"How could this be..."
As the truth of the past was unveiled, Ruan Mei felt as if a heavy blame had traveled through time to land squarely on the person it belonged to.
That is, herself.
Back then, she hadn't given her student any room to explain, pinning the blame on him and handing down punishment.
She hadn't expected that the real culprit behind everything was herself.
She had created it all with her own hands.
Her actions while drunk over those two-plus years had long ago planted a seed in the heart of the vigorous young man.
As time passed, this seed gradually sprouted and grew... Qi Zhimu had heard those same or similar words from her mouth so many times that they had become a habit.
As for his plum blossom brew, the four-year and five-year vintages would cause drunkenness, but the three-year vintage would not.
Ruan Mei could finally be certain now that the plum blossom brew brewed by her student was definitely a consumable Curio.
Curio effects don't follow logic; most are special effects that defy cognition, and once touched, one falls victim to them.
If it weren't special, how could it be called a Curio?
In the images of Remembrance, Qi Zhimu froze in place, unsurprisingly, upon hearing his teacher's words that were as cold as ice.
He even forgot to let go of the ankle he was holding.
"Not letting go yet?"
Qi Zhimu did so reflexively, still looking dazed, without saying a word.
It wasn't until he was thrown into the confinement room by his teacher that he realized the truth of certain things.
"Five-year... four-year... three... I see..."
Listening to Qi Zhimu's murmurs and witnessing him being swallowed by the blinding darkness, Ruan Mei felt a pang of pain in her heart.
AMu's voice was like that of a soul-less automaton.
No... even the automatons he left behind sounded much more human than these few intermittent words of his.
For the next five days, Qi Zhimu spent his time in an environment devoid of any light or sound.
Only those who have experienced long-term absolute darkness and silence know how unbearable such punishment is.
It would not be an exaggeration to call it a dual torture of both mind and body.
At that time, although Qi Zhimu's illness had been cured, he didn't know it had left behind sequelae.
If he didn't take special medication regularly, he would lose his physical senses.
Touch, smell, pressure, taste, temperature, pain, and so on... Ruan Mei remembered this very clearly.
For five days, she had not given Qi Zhimu his medication.
It wasn't until the sixth day that the confinement punishment ended and the medication was resumed.
At that time, the young man was curled up in a corner, his eyes dull and lifeless.
Had his constitution not been strengthened by his earlier treatment, Qi Zhimu would certainly not have survived five days without food or water.
Despite this, his state was not much different from a person who had lost their soul, leaving only an empty shell.
Even after resuming the special medication, it took a full two days before his physical senses began to return.
Back then, she thought this was just a punishment to make her student follow the rules and remember the proper etiquette between teacher and student; she thought it was no big deal.
Looking back at the past now and witnessing it all again, Ruan Mei finally realized—
Just how excessive her actions had been back then.
Qi Zhimu was already in a darkness where it was easy to lose the perception of 'existence,' and on top of that, he had to endure the symptoms of losing his physical senses.
Just imagining that experience was enough to make one's body tremble.
What did she do after that?
"Rest and calm down for a few days. If you do it again, I will throw you directly into space."
Leaving those words behind expressionlessly, she left the young man's room and continued to immerse herself in her research.
She knew nothing of what happened or what he did during his recovery, and she didn't ask.
Three days later, Qi Zhimu walked out of his room, as respectful to his teacher as ever.
It was as if that transgression had never occurred.
Her student had realized he was wrong and corrected his mistake... that's what she had thought back then.
Looking at it now—
Ruan Mei had a premonition that something major she didn't know about had definitely happened during those three days.
Staring intently at the past images, two days passed, and the young man lying on the bed hadn't moved an inch.
He didn't even blink an eyelid, looking like a corpse.
Watching this, Ruan Mei's nose tingled with sorrow, and she quietly clenched her hands.
AMu's appearance was truly... heartbreaking?
She wasn't sure if that was the feeling, but it probably was... It wasn't until the third day that Qi Zhimu's dry and cracked lips finally twitched slightly, emitting a nearly inaudible low sound.
"So everything... was just because of drunkenness..."
The young man got out of bed, but before he could take two wobbly steps, he collapsed toward the floor.
However, he seemed unable to feel any pain and stood up again.
He continued to stumble forward in a certain direction, falling several more times along the way.
Yet he still appeared to have no sensation at all, reaching the private research lab inside his room like a walking corpse.
Finally, he stopped in front of a piece of equipment.
His fingers, so thin that the joints were visible, slowly tapped on various keys, compiling a program.
Ruan Mei followed his gaze and immediately recognized that the program was related to Remembrance deletion.
Back then, Qi Zhimu's research on Remembrance was only superficial, yet he wrote a sequential program to seal specific memories in one go.
That kind of programming was immature and had severe side effects.
The process of sealing memories was like reeling silk from a cocoon, extracting and isolating the relevant memories bit by bit.
Finally, they were cast out of the subconscious, tied to a 'boulder,' and sunk to the bottom of the deep sea of Remembrance.
Unless the surface of the sea was broken, they would never be remembered.
During the program's execution, the brain feels as if it's being gnawed by ten thousand ants; those with insufficient willpower might even be driven mad by the agony before the memory sealing is complete.
But what about Qi Zhimu?
He attached the relevant instruments to his head and slowly pressed the start button.
A terrifying agony began to strike, yet he didn't even furrow his brow.
It was as if he couldn't feel his brain being gnawed by countless ants.
With his back against the console, Qi Zhimu slumped all the way down to the floor and murmured in a low voice.
"The plum blossom brew given to Teacher must never be more than three years old..."
"Teacher... must be respected absolutely..."
"The rules... must be followed..."
Time passed slowly; the progress bar on the screen started from 1% and, after a long time, gradually rose to 90%.
Throughout the process, Qi Zhimu had no further reaction, enveloped in a death-like loneliness.
95%... 96%... 97%... As the progress reached 99% and was about to hit 100%, Qi Zhimu slowly lifted his lowered eyes.
All luster had vanished from his dull brown pupils, and two lines of tears overflowed from his eyes.
"Teacher is a liar..."
100%!
The young man finally closed his eyes, his body falling to the side as his consciousness sank into complete silence.
When he woke up again, he struggled to get up, the luster returning to his eyes as he looked around blankly.
"Why am I lying here...?"
"Sss... so hungry... so cold..."
Qi Zhimu's voice was weak as he pushed open the door and walked out.
With the click of that door, the young man who deeply loved his teacher was forever sealed behind it.
The one who walked out had turned back into the rule-abiding, teacher-respecting good student.
"..."
A strong sense of suffocation quickly enveloped Ruan Mei.