As they were speaking of how to find the mastermind behind this situation and bring proper justice, Gu Nianzhi suddenly became very interested by something. She discarded her worries and asked Song Jinning with great curiosity, “Mrs. Song, you said you wrote this letter in an incapacitated state, and I fully believe you. I think it’ll be simple to find out who tricked you into writing it and used it to frame you.”
Song Jinning was dumbfounded. She had been called a genius all her life. Why hadn’t she thought of something as simple as that?
Song Jinning was relieved and smiled happily. “Is it really that easy?” She asked. “Then tell me, how would we find that person?”
Gu Nianzhi thought for a moment and then said, “Can you please hand the letter over to me?”
Song Jinning didn’t hesitate to place the folded letter into her open palms. Gu Nianzhi didn’t open it but only said to Song Jinning, “The first thing we need to do it to have a professional determine when this letter was written, and not who wrote it.”
“I know that handwriting can be checked for authenticity, but can the date be determined too?” Song Jinning asked curiously. “What kind of technology is that?”
“With paper and ink, it’s all written in black and white. We’ll take it to the judicial appraisal office to have the experts examine it and determine the date it was written.” Gu Nianzhi said casually. This was commonly used in the legal professional to identify when a will was drawn. Even if modern wills were now printed from a computer, it was still required to have a signature in order for the document to be effective. Determining when a will was drawn would be the same as determining when the person signed the will.
“Really? That’s great!” Song Jinning smiled, taking all of Gu Nianzhi’s attention. Gu Nianzhi was completely dazzled by her smile. Mrs. Song was a truly beautiful and gentle woman. Gu Nianzhi sighed in her heart; the injustice that had been done to Song Jinning was truly heinous, and the scale of misfortune that had disabled her and had torn apart her family was a living nightmare for the poor woman. Gu Nianzhi wondered at how isolated Song Jinning had been all this time, with hardly anyone to support her. The Song’s didn’t sound like a large family and Gu Nianzhi had never heard Huo Shaoheng ever mention any friends or relatives of his mother’s. If the Song’s did indeed have extended relatives, they probably wouldn’t have allowed Song Jinning to be treated like this for the past 16 years.
“Mrs. Song, don’t worry. I’ll immediately call the judicial appraisal office and personally take this letter to them so that they can examine it and determine when it was written. Even if it can’t be precise to the exact day, it will give us at least a general idea.” Gu Nianzhi had once studied a case concerning the dispute of a will: the Imperial judicial appraisal office itself had completed such an appraisal of the date of signing. If Song Jinning had told them correctly, then this letter hadn’t been written before the lab accident, but sometime in the 16 years after the accident. This would prove that Song Jinning’s innocence. She’d had a serious mental illness for the last 16 years and had possessed no clear consciousness to write a series of romantic love letters. This meant that someone had manipulated her into writing it; who could it have been?
It was easy to narrow it down to either Bai Jinyi or Huo Jialan. Considering that the letter was addressed to Huo Guanyuan, it was safe to eliminate Huo Jialan as a possible suspect. That only left Bai Jinyi. Song Jinning had also only remembered Bai Jinyi out of everyone else and had allowed the woman to approach her while she had been ill. The remaining suspect could only be one person, Bai Jinyi.
Song Jinning was silent for a long while as she also contemplated the situation. However, she had no memory of the past 16 years and knew even less than Gu Nianzhi did about it, so it was hard to make any plausible conclusions. She muttered, “This person, who can they be? What is their goal?”
Gu Nianzhi got up to pour Song Jinning a cup of tea and passed it to her. She waited until Song Jinning had taken a few sips before saying, “Mrs. Song, I have a suspect in mind: your best friend, Bai Jinyi.”
Song Jinning cupped her glass of and shook her head with a wry smile. “Bai Jinyi isn’t my best friend, yet we are indeed good classmates and friends.”
“Umm, you’re still close enough for her to be a primary suspect.” Gu Nianzhi didn’t bother arguing with Song Jinning about the verbiage. “From the modus operandi to the timing and motive, she matches up perfectly. If we can prove that this letter was written after you lost consciousness, then you can go take her to court.”
“The modus operandi and timing makes sense, but I can’t understand her motive.” Song Jinning’s dark eyebrows raised slightly. “Shaoheng told me that she’s now Guanchen’s… my ex-husband’s girlfriend. But the person in her heart is clearly not Huo Guanchen, but his older brother, Huo Guanyuan. So tell me, why would she make me write such a love letter to Huo Guanyuan?”
“Well…” Gu Nianzhi’s eyes widened as she gasped and realized something. Although she hadn’t said anything yet, Song Jinning understood what she was implying. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Nianzhi, isn’t this information shocking to you too?”
“Not only is it shocking, but it’s horrifying,” Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help muttering to herself. No wonder Huo Shaoheng had told her at the beginning that they only knew the tip of the iceberg. Now that Song Jinning was providing more information, they could see the other side of the story. She had originally thought that Bai Jinyi had always lusted for her best friend, Song Jinning’s, husband, Huo Guanchen, so she had taken advantage of of her friend losing consciousness after the lab experiment to covertly seduce her husband. Then, she had created a “love letter” to soil Song Jinning’s reputation, so that Huo Guanchen would think he was being cheated on and so divorce her in anger. Finally, Bai Jinyi would take advantage of the situation and get together with Huo Guanchen.
But from what Song Jinning was saying, Bai Jinyi had actually liked someone else, who had been none other than Huo Guanhen’s older brother, Huo Guanyuan; he was also Huo Jialan’s father! Recalling Huo Jialan’s contorted face as she’d hatefully screamed at Song Jinning, “the b*tch,” for seducing her father, Gu Nianzhi couldn’t hold it in anymore. She looked down and shook with laughter.
“What are you laughing at?” Song Jinning was shocked, “Did I say something I wasn’t supposed to?”
“No, no… Mrs. Song, don’t misunderstand, I thought of something else and couldn’t help it just now.” Gu Nianzhi took a deep breath to calm the laughter in her chest.
“You naughty girl” Song Jinning chastised her, “Don’t call me Mrs.Song, that’s too formal. You can call me Auntie.”
“Oh! Great! Auntie Song!” Gu Nianzhi called intimately as she reached out to take Song Jinning’s hand. “Auntie Song, let’s set aside the lawsuit for now. The appraisal will take some time and the judicial appraisal office is about to close for the holidays. The results won’t be available until after the new year.”
“Ok, that’s fine. I’ve already waited 16 years; a few more days won’t really matter,” Song Jinning’s said gently. “However, I hope that this mess gets sorted out, no matter how long it takes.”
“Of course.” Gu Nianzhi was an honest person and had grown a bit closer to Song Jinning throughout this ordeal. “Auntie Song, I’ll tell you something else and you can think about what you want to do.”
Although Huo Shaoheng had said that his mother shouldn’t go back to his father, Gu Nianzhi still thought they should respect Song Jinning’s wishes. This was between Song Jinning and Huo Guanchen, and Gu Nianzhi wasn’t Huo Shaoheng. Her perspective was that of a female’s.
“What is it? Tell me what you know; things are already this bad. Nothing else can shock me now.” Song Jinning shrugged as if to say that it didn’t matter anymore.
Gu Nianzhi nodded. “Then I’ll say it.” She paused in attempt to soften the blow. “I’d heard that the Huo’s are holding a grand New Year reception tomorrow, and that during this will be when Bai Jinyi and Huo… General Huo, I mean, will announce their engagement.” She looked at Song Jinning unblinkingly, afraid to miss any emotion on her face.
“General… Huo? Are you talking about Huo Guanchen?” Song Jinning’s expression darkened, but that was all. As expected, she wasn’t happy about it. Anybody would be affected, having lost their memories for 16 years and then waking up to discover that not only had they been divorced, but that their ex-husband was about to get engaged to another woman. Especially in this case where she had once deeply loved her ex-husband. The sparkle dimmed from Song Jinning’s eyes. She had woken up with her memories paused to 16 years ago, and at that time, Huo Guanchen and she had been inseparable. She had loved him and he had loved her. Then, it was as though she had turned around to find that the person who had once deeply loved her had abandoned her without any prior indication . The shock had been too sudden and she hadn’t been emotionally prepared for it. Love was like running water, but people had no switches on them by which to instantly turn love on and off. One couldn’t wish for love to come or leave. Song Jinning gripped the thin blue striped blanket covering her so hard that the delicate veins on her hands stood out starkly under her white skin.
Gu Nianzhi gently caressed Song Jinning’s hand and said firmly, “Auntie, please, tell me if you want to save your relationship. If you still want to save your marriage with Huo Guanchen, we have some ways to do it.” She just wanted to hear Song Jinning say it, yes or no.
Song Jinning thought over Gu Nianzhi’s words—it was a heavy burden and bittersweet.
“Shaoheng told me that Huo Guanchen divorced me 10 years ago, then got together with Bai Jinyi. Is that true?” Song Jinning attempted to sound normal, but Gu Nianzhi could still detect the slight tremor.
She looked down and nodded. “It’s true. Bai Jinyi and Huo Jialan both admitted it, and General Ji, he’s very affectionate with Bai Jinyi.”
Song Jinning closed her eyes as her tears finally fell. She choked out, “Very well… then it’s fine. Let them get engaged.”
“What?” Gu Nianzhi cried. She took Song Jinning’s hand and said, “Are you sure about this? Once the Huo’s get engaged with a family like the Bai’s, it’s certain that they’ll get married. You and General Huo would no longer have a chance of getting back together.”
“It’s fine.” Song Jinning closed her eyes and managed to say, ” There’s no need. Since something like this happened between us, it’s a wound that’ll never heal. If my man can’t devote all his love, body, and soul to me, then I’d rather have nothing at all.”
Gu Nianzhi embraced Song Jinning. “Auntie, Auntie, you’re absolutely right! I totally agree!”
Song Jinning took a deep breath and the corners of her mouth twitched up into a small smile as she opened her teary eyes. She raised a hand to gently touch Gu Nianzhi’s soft cheek and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay here with you tomorrow. I won’t go anywhere.” Gu Nianzhi adjusted the thin blanket for Song Jinning. “Do you want to stay in a different room? This operating chair is very uncomfortable.”
Song Jinning shook her head. “I have to go the New Year reception at the Huo manor tomorrow. Nianzhi, will you help me?”
“Huh? You want to go? Didn’t you say that you’re letting go?”
“Yes, I will let go. That’s why I’ll go tomorrow, after their engagement ceremony is complete.” Song Jinning had a mysterious smile on her face, “Although it’s over between Huo Guanchen and I, there’re things to clear up. I won’t stand for being labeled a cheater without good reason. They are shameless, but I still have my own honor and refuse to take on their shame.”