After She Fell for Me, I Lost My Memory (GL) - Chapter 56

“Little goddess?”

Judging by the way she said it, this probably wasn’t the first time Yu Jiao had called her that.

The two of them strolled through the nearby streets for a while before eventually stopping at a restaurant outside the Miancheng Elementary School.

“Your tastes haven’t changed, right?” Yu Jiao asked as they entered.

Cen Luo hummed in affirmation. The shop owner looked a bit older, but everything else remained the same—not much different from her memory.

Afterward, Yu Jiao took Cen Luo on a tour of their old junior high school. All along the way, their phones were pinging incessantly with notifications.

“See how popular you are? I’ve never received this many messages in a single day in my life.”

“Actually, I think it happened before, but that was also back when you visited Miancheng.”

Yu Jiao and Cen Luo sat on a long bench by the edge of the school’s sports field, clutching warm cups of milk tea while watching the junior high students playing. A group of girls was playing jump rope; one person jumping, two swinging the rope, and the rest lining up and cheering. They were loud and boisterous; their voices filled the entire field.

Amidst the noise, Cen Luo could only vaguely make out what Yu Jiao was saying.

“When should we have an old classmates’ reunion?” Yu Jiao shook her phone, showing Cen Luo the chat history on her screen. It was the class monitor from junior high asking if they wanted to get together.

“Anytime is fine.” Cen Luo smiled. She then took out her own phone and checked her message list; sure enough, the monitor had messaged her as well.

Although she had only spent two years at Miancheng Junior High, Cen Luo was naturally cheerful and had gotten along well with everyone in her class.

Having received Cen Luo’s answer, Yu Jiao messaged the monitor back to let her handle the arrangements.

“But everyone is working now, and many have left Miancheng. I wonder how many people will actually show up this time.”

Yu Jiao suddenly grew a bit sentimental. “The first time we gathered, about twenty classmates came. The second time, only ten or so were free. Since then, it’s been fewer and fewer. I don’t know if we’ll even have a handful this time.”

Hearing this, Cen Luo immediately comforted her: “Aiya, don’t be like that. Everyone has their own lives to lead. We can always meet up again later.”

“Sigh, forget it. You don’t understand.”

Fine, I don’t understand. Cen Luo pursed her lips.

After saying that, Yu Jiao couldn’t help but steal a few glances at the silent Cen Luo. After a moment, she said, “Did you forget what I told you again?”

“Huh?” Cen Luo scratched her head.

“I knew it,” Yu Jiao sighed. “Do you think I really care about a ‘class’ reunion? I just want to see that person. She only showed up once. Even your charm as a ‘little goddess’ was useless.”

Cen Luo smiled awkwardly. She didn’t even know who Yu Jiao was talking about. She could only listen as Yu Jiao spoke quietly.

It turned out Yu Jiao liked the class academic representative from junior high—that cold, impartial girl.

Cen Luo remembered being punished with a week of floor-sweeping because of that girl’s strictness, and she couldn’t help but say, “How could you like her?”

Yu Jiao nudged her arm. “Didn’t I tell you? That day during the friendly basketball match against Class 8, I was struck by how cool she looked. That was it.”

Cen Luo: “…”

Figures. Falling in love at first sight and not forgetting for years.

The school bell suddenly rang, and the students playing on the field scattered at once, leaving only a few younger children lingering there.

The sky had turned dark, and the lights on the sports field flickered on, illuminating the bench. Cen Luo finished the last sip of her warm milk tea and stood up to head toward the trash can.

Just as she threw the cup away, she noticed someone standing not far away, watching her. Seeing Cen Luo look back, the person adjusted her glasses.

“Does it take that long to throw away trash?”

Seeing Cen Luo standing there for a long time without returning, Yu Jiao walked over and patted her shoulder. As soon as she spoke, Yu Jiao spotted the person in the distance. She instinctively turned her back and muttered, “Why is it the headteacher?”

Cen Luo looked at Yu Jiao’s profile and found it funny. How many years has it been since graduation, and she’s still afraid of teachers?

“Aren’t you a teacher yourself? Why are you still afraid of the headteacher?” Cen Luo forcibly straightened Yu Jiao’s body and pulled her toward Yu Yan.

As Yu Jiao was being dragged, she resisted: “How is it the same? The junior high and high school departments don’t even cross paths.”

It turned out the headteacher had been promoted to the high school department. Although Yu Jiao was playful and lazy in junior high, she was the type who completed everything she was supposed to—the quality was another matter, but at least the teachers never caught her slack. Cen Luo didn’t understand why Yu Jiao was so terrified.

“Hello, Teacher Yu,” Cen Luo greeted as they reached Yu Yan.

Yu Yan finally confirmed she hadn’t seen wrong.

“You’re back quite early this year?” Yu Yan glanced at Yu Jiao, who was trying her best to dodge her gaze, adjusted her glasses, and asked with a smile.

Cen Luo nodded.

The three of them sat back down on the bench and chatted for a while. Yu Jiao barely spoke; truth be told, she wasn’t actually “afraid” of the headteacher, she was just deeply embarrassed by the foolish things she had done in seventh grade.

Too humiliating.

Fortunately, the conversation was mostly nostalgia. When they occasionally talked about their current lives, Cen Luo was able to handle the questions.

“By the way, did you come back alone this time?” Yu Yan asked suddenly.

“Yes.” Cen Luo didn’t understand why she asked, so she simply answered honestly.

“Where is your girlfriend?” Seeing Cen Luo’s puzzled look, Yu Yan added, “Didn’t you say last year that you’d bring her to see me when you came back this year?”

“Huh?” Cen Luo blinked. Did I say that?

“I’m single now.” Cen Luo smiled awkwardly. She had thought that after returning to Miancheng, no one would mention Jian Mu to her again.

Did I even tell the headteacher her name?

Just as this thought crossed her mind, she heard Yu Yan ask, “Was her name Jian Mu?”

“…Yes, it was.” Cen Luo answered truthfully. “But we’ve broken up now.”

“Why did you break up? I felt like you liked her very much before; your face was full of smiles whenever you talked about her.”

“Is that so? Maybe we just… weren’t suitable.” Cen Luo didn’t understand why Yu Yan was suddenly so interested in her love life.

During junior high, Cen Luo had entered a rebellious phase. It was thanks to Yu Yan’s careful guidance that she didn’t go astray. Yu Yan was also very fond of her and had tried to convince her to stay when she heard Cen Luo wanted to take the entrance exam for a school back in Yuncheng. Thus, to Cen Luo, Yu Yan had always been both a teacher and a friend. It didn’t seem wrong to talk to her about her personal life.

“I see—” Yu Yan looked thoughtful and then asked, “That ex-girlfriend of yours, did she ever attend Miancheng Junior High?”

Cen Luo frowned and instinctively denied it. “I don’t think so. She’s from Yuncheng; she shouldn’t have come to school in Miancheng.”

“That’s good then,” Yu Yan explained. “After you told me about her last time, I kept thinking the name ‘Jian Mu’ sounded familiar. I thought about it for a long time when I got home and finally remembered there was a student by that name in Class 8 during eighth grade. Her headteacher was a friend of mine, and for a while, I heard her mention the name Jian Mu every single day.”

“Why?” Even though she didn’t think that student was the same Jian Mu, Cen Luo was still curious.

“My friend said it was because of fighting. She would never call her parents when asked. She only stayed for two months. She was fine at first, but then, for some reason, she was constantly having conflicts with classmates and bullying them.”

Yu Yan sighed. “I saw that child three times. She was always dressed in rags; her family situation seemed poor. Her face was often bruised and swollen, and her gaze was quite cold. Anyway, she left a deep impression on me.”

Cen Luo suddenly connected the “cold gaze” to Jian Mu, but then she scoffed: “Her family is very well-off. There’s no way it was her.”

Cen Luo had heard from Qin Ran that Jian Mu was the heir to the Jianyi Technology Group. Could she have been dressed in rags?

“But, Teacher Yu,” Cen Luo voiced her confusion after a moment of thought, “how did you all know she was the one bullying classmates? Wasn’t she the one with the bruised face?”

“The school didn’t have the resources to install surveillance cameras in the classrooms back then. It was the other students who accused her. A few students who weren’t involved came forward and said she was the one who started it.”

Yu Yan frowned as she spoke. “I know what you’re thinking. I asked the same question, but in the end, it was just dropped. One of the students being ‘bullied’ was the daughter of a CEO who had just donated a building to the school. The school’s hands were tied.”

Cen Luo: “…”

The evils of capitalism.

“I thought your girlfriend might have been that student, so I wanted to ask if she was doing well. I also wanted to apologize to her; I wasn’t able to help her back then.”

Cen Luo finally understood why Yu Yan was so curious. It turned out she felt guilty toward that person.

Yu Yan looked at Cen Luo, who was looking down and lost in thought. She suddenly remembered the person who had appeared outside the staff dormitory building that day, wearing a none-too-clean school uniform, saying “thank you” in a voice devoid of warmth.

She was probably thanking her for that one sentence of defense in the office. But that one “thank you” had made Yu Yan feel guilty until now. In truth, she had done nothing at all. Perhaps she should have questioned things as soon as her friend mentioned the child in Class 8, rather than just listening.

Cen Luo simply couldn’t connect Jian Mu with the person Yu Yan described. Someone like Jian Mu didn’t look like someone who would be bullied. It was probably just a case of having the same name but different fates.

After finishing the conversation with Yu Yan, Cen Luo and Yu Jiao prepared to take a taxi home. Yu Jiao, whose curiosity had been piqued by the chat between Yu Yan and Cen Luo, finally spoke up.

“What’s this ‘girlfriend’ thing? You never told me!”

Cen Luo hailed a taxi and gave the address before hearing Yu Jiao’s question.

“Look, you’re my best friend, right? I should tell you all the important things, right?”

Yu Jiao nodded, her eyes saying: At least you know.

“So, since I didn’t tell my best friend about this, what does that mean?”

“It means… it’s not important?” Yu Jiao answered tentatively.

“Correct answer.” Cen Luo nodded seriously.

Yu Jiao was hoodwinked by her words. Though she felt something was off, she didn’t press further.

“But the headteacher said that child was quite pitiful. How could she fight off that many people alone?” Yu Jiao lamented.

Cen Luo gave a soft hum and stopped talking.

After returning, Yu Jiao sent Cen Luo the time for the reunion arranged by the class monitor. To accommodate most people’s schedules, the gathering was set for half a month later.

Cen Luo agreed without any objection.