After receiving the sample, the doctor said, "It will take at least six hours."
Old Mr. Zhang smiled and said, "We've endured for so many years, what's another six hours? Go ahead."
He patted Li Xiaoya's head and said, "Don't worry, the result is certain. Xinian is your father, you are his child, his only child..."
Li Xiaoya was still a bit uneasy.
She composed herself and continued reading the letter.
"...If you don't want to tell me, that's alright. My work is special, and I can't always be there, which isn't fair to you. Marriage is important and should be carefully considered.
If you can no longer wait for me at the Jingui Hotel, just inform the manager there.
Actually, I hope you can still wait for me there.
You always say I'm too reserved, but is it too selfish to tell you so directly that I hope you'll wait for me, that I want to marry you, that I want you to tell me everything I don't know?
..."
Old Mr. Zhang took a shallow breath and said, "How could it not be? That's right, you see, it even mentions the Jingui Hotel."
The heavy atmosphere made even the Chief Inspector feel suffocated. He turned his head, intending to go out for a smoke, but as he pushed the door open, he suddenly turned back and said, "That name, Yuan Fu..."
"What about it?" Sheng Yuxiao was the first to look at him.
"Isn't that the name of a mooncake brand in Jiang City?" the Chief Inspector said, bewildered. "So it's obvious! It's definitely a fake name! No one from Jiang City would name their child like that!"
The Chief Inspector said this and then couldn't help but withdraw his hand.
Doesn't that mean that Old Mr. Zhang's son never knew her real name until he died?
And his stepmother's daughter never got to see the contents of the letter either.
The Chief Inspector couldn't help but return to the bedside.
He stared at the letter.
"You always say I'm too reserved..."
He fixated on that line, feeling somewhat bothered.
The content of this letter must have been Old Mr. Zhang's son expressing himself so directly for once.
That was truly... too heartbreaking.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the room became even heavier.
Old Mr. Zhang raised his trembling hand to wipe Li Xiaoya's tears. "Don't cry anymore."
Li Xiaoya nodded.
"Do you want to look in the bedroom again? There might be other things," the Chief Inspector asked.
Li Xiaoya silently turned and led the way.
Old Mr. Zhang followed behind, leaning on his cane.
They began searching for more traces that might have been left by Li Xiaoya's mother.
Old Mr. Zhang was the first to make a discovery: "...Paper cranes."
Everyone looked at him curiously.
Old Mr. Zhang looked at Li Xiaoya with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Remember what I told you? Xinian loved folding these when he was in school, but he never gave them to anyone. He was like a block of wood when it came to these things, and after he joined the army, he had even less interest in dating."
"To be honest, when his superior first told me he had filed for marriage, I even doubted if his superior had made a mistake..."
"So they were here all along."
The Chief Inspector was taken aback: "Paper cranes usually carry wishes... How do you know these were folded by Xinian?"
Old Mr. Zhang picked one up and pointed to the bottom right corner: "The logo of Feixiang Stationery, it was only popular in Jin City for a short time. It was a state-owned enterprise, wasn't it? The factory closed down not long after. You don't have these in Jiang City."
Li Xiaoya sniffled.
They continued searching.
They found a locked notebook.
"There's no writing on the outside, and it looks relatively new... It can't be your grandmother's, she wouldn't use something like this at her age," Qin Sui said.
The Chief Inspector nodded and said, "His stepmother's health had always been poor, she couldn't hold a pen for a long time, and after she fell ill, she could barely recognize people."
Sheng Yuxiao reached out and took it, gripping the hard cover on both sides, the veins on the back of his hand slightly protruding.
With a forceful twist—
Snap, it opened.
Li Xiaoya took a deep breath and opened it.
Her eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on her lips: "It's Mom's handwriting!"
Sheng Yuxiao couldn't help but smile along: "Yes, take your time reading it."
"From the moment I discovered I was pregnant, I was overjoyed, incredibly happy, but because you haven't been born yet, I can't record your growth and life with a video camera, so I can only write it as a diary. If your father sees this when he comes back on his next leave, it will be like he hasn't missed the whole process...
When you grow up and see this, it should be interesting too."
This is what Wei Wenyu wrote.
Below were more scattered entries.
"You're such a good baby, why haven't I felt any of the discomfort that others experience during pregnancy? Is it because you're still so small? I saw you on the machine, you're only as big as a palm..."
"Well, today I started to not be able to smell fish or flower scents. But you're still a good baby. Because you're so precious, it's normal to go through a little hardship."
"My emotions have been a bit erratic, why is this happening? One moment I'm very happy, the next I'm not so happy. I miss your father a little, but suddenly I don't know how to tell him... After all, I don't even dare to tell him my real name. I lied to him, saying I'm from Jiang City, that my family lives in a hillside villa, that my mother is the chairwoman of a charity foundation... Ah, only the last part is true."
"I don't dare to let him submit the marriage application either, because as soon as they investigate me, there will be no future."
"Should I keep pretending that because of the shadow of my parents' failed marriage, I'm afraid to enter into marriage? He must have realized I'm lying, but he's waiting for me to be honest. How can I be honest, baby? Forget it, baby shouldn't read this kind of thing."
This whole paragraph was crossed out.
Turning to the next page.
It was four months later.
"Baby, you've grown a bit, it's getting hard to hide."
"Your grandmother told me she received a package, a package sent from the army. Your father has left, when you grow up you'll understand what 'left' means. He didn't leave because he doesn't love you, it's because he's fallen into an eternal sleep."
The paper showed unnatural raised marks where it had been wet and then dried.
"Mommy is in pain, but Mommy will keep you. No matter how much I suffer, baby, I will give birth to you. Because you are his only child in this life, the proof of our love."
Li Xiaoya hugged the notebook and cried loudly.
Old Mr. Zhang's eyes were red, and he wiped her tears while crying himself: "Don't cry, don't cry, Xiaoya, don't cry..."
