Chapter 5 — The Last Remaining Echo

That year happened to coincide with the day I was scheduled for a follow-up examination on my right ear following surgery. I had sent him a message beforehand. [Luc Tram, the doctor said it would be best if someone could accompany me today.] He replied: [The company is busy, go by yourself.] As it turned out, this so-called company business meant flying abroad to be by Shen Niannian’s side during her grand return to the stage. Mother stared at those broadcast images, her lips trembling. She wanted to turn off the television, but her older brother stopped her.

Do not turn it off.

Let us watch together.

Let us see who, over the past seven years, we truly treated as the victim.

Finally, the expression on Shen Niannian’s face shifted. Her brother was the first to investigate the old pair of headphones. He took the bank statements straight to the secondhand store. The shop owner held a very vivid and distinct impression of Shen Niannian.

That young woman, she looked quite pretty.

She said she wanted to buy a cheap, secondhand pair of headphones to give as a gift to her older sister.

Her older brother’s expression became profoundly unsightly.

Did she even know whose credit card she was swiping?

The shop owner was startled.

Of course she knew.

She said that since her older sister could not hear out of one ear anyway, spending money on expensive things would just be a waste.

She also said that using her older sister’s own money to buy a gift for her older sister would better demonstrate her sincerity.

Her brother stood frozen in place, motionless for a very long time. Then, the shop owner recalled another detail.

Ah, that is right, she also bought a music box.

She told us to record a specific accompanying melody into it, saying that her older sister had used it back during her art examination days.

At the time, I even asked her, if those were such heartbreaking memories from the past, why would she want to play that exact tune?

She just smiled and said that once her older sister listened to it, she would understand that things from the past ought to be let go.

When her brother brought the audio recording and the surveillance footage back home, Shen Niannian was still weeping. She complained of a splitting headache. She claimed that the moment she returned home, she had been driven to the point of suffocation by me. At first, Mother instinctively wanted to step forward and embrace her. But the moment the audio from the surveillance footage rang out through the room, Mother’s footsteps ground to a halt. Shen Niannian’s complexion turned instantly ashen.

It was not like that...

Her brother slammed the tablet down right in front of her.

Then what was it like?

Father’s face darkened with a terrifying grimace as he glared at her.

Niannian, explain yourself.

Shen Niannian only cried harder and more hysterically.

I just wanted her to forgive me so badly.

I did not know she would fall.

I did not know her ear would bleed.

Luc Tram asked with a chilling, devoid-of-warmth tone:

What about seven years ago, then?

Was the firecracker explosion another thing you knew nothing about?

Shen Niannian’s crying abruptly cut off. The living room descended into a terrifying, suffocating silence. Luc Tram stared fixedly down at her.

Back then, you knew perfectly well that Shen Wan was practicing.

You knew perfectly well that she was about to take the re-exam for the art academy.

Why did you deliberately throw a firecracker right beside her ear?

Shen Niannian’s entire body began to tremble violently.

I did not mean to.

I just... I just wanted to scare her.

Reaching this point, she suddenly collapsed emotionally, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

What did I do wrong?

She wanted to compete with me for everything!

Obviously, her hearing was better than mine, and her sense of rhythm was much more accurate than mine as well. All the teachers said she was guaranteed to pass the re-audition.

If she managed to get into that prestigious school, would anyone even look at me anymore?

Mother swayed, taking a staggered step backward. Father’s face looked as grim as dead ash. Her brother gazed at his younger sister as though he were laying eyes on a complete stranger for the very first time. Shen Niannian wept hysterically, pointing a trembling finger at all of them.

Are you all going to blame me now?

You were the ones who sent me abroad in the first place.

You were the ones who bought the piano.

It was your decisions that canceled her surgery.

And as for Luc Tram coming to visit me abroad, he came entirely of his own free will!

By what right are you all standing here pretending to be righteous saints now?

That single declaration struck like a merciless, stinging blow across each of their faces. Not a single person could utter a single word in refutation. Because everything she had spoken was the unvarnished truth. It was true that she was deeply at fault. But the people who had step by step driven me into a desperate, inescapable corner had never, not even once, been just her alone. That very evening, Father locked Shen Niannian inside her bedroom. Mother cried until she could barely keep herself standing. Her brother sat beside the dried stain of blood in the dining room, repeatedly sending unread emails to my inbox. Meanwhile, Luc Tram booked a flight to Xizhou that very night. That was the city where I had been assigned to work following my graduation, a destination they had managed to dig up through various channels. A city three thousand kilometers away from home. He foolishly believed that if only he could find me, he would still be able to explain himself. But he had forgotten. I had already listened to far too many explanations. The wind in Xizhou was biting and dry. The day my plane touched down, the wound around my ear was still throbbing with pain. My faculty advisor helped me connect with a local hospital. As the doctor dressed my injury, he furrowed his brow and asked:

Why are you only coming in now?

I replied quietly:

I was delayed along the way.

In truth, I had not been delayed along the way at all. It was simply that, at long last, I no longer wished to wait for anyone else. The sudden aggravation to my left ear had caused my temporary tinnitus to flare up severely. The doctor remarked that it was fortunate I had been brought in just in time. With a period of proper rest and recuperation, things should stabilize. My right ear could never be restored to its former condition. However, I would be able to be fitted with a much better bone-conduction apparatus. I nodded silently. I did not shed a single tear. Ever since seven years ago, I had already shed more than enough tears because of this ear.