Tang Ning’s nerves were stretched taut. She didn’t dare move.
She stared at the face in the mirror.
—Milky-smooth skin, cold porcelain fairness, brows like distant mountains, a full forehead, peach-blossom eyes that tilted slightly upward, black-and-white clearly defined irises. From her face to every single feature, everything was exquisitely refined—even the curve of her jawline looked as if it had been measured and drawn with a ruler. Amid that clear, delicate face lingered just a hint of the soft, feminine allure that only comes from being deeply cherished and spoiled.
She reached out a hand and pinched her cheek hard.
“Ow…” She sucked in a sharp breath and immediately let go.
It hurt.
It was a real face.
Her mouth fell slightly open. For a long moment, she struggled before finally forcing out a sentence: “I just got into a car accident… and you guys took the opportunity to give me plastic surgery on the side?”
The hospital room was perfectly quiet. Sunlight fell silently through the window.
Jian Wei, standing beside the bed, spoke with gentle, ultra-patient professionalism: “President Tang, this is your face. Look—you’ve always had this glowing, top-tier celebrity-level beauty. No matter where you go, you’re a walking goddess managing divine looks. Everyone agrees this is God-mode modeling; every single frame of you is mesmerizing…”
Tang Ning: “……”
Tang Ning waved her hand modestly. “Okay, okay, that’s enough.”
Where on earth did they find this special-care nurse? She couldn’t do anything else, but her rainbow-fart compliments were on another level.
Tang Ning turned her gaze back to the mirror.
She still found it a little hard to believe.
The face looking back at her had the outline of her teenage self, but it was a hundred levels more beautiful than back then. Golden and jade-like, she had no idea how it had been nurtured to look this way.
Looking at it now, the doctor hadn’t lied to her. She really had… soul-transmigrated? No—lost her memory.
Half an hour earlier, she had woken up in this very hospital room.
Although the medical record clearly stated “car accident causing head trauma and coma,” she had zero recollection of any such accident. The last memory in her mind was from five years ago—
Back then, her father’s company had hit a massive cash-flow crisis. She didn’t know who else to turn to. In desperation, she stood under the blazing midday sun and called Jiang Linye, who was far away in the United States.
It was nearly forty degrees Celsius outside at noon. There was a twelve-hour time difference. She was frantic with worry and called him over and over before he finally picked up.
Jiang Linye sat on the other side of the ocean, listening quietly until she finished. Then, in a slow, unhurried tone, he spoke.
His voice was lazy, cold, and utterly heartless:
“Tang Ning, we were just high-school desk mates for one year. Are we really that close?”
“What kind of face do you have to make me fly back to the country to help you?”
Just those two sentences—light and effortless—had sentenced her to death.
Thinking back on it now, Tang Ning suddenly felt a wave of worry.
At that time, her father had been so furious he suffered a minor stroke and was rushed to the hospital. She had no idea how he was doing now… or whether the company was even still around.
“President Tang.” Seeing the melancholy on her face, Jian Wei asked cautiously, “Are you thirsty? Would you like some water?”
Her thoughts snapped back to the present.
Hospitals five years later had become so much more humane…
Tang Ning sighed inwardly. Even the special-care nurse addressed clients as “President So-and-So,” doing her best to make patients feel like big shots.
She nodded with dignified restraint. “Yes.”
Jian Wei: “Right away, President Tang.”
The private VIP ward had a small reception area and kitchenette separated by a wall.
Tang Ning reminded her: “If there’s ice, add some ice.”
“Certainly, President Tang.”
“If there are any snacks, bring me a few too. I’m a little hungry.”
“Of course, President Tang.”
Tang Ning: “……”
She still felt a bit awkward. “You don’t have to keep calling me President Tang.”
“But…” Jian Wei had already returned with a small tray holding water and snacks. “You are our president.”
Tang Ning slowly blinked out a single: “…?”
She was starting to sense that things were heading in a very fantastical direction. “Say that again. I—I’m your what president?”
Jian Wei froze for a second, then hurriedly apologized. “I’m so sorry, that was my oversight.”
How could she have forgotten? Her boss had amnesia.
The next second, before Tang Ning could even process what was happening, Jian Wei pulled a laser pointer out of nowhere, aimed it upward, and pressed the button. A white curtain slowly descended from the wall in front of them, and a slideshow appeared on the screen.
Tang Ning: “???”
Have you people predicted my amnesia or something? You even prepared a fucking PowerPoint??
“Please allow me to reintroduce myself properly,” Jian Wei said. “My name is Jian Wei, and I’m your personal lifestyle assistant.” She projected her phone onto the screen and began flipping through the slides while explaining. “This is your company—the one I currently work for—‘TJ Syrup.’ You always joke that the name sounds like a sugar factory, but ‘TJ’ is actually a network technology company under the Tang Corporation. We specialize in the high-end pet market, focusing exclusively on smart pet products…”
Tang Ning was actually enjoying this. She casually tore open a bag of potato chips. “So… I’m rich now?”
Her old man probably hadn’t gone bankrupt after all. How wonderful.
Jian Wei smiled. “Yes, you are. You and President Jiang founded this company in the first year after your marriage, and now our annual profits have already reached…”
Tang Ning jolted so hard she nearly spat out the chips she hadn’t swallowed yet. “I’m married?! To which President Jiang?!”
The sudden shock made her head buzz again.
Jian Wei quickly steadied her. “President Tang, are you okay?”
“President Tang is fucking fantastic. Just tell me which President Jiang!”
Jian Wei picked up her phone and pulled up his Baidu Baike (Chinese Wikipedia) page for her.
How many “President Jiangs” could there possibly be?
The Tang family’s golden son-in-law, current Chairman of the Board and CEO, Ivy League graduate, self-made from nothing. The moment he returned to the country, he took over the Tang Corporation’s near-bankrupt mess, turned the tables against all odds, and in just five years expanded the business from real estate into technology—achieving nearly 50% revenue growth for three consecutive years…
“Jiang Linye.”
Tang Ning’s temples throbbed. She scrolled down the page frantically until she reached an interview video clip of Jiang Linye.
It was a short VCR—probably from some gala event. The car pulled up at the entrance, and an attendant stepped forward to open the door.
The moment the man stepped out, flashbulbs exploded like crazy. He paused at the entrance, not even glancing at the cameras. His posture was impossibly straight, his entire aura cold and aloof. The custom black suit was impeccably tailored and pressed, the cuffs at his wrists exquisitely made, and the sapphire crystal of his mechanical watch caught the light.
A reporter rushed forward with questions. They asked three sentences; he answered with a single “Mm.”
Just like in Tang Ning’s memory—this guy possessed the kind of handsomeness that no bad lighting or deathly angle could ever hide.
He was more mature now. The plant-like, distant coolness of his teenage years had clearly faded, but the arrogance? That had crossed through time intact, not diminished in the slightest—
Even the final, expressionless glance he threw at the camera was dripping with attitude, practically screaming four giant characters across his face:
I’m fucking awesome.
Tang Ning: “…”
A bolt from the blue.
In that instant, she lost the ability to speak. Her mind was flooded with barrage-style comments exploding one after another: “Oh my god how the hell did I end up married to this guy,” “Was I the one who put a spell on him? How else would he agree to marry me,” “Exactly how many humiliating, rights-trampling contracts did I sign for him to marry me?!”
Seeing her boss frozen in place, Jian Wei assumed she was remembering something and kindly explained: “You probably don’t remember, but we’ve always promoted the company culture this way… The ‘T’ stands for Tang Ning; the ‘J’ stands for Jiang Linye. And the brand ‘TJ Syrup’ doesn’t just symbolize the union of two young souls—it also represents two passionately beating hearts: I am in you, you are in me, intertwined and inseparable…”
She didn’t get to finish.
Tang Ning gripped her hand hard.
Jian Wei: “?”
“Quick…” President Tang’s breathing was unsteady. “Quick—call the nurses’ station.”
“President Tang, what’s wrong?!”
“I… I’m a little short of oxygen…”
“…”
*****
The city lights were just beginning to glow as night fell over the streets. Neon signs flickered to life one by one.
On the elevated highway, headlights flashed in endless lines, cars jammed bumper-to-bumper like a sluggish dragon. The constant blare of horns filled the air.
Streetlights cast dim, mottled glows. As vehicles inched forward, fractured beams of light slid past the corners of his eyes and fell onto the documents in his hand, briefly illuminating broken fragments of text.
The car had been silent for a long time.
Jiang Linye closed the medical report that had been sent from the hospital. He said nothing.
Amnesia…
He rubbed his brow, lashes lowered, lost in thoughts no one could guess.
“President Jiang.” Seeing his exhausted expression, the assistant spoke up carefully. “It’s already very late. Are you still going to the hospital?”
The man’s voice came out low and clipped, unwilling to elaborate: “Yes.”
The assistant hesitated for a second before venturing, “But Madam might already be resting.”
Besides, she’s been making trouble every single day—what’s one more day?
Wouldn’t it be the same if he visited tomorrow?
Jiang Linye shifted slightly. His fingers moved away from his brow bone. In silence, he turned his gaze toward the assistant.
Tall and imposing, with deep-set features, his presence felt especially cold and hard in the dim boundary between dusk and full night. His jaw was clenched, his profile sharp and lean. Passing streetlights swept across his face in intermittent flashes as the car moved. He said nothing, but the chill in his eyes gradually deepened.
The assistant jolted, instantly realizing he’d flattered the wrong way: “Go, go—we’ll go no matter how late. Madam won’t be asleep this early. What if she’s still waiting for you? We can’t let her wait in vain.”
The accident ahead cleared. The car accelerated, light and shadow whipping past in a blur.
Jiang Linye said no more. Half his face was swallowed in shadow, thin lips pressed into a straight line.
He really wanted to see—
Just how many excuses Tang Ning could come up with to divorce him.
In reality, though, at this hour, Tang Ning really was asleep.
Perhaps because of the recent car accident and surgery, she had only been awake a few hours before exhaustion hit her hard again.
In a drowsy haze, she dreamed of the aloof, high-school version of Jiang Linye.
Even though her father had funded him, that guy still carried his eyes on top of his head like he was superior to everyone.
She was extremely annoyed. Her brows furrowed tightly in her sleep. She turned over—and her hand was suddenly held.
“…?!” Tang Ning’s eyes snapped open.
The night was quiet and still. The room was peaceful. The curtains rose and fell gently. No lights were on; only pale silver moonlight poured in through the window.
Like a slow-motion comic panel, she turned her head inch by inch.
In the hazy, dreamlike light, she finally made out the man’s face.
He was very tall. He must have rushed straight here from the airport—still in his formal suit, no time to change. He sat at the bedside, head slightly bowed, cheek resting close to her palm.
Tang Ning’s mind blanked for a moment. The cold, indifferent face from her teenage years overlapped perfectly with the one before her now. That eternally cool, handsome look hadn’t changed, but his aura had grown more restrained, quiet, and distant.
Seeing her turn toward him, Jiang Linye asked in a low voice, “Awake?”
For some reason, the moment she sensed his presence, breathing became difficult.
So she didn’t speak—just slowly blinked.
But he didn’t seem to care whether she answered. He simply called her in a hoarse voice:
“Ningning.”
“…”
He asked hoarsely, “I heard you lost your memory?”
Tang Ning hesitated. “…Mm.”
“Stuck at twenty years old?”
“…Mm.”
The hospital room fell silent for a beat.
Tang Ning’s heart pounded. She was just about to speak—
The next second, Jiang Linye reached into his bag, pulled out a copy of Advanced Algebra, 5th Edition: Overview, and slapped it down on her bedside table with a sharp pa.
Tang Ning: “?”
“Come on.”
He gave a gentle, almost kind laugh.
“Use that twenty-year-old brain of yours and calculate it for me.”