Chapter 5.3 (1/2)

Chapter 5.3

“Yan Xiao, I called the newspaper and asked. The notice was put up by Mo Xing Zhi, and furthermore was personally written by him. The contact number is also his.” Yin Li watched me as he spoke, making my whole body feel uncomfortable, as if he were a snake and I were the prey he was stalking.

“I don’t know how you became acquainted with Mo Xing Zhi, but you have too much hostility for me. You’d rather trust a total stranger like Mo Xing Zhi.”

I cursed Yin Li in my heart. Was there any difference between him and Mo Xing Zhi to an amnesiac like me? Weren’t they both strangers to me? But I lacked the courage to say this aloud and instead said, “Don’t you have a lot of work?1 I just didn’t want to bother you! And I didn’t expect Mo Xing Zhi to handle it so unreasonably.”

1The original text uses the chengyu 日理万机, translating literally to “ten thousand matters a day”. It essentially means “to have a heavy workload” and comes from ancient times when some dude once remarked on the emperor having to handle lots of government affairs everyday.

“We truly were in love before and got engaged, but even then you never told me anything about your family. We agreed to respect each others privacy so I didn’t ask you. I only waited for you to tell me yourself someday. After your unfortunate car accident, I exhausted all methods to get in contact with your family but had no luck.” As Yin Li spoke, he watched me out of the corner of his eye with an inscrutable expression. “I will talk with the newspaper and negotiate with them to remove Mo Xing Zhi’s ad. Yan Xiao, perhaps I shouldn’t say

it like this, but it’s possible that your relatives have already pa.s.sed away. Also, one last thing: even if you don’t remember, you are still my fiancée.”

I felt a bit embarra.s.sed. “No way, no way, I’m not suitable enough for you. See, I don’t have as much cla.s.s as your younger sister and as much beauty as Yan Ge. I’m not smart and don’t have any amazing skills or talents that would attract you. You were definitely mistaken when you fell for me in the past.”

Yin Li didn’t have any objections to what I said, so I cleared my throat and continued, “To be honest, I also don’t have any desire to waste your youth. Seeing that your affection for me has obviously dried up and my legs have recovered, in my opinion, you should just pay me some break-up fees and mental damages fees, that way we’ll be even and can both go our own ways. As for me, I’ll continue the search for my family members. They might even be overseas!”

At this, Yin Li smiled. “Yan Xiao, how do you know my affections for you have dried up?” Then he took my hand and firmly pressed it over his heart, “How do you know? Hmm? Was it like this?”

Due to this action of his, the distance between us decreased too much. I wasn’t used to being so close to another person. It intruded on my personal s.p.a.ce. I felt suffocated by Yin Li’s unmistakably male presence, and my hand that was pressed against his chest felt like it was on fire. I could distinctly feel the pulse of a heartbeat through my palm, but I couldn’t tell if it came from my own body or from Yin Li’s.

Just like that, Yin Li watched

watched me. “Yan Xiao, you don’t like hearing me talk about your past relations.h.i.+ps, so I’ll respect you. I’ll let you arrange things yourself and I’m willing to not interfere. But from the start, you disregarded me and instead, chose to get close to an outsider like Mo Xing Zhi without even thinking of relying on me; this is not being fair.

Yin Li’s tone wasn’t accusatory. Instead, he seemed like the Lord of Darkness who never displayed the weakness of a victim. He only gazed calmly at me, with a serene, inscrutable look in his eyes as if he really was dependable. It made you feel like you really had wronged him, and as if all his previous coldness was actually deep affection and akin to a favor from him.

I felt confused, I couldn’t understand him.

“Yan Xiao, I know you need time to come to terms with everything, but I also need time. You’re completely different from the past, now I too am completely unfamiliar with you.”

After hearing Yin Li say these words, I finally understood the cause of my confusion from before. I pulled my hand away from his chest. “Since we’re all strangers now, do we really need to shackle ourselves together, like sticking your own hand back in the handcuff?” I sighed, “I understand your feelings towards me, but…forgive me for being blunt, I’m afraid that there isn’t much of a chance that I’ll fall in love with you.” Then I glanced at Yin Li out of the corner of my eye, “It’s like this: for the current me, I prefer Mo Xing Zhi’s type.”