The One from South City

With Jiang Wan'er's patient guidance, Jiang Tian learned the basics of using a smartphone in less than half an hour.

He had picked up almost all the basic functions, including downloading apps, making calls, and sending texts.

"All right, that's pretty much it. If there's anything else you don't understand, just ask me later!"

Jiang Wan'er handed the phone back to her brother and stood up.

Jiang Tian chuckled. "Wan'er, you're really smart."

Jiang Wan'er smiled proudly, tilting her head with her hands on her hips. "Of course I am! All right, it's getting late. I'm going to bed, bro!"

"Don't you have tomorrow off from school? Why go to bed so early?"

Jiang Tian asked without thinking.

"I made plans with a classmate. We're going to the city library tomorrow to find some study materials, so I need to get up early to catch the bus."

Jiang Wan'er explained.

"You're going to the city library with a classmate?"

Jiang Tian frowned and asked, "A boy or a girl?"

"A girl, obviously!"

Jiang Wan'er smiled, then bent down to look at Jiang Tian with an amused expression. "Bro, what are you worried about?"

Jiang Tian gave an awkward smile. "Nothing. I'm just worried you'll start dating too young. You're in your last year of high school. Your studies need to come first, understand?"

"Please, I'm not like you, getting up to no good so young and dating in high school. Besides, I'm not interested in any of the boys at school."

Jiang Wan'er pursed her lips.

Jiang Tian's smile froze. How did this turn into a dig at me?

"All right, I'm going to bed. Night, bro!"

Jiang Wan'er waved at Jiang Tian, then returned to her room.

Watching his sister walk away, Jiang Tian shook his head helplessly, but then fell into thought.

My first love?

Before he knew it, a figure surfaced in his mind.

Suddenly, as though something had occurred to him, he followed the steps his sister had just taught him and quickly downloaded QQ from the app store.

The login screen had changed beyond recognition, but Jiang Tian still deftly logged into the QQ account he hadn't used in ten years.

The instant he logged in, messages began popping up on his phone one after another.

They were all from his high school friends and classmates, along with some online acquaintances he had never met.

As Jiang Tian looked at the familiar names and their now-grayed-out profile pictures, a jumble of emotions filled his heart.

Ten years. Had all these people stopped logging into QQ too?

Of course. Over those ten years, they had all grown up. Instead of trading blows online, they were now trading blows with life!

Most of the messages had been sent ten years ago, but Jiang Tian wasn't in the mood to read them.

He kept scrolling down until he finally found that familiar username among all the chats-The One from South City!

When he saw that the most recent message had been sent five years ago, even Jiang Tian's Dao heart, steady enough to remain unmoved if a mountain collapsed before him, stirred ever so slightly.

"Su Ruoke..."

Jiang Tian murmured the name almost instinctively.

With a trembling hand, he opened the chat.

"Jiang Tian, where did you go?"

"Jiang Tian, it's been three days. Why haven't you come to school?"

"Jiang Tian, please answer me. Where on earth did you go? Please don't ignore me, okay?"

"Jiang Tian, people are saying you were tricked into going to northern Myanmar. That isn't true, is it? Please, reply..."

There were hundreds of messages, every one filled with Su Ruoke's concern and anxiety over his disappearance.

The most recent few were from five years ago.

"Jiang Tian, I graduated from college. I kept our promise-I got into Qingbei University and graduated. It's been five years. I miss you so much."

"Jiang Tian, my family is arranging a blind date for me, but I don't like him. If only you were here..."

"Jiang Tian, I know you aren't coming back, but I've never regretted knowing you."

The final message had been sent in October five years ago.

It contained only a few words: "Jiang Tian, I hate you!"

After that, there were no more messages at all.

Looking at those searing words, Jiang Tian felt as though a steel needle had pierced his chest. Even breathing became agonizing.

This girl had actually waited five whole years for him!

For five years, she had never given up on him. For a moment, Jiang Tian couldn't help wanting to reply, I'm back.

But the moment his hand hovered over the keyboard, he hesitated.

Ten years had passed. If he suddenly appeared, he didn't know what place he could have in her life.

What if she's already married and has children?

Wouldn't I just be disrupting her peaceful life?

At that thought, Jiang Tian suppressed his urgent impulse and decisively logged out of QQ.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, in a luxurious villa in North City...

A woman had just stepped out of the bathroom. Drying her wet hair, she carried a freshly brewed cup of coffee over to the sofa.

Every day after work, Su Ruoke liked to have a cup of coffee and open her computer to review the day's work summaries.

Today was no exception. After setting down her coffee cup, she sat on the sofa by the floor-to-ceiling windows, opened her computer, logged into WeCom, and got to work.

Su Ruoke had been busy these past two days. The deaths of several men in the security office, in particular, had left her utterly overwhelmed.

But after she reported the incident to the police, the response from the authorities shocked her.

Apparently, those security guards at her company had been the ringleaders of a robbery several years earlier!

Though that came as a surprise, murder was still murder. She had assumed the killer would be caught, but instead, the authorities told her the matter was closed!

Su Ruoke couldn't understand or accept it. Certain there was more to the matter, she began an internal investigation at the company.

Only then did she discover that the head of the company's Security Department was the security captain's brother-in-law, and that all those guards had been using false identities!

Furious upon learning this, Su Ruoke fired Zhou Yang, the head of security, that very day!

Favoritism and misconduct were bad enough, but he had actually hired a gang of fugitive criminals. She could never tolerate that!

"Everyone at the company has been on edge lately. It looks like I'll have to make time to reassure them in person."

After reading the messages in the work group chat, Su Ruoke rubbed her brow.

Recalling the face she had seen in profile on the surveillance footage, Su Ruoke felt another surge of emotion.

"How could anyone in the world look so much like him?"

Even Su Ruoke could hardly believe it. That face had looked far too much like the one from ten years ago!

For a moment, longing welled up in her heart like an unstoppable tide. Almost without realizing it, she felt the urge to log into QQ and check again.

She knew it was wishful thinking, but she still couldn't resist the impulse.

So she logged into her QQ account with practiced ease and opened her contact list with a trembling hand.

Looking at the list of classmates whose profile pictures had long since turned gray, Su Ruoke smiled bitterly to herself. She didn't know how such a ridiculous idea had come into her head!

"Su Ruoke, what exactly are you fantasizing about?"

Su Ruoke shook her head with a bitter smile, feeling that she was chasing an impossible dream.

But just as she was mocking herself, she seemed to catch a glimpse of the QQ account she had always kept pinned at the very top of her list lighting up for a moment, then quickly turning gray again...

It had vanished in an instant, but she had seen it with absolute clarity!

Su Ruoke's hand trembled around her coffee cup. Staring in disbelief at the profile picture that had already turned gray again, she murmured:

"Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Did he just log into QQ?"