Chapter 9 The Domineering CEO

The man snapped out of his thoughts.

"We started dating online, didn't expect that, did you?"

"Online dating?" This answer was indeed unexpected for Yan Chen.

"Hmm," Qingran responded lazily.

He said, as if recalling something, "About half a year ago, I don't know how I added a friend on QQ that I didn't know. I sent a message asking who the other person was, but the message disappeared without a trace and I never got a reply."

"I used this account as a confessional, posting random things. Then one day, after I finished venting, the bot account suddenly came back to life, which startled me."

Yan Chen, who knew nothing about his past and was unaware that he never added strangers as friends and would immediately delete them even if he did, didn't suspect much after hearing this.

"Is that me on the other end of the account?" he asked in a questioning tone, then followed up with, "What did you post at the time?"

Surprisingly, he managed to get a reply from someone who had been pretending to be dead.

"..." Qingran's thoughts suddenly stalled.

He thought Yan Chen would be more curious about what happened later, or suspicious about why they had become friends inexplicably, but he didn't expect the other party to ask him what he had sent.

Whatever he sends, Yan Chen will definitely reply to him, given his personality.

In fact, there was only one excuse: the original owner's adoptive father passed away three months ago, and he had many perfect reasons for his emotional breakdown.

Even if Yan Chen inquired with people who knew him after hearing this, there would be absolutely no flaws, because it was a fact that the original owner's adoptive father had passed away.

But Qingran didn't want to involve unrelated people.

Unable to think of a reasonable excuse, he let out a soft breath and murmured, half sad and half sighing.

"What I sent... I want to keep it a secret for now. If Ah Chen can't remember, then let's keep it a secret just between us, okay?"

Once Yan Chen regains his memory, he won't need to make excuses anymore.

The man's eyes trembled slightly upon hearing this.

"Anyway, you replied to me, and then we gradually got to know each other online, exchanging our cities and names."

"Then, on your first business trip to Xia Province, we met and started dating." A nostalgic smile appeared in Qingran's eyes as she said this. "That was two months ago."

"The second time was last month during Labor Day when you were on leave."

"The third time is now."

I made a special trip to see him while I was on a business trip, but I was in a car accident and lost my memory and forgot him. How sad and regrettable.

Qingran got up and got off the rocking chair.

The curved base made him a little unsteady as he stood up, and Yan Chen reached out to support him.

Qingran raised her eyelashes and smiled at him, a smile devoid of any other emotion, as if she were merely going along with it to say, "Thank you."

She turned around and left the man standing there, then went inside.

*

They stayed on the mountain for three days straight, and the two got along harmoniously and peacefully.

Aside from Qingran being exceptionally polite to Yan Chen during that time.

Before dawn, Qingran got up early to go out and pick mushrooms. Her movements woke up Yan Chen, who shared the bed with her. After understanding the situation, the man offered to go with her.

Qingran readily agreed.

He explained to Yan Chen in detail which mushrooms were non-toxic, delicious, and edible, and which were poisonous and should not be picked, demonstrating his meticulous and thoughtful approach.

However, there are so many kinds of mushrooms in the mountains, and some highly deceptive poisonous mushrooms look almost exactly the same as non-poisonous mushrooms.

Yan Chen couldn't distinguish them accurately every time and made several mistakes.

Qingran wouldn't blame him even if she found out. After gently throwing away the poisonous mushrooms in the basket, she comforted him, saying that even locals sometimes admit their mistakes, so there was no need to take it to heart.

After picking mushrooms and heading home, the morning mist usually dissipates and the sun rises.

The two would go to the mountain stream together to fetch water.

The family's water supply depends entirely on the clear spring flowing down from the mountain stream. Not far away, lush grass covers the trickling stream, and the spring water accumulates at the bottom to form a round pool several meters square.

The area around Yuantan is covered with tall pines and lush vegetation, and by autumn there will be an abundance of pine cones to eat.

Carrying water is not an easy task, but fortunately Qingran is strong and Yan Chen had a habit of exercising regularly before he lost his memory. The two of them each carried a bucket of water and filled the water tank more than halfway in one trip.

During the day, when the sunlight is too strong to go out, the two would choose the coolest shady spot in the woods and set up a table, chairs, and rocking chairs.

While Yan Chen was engrossed in completing the translation at his desk, Qing Ran comfortably lounged in her rocking chair, glancing at her book half-heartedly.

Seeing the sun set, I put down my book and slowly got up.

After a stroll in the woods, you'll come back with a handful of sweet wild fruits, sometimes wild mulberries and raspberries, sometimes wild sweet potatoes and wild grapes.

"Want some? It's been washed with spring water."

As the pleasant sound rang out, the man approached and spread the round leaf containing wild fruits on the square table.

Bathed in the rich and beautiful glow of the sunset, his delicate features made him seem like a spirit nurtured by nature in the mountains.

Yan Chen picked up a ripe berry and tasted it; it was juicy and sweet.

After delivering the wild fruit, Qingran went back to reading, neither taking the initiative nor getting close, maintaining a respectful distance just like the previous two days.

The man looked down at the damp fruit on the leaves; he should feel relaxed about such a measure.

*

The next day.

After finishing translating the first document, Yan Chen was about to go down the mountain to submit his manuscript. He asked Qing Ran if he needed to go into the city, so he decided not to let Qing Ran accompany him.

Yan Chen remembered the route into the county town. The mountain road was difficult, but there weren't many forks in the road. The weather had been sunny lately, so there was no need to make Qing Ran go through the trouble of running around with him.

After thinking for a moment, Qingran did not insist. Before leaving, she handed the man a bank card that she did not use.

"The password is xxxxxx, I think you should need this."

Used to receive money transfers.

He stood two steps away from the man, speaking politely, acting politely, and even his gaze was polite, never again revealing the unrestrained and direct look he had shown when they first met.

Yan Chen reached out and took the card.

Qingran withdrew her hand and took a step back, a faint smile on her lips, and said, "Be careful on the road."

He should have relaxed because of this sense of proportion, but somewhere in his body he was screaming that he was not satisfied.

Yan Chen tightened his grip on the card slightly, then looked up and stared directly into Qing Ran's eyes: "I'm sorry, I've disappointed you."

Qingran tilted her head in confusion.

“You haven’t been in a good mood these past few days,” the man said calmly. “If it’s because of what happened that morning, I apologize—”

"No need," Qingran interrupted him.

His smile faded, almost disappearing: "I apologize for my rudeness."

The man's usually calm expression froze for a moment.

Given his relationship with Qingran, what he said that morning could not be described as presumptuous at all. Teasing, banter, flirting... any of these words would be more appropriate than presumptuous.

"Why?" he asked, not understanding.

Did he go too far?

“Ah Chen”.

Qingran called him by his pet name affectionately, but her words were extremely distant.

"I just suddenly realized that no matter what we've been through, I'm just a stranger to you now."

He looked away, his gaze distant, with a feigned nonchalance.

"We haven't known each other for very long, only about six months. For the first three months, it was just me venting to you, and for the last three months, we started chatting back and forth."

"We've only actually met twice, which, if you count the days, is no more than ten days. That's not much more time we've spent together since you lost your memory."

He smiled bitterly: "Perhaps when a person loses their memory, all their past feelings will also disappear."

"I understand and accept that we can each take a step back and temporarily return to being friends."

The tall, slender man stood in the morning light, the rosy dawn piercing through the clouds and pouring down on his dark hair, making the strands reflect a scale-like, dark green sheen, which made him appear even more eerie.

His gaze was calm and clear, like a spring, as if he were truly ready to let go.

Yan Chen's heart suddenly clenched.

My friend, he heard that jarring word again.

"Is it really just temporary?"

Instead of thinking that if he doesn't regain his memory, like the secret kept from him, the relationship will be postponed indefinitely.

After the bandages were removed, the man's eyebrows and eyes appeared even sharper, his piercing gaze seemingly able to see through people's hearts.

His words hit the nail on the head: "Given the same amnesia, you would advise me not to sell the watch, yet so easily decide to give up on this relationship?"

I'll give up for him too.

"...It's not about giving up, but rather that it's pitiful to be performing a one-man show."

Qingran avoided the man's gaze as if trying to escape: "You should go down the mountain."

His eyelashes trembled slightly, like a butterfly that had lost its sky and was drenched by dew.

Yan Chen couldn't bring himself to ask the remaining questions.

Close your eyes, and open them after a while.

"Is there anything you'd like to eat?" He asked gently, finally backing down.

"Cold-cooked rabbit at the intersection of Yingbin Avenue".

"Is there anything else?"

"The vanilla ice cream outside Xinhua Bookstore only has these two items."

Yan Chen: "Okay." He didn't mention that the ice cream from the county town would melt if brought into the mountains.

He took a deep look at the person who wouldn't meet his gaze, and whispered, "I'm leaving."

"Be careful on the road," Qingran said, turning to him.

The man's figure disappeared from sight.

[Host, weren't you pretending to be dating the male lead? Why did you suddenly give up?]

The system humbly seeks guidance.

And it accepted all the reasons for pretending to date, just to cultivate feelings.

Qingran's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible pleasure: "[Didn't I already say that a one-person show is rather pathetic?]"

The system looked bewildered: [Huh, and then?]

Qingran: [Then let's see how Yan Chen chooses.]

Should I join him in the role, or should we stop here and leave it at that?

Although he left men with only one choice.

The system seemed to understand, but not quite.

...

Yan Chen returned in the evening.

Throughout the day, Qingran's casual "I accept" kept replaying in his mind.

On the way up and down the mountain, he was constantly typing and uploading manuscripts at internet cafes, and waiting for payment confirmation at ATMs... all of which made him restless and irritable.

This restlessness prompted him to think about what he really wanted.

When I got home, the rocking chair that people usually lay on to cool off was empty.

Yan Chen took the bag in his hand and placed it in the main room. He took a shower and changed into clean clothes. Then he washed the clothes he had taken off and hung them up to dry. Finally, he took the dried clothes back to his room.

After hanging up the clothes, I came out and saw Qingran returning barefoot with flowers in her arms.

The man rolled up his trousers and stood barefoot on the ground, with a bunch of bright wildflowers haphazardly gathered in front of him, creating a vivid and rustic scene.

And so, the restless heart of the day suddenly became incredibly peaceful, swollen and soft.

"Did you go play in the stream?" Yan Chen asked in a low voice.

Qingran nodded: "There are quite a few wildflowers blooming near the stream. Let's pick some to put in a vase."

He approached, holding the flowers.

"Ao Ran."

Qingran paused.

A pink petal was somehow caught between his jet-black hair. Yan Chen raised his hand and picked it out, his voice as soft as his movements.

"I do not accept the accusations made this morning."

"I'm just not used to not having memories."

I don't know how to respond to this feeling when I have no memory of it.

"It's not about denying this feeling and relationship."

Amnesia is not an excuse for irresponsibility.

He wanted to accept this fact more gently, but he didn't take into account Qingran's feelings in the process.

Qingran looked up at the man's overly calm expression, as if she had heard the story of the boy who cried wolf too many times: "An excuse."

"It's not an excuse."

"Then prove it to me."

Yan Chen stared at him for a moment.

Immediately, a hand reached out and grabbed the back of her head, and a man's handsome face loomed large in front of her.

A note from the author: