No One Knows [Rebirth] - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Anyway, I Don’t Really Now…

Qin Yu didn’t even know what she could accomplish by coming to Lan City.

She hadn’t been to Lan City in two years; she had even forgotten the anniversary of her parents’ death due to her hectic schedule.

It happened to be the time when school let out for lunch. Middle school students in uniforms walked out in groups of twos and threes, and the small stalls and shops outside the school were crowded to capacity.

Qin Yu sat in the corner of an old shop outside Mingchao Middle School. This was the only place Tang Ruibai had ever mentioned to her.

Qin Yu had talked to her about her favorite sour cabbage fish shop from high school, saying she had never tasted sour cabbage fish that good since leaving Lan City—the sourness and spiciness were just right, and even the fish was tenderer than anywhere else.

Unfortunately, when Qin Yu came back two years ago, that shop had already closed.

Qin Yu had even messaged Tang Ruibai saying it was a bit of a regret.

Tang Ruibai then told her to go to “Yu’s Bun Shop,” saying the buns there were delicious.

Qin Yu had been busy at the time; before she could find the shop, she received a call from Tang Yunxi saying they had to leave Lan City early.

Tang Ruibai later asked if she had gone, and Qin Yu forgot what she had replied.

When she got home, Tang Ruibai seemed a bit unhappy. Qin Yu asked what happened, but Tang Ruibai said nothing.

From then on, Tang Ruibai never recommended anything to her again. No matter what Qin Yu said, Tang Ruibai would just say “okay.”

Now that she was sorting through these memories, Qin Yu found it unbelievable. Clearly, she had never thought about it this way before; she had always believed that Tang Ruibai was the one who had slowly changed.

In their marriage, it was clearly she, Qin Yu, who took the initiative more.

It was Qin Yu who first proposed marriage to Tang Ruibai, and Qin Yu bought the diamond ring. After she started making money, she got a high-limit credit card for Tang Ruibai and would transfer money to her from time to time. In the days before she became so busy, Qin Yu basically revolved around Tang Ruibai. When they went to see movies, Qin Yu always picked the art films Tang Ruibai liked.

Qin Yu kept organizing the evidence of her love for Tang Ruibai. Her thoughts were only pulled back when the steaming buns were served.

The bun shop was run by the proprietress alone, so the service was slow. Nowadays, the catering industry is fiercely competitive; this shop had an old storefront and mediocre hygiene. A swipe of the hand across the table revealed a layer of grease, so there were very few customers.

Qin Yu didn’t know how a clean freak like Tang Ruibai could have fallen in love with these buns. Shouldn’t she have retreated the moment she saw the hygiene conditions?

Even so, Qin Yu’s stomach—which had barely seen food for three days—began to ache faintly. She picked up a bun to eat; the taste was beyond her expectations, quite good.

But it was merely “good.”

Qin Yu ate the buns quietly, her stomach cramping as she swallowed. This broken body was protesting against her again.

I wonder when I’ll die?

When this thought jumped out, Qin Yu was startled, but she quickly became calm again. Death is just death; it doesn’t care about age. Didn’t Tang Ruibai die at her age, too?

After taking a few bites, she heard the sound of the news in the shop: “On September 21, the famous actress Tang Ruibai committed suicide at home at the age of 27. It is reported that she donated all her property to…”

The proprietress’s phone volume was not low; Qin Yu heard it clearly, and she couldn’t eat another bite. She looked up and saw the proprietress crying at her phone, tears streaming down her wrinkled face.

Qin Yu frowned slightly and called out: “Check, please.”

The proprietress wiped her tears away haphazardly and sniffled: “Sixteen yuan.”

Qin Yu scanned the payment. As she walked out, her peripheral vision caught the proprietress’s phone screen. It was no longer the short video interface, but the photo gallery.

The person in the gallery was… Tang Ruibai.

Tang Ruibai was wearing the Mingchao Middle School uniform, the corners of her lips slightly upturned, standing very close to the proprietress. This kind of distance counted as intimacy for Tang Ruibai.

Qin Yu asked in a heavy voice: “You knew her?”

The proprietress burst into tears again and shut off the phone: “I didn’t.”

Qin Yu tried to find any resemblance to Tang Ruibai on her face; their features were completely different. Could she be Tang Ruibai’s mother?

Qin Yu, who originally had nowhere to go, simply stayed in this shop. She sat in the corner as before; the proprietress peeked at her several times, but she didn’t say a word.

At ten o’clock at night, the streets were empty. The proprietress prepared to close the shop, but Qin Yu was still sitting there like a statue. The proprietress reheated the remaining buns and cooked a bowl of hot noodle soup, boiling it until it was soft and mushy, and placed it in front of Qin Yu.

Qin Yu asked again: “What was your relationship with Xiao Rui?”

The proprietress’s eyes were swollen from crying, yet she still said: “I didn’t know her.” After a pause, she said: “Go home after you finish eating. I’m closing the shop.”

Qin Yu ate half of it and muttered: “I don’t have a home.”

Hearing this, the proprietress stared at her blankly for a long time, sighed, and turned away. She had heard this answer many years ago.

Qin Yu found a random hotel nearby to stay for the night. The next day, at the crack of dawn, she went to “Yu’s Bun Shop.”

As expected, a faint light was on inside the shop. But it wasn’t just the proprietress; there was also a man with half-white hair. He sat in a wheelchair but was vigorously kneading dough. The proprietress’s eyes weren’t even fully open, wrapping buns by pure instinct.

Qin Yu pushed the door open and entered. Their gazes fell on her simultaneously.

The proprietress snapped awake. “Why are you here again?”

Qin Yu said in a low voice: “One basket of buns.”

The two looked at each other. It was the husband who answered: “It’ll be ready soon. Just wait a bit.”

Qin Yu’s gaze swept over the man’s pant legs; the lower halves were empty.

Qin Yu stayed at the bun shop for two consecutive days. Regardless of how the proprietress looked at her, she didn’t strike up a conversation. She arrived early every day and left when the shop closed. She couldn’t explain why she was so persistent, but she truly didn’t know where else to go. This place was probably her only connection to Tang Ruibai in Lan City. It was a place Tang Ruibai had recommended to her.

It was as if she were trying to make some sort of compensation, but Tang Ruibai was gone. So compensation was meaningless, just like everything she was doing now—meaningless.

On the third night, the proprietress closed the shop early and sat down in front of Qin Yu. The taciturn disabled husband also sat opposite Qin Yu. Then, the proprietress let out a soft sigh and said: “You are Qin Yu, right? Xiao Rui’s wife.”

Qin Yu hummed: “Are you Xiao Rui’s parents?”

“Parents?” The proprietress chuckled mockingly: “No.”

The proprietress was named Wang Chunjuan, and the husband was Yu Lishan. They had taken over this shop outside Mingchao Middle School to make buns for over ten years. They did indeed know Tang Ruibai, but they weren’t the parents Qin Yu suspected. They had simply sponsored Tang Ruibai when she was in high school. Tang Ruibai had also worked in their shop and lived with them for a while, so their relationship was quite close.

In recent years, Tang Ruibai had stayed in touch with them. After learning that Yu Lishan was in a car accident, she had sent a sum of money. Therefore, after Wang Chunjuan learned the news of Tang Ruibai’s death, she had been washing her face with tears all day.

On this chilly night, they huddled in the small shop and talked about Tang Ruibai. Wang Chunjuan painted a picture of a diligent, thrifty, quiet, and well-behaved Tang Ruibai—a Tang Ruibai Qin Yu had never seen.

Qin Yu drew nourishment from the stories she told, then asked about Tang Ruibai’s biological parents.

Wang Chunjuan paused. “Divorced. One remarried, the other is a lazy bum; neither cared about her. Xiao Rui stopped contacting them after she went to Beicheng.”

Before leaving, Qin Yu bowed to them and walked several laps outside Mingchao Middle School at 4:00 AM. The oversized hood of her sweatshirt obscured half of her vision; only the streetlights reflected in the puddles on the road.

On the fourth day, Qin Yu quietly left 20,000 yuan in “Yu’s Bun Shop” and drove back to Beicheng.

The trending tags related to Tang Ruibai slowly began to disappear, replaced by new headlines. Luo Xinfeng and Guo Jingxi get married. Zhao Jiangyue falls on the red carpet. … The endless stream of news in the entertainment industry would bury the matter of Tang Ruibai’s death. Slowly, no one would remember her. Even she, Qin Yu, would be forgotten by the public if she didn’t appear often.

But on the day of Tang Ruibai’s funeral, her name reappeared across all the trending lists. Many people in the industry attended her funeral, and Qin Yu hosted all the guests as a relative. The media captured a solemn and cold Qin Yu, vastly different from her usual screen persona. Netizens became increasingly curious about the relationship between Qin Yu and Tang Ruibai, but no one answered.

Just as everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, someone suddenly burst into the funeral hall. A bucket of red paint was splashed onto the memorial, painting half of Tang Ruibai’s black-and-white portrait red. It looked horrifying.

The sudden turn of events startled the mourning guests. Qin Yu’s eyes turned red with rage as she looked at the man who had thrown the paint bucket on the floor.

Security immediately came to restrain the troublemaker. The tall, thin man wore a tattered black jacket; he was unshaven, with dark circles under his eyes and eyeballs that seemed ready to bulge out. He cursed wildly at Tang Ruibai’s portrait: “You ungrateful bitch! When you were alive, you were always nitpicking at your father, and even in death, you have to play me! Damn her to hell…”

Before he could finish, Qin Yu stepped forward and stuffed his mouth with a piece of dirty rag, then slapped him hard across the face.

The man looked up in shock, muffled struggles coming from his throat. Restrained by two security guards, he looked like a dying, struggling rotten fish.

Qin Yu had him taken away, then brought a basin of water to wipe Tang Ruibai’s portrait. Tang Ruibai had picked this portrait herself and sent it specifically to Liu Ke before she died, probably knowing that Liu Ke was the only one she could entrust with her affairs.

When Qin Yu found out, she wondered again: Why didn’t you tell me?

But as she looked at Tang Ruibai in the portrait—calm and peaceful, as if she had no more attachments to this world, yet with a slight smile—it seemed to say: This trash world, I’m done with it!

Yes, Qin Yu saw a hint of defiance in the portrait.

Qin Yu wiped the portrait clean, and the staff quickly restored the memorial hall to its original state while she went to comfort the guests. Only after everything was done did she go to find the man being held by security.

“Have you called the police?” Qin Yu asked the security captain. “They’ll be here soon.”

Qin Yu crouched in front of the man and pulled the dirty rag from his mouth. There was red paint on the rag, which had smeared across half the man’s face, making him look ridiculous, like a clown.

Once freed, the man immediately cursed: “Fuck your mother! Do you know who the hell I am? You fucking treat me like this…”

The amount of cursing was high enough to get him “canceled” by internet outrage. Qin Yu didn’t want to hear it anymore; she stuffed his mouth again and gave a few instructions to the security captain.

As she stepped out, she ran into Liu Ke. Liu Ke frowned and whispered: “He is Ruibai’s father.”

“I guessed as much,” Qin Yu said. “What do you plan to do?”

“This becoming a big scene won’t be good for Ruibai. Let it go.”

Qin Yu swept a calm gaze over Liu Ke’s face and said heavily: “It’s impossible to let it go. I’m going to find a lawyer to sue him.”

A father who came to cause a scene at her memorial after she had died deserved to spend a few years in prison. Even if he couldn’t be sent to prison, being detained for a few days would be good.

Liu Ke fell silent. She felt that Qin Yu had changed; there was a faint, intimidating pressure coming from her.

Qin Yu lowered her eyes. “Sorry, Liu-jie. I can’t listen to you on this.” Liu Ke sighed: “Fine, have it your way.”

Qin Yu asked more about Tang Ruibai’s father. Liu Ke looked at her in surprise: “You didn’t know?” Qin Yu pursed her lips. She truly didn’t know.

She now realized she knew very little about Tang Ruibai. She had told Tang Ruibai almost everything about herself, but Tang Ruibai had revealed very little, only saying she was from a divorced family and no one cared for her. Being looked at with this kind of gaze by Liu Ke was quite uncomfortable.

How had she been so confident in thinking she and Tang Ruibai were the closest people in the world?

“I don’t know much either,” Liu Ke said. “His name is Tang Mu. He’s a gambler and often asked Ruibai for money. Ruibai gave it to him a few times before.”

Qin Yu froze. She turned back and pulled the rag from Tang Mu’s mouth again: “I’ll give you one more chance. Say what your intention was for coming here.”

“Who the hell are you to Tang Ruibai?” Tang Mu’s eyes were wide, looking as if they could fall out at any moment. “Tell these people to let go of me. Otherwise, I’ll fucking destroy Tang Ruibai! I’ll make sure she’s cursed even in death! A piece of trash like her should go to hell… hiss…”

Before he could finish, Qin Yu expressionlessly squeezed his jaw, making him feel as if it were about to break. Qin Yu’s fingernails had lost their color. She looked at him coldly: “You’re threatening me?”

After a moment of silence, Qin Yu asked again: “What did you use to threaten Tang Ruibai?”

Tang Mu’s jaw was released, his teeth aching, but he still laughed loudly: “Want to know? Give me five million.”

Qin Yu lowered her eyes. “I will send you to prison.” “Whatever,” Tang Mu sneered. “The debt collectors are already hounding me to death. If you send me to prison, they—”

“I could give that five million to someone else to have them kill you,” Qin Yu said.

Tang Mu’s laughter stopped abruptly. He looked at Qin Yu in disbelief. “Impossible… people like you wouldn’t do something illegal like that…”

“Or I could kill you,” Qin Yu smiled brilliantly at him. “Anyway, I don’t really want to live much now.”

Tang Mu felt a cold sweat break out on his back. Even though the woman in front of him was smiling, he felt terrified. Because this person truly wanted him dead.

Qin Yu asked again: “What did you use to threaten Tang Ruibai?”

If it wasn’t a threat, Tang Ruibai would never have given him money.

Tang Mu didn’t speak. Qin Yu took the phone from his pocket, used his face to unlock the password, and went to find his chat records with Tang Ruibai.

Tang Ruibai had already blocked him, so the messages he had sent in the past week were almost all red exclamation marks. Their chat records were basically just him speaking unilaterally. Aside from long voice messages of abuse, they were messages asking for money.

Flipping further back, Qin Yu saw the photos Tang Mu had sent to Tang Ruibai.

One photo caused her blood to boil; even her throat felt like it tasted of blood. When she looked at Tang Mu again, her eyes were frighteningly red. Then, she smashed a fist into Tang Mu’s face: “Are you even human?!”

The corner of Tang Mu’s mouth was split, but he had a desperate, “nothing to lose” vibe. “Fifty million to buy out everything I have. Otherwise, I guarantee it will appear online soon. I’ll make sure she can’t even rest in peace! She donated all that money, damn her! I’m her old man! If it weren’t for me, could she have become a big star? She’s just an ungrateful white-eyed wolf.”

Qin Yu smashed another fist into him.

“I have backups. It’s useless even if you delete everything on my phone, Hahaha!” Tang Mu laughed wildly.

Qin Yu was about to hit him again when the police arrived.

The police took Tang Mu away and also took his phone, though all those photos had been deleted by Qin Yu. She immediately contacted a well-known industry lawyer to prepare a lawsuit against Tang Mu.

As for her, she went to the restroom to wash her face with cold water, forcing herself to calm down.

After coming out, Liu Ke asked what she had seen on Tang Mu’s phone. Qin Yu curled her lips slightly: “Nothing.”

But she thought: Even if it costs me my life, I will destroy this piece of trash.

Qin Yu felt she was becoming a bit dangerous. In the past, she would never have had such thoughts; after all, she had been an honor student since childhood. Now, she couldn’t quite control herself.

After all, if the things in Tang Mu’s hands really were put online, it would definitely cause an uproar. Most importantly, Qin Yu believed that Tang Mu was not human, much less fit to be a father.

No father would use his own daughter’s private photos to threaten her. Even more, no normal father would take private photos of his daughter.

What on earth did Tang Ruibai go through in the past?