Chapter 16

“Also, there is a large lake to the east of the compound. Every summer, the adults in the family would warn the children not to go to the lake to play. But the scenery there is beautiful, and many half-grown children like to pass by there.”

“Ruanruan, during those times, we met every day and played together all the time. You really can’t remember anything at all and have forgotten me completely?”

Zhou Hongyu’s voice became lower and lower, and finally he sighed silently.

Bai Ruanruan looked at Zhou Hongyu in shock, unable to recover for a long time.

She had only traveled here a month ago, but she found that she had some vague memories of the things Zhou Hongyu had said?

That was not the original owner’s white and soft memory, but rather it seemed like a dream she always had when she was a child.

When Bai Ruanruan was seven years old and just in the second grade, she suddenly had a very real dream one night.

In the dream, she seemed to have arrived in the 1960s and had shrunk a little. Everyone was wearing simple and clean clothes. The streets were dusty, there were no cars or electric cars, and everyone had a simple smile on their face.

Bai Ruanruan, who had just turned seven, was a little overwhelmed, but soon calmed down.

“Whose baby is this?”

“You are so pretty, little girl. What’s your name? Where are you from?”

“Hey, is she the little girl from the Li family compound? I think I’ve seen her before.”

Bai Ruanruan was sent back to the Li family compound, and she found that everyone here knew her.

Adults, children, and unfamiliar faces came over. Their little faces were pale and their fists were clenched tightly, looking scared and at a loss.

“Make way, you guys surrounding her like this seems to scare her.”

A clear voice was heard in the crowd, and the adults dispersed a little. Bai Ruanruan also saw the boy who was speaking.

He was tall and had long legs, holding a basketball in his arms. His hair covered his eyebrows. He looked up softly, but the setting sun stung his eyes. She couldn’t see what the boy looked like.

Then, Bai Ruanruan woke up.

She just thought it was a dream, but then she had the same dream for more than a month.

In the dream, she was still in that compound, the people were still the same people, and everything was going on as usual, as if she was living her life again in a dream.

But I was still young at the time, and the memories in those dreams did not last long. As I grew up, they gradually disappeared.

But Bai Ruanruan can still remember some very profound things.

For example, the young man standing against the light that day, the sweet water stall at the gate of the compound, and the lake that was mentioned many times, Bai Ruanruan remembered them for a long time, so long that she even began to doubt whether those dreams were also her own imagination.

But as Zhou Hongyu described, the dusty memories were slowly opening up.

She hesitated for a moment and asked, “Do you remember when we met?”

“I remember, it should have been early summer. One night, I came back from playing ball and you were surrounded by a group of people for some reason. You seemed scared, and then I took you back to the Li family compound.”

Zhou Hongyu was certain about what he said, and Bai Ruanruan was also certain in her heart that she must not be a simple transmigration into a book.

It is very likely that the dream she thought she had when she was seven was actually a time travel. Maybe she had traveled through time to this body in this book when she was a child, and it was the original owner who was only five years old at the time, but she forgot it later, so she couldn’t recognize it.

But, there’s something wrong.

If she had traveled back in time when she was a child, Gu Zhenxi in real life would also be young and she had not yet written the novel.

How did she travel through time and space to a novel that hasn’t even appeared yet?

Bai Ruanruan had some doubts in her heart, but she didn’t show them. She pretended to be in deep thought. After thinking for a while, she suddenly realized, “You can’t be the cute little brother in the Li family compound, right?”

“I just remember that when I lived at my grandmother’s house, there was a very cute little brother in the compound. He often took me out to play, but it’s been so long that I can’t remember what he looked like.”

Bai Ruanruan smiled apologetically.

Zhou Hongyu’s face was full of surprise. It was rare to see such an excited expression on his face. He leaned forward.

“You still remember that there was a little brother playing with you, so I didn’t recognize the wrong person.”

His tone was more urgent than before. Seeing him like this, Bai Ruanruan subconsciously shrank back.

“Comrade Zhou, don’t get excited. I was still young at that time, and my memory is a little fuzzy.”

Seeing the light in the man’s eyes dim, Bai Ruanruan’s voice became smaller and smaller.

“You’re right. You were just a kid back then. It was rare for you to have a vague impression of it.”

Seeing that he looked a little disappointed, Bai Ruanruan wondered whether she should comfort him, but she didn’t know how to start.

Just as she was struggling with her feelings, she heard Zhou Hongyu speak again: “At first, when I saw you tear off the mask, I was really shocked.”

“After all, there are so many people in the world. I have been looking for you for a long time, but I haven’t been able to find you for so many years. Suddenly, you appeared in front of me, and I really couldn’t react…”

At this point, his next words stopped in his throat.

In the past, he had secretly put a lot of effort into finding that little girl.

Just when he was about to give up, who would have thought that it would be so easy to achieve.

Seeing that he didn’t say anything else, Bai Ruanruan, who was sitting opposite her, felt her heart beat faster.

Thinking of what she had done before, she wished she could just find a place to hide.

The situation between the two of them was not as simple as her wanting him to be her husband, she even lied and made up a fake name.

Fortunately, people nowadays have simple thoughts and don’t know what puns are. When she thought about the implied meaning of the two words “Fu Qing”, she felt like she was being roasted in a frying pan and was too embarrassed to see anyone.

“Um… Hehe, let’s not talk about the past. It was all misunderstanding between us.”

Bai Ruanruan wanted to move on from the matter as quickly as possible, but it was obvious that the man opposite was not ready to give up.

“Although I think you didn’t do the right thing that day, I was still very surprised to see your appearance.”

Zhou Hongyu took a deep breath. Normally, whether in the army or at home, he was very frugal with words, but today, facing Bai Ruanruan, he seemed to have the desire to talk.

“When I asked you your name, I was hoping to hear the word ‘soft’. Who would have thought you would give yourself a fake name? I was very disappointed at the time, thinking it was just a name that looked like a real person.”

Hearing what he said, Bai Ruanruan showed an awkward smile, her toes curled up, and she kept exerting force, feeling that she had dug out a dreamy Barbie castle.

“Hey… well, don’t take it personally. I didn’t mean to lie to you. The situation was special at the time, and I couldn’t be exposed too early, right? So I just came up with a fake name.”

As she spoke, she showed a sly smile with two cute dimples at the corners of her mouth.

Zhou Hongyu found it funny that she could think of raping him and was still so wary. He couldn’t help but re-examine the girl in front of him.

“Although I think that what you did was wrong, I don’t mean to blame you for lying to me, it’s just…”

But that appearance seemed to be deeply imprinted in his mind, and he felt a little disappointed when he saw that his judgment was wrong.

He really didn’t think much about it at the time, he just felt that people were similar. Now, after all the twists and turns, it must be fate.

Fortunately, her blind date was him.

Fortunately, he didn’t get impatient and skip the blind dates because of several consecutive blind dates.

Fortunately, they met again and learned her real name.

Otherwise, they will miss out.

Through his detailed narration, Bai Ruanruan finally understood why he was determined to marry her and help her escape from going to the countryside.

Gan Qing was a young and infatuated lover. She had an awkward smile on her face and couldn’t help complaining in her heart.

I originally thought that I was just a cannon fodder, but I didn’t expect that I was the white moonlight that others longed for.

Bai Ruanruan felt inexplicably happy.

“Comrade Zhou, you also know my situation. The first two times were all misunderstandings. I really had no choice…”

“I know you have your reasons, but I still don’t agree with your approach.”

Zhou Hongyu has always been principled. Even if the girl in front of him is the one he has been looking for for more than ten years, he will not compromise on some issues of principle.

Bai Ruanruan’s original intention was to let this matter go. She didn’t want to continue to argue with Zhou Hongyu about the issue of the clan leader’s husband.

Thinking back to what he just said, I thought about the dream I had before I traveled through the book.

That handsome boy left only a vague shadow in her heart.

Now that she was facing the tall and handsome man in front of her, Bai Ruanruan felt a little doubtful. She didn’t know what was going on.

“When we were in the same compound, it should have been more than ten years ago. How come you still remember it?”

Bai Ruanruan began to speak casually, speaking nonchalantly.

She always felt that the story of people being obsessed with looking for Bai Yueguang after meeting her once was all made up in novels.

Now that she actually encountered it, she did not feel as moved as she had imagined. She even wondered for a moment whether Zhou Hongyu had some hidden hobby?

If it weren’t for his good looks, perhaps the story would have developed in a different direction.

Thinking of this, she felt a chill on her back and straightened her back unconsciously.

“It seems you have forgotten everything,” Zhou Hongyu said with a hint of disappointment in his tone, “Then forget it, let’s not mention it.”

The more you hide it, the more it makes people feel itchy. If the original owner was not just a five or six-year-old child at that time, it would really cause misunderstanding.

“No, tell me, I love to hear it.”

The smile on Bai Ruanruan’s face did not diminish, as if she was asking about other people’s gossip.

Looking at her slightly excited little face, Zhou Hongyu poured her a glass of water without saying a word, obviously not wanting to say more.

“Oh, I see. Could it be that you already liked me at that time? That’s why you kept looking for me for such a long time.”