Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

back.
Seeing this, Cui Shao Xi hummed heavily and pulled his hand back, giving Ah Jian an intense look.

“Young Master Cui, please have some respect for yourself!” Her voice was not only ice cold, it also had a thread of anger.

How could this be happening? It was ridiculous!

“Fang Zhou…” Cui Shao Xi’s eyes were full of hurt.
Lian Fang Zhou was scolding him in front of Ah Jian, which made him feel unspeakably sad.

There was still no expression of Lian Fang Zhou’s face.
Without another word, she turned and walked away.

Ah Jian called out to her and quickly followed.

In a blink of an eye, the two disappeared from sight.

Cui Shao Xi wanted to also follow but his feet seemed to be filled with lead and he couldn’t move a step.

Leaning weakly against the wall, he looked up at the sky and smiled sadly.
He raised a hand and pressed it over his heart.
It beat intensely under his fingers.

“I won’t give up, Fang Zhou,” he promised softly, “I will show you my sincerity…” Obviously words would not be enough, he needed to show his determination!

~

Ah Jian caught up with Lian Fang Zhou in a few steps and the two walked together down another path.

Lian Fang Zhou knew that he was following behind her but she didn’t know what to say.
To avoid it, she kept walking until a hand took her wrist from behind.

“Fang Zhou…” he called and she had to stop.

Slowly, she looked back at him.

“You… are you angry?” Ah Jian asked hesitantly, glancing at her.

She blushed.
Pausing for a moment, she shook her head and said gently: “I’m not angry with you.
I know…” She hesitated.
“I know that was part of the act and we needed to make him believe us.
It’s strange, how is he so sure we are acting?”

She raised her head and looked at him suspiciously, as if waiting for him to solve her doubts.
Cui Shao Xi seemed to have figured it out before their… conversation, so the blame couldn’t be left to Ah Jian.
That had really been too embarrassing!

Thinking of it, Lian Fang Zhou’s face was still burning and her heart was beating fiercely.
How could Ah Jian… she sighed.

Who knew, maybe what lay ahead would be even more embarrassing.

Ah Jian didn’t cooperate at all.
Instead of answering, he held her hand firmly in his palm.
Treating her seriously, he said: “I’m not acting!”

Lian Fang Zhou stared at him, shocked.

His eyes were like deep pools of surging waves and his angular face was solemn.
Without missing a beat, he repeated: “I am not acting.”

She opened her mouth but without giving her a chance to speak, he add: “I thought you knew my heart and I thought I knew your heart.”

Stunned, Lian Fang Zhou felt her eyes turn sour and her mouth tasted bitter.
Slowly, it spread, becoming thicker and thicker.

“Ah Jian.” She said finally, her voice trembling as she held back tears.
“No, no we can’t…”

“Why?” Ah Jian shook her hand tightly, stubborn: “You obviously—”

“Ah Jian!” She cried again, her voice cruel, “One day you will recover your memories! Maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from now, or maybe not in this lifetime, but no one can predict it! Ah Jian, if you remember your past, how will you and I go on? How will your wife and children and parents go on? If we don’t have such a fate, we can’t force it! In fact, its good like this, I’m very grateful! I’m very, sincerely, really grateful!”

Ah Jian stared at her, taken aback.
After a moment, he said slowly: “This… this is what you have been worrying about?”

TN: You tell her, Ah Jian!