“Zhixing.”
Wen Lan sat up straighter and looked at him, her tone noticeably more intimate than before.
Lu Zhixing’s heart softened beyond belief.
He lifted his head and gazed directly at her. His amber eyes reflected nothing but her figure, and his gentle voice was as warm as the spring breeze in March.
“Wife, what is it?”
Wen Lan quietly curled her fingers into her palm. Countless questions crowded her mind, tangled and chaotic, but in the end she asked only one.
“What kind of person was I before?”
Lu Zhixing’s eyes widened slightly. Though he was a mature man, the slight curve of his lips and the smile in his eyes unexpectedly gave him a youthful air.
“You were a very, very gentle person.”
Wen Lan hadn’t expected that answer.
She had always considered herself cold-hearted and emotionally detached. Yet this man described her as gentle?
After giving it some thought, she decided her husband was viewing her through an exceptionally flattering lens.
Lu Zhixing slowly moved closer. Tentatively, he reached out and held her hand.
Wen Lan’s body stiffened, but she didn’t pull away.
After all, they were husband and wife. Remaining too distant from each other didn’t seem appropriate.
His hand was smaller than hers, yet he stubbornly wrapped it around her own. His fingers were slender and well-proportioned, his skin soft and fair. Rather than feeling restrained, Wen Lan thought it felt as though a cloud of cotton had enveloped her hand.
For the first time, she truly felt the difference between men and women in this world.
She was far stronger than he was.
She could easily hurt him.
Lu Zhixing lowered his gaze to their joined hands and smiled.
He knew exactly what his wife wanted to know.
And he intended to tell her everything.
He would make her understand that they were destined for each other.
Wen Lan sat stiffly, about to ask another question, when he began speaking first. His voice flowed gently, calm and unhurried.
“Wife, you are the eldest daughter of the Wen family from neighbouring Wujiang City. After graduating from university…”
He had barely spoken a few sentences before Wen Lan interrupted him.
“Wait, Zhixing.”
Wen Lan suddenly felt her mind go blank. For once, panic and confusion overtook her.
What was going on?
Wasn’t she her parents’ only child?
Then why had he called her the eldest daughter…?
“I have a younger sister?” Wen Lan dug her nails into her palm, forcing herself to stay calm.
Lu Zhixing nodded.
“You are the eldest daughter. You also have a younger sister named Wen Yang.”
A flood of memories flashed through Wen Lan’s mind.
Every single one took place in a pitch-black space, filled with the shrill laughter of a young child and the frantic pounding on a door.
“Sis! Sis, come out!”
“Sis, hurry and come play with Yangyang!”
“Sis!”
…
A chill crept through Wen Lan’s body.
Steadying herself, she caught sight of her own pale reflection mirrored in the man’s worried eyes.
“Wife.”
Lu Zhixing moved closer, anxiety written across his face. Without realising it, he tightened his grip around her hand.
“What’s wrong?”
He pressed his lips together, a rare trace of regret surfacing.
His wife had always hated hearing anything about the Wen family. But he had never expected that after waking up this time, she would have forgotten even the members of her own family.
It was as if she rejected the Wen family so completely that she had discarded every memory connected to them.
“I’m alright.”
Seeing the concern in his eyes, Wen Lan gradually calmed herself.
“Do you… have a family photo? I’d like to see it.”
Lu Zhixing frowned and lowered his head without speaking.
He was worried the photograph would trigger her memories.
What if his wife became the way she used to be again?
Seeing his reluctance, Wen Lan turned her hand over and held his instead.
The soft sensation against her palm made her instinctively give it a squeeze.
Does this man even have bones? How are his hands this soft?
Only when she noticed the tips of his ears turning bright red did she stop.
She coughed softly, feeling warmth creeping into her own ears as well.
“I… I’ll go get it.”
The moment she released his hand, he fled like a startled rabbit.
Wen Lan couldn’t help smiling inwardly.
Her husband was unexpectedly adorable.
When he returned, he handed her a thin photograph.
Wen Lan held it upside down at first.
For the first time in a long while, she felt genuinely nervous.
After hesitating for a while, she slowly turned it over and examined it carefully.
The photograph had been preserved remarkably well. It seemed to have been kept inside a book, carrying a faint scent of ink and paper.
There were four people in the picture, clearly a family of four.
Wen Lan immediately recognised herself before shifting her gaze to the adult man and woman, as well as the young child.
The woman in the photo looked imposing without even trying. Her expression was stern, and her tall frame radiated authority. One arm rested around her principal husband, yet even in a family portrait she wore no smile.
Beside her stood a smiling man with exquisite, elaborate makeup. His phoenix-shaped eyes seemed to smile even before his lips did. His crimson-painted fingernails rested lightly on Wen Lan’s shoulder.
The Wen Lan in the photograph had her head lowered, long bangs covering most of her face, giving her a gloomy, withdrawn appearance.
The cheerful child beside her, smiling as brightly as the sun, formed a striking contrast.
Wen Lan looked over the photograph again and again.
Eventually, she raised her head to look at Lu Zhixing, hesitating before speaking.
“Zhixing… did you make a mistake?”
Lu Zhixing’s heart sank.
Looking at her, he deliberately lowered his voice until it became deep and soothing, full of quiet reassurance.
He crouched in front of her, gently took her hand, and intertwined their fingers, tightening his grip as though trying to pass his strength to her.
“What do you mean?”
His protective little gesture almost made Wen Lan laugh.
She was already an adult, yet this man still treated her as though she were a child who needed looking after.
Holding up the photograph, she asked in confusion,
“Zhixing, these aren’t my parents. Did you bring the wrong photo?”
“Is Wen Yang their daughter?”
Lu Zhixing parted his lips, but no words came out.
He looked into his wife’s innocent, puzzled eyes, utterly unable to understand where things had gone wrong.
Wasn’t her condition supposed to be improving?
Why had she forgotten even her parents and younger sister?
Before, they had merely been people she despised.
Now she had erased them from her memory entirely.
Would there come a day when…
…she forgot him and Dudu as well?
“Wife…”
Lu Zhixing’s throat felt painfully dry.
Closing his eyes as though trying to escape the thought, he said softly,
“They really are your parents.”
The only reason he had ordered Leng Feng to keep watch on Wen Lan’s parents was because he feared Lu Zhihan might win over that greedy couple.
He had never imagined that his wife would no longer recognise them at all.
Wen Lan studied the photograph several more times with utmost care.
The man and woman in the picture definitely were not her father and mother.
Touching her chin thoughtfully, she reasoned that since she looked exactly the same as before, then her parents in this world should probably resemble her real parents as well.
As for why she had ended up in the Wen family…
She would find out herself.
She kept those thoughts to herself.
Looking at the man’s trembling eyelashes, something stirred in her heart.
Leaning forward, she gently kissed the corner of his eye.
“I understand now.”
Her husband really was timid.
His face had gone pale, and somehow that made him look even more endearing.
The moment she confirmed that Wen Yang was not her biological sister, her mood improved considerably.
She had always been an intensely possessive person.
Whether it was love…
…or family…
She could never tolerate others taking what belonged to her.
Lu Zhixing slowly opened his eyes.
In the sunlight, his pale amber pupils still held traces of astonishment.
He had never expected Wen Lan to kiss him.
The thought alone sent a rush of heat through his body.
His face burned so fiercely that he felt his eyes had turned red.
When he caught the faint smile in his wife’s eyes, the heat became even harder to bear.
Curious, Wen Lan gently touched the corner of his eye.
She was surprised by how delicate the skin there was.
She had only brushed it with a light kiss, yet it had already flushed a soft pink.
Like a porcelain doll…
She withdrew her hand with restraint, resisting the urge to touch him again.
She had already taken enough liberties with him today.
Wen Lan stood up, intending to leave, when another thought suddenly occurred to her.
She didn’t seem to have a phone.
Or rather…
Had she owned one before?
She probably had, she guessed. After all, it was an everyday necessity.
Since the thought had come to her, she simply asked.
Lowering her gaze to the man, who was clearly pretending to remain composed, she asked in puzzlement,
“Zhixing, do you know where my phone is?”
The warmth gradually faded from Lu Zhixing’s face. He nodded, walked over to his desk, and took a black phone out of the drawer.
With her sharp eyes, Wen Lan noticed another phone beside his hand, a silver-white one. It was slightly smaller, elegant in silver where hers was understated in black. The two phones were clearly a matching couple’s set.
Lu Zhixing handed her the phone and sat down beside her. His back was perfectly straight, his expression calm and composed, every bit as restrained and gentle as ever.
Looking at the black phone in her palm, Wen Lan lightly pressed the fingerprint sensor.
The screen lit up with a white flash before revealing a familiar grey wallpaper.
Seeing the exact same background she had used in her previous life, she quietly let out a sigh of relief.
The interface also contained familiar apps, Duoxin and Dida Penguin.
She tapped through them and discovered that her social circle was pitifully small.
Aside from the familiar name Lu Zhixing, everyone else was a complete stranger to her.
He Luo.
Zhou Nian.
Li Ruohua.
There were only a handful of contacts.
Wen Lan silently committed the names to memory while awkwardly swiping through the apps that felt both strange and oddly familiar. After a moment’s thought, she discreetly opened each person’s profile.
He Luo was a stunningly beautiful woman with strikingly cold features.
Her Moments feed was almost empty. Other than the occasional photo from her daily life, there was practically nothing else.
Wen Lan stared at the unfamiliar English place name, sounding it out silently several times before realising that He Luo appeared to be living in a rather remote town overseas.
Zhou Nian was also a woman, though her appearance was fairly ordinary.
Her Moments feed was far livelier than He Luo’s.
She smiled in nearly every photo and clearly loved making friends.
After scrolling through several posts, Wen Lan realised that the people Zhou Nian had her arms around were almost never the same from one picture to the next.
Her radiant smile was wonderfully infectious.
Being someone who had never been good at socialising, Wen Lan found herself secretly envying her for a few seconds.
The last contact, Li Ruohua, was a man.
He appeared to be middle-aged, with a kind and gentle face.
His profile picture showed the entrance gate of a university.
Wen Lan enlarged the image and saw the words “Shangcheng Qinghua University.”
He was probably a professor.
A thought occurred to her.
Zhixing had just mentioned that she graduated from university.
Could it be that she herself had graduated from Shangcheng Qinghua University?
After thoroughly looking through all three profiles, Wen Lan felt she finally had a basic understanding of them.
Then her finger paused over the only familiar name in her contact list.
Lu Zhixing.
What would his Moments look like?
She glanced up and found him bent over his desk, immersed in work.
The brilliant sunlight formed a faint halo above his head, making him appear almost unreal.
His slender fingers tapped lightly across the keyboard as he handled his work without ever looking up.
Wen Lan stared at his profile picture.
It was completely at odds with the man himself.
A pink strawberry gummy candy.
After looking at it for quite a while, she finally opened his profile.
Her husband had posted only two Moments.
One from seven years ago.
The other from four years ago.
The one from four years ago contained only a single sentence.
“An angel has descended into the mortal world.”
Wen Lan suddenly remembered Dudu’s age.
Her eyes remained fixed on those few simple words.
The post had been made at exactly 9:00 p.m. on March 17.