Amnesia Trap (GL) - Chapter 30

Ji Qingfan’s tone of recollection was so beautiful, like reminiscing about shared school-time activities with a lover who had gone from campus to wedding gown.

The environment around them was still quiet, and coupled with her soft voice and gentle, lingering cadence, there was an indescribable ambiance.

She seemed to be recalling many things, and a natural, faint smile spread across her lips. But when she saw the unresponsive Sheng Zhi, that slight smile froze with a trace of sadness.

“I’m sorry, Zhi Zhi, I forgot you don’t remember those things…” Ji Qingfan tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. A melancholy mood was hidden deep within her tone, yet not so deep that her disappointment was completely imperceptible, making her deeply pitiable.

After a two-second pause, she sighed, and when she raised her eyes again, they were filled with renewed expectation, “But, Zhi Zhi, hearing me talk, did anything come back to you?”

“…No,” Sheng Zhi met her gaze, her tone slowing down as if trying to recall the described events, “It feels very blank.”

At her answer, Ji Qingfan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she murmured, “It’s okay.”

Her delicate, thick eyelashes were still damp, making them appear darker and longer, looking even more pathetic.

After Sheng Zhi spoke, she couldn’t pull her gaze away from Ji Qingfan.

She thought: This is truly impeccable acting and rhetoric.

However, the fatal flaw was that the events Ji Qingfan described did not happen between them in high school.

She described a sweet, loving, dream-like romance, a journey from campus to wedding gown.

But had they ever secretly kissed in high school? On the contrary, they had often been at loggerheads later on.

If Sheng Zhi had truly forgotten Ji Qingfan, with this series of tricks, she would likely already be starting to believe in Ji Qingfan’s “deep affection” for her.

First, telling her not to use intimate terms in public, then claiming she said it deliberately as reverse psychology, that she actually loved hearing her call her that; and the posture that misled her but was actually due to genuine arousal, followed by the whispered explanation of the nature of her “intolerance”…

Especially the scene Sheng Zhi encountered when she came back for Ji Qingfan: weeping while murmuring for her not to leave.

—The helpless, fragile look in her eyes, her movements full of insecurity and clinging need.

Rubbing, cuddling, needing to be held and kissed.

…It was incredibly hard to resist.

Even a stone-hearted person would inevitably bloom with vibrant, beautiful flowers upon encountering this.

Sheng Zhi suddenly couldn’t help but wonder: if she continued to pretend, would Ji Qingfan continue to act as well?

But the moment the thought surfaced, she immediately dismissed it.

She was certain that Ji Qingfan was definitely planning something.

At that time, their relationship had deteriorated so much, yet Ji Qingfan always played the role of the charming and earnest overachiever in front of her mother. She was quick to learn and ambitious, truly soothing her mother’s concerns. Otherwise, as soon as Yun Xian ran away from the wedding, her mother wouldn’t have immediately arranged a contractual marriage with Ji Qingfan. She suspected her mother might have had this idea for a while.

As for the contractual marriage, Ji Qingfan hadn’t resisted. In fact, after the agreement expired, she very clearly expressed her unwillingness to end the marriage and her desire to extend it.

So, these current actions must be aimed at stabilizing the “amnesiac” Sheng Zhi first, using her “forgetting their past” as a starting point to employ various methods to make her abandon the idea of ending the marriage.

And after she’s stabilized?

Ji Qingfan’s scheme surely couldn’t end there, could it?

Sheng Zhi’s distraction was too obvious for Ji Qingfan to miss. Sheng Zhi’s reaction was somewhat different from what she had predicted. Just a moment ago, she had been teased into shyness by her words, but her expression changed after Ji Qingfan mentioned their past. She even unconsciously furrowed her brow slightly, as if she had a headache.

“Zhi Zhi,” Ji Qingfan gently traced Sheng Zhi’s palm with her fingertip, “Does me constantly bringing up the past make you uncomfortable?”

Sheng Zhi was getting more and more mixed up in her thoughts. Intellectually, she clearly understood that these were tactics, carefully laid out calculations, yet emotionally, she couldn’t help but be moved and captivated by them.

It was an extremely contradictory and fragmented feeling.

She felt she urgently needed to hear some of Ji Qingfan’s lies to regain her clarity. The more beautiful and fake, the better.

“No,” Sheng Zhi shook her head slightly, using her words to cover up her momentary lapse in composure, “It’s just that this feeling of not being able to remember is a bit difficult… Tell me more about our past.”

This was probably the first time since her “amnesia” that she had proactively expressed a desire to listen to Ji Qingfan.

Ji Qingfan’s eyes instantly lit up when she heard this.

Sheng Zhi genuinely wanted to hear Ji Qingfan tell lies, preferably ridiculously fabricated content.

This way, she could stay alert and firm amidst Ji Qingfan’s superb acting, preventing herself from falling into the trap.

However, this time, the content Ji Qingfan began to recount started from the time she first came to Sheng Zhi’s home.

Sheng Zhi curled her fingers, maintaining a detached air as if listening to someone else’s story.

But this, to her, was a part of her life that had actually happened… a part she was somewhat reluctant to remember.

A summer many years ago.

Sheng Zhi remembered that summer vividly because it didn’t rain often, but when it did, it poured relentlessly.

On the first day of the downpour, she found a stray dog that had been abandoned.

It was a small, palm-sized dog, barely alive, dumped next to a trash can.

She took the puppy home.

And on the second day of the downpour, she truly crossed paths with Ji Qingfan.

She wasn’t yet sure what kind of person Ji Qingfan was, but the way Ji Qingfan looked at her inexplicably reminded her of the puppy she had taken home.

The group of people bullying Ji Qingfan fled in a panic. Sheng Zhi held an umbrella and crouched down, poking Ji Qingfan with her finger.

Her porcelain-white fingertip looked even more delicate in the dim light. Not to mention the quality of her clothes, it was clear at a glance that she was a pampered, privileged girl, exuding an air of nobility.

“You should follow me,” she said, continuing to poke her intermittently, “If you follow me, I’ll protect you, and those people won’t dare to bully you again. After all, you’re being bullied because you messed up their plans and saved my puppy before.”

Ji Qingfan was covered in rainwater and mud, looking utterly miserable. She looked at the jade-like fingers close to her, and despite her ragged appearance, she instinctively hid her hands, which were rough and scarred from doing a lot of dirty, exhausting work.

Sheng Zhi heard Ji Qingfan quietly agree.

Combined with the rainy day environment, she felt the person in front of her looked like a gloomy little mushroom. Her long hair reached nearly to her waist, and her bangs almost poked her eyes, now plastered into wet strands by the rain.

After Ji Qingfan responded, she fell silent again. Sheng Zhi chattered away on her own, like a nightingale, not annoying, but with a clean, lively, and pleasant voice: “Are you hurt? Can you stand up?”

After asking, Sheng Zhi looked Ji Qingfan over and felt she had asked a pointless question. After all, she didn’t look like she could stand up. If Ji Qingfan were her, she would probably be pouting and demanding comfort now.

Thinking this, Sheng Zhi twirled a strand of hair with a hint of distress, “…How about this? I’ll call my bodyguards over. They’re all very strong and capable. I also have a family doctor at home. Let’s just go straight to my house.”

She felt she had come up with an extremely appropriate solution, settling the matter decisively.

While waiting for the bodyguards, she stood next to Ji Qingfan, holding the umbrella over her so she wouldn’t get rained on anymore, even though half of her own body was getting soaked.

She seemed to remember something, “Oh, right, I still don’t know your name. I didn’t ask your name last time either.”

“What’s your name?” She leaned closer to ask. The umbrella tilted further, making both of them wetter, but she didn’t seem to mind, “My name is Sheng Zhi.”

After introducing herself, she was afraid Ji Qingfan wouldn’t know the characters, so she added: “The Sheng as in ‘overbearing’ (Sheng-qi-ling-ren), and the Zhi as in ‘golden branch and jade leaf’ (jin-zhi-yu-ye).”

Ji Qingfan met her bright, spirited cat-like eyes and managed to speak three difficult words, “…Ji Qingfan.”

Her throat was uncomfortable, her voice sounding somewhat strained. The hoarseness hadn’t been very obvious when she briefly responded earlier, but it became clear the moment she spoke now.

Ji Qingfan fell silent again after speaking. Sheng Zhi couldn’t help but laugh a couple of times at her voice, “Your voice is so hoarse, all scratchy.”

Since Ji Qingfan wouldn’t talk, Sheng Zhi started guessing the characters of her name herself. With Ji Qingfan’s nods and shakes of the head, she finally guessed them all.

Sheng Zhi suddenly realized: “So it’s the Qing as in ‘clear water’ (Qing-shui), and the Fan as in ‘Buddhist chant’ (Fan-yin).”

When she finished speaking, she laughed again, “Your name is really pretty.”

“Ji Qingfan, Ji Qingfan…” she enunciated carefully.

Hearing Sheng Zhi pronounce her name like that, Ji Qingfan felt a strange, tingling sensation in her heart. This feeling was the same as when Sheng Zhi asked if she was hurt and complimented her name—her heart was uncontrollably pounding.

She listened to her muttering, still not making a sound, but she noticed that when Sheng Zhi smiled, she revealed two dimples, which were very sweet.

Just like the scent of her body, it smelled sweet too.

She thought: This is the second time I’ve manipulated her. Intentionally saving her puppy, intentionally provoking those people’s anger, and then intentionally presenting the scene of being bullied right in front of Sheng Zhi.

She is truly much simpler than I imagined.

After a while, the bodyguards and the car arrived.

However, a girl came out with the bodyguards.

The girl had long, light-colored wavy hair, exquisite makeup, and long, diamond-studded acrylic nails that reflected the light. Someone was holding an umbrella for her.

Ji Qingfan shifted her gaze.

This girl had the same extraordinary aura as Sheng Zhi, clearly a person from “the same world” as her.

The moment the girl saw Sheng Zhi, she couldn’t help but exclaim dramatically: “My dear young lady, what are you doing? You’ve gotten yourself completely drenched. You look like a little stray cat.”

As she spoke, she took off her cardigan, apparently intending to drape it over Sheng Zhi, seemingly not even noticing Ji Qingfan on the ground.

Sheng Zhi handed the umbrella to the bodyguard who walked over, then snorted and pounced on the girl with all the wind and rain on her, “Jiang Wanyin, you’re acting all high and mighty! Take this ‘water bomb’ attack!”

The girl’s carefully styled wavy hair got wet, but she didn’t seem angry at all. Instead, she childishly wrestled and played with Sheng Zhi.

The bodyguards, well-trained, silently held the umbrella and helped Ji Qingfan up from the ground.

Sheng Zhi and Jiang Wanyin playfully got into the front car, while Ji Qingfan was escorted by the bodyguards toward the car behind.

Jiang Wanyin didn’t intentionally lower her voice, “But seriously, don’t interfere next time. You’ll only end up getting soaked yourself.”

Ji Qingfan seemed to sense something and looked up.

She saw the girl who had been wrestling with Sheng Zhi draping the cardigan over her. But after covering Sheng Zhi with the clothing, her hand remained on her shoulder. Her gaze, surprisingly, also looked toward Ji Qingfan, and the words that came from her mouth were pronounced clearly, one by one. It sounded like she was talking to Sheng Zhi, yet it also felt like she was warning Ji Qingfan: “Young lady, I’m telling you, don’t be too kind. People like that, I’ve seen plenty of them. They’d just love to latch onto you.”

Sheng Zhi allowed the girl to cling to her lazily, “Stop bossing me around just because you’re older than me. Do you have mind-reading powers? How do you know whether people are good or bad?”

At that time, Ji Qingfan couldn’t precisely categorize her feelings when witnessing that scene. It wasn’t until much later that she realized the correct word to describe it—

That word was jealousy.

An unspeakable, intense jealousy that wanted to crush the girl’s expressed mockery underfoot, a desire to shove her hand away and take her place.