My already chaotic mind buzzed, countless questions emerging from the depths of my brain. I helped Emma up, tidied the things on the ground, led her back to my own room, and carefully closed both the front door and the bedroom door. Only then did I feel slightly at ease.

We sat like that, neither of us speaking. I couldn't clear my chaotic thoughts, while she just silently shed tears.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"You approached my dad on purpose and moved into my house."

"Yes. Bai Jun was the easiest target. But Yuqing, you

have to believe me, I didn't…”

"Why?" A nameless rage suddenly surged up inside me, "If you're after money, you're going to be disappointed!"

"No! I don't want money. I just want an answer; I don't want to end up like my dad."

"End up like your dad?"

"Depression, suicide. He searched for my mom for 17 years."

"Why did you come to my house? My mom isn't here!" My tone was like I was sulking; reason told me I shouldn't talk like this, but I couldn't control it.

"Your mom might have been the last person who saw her. On the day she disappeared, someone saw them together."

"My mom?"

"At Qinghe Train Station, someone saw them. My mom must have taken the train somewhere! I suspect she was trafficked to... some remote village."

"But shouldn't things like this be left to the police?"

"We reported it to the police right after she disappeared, but there was no news. Still, I know my mom is definitely alive, just... for some reason... After my mom had been missing for several years, my dad stumbled upon this clue and finally managed to find your mom." She paused, seeming to affirm and also question me, "She isn't a native of Dongmei."

That's right, all my relatives are on my dad's side. My mom, on the other hand, was always alone, without relatives or friends, just Bai Jun.

"Even so," I inadvertently raised my voice, "You could have asked her openly. Why sneak around and make such a fuss? And you lied to me!" I finally spit out the words lingering on my lips.

"Before my dad committed suicide, he had sought out your mom. Three months ago. She denied everything."

"Denied what?"

"Denied everything. She said she didn't even know a woman named Bai Yien and had never been to Qinghe, saying my dad had mistaken her... She's lying!" Emma raised a photo, her eyes like two flames, "She worked as a nanny in my house for two years; my dad wouldn't mistake her!"

"My mom worked as a nanny in your house? In Qinghe?"

Emma nodded, "I left before I was even a year old. They were very close, like sisters. She definitely knows where my mom went! Dad told me, back then, your mom said she met someone online with the same surname as my mom, and she hoped to be as happy as my mom." Emma burst into tears.

I opened my mouth, not knowing what to say. After a long silence, I mumbled, "In the end... in the end, she wasn't happy either."

We talked a lot that night, almost staying up the whole night. Just before dawn, I fell asleep and dreamed of my mom again. Above her bones, like blood-red azaleas, covered the mountains and plains.