love on the turquoise land

Chapter 8

Around ten o'clock, the takeout arrived. It was a large pot of stone pot fish with a side of handmade noodles. Nie Jiulo cleared a space on the table and was about to start eating when she suddenly felt guilty. Noodles were fattening, and the stone pot fish was heavy with oil and spice. Eating such oily food late at night seemed sinful.

She poured herself a glass of water and dipped each bite of food in it before eating, ruining the original flavors of the dishes. Naturally, it wasn't as enjoyable, but she felt a sense of accomplishment. Compared to maintaining a good figure, these were all secondary concerns.

When she was about seventy percent full, Nie Jiulo stopped eating. Although the pot was large, most of the broth had been consumed, so the meal wasn't wasted. Just as she was about to tidy up, there was a sudden thud on the wall in front of her.

The sound was oddly solid, indicating that the guest next door had made quite an impact.

As the thought crossed her mind, Nie Jiulo felt a stirring in her heart: the neighboring room was the last one, where Sun Zhou was staying. During the trip, the rooms were all booked in advance and the rent was paid in full, so the hotel couldn't have reassigned the room to another guest.

Could it be... Sun Zhou was back?

He returned just like that? Without even saying a word of greeting to her? And what about the travel agency? Since they had contacted Sun Zhou, shouldn't they have called her and explained the situation?

Putting customers first, even if the customer had already thrown a tantrum, they should still be attentive. It seemed they didn't know that this customer had an indomitable spirit.

The smell of the takeout was strong. After tidying up, Nie Jiulo tightly sealed the bag and placed it outside the door. As she turned to go back into her room, she hesitated and then walked over to knock on the door next door.

After a while, the door finally opened.

Sure enough, it was Sun Zhou. He was wearing the hotel's bathrobe and cloth slippers, with bandages on his head, face, shoulders, and arms. Perhaps due to his injuries, he looked dispirited, and his eyes seemed vacant. He stared at Nie Jiulo for a while before finally saying, "Oh, Miss Nie."

His expression seemed as if he had just remembered that she existed.

"Miss Nie, how did you come back? Did you take a Didi (ride-hailing service)?" he asked.

From his question, it seemed he hadn't contacted the travel agency yet. And surprisingly, he even cared about how she got back, which was touching.

"Didn't you receive a call from the travel agency?" Nie Jiulo asked.

Sun Zhou's eyes bulged like those of a dead fish for a moment before he said, "I left my phone in the car and forgot to bring it up."

"You should go and get it quickly. The travel agency has been looking for you. They might have even contacted your family by now. If you keep being out of touch like this, they might even call the police," Nie Jiulo said.

Sun Zhou seemed to finally realize the seriousness of the situation. "Yes, I'll go get it right away," he said.

He said right away, but his speech was slow and sluggish, and his reactions were delayed. He seemed a bit dull, like the sloth in the movie Zootopia; while others reacted instantly, he needed a couple of seconds to respond.

Sun Zhou wasn't like this before. Had he developed PTSD from being scared?

Nie Jiulo couldn't help but ask a few more questions. "What exactly happened? How did you get injured? Where did you go after?"

Sun Zhou said, "Injuries... A wild dog bit me... and scratched me... I went to the hospital to deal with it, and then... I was too tired, so I... slept in the car."

Nie Jiulo was speechless. Listening to him speak was enough to exhaust anyone's patience. And he slept in the car? He completely forgot that he had lost a passenger and nearly ran them over, didn't he?

Nie Jiulo ended the conversation, "You should contact your family as soon as possible and rest well."

***

Back in her room, Nie Jiulo sat back on the chair, still speechless.

She had a feeling that Sun Zhou was a bit strange, but she didn't care about this kind of strangeness. After all, it was just a temporary and loose employment relationship. As long as the person returned, that was good enough. As for what happened and what kind of reactions it might trigger after his return, she left it to those around him to investigate.

Opening her screen, a new email popped up.

It was from "That Side," probably containing information about the owner of the white SUV. Since Sun Zhou was bitten by a wild dog, the suspicion against that man was cleared.

Nie Jiulo clicked on it casually.

The face matched the description, it was indeed the person. His name was Yan Tuo, from Xi'an, born in 1993, unmarried, law-abiding, with no criminal record. He owned several properties, including a whole row of shops in the downtown area.

Nie Jiulo thought to herself, if he started from scratch, he must have some skills.

Reading further, it turned out that he had a good father.

Yan Tuo's father was named Yan Huan Shan, who ventured into business in the early 1990s, operated coal mines, worked as a subcontractor, speculated in stocks when they were first released, and invested in real estate when houses were cheap. He was truly a winner in life, except that he died too young—when he passed away, he was not even forty years old.

Yan Tuo's mother was named Lin Xi Rou. In the late 1990s, she had an accident at a construction site where Yan Huan Shan worked as a subcontractor, falling from a height and being crushed by a falling cement board, which left her paralyzed and severely brain damaged. She had no cognitive abilities and had been bedridden ever since.

Upon seeing the later details, Nie Jiulo felt a twinge of pity. She rearranged the timeline in her mind:

Yan Tuo had essentially lost his mother during childhood, and a few years later, he lost his father as well. At such a young age, he had to protect a coveted family inheritance.

Nie Jiulo couldn't fathom how he had endured it all. No wonder he seemed reserved and rarely smiled—there's a saying that lucky people are healed by their childhood, while unlucky people spend their lives healing from childhood.

However, the affairs of strangers should be left aside.

Nie Jiulo closed her email and made another attempt at the sketch. This time, whether it was due to being full and refreshed or finding inspiration from the photos, the process went surprisingly smoothly. Her strokes and lines gradually began to capture the essence she was aiming for.

Just as she was getting into the flow, there was another heavy, dull sound from the wall in front of her table. This time, it definitely wasn't someone bumping into it. Nie Jiulo had a gut feeling that it was the sound of a heavy object colliding, accompanied by the faint sound of glass shattering.