Jiang Fuyue turned her head and met the man’s smiling eyes. “When did you wake up?”
“A little earlier than you.”
“What time is it now? It’s already dark…”
Xie Dingyuan said, “Ten at night.”
They had actually slept for nearly twelve hours!
Jiang Fuyue’s first reaction was to look for her phone.
“I already called the hospital to ask. Lou Mingshen woke up a little after two in the afternoon and has already been transferred to a regular ward.”
Jiang Fuyue let out a light breath, but when she turned her head she met the man’s calm eyes.
She lowered her gaze, silent for a long time. When she raised her eyes again, it seemed as if she had made up her mind. “Do you have questions you want to ask me?”
Xie Dingyuan nodded. He did not deny the curiosity in his heart, but said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
If you don’t want to, I won’t ask.
Jiang Fuyue smiled. “I’m just afraid that if I say it, it’ll scare you, a firm materialist. Or maybe you’ll think I’m joking and won’t believe it at all.”
Xie Dingyuan looked into her eyes. “As long as you say it, I’ll believe it.”
Jiang Fuyue leaned against his chest. “Where should I start? Let’s begin twenty years ago. More precisely, it should be twenty-three years ago, because I’ve already been Jiang Fuyue for three years. Before that, my name was Lou Mingyue…”
Hearing that name, Xie Dingyuan’s entire body trembled.
Lou Mingyue?!
“Mhm,” Jiang Fuyue seemed to know what he was thinking and nodded. “The very Lou Mingyue you know.”
Next, like listening to a fantastical legend, Xie Dingyuan listened as she told the story of Lou Mingyue’s previous life and Jiang Fuyue’s present one.
At the moment she died twenty years ago, between closing and opening her eyes, she arrived in the present twenty years later, and even… changed bodies?
Jiang Fuyue said, “…Amazing, right?”
Xie Dingyuan clicked his tongue and after a long moment sighed, “The world is vast; nothing is too strange.”
“Why aren’t you talking about science now?” she laughed.
“I remember you once said that ‘God’ might not be a person, but perhaps some mysterious power in the universe yet to be discovered. It has miraculous creative abilities, allowing the Earth to function so suitably and humanity to exist so exquisitely.”
Xie Dingyuan continued, “Einstein’s theory of relativity proposed the issue of time-space travel. In your case it’s enough to prove that this isn’t merely an extreme hypothesis, but a fact that can truly exist.”
Jiang Fuyue was surprised by how quickly he accepted it. In such a short time he had already pulled out theoretical explanations to support it.
Xie Dingyuan asked, “Did I say something wrong? Why are you laughing?”
“I’m laughing because instead of talking about ghosts, demons, spirits, or monsters, you immediately start talking about science. If fox spirits or seductive ghosts really existed in this world, they definitely couldn’t charm you.”
“Of course not. I only lose my soul over you.” Xie Dingyuan leaned toward her ear, his breath warm and damp.
Jiang Fuyue shrank her neck a little, it tickled.
“So when we met at the Rose Cemetery that time, you were going to pay respects to yourself?”
“Not only that. My father and mother are also buried there.”
Xie Dingyuan asked, “Then Lou Mingxin going to prison, was that also your doing?”
Jiang Fuyue said, “She got off easy.”
“Why did Lou Mingshen attempt suicide in front of you? Does he already know you’re Lou Mingyue?”
“Mhm. He came to me for confirmation. He probably already suspected before that…”
Jiang Fuyue paused for a moment before continuing, “Although I don’t hate him, I also didn’t want to forgive him so easily. In the end that fool actually tried to repay me with his life…”
Xie Dingyuan fell silent. Thinking of Lou Mingshen lying in the ICU, covered in wounds and barely alive, when he jumped he must already have been determined to die.
More than twenty years had passed. Now in his forties, Lou Mingshen still had not escaped the guilt, showing how great a blow Lou Mingyue’s death had dealt him back then.
Xie Dingyuan suddenly remembered something, his eyes narrowing slightly. “From Fu Choujun’s behavior in the hospital, I suspect she may have something to do with your death back then.”
“You noticed?” Jiang Fuyue raised her brows.
“I just thought it was strange. Every time you mentioned twenty years ago, her expression became very unnatural.”
If he had not seen wrong, that was guilt.
Jiang Fuyue recalled the scene of being lured to her death back then, trying to find some clue in her memories. If she could use that to grasp hold of Fu Choujun, that would naturally be best.
Xie Dingyuan lowered his head and saw the girl lost in thought.
Who was she thinking about?
Suddenly, a figure flashed through his mind, someone who once could only sit in a wheelchair but now could move freely with a cane.
Back then, Ming Yu and Lou Mingyue had once had an engagement…
“You…”
“Yueyue…”
They both spoke at the same time.
Jiang Fuyue looked up at him. “You go first.”
“Ahem…” Xie Dingyuan’s gaze shifted elsewhere. “You and Ming Yu, before…”
He suddenly didn’t know how to continue.
“Me and Ming Yu? And then?” Confusion flashed in Jiang Fuyue’s eyes.
Xie Dingyuan gritted his teeth. “Were you two together before?”
“Me and him…” Jiang Fuyue paused. Meeting someone’s cautiously probing gaze, her tone changed and she suddenly dragged it out. “Me and him…”
Xie Dingyuan pricked up his ears, completely hooked.
Just say it already!
What happened between you two?
Jiang Fuyue’s eyes flickered slightly. “Speaking of it, he and I once had an engagement.”
There it was.
Xie Dingyuan’s heart sank suddenly, and his expression instantly turned cold.
“But…” Jiang Fuyue abruptly changed her tone. “We were never together, and we were never a couple.”
The man’s eyes instantly lit up, his heart rising and falling like a roller coaster. “Then the engagement?”
“At the time the Lou family needed a son-in-law of equal status, and the Ming family just happened to need a daughter-in-law with a strong background. We hit it off immediately and simply announced the engagement to the outside world. A cooperative win-win.”
Xie Dingyuan asked, “When did you and Uncle Ming, uh, Professor Ming get in touch?”
“About a year ago. He recognized my handwriting.”
“Besides that, who else knows your identity?”
Jiang Fuyue counted them off one by one: “Shigong, Old Cen, Chunhua, Niu Rui, Ling Qingzhou, Yi Hansheng… that’s about it.”
Xie Dingyuan suddenly understood. “No wonder when we were in Linhuai, Ling Qingzhou and Yi Hansheng acted so strangely toward you.”
There was some fear, a bit of respect, and beyond that even a trace of admiration.
At the time Xie Dingyuan had thought those two were rather odd, CEOs in their forties and fifties with successful careers, yet they treated a high school student with utmost respect.
So that was the reason.
“Do Old Xu and Professor Peter know too?”
Jiang Fuyue nodded, then shook her head. “They don’t know I’m Lou Mingyue, but they do know my other identity.”
“Hm?”
Jiang Fuyue curled her lips. “S-SA internal network, I Send My Sorrowful Heart.”
“Hiss—” Xie Dingyuan sucked in a sharp breath. “So it really was you!”
The word he used was “really,” meaning he had already suspected before.
“When that guess flashed through my mind back then, I almost thought I’d gone crazy.”
After all, the age difference between I Send My Sorrowful Heart and Jiang Fuyue was right there.
Who could have imagined they were actually the same person?
“Then when we traded on the internal network, the person who sold me those four out-of-print books was you?”
“Many thanks to the generous boss for your contribution.”
“…”
Jiang Fuyue sat up straight. “Anything else you want to ask? I’ll tell you everything.”
Xie Dingyuan cupped her cheek, his gaze filled with tenderness. “You trust me that much?”
This was her greatest secret.
And now she had told him everything without reservation.
At that moment, Xie Dingyuan suddenly felt that in this relationship, he was not the only one who had been utterly captivated and constantly thinking of the other.
Jiang Fuyue was just as honest, direct, brave, and bold with him.
Before this, he had thought that in their relationship he was the one taking the initiative.
But now he realized there was no initiative or passivity between them.
He and her….
Were running toward each other.
While he ran toward her, she was also running toward him.
“Yueyue…”
Holding up her chin with his hand, Xie Dingyuan lowered his head and kissed her lips.
Amid the entanglement, he could feel her heartbeat and breathing. At that moment they seemed like innocent children embracing each other, closer and more intimate than ever before.
“In this life, I won’t let you be hurt again…”
“Okay.” She leaned forward in response, wrapping her arms around his neck.
…
Lou Mingshen’s injuries were serious, but fortunately after waking he showed no complications.
Fu Choujun stayed at the hospital, taking care of him day and night without even changing her clothes.
During that time she repeatedly questioned what exactly had happened and what it had to do with Jiang Fuyue.
But Lou Mingshen either said his head hurt and he couldn’t remember, or simply closed his eyes and refused to answer.
Every day Fu Choujun hovered on the edge of fury.
Even more strangely, the lawyers, detectives, and intelligence networks she sent to investigate the matter were unable to find the cause and effect.
It was as if…
Someone had deliberately covered up the traces and intentionally prevented her from discovering anything.
Fu Choujun had even considered the road surveillance footage. She had found acquaintances in the traffic bureau and promised them heavy rewards, but in the end it was all useless.
Lou Mingshen watched coldly and didn’t even bother trying to persuade her anymore.
When Xie Dingyuan handled matters, would it really be that easy for others to find evidence?
What a joke!
If she wanted to keep making trouble, then let her.
Right now Lou Mingshen only hoped that his sister would come see him, even just once…
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