The darkness ended abruptly at the moment the horizon turned fish-belly white, and the remaining silence gradually dispersed in the cool morning air.

A thin figure stood barefoot in the center of the room, and there seemed to be some inexplicable confusion on his face.

How did he get here?

Why was he……alone again?

Uncertain, he looked for the bathroom, confirmed that it was empty, then turned around and went out.

“Chuzhou?”

“Chuzhou, are you here?”

The empty, spacious house practically squeezed an echo from his voice, but there was no response.

He was really the only one in the house.

He couldn’t help but frown, and returned to the bedroom again. His gaze swept between the bed and the cabinet, and then he bent down to feel under the pillow.

There was nothing.

How could it not be here?

He flipped over the two pillows, lifted the quilt, and searched the entire bed, including underneath it.

Then there were the sofa and coffee table in the living room, the kitchen counters, the bathroom shelves, the dirty clothes rack, the laundry machine…..

Nothing.

Where was his cell phone?

What should he do if he didn’t have it?

He stood there at a loss. After a while, he returned to his senses and went back to the bedroom to change clothes, then walked out of the house empty-handed.

It was late in the morning for the people of Wancheng, and it was already bright, but there were only a few sporadic breakfast shops along the way. Steam could be seen rising in the distance.

It took Pei Xi nearly an hour to walk from home to the He Group building.

The receptionist noticed his arrival with keen eyes, which lit up. He immediately stood and watched him attentively the whole way. “President Pei, are you looking for President He?”

Pei Xi didn’t know why he had called him ‘President Pei,’ but he still nodded: “En.”

The receptionist: “President He is currently in a morning meeting. Do you think you can wait for a while, or will you go up directly?”

Pei Xi: “He’s in a meeting?”

The receptionist gave a professional smile: “Yes, there is about twenty minutes left.”

Pei Xi considered for a moment, then said: “I’ll wait for him to finish first.”

That said, he turned around and went to the rest area.

The receptionist and the colleague beside him exchanged a mutually understanding look. The latter immediately got up to prepare hot tea, while the former dutifully handed over the news of Pei Xi’s arrival as soon as he could.

Important matters must be prioritized, and this important news could not be delayed.

He Group was rich and imposing, and the hospitality tea prepared in the lobby was all first-class.

Pei Xi had been blown the entire way by the cool autumn breeze, and when he held the cup of hot tea, he felt the temperature of his hands slowly warming up.

He initially thought he would have to wait the full twenty minutes, but unexpectedly, after taking a few sips of tea, the person he wanted to see magically appeared in front of him.

“Chuzhou.”

His eyes brightened slightly, and the end of his tone quietly rose: “Don’t you still have a meeting? Why did you come down so fast?”

“It ended. There wasn’t much content in today’s morning meeting.” As he spoke, He Chuzhou covertly observed his expression.

Sure enough, he was confused again.

It seemed that his preparations were not in vain.

“Have you had breakfast?” He Chuzhou asked as he sent a message to a person he had just added to his contacts the day before.

Pei Xi shook his head: “No.”

He Chuzhou: “Is there anything you want to eat?”

Pei Xi: “Anything is fine.”

“Okay,” He Chuzhou responded. After making an appointment with the person on the other end of the line, he put his phone away and set out: “Let’s go, I’ll take you to eat first.”

Pei Xi set down his teacup and stood obediently.

As the two figures vanished into the elevator, a few heads peeked out from behind the computers at the front desk. They exchanged glances, and there seemed to be some tacit understanding in the crisp sounds of the keyboards:

[Good news! President Pei took the initiative to come to President He!]

[Good news! President Pei had a good attitude toward President He!]

[Good news! President He has hope of pursuing his wife!]

[Good news! The two are going to the Civil Affairs Bureau!]

[Good…..huh? Combining gossip with reality and spreading rumors is prohibited!]

*

*

After breakfast, Pei Xi thought they would go directly back to the company. But unexpectedly, the car drove in the opposite direction before stopping at last in front of a private hospital.

Pei Xi: “……”

Pei Xi pursed his lips: “Chuzhou, even though I ran away from home again, there’s no need for you to send me to the doctor, right? It’s only that I’m untrustworthy, not mentally ill.”

“What are you thinking about?”

He Chuzhou was amused by his train of thought, and unbuckled his seatbelt: “Naturally, I didn’t bring you to the hospital because you ran away from home, but because you—”

He Chuzhou: “…….”

Pei Xi couldn’t wait for the second half of the sentence, and took the initiative to ask: “Because I what?”

“……Because of the appointment for your annual physical.”

He Chuzhou got out of the car and went around to the passenger seat to open the door for him: “Let’s go. It’s arranged for ten o’clock, don’t be late.”

Annual physical?

Pei Xi couldn’t locate the relevant memory in his brain. He asked He Chuzhou as they entered the hospital gates: “A physical? Why don’t I remember making an appointment?”

“You just don’t remember. I made the appointment for you.”

He Chuzhou called the phone at the nurse’s station, and someone quickly took them to the specialist’s office upstairs.

When they pushed open the door and walked in, there was a kindly-faced female doctor around forty years old sitting behind a computer. She was Wu Qing’s distant cousin.

She asked who the patient was and entered the ID number into the computer. After she pressed Enter, her expression revealed a bit of surprise: “Didn’t Mr. Pei come in for a checkup not long ago?”

Pei Xi looked puzzled.

He Chuzhou immediately knew that Pei Xi had come here himself when he was in his right mind, but this was not suitable for Pei-calico to know: “Doctor, doesn’t a physical examination start with measuring blood sugar?”

The doctor had already taken a rough scan of Pei Xi’s examination report. Looking at Pei Xi’s expression again, she made up her mind and cooperatively made a list: “Right, let’s have your blood drawn to test your blood sugar first. The nurse specialist at the door will take you there.”

Pei Xi took the list: “But I’ve already had breakfast. Won’t that affect it?”

The doctor said with a smile: “It’s not a big deal. We’ll do the tests first.”

Once Pei Xi went out, the doctor immediately pulled out the X-rays and results from his last examination and showed them to He Chuzhou in detail.

Some of the terminology was too technical for He Chuzhou to understand, but that didn’t delay his understanding of the key points: “So it’s normal for him to be like this over and over again?”

The doctor: “Of course it isn’t normal. It’s just one of the side effects of brain damage, although it’s a bit more peculiar than others.”

He Chuzhou: “It won’t affect his health?”

“It won’t.” The doctor affirmed: “You can think of it as the disconnected areas of his brain being repaired and reconnected. The connections will occasionally be faulty. You need to give it more time.”

He Chuzhou considered this: “Is there a medication or something that can speed up the healing process?”

The doctor shook her head: “There is no such medication at the moment. Don’t worry, it will slowly heal on its own, but there is one thing you must pay special attention to.”

He Chuzhou: “What is it?”

“The patient’s memories of normal times should not be shared with him when he is confused. If we try to force him into a normal chain of memory at this time, it may be counterproductive.”

“If conditions permit, try to go along with him. The nerves in his brain are currently more fragile than those of ordinary people, so don’t let him be stimulated.”

*

*

The scheduled physical examination ended with a blood draw and blood sugar test, and Pei Xi was still confused as they left the hospital.

“They’re not going to check anything else?”

He asked He Chuzhou: “Or is it that…..hospitals nowadays can draw blood to examine the whole body?”

He Chuzhou had his mind on other things, and gave an absent hum.

Pei Xi frowned: “When did mankind’s modern medical technology advance to this level? Have humans also moved to the moon and I just don’t know about it?”

When He Chuzhou returned to his senses and heard this sentence, he was endlessly delighted: “Don’t worry, I’m still here. I won’t leave you alone on the earth.”

Pei Xi felt a little better at this thought.

The temperature today was cooler than the day before. He was wearing a light-colored jacket over a casual shirt, his hair falling softly over his forehead.

Although there was no expression on his face, with his crystal-clear eyes, he looked particularly innocent and easy to deceive.

He Chuzhou lowered his eyes to look at him and thought about the doctor’s instructions just now. He thought to himself, did this count as going along with him?

Sometimes good and sometimes bad, delicate and finicky, sensitive and clingy.

The most important part was that no matter how good he was to him, he wouldn’t remember it. Perhaps one day he would turn against him and never come back.

Taking care of him was completely thankless.

But besides that, he realized one other thing.

They had remained at the door for a long time, and when Pei Xi was about to ask if he wanted to leave, his vision suddenly dimmed as someone pinched his cheek.

“Last time, you blacklisted me because I made a mistake. In fact, it was you who threw me onto the blacklist yourself after you came to your senses. Pei-calico, you are very capable when it comes to making false accusations.”

Pei Xi didn’t know what he was talking about. 

He Chuzhou didn’t exert any force with his hand, and it didn’t hurt at all, but he still couldn’t stop that one eye from squinting. “Came to my senses? What does that mean?”

“It means, why did you just come here instead of calling me?”

He Chuzhou didn’t actually want to argue with him. He released his grip and saw that his cheek was red from being pinched, so he rubbed it twice more to remedy it: “Then you were content to wait downstairs.”

Pei Xi: “I couldn’t find my phone.”

“Your phone is missing?” He Chuzhou was a little surprised. “Last night, didn’t you……did you search your whole house?”

Pei Xi bobbed his head and lowered his voice: “I looked, but it wasn’t there.”

Hiss—

Not possible, ah.

He Chuzhou bit his cheek. He had received a courier delivery from Pei Xi the night before. It was already quite late at that time, and Pei Xi probably hadn’t gone out again.

Unless something unexpected had happened, the phone should still be at his house. It was just that Pei Xi had put it in some nook or corner, and Pei-calico never found it.

He had seen fathers trick their sons, but this was the first time he had witnessed someone tricking themselves like this.

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll go back and look with you later.”

He Chuzhou consoled him: “Next time you don’t have your phone, tell the front desk to contact me, or just go upstairs—”

As he spoke, he came to a sudden realization and paused before asking again: “Do you have cash on you?”

Pei Xi shook his head.

He Chuzhou: “Then how did you get here?”

Pei Xi: “I walked.”

……He walked here from so far away?

Didn’t his feet hurt?

He Chuzhou’s teeth ached when he heard this: “Come in a taxi, you dummy. Just call me when you get here and I’ll come down and pay for you.”

Pei Xi: “It would disturb your meeting.”

He Chuzhou: “You can ask the front desk or the security guards to pay in advance for you.”

Pei Xi: “No, I’m not familiar with them.”

He Chuzhou: “…….”

“Did……I cause you any trouble?”

Seeing that he was speechless, Pei Xi pursed his lips. There was a hint of dismay in his eyes, the bottom of which could be seen at a glance. “I’m sorry, Chuzhou.”

“Maybe I should have waited until you got off work and came back, but I don’t know what happened at that time. I was alone and just wanted to see you.”

His voice was very soft, very slow. Unaware of his muddled head, he spoke all of his thoughts frankly and honestly.

Like a newborn deer with soft antlers – no, no antlers at all, more like a soft-furred rabbit – he picked the softest part of He Chuzhou’s heart to arch his head against.

In a chain reaction, the surrounding area began to sink into silence.

“You didn’t.” After a long moment, He Chuzhou heard his own voice, which seemed as far away as his ability to breathe. 

After a pause, he repeated again: “You didn’t.”

His blood flow returned to normal, and he regained the long-lost ability to breathe.

“You didn’t cause any trouble.”

Breathing out, he stretched out his hands to cover Pei Xi’s ears and block the cool breeze, and a relaxed smile appeared in his eyes: “And to be honest, I’m not really afraid of trouble.”

It was true that he was delicate and finicky, sensitive and clingy, and that taking care of him was a thankless job.

“So in general, little friends can act coquettishly and have a bad temper here. They don’t have to be too sensible.”

But why did he need to be good?

Being adorable was just fine.

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Chapter 15 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 17