Attention Sir, I Have Your Heart Handcuffed!-Chapter 554 - 402. Losing you, I also lost myself (Second update)
From a young age, I was used to seeing shopkeepers with age, who warmly greeted customers. But it was hard for Shi Nian to adjust to the young and slender female shopkeeper in front of her, who responded with such indifference.
Looking at the shopkeeper’s attire, she wore a pure cotton long dress that dragged to the floor. Since the old houses in the water town felt damp, and she was so skinny, she had a large red linen shawl draped over her shoulders.
See, she no longer looked like a small shopkeeper, but more like a literary young woman.
Yet, hearing the shopkeeper’s tone, she seemed familiar with her. Shi Nian could only smile awkwardly: "I just heard someone say that I seem to be quite forgetful, so..."
The woman looked up at her blandly: "You wouldn’t have forgotten me again, would you? But it doesn’t matter, we don’t really have any personal friendship anyway. I’m just a small shopkeeper, and you’re just someone who often brings Youyou to buy snacks. Your husband usually doesn’t allow Youyou to have these unidentified trinkets, especially not sweets and things with trans fats, but you are a mother without principles. As long as Youyou begged, your heart would soften, and you’d find all sorts of reasons to take her out, but actually, it was to buy these."
"After buying them, you’d put them in your mouths, and the two of you would laugh in my store like two little mice. Then you’d beg me to keep it a secret and not tell your husband."
She shrugged faintly: "See, that’s all there is to our relationship, so whether you remember me or forget me, it doesn’t really make a difference to me."
Shi Nian was once again impressed by the shopkeeper’s calm and aloof demeanor amidst all the small goods, so she could only nod and smile: "I feel embarrassed, but if you don’t mind, then I’m relieved."
The shopkeeper shrugged indifferently, and Shi Nian quickly slipped between the shelves to find pickles, avoiding the awkward atmosphere.
The small shop in the village indeed maintained the standard of a small village, with those common blush-red tofu curds, spicy strips, and vegetarian beef jerky without clear manufacturers or trademarks; and, of course, various counterfeit "famous brands" that couldn’t be distinguished up close.
But these signs typical of a small village didn’t make Shi Nian feel regret. Instead, they let her breathe a silent sigh of relief.
Because these tiny details are precisely the hallmark of the countryside. Seeing these confirmed this was just an ordinary little village, despite having a cool and literary female shopkeeper, it still had the appearance of a village.
Shi Nian smiled, suppressing the odd feeling in her heart, bought the pickles, and went to the counter to pay.
The female shopkeeper was watching TV, with the CCTV news channel broadcasting. It was reporting on international news, and the shopkeeper seemed engrossed in it. Shi Nian couldn’t help but take another look, at both the small shopkeeper interested in international news and the news footage.
The lower corner of the news footage showed the current time, and Shi Nian was taken aback.
How could it be September already?
She remembered when she went to sleep, it was just the beginning of summer, the weather warming but not yet hot, and she clearly remembered that when the heat arrived, something big was supposed to happen. But how could it be, summer had already passed, and it was suddenly September?
Standing in front of the counter in a daze, she saw the shopkeeper rise to come over for payment, finally bringing her back to her senses, and she sighed sorrowfully.
Yes, she must have forgotten again.
"Nian Nian, it’s done, take it." The shopkeeper concluded the transaction but didn’t take the money, simply noting down her name, date, and amount in a notebook.
"What are you doing?" Shi Nian was puzzled.
The shopkeeper crossed her arms and shrugged: "This is a small village. A small supermarket like mine allows the ledger to be kept, letting villagers settle accounts after selling rice and lotus roots in autumn. Small villages aren’t like your big cities, villagers sometimes don’t have ready cash and can only settle accounts after the harvest in autumn."
Shi Nian understood, but still looked at the line of words: "But what did you call me?"
"Nian Nian." The shopkeeper looked at her, gaze slightly cool: "Your surname is Nian, and your name is Nian."
Shi Nian was stunned for a while.
Nian Nian... it felt both familiar and strange.
How strange, her own name felt a bit blurry now. Had she, while forgetting others and other things, also forgotten a bit of herself?
She couldn’t help but feel a sense of bewilderment. If a person forgets who they are, did that person ever really exist in this world?
.
M Country.
The Chief Inspector’s Office.
Opposite the Chief Inspector’s desk sat Tang Yanqing, his police uniform crisp and his posture upright.
The Chief Inspector didn’t look at him, instead focusing on a file lying on the desk.
The Chief Inspector’s expression was somewhat somber: "Yanqing, have you really made up your mind? Including this time, I’ve already refused you seven times."
Tang Yanqing lowered his head, took a deep breath, and smiled: "Seven, not bad, it’s my lucky number. I’ve been called Yan Qi since I was little, so if my resignation is approved on the seventh attempt, it would be fate."
The Chief Inspector quietly watched this ambitious young subordinate.
The Chief Inspector still remembered when this young subordinate first came under his command. Back then, he had doubts about him because he came from the Tang Family, because he was Tang Mingxiang’s most beloved little nephew; and as everyone knew, due to Su Xi Liu’s injury on duty, Tang Mingxiang could no longer have children of his own in this lifetime, only an adopted daughter, so he cherished this little nephew more than his own son.
From a young age, it was heard that this child was somewhat afraid of his father, so whenever he did something wrong, he would go to Tang Mingxiang in private. And Tang Mingxiang, always impartial in official matters, would only bend the rules slightly for this little nephew. So this young man, who called himself a scoundrel from a young age, had some harmless minor offenses that were smoothed over by Tang Mingxiang pleading with others on his behalf.
Since Tang Mingxiang was his superior and placed this little nephew in the Chief Inspector’s precinct, the Chief Inspector understood this as an unspoken trust, making him even more cautious in handling the matter.
Originally, he thought he only needed to carefully protect this young master, to avoid embarrassing Tang Mingxiang and the Tang Family, without any expectation for this young man to actually solve any cases.
Yet unexpectedly, over five years, this once unruly little Demon King grew into his most reliable and promising detective. Whenever there was a suspicious or difficult case in his jurisdiction, he would just hand it over to this young man, and soon enough, wait for the perpetrator to be caught effortlessly.
Over the five years, he went from being uneasy about this young man to subtly depending on him today. So when this young man, utterly dejected, came to resign, he immediately rejected it.
How many such talented young people could he possibly encounter? He would have to be crazy to approve this young man’s resignation!
Besides, who didn’t understand why this young man was resigning in shame? It was just because of Shi Nian’s disappearance; his once-proud heart had been severely injured, feeling too ashamed to face those around him.
The Chief Inspector sighed: "Kid, don’t try to play psychological tricks with me. Even if seven is your lucky number, it doesn’t mean I’ll agree this time. Let me repeat, I disagree, and I won’t allow any of my subordinates to leave because they’ve lost confidence and become despondent."
"If you truly want to quit, that’s fine, but you have to solve this case for me first. Once you’ve done that, you can resign, and I won’t stop you."
Tang Yanqing smiled wistfully: "Boss, I understand your good intentions. How could I want to leave like this? How could I not want to solve the case and bring back the missing person?!"
Talking about the missing person still caused his heart to ache intensely. He turned his head to hide his feelings.
It took a long time before he slowly said, "...but I find that I really can’t do it anymore."
"Captain, you’ve refused me seven times, and each time I went back and tried again, so as you know, I’ve made at least seven attempts. But before that, before I made up my mind to write the resignation letter, I had already tried many times."
As he spoke, his eyes turned red. Today, he finally combed his hair neatly and shaved, looking much more presentable than the previous six times, but when he reached this point, the sudden rush of red in his eyes and despair was no different than before.
"I find that I can’t do it anymore. I can’t maintain my composure, I can’t objectively analyze and reason, my mind is now a complete mess. I’m no longer the Tang Yanqing I once was; now I’m just a failure."
His fingers clenched into a fist, trying to keep them calmly on the table, but the knuckles were clearly white and trembling nervously.
Now, he finally understood how Shi Haoran felt back then.
A once-renowned detective, yet fell to a criminal method he had previously cracked easily, losing without even the power to fight back, lacking even the basic ability to anticipate, analyze, and defend.
In fact, it wasn’t because he wasn’t a truly worthy detective, but because his confidence shattered, and even he began to doubt himself; let alone the fact that the person who disappeared is the one he cares about most.
Now he no longer had the qualifications to continue being a detective, even less to hold onto the glory he once achieved.
He should concede and end it.
