"Xiao Xi, why aren't you eating?"
"..."
Shi Youxi came to her senses and looked at the bowl of salad that Bai Shengsheng had handed to her, with various green vegetables covered with colorful seasonings.
Even the silent caregiver watching from the side found it hard to swallow, and she was about to stop Shi Youxi from eating.
Without saying a word, the boy picked up his fork and started eating casually.
One bite after another, until the bowl was empty.
Bai Shengsheng watched him finish eating with a smile, then affectionately took a wet wipe and wiped his face.
Shi Youxi raised an eyebrow and avoided the question.
While Guan Shiyan and his medical team were still discussing things next door, Bai Shengsheng, unwilling to see anyone else, pulled Shi Youxi aside and talked about various things.
As Bai Shengsheng spoke, she looked at Shi Youxi with a moment of disbelief in her eyes, as if the person in front of her shouldn't look like this.
It should be smaller, even smaller.
"Xiao Xi, haven't you been to your boxing practice these past few days? I asked the Shi Men, and they all said you haven't."
She then saw herself as the young Shi Youxi.
The nurse next to Bai Shengsheng wanted to remind her of something, but Shi Youxi answered first:
"Yeah, I didn't go."
Bai Shengsheng asked with concern and worry, "Why? There's been a little girl there these past few days, don't you like her?"
She was referring to Helian Xin, which Shi Youxi knew, but found it inexplicable. "I don't like her."
Bai Shengsheng didn't believe her, her face showing an awkward teasing expression, her stiff demeanor as if imitating someone else, "You still want to lie to me? If you didn't like her, why did you ask me who she was after we came back from the club? If you didn't like her, why did you take her to boxing?"
"It's just repaying a favor," Shi Youxi said calmly.
That year, Bai Shengsheng took him to the clubhouse, where Helian Xin was celebrating her birthday. If Helian Xin hadn't pulled him back, Shi Youxi would have fallen off the stage that year, although he did fall later.
Seeing Bai Shengsheng's puzzled expression, Shi Youxi stated simply, "In short, I don't like her."
"Then..." Bai Shengsheng looked at the young man's handsome yet somewhat unfamiliar features, "Does Xiaoxi have someone he likes right now?"
The scar behind her ear suddenly became noticeably itchy, and Shi Youxi's mind was filled with Mu Yiran's face.
He didn't answer immediately. From this angle, the boy looked even more like that person. Bai Shengsheng suddenly felt a little flustered. "Really? Someone I really, really like?"
This time, Shi Youxi didn't hesitate, "Yes, someone I really, really like."
Bai Shengsheng was stunned for a moment, like a new mother facing her son who was just beginning to experience love and not knowing how to deal with him. There was an indescribable emptiness on her face, and she nervously fidgeted with her fingers.
"Ah... then, does she like Xiaoxi?"
This question seemed more important to Bai Shengsheng than the previous one. She repeated it twice, "Does she like you as much as you like her? Does she like you a lot?"
Shi Youxi and Bai Shengsheng looked at each other, and he knew almost without thinking that his sister didn't like him.
My sister hates him.
I hate him so much I want to leave him.
...But so what?
Shi Youxi said, "She will like me."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Bai Shengsheng's thin face twitched, and her ears rang.
"—You will like me."
"—One day, you will fall in love with me."
Her eyes widened suddenly, and she pointed at Shi Youxi, exclaiming, "You're lying! She doesn't like you!"
"She doesn't like you, does she?"
"lady!"
The caregivers were surprised when Bai Shengsheng suddenly lost control. Some of them were anxious to pull her away, and some even ran to find Shi Yan.
But Shi Youxi, who was being pointed at, remained indifferent, though his eyes were deep.
Bai Shengsheng pointed at him and said she didn't like it.
He replied that she liked it.
"She likes me, she likes me."
The mother and son confronted each other face to face, both arguing in the same way.
But Bai Shengsheng was stubborn and insisted on hearing Shi Youxi admit it. In the end, she became anxious, as if she were the one being forced to like someone. "She doesn't like you, Xiaoxi. You like her, so let her go!"
Shi Youxi's aura instantly darkened.
Bai Shengsheng lectured incoherently, "Let her go, let her go. Liking someone doesn't necessarily mean you have to possess them, right?"
"Xiao Xi, listen to me, letting go is the right thing to do. You like her—"
"And what about Mother?" Shi Youxi suddenly asked.
This seemingly random statement calmed Bai Shengsheng down.
Ignoring the nurse's gesture of "Stop talking," Shi Youxi looked at Bai Shengsheng and asked, "If it's something you like, Mother, would you let go?"
Before she could answer, Shi Youxi said, "You won't." Otherwise, Bai Shengsheng wouldn't have wanted to go back to Cheng Mo's side time and time again.
Bai Shengsheng's face turned pale, "..."
"Just as you know Cheng Mo likes you and don't want him to let go, your father likes you and won't let go either."
Shi Youxi clenched her fists, her eyes filled with determination. "I can't either."
Are they selfish? But they're all the same.
Who has the right to judge whom?
The taut string snapped instantly, and after a moment of stunned silence, Bai Shengsheng screamed uncontrollably.
Perhaps it's because of the name Cheng Mo, or perhaps it's because of the phrase "I will not let go."
Maybe there are others, who knows?
Medical staff came in one after another to comfort them.
Guan Shiyan ran in and saw this, his face showing pity, and pulled Shi Youxi away.
“...Based on the current situation, it can be determined to be dissociative amnesia,” a man in a white coat said to Shi Yan, who was sitting in the study.
"The news of the passing of her deceased friend was too much of a shock for Mrs. Shi, causing her brain to activate a self-defense mechanism."
"She will forget those painful memories that are bad for her, which is also the reason for her sudden change in temperament. She will remember what she wants to remember, and even subconsciously maintain that state."
Shi Youxi, who had been listening the whole time, asked, "Would this state make her develop other feelings?"
The doctor didn't understand. "Which aspect are you referring to?"
"Motherly love, I guess." Recalling the concern and relief on Bai Shengsheng's face just now, Shi Youxi felt a little enlightened, and also found it somewhat amusing.
"It will have some impact on her, and it might be very important to her. Defense mechanisms allow patients to escape pain for a period of time, perhaps by compensating for those regrets in their memories—"
"Ahem!" Guan Shiyan suddenly coughed a few times, changing the subject, "Apart from that, there shouldn't be any other problems, right?"
“Her memory goes backward,” Shi Yan, who was in the middle of the room, asked while smoking what looked like the umpteenth cigarette. “Sometimes she doesn’t recognize me, and sometimes she thinks we’re not married yet.”
Sometimes she would even treat him as her childhood sweetheart, replacing Cheng Mo's position.
A dead man.
It's utterly ridiculous.
The doctors exchanged glances, their expressions turning serious. "How long has this been going on? Does it happen frequently?"
"Occasionally."
Shi Yan said a few more words in a general way, but seeing the doctor's increasingly bad complexion, he suddenly didn't want to listen anymore.
"You can go out now."
"...yes."
Guan Shiyan originally insisted on staying, but Shi Si dragged him away. Once the door was closed, the room was quiet.
Without further ado, Shi Yan asked, "What did you say to your mother again?"
Shi Youxi knew he would be criticized, and he was both surprised and strangely looking forward to it.
Distracted for a moment, he replied, "Just telling the truth."
Shi Yan's voice was cold and flat, "What truth could possibly upset her like this? Do you know she's been emotionally stable lately—"
Shi Youxi said loudly, "I said, Father, you like her."
Shi Yan: "..."
The man's chest heaved noticeably as he took a drag of his cigarette, the white smoke blurring his vision, his voice hoarse:
"You see, your mother is sick, and I will take her back to China for treatment."
"I plan to step down from Shiye and Shimen." Shi Yan stubbed out his cigarette and looked at the standing Shi Youxi. "So I've decided to arrange a marriage between you and the Helian family."
It's the Helian family, not Helian Xin.
"........"
Shi Youxi raised her eyes, displeased and dissatisfied, "Why? If you step down, I will take over. What does this have to do with marriage alliance?"
His tone was unusually arrogant and confident.
Shi Yan looked at him for a while, then sneered: "Succession? How are you going to succeed? You've been trying to catch a traitor for so long and there's still no sign of him. You call someone back and they don't even respect you. How do you think you're going to succeed him?"
"Without Shi Si and Hua Bi, you wouldn't even last long in Shi Men, let alone those old foxes in Shi Ye."
“I’ve already said that this position isn’t one that can be taken by just anyone. You haven’t shed enough blood. Even if you are Shi Yan’s only son, it won’t help.”
"You said you don't want to have the confidence to challenge us. You can talk to the Helian family yourself. As for the Shi family." Shi Yan tapped his finger, a strange emotion flashing in his eyes, as if warning him: "I don't have time to wait for you to take your time. I'm giving you one last chance. Before I go back to the country, you need to consolidate the strongholds here and clean up all the people who shouldn't be left."
"If you can't do it, then listen to me, including your marriage."
"..."
Shi Youxi didn't linger, and Guan Shiyan wanted to go back to the villa with him, but he refused.
"My crematorium isn't a place for you. Go back to your airport and keep pursuing your love."
Guan Shiyan launched into a tirade, avoiding the words "Mom" and "Dad" when addressing Shi Youxi and his other relatives.
He didn't want to listen to anything, he just wanted to get back as soon as possible. Even though it had only been a little over an hour, he felt that something was wrong with everything.
Shi Si kept nagging him like a mother hen for a long time, until Shi Youxi finally couldn't take it anymore and he pulled a cart over to let Shi Youxi go.
Shi Youxi couldn't wait to get back to the villa. Before he even got into the garage, he immediately sensed something was wrong.
"Backyard on fire? Why weren't you told!"
The men from Shimen looked grim. "It was a small fire. A large patch of ivy burning would look intimidating, but it didn't reach the villa, and..."
Moreover, Shi Si said not to bother them unless Shi Youxi needs something from them.
Shi Youxi didn't care about that at all. "Where is she?" she said as she rushed into the room.
But the person who should have been guarding the door was nowhere to be seen.
"I told you to judge people, is this how you judge them?!"
The bodyguards held their breath, staring in utter astonishment at the empty doorway. They had just finished cleaning up the fire. "I clearly saw Bily and the others take Miss Mu back to her room! How could this be..."
Shi Youxi tensed up. He suddenly opened the door and his panic vanished the moment he saw the small bulge on the bed.
"go out."
The door was slammed shut immediately.
Shi Youxi calmed herself down, feeling a strange sense of joy and satisfaction after regaining what she had lost, realizing that she hadn't left.
"Sister, I'm back..." He couldn't help but press himself onto the bed, his voice low, a look of indescribable grievance on his face, "Mother is sick, she..."
Before he could finish speaking, the head under the blanket moved, and a smooth hand grasped his wrist. Shi Youxi's heart skipped a beat. Before he could even feel secretly pleased, he instantly realized something was wrong and abruptly threw off the blanket.
When he saw the woman's face clearly, his pupils contracted, he gritted his teeth, and his trembling voice was filled with indescribable fear.
"How could it be you... Helian Xin?!"
...
...
(There should be one more update later. After these few chapters, we'll return to the normal timeline. Arranged marriage to fall in love?)
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