Chapter 10

Chapter 10

On the tape, my dad’s voice was very steady.

He said Liang Jianzhang had been hearing voices for three days straight before the accident.

He heard his wife calling him at Jiugang North Station.

But he wasn’t afraid.

He was obsessed with that voice.

Because in reality, his wife had already been cremated, the house was empty, and there would never again be a second pair of chopsticks at the dining table.

Liang Jianzhang began deliberately driving very slowly.

He told the passengers there was a shortcut at Jiugang North Station.

He said there wouldn’t be traffic there.

He said that if they missed this bus, they wouldn’t be able to get home.

It was pouring that day, and many people were in a hurry to get home.

They got on the bus.

When the bus reached Jiugang Bridge, Liang Jianzhang suddenly turned on the onboard broadcast.

From the speakers came the voice each passenger most wanted to hear.

Someone called for their mom, someone called for their child, someone called for their lover.

The passengers descended into chaos.

But Liang Jianzhang kept driving forward.

He said, “We’re all going to see the people we want to see.”

Before the bus plunged into the river, a passenger lunged forward to grab the steering wheel.

That was why the bus didn’t sink directly into the main channel, but smashed through the guardrail and got stuck in Backwater Cove beneath Jiugang Bridge.

Only then were the sixteen bodies found.

The driver was missing.

Because he hadn’t been carried away by the river.

He was the first person who refused to get off the bus.

At the end of the tape, my dad said, “If one day in the future, the Jiugang Line appears again, please do not try to reason with it.”

“Let everyone hear the truth.”

“Echo is afraid of being remembered accurately.”

The recording ended there.

I sat on the old chair in the laboratory and didn’t speak for a long time.

Liang Yan was silent too.

He had always wanted to prove that his uncle hadn’t done it on purpose.

Now the evidence was right here.

The person suffering the most should have been him.

I didn’t know how to comfort him, so I could only hand him the tape.

He didn’t take it.

“You keep it.”

I said, “This is your family’s matter.”

He shook his head.

“It’s also your dad’s matter.”

I looked at his lowered eyes and suddenly couldn’t hold back.

“Liang Yan, you don’t have to carry this for him.”

His fingers twitched.

I said, “Your uncle is your uncle. You are you.”

It sounded very ordinary.

So ordinary it was almost useless.

But when Liang Yan looked up at me, his eyes were red.

“She said that too.”

I knew he meant my future self.

My heart ached, but I deliberately put on a stern face.

“That means I’ll have pretty good judgment in the future.”

He froze.

My mom laughed softly beside us.

The atmosphere finally eased a little.

We took the lesson plans, the tape, and the Walkman with us.

As soon as we left the school gate, my phone received a video.

An unknown number.

In the video was the interior of the Jiugang Bus.

My future self sat in the last row, her face very pale.

She looked at the camera.

“Zhixia, if you’re seeing this, it means you’ve already gotten Dad’s tape.”

My breathing stopped.

Her voice was a little lower than mine, and steadier too.

“Don’t let Zhou Lan get on the bus.”

“And don’t let Liang Yan come back again.”

The camera shook.

Liang Jianzhang’s laughter came from inside the bus.

My future self continued, “The Jiugang Line needs a living person as an anchor. I stayed here not as a sacrifice, but because only I remember everyone’s names.”

“But now there’s a way.”

“Play the contents of the tape at Jiugang Station, and let every passenger’s family hear the truth. As long as someone accurately remembers that they did not board the bus willingly, they can get off.”

In the video, she paused.

“Also, don’t believe any dead person’s voice Liang Jianzhang mentions.”

“Including Dad.”

She smiled.

That smile looked very much like mine.

“We all miss him very much.”

“But missing someone is not a reason to get on the bus.”

At the end of the video, she looked off-camera.

“Liang Yan, if you’re there, stop calling her Senior.”

“She’ll find it annoying.”

I instinctively looked at Liang Yan.

The tips of his ears were actually a little red.

My mom saw it too.

She pretended she hadn’t and looked up at the sky.

I coughed awkwardly.

The video wasn’t over yet.

My future self added one more sentence.

“Also, Ms. Zhou Lan.”

“You really can go on blind dates.”

“But don’t choose Liang Yan.”

“The generations would be a mess.”

My mom finally couldn’t hold it in and laughed until there were tears in her eyes.