Mrs. Nangong listened intently, her eyes fixed on her husband. When he mentioned that the corpse-like woman in the cold storage unit claimed to be Mrs. Li, she exclaimed excitedly, "Mrs. Li has been missing for over a decade. How could she end up looking so utterly dreadful? She must be an imposter!"

"Indeed, that is what I was thinking as well," Mr. Nangong continued. "So, I asked her, 'If you insist you are Mrs. Li, can you tell me your husband's name?' She replied, 'My husband is Li Taizheng, and my real name is Xiao Linghua.'"

Hearing this, Mrs. Nangong was struck speechless. Her mouth hung open, eager to interject but finding no words. The entire affair was too bizarre, too unprecedented. A living person climbing out of a morgue drawer was strange enough; the fact that this person was their neighbor missing for over ten years made it even more incredible. What bizarre twist of fate could have led to such an encounter?

"And then?" After a long pause, she managed to utter the words, pulling the thoroughly confused Mr. Nangong back to the topic.

"Then, I did something horrifying. I lifted her out of the drawer. Thinking back now still gives me the chills, but in that moment, I don't know where the impulse came from—I suddenly believed her. I felt she truly was Mrs. Li. Given the many years of friendship between us and Mr. Li, finding his wife meant I couldn't just leave her there.

"After setting her down on the floor, I picked up my phone to call for emergency services. Looking at her state, she couldn't stand or even sit steady; she definitely needed a hospital. But before I could dial, she cried out, 'Mr. Nangong, Mr. Nangong, come here for a moment. Sit beside me; there is something I need to tell you.' So, I put my phone away, squatted down, and met her gaze, eye to eye. Though her eyes were sunken and hollowed out, they still held a faint, gentle expression, exactly like the Mrs. Li of years past. Seeing me crouch down, she began to speak with a kindly tone: 'Do you know where my husband, Li Taizheng, is now?' I nodded and replied, 'He has been living in the very house you used to occupy. After you returned to your parents' home that summer, you never reappeared. The police investigated many times, and a missing person report was filed. Mr. Li was heartbroken for a long time. On New Year's Eve that same year, he found an abandoned infant by the roadside and named her Xiaoshu. For all these years, he and Xiaoshu have depended on each other; he never remarried.' I had expected Mrs. Li to be deeply moved by this news, but her attitude toward her husband performed a complete 180-degree reversal. She spat on the floor and declared, 'Pah! A hypocritical beast! For over a decade, I have never left his cage. Do you know who locked me in that drawer? It was him!'

"Hearing that, I was astonished. Mr. Li has always treated us with immense kindness; those years when you served as wet nurse to Xiaoshu, he never treated us poorly. Now, this spectral figure suddenly emerges, leveling such accusations against a good neighbor. Clearly, I believed Mr. Li. I decided I didn't want to speak with her anymore and simply said coolly, 'Mr. Li is a good man. Whoever you are, I ask you to stop slandering him now. When the custodian arrives, they will send you to the appropriate place—be it a mental institution or an orphanage—anywhere is better than that cold drawer. So, I suppose I have saved your life. Our fate together is over; please stop defaming others. I'm leaving.'"

"With that, I stood up and walked to the door, picking up the doorknob that had fallen onto the floor. I tried to fit it back onto the lock as it was, but no matter how I tried, it refused to stay put. Each time I felt the handle secure itself against the lock, the moment I let go, it would fall away, and the door remained stubbornly shut."