Chapter 124: Recalling the Crime Scene

Hu Xiaoxiao: "Once she gained consciousness, she buried her two halves into the containers filled with soil that we had prepared beforehand. After the split, Xu Miaohan used the excuse of going on a trip to spend an entire month recovering in that place. When the time came, we both emerged from the soil one after the other.

Xu Miaohan told me to stay in M City while she went to Beijing to seek her fortune. She even discussed it with me—that every so often, we could swap identities to experience two different lives.

To my surprise, not even half a year had passed before Xu Miaohan grew to loathe the life of a drifter in Beijing. She said she no longer loved singing and wanted to swap identities with me again. Ever since that swap, I began attending school in other cities in her place, while she started teaching, falling in love, getting married, and having children. I really, truly love music. I love to sing so much.

But I was afraid that your Supermarket No. 444 would discover my existence, so I didn't dare sign with any agency. I could only find small venues to sing in. Every day, I had to travel from the West Fifth Ring Road to the East Second Ring Road in Beijing, spending two and a half hours on the commute, sharing a tiny cubicle with several other people."

As Hu Xiaoxiao spoke, tears began to stream down her face uncontrollably, as if silently recounting the bitterness and resentment of these past years.

Hu Xiaoxiao: "I have no family, no friends. Every day, I don't even know where my next meal is coming from."

She couldn't go on; she was already sobbing uncontrollably.

Hu Xiaoxiao: "But, as long as I can sing, I feel very, very satisfied. Yes, that's just how it is."

Wang Zixuan: "Then how long has it been since you last spoke?"

Hu Xiaoxiao: "Sigh, later on, we didn't really keep in touch. She stopped mentioning the life-swap as much. Oh, that's right, until a few days ago. Xu Miaohan suddenly called me, saying it was urgent and that I had to return to M City immediately. At first, things were fine. We even played the piano and sang together. But not long after, she started complaining about how unhappy her family life was. She said her husband was cheating on her. She wanted to swap identities with me again, saying she wanted to experience freedom and release. She also asked me to go back and see her family, to check on her parents and her adorable child. But this time, I refused. Why should she get to swap whenever she feels like it? My life is my own. She should be responsible for her own life, too. But she just flew into a rage, grabbing me by the throat and saying that I was her creation. I told her to let me go, but she gripped tighter and tighter, insisting that without her, I wouldn't even exist. After I broke free from her arms, I tried to explain that we had long since become two separate people. If she felt unhappy with her current life, she could simply let it go and start over. No one can have it both ways. I turned to leave, but she shoved me onto the sofa, staring at me with a ferocious glare. I don't know where she pulled a knife from, but she lunged at me. I turned back and grabbed her arm, trying to knock the knife away, but I wasn't fast enough. She grabbed me by the hair and slammed me onto the bar counter. When the blade was only three-hundredths of a centimeter from my throat, I threw myself sideways to the side. She lost her footing, slipped, and the knife plunged into her own stomach. I was so terrified I kept backing away, all the way until I was blocked by the sofa behind me, and I was still desperately trying to push myself further back."