Compared to his current self, who always wore a suit, Shen Chi Yan saw himself in the surveillance footage wearing a pure white t-shirt, his hair casually styled, and his eyes shining brightly.
His smiling face bore a brilliant and arrogant grin, exuding an aura of youthful exuberance and boldness.
The person in the surveillance, though having the same face as him, felt incredibly unfamiliar to Shen Chi Yan.
In his memory, he didn't think he had ever smiled like that.
Shen Zheng Hao was often busy and rarely home, and Gu Zhi Yan was constantly filming. Shen Chi Yan's relationship with his parents was quite distant.
His grandmother, however, had been grooming him to be the head of the Shen family and was very strict with him. While others went out to play during breaks and holidays, he was sent by his grandmother to militarized training camps.
While others enjoyed carefree childhoods, playing games and chasing girls, he was sent by his grandmother to work as a low-level employee at the company.
He was cold and distant, unable to connect with others, let alone smile at a stranger like a store clerk.
What had happened during that time?
The store's surveillance had no audio, so Shen Chi Yan couldn't hear what the Shen Chi Yan in the video was saying.
Before long, he pulled out a photo. The surveillance's pixel quality was not high, and the footage was old, making the image very blurry.
Moreover, the Shen Chi Yan in the surveillance had only taken out his phone to briefly show it to someone else, after which he kept staring at the phone screen and smiling foolishly, looking utterly cheap.
Shen Chi Yan rewound and paused the video for a long time, but he couldn't make out the identity of the girl, who looked like she had been pixelated.
However... he thought he had seen this phone in the bedroom of the old house.
With this thought, Shen Chi Yan immediately went to the old house.
He found the obsidian black phone in the bedside table of his room. The phone screen was severely damaged, having been shattered when he had the car accident.
The phone hadn't been used for a long time and was out of battery. He found a charger, plugged it in, and turned it on.
The screen lit up, displaying a pink gypsophila as the wallpaper, exactly like the gypsophila drawn by the girl in his dreams.
Shen Chi Yan took a deep breath and entered the password.
"Incorrect password. You have two more chances."
The cold, mechanical female voice made Shen Chi Yan frown. Almost all his passwords were the same: his grandmother's birthday. How could it be wrong?
Could it be that during the period he lost his memory, he changed it to his own birthday?
Knowing himself, Shen Chi Yan was sure that wasn't the case.
He thought for a moment and then entered Lin Qiu Tong's birthday.
"Incorrect password. You have one more chance."
If Shen Chi Yan remembered correctly, this phone was a custom-made one that Yu Si Nian had given him on his eighteenth birthday.
Shen Chi Yan immediately called Yu Si Nian.
As soon as the call connected, before he could hear Yu Si Nian's voice, he heard a cat's soft, adorable meow.
"Xiao Hei, let your dad answer the phone."
Fu Si Nian's cat was a pure white Angora, named Xiao Hei because Yu Si Nian thought naming a white cat "Xiao Bai" was too ordinary, so he chose the name "Xiao Hei."
"Looking for me this late, something up?"
"Do you remember the phone you gave me on my eighteenth birthday?"
"Of course, I haven't lost my memory!"
Shen Chi Yan, feeling alluded to: "..."
"I don't know the password to unlock the phone. Is there any way to retrieve it?"
"How many times have you entered it?"
"Twice."
"Then, if you're not sure of the password, don't enter it a third time!"
"Why do you say that?"
"That phone was custom-made. If you enter the wrong password more than three times, all the data inside will be formatted."
At that moment, Shen Chi Yan felt a sense of relief that he hadn't risked entering the last password on a whim.
What if it was wrong!
"Is there any way to open the phone if I forget the password?"
"There is no way!"
"How is that possible?"
Yu Si Nian snorted, "When the phone was being made, I asked you if you wanted to add a program to recover it if you forgot the password. You said no, that you would never forget your phone password."
Shen Chi Yan was a bit speechless. He didn't know what had gotten into him to suddenly change the password.
"Is there no other way?"
"If there were, wouldn't I tell you? The only way now is for you to remember your phone password yourself, and make sure there are no mistakes."
Shen Chi Yan was getting frustrated. Then, thinking of something, he continued to ask, "Si Nian, under what circumstances would someone change their phone password?"
"That's a question you should ask Shen Ke Qin. Doesn't she change her passwords often and forget them just as often?"
Shen Chi Yan thought Yu Si Nian made sense, so he sent a WeChat message to Shen Ke Qin.
Soon, Shen Ke Qin replied.
"You can change your password whenever you want. However, most people change their passwords to important anniversaries or the birthdays of people they admire. Brother, why are you asking this question?"
"Nothing, just go to sleep."
Shen Ke Qin: "..."
Shen Chi Yan held his phone and fell into deep thought. If it were the birthday of someone he admired, why wasn't it Lin Qiu Tong's birthday?
Could it be that there was a very important anniversary between him and Lin Qiu Tong?
Shen Chi Yan tried hard to recall, but his head ached and he couldn't remember anything.
He was frustrated. What had he been doing during the period he lost his memory!?
Having not slept well all night, Shen Chi Yan's complexion was very poor when he went to the company the next day. A cold and irritable aura emanated from him, causing everyone who saw him to instinctively retreat.
In terms of work, Shen Chi Yan encountered unprecedented challenges.
With the development of Dingsheng Group to its current state, the domestic market was saturated. Shen Chi Yan wanted to expand into foreign markets and increase trade, which required finding partners.
Smith was the person Shen Chi Yan most wanted to cooperate with, but Smith was henpecked and obeyed his wife in everything. His wife, Daphne, seemed to dislike Shen Chi Yan, so the cooperation had been repeatedly shelved.
"How's the investigation?"
"The couple is very affectionate, and it's hard to find any weakness. However... recently, the president of Hongsheng Group, Zhou Ming Sheng, along with his wife, met with the Smiths. They had a pleasant conversation, and the Smiths are interested in cooperating with Hongsheng."
Shen Chi Yan's handsome brows furrowed tightly. He remained silent, contemplating for a while, before he said to Li Nan Xun in a low voice, "Call Song Qi Nian to the company."
Li Nan Xun guessed what Shen Chi Yan intended to do and nodded slightly. "Yes."
Regarding Shen Chi Yan asking her to come to the company, Song Qi Nian didn't know why, so she felt a bit uneasy.
After all, the two of them had had a very unpleasant argument last night.
Upon reaching the eighteenth floor, Song Qi Nian took out her phone and quickly typed a message to Li Nan Xun, "Secretary Li, do you know why Shen Chi Yan is looking for me?"
"Secretary Song will know once she goes in."
Song Qi Nian: "..."
For some reason, she had a bad premonition.
What will be, will be. Shen Chi Yan wouldn't kill her, after all.