CH 1

1. Do you really not remember?

Yu Xinqiao has lost his memory.

Before receiving the diagnosis from the doctor, Yu Xinqiao thought he had just been in a common traffic accident. When asked where he was going while driving, he firmly replied, "To attend the graduation ceremony." 

The doctor asked, "Just finished an exam?" 

Yu Xinqiao nodded, "Yeah." 

The doctor asked, "Do you still remember any of the exam questions, such as the English essay topic?" 

Yu Xinqiao replied, "Learning English is beyond the classroom." 

Upon hearing this, Liang Yi's face was full of horror. "Am I dreaming? Due to being too afraid of exams, did I think I travelled six years into the future?" 

"You missed the morning exam because of a fever," Yu Xinqiao looked at Liang Yi and evaluated him, "So, you secretly went to work again? Judging by your attire, are you currently working in real estate?" 

Liang Yi went from surprise to speechlessness, "I'm not a real estate agent. Real estate is already in a bubble these days. I'm your agent!" 

After the doctor left, two police officers came. 

Yu Xinqiao learned from them that the accident was caused by a drunk driver. The first question raised was, "Can I drive?" 

Liang Yi quickly took out his driver's license for the police to inspect and explained, "He lost his memory and forgot that he can drive." 

The two police officers hesitated and looked at each other. One of them took out a photo and said, "Although this accident has been determined to be an accident, we still need your cooperation to confirm if you know the driver responsible." 

Yu Xinqiao looked at the photo and shook his head, "I don't know him." 

Half an hour later, the police left the hospital room. Liang Yi said, "Let's go and see that photo again after you recover your memory. What if someone wants to harm you? And don't you know how much you're worth now? You should have a driver, but look, you insisted on driving and ended up in an accident..." 

Yu Xinqiao didn't listen to Liang Yi's nagging. He was holding a mirror borrowed from a nurse, examining himself up close. 

His eyes, nose, mouth...except for the bandage on his forehead, everything else looked the same. 

But since it was already six years later, he should be older, right? Yu Xinqiao aimed the mirror at his eyes, grinned, and to his surprise, he didn't have a single wrinkle. The skin around his eyes had a slight reddish tint, and it even had a fragile quality to it. 

Was this really 24-year-old Yu Xinqiao? 

Putting down the mirror, Yu Xinqiao cleared his throat and said, "You said you're my agent..." 

Liang Yi had been talking to himself for a while and no one was paying attention to him. He was now slicing an apple by the bedside and said, "Yes, that's what I said." 

"Then my profession is an actor or a singer?" 

"No, you're a strip dancer at an underground bar." 

"... " 

"Privately, you call me Mama Liang." 

"... " 

"Get ready to be discharged. You still have a performance tonight, and Boss Wang requested to see you." 

"... " 

Seeing Yu Xinqiao's dumbfounded and resigned expression, Liang Yi couldn't help but laugh. "I'm just kidding. Did you really believe me?"

Yu Xinqiao suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, muttering after a while, "It's not funny at all."

After learning from Liang Yi that he had become a somewhat famous pianist, Yu Xinqiao spit out the apple he had just bitten into.

"Really?" he couldn't believe it, "You're not making up stories to fool me, right?"

Liang Yi pulled out a document from his briefcase on the bedside and handed it over, "This is the contract that you just signed with the Capital Philharmonic Orchestra. Starting next month, you will be touring with them in thirteen cities across the country... But given your current condition, the tour might have to be postponed."

As Yu Xinqiao scanned the document's title, his heart started pounding.

At eighteen, he had thought his dream was getting further and further away from him, almost out of reach. But then, one dream was shattered, only to wake up to another.

Yu Xinqiao heard his own voice trembling, "How well do I play the piano?"

"Although I don't know much about music, let me put it this way: you won last year's Xiaosai Championship, and that's also why you're so famous in China."

Yu Xinqiao slowly moved his fingers, from light to heavy, from tentative to confident, before placing them on his knees.

Perhaps because playing the piano relied on muscle memory, he still remembered the finger movements and the sheet music very well.

Thank goodness... Yu Xinqiao breathed another sigh of relief, his face gradually calming down.

Overjoyed, he couldn't help but wonder, "So how did I spend these six years?"

Liang Yi observed his expression, "Do you really not remember anything after the age of eighteen?"

After the initial diagnosis, the doctor believed that Yu Xinqiao's illness was selective amnesia caused by head trauma, but the specifics would have to be determined by the results of a brain scan.

Yu Xinqiao closed his eyes and tried to remember, but his mind was blank. He couldn't recall anything that had happened after the night of his last exam.

He pressed his temples and shook his head in pain.

"Never mind, don't force yourself to remember," Liang Yi was afraid of him hurting his brain, quickly helping him lie back down, "What do you want to know? I'll tell you."

Unfortunately, Liang Yi didn't know much about these six years.

"After that exam, you transferred to a music college abroad to focus on piano performance. Anyway, you only came to our school for a transition period, and we all knew you were going to leave sooner or later."

"You returned to the country last autumn. At that time, I was in a state of anxiety and stress due to pressure from work, and when you heard that I had a broker's license, you asked me if I wanted to be your agent."

"For more than five years before that, we only occasionally contacted each other through the Internet. You were usually very busy, often spending the whole day in the piano room, either participating in competitions or concerts when going out. These past few months since you returned to the country, your career has just taken off, and since I had just entered this industry, we had to be cautious about finding partners and signing contracts for your professional development."

"Your parents are already on the plane back to the country. They now live abroad..."

At this point, Yu Xinqiao had a reaction: "I returned to the country, but they didn't come back with me?"

Liang Yi shook his head: "You didn't live with them during the years you studied music abroad either."

Yu Xinqiao furrowed his brow. During high school, he had a bad relationship with his parents because he suddenly came out of the closet and refused to let his parents arrange his study abroad. Since he later successfully went abroad and developed fairly well, why were he and his parents still so estranged?

Liang Yi saw his doubts and said: "In fact, your relationship with your parents has improved over the years. When you returned to the country for development, they even contacted me privately, asking me to take good care of you. During the New Year's period, they originally planned to return to the country, but then..."

"What happened later?"

"Well, later you got..."

Liang Yi hesitated, but before he could continue, there was a knock on the door.

The results of the CT scan were out. The doctor observed that Yu Xinqiao's brain had no obvious trauma, and the amnesia was likely psychological. If there were no other physical discomforts, his family members could sign the paperwork to discharge him from the hospital and he could recover at home.

"When can I recover my memory?" Yu Xinqiao asked.

"There is currently no clear treatment for amnesia," the doctor said. "We suggest you maintain a good mood and talk to those around you more often, which will help you overcome the symptoms to some extent."

In other words, it is uncertain when or even if he can recover his memory.

Yu Xinqiao fell silent.

As an agent and friend, Liang Yi comforted him: "Even if you can't recover, it doesn't matter. You've essentially skipped six years of practice and can go straight to the pinnacle of your career with just a blink of an eye. That's a huge gain!"

To his surprise, Yu Xinqiao felt that this nonsense made sense.

Since things had come to this, he relaxed and picked up the old, oxidized apple: "How much longer until my parents arrive?"

Liang Yi checked his phone: "Your parents boarded the plane at 11:00 am Beijing time and are expected to land in twelve hours."

"Do I have to stay here until tomorrow?"

"Not necessarily..."

Yu Xinqiao took a bite of the apple: "Don't I need a family member's signature to be discharged?"

"Yes." The topic returned to the previous issue, and Liang Yi spoke with difficulty. "I didn't have a chance to tell you earlier, but you have an additional family member."

Yu Xinqiao was stunned, finding it somewhat unbelievable. "Did my mom remarry or did my dad get married again?"

"No, you...got married."

In the afternoon, a light rain began to fall outside the window.

Yu Xinqiao got out of bed wearing clothes and looked at the daily scenery blurred by rainwater and the rooftops in the distance that were wet and reflecting light.

As he woke up, everything that entered his mind seemed familiar, just like what he had witnessed, but when he tried to recall, he couldn't grasp anything, couldn't remember anything.

The joy of hitting the jackpot initially was like a gust of wind that calmed down, leaving only a mess behind. At this moment, Yu Xinqiao was gradually surrounded by a feeling of confusion.

Returning to bed, Yu Xinqiao covered half of his face with the blanket, listening to the sound of footsteps outside the corridor and the rain hitting the window, slowly closing his eyes.

When he woke up again, it was almost dark outside.

The spring in the capital warmed up quickly this year, and the air conditioning in the ward was not turned on. Yu Xinqiao sweated profusely and gasped for air fiercely as he uncovered his head.

He also stretched out his arm, intending to roll up the sleeve cuffs and relax. Suddenly, his dangling wrist was grasped by a large hand.

A deep and cold voice followed, "Don't move, going from hot to cold will give you a cold."

Almost subconsciously, Yu Xinqiao held his breath. When he realized who the person was, he slowly relaxed his grip.

Allowing the person to tuck his arm back under the covers, Yu Xinqiao felt uneasy as he moved his body and turned his head towards the source of the voice.

Six years later, Xu Yanhuan had a body that was different from that of a young man, taller, with broader shoulders, and a sleeve of a shirt rolled up, revealing a thin but powerful arm.

It reminded Yu Xinqiao of the past, when Xu Yanhuan never wore a shirt, even in winter, he only wore a T-shirt under his baggy school uniform, as if he was not afraid of the cold.

The past.

The present.

Clearly, he had only slept for a while, but upon waking up, everything had changed, as if he was out of sync with the world. The clock hand quietly turned round and round, everyone had moved forward by six years, and even Liang Yi had transformed from an uncoordinated teenager into a calm adult, only Yu Xinqiao remained stuck in the past.

This feeling was terrible.

After pouring water, and turning around, Xu Yanhuan had a moment of trance as he looked into Yu Xinqiao's clear eyes.

Walking back to the bedside, placing the glass on the bedside table, Xu Yanhuan glanced at the trash can on the ground, where there was a clean apple core.

Then, Yu Xinqiao asked, "Where's Xiao Yi?"

Xu Yanhuan's upward movement of his eyes paused imperceptibly.

Xiao Yi naturally referred to Liang Yi, whom Yu Xinqiao had always called by that name when they were in school.

"Liang Yi said he's going to get something and will come over tonight," Xu Yanhuan said.

Yu Xinqiao nodded slightly and after a while, he said again, "Thank you for this. Xiao Yi said you are a lawyer now and are very busy with work."

However, Xu Yanhuan's brow furrowed slightly after listening to his polite words.

There was only one bedside lamp lit in the ward, casting a shadow on Xu Yanhuan's face. This face, which was no different from before, still stirred up memories that were supposed to be sealed in the depths of his heart but had become especially clear due to the missing six years.

Along with the uncontrollable restlessness in his heart.

Yu Xinqiao heard Xu Yanhuan say, "No trouble."

Immediately after, the shadow pressed down, and Xu Yanhuan leaned forward. The sudden closeness made Yu Xinqiao feel a moment of confusion.

When he regained his senses, what he faced was Xu Yanhuan's empty hand and a slightly stunned expression.

Dodging was completely subconscious.

After all, in Yu Xinqiao's impression, they were just classmates with a normal relationship. And just "yesterday," they had torn apart the last layer of dignity, said many hurtful things to each other, and made a scene worse than a fish dying in a net.

Xu Yanhuan retracted his hand, but his body did not back away. He looked at Yu Xinqiao with a probing gaze and something that was difficult to understand.

His voice also lowered, as if soaked in the rain.

"Don't really remember?" Xu Yanhuan asked.

Reason told Yu Xinqiao that he should answer: Yes, he didn't remember.

I only remember that you hated me, rejected me countless times, and avoided me whenever I was around as if I carried some deadly virus.

But for some reason...Yu Xinqiao swallowed a breath of air lightly, suppressing his overly intense heartbeat.

Perhaps because of the rain, or perhaps because the light was insufficient at the moment, Yu Xinqiao felt that Xu Yanhuan seemed a bit sad.

Making him feel sad as well.

--------------------

Author Note:

This work is overall bittersweet, with half of the story set in a school and the other half in a city. It alternates between timelines and is a full 1v1 story without any third parties.

The professional knowledge involved in the text (especially the legal part) was researched through reference materials. If there are any errors, please feel free to point them out in the comments.

To facilitate differentiation, chapter titles with a right arrow indicate the present, while those with a left arrow indicate memories.

There are a total of five flashback sections in the entire work, and each switching point between timelines is carefully designed to be interrelated and complementary. If you are not used to this narrative style, you can follow the titles to read along the same timeline continuously; theoretically, it is not recommended to skip the flashback sections, as the two timelines do not repeat any content, and only reading the present timeline will result in missing information.