Gu Ye returned quickly.
In his hands were a bottle of red antiseptic, gauze, and a few ointments whose names were hard to read. They were the supplies the mine had prepared when he got injured.
“Come here.”
He sat on the edge of the bed and gestured to her.
Lin Wan scooted over and first stretched out her injured arm.
Gu Ye rolled up her sleeve. When he saw the bruises and finger marks mixed with scrapes, his brows immediately knitted together.
Without saying anything, he dipped a cotton swab in the antiseptic. His movements weren’t exactly gentle, but when he actually applied it, it was clear he was deliberately holding back his strength.
When the medicine touched the wound, Lin Wan’s body trembled almost imperceptibly, but she didn’t make a sound.
Gu Ye glanced up at her.
Lin Wan immediately lowered her eyelashes and muttered defensively, “It’s a little cold.”
So even knowing he had amnesia, she still didn’t dare say she was in pain.
Gu Ye’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He didn’t say anything and continued treating the wound, though his movements grew noticeably lighter.
After bandaging her arm, he stood up and moved in front of her.
“Raise your head.”
Lin Wan obediently tilted her face up.
He bent down, one hand lifting the heavy bangs from her forehead while the other held the cotton swab soaked with antiseptic.
In that position, his shadow nearly enveloped her. The distance between them was so close he could see the fine baby hairs on her face.
Their warm breaths intertwined.
Lin Wan unconsciously held her breath, her fingers quietly clutching the corner of her clothes.
Gu Ye focused on the wound as he carefully applied the medicine.
The cool touch made Lin Wan suck in a quiet breath. “Sss…”
His movement paused and he looked down at her.
Their eyes collided unexpectedly.
In his deep black pupils was reflected her slightly flustered expression.
Her eyes were bright, as if holding a layer of watery light.
“Does it hurt?” he asked in a low, hoarse voice, not even realizing that it sounded softer than before.
Lin Wan hurriedly shook her head, the tips of her ears warming. “…It doesn’t.”
Gu Ye looked at her reddening ear tips, his gaze flickering slightly.
He said nothing more and continued what he was doing, but his movements slowed noticeably, his breath occasionally brushing across her forehead.
Lin Wan felt the spot touched by his breath itch slightly and couldn’t help shrinking her neck.
“Don’t move,” he warned softly, with a patience he didn’t even realize he had.
To keep her still, he reached out and gently held her chin between his fingers, fixing her head in place.
His fingertips were rough with thin calluses, warm and coarse to the touch.
Lin Wan’s whole body stiffened instantly. She didn’t dare move at all, only feeling the skin he touched tingle as if electricity had passed through it.
Gu Ye also paused for a moment.
The skin beneath his hand was delicate; he could almost feel the pulse of the blood vessels beneath it.
He quickly steadied his mind and focused on the wound, though his fingertips unconsciously rubbed lightly once.
The room was so quiet that only their faint breathing could be heard.
When he finally finished treating her forehead, Gu Ye immediately straightened up and stepped back, putting some distance between them.
He turned and set the medicine bottles back on the table a little too quickly, as if he were in a hurry for some reason.
“Brother Ye! The food’s here!”
Wang Lei’s booming voice and knocking came right on cue.
Gu Ye frowned, letting out a small breath of relief before walking over to open the door.
Lin Wan remained sitting where she was, touching her still-warm earlobe.
This man was a little different from what she had imagined. Was it because of the amnesia that his real personality was showing?
Then she had to seize this chance. What if he recovered his memory later and became hard to approach again?
Gu Ye opened the door.
Wang Lei stood outside holding two aluminum lunchboxes, grinning as he handed them over while trying to sneak glances inside the room.
“What are you looking at?” Gu Ye blocked the doorway.
“Brother Ye, made up already?” Wang Lei looked full of gossip. He was sure they had—otherwise, how could a guy like Gu Ye specially ask him to buy food for sister-in-law?
“You very free? If you are, go work in the mine.”
Wang Lei had no intention of going. Using the excuse of taking care of Gu Ye had already earned him a few days of rest.
“I get it, I get it,” he laughed.
“Married couples are all like that—argue at the head of the bed and make up at the foot of it.”
Too lazy to explain, Gu Ye took the lunchboxes and shut the door.
Back inside, he placed them on the table and pushed one toward Lin Wan.
“Eat.”
Lin Wan looked at the steaming food in front of her—vegetables and meat both—and was momentarily stunned.
She looked up at Gu Ye.
Was this because he heard her say she’d been locked up and starved, so he specially bought food for her?
Unaware of her surprise, Gu Ye had already opened his own portion and began eating with his head down, not looking at her.
“Hurry up and eat.”
His portion was simple—one or two vegetable dishes with barely any oil.
A faint change passed through Lin Wan’s eyes. She picked up her chopsticks and began eating slowly, bite by bite, very carefully.
Gu Ye ate quickly. After finishing, he simply sat there watching her eat without speaking.
Seeing how obedient and quiet she looked while eating, that indescribable feeling stirred in his chest again.
He couldn’t imagine what kind of life she had lived before.
Sold by her parents. Beaten by traffickers. Yet she still managed to find her way here…
He didn’t even dare imagine what kind of determination had kept her going.
Originally, he had planned to use his amnesia as an excuse to get rid of this trouble.
Now it had become complicated.
When Lin Wan finally put down her chopsticks, he spoke, his voice emotionless.
“Tell me.”
“What happened between us before.”
“Tell me in detail.”
Lin Wan had long been prepared. She placed her hands on her knees, fingers twisting together, and slowly began the story she had rehearsed in her heart.
“We… we met by accident three months ago. At that time my mother said she was taking me to town to meet a marriage prospect…”
Gu Ye looked up. A marriage meeting?
“But that man… he kept touching me behind my back and spoke very unpleasantly.”
Her voice dropped, filled with embarrassment. “I got scared and wanted to leave, but he wouldn’t let me. He grabbed my arm and tried to drag me into an alley…”
Gu Ye’s brows furrowed.
“Just then you happened to pass by…” She said this while her eyes brightened slightly as she looked at him.
“You knocked him away in just a few moves, like someone trained in fighting—clean and decisive. Do you remember?”
Gu Ye searched his memory. There was nothing.
“At the time… you not only dealt with him, you also warned him. I was too far away to hear what you said, but he seemed very afraid of you and never came to bother me again.”
Lin Wan added quietly, sounding a little satisfied.
Gu Ye imagined the scene. It did sound like something he might do.
But wasn’t it a bit too coincidental?
“And then?” he asked. “Because of that, you followed me?”
He still felt the reason wasn’t convincing enough.
Lin Wan shook her head, her eyes dimming.
“No. Later… I found out that the man my mother brought me to meet wasn’t from a proper family at all. He was a hooligan. Just because… his family was willing to give five hundred yuan as a bride price.”
“They knew that man wasn’t good…”
Gu Ye understood instantly.
She hadn’t just been unlucky to run into a thug during a matchmaking meeting.
The man she was meant to meet had been a thug all along—one wrapped in the disguise of a bride price.
Her family had pushed her into a pit of fire for money.
The doubts he had about why she would easily follow a hooligan suddenly felt impossible to voice.
In her situation back then, he—the hooligan who had stepped in to help—probably seemed far better than that thug who came with a clearly priced bride price.
She lifted her head, her clear eyes looking at him with a desperate sort of dependence.
“Gu Ye… back then… you were the only one who was good to me.”