novelsite Chapter 103 Memory Has Inertia
Chapter 103 Memory Has Inertia
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xingni's first reaction was to exchange a glance with Song Juexiao.
"Granddaughter?" Song Juexiao mouthed the question silently.
They didn't actually encounter many girls whom she could call "granddaughter".
Zhao Henshan does not meet the requirements—she grew up with her mother since childhood, and even if a woman of that age came to see her, she should not be called her granddaughter.
Besides them, there are only two girls left: Ji Shanqing and Mao Tianxin.
It's unlikely to be any other passerby.
Ultimately, this is still a world derived from a comic, and the characters that appear basically follow this principle.
—If there's a gun in the first act, it must be fired in the third act.
Of course, while the comic is being projected, this world is also a real world.
Not all the decorations Jiang Xingni saw could be used, but the characters that had appeared before them and caught their attention were unlikely to be just passing by.
Even a passerby must have their own purpose.
"Your granddaughter?" Jiang Xingni stood up, a gentle smile on her face that could instantly put anyone at ease.
She walked to the old woman's side and asked softly, "What's your granddaughter's name? Maybe I know her."
"I was also a student at this school, and I just graduated this year."
Jiang Xingni didn't lie about a single word he said.
She was indeed a student at the Fourth Middle School, about two weeks ago.
The same applies to recent graduates; who says being recommended for admission doesn't count as graduating?
Even if it's because of Taixu Academy, Jiang Xingni is unlikely to continue to university.
But this certainly counts as graduation!
The old woman turned around, her cloudy eyes landing on Jiang Xingni.
Xiao Jiming's first reaction was to stand beside her, subtly protecting Jiang Xingni's side.
If this old lady does anything wrong, Xiao Jiming can react immediately.
"Her name is..." The old lady blinked blankly.
She took a pen from her bag and, with trembling hands, wrote "granddaughter" on the school's outer wall.
Jiang Xingni looked down her arm and saw that the handwriting written with the marker was crooked, but it was still possible to make out what kind of characters they were.
It was obvious that this was the result of her practicing for a long time.
Then she turned around, pointed to the large red characters on the wall, and said, "Have you seen my granddaughter?"
"That's my granddaughter's name." There was even a hint of "expectation" in his cloudy eyes.
silence.
Xiao Jiming glanced silently at the name on the wall—granddaughter.
The two characters "granddaughter" are written neatly and cleanly.
The words "granddaughter" certainly don't qualify as a proper name.
Jiang Xingni suddenly realized something.
Perhaps this is all the memories she has left of Ji Shanqing—or Mao Tianxin.
However, based on the usual patterns in comics, Jiang Xingni speculated that her granddaughter was unlikely to be Mao Tianxin, but more likely Ji Shanqing.
Mao Tianxin was rescued by Ji Shanqing when she was in junior high school, and she hadn't heard of her name since high school.
Ji Shanqing, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.
After Zhao Henshan, Ji Shanqing can also be considered a small-scale boss.
Su Yanzhi stepped forward and exchanged a glance with Jiang Xingni.
Jiang Xingni could see from his eyes that what he was thinking was the same thing that was going through his mind.
However, unlike Jiang Xingni, Su Yanzhi wanted to say it herself.
This time, Jiang Xingni beat Su Yanzhi to it, first narrowing his eyes and giving Su Yanzhi a warning glare.
Whenever he tried to utter a single word, Jiang Xingni would immediately cover his mouth.
Su Yanzhi raised an eyebrow innocently, then wisely took a step back and made a zipper-zipping gesture over his mouth.
Xiao Jiming paid no attention to the old woman's reaction; he simply watched silently the interaction between Jiang Xingni and Su Yanzhi.
—When did their relationship become so good?
Although Xiao Jiming really wanted to ask Jiang Xingni this question directly.
But that's clearly not the important thing right now.
Jiang Xing stared at the old woman for a while, trying to process the thought in her mind—what if she told her Ji Shanqing's name?
The instant this thought flashed through Jiang Xingni's mind, he felt a sense of interception similar to that he had felt when he tried to talk to Zhao Henshan.
It turned out to be the case.
She got it.
"Why didn't you call the police?" Facing the old woman, Jiang Xingni couldn't possibly openly voice his suspicions.
So Jiang Xingni simply asked the old woman gently.
The old woman looked up at Jiang Xingni, her cloudy eyes unknowingly filling with tears.
"child……"
She said in a trembling voice, "I don't know where the police station is here."
"Someone took me there, but what did they contact? Mental hospitals or psychiatric hospitals?"
"They said I have dementia..."
"I... I can't forget my granddaughter! How I used that phone, how I came down from the mountain, how I took a taxi to the city—it was all taught to me by my granddaughter."
"I remember all of these things, how could I not have a granddaughter!"
She grew angrier and angrier as she spoke, and finally tears streamed down her deeply lined, yellow face.
As she wiped away her tears, Jiang Xingni noticed the dirt hidden under her fingernails.
Jiang Xingnian recalled that Xu Niannian had said that Ji Shanqing was sent to high school by her family, bundle by bundle of firewood.
Her granddaughter is Ji Shanqing.
She will forget the name Ji Shanqing because of Zhao Henshan's words.
She wouldn't forget her granddaughter, because memories have inertia—Jiang Xing suddenly remembered this sentence she had seen somewhere.
Zhao Henshan couldn't erase their memories and then pretend nothing had happened.
Jiang Xingni blinked silently, then forced a smile.
"Mother-in-law."
"I'll take you to the police."
"Don't be afraid, we won't send you to that mental hospital."
"Your granddaughter must be a very, very good girl."
Upon hearing this, the old woman happily followed Jiang Xingni's footsteps.
After turning the corner, Jiang Xingni subconsciously looked back and saw that the large red characters "Granddaughter" that were originally written on the wall were being erased by the students on duty.
It's not dry yet.
In Jiang Xingni's memory, she had walked this road countless times.
The once pristine white wall is now stained with mottled marks from writing and erasing.
Memory has inertia.
The memories forcibly erased by Zhao Henshan are like the marks on this wall.
It was Ji Shanqing's silent struggle and lament.
It was large red characters written on the wall over and over again, only to be erased again.
It is a memory that goes round and round, eventually finding no place to settle.
The red lettering on the wall was wiped off once again.
Perhaps tomorrow, the old man will come again and write "granddaughter" once more.
Jiang Xingni didn't know.
This is not a story that the comic will continue to tell.
But what can she do now?
For Ji Shanqing, for this old man.