Lu Xiaoqiao could not even get angry anymore.
How could a crazy person be expected to keep their word?
She would just ignore him.
Yes, she would ignore him.
Unlike the previous few times when she had argued with him, Lu Xiaoqiao calmly said, “It’s getting late. Please go home.”
Xie Xun: “I’m staying here.”
Lu Xiaoqiao: “No.”
Xie Xun: “I’m staying.”
Lu Xiaoqiao: “Leave.”
Xie Xun: “Then I’ll take our son with me.”
Lu Xiaoqiao: “Fuck.”
Xie Xun looked around the room, ignoring her profanity just as she was ignoring him.
The bedroom belonged to Lu Xiaoqiao. She certainly would not let him sleep in her bed. Following his instincts, Xie Xun opened the wardrobe and found a foldable camp bed on the bottom shelf.
Lu Xiaoqiao’s eyelashes fluttered.
“You remember?”
“No.” Xie Xun touched the strangely familiar bed. “It just feels familiar.”
“……”
Before he lost his memory, he often came to the Lu family home and refused to leave. Afraid that her parents would notice something was wrong, Lu Xiaoqiao neither wanted to share a bed with him nor could she openly make a scene and force him out.
So she made him sleep on the floor.
One night, Xie Xun slept on the floor and complained that whenever he turned over, he could see the dark space underneath her bed. He was afraid there might be a ghost.
Lu Xiaoqiao understood what he meant. He wanted to sleep in her bed, but she refused to let him.
After the two of them argued for a long time, Lu Xiaoqiao made him choose between leaving and sleeping on the floor.
Xie Xun stubbornly argued with her for two hours before finally giving in and bringing back a foldable camp bed.
Once unfolded, the camp bed was almost level with her bed. If not for the small gap between them, it would almost be like they were sleeping together.
After taking a shower, Lu Xiaoqiao sat on her bed in a daze.
The gray camp bed was right in front of her.
How had things ended up back here again?
They always say that there is no dead end in life.
So where was her way out?
Where was her path?
An unhealthy relationship could drain all of a person’s energy. How had she agreed to this arrangement in the first place? Had she thought she was invincible?
Had someone kicked her in the head?
There was a noise from the bathroom.
Xie Xun came out wearing a bathrobe. He rubbed his hair twice with a towel, but it was still dripping wet.
Lu Xiaoqiao warned him in advance, “This is my house. Don’t try anything.”
The shadow of what had happened during the day still lingered.
The man raised his clear, sharp eyes and sat down on the camp bed, making it creak.
“I should be the one afraid of you.”
Lu Xiaoqiao felt insulted.
“What are you afraid of?”
Xie Xun snorted and casually stretched his long legs out on the bed.
What was he afraid of?
He was even afraid she might stab him in the middle of the night.
After all, she was a little poisonous woman who could stand by coldly with both hands in her pockets and watch him die.
“Since you’re afraid of me, I’m afraid of you too,” Lu Xiaoqiao said. “Then sign the agreement…”
Xie Xun frowned.
“What are you afraid of?”
Lu Xiaoqiao: “What do you think I’m afraid of?”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” Xie Xun said with a deliberately fake smile. “One moment you say this is a deal. The next, you say you want to make things work between me and my sister-in-law. Then you say the love is gone. And now you’ve added that you’re afraid of me. Can you at least get your reasons straight first?”
“……”
Lu Xiaoqiao was silent for a moment.
Then she lay down on the bed and immediately pulled the blanket over her head.
She had to go to the dance studio tomorrow to arrange the summer enrollment work. She had no time to argue with him.
“Knock, knock, knock—”
Three knocks sounded on the door, followed by Lu’s mother’s voice.
“Xiaoqiao, Ah Xun, are you asleep?”
As soon as her voice fell, the room instantly became chaotic.
Almost at the same time, Lu Xiaoqiao pulled the blanket away and cleared a space beside her.
Xie Xun crossed the room in two steps, slipped an arm around her, pulled her into his arms, and quickly covered both of them with the blanket.
Lu Xiaoqiao barely had time to think. Clearly, they had done this many times before. She quickly grabbed the pillows and the towels lying on the bed and threw them onto the camp bed.
The next second, Lu’s mother pushed the door open.
In her panic, Lu Xiaoqiao protested, “Mom! I didn’t say you could come in. Can’t you stop pushing the door open?”
“Oh, I forgot,” her mother said without any apology. “I’m only just getting used to knocking. Give me some more time to get used to it.”
When she saw the camp bed in the room, she seemed to understand why.
“I told your dad to get you two a bigger bed. Otherwise, there’s hardly any room for anything…”
“I’m used to it.” Lu Xiaoqiao calmed her breathing. “I don’t want to change it.”
Her mother said kindly, “Won’t Ah Xun feel cramped?”
Xie Xun remained completely calm.
“Not at all. It’s just right if we sleep hugging each other.”
“Mom, you see?” Lu Xiaoqiao immediately took the opportunity to say. “What if we were doing something? You really need to stop pushing the door open without asking.”
Her mother smiled until her eyes narrowed.
“Okay, okay. Mom was wrong. I just came to ask if sandwiches would be okay for breakfast tomorrow?”
“Anything is fine.”
Her mother said, “I wasn’t asking you. Ah Xun, is that okay?”
Xie Xun replied, “Anything is fine. I’m not a picky eater. Thank you, Mom.”
Lu Xiaoqiao: “……”
Oh.
You’re not picky.
You’d rather starve yourself.
Her mother left with a happy smile, thoughtfully closing the door behind her.
The bedroom became quiet again.
Perhaps neither of them had reacted yet. The silence actually lasted for two full minutes.
The tie of Xie Xun’s bathrobe had loosened, exposing his strong chest and defined abdominal muscles. His freshly washed skin still radiated warmth. He was using Lu Xiaoqiao’s shower gel, which smelled of gardenia and jasmine. Mixed with his own woody scent, it created a unique fragrance.
An intimate scent, as if the two of them had somehow blended together.
Lu Xiaoqiao stiffly turned her head.
“How did you know?”
How did he know to cooperate with her?
His reaction had been completely instinctive, without even a second of hesitation.
Had he remembered something?
Xie Xun’s eyes were dark and unreadable.
“I want to know that too.”
He truly had no idea.
It had been pure instinct.
As if they had done it countless times before.
Lu Xiaoqiao was still nestled in his arms, his arm as hard as an iron bar around her waist.
After a brief moment of stillness, Lu Xiaoqiao suddenly jerked away as if she had been shocked. She punched and kicked at him.
“Get off! Who told you to touch me? Aren’t you disgusting? Get off!!”
Apparently caught off guard by her sudden attack, Xie Xun’s upper body fell partly off the bed. His brows lowered over his eyes as a fierce expression flashed across his face. His hand, strong like an iron clamp, immediately grabbed both of her kicking ankles.
Lu Xiaoqiao struggled twice but could not pull free. Soon she was exhausted and breathing heavily.
Xie Xun stared straight at her.
“What exactly have I done that disgusts you?”
Lu Xiaoqiao did not want to hold back anymore. She answered bluntly.
“You cheated on me!”
Xie Xun: “With whom?”
Lu Xiaoqiao: “Your sister-in-law!”
Xie Xun paused for a moment.
“You caught us in the act?”
Lu Xiaoqiao answered firmly, “Yes!”
“……”
Xie Xun’s eyes settled on her flushed face. He let out a quiet laugh.
“Have you forgotten again? I’ve only forgotten everything involving you. I haven’t forgotten things involving other people. Do you really think I wouldn’t know whether I ever did anything with my sister-in-law?”
What a liar.
Lu Xiaoqiao was speechless.
After a moment, she suddenly remembered something.
“You selectively forgot things involving other people too. Do you know why Song Ming was fired?”
Having finally caught a flaw in his argument, Lu Xiaoqiao lifted her chin proudly.
Xie Xun curled his lips.
“Lu Xiaoqiao.”
“Say it.”
“Although I don’t remember,” Xie Xun said in a low, mysterious voice, “I think I’ve figured it out.”
“What?”
Xie Xun stared at her.
“I’ve forgotten everything related to you. So the only possible reason Song Ming left… is that it had something to do with you.”