Before, when she didn’t know these details, when she received the news of Tang Nuan’s death, she had only felt regret and pity, but now that she had found out that the last thing Tang Nuan did with her dying breath was to leave clues for her, Song Qingchun’s tears couldn’t stop falling.
That woman had been her bitter rival since their youth. However, in the end, the person who helped her understand many things was this woman whom she had once hated deeply.
Many things that she had not understood at the time, she understood now. That morning, before she left, Tang Nuan smiled at her; that smile had been an attempt at reconciliation. When they were still best friends, they had promised each other, whenever they got into a serious argument but neither had the courage to admit their mistake, one of them would smile at the other. The smile was their secret code, an appeal for forgiveness. Therefore, that day, Tang Nuan really did want to mend all the broken bridges with her.
Song Qingchun really didn’t expect that this woman who had once chilled her heart would touch her so deeply. Su Zhinian could read her thoughts and reached out to pull her into his embrace. Leaning against his chest, Song Qingchun cried like a baby. She was crying for the once pure friendship that they had shared in their youth; she was crying for the best friend whom she thought she had lost but had regained at the end.
Ten years earlier, she was her best friend; ten years later, she was still her best friend.
Song Qingchun cried for a long time before her emotions stabilized. She leaned against Su Zhinian’s shoulder. As she sniffled, she said with a voice that was hoarse from tears, “Can we go visit Tang Nuan on her anniversary?”
“Definitely.”
Song Qingchun leaned deeper into Su Zhinian’s arms. After a moment’s silence, she continued. “Su Zhinian, since it is Fang Rou who was behind the recording, do you think she was also the mastermind behind all the random attacks?”
Song Qingchun merely threw that out for fancy, but when the speculation left her lips, she suddenly escaped from Su Zhinian like an inspiration struck her. “I just remembered, do you still remember I was mugged at the Japanese pavilion? I did call home the night before, and I distinctly remember Fang Rou asking me where I was staying!
“Also the night of the New Year’s Eve at North Sea Garden, when I was pushed overboard, Fang Rou also knew where I was then…”
She went through all of the ‘coincidences’, and Song Qingchun felt a chill run up her spine. Once might have been a coincidence, perhaps even twice was chance, but thrice, four times… many times? Then, it had to have been planned!
“The most important point is that after I found out about Song Cheng’s suicide, I went to find Brother Yinan at first notice. At the time, my car had some issues, and it was Fang Rou who lent me her car, but her car broke down in the middle of the road.
“And it was from then that those attacks started…”
Su Zhinian, who received such an influx of information, grabbed onto the crucial point. “Does Fang Rou know about Song Cheng’s fake suicide?”
“Yes…” Song Qingchun’s face blanched immediately. She stood there dumbly like her soul had left her body before uttering with quivering lips, “…It was after she knew that I uncovered the inconsistencies in my brother’s suicide that those attacks occurred with increased frequency. And since my brother didn’t commit suicide… So…”