Evanescent Dreams

38. Evanescent Dreams

"Tell them, Xue," Ms. Mei called at the phone in Ye Zhen's hands. "Tell them, sister." 

 A dead silence ensued.

Sister. Lin Xingren twitched.

Indeed, there was a subtle similarity between the auras of Ms. Mei and Ye Xue. Such a resemblance could only come from two people who have been close like sisters for a long time. 

"She is right, Zhen," Ye Xue finally spoke in a hoarse voice from the phone. "After mum died, I  followed Mei and lived with her. We were like sisters."

She wished to be the sister of a serial killer. What kind of mentality did she have when she chose to follow this stranger she had just met? Lin Xingren shuddered. 

Ye Zhen emotionlessly handed the phone to Lin Xingren and sat back on a chair next to the wall. He covered his forehead and eyes with his hand. 

"Wait," Lin Xingren held the phone to her ears. "You didn't know about anything though, right?" 

I don't believe this is it. I don't. 

Ye Xue laughed. "We live together. What did you expect? I heard she's turning herself in today." 

Wait. Lin Xingren looked up at Ms. Mei. There's something off. Why are you here when Ye Xue has decided to turn herself in? You didn't know...you didn't know until this morning! You and Ye Xue's relationship...accomplices or something else? There must be more to it. 

"Listen, Ye Xue," Lin Xingren spoke to the phone, "I'm Lin Xingren, Ye Zhen's friend. I know that you care for the past. You have been hurt, and you may have hurt others. But do you not care for the future? Do you not hope? If you tell us the truth-if you tell us everything, then maybe we can figure things out."

"Hope? Future? It's funny that I once thought of it before. Justice stands above everything." 

Justice...Lin Xingren's eyes closed then opened. 

"Ye Xue, who... " she said slowly, "are you really turning in?"

Ms. Mei lifted her stare at Lin Xingren. She was affected by the question. 

"She used you, right?"

Ms. Mei was about to go for the phone but Weng Bai caught her behind her back. She struggled, but there was no use. Ye Xue had finally betrayed the truth. 

Ye Xue sobbed. "She didn't. It was ignorance. Ignorance used me. I knew too clearly what Ms. Mei could do, what she wanted to do. Unlike me, she had suffered more, and she was losing control. But I was ignorant of it until the whole disaster happened..." 

---

Months ago, it was Ms. Mei's birthday. In their large but dim shared house, Ye Xue asked what she wanted as a present and Ms. Mei said she would love to see a pharmacy filled with pill bottles and pills of the same size, shape, and color. She loved uniformity. It would fulfill her OCD. 

As the CEO of Snow Pharmaceuticals, Ye Xue used her power to make the pharmacy closest to the school Ms. Mei worked in have pill bottles of uniform appearance. She didn't realize that what she did was the first step in Ms. Mei's plan. 

That night Xuan Miaomiao died, Ye Xue came home late at night and couldn't find Ms. Mei. She went into her room, a place she hadn't went in to for a long time, and found numerous pill bottles and pill labels spread on the floor. They were the pill bottles and labels manufactured from Snow Pharmaceuticals. The ones that looked exactly the same as each other. 

Ye Xue picked up the phone that lay on Ms. Mei's bed and opened it. On the screen she saw a profile pic of the Snow Pharmaceuticals company logo and Ye Xue's  personal information. It was Ms. Mei's Little Red Account.