Chapter 464: Just Pretend Bai Qiu Never Appeared

"There are photos of Wanwan from childhood to adulthood, but the photos of Qiu Jing have only increased in recent years. Given your doting on your children, this shouldn't be the case. It's too inconsistent, isn't it?" Shen Zhichu asked back.

Bai's mother listened to Shen Zhichu's words in silence, and after a moment she smiled silently: "Haven't you ever thought that the photos might be gone due to some accident?"

"I believe in my judgment. Besides, one thing might be an accident, but two or three things piled together... can it still be called an accident?" Shen Zhichu said with a serious expression.

"What are you deliberately hiding? Take his scars, for example. Wanwan said he removed them because he wanted to enter the entertainment industry, but I've seen all the photos and videos of Qiu Jing since his debut in recent years, and I haven't seen him topless once. So even if he didn't remove the scars, it wouldn't have any impact, because he doesn't like to be topless in front of outsiders."

"Then, from another perspective, could it be that you're afraid that seeing those scars would remind him of something, like that the years he was treated in a foreign hospital weren't for a heart attack, but a gunshot wound?"

One sentence after another made Bai's mother unable to react. She knew what Shen Zhichu knew, but she didn't expect that she knew so much. She even knew that Bai Qiujing had been shot and treated abroad. Why did Shen Zhichu know so much?

"Why do you know so much..."

Those memories are the ones that Shen Zhichu least wants to go back to, but the more he doesn't want to remember something, the longer it stays in his memory, just like a wound in the bone, which hurts every time it rains.

Shen Zhichu had been tortured by this pain, and now when he opened the wound, his eyes were red with pain.

Her heart felt like it was being twisted by a rope, and it hurt more with every breath. She looked out the window.

"Aunt Li, you may not believe it, but Qiu Jing and I have known each other for a long time." If we have to use a time to measure it, it should be the previous life.

"He was shot in front of my eyes and I thought he was dead." She didn't know how she could say it so calmly.

His chest was stained red with blood, his figure fell down, despair was overwhelming, his fingers were connected to his heart, his flesh and blood were blurred, she was like a fish hooked on the shore, she could do nothing but watch him being dragged away.

That became her lifelong nightmare and an unforgettable past.

Bai's mother's pupils trembled and her tone was excited: "You said Qiu Jing was injured in front of you? Then do you know who shot him?"

"Lu Tingchuan."

"It's actually him?" Bai's mother seemed to remember something, her emotions became more unstable, and her voice rose as if out of control.

"So...Aunt Li, can you tell me exactly what happened afterwards? Why doesn't Qiu Jing remember anything about the past?"

"This is what I want to talk to you about tonight." Bai's mother told Shen Zhichu the whole story, such as how the child was swapped with a servant of the Li family, and then talked about Bai Qiujing's injury.

"Qiu Jing suffered a brain injury as a child. Because he didn't receive timely treatment, he spent over a decade in an orphanage without a clear mind. He was shot and sent to the hospital. It was Lu Tingchuan who notified us and said he had helped us find our son."

"How did he know for sure that Qiu Jing was the son you were looking for?" Shen Zhichu asked in confusion.

"Perhaps it's because Qiu Jing inherited his heart from your Uncle Bai, which is on the right side. Plus, his age is right, so someone might have been asked to investigate, and that's how he was accidentally found. At that time, I gave Lu Tingchuan my shares in the old Li family to thank him." Bai's mother explained, but she was filled with anger when she thought that the person who hurt her son was Lu Tingchuan. Lu Tingchuan was sure that his method was clean and nothing could be found, but he had never expected that the dead Shen Zhichu would come back, and as soon as he came back, he met Bai Qiu.

This explains why Bai Qiu didn't die even though he was injured in the left chest.

"Then why doesn't he remember anything about the past? Is it because you hypnotized him?"

"right."

"Why are you doing this?"

Bai's mother said, "There's a reason for this. You don't know. Qiu Jing was in a coma for two years before he woke up. After waking up, he was mentally disturbed and kept crying and yelling about going to save someone, saying that someone was waiting for him. At the time, his body hadn't fully recovered, and his brain couldn't handle the stimulation. The doctor recommended psychological treatment, but we chose hypnosis. Firstly, it was for his health, and secondly, the memories left in his heart were not good. Since they would bring him pain, it was better for him to forget them."

"How do you know he wants to forget the past? He can obviously receive psychological treatment, but you hypnotized him to forget it forever and forced a memory that doesn't belong to him into his brain. It's selfish in the final analysis!" Shen Zhichu's eyes were red and she couldn't hold back her tears anymore. Maybe it was because she remembered that she was also hypnotized, or maybe it was because she thought of Bai Qiu who woke up after sleeping for two years. Even though he was mentally ill and couldn't move his body, he still wanted to save her. She felt heartbroken. When she thought of these things, her heart felt like being gnawed by something.

Bai's mother also shed tears.

"Zhichu, you have never been a mother, so you don't know how it feels to find a child you've lost for many years. At that time, Qiu Jing was lying on the hospital bed dying. He had been given critical illness notices more than a dozen times, his heartbeat stopped twice a day, and the doctors said he might never wake up in bed again. I admit that it was selfish of us to use hypnosis to help him wake up, but I don't want him to risk his life to find someone! I just want him to be safe and sound with us." Is it wrong for parents to have these thoughts?

Shen Zhichu had never been a mother. She had two aborted children and her uterus removed, which made her have no chance to be a mother. Moreover... she had never tasted maternal love. She really didn't understand it, but that didn't mean she couldn't understand it.

Chen Zhichu's eyes were red. Bai's mother's words were like characters that she could not understand. They jumped into her ears one by one and kept stimulating her nerves. She felt scared as she heard those words, as if she saw herself struggling on the hospital bed. It turned out that Bai Qiu was suffering the same pain as her.

The sound of Bai's mother crying came to his ears. Shen Zhichu lowered his head and looked at his hand, which was clenched tightly and had blue joints.

She listened to her own trembling voice and asked, "Now, I know..."

Bai's mother placed her hand on Shen Zhichu's fist and said, "Zhichu, please let go of the former Bai Qiu. To you, they are the same person, but to us, Qiu Jing is our son."

So they gave up the silly "Bai Qiu" in the orphanage as if Bai Qiu had never appeared in this world again.

Bai's mother added, "Those memories are actually not important now. You and Qiu Jing are together now, aren't you doing well?"

"Are you afraid that he'll regain his memory and blame you for accidentally 'losing' him? Are you afraid that he'll leave you once he regains his memory?"

Bai's mother said, "Yes, I know the possibility is very small, but no matter how small the possibility is, it can happen, right? I also know now. When Qiu Jing woke up, he was confused and said he wanted to find someone. That person was you. I don't know how you met or what happened in between. I don't want to ask too much. After all, everyone has secrets."

Bai's mother talked about the incident last year when Bai Qiujing had his teeth pulled out because he thought he was a stand-in. She felt both sad and funny when she thought about it.

Bai Qiujing was so jealous, but in the end he was jealous of his past self.

"The misunderstanding between you and Qiu Jing was resolved as early as last year. It doesn't matter whether Bai Qiu exists or not. Besides, isn't the one you like the current him? Wouldn't it be better to just pretend that things were the way they were and nothing happened? Bai Qiu is Bai Qiu, and Bai Qiu Jing is Bai Qiu Jing. It's enough that you know in your heart that it was him you loved from the beginning to the end. Even if he has forgotten the past, he will still fall in love with you again at first sight, so those memories of the past are not important at all." Bai's mother emphasized like a machine brainwashing, trying to make Shen Zhichu let down his guard.

Shen Zhichu’s face turned pale.

Mother Bai reached out and held her in her arms. Her body trembled in Mother Bai's arms. Mother Bai's body was warm and fragrant, and it was easy for people to indulge in it. This was not the first time that Shen Zhichu was held by Mother Bai. She had thought before, if her mother was still alive, would her arms be as warm as this?

The embrace that once made Shen Zhichu feel warm now made her feel suffocated.

Her soul split into two, and she looked at the struggling self below from the detached body. A voice told her that she could tell Bai Qiujing all the truth. Feelings should be expressed frankly to each other. She should tell Bai Qiujing that the one she liked from the beginning to the end was only him.

Another voice told her to shut up and pretend nothing had happened. Just like Bai's mother said, the past was not that important. Those memories were indeed not good memories. It was okay for her to just pretend, after all, she had been pretending for more than ten years.

Two voices kept arguing and tearing each other apart in the brain until Bai's mother interrupted.

"Just think of it as auntie begging you."

Shen Zhichu felt her heart trembling. After a long time, she replied with a hoarse voice and trembling voice: "Okay, I promise you."

Bai's mother breathed a sigh of relief. She admitted that she was selfish. She was just afraid that Bai Qiujing would remember everything and become distant from her. He was cold-hearted to begin with and didn't even like going home. If she deleted the hypnotic memory and made him remember that he didn't grow up with his parents and didn't live in the Bai family, would he become even colder towards this family?

Bai's mother didn't dare to gamble. As soon as she thought about it, her whole mood was like covered with thin ice, unable to withstand any ripples.

Bai's mother wanted to say something more, but seeing Shen Zhichu's bored expression, she couldn't say anything.

Shen Zhichu discovered her thoughts. "Don't worry, let's pretend nothing happened tonight. I won't tell Qiu Jing. But Aunt Li, hypnosis can't last forever. I don't want you to use drugs to force hypnosis on him. If I find out, I will tell him the truth at all costs. And if he remembers it one day, I don't want you to stop him."

"I understand. I agree with you. We both want to do what's best for Qiu Jing."

Bai's mother let go of Shen Zhichu and stood up to walk out the door. After a few steps, she couldn't help but look back at her. She saw Shen Zhichu sitting on the edge of the bed with her head down. She couldn't see her face clearly, but the light shining on her made her look very lonely.

Bai Wanwan, who was sitting on the balcony of the corridor, saw her mother coming out alone, and quickly ran over to ask quietly: "Mom, what did you say? What should we do now that Sister Zhichu has found out?"

"Tonight, just pretend nothing happened and don't know anything."

"Are you still planning on hiding this from me?"

"We've kept it a secret for so many years, why bother now?" Bai's mother touched her daughter's head. She wished Bai Qiujing had grown up by her side, so that she might not be frightened every day.

If Bai Qiujing had grown up by her side, he might have stuck to her like Bai Wanwan and told her everything, instead of locking himself in the room to have a tooth pulled out whenever something happened.

"Don't go in tonight." Bai's mother looked at the closed door behind her.

"Huh? Then where do I sleep?"

"Aren't there enough rooms in the house for you to sleep in? Leave her alone. Besides, she probably doesn't want to see us right now."

Bai Wanwan muttered to herself: That’s because I don’t want to see you, but that doesn’t include me.

Bai Wanwan felt a little rebellious, but finally agreed and went to sleep in the guest room.

However, Shen Zhichu couldn't sleep the whole night. She turned off the lights and only left a desk lamp on. She flipped through all the photos of Bai Qiujing in recent years on the tablet.