Amnesia Trap (GL) - Chapter 53

…What was she thinking?

Sheng Zhi asked herself, but she couldn’t come up with an answer.

Annoyed, she bit her knuckle and tore off the piece of paper she had sketched the silhouette on. But even with that page gone, the next sheet still held the faint, residual indentations from her pen.

Rrrrrip— Accompanied by another crisp sound, the page with the marks was also torn out.

The physical traces were gone, but a few jagged scraps of paper remained stuck in the binding. She began to pick at those uneven remnants, bit by bit.

For the past few days, she had immersed herself deeply in work for the sole purpose of not thinking about it. Her behavior was too contradictory; the more she thought about that night, the less she wanted to face Ji Qingfan. Ji Qingfan had been drugged when she acted that way, but was she, Sheng Zhi, drugged too?

The truth was, not only was she not drugged, she had been incredibly… captivated.

It was hard to describe, as if a handful of seeds had been scattered in her heart, and now they were sprouting uncontrollably.

Sheng Zhi sighed and groaned. After picking at the paper scraps for a while, she looked at the paper with the character’s outline, and fire flared in her heart. While she was being tormented by these emotions, how could Ji Qingfan act so unbothered?

She wanted to crumple the paper into a ball and throw it in the trash, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to do it—she couldn’t go through with it. Not only did she not throw it away, she couldn’t even bear to wrinkle it; instead, she took out a folder and clipped it inside, all prim and proper.

Sheng Zhi: “…”

The emotions suppressed in her heart had nowhere to be released. This manifested in her work as a state of mind completely different from her usual self. Online meetings and handovers followed one after another. Her moves against the Jingpang Group were swift and decisive—it was the fierce posture of someone who doesn’t strike often, but when they do, they go for the throat.

The outside world didn’t know the reason; they simply assumed that the heir-presumptive of the top financial conglomerate had finally straightened out her act and was preparing to take over the family business. People began to express their loyalty and take sides. Even throughout the headquarters, everyone suddenly and uniformly began calling Sheng Zhi “Little President Sheng.”

However, with this came even more obvious gossip.

There was talk everywhere about her losing part of her memory and initiating divorce proceedings with Ji Qingfan. Some said that the fact that she was handling more affairs while Ji Qingfan’s appearances were decreasing was merely a prelude. Many people were “betting” that they had already divorced but just hadn’t gone public yet. Even the old story of Yun Xian fleeing the wedding years ago because of her terrible temper was brought up again.

The same-sex marriage act had passed several years ago. As the daughter of a famous tycoon, Sheng Zhi’s marital status was always under the spotlight. To an extent, the heir represents the image of the conglomerate. However, the Sheng family’s education of their daughter was very free and indulgent; typical families wouldn’t dare spoil an heir this much.

After all, the Sheng family’s roots were deep in Jingbei—they were “old money” with a solid foundation. Such an entity doesn’t just go bankrupt overnight; it wouldn’t fall easily. Even if something happened, it would take decades of slow decline to truly fade away. A sudden collapse would only happen if there were a major political issue.

These rumors flared up too suddenly, looking more like a coordinated media campaign where every article seemed suspiciously detailed.

Sheng Zhi’s gaze swept across the screen. She picked up her phone from the side and saw that Ji Qingfan still hadn’t spoken to her today. These sensationalist stories were everywhere; there was no way Ji Qingfan hadn’t seen them, which meant she was pretending not to see.

It was one thing to ignore the news, but she wasn’t sending her any other messages either. This was a total neglect of duty. Speaking of which, that “goodnight kiss” voice note had only been sent once that day—she had listened to it over and over until it was practically worn out…

Ji Qingfan was being far too negligent.

While she grumbled internally, she also found her own behavior hard to stand. Over the past few days, she had been acting like she was possessed, thinking about Ji Qingfan for no reason and spacing out while looking at that sketched outline as if she were pining over a keepsake. When Ji Qingfan messaged her, she didn’t reply; now that she wasn’t getting messages, she felt miserable.

This feeling was foreign to her. She couldn’t figure it out, and she didn’t know who to talk to.

Talk to a friend? She was too embarrassed. And how would she even start? With “I have a friend…”? No, definitely not.

Finally, she had to find an anonymous relationship forum to post.

[Title: RT, I ended up sleeping with someone I really hate.

She is very different from me. Afterward, she was extremely calm and would message me every day. But today, she suddenly stopped.

…I’ve been avoiding her for several days, but because of what happened, I can’t stop thinking about her lately.]

The focus of the replies was clearly not on the lack of messages, but rather:

— Wait, someone you hate? Are you sure she isn’t your ‘Chosen One’?

— You’re in deep, OP. You’ve fallen in love.

— Since you’re pining this much, just go see her. The urge to see her is practically screaming through the screen.

Sheng Zhi’s breath hitched when she read this. she stopped scrolling. She slammed her phone face down, but flipped it back over after a moment, stole a quick glance at the remaining similar replies, and deleted the post with her heart racing and face flushed.

What “love”? What “missing her”? She did not! And who wanted to see Ji Qingfan?

After deleting the post, Sheng Zhi exited the anonymous forum. After a pause, she pulled up the interview invitation she had received from a magazine. She stared at the invitation, looking at it again and again.

—Yes, that was it. She didn’t want to see Ji Qingfan; going to see her was only because there were matters that had to be discussed in person…

However, the moment she steeled herself and stood up, there was a knock on the door. Then, without giving her any time to react, the person opened the door.

Sheng Zhi’s eyelashes fluttered. She was involuntarily stunned when she saw it was Ji Qingfan. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she had indeed been thinking about her constantly these past few days.

The person she had been thinking about day and night appeared before her without warning. Sheng Zhi’s heart rate accelerated instantly, uncontrollably secreting a feeling called “joy.” Especially since she was just about to go find her, and Ji Qingfan had come to her instead.

Ji Qingfan probably wasn’t as indifferent or unbothered as she appeared on the surface, right? She wondered for a moment if this was what they called “telepathy”…

But as soon as that thought appeared, she quickly brushed it away. No, why was she thinking of such a terrifying word? How could such a word be used to describe her and Ji Qingfan?

Sheng Zhi watched Ji Qingfan walk toward her. As the distance between them closed, she feigned composure, though her fingertips were nearly digging into her palms from nerves. “Why are you here?”

She controlled her gaze, making sure she could maintain eye contact with Ji Qingfan rather than looking away in defeat.

“I don’t know,” Ji Qingfan’s voice was very soft.

Sheng Zhi was about to argue that coming here yourself but “not knowing why” was completely illogical, but before she could speak, she was silenced by the sudden teardrop that fell from Ji Qingfan’s eye.

Ji Qingfan walked to her side and reached out to hug her tightly. She buried her face in the side of Sheng Zhi’s neck, her voice trembling with a sob as her emotions broke like a dam. “I really don’t know.”

“I don’t know if Jiao Jiao was lying when she said ‘let’s continue the marriage.’ I don’t know why Jiao Jiao won’t look at me, won’t find me, and won’t talk to me.”

“I even thought those words were just an excuse to pacify me, and that you might have already returned to Jingbei on your own without a word.”

She looked so pitiful, so fragile, and in an indescribable way… cute.

Sheng Zhi felt a strange, inexplicable urge to comfort her, even though she knew Ji Qingfan’s tears were as fake as her nonexistent sincerity. Yet, she still felt that way.

Ji Qingfan held her, yet continued to press closer, as if she wanted to be as tight as possible, preferably inseparable. “Why is Jiao Jiao avoiding me? I’ve missed you so, so much these past few days…”

Her tears fell into Sheng Zhi’s heart, creating ripples and circles. Those seeds that had been scattered and started to sprout seemed to grow another inch, silently.

Sheng Zhi decided to take back her earlier thought—Ji Qingfan was not being negligent. Not only was she not negligent, she was working very hard. So hard that the irritation that had plagued Sheng Zhi for days instantly vanished.

Sheng Zhi’s face turned beet-red as she thought: Fine, for the sake of her working so hard…

“Alright, alright, stop crying,” she grumbled, reaching out to pinch the back of Ji Qingfan’s neck while her other hand swiped on her phone screen, indicating for her to look. “If you want, we can accept the public interview from the magazine today, and then return to Jingbei together tomorrow.”

The tears were very wet. They felt damp and moist against her skin. The sensation reminded Sheng Zhi of something; after an awkward pause of a few seconds, she was able to continue speaking about the interview script she had already prepared.

Her body carried the scent of a custom fragrance—aggressive and overbearing just like her, like a vibrant thicket of wild roses.

The Great Miss Sheng had always been the one being coaxed; she had never coaxed anyone. So she didn’t even notice that by the end, her tone carried a hint of unpracticed tenderness.

Beauty that reaches a certain degree of brilliance is usually sharper than a blade, but now, because of this small change, it was like a begonia intoxicated by the sun.

…Did she know how alluring she was being right now?

At the thought of Sheng Zhi being completely oblivious to these changes, only to realize she was deep in a trap once it was too late, Ji Qingfan couldn’t help but feel a surge of hallucinatory, restless excitement.

Sheng Zhi stopped talking and noticed Ji Qingfan’s reaction wasn’t what she expected. Dissatisfied, she called her name. “Why aren’t you saying anything? You aren’t so overwhelmed with joy that you’re speechless, are you?”

She was speculating, since what Ji Qingfan wanted from the beginning was to continue their marriage.

Only then did Ji Qingfan snap out of her daze. Her tears had long since stopped, her gaze filled only with lingering affection. “Yes. I didn’t expect Jiao Jiao to be willing to do a public interview. I’m so happy I’m speechless…”

It was one thing for her to use those words to describe it, but it was quite another for Ji Qingfan to echo them back.

Sheng Zhi huffed again. “You’re so pathetic, getting speechless just from this.”

Her expression was still arrogant, but her reddening ears made her look more like a cat with its tail up, waiting to be petted.

But at this point, she remembered the replies she had seen on her post and couldn’t help but look away slightly. “But don’t think this means you’ve ‘got’ me. I don’t have that kind of ‘like’ for you.”

“I must warn you first: you’d better be prepared for the fact that I won’t fall in love with you…”

Her rosy lips opened and closed as she spoke, but before she could finish, she was kissed by the person who had been longing to do so for a long time.

The body’s reaction was far faster than the mind; it was blunt and impossible to hide.

A soft touch.

The moist heat of their lips and mouths, lingering and inseparable; even their heartbeats were almost in sync.

Sheng Zhi felt ashamed of her instantaneous response. Compared to the words she had just uttered, this action was no different from slapping her own face—and a loud slap at that.

Because she was so embarrassed, she turned to anger. She pulled away and covered her mouth, her voice sounding muffled. For some reason, she sounded even less confident. “Ji Qingfan, how can you just kiss me whenever you want? Did I give you permission? I really hate you.”

Ji Qingfan acted as if she hadn’t heard and kissed the hand covering her lips, rubbing and nuzzling against her, her eyes full of watery devotion. “Mhm, mhm. You hate me again.”

The breath falling on the back of her hand was as gentle as her voice.

“But I like Jiao Jiao so much. I love Jiao Jiao so much.”

Whether it was from the tears earlier or something else, the corners of her eyes seemed nourished by sweetness, glowing with a captivating, soul-stirring crimson hue.

“So, may I ask if Jiao Jiao will give me permission to kiss you again?”