The car, which had been cruising smoothly, suddenly swerved for a moment.
Jiang Yuanye’s hands instinctively tightened on the steering wheel, quickly correcting the car’s path back onto the right track.
He thought, What the hell? That was terrifying.
Zhou Chaosheng’s words... why did they have to sound so ambiguous?
Jiang Yuanye, who had just recovered from his earlier bout of coughing felt it returning with a vengeance.
A breath caught in his throat, triggering another fit of coughs.
Before he could fully recover, a puzzled voice sounded beside him:
“What’s wrong with you?”
What’s wrong with me?
How could the very cause of his predicament have the nerve to ask that?
Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Jiang Yuanye plastered on his usual playful, carefree expression and teased with a sly smile,
“Do you really want to know?”
“…Mm.” Zhou Chaosheng hesitated slightly, his voice cautious.
Noticing the subtle apprehension in Zhou Chaosheng’s tone, Jiang Yuanye’s mischievous streak swelled. He leaned into it:
“It’s not that I hate you all that much. I just couldn’t stand the sight of you at times.”
“As for you…” Jiang Yuanye’s voice turned deliberately casual, laced with feigned nonchalance. “I actually like you more than I hate you. Picking fights with you all the time was just a way to grab your attention. After all, you’re such a gifted golden boy. Without a bit of strategy and tricks, how else was I supposed to hook you?”
Zhou Chaosheng: “…”
His silence was deafening.
Jiang Yuanye waited a long while but heard no response. Inside, he was practically dancing with glee, though his expression remained calm. He nudged, barely holding back his laughter,
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
If he weren’t so focused on maintaining his act, Jiang Yuanye might’ve blurted out next: Is it because you’re too shy to speak?
Realizing that Jiang Yuanye had seized control of the conversation, Zhou Chaosheng finally broke his silence,
“I have a question.”
“What is it? Go ahead.” Jiang Yuanye grinned.
Feigning confusion, Zhou Chaosheng tilted his head slightly and spoke in a tone laden with mock curiosity,
“I heard from Zhao Xiaohui that couples spend over half of their time together doing… intimate things.”
He paused deliberately, his tone measured, enunciating the next part slowly and seriously,
“So, why is it that you and I haven’t had any intimate contact up to now?”
"....."
Jiang Yuanye suddenly lost control and the car came to a screeching halt.
Zhou Chaosheng was thrown forward by inertia, but the seatbelt pulled him back against the seat.
He turned to his left and saw Jiang Yuanye’s mouth slightly open, his face a picture of shock.
For a long moment, the other didn’t say a word.
Perhaps he was so disgusted that he didn’t know how to respond.
The car’s interior was silent enough to hear a pin drop.
Zhou Chaosheng lowered his lashes, his expression filled with amusement as he waited patiently for a reply.
“Hmm? Why?”
Jiang Yuanye remained silent, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. Perhaps he was nervous or just struggling to come up with a believable excuse.
Zhou Chaosheng stayed patient like a hunter closing in on his prey, giving it just enough room to struggle before sealing its fate.
“You’re not answering do you have something you’re reluctant to admit?”
He turned his head slightly, his gaze fixed sharply on Jiang Yuanye.
Realizing that staying silent any longer would only make things worse, Jiang Yuanye forced out a laugh. He tried to appear relaxed as he explained, “It’s not that. It’s because you’re injured. If I were to do anything inappropriate to you right now, wouldn’t that make me a beast?”
Zhou Chaosheng sneered inwardly.
On the surface, he raised an eyebrow in mock confusion, muttering softly, “What does my injury have to do with that...?”
In the confined space of the car, his words reached Jiang Yuanye’s ears loud and clear, making the latter’s heart skip a beat.
A sense of foreboding crept over him.
Sure enough...
Zhou Chaosheng’s next words were, “Jiang Yuanye, are we really a couple?”
There were still cars behind them, and staying in the middle of the road wasn’t an option. But continuing to drive wasn’t ideal either, especially with this “ticking time bomb” sitting in the passenger seat. Resigned, Jiang Yuanye steered the car to the roadside and parked.
“We are, of course we are. Baby, why would you think otherwise?” Jiang Yuanye turned off the engine, forcing a smile to conceal the guilt in his voice.
Zhou Chaosheng looked at him, noting how the other avoided meeting his gaze. He thought to himself that Jiang Yuanye wasn’t so hard to figure out after all.
“I feel like you’re all talk. When it comes to actually spending time together, I don’t really feel any genuine affection from you,” Zhou Chaosheng said.
“That’s not true,” Jiang Yuanye tried to argue.
But Zhou Chaosheng didn’t give him a chance, continuing, “The way you act gives me the impression that you’re just trying to hit some kind of KPI. It looks serious, but it feels half-hearted. Don’t rush to deny it I may have lost my memory, but I’m not stupid. I can still tell how someone really feels about me.”
“I—”
“What about you?”
Jiang Yuanye took a deep breath.
“Let’s go to the hospital first. Your leg is still injured, isn’t it? If we delay any longer, it might get infected.”
"Don't change the subject," Zhou Chaosheng said. "If you like me, you like me. If you don’t, then you don’t. If you're just messing with me, then I suggest you stop now.
"If I find out you’re lying to me after I regain my memory, I’ll never let you off the hook."
He admitted that after hearing Jiang Yuanye's story, he had been somewhat swayed.
So, he was willing to give him a chance tonight to walk away unscathed.
It all depended on whether Jiang Yuanye could seize this opportunity.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t what Jiang Yuanye had in mind.
Jiang Yuanye thought to himself that he had endured all this time with one goal in mind: to make Zhou Chaosheng feel disgusted once he remembered everything after recovering his memory. He wanted him to lose his appetite, have trouble sleeping, and replay these memories over and over again, feeling sick to his stomach. If the effect was strong enough, he wished Zhou Chaosheng would never want to see him again for the rest of his life.
Now, asking him to give up everything he’d done so far?
Impossible.
As the saying goes, sunk costs are the hardest to let go of, and the disgust Jiang Yuanye had endured was no exception.
Without a second thought, he rejected the lifeline Zhou Chaosheng offered.
He even took it further and plunged into the abyss.
Hell or not, he decided to go ahead and face it.
"Baby, you're overthinking," Jiang Yuanye said, restarting the car, shifting gears, and stepping on the accelerator.
"I swear, I'll never lie to you in this lifetime."
Zhou Chaosheng wasn’t surprised by this answer.
Given their adversarial relationship, he could understand why Jiang Yuanye would want to disgust him. But honestly, he couldn’t understand why the other would use the excuse of being his lover while he had amnesia to carry out this kind of torment.
It was clearly a last resort.
Jiang Yuanye never bothered to study Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
Zhou Chaosheng turned his head towards the window, looking through the guardrail. He couldn’t see clearly, only the general outline of the scene outside.
In the distance, scattered reflections of lights mirrored the high-rise buildings lining the banks of the river. The still and deep water surface in the center seemed like a sky full of stars, their scattered light rippling across the river, creating a shimmering effect.
The city’s riverside view was overwhelming.
From the overpass all the way down, the drizzle began to fall bit by bit onto the windshield, blurring the view.
Thinking about Jiang Yuanye’s reminder earlier this morning, Zhou Chaosheng spoke without turning his head:
“It’s going to rain.”
“Oh,” Jiang Yuanye turned on the windshield wipers, slowly clearing the raindrops from the glass.
Just when Jiang Yuanye was confused, a flash of lightning suddenly tore through the deep, dark night sky.
In the instant of that flash, thunder roared in their ears like a bomb exploding.
The thunder was so loud that Jiang Yuanye couldn’t help but swear.
Jiang Yuanye: “...”
“It’s just a coincidence.”
The rain began to intensify, and even through the barrier, the sound of it hitting the car could be clearly heard. The raindrops fell faster and faster, and in less than half a minute, the entire windshield was completely blurred.
Naturally, the emotionless faces on the window were also muddled by the rain, barely visible.
After a while, in the car, mixed with the sound of rain and Bluetooth music, Zhou Chaosheng’s voice emerged, low and distant, with an undisturbed tone, as if there were no emotion at all.
“You might as well say, our being together is also a coincidence.”
“… Baby, what are you doubting me about?”
“A lot.”
“A lot? How much is a lot? Give me an example.”
"For instance, the way you look at me with no affection, how you speak smoothly but never take any real action or how none of my close friends know about our relationship… is that enough, or do you need me to keep going?”
Jiang Yuanye didn’t expect him to reveal so much: “... That’s enough, that’s enough.”
“What happens after enough? What’s your explanation?”
Zhou Chaosheng wouldn’t let him off the hook, persistently pressing him.
“I…?” Jiang Yuanye seemed to lose his composure, his voice no longer as calm as usual. “What should I explain? Of course, we’re real! Do I need to prove it? You can’t doubt our eight years of relationship just because you have amnesia, right? What are you treating me as?”
Anticipating that Jiang Yuanye would shift the blame, Zhou Chaosheng calmly replied: “When it comes to matters of the heart, I can’t be careless. If you can prove we’re real, I’ll apologize.”
Jiang Yuanye fell silent.
Zhou Chaosheng wasn’t in a hurry. Seeing that the other person didn’t respond right away, he simply closed his eyes to rest.
This silence continued all the way to the hospital, not broken once.
Jiang Yuanye stopped the car in front of the hospital.
Zhou Chaosheng glanced at the sign—it was the same hospital he had been to before.
A municipal class-3 general hospital.
“Now that we’re here, do you have anything you want to explain?”
The music inside the car had stopped at some point, leaving only the muffled sound of the rain hitting the glass. The rain outside seemed to fall onto both of their hearts, heavy and unbearable.
"Click"
Such a subtle sound, even though Zhou Chaosheng didn’t turn his head to look, he could still feel that it was Jiang Yuanye who had unbuckled the seatbelt.
Zhou Chaosheng calmly tugged at the door handle; it was locked.
The sound of the seatbelt being pulled back and the fabric rubbing was amplified in his ears.
Zhou Chaosheng’s heart skipped a beat.
What was Jiang Yuanye going to do?
Was he going to directly reveal his identity and beat him up, or was he going to lock him in the car and leave him to his own devices?
“Zhou Chaosheng.”
The other party called his full name. Was this the moment to lay everything on the table?
Zhou Chaosheng turned his head, just about to raise his eyes to look at the person when a hand, carrying a cold, shyness-like feeling, covered his eyes.
“!!”
Before he could react, the other hand had already caressed his cheek, with the thumb pressing against his chin. Then, the four fingers gently brushed over his earlobe, and with a commanding grip, held the back of his head by his ears.
"You."
What was he doing?
"Time."
Jiang Yuanye’s voice, full of huskiness, was nonchalant.
“Don’t you want an answer?”
In the muffled sound of the rain, his tone was lazy, like chewing gum sticking together.
Low, hoarse.
Soon, Zhou Chaosheng felt a grinding sensation on his lips, the calluses on the other party’s fingertips, roughened by years of labor, scraped against him, causing a bit of pain.
But compared to the pain, the warm breath brushing against his nose felt even more present.
Zhou Chaosheng widened his eyes.
Through the gaps in the fingers, he could vaguely see the figure in front of him leaning towards him.
"!!!"
Under the coverage of five fingers, Zhou Chaosheng suddenly held his breath.
He didn’t expect Jiang Yuanye to go this far!
“Jiang Yuanye...!”
The unfinished words were drowned by a kiss, as light as a dragonfly touching water, swallowed by the sound of the rain.
"This is."
"My answer."