An Ruyi brought Ruan Qiaoqiao to a small pavilion in the hospital’s back courtyard.
Seeing how she had just shut down that shameless pair of men and women, An Ruyi was extremely satisfied with her best friend’s performance and grabbed her hand excitedly.
“Jiaojiao, if I had known amnesia would bring you back to how you used to be, I would’ve knocked you out ages ago.”
“Not necessary. I’m afraid of pain.”
An Ruyi glared at her with a delicate but angry face. “Not necessary? We grew up together. For the past three years I watched you slowly give up your career and yourself for Su Mai—turning from a beauty everyone admired into someone even I couldn’t bear to look at, even being outshined by a divorced ugly woman. I was so furious I could’ve exploded.”
“Was my married life… really that bad?”
“Bad? You had no idea how stubborn you were. You knew you chose the wrong path, but still refused to turn back. Even if Su Mai had some decent qualities, was it worth it for you to give up everything and end up like that?”
Ruan Qiaoqiao knew An Ruyi wouldn’t lie to her, and she felt a lingering fear now.
It was good she had lost her memory—she could finally escape that nightmare.
She quickly shook her head. “Not worth it. I regret it so much. If time could go back, I would never marry him.”
Then she frowned in confusion. “But… Ruyi, that doesn’t sound like me. How could I know someone didn’t love me, yet insist on marrying him and staying to suffer together?”
“Where did your last memory stop?”
“Three years ago. I went to visit my dad’s grave. After leaving the village entrance, someone hit me on the back of my neck. I think I passed out… and when I woke up, I was in the hospital and saw Su Mai.”
An Ruyi rubbed her forehead. “Then it seems Su Mai hurt you so deeply that you forgot everything about him. You once told me that day you were knocked out after leaving the village. Before losing consciousness, you saw the person who hit you was one of the Lu family’s scumbags.”
“You thought you were done for, but then you saw a man’s silhouette come out from the roadside fields and beat that Lu family scum. After that, you blacked out.”
“When you woke again, you were already in the hospital, and Su Mai was sitting by your bedside. He was the one who saved you and brought you to the hospital.”
“You only knew him for less than two months before marrying him. After marriage, you devoted yourself to him completely, repaying his life-saving kindness… and that’s how things ended up like this.”
She sighed.
Then she asked, “By the way, you hate the Lu family so much—why did you still let them arrange your marriage? If you were worried about having nowhere to go after divorce, you could’ve come to me. Why sacrifice yourself like that?”
Ruan Qiaoqiao shrugged with a faint smile.
An Ruyi’s life wasn’t exactly easy either—she had her own family troubles. How could she go burden her?
“It’s not sacrificing myself. Fu Wenzhou is actually a good person.”
“A disabled man with two kids from a political downfall—this is what you call good?”
Ruan Qiaoqiao nodded. “Because he has a disability, he’ll feel like he owes me, so he’ll treat me well. I don’t have to give birth either—I can directly become a stepmother without pain. And I won’t have to go back to the Lu family after divorce and live in fear again. That gives me time and energy to restart my career.”
“You know me. For me right now, this is the best outcome.”
An Ruyi looked at her and understood. She couldn’t go back to the Lu family—that place was a wolf’s den. Finding a stable place after divorce was indeed necessary.
But she still felt heartache for her.
Then she suddenly realized something.
“Wait—you said restart your career?”
Ruan Qiaoqiao nodded. “Yes. I want to pick up medicine again.”
Not long after, Fu Wenzhou would be politically rehabilitated and return to the city. If he was willing to take her with him, she would benefit from it. No shame in that.
But if he wasn’t willing… she still needed her own future.
An Ruyi immediately grabbed her shoulders, clearly excited. “Our department head said there will be several training spots at the hospital next month, for a six-month program. I’ll try to get one for you!”
“Really? That would be amazing.”
“Why are you thanking me?”
The two chatted a while longer.
Ruan Qiaoqiao checked the time on An Ruyi’s wristwatch—it was getting late. She told her to go back to work while she went shopping.
Before leaving, An Ruyi gave her a few medical books from her dorm and promised to update her if she got the training spot.
After they parted, Ruan Qiaoqiao went to a pharmacy, wrote her own prescription, and bought a few herbs for heart conditioning.
Then she went to the black market.
Although Fu Wenzhou had given her money, buying things at state stores required coupons, which was inconvenient. The black market, however, allowed both cash and barter and had more variety.
She bought daily necessities and then took a bus home.
By the time she arrived, it was almost one o’clock.
From afar, she saw two children sitting on a straw mat in the shade outside the hut.
The older one, An An, was writing while lying on a stool. The younger one, Kang Kang, was quietly reading a picture book.
When they saw her return, An An looked up cautiously.
Kang Kang looked pleasantly surprised. “Brother, she didn’t run away with the money.”
An An turned and glared at him. “Read your book.”
Ruan Qiaoqiao placed her basket on the mat and couldn’t help but laugh softly. “What? Afraid I’d run away and not be your stepmother anymore?”
An An stiffened his neck. “Who’s afraid? I don’t care about you being my stepmother. I’m just afraid you’re like those shameless bloodsuckers from your family, taking my dad’s money and running off.”
“My family’s bloodsuckers?”
Ruan Qiaoqiao’s expression darkened instantly. “What do you mean? Who from my family took your dad’s money?”
“Your second brother! While my dad was taking me and my brother to bathe in the river, he stole the money from my dad’s clothes by the riverside. My dad went to ask for it back, but that old man from the Lu family insisted it was bride price money!”
“He’s so shameless! Your brother steals, and now you come here to be a stepmother—you’re all the same, annoying!”
Ruan Qiaoqiao’s face turned cold—not because of the child’s words, but because of the Lu family scum.
He really deserved to die.