CH 2.3

The Appearance of the Seven Ex-boyfriends…. WTF? (Part 3)

"After rebuilding this late Qing Dynasty courtyard mansion for three months, today is the first day it is open for tourists. I welcome you all to come and take a look around…” The guide said, while leading a group of tourists.

Xue Lingqiao stood silently at the end of the crowd, taking in the familiar, yet unfamiliar sight.

More than a hundred years ago, this was originally his residence. He used to leisurely drink tea and read books in the pavilion. And when he had nothing else to do, he would prune the flowers and other surrounding plants. Although the years were long, they were peaceful.

He clearly remembered many things in the past, but wasn’t able to recall the decade before he was ‘murdered’, as if time was deliberately playing with him.

"The next place we will be heading towards will be the study of this mansion..." The guide took the tourists into the study. The chairs and cabinets in the study were enclosed in glass, not to be touched.

"The owner of this courtyard mansion was an avid reader, his collection covered a variety of books. Most of them were collected and displayed in the museum." The guide continued to explain before he pointed to an old-fashioned camera beside the desk, "In addition, the owner seemed to be a photography enthusiast…”

As soon as Xue Lingqiao entered the study, he noticed the old-fashioned camera. That should have been a familiar item to him, but his memories were still blurred, and kept fading over time. He had come to visit his previous house in hopes of recalling important memories, but this plan turned out ineffective. All it did was confuse him more.

He would be tagged a lunatic if he were to take out the deed for this house and try to get it back.

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Standing at the end of the crowd, Xue Lingqiao didn’t seem like a tourist at all and stood out like a sore thumb. Two girls kept peeking at him while whispering to each other.

“Is he a celebrity?”

“I’ve never seen him on TV.”

“Maybe he is still a trainee. But I bet he’ll be famous.”

"...The last person you said would be popular had an affair with Tian Jingzhi."

“Oh, he has poor taste. I’m no longer his fan.”

Xue Lingqiao was startled to hear her name. He turned around and left the crowd. It's too easy to be a celebrity now. In this era, where new films are continuously being released, ontop of having refined acting skills, most actors and actresses were good-looking. Xue Lingqiao walked along the lake behind the mansion. He was occasionally looking at the lake before he suddenly spotted something. Smiling, he quickly made his way towards that direction.

On a stone ledge by the river, a large white turtle was slowly crawling into the sand to bask in the sun. Seeing someone approaching, the big white turtle felt threatened, its previously old-man-like speed increased, and it ran desperately towards the water.

The turtle was very quick at escaping, even the people from the zoo tried several times but always failed. However, this time it was picked up before it touched the water.

"I’ve been looking for you this whole month. I finally caught you." Xue Lingqiao placed the turtle on the ground before squatting in front of it, "Shuisheng, don't you recognize me? Where do you think you’re going?"

Xue Lingqiao already didn’t have many friends to begin with, and with him laying in the museum for more than a century, all of the human acquaintances he had were all piles of ashes under tombstones. In the past, he had bought this turtle from a tank in a restaurant. For no other reason, other than the fact that the turtle was pure white and would be a waste to be cooked into a stew. Because of this turtle, he had someone come to build an artificial lake in his courtyard mansion. He had named it Shuisheng and kept it as a pet for many years.

In the past, the old men in the late Qing Dynasty liked to carry bird cages and tease their crested myna or horned lark, while he was always followed by a big white turtle. Unexpectedly, this big white turtle was the only friend he knew after he came back.

Xue Lingqiao sat down on a stone by the lake and put Shuisheng down. A fully matured Shuisheng huddled by his feet, showing a completely trusting gesture.

“Are you angry? Is it because I hadn’t come to see you in more than a hundred years?” Xue Lingqiao wanted to make a joke, but realized it wasn’t funny at all. He had only suffered in the past ten decades, patting the white shell, Xue Lingqiao continued, “You don’t know this, but I was laying in a museum as a display piece all this time. Now, even my house is open for tourists to visit… You are probably wondering who did this to me, right? I also want to know, for I have lost a part of my memory. Do not worry though, for I have found two clues. One is Ye Chen, a researcher, he was responsible for my shipment back to this city. And the other is a policeman, Li Yanzhi, who is in charge of the car accident.”

Ye Chen called Li Yanzhi after leaving Tian Jingzhi's house that night. And Xue Lingqiao was silently sitting on the roof of Ye Chen's car, like a meditating monk.

“Officer Li, I just came out of Tian Jingzhi's house. Her reaction was very strange, like she was being stimulated. As the only survivor of the car accident, I am worried for her well-being. Can we apply for a protection order for her?"

On the other end of the phone, Li Yanzhi replied calmly: "We can not do that, she must apply for it herself. However, Mr. Ye, aren’t you overreacting? It's normal for a woman to be uncooperative towards an ex who broke up with her. It’s already quite fortunate that she didn’t break your nose."

"Officer Li, I'll give you some insider’s information. This mummy is very important research material. If other research institutions find out about the particularity of this mummy, I believe they will do whatever they can to get him. So, even if our ex-girlfriend, Miss Tian Jingzhi, doesn't know anything, her situation will not be very optimistic."

"Don't compare me to yourself...Xiaozhi is very important to me, I will carefully investigate this case."

The conversation between Miss Tian's sixth ex-boyfriend and seventh ex-boyfriend was full of bitterness. No matter what era, men will always fight over land and women. But... to see men go tit-for-tat for an ex-girlfriend, it seems the brains of modern people have become more smooth.

Xue Lingqiao naturally did not bother thinking too much into that matter. He himself hadn't spoken properly in the past hundred years. He could talk for a long time to a white turtle that only knew how to flee. He was aware that the turtle could not understand at all, but still continued, “These two people all shared a relationship with the woman that had saved me. So, in order to find my enemy, I have to first form an alliance with this woman... Of course, there is another very important reason: this woman is too unlucky. I am afraid that she will die accidentally. In that case, I...may be killed by her unluckiness too.”

The dumb white turtle stretched out its turtle head and opened its mouth to chew on Xue Lingqiao's pants. Xue Lingqiao was in a dilemma, and thinking about that unlucky Miss Tian, his whole head began to hurt.