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墨書 Inktalez
The grievances and hatred, love and resentment that Li Suowen experienced spread to Jiang Weiting like a deadly virus through the recording tape.
At first, Li Suowen visited Jiang Weiting multiple times, hoping to explain himself, but was met with closed doors. For Jiang Weiting, the shame of her father Jiang Deming plagiarizing others' works had deeply etched itself into her soul, making her too ashamed to face Li Suowen again. Moreover, her father's death was tied to Li Suowen, which further fueled her desire to avoid him. Holding back her sorrow, she wrote a letter of breakup and simultaneously transformed her family's issues into her latest novel, which would also be her last. This novel was set to be published in two months.
Li Suowen believed that everything had begun as a mistake. He was convinced that Jiang Weiting's unwillingness to see him stemmed from her inability to forgive him.
To clarify everything, he wrote a novella titled "Regret" and submitted it to a well-known magazine. After his work was published, he sent the novella to Jiang Weiting. The story concluded with a young man committing suicide by gas as a means of atonement to the female writer.
Upon receiving the magazine, Jiang Weiting sensed something was wrong and rushed to Li Suowen's home, but it was already too late. She did not report his death; she believed it was caused by her. She left her bracelet by his pillow.
With Li Suowen gone, Jiang Weiting thought life had lost all meaning. However, her confession would never reach him. Thus, before leaving this world, she decided to inform all media outlets and express her remorse for Li Suowen in the loudest and broadest way possible.
Yet, all of this stemmed from her father Jiang Deming, whom she loved dearly. Not wanting to point fingers at him herself, she resolved to tear his suicide note in half before taking her own life. One half she entrusted to her lawyer for delivery to the police, hoping they would uncover the truth behind the entire incident. The other half, along with the magazine, she sent to Li Suowen's residence. In Li Suowen's mailbox, they found the magazine featuring "Regret," which contained the original copy of Jiang Deming's other half of the will.
Chu Yi opened a leather bag beside him and took out several items: "I have a few things to show you all. This is the tape that the police found at Li Suowen's home. It contains recordings of Jiang Deming revealing the truth." Chu Yi turned on the recorder; the dialogue between Li Suowen and Jiang Deming played briefly before he switched it off. "However, out of respect for Jiang Weiting, we do not need to listen to it in its entirety at her funeral. This is the magazine that published 'Regret,' available nationwide and in libraries. And here is the manuscript of Jiang Weiting's final novel. All truths lie within these two works."
As Chu Yi finished speaking, silence enveloped the room. The suicides of Jiang Deming, Jiang Weiting, and Li Suowen drew an unavoidable trajectory.
After a long pause, editor Ji Hui sighed into the microphone: "Life is like a play; play is like life."
Those who learned the truth did not feel any lighter afterward; following the funeral, they vanished into the rain and mist to pursue their own theatrical lives.
Chu Yi walked to the entrance of the publishing house and saw Yan Hong getting into a taxi in the rain. He sensed that she likely did not want to talk at that moment. His phone rang; upon answering, he recognized it was journalist Liu Qi calling: "Captain Chu, what a touching story."
"I'm sorry, I've revealed everything and failed to keep my promise of giving you an exclusive story," Chu Yi said, watching the orange taillights of the taxi disappear into the rain.
"It's alright. I actually hope that Jiang Weiting and Li Suowen can find peace when they meet in heaven." This statement touched Chu Yi. The grievances between lovers only seek mutual understanding. Liu Qi fell silent for a moment before saying, "Captain Chu, I have a request."
"Please, go ahead."
"Could you arrange a time for me to conduct an exclusive interview with you?"
Chu Yi did not respond. Liu Qi waited for a moment and then continued, "Think about it; I'll wait for your answer." After saying this, she hung up the phone.
Returning to his residence, Chu Yi felt as if all his bones were exhausted. He slouched his shoulders and walked heavily out of the parking lot.
To get to his apartment building from the parking lot, he had to walk through a garden filled with greenery. The stone path wasn't very long, but he wished he could just lie down in the rain and take a good nap right by the flowerbed. However, from a distance, Chu Yi saw a familiar figure standing downstairs. It was Yan Hong. She had a key to his apartment but did not enter.
Yan Hong also spotted Chu Yi and walked straight up to him, her eyes holding something like the mountains in the rain—vague and indistinct. She stood under the flowers, hazy and ethereal, like a begonia drenched by rain.
She stood on her tiptoes and embraced Chu Yi. It was a kiss tinged with slight bitterness, lingering unusually long in the rain.
Chu Yi took out the signed photo of Jiang Weiting from his pocket and handed it to Yan Hong. "Here. This photo is something I stole; it's illegal gains, but keep it as a memento."
At midnight, the entire city quieted down. Chu Yi suddenly woke up to Yan Hong's steady breathing beside him. The price tag on the picture frame on the nightstand had not been torn off yet. Chu Yi sat up, lit a cigarette, and tried to peel off that tag. The adhesive was stubborn and wouldn't come off completely.
Sitting quietly in the darkness, Yan Hong's diary entries lingered in his mind. Love that does not require marriage has become a trend in this era. Jiang Deming obtained love through deceit, but one cannot deny that his affection was sincere. Li Quyuan's love for Jiang Weiting's mother was truly everlasting. The love between Jiang Weiting and Li Suowen also transcended life and death.
In the darkness, he could not determine how many chances there would be for his love with Yan Hong in the end.
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