She Comes Into My Dreams Every Night - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Memory

Early morning, the sun was just right. Su Huaiwang suddenly opened her eyes.

A good night’s sleep left her mind exceptionally clear.

Faint sunlight seeped through the gap in the curtains; the room was still dim. She instinctively felt a bit strange because she had been waking up too late recently and hadn’t bothered to draw the curtains before.

Finding her phone neatly placed on the bedside table, Su Huaiwang pulled it closer and saw it was 6:30 AM. It had been a long time since she had woken up this early.

Getting out of bed, her slippers were also neatly arranged. The more Su Huaiwang thought about it, the stranger she felt. She cautiously opened the bedroom door and saw the two dogs sleeping huddled together near the entrance. They opened their eyes just a slit to look at her, yawned lazily, briefly wagged their tails twice, and then lay down to continue sleeping.

Su Huaiwang ignored them, stepped over them, and upon reaching the living room, immediately spotted something on the coffee table that did not belong to her.

A black wristband, simple in design, but the material was unusual—soft and glossy, unlike an ordinary rope.

Underneath the wristband was a note.

[I had a very enjoyable time last night, and I hope we can have such opportunities again in the future. This is a gift for you; please be sure to accept it.]

The signature was Lin Jue.

The handwriting on the note was graceful and flowing, with a gentle, not-too-sharp brushstroke, softly striking the heart like water.

“Last night…?”

Su Huaiwang held the note, looking up in confusion.

She searched desperately in her memory but couldn’t find any recollection after turning around.

What happened later? How did she get back? Su Huaiwang lowered her head, thought for a moment, and opened her phone.

Her finger slid to the blank profile picture. She was about to tap it but hesitated.

Last night… if nothing unexpected happened, Lin Jue should have come back with her, and some kind of situation must have occurred, which is why she left the note.

However, judging by the tone of the note, it didn’t seem like anything important. Was it necessary for her to specifically ask Lin Jue about such an insignificant matter?

Moreover, what would Lin Jue think if she knew about her condition?

After weighing the situation in her mind for a moment, Su Huaiwang decided to let the matter drop.

Instead, she scrolled up and quickly clicked into the pinned chat thread.

[Su Huaiwang]: I think my condition has flared up again.

Attached with a sad-face emoji.

Tu Zhizhuo replied quickly. It must be around 6 PM where she was, just finished with class.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: ?

[Tu Zhizhuo]: How are you? Are you okay? What happened?

Her friend’s anxious response made Su Huaiwang relax a little.

[Su Huaiwang]: The fact that I can still text you means I’m fine, doesn’t it?

[Su Huaiwang]: Nothing really happened. It’s just that when I woke up this morning, I realized the memory from the time I was out walking last night suddenly went blank.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: That’s good. Quickly check if you have any injuries.

[Su Huaiwang]: I don’t think so. I checked myself in the bathroom mirror. Plus, I had Da Hui, Little Yellow, and the new neighbor with me last night, so I don’t think anything serious could have happened.

Across the ocean, Tu Zhizhuo, who had been typing rapidly, paused, a look of genuine disbelief on her face.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: New neighbor? Someone moved to that godforsaken place you live in? Male or female? And you went for a walk with her?

[Su Huaiwang]: A girl, of course. If it were a guy, I would have avoided him completely.

Tu Zhizhuo sighed in relief, then asked more questions about the new neighbor and discovered, with even more incredulity:

Her friend, who usually disliked interacting with people, had already established a relationship with the person, and from the sound of her texts, it was a pretty good relationship.

Tu Zhizhuo began to admire her new neighbor a little.

[Su Huaiwang]: When you come back, I can introduce you. She’s very beautiful. You’ll like her.

As the saying goes, everyone is a hedonist. Even Su Huaiwang, a person who had lost worldly desires, couldn’t be immune, let alone Tu Zhizhuo, an art student majoring in music.

Su Huaiwang’s words instantly piqued her curiosity. Her friend rarely complimented anyone’s looks directly, which meant the person’s beauty must be truly remarkable.

Thinking of this, Tu Zhizhuo sighed in lament.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: Sigh, some people can’t escape romance even when they hide in a remote mountain village, while others have to endure the harassment of jerks while wondering when their own love life will begin. Life is just too unfair!

This was just lighthearted banter between friends, not a serious statement, yet Su Huaiwang felt a stir when she read it.

Fragments of the dream flashed back in her mind. She didn’t know how her brain could simulate the feeling of being penetrated by another person without having any experience, but it was too real, making her unconsciously squeeze her legs together.

Realizing what she was thinking, Su Huaiwang immediately fell into an abyss of shame. Just then, Tu Zhizhuo sent another message.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: Hey, I’ll be back in half a month!

As if to distract herself, Su Huaiwang quickly typed a reply.

[Su Huaiwang]: That’s great. But why are you only telling me now?

[Su Huaiwang]: Only half a month’s notice? Would you have even remembered if I hadn’t asked?

Tu Zhizhuo on the other side panicked.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: I was trying to surprise you!

[Su Huaiwang]: That excuse was used last year.

Looking at her friend’s merciless words on the phone screen, Tu Zhizhuo knew she couldn’t talk her way out of this, so she pleaded for forgiveness, asking Su Huaiwang to forgive her.

Su Huaiwang wasn’t genuinely angry.

She clearly knew that Tu Zhizhuo and she were two different kinds of people. Joyful, lively, enthusiastic about socializing, once immersed in her circle and music, she would quickly forget the time.

As for Su Huaiwang, no matter how much her parents had wanted her to become like that, she could only be herself: silent, reserved, and lifeless.

In the three years since her parents passed away, she had already made peace with this version of herself, but she still didn’t know how to make this self feel satisfied. That’s why she moved to this rural area, which Tu Zhizhuo called a “mountain village.”

Her thought process at the time was simple: Forget about ideals and aspirations for now. Just do what I want to do first.

And at that time, the thing she wanted to do most was find a quiet place to rest well and say goodbye to the interpersonal relationships and social identity she had painstakingly maintained.

Looking back now, she was grateful to her past self, who, despite the mental confusion, still made the right decision.

The brief period of reflection ended, and Su Huaiwang snapped back to reality. Tu Zhizhuo had sent a stream of pitiful messages that almost made her want to laugh.

Just as she was about to reply to them one by one, her gaze unintentionally swept over the message at the bottom.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, why don’t you go for another check-up? Even though the doctor said there’s nothing wrong, I still feel like… something is not right.

Tu Zhizhuo’s words were cautious, completely unlike her usual passionate and unrestrained style of speaking.

The reason was simple: as Su Huaiwang’s best friend, Tu Zhizhuo always carried a sense of guilt about that incident.

A year ago, Su Huaiwang disappeared for a month while on a field trip.

She was said to have fallen off a cliff and hit her head, causing temporary amnesia. She was taken in by a local farmer for a month and was only discovered when grassroots officials visited the village.

But what was strange was that Su Huaiwang had absolutely no memory of that month.

All of Su Huaiwang’s memories vanished the moment she entered the small village called Nanguan Village, and when they resumed, she was in a hospital.

Eyes surrounded her—not just doctors, but government personnel as well.

It wasn’t a doctor who spoke first, but the woman beside her, who subtly carried a powerful aura of authority.

She asked, “Do you remember anything else?”

Su Huaiwang looked at her and slowly shook her head, which was wrapped in white gauze.

Seeing this, the group of people behind the woman began whispering with furrowed brows. Perhaps because she had just woken up, Su Huaiwang only felt a buzzing in her head and couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“Silence.”

The woman spoke. Her voice was highly penetrating, instantly silencing Su Huaiwang’s entire noisy world.

But Su Huaiwang was slightly confused; she rarely heard anyone use such an old-fashioned word as “Silence” in real life.

The woman smiled at her, the fine lines around her eyes showing the wear of time:

“You are disturbing the young lady’s rest. If you have anything to say, please step outside.”

The group looked at each other, then swarmed out, leaving only a staff member holding a file folder next to the woman.

The woman gave the staff member a look. She opened the folder and began explaining the current situation to Su Huaiwang.

Thus, Tu Zhizhuo received the information above, which Su Huaiwang could not confirm as entirely true or false.

Tu Zhizhuo had always been skeptical of their account, even eager to investigate the village to uncover the hidden truth.

It was Su Huaiwang who reluctantly stopped her.

To be honest, she didn’t care much about what had happened there. Aside from the amnesia symptoms explained by the doctor using complex terminology, she hadn’t discovered any loss in herself, so she didn’t want to pursue it.

When she was discharged, the same staff member came again and, uncharacteristically, smiled and shook her hand, wishing her well and safety in the future.

Su Huaiwang found it a little strange but didn’t ask further, and thus returned to her peaceful daily life.

The memory ended here. Su Huaiwang shook her head, shaking off the doubts.

[Su Huaiwang]: Okay, if that happens again, I’ll go for a thorough check-up.

[Su Huaiwang]: You too, stop worrying about these things. Focus on what you’re going to do after you get back.

Tu Zhizhuo’s studies abroad were about to end, which meant she was about to plunge into the job market.

As expected, upon hearing this topic, Tu Zhizhuo immediately wailed.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: Please, stop talking about it! I’m really going to have to beg for food! Who can understand, my family, studying music is a dead end…

[Su Huaiwang]: You can come beg at my door. I’ll save you some of Little Yellow’s food. Don’t try to take Da Hui’s; I’m afraid you can’t beat him.

[Tu Zhizhuo]: The world is deteriorating. A music student is even worse off than a dog…

[Su Huaiwang]: Stop whining. Are you coming or not?

[Tu Zhizhuo]: Coming! Of course I’m coming! I’m going to stay at your place for a whole week! And eat you out of house and home!

It was a routine for both of them and Tu Zhizhuo’s parents for Tu Zhizhuo to stay at Su Huaiwang’s place for a couple of days after returning home.

Su Huaiwang smiled, her heart, which had been weighed down by heavy memories, relaxing a little.

The phone screen went dark. The corner of her eye caught the black wristband still sitting on the table, and her gaze was irresistibly drawn to it.

Su Huaiwang picked up the black cord and looped it around her wrist.

The cord was flexible and elastic, and Su Huaiwang easily got it to sit nicely on her wrist.

The size was just right. The pure black wristband paired with her fair wrist created a beautiful aesthetic.

Su Huaiwang was pleased with the look and had no intention of taking it off.

She opened her phone, sent a thank you message to Lin Jue, along with a photo.

It was only six in the morning, but Lin Jue replied quickly, saying she was glad Su Huaiwang liked it.

Looking at the other person’s blank profile picture, Su Huaiwang’s thoughts unconsciously wandered.

When Tu Zhizhuo came back, with a friend around, she probably wouldn’t be lonely enough to have erotic dreams every day… right?

Heaven knew how much the erotic dreams about Lin Jue had tormented her.

However, despite saying this, when she thought about the impending disappearance of the erotic dreams that had troubled her for a while, only the deepest part of Su Huaiwang’s heart knew how much of her feeling was joy and how much was loss.