Copycat - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

◎The Top of the Snowy Mountain◎

The call was hung up, and Wen Yilian tried to dial again.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable.”

A turbulent tide of emotion, like a deep-sea vortex, engulfed a mother. Wen Yilian could no longer restrain her grief. She knelt on the floor and cried alone, with Zhou Ziyan silently by her side, handing her tissues and offering soft words of comfort. The sound of her crying drowned out the neighbor’s knocking and the young girl’s gentle words, lasting for a very long time.

After a long while, Wen Yilian finally recovered from her emotions. She looked at the young girl who had been kneeling beside her, comforting her. She was very young and had a pampered air about her, yet she wasn’t haughty or arrogant. She was surprisingly patient and intuitive, and when she noticed that Wen Yilian’s throat was hoarse, she immediately got up and poured her a glass of warm water. Wen Yilian noticed that the girl’s walking was a little wobbly. She had been kneeling for as long as Wen Yilian had been crying, and a flicker of emotion stirred in her heart.

“Auntie, please soothe your throat.” Zhou Ziyan measured the water’s temperature with her palm through the glass, and only after confirming it wasn’t too hot did she hand it to Wen Yilian. Wen Yilian nodded slightly. “Thank you.” As she drank the water, she looked up and saw her daughter’s friend staring at her phone with a worried expression. She glanced at the screen out of the corner of her eye and saw her daughter’s profile picture on the left side of the chatbox, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

Three hours earlier.

In a fit of rage, she had hit her daughter, and the extreme emotions had taken control of her mind, causing her old illness to flare up. After Wen Jiao left, she suddenly lost her balance and collapsed on the floor. She had planned to wait until she could stand up before going to the first-aid kit in the living room to get her emergency medicine. Just then, there was a knock at the door. She thought Wen Jiao had regretted taking the bank card and wanted to come back and apologize to her, so she waited for a while. She only went to open the door after taking her medicine. To her surprise, a stranger’s face appeared before her. The girl looked at her timidly when she opened the door, her eyes darting around, seemingly a little scared. But when she saw the mess in the house, the shyness on her face slowly disappeared, replaced by a deep concern.

Wen Yilian frowned slightly. In her early years, she was so dedicated to her research that she didn’t have any friends who would drop by. She preferred a quiet life and didn’t like to be disturbed. She was about to ask who the person in front of her was, but before she could, she suddenly blacked out and fainted. When she woke up, she was already in bed. On the bedside table were hot water and the small medicine bottle she had taken from the first-aid kit. The unfamiliar girl stood beside her, her concern was not faked. When she saw that Wen Yilian was awake, her clear eyes finally lit up. She eagerly stepped forward and helped her sit up. “Auntie, you’re awake!”

Wen Yilian suddenly remembered the friend her daughter had mentioned who was coming to see her. She slowly spoke, her voice still hoarse. “Are you Yueyue’s friend?” Zhou Ziyan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded. “Yes, Auntie, I’m Wen Jiao’s friend.” “She won’t be living here anymore. You won’t find her at my place.” Wen Yilian was still angry and turned her face away from the wall where the family photo was hanging. Feeling the young girl’s hesitation, she said, “I’ve calmed down now. You can say what you want to say.” Zhou Ziyan placed her palms on her knees and pursed her lips. After a long silence, she finally gathered her courage and said softly, “Auntie, violence is not a solution to problems.” “You shouldn’t have hit Wen Jiao.”

In her half-lifetime of teaching, this was the first time Wen Yilian had been lectured by a girl who was not even half her age. It was a new and surprising experience for her. She had wanted to retort with, “This is a family matter,” but in the end, she didn’t, because the more she listened, the more she understood. Her daughter’s friend was right. She hadn’t been able to control her emotions for a long time. It had been so long that it had become a chronic illness, to the point that she couldn’t even remember when she had become the person she was today.

The young girl’s name was Zhou Ziyan. She lived in City A, and she said she could take Wen Yilian to the best private hospital in City A and recommend a doctor with a perfect resume. Wen Yilian refused without hesitation. Zhou Ziyan didn’t force her, but she left a hospital business card on the coffee table. What happened after that? Wen Yilian, after recovering, pressed the throbbing vein on her forehead. Her tone was a little helpless. “Xiao Zhou—” Zhou Ziyan quickly looked up, shifting her gaze from the chatbox. Her eyelashes fluttered, and a faint look of confusion was in her beautiful almond eyes. “What is it, Auntie?”

After that, she was inexplicably convinced by her daughter’s friend. For the first time in her life, she apologized to her daughter. Wen Yilian stared at her. The twenty-something girl’s eyes were clear, and her mind was simple. She was at an age not yet corrupted by society. The feeling of being guided was probably just her illusion. She paused in her speech. “…Nothing.” “You came to find me because of Wen Jiao, didn’t you?” Wen Yilian took a sip of warm water. After the call was hung up, the young girl had been absent-minded, tightly gripping her phone, with all her attention focused on the chatbox.

“…Yes,” Zhou Ziyan said, her fingers clutching her phone slightly. She lowered her head and admitted softly, “Wen Jiao… she rarely cries. I’m very worried about her.” In fact, this was the first time she had seen Wen Jiao cry. The Wen Jiao she knew before was always able to calm down and solve any problem that came her way. She had gotten so used to asking Wen Jiao for help when she encountered difficulties that she had forgotten that Wen Jiao was also just a teenager who had not yet stepped into society, who would be sad and cry, just like her.

Wen Yilian was silent for a while, then slowly said, “Then go find her.” Zhou Ziyan shook her head. “I don’t know where Wen Jiao is.” She didn’t know where to look for Wen Jiao. In school, Wen Jiao had also been deliberately troubled by some professors, but every time she encountered a tricky situation, she couldn’t find Wen Jiao. She had tried sending Wen Jiao messages asking her where she was, but Wen Jiao’s habit was to turn off her phone and the internet to think by herself when she had a problem. By the time she received a reply, Wen Jiao was already back to her usual calm and composed self. It seemed to be an unsolvable problem. Zhou Ziyan had always been watching Wen Jiao. Of everyone, she understood Wen Jiao the best, and she also knew that Wen Jiao had never truly opened up.

“If you want to find her, go to the highest place.” “Huh?” Zhou Ziyan was stunned for a moment. Wen Yilian looked at the foggy window and the snow-covered ground outside. Her tone was firm.

The mountaintop.

A pavilion stood on the snow-capped mountaintop. The bells of the temple at the foot of the mountain rang. An old monk knelt on a prayer mat and recited scriptures. Wen Jiao stood at the highest point of the city, looking down. All she could see was a vast expanse of white and tiny buildings. This loneliness made her heart feel empty again. Fragments of memory no longer appeared uncontrollably in her mind. She closed her eyes, enjoying the peace of her body and mind. The sound of chanting from a distance seemed to separate her soul from her body. The faint sense of Zen allowed her to regain control of her emotions and face everything with no joy or sorrow. This was her usual way of dealing with pain.

“Wen Jiao!” A distant voice called out, interrupting her contemplation. Wen Jiao’s eyes snapped open, and she looked down. A small black dot was getting closer to her. “Wen Jiao, are you there?!” Someone shouted loudly. In the lonely white snow, on the empty mountain peak, as the sky grew darker, she could even hear her own echo. Zhou Ziyan was a little scared, and her legs were trembling, but she stubbornly lifted her leg, took another step forward, and looked up at the empty mountaintop. “Wen Jiao, are you there?”

In the bad weather, the towering mountain welcomed its first climber. Wen Jiao had come up by cable car from the back of the mountain. The stairs on the front of the mountain were covered in a thin layer of snow, and the sides of the stairs were frozen with ice. A slight misstep would cause her to slip and fall. Even locals wouldn’t dare to climb up the front of the mountain in this kind of weather. Wen Jiao sat in the pavilion. She recognized Zhou Ziyan’s voice, and her eyelashes, covered in frost and snow, trembled slightly.

Zhou Ziyan’s foot slipped, and she fell forward. Along with the sound of an object crashing, a girl’s muffled groan of pain came from down the mountain. Wen Jiao finally couldn’t remain silent any longer. She stood up and looked at the girl who was still a distance away from her. “Zhou Ziyan?!” The girl, who had been rubbing her ankle, looked up in surprise. For a moment, she forgot the pain. She immediately got up from the stairs, raised one hand high, and waved it vigorously. “Wen Jiao, it’s me!” Even from a distance, Wen Jiao could see how disheveled she was. A lump formed in her throat.

Zhou Ziyan was very thin and didn’t have good stamina. She also didn’t like to exercise and had to rely on her daily grades to pass physical education. But now, she had climbed such a dangerous mountain just to find her. “Stay right there, don’t move. I’m coming to you,” Wen Jiao shouted down the mountain. Zhou Ziyan stubbornly shook her head, climbing up one step at a time. The small figure looked like it would fall with a gust of wind. Her footprints were left in the snow as she carefully avoided the thin ice. As time passed, the small black dot gradually got closer, and Wen Jiao could see Zhou Ziyan’s face clearly. A small and delicate face was buried under the collar of her down jacket. Her long, thick eyelashes were covered in frost and snow, forming beads that shimmered in the cold light. She lowered her head, concentrating on the path beneath her feet, carefully avoiding the icy parts. Under the brim of her hat, her ears were red and swollen from the cold. She walked very slowly, and her steps were a little wobbly from her injury.

Wen Jiao stood there, watching her quietly. An indescribable emotion surged in her heart, calming her down completely. It wasn’t the calm of her soul leaving her body and looking down on the void, but a complex emotion that was difficult to describe in words. Because there was a person who was staggering toward her, ignoring the danger.

“I found you.”

Zhou Ziyan excitedly spread her legs and arms wide, raising a smiling face. Her smile was a little silly. Wen Jiao felt a faint ache in her eyes. She mimicked her movements and opened her arms. The person across from her was visibly stunned for a moment. Wen Jiao’s lips curled into a subtle arc, and she took a small step forward. Zhou Ziyan rubbed her eyes with her hand and threw herself into her arms.

“I finally found you.”

“Mhm.”