Rainbow fell into thought, tapping her fingers on her leg following the patterns on the objects, then read the first line: "February 13th, cloudy. I keep dreaming about that little sister lately. I don't know if she's grown up safely, but I really can't go on like this. Will death really make this world a better place?"
Chapter 100
Does death really make the world a better place?
This is an unsolvable problem.
But this was a question Qi Jiao asked when she was on the verge of despair.
Liang Shi was surprised that Rainbow even knew Morse code. Her childish voice rang out in the car, reciting the words intermittently, with occasional strange pauses, but she was able to express the meaning completely.
While she was translating, Liang Shi typed every word she said into his phone's notes app, and then strung them together to form that sentence.
This is a diary entry without a year, but it appears to be written by Qi Jiao.
After Rainbow finished reading, she asked Liang Shi, "Sister Liang, should we continue?"
Liang Shi shook his head: "No need."
She put away all the papers, intending to look them up herself when she got back, but couldn't help being curious about Rainbow, "Why do you even know Morse code?"
Rainbow pursed her lips: "I was bored at home before, so I picked up a book and started reading."
Liang Shi asked in surprise, "You really memorized it all?"
“I can remember up to 90%,” Rainbow said.
Liang Shi always felt that Zhou Li's claim of photographic memory was only applicable to children of their age, and not that they could actually remember everything.
If someone could really reach that level, what kind of incredible memory would they have?
But now Liang Shi discovers that Rainbow's memory seems to be truly extraordinary.
"How many times have you read that book?" Liang Shi asked.
“Twice,” Rainbow said.
"This child has a photographic memory?" Liang Xinzhou, who was driving in front, couldn't help but interject when he heard them talking to each other.
Liang responded with a soft "hmm," then suddenly became a little worried and asked, "Brother, do you think someone like her might overload her brain?"
"Perhaps you know that there is a disease in this world called hyperthymesia?" Liang Xinzhou asked rhetorically.
Liang Shi: "..."
"As time goes by, the human brain gradually filters out unimportant things, which is what people call the fading of memories." Liang Xinzhou's car had just stopped at a red light. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and glanced at Rainbow sitting in the back seat in the rearview mirror.
She is a very well-behaved little girl, quiet and polite.
Liang Xinzhou withdrew his gaze and continued driving forward the instant the light turned green. "But people with hyperthymesia cannot forget, whether it's good or bad. They can't filter memories. Happiness will be doubled, and so will pain. I haven't heard of any physical effects."
Liang Shi was startled and looked at Rainbow, only to see her lips pressed even tighter and her eyes revealing fear.
Liang Shi immediately said, "Big Brother!"
Liang Xinzhou fell silent, realizing his slip of the tongue. After a while, he said, "However, there are more geniuses in this world than people with hyperthymesia. This little girl must be a genius with a photographic memory."
Liang Shi nodded in agreement, "Definitely."
Rainbow couldn't be happy at all. However, she lowered her eyes, took a deep breath, and composed herself before looking up again. "Sister Liang, was the diary entry just now written by Teacher Qi?"
Liang Shi paused for a moment, then said, "It's not hers, it belongs to someone else."
Rainbow responded with an "oh" and didn't ask any more questions, though she seemed a little downcast.
Liang Shi was disturbed by the diary and whispered a few words of comfort to her. Rainbow said she was fine and then crossed her arms and nestled in the middle of the back seat.
Liang Shi then opened his phone and searched for Morse code.
The reason she didn't want Rainbow to continue translating was because she was afraid there were too many dark things in the diary. After all, the child was too young to understand the true meaning of aging, depression, death, and pain.
Despite having debated with Rainbow before, Liang Shih still insisted on his own point of view.
Children should grow up in a loving and sunny environment. Even if there is pain, depression, and sadness in this world, children should not have to bear it.
Children should grow up carefree.
Because she didn't grow up in a carefree environment, if she has a child, she will do everything she can to create a carefree environment for her.
There are flowers, sunshine, and endless love.
Liang Shi searched for a website that translates Morse code, but it was a paid site.
She saved the website address, planning to work on it later.
Lingdang, who had been sitting to the side watching the whole thing but didn't know what had happened, nudged Rainbow's arm and leaned in to whisper, "Zhou Caihong, what's wrong?"
Rainbow said in a muffled voice, "It's nothing."
"Are you unhappy?" Lingdang whispered in her ear, "Is it because of that illness my uncle mentioned?"
Rainbow pursed her lips and didn't answer her. Then Bell said, "My uncle often bluffs like that. When I was four years old, I couldn't memorize the text, and he called me stupid."
“My mom says there are ordinary people and geniuses in this world.” Lingdang chuckled. “Then I’m an ordinary person, and you’re a genius. Geniuses don’t have any worries.”
Rainbow: "..."
Bell reached into her pocket, her chubby little hand clutching something tightly, and asked Rainbow to reach out.
Rainbow reached out her hand with some skepticism.
Rainbow let go of her hand, and a White Rabbit candy landed in Rainbow's palm.
“There’s nothing a candy can’t fix,” Bell said. “If there is, then two candies will do.”
Rainbow paused, her hands hesitating as she unwrapped the candy, but she still asked, "Then why did you cry for two days?"
Bell: "..."
Liang Shi, who was sitting to the side listening to their conversation with nothing to do, thought: "?"
//
Liang Xinzhou drove directly to that supermarket.
He went to ask for the surveillance footage from the day of the incident, but the supermarket manager said they had already seen it that day and they didn't have access to it now.
Liang Xinzhou was too lazy to waste words with him and directly called the CEO of the supermarket chain.
The other party smiled broadly after receiving Liang Xinzhou's call and greeted him warmly, "Oh, it's Mr. Liang. What can I do for you?"
"I want to check the supermarket's surveillance footage from the night before last," Liang Xinzhou said bluntly. "Give me the necessary permissions."
The other person was taken aback. "Which store?"
Liang Xinzhou gave the location.
Within two minutes, someone respectfully escorted them to the monitoring room.
Liang Shi followed behind Liang Xinzhou, walking with a vigorous and energetic air.
She finally understood why Liang Xinhe was willing to admit defeat and follow Liang Xinzhou.
It makes me feel safe!!
Liang Xinzhou quickly got to the surveillance camera. There was only one camera in that area, so everything they could see was similar to what Sun Meirou and the others had seen that day.
The surveillance video does show that the bell pushed the child, causing the child to fall to the ground.
Liang Xinzhou trusted Lingdang completely. When Lingdang said she hadn't done it, Liang Xinzhou asked her what the situation was like, and Lingdang demonstrated it for him.
Then he had Lingdang stand aside and began to check the surveillance footage from all the supermarket entrances that day.
From morning till night.
It was found that Liang Xinran had come to the supermarket once at noon that day and only bought a loaf of bread.
There was nothing unusual about any of the areas she visited in the supermarket.
The couple was visiting for the first time that day. At first, they kept a close eye on their child, but when they got to the snack section, there were many children nearby, so the couple started picking and choosing from the shelves and didn't pay much attention to the child anymore.
The bell and the child did not stay there for long.
Liang Xinran was standing in a blind spot where the surveillance camera couldn't capture her view. She was facing the little boy, so she must have seen whether Lingdang pushed him.
But when Sun Meirou asked her that night, she said she was nearsighted and couldn't see very clearly, but Lingdang had stretched out her hand.
Qiu Zimin thus solved the case.
The main reason was that seeing Liang Xinran standing there apologizing made him feel extremely distressed, and he only wanted to settle the matter by paying compensation.
The couple said they weren't trying to extort money and that they needed to go to the hospital for a checkup to confirm. Qiu Zimin, being wealthy and generous, offered to cover all of their medical expenses.
This is how it turned out.
Liang Xinzhou reviewed the surveillance footage from the past three days and discovered that the couple came to the supermarket almost every night. Their shopping lists were very simple; they would often just buy a bunch of greens or some discounted eggs and wouldn't buy much else. However, their shopping time almost always lasted more than half an hour.
Sometimes the woman comes alone, and sometimes the couple comes with their child.
Almost every day between 7:30 and 9:30, Liang Xinzhou narrowed down the scope and checked the surveillance footage from 7:30 to 9:30 for a week. He found that five days ago, Liang Xinran had come to the supermarket during this time period, but it was different from the couple's shopping time, and they did not meet directly in the supermarket.
Liang Xinzhou then had Liang Xinran's call records checked.
They also asked for the supermarket's external surveillance footage, and after checking it, they couldn't find any connection between Liang Xinran and the couple.
But Liang Shi stood for a while where Lingdang pushed the child. Although there was only one surveillance camera in this area, there were other people standing behind Lingdang in other places, who could see Lingdang's movements.
And the perspective from which the surveillance camera was viewed was not entirely accurate.
There was a one-second time difference between when Lingdang reached out and when Xu Tong fell, although visually it seemed as if Xu Tong fell as soon as Lingdang reached out.
However, people usually have some reaction time when pushed and don't fall down immediately. Also, when Xu Tong fell, his left foot tripped over his right foot, which can be seen when zoomed in. The main problem is that the supermarket's surveillance camera is too blurry, which makes it look unclear.
It's not clear, and nobody really wants to look closely; they just need to see that's what it is from the video.
Therefore, the bell was unjustly accused.
Liang Xinzhou copied the video and then drove them to the hospital.
When the woman saw Liang Shi and Lingdang, she wanted to curse them, but remembering what had happened the night before, she chickened out and kept quiet.
The towering Liang Xinzhou stood there, his imposing presence instantly rising two degrees, and said to her in a cold voice, "Come out, let's talk."
The woman frowned. "Who are you? I'm not talking to you."