The Kongming Lantern drifted farther toward the river’s center.
Chi Nuan watched it intently until it became a tiny speck of light in the sky. Then she turned back: “Let’s go home.”
“Chi Nuan,” Gu Ningzi said, “do you want to release a Kongming Lantern?”
Chi Nuan shook her head. “I don’t believe in that stuff… I just remembered high school, when we came here to release them too, just like them.”
Gu Ningzi: “With whom?”
“…” Chi Nuan’s eyelashes trembled lightly. “The person I liked.”
“The person you liked in high school,” Gu Ningzi pressed, “I don’t recall you dating anyone, so was it after I left No. 1 Middle School? Or before?”
Chi Nuan froze at the question, mumbling vaguely: “Um, I never mentioned it. No one knew.”
Gu Ningzi: “Sounds like it ended without a bang.”
Chi Nuan shook her head. “Not like that. We never broke up.”
Even though we’re not together anymore, and you don’t remember, since there was no breakup, in my heart, you’re still my girlfriend…
Gu Ningzi’s eyes flickered behind her glasses. She dropped the topic and drove toward He Nan Shan.
…
After that night, Chi Nuan waited two days before finally receiving Gu Miaoyan’s call. Two days were enough for Gu Miaoyan to learn everything she wanted, just as Chi Nuan had once investigated her background.
Gu Miaoyan got straight to the point, inviting Chi Nuan to meet and talk. Having prepared herself mentally, Chi Nuan agreed without hesitation. —She had questions for Gu Miaoyan too.
They met at a flower arrangement studio. When Chi Nuan arrived, Gu Miaoyan was already there. No one else was around. The long table was covered with various fresh flowers, and Gu Miaoyan elegantly trimmed the stems of white Platycodon, arranging them into an antique vase.
Chi Nuan steadied herself and walked over.
Gu Miaoyan heard the footsteps and looked up to see Chi Nuan. “You’re here? I have a fashion show at the end of the month with the theme ‘Four Seasons Flowers Bloom.’ I didn’t gain much else from it, but I got hooked on flower arranging… Chi Nuan, does it look good?”
Chi Nuan said: “It looks good.”
Gu Miaoyan smiled and gestured for Chi Nuan to sit. “I don’t even know where to start with you. It’s been so many years.”
Chi Nuan said: “Six years.”
Gu Miaoyan washed her hands, dried them, and sat beside Chi Nuan. “Seeing you that day, honestly, I was shocked. I didn’t expect you to be A-Ning’s life assistant now.”
So she really did investigate, Chi Nuan thought, gazing quietly at Gu Miaoyan. After a moment, she took a card from her bag and placed it on the long table. “I haven’t touched it. Now that I’ve seen you, I should return it.”
Gu Miaoyan was at a loss for words: “You…”
Chi Nuan said calmly: “Sister, you must know that Gu Ningzi and I aren’t together anymore. Do you know or not that she doesn’t remember me?”
Gu Miaoyan asked suspiciously: “……Doesn’t remember? What do you mean by that?”
Chi Nuan: “She forgot everything that happened between us.”
Gu Miaoyan: “You mean parts of her memory are still missing? That’s impossible! She lost some memories after the accident due to stress response, but they came back later. The attending doctor said she recovered fully. I was with her the whole time back then, she—”
Gu Miaoyan stopped abruptly, shocked: “……She was abroad for so many years and never looked for you. Was it because of this!?”
“Sister,” Chi Nuan said, her eyes shimmering, “can you tell me what happened to Gu Ningzi after she left Yuncheng? Why did she have the car accident? I waited for her for six years. She remembers everything—except me.”
Gu Miaoyan fell silent for what felt like an eternity before saying with complicated emotions: “……Back then, Dad found out about you two. They never fought that fiercely before. Because of you, and Mom, Dad was completely enraged by A-Ning. Not only did he confine her, but he also withheld food and water. A few days later, A-Ning was rushed to the hospital from the confinement room.”
Chi Nuan’s feigned composure shattered like fragments upon hearing this.
Gu Miaoyan: “Her mental state had been unstable since Mom passed away. Those days in confinement pushed her to total collapse. After discharge, she needed heavy medication daily to stay stable, with 24-hour supervision. We couldn’t afford any negligence, fearing she would…”
Chi Nuan’s heart ached like it was being carved by knives. She wiped at her tears, but they wouldn’t stop, blurring her vision.
“But what we feared came to pass… On a stormy night with thunder and lightning, she slipped away during the caregiver handover and jumped from the second-floor window.”
Gu Miaoyan closed her eyes and breathed deeply, her thoughts sinking into that rainy night, unable to stop trembling. “Second floor—she injured her knee in the fall. In the pouring rain, she endured the pain, drove out recklessly. I was at the main residence that day. I tailed her from afar, not daring to force her or get too close. I could only guess her route, contact the police to set up barriers along the roads. But she didn’t even reach the first one—she crashed into the central divider, and the car flipped.”
“At the time, her memories were in chaos. Before passing out, she kept murmuring…”
Chi Nuan pressed the back of her hand to her lips, sobbing muffledly as she heard Gu Miaoyan’s voice: “She was going to the bakery to find you. Tomorrow was Qixi Festival, and she hadn’t told you yet that she liked you.”
