In the unpredictable wake of her post-accident amnesia, Xu Mengzhou had run into plenty of things that baffled her to no end. Fortunately, there were a few silver linings.
For instance, her increasingly refined sense of fashion, her fulfilled ambition of running a massive crew as a movie director (satisfying her childhood dream of being a gang boss with hundreds of lackeys), and the very restaurant she was sitting in right now.
Excellent. Outstanding. Absolutely delicious!
Even though this place had only been open for four years, the chef they hired was a absolute legend whose Sichuan cuisine was nothing short of divine. Xu Mengzhou picked out pieces of rabbit meat from a bed of vibrant red and green chili peppers, chewing with her eyes blissfully closed.
“Can I leave a tip? Or a commendation banner?” she asked, unable to contain herself. “Or better yet… does the chef take private hire?”
She was a pure carnivore through and through. Her chopsticks hardly ever hovered over the vegetable dishes. Even when the fiery chilies turned her lips a flush, glossy red, she merely threw her head back to gulp down ice water before diving right back into the feast.
Ruan Li swallowed a spoonful of pig trotter soup at her own unhurried pace. A gentle smile rippled across her eyes…unlike her previous polite smiles, this one carried a trace of genuine warmth.
“You already asked that on your very first day here.”
“No tips, no banners, and no private hire,” Ruan Li replied. “The head chef is the owner of this restaurant.”
“Ah… is that so?” Xu Mengzhou clicked her tongue in regret. But the next second, her eyes lit up like high beams on a semi-truck. “Then are they open to franchisees?”
Ruan Li let out a nearly imperceptible sigh. “…You’re already a shareholder.”
“So this is my exclusive private dining room?”
Ruan Li nodded.
“I truly am a visionary…discerning, sharp-witted, and unmatchably brilliant!” Xu Mengzhou bragged shamelessly, without her face so much as turning pink (and definitely not because her sun-kissed skin hid it).
No wonder… She had assumed Ruan Li had reserved a table in advance, but it turned out they were pulling rank using her own name.
Turns out she was the one with real clout here.
A sudden sense of victory swept over Xu Mengzhou, bringing a strange wave of quiet satisfaction. She dug into her food with even greater gusto.
She had taken etiquette lessons in her past, but remembering them didn’t mean she bothered to practice them. Casting aside any pretense of refined high-society grace, she devoured her meat in massive bites, her eyes filled purely with devotion to food.
Ruan Li, who couldn’t handle spicy food, picked up a piece of mild stir-fried vegetable, her gaze subtly drifting toward her dining companion.
To make eating easier, Xu Mengzhou had tied up her head of wavy blonde hair into a loose knot and rolled her sleeves past her forearms, subtly revealing the toned contours of her muscle beneath her wheat-toned skin. Her tight black tank top wrapped snugly around her body, though her slouched posture meant it didn’t offer much coverage.
Ruan Li’s gaze flicked over her like a rollercoaster…following the curves of the track, dipping at times, rising at others.
She picked up her glass of herbal tea and took a slow sip to cool her inner heat.
The amnesiac Xu Mengzhou didn’t know that surveillance cameras had been installed at home…in the living room and in the bedroom as well.
The footage was high-definition, clear enough to capture her every move.
Ruan Li had always considered herself a rational, composed person.
Her father, who had married into her mother’s wealthy family, harbored growing ambitions. He had an affair, using lies and financial incentives to bribe a doctor to sabotage the artificial womb project. That act had brought Ruan Li into the world far too early, leaving her mother sick with shock and fury…eventually passing away during Ruan Li’s middle school years.
Her biological father attempted to leverage his status as a widower to meddle in the Ruan Corporation. But he was fended off by her maternal relatives, so he turned his efforts to manipulating a young, naive Ruan Li into transferring the company to him.
Perhaps an early birth brought early wisdom. Heaven had compensated her with a sharp mind, allowing her to see through the cold realities of human nature despite her frail health.
She had always felt she was destined for a quiet, short life…and that she would die alone.
She had never expected Xu Mengzhou to crash into her world.
That afternoon, led through the front doors by Xu Nianzhi, she had seen a girl a few years older than her slide down the staircase banister like the wind. Laughing aloud, the girl dashed past her, shouting something about a horse-riding playdate.
Even when called back briefly by Mrs. Xu, the girl had only paused for a moment. She reached out, patted Ruan Li’s shoulder, tossed out a promise to hang out that evening, and bolted out the door again.
Auntie Xu had scolded her daughter with a fond laugh and apologized, telling Ruan Li not to mind her second daughter’s wild nature.
Ruan Li had nodded politely, but her focus had trailed off after the departing figure.
The girl had long, dense eyelashes that fluttered like a pair of delicate handheld fans. Her warm, dry palm had radiated a subtle, sweet fragrance…like freshly baked walnut pastries.
Ruan Li couldn’t even remember what clothes the girl had been wearing…only a blur of yellow, bright as sunlight dancing on morning dew or flames flickering in a hearth, darting past her vision.
Only later did she learn that the wild girl was named Xu Mengzhou, two years her senior.
And that they were going to spend an entire summer living under the same roof.
It was her mother’s dying wish.
Back then, a younger Ruan Li hadn’t understood awe, nor could she categorize her feelings. She only remembered that for the very first time, an afternoon had a distinct flavor…the warm, comforting scent of butter-honey biscuits.
Nor did the Ruan Li of eight years ago know that she would grow up to be “bad” enough to secretly install surveillance cameras.
As for guilt or shame? She didn’t feel a shred of it.
Xu Mengzhou, however, was nowhere near as composed.
After dinner, they returned home together. Following a period of awkwardly quiet silence, Ruan Li went to take a shower alone.
The room was well-soundproofed, reducing the sound of running water to a faint whisper… so faint that Xu Mengzhou wondered if she was just imagining it.
Sitting on the edge of the bed with her phone, Xu Mengzhou tapped the screen mindlessly, shooting nervous glances toward the bathroom door. She shifted constantly, as though sitting on a cactus.
There was only one bed in the bedroom, which meant they were obviously expected to share it.
In all her eighteen years of life, she had never slept in the same bed with anyone before.
There won’t be a goodnight kiss routine, will there…? The mere thought made her hair stand on end.
How should she decline? Say she wasn’t used to it yet? Distract her with another topic? Or just be direct and say no?
But would being too blunt hurt her feelings? More importantly… would it damage their marital relationship?
Her reluctance toward physical intimacy was one thing, but she also didn’t want to dig a hole for her future self once her memories returned.
Frustrated, Xu Mengzhou ran a hand through her hair.
Before she could deliberate any further, the bathroom door creaked open. A freshly bathed figure stepped out…looking crisp and relaxed. Aside from her flushed cheeks and a soft, warm mist hovering around her, you could barely tell she had just showered.
Xu Mengzhou immediately shot her a look, but remembering her frantic thoughts from a moment ago, quickly turned her head away.
An instant later, she snapped her head right back.
Wait, given their relationship, deliberately avoiding eye contact makes things even weirder!
The jerky back-and-forth motion was hard to miss, even if she tried to keep it subtle.
Standing by the bed, Ruan Li wore a white bathrobe that draped over her shoulders like moonlight woven into silk. She reached up to gently gather her hair, then suddenly spoke: “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Did I get so pretty you don’t recognize me anymore?”
Xu Mengzhou: “…”
“It’s nothing.”
Ruan Li then asked, “How’s the soup in the kitchen doing?”
Another suspicious beat of silence followed.
…Could she really confess that she had completely forgotten about it?
Ruan Li gave her a slow, half-smiling glance. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking. “I’ll go check it myself then. Wouldn’t want to trouble Director Xu.”
Neither of them liked having live-in housekeepers. The domestic staff came over from the family estate to cook and clean before leaving.
Before taking her shower, Ruan Li had set a earthenware pot on the kitchen stove, warming a pot of dark brown broth. The lid was tightly sealed, keeping any scent trapped inside.
She had called it a nourishing wellness soup and asked Xu Mengzhou to keep an eye on the flame.
Xu Mengzhou felt like Ruan Li was being a little passive-aggressive, but knowing she was in the wrong for neglecting it, she swallowed her pride, wrinkled her nose, and followed her into the kitchen.
The soup in the clay pot hummed gently over low heat, bubbling softly like fish blowing air in a pond.
Putting on heat-resistant gloves, Ruan Li lifted the lid. A cloud of hot steam surged toward the ceiling, carrying a subtle, bitter herbal aroma that instantly filled the air.
Poured into a bowl, the soup was a translucent brown, resembling coffee jelly. Ruan Li scooped up a spoonful, blew on it gently to cool it down, and lifted her lashes. Her eyes shimmered like a starry sky.
“Want a taste? It’s good for your health.”
Xu Mengzhou twitched her nose, taking a few deep sniffs. It didn’t smell particularly inviting.
“Is it bitter?”
“It’s actually quite sweet. I added a lot of licorice root.”
Xu Mengzhou hesitated, but curiosity eventually won.
She grabbed a clean spoon and popped a mouthful into her mouth.
Ruan Li merely watched, leaning lazily against the kitchen counter with one arm crossed over her chest. The curve of her lips was subtle, but the amusement in her eyes ran deep.
If Xu Mengzhou were someone who frequently took medicine…especially medicinal syrups…she would have known that describing licorice as “sweet” was a terrifyingly false advertisement.
Unfortunately, her physical health had always been pristine, leaving her entirely inexperienced in such matters.
The instant the herbal soup hit her tongue, Xu Mengzhou’s face contorted into a horror show of squinting eyes and twisted features, as if an invisible force was crushing her face together.
“Pfft—ack! What on earth is this?! You call this sweet?!”
“I told you, it’s a little sweet. Did you really not taste any sweetness at all?”
To say there was zero sweetness would be an exaggeration, but the bitterness was vastly overwhelming! It was like comparing a watermelon to a lemon…that tiny hint of sweetness was completely useless!
Ruan Li let out a soft laugh, picked up her bowl of soup, and walked away.
Leaving Xu Mengzhou behind, head buried in the fridge, frantically grabbing a can of Cola and chugging several large gulps.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the graceful, slender silhouette walking away in a languid stride.
Xu Mengzhou gnawed her teeth, realization finally dawning on her.
Her bargain-bin wife… was actually kind of wicked!