The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful (translated)

chapter 21

"Chen Nian?"

"Hmm?" Chen Nian appeared to be rather distracted; she continuously glanced at the blazing sunlight outside the window, and had to be constantly reminded by Zheng Yi and his fellow officers to redirect her attention back to them. Turning to them, she would gazed at them with her dark, black eyes, her clear and upright gaze seemingly asserting that her words contained nothing but the truth.

"Do you hate Wei Cai?"

"I'm alright."

"What do you mean by 'alright'?"

"If you didn't mention her, I would not, think about, this person."

This answer left the police officers speechless, and Zheng Yi was at a momentary loss of words. Having answered the questions, Chen Nian turned her head towards the window once again. It was now 12:30PM. It was the hottest period of the day, the sunlight blazing down in its fiery glory, easily shattering the air into small, minuscule crystals.

Senior Yang persisted, "What about now? Now that you've been reminded of Wei Cai, do you hate her?"

Disrupted once again, Chen Nian turned her direction towards Senior Yang, "I'm alright."

"Only 'alright'?"

"I have, already forgotten, how she, looks like." Chen Nian's stutter seemed to have worsened.

Like the other officers, Senior Yang was momentarily stunned, and was unable to formulate an appropriate response.

In the deathly silence of the interrogation room, Chen Nian's clear voice rang out, "I heard, that, the faces of those who died, who gradually, fade, from people's memories. But those, who are still, alive, their faces would, always remain crystal, clear, in people's memories, even if, they haven't met, for many years."

Zheng Yi appeared to be intrigued by Chen Nian's comment, and seemed to ponder over her comment whilst the other police officers simply brushed it aside. All of a sudden, Senior Yang interrupted the conversation, "Where were you the day Wei Cai went missing?"

Chen Nian slowly raised her eyes, and gazed directly into Senior Yang's eyes, "Which day?"

On realising that his usual tactic of catching suspects off guard through sudden interruption hadn't worked on Chen Nian, Senior Yang sighed internally before continuing the conversation, "The day after you were bullied and humiliated by Wei Cai."

"I was in school." Chen Nian replied.

"Why didn't you take medical leave?"

"I need to, revise. Time was, running out."

The officers were incredulous at her answer; yet, there was nothing the police officers could say in response to her answer.

"You were in school the entire day?"

"Yes."

There was no way Chen Nian could have lied about her presence in school – a simple trip to the school office would easily verify her alibi.

"Where were you at night?"

"I was at the movie theatre."

"You went to watch a movie?" A glimmer of suspicion flashed in Senior Yang's eyes. "You chose to watch a movie at that time? What about our revision? Did it suddenly become unimportant to you?"

In the face of Senior Yang's aggressive and pointed questions, Chen Nian took her time to formulate her reply, "Because, it was ...... a classic movie."

"You went to the movie theatres by yourself?"

"No."

"Who did you go with?"