In the meeting room, Qin Jian, nearing fifty, was holding a meeting with engineers, discussing an upcoming technical transformation in a month’s time.
Boom, boom, boom—several knocks interrupted Qin Jian’s speech.
He turned his head to look at the door and saw his assistant Xiaoliu. He gestured for him to report directly.
"Director Qin, the city public security bureau just called. They said that last night a woman named An Hao jumped from a building and committed suicide... They found your name on her mobile phone contacts..."
An Hao, jumping off a building...
Qin Jian stood up abruptly, his head buzzing, a stretch of black before his eyes. It seemed as if the world’s sounds had drifted far away from him; he only watched the communicator’s mouth opening and closing.
"Director Qin... Director Qin..."
"Director Qin... Are you alright?"
After a while, Qin Jian felt his stalled heart slowly recover. He clutched his chest, sat down slowly, and gestured to everyone, "It’s nothing... I’m fine... Let’s continue with our previous topic."
He tried to suppress his emotions, but those who knew him could still see; his jaw was tight, the muscles on his cheeks twitched, veins on his forehead protruded—this was the commander, trying hard to contain himself.
Nearly everyone at the research institute knew that the director had not remarried since his wife divorced him years ago.
He hadn’t even been back to that home; instead, he simply moved into the army barracks.
During this time, a beautiful woman had continuously shown affection for the director and expressed concern and admiration, but he remained unmoved.
He didn’t even spare her a glance.
Those he personally trained all knew his past: alone until his thirties, he had married, only to divorce a few years later, leading a solitary life ever since.
Now, the sudden suicide of the former director’s wife, how could he withstand such a blow?
Once the meeting finally concluded, Qin Jian headed directly for the mortuary without even changing his clothes.
Seeing An Hao’s cold body lying there, he could no longer hold back, his nose grew sore, and his eyes turned red...
"Director Qin, since her discovery last night, we’ve been working on the identity verification and other related tasks until everything was ready. We only called you first thing this morning," the captain of the criminal police in charge of the case explained.
Qin Jian nodded slowly.
"That’s right, the staff will soon help... help her to groom, so please wait for a while in the outside resting room..."
"There’s no need," Qin Jian waved his hand to refuse, "I’ll help her change clothes..."
Half an hour later, Qin Jian had helped An Hao change into her clothes, and he reached out to tidy her disheveled hair. He stood up, gazed at her for a long time, and gently placed a kiss on her forehead.
The body was pushed into the Cremation Furnace for decomposition, while Qin Jian waited outside.
The staff handed over An Hao’s ashes, which he held tightly, and he went to the cemetery, leaving behind a pile of burnt-out cigarette butts on the ground...
On the seventh day after her death, he came to the cemetery to burn paper for her.
From a distance, he noticed a woman standing in front of her grave—it was Song Yueqin, murmuring to herself.
Qin Jian halted not far behind her, listening word for word as her speaking reached his ears, "An Hao, you’re finally dead! This is the happiest news I’ve heard in my life! A fool like you should have died long ago. Did you really think I married Qin Jian? Do you not know your own man? You believed my nonsense! You are so foolish, a few words from me and you divorced him! What a waste of his deep affection for you! If only he loved me that much, it would be great, but fate is so unfair, even with you dead, he won’t spare me a second glance! An Hao, I hate you! I curse you!"
She had never known that he had been waiting for her...
Qin Jian clenched his fists tightly, not saying a word, and walked away.
A month later, Song Yueqin’s involvement with accepting bribes from patients on behalf of the hospital and doctors came to light overnight, and she was dismissed from her nursing position.
Due to the substantial amount involved, she was sent to prison, sentenced to life imprisonment...
On that day, the sky was clear, and the peach blossoms of March were blazing. He squatted in front of her grave, pulling the weeds with his hands.