We Are the Same, It's Here

Actually, Xu Qiuyan and I should have had a lot to talk about. After years apart, I really wanted to know how she'd been, what she'd gone through.

I also wanted to ask her about that memory at the Little Ancestral Hall Entrance, what exactly had happened there, whether what she experienced was the same as what I did.

But I didn't know where to start, so in the end I just said nothing. There was plenty of time ahead, after all, and plenty of chances later.

I looked around. This was our future "home." I was the man of the house, she was the woman.

I couldn't help starting to feel a little hopeful about the life ahead.

"What are you thinking about?" Eccentric Song sat across from me, looking at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes, and deliberately glancing toward Xu Qiuyan not far away.

I glared at him. "What are you here for?"

"I just wanted to see what kind of woman could have you so completely spellbound." That dog's mouth of Eccentric Song's never spat out ivory.

I said irritably, "What's it to you?"

He laughed. "How could it be nothing? As your bros, we have the right to vet your wife, don't we, brothers?"

"Yeah!"

"That's right!"

Duan Hongbin and Chu Ge, those two idiots, had shown up too, flanking Eccentric Song on either side, smirking.

I glanced at Xu Qiuyan, worried she might overhear what I was saying with these three. That would be so awkward.

Just then, Xu Qiuyan walked over. I quickly signaled the three of them to leave, but they didn't budge, sitting there with all six eyes brazenly fixed on her.

I was about to lose it. Seeing my reaction, Xu Qiuyan looked at the sofa across from me and smiled. "Your friends?"

I was startled. She could see them?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

I asked, "What did you say?"

"I said, are those three your friends?" She looked back at Eccentric Song and the others, who were also completely dumbfounded.

"Hello, I'm Xu Qiuyan!" She generously extended her hand to them. The three of them, on the other hand, seemed a bit embarrassed. After shaking hands with her, they vanished instantly.

"Hey, where'd they go?" she asked.

I coughed awkwardly. "They left."

"Oh." She didn't seem surprised by where they came from or how they disappeared.

"Qiuyan, aren't you curious who they are?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Why would I be? Aren't they your friends? Your friends must be the people you trust most."

I fell silent. What she said was true—these three were my most trusted buddies. But no one knew better than me what kind of beings they really were. To anyone else, it would be utterly baffling. Yet she didn't think it was strange at all; on the contrary, she found it perfectly normal.

"I have friends like that too. I'll introduce them to you sometime." With that, she walked to the door. "I'm going to buy some groceries. We'll cook dinner at home tonight." She emphasized the word "home," making it clear she cared about our little nest as much as I did. Maybe she felt the same way I did—that we were bound to end up together.

She left, but my heart was full of doubt. What did she just say? She had friends like that too, and she'd introduce them to me sometime?

Could she be the same kind of person as me? It wasn't impossible. To the so-called normal people around me, wasn't I just like her? They'd always point fingers behind my back. I knew they were all gossiping about how abnormal I was, suspecting I had mental problems.

Luckily, I was fortunate enough to have Grandpa looking out for me, so I'd made it this far without being locked up as a lunatic.

"She's the same kind as you." It was Eccentric Song speaking, picking his ear as he talked.

I said, "And you know that how?"

"I'm sharp at reading people. I can tell at a glance whether someone's good or bad, and what their real motive is for getting close to you."

I laughed. "Don't you get tired, always trying to figure out what's in other people's heads?"

Eccentric Song put on a profound air. "You wouldn't understand. A certain great man once said, 'Struggling against heaven, struggling against earth, struggling against people—there's endless joy in it.' The thrill of battle is something you ordinary mortals can't comprehend."

I gave him a sour look. "Keep bragging."

His expression turned serious. "I'm not bragging. She really is the same kind as you. You both mostly live in your own mental worlds. How should I put it? You're both self-enclosed. But interestingly, you don't reject each other."

Just then, I heard a knock at the door. I glanced at the two keys the black-suited man had left on the dining table by the door. Probably Xu Qiuyan had forgotten something and come back.

I went over and opened the door. Xu Qiuyan stood there looking a bit embarrassed. "Um, I just realized I don't have any money on me. Could you give me some to buy groceries?"

I slapped my forehead. She'd come out of the Second Provincial Hospital in a brand-new set of clothes; of course there was no money in her pockets.

I pulled out a hundred-yuan bill and handed it to her. This was money Grandpa had given me.

She took it and turned to leave. I shook my head and closed the door.

But I'd barely sat on the sofa for three minutes, chatting animatedly with Eccentric Song, when the knocking came again.

Neither Xu Qiuyan nor I had many friends. Even if we did, we'd only moved into this place less than half an hour ago. Who would come looking for us here? I figured it was probably someone knocking at the wrong door.

I opened the door. Standing outside was a middle-aged man in his forties, very tall, about one meter eighty-five. That height was outstanding in our southwestern region.

"Who are you looking for?"

He looked a bit nervous, rubbing his hands together lightly, with a hint of unease on his face.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Jiang living here?"

Mr. Jiang? Could he mean me?

I'm not one to flatter myself—under normal circumstances, no one would come looking for me—so I asked again: "Which Mr. Jiang?"

"Mr. Jiang Xiaobai." The middle-aged man said, glancing once more into the room behind me. Clearly, he didn't recognize me, nor would it occur to him that the person standing before him was the Jiang Xiaobai he was looking for.

"I'm Jiang Xiaobai. What's your business?" I was about to ask how he knew me, but I figured once he told me what he wanted, I'd probably be able to guess how he found this place.

Actually, I already had an answer in my mind; I was just confirming whether my guess was right.

There was only one person who knew I lived here and could have sent him to me: Xie Yi!

His face showed disbelief, then a hint of disappointment, as if I were the cause of it.

"Mr. Xie told me to come find you. He said you could handle this matter!"

Just as I expected, the one who pointed him here was Xie Yi. Could this be some kind of test for us? Trying to gauge mine and Qiu Yan's capabilities with some task.

"Alright, what's the matter?" I asked flatly, cursing Xie Yi in my mind.

"It's like this—my wife passed away half a month ago. Last week, I actually received a text message from her. She said she didn't really die by accident; she was murdered."

Hearing this, I said, "Are you sure it was your wife who sent you that message?"

I thought this man was a bit off. If his wife was murdered, that's a criminal case—he should be going to the police, not me.

Of course, if it really was his wife sending him that message, that would be interesting, but what did it have to do with me?

But I snapped out of it quickly. I wasn't just an ordinary student at Qianzhou University anymore; I was also an investigator for Bureau Five, Section Nine, Special Section, specializing in unusual incidents. This was probably the first job Xie Yi had arranged for us.

Just as I was thinking this, my phone rang. The ringtone on that old-person phone was loud and stirring—it startled not only the middle-aged man but even me a little.

"Sorry, let me take this call." The call was from Xie Yi, and it was probably about this very matter.

"Xiaobai, Gu Song found you, right?"

I said irritably, "In such a hurry to assign us work?"

Xie Yi laughed awkwardly, and I could hear the embarrassment in his voice.

"Can't help it. He and I have some history; I couldn't refuse this favor. Just bear with it."

"His wife was murdered—he should go to the police. What use is coming to me?!"

I was still a bit annoyed. We hadn't even officially started work yet, and he was already handing out tasks.

"This matter is very strange. You'd better hear him out patiently. I suspect the one who killed his wife isn't an ordinary person."

I froze. What did he mean by "not an ordinary person"?