You Huo sat down in a chair by the window.
There was actually a chair opposite his, but Qin Jiu didn't choose to sit there. He leaned against the back of the You Huo's chair and asked, "What are you looking at so eagerly?"
"Photo." You Huo didn't hide anything, He lifted his phone to show him.
"Something you received?" Qin Jiu reminded him, "You didn't go online did you?"
"No." You Huo glanced at him, "Not asking where I got it?"
"I can guess."
"That 001 rank isn't in vain. Your observational skills are not bad."
You Huo moved the phone to his right hand to let Qin Jiu see as well.
Qin Jiu let out an 'oh', "Then compared to A?"
You Huo didn't look back, "Almost there."
After saying that, his hair was ruffled.
You Huo quietly snorted as he selected open the photo.
That photo wasn't very clear and there were also lines running through them that would typically appear when one takes photos of screens. Since 021 was nervous when she took the photos, the first one was blurry.
But Qin Jiu could tell that it was a photo of a monitoring screen. It was a photo of someone's confinement room.
He was a little surprised.
"Whose?" Qin Jiu asked succinctly.
"Old Yu." You Huo zoomed in on the photo and pointed at a figure, "Here."
Although the face had turned pixelated, Old Yu's unique posture and bent neck could easily be identified.
The pure white bed and a basket of flowers were also distinctive features despite its blurriness. You Huo recognised it at once, "Should be the hospital."
Qin Jiu lowered his finger and moved the photo to the right, revealing another pixelated figure on the bed, "Who is this?"
You Huo was a little hesitant.
It seemed that in this photo only that part there was something he was unfamiliar with.
Qin Jiu examined the blurry photo and couldn't' seem to understand 021's intentions, "Any other photos? Ones where you can see their faces more clearly."
You Huo was still in daze.
He reacted a few seconds later and swiped to the next photo.
The picture this time was clear. It was as if someone with short-sightedness finally put on glasses.
Without even needing to zoom in, the face of the person on the bed could be seen.
"Do you recognise her?" Qin Jiu asked.
He glanced at You Huo and saw that the other party's eyebrows were slightly furrowed as he stared at the sickly woman who was seemingly pretending to be healthy and also seemingly a little dazed.
After a moment, he saw You Huo's brows relax. A self-deprecating smile appeared on his face, "My mother."
Qin Jiu was completely stunned.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
He had thought that it was probably You Huo's distant relative, or even an unrelated stranger….
He didn't expect this answer.
You Huo stared at the photo for a very long time. This continued until someone comfortingly swiped their finger across his face.
He returned to his senses and looked at Qin Jiu, "Is it a little surprising?"
Qin Jiu, "It is, a little."
"She——" You Huo's eyes moved back to the photo. He continued in a low voice, "Passed away very early. I remember how she looked like when she wasn't sick, but it had been too long, my memory isn't clear, and the photo is a little distorted so…."
He fell silent for a moment, "I didn't recognise her earlier. I feel a little sorry."
The light in the room was of a single colour tone. It made him looked as if...he was feeling sad about this person who had suddenly appeared in the photo.
"It should be around this time." You Huo's voice was still calm, but it was very low. He pointed at the photo, "Old Yu's relationship with her was very good. It seems that he took care of everything before she passed away. I suspect my father was probably an artist, a drifter probably. The type that would leave without leaving a trace behind. I haven't met him before and no one mentioned him….."
As he said this, his usual mocking tone leaked out, but he quickly stored it away.
He had used the words 'should' and 'seems'. Qin Jiu could tell that his memory of those people and the events back then was vague and unclear.
Perhaps it was because he was still young at that time. But....
You Huo seemed to have read his thoughts.
After a moment of silence, he explained, "I have always been studying in boarding schools; elementary school, junior high school, senior high school and later military school. It was because there was no one around to take care of me—–"
He looked at the woman in the photo, "She was too busy. I would only see her on weekends or during holidays…..and even then I wouldn't necessarily see her."
In his memory, she would always be wearing a white coat and would either just be about to leave, or just arriving home.
There wasn't a lot of communication between them. Perhaps it was because the mother and child are too similar and are both not very talkative people.
When You Huo was a child, he would often ask her for help if he encountered a problem.
She was a smart and powerful person and could always give him accurate answers, but her answers were always too complicated and too difficult for a child to understand. She would then use even more complicated explanations to clarify her earlier answers.
If was as if she wasn't interacting with a child and was conversing with a scholar or a colleague.
Because his memory was too vague and too few, whenever he tried to remember her, her features would all be blurred, and he could only remember that white coat.
You Huo returned to his senses and said to Qin Jiu, "That is all that I remember.... Perhaps they had also been tampered with."
They could still clearly remember Chu Yue's words from last time.
Chu Yue had said that You Huo's childhood was tied together with the system and the systems upgrade relied on his eyes. Everything he saw and everything he experienced was also seen and experienced by the system. If he didn't have much of an impression, it meant that his memory was likely tampered with.
Tampering was one thing, but Qin Jiu hoped that at least You Huo's memories of his parents would remain true.
But he felt that…
If even these memories were disturbed, then the truth may make You Huo more unhappy.
Qin Jiu was a little lost in thought as he looked at the photo.
That woman was resting against the head of the bed. She held Old Yu's hand and appeared to be saying something.
After staring for a while, he could indeed tell that she looked three points familiar, especially her eyes. Qin Jiu looked very carefully hoping to see some regret or deep emotions, but it was to no avail.
She looked like she was talking about something trivial.
Qin Jiu said, "The tampering should be done on memories related to the system. These memories shouldn't be included, right?"
"Not necessarily." You Huo rubbed his finger across the screen and turned to Qin Jiu, "Her illness developed very quickly. During her stay in the hospital, I didn't go there a single time. According to my memory, this is something I shouldn't have seen but…"
"Want to make a bet?" You Huo asked casually like he was suggesting a small game to pass time.
His finger swiped across the screen to change the photo.
The woman was still talking but Old Yu this time appeared very agitated.
Another swipe.
The woman was still indifferent. Old Yu held his head and seemed to be making a difficult decision.
Another swipe.
In another photo, a third person finally appeared.
It was You Huo from many years ago. According to his memory, he should not have appeared in this ward.
The moment he saw this photo, he suddenly seemed to have recalled something.
He seemed to remember the strong smell of disinfectants. It was a smell unique to hospitals.
And there was also Old Yu's stunned face.
After a moment, You Huo chuckled softly.
"Look, I won the bet."
He raised his phone.
His hand was suddenly empty. Someone had taken the phone.
"Not necessarily." Qin Jiu's arm hooked over. His muscles were warm and firm, "It's just a confinement room. It doesn't necessarily represent the truth."
You Huo made a sound of agreement.
The sky outside the window was completely dark. His and Qin Jiu's figures were clearly reflected on the windowpane. Although it was just a reflection, it was more real than any memory.
He suddenly felt that it didn't matter.
"I have to ask Old Yu about this properly. He also looks like he has something to say." You Huo decided.
In just a blink of an eye, his tone had turned for the better.
Qin Jiu agreed, "Choose a suitable time."
"Wu Li said last time that she had something to tell us, but we didn't have the chance." You Huo then said.
"Then choose a suitable time for that too."
"I suspect that these two matters are related."
"That's better. It can fill in the gaps."
You Huo nodded. He rubbed the back of his head against Qin Jiu's chest, "But Old Yu might not tell the truth."
"Don't forgot your silly brother. If worst come to worst, you can bluff him." Qin Jiu reminded.
"That makes sense."
"What about me?" Qin Jiu asked.
You Huo turned his head to look up at him, "What about you?"
"Mr Invigilator here is clearing out past debts but you have missed your biggest enemy here. I feel very left out." Qin Jiu playfully joked.
You Huo looked at him through half narrowed his eyes before suddenly reaching out to rub his neck and throat, "Invigilator Gi's punishment...is to make this Head Invigilator happy."
.....
No light could be penetrated through the heavy curtains.
The coolness of the night outside however could still travel through the window and curtains into the room, but it was completely gone before it could reach the bathroom.
A slender and sharply defined hand was pressed against the glass that was coated with water droplets. Under the steaming heat and sound of water splashing, that hand tensed and relaxed over and over again.
Water droplets rolled down You Huo's neck, running down his thin shoulder and waist before reaching his mermaid line and hip bones.
Qin Jiu's kiss fell on You Huo's shoulder as the other party stretched out his neck in response before turning to look back at him with narrowed eyes.
He knew. His Big Invigilator is a very resilient person. No matter what he saw, remember or encounter, he would always be able to calm himself back down very quickly.
Between them, there was no need for one-sided comforting and pity.
I'm not here to save you, I'm here to love you.
KK has something to say:
"I'm not here to save you, I'm here to love you."