During lunch, Aunt Tian went upstairs to call for Xin Qing as usual, but she found that Ah Sha was the only one sleeping on the bed, while Xin Qing was nowhere to be found. After she and Uncle Fu searched every room in the house in a panic, she called Ying Qingcang.
Ying Qingcang got back in a hurry. He found Xin Qing"s cowhide notebook was missing, along with a couple of clothes and a suitcase.
"She has left..." Ying Qingcang sat heavily down on the sofa. Young Master Shen made a call right away. "I"ll send people to find her."
Ying Qingcang stood up. "Where is the old man?"
"Master went for a morning exercise early in the morning, but still hasn"t got back." Uncle Fu thought for a second, then opened his mouth and said, "It wasn"t Master..."
Ying Qingcang interrupted him and glanced at him coldly. "If it wasn"t him, then how come Xin Qing left suddenly?"
"This is the second time..." Ying Qingcang closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. "This is the second time he told Xin Qing to leave me."
Young Master Shen hung up the phone and comforted him after seeing him like that. "Don"t get mad with uncle right now. Xin Qing won"t go very far in that state, we should find her in no time."
"What happened?" Ying Hao asked standing at the door.
Ying Qingcang walked right pa.s.s him. "Don"t mess with my life. If I can"t find Xin Qing, then I"ll ruin the Ying Enterprises. I"ll make you lose everything."
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Ying Hao yelled furiously. "That is the work contributed by generations of people. How dare you?"
Ying Qingcang walked downstairs slowly. "Xin Qing is my life. If you took my life, why can"t I ruin yours."
"Stop! Wait!" Ying Hao wanted Ying Qingcang back. But he was stopped by Uncle Fu. "Master, you should go back!"
Ying Hao glared at him. "You"re taking his side, too?"
Uncle Fu stayed quiet. Young Master Shen shook his head. "Uncle, you should know your son very well by now."
"Nothing, nothing is more important than the Ying family." Ying Hao looked at Ying Qingcang"s back with mixed feelings, then left slowly.
At this time, Xin Qing had already got on the bus. She didn"t want to take the plane cause she feared that Ying Qingcang might find her. And she was in a special state of health, places too far away weren"t options for her. So she had decided to go to a little town by the river near the S City by bus.
Watching the views outside the bus window pa.s.sing backwards, Xin Qing figured Ying Qingcang shall find out she was missing right now. "He must be very sad!" Xin Qing found herself quite selfish, it didn"t matter if she stayed or left, because their relationship wasn"t that deep and unforgettable. "But... sorry," she apologized in her heart secretly, "I believed that you would get used to it after a while. Slowly and surely, you would forget about me. I couldn"t give you what you want, I had to quit this love."
The little town had great view, people there lived by the river, many people came here for scenery painting, so the local residents all had one room or two for renting. Xin Qing had found a house by the water, she could see the sh.o.r.e side paved by the blue flagstone by just opening the window.
When she left, she found a lot of cash in the bag, enough for her to live for a year. She also brought the bank card, opened a new account near the bus station and put all the money in that account. She thought that in this way no one could find her consumption record. But what she didn"t know was that even before the bus left the S City, Young Master Shen"s people had already found her and started following her. They witnessed her found the house, and only left after they made sure she had settled down.
"She wasn"t stupid after all, at least she remembered to bring the money." Ying Qingcang said with a grudge in his heart. He was relieved after knowing where she had gone to.
After knowing the information, Zhang Mi gave Young Master Shen a heavy punch. "Xin Qing went too far this time, she just left in secret, leaving me and Qianqian in pain."
"Does she know who you are?" Young Master Shen rolled his eyes at her. "Stop letting off by hitting my thigh when your thighs are right there."
Zhang Mi stood up. "This isn"t working, I gotta go find her, it"s too dangerous for her to be outside alone. What if she couldn"t see the notebook when she wakes up in the morning, or what if she loses it someday by accident?"
"I can take care of my wife." Ying Qingcang glanced at Zhang Mi, feeling annoyed, then he said to Young Master Shen, "Quick, take her away."
Young Master Shen was dragging Zhang Mi outside while Zhang Mi held her fists and kicks against him. "Monster, let me go! I need to go find Xin Qing."
"Ouch!" Young Master Shen dragged her to the elevator with a struggle. "Ah Cang would do it, you are in no position to do this yourself."
Zhang Mi twitched her mouth, "There"s no point for him to go, Xin Qing wouldn"t be like this if it wasn"t for him."
"Let"s go, let"s go! I"ll send you home." Young Master Shen pushed her into the elevator.
Xin Qing had started the circle of waking up every morning in a panic, but not being able to do anything about it. After she started living by herself, she had less and less to write down. For Xin Qing, reading about the past memories everyday was like watching a movie. She was watching Xin Qing and Ying Qingcang"s past.
A few days after she moved in this house, she found out that the house across hers was also rented out. she was too afraid to walk out the door, her landlord helped her bring back the food everyday. And she was also too afraid to act anything abnormal, she just told the landlord that she came here to regain her health, that she wasn"t in a healthy enough state to leave the house.
Half a month had pa.s.sed, Xin Qing had found that the tenant living across her had never appeared, every once in a while she could see a blurry shadow on the window. Xin Qing liked it this way, at first she was worried that it might be an over-pa.s.sionate person who would come and have a chat with her. but now it seemed that this person was just like her, who enjoyed staying at home.
Time flew by day after day, Xin Qing started to zone out for longer and longer period of time, she didn"t know what to live for any more. Life without memories was life without color, her life was in black and white. One day, she saw Ying Qingcang on TV, a cute little girl stood right beside him. The reporters surrounded him and asked him what was the relationship between him and the little girl. That girl was holding his arm, she smiled and said, "I like Ying Qingcang the best!"
Xin Qing didn"t even remember that smile used to be on her face too, she just let out a hopeless laugh. So soon... This is fine though. So she could let go of the last bit of worry. The next day, someone knocked on the door of her little hut for the first time, Young Master Shen stood at the door and smiled at her.
"Xiao Qingqing, I"m here to pick you up!"
Xin Qing was brought back. She had gone for two months, but nothing had changed. The only difference was that Ah Sha almost cried her eyes out, she wouldn"t let go of Xin Qing when she was hugging her. Xin Qing didn"t feel that intensely, so she just kept patting little Ah Sha"s back to comfort her.
"I... should I move out?" Ah Sha was exhausted from all the crying and had fallen asleep in her arms. Xin Qing asked Young Master Shen in small voice. Now that Ying Qingcang had met someone else, she had no reason to stay at his house any more, that girl who liked him would mind, too!
Young Master Shen found it funny and said, "This house is yours now!" He suddenly remembered something. "Ah! Didn"t Ah Cang tell you about this? When you guys get married, he had given you all the fortune, now you are more loaded than he is!"
Xin Qing got distracted for a second, then smiled calmly, "Then should I return everything to him right now?"
"Nonsense." Young Master Shen waved his hands. "Just rest here, in a few days I"ll take a doctor here to take care of you. Don"t worry, the doctor had cured someone who lost memories before, you"ll fully recover under his hands!"
This was why Xin Qing were willing to come back, she didn"t ask where Ying Qingcang was. She figured that he sent a doctor for her because she got injured for him and he didn"t want to own her anything. When she got fully recovered, there would be nothing left between them, because he had already got someone new.
"Ah Cang was kinda busy recently, so..."
"No, it"s fine!" Xin Qing interrupted Young Master Shen. "I understood, I watched the news."
Young Master Shen didn"t know what to say all of the sudden, he stayed quiet for a while and then asked her, "Are you alright?"
Xin Qing tilted her head and smiled. "I don"t even remember him. Besides, I can understand."
"Now you don"t remember, but what about when you get your memories back?" Young Master Shen worried. If he were Ying Qingcang, he would choose keeping it like this forever than bringing Xin Qing"s memories back in this way. By then... by then how could Xin Qing handle everything?
At night Zhang Mi came to visit her, the first thing she said was, "s.h.i.t! Hurry up and spend all his fortune." But Xin Qing was staring at her in confusion, Zhang Mi pointed at her face and yelled furiously. "Let"s make it clear, I"m your best friend. That a.s.shole Ying Qingcang had nothing to do with you anymore. when you recovered, we"ll go to France together!"
"I know about you." Xin Qing pointed at the photo in the cowhide book. "What happened to you?"
Zhang Mi patted her chest to clam down, and then she looked at her. "Do you know that Ying Qingcang is getting married with a woman appeared out of nowhere?"
"I know!" Xin Qing nodded.
"Then do you know that you guys are married couple now, he is about to commit the offence of bigamy!"
Hearing Zhang Mi"s words, Xin Qing felt lost. "Then should I sign the divorce paper?"
"Why do you f.u.c.king care about signing anything!" Zhang Mi pulled a handful of her hair with great rage. "You saved his life, took a bullet for him, but now he is with another woman."
Xin Qing stopped her, "Calm down, you"re gonna pull off all your hair."
"You"re fine now only because you don"t remember it all. Didn"t he get you a doctor? Once you recover and get your memories back, you"ll feel like h.e.l.l!" Zhang Mi pulled Xin Qing into a hug. "Ah Qing, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do!"
Xin Qing felt heat in her neck, then pushed her away immediately, only found out she was crying. She had no feelings, but she felt rough seeing her like this.
"But... now I really don"t remember anything!" She thought for a second and said, "If I will get hurt when I remember what happened, then let it be, that was his own choice. Just like you said, by then we"ll go to France together?"
Zhang Mi wiped her tears and said furiously, "I"m sure that woman doesn"t even know Ying Qingcang is broke right now, you already have all his money. Heh! I"ll tell her later, then she"ll be sorry."
"After the divorce, I"ll return everything to him."
Zhang Mi glared at her. "What kind of bulls.h.i.t are you talking about? Do you even know how much money is that? There"s no returning it, it will be your alimony payment!" Zhang Mi placed her hands on her waist. "I"m telling you, don"t leave even a penny for him, we"ll use the money to have fun in France!" Watching Xin Qing didn"t really give a d.a.m.n about the money, Zhang Mi added, "You gotta have a backup plan for Ah Sha. Unless you"re not taking her with you and decide to leave her to her stepmother?"
Meanwhile in Ying Qingcang"s office, he stared at the woman in front of him with no feelings. "If you can"t make my wife recover, I"ll make you sorry for getting out of the mountain."
"Wrong! Soon she won"t be your wife anymore."
"Your wife is me, Tang Shuang!"