Setting aside the definition of a “husband” for a moment, Yan Xun quickly learned about the extent of his injuries from the doctor—
“Actually, your injuries aren’t too severe. It’s just a leg fracture, a mild concussion from the heavy blow to your head, and a slight blood clot inside your skull.”
“Based on the test results, the prolonged coma and amnesia are a bit unusual. We suspect that aside from the pressure of the blood clot, there might be some psychological factors at play. Since it hasn’t affected anything else, as your attending physician, I don’t recommend surgical intervention. It’s best to wait for it to recover slowly on its own.”
At this point, the doctor patted his shoulder comfortingly. “As for the timeframe, it’s hard to say for sure. A few months at the least, or up to a year or two. Of course, there’s a small probability that you might never recover your memories, but rest assured, this won’t affect your daily life and bodily functions.”
“……”
Finally, the doctor mentioned a few things to keep in mind and instructed Yan Xun to rest well.
“Okay, thank you.” Yan Xun noted them down one by one.
However, even hours after the doctor left, he still found it difficult to digest this utterly absurd reality—
It was now seven years later, the year 2022.
The current Yan Xun was 25 years old and had been married for three years.
And, his marriage partner was a man.
He had been in a car accident ten days ago and had been in a coma until waking up today.
Yan Xun: “………”
This was simply absurd!
He covered his forehead, calming himself down for a few minutes, before beginning to observe the private ward he was in.
The location was excellent, facing south. The room was meticulously decorated, and even carefully furnished.
The flowers by the bedside had just been replaced this morning; they were vibrant and beautiful. The fruit on the table also looked very fresh and was beautifully plated, topped with a few bright red lychees.
Even the texture of the bedsheets felt different from those in a regular ward.
Yan Xun was a regular at the hospital—not because he was often sick, but because he frequently accompanied his family here.
In his blurry childhood memories, white hospital wards took up the majority of the space. So, he knew very well just how expensive a private room like this was.
But now, he was living in it.
Yan Xun guessed—perhaps after growing up, he had gained the ability to support himself recuperating in such a beautiful and expensive private room, and to pay the lengthy medical bills.
He just never expected that in his future seven years later, he would be married and have a male lover…
Knock, knock.
The sound of Nurse Zhao knocking on the door interrupted Yan Xun’s thoughts. She apologetically informed him that she still couldn’t get through to his husband’s phone, offering only comfort:
“Mr. Yan, please don’t be sad. Your husband must have something important to deal with, or… maybe there’s a problem with his phone?”
“It’s fine, actually I’m…” not sad.
—Not sad at all.
Yan Xun was very certain that he was straight, because he had never had any unusual thoughts toward the same sex. So at this very moment, he was still immersed in a bizarre and horrifying feeling that he had somehow married a man seven years later.
While pondering, Yan Xun subconsciously reached for his neck, but his fingers grasped empty air.
Wait!
“Where is my jade pendant?”
“Jade pendant?” Nurse Zhao looked confused. “I’ve never seen you wear one. Could it be that your family took it off and kept it for you?”
“……”
Finding no answers, Yan Xun could only resort to other methods. “Nurse, could I borrow your phone for a moment?”
His original phone had been destroyed in the car crash, and then he fell into a coma, so naturally, he didn’t have one now that he was awake.
People can act, but technology cannot be faked.
It was only when he held this year’s latest smartphone in his hand that Yan Xun finally completely believed he was in the world seven years later.
However, his mother’s and Lin Ran’s phone numbers were either disconnected or empty. Burning with anxiety, Yan Xun could only try calling Zhou Ze.
Right now, he desperately needed to find someone he trusted enough and was close to, to ask what exactly had happened over these seven years.
“Beep…”
“Hello, the number you have dialed is currently busy. Please try again later.”
This kind of automated response usually meant the call went through, but the other side hung up. Yan Xun figured maybe the other party didn’t pick up because it was an unknown number, so he didn’t call again and sent a text message instead.
“It’s Yan Xun. I was in a car crash and I’m at the hospital. I need to talk to you.”
Swoosh~
Shortly after the sound effect for a successfully sent message, a call came through.
Yan Xun answered, “Hello, Zhou Ze?”
“……” He waited for a good while, but there was no answer from the other side.
“Hello, can you hear me?”
“……You need something?”
The male voice over the phone sounded a bit unfamiliar, but generally, it was still Zhou Ze’s voice.
Yan Xun frowned. Logically speaking, it was normal for a person’s voice to change somewhat over seven years, but for some reason, he felt that Zhou Ze sounded extremely cold.
“Here’s the thing, I’m borrowing a nurse’s phone right now…” Yan Xun didn’t know how to describe this absurd situation to the other party, so he could only say, “It’s a bit complicated. Do you have time to come over?”
“……”
Zhou Ze fell silent for a moment. He seemed to argue with someone next to him—Yan Xun couldn’t hear clearly. Anyway, afterward, the other party replied with one sentence.
“Send me your WeChat location.”
WeChat?
Yan Xun froze. Didn’t they always use QQ to contact each other in the past? Back then, Zhou Ze even mocked WeChat, saying it was for old people and swearing he’d never use it in his life.
Fortunately, Nurse Zhao already knew that Yan Xun was a special patient whose memories were stuck seven years in the past, and she helped send the location.
A quick reply came back—
“Be there in two hours.”
Yan Xun: “……Alright.”
He recalled Zhou Ze’s tone after picking up the phone, feeling extremely weirded out. If it weren’t for the familiar phone number, the familiar voice, and the fact that the person had responded to Zhou Ze’s name, Yan Xun would have thought he had got the wrong person.
He returned the phone to the nurse and continued to ask, “Nurse, do you know why I got into a car accident?”
“I’m not too clear on the exact cause. Because you weren’t brought to our hospital immediately after the crash; you were treated at a nearby hospital first, and only transferred here once your condition stabilized.”
So Yan Xun changed the question: “Then… my husband, have you seen him? What kind of person is he?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen him once or twice. But your husband is way too busy. He’s always in a rush when he comes and when he leaves. I haven’t spoken more than a few words to him.”
Therefore, Yan Xun didn’t get much useful information about his mysterious marriage partner either.
In the end, he could only ask the nurse about major events that had happened in the country over the past few years, as well as some basic common sense about daily life.
When the sun was about to set, the receptionist nurse finally called to tell Yan Xun— “Mr. Yan, your friend is here.”
Zhou Ze?
Yan Xun put down the bedside phone and turned his gaze to the ward door.
A minute later, a tall figure with long legs, wearing a leather jacket, a black mask, and a baseball cap, pushed the door open and walked straight in.
Yan Xun: “……….???”
Handsome, who are you?
Their gazes met. Zhou Ze didn’t say a word, just staring at the young man on the hospital bed. The latter didn’t look too badly hurt, only his fractured left calf was in a cast.
Four years had passed, but Yan Xun’s appearance had barely changed.
The young man sitting on the bed had cool, handsome brows and a calm, attractive face, though he looked slightly pale from having just woken up from a coma.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Zhou Ze felt that Yan Xun’s eyes right now looked a bit like the past, back in high school.
—That was also the period when they were the tightest of friends.
But ever since the two of them had a falling out four years ago, they had deleted all of each other’s contact information. Since then, Zhou Ze had never received any news about Yan Xun.
Until today, when he suddenly received a call from an unknown number…
When Zhou Ze looked at Yan Xun, the latter was also observing him.
Compared to Zhou Ze’s impassive gaze, Yan Xun’s stare was much more brazen. It eventually reached the point where it made Zhou Ze feel a little creeped out.
Perhaps because the astonishment in Yan Xun’s eyes was too obvious, Zhou Ze frowned, pulled down his mask, and couldn’t help but speak sarcastically:
“What, you don’t recognize me?”
Yan Xun looked him up and down, then down and up again, before giving a very honest answer—
“Indeed, I don’t recognize you.”
In his memory, Zhou Ze was a 1.7-meter-tall, 170-jin chubby guy. But the person in front of him was tall and lean, and even his tone of speaking was completely different.
Although his facial features still had traces of the past, no one could connect this trendy, handsome guy in front of them with the chubby kid from Class 2 of their senior year.
However, from Zhou Ze’s perspective, this was just Yan Xun deliberately using words to jab at him.
“Fine!” The man laughed in anger. “Yan Xun, you fucking called me all the way here just to say you don’t recognize me?!”
“No, I just remember you being… like this.” Yan Xun stretched out his hands and gestured a wide circle.
Zhou Ze’s face instantly darkened. “Are you calling me fat?”
Yan Xun: “……”
He stopped dwelling on the issue of being fat or not, changed the subject, and cut straight to the chase—
“The doctor said I hit my head in a car accident and lost some of my memories.”
The young man on the hospital bed pointed to his head. “All I remember is that yesterday you came to my house to sleep on the floor because your dad was having an affair. We talked about all sorts of random things all night, and then I woke up in the hospital.”
Zhou Ze: “……….”
The amount of information in those two sentences was too massive; he was stunned for quite a while.
His father having an affair, crashing at a friend’s place, sleeping on the floor, late-night talks…
Fragments of memories were like thousands of butterflies, swirling and rushing toward his face, until one quietly landed on his shoulder.
The scorching heat of early summer, the whirring old electric fan, the scattered stars outside the window, the wild and imaginative banter of their youth…
After a long while, Zhou Ze frowned. “—That’s absurd.”
“Yes.” Yan Xun rubbed his aching temples. “Even though I also think it’s absurd, that’s the situation.”
“……”
Zhou Ze felt a bit chaotic and didn’t know what to say for a moment. Yan Xun wasn’t the type to make this kind of joke, and it had no meaning anyway. But if the other party really did have amnesia, that was even more unbelievable.
Yan Xun gestured to the chair beside him. “Take a seat.”
He planned to ask Zhou Ze about his general experiences over these seven years, which obviously would take quite a bit of time.
“I can’t get through to my mom or my brother, so I can only ask you.”
“……”
Zhou Ze didn’t answer.
Back then, Yan Xun had been ruthless, saying he wanted to cut ties and never interact with him again in this lifetime. Zhou Ze had been so angry he could spit blood, swearing that if he ever spoke another word to Yan Xun, he would be a dog.
Now what was he supposed to say?
Woof woof woof?
Seeing his odd expression, Yan Xun asked, “What’s wrong?”
“……”
Zhou Ze furrowed his brows and crossed his arms, looking very displeased.
But he didn’t say anything, just scanned the room on his own and even took a lap around the bathroom, as if looking for someone.
A few seconds later, Zhou Ze meticulously scanned every inch of the ward and finally confirmed that it was just him and Yan Xun in there.
This discovery made him feel a little better.
Then, Zhou Ze spoke with a sarcastic sneer:
“Where’s your man? Why don’t you ask him?”
“………”
Yan Xun choked, immediately stunned speechless for a full minute by the words “your man.”
He opened his mouth, but found himself with nothing to say. A long while passed before he finally said, “I did. I called him many times, but I couldn’t get through.”
“I can’t find him.”
At this moment, the young man on the hospital bed lowered his eyes. His expression remained calm, yet it inexplicably revealed a sense of bewilderment. “Besides, I don’t even remember him right now…”
“……”
Zhou Ze remained silent, his expression complicated.
After a moment, he sneered and said, “Yan Xun, do you know what you look like right now?”
“What?”
Yan Xun turned to look at him, only to see Zhou Ze holding a cigarette in his mouth, laughing mercilessly:
“—An abandoned wife who just got kicked to the curb.”
“……”
