Xu Mengzhou had just returned from a follow-up appointment at the hospital.
The doctor said she was recovering well and could get her cast off in a couple of days, though high impact activities like running or jumping were still off-limits.
For her, just being able to walk properly again was cause for celebration.
Xu Mengzhou didn’t mind the stares she got while moving around on crutches, but she utterly despised how slow and agonizingly tedious it was to get anywhere. It felt as though the very essence of her freedom was trapped inside that chalky white shell.
Out in the kitchen, the housekeeper was preparing lunch. The steady thuck-thuck-thuck of the chef’s knife brought a comforting sense of life to the spacious high-rise apartment.
In the bedroom, Xu Mengzhou rolled over on the mattress, her eyes glued to the action-packed film playing on her tablet screen. Twisted slightly at the waist, she reached into the nightstand drawer to rummage around.
After swirling her palm around twice and finding only a single hard, square object, she clicked her tongue in annoyance and grumbled, “Where’s my chewing gum?”
Only when she actually glanced over did she remember…this wasn’t her old bedroom. This was her marital home.
And the object in the drawer wasn’t gum or hair clips; it was a face-down wooden picture frame.
Their wedding photo.
The background matched the field from Ruan Li’s WeChat profile picture…a endless sea of deep green thatch grass. They looked like two travelers caught up in a wave, hands tightly interwoven as if dancing the final waltz of their lives.
The movie’s background score swelled toward a climax, but Xu Mengzhou found herself completely distracted.
“What are you looking at?”
The sudden female voice hit her like a net pulling her right out of that green sea. Xu Mengzhou’s heart leaped into her throat; she almost sent the frame flying out of her hands.
“Can’t you make a sound when you walk?! You scared me to death!”
“You were just too focused. I’ve been standing here for a while,” Ruan Li said, leaning down to take a look. “Ah, our wedding photo.”
As if recalling something amusing, the corners of Ruan Li’s pale lips pressed together, looking as soft as a white cherry. “Those few days were honestly exhausting. My mother was more invested than either of us—she handpicked ten sets of outfits for us to shoot. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her down to five.”
She cast a light, offhand glance over. “I had one dress I didn’t even get to shoot in, because you ruined it in the fitting room.”
The remark was tossed out casually, like a broth that looked crystal clear on the surface, but was actually rich, complex, and packed with hidden flavors.
It didn’t take long for Xu Mengzhou to digest the implication.
Her expression froze. “What do you mean… I ruined your dress in the fitting room?”
“You tore it.”
Ruan Li looked as elegant and serene as a magnolia, yet the words coming out of her mouth practically called for a censor beep. “You’re surprisingly strong, you know. Ripped it wide open from the chest all the way down to the waist. There were people right outside, too, but you just insisted on touching me…”
“Mmff—!”
“Stop talking!”
With the speed of a pouncing tiger, Xu Mengzhou clamped her hand over those moving lips, sending them both tumbling onto the mattress like a pair falling off a cliff.
She was strong…pulling a grown woman down was like tugging a wad of cotton. But she moved so fast that her elbow slammed hard against the tablet screen. Even the sudden burst of pain couldn’t make her loosen her grip.
“How can you just say things like that out loud?!”
The “eighteen-year-old” high school girl was on the verge of a total meltdown, squeezing out the accusation from between tightly clenched teeth. She looked like she’d just stepped out of a sauna…drenched in sweat, bright red like a cooked shrimp, or an overripe green apple. Even her earlobes had flushed into a pair of deep crimson beads.
Ruan Li blinked. Her eyes were limpid, filled with three parts innocence, six parts surprised confusion, and one part very well-hidden amusement.
She possessed a pair of stunning eyes that acted as windows to her soul; without uttering a single word, she seemed to have said it all.
Just by meeting her gaze, Xu Mengzhou’s mind instantly filled in the blanks of a steamy, intimate encounter in a fitting room.
She stammered, “You—you—you—” for what felt like forever, keeping Ruan Li quiet while unable to form a coherent sentence herself. It was as if her throat had been stuffed with a sticky, sweet rice ball, leaving her choking and red-faced.
“I am not that kind of person!” she argued fiercely.
Ruan Li’s only response was a slight arch of her brow, her gaze sweeping downward like a passing breeze.
Xu Mengzhou followed her gaze down…only to see one of her hands gagging Ruan Li’s mouth, her other hand pinning Ruan Li’s wrist above her head, one leg slung over Ruan Li’s waist, and half her body pressed against Ruan Li’s chest.
The teenager’s face flared like an overturned blush compact…a scorching, fiery red.
Without a single word, she rolled off and flipped herself over like an overturned turtle, silently hiding her head under the duvet.
A muffled voice came from beneath the covers: “…Shut up.”
Ruan Li didn’t get up either. Her long black hair, spread out like seaweed, shifted with her movements like dark ripples beneath a siren.
She raised a hand and poked the rounded lump of blankets.
The duvet twitched, shrinking back a bit in sheer embarrassment.
Cute.
Xu Mengzhou refused to come out, terrified of hearing Ruan Li describe an even more shameless, ravenous version of herself.
What she forgot, however, was that the truth could always be embellished.
Ruan Li didn’t want to lie to Xu Mengzhou…she knew Xu Mengzhou was not someone who tolerated deceit. However, withholding parts of the truth fell well within the rules of their game, an unspoken understanding between them. Even if Xu Mengzhou eventually recovered her memory, she’d only have herself to blame.
A skilled spider always weaves the perfect web to catch its specific prey.
Ruan Li shifted her gaze toward the bulge on the bed, watching her target as if it were already safely caught in the bag.