“What are you so surprised about? You’re my wife—what’s wrong with sleeping with me?” Fu Wenzhou said calmly, then returned to the bedroom without another word.
Ruan Qiaoqiao lightly scratched her brow. This man clearly couldn’t perform—why did he still insist on talking so ambiguously?
She followed him into the room. Just as she was about to ask whether she should sleep on the bed or on the floor, Fu Wenzhou spoke again.
“Inside or outside?”
Huh?
He meant… they were sleeping on the same bed?
Seeing her stunned expression again, Fu Wenzhou raised a faint eyebrow. “What, that hard to choose?”
“It’s not that…”
It really wasn’t that. Why wasn’t this man following normal logic? If he couldn’t perform, why insist on sharing a bed with a woman? Wasn’t that just making life harder for himself?
Forget it. If he didn’t mind, why should she? He was already a divorced man anyway.
“I’ll sleep outside. I might get up at night and disturb your rest.”
Fu Wenzhou directly took off his shoes, moved to the inner side of the bed, and lay down.
Ruan Qiaoqiao also pretended to be calm as she lay on the outer side.
The weather was very hot. With no one using the blanket, it was propped upright between them, forming a clear boundary like a river dividing two sides.
The room was quiet—so quiet they could hear each other’s breathing. Fortunately, the chirping insects outside prevented the atmosphere from becoming too awkward.
Seeing that Fu Wenzhou didn’t move at all, Ruan Qiaoqiao became even more certain that the rumors were true.
Otherwise, with a wife this beautiful and a clearly well-proportioned figure lying right beside him, what normal man could resist? He would’ve already acted on impulse.
Fu Wenzhou really… couldn’t perform.
She relaxed, closed her eyes.
That day, she had awakened from unconsciousness after a strange dream that felt like decades of lived experience, then was suddenly told by a stranger that he was her husband, scolded thoroughly, divorced, and remarried—
It was like experiencing someone else’s entire lifetime in a single day. Exhausting. She needed sleep.
Before long, Ruan Qiaoqiao fell into a deep sleep.
Listening to her steady breathing, Fu Wenzhou, who had kept his eyes closed, slowly opened them. He turned his head, the faint light from the window falling on her strikingly beautiful profile. His gaze softened, and a faint, almost imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his lips.
Ruan Qiaoqiao.
Fu Wenzhou’s wife—Ruan Qiaoqiao. Heh.
She slept soundly through the night without a single dream and woke up to bright daylight. Fu Wenzhou was already gone.
She got out of bed and walked into the courtyard, where she saw Fu Wenzhou returning with two buckets of water.
Ruan Qiaoqiao greeted him with a bright smile. “Good morning.”
“Mm.”
“Where are those two kids?”
“They went down to the mountain foot to catch grasshoppers.”
She nodded. “Oh… I’m going into town this morning to buy some clothes and daily necessities. Do I need to keep receipts for you to check?”
Fu Wenzhou frowned slightly. “I gave you the money so you can spend it freely. No need to keep accounts.”
Hearing that, she felt genuinely comfortable. “Do you need anything?”
“I don’t lack anything.”
Fine then. She would just buy what she needed.
Ruan Qiaoqiao went into the house, cooked noodles with wild vegetables and eggs, and made soup noodles. After setting aside food for the children, she ate breakfast with Fu Wenzhou, then left alone for town.
There was no bus passing through Houlian Village, so she walked to the neighboring village to catch a ride.
By the time she reached the city, it was almost ten.
Originally, she wanted to visit her childhood best friend, An Ruyi, first. But looking at her gray shirt and blue pants that she had worn for two days, she decided it wasn’t appropriate attire for such an important meeting.
So she went first to the supply and marketing cooperative nearby, bought a white floral long dress, changed in the restroom, let her hair down, and added a red headband she also purchased. She looked at herself in the small mirror.
Mm. That looked like her again. The person she had been seeing before… even she didn’t recognize.
She went to the hospital emergency department to ask if An Ruyi was on shift and learned that An Ruyi had already become a full-time doctor a year ago and was now working in the respiratory department.
A nurse recognized her and helped call the internal line. Not long after, An Ruyi rushed into the emergency hall wearing a white coat.
Seeing Ruan Qiaoqiao, who looked like a completely different person, An Ruyi’s eyes lit up.
“My goodness, Jiao Jiao, you finally decided to dress up again? Aren’t you afraid Dr. Su Mai will accuse you of flirting with other men?”
“Jiao Jiao” was Ruan Qiaoqiao’s nickname. Her grandfather originally intended to name her Ruan Jiaojiao, but when her illiterate deaf grandmother went to register her name, she accidentally tore the paper, leaving only “Qiaoqiao,” and that became her official name.
Seeing An Ruyi, she was in a good mood and smiled as she grabbed her hand.
“Why should I care about anyone else? I don’t even know that Su Mai.”
An Ruyi looked confused. “You don’t know him? Did you two argue again over Duan Fangya? Are you here to complain again?”
“No. I just don’t remember him anymore. I’m divorced.”
“What?!”
“A few days ago, I had an accident and was unconscious for a night. When I woke up, I had lost three years of memory. I don’t even recognize Su Mai anymore…”
She then explained everything that had happened—waking up, the divorce, and the remarriage.
An Ruyi looked like she had been struck by lightning.
Her best friend had just escaped one trap only to be pushed straight into another by the Liu family. Memory loss, divorce, remarriage—this was more dramatic than any movie plot.
It was all Su Mai’s fault… and the Liu family too. They were trying to completely destroy her friend.
Just as An Ruyi was burning with anger, her expression suddenly darkened.
Ruan Qiaoqiao followed her gaze toward the staircase.
A man and a woman were walking side by side toward the emergency hall entrance.
The man was tall and sturdy, with a square face that fit the aesthetic of the era. Somehow… vaguely familiar.
The woman looked average—nothing particularly special—but she wore a very nice dress, the most popular one recently sold at the cooperative store.
The two also noticed them and stopped.
The man stared directly at Ruan Qiaoqiao, scanning her from head to toe. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, followed by confusion, then he returned to a calm expression.
Ruan Qiaoqiao turned to An Ruyi, puzzled. “Who are they? Why are you glaring at them like that? Do you have a grudge?”
An Ruyi looked at her speechlessly.
Not only had she truly lost her memory, she had also developed the habit of forgetting people’s faces after seeing them several times.
“This is your ex-husband!” she said coldly.
Ruan Qiaoqiao: …
Well.
That was… quite a coincidence.