The Riverside House looked smaller than Yulan remembered.
Perhaps it was because he had only ever seen it from a distance.
The two-story building stood behind a row of willow trees, its white walls stained gray from years of rain. The windows on the upper floor were covered in dust.
One of the shutters hung crookedly.
Li Wei stopped at the gate.
"Are you sure this is it?"
Yulan nodded.
"My father brought me here once when I was little."
"For what?"
"I don't remember."
Li Wei looked at him.
"That's convenient."
Yulan gave him a look.
"You're the one who keeps saying memories are unreliable."
"I didn't say yours were."
"You implied it."
"I wouldn't dare."
Yulan smiled.
It was easier now.
Walking beside Li Wei no longer felt like walking beside someone he had lost.
Not completely, anyway.
The gate wasn't locked.
That bothered Li Wei more than if it had been.
He pushed it open.
The hinges gave a long, rusty groan.
Inside, weeds had swallowed most of the courtyard.
A broken stone basin sat beneath the willow tree.
There were footprints in the mud.
Fresh ones.
Li Wei crouched.
"Someone's been here."
Yulan looked toward the house.
"Recently."
They exchanged a glance.
Neither said what they were thinking.
Someone had arrived before them.
The front door opened with a push.
Dust covered everything.
A dining table.
Three chairs.
An old cabinet.
A wall clock that had stopped at 2:17.
Yulan walked slowly through the room.
Something about the place felt familiar.
Not the furniture.
The smell.
Old tea.
Damp wood.
Smoke.
His mother's perfume.
He stopped.
Li Wei noticed.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
Yulan touched the edge of the cabinet.
A faint floral pattern had been carved into the wood.
His mother used to have a comb with the same pattern.
He pulled open the drawer.
Nothing.
Then the second.
Nothing.
The third was stuck.
Li Wei came beside him.
"Move."
Yulan stepped aside.
Li Wei gripped the handle and pulled.
The drawer came free suddenly.
Both of them stumbled backward.
Something small fell from behind it.
A metal box.
The box had no lock.
Inside were several old receipts, a fountain pen, and a bundle of letters tied with faded blue thread.
Yulan reached for them.
Li Wei stopped him.
"Wait."
He examined the envelopes.
"The paper isn't from seventeen years ago."
Yulan looked closer.
"You're right."
"Someone has been adding to this."
The newest envelope was dated only three years earlier.
Yulan opened the first letter.
He read silently.
His expression changed.
Li Wei watched him.
"What?"
Yulan handed it over.
The letter was short.
I have not forgotten what happened.
You asked me to keep silent.
I did.
But silence has a price.
If you want the ledger, come back to the river.
There was no signature.
Only a single initial.
L.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Both men froze.
Li Wei immediately reached for Yulan's wrist.
Not roughly.
Instinctively.
They listened.
Another step.
Then another.
Someone was walking across the upper floor.
Yulan whispered,
"Someone is here."
"I know."
Li Wei released his wrist.
"Stay behind me."
"No."
"Yulan—"
"I'm not staying downstairs while you go up alone."
Li Wei stared at him.
Then sighed.
"Fine."
They climbed together.
The staircase complained beneath their weight.
At the top was a narrow corridor.
Three doors.
The first was empty.
The second contained a collapsed bed.
The third...
was locked.
Li Wei tried the handle.
Nothing.
Yulan pulled out the brass key.
The one from the tea box.
He slid it into the lock.
It turned.
Slowly.
The door opened.
The room was almost completely bare.
One desk.
One chair.
One iron filing cabinet.
And a single photograph pinned to the wall.
Yulan stepped closer.
His breath caught.
It showed the river.
The docks.
The night of the fire.
But the photograph had been taken from across the water.
Someone had been watching the warehouse.
And in the lower corner...
stood a young Li Wenxiu.
Holding a can of fuel.
Yulan stared at the photograph.
Li Wei said nothing.
He couldn't.
His uncle had always told him he arrived after the fire began.
The photograph suggested otherwise.
Then Yulan noticed something else.
There was another figure beside Wenxiu.
Partially hidden by the darkness.
Only one detail was visible.
A silver hair clasp.
Li Wei's hand tightened.
"No."
Yulan looked at him.
"You recognize it."
Li Wei's face had gone pale.
"My father wore that clasp."
A noise came from downstairs.
A door slammed.
Then footsteps.
Someone was inside the house.
Li Wei grabbed the photograph.
"We're leaving."
Yulan nodded.
They reached the staircase.
A man appeared at the bottom.
Dark coat.
Hat pulled low.
He looked up at them.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then he ran.
Li Wei followed.
Yulan behind him.
The chase exploded through the narrow house.
Furniture crashed.
A chair overturned.
The stranger shoved through the front door.
Li Wei reached the courtyard just as the man jumped the wall.
He caught the edge of his coat.
The fabric tore.
The stranger disappeared into the alley.
Li Wei stood breathing hard.
Yulan arrived beside him.
In Li Wei's hand was a torn piece of black fabric.
And stitched into it...
was the same swallow symbol.
They looked at each other.
Neither spoke.
The river moved quietly beyond the trees.
For seventeen years, someone had hidden the truth.
Now...
the truth was beginning to run.