Chapter 95: You Love Me? Then You Bully Me?

Jiang Zao still did not get to eat Zhou Lichuan’s barbecue.

The drive from Jingzhou to Zhangzhou took three hours, and even if Zhou Lichuan drove his Bentley like a tank, he still could not make it back before midnight.

By the time he reached the door with skewers in one hand and freshly bought hazelnuts in the other, Jiang Zao had already fallen into a deep sleep.

Sister Hui stared blankly at the late-night snack he had thrust into her hands, muttering under her breath that Zhou Lichuan was buying such unclean things for Jiang Zao to eat.

Zhou Lichuan washed his hands, took off his coat, and said with a smile, “She wanted it. It’s fine if she only eats a little. Is your face better? Did your ear get hurt?”

Sister Hui rubbed the cheek that had been struck that afternoon. “It’s nothing serious. I hit my tooth and there was a little bleeding, but everything else is already better. Zaozao put some medicine on me. Thank you for your concern, sir.”

Zhou Lichuan nodded. “Zhao Luyi will handle this according to the law. If you need anything, you can tell me, and I’ll help you fight for it.”

Sister Hui waved her hands again and again. “No, no, it’s nothing. As long as Zaozao is all right, that’s enough. Today really was frightening. Sir, are you sleeping on the sofa again? I’ll bring out the blanket for you.”

Zhou Lichuan’s eyes could not help drifting toward Jiang Zao’s tightly shut bedroom door. “Keep it ready. In case I get kicked out again in a little while, I’ll still have somewhere to stay.”

Sister Hui could not help laughing, and slipped away smiling to herself.

By the time he finished talking with Sister Hui, the chill on Zhou Lichuan’s body had already vanished completely. In the warmth of the heating, his whole person was warm as a furnace.

He pushed Jiang Zao’s door open as quietly as possible. Under the quilt, the outline of a body rose softly. Jiang Zao was sleeping sweetly on her side.

By the small night-light by the bed, Zhou Lichuan silently admired that face of surpassing beauty.

Jiang Zao was truly beautiful—more beautiful than anyone he had ever seen.

Thinking back to that first moment of wonder when, after his eyesight recovered, he had finally seen her clearly, Zhou Lichuan lifted his fingers and gently traced Jiang Zao’s cheek.

She had put on a little weight since they were in Jingzhou, her face also a little rounder. Pregnancy hormones had brought out a few pimples, resting faintly red and white on her soft cheek.

He carefully avoided the acne marks. They must have hurt terribly when they were inflamed and swollen. Endless tenderness rose in Zhou Lichuan’s eyes.

He lifted Jiang Zao’s quilt and slipped in beside her. This was the first time they had shared a bed while he was fully able to hear and see, and his excitement was plain to read; his heart was pounding so fiercely it seemed ready to burst from his chest.

Jiang Zao, lost in sleep, was not disturbed. As warmth flowed over to her again and again, the faintly furrowed brow gradually smoothed.

As if by muscle memory, she found her place with perfect precision. That deeply familiar, cherished place.

Zhou Lichuan’s arms warmed around her, and the instinct long buried in the depths of memory came rushing back at once.

It was back. Everything had come back. His memory, his emotions, all of it, every last piece, returned without the slightest omission.

Like a thunderclap exploding in the muggy heat of summer, overturning the earth with a deluge of rain.

That violent surge of feeling nearly caused him to faint.

He had thought he had merely been dishonest, but after that crushing blow in this instant, all that remained in his heart was fear.

What on earth had he done to Jiang Zao?

At dawn.

Jiang Zao woke from a dream.

Lately she had gotten into the habit of drinking water before bed, and she often got up in the middle of the night.

When she suddenly felt someone beside her, cold sweat broke out all over her.

“Ah! Zhou Lichuan, are you insane? You scared me to death!”

Zhou Lichuan had only just fallen asleep. Startled by Jiang Zao, he jumped too.

“Zaozao! It’s okay, it’s okay, don’t be afraid. It’s me.”

In the light of the bedside lamp, Jiang Zao keenly caught sight of something in Zhou Lichuan’s eyes.

“You... why are you here?”

Zhou Lichuan stood barefoot on the floor. “I brought you the skewers, don’t you remember? Do you need to use the bathroom? Shall I help you over?”

Jiang Zao dodged the hand he extended and stared at him without blinking. “What do you remember?”

Zhou Lichuan crouched down, looking up at Jiang Zao sitting on the bed from below, his eyes gradually reddening.

“All of it. Zaozao. I love you so much. I loved you all along.”

Jiang Zao pressed her lips together and rolled to the other side of the bed to find her slippers.

Zhou Lichuan walked over, bent down to help her put them on, then crouched again and looked up at her.

The moon outside was bright, casting a long beam of light through the window. Zhou Lichuan crouched within that shadow, the front of him lit by the dim yellow night-light, the back rimmed with a glittering silver edge.

Jiang Zao kicked off one slipper and lifted her foot to rest it on Zhou Lichuan’s shoulder.

“You love me? And then you bully me?”

Zhou Lichuan reached out and caught that slender ankle, his eyes overflowing with a greedy kind of yearning. “Then bully me back. Please.”

As he finished speaking, he lowered his head and kissed that slender ankle.

Yes.

Zhou Lichuan was back.

A tear slipped from the corner of Jiang Zao’s eye.

This was the Zhou Lichuan she knew, the one who had always treasured her as though she were the most precious thing in the world.

He really was back.

With one hard kick, Jiang Zao sent Zhou Lichuan sprawling to the floor. She put her slippers on again and opened the door to go to the bathroom.

Zhou Lichuan followed behind her and was met with a face full of dust when the door shut in his face.

“Zaozao, it’s past three now. Are you hungry? I’ll find you something to eat.”

Having taken care of her personal business, Jiang Zao sat on the toilet and rolled her eyes.

At three in the morning, who gets up for a midnight snack? What pregnant woman does that?

Still.

She was kind of hungry.

She flushed, went out, and found Zhou Lichuan standing at the door with his arms open, as if hoping for a little comfort.

Jiang Zao slipped past him, picked up an orange from the coffee table, peeled it, and put a segment into her mouth.

“You smell. It’s an annoying smell.”

Zhou Lichuan’s blazing mood was extinguished at once. “I called Meng Qiaoyuan. She said some pregnant women really do feel like their husbands smell strange. It’s also related to mood. Zaozao, I really have showered many times.”

After finishing the orange, Jiang Zao held the peel under her nose and said, “Don’t come into the room. Sleep on the sofa.”

With that, she shut the bedroom door again.

It was nothing like the first time he had slept on the sofa.

At that moment Zhou Lichuan was overflowing with joy. Today Zaozao hadn’t driven him away. Today Zaozao hadn’t said he wasn’t allowed to come. Zaozao had even cried because he had fully recovered!

How wonderful.

Zaozao still loved him!

In the haze of drowsiness, he remembered absentmindedly.

How had he ever fallen in love with Jiang Zao?

When she trembled and hugged him from behind, forcing calm into her voice as she negotiated terms.

Or perhaps earlier.

At their very first meeting, when she said, “Hello.”

...

“The human brain is a very complex and precise instrument. Brother Chuan’s condition is uncommon, but from the current situation, he should already have regained all the memories and emotions he had before the surgery.”

The first thing Jiang Zao did after waking was send a message to Shen Mushi. Shen Mushi replied with a string of highly professional terms, and after realizing Jiang Zao might not understand them very well, sent his diagnosis.

When she opened the door and went out, she found that Zhou Lichuan had already left.

“The sir received a call from Mr. Xiaobai. It seemed to be related to what happened yesterday. He put on his clothes and left right away.”