Chapter 25: Like They Were Sneaking Around!
Ji Wushan’s bare calves were fair and delicate, the only flaw being the bruises, which were a little too obvious.
Xue Erbai stared at her in a daze, and when Ji Wushan looked up, she immediately sensed that something was off.
The air seemed to turn sticky all at once.
Ji Wushan instinctively drew her legs back under the blanket.
“Don’t bury yourself under the covers when you sleep. You’ll get uncomfortable.”
Xue Erbai said it as if she were smoothing over the moment, and Ji Wushan quietly let out a breath of relief.
Her hands folded on top of the blanket, she gave a small, obedient nod.
When she saw the porridge Xue Erbai had brought over, her expression flickered with brief surprise.
She took it and drank slowly, in small sips.
Time seemed to slow down. As the food settled in her stomach, warmth spread through her.
Because of work, Ji Wushan’s eating habits were terribly irregular; stomach trouble was almost routine. She had endured the pain so many times that she seemed to have built up some resistance to it.
If not for the warmth now, she might not even have realized she’d been feeling unwell just moments ago.
She looked at Xue Erbai with a gentle expression, carrying a trace of gratitude.
This was different from what had happened at the TV station entrance.
Back then, her attention had been pulled elsewhere. Xue Erbai had taken her to a restaurant, but she had little appetite, and most of the time it was Xue Erbai who ate and talked.
After dinner, the two of them went to the mall to buy gifts for the elders.
By the time they finally got home after all that, it was around nine. Ji Wushan went to shower, and when she came out, she saw Xue Erbai on the phone in the kitchen. Not long after, she came over with a bowl of porridge.
“If you want something next time, just tell me directly.”
“I won’t make decisions on my own anymore.”
Xue Erbai said it while watching her eat.
Ji Wushan gave a slight nod and kept eating in silence.
After finishing the bowl of porridge, she had regained quite a bit of strength; the weakness in her legs had faded. She bent her knees and stood up, ignoring Xue Erbai, who was only watching her and hadn’t touched her own porridge at all. Ji Wushan scooped a bowl for her, then got off the bed and went to find her bag.
After a few searches, she took out a jewelry box and handed it to Xue Erbai.
Still flushed, her cheeks slightly hot, Ji Wushan passed it over, then bent to pick up her bowl and turned toward the kitchen.
Behind her, Xue Erbai’s delighted voice rang out: “Wow! It’s a bracelet!”
“How did you know I like this style of bracelet!”
As Xue Erbai’s voice grew more and more excited, the curve of Ji Wushan’s lips widened too, even though her back was to her. She awkwardly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear; her pounding heartbeat and the strange heat in her chest made it feel as if the bath she’d just taken had been for nothing.
Since she hadn’t applied any medicine yet, she simply took out a fresh nightdress and went to shower again.
----
Actually, before opening the jewelry box, Xue Erbai had wondered if it might be a ring.
Could Ji Wushan have been the same as her, and prepared matching rings long ago?
But reality told her she was overthinking it.
It was a platinum bracelet, with a little blue dolphin, delicate and full.
Very cute.
And it was a color Xue Erbai liked too.
She didn’t know whether it was a coincidence, or whether Ji Wushan simply knew exactly what color she liked.
Her heart overflowing with delight, after expressing how excited she was, she wanted to say a proper thank-you, only to hear the faint sound of water from inside.
That was when she realized Ji Wushan had gone to shower again.
She was the only one in the living room now; she could be as happy as she wanted!
Click, click, click!
After taking several photos in a row, Xue Erbai sent them one by one to Zhong Dai.
[Little Pu, Little Pu, don’t you think my bracelet looks especially good?]
[Seriously, I wonder if it’ll look even better when I wear it!]
[Hm, don’t be too jealous of me!]
She was in such a wonderful mood that the fact that she had originally called Zhong Dai Miss Know-It-All was completely forgotten. She still called her Little Pu, and even the WeChat she’d added to the show only a few days ago was just for decoration; the bragging still went out on QQ.
After sending the messages, Xue Erbai flopped onto the bed and rolled halfway around.
----
Ji Wushan, who had gone back into the bathroom, didn’t know what Xue Erbai was doing.
But that didn’t stop her from imagining it.
In truth, she had picked out the bracelet herself while Xue Erbai was choosing gifts for the elders, and quietly paid for it.
She had guessed Xue Erbai might like it, but she hadn’t expected her to like it that much, laughing without caring about her image and squealing as she collapsed onto the sofa...
It wiped away the bad mood she’d felt after seeing Song Quwen.
The water had been off for several seconds; her body, covered in droplets, was gradually cooling. Ji Wushan raised a hand to cover her shoulder and let the chill spread across her skin.
Only when she started to shiver did she reach for the body wash.
Her toiletries and Xue Erbai’s were placed together, neatly arranged.
Completely different brands, yet somehow similar.
Especially the lime-scented body wash.
The scent was slightly different, and a trace of unwillingness rose in Ji Wushan’s eyes before she hid it again.
Different, and yet that seemed fine too.
She rinsed quickly and changed into a pure white lace nightdress.
The weather was warming up, so the nightdresses and pajamas she’d brought this time were all made of thin fabric; the straps half-covered her slender collarbones.
As she blew her hair dry, Ji Wushan looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her lips were slightly dry; she pressed them together and stepped out of the bathroom.
Going down the stairs didn’t hurt. Neither did walking around the mall.
But maybe she had walked too much, because when she stepped down again, it pulled at the ankle she had twisted earlier.
“...Hiss!”
Her brows knitted tightly as she let out a soft sound, one hand on the wall as she prepared to move more slowly.
At that moment, Xue Erbai, who was on the bed holding her phone and about to roll over another half-turn, suddenly sat up. Almost as if she had been launched, she sprang to her feet and wrapped an arm around Ji Wushan’s waist for support.
Her hair brushed against Ji Wushan’s nose, a little itchy.
The scent that drifted in was familiar too, and Xue Erbai, suddenly flustered, looked at Ji Wushan’s profile and then at her lips...
She unconsciously bit her own lip, then steadied her with one hand and asked, “How is it? Where does it hurt?”
“My ankle hurts a little.”
Ji Wushan said softly, letting her body lean against Xue Erbai without meaning to.
Compared with Xue Erbai’s complete focus, she deliberately compared the lime scent on both of them to see whose was purer.
As Xue Erbai helped her to the bedside,
she got an answer.
It was Xue Erbai.
The lime scent on Xue Erbai was purer, and so was the tenderness in her eyes.
But that kind of gaze felt very strange to Ji Wushan.
She had grown up under Song Quwen’s unpredictable moods, and had almost never seen eyes like that.
Her father was more like a background figure in this family; aside from working and earning money, he rarely appeared at home.
Of course, Song Quwen wasn’t around much either.
She only came back when things went badly for her in love or at the gambling table. Aside from when Ji Wushan was little and too naive to know better, stubbornly clinging to Song Quwen, Ji Wushan always avoided her as much as she could.
She didn’t want to endure that irritable, sarcastic, cold mood.
Yet Song Quwen forced her to endure it. For example, that WeChat message she hadn’t replied to; maybe Song Quwen had done something coercive or manipulative too.
Losing her memory might not have been entirely a bad thing.
She didn’t want to ask any further, and she didn’t want Song Quwen to know she’d lost her memory.
Because since childhood, the little warmth she’d known had never come from Song Quwen.
Most of it had come from strangers, and from Xue Erbai, who lived under the same roof as her.
Maybe that was why she had agreed to the contract marriage, and why even after losing her memory, she had gradually grown closer to her.
Xue Erbai was a little mischievous, but the first time they met, she had sweetly called her Sister Shengsheng.
She would secretly take out lemon-flavored lollipops and stuff them into her pocket.
“Shengsheng-jie, my mom doesn’t know; hide it quickly and eat it when you get home!”
That was the first warm thing little Xue Erbai had ever said to her.
Years had passed, and Ji Wushan had long since forgotten it.
People change. In the long course of life, she had forgotten sweetness a long time ago.
But today’s events seemed to have brought it back.
More than that, she felt something in Xue Erbai that made it seem as though, even in a contract marriage, she was being very sincere.
She had lost her memory, but that didn’t mean she was cut off from the outside world.
She knew the real person in charge of the Xue family was Xue Erbai, and she knew the Xue family had been somewhat in decline in recent years.
But a starving camel is still bigger than a horse.
To her, people had once been symbols. Xue Erbai had been one too, but now it felt different; Xue Erbai was no longer just a symbol. She was an exclamation mark, a question mark.
The lime scent gradually faded. Ji Wushan straightened her back and put a few centimeters between herself and Xue Erbai, then said somewhat stiffly, “I still need to put on medicine.”
Xue Erbai let go of the arm she had been supporting and bent down to hand Ji Wushan the medicine.
Ji Wushan silently took it, squeezed some onto her hand, and gently rubbed the bruises while pretending nothing was wrong. Then she asked, “Do you like the bracelet?”
“I do! I really do! Look!”
Xue Erbai’s voice was a little high as she lifted her arm and showed Ji Wushan.
Ji Wushan pressed her hand down, stopping her from moving it around.
With a serious look, she examined the bracelet she had carefully chosen. It rested warmly against Xue Erbai’s wrist, neither too loose nor too tight; it fit perfectly.
“If you like it, that’s good.”
Ji Wushan smiled faintly. Wet strands of hair hung in front of her eyes, and Xue Erbai’s heart stirred; she reached out and caught a lock of it.
“Why haven’t you dried your hair?”
Actually, after sharing her joy, the excitement had faded a little.
There was something different about Ji Wushan, different from what Xue Erbai remembered, different from what she had expected, so her courage had grown too.
Ji Wushan instinctively shrank back, then leaned forward again and said vaguely, “I forgot.”
It was true that she had forgotten, because the moment she came out, she saw Xue Erbai rolling around on the bed.
It was kind of funny.
“Then wait a moment!”
Xue Erbai got up to fetch the hair dryer, then naturally knelt in front of her, wanting to help dry her hair.
“I can do it myself.”
“Later, help me put on medicine.”
Most of Ji Wushan’s injuries were on her legs, and Xue Erbai’s gaze fell there instinctively. Ji Wushan moved her calf a little, bit her lip, and said, “My back... hurts a little too.”
Her cheeks were slightly red. Xue Erbai glanced at her, then looked away at once, her throat bobbing as she nodded.
Only then did she notice the scrape on Ji Wushan’s shoulder.
It wasn’t serious, but it was still very obvious.
Looking at it, Xue Erbai felt a little upset. Afraid she’d show it too clearly and let Ji Wushan notice, she simply turned to get the medicine.
The hair dryer buzzed to life. Xue Erbai fumbled around for a while.
Ji Wushan had cut her hair short, and it took even less time to dry than Xue Erbai had expected.
The instant the Yunnan Baiyao was in her hand and had started to warm, Xue Erbai finally turned back around.
Ji Wushan had already turned her back to her and sat at the edge of the bed, the strap of her nightdress pulled aside to half-reveal her clean back and the scrape there.
Moving closer, Xue Erbai caught a familiar scent; but it was quickly overwhelmed by the sharp smell of Yunnan Baiyao. She crouched down and carefully touched Ji Wushan’s shoulder blade with a cotton swab.
“If it hurts, tell me.”
After all, it wasn’t her own body. Xue Erbai was afraid she’d be too rough.
Only after Ji Wushan nodded did she relax and continue.
But after just a few strokes, Ji Wushan’s body trembled slightly. She didn’t make a sound; she only tilted her head a little and watched the cotton swab in Xue Erbai’s hand.
Xue Erbai froze.
She even got a little nervous.
Ji Wushan...
She was staring at her hand!
Even though her fingers were long, her nails full...
But the more she thought about it, the shyer she felt, ahhh!!
Yet Ji Wushan looked at her very seriously, which made Xue Erbai’s heartbeat quicken. It felt as though something had hit her heart hard.
She instinctively leaned in, but Ji Wushan leaned back a little; her expression suddenly cooled.
Her tone turned questioning. “Xue Erbai, are you this nice to everyone?”
“Of course not!” Xue Erbai blurted out, a little confused.
When she tilted her head to look at Ji Wushan, she saw only lowered eyes, with no emotion visible at all.
What she didn’t know was that Ji Wushan was in the middle of an internal struggle.
She thought of the one or two times before, when she had seen Xue Erbai speaking with ease and confidence, of the “work” she had accidentally glimpsed, and of Xue Erbai sitting face-to-face with Zhong Dai, laughing and talking.
Xue Erbai had so many sides. She didn’t know which one in front of her was real.
She lowered her eyes and slightly regretted asking.
Maybe today she was too fragile, and couldn’t help wanting to seek warmth.
Warmth that belonged only to her.
After a long while, neither of them spoke. Xue Erbai finished applying the medicine and said rather seriously, “I’m not this nice to everyone.”
“Today, I wasn’t very nice to your mother.”
“Mm; her attitude toward you wasn’t very nice either.”
“Mm...” Xue Erbai waved a hand. “Then let’s not talk about it.”
“Let’s talk about your problem instead, Sister Shengsheng. How could your back hurt and you not tell me?!“
“If I’d known, I would’ve put medicine on you on the show...”
Xue Erbai started complaining again. Ji Wushan turned to look at her and explained seriously, “That’s different; we were working, and it was on the show...”
Xue Erbai blinked, wanting to say that in the room, no one would know anyway! Once the cameras were covered, wasn’t everyone free to do whatever they wanted? Zhong Dai even watched Fu Lingnan’s movies and variety shows and laughed like crazy.
What was wrong with applying medicine?
But facing Ji Wushan’s overly serious expression, she still remembered the Ji Wushan from before she lost her memory.
The lights had to be off. Only one finger was allowed.
And it had to...
There were too many musts; it wasn’t something she could shake off with just one or two sentences.
Besides, saying it like that... was kind of thrilling.
It really did feel like they were on the show, sneaking around!
---
Author’s Note: