Pretending To Have Amnesia - Chapter 15

He Mu laughed in extreme anger. Her voice sank, and every word seemed to be squeezed out through her teeth.

“Some things should simply be chopped off, so they don’t pollute other people’s eyes,” she said.

“Say that again if you dare! You stinking bit—”

Before Li Nan could fully get the filthy curse out, an indescribable part of his body felt a piercing, heart-rending pain.

“Ah!” He bent over and collapsed to the floor, curling up like a giant shrimp, his posture exactly like Sun Xiang’s after being kicked down by him.

He Mu’s face was full of disgust. She directly snapped off the thin heel of the shoe that had just touched Li Nan and threw it onto him.

“Even kicking you makes me feel like my heel is dirty. But only civilized people deserve civilized solutions. When a beast doesn’t behave, one beating is enough.”

She paused, then gave a cold laugh. “I’ll also tell you this: when women get angry, they do hit people too. To beat a useless idiot like you, one finger is more than enough.”

Everyone at the drinking table was somewhat stunned. Li Nan was used to acting wildly on normal days. Even if the people around him were scolded by him a few times, they would usually smile and let it pass. This girl was the first one who had directly used her hands.

But they had to admit—it was really satisfying!

Li Nan gritted his teeth, the veins on his forehead bulging. He said resentfully, “Once I get my injuries examined, just wait to squat in a detention cell! I have plenty of acquaintances in there. I’ll make sure you can’t get away with this!”

He Mu rolled her sleeves back down, straightened her collar, and gave a soft sneer.

“Perfect. You’d better have those acquaintances take good care of you. Eat a few more bowls of prison rice while you’re at it, so you don’t stay kidney-deficient enough to collapse from a single touch. And while you’re inside, figure out properly who’s the grandson and who’s the grandfather.”

On the way here, she had already checked Li Nan’s background. If things were really dug up, his entire family would be finished together.

In this day and age, he still dared to pull some crime-boss act against the wind. She did not know whether he had eaten a bear’s heart and leopard’s gall, or whether his brain was made of pig sludge. Either way, he was either reckless or stupid.

But she roughly knew why he could rely on his status as a bureau chief’s relative to run wild. After all, a city’s circles were only so large, all tangled and intertwined. No one was willing to be the first to light a fire and burn themselves.

But since she was a model citizen, she could only conveniently help someone who had gone astray reform and turn over a new leaf.

Mu Qingran seemed to be amused by something He Mu said. The corners of her lips lifted almost imperceptibly, then were quickly pressed back down.

He Mu disliked the air in here, mixed with smoke and alcohol. As though her body had its own memory, she held Mu Qingran’s thumb and pulled her out.

When she was little, for a very long time, she had held Sister’s thumb like this, following behind on her short little legs with great effort.

At first, Sister’s thumb would fill her entire palm. The older she grew, the smaller Sister’s thumb became in her palm. Yet in her heart, it grew larger and larger.

This habit of holding her thumb seemed to have already merged into He Mu’s bones. Or perhaps, she was simply incomparably greedy for the habits that belonged only to Sister and her.

Unlike the stumbling child she had been when she was little, now, even missing one heel, she could still continue walking forward with elegance.

She could even walk in front of Sister.

The driver opened the car door. He Mu let go, allowing Mu Qingran to sit inside, while she herself walked around to the other side, opened the door, and got in.

Once the car door closed again, the person who had been silent all this time spoke.

“In your eyes, I’m very pitiful, aren’t I?”

He Mu froze. Her mouth opened, but she could not speak.

Mu Qingran looked at her with darkened eyes.

“Do you enjoy handing out that homeless sympathy of yours?”

Hearing such a question, He Mu suddenly felt that she was both pathetic and laughable. Why had five years passed, yet she still had not improved at all? Even if there was only the slightest possibility that Mu Qingran might be hurt, she still wanted to rush to her side like a madwoman.

Solving problems with her fists—in Mu Qingran’s eyes, He Mu was probably still that childish little kid from the past after all.

The light in He Mu’s eyes gradually disappeared. Her voice was icy.

“I said before, my things—unless I throw them away myself, no one else should even think of touching them.”

The thorns she had temporarily retracted opened once more.

But in the next second, Mu Qingran collapsed against her shoulder, so close that He Mu suspected there must have been a crack in time and space. Otherwise, why would the person who had been speaking coldly to her one second suddenly lean close so unexpectedly the next?

Smelling the sudden, sharp increase of alcohol in the air, He Mu could not help laughing silently. The scent was so strong that even she was about to be made drunk by it. Who knew just how much Mu Qingran had drunk?

In truth, Mu Qingran had probably been drunk long ago.

She had only been forcing herself not to fall.

“Mu Qingran, I’ll take what you said just now as drunk words. I’ll forgive you this once only.” He Mu took a blanket from under the seat and covered Mu Qingran with it. From beginning to end, she did not push her head away.

This docile Mu Qingran, using her as a cushion, was probably rarer than two comets colliding. In all these years, aside from this time, He Mu had only seen it once before…

On weekends, almost every screening at the cinema was fully booked. This kind of place, dark as anything and trapping people in their seats for two or three hours, was the most suitable for young couples to do things that warmed up their feelings.

Two restless hearts in the darkness, hands reaching into the popcorn together, heads leaning closer and closer—if they worked a little harder, by the time the movie ended and they walked out, they might even have a child.

He Mu had asked Mu Qingran for a very long time before finally getting her to agree to watch a movie together. She chose a horror film.

Her intention was obvious. She wanted to find an opportunity to create physical contact with Mu Qingran.

This was the first month after she had become an adult. As an adult, she should not be satisfied with following behind Sister like a little brat all day. Instead… she should do some things adults ought to do.

He Mu did not dare hope for a kiss in the cinema. Just thinking about the image of herself shrinking into Mu Qingran’s arms was already enough to make her blush and her heart race.

After sitting down, He Mu placed the popcorn she had prepared between them. In her mind, she kept rehearsing—how to “accidentally” brush against Mu Qingran’s fingertips when Mu Qingran reached for popcorn, or perhaps happen to take the same kernel, their fingertips pressing together. Then… she would hold He Mu’s wrist and slowly lean closer…

Was the heater in the cinema turned up too high?

It was so hot.

He Mu’s own imagination made her cheeks flush. She did not even notice when the movie started. By the time her attention returned to the big screen, she happened to see the pallid face of a female ghost rapidly enlarging. She was so frightened she let out a ghostly howl and had just been about to throw herself onto Mu Qingran when the other woman moved first.

It was not the gentle embrace she had imagined.

Instead, a head crashed onto her shoulder.

Screams rose and fell in the cinema, but beside He Mu’s ear, there was only the sound of steady breathing.

Was this…

Falling asleep during a horror movie?

But none of that mattered. Being leaned on by Sister like this was the happiest thing in the world.

He Mu’s heart crashed wildly inside her chest, but her body stayed as steady as a boulder. For a full two hours, she did not move at all, afraid she would wake Sister.

“Is it over?” Mu Qingran’s voice was slightly hoarse, and her eyes carried a haziness that made her seem a little less distant.

He Mu swallowed unconsciously and hurriedly stood to block Sister’s face so no one else could see it.

“Mm. It’s over… the screening is over,” she said, stammering.

“Sorry.” Mu Qingran only said those two words. She did not explain why she had fallen asleep, nor did she ask what the movie had been about.

He Mu was still trapped in those two hours of leaning with no distance between them, and in the fragrance lingering at the tip of her nose. She had no energy to think about whether Mu Qingran simply did not care what movie they had watched.

Later, He Mu accidentally learned from Mu Qingran’s graduate-school roommate that, during those few days, Mu Qingran had been rushing a project and had gone more than thirty hours without sleep.

Yet Sister had said nothing and had still kept their appointment.

Mu Qingran was always like this, encouraging He Mu’s extravagant hopes and greed again and again.

Then, at some unknown moment, she would pour another basin of cold water over her head, again and again.

…

He Mu did not know Mu Qingran’s address, so she had no choice but to bring her back to her own apartment. After the car stopped in the underground garage, she did not wake the drunk woman. Instead, she simply scooped Mu Qingran up by the waist and carried her into the elevator.

Before renting the apartment, she had never thought she would bring someone back, so there was only one bedroom. The previous few times after they finished, both of them had tacitly understood the arrangement, and Mu Qingran had left under cover of night.

Today, He Mu also had no intention of sharing a bed with Mu Qingran. After entering the apartment, she heavily tossed her onto the sofa.

In any case, Mu Qingran would not appreciate it. Whether she lost an arm or a leg had nothing to do with He Mu. Having a sofa to sleep on was already good enough.

Mu Qingran was startled awake. Her pretty brows furrowed, and she opened her hazy, unfocused eyes, confused and dazed. In the end, her gaze fixed on the face of the person before her.

He Mu accidentally crashed into those two unguarded eyes. She immediately lowered her eyelids and turned away. Just as she was about to lift her foot, she was pulled down onto the sofa and crashed into a soft embrace.

The back of her neck was enveloped by warm breath, making her tremble uncontrollably.

“He Mu…”

The soft breath of a voice was Mu Qingran calling her name.

Not President He. Not Miss He.

He Mu.

It was like the milk candy she had given her when they first met, melting sweetly in her mouth.