they could cry tears of joy, Teng Xiaojun pinched Miaomiao’s chubby face, turning into a fierce mother: “Where did you go?! How could you run around here?! Dad and Mom were worried sick! Your Uncle Yuan looked for you until he was out of breath!”
“…” Yuan Maoqiu, who was holding his stomach in the back, was embarrassed. Lin Heyu’s look seemed to say: “How did you pass the physical test with your stamina?”
Miaomiao was very aggrieved, but the experience of getting lost had also scared him. He kept apologizing: “Mom, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I won’t run around anymore.”
Lü Kanshan, relieved, walked over and asked: “Heyu, where did you find Miaomiao?”
“In the north area, at my master’s grave.”
Teng Xiaojun immediately clasped her hands together and bowed: “Lao Zhang, thank you for your protection. We’ll definitely burn more paper money for you during the Qingming Festival…”
“That wasn’t Uncle Zhang’s grave!” Miaomiao said crisply, “It was an old lady’s! Very old!”
Lü Kanshan patted him on the back of his head: “Don’t talk nonsense. Your Uncle Zhang wouldn’t be happy to hear that.”
“But it really wasn’t!” Miaomiao was confident, pulling Lü Kanshan’s hand towards the north area, “If you don’t believe me, come with me!”
Knowing his son well, Lü Kanshan refused without mercy. Teng Xiaojun didn’t need to think; not spanking him was already lenient. Picking up the soft target, Miaomiao dragged the just-recovered Yuan Maoqiu up the mountain, jumping around.
Teng Xiaojun pulled out a tissue, wiped the sweat off the little rascal, and noticed Lin Heyu was lost in thought. She nudged him with her elbow: “What’s wrong? Something bothering you?”
Thinking of Yi Shi’s furrowed brows, Lin Heyu unconsciously furrowed his own. He said: “Recently…I’ve been feeling off, forgetting a lot about my friend’s affairs.”
“That’s it? It’s not that you’re off; you’re just getting old! You’re over thirty. You can’t expect to be like a twenty-year-old! I also forget things all the time. I wasn’t as forgetful a few years ago. I put something down five minutes ago and turned around and forgot where I put it…”
Lin Heyu was silent. It’s different—completely different.
He was forgetting someone he had known for a long time, bit by bit, every day.
Now he couldn’t remember how they met. In a few days, would he completely forget his name too?
Yuan Maoqiu and Miaomiao came back. Yuan Maoqiu, forcing a smile, handed Miaomiao back to Teng Xiaojun: “If you want to spank him, do it. Made me run for nothing, and now I’m out of breath again.”
Miaomiao felt wronged, insisting it was impossible! He saw it with his own eyes! Children don’t lie!
The group finally decided to go home, leaving the cemetery. Teng Xiaojun went to pick a few branches from the peach trees at the entrance, giving each person one to take home for protection against evil.
This was another knowledge gap for Zou Bin, who curiously fiddled with the peach branch. Yuan Maoqiu couldn’t help but laugh and cry: “Sister Teng, I think you’re ruining my luck with girls.”
Lao Lü waved his large hand: “Exactly! We need to stop you, full of scheming ways, from bothering the young ladies.”
Back in the car, little Miaomiao got a bottle of drink to calm his nerves. He swung his legs, drinking the beverage while complaining: “Mom! The candy you bought me is fake.”
Teng Xiaojun was puzzled: “How could it be fake?”
“The pattern on it, Hello Kitty, is printed backwards!”
Teng Xiaojun was irritated: “You were the one who insisted on having it at first, and now that you don’t want it, you’re finding excuses, right? Lü Miaomiao, if you keep this up, Mom won’t buy you any snacks in the future.”
Miaomiao felt extremely wronged. Remembering the tombstone he saw on the mountain and the handsome yet cold uncle, he shivered and threw himself into Teng Xiaojun’s arms: “Mom, there’s a ghost on the mountain, there really is! A ghost that’s good-looking and pretends to be a police uncle!”
Teng Xiaojun had a headache from this kid’s antics and could barely hold back her anger: “Miaomiao! Stop talking about these nonsense things every day!”
“Xiao Shitou and Uncle Lin both saw it!”
Xiao Shitou remained silent, and Lin Heyu’s dark eyes turned slowly: “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Awooo! Miaomiao rolled around in the car, feeling completely misunderstood and no longer believing in the warmth of the world.
