The early May night rain wasn’t heavy, but due to the high speed of the car, the raindrops quickly formed a blur on the windshield. The wipers swished non-stop, reflecting the driver’s anxiety.
Jiang Yuanmu was very familiar with the road from the hospital to their apartment complex. Three years ago, before Mo Lin’s grandmother passed away, he often drove Mo Lin to the hospital and back home.
Reassuring her grandmother was Mo Lin’s main reason for getting married, and Jiang Yuanmu believed it was his contractual duty to cooperate with her. It was only natural. However, Mo Lin always expressed extra gratitude for this, often compensating him in other ways after visiting her grandmother. Jiang Yuanmu refused many times, but Mo Lin always found ways to show her appreciation.
The drive wasn’t far. Jiang Yuanmu almost drifted into the parking spot, quickly opened the door, got out of the car, and rushed into the elevator in one swift motion.
In the elevator, he stared at the numbers as they rose from B1 to the 1st floor. The elevator stopped, and other people got in. Jiang Yuanmu, extremely anxious, pressed the close button several times, his agitated movements drawing the attention of others.
When he reached their floor, he quickly stepped out of the elevator, unlocked the door, and pulled it open with a “whoosh.”
The house was pitch dark, only the little Border Collie, unaware of what was happening, joyfully jumped over. Jiang Yuanmu, almost by muscle memory, patted its head while scanning the living room and Mo Lin’s bedroom door.
She didn’t come back.
The phone rang at the right moment, and Jiang Yuanmu immediately answered it.
“Mo Lin didn’t return to the studio. Is she not at home?”
“No.”
“Then where could she have gone? She didn’t take her phone…” On the other end, Cheng Lulu’s voice was almost in tears, “Could she be thinking of doing something drastic?”
Not only did Cheng Lulu think this, but Jiang Yuanmu couldn’t help but have the same thought.
At that moment, he suddenly recalled many details from recent days—when he went to see Mo Lin at noon, she talked to him as usual but ate much less. When he brought the little Border Collie to pick her up in the evening, she would pet the dog but only lightly, just like… he was doing now.
It was like muscle memory, like going through the motions, like… she wasn’t really present.
So where could she have gone?
At this moment, Jiang Yuanmu realized that he didn’t know Mo Lin as well as he thought.
He had previously believed that he and Mo Lin fit together like puzzle pieces, their thought processes meshing seamlessly like gears, but that wasn’t the case.
He couldn’t use his own logic to deduce Mo Lin’s logic, just as he had never guessed that Mo Lin’s reason for wanting a child was simply to have a connection with the world.
Wait…
Connection?
Jiang Yuanmu’s eyes suddenly lit up. He immediately pushed the little Border Collie back into the room and closed the door again. Ignoring the dog’s discontented barking, Jiang Yuanmu took his phone and pressed the elevator button to go downstairs.
“How long did you talk to the police?” Jiang Yuanmu asked Cheng Lulu on the other end of the phone.
“Fifteen minutes? Maybe twenty minutes, I didn’t keep track of the time. I just finished talking when you called me, and I panicked when Mo Lin was gone…”
“Even if it was twenty minutes, she couldn’t have walked home or to the studio from the hospital.”
“Oh, right…” Cheng Lulu realized, “Then should I wait at the studio for a while?”
“You wait at the studio. I’ll have someone stay at my place.”
“Have someone? Aren’t you staying there?”
“I’m going to look somewhere else.”
With that, Jiang Yuanmu hung up the phone, got back into the car, and the tires screeched as they spun on the pavement. The engine roared, and the car sped off again.
This time, he was in even more of a hurry.
He drove to the place he guessed, where there was only an open-air parking lot. He grabbed the spare umbrella from the car and stepped into the rainwater on the ground, striding.
The gate was empty, and there was no one there at night—Anle Cemetery.
The rain was light and drizzling. The cemetery, with its towering old trees on either side, was shrouded in darkness. Jiang Yuanmu hurriedly climbed the stairs, taking two or three steps at a time, often stumbling on the uneven steps.
As he climbed, he seemed to hear Mo Lin’s voice through the rain, reminding him of the first time they came here to bury her grandmother. She had whispered in his ear that her grandmother had chosen this place herself. It was high and offered a wide view, allowing her to look towards the house Mo Lin had bought.
Her grandmother had said she hoped not to burden Mo Lin after she was gone and to still be able to protect her.
The deep bond between the grandmother and granddaughter was palpable to Jiang Yuanmu.
So after her grandmother’s death, Mo Lin wanted a child. She wanted a connection because she had lost her only connection to the world.
Panting, he climbed the last step. Among the gravestones, he spotted Mo Lin squatting in front of a headstone in the front row.
Her head was wrapped in bandages, her hand in a cast, and she didn’t have an umbrella, looking utterly bedraggled.
Jiang Yuanmu broke the silence of the night, walking towards her.
Hearing the loud footsteps in the cemetery at midnight, even Mo Lin couldn’t help but turn towards the sound.
The city lights, even on rainy days, prevented total darkness. Usually, the light pollution annoyed her and made her close the curtains to sleep, but now, she was grateful it allowed her to clearly see who was approaching.
“Jiang Yuanmu?”
Mo Lin went from bewildered to shocked. She stood up from her squatting position, watching him come closer. Even with her hand in a cast, she couldn’t help but move her fingertips.
The umbrella, carrying Jiang Yuanmu’s warmth, stopped in front of Mo Lin. The thin layer of fabric acted like some magical artifact from a fantasy novel, shielding her from the cold raindrops and allowing Jiang Yuanmu’s warmth to reach her cold body.
Jiang Yuanmu stopped in front of her, but didn’t step closer.
Regrettably, he didn’t come closer.
Mo Lin looked at him, and in his eyes, she saw herself.
“You… how did you come?”
“I took a gamble on how well I know you,” Jiang Yuanmu’s voice was hoarse, not mentioning his frantic worry during the search. He just sighed with relief, feeling fortunate, “It seems I gambled correctly.”
Mo Lin looked down at his shoes standing in the puddle, and noticed his soaked pant legs.
“I’m sorry…”
“Mo Lin,” he interrupted her apology.
Mo Lin pursed her lips slightly, waiting for his reprimand.
“Can I…” The hand not holding the umbrella gently reached towards her arm, without touching her, “hug you?”
Mo Lin, with her head down, widened her eyes at the unexpected question.
The sound of rain dripped onto Jiang Yuanmu’s umbrella. In the cold night, only Jiang Yuanmu in front of her radiated warmth. Mo Lin came here searching for warmth.
Just like when she was a child, no matter when she went home, she could always find warmth from her grandmother. Today, she came here, sat for a long time, looking at her grandmother’s tombstone and the photo on it, but could no longer find that warmth.
Rationally, Mo Lin knew that touching the photo on the tombstone to seek warmth was ridiculous, but she did it anyway.
And now, Jiang Yuanmu, who radiated warmth, asked her: Can he hug her?
In fact, when he walked over, Mo Lin already wanted to hug him.
Mo Lin extended her uninjured hand, somewhat awkwardly approaching Jiang Yuanmu. His words, like a warm candle flame, drew her to him like a moth to a flame.
Mo Lin’s movements were awkward, even a bit “glitchy.” She tentatively wrapped her arm around Jiang Yuanmu’s waist and then gently rested her cheek on his shoulder.
In the next moment, the hand that had been by her side suddenly embraced her tightly. His hand was large, pressing firmly on her back, almost with a hint of destructiveness.
With a “thud,” he pulled Mo Lin into his arms, their heartbeats syncing, his warmth enveloping her.
Jiang Yuanmu was very relieved that he had guessed where Mo Lin was.
Mo Lin was equally relieved to have been found.
