Back in the bamboo house, Yu Qingtu entered Qi Zhimu's lab. After a quick survey, she discovered that all device data had been formatted.
Her finger hovered over the control panel for a moment.
In the end, she did not restore it.
She entered the internal folded space. Seeing certain things inside made her chest tighten.
Qi Zhimu, dying of old age, must have lain on the cremation platform, alone, waiting for the end.
Perhaps… only that orange cat had stayed with him to the last breath.
Leaving the folded space, she drifted—without realizing—into the wine cellar.
In the corner, dozens of clay jars were arranged neatly along the wall.
Puzzled, she stepped forward, unsealed one, and took a breath.
Plum fragrance with a faint spill of alcohol.
One-year vintage. Absolutely one-year vintage!
Qi Zhimu's plum blossom wine spanned one to six years. She'd tasted them all—each distinct, etched in memory.
But he'd been dead for twenty years.
So where had this one-year wine come from?
Unless…
Yu Qingtu remembered his doll. Remembered what it had said:
Powered by Qi Zhimu's memories.
So the doll had been following its master's directives—year after year brewing wine—and then…
Sending it to Ruan Mei?
Everything snapped into place.
A nameless jealousy ignited. Yu Qingtu clenched her teeth.
"You little bastard… even dead you still think of her—yet what has she ever—"
The rest of the sentence died between her teeth. She sighed, exhausted.
A fool. A lovesick fool.
She turned and walked toward Ruan Mei's house.
The entire estate was immaculate—so clean that even beneath the trees in the courtyard, not a single leaf lay under thin snow.
Yu Qingtu's brow twitched.
So that's what it meant—powered by his memories.
Piece by piece, the chain linked.
Her impulse to smash the doll's head in surged.
But it faded quickly.
Destroying the doll would change nothing.
And Qi Zhimu wouldn't want that. In the end, Ruan Mei was his most respected teacher.
And she was also—deep, buried, perhaps even unrecognized by himself—the person he loved most.
"I want to see whether you can still stay so calm once you know everything, A-Ruan…"
If her friend truly had no heart—fine.
But if she did…
Then Qi Zhimu's death, and everything he left behind, would be enough to drag her into the abyss and force her to taste the bitter fruit she'd sown.
"Watching for so long—shouldn't you come out now?"
Yu Qingtu turned, gaze cutting straight into the shadow by a pillar.
"Ms. Yu Qingtu, I mean no harm…"
A figure in a deep violet gown slowly emerged. Holding her skirt with both hands, she dipped into an elegant curtsy.
"My name is Black Swan—a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection."
"What is he to you?" Yu Qingtu didn't care who she was.
"Twenty-five years ago, I was the family of one of Mr. Qi's patients—and his friend."
"Twenty years ago, I was the one who stayed with him to the end, the one who loved him deeply."
"Now, I am the one who carries most of his memories—who swore to remember him forever, and to guard him."
Black Swan's tone was calm, neither servile nor arrogant.
Yu Qingtu narrowed her eyes and studied her.
"Ms. Yu Qingtu—Mr. Qi cared for you second most in his heart. So you needn't hold… hostility toward me."
"If you want to say 'jealousy,' just say it. Don't wrap it in polite ribbons, Memokeeper."
"Then I'll accept the correction." Black Swan didn't deny it.
"Tell me. In those last few days—what was it like for him?"
"See for yourself."
Black Swan tapped her forehead. A glow formed into a memory bubble and drifted to Yu Qingtu.
Yu Qingtu accepted it and absorbed the contents without hesitation.
With her capabilities, she had no fear of tricks.
As the scenes unfolded, Yu Qingtu fell silent for a long time.
Only after she stabilized her emotions did she look complicatedly at Black Swan.
"Whatever else… thank you for staying with him through the end, Miss Black Swan."
Knowing he'd left peacefully—rather than alone waiting to die—was at least a thin comfort.
Black Swan shook her head gently, then spoke in a soft voice that landed like an explosive.
"Inside Mr. Qi's memories, there are… certain special truths about his past with Ms. Ruan Mei."
"You are his respected senior—and also Ms. Ruan Mei's close friend. You may have the right to know."
"If you have no interest, I won't force it."
"Oh?" Yu Qingtu's gaze sharpened.
Special truths… about Qi Zhimu and Ruan Mei?
Could it be that old matter… the one that had always felt wrong?
"Give me—no. I only want the full chain of cause and effect for that past."
Yu Qingtu almost demanded all of Qi Zhimu's memories, but checked herself.
What right did she have?
If she truly counted, even Black Swan surpassed her.
In Qi Zhimu's last days, what Black Swan did—how she stayed—Yu Qingtu had seen through the bubble.
If it were forged, it could never have slipped past her.
Black Swan produced another memory bubble—but didn't release it immediately.
"Ms. Yu Qingtu… the pain this memory brings ran through Mr. Qi's entire life."
"I intended to bury it forever. The reason I'm willing to tell you is simple—"
Her voice hardened, firm and absolute:
"Mr. Qi is perfect in my heart. In that past, the one who was wrong was never him."
"You're speaking on his behalf?" Yu Qingtu was surprised.
"I am."
Black Swan sent the bubble over.
Yu Qingtu nodded, bracing herself—
And still, when she learned the truth, shock tore through her.
"A-Ruan… you will regret it."
Yu Qingtu murmured as the bubble dissipated.
When she looked at Black Swan again, there was genuine goodwill in her eyes.
Without her, this story would have died with Qi Zhimu, buried in the river of memory, never touched again.
"I know what you want me to do," Yu Qingtu sighed. "But I can't."
"I understand. I only don't want the Mr. Qi in your heart to be stained with a mark he never deserved."
Black Swan bowed and faded, melting into light and shadow.
"Then I take my leave."
Yu Qingtu returned to the bamboo house. In the empty room, she exhaled a long, hollow sigh.
From today on, she would live here.
Until the day she saw someone's regret with her own eyes.
From today on, Yu Qingtu never visited Ruan Mei again.
....
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