After Marrying My Arch-Rival - Chapter 4

But she was discharged two days ago. It was only a sprained ankle. Once you’re rested up, you can resume filming.”

Xu Mengzhou nearly lost her breath. Just as she was bracing herself to figure out how to face this piece of bad news, she heard her new wife add one more thing with a faint smile.

It took Xu Mengzhou a good long moment to regain her composure and shake off the wave of dizziness. She let out a long, heavy breath. “You scared the life out of me!”

Ruan Li kept that same faint smile. Bathed in the soft sunlight, she looked as elegant as a classic oil painting, as if that deliberate, breathless pause was simply her usual way of speaking…and had nothing to do with playing a prank on purpose.

With her mind finally at ease, Xu Mengzhou remembered the awkward incident that had just happened, and a wave of embarrassment washed over her.

They had known each other for eight years and were even married. They must have been close once, yet when Xu Mengzhou accidentally grabbed her hand just now, it had been shaken off.

Worse, Xu Mengzhou was the one who initiated the hand-holding, and also the one who yanked her hand back first.

Amnesia wasn’t her fault, but having a loving partner suddenly turn into a complete stranger…Xu Mengzhou couldn’t help feeling like she was in the wrong.

Clearing her throat, she pushed the fruit plate forward. “Want some strawberries? They’re pretty sweet.”

“The nurse mentioned you’ve been staying by my bedside the past few days. You probably haven’t rested well…your dark circles are super noticeable. Now that I’m awake and doing fine, why don’t you go home and get some sleep? You don’t need to stay here with me.”

Noticing Ruan Li looking over, Xu Mengzhou flashed a wide, picture-perfect, eight-tooth smile.

Internally, she gave herself a massive high-five for being so thoughtful.

Ruan Li didn’t say a word. She just stared at her quietly for a long moment.

Her eyes were deep and pitch-black, like a night sky holding countless hidden secrets.

At least, Xu Mengzhou felt that Ruan Li’s gaze was intensely penetrating…capable of unearthing every hidden thought within a person, while remaining entirely unreadable herself.

In her memory, Ruan Li had always been frail and slender, the kind of person who looked like she might blow away in a strong gust of wind. She had lacked this overwhelming presence back then.

“You don’t want to be in the same room as me,” Ruan Li said softly.

“What? No way!” Xu Mengzhou’s voice shot up several octaves in an instant, high and squeaky as if she’d inhaled helium. “No way! Ha… ha… ha.”

Ruan Li remained silent.

Xu Mengzhou’s smile grew stiffer and stiffer, and her voice trailed off until she finally threw her hands up in defeat. “Okay, fine. Maybe a little.”

“I’m just… not used to our current relationship.”

“A married relationship?” Ruan Li repeated the phrase, tasting the words as if sampling an unfamiliar dish.

She lowered her gaze. Though her expression didn’t show any obvious heartbreak, it made Xu Mengzhou feel as if she had committed an unforgivable sin.

“I understand.” A moment later, a gentle smile returned to Ruan Li’s eyes, burying any fleeting sorrow behind a wall of understanding and warmth. “It’s fine. Get some rest. I’ll have Auntie Wang come over to look after you.”

With that, she turned and left.

Xu Mengzhou was left behind, drowning in guilt.

Logically, since she had amnesia, she could have asked her wife about everything that had happened during those missing years. Yet somehow, the questions stayed stuck in her throat, as if her heart actively resisted the idea.

Whenever she faced Ruan Li, an inexplicable feeling washed over her.

It felt like ants crawling all over her skin.

Deciding to trust her gut, Xu Mengzhou pulled out her phone, opened WeChat, and immediately started a video call with her best friend, Han Shutong.

“Boss! You’re awake! Oh my gosh, I was worried sick!”

The familiar loud shouting, the faded blue hair, and an even more familiar face. Xu Mengzhou’s dangling heart finally hit the ground, grounding her in reality.

“Worried sick, yet you didn’t come see me? Did a dog eat your conscience?”

“Hey! I went this morning, okay? Who told you to wake up in the afternoon and miss me!” Han Shutong argued back loudly, defending herself righteously. “I went yesterday and the day before, too!”

They had known each other since kindergarten. In her mother’s words, the two of them were the literal definition of partners-in-crime.

If Xu Mengzhou skipped class, Han Shutong kept watch. If Xu Mengzhou climbed a wall, Han Shutong served as her stepping stone.

When Xu Mengzhou was younger, she watched too many martial arts dramas and longed for the brotherhood of the jianghu. So she created her own childish “Tyrannosaurus Gang.” Han Shutong was the first to join, calling her “Boss.”

She had kept calling her that for over a decade.

Knowing how Han Shutong could ramble endlessly once she got started, Xu Mengzhou cut her off immediately. She explained her amnesia and then asked, “What’s the actual deal with me and Ruan Li getting married? Spill the details, quick.”

Unexpectedly, the moment the question left her mouth, Han Shutong went through a series of dramatic facial contortions before scratching her head like a monkey searching for nonexistent lice.

After Xu Mengzhou stared at her in utter disbelief, Han Shutong finally stammered, “Well… about that… honestly, I’m not super clear on it either. You never allowed me to ask why you got married.”

“Though… I do have a theory.”

“Just say it! You’re driving me crazy!”

Xu Mengzhou ground her teeth, wishing she could reach through the screen and drag her out. You’d think the girl had used denture glue as toothpaste with how hard it was for her to open her mouth.

“I suspect…” Han Shutong set her phone down, took several large steps backward, cleared her throat, and lowered her voice nervously. “…that you were the one who had a secret crush on her, Boss.”

“What?” Xu Mengzhou frowned, leaning her ear closer to the speaker. “I didn’t hear you clearly. Speak up! Stop acting like a thief in your own house.”

Han Shutong took a deep breath, drew power from her chest, and yelled at the top of her lungs: “I SAID, YOU HAD A CRUSH ON RUAN LI!”

The high-decibel shout exploded in Xu Mengzhou’s ear like a struck gong. Her hand jerked in shock, sending her brand-new phone crashing onto the floor.

Clatter!

The screen cracked again.

The video feed glitched for a second before settling on a view of the stark white ceiling.

Han Shutong winced, lightly slapping her own mouth before calling out tentatively, “Boss?”

A moment later, rustling fabric and heavy thudding echoed through the speaker.

Then, a completely expressionless face appeared on screen, looking darker than the bottom of a burnt pot.

Han Shutong rubbed her hands together, flashing a sycophantic grin as she backed away even further from her phone.

Xu Mengzhou squeezed her eyes shut, speaking word by word. “A crush? How did I crush on her? Explain it to me clearly.”

“I actually have proof for this, Boss!” Realizing she’d dodged a bullet, Han Shutong finally stepped a bit closer, gesturing as she spoke. “You always claimed you two didn’t get along, but you never let us talk bad about her, nor would you let us bother her…”

“Not that we could anyway,” she mumbled quickly under her breath before rushing on. “The main thing is, you were always helping her out! We’d be right in the middle of hanging out, and you’d drop everything and leave the second she called.”

“And the absolute most crucial part…you were the one who dragged Ruan Li to get the marriage license! It was right around closing time at the Civil Affairs Bureau, and you refused to wait until the next day. You literally forced the staff to process it right then and there!”

Xu Mengzhou stared back, her brain completely short-circuiting. She pointed a finger at herself. “That’s me? Saying one thing while meaning another, having a secret crush, and forcefully dragging someone to get married?”

“Yeah! I was the one driving the car, how could I not know!”

Xu Mengzhou: “……”

She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and closed it once more. She felt like a fresh elementary school graduate who had suddenly been thrown into a Ph.D. defense panel…utterly dazed, seeing stars, and completely losing all sense of direction.

“…I need time to think.”

Holding her forehead, Xu Mengzhou collapsed weakly back onto the bed. “Hang up. Let’s just hang up for now…”

She couldn’t take any more shocks today.

“Alright then, Boss. I’ll come visit you tomorrow!”

Han Shutong hung up the video call. Xu Mengzhou lay there with her eyes half-closed, lacking even the strength to say goodbye.

Could growing up really bring about such drastic changes?

She couldn’t comprehend her future self at all!

After lying in a dizzy haze for a long time, she finally gathered enough strength to pick up her phone once more.

The new phone had no photos in the gallery, and the WeChat chat history was completely cleared.

However, the pinned chats were still there. One was Han Shutong, and the other…who had sent her a message containing just two words…was labeled: Ruan Li.

Her contact nickname was a fox emoji.

While everyone else in her contact list had standard names or family titles, this one alone was special. It was almost impossible not to overthink it.

Xu Mengzhou bit her lip tightly and held her breath as she clicked on Moments.

Seeing her familiar silver-and-red token background image brought her a massive wave of relief. She had set it back in middle school…a key prop from her favorite movie.

If even that had been taken down and replaced with something like a wedding photo, Xu Mengzhou genuinely didn’t know how she would react.

Her relief, however, didn’t last long. Scrolling down just four or five posts, she hit a photo of the two of them getting married.

A red background, white shirts, and broad, bright smiles. Below it was a flood of congratulations from friends, every single one of which she had individually replied to with a “Thank you.”

Tossing her phone aside, Xu Mengzhou closed her eyes.

She didn’t dare open them, desperately wishing it was all just a hallucination.

How on earth was she supposed to accept that her future self was not only married, but also head-over-heels in love?

She had a resilient build. Having tumbled and jumped around like a wild monkey since childhood, the doctor noted that she was recovering much faster than the average person. She could likely be discharged to recover at home in three to five days.

By the time Han Shutong came to visit again, Xu Mengzhou was sitting in a wheelchair under the shade of a tree, a light blanket over her knees. Her face was somewhat pale from blood loss, but her expression was calm.

She had just finished chatting with her assistant, Xiao Yang, who had handled everything smoothly while she was unconscious…including postponing the shoot and dealing with reporters. The crew had already resumed filming, just waiting for her discharge so she could take the reins again.

She had to admit, this was the most comforting news she had heard since waking up with amnesia.

Seeing Han Shutong again took away much of her lingering frustration, and she greeted her with a small smile.

“Whoa, Boss. You look like you’ve been bleached. Do you want to get a fake tan after you get discharged?”

Xu Mengzhou shot back, “Is the concept of being reliable completely foreign to you? Have you cut ties with it forever?”

Han Shutong gasped exaggeratedly, tossing her head so her light blue hair rippled like ocean waves. “It’s not like today’s your first day knowing me!”

“Is Ruan Li not here today?” She twisted her body around, scanning the surroundings.

Xu Mengzhou stayed silent for a moment. Exhausted yet stubborn, she raised an eyebrow and asked, “Stop looking, she’s not here. Are she and I really that close?”

“You two are a married couple, I can’t exactly follow you home to check,” Han Shutong said, spreading her hands. “But ever since you got married, Boss, you stopped hanging out with us altogether. Every time we asked, you said you were busy.”

Xu Mengzhou had a terrible premonition. “…Busy doing what?”

Han Shutong replied, “Isn’t that obvious, Boss? Busy heading straight home, of course.”

Xu Mengzhou: “……”

She really shouldn’t have asked.

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