Chapter 104, Chapter 104: Crying, crying?

Lu Ming stood at the door watching Wen Chu get into the car and disappear from his sight. He stood there for a long time before he could finally calm himself down.

He stopped Aunt Sun, who was busy at work, and asked, "Auntie, do you think Wen Chu is any different from before?"

Aunt Sun thought for a moment, then said cautiously yet hurtfully, "Aside from being a little more distant from you... nothing's different. Miss Wen Chu has always been a very capable girl, and very sincere to people."

Lu Ming then looked at Xiao Yuan: "What do you think?"

Xiao Yuan said timidly, "I think the same as Auntie..." Lu Ming's emotions have been very unstable for the past year, and she is young, so she has slowly begun to be afraid of him.

Lu Ming went upstairs in silence.

He watched the security camera footage from the living room on his tablet, carefully observing Wen Chu's attitude towards Aunt Sun and Xiao Yuan during her two visits to his home. The camera wasn't recording for privacy reasons, but judging from Wen Chu's expressions while speaking with the two women, there wasn't much difference from before.

He didn't tell Aunt Sun and the others about Wen Chu's amnesia, and neither of them noticed anything.

Wen Chu wasn't good at lying, so her several hesitations were quite strange.

It was obvious that she remembered the taste of Aunt Sun's cooking.

This could be as the doctor said, that she can recall some pleasant memories and subconsciously avoids the unpleasant ones, but... it could also be another possibility.

When Wen Chu got home, she briefly told Yang Lan about what happened last night, and then lay back down on the bed. This time she behaved herself and just wanted to stay at home obediently.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar number called that evening.

She hung up on him, but the same number called back very quickly.

Wen Chu pursed her lips and thought for a moment before answering the call.

“Are you home yet?

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Wen Chu rolled her eyes again.

I knew it was this guy.

"What do you want now? Are you really going to force me to change my phone number?"

On the other end of the phone, Lu Ming said calmly, "I've thought about it carefully and I think you're right. You've already forgotten what happened before, so I really shouldn't bother you anymore. As long as you're okay, I'm willing to step out of your life, as long as you're happy."

The other person's voice sounded relieved, as if they had finally come to terms with it, but Wen Chu felt a pang of sadness for no reason.

She sneered. He gave up so easily? She must have been blind to have fallen for someone like him. Just last night he acted like he couldn't live without her.

More than being heartbroken, Wen Chu was furious at being played. Luckily, she was taking a firm stance, otherwise she would have become a laughingstock.

She replied coldly, "You called just to say this? Okay, I understand. Should I say thank you?"

Lu Ming continued, "I want something from you, something to remember you by. If you give it to me, I won't come looking for you again."

Wen Chu asked irritably, "What is that?"

“We went to an amusement park once before. That day you bought a pair of wedding rings, saying you would give me the men's ring when the time was right. I want this one.”

Wen Chu's eyes widened after hearing this. "Dare you make up any more nonsense?"

She was about to retort, but then she held back.

Suddenly she realized, was this guy testing whether she had amnesia?

She composed herself and said somewhat guiltily, "I don't remember, and I don't know where I put it. Maybe I threw it away a long time ago."

Lu Ming said with a hint of regret, "Then I'll just have to keep pursuing you."

Wen Chu took a deep breath: "Wait! I...I'll go back and look for it."

Lu Ming politely thanked her and hung up the phone.

Wen Chu had no reason to waste time looking for something that didn't exist. The ring was clearly with Lu Ming; he hadn't given it to her at all. She hadn't even noticed what the men's ring looked like before it was put in its box and put away, never to be mentioned again.

So she pretended to wait until the next day before calling him back.

"Hello?" Lu Ming asked, "Did you find it?"

"No, I looked for both homes, but I really couldn't find one. If you want one, I'll buy you another one."

“I only want that one,” Lu Ming said stubbornly, then questioned her, “Did you really look for one? I haven’t seen you go back to Xian’an home at all.”

Wen Chu was so angry that she kept pounding her pillow, but she couldn't express her suffering. Of course, she didn't look for him!

"What do you mean? Are you saying I deliberately didn't look for you or give it to you so that you would keep pursuing me?"

"That seems to be the case. You still care about me and don't want me to give up, right?"

I'm talking to you, you big dummy!

Wen Chu took a deep breath: "I asked the housekeeper to look for it, but she couldn't find it! It's so small, it's normal that she can't find it! Maybe I threw it away in a fit of anger!"

“Okay, then I’ll choose another one.” Lu Ming said “kindly.” “We also did some plaster painting together that day. You drew a rabbit and a little devil. I want the rabbit. If you can’t find this one either, then please give me the clown duck keychain that you had in the set. These things have nothing to do with me, so you have no reason to throw them all away.”

Wen Chu couldn't take it anymore. She hadn't drawn a rabbit. She had already given him the keychain. And that wasn't a clown duck, it was a little yellow duck!

Unfortunately, only heaven, earth, she, and the other party know these things, and there's no way to reason with them.

She suppressed her anger and said, "Okay. As long as we find one of these, right? I'll go look for more."

After hanging up the phone, Wen Chu figured that buying ducks shouldn't be difficult. She just needed to check the stall near the amusement park again; she could find the exact same ones quickly. She just didn't know if the stall owner was still there.

It wasn't too much trouble anyway. After having dinner with Yang Lan that evening, she drove to the market outside the amusement park.

A year has passed, and the amusement park seems unchanged, just as lively and bustling as ever.

She quickly found the stall based on her memory, and luckily, the stall owner was still there. A smile spread across her face, and she hurried forward to ask if they had the same talking duck from before, so she could buy one.

The owner said, "We had it twenty minutes ago, but we don't have it now."

"Huh? There aren't any left?"

The shopkeeper patted his neck, looking puzzled: "Strange. Have these ducks become popular online? Why are so many people coming to buy them today? Miss, you're too late. The person before me just bought all my stock, saying his fiancée likes them and he wants to buy them all to surprise her."

Wen Chu was taken aback, and a sense of unease suddenly crept into her heart.

fiancée?

This explanation sounds so similar...

"Do you want it? I can give it to you." The man's voice rang in her ear.

Wen Chu suddenly felt a tingling sensation on her right cheek, and a thought went blank in her mind. Before she could even turn around, she felt a gaze as sharp as a venomous snake fixed on her.

"Oh yes, this is the handsome guy." The boss pointed at Lu Ming, then realized what he meant and laughed as if he had stumbled upon something. "Oh, you're his fiancée? Wow, you two are quite romantic."

Wen Chu was pulled away from the crowd by Lu Ming's wrist. She struggled several times to no avail, as he held her tightly, his face expressionless.

"Didn't you have amnesia? How come you remember being at this stall?" Lu Ming stopped, looked at her, and asked the question with the answer in mind.

Wen Chu knew the other party had seen through her act, so she simply stopped pretending and felt it was pointless. Anyway, what difference would it make if people knew she hadn't lost her memory? She had only wanted to annoy him and make the breakup easier.

But now it seems it wasn't much simpler.

"Is it meaningful for you to test me like this?" She chose to turn the tables.

"If I don't do this, will you admit it?"

"So saying you'll let go once I give you the stuff is just bullshit, isn't it?"

Lu Ming lowered his head, looking at the hand he was holding, and said, "Letting go is impossible."

Wen Chu laughed in exasperation. She crossed her arms, turned her head away, and felt that she was still too stupid to have wasted two days on someone.

But thinking about it, her anger only grew stronger, and she couldn't help but turn around and say, "Look, you lie without thinking. People like you just do whatever comes to mind. I'm too naive. I really can't tell which of your words are true and which are false, which are impulsive words and which are your so-called sober considerations."

"I really don't want to relive all those years I spent pursuing you, all the cold shoulders I endured. I don't want to go through that again, I'm just so tired. They say once bitten, twice shy, how many times have I been bitten? You've told me you don't like me so many times, you should at least allow me to say it once, right?"

"Lu Ming, really, can you please let me go?" Her eyes glistened like tears under the streetlights.

She tried with great effort to shake off the other person's hand.

But they couldn't shake them off.

The man stubbornly held onto her, refusing to let go.

The dim streetlights cast a shadow in Lu Ming's field of vision, placing him half in the light and half in the darkness.

Seeing this, Wen Chu scratched her hair in frustration, no longer knowing what to say.

The two stood there, the atmosphere tense. Just as Wen Chu's patience was about to run out, she finally heard someone say, "We can't let go."

He looked up, his eyelashes already wet, and tear tracks were clearly visible on the half of his face hidden in darkness. He apologized in a low voice, "I really know I was wrong."

Wen Chu was stunned when she saw this. Crying?

Was this person crying after being silent for so long?

Lu Ming held her tightly once more, his breath trembling slightly: "I really won't do that again. The night before your accident, you clearly said you were coming to pick me up, why didn't you come?"

Wen Chu laughed, "Don't you already have Wen Xue? What would I be doing there? Just watching you two being all lovey-dovey?"

Lu Ming was taken aback. "So...you went?"

When Wen Chu thought of that night, her breathing became unsteady. These past few days, she had tried very hard to avoid recalling these things that had happened so long ago, but now, forced to recall them, she could not utter a sound of grievance.

She couldn't recover even after a long time, so she grabbed Lu Ming's hand that was holding her arm, pulled up his sleeve, and bit his arm hard.

Lu Ming remained unfazed as he let her dejection pass, still managing to explain, "But it's not what you think at all. I realized then that I might like you, so I was trying to make things clear to her. What a coincidence, she only stayed for a short while..."

Wen Chu bit the man's arm until it bled before letting go and saying, "I saw her trying to kiss you, and you let her kiss you."

"No! I moved aside, why didn't you finish reading?"

"I actually finished watching it???"

"No...that's not what I meant. You've really misunderstood me. She and I really haven't crossed any lines." Lu Ming's explanation became increasingly urgent. "I'm so sorry I wasn't by your side when your father passed away, leaving you to bear all that alone. I was afraid that if I told you rashly, you still wouldn't accept it. I was thinking of softening our relationship little by little before telling you...I didn't expect you to really..."

"Wen Chu, you are really heartless." Lu Ming held her, tears silently falling from his eyes and dripping onto Wen Chu's shoulder.

"I really like you, I really like you."

Just as it was nine o'clock, the amusement park's dazzling fireworks suddenly shot into the sky, bursting open one after another above their heads, illuminating their figures and shutting out all the noise, but the man's confession could still be clearly heard.

Wen Chu was in a daze for a moment.

Actually, her memory recovery wasn't very good. She couldn't remember the details of many scenes in her mind or the reasons why they happened, so much so that she always felt like some fragments couldn't be connected. But she felt that this sentence sounded familiar.

It was as if it had touched her deeply a long time ago, so much so that her heart softened immediately upon hearing these words.

You can't just give up on me like this.

"Can you give me a chance to make amends? Don't push me away so quickly..."

"Alright... stop crying." Wen Chu noticed that a few passersby were casting curious glances at them. She gently pressed her nose down and hid it in Lu Ming's shoulder, trying to cover her face and avoid embarrassing herself.

The fireworks overhead flickered on and off, as if blinking as they watched the spectacle.

She raised her hand and patted the man's back, lowering her voice considerably: "How embarrassing, let go of me right now, let's find somewhere else to talk."

"Hold me," Lu Ming pleaded softly, without letting go.

"Don't push your luck." Wen Chu couldn't stand other people's stares, so she pushed him anxiously. "Let me go back and think about it carefully."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ming's eyes lit up. He released his grip, sniffed, and said, "Okay."

Wen Chu had never seen Lu Ming cry before. She thought that people like him didn't have tear ducts, so at this moment, even though she had mixed feelings, she was still a little curious and couldn't help but take a few more glances.

She was truly pitiful to behold.

The two went to the parking lot. The man walked a little behind her, and his eyes never left her.

Before parting, Lu Ming grabbed her again.

Wen Chu tugged at it but couldn't pull it open, and sighed, "What's wrong now?"

"You really remember everything?" Lu Ming asked in a hoarse voice.

"More or less."

"When did you remember it?"

"On the day I was discharged from the hospital, on my way home."

"So early?" Lu Ming looked at her intently, as if trying to find something in her eyes.

"What? You still want to blame me?" Wen Chu narrowed her eyes, finding the man's reactions sometimes very strange.

"No, I'm so glad I didn't have time." He released her hand. "Go back and get some rest. Actually, I'm not in a rush. Just remove me from your blacklist first. I can slowly prove to you that I'm serious."

Wen Chu rolled her eyes at him and was about to get into the car when Lu Ming stopped her. He cautiously said, "How about we pull her out now?"

"..."

Wen Chu returned home, floated back to her room, lay down on the bed, and felt all her energy drained away.

She pulled a small yellow duck out of her pocket and looked at it speechlessly.

This was something Lu Ming pitifully took out of his pocket and stuffed into her hand before he left. Why the quotation marks? Because this was just her feeling.

The other person didn't really have any expression, just lowered their eyelids. One of their eyes was swollen from crying, making it a single eyelid. They slowly took the pendant out of their pocket and slowly placed it in her hand. Then they looked up at her, hoping she would accept it.

With that face, no one can withstand this combo.

Wen Chu, in a fit of despair, picked up a pillow and covered herself with it, thinking that she would eventually die because of her obsession with looks.

She carefully analyzed her own thought process and realized that her appearance was an undeniable factor in her pursuit of him for so many years.

And this man clearly knew this, so he was very cunning.

Although she didn't show any signs of being tempted on these occasions, the other party always dressed up carefully when they came out to see her, and she wasn't blind.

When faced with this kind of person, you should firmly say goodbye; hesitating even for a moment will only make you suffer.

Wen Chu was feeling annoyed when her phone vibrated. The scheming man had sent her another text message, asking if she had arrived home yet—his tone was so innocent and intimate, as if they had already made up.

With her mind blank, Wen Chu couldn't figure out whether to believe the habitual offender's story.

She was still agonizing over it until the early hours of the morning when she saw another message from the other person: "Get some rest, goodnight."

Wen Chu was restless and couldn't sleep, so she opened her social media to see what everyone had been up to over the past year. Unexpectedly, she saw a post from Lu Ming at the very top, made an hour earlier—

Copywriting: Cute.

Photo caption: [A bunch of little yellow duck pendants are gathered on the sofa, all looking at the camera.]

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, a row of grumpy bunny dolls on the display case behind the sofa also made it into the shot.

She saw that employees like Luo Wen and Xiao Wang, the tech guy, had all silently given him a thumbs up, but no one dared to ask what was wrong with the boss.

In the darkness, only the light from her phone illuminated her face. Suddenly, a cold, mechanical voice came from above: "System computing power restored, hibernation ended."

Wen Chu was so frightened that she froze on the bed, afraid to move, wondering if she was hallucinating.

Who is speaking?

She looked at her phone again to see if it had accidentally triggered something that made the sound.

System: "We are now repairing the remaining missing memories of the host to ensure the world mission proceeds normally."

Before Wen Chu could even finish her surprise, she fainted.

On the other side, Lu Ming leaned against the headboard, staring blankly at the purplish teeth marks on his arm. After a while, he took out his phone, took a picture, and even found a good angle to take it. After taking the picture, he zoomed in and looked at it for a while.

This one is cute too.