Jin Xin looked at Shen Yue, who had his head bowed. A bitter smile formed on the corners of his lips. "Shen Yue," he said sincerely, "I know you've always disapproved of my method of invading people's privacy, but you're right. I'm always suspicious and I have to be sure that everyone around me is trustworthy."
Although Shen Yue did not lift up his head, Jin Xin showed him the screen of his phone, pressed the delete button, and placed the phone in front of Shen Yue. "I've deleted the trojan horse that was in Hai Mingzhu's phone." He added, "I just wanted to see if she was telling the truth."
"Why do you doubt her?" Shen Yue finally lifted his head.
The air conditioning in the shop was on full blast, yet Shen Yue's gaze was warm.
Seeing Shen Yue's expression warmed Jin Xin's heart. He knew Shen Yue was no longer reproaching his actions and he confessed, "I doubt her, but I can't really explain why. It must be what you always talk about: intuition, right?"
After pausing for a moment, Jin Xin said, "Actually, you've suspected her all along too, haven't you? Both of us don't think she behaves like a typical college student. Nowadays, there aren't many college students who act like her, and even fewer with her kind of intelligence."
Shen Yue did not respond.
"There's another thing," Jin Xin tapped his forehead, "I almost forgot. In fact, both of us knew she was lying from the start. She's not an employee of the bridal shop at all."
"When I saw the owner of the bridal shop open the shop, she didn't even greet him. The way the shop owner looked at her was no different from looking at a stranger." Shen Yue chuckled and added, "Hai Mingzhu, who is neither blind nor stupid, would not act this way."
"I knew you would see through her."
Jin Xin agreed, "When I saw that, I began to question her intentions."
"Otherwise, when you left Giant Building, you wouldn't have intentionally reminded her to resign from the bridal shop," Shen Yue recalled these details flawlessly.
"Yes, I was testing her. She seemed taken aback, but then she explained herself flawlessly," Jin Xin said. "Her explanation was perfect, but we're both well-versed in body language - the change in one's eyes and facial expressions when lying. Although we weren't a hundred percent sure, we both had at least eighty percent confidence that she was lying at that moment."
Shen Yue put down his chopsticks and sipped his tea. "Sometimes, I'd rather not know these things. Because..." His expression turned pained.
"Because once a lie is planted, it's like a thorn. If you don't pull it out, it takes root in your heart and haunts you forever," Jin Xin said, expressing his agreement.
Shen Yue looked out the window at the bustling passersby and murmured, "Some people have their reasons for doing what they do."
"Is the job market really that bad nowadays? Do people really need to be this cunning just to find a job?" Jin Xin asked, as if seeking confirmation.
Shen Yue fell silent again, clearly not wanting to discuss Hai Mingzhu's situation any further.
Suddenly, Jin Xin declared, "Shen Yue, even though I'm suspicious and cautious of many people, if there's one person in this world I can trust, it has to be you!"
It took a while for Shen Yue to lift his head. He said bitterly, "In this world, you are currently my only friend."
Jin Xin got what Shen Yue implied. He frowned and said, "I've tried my best to investigate your background. It's deeply problematic. When I met you, all you had was an ID card and a mobile phone."
Shen Yue gazed blankly out of the window. Jin Xin knew that Shen Yue was listening to him and continued," That phone of yours is really odd. It took me a lot of effort to allow my phone to call yours. When Hai Mingzhu asked for your phone number, I didn't give it to her. She thought you were mysterious but didn't know that your phone doesn't have a number... People I know all say that although your phone looks clumsy, it's actually sophisticated inside. After a simple teardown, they found many advanced and precise chips inside. They had no idea what those chips were used for. Everybody believed that it couldn't have been produced by any known mobile phone manufacturer - the structure of the chips doesn't match any currently known communication protocol."
"So I'm not from this world? Am I an alien?" Shen Yue joked.
"But it doesn't seem like that either. I checked your ID number and found out that you own a property in this city. It's the one you're currently living in. I went to the Housing Bureau and found out that the property title is indeed in your name, and it was bought ten years ago."
"If it wasn't for you helping me find that house, I might still be homeless," Shen Yue murmured.
"How could that be?" Jin Xin laughed, "You're so capable, you wouldn't starve anywhere. I asked you to live at my place, but you insisted on staying in your own room. I know you did it because you were waiting for someone to find you, hoping to understand your past better. These past few days, I've taken you almost everywhere in this city, but we haven't encountered anyone who recognizes you. By the way, has anyone in the apartment recognized you?"
Shen Yue shook his head.
"That's even stranger," Jin Xin furrowed his brows. "It doesn't make sense that you've been living in that apartment for ten years and there's no one who knows you." He paused for a moment, then finally said, "There might be another possibility."
"Oh?" Sitting amid the bustling eatery, Shen Yue felt as if he were alone on a desolate mountain peak.
"You may have been overseas all this time and only recently returned to this city, which is why no one recognizes you," Jin Xin said helplessly. "But the strange thing is, I couldn't find any records of you entering or leaving the country."
"What are you suspecting?" Shen Yue seemed indifferent, but he could sense Jin Xin's hesitation.
"I suspect that you might have been on a secret mission, like a... spy?" Jin Xin lowered his voice. "Your mission could have caused your amnesia. Didn't they make a movie about this?"
Once he started, Jin Xin was no longer hesitant, continuing, "Your ability to read people, deduce details is superb, I admit I'm inferior. But your skills are exactly the kind of thing a high-level spy would possess."
Shen Yue suddenly turned to look at Jin Xin, "Scared now?"
"Scared of what?" Jin Xin was taken aback.
Shen Yue managed a smile, "If I turn out to be a spy and regain my memory, I might have to eliminate you to keep my secret."
Jin Xin burst into laughter, "You, who can analyze every minor detail but refrains from invading anyone's privacy unless absolutely necessary, how could you be a merciless spy? You must be a patriotic spy for our nation. The military might even be looking for you."
Shen Yue knew Jin Xin was trying to comfort him. If he really were a patriotic spy, considering he'd been living in his own apartment in the city for so long with an active phone, wouldn't the military have found him by now?
The situation was far more complicated than Jin Xin made it out to be!
"Actually, I think you're more likely to be a spy," Shen Yue suddenly stated.
Jin Xin's expression froze momentarily before he asked, "Why would you say that?"
Shen Yue did not look at Jin Xin's face, "Making a fake staff card for Giant Industries isn't hard, but creating a duplicated special pass is far from easy."
After a long period of silence, Shen Yue spoke again, "I don't want there to be a thorn between us."
Jin Xin kept his mouth shut for a while before asking, "What do you want to ask?"
"According to what you said, Giant Industries only released the message seeking external assistance yesterday," Shen Yue said leisurely, "But judging by your actions today, the preparations you made to infiltrate Giant Industries were not done overnight."