I’ve Given You My Whole Heart
The name Yao Zhen uttered was plain and unfamiliar.
Liang Jiming’s brain felt shrouded in fog; his nerves throbbed with a dull, persistent ache. Hearing Yao Zhen’s words, his instinct was to disbelieve. He remained eerily calm.
Yao Zhen blinked: “Do you understand?”
Liang Jiming’s eyes showed no ripple of emotion. He continued to watch Yao Zhen silently, his gaze full of scrutiny. His eyes were too sharp; even in his weakened state, they carried a natural pressure, as if they could pierce through skin and see directly into a person’s heart.
Being stared at like that made Yao Zhen feel a bit guilty, but he didn’t show it. “…You really don’t remember?”
Liang Jiming didn’t hold the hand offered to him. Instead, he withdrew his hand from Yao Zhen’s palm, a clear gesture of distance and rejection.
“How can you prove it?” Liang Jiming spoke. His voice was raspy, but his words were clear and logical. “The moment you saw me wake up, you mocked me for not being dead. I don’t believe that is the attitude one should have toward a lover.”
The fake worry and affection on Yao Zhen’s face instantly froze.
Hah. As expected of a big-shot lawyer—even with a broken head, his logic was still intact.
Yao Zhen’s mind raced. He quickly shifted his expression to one of being misunderstood and hurt, seasoned with a dash of anger. “What do you mean? You think I’m lying to you?”
He pointed at the wound on Liang Jiming’s forehead, his voice becoming emotional: “Look at yourself! If I hadn’t picked you up from the beach and called a doctor, who knows what would have happened to you! Why would I lie? To get a burden who can’t even take care of himself because of amnesia? I mocked you because I was angry! We had a fight and you ran out into a typhoon and ended up like this—am I not allowed to be mad?!”
Yao Zhen’s eyes turned red with anger. He performed the role of a worried, frustrated lover questioned by his partner to perfection.
However, Liang Jiming’s gaze didn’t soften.
A sharp headache struck him again. He raised a hand to press hard against his temple. When he looked up a moment later, his eyes were still cold.
“I appreciate your help,” Liang Jiming stated calmly. “But that doesn’t seem to have a necessary logical connection to our relationship.”
Before Yao Zhen could argue again, Liang Jiming delivered his conclusion: “You saved me perhaps out of kindness, or perhaps because you have other motives.”
Yao Zhen’s teeth ached. This guy’s intuition is too damn accurate.
He took a deep breath and met Liang Jiming’s skeptical gaze. “Fine. You want me to prove it, right?”
Yao Zhen acted as if he were deeply hurt. His voice went cold, and he said petulantly, “Your phone… forget it, your phone probably fell into the sea.”
He took out his own phone and quickly swiped through his photo album, picking out a random group photo from a party with his “bad friends” a few months back.
In the photo, figures were moving in a blurred, kaleidoscopic mess. He pointed at two figures embracing intimately in a corner and said confidently: “This was my birthday last year, at the club we always go to. Someone caught this candid shot…”
The people in the photo were so blurred you couldn’t even see their features; the “intimacy” was more a trick of light and shadow.
Liang Jiming’s gaze lingered on the blurry image for two seconds. He neither agreed nor disagreed.
Yao Zhen didn’t wait for him to speak and immediately added: “You only drink hand-poured coffee, no sugar or milk. You have light tastes and don’t eat greasy or salty food; you prefer Western cuisine. You habitually sleep on your right side and are an extremely light sleeper—the slightest bit of light keeps you awake. There’s more; I know all your habits…”
These were all things he’d pieced together or guessed from the few times he’d glimpsed the man from a distance before. Anyway, an amnesiac wouldn’t be able to verify the truth of these details.
Liang Jiming remained silent. His eyes were like a deep pond, making it impossible to read his emotions.
Yao Zhen glared at him. A dead silence hung in the air.
After a while, Liang Jiming seemed to close his eyes briefly due to a lack of energy. When he opened them again, the defensiveness in his eyes had receded slightly, replaced by a profound weariness.
“I’m sorry, I’m tired,” he said flatly, ending their brief confrontation. He didn’t accept Yao Zhen’s story, but he didn’t argue anymore either.
That was enough; Yao Zhen felt smug. As long as Liang Jiming didn’t expose him immediately, this game could continue. It would be perfect if this guy fell for it and actually fell in love with him—then he could dump him without mercy. Oho!
Liang Jiming fell asleep, his eyes closing quickly against a splitting headache.
Yao Zhen stepped out of the guest room and called his assistant, Xiao Wei. “Go check with the Coast Guard. Was this guy a passenger on that missing yacht? Tell them he’s been found, he’s a friend of mine, and I’ll take care of him. Tell them they don’t need to worry about it.”
His father was the biggest investment developer on Feijing Island; the Coast Guard wouldn’t deny him a small favor like this.
After handling that, Yao Zhen took out his phone to send a message. Zhong Hua was his elementary school classmate who was interning at Shen Zhijie’s law firm. Liang Jiming was the firm’s youngest senior partner and the idol of this old classmate.
[What has your idol been up to lately?]
The old classmate replied: [Young Master, you ask me about Lawyer Liang every other day. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had a crush on him.]
Yao Zhen casually sent over two vouchers for his company’s high-end hotels.
The reply was instant: [Young Master is generous.]
Yao Zhen: [Speak human.]
Old Classmate: [He’s paused all his current work. He’s heading to Switzerland for a three-month senior scholar research project. Our director recommended him. Only the elite get to go—you need a big shot’s referral just to get a ticket. It’s for boosting his credentials and networking.]
Yao Zhen scoffed. He hadn’t even married into the family yet, and he was already leaching off his future father-in-law.
He narrowed his eyes. If that was the case, why was Liang Jiming here?
But… a three-month project?
His mother had mentioned on the phone a few days ago that Mrs. Shen was accompanying Director Shen to the US for heart surgery; they’d be staying there for the next six months. Meanwhile, Shen Jinghe was an archaeologist who had recently left for a new research project in the Great Northwest. When she got busy, she often kept her phone off for months.
This meant that even if Liang Jiming went missing, no one would notice for quite a while.
Heaven was helping him.
Yao Zhen thought maliciously that he really had no morals. But it wasn’t his fault he was a heartless, useless rich kid. It was just Liang Jiming’s bad luck to fall into his hands.
An hour later, Xiao Wei returned with the full story.
Liang Jiming had come here alone for a vacation, staying at another hotel on the island, and had planned to check out that day. For some unknown reason, he had rented a yacht to go out to sea yesterday at noon. The yacht owner probably thought the typhoon wouldn’t arrive so quickly and took the job. In the end, something went wrong on the return trip, and Liang Jiming was the only lucky survivor from the whole boat.
Xiao Wei had smoothed things over; the Coast Guard wouldn’t come looking for trouble. He had also brought over Liang Jiming’s suitcase and ID from the other hotel.
“He had booked a car for this morning to go to the airport. It seems he was flying to Zurich,” Xiao Wei said.
Yao Zhen glanced at the open suitcase: a laptop, a stack of legal documents, a few changes of clothes, and some miscellaneous daily items. That was it.
Finally, he picked up the passport nearby and flipped it open.
Liang Jiming. Male. Thirty years old. Chinese nationality.
The face in the passport photo looked decent enough, but he was a wolf at heart—a real piece of work.
Yao Zhen had once confronted him to his face about whether his motives for getting close to Shen Jinghe were impure. At the time, Liang Jiming’s tone was cold and disdainful. He had only said two things: “So what if they are? What does it have to do with you?” He hadn’t even cared that Yao Zhen hit the record button.
Later, when he played the recording for Shen Jinghe, she simply said she knew what she was doing and told him not to interfere. She still didn’t break up with him; they were even set to marry by the end of the year.
He suspected this guy had put a spell on her. He had to save Jinghe from this fire.
Yao Zhen put down the passport and gave his assistant another order: “Go buy two rings.”
Xiao Wei was stunned.
Yao Zhen raised his left hand and gave it a little shake. “One for me to wear, and the other—”
Recalling the approximate feel of Liang Jiming’s fingers when he held them earlier, he added, “Make it one size larger than mine.”
Liang Jiming remained in a deep sleep.
Yao Zhen was bored out of his mind. The manager and the rest of the staff were handling the messy hotel affairs, but with the typhoon outside, he had nowhere else to go. He ended up staying by the man’s side, playing games all day long.
It wasn’t until evening that Liang Jiming woke up again. Hearing movement in the guest room, the young master got up and pushed the door open.
Liang Jiming was already up, sitting on the edge of the bed drinking water. His gaze shifted over and stopped on Yao Zhen’s face as he walked in.
Yao Zhen stepped forward and cocked an eyebrow. “Awake? How much do you remember?”
Liang Jiming slowly finished his water, staring at him the whole time. After a long while, he set the glass down and said calmly, “We are a couple. That’s what you said.”
Yao Zhen nodded. “Believe me now?”
Liang Jiming didn’t take a stand. Although he remembered nothing, his basic logic was still there. The young master in front of him was so beautiful he was almost eye-catching, yet Liang Jiming instinctively didn’t think he was the type to fall for a man.
Yao Zhen reached out and opened his palm in front of him. Liang Jiming’s eyes fell upon two matching rings set with tiny diamonds lying in the clean palm.
“These are our engagement rings,” Yao Zhen lied through his teeth without missing a beat. “Yours was found in the pocket of the pants you changed out of. Luckily, it didn’t get washed away by the sea. Take a look.”
Liang Jiming stared at the two rings in silence. After a moment, he reached out and took one. It was a very simple design, with the letters “Z&M” engraved on the inside of the band.
Yao Zhen explained, “Those two letters stand for Yao Zhen, my name, and Ah-Ming, your name.”
Sitting on the bed, Liang Jiming looked up at him. “You weren’t wearing a ring this morning.”
His brain is a mess but his observation skills are sharp, Yao Zhen thought, letting out a dry laugh. “You fought with me yesterday and ran out. I was worried all night—am I not allowed to take off my ring because I was angry?”
Liang Jiming asked, “Why did we fight?”
Yao Zhen blurted out an answer, accusing him righteously: “I gave you my whole heart! I even gave up my family inheritance and got exiled to this godforsaken island for you, yet you’re always suspicious and jealous over nothing. Don’t you think you owe me an apology? You even wrongly accused me of lying to you just now. You’re too much.”
Liang Jiming fell silent.
Yao Zhen tilted his chin up and signaled him: “Apologize.”
Liang Jiming stood up and casually set the ring on the nightstand. Ignoring him, he went to the wardrobe to get some clothes.
While he was unconscious, Yao Zhen had the foresight to have his assistant buy things to decorate the suite so it looked like they lived together. All of Liang Jiming’s clothes and toiletries were brand new; Yao Zhen had no intention of giving him his old things, fearing they might trigger his memory.
Being ignored made Yao Zhen a bit displeased. “Hey, I’m talking to—”
Holding his change of clothes, Liang Jiming suddenly stopped before entering the bathroom and looked back. “Want to wash together?”
Yao Zhen: “???”
Liang Jiming said calmly, “Since we are a couple, what’s the problem with showering together? Have we never done it before?”
“…”
Dammit, what a pervert.