Chapter 385 - I Was Just Sounding You Out. You're Actually Quite A Good Person

Li Shaobin nodded. After a while, he found something was amiss. “Aye, why do I feel like you’re trying to make a dig at me?”

“I would never dare.” Ruan Yang shook her head while eating. “If you don’t cherish her, you might have to be with Olympic weightlifters or Judo athletes next time. Otherwise, I don’t think you would be able to set your eyes on normal women.”

Li Shaobin felt unhappy when he heard that. Although Olympic athletes brought glory to the country, they weren’t pretty enough. “Ruan Yang, don’t you gloat. Mind you… you might find a man… and get ditched.”

“I think I’d be the one ditching the guy.” Ruan Yang suddenly looked at him. “Was I ditched before?”

“N… no.” Li Shaobin lowered his head and almost bit his tongue. Just then, he really wanted to use the Xin Ziao incident to shame her.

“Have you seen that movie I appeared nude in?” Ruan Yang suddenly started.

“Cough, cough.” He didn’t think she would ask such an unexpected question. Li Shaobin choked on his food and was only able to catch his breath after taking a few gulps of water. He finally realized she wasn’t looking at him. Her head was still lowered as she picked up some vegetables. Her lashes weren’t long but her lips were very sexy. A few strands of her hair hung loosely by her cheeks and her face was pale because of her injury, making her seem a little desolate.

“No.” He touched his earlobe out of habit. “I haven’t seen it. It’s actually no big deal. Wasn’t it just one scene? It’s not like they zoomed in or anything…”

“Didn’t you say you haven’t seen it before? Why does it sound like you know it so well?” Ruan Yang’s chopsticks hovered in the air.

Li Shaobin bit his lips. He had never seen it but he heard people talk about it. However, it would seem more hurtful if he said that, so he just braced himself and admitted: “Yes, I watched it before. There’s nothing much to it. There are so many actors nowadays who are willing to give up their bodies for the sake of art. Besides, when the movie was released back then, the important parts were all deleted. It was all for the sake of marketing.”

Ruan Yang continued to press her lips together in silence as she stopped eating.

Li Shaobin felt slightly nervous. Oh no, would she take things too hard? If he agitated her, Yan Changqing and Jiang Duoyao would eat him up alive. He licked his lips and continued: “Hollywood is worse. There have been countless such films released in the last eight years. You’ve lost your memory so you must’ve forgotten about this. Look, I can find American films for you at any second. In my opinion, you should’ve been given an award for what you did for the Arts. No one can compare to you. Definitely.”

Ruan Yang smiled. Her eyes were shining extraordinarily. “You actually haven’t watched it, right?”

Li Shaobin blinked unnaturally. “I…”

“You heard about it from others.” Ruan Yang smiled helplessly. “You were afraid I would feel hurt by others’ comments so you admitted it on purpose. After all… you’re a man who doesn’t even know the size of my breasts.”

Li Shaobin’s face blushed awkwardly. Alright, he didn’t expect this woman to be so clear-minded. “Then why did you ask me?”

“I was just sounding you out.” Ruan Yang watched him complicatedly. “You’re actually quite a good person.”

Li Shaobin felt awkward upon hearing that. “I’m a good person. Do you know what I do for a living?”

Ruan Yang raised her eyebrows.

“I’m from the underworld. I fight a lot.” Li Shaobin raised his rock-hard fist. “I’ve been fighting ever since I was young. Everyone is afraid of me.”

“Yeah? I really couldn’t tell.” Ruan Yang placed one hand on the table and used the hand holding her chopsticks to prop her chin up. She was smiling lightly. Her slightly lifted chin and small lips were extraordinarily charming, reminding him of the Hong Kong beauties from the 90s, pure and natural, without a hint of impurity.

Li Shaobin fiddled with his chopsticks unknowingly and asked, “You’re not afraid? You’re… 18 right now.”

“Yeah, I should be afraid. It’s the first time I’ve met someone from the underworld in my memory, but for some reason, I think you’re pretty nice.” Ruan Yang pressed her lips together and turned her face away slightly, smiling nonchalantly. “I heard you’re the one who forked out the money for my hospitalization and you also hired the bodyguards outside. I assumed you must be very wealthy and you must’ve been born into a very wealthy family too. A person from a family like yours should look down on me but you don’t. Besides, you’re quite meticulous sometimes.”

“I’m meticulous?” Li Shaobin stared wide-eyed at her, as though he had seen a ghost. It was the first time someone ever praised him like that. Did Ruan Yang turn stupid from the car accident?

“Not exactly meticulous; it’s just that sometimes… you’re mindful of how a woman feels. Of course, other than the fact that you have a weird personality and hobbies.” Ruan Yang sighed softly. “To be honest, when I heard you were the one who caused me to get into a car accident, I kind of hated you. However, for some reason, I feel a little grateful to you right now.”

“Grateful to me?” Li Shaobin was stunned once again. “I caused you to lose your memory.”

“Mm… perhaps it’s because I heard the person called Duoyao say that I took on a nude scene in the past in order to get back on my feet in the acting industry. Thinking about it now, I find it quite incredible. I didn’t dare to believe that I would actually have the guts to do that. Ruan Yang’s lips curled up bitterly. “I think I must’ve been in a lot of pain and suffering after I shot that scene. At least I know I’m a very egotistical person and I care a lot about my parents. Therefore, I imagine that I must’ve been very unhappy during that period of time. I’m only 26 and in my 18-year-old memory, I longed to act, but I actually ended up leaving the acting scene after getting the best female actor award. I must’ve been very unhappy then. So, I’m grateful to you. I must’ve lost some very painful memories. The only regret is that I’ve forgotten some of my close friends from university.”

Li Shaobin was dumbfounded. Was Ruan Yang in a lot of suffering? He didn’t know and he didn’t think about that before because the two of them weren’t close at all. The only reason why he paid any attention to her was because she dated Xin Ziao. There was a period of time when he hated her, looked down on her, and thought she had no taste to have even set her eyes on a piece of trash like Xin Ziao. After that, when she was betrayed by Xin Ziao, he found her a little pitiful. Thinking about how Xin Ziao snatched the girl he liked from him, he could sort of empathize with Ruan Yang, so he didn’t hate her anymore. However, upon hearing her say all this, he found that things were quite… quite hard on her as well. Besides, she was even grateful to him…

Li Shaobin really couldn’t put words to his feelings at the moment. In any case, it was the first time he felt so complicated as a man.

However, hearing her say that meant she had thought things through, which was good. “Your… friends are all pretty good. You must continue to be close to them. Otherwise… Changqing would definitely kill me.”

“Changqing?” Ruan Yang raised her brows.

“She’s my brother’s wife. That Jiang Duoyao is also my brother’s girlfriend,” Li Shaobin explained. “What do you plan to do in the future?”

“I’m thinking of going back to Guangzhou to visit my parents after I recover.” Ruan Yang looked out the window. “Can I be discharged tomorrow? I heard I have a house in Northern City. I want to go over and take a look; I don’t want to keep staying at the hospital.”

“I’ll definitely be able to get discharged tomorrow but maybe not you. You’ve got amnesia,” Li Shaobin said. “Actually, it’s quite good for you to stay at the hospital for a few more days. If you go back to your place, you’d be living alone. That would be so boring.”

“Wouldn’t I feel bored being here?” Ruan Yang asked him. “It seems like you know where I live. Have you been to my place before?”

Li Shaobin pressed his lips together unnaturally. Of course he remembered going to her place. He even had a kiss forced on him. It was the first time a woman ever forced a kiss on him. “Yeah. Changqing often stayed at your place in the past. I went over with my friend before.”

“Then I’ll have to trouble you to take me there.”

“I’ll ask the doctor later.” Li Shaobin carried on eating.

——————————————

After lunch, Li Shaobin left the ward and received a call from Changqing. “Brother Shaobin, how is Ruan Yang? Has she regained her memory?”

“How’s it possible for her to regain her memory so quickly?” Li Shaobin said guiltily. “But this Ruan Yang with amnesia is too… too confident. I don’t even know where she got her confidence.”

Changqing laughed upon hearing that. “Yeah. Didn’t her memory stop at 18? When she was 18, Ruan Yang was very confident. She was also very clever and observant. You might not know it but she was admitted into our school because she was in the top at her school. Besides, she always scored the highest marks in acting in our class. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been chosen to film a drama as a freshman. However, she encountered a lot of setbacks after entering the industry. On top of that, she met the wrong people and fell in love with a piece of scum like Xin Ziao. Ruan Yang might’ve appeared just as confident before, but deep down inside, she’s actually full of scars. She doesn’t believe in love, doesn’t plan to get married and doesn’t even believe that a man would sincerely love her. She was only left with that confident shell but she lost her confidence long ago. I’m suddenly pretty happy to hear you say that. I really want to visit Ruan Yang at the hospital now. I want to take a look at the Ruan Yang from eight years ago.”

Li Shaobin pressed his lips together. Could Ruan Yang have just been putting on a strong front before the car accident?

This Xin Ziao really sinned. He should be struck by lightning.

“Right, Don’t you tell Ruan Yang about all these unhappy things,” Changqing instructed him again. “Ruan Yang hasn’t felt happy for a very long time. Even if she were to remember all these things in the future, I hope she would at least be happy for now.”