Sharing Dreams with My Bestie's Cousin-Chapter 260: I know she lost her memory

"Since you wished for someone to be with you, why didn’t you come back to me over these past months?" he asked softly, disappointment gathering in his eyes. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Wen Zhi pursed her lips tightly, unsure of how to respond.

Because before this, she had no idea she had an ex-husband. She had lost many memories of her past, and every day of these past months had been muddled, especially filled with dread of being alone.

Later, when Aunt Xu mentioned it, she had been so severely ill when her treatment ended that her intelligence was like that of an imbecile, unable to even take care of herself. It had taken months of care for her to reach her current state.

Shang Hexing didn’t know what Wen Zhi was struggling with. All he could think of was the most straightforward reason—

"You didn’t want to see me, or you might say you haven’t thought of me during these months, and I’ve never been important to you."

"It’s not like that..." Wen Zhi shook her head in denial.

Shang Hexing didn’t say anything more and turned to leave.

Wen Zhi caught up to him and grabbed his hand: "There is a reason."

She really didn’t want to admit that she didn’t remember him, but then she thought, this is just a dream, where anything can be said.

So she immediately hugged his waist from behind: "Shang Hexing, don’t go."

Shang Hexing looked down at the wrists holding him. They were very slender, very thin. From the moment he saw her in Laihai City, he could tell she had lost a lot of weight.

He closed his eyes and sighed lightly: "I won’t come anymore."

Wen Zhi didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence: "What?"

He spoke extremely slowly, word for word, with great resolve: "I won’t come to your dreams anymore."

Wen Zhi thought for a moment and said: "Fine, don’t come to my dreams anymore."

This statement made Shang Hexing feel utterly defeated. He lifted his hand lightly, prying apart the one she had around his waist.

But Wen Zhi refused to let go no matter what.

"Wen Zhi, let go," he said softly.

Wen Zhi was unwilling, her arms even tighter than before: "Dreams are still just dreams after all. Kissing and sleeping are fake, but my wish to return by your side is real. Can we remarry? You asked me if I was serious about remarrying, of course, I am serious. I really want to return to the person closest to me..."

Shang Hexing’s attempt to pry her hands away faltered.

Wen Zhi’s words turned more and more aggrieved, her voice tinged with tears: "It’s just that I’m so sorry, I don’t remember you. Nian Xun said I was sick and had to get treatment in Laihai City for a long time. Right now, I barely pass as a normal person, I’m sorry I forgot so much..."

By the end, Wen Zhi’s tears were falling drop by drop.

She was usually quite good at holding back her tears, but when she was in front of Shang Hexing, soaking in her grievances, she couldn’t control them, and as soon as her nose felt sour, the tears fell.

Like beads of beans.

She inhaled deeply, wanting to speak slowly, trying to avoid crying even more fiercely. That’s when she was suddenly pulled close by Shang Hexing, her hands freeing unexpectedly.

She was still sobbing, not over her shock, when she suddenly heard Shang Hexing ask her, "What did you just say?"

Wen Zhi looked up blankly, two lines of tear stains still on her cheeks, her thick eyelashes all wet, her puffy upper eyelids giving off the warmth of her breath.

She took another breath, held back the tears from falling: "I underwent treatment in Laihai City, Nian Xun said that this treatment would damage my memory. I didn’t mean to forget you; I don’t even know who my own parents are. Nian Xun wouldn’t let anyone tell me..."

Before she could finish, she was enveloped in Shang Hexing’s embrace.

Her frame was so thin and delicate that his arms easily wrapped her completely, his palm moving obliquely up her back to support her left shoulder.

She was almost entirely encased in his arms.

She was stunned for a few seconds, not yet acclimated to such an embrace, when a shadow fell in front of her; as she lifted her eyelids, she saw Shang Hexing’s face descending.

When his kiss landed, Wen Zhi’s hands rested against his chest, a reaction that seemed half-avoiding, half-panicked. It was an instinctive response because he towered over her.

A fervent kiss finally met her lips.

There was no sucking, no alluring grinding; his kiss was silent yet passionate, gentle but assertive.

After a long time, she heard the man’s restrained voice by her ear: "I’m sorry."

Her nose tingled with emotion.

He said, "Blame me, I should have come to find you after knowing you went to Laihai City... I’m sorry, it’s all my fault..."

His apologies, repeated over and over in her ear, made Wen Zhi feel as if this moment, this scene, was happening in reality, and not just in a dream.

"Can we remarry?" was Wen Zhi’s persistent question in her dream.

Shang Hexing answered her, "Yes."

Wen Zhi, her eyes sparkling like stars, asked, "Then shall we go remarry now?"

Shang Hexing nodded, "Yes."

This dream was dominated by Wen Zhi’s own consciousness, where things that couldn’t happen in reality were at her whim.

The remarriage process she followed was merely the procedure she imagined in her mind, thus every step was smooth. When she held the marriage certificate in her hands, Wen Zhi felt it was somewhat surreal.

Sitting in the car, she grinned foolishly to herself and muttered, "If only it were real."

Shang Hexing sat beside Wen Zhi, silently watching her as she looked at the marriage certificate, his gaze tender.

Hearing her words, he said, "It could be real."

Wen Zhi turned her head toward him, "Does that mean...?"

Shang Hexing waited for her to continue, "What does it mean?"

Wen Zhi’s lips moved slightly, but after all, she never finished. Because she reminded herself again—she was in a dream. In the dream, she could do whatever she wanted, because the Shang Hexing before her was the perfect version she conjured up.

In reality, Shang Hexing wouldn’t even bother with her.

How could he easily remarry her!

She should just cherish the remarriage in the dream for now. She kissed the marriage certificate, her heart overflowing with joy. Yet, when she turned back to look at Shang Hexing, she found he had vanished into thin air!

"Shang Hexing?"

"Shang Hexing, where did you go?"

...

Meanwhile, in the presidential suite of the hotel.

The room’s light was dim, Shang Hexing pulled the curtains halfway open, letting in a bit of the morning light which brightened the room.

He turned to sit down on the armchair next to the window, his shirt crumpled and half-tucked in his trousers.

The phone vibrated repeatedly. He pinched the bridge of his nose and then picked up the phone, answering with a yell, "Grandfather."

From the other end of the phone came Grandpa Han’s breathing, sometimes light, sometimes heavy.

After a while, a voice said, "Hexing."

Grandpa Han called.

Shang Hexing slowly sat up straight, "Grandfather, go ahead."

Grandpa Han’s voice trembled with old age as he slowly spoke, "Go to Licheng, see your grandmother for the last time."

Shang Hexing answered solemnly, "Okay."

Before the phone call ended, Shang Hexing could hear the breathing from the other side grow more disordered, deep and heavy, as if trying to calm itself, but unable to do so.

Shang Hexing asked, "Aren’t you going to Licheng?"

From the phone came Grandpa Han’s helpless sigh, "This time your grandmother is critically ill. Right before she lapsed into unconsciousness, she instructed the people around her not to allow me to see her. She said she still hates me..."

In his life, Grandpa Han had lived up to his country and his beliefs, but he failed his wife.

The old lady had endured a lifetime of grievances, and in her old age, she finally lived for herself. She resolutely moved away from Bai City back to her homestead in Licheng and vowed never to return to Bai City, nor to let Grandpa Han visit her.

This time her critical illness came unexpectedly.

When Grandpa Han received the call, his mind went blank. Not saying a word, he sat still in the bedroom all night without sleep, until dawn, when he finally reached out with stiff hands to the phone and dialed this number to Shang Hexing in Laihai City.

"Hexing, when you get to Licheng, remember to pass on a message to your grandmother for me," Grandpa Han said with a trembling voice.

Shang Hexing replied with composure, "What is it?"

"Tell your grandmother that, in this life, I owe her an apology."

As those words fell, Grandpa Han on the other end of the phone cried.

He cried silently, yet like a child, wiping away tears from his face with his sleeve.