Hidden Assassin 255

In the snow, on a quiet road, a single orange light from the car pierced the darkness.

“I think we need to find somewhere with air conditioning,” a woman said.

“I don’t want to go, my legs are wobbly.”

“Without air conditioning, it will get colder and colder.”

“It’s even colder outside, so I absolutely refuse to go out!”

“…”

Inside the sports car, a man and a woman sat side by side, bored. Jia Ming had removed his disguise, now looking around for passing cars. Ya Han had taken off her shoes and curled her legs, wearing wool socks, the numb spots on her body still tingling. As she rubbed them gently, she gazed at the ordinary face of the boy beside her, a face she hadn’t seen in a while, and smiled approvingly.

“You look much better like this, Jia Ming,” she said.

“I think this is my usual look…but obviously not as handsome as this car…”

“I think this car is great,” she replied, sinking back into the seat, which was already as reclined as it could be. “I’m so sleepy, I want to sleep. Don’t turn off the light.”

“The battery is almost dead. The lights will go out soon. I think we can flag down a car…Americans are very hospitable.”

“So they’re going to chase us from New York to here with planes and cannons?”

“Ha, don’t be silly.”

“There are no cars!”

“We can walk. There will definitely be somewhere to stay ahead.” Jia Ming looked at her. “I’ll carry you.”

“No, you’re shorter than me…”

“…” Jia Ming’s lips twitched, a hint of helplessness in his smile. “I know I’m slightly shorter than other people, but why are you so tall?”

“You’ve been shorter than me since we met,” Ya Han lay back and stared at the car ceiling. “When did you grow taller?”

“…”

“I used to think of you as a kid, but when did you stop being one…actually, it wasn’t that long ago…” She lay there quietly, her eyes glazed over, her voice soft like a dream. “We’re still friends…Gu Jia Ming.”

Jia Ming smiled beside her. “Of course…best friends always.”

…

…

“When I was little, my dad was always at work, rarely coming home. In that huge villa, my mom was the only one who stayed with me. Now, except for looking at pictures, I can’t remember what she looked like.” Ya Han’s voice rang out, soft and gentle. “When my mom died, I was only about eight years old…My dad and mom were an arranged marriage, they didn’t really have any feelings for each other, but of course, I blamed my dad for never spending time with her. After the funeral, my dad came home a lot more, but compared to normal families, it was still rare. From then on, I always hiccuped…”

“I don’t know what was wrong with me. It started when I was eight, and it went on for years. You know, it was like having a cold. Every fifteen seconds, I’d hiccup. I already had nephrotic syndrome, and my family kept taking me to doctors everywhere. By the way, I can show you when I get back. Back then, I even filmed it for some hospitals. It was a little girl wearing a princess dress, sitting there with her mouth slightly open, hiccupping every few seconds. She looked so silly…”

Remembering the scene in the video, she lay there, mimicking the dull expression she had when she hiccuped. The grown-up girl looked mature and delicate, her expression had an extra touch of captivating charm.

“Of course, it wasn’t always hiccupping. It got better when I slept, and I could hold it in for a few minutes if I tried. But people who haven’t experienced it can’t understand how terrifying it was. My stomach would suddenly bounce…suddenly bounce…after a long time, it really hurt. But because I exercised a lot, my stomach is now very strong. Every time I look in the mirror, I think it’s beautiful, haha…” She laughed and turned her head to look at Jia Ming. “Want to see?”

“Uh…” The two locked eyes for a moment, then Jia Ming shrugged. “Uh, you continue…”

“Humph.” Ya Han wrinkled her nose in triumph, lying back in a more comfortable position. “It was a heart condition…the doctor checked me and said it was a heart condition, actually it’s a mental illness, it can’t be cured, it’s all in the mind. They said it was probably because my dad came home too little and that my mom’s death caused the problem. Later, my dad came home more often, but it still didn’t get better. During that time, the feeling of my dad was very strange…A year later, my dad married my stepmother.”

“She was dark, thin, with a serious expression. That’s how I felt about my stepmother back then. Stepmothers in fairy tales are all bad guys, and back then, my stepmother looked like a black widow. I cried many times because of her…Actually, my dad and stepmother didn’t really have any feelings for each other either. They were like friends, not lovers. From then on, my stepmother was the one who took care of me, taking me to doctors everywhere. Beijing, Changsha, even Europe…we flew everywhere. I wouldn’t talk to her, and she didn’t talk to me much either. She just followed me everywhere. After a year and a half, one morning, I woke up, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and drank milk. Suddenly, I realized that I wasn’t hiccupping anymore…”

“The doctor said…my heart lacked a sense of belonging, I was easily attached to something and wouldn’t let go. Those years in Cambridge, I wrote a long diary every day, rain or shine. Sometimes everyone would go out and play, but I had to go back and write my diary in the evening. As a result, everyone called me Diary Girl, haha…” She laughed cheerfully, then the car fell silent. They could both hear each other’s breathing.

After a while, Jia Ming seemed to come to his senses, he made a “hmm” sound. Ya Han turned her head and pursed her lips. “What about you, Jia Ming?”

“Uh? What?”

“You said you had something to clarify with me.”

—

After this sentence, the car fell silent again.

…

…

After a long time, Jia Ming said, “I don’t know what to say.”

Ya Han sat quietly beside him, watching him.

“I’ve been thinking about it for six months, and I’ve been thinking about it for the past half a month. After I turned ten, I had three friends in the world: Ling Jing, Sha Sha, and you. But…but…”

He hesitated for a moment, the lights in the car flickered a few times, the electricity finally ran out, and then they were plunged into darkness. After a long time, he gritted his teeth and said, “But…I don’t know what to say…No matter what, I was wrong about some things, and I wasn’t wrong about some things. But even if it happened again, I would still be the same. I can’t explain it. I’m sorry…these things are really hard.”

After a long time in the darkness, Ya Han’s relieved laughter suddenly came from the other side. “That’s enough, Jia Ming…If you explain too much, I’ll be angry.”

“Uh?”

“This is the Jia Ming I know. You don’t care about anyone’s opinion, you just do what you think is right. You can even run to America and kill so many people, but you never defend yourself…I hate people who only want to defend themselves. Because, about this, it’s actually my fault. Because…”

“Uh, can I take it as a compliment?”

In the darkness, Ya Han’s laughter disappeared in a flash. After a moment, her voice became gentle and soft. “Because…Jia Ming, I’m jealous. I’m jealous of Ling Jing and Sha Sha. Even though they’re my good friends too, I’m just so jealous. Sometimes I think about it and I get so jealous that I can’t even eat or breathe, and I just start crying…These past six months, I’ve basically been unreasonable, but you’ve been putting up with me…”

She took a deep breath, and her voice became brighter. “These past few days, I’ve been thinking about my own things, and suddenly I realized that women really can’t be pampered. Just like before, you always said I was like a kid, always bullying me, always getting away with it. As a result, I wouldn’t dare say a word, I could only be bullied by you.”

“How could I?” Jia Ming protested.

“You did. Who was it who threw me on the ground in the office? Who was it who took up my sofa? Who was it who always called me an idiot? Last Christmas Eve, I was talking to you nicely, and you even covered me with a blanket and beat me up. You always kicked me in the butt to take advantage of me, and you even forced me to call you Jia Ming Gege…”

“Hey, I remember that time, you hit me first and then I hit you back. Besides, you were the one who called me Gege.”

“If you hadn’t hit me, I wouldn’t have called you…” Ya Han paused angrily, then calmed down. “Anyway, I was afraid of you when you were being bad. Then when you felt guilty and started talking nicely to me, I felt like I was right. If you had just scolded me at the time, maybe I would have been scared, and there wouldn’t have been these six months…It’s all your fault…”

This statement was obviously just a joke, back then Ya Han’s heart was knotted, unless Jia Ming took her back to China and treated her as his captive, it was inevitable that there would be these six months of cold war. Jia Ming’s lips twitched and he nodded. “It seems like I should beat you up more often in the future, I’m good at that…”

“You dare! You have to be nicer to me in the future, in return for me forgiving you. You have to be…well…” She thought for a moment. “You have to be almost as good to me as you are to Ling Jing and Sha Sha.”

“What are we now?”

“Teacher and student.”

“Aren’t we best friends?”

“What kind of friends do you want to be with me?” Ya Han’s head lightly leaned against Jia Ming’s shoulder, a slightly ambiguous question slipped out of her mouth. After a moment, she smiled. “Well, I’m sleepy, don’t bother me, I’m going to sleep…It’s okay to borrow your shoulder?”

“Go ahead.” Jia Ming looked at the darkness outside the window, no cars were visible ahead or behind. “But it will be really cold at night, are you sure you want to sleep in the car?”

Without answering his overly practical question, Ya Han simply shifted her body into a more comfortable position. After a long time, a voice, seemingly serene but tinged with a hint of sorrow, rang out in the car.

“I’m heartbroken…Jia Ming…”

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