Pretending To Have Amnesia - Chapter 8

On the fighting platform, a slender woman kept throwing punches, her red boxing gloves bold and unrestrained.

Every punch she threw landed heavily on the black gloves her opponent was using to protect his head, forcing him back step by step.

Finally, the sturdy man ran out of strength and collapsed to the ground. The instant he fell, he was like a human-shaped showerhead, scattering sweat all over the floor.

The woman, however, seemed far from satisfied. She frowned, rolled her neck, and waited irritably for the next opponent.

“Miss Qin, this is already the third fitness coach. If this keeps going, how are we supposed to stay open tomorrow—”

“Shut up!” Qin Xin tossed a card into the speaker’s arms. “I have only one requirement. Let her fight until she’s satisfied.”

“All right, all right! Worst case, we close for a few days!” The boxing gym owner surrendered under the obscene power of money and called over another boxing coach.

The girl on the platform looked soft and delicate, but no one had expected her to be so fierce when she boxed. Luckily, no other students were around to see it. Otherwise, they would definitely suspect that all the fitness coaches here were weaklings.

…

After He Mu finished venting, she looked as though she had just been fished out of the water. Large, glistening beads of sweat rolled down her neck.

Qin Xin handed her a dry towel and asked, “Who was so bold as to make our President He this angry?! Tell me, and I’ll find someone to teach them a harsh lesson!”

He Mu wiped her sweat while silently walking into the shower room, offering no response whatsoever, as though Qin Xin were merely a towel-passing robot.

Qin Xin gritted her teeth and waved a fist at He Mu’s back. “You heartless dead thing! I abandoned a clingy little temptress just to keep you company, and you won’t even say a word to me. Are you even human?!”

As she spoke, she was suddenly moved by herself. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “So loyal to my friends. I truly am an angel sent to earth by God!”

Inside the shower room, steam rose thickly as water pattered down.

He Mu stood beneath the showerhead with her face tilted upward. Water flowed over her eyelids, and her long, dense lashes stuck to her lower eyelids.

When she was little, she had always used crying and fussing to resist taking baths.

Because when she bathed, water would wash over her face and make it impossible to open her eyes. It felt as though a large hand had pushed her into a pitch-black cave where she could not see anything. It made her uneasy and afraid.

But if she did not bathe, she would stink. Then no other children would play with her. Besides, she was a girl, so she had to smell nice.

So even though she was afraid, she had no other choice. She could only cry while washing. Every time she bathed, she would feel that she was the most miserable child in the world.

As a result, whenever earth-shaking cries sounded from the bathroom, everyone in the house would know that the family’s little young lady was taking a bath.

This had practically become part of her embarrassing past. After she grew up, her mother always loved using this matter to tease her.

When had she finally stopped being afraid of closing her eyes in the water?

It seemed to have been not long after Mu Qingran arrived.

…

“Mommy, I don’t want to bathe!” The child with twin ponytails pouted her little mouth. Her two big eyes were full of tears, and her little face was round and puffed up like a bun.

“Then let’s not bathe today. Let’s go to sleep, okay?” The woman’s hair was coiled behind her head, with a few slightly curled wisps hanging beside her ears. She looked at her daughter dotingly, smiling gently.

“No! Not bathing is too dirty!” Little He Mu’s eyes could not hold so many tears, and they began spilling out one after another. She looked terribly aggrieved.

“Does Mumu want to bathe or not?”

“I want to bathe and don’t want to bathe.”

Children at that age still did not know how to express what they truly meant, and she especially did not want her mother to know that she was actually afraid of closing her eyes. That was far too embarrassing.

The woman furrowed her pretty brows, deeply troubled.

Had her eldest daughter been this much of a crybaby at this age too? It had been fourteen years ago; even as her mother, she could barely remember.

“Ranran, you appeared at exactly the right time!” Mother He looked at Mu Qingran as though she had seen a savior. Children should understand children better, right?

Besides, Mumu seemed to like Sister Ranran very much.

Mu Qingran walked over with an empty water cup. “Auntie He, what’s wrong?”

“Mumu doesn’t want to bathe one moment, then wants to bathe the next. She keeps crying, and Auntie really doesn’t know what to do. Help Auntie coax her, please!” Mother He clasped her hands together. Rather than looking like a mother of three, she looked more like an overgrown child herself.

“All right.”

Mu Qingran had originally come out to get water, but she put the cup back without drinking any and held out her hand toward the child throwing a tantrum.

The child let out a little hiccup from crying and placed her short little hand into Sister’s palm.

It was cool.

Mu Qingran lowered her head and asked, “Be good and take a bath, hm?”

The child was clearly very resistant, but she still pouted and nodded.

“Ah! Wonderful! Then Mumu is in Sister Ranran’s hands?” Mother He winked at Mu Qingran.

Mu Qingran nodded.

The mother who had unloaded her heavy burden bounced back to the bedroom. Applying a face mask and watching dramas was what a woman over forty should be doing!

Little He Mu sat on the low stool in the bathroom. Her tears once again fell beyond her control, pattering down.

Mu Qingran rolled up her sleeves, took the showerhead in hand, and crouched down to adjust the water temperature.

She tested the temperature on her own arm, then grabbed the child’s little fist and brought the showerhead closer. “Is it too hot?”

The child shook her head. She wanted to cry loudly, but did not dare.

If the person in front of her had been her mother or one of the servants at home, she would have jumped up and started wailing long ago.

Mu Qingran stared at the child’s wet eyes and said, “A child blessed by heaven won’t be disliked no matter how fiercely she cries. Instead, she’ll receive even more love.”

Her voice was very soft, more like she was speaking to herself.

She was clearly only eleven, yet her eyes were like two bottomless pools, so still that even the tiniest ripple was difficult to see.

The child did not understand what Sister meant, but listening to Sister’s voice, she seemed less afraid of closing her eyes.

Little He Mu covered her eyes with both hands, leaving a narrow slit between her middle and ring fingers. “Sister, you have to be quick, okay!” Her voice was soft and sticky, full of trust.

A hint of impatience flashed through Mu Qingran’s eyes, but her movements remained meticulous and gentle.

He Mu wiped the water droplets from her face and opened her eyes.

What a distant memory.

Now that she thought back on it, perhaps Mu Qingran had found her quite annoying when they were children.

If a little burden like that had followed her around, He Mu might have thrown her straight into the trash can.

“What do you think of that tall sister with the long curly hair?”

“Good.”

“What about that bun-haired little cutie?”

“Good.”

“What about that handsome guy with the inverted-triangle body and eight-pack abs?”

“All good.”

Qin Xin turned He Mu’s face toward herself, her gaze幽幽 and faint. “You’re brushing me off.”

He Mu said, “Did you wash your hands after going to the bathroom?”

“Even if I didn’t wash them, touching your face still counts as giving you face!” Qin Xin said irritably. “You asked me to bring you out to have fun, but you’re acting like Tang Monk. Are you messing with me?”

He Mu shook her head. “Watching you get rejected while hitting on people is my entertainment.”

Qin Xin said, “Are you human?”

He Mu said, “You’ve known I’m not human for more than a day or two.”

After coming out of the boxing gym, Qin Xin had enthusiastically brought He Mu to a bar she had recently discovered. The handsome guys and pretty girls here were all of especially high quality. One casual glance was enough to fall in love.

But she discovered that He Mu was like a dead piece of meat on a chopping board, without even a trace of the hormones someone her age should have.

Qin Xin hooked an arm around her childhood friend’s neck. “Tell me honestly. During all these years when I wasn’t by your side, did you secretly date anyone behind my back?”

“I did. We broke up.”

Qin Xin nodded in relief. She was not incapable of love, then. There was still hope.

“With Mu Qingran.”

At the next sentence, Qin Xin exploded.

“With who?!”

He Mu did not repeat what she had just said. She knew Qin Xin had not failed to hear clearly. She was just shocked.

Before Qin Xin even graduated high school, she had transferred to Nancheng. She could only go back during holidays to play with He Mu. She knew He Mu regarded Mu Qingran as very important, but she had not expected it to be on this level of importance.

But thinking carefully, there was nothing surprising about He Mu liking Mu Qingran. After all, ever since Qin Xin could remember, this useless childhood friend of hers had spent all day circling around Mu Qingran.

“You and Mu Qingran dating is such a huge thing, and you’re only telling me now!” Qin Xin was so angry several strands of hair almost stood up. “So I’m not the precious little baby you trust the most after all. Hmph!”

“Just think of it as me carefully protecting a treasure I cherished very much.” He Mu lowered her eyes and smiled faintly. “I was afraid that if I said it out loud, the treasure would shatter.”

Qin Xin saw that something was wrong with her childhood friend’s mood, so she suppressed her urge to gossip and changed the subject.

“Didn’t we come here today to discover a new continent? I think that mature beauty over there with the somewhat melancholy aura suits you especially well!”

He Mu said, “We’re only a one-night stand now. At most two nights, three nights, four nights. No, there isn’t even any affection involved.”

A chill ran down Qin Xin’s nape. She could clearly feel that He Mu was not normal right now.

Not just ordinary not normal!

Mom, I’m scared!

He Mu tilted her head and fell against Qin Xin’s shoulder, murmuring softly, “I just want to play with her. I stopped having any feelings for her long ago. Not even a tiny bit. Not even a tiny bit…”

Qin Xin pinched her nose, her brows wrinkling like a twisted dough stick. “Did you secretly drink behind my back?!”

There had been some distance between them just now, so the smell of alcohol had not been that strong. Now, she felt as though she were carrying a giant wine vat on her body.

The bartender spoke. “When you went to the restroom earlier, this lady ordered five glasses of whiskey and downed them all in one go.”

Qin Xin tilted her head up and fiercely pinched her own philtrum.

Usually, He Mu could barely count as human. But once drunk, she was simply a ghost! A demon!

Of all the mistakes she could have made, she absolutely should not have brought this eldest young lady to a bar when she was in a bad mood!

He Mu suddenly straightened and grabbed Qin Xin by the collar.

“Do I look like an easy-to-bully child?”

Qin Xin’s brows bent into wavy lines. “No matter how I answer, I won’t have a good ending. Is there a difference?”

He Mu slapped Qin Xin’s shoulder hard several times, her face full of indignation. “That bastard Mu Qingran! She actually bit me!”

Here it comes!

Qin Xin covered her shoulder and perfunctorily said, devoid of all will to live, “Mm. She’s a bastard.”

He Mu opened her mouth, pointed inside, and said indistinctly, “She bit my tongue!”

Qin Xin covered her ears. “I’m still a child! Don’t force me to listen to things unsuitable for minors!”

He Mu grabbed Qin Xin’s wrist with a solemn expression. “She said my technique was bad. You’re my best friend—”

“You’re dreaming! I will not make such a huge sacrifice for you!” Qin Xin’s whole body was written with rejection, but her wrist was trapped as though by a pair of iron pliers and could not move. It felt like it would shatter in the next second.

“Don’t move!” He Mu hugged Qin Xin in one motion. “I’ll just hold you and cry for a while. Just for a while.”

“You scared me to death. You should’ve said that earlier!” Qin Xin gently patted her friend’s back, her voice much softer. “Our baby He Mu can cry, crying isn’t a crime. Along the road, wildflowers bloom in pairs; among the flowers, bees fly everywhere. Yo, yo, check it out~ Pick one and you’ve earned it. The joys of adulthood are beyond your imagination!”

“I’m going to pick flowers right now! Two flowers!” He Mu swayed to her feet and patted Qin Xin’s shoulder hard. “Thank you! If I pick flowers, you’ll get part of the credit!”

“No need to thank me too much. This is all what I should do.” Qin Xin rubbed her shoulder, which had nearly been smashed to pieces, and tried hard to maintain a smile.

“You really look like Mu Qingran.” He Mu tried hard to roll her eyelids up, but the figure in front of her was still swaying back and forth, making her dizzy.

Qin Xin turned her head.

Wasn’t that Mu Qingran?!

So the words she had just said, encouraging He Mu to go pick wildflowers…

Had all been heard?

!!!

“Sister Mu, long time no see!” Qin Xin squeezed out a brilliant smile showing eight teeth. “What brings you here?”

“I received a call.” Mu Qingran picked up He Mu’s phone from the bar counter and put it into her bag.

In her heart, Qin Xin greeted He Mu’s ancestors eight hundred times. She had only gone to the restroom for a while, yet this little brat had managed to do quite a lot!

He Mu threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around the neck of the wildflower in front of her.

“Miss, are you available for the night? I have plenty of money!”

Mu Qingran’s eyes darkened. Customers near the bar who had wanted to sit down were directly frightened by her aura and took an S-shaped detour elsewhere.

Qin Xin covered her eyes with her hand.

She wanted to pretend this was all a dream. After waking up, she truly would not dare move!