Chapter 125

Nangong Du seemed to have been infected by Zixiu’s oddness. Hearing no response from the latter after waiting for a long time, he couldn’t help but say the same thing as Zixiu had said, “Hey, say something!”

“… What to say?” Zixiu asked back after a while and tugged at the quilt again, obviously absent-minded.

Nangong Du finally lost his temper. “Are you trying to freeze me to death?”

“Huh?”

“Why do you keep tugging at the quilt?”

“Oh!” When Zixiu realized what Nangong Du was complaining about, he suddenly found himself pulling almost the entire quilt over. He then slowly pushed part of the quilt back to Nangong Du, without complaining or yelling.

“Are you feeling upset because of what I said?” As soon as he pulled back the quilt, Nangong Du could not help but ask curiously. He found that he was getting more interested in Liu Zixiu. Even a heartless person like Liu Zixiu would feel depressed?

Of course!

Zixiu was not someone who could not take criticism. As what Nangong Du had just said confirmed his own suspicions, Zixiu was in low spirits for his “mental disease”. “Alas…”

‘What’s the big deal?’ Nangong Du could not understand why Zixiu was so upset. Liu Zixiu was once infuriated and almost picked a fight to the death with him only because he called him “a good-for-nothing”, and now he was in a slump and kept sighing only because he said his behavior was beyond comprehension! How come he was so sentimental? Besides, he did not mean to belittle him by “beyond comprehension”!

“Nangong Du, have you ever seen anyone with amnesia?” Zixiu couldn’t help but probe.

“Amnesia?” Nangong Du was confused.

“There are so many people in Luanzhou. Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t remember his past?”

“Someone who doesn’t remember his past…” Before he could dwell on what Liu Zixiu said, Nangong Du suddenly felt a twinge in his heart. His playful mood disappeared, and for no reason, he suddenly grew tense. “What do you mean?”

“I had an accident three years ago. Since then I forgot everything about the past, and even forgot who I am!”

“So what?”

“Do you remember I told you that my name was Mark Lira, I was twenty years old, and my favorite cartoon was ‘The Prince of Tennis’?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, I was not lying! I didn’t even know what I was talking about!”  Thinking of what had happened that day, Zixiu touched his neck with lingering fear. “I hope you won’t feel offended about what I’m going to say. I’m just telling the truth, and I’m not trying to go against you or find faults with you! You were really… Wait a minute! Given the suffocating atmosphere back then, the word ‘aggressive’ is not enough to describe you! You were very… ferocious! Yes, very ferocious! You stared at me with killing intent in your eyes and grabbed me by the neck as if a hawk grabbing a chicken with its claws! I felt you were going to kill me at any time, so I started talking nonsense… Actually, that was not nonsense. I just blurted out what was on my mind instinctively when my life was on the line! Do you understand what I mean?”

“Huh?” Although Zixiu had said that he did not mean to go against him,  Nangong Du still felt a little displeased when he was accused of violence, but instead of hitting the ceiling, he just listened to Zixiu go on.

“My dad said my constant delirium was a hangover from falling into the water!”

“Falling into the water?”

“Hey, didn’t I just say that? It was the accident three years ago!” Seeing that Nangong Du showed no intent to lose his temper, Zixiu breathed a sigh of relief before he continued, “At first, I also thought my dad’s words were reasonable. Because two years ago, I only said something by accident that he couldn’t understand! But since last time I went down the mountain and encountered a lot of people, after so many things happened to me, I found not only my words didn’t make sense to others, but also my thoughts and behavior were out of line with others!”

It seemed Liu Zixiu had an accurate sense of himself! Nangong Du asked in an encouraging tone, “And then?”

“Then I accidentally pissed my dad off today!”

“?!” Nangong Du was a little shocked.

Zixiu explained, “My dad was mad at me! But I didn’t mean to offend him! He was so furious that he even slapped me! He had never beaten me before! He even asked me… ‘How did you come to be like this?’”

“How did you come to be like this?” After thinking for a moment, Nangong Du asked with a frown, “So your dad thought you had changed a lot?”

“Yes!”

“So you asked me if I had ever seen someone who couldn’t remember his past because you wanted to know if the temperament of those who had lost their memories would change dramatically?”

“Well… Kind of!” Zixiu nodded, trying to comfort himself. Actually, he felt “dramatic change in his temperament” was not enough to describe his problem.

However, to his disappointment, what the “useful” clue that Nangong Du provided was, “You mustn’t have asked me this question!”

“Why?”

“Why don’t you ask your dad?” Nangong Du was suddenly seized with a burst of impatience. “Your dad, Liu Wuyi, used to be known as the ‘King of Medicine’. Don’t you know or can’t you remember?”

“The King of Medicine?” Zixiu reflexively remembered that his dad did not even know how to transfuse blood for the patient in the morning! However, the title “King of Medicine” sounded so familiar! He seemed to have heard of it before.

“Don’t you have any other doubts?” Nangong Du suddenly asked again.

“Other doubts?” Zixiu thought he had figured out what he was worried about, so he instantly grew tense. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe it’s not that your temperament has changed dramatically, but…” Nangong Du suddenly paused. The idea that had been on his mind for a long time suddenly became uncertain.

Just as he was hesitating, a muffled sound suddenly rang outside.

Though the sound was not very loud, Zixiu still slipped under the quilt instantly. He thought it was thundering!

“Calm down! It’s a signal flare!” Nangong Du reacted quickly and pulled Zixiu out of the quilt. “Go find your dad right away. We may be in trouble!”

“Huh?” After a moment of daze, Zixiu asked, “Are you being hunted down?”

“How do you know?”

“Really? I guessed!” Zixiu did not want to be killed even without knowing what had happened.

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“Damn it! Why didn’t you say it earlier?” Letting out a scream, Zixiu rushed out of the door, without even putting on his robe!