After Losing My Memory, I Suddenly Had A Fiancée - Chapter 19

A storm was brewing in Ji Fanghuai’s mind, as she imagined a heap of ways Jiang Zhi might take advantage of her, and how she should refuse when that happened. She couldn’t possibly bite her again, could she?

That might give Jiang Zhi a phobia of kissing.

The reality, however, was perfectly calm.

Jiang Zhi simply held her without any other intimate gestures, seeming to already have a phobia.

Ji Fanghuai secretly flashed an awkward yet polite smile.

After Jiang Zhi left, Ji Fanghuai quickly immersed herself in a world for two: one person and one cat, Xixi.

With food and drink at home and a cat to pet, Ji Fanghuai was quite happy. But she slowly started to feel bored. After eating lunch and tidying up a little, she headed to the coffee shop.

Their apartment was at the end of the corridor, right next to the elevator. She usually never saw any neighbors, but today, as Ji Fanghuai took the elevator, a sunny-looking young man greeted her.

They were the only two people in the elevator, and Ji Fanghuai hadn’t paid much attention to who was next to her.

The man spoke first to greet her, saying, “We live on the same floor, so we’re neighbors, right? I’ve seen you before; I’ve had coffee at your shop.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t recall,” Ji Fanghuai didn’t recognize him and had no intention of chatting further. The elevator arrived quickly, but the man surprisingly continued to talk.

“I only saw you recently. The coffee at your shop is good. Did you just move in? I hadn’t seen you before.”

That last sentence made Ji Fanghuai pause, her brow furrowing slightly, a rare expression for her. She said, “Maybe I just don’t go out often.”

The young man wore an expression that suggested he understood, smiling as he said, “I’m a homebody too. Oh, I’ve seen the other lady before. Is she your older sister?”

Ji Fanghuai felt like he was trying to flirt, though she wasn’t sure if his target was her or Jiang Zhi. Her face turned cold, and she said, “She is my fiancée.”

There was a hint of warning in her tone.

“Alright then,” the man had come with the intention of flirting and, being tactful, he left.

The assistant was waiting downstairs, thoughtfully preparing motion sickness medication and mints. There was also a first-aid kit in the trunk.

Ji Fanghuai sighed, feeling the assistant was overly cautious. She wasn’t made of glass and didn’t need to be treated so delicately.

Ji Fanghuai took the motion sickness medicine. Thinking about what the man in the elevator had said, she asked, seemingly casually, “How long have you been with Jiang Zhi?”

The assistant answered offhandedly, “I was just transferred to General Manager Jiang’s side this year. I wasn’t in HR before.”

“Hmm?” Ji Fanghuai was a bit confused.

“I mean, I wasn’t in Human Resources or administration before. I was…” The assistant suddenly blushed, stammering for a long time without making any sense.

Ji Fanghuai didn’t know why she was blushing. The assistant had always been dedicated and professional, and Jiang Zhi often kept her close without any major mishaps occurring.

“Pulled strings to get the job?” Ji Fanghuai guessed boldly.

Just as she was about to apologize for her unwarranted guess, the assistant nodded, her voice barely a whisper.

Ji Fanghuai guessed she might be some relative of Jiang Zhi’s. Seeing that she couldn’t get any information out of her, she stopped asking.

The car started. When Ji Fanghuai was with Jiang Zhi, she never got dizzy on the road to the coffee shop, but today her head felt heavy and she was generally uncomfortable.

The coffee shop operated on a shift system. Today was Sunday, so there were only four staff members. Ji Fanghuai helped out when it was busy, and then stared blankly at the wall covered with customers’ wishes.

“Fanghuai.” Lin Mianmian had reduced her frequency of visits to the coffee shop since the last time Jiang Zhi gave her the death stare, showing remarkable self-awareness.

As soon as Ji Fanghuai saw her, she recalled Lin Mianmian mentioning her mother was a gynecologist, which made her feel a little awkward too. She said, “You seemed to be busy lately.”

“I found a new job. You were right, everyone is going to die, and I can’t be like a turtle, cowering my whole life.” Lin Mianmian specifically didn’t wear her helmet today, tying her hair into a simple ponytail, making her look like a student.

She added with a smile, “The most infuriating thing is that a turtle can live for hundreds or even thousands of years hiding in its shell, but a person only lives for a few decades. I want to do something meaningful now so that when I’m old, I won’t feel like I wasted my life.”

She suddenly had an epiphany but compared herself to a turtle, which amused Ji Fanghuai. She suddenly turned serious and asked, “Do you think memory is important?”

“Of course, memory is very important. If we forget something as soon as we, do it, then the meaning of having done that thing will cease to exist, at least for ourselves, it will have no meaning,” Lin Mianmian analyzed.

Ji Fanghuai was deep in thought, showing a rare, slightly profound expression. She said, “I also think memory is very important. To be honest, I really want to recover my memory. I don’t even know where my own home is; I only found out from my ID card a few days ago.”

Lin Mianmian wasn’t very good at comforting, so she could only ask, “What did your primary doctor say?”

Ji Fanghuai recalled the medical advice and said, “The doctor told me not to rush during the last follow-up, saying that being too anxious would be counterproductive. Also, there are currently no precedents for this type of amnesia being cured through medical means; it all relies on a gradual recovery. If medical intervention is forced, the risks are significant.”

Additionally, the doctor asked her to consider her family’s feelings.

“So, you’re just going to let nature take its course?” Lin Mianmian didn’t know what to do either and could only suggest this.

“I want to let nature takes its course, but this makes me feel so confused. Sometimes, I don’t even have a single thing I can recall. That’s why I keep reading books and watching shows, trying to put more things into my mind. Because finishing a book is like living another person’s life, experiencing a different kind of life.”

Ji Fanghuai had never told Jiang Zhi these thoughts. In fact, she only recently realized why she insisted on enriching herself by reading books, watching dramas, and movies: because she felt a void and wanted to fill her mind with more things.

Lin Mianmian couldn’t empathize but could only awkwardly agree, saying, “That’s good too.”

“There’s one more thing. Although Jiang Zhi and I are fiancées, I feel very awkward when we are intimate, as if we shouldn’t be in this relationship,” Ji Fanghuai said with some frustration.

Lin Mianmian was stunned and asked, “Are you suspicious of her?”

Lin Mianmian was completely shocked.

Ji Fanghuai confessed, “Yes, I have been suspicious of her, but all the small details in our daily life seem very real, as if we have always lived and interacted this way. It’s only when we are intimate that it feels wrong.”

As long as Jiang Zhi wasn’t intimate with her, she felt their relationship was completely normal. Jiang Zhi was undoubtedly the perfect lover, but once they were intimate, things became very strange.

“Maybe you’re overthinking it,” Lin Mianmian continued to analyze. “The sense of disconnect you feel when you’re intimate with her is precisely because you have amnesia. Perhaps if you hadn’t lost your memory, you wouldn’t feel that disconnect.”

But actually, lovers should have a normal physical reaction, Lin Mianmian silently added in her mind.

“Perhaps.” Ji Fanghuai felt much better after voicing her thoughts. She asked, “So, what is your job now?”

Lin Mianmian said a little sheepishly, “Actually, I haven’t worked these past few years. My graduation project won an award, which made me think I could support myself by painting, so I took on some character design commissions myself. Since my family lives here, I don’t have to worry about food or shelter and can just about manage to support myself. Now, I’m a concept artist at a game company, drawing game illustrations. I just started last week.”

“Congratulations,” Ji Fanghuai knew it was very difficult for someone like Lin Mianmian, who had never worked, to decide to start a job.

Lin Mianmian was also very happy and said, “Yeah, mainly the company allows me to work from home, as long as I submit my work on time.”

“So you’re still not interacting with people,” Ji Fanghuai exposed her.

“I don’t want to interact with people,” Lin Mianmian was a little embarrassed. “I always feel like most people are hypocritical. When I was sick and needed to take time off as a child, my classmates would secretly call me sickly or dramatic for taking a leave for such a minor illness. You’re my only friend now, and I feel very lucky.”

Lin Mianmian looked a little shy as she said this.

“You’re my only friend right now too,” Ji Fanghuai said, glancing around the coffee shop. “Do you want to interact with people now?”

“What do you want to do?” Lin Mianmian was a little wary.

Ji Fanghuai reassured her, saying, “I have an idea. If you’re willing, we can try it.”

“What idea?”

“Can you do a quick sketch?”

“Yes,” Lin Mianmian was very confident in her drawing skills.

“I can draw one lucky customer every day at the shop, and you can do a quick sketch for them. It doesn’t need to be too detailed, just enough to capture the essence.”

After some deliberation, Lin Mianmian said, “Okay.”

Ji Fanghuai was a person of action and immediately implemented the idea.

“You’re a brilliant artist!” Ji Fanghuai exclaimed with shock and praise. She had only seen Lin Mianmian paint on a canvas before, but she didn’t expect the person to become instantly lifelike with a pen in hand.

“Not really,” Lin Mianmian tended to get shy when praised.

Ji Fanghuai let herself be the first subject to test it out. After returning home, she took a photo of the drawing and sent it to Jiang Zhi. After all, Jiang Zhi was the only person she could share things with right now.

Jiang Zhi replied almost instantly, saying, “The drawing is very cute. Did Ms. Lin draw it?”

“Yes, but the hair is too short; it looks like a boy,” Ji Fanghuai’s hair wasn’t long now, and after the surgery, her hair couldn’t be fully restored. If one looked closely, one could see that there was no hair at the suture lines of the wound, and the marks were still there.

“It doesn’t look like a boy. Girls can have short hair too; don’t stereotype,” Jiang Zhi comforted her. “And your hair will grow long easily.”

Ji Fanghuai touched her hair, pondered for a moment, and then typed another question: “By the way, when I went out today, a neighbor said they hadn’t seen me before.”

After thinking it over and over, she decided she still needed to ask Jiang Zhi for clarification.

Jiang Zhi didn’t reply immediately this time; instead, she called.

Ji Fanghuai answered, and Jiang Zhi’s voice came through the receiver, saying, “Fanghuai, what do you want to say?”

Ji Fanghuai dodged the question, saying, “I just feel that neighborhood harmony is important, and not knowing each other seems a bit abnormal.”

Jiang Zhi paused, then explained, “It’s normal for neighbors not to know each other. Besides, we haven’t lived together for long. You were busy with the coffee shop back then, leaving early and coming back late, almost like a long-distance relationship. Of course, they didn’t recognize you.”

“Is that so?” Ji Fanghuai was a little skeptical.

Jiang Zhi’s focus seemed to be on the long-distance relationship.

Jiang Zhi was silent for a moment and then said, “I know you must have many questions now. You might even think I’m deliberately stopping you, not wanting you to recover your memory, right?”

Ji Fanghuai didn’t answer. She did feel that Jiang Zhi was intentionally holding her back, always finding reasons that were supposedly for her own good.

The problem was, she even believed those reasons.

Jiang Zhi suddenly said, “That’s because my mother also suffered from amnesia before.”

Ji Fanghuai blinked in confusion: “???”

Jiang Zhi’s voice was a little low, saying, “My mother passed away from depression. For a period, her memory was confused; she didn’t even recognize me. At that time, we… in short, she broke down after her memory returned to normal. When memories rush back all at once, an ordinary person can’t handle it, because not all memories are good. So, you need to take it slowly. Do you understand what I mean?”

Ji Fanghuai wondered if her own life was that difficult. In fact, she really wanted to say, you’re not me, so how do you know I won’t be able to handle it?

Then Jiang Zhi added, “Do you know what affects a person’s life the most? It’s the original family, the environment they grew up in since childhood, and a large part of a person’s memory comes from their original family.”

“Are you saying my original family was not good?” Ji Fanghuai frowned and asked.

“If I say it was good, will you believe me? If I say it was bad, will you believe me? You’ll know all this as you slowly recover,” Jiang Zhi’s tone was somewhat nervous. She said, “In any case, don’t overthink things now. I won’t hurt you. I…”

Jiang Zhi stopped there, but Ji Fanghuai knew she meant something like I love you.

She found that she was very easily convinced by Jiang Zhi. She didn’t know if Jiang Zhi was too convincing or if she had trusted Jiang Zhi completely before.

Ji Fanghuai explained that she had been reading too many suspense novels lately and was always suspicious. Even the slightest sound from a door or window could wake her up, and Xixi, that fat cat, wasn’t reliable.

Jiang Zhi said gently, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll be back in a couple of days. If you’re really scared, we can video chat.”

“Mmm.” Ji Fanghuai was full of questions but had to admit she missed Jiang Zhi a little.

Ji Fanghuai felt a bit restless when she went to sleep, unable to find a comfortable position.

Putting the bolster pillow horizontally or vertically didn’t feel right. Later, she realized it was because Jiang Zhi wasn’t there.

Habits were too terrifying.

Even more terrifying was that they had been together for three months, yet there were no signs of her memory recovering at all.

Ji Fanghuai didn’t dare to turn off the lights and simply slept with the lights on.

On the other side, Shen Jing looked at Jiang Zhi’s slender back, carrying a bowl of porridge as she walked over. She said, “You only drank alcohol tonight and didn’t eat. This is the stomach-nourishing porridge that Grandma specifically cooked for you.”

Jiang Zhi was still looking at Ji Fanghuai’s drawing. Lin Mianmian’s drawing skills were undeniably good. Although it was a quick sketch, the essence was completely captured, and the person leaped to life on the paper.

She put away her phone, sat opposite Shen Jing, and smiled, “Thank you, Cousin.”

Shen Jing nodded. Jiang Zhi slowly scooped and drank the porridge, and they sat there without speaking.

“I thought you would bring her,” Shen Jing suddenly spoke.

Jiang Zhi paused, and said faintly, “She has amnesia now and is very sensitive to the outside world. Besides, Grandma is not willing to see her. Who among the people surnamed Shen, besides you, Cousin, would welcome her?”