Pretending To Have Amnesia - Chapter 6

The apartment had a constant-temperature system, but the room still felt damp and cold.

Half of He Mu’s shoulder was exposed outside the quilt, and very soon, a layer of goosebumps rose over her skin.

Out of the dignity of a patron, she did not want to be so pathetic as to stop halfway through and pull up the quilt, so she endured the chill and continued diligently laboring away.

Whether Mu Qingran had installed a camera inside He Mu’s brain, or whether it was purely coincidence, she reached out and pulled the quilt up a little, wrapping He Mu’s entire body inside it.

“You’re distracted again.” He Mu took advantage and still found fault, biting the softest spot beneath Mu Qingran’s ear. But she did not use much force.

Mu Qingran grabbed He Mu’s wrist and switched their positions.

He Mu’s hands were pressed down on either side of the pillow, leaving her unable to move.

“Have you never considered that the problem might be your technique?” Mu Qingran said. “Did the other women you played with never tell you?”

“Ha! Hahahaha! That is the funniest joke I’ve ever heard!” He Mu was so angry her lips trembled. “The other women enjoyed it very much!”

“It seems you have some misunderstanding of the word ‘enjoy.’” Mu Qingran placed her palm against He Mu’s and interlocked their ten fingers. “Even if we’re in a contractual relationship, I don’t want to be tortured every day.”

He Mu’s eyes widened. “What did you say?!”

Were those even human words?!

Mu Qingran said, “Since you’re the patron, shouldn’t you be the one enjoying yourself?”

The expression on He Mu’s face instantly turned icy.

“It seems I truly make Sister suffer terribly. You’d rather move those precious hands of yours than keep acting with me.”

She had once longed beyond measure for Mu Qingran to touch her, even just once. But that longing had ultimately been an extravagant wish.

Perhaps Mu Qingran truly had forgotten. Forgotten what the old He Mu had been like, and that was why she could say such a thing.

He Mu gripped Mu Qingran in return and switched their positions back. Pressing close to the bone of Mu Qingran’s ear, she said, “I was doing this to torment you in the first place, so why should I care about your feelings? Besides, do you think I still have any feelings for you now? Your hands can’t arouse even the slightest bit of interest in me.”

Mu Qingran said nothing, silently allowing He Mu to continue what she had not finished earlier.

Out of a moment’s anger, He Mu lost all sense of rhythm. Somehow, a sharp pain suddenly shot through her wrist.

“Hiss…” He Mu sucked in a breath, her whole body going stiff.

Mu Qingran noticed something wrong with her. Her brows furrowed slightly as she stared at her.

“I’m tired. Let’s end it here.” He Mu pulled her hand back behind her and got up as if nothing had happened.

She absolutely could not tell Mu Qingran that she had accidentally twisted her wrist. This concerned a woman’s dignity. Absolutely not!

He Mu had just prepared to get off the bed when someone pressed down on her shoulder.

“Give me your hand,” Mu Qingran said, her tone allowing no refusal.

“Are you the patron, or am I the patron? Why should I—”

Before He Mu could finish speaking, Mu Qingran forcibly pulled her into her arms and trapped her there. He Mu could only obediently let the other woman examine her wrist.

“Where’s the first-aid kit?” Mu Qingran asked.

“Didn’t you say you don’t remember me? Then how do you know I would prepare a first-aid kit at home?” He Mu threw the question back at her.

Mu Qingran said, “Rich people are all afraid of dying.”

…There was no way to refute that reason.

He Mu said irritably, “In the storage room, in the drawer of the second cabinet on the left.”

Mu Qingran draped a white sleeping robe over herself and walked out of the bedroom, showing no sign at all that she had just withdrawn from certain activities.

He Mu stared at the wrinkles in the bedsheets, somewhat dazed.

When she had been held in Mu Qingran’s arms just now, that delicate and warm touch had occupied all her senses. In fact, in that moment, she had even forgotten her original intention of taking revenge on Mu Qingran.

It was as though she had been swallowed by a vast black hole in the universe, losing all sensation and awareness.

“Stretch out your hand.”

He Mu was awakened again by Mu Qingran’s voice.

At some unknown point, an extra sleeping robe had been placed over her body. As expected, Mu Qingran had draped it over her.

He Mu obediently stretched out her arm.

Mu Qingran took the aerosol spray and sprayed it over her wrist a few times, then covered it with her palm and gently massaged it.

He Mu said, “You’re still the same as before.” Only when I’m hurt or sick do you become patient and gentle.

So much so that it gave her an illusion, making her unable to stop herself from hoping for more.

Mu Qingran said, “I don’t remember.”

He Mu laughed self-mockingly and said nothing.

Mu Qingran also fell silent, not giving He Mu any chance to hold on to a fantasy.

He Mu was truly confused.

Sometimes Mu Qingran was cold and difficult to approach, yet sometimes every little thing she did carried a gentleness that was almost impossible to withstand.

If someone truly believed, naively, that Mu Qingran was a gentle person and fell into it, they would discover that this person’s heart was hard.

Just like the mistake He Mu had once made.

In this world, there were many difficult questions. As long as one read enough books, walked enough roads, and experienced enough hardships, one could find the answers.

But when it came to Mu Qingran, no matter how hard He Mu tried, it seemed she would never find the answer.

Why had Mu Qingran gotten together with her back then? And why had she left without once looking back?

He Mu truly wanted to know.

…

The city during the day was full of noise. On the crisscrossing streets of the CBD, cars and pedestrians hurried back and forth. One tall building after another stood like steel monsters, constantly swallowing office workers in suits and shirts into their mouths, chewing and crushing them.

Sunlight shone on the glass of the buildings, reflecting a dazzling glare.

He Mu stood before the window, one hand shielding her eyes. Sunlight slipped in through the gaps between her fingers. Her eyes were half narrowed, like a cat, lazy and content.

A rare sunny day.

She clearly knew that the number of sunny days in Nancheng throughout the year could be counted on one’s fingers, yet she had still come.

Perhaps she was born a masochist.

At this moment, the beautiful woman dressed in a long white suit had waist-length hair, and the sunlight outlined her in a pale golden halo. It should have been an extremely beautiful picture.

But the person in the picture lightly moved her wrist, and her brows instantly twisted together. A string of “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…” jumped from her mouth.

It was as though she had eaten something scalding hot.

The pain in her hand drew out the memory of last night. It really was humiliating enough!

And compared with the humiliation, the fact that Mu Qingran could calmly get up and go find the first-aid kit halfway through was the true extraordinary disgrace!

Knock, knock, knock.

Several knocks sounded at the door.

He Mu stopped reminiscing, put her hand into her pocket, and turned her head. “Come in.”

“President He, is this office all right? If there’s anything missing, you can always tell me…”

KM’s administrative assistant pushed the door open. As she spoke, she suddenly forgot what she was supposed to say next.

All she knew was that President He had flicked her hair, and it felt as though it had flicked against her heart.

How could there be someone this good-looking in the world?!

If this were not the workplace, she would definitely have turned into a screaming chicken!

“Cough, cough, cough!” The administrative assistant used a cough to cover up her stutter. Nervously, she licked her lips. “President He, please come to me at any time if you need anything.”

He Mu smiled politely. “Thank you. I will.”

This was the office KM had specially opened for her. As the investor, she could not simply give them money and then wash her hands of everything. At the same time, she also had the task of helping KM resolve its financial crisis. After all, she was not here to do charity.

Like many melodramatic wealthy families, the He family also had legitimate children and illegitimate children. On the surface, there were three who were acknowledged: He Mu’s eldest sister, her second brother, and He Mu herself.

When He Mu was very young, her elder brother and sister had been sent abroad to study, so their relationship had not been particularly close before. Only after her sister returned from her studies did their relationship become a little closer.

As for her brother, although there was a layer of blood relation between them, their memories of each other had stopped in childhood. When they met normally, their relationship was only the kind where they smiled and greeted each other.

Some time ago, Father He had celebrated his fifty-ninth birthday. Quite a few prominent figures in the business world had attended, causing no small sensation. Adding to the fact that he had once said in front of the media that he would retire at sixty, the public was full of speculation about who would take over He Group from him.

According to common worldly views, the He family had only one legitimate son, so the second young master of the He family becoming the heir was practically set in stone.

But the public image of the eldest daughter of the He family was nearly perfect, and her influence inside the company was even greater. The voices supporting her were much higher than those supporting her younger brother.

He Mu was already closer to her sister, and she also disliked the rotten, outdated idea of “passing it to sons, not daughters.” Naturally, she had to do everything she could to help her sister become the crown princess of He Group.

KM was a piece of meat the directors of He Group had been thinking about for a very long time. Even if she had to work together with Mu Qingran, He Mu believed she could separate public and private matters.

The administrative assistant was just about to leave when He Mu stopped her.

“Could I trouble you to help me get the employee performance assessment materials?”

“No problem. President He, please wait a moment.” The administrative assistant abruptly met President He’s gaze and felt as though she might suffocate and faint in the next second. She hurriedly lowered her head and left.

At noon, around the long table in the small conference room, people gathered in groups of three or five. Some hurriedly shoveled the food in their hands into their mouths, rushing to get back to work. Others treated eating as secondary and chatting as primary, wishing they could pour out all the words they had held back the whole morning during lunch.

“Do you think there’ll be any personnel changes afterward?”

“If anyone should worry, it’s the people with poor performance. What are you, the best employee representative, afraid of?”

“Exactly. Actually, being acquired by Maple Leaf Capital is pretty good. From now on, we’ll also have a big tree to lean against!”

“But that President He is so young. Although she feels like she has quite an aura, who knows whether she’s just a paper tiger.”

“Right? I wanted to complain about that too. Sending a kid over makes it feel like they don’t value our company at all.”

“How old do you think she is?”

“Twenty-five at most.”

“When I was getting coffee this morning, I took the chance to look at her up close. Her skin is especially good. I feel like she might be even younger.”

“I wonder how she got promoted so quickly.”

“Did you not notice what her surname is?”

“He… Ah! He!”

“Shh!”

“No wonder.” So she was royalty.

The one man and two women were focused entirely on gossip. Their mouths moved quickly, but the food in front of them had barely been touched.

They were sitting in the corner at the very end of the long table. Behind them was a bookshelf filled with all kinds of books, provided for employees to study at any time.

“No need to guess. I’m twenty-four this year.” He Mu walked out from behind the bookshelf and stood behind the male employee who had been gossiping about her. “Indeed, thanks to my family, I’m able to stand here at this age.”

“President! President He!”

The three people immediately sprang up from their chairs, their faces full of panic.

Having the person in question hear you gossiping behind her back, while her position also completely crushed yours—could there be anything more despairing than this?!

He Mu did not show any anger. Instead, she said gently, “Don’t be nervous.”

How could they possibly not be nervous!

This was the calm before the storm, right?!

The male employee standing closest to He Mu had large beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He stammered, “President… President He, we didn’t mean it like that.”

He Mu put on a smile. “You accidentally heard my name. Don’t gossip about me again next time.”

“President He, we’re sorry!”

He Mu placed the book in her hand back on the shelf, then walked out with elegant steps.

In truth, there were no small number of employees who thought the same as those three people. They were simply not unlucky enough to be caught on the spot.

However, after that little incident just now, half the female employees in the conference room went insane.

“My god! Does this kind of rich, good-tempered fairy on earth actually exist?!”

“She’s already this A at only twenty-four. It wouldn’t be too much if I called her husband, right?!”

“Ahhhh! Mom, I’m in love!”

“I’m already twenty-five. Why am I still so useless?! Little sister, do you need a useless older sister? The kind who can help warm the bed!”

“Hey, hey, hey! That’s too much! A beauty belongs to everyone. Don’t you dare have improper thoughts!”

A male colleague with slicked hair parted three-seven frowned, his face full of question marks. He nudged the colleague closest to him with his elbow.

“What’s wrong with them?”

Coincidentally, the male colleague beside him also understood nothing about girls’ thoughts. He scratched his head. “Probably too much work pressure.” They had lost their minds.

The slick-haired male colleague said, “President He is pretty, sure, but I definitely wouldn’t look for a girlfriend like that.”

She could hear people talking badly about her behind her back and still remain so calm. He did not dare provoke this kind of woman who hid knives behind her smile.

When a female colleague who had been screaming over the pretty younger woman heard their conversation, she looked at the slick-haired man with disdain.

“If someone like you can get a girlfriend, then count me blind!”

They were not from the same department and did not talk much normally. They were completely unfamiliar with each other. But she still could not help wanting to fire back. There was no other reason. She had simply heard a straight man’s comment and felt annoyed.

The slick-haired man said, “What do you mean?”

The female colleague said, “I mean you need to look in the mirror more.” Don’t be blindly confident.

The slick-haired man said, “You’re hilarious. Did I offend you?”

The female colleague said, “You talk as if our President He could ever look at you!”

“Ridiculous!” The slick-haired man cleaned up his finished lunchbox and stood up angrily. Women were simply unreasonable.

The female colleague also rolled her eyes at him. Another brick had been added to her road of fearing men.

The male colleague stuck in the middle trembled. Girls these days really were so scary. They were fierce as hell toward men, but only became soft and squeaky when they saw beautiful women. Did he still have a chance of having a girlfriend?

He Mu had accidentally overheard others discussing her, but she truly was not angry. Gossiping behind someone’s back was human nature. They were nothing more than insignificant strangers. Taking this opportunity to win people’s hearts was perfect, so why not?

She had become absorbed in reading just now and had not even noticed the time.

It was time to eat lunch.

KM only had a little over a hundred employees, and its office space occupied only one floor. Very quickly, He Mu walked from the small conference room to the president’s office.

She raised her hand and knocked on the door, waiting very politely for the person inside to invite her in.

But after waiting nearly a minute, there was no movement.

He Mu tried turning the doorknob, and the door opened.

Mu Qingran was leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed, letting out small, even breaths.

So Mu Qingran also dozed off while working.

He Mu closed the door behind her, moving very lightly.

She did not walk over. Instead, she leaned her back against the door and watched quietly.

Even from several meters away, she could clearly see Mu Qingran’s tall, straight nose bridge, her thin, small lips, and her slightly tilted-back neck…

There was a small bump in the middle of Mu Qingran’s throat. Whenever she tilted her head like this, there was an indescribable temptation to it. Especially when she drank water.

All sorts of messy imaginings began popping nonstop into He Mu’s mind.

Suddenly, it was so hot!

The woman in the chair opened her eyes. Two fine creases appeared on her thin eyelids, and her gaze carried the haziness of someone who had just woken.

“Is something the matter?”

“Want to do it?”

He Mu heard those two words, loud as thunder, and only after quite a while did she realize they had come from her own mouth.

All expression vanished from her face.

Author’s Note:

Xiao Tiangua covered her eyes and expressed that young people these days really know how to play.