157 The Real Song Nianmu (1/2)

Han Liang sat at the restaurant on the street in S City where he saw Xia Qingyi for the first time.

A cup of water sat on the table in front of him. He had been sitting here for half an hour, and the cup of water had turned from boiling hot to cold. He only stared through the window at the streets where they had gazed at each other from afar that day.

He originally thought that she would not suspect so soon. He originally thought that he could let her fall in love with him first before she discovered that something was wrong. Even if she found out the truth at that time, she probably would not leave him.

He had not expected everything to happen so soon.

”I'm sorry... a little late. There was a traffic jam,” Xia Qingyi hurriedly came and found Han Liang.

”It's okay.” Han Liang behaved just like in the past, gently smiling at her, and even asked her as he would normally do, ”Do you want to go anywhere else after eating?”

”I think there's no need to. Let's go back after we've finished eating and talking.”

”Alright... we'll go back together later.”

Xia Qingyi interrupted him. ”Han Liang! Don't you understand? I won't go back with you, I'm not Song Yuenian!”

Han Liang's expression immediately changed, and he also put down the cup he had lifted to his mouth. He kept looking down and only smiled lightly.

Xia Qingyi took out the old photograph that got slightly wet from the rain yesterday and placed it on the table. ”This then is the... real Song Yuenian. It's no wonder we're so alike, since we're twins after all.”

In the old photograph, there were two eleven-year-old girls with ponytails standing hand in hand in front of that house in F City. What was different was that the girl on the left holding a doll was smiling, but the girl on the right with a book in her hands had a grumpy look on her face, as though she was not too happy to take a photograph.

”The one on the right is me, isn't it, and the one on the left is my younger sister. Also the Song Yuenian who you've been trying to find, right?”

”You got your memories back?” Han Liang asked.

”No, I still only remember Mom. Only some things from when I was young. I deduced all the rest myself. I was still a little unsure on my way here in the taxi, but now that I've met up with you, I guess I'm probably right.”

”How did you know which girl in the photograph is you, and which is the one you think is Song Yuenian?”

”Even though I lost my memory, my intuition has always been accurate. Perhaps you're not able to understand it, but when I saw this photograph I felt that the girl on the right was me. I can feel that her expression is similar to mine.”

”You can't convince me with that reason.”

Han Liang nodded thoughtfully. ”It seemed that only she loved me that much.” He finally admitted that the woman in front of him was not Song Yuenian, even if they had looked exactly the same. He was suddenly able to understand what Nian Nian's mother was talking about that day.

She said that everyone in the world was unique. Other than their appearances, they had nothing else in common.

”She... has passed away, hasn't she?” Xia Qingyi said.

”She's not dead!” Han Liang suddenly became hysterical.

”I heard the conversation between you and Mom that night. The police have probably found her body,” Xia Qingyi's voice was steady.

”Don't act as though you know everything! You thought that just because you did a little investigation, you can say that you're not Song Yuenian, and determine that she's already dead yourself?! I'm telling you, we're childhood friends, I've lived together with Nian Nian for ten years, do you know how long it was? How could I not know whether she had left here or not?! Han Liang was practically roaring by now.

Their surroundings became silent. Xia Qingyi and Han Liang each sat at one side of the table, facing each other. Neither of them spoke.

”Exactly what had happened half a year ago?” Xia Qingyi spoke with her head lowered.

”I was also... not very sure about exactly what happened half a year ago. It seemed as though everything happened in an instant, and even now it feels like a dream to me.” Han Liang said slowly, ”Half a year ago, I was handling a bill at work when I received a call from an unknown number. He said that he had Nian Nian, and wanted me to prepare one million yuan in cash in exchange for her. I still remembered that I had laughed at that time, I felt that it was impossible. Nian Nian had called me an hour ago and told me to go and pick her up, how could she be kidnapped in such a short time.”

”The call was very noisy, and that person let me hear Nian Nian's voice. The voice kept crying, I wasn't very sure whether she was Nian Nian or not, as she stumbled over her words. I was actually still a little suspicious that I was being cheated even after I hung up the call.”