Discussing Longevity (Revised)

Fan Jian pondered to himself what kind of man could possibly satisfy a woman like that, but for Zhong Qing, the less she dealt with someone like Fan Jian, the better; she hoped she would never have to seek him out again.

Setting aside the sense of superiority derived from various conditions, Zhong Qing simply disliked the peculiar stench that clung to men who habitually chewed betel nut and consumed tobacco and alcohol.

"That boy's name is Liu Chang'an, and this is his phone number." Zhong Qing sent Liu Chang'an's number to the young girl holding the Rottweiler.

Her name was Zhu Juntang.

Zhu Juntang withdrew her gaze from the Baolong Center tower and looked at the name and number.

"He seems to be a vagrant," Zhong Qing said, relaying the information she had just gathered from Fan Jian and drawing her own conclusion.

"He might be a high school student... or a college student." Zhu Juntang felt Zhong Qing's gaze was a bit strange and offered an explanation, though in her eyes, whether he was a vagrant or a student, what that person had done was enough to make any identity of his irrelevant.

"There is no difference," Zhong Qing said indifferently. Regardless of who the other party was, given Zhu Juntang's status, she shouldn't be paying attention to an unremarkable youth.

"How tall is this building?" Zhu Juntang asked to herself, squinting her eyes to make them look narrow and alluring.

"452 meters." Zhong Qing knew the statistics of this high-rise, which ranked among the top fifteen in the country, by heart.

"If someone jumped from a building this tall, could they still survive?" Zhu Juntang wrinkled her beautiful nose, then relaxed it, an expression of disbelief crossing her face as she patted her own cheeks.

"No."

"I don't think so either." Zhu Juntang nodded and glanced at the Rottweiler, which was panting with its tongue lolling out. "To be safe, go buy a pig and throw it off the roof to see."

Zhu Juntang's dog clearly did not grasp the scenario its owner had just imagined in her mind.

"Third Miss, please stop doing these strange things. I heard you had people searching for a corpse nearby last night, and you even went downstairs to wander around yourself in the middle of the night." Although Zhong Qing was Zhu Juntang's assistant, she could not indulge her in such nonsense.

Zhu Juntang let out a very unladylike yawn, handed the leash to Zhong Qing, and turned to walk into the Baolong Center.

In the elevator heading straight to the top floor, Zhu Juntang remained silent, staring at Liu Chang'an's name and number.

"That year, Liu Bang entered Xianyang, and I was rescued. When Xiang Yu returned and couldn't find me, he burned Xianyang to the ground."

"From the time Qin Shi Huang sought immortality and locked you away, to when Liu Bang saved you, you were imprisoned for over a decade."

"Yes, and then Liu Bang locked me up again."

"..."

Last night, someone had been spouting nonsense with her on the roof before leaping off—dying without a trace... It was only because Zhu Juntang had woken up and used her binoculars that she spotted a young man working at a construction site who seemed to be the spitting image of the person from the night before.

She still remembered clearly how the man had thrown himself off. Zhu Juntang had screamed and lunged forward, instinctively wanting to grab him, only to watch his figure accelerate into the descent and vanish into the night in the blink of an eye.

"I... I..." Zhu Juntang felt her teeth chattering. This building was one of the tallest in Junsha; there was absolutely no chance of survival after jumping from here. The only question was whether he would be smashed to pieces or crushed into a pulp.

Her pupils dilated and her legs went weak. She had occasionally imagined the scenario of jumping to her death from here, but seeing it for real, she realized how terrifying it truly was. Zhu Juntang felt all her blood rushing to her heart, which struggled under the burden, and her limbs turned cold as she collapsed to the ground.

After a long while, Zhu Juntang crawled up, returned to her room, and took the elevator all the way to the ground floor.

It was midnight, and uniformed security guards were still patrolling the lobby. Seeing Zhu Juntang, they immediately saluted and stepped forward.

Zhu Juntang rushed out, searching everywhere, simultaneously terrified and forcing herself to be prepared to see that gruesome sight.

If he jumped from this height, he must have died a horrific death. I shouldn't jump off buildings, she thought, filled with shock and suspicion. Why did he jump?

She recalled the last look he gave her—how calm it was. It must have been the look of someone who had lost all hope and felt no attachment to this world.

Compared to him, she was a complete coward. He was probably even more unfortunate than she was.

Zhu Juntang searched the plaza in front of the building.

"Miss, what are you looking for? We'll help you search," the duty guard said, following behind her.

Zhu Juntang was filled with doubt. She opened her mouth, hesitated, and asked, "I just saw someone jump from the roof."

The security guard was shocked and immediately called other patrolling colleagues to help search for the "body."

Half an hour later, the search teams reported that nothing had been found within a hundred meters of the building.

After all, a person weighed over a hundred pounds; they weren't a kite that would be blown far away. This search radius was sufficient.

"Miss, are... are you sure..." the security captain asked cautiously.

"Maybe I was mistaken." Zhu Juntang smiled. "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's no trouble. It's getting late, please go upstairs and get some rest."

Zhu Juntang turned around, her gorgeous high heels inlaid with diamonds clicking against the floor, her reflection swaying like water as she walked elegantly into the elevator.

As the elevator doors closed, she could see through the gap that the guards remained in a bowing posture, meticulous and without a hint of slack.

"To hell with it!"

Zhu Juntang's elegance suddenly collapsed. Her body went limp as she sat down, her fingers turning white as she gripped the sofa armrest. She absolutely had not been mistaken; she had witnessed that youth leap right before her eyes!

Could he have been smashed into too many pieces? Would he have been eaten by stray cats or dogs? Could he have landed perfectly into a trash bin and been buried by garbage?

Zhu Juntang considered many possibilities. She went upstairs, changed into running clothes, and prepared to pretend to go for a night run to search the area again. She simply couldn't accept the fact that someone had jumped right in front of her, and not only was his fate unknown, but he had vanished without a trace.

Zhu Juntang ran around the building for over an hour, but thinking that there might be spies among the security guards, she finally gave up.

After tossing and turning for half the night, Zhu Juntang didn't wake up until noon today. She sat up lazily, the events of last night flashing through her mind like a dream. After drinking a glass of water, she confirmed with a daze that it wasn't a dream; she had truly seen it, and she had truly sent people to look for a "body."

Still unwilling to give up, Zhu Juntang observed the surroundings with her binoculars from the window, never expecting to find something at the construction site next door.

Zhu Juntang's binoculars were a Leica product—expensive enough, though not as precise as the most professional manufacturers, but they were sufficient to clearly see the facial features and physical markers of someone hundreds of meters away to determine if it was the person she had seen.

Although she trusted her eyes, the conflict between what she had witnessed and her inherent common sense and understanding of the world left her hesitant and skeptical.

She finally decided to send a text message to the phone number.

"Hello, this is Zhu Juntang. We spoke of immortality last night, and seeing you again today, I am filled with shock. I hope to meet for a brief chat, just the two of us, at the Octagon Pavilion rooftop restaurant. I await your arrival."

After sending the message, Zhu Juntang sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, leaning back lazily with a copy of Li Ling's Zhou Xing Tianxia in her hand. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at the sun slowly descending into the west.