Pretending To Have Amnesia - Chapter 10

“Achoo!” He Mu sat on the bed wrapped in the quilt, like a triangular rice dumpling.

“No fever.” Mu Qingran put the thermometer back into the first-aid kit.

She had not taken off her coat, perhaps so it would be convenient for her to leave at any time.

He Mu gritted her teeth. “Don’t you think you should take responsibility after making me like this?”

Mu Qingran said, “The direct cause of the current result is Miss He drinking too much and vomiting on herself. I don’t believe I should be responsible for that.”

“You’re full of…” He Mu swallowed back the vulgar word already on the tip of her tongue. “When did I vomit on myself?” she said.

“Miss He may continue being unreasonable with me if that makes you feel better,” Mu Qingran said. After speaking, she walked out of the bedroom. Before long, she returned carrying a cup of water and placed it by the bedside.

White steam rose from the mouth of the cup.

“Honey water.” She said only those three words, then picked up the remote control and turned on the bedroom’s independent air conditioner.

It was as though He Mu’s questioning just now had nothing to do with her at all.

He Mu pressed her lips into a straight line, picked up the cup from the bedside, and gulped it down.

The tip of He Mu’s tongue felt slightly numb. She did not know whether it was because of the alcohol or because the wound from Mu Qingran’s bite had not yet healed. In any case, she was not very sensitive to taste.

She only knew that the honey water was hot, and it felt very comfortable flowing down her throat.

“If you still have the need to hire a woman for the night, I can find you a proper one. At the very least, I can make sure she doesn’t have any messy diseases,” Mu Qingran suddenly threw out this sentence.

He Mu lifted her head and stared at Mu Qingran. After a long while, she laughed.

“I didn’t know Sister was also well versed in this sort of business.”

Mu Qingran said, “How many people in the business world do you think are truly upright and aboveboard?”

“What about you? Do you like it?” The corners of He Mu’s lips were still raised, but there was not the slightest smile in her eyes. “Do you like them plump or thin? Older or younger? Do you like the non-clingy type?”

“Sleep. Good night.” Mu Qingran retreated to the doorway and turned off the lights.

The room suddenly darkened. The rectangular doorframe looked like a picture frame. The background was a cold-toned light, and Mu Qingran was the person inside the painting—clearly so close, yet impossible to touch.

He Mu lay down on her side. The drunkenness seemed to surge up again, pulling her into a whirlpool. Yet that single “good night” was like driftwood inside the vortex, making her want to clutch it tightly.

If she remembered correctly, this was the first time since their reunion that Mu Qingran had said good night to her.

He Mu tugged at her hair, pulled the quilt over her entire head, and kicked her legs wildly a few times, unbearably irritated.

Alcohol truly was no good.

She should have understood five years ago that the thing one should least do in this world was hold expectations for Mu Qingran.

Not even the slightest bit.

He Mu pulled the hood of her white sweatshirt over her head and walked into a breakfast shop.

She had just finished her morning run, and fine beads of sweat still hung on her neck.

“Beauty, what would you like?”

“Two eggs and a cup of pumpkin congee, to go.”

“All right. Take the straw yourself.”

The proprietress was a petite middle-aged woman with two little tiger teeth.

He Mu took the bagged breakfast from the proprietress, turned around, lowered her head, and walked forward. By accident, she bumped into someone.

“Sorry!” She quickly apologized politely.

“It’s fine.” The person she bumped into froze for a moment, then said uncertainly, “He Mu?”

He Mu saw the shape of the other person’s mouth and turned off the music in her Bluetooth earphones. “You are?”

“Nie Qing. We were in the same class in junior high. Do you remember?” The girl’s expression was complicated. It did not look like simple surprise or joy from running into an old classmate.

Obvious fine lines could be seen around the girl’s eyes, making her appear a little more mature than He Mu.

He Mu thought back. The name seemed a little familiar, but it was very vague, and she could not match it to a face.

The girl saw that He Mu did not remember her and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. But in the next second, her face became conflicted again. She bit her lip.

“I didn’t expect to run into you here. I…” She hesitated, as though there were something difficult to say stuck in her throat.

“Why are you nervous? I don’t eat people.” He Mu bloomed into a friendly smile.

“After that day, we never really had any contact again. I actually… actually…”

He Mu thought to herself, Could it be that she had a crush on me and wants to confess?

He Mu had seen this kind of scene many times. A string of words for rejection and thanks immediately formed in her mind.

“I actually felt really guilty. For a long time, I never slept well.” The female classmate lowered her head, not daring to look into He Mu’s eyes. “Luckily, your sister came to pick you up. Otherwise, I really would have lived my whole life with guilt.”

“Hm?” The words He Mu had prepared got stuck in her throat.

Guilty? Had this classmate done something wrong to her?

Sister? What sister?

She was a little confused.

The female classmate gathered her courage and said, “After we graduated junior high, we went to karaoke together once. I even urged you to drink. Do you remember? You got drunk that day.”

Once the other person mentioned the specific scene, He Mu finally matched the person to the memory. Back when they were in school, she seemed to always wear a ponytail. Now her hair was down and she had makeup on, so He Mu really had not recognized her.

“I remember now.” He Mu patted her head. “It’s been a long time. Sorry.”

“I’m the one who should say sorry.” The female classmate bowed deeply.

“Sorry?” He Mu was puzzled. “Could you perhaps tell me why you’re apologizing?”

“That day, we ran into some thugs on the road. I was really scared. I was afraid that if I didn’t hand you over to that person, I… I would also be…” The female classmate’s face went red and white by turns, and her hands twisted together.

He Mu sorted through her words and roughly understood what the female classmate wanted to express.

So that night, it had been Mu Qingran who took her home.

The first time she had gotten drunk, her memories were fragmented. She only remembered Mu Qingran fiercely showering her.

Now, after her classmate’s reminder, the fragments of memory slowly pieced together into a complete puzzle.

If Mu Qingran had not appeared in time, perhaps she truly would have woken up in some unknown alley.

There was no doubt that if something like that had really happened, then with her personality, she would have killed those people, no matter what price she had to pay.

No wonder Mu Qingran had been so angry yesterday, even with Qin Xin there.

Because this female classmate had once abandoned her.

And yet Mu Qingran claimed she did not remember.

She clearly remembered it even more clearly than He Mu did.

That night, why had Mu Qingran gone to pick her up? He Mu had always thought the message she had sent had sunk like a stone into the sea.

He Mu looked into the female classmate’s eyes and said seriously, “I won’t forgive you, but thank you for telling me this.”

The female classmate tugged at the corners of her lips. “I know. Asking you to forgive me would be shameless. Being able to say sorry to you in person already makes me very glad.”

“Then… goodbye.” He Mu nodded at the female classmate, then lifted her foot and left.

The female classmate let out a long breath, sincerely feeling freed.

A moment of cowardice in youth—no matter how much time passed, one would still occasionally remember it and hate the self from back then.

To be able to personally say sorry to the person she felt apologetic toward was truly fortunate.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come in.”

He Mu pushed open the door and leaned sideways against the office doorframe.

“Is something the matter?” Mu Qingran asked.

He Mu watched Mu Qingran for a long while, then shook her head.

“Nothing.”

She had merely encountered a difficult riddle and could not guess the answer no matter how hard she tried.

She wanted to ask you whether you knew.