Chapter 40

Zoey later told me that when I woke up, my eyes looked like those of an old woman in her seventies or eighties.

"What a wild metaphor," I said. "I'm in my thirties, and my wrinkles aren't that bad. How did you see me as an old lady?"

She explained that the moment I opened my eyes, the exhaustion in them wasn't something a young person should have. It was the same look her grandmother had when she was young. Her grandmother had said that at a certain age, if one looked deeply enough, they could see death, the other side, and those who had passed.

Maybe she was right. That dream felt like a whole lifetime. I was sitting in a wheelchair, looking in the mirror, with white hair and wrinkled skin.

Reality and illusion blurred together, and in the end, I saw Alan.

I pretended to be annoyed. "I'm in my thirties, and while I do have some wrinkles, I'm not that old. Call me Mrs. Smith, but we treat each other as equals. Saying I look very old is too much."

Of course, it was just a joke.

When I woke up, Zoey rushed over and hugged me, crying her eyes out. She said I had fainted near the Lally's house, and it was just in time that Benjamin and his team came by to inquire about the victim's information and got me to the hospital.

After more than ten years in the workplace, the first ten years at the prosecutor's office showed me the warmth and coldness of human relationships. I never thought that an impulsive decision would bring me to the Silverlight City Legal Journal, where I mentored Zoey for half a year and built such a deep bond.

I patted her shoulder and gently stroked her hair, comforting her softly.

Zoey cried even harder and couldn't be consoled no matter what I said.

I sighed, "Zoey, I'm hungry."

Zoey lifted her tear-streaked face and looked at me with swollen eyes. "Mrs. Smith, what do you want to eat?"

I smiled and said, "Something light. After sleeping for so long, eating too much would be hard on my stomach." Zoey agreed and quickly ran out to get some food.

Benjamin had been standing at the door for a long time. He didn't come in while Zoey was crying, not wanting to disturb the moment.

He brought a fruit basket and flowers, placing them on the table by the bed. Scratching his head, he said, "Cindy asked me to bring these. She said you like daffodils."

"Having such a apprentice is fate. Unlike my foolish apprentice, who is ignorant and ungrateful," Benjamin said self-deprecatingly.

I smiled and said, "Boys and girls express their feelings differently. Ruben respects you as his mentor very much."

"Ruben never even bought me a pack of cigarettes, let alone flowers," Benjamin rolled his eyes. "Even Cindy remembers what others like and doesn't buy me any gifts."

"I'm not that into flowers. Cindy probably thinks I like daffodils because she always sees me keeping them," I said, lowering my eyes and shaking my head slightly.

Benjamin said, "Yes, that's what Cindy said."

"That's because Alan used to give me daffodils when we were in college." I said.

Back in college, there was always a bunch of daffodils in my dorm, placed in a glass bottle. Cindy thought I liked daffodils, but it was actually Alan who kept giving them to me. At that time, we hadn't established a relationship yet. I was usually carefree, and if a boy gave me flowers that weren't roses, it meant he wasn't interested in me. It wasn't until later that I learned the language of daffodils symbolizes steadfast love and sincere expression of love.

I stared at the daffodils, lost in thought. The investigation over the past few days seemed to weave together a web of seemingly unrelated people. Zack, Lally, Duke, Frank, Bob, Laura, Mike-they all had ties to the orphanage.

What hurt the most was discovering that Lally, Duke, and Zack revered Toby, who turned out to be Alan.

Why did Lally hide Alan's name? When I left her home, I asked Lally for the name, and she said it was Toby Nelson. That was definitely a lie.

If Lally revered Alan, why did her eyes only show admiration and not a hint of sadness when she mentioned him? It didn't add up.

Thinking back to Lally's performance in court, she showed no sadness in her words or expressions. Instead, she fluently recounted the events of the case and mocked Laura.

And then there was Tammy.

In Lally's recollection, after Alan left the orphanage, he lived in Sand Village and played a significant role in Zack's adoption by Tammy and her husband. Considering the feelings and respect Tony and others had for Alan, Alan and Tammy's family must have had a close relationship.

Yet, Tammy showed no sadness in court over Alan's misfortune, directing her anger at Laura instead.

Another important question was, if Alan had a close relationship with Zack, Lally, and Duke, why didn't I see them at our wedding?

What caused the break in contact?

It shouldn't be, because Lally said that after Duke and Tony fought at Digital Leap Technologies Company, Tony came to their house the next day to warn Duke, saying if he messed up again, he would bring Zack and Alan to resolve the issue. This indicated they still had contact and maintained their friendship.

Why didn't they come to our wedding despite such a deep bond?

In contrast, I saw Alan's four close college friends at the wedding: Frank, Laura, Mike, and Bob.

Strangely, Frank's grief over Alan's death seemed genuine and heart-wrenching.

If all these people had a close relationship with Alan, their reactions were vastly different.

But if we set Alan aside, their common target seemed to be Laura.

Whether it was the people from Sand Village or the college circle, they all harbored deep resentment towards Laura. Frank even told me about his emotional entanglement with Laura, calling her a lunatic.

Frank and Laura's conflict might be personal, but what about Sand Village?

Thinking carefully, Lally, Zack, and Duke are around the same age, but they are much younger than Alan's college group, so there shouldn't be any connection. In Lally's recollection, only Alan had a close relationship with them, without mentioning the other four from the college group.

To understand the connection between Sand Village and the college group, we need to find the root cause, the orphanage.

Benjamin saw me lost in thought. With his straightforward personality, he didn't say any comforting words. He got up, poured me a glass of water, and after taking a phone call and checking the time, he prepared to leave.

"Benjamin, when you were looking into Lally and Duke's personal information, did you find out which orphanage they came from?" I asked abruptly, looking up.