I Am Her Secret Beauty - Chapter 60

The white-bearded old man led two young women into the academic affairs office of the Home Economics University, nodding toward the drowsy figure seated at the desk.

Startled, the man immediately plastered a smile across his face. “Professor Sun, you’re here. The director already informed me. Please, take a look.”

As if worried the elderly Professor Sun might struggle with the system, he considerately opened the input page before swaggering out of the office, pretending to know nothing.

“You’ve come at just the right time,” Professor Sun remarked while typing Mu Xi’s name into the search bar. “If you’d come a year earlier, when the principal and I weren’t as familiar, they might not have allowed you to access such confidential files.”

The loading circle in the center of the screen spun twice before Mu Xi’s personal file appeared.

A youthful, expressionless ID photo was displayed in the upper right corner. Mu Xi awkwardly glanced at Nan Xi, only to find her intently focused on the text below, paying no extra attention to the photo.

Mu Xi quickly followed her gaze downward.

Academic performance, award history, positions held…

Yet both their eyes remained fixed on one particular line,

“…Transferred from H University?” Professor Sun stroked his beard. “Not bad, H University is a good school.”

It was a good school.

But not the best one.

Nan Xi’s eyes turned cold, and Mu Xi knew she must be in a foul mood. Truthfully, Mu Xi herself was unsettled. She had always assumed her past was tied to A University, only for H University to suddenly emerge, muddying the waters.

However, Mu Xi was no longer the clueless student from that ID photo. Having navigated the world alongside figures like Nan Zhiya, she understood the ways of society.

Straightening up, Nan Xi voiced Mu Xi’s thoughts: “It’s fake. Someone must have altered it, or a fabricated background was created for you the moment you transferred.”

She spoke with certainty, turning away from the screen to lower her head in deep thought.

Professor Sun clicked his tongue beside them. “Fake? But this is the nationally unified archives database. Even the university only has viewing access, it wouldn’t be easy to alter.”

Unable to contain his curiosity, he quietly asked Mu Xi, “Just who is this girlfriend of yours? Is she some kind of official?”

“She’s a scientist,” Mu Xi replied succinctly.

Nan Xi sat directly in front of the computer and began typing other keywords.

The Home Economics University’s system, of course, couldn’t retrieve information from H University. Instead, Nan Xi pulled up more detailed records of Mu Xi’s activities at the Home Economics University. Starting from five years ago, the file documented her complete life trajectory, proof that she had genuinely existed here.

A few days before their departure to Z City, she had asked Nan Lian to check A University’s records. There was no trace of Mu Xi ever having been a student there.

Nan Xi doubted that any clues about Mu Xi could be found at H University either, whatever existed there would be fabricated. Mu Xi’s year and a half at A University had been deliberately erased, yet seamlessly patched over in the archives.

Whoever was capable of such a feat undoubtedly wielded significant power.

What happened back then was no accident, but a premeditated scheme. Though it remained unclear what the other party had gained from Mu Xi, she had already lost her memories and much more besides.

Her confusion and unease, her occasional dazed state… Those who lose their memories struggle to live as ordinary people do. Perhaps even Mu Xi herself didn’t realize she sometimes let out terrified murmurs in her sleep, her words indistinct, her furrowed brow impossible to smooth.

Nan Xi rose from her desk.

The other two watched her nervously. Mu Xi asked, “Well? Should we go to H City to verify it?”

“No need.” Nan Xi smiled.

Her smile was strained, even Professor Sun, who didn’t know her well, could tell the outcome wasn’t favorable.

His star student, just three years after graduation, had become such an enigmatic figure.

Though he didn’t know the specifics, the reasons that could cause memory loss were limited. Whichever one had befallen his student was lamentable.

Not wanting to reopen old wounds for Mu Xi, and feeling he hadn’t been of much help, Professor Sun called out to her just before they left:

“Mu Xi.”

He quickly stroked his white beard. “If there’s anything you need, come to me. I still have connections at H University.”

The petite old man offered a kind smile. In truth, Professor Sun looked a bit older than when Mu Xi had first met him five years ago. Though his spirit remained lively, the marks of time on his face could not be erased.

Mu Xi still remembered sitting in Professor Sun’s class, overhearing students nearby quietly complaining about him: too much homework, too frequent roll calls, calling him a troublesome old man.

At the time, she hadn’t spoken up but had silently agreed.

Aside from necessary academic exchanges, Mu Xi had never spoken privately with Professor Sun or any other teacher. She didn’t know them well and assumed they didn’t know much about her either.

“…”

When Professor Sun stopped her on her way out, how could she describe the surge of emotion she felt? Surprise? Honored disbelief?

“Professor,” Mu Xi took a deep breath, stepping forward with some trepidation, and said softly, “Could I have your phone number?”

Professor Sun paused. “Phone number?”

His white eyebrows knitted together, the confusion in his eyes making Mu Xi’s heart skip a beat. She began to regret her presumption.

Who said remembering meant caring? Maybe the professor just had a good memory. Or maybe she was so unusual she was hard to forget. Or maybe…

“You youngsters look down on us old folks!” Professor Sun burst into laughter, pulling the latest fruit-brand smartphone from his pocket and deftly opening a green messaging app. “Everyone uses WeChat these days, who still calls or texts? I update my Moments pretty often, you know. Don’t pretend you didn’t see, make sure to like my posts!”

Squinting through his presbyopic eyes, he opened his Moments and showed it to Mu Xi. “This is my granddaughter, she’s a little alpha.”

Mu Xi followed his gaze. Professor Sun’s Moments were filled not only with photos of his granddaughter but also group shots from outings with his hiking buddies and pictures of big fish he’d caught from the lake.

Mention of fishing set Professor Sun off on a tangent. He chattered incessantly about the huge fish he’d caught from a frozen lake ten years ago, continuing all the way until he saw them out of the office building.

Mu Xi had been scrolling through Professor Sun’s social media feed, carefully liking every post as promised. When she finally looked up, she realized she had followed Nan Xi all the way to the sports field.

Embarrassed, she put away her phone and sat down with Nan Xi by the edge of the field.

“Seems like I didn’t find much useful information,” she said.

Nan Xi had been in low spirits ever since seeing Mu Xi’s file in the academic affairs office. Mu Xi tentatively brushed her fingertips against Nan Xi’s and, seeing no resistance, gently covered the back of her hand.

“No, it was very useful,” Nan Xi smiled, looking up at Mu Xi. “You were happy to see Professor Sun, weren’t you? I told you, there have always been people who care about you.”

Mu Xi shyly curved her lips, unable to hide the joy in her heart.

“Yes, I’m happy. Thank you, Nan Xi.”

They sat quietly by the field for a while, watching the bustling figures on the track. Given the predominantly omega population at the Home Economics University, few were interested in sports, making the field a peaceful spot.

After taking a few deep breaths of the chilly northern air, Mu Xi hugged her arms. “Maybe I should’ve asked Professor Sun if any former classmates stayed on as staff. They might know something.”

She wrinkled her nose and prepared to type a message to Professor Sun on her phone.

But Nan Xi gently pressed her hand down. “Mu Xi, it might not be of much use.”

“What?” Mu Xi lowered her phone and tilted her head, meeting Nan Xi’s calm eyes, which reflected her own confusion. “Do you… already have a theory?”

Nan Xi said,

“I’ve done a few things over the past few days. For example, I asked my sister to check the student archives at A University, you weren’t in them. I also asked Senior Tong An’an to contact our former classmates and ask if they remembered anything about you.”

“But Mu Xi, Senior Tong told me that none of the classmates she reached out to remembered you. In their memories, you simply don’t exist.”

The shocked and eerie expression on Tong An’an’s face when she mentioned this now reappeared in Nan Xi’s mind.

She said she had tried her best to describe Mu Xi in detail, but the responses she got were still blank. She even began to wonder if she was losing her mind or if all their classmates had collectively lost theirs.

How could no one remember such a vibrant, radiant person who had been right beside them? Even if one person had no impression, how could everyone have forgotten?

Sitting on the steps by the Home Economics University sports field, Mu Xi began to feel her limbs grow stiff and cold.

The northern winter wind was too biting, numbing the muscles in her face. She didn’t know what expression to wear in response to her own disappearance.

Had she… vanished from the world she once existed in?

It was hard for Mu Xi not to waver. Maybe there was an issue with Nan Xi’s theory. Perhaps she had never been a student at A University at all, maybe she was just a lonely soul from another world.

“Don’t overthink it, Mu Xi, and don’t be afraid,” Nan Xi gripped her hand tightly. “But listen carefully. Coming here wasn’t pointless. Seeing your file, seeing unrelated schools appear, now I know.”

“…Know what?” Mu Xi’s lips felt clumsy as she spoke.

“Someone is deliberately altering your life, perhaps to cover something up, or maybe for other reasons I haven’t figured out yet. But the person behind this must have significant influence, because they not only managed to modify student records across three universities but also erased people’s memories.”

“Honestly, I should have realized this long ago.”

That time, during Yu Yacheng’s first welcome gathering.

Nan Xi intentionally let Yu Yacheng see Mu Xi, yet he showed no recognition at all, even though at University A, she often brought Mu Xi to class, and Professor Yu would recognize Mu Xi’s face and call their names when walking across campus.

Just three years had passed. Professor Yu could remember what skirt Nan Xi wore to class, yet couldn’t recall Mu Xi sitting beside her.

The only two people who still remembered Mu Xi, Tong An’an was on an exchange program in another city during the period when Mu Xi disappeared, and Nan Xi had directly gone abroad, far away.

Mu Xi didn’t vanish into thin air. Along with her disappearance, a group of people’s memories were erased as well. It was an almost flawless design, capable of completely rewriting a person’s life trajectory.