Twenty Minutes Later—
Yan Xun had to explain a lot and even showed the hospital wristband and admission information on his wrist. Eventually, he managed to convince the security guard that he wasn’t the habitual thief who always came to steal the trash cans but was actually a kind-hearted young man helping out a car-sick friend who needed to vomit.
The security guard waved his hand, “Alright, alright, no need to explain. Just put that thing back where it belongs and leave.”
“…Sorry for the trouble.”
So, Yan Xun could only lean on his crutches and, with a determined spirit, dragged the trash can back to its original spot.
All the way, he kept wondering if Chu Tingyun had done this on purpose. His first reaction was to think so, but after some thought, he figured that someone as gentle as Chu Tingyun wouldn’t pull such a childish prank.
Maybe something urgent came up for Chu Tingyun…
Lost in thought, the elevator reached the seventh floor of the inpatient department. As he passed the front desk, Nurse Zhao called out to Yan Xun.
“Xiao Yan, you’re back? A delivery guy dropped something off for you just now.”
“Dropped something off?”
Yan Xun returned to his room and indeed saw a delicately packaged box. He checked the recipient information on it; the name was indeed his.
Who sent it?
Yan Xun opened the box and found inside the latest model of a certain brand of phone, a smartwatch from the same brand, wireless earphones, and a matching charging cable.
Although everything was brand new, the outer packaging had already been removed. All the electronic devices were fully charged, and someone had even thoughtfully set them up for him.
Yan Xun opened the phone’s contact list, and there were only three people saved in it.
His mother, Lin Ran, and Chu Tingyun.
Aside from these electronic devices, there were also Yan Xun’s ID card and medical insurance card.
Who sent these things was self-evident.
Yan Xun felt a sense of relief and stopped dwelling on what had just happened.
After getting the phone, Yan Xun originally wanted to call his mother immediately, but he didn’t want her to know that he had been in a car accident, lost his memory, and might even be getting divorced soon.
After all, she and Lin Ran were both abroad, and knowing would only add to their worries.
After thinking it over, Yan Xun decided to wait a little longer, at least until his leg healed. Then he saved Zhou Ze’s number and sent a text message to inform him of the good news that he had a new phone.
Although Zhou Ze came by yesterday, it was clear that he had sneaked away from work, and he didn’t stay long before being urgently called back.
In a rush, Zhou Ze naturally didn’t think of buying a phone for his broke buddy. At the same time, Yan Xun, who had lost his memory, also forgot to ask how Zhou Ze was doing these days.
But given Zhou Ze’s good family background, his overseas education, and the fact that he had slimmed down into a handsome guy, he should be doing well.
However, the reality was quite the opposite of Yan Xun’s expectations—
The once wealthy second-generation Zhou Ze was currently gnawing on dry whole wheat bread while being scolded harshly by his manager.
“What a great opportunity! Do you realize what a great opportunity it was? I pulled so many strings just to get you a chance to appear on the hottest variety show right now!”
“And what did you do? You ran off right at the start of the recording, leaving behind a mess!”
“Now they don’t want you anymore, and we have to pay the penalty!”
Zhou Ze struggled to swallow the bread and muttered with his head down, “Then we’ll pay.”
The manager’s blood pressure skyrocketed instantly:
“Pay?! Do you know how many digits the penalty is? Do you even have any money in your pocket?!”
“……”
Zhou Ze fell silent for a moment and then said sullenly,
“Then we’ll stall for time. You can get me more gigs, and we’ll pay it off slowly.”
“You think you can still get more gigs?! Do you know who you offended today…”
The manager wanted to scold him some more, but at that moment, he received a phone call.
“Hey, yes… yes, of course, he’s available, absolutely available!”
In just two seconds, the manager’s expression changed dramatically, his eyes filled with surprise and joy.
“Don’t worry, with Zhou Ze’s appearance and his line delivery… no problem, no problem. We’ll do it as soon as possible, as soon as possible.”
Zhou Ze stopped eating his bread and hesitantly asked, “A gig?”
“A big one!”
The manager wanted to keep a stern face, but the sudden turn of events and the unexpected windfall made him unable to hold back a smile.
“There’s a big IP with a supporting role; you need to go audition for it tomorrow.”
Zhou Ze was stunned, “Me?”
“The producer called me personally and specifically asked for you. How could it be fake?!”
As he spoke, the manager had already started booking a flight. Suddenly remembering something, he took Zhou Ze’s personal phone and sternly ordered:
“Focus on work these days, and don’t contact anyone outside!”
“……”
—This led to Yan Xun not receiving any reply from Zhou Ze.
Knock, knock.
There was a knock on the door.
Yan Xun put down his phone and said, “Come in.”
It was Nurse Zhao, who had brought his evening nutritional meal and a new hospital gown. Yan Xun’s current outfit had been worn outside today, so it was dirty.
“So many gifts?”
Her gaze lingered on the items in the box for a few seconds before she teased,
“It looks like today’s date went well.”
Date?
Yan Xun was stunned and instinctively refuted,
“Nurse, you’ve misunderstood. It wasn’t a date; I was…”
I was going to discuss a divorce.
“Wasn’t it?”
She winked at him and asked in a teasing tone,
“Then who sent the gifts, and whose clothes are you wearing?”
“Clothes?”
Yan Xun instinctively touched his outfit and suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to return the clothes to Chu Tingyun. At this moment, he also found two candies in his pocket.
Pink plastic wrappers with cute lychee patterns.
—They were two lychee candies.
Yan Xun looked at the candies in his palm, dazed for a few seconds before explaining:
“It was because it rained today, and then…”
Nurse Zhao didn’t respond; she just gave him a knowing smile.
“……”
So, in the end, Yan Xun didn’t bother to explain further and quietly ate his meal.
It really was a high-end private hospital—the nutritional meal tasted excellent.
After finishing the meal and having Nurse Zhao clean up the table and leave, Yan Xun thought back on everything that had happened today and realized it was far from the reunion he had originally expected.
Even though he and Chu Tingyun had met to discuss a divorce, the fact that the other party lent him clothes, treated him to dessert, and even took the trouble to bring him back made it almost feel like…
—A brief date.
When this strange thought appeared in his mind, Yan Xun himself found it a bit absurd.
Indeed, it was very absurd.
Yan Xun looked down at the divorce agreement in his hand and reaffirmed this point.
How could it possibly be a date?
Pushing these chaotic thoughts aside, Yan Xun focused his attention on the divorce agreement.
Earlier, the lighting in the car was poor, and Chu Tingyun seemed uncomfortable, so he hadn’t been able to read it carefully. It wasn’t until now that he had the chance to thoroughly review the terms.
There wasn’t much content, and the gist was that both parties agreed to divorce, with each retaining their premarital assets.
As for the jointly owned property after marriage…
Three properties—one suburban villa, one residential apartment in the main urban area, and one downtown apartment—would all belong to Chu Tingyun.
Two cars would also go to Chu Tingyun.
All savings would go to Chu Tingyun.
The custody of the cat would go to Yan Xun.
“……”
Yan Xun read it over several times, finally confirming that once divorced, he would leave with nothing but the cat.
And although this seemingly extremely unfair divorce agreement favored Chu Tingyun in every way, Chu Tingyun himself had not signed it.
But Yan Xun had.
This meant that before he lost his memory, he had accepted these terms. Not only was he willing to be divorced, but he was also willing to walk away with nothing.
Why?
Yan Xun opened his phone and began searching for more information about his past. The most familiar login time on QQ was from three years ago, but there was nothing useful there.
So Yan Xun turned to WeChat. He had heard from Nurse Zhao that everyone now used WeChat for social networking, and he figured he would be no exception.
The data from his old phone hadn’t been transferred before it was completely destroyed, so naturally, there were no chat records in WeChat.
But Yan Xun saw his Moments cover photo—it was indeed that marriage certificate photo.
The settings showed that only the last three days of Moments were visible, and the hidden Moments were sparse.
The first post was from four years ago, during Yan Xun’s junior year of college.
He had posted a photo of himself with his mother and brother at the airport, sending them off as they went abroad.
His mother looked much older, but she seemed very happy and excited. Lin Ran was still the same as ever, sitting in a wheelchair with a cold, gloomy, and silent expression.
The second post was from three years ago, when Yan Xun got married to Chu Tingyun right after graduating from college.
Perhaps because he had deleted many contacts, there were very few likes on this marriage announcement post.
The third post was from two years ago.
On their wedding anniversary, Yan Xun posted a bouquet of flowers and a photo of them holding hands.
Chu Tingyun’s hand was easy to recognize because he still wore that wedding ring on his ring finger.
The last post was a photo of a kitten’s back.
Just as Chu Tingyun had said, Yan Xun had brought a kitten home.
And that was where the records of happiness abruptly ended.
Each post perfectly matched the information Yan Xun had gathered over the past few days, corroborating each other.
Yan Xun looked over those photos again and again but didn’t glean any more information.
As for his contacts, there were only about a dozen people on his list.
He checked each contact, one by one. All those friends, whether he recognized them or not, had gone on to lead rich and varied new lives, but none showed any traces of Yan Xun.
And of his only two family members, Lin Ran had blocked him, and his mother’s Moments were filled only with Lin Ran.
She meticulously recorded every detail of his life: eating, reading, painting, surgery, rehabilitation training…
Many posts.
Each photo was accompanied by encouraging words, allowing one to feel the overwhelming warmth of a mother’s love in every word.
“……”
Yan Xun looked at it for a long time.
He couldn’t help but click on the chat box with his mother, pulled up the keyboard, and stumbled and typed a lot of words.
But after typing, Yan Xun looked at the note “Mom” on it, and suddenly deleted it all word by word.
Then, he exited without saying a word.
In five minutes, Yan Xun had gone through his thin contact list from top to bottom. In the end, the amnesiac Yan Xun only found traces of himself with one person.
Because that person’s background picture was the same as Yan Xun’s—the familiar wedding photo.
Their profile picture was a snow-capped mountain, and their contact name was saved as “Wife.”
Yan Xun: “……….”
In fact, he had immediately guessed who it was, but he still compared the phone number in the contact list, ultimately confirming the person’s identity.
—Chu Tingyun.
At that moment, Yan Xun suddenly recalled the man’s face, remembering his casual tone back in the café.
【Yan Xun, you didn’t used to call me Mr. Chu.】
【Then what did I call you before?】
How had Chu Tingyun responded at that time? The man had simply smiled indifferently and said:
【Whatever you like. It doesn’t matter anymore.】
He hadn’t given him an answer; he just said it didn’t matter anymore…
So it wasn’t until he saw the contact name on WeChat that Yan Xun finally got the answer.
The answer that Chu Tingyun had said didn’t matter.
“……”
Yan Xun instinctively rubbed the snow-capped mountain profile picture, a bit lost in thought.
However, at that moment, his fingertips suddenly felt a slight vibration. The next second, a line of gray text appeared in the blank chat window—
I patted “Wife’s” butt said, I really miss you.
Yan Xun: “………”
“??????”
His mind went blank for a moment.
…What?!
What on earth was that?!!
He hadn’t sent anything just now!
Yan Xun stared at that little line of text, feeling as if all the blood in his body was rushing backward.
He was dumbfounded for several seconds, and it wasn’t until his ears grew hot that he frantically tried to remember how to retract the message.
But just then, the chat window already showed, “The other party is typing…”
The typing indicator flashed for a few seconds, but in the end, the snow-capped mountain only sent back a succinct and powerful—
“?”
Yan Xun: “……….”!
