Shen Yixuan's pupils contracted.



"I... I don't know what you're talking about."



"Is that so?"



Wanting unfastened the top button of her shirt and took out what was hanging from her neck. Vibrant green jadeite. Hand-carved orchid. Under the bidding hall's lighting, it emitted a warm, smooth glow.



"On this jade pendant is carved an orchid."



Wanting's voice trembled slightly.



"Shen, twenty-four years ago, when your daughter went missing, she was wearing this exact jade pendant around her neck. I would like to ask you-do you still recognize this jade pendant?"



Shen Zhengye's body shook violently. He stood up. His chair was pushed back so hard it slid quite a distance, emitting a harsh screech against the floor. Everyone on the review committee was looking at him. They had never seen Shen Zhengye like this in a public occasion.



He walked over to Wanting. His pace was very slow. Like he was afraid that if he walked too fast, the person in front of him would disappear. He looked down at that jade pendant. Vibrant green jadeite. Hand-carved orchid. Twenty-four years. He remembered every single pattern on this jade pendant. Back then, after finishing his night shift at the Chinese Academy of Sciences laboratory, he passed by a old jade shop on Cuihu Road. Saw this piece of jadeite in the shop window. Eight hundred yuan, firm price. His salary back then was only a few hundred. He gritted his teeth and bought it, then asked someone to carve the orchid. Gu Zhilan's favorite flower. He personally hung the jade pendant around four-year-old Nian'nian's neck. Nian'nian was so happy she jumped and skipped, running to find Gu Zhilan:



"Mommy, look! Daddy gave this to me!"



Then Nian'nian was lost.



"Nian'nian..."



His throat tightened. His voice seemed to be squeezed out from the deepest part of his throat.



"You're... Nian'nian?"



Wanting didn't speak. She just looked at him. Looked at this elderly man with white hair and a weary face. She had never seen him before. But she felt he was familiar. Not the kind of familiar from memory. It was something from even deeper.



In the first-floor lobby, the LED screen was live-streaming the bidding meeting footage. Su Wanting held up the jade pendant under the lights. The vibrant green glow seemed to penetrate twenty-four years of time. Hu Yulan's mop clattered to the ground. On the screen, Shen Zhengye walked forward trembling. On the screen, the people of the review committee all stood up.



Hu Yulan leaned against the wall. Her legs were so weak she couldn't stand. She slowly squatted down. She knew this day would come sooner or later. Twenty-four years ago, she personally carried that four-year-old child away from under the osmanthus tree and stuffed her into Ma San's van. When Ma San covered the child's mouth, the child's eyes went so wide. Her small hands grabbed the wooden railing of the staircase. Her fingernails scraped out several white marks. She hadn't forgotten. For twenty-four years, she hadn't forgotten. Some debts can't be hidden from.



On the 68th floor bidding hall, Shen Zhengye stood in front of Wanting. His hand trembled as he reached out wanting to touch her face. His hand froze mid-air, then shrank back. He was afraid. Afraid that what he was touching was empty air. Afraid that all this was fake. Afraid that with one touch, it would shatter. For twenty-four years, he had had this dream too many times. In the dream, Nian'nian came back. He held her and cried. Woke up with his pillow wet. Then he would sit by the bed and look at the empty ceiling, knowing it was just a dream.



"Behind your left ear... there's a red mole..."



Wanting was stunned for a moment. She slowly turned around and lifted the hair behind her ear. Behind her left ear, a small red mole.



Shen Zhengye's tears fell. He hadn't cried in front of people for twenty years. Not when the company went public. Not when he secured his first ten-billion-yuan order. Not even after investigating Hu Yulan's motives. But today, he cried. A man over sixty stood in the bidding hall, in front of a room full of people, his old tears streaming.



"Nian'nian... it's you..."



He reached out his trembling hand and touched Wanting's face. The instant his fingertips touched skin, a warm, solid sensation traveled from his fingers to his heart. This wasn't a dream.



"You've grown up so much."