novelraw Chapter 110 Memory
Chapter 110 Memory
“I’m warning you—seriously! Seriously! Seriously! In a moment, do not say anything stupid!”
The car moved steadily along the road.
This was the 12.7th time Jiang Ran had emphasized the same warning to Wang Hao today (one attempt had been interrupted before he could finish).
In the prison of the year 2045, Jiang Ran had experienced too many failed prison breaks. He knew all too well how a pig-headed teammate could destroy a perfect plan. The Hothead who always jumped the gun, the guy who liked drinking at night and suddenly changing his mind… every time one of those disastrous operations unfolded, Jiang Ran could only watch and think: Well, today’s finished.
Therefore.
To prevent another “pig teammate incident” today,
ever since picking Wang Hao up, Jiang Ran had been repeating the same warning over and over during the entire drive.
Today, he planned to verify something from the angle of past memories.
The Cheng Mengxue who had suddenly appeared before everyone yesterday…
was she real, or fake?If she were an impostor, a disguised substitute,
then no matter what kind of technology she used to modify her appearance, body, or voice to match Cheng Mengxue perfectly… she could never replicate Cheng Mengxue’s entire life.
In other words, an impostor could never possess the real person’s memories.
At best, she could rely on acting and guesswork to imitate the present Cheng Mengxue, but she could never truly understand Cheng Mengxue’s past—every tiny detail of her childhood experiences.
And that was Jiang Ran’s strategy.
His advantage.
The opportunity was precious.
Because subconscious probing only worked once or twice. If used too often, the other side would become suspicious and eventually find ways to counter it.
Reality was not like the prison of 2045.
There were no repeated loops, no chances to reset and try again.
Every mistake, every failure, became an irreversible fact.
Which meant today’s meeting was crucial.
Everything had to go perfectly.
And under those circumstances—
Wang Hao’s mouth absolutely had to be controlled.
Wang Hao was a good person, a reliable brother.
But he was also blunt and careless with his words.
Take last night’s reunion for example.
If he hadn’t gotten drunk and started talking nonsense… perhaps none of the terrifying events afterward would have happened.
“Alright already, I know!”
Wang Hao sounded irritated in the passenger seat, pressing the window button repeatedly and fiddling with every switch he could find.
“How many times have you said it, man? What are you, senile?”
“If you manage not to talk today,” Jiang Ran said calmly, “then when you start your internship at the 4S dealership next year, I’ll buy a car from you.”
“Oh?”
Wang Hao instantly sat up straight.
“Then you can relax! I won’t say a single word today!”
Jiang Ran smiled.
“You said it. Not one word. Otherwise the deal is canceled, and forget about selling me that car.”
“Damn! I can’t just sit in the teahouse like a mute, can I?”
Wang Hao was worried about his future sales record. This opening deal had to succeed.
“I promise I won’t mess things up or interfere with your ‘True or Fake Cheng Mengxue’ test, alright? But you can’t expect me not to say a single word the entire time.”
“You and Cheng Mengxue are friends—am I not?”
“I haven’t spoken to her for two years either! Of course I have things I want to say.”
“Right? You can’t just act like a tyrant because you two grew up together.”
“Let’s do this. Give me a signal. Before you give the signal, I won’t say a word.”
“Once you finish interrogating Cheng Mengxue and confirm your answer, you give the signal to release my seal. Then I can chat with her for a bit, okay?”
Jiang Ran considered it.
That seemed reasonable.
Last night Wang Hao had been drunk, yet he had grabbed Zhou Xiong and demanded that he revive Cheng Mengxue. That alone proved how much Wang Hao treasured their friendship.
Not to mention that when he first saw Cheng Mengxue, Wang Hao had collapsed to his knees.
Forcing him to stay silent the entire time today might indeed be unfair.
“Fine.”
Jiang Ran raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
“This snap will be the signal. Before I snap my fingers, you stay quiet and say nothing.”
“Let me remind you—I’ll probably lie and set traps while talking to Cheng Mengxue in order to test her. That’s why I’m afraid you’ll say something stupid.”
“You’re the type who speaks without thinking. If my trap doesn’t catch Cheng Mengxue, you’ll be the one who falls into it.”
“OK.”
Wang Hao agreed immediately.
“But you better keep your promise. I absolutely cannot miss that car sale.”
Jiang Ran parked the car in front of the hotel.
Cheng Mengxue waved from the roadside—she had clearly been waiting for a while.
Today she was dressed in a fresh, youthful style: a white pleated skirt swayed gently as she waved.
“Her fashion taste hasn’t been Americanized,” Wang Hao commented thoughtfully, resting his chin on his hand.
“Still Xiaoxue’s old style.”
“You sound very knowledgeable.”
Jiang Ran slowly pulled the car over and shot Wang Hao a glance.
“As if you’ve studied in the United States yourself. What do you know about American style?”
“West Coast style!”
Wang Hao immediately started rapping.
“I’m playing that West Coast—playing that West Coast—”
“But I’m on the East Coast!”
Cheng Mengxue burst out laughing as she opened the car door and heard Wang Hao’s rap.
“The University of Pennsylvania is in Philadelphia—it’s on the East Coast. Nobody there plays that West Coast stuff!”
Jiang Ran looked at Cheng Mengxue through the rearview mirror.
It felt…
as if today’s Cheng Mengxue had become even more Cheng Mengxue.
Yesterday, when they first met again after two years—and she had to explain the whole fake-death disappearance—it was obvious she had been nervous and restrained. Even the way she looked at him had been cautious.
But today was different.
The Iron Triangle that had once spent every day together now sat in the car again, front and back seats. As they talked and laughed, that familiar feeling of intimacy returned.
“Look at this car! A Wenjie M9! Cool, right?”
Wang Hao twisted around in his seat, showing off.
“Jiang Ran’s amazing. He wrote a script for the film club, and some film company bought it. As soon as he got the copyright money, he bought his dad a luxury car outright!”
“Wow!”
Cheng Mengxue’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Jiang Ran, you’ve become so impressive in just two years! What kind of script did you write? Let me see it!”
“I signed a confidentiality agreement.”
Jiang Ran turned the steering wheel.
“But… you should have seen the original version.”
He narrowed his eyes and said slowly:
[Back in middle school, I wrote a ridiculously edgy setting collection. You and Wang Hao both read it—do you remember?]
Perfect.
He hadn’t expected the first test to come so smoothly, emerging naturally from Cheng Mengxue’s question.
“I remember!”
Wang Hao answered instantly.
“Every day today every day’s great, the wind’s wild and the sun’s bright, yo yo, we don’t have class this afternoon, that’s really nice—”
He immediately realized he had run out of words and awkwardly switched into another rap.
When he turned around, Jiang Ran was glaring at him with a look that clearly said your opening deal is gone.
“Ahem.”
Wang Hao quickly added,
“This doesn’t count—we’re not at the teahouse yet.”
Jiang Ran had only told him not to speak during the teahouse conversation, after all.
They were still in the car.
“Hm…”
Cheng Mengxue thought for a moment and shook her head.
“I don’t remember. I know you did write something like that, but I wasn’t as interested as you boys were. Maybe I read it… but I honestly can’t recall the contents now.”
In the front seats of the car,
Jiang Ran and Wang Hao exchanged a glance through the corners of their eyes.
Was Cheng Mengxue truly forgetting?
Or did she simply have no such memory and was improvising to maintain the act?
“It was adapted from that.”
Jiang Ran continued calmly.
“But if you don’t remember, then forget it. I took their money and signed a confidentiality agreement—I should keep my word.”
“Oh come on, you were never this rigid before!”
Cheng Mengxue spoke freely now, completely relaxed with Jiang Ran like the childhood friend he had always been.
“Just secretly tell me.”
“No.”
“Tch, acting like it’s some treasure!”
Soon the car arrived at their destination for afternoon tea.
Jiang Ran had already reserved a private room.
The three of them followed the waiter inside.
Jiang Ran shot Wang Hao a meaningful glance—the car deal.
Wang Hao returned a look that said don’t worry, I’ll just drink tea and won’t say a word.
The private room had a small square table.
Jiang Ran and Wang Hao sat on one side.
Cheng Mengxue sat opposite them.
After the waiter prepared their tea and left, closing the door behind him, Jiang Ran leaned back in his chair.
“You said yesterday you had many things you wanted to tell us?”
“Yes.”
Cheng Mengxue nodded.
“I actually planned to fly here earlier and find you both first… I never intended to scare you by suddenly appearing like I did yesterday.”
“Actually… during these past two years… I’ve been very worried about you.”
She looked at Jiang Ran.
“Even if our classmates hadn’t told me yesterday, I could guess that you probably weren’t very happy during those two years.”
“Even though the car accident wasn’t your fault, you were the one who brought me there that day… I was afraid the adults would blame you.”
“When I woke up, I had already been flown to the United States on the scientist’s private plane. My parents had sold the house. The entire family had bet everything on treating my illness.”
“My dad told me no one blamed you, and they didn’t pursue responsibility. But I know you… I know exactly what kind of person you are. You would definitely blame yourself deeply.”
“And since my parents even faked my death… that would only make you feel more guilty.”
“I… I was really worried that you would drown in guilt and never escape it.”
As she spoke, Cheng Mengxue’s empathy and kindness overwhelmed her.
Sadness rose in her chest.
“I was always worried about you. But they wouldn’t allow us to contact anyone in China, so I had no idea how you were doing.”
“But I guessed it probably wasn’t good. You’ve always been like that—taking responsibility for everything yourself.”
“If I were alive and well it would be one thing. But my parents even built a tombstone… you must have believed you were the one who caused my death.”
“Even though that wasn’t true.”
“So…”
Cheng Mengxue lifted the hand resting on the table and gently placed it over the back of Jiang Ran’s hand.
Then she looked directly into his eyes.
With both pain and tenderness in her gaze.
“I’m sorry.”
Unexpectedly.
This time Jiang Ran didn’t feel the instinctive resistance he had imagined toward such physical contact.
[He couldn’t tell.]
In that brief moment.
[He truly couldn’t tell.]
It felt as if the test Jiang Ran had prepared for Cheng Mengxue hadn’t even begun yet—
and she had already handed in a perfect answer sheet.
So that was it.
Cheng Mengxue had already understood everything.
Just as she said, she knew him extremely well—she had analyzed him thoroughly.
Before, Jiang Ran had wondered why Cheng Mengxue had broken down in tears the moment she saw him, why all those emotions had ultimately condensed into a single sentence.
I’m sorry.
So that was what she meant.
She had already predicted the situation Jiang Ran would face after her “death”—the grief, the guilt, the depression that would follow.
Unfortunately, she had been powerless to help.
Her body needed treatment.
Her parents had risked everything for her survival.
She had no choice.
She could only accept the agreement forbidding contact with the outside world and cooperate with the medical team.
At the same time…
she secretly counted the days, waiting for the two-year promise to end.
Wang Hao was still under the “silence spell.”
He looked from one to the other but didn’t dare speak.
He couldn’t tell whether this atmosphere might also be part of Jiang Ran’s plan.
Still, watching his two closest friends reunite after such a painful separation—yet secretly testing each other’s sincerity…
to be honest, it made his heart feel uncomfortable.
He could only lower his head and drink tea.
It tasted bitter.
“Many people asked me questions afterward, but no one blamed me.”
Jiang Ran withdrew his gaze from Cheng Mengxue’s hand and stared at the tea leaves floating in his cup.
“Everyone was confused about one thing.”
“Why, on the second day of the college entrance exams, we didn’t go to the exam hall but instead ran far away to the suburbs.”
“Do you remember why?”
Resting his head on his hand, Jiang Ran stared into Cheng Mengxue’s eyes.
[Do you remember…]
[Why I took you to the suburbs that day?]
Cheng Mengxue remained silent for a long moment.
She took a deep breath and slowly shook her head.
“Of course I remember.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Because… you were really strange that day. You felt like a completely different person.”
“Your expression, your words, your mental state—everything felt different.”
Swallowing, she recalled the scene.
“The entire time, you didn’t want to speak. Your face looked terrible.”
“No matter what I asked, you wouldn’t answer.”
“You just kept holding my hand and dragging me along.”
“You kept repeating one sentence over and over.”
“What?”
Jiang Ran frowned.
This memory was something he himself couldn’t recall.
No one else knew it.
Only Cheng Mengxue—the one person who had been there.
“What was I saying?” Jiang Ran pressed.
“You kept looking around nervously. Your forehead was covered in sweat, like you were begging something.”
Cheng Mengxue frowned slightly and imitated Jiang Ran’s trembling voice from that day:
[Don’t let it happen again… don’t let it happen again…]