During the following days in the hospital, although I had a high fever, overall, I was slowly recovering day by day.  The most painful thing was……my mother would make me drink nutritious soup.  After vomiting, she would continue to make me drink and I had repeatedly begged Kang Zixian, Fei Ge and Uncle Alan, to take my mother away but the three of them shook their heads.  I said I would go crazy drinking all the soup and Fei Ge said.  "Liang Liang, don’t dream.  Your mother is taking revenge on you with the soup, so you can’t avoid drinking."

             I was dumbfounded.

             Lao Tan led Li Fang and Xiao Meng to visit me and they said it was on behalf of the colleagues in the Bureau.  Lao Tan sat for a while, his attitude was kind and in front of my friends and relatives, he did not severely reprimand me.  I lay on the bed without daring to breathe heavily and repeatedly pondered over the look on his face.  I felt that he had come to visit me harboring a feeling of resentment for me failing to meet his expectations. (恨铁不成钢).  As for his concern over my welfare, I could only answer positively.

             Later as Lao Tan and Xiao Meng stood up and prepared to leave, I stretched out my hand from under the quilt and pulled on Li Fang's shirt.  He rolled his small eyes with an understanding and found an excuse to stay back. 

             I sent the rest of the people away to let Li Fang tell me the matters I wanted to know.  All this while, they had avoided talking about Principal Yang and I had a bad feeling.  In the middle of the night, when I could not sleep, I would see the desperate eyes of the old principal.  His ashen face foolishly stared back at me, asking for my forgiveness over and over again and said that he just wanted to escape. 

             My heart was prepared.

             Li Fang said.  "Liang Liang, your old principal has left."

             "He was the one who called 120.  After 120 had taken you away, the next day, we found the tools in his office.  We looked for him and did not expect that he would hang himself at home.  He left a suicide note to say that he was forced to make the watermark and the watermark had already been taken away by Haishen Triad.  He knew his sins were too heavy and had no more courage to live but he left a lot of clues for us.  With the clues, it was easier for Lao Tan to handle the case and the Bureau could not make matters difficult for him.  In fact, Liang Liang, I can finally see that Lao Tan takes good care of you.  He understood that you wanted to let Principal Yang surrender and anyway he is now gone, whatever the outcome is, he was still a highly respected old principal.  For his child, he was forced until he had no other way out and Lao Tan had instructed us to adopt a low-key profile to deal with this case.  Oh……. yesterday was your principal's memorial service.  A lot of his students went and although his son was not there, there were so many students to accompany him to walk down his last path.  He can now close his eyes in peace…….."

             I nodded without any expression.  No wonder Fei Ge was not around yesterday and when she came, her eyes were red and swollen like rotten peaches.  She also gave me her most dazzling smile, so brilliant that it stung my eyes.

             Unconsciously two lines of tears slowly flowed down my face wetting the pillow.  I felt empty, I could not think, I dared not think and I just wanted to cry.  Unable to control my tears, finally, I sobbed. 

             "Liang Liang, don’t cry.  I say, don’t cry, ah…..I am most afraid of…….women crying."  As Li Fang looked on helplessly, Fei Ge and my mother, who heard my sobs, rushed in.

             I wiped my tears and my heart felt very painful.  I looked at Fei Ge with wide-opened eyes and asked.  "Fei Ge, did I do wrong?"

             She also cried and firmly shook her head.  "Liang Liang, you did right.  If I were you, I would have also done the same, perhaps not as good as you had done."

             "But he died, I forced him to his death……"  I cried even more and I sobbed in silence.  I ignored the pain in my wound, I was immersed in great grief.

             My mother wiped off the stream of tears flowing down my face and looked at me with distress.  "Don’t cry, it will affect your wound.  Your principal was guilty in the eyes of the law, eventually, he would still not be able to escape.  Thanks to you, when he died he was able to keep his lifetime of good reputation but if it was another person, he would have been tarnished.  In short, your principal was able to close his eyes and leave with peace of mind………."

             I cried even harder.

             The days thereafter, I was overwhelmed with my grief over the principal's death.  I was too disinterested to speak, sometimes I felt so regretful that I wanted to bite myself, and sometimes I did not feel regretful……repeatedly being self-contradictory.  Everyone knew that I could not get out of my caged mind and painstakingly advised me.  I just numbly nodded until Kang Zixian said.  "If you were to relive that part of your life, you would still have done the same again."

             "As for him……he had made his choice.  You have done your best."

             After he finished speaking, the bright sunshine flowed abundantly through the window, pouring onto the floor in a faint golden glow, I began to feel some relief.

            

             The days of rehabilitation were painful and long but fortunately, there were many people by my side so I did not feel bored. 

             Dong Zi would visit me in the evenings and occasionally Deng Loong would be following behind him, giving me a mischievous look and sarcastically said in my previous life, I could have been a lizard.  My recovery was rapid due to the fact that I ignored him. 

             The matter between these two people, I was unable to control any more.  Dong Zi did not show any signs that he was being forced and sometimes he could be heard shouting at Deng Loong, probably they had reversed their roles. 

             Every two or three days, Stone would come to look over me and sometimes he would come with his girlfriend.  When he came over, he did not do anything except sleep on the big sofa in the ward.  With his curly-haired head bowed, he could sleep the whole day and he could sleep better than me.  I asked him why he was so tired, he told me that these two days were the high school graduation carnival and the students have been pulling him along for meals and to sing karaoke throughout the night. 

             I nodded as I drank my mother's boiled soup and remembered the bright smile of a boy.

             Accidently that night, I saw Jiang Li's handsome cold face, the usual cold appearance that he shows to people giving the illusion that he was unapproachable.  In fact, only after getting to know him, one would be able to find that the cold heart of this youthful boy is actually a warm heart. 

             He was holding a big bouquet of carnations as he stood in the doorway and his cold eyes showed a trace of nervousness.  Actually I was eating pieces of apple that Kang Zixian was feeding me and when I saw him standing at the door, I nearly spat out my mouthful of apple juice. 

             I looked at Kang Zixian, smiled slightly and said.  "I want to eat fruits, why don’t you go and get me some."

             This excuse had become my usual way to get him to leave the room.  He stared at me fiercely, chewed on the piece of apple that he was about to feed me and walked out of the door.  My mouth twitched into a smile.  Such an attractive man even when biting into the apple so ferociously to vent his anger, he could still look so gorgeous.

             "Very beautiful flowers."  I smiled slightly at the boy.  "They really match up with this old woman."

             After Jiang Li put down the bright colored bouquet of flowers, he stood over me and looked at me with his cold arrogant eyes lifted up.  "I heard you were dying."

             Probably I had already been accustomed to the young man's usual haughty appearance to cover his inner concern for me, so I smiled indifferently.  I looked at the cute little flowers and jokingly said.  "Yes, ah…..but I was reluctant to leave the young handsome guys like you and was not willing to die, so I came back to scourge peoples' lives."

             "You are indeed a scourge."  He sat down and confirmed the fact without emotion.

             I thought of the unimaginable happenings for the past half-year around me and it seems it was still constantly being played back in my mind.  I nodded and said.  "Yes, I am really a scourge."

             The two of us were silent and then I asked.  "Jiang Li, do you hate me?"

             He laughed loudly.  "Hate you?  You, old woman, really think too much of yourself!"

             "What?  Wait until you grow old, then you will understand the mentality of the elderly and their worry about their gains and losses.  The most precious thing in life is …….youth."

             "Oh….."

             "So, I want to thank you so much.  Do you know why?"  I said.

             "Thank me?"

             "Yes, ah…..The 24-year-old, Fang Liang Liang changed into an 18-year-old Jiang Mei Da and every day she danced around an 18-year-old handsome guy and experienced again the warmth of youth which she will never forget in this lifetime."

             "Um….."

             "So Jiang Li, please don’t hate me, alright?"

             "Okay…….but I will always remember you."

             "Will you remember Jiang Mei Da or Fang Liang Liang?"

             "…….Jiang Mei Da.  Fang Liang Liang is just a stranger to me."

             When Jiang Li was about to leave, he glanced at me and hesitate.  When he reached the door, he finally lifted his long eyebrows, turned around and called me.  "Fang Liang Liang."

             I answered with a cry.  "Ah?"

             His face showed his confusion and he hesitated, then finally asked.  "Why is there such a stupid undercover agent like you?"

             Hearing such a question, I was too shocked to speak.  "Uh……."

             "So, that is why she will never be an undercover agent again."  From behind Jiang Li, a rich low voice sounded.  Kang Zixian smiled at me and his smile was full of provocation.

             I felt angry.  He came in and said in a sincere and earnest tone.  "Police Officer Fang, for the sake of world peace, can you please refrain from undertaking any more undercover tasks?  You are really the worst undercover agent I have ever seen."

             I was angry, I was agitated, I wanted to cry, so I gritted my teeth and said.  "Okay!"

             He smiled with satisfaction.  I saw him carrying two big bags of fruits that was enough to last me for a full 10 to 8 days.  I was surprised.  "You really went to buy?"

             This time, it was his turn to be angry and he stared at me.  "Lest the next time you see the need to send me out to buy fruits again!"

             Outside the window, the moonlight was like water and the water sounded like melodies.  Inside the window, the fresh flowers bloomed at their prettiest.  It was like a night of beautiful dreams.

 

              *#*#*#*#*#*** END ***#*#*#*#*#*

 

*There is one more chapter after this.