The sound of running water from the bathroom continuously reached Fu Shengyan’s ears. He pretended to read the magazine in his hands, but his mind wasn’t on it at all.
After a while, he put the magazine down, placed the two pillows side by side, adjusted their angles, and took a photo in satisfaction. Then, feeling guilty, he glanced toward the bathroom.
Mist seeped out through the gap beneath the door, steadily raising the temperature in the room. From outside, a vague silhouette could be seen through the glass door, indistinct and hazy. As though his eyes had been burned, Fu Shengyan hurriedly looked away.
Tonight, he could sleep together with Zhizhi.
It felt as though a little flame was dancing inside his heart, and the corners of his lips rose unconsciously.
Before they moved into this small Western-style house, they had lived in a small three-bedroom apartment with no spare rooms. When they were young, the two of them often squeezed onto the same bed to sleep, fighting every night over the blanket and space. Later, after moving into a bigger house, they each slept in their own room and only slept together during thunderstorms.
Lin Zhihua was afraid of thunder and lightning, and City A was a rainy city. Whenever it rained at night, Ms. Yun would always light a candle in her room.
On dark, rainy nights, Fu Shengyan would always hug his pillow and quietly climb into her bed. To protect a certain child’s pride, he would lie and say that he was the one afraid of thunder.
The two would hide beneath the blanket, and even the thunder outside seemed much quieter. They would idly count the flickering candlelight, listening to the rain as they gradually leaned against each other and fell asleep.
When Lin Zhihua came out after her shower, she saw Fu Shengyan holding an upside-down magazine and grinning happily.
A question mark slowly appeared in her mind.
Was sleeping in the same bed with her really enough to make him this happy?
Lin Zhihua couldn’t help reflecting on herself.
Had she been too harsh on Great Lawyer Fu after he lost his memory?
Should she increase their physical interaction and bring them closer?
But usually, Fu Shengyan was always the one who took the initiative. Suddenly changing herself from the passive one to the active one made her hesitate.
Wouldn’t that make her seem too unreserved?
But Fu Shengyan wasn’t really eighteen. They could already be considered an old married couple. Surely she wouldn’t scare him, right?
Eighteen years old…
Hiss.
A faint sense of guilt rose in Lin Zhihua’s heart.
Fu Shengyan heard the bathroom door open. The moment he turned his head, he saw Lin Zhihua standing beside the bed in her pajamas, her entire body flushed pink from the heat.
After quickly glancing at his little childhood sweetheart, he hurried toward the bathroom.
Bang.
He shut the door behind him, took a deep breath, and smelled the familiar scent of body wash lingering inside. He couldn’t help covering his burning-red face.
Lin Zhihua watched his retreating figure, which looked almost as though he were fleeing, and the corners of her lips curled upward again. Her eyes narrowed with interest.
So cute.
Maybe… she could do this after all?
After all, a certain someone had delivered himself right to her door tonight.
She seriously considered it for a moment.
Could this count as helping Great Lawyer Fu recall some pleasant experiences?
Once she had a plan in mind, however, her prey refused to appear.
Lin Zhihua lazily leaned against the pillow and put down her phone for the third time to look toward the bathroom.
Nothing could have happened to him in there, right?
It had already been more than half an hour. Why hadn’t he come out yet?
She got up and walked toward the bathroom. Just as she was about to knock and ask what was going on, the door opened from inside.
It was difficult to completely separate the wet and dry areas of the bathroom, and some water had accidentally been tracked outside. The floor was slightly slippery.
Thinking that she wanted to be more proactive tonight, Lin Zhihua deliberately let her body lean forward and fell into Fu Shengyan’s arms.
Fu Shengyan was startled and hurriedly reached out to catch her.
With her soft, fragrant body falling into his arms, he almost didn’t dare lower his head to look at the person in front of him. His gaze darted everywhere, and his voice tightened.
“…You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
The man had just finished showering. His scorching body heat seeped through the thin layer of fabric between them, making Lin Zhihua tremble.
The overflowing masculine aura inexplicably made her blush.
Lin Zhihua panicked and instinctively wanted to push him away, but she forcibly stopped herself.
She gently shook her head.
Unexpectedly, Fu Shengyan was the one who released her instead. He crouched down and carefully checked her ankle.
“I’m really fine…”
Lin Zhihua’s face was burning red.
The bubble of courage she had finally managed to build up burst with a pop.
She hurriedly spun around once in front of him, then fled back to the bed.
“Oh…” Fu Shengyan pretended to remain calm and nodded.
Moving with the same arm and leg at once, he walked to the vanity and began drying his hair.
Seeing that someone else was even more nervous than she was, Lin Zhihua’s wildly pounding heart actually began to slow down.
She laughed and openly admired the man’s excellent physique.
His pajamas were a little small, and because she had “accidentally” pulled open two buttons on his shirt when she fell earlier, his well-built chest muscles were now fully exposed.
Half an hour later, the person inside the bathroom was still dawdling.
Just as Lin Zhihua was about to fall asleep from waiting, the man finally got into bed.
She looked up at him, and all the emotions she had carefully built up instantly disappeared.
Fu Shengyan had wrapped himself tightly in his small blanket, his entire body stiff as he lay at the very edge of the bed, leaving a gap between himself and Lin Zhihua that was practically half the width of the Chu River and Han border.
Lin Zhihua: “……”
Was she some kind of terrifying monster?
Was this man cosplaying Tang Sanzang protecting himself from a female demon, afraid she would pounce on him and eat him?
Fu Shengyan squeezed his legs together, feeling somewhat frustrated.
He had finally managed to calm himself down. Why was it that just lying on the same bed made him…
If Zhizhi found out, wouldn’t she laugh at him for years?
“Move over a little. Aren’t you afraid you’ll fall off?” Lin Zhihua looked speechlessly at Fu Shengyan, who kept wrapping himself tighter in the blanket and trying his best to reduce his presence.
Hearing her words, Fu Shengyan silently moved inward a tiny bit.
Really, only a tiny bit.
About half a palm’s width.
His entire head could now barely rest on the pillow.
She looked at the bed again.
Mm.
A 1.8-meter-wide bed really was too wide. With a blanket placed in the middle, how was this any different from two single beds?
Lin Zhihua stopped paying attention to him.
Suppressing the urge to kick him straight onto the floor, she rolled her eyes and turned her back toward him.
When he came into the room hugging his pillow tonight, she had thought this guy was so brave.
And this was all he had?
Who would have guessed that this guy was actually so conservative?
Normally in bed, he tormented her to his heart’s content.
Who would have thought that after losing his memory, even when they slept in the same bed, they had to use two separate blankets?
“Good night,” Fu Shengyan said softly with his eyes lowered.
“Good night.”
With a click, Lin Zhihua turned off the light and angrily faced him with the back of her head.
The room fell completely dark.
The two remained in the same positions without saying a word. It was so quiet that only their soft breathing could be heard.
An hour later, Fu Shengyan sneakily climbed up.
Without saying anything, he sat at the edge of the bed.
He didn’t do anything.
He simply stared at Lin Zhihua without blinking.
Lin Zhihua wasn’t asleep at all.
She lay quietly on the bed with her eyes closed, her breathing unconsciously slowing slightly.
Even with her eyes closed, she could clearly sense that he had been looking at her for a very long time.
So long that Lin Zhihua couldn’t help tightening her grip on the blanket.
She didn’t know what she was nervous about.
She hesitated over whether she should simply throw caution to the wind and catch him red-handed.
In the end, Fu Shengyan lowered his head and leaned closer.
For an instant, Lin Zhihua seemed to return to that summer night.
They had only officially started dating less than a week earlier. Aside from openly sticking together during meals and walking to and from class, nothing between them had really changed from before they started dating.
That day, a friend from their club was celebrating a birthday.
Fu Shengyan had drunk a little, and he had clearly become more talkative on the way back.
Although he obediently held her hand, his palm was obviously slightly sweaty.
When he walked her to the entrance of her dormitory, he carefully leaned down and kissed her beneath the streetlight.
It was an intoxicating kiss carrying the scent of alcohol.
Before she even had time to savor it, that feather-light kiss had already ended.
She kept her eyes tightly shut, trembling slightly.
Her heart pounded like a drum, and her mind went completely blank, terrified that the other person would realize she was pretending to be asleep.
Soon, her entire body relaxed.
She even found the situation a little funny.
The two of them had already shared a bed for three years. They had already done everything they should and shouldn’t have done, so why were they still acting like a young couple who had only just started dating?
It was all Fu Shengyan’s fault.
He even had to sneak around just to kiss her, making the whole thing embarrassingly awkward.
With that thought, she quickly fell asleep, a faint smile unconsciously appearing on her face.
In the middle of the night, Lin Zhihua vaguely heard thunder.
She felt a little cold.
When she rolled over, she ended up rolling into the other blanket and instinctively moved closer to the source of warmth beside her.
She sighed comfortably and peacefully fell back asleep.
Fu Shengyan rolled over as well.
When he felt the warm body beside him, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her, kissed her forehead with his eyes closed, and continued sleeping deeply.
When he woke the next morning and felt the warmth in his arms, Fu Shengyan jolted awake in fright.
He stiffened for a moment before coming back to his senses and propping half his body up to look at her.
Lin Zhihua was sleeping deeply.
A faint pink tint colored her fair face.
Sensing the person behind her getting up, she unconsciously reached out and hugged his waist. When he stopped moving, her fluffy head even rubbed against his chest.
Fu Shengyan desperately suppressed the urge to press her into his arms and kiss her fiercely.
Sweating all over, he finally managed to free himself and tiptoed into the bathroom.
After washing up and returning to the room, Fu Shengyan looked at the sleeping person on the bed and restrained himself to leaving a slightly cool kiss on her lips.
Only when sunlight filtered through the curtains and spilled across the bedsheets did Lin Zhihua finally wake from her dream.
She mumbled and rolled over, taking quite a while before becoming fully awake.
Thinking about what happened last night, Lin Zhihua mentally pointed an accusing finger at a certain someone.
Staying awake in the middle of the night just for that one kiss?
She must have lost her mind to stay awake with him for so long.
After changing clothes and going downstairs, she found a lavish breakfast already being kept warm on the dining table.
Holding a small bowl, Lin Zhihua walked around the house but didn’t see Fu Shengyan anywhere.
“Looking for Xiao Yan? He went out with your father.” Ms. Yun continued watering the flowers without even looking up.
Lin Zhihua nodded and took a bite of a xiaolongbao.
With her words slightly muffled, she asked, “Ms. Yun, did you tell Professor Lin about Great Lawyer Fu losing his memory?”
“Oh no. I really forgot to tell him.” Yun Yueyao’s hand holding the watering can froze.
At the entrance of a small traditional Chinese medicine clinic, Fu Shengyan stood behind Lin Boyu with a face full of resistance.
Professor Lin was a man of action. Once something was on his mind, he wanted to resolve it as soon as possible.
Early that morning, the father-in-law and son-in-law had quietly arrived at the small clinic of a renowned traditional Chinese medicine doctor and lined up.
“Dad asked around. This old Chinese medicine doctor is a genuine miracle doctor. A lot of my friends have come to see him!” Father Lin mysteriously winked at him.
“Dad, have you come here yourself?” Fu Shengyan rebelliously asked.
“Your dad is perfectly healthy. Why would I need to see a doctor?” Professor Lin’s eyebrows shot upward.
He patted Fu Shengyan’s shoulder. “Stop worrying about nonsense. Hurry inside. It’s your turn.”
Fu Shengyan took a deep breath and strode inside aggressively.
Whether he stretched his neck out or pulled it back, the blade would fall either way.
If he didn’t get checked today, Father Lin would definitely take him to another hospital next time.
Besides, there was nothing wrong with his body in the first place.
This was the perfect chance to have the doctor prove his innocence.
“Give me your hand.”
Across the table, the elderly traditional Chinese medicine doctor with white hair and reading glasses spoke without even raising his head.
Fu Shengyan extended his hand.
The old doctor gently placed his fingers against his wrist and remained thoughtful for a long while before finally speaking.
“Other hand.”
Fu Shengyan hurriedly switched hands.
Seeing the old man’s tightly furrowed brows, he couldn’t help becoming nervous.
Could there really be something wrong with his body?
The old doctor raised his head and looked straight at him.
“Young man, you’re in very good health. There’s nothing wrong. Just make sure you don’t stay up too late.”
Fu Shengyan hadn’t even finished breathing a sigh of relief when the doctor suddenly changed direction and hesitantly added, “There does seem to be a mild concussion. Did you accidentally hit your head recently? There may be a slight gap in your memory.”
A miracle doctor!
Fu Shengyan’s eyes lit up.
He grabbed the old doctor’s hand and urgently asked, “Doctor, is there any way to treat it so I can recover my memories sooner?”
The old doctor discreetly pulled his hand free, adjusted his reading glasses, and slowly said, “This is the first time I’ve encountered a situation like yours too. I’ll go back and look through some books. I suggest you don’t place too much hope in this old man. You might recover faster by hitting your head again.”
Fu Shengyan: “……”
His hopes shattered.
Somewhat dejected, he said goodbye to the old doctor and followed Father Lin out of the small clinic.
Father Lin nervously grabbed his shoulders and carefully looked him over.
“Xiao Yan, did you lose your memory again this time?”
“Mm.” Fu Shengyan pursed his lips and explained what had happened with the car accident and his amnesia a few days earlier.
“Then… do you still remember Zhizhi this time?” Father Lin asked worriedly. “When you two were little, you were kicking a ball around inside the house and accidentally broke your mother’s favorite perfume. Do you remember that?”
The corner of Fu Shengyan’s mouth twitched.
“Dad, you were clearly the one who knocked over Mom’s limited-edition perfume. Zhizhi and I were playing in the courtyard at the time!”
If Ms. Yun hadn’t been so observant and quickly noticed that neither of their clothes smelled like perfume, they would definitely have taken the blame.
“Haha, so you still remember.” Father Lin awkwardly rubbed his nose. “You two kids, really. Something as serious as amnesia, and you didn’t even tell your parents.”
Seeing Fu Shengyan visibly become dejected, Father Lin comforted him.
“As long as you’re okay, that’s what matters. A life together is lived by two people. This isn’t your first time losing your memory either. With the experience from last time, you’ll recover even faster this time.”
“Besides, your situation is much simpler now. You only lost one section of your memories. I estimate you should remember everything within a few years.”
“Even if you can’t recover them, it’s fine. You didn’t remember Zhizhi before either, but didn’t the two of you still end up together smoothly afterward?”
Fu Shengyan’s mood became even worse.
He looked resentfully at Professor Lin, whose attempts at comforting him were only making things worse, and let out a deep sigh.
Dad, you’d be better off not comforting me at all!