Chapter 25

Su Ruo wasn’t stupid.

Even if he looked expressionless like usual, or if he had a sullen face showing displeasure, she could still tell the difference.

In fact, on the way back, she had already noticed that something was off.

He had been especially quiet that evening, a gloomy air hanging around him. Only when speaking to Guoguo would his mood ease slightly.

But he said, “You misunderstood.”

Su Ruo looked at him carefully and said in a low voice, “You’re clearly unhappy right now.”

She thought for a moment and continued, “You went to town today to pick me up. Did something happen in the army that upset you? If it’s inconvenient to talk about, then forget it. I just… I hope you can be a bit happier. And if there’s anything I can do to share the burden, I’d be glad to help.”

She sighed after saying that and added, “Ever since I woke up, you’ve been helping me non-stop. But I also want to do something for you… even if I know there’s not much I can do.”

Han Zecheng looked at her.

Then his gaze dropped to her hand resting on the door frame.

Fair and white like snow.

She had always taken good care of her hands—careful even when cooking—but in the beginning, she still got small injuries or oil splashes occasionally.

Actually, she didn’t enjoy cooking. Back in Hanjia Village, she would rather give things or money to his mother than agree to her requests to cook.

He asked, “So, insisting on making dinner every night… is it for me?”

Su Ruo was taken aback, then grew a bit uneasy. Her ears flushed slightly.

She replied, “I need to learn it anyway. It’s a basic life skill.”

After a short pause, she smiled lightly. “And I won’t be doing it for long. Once school starts, I won’t have time to cook. So it’s just for now.”

At first, Han Zecheng felt a faint warmth in his heart as he listened.

But that last sentence instantly tore apart the misty emotion he had just built up.

Han Zecheng looked at her. The gentleness in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a cold clarity.

He said calmly, “Then go read your books. Today seems to be the first time we’ve talked about your favorite major, right? I noticed your eyes shine when you talk about it. Working hard for the career you love, studying with like-minded classmates—this is what you really want, what you had originally planned for your life, isn’t it? Don’t do unnecessary things out of guilt. Focus on your revision. Let’s talk again after you get into university.”

Su Ruo leaned against the door frame, slightly tilting her head, and stared at him.

It sounded like he was encouraging her to study well, but somehow, the way he said it felt… off.

And his emotions didn’t seem particularly good.

Why?

Studying with like-minded classmates…

Suddenly, Su Ruo recalled how all his unusual behavior started after he saw her talking to that male educated youth today…

Something flashed through her mind.

So… was he jealous because she spoke with that guy?

She wasn’t exactly quick when it came to matters of the heart, but she wasn’t completely dense either.

Yuan Chengyang used to get jealous and moody out of the blue. After it happened enough times and people pointed it out, she gradually came to understand.

But Han Zecheng was different from Yuan Chengyang.

He didn’t look like someone who’d get jealous.

She thought about their recent interactions and felt—if she assumed he was jealous, wouldn’t that be a bit self-indulgent?

Su Ruo was a little confused.

She stayed quiet for a while and, in the end, didn’t know what to say. So she simply responded to his words at face value: “Mm, it’s like we’ve gone in a big circle, only to come back to the starting point. Feels kind of like a dream… The key thing is, I still don’t remember anything, so it all feels a bit unreal.”

Right after she said that, the air seemed to grow colder.

And the person across from her seemed even colder.

She didn’t know why, but suddenly felt a little dejected. She lowered her head and said, “But everyone’s studying hard and improving a lot. I hope I can pass the entrance exam this year too. To reach that goal, I should put in more effort… I’ll go read now.”

She had come here to ask why he was upset.

Yet she ended up being the one who left feeling dejected.

Su Ruo flipped through her books in the study. Normally, she could concentrate as soon as she sat down, but today was different. His words and the way he looked at her kept lingering in her mind, preventing her from settling down.

She sighed, unsure what was wrong with her.

Maybe… after moving past the initial panic from losing her memory and starting to adapt to this new life, she began to feel uneasy about how much care and help he’d been giving her.

And what did those things he said just now really mean?

Was he saying that once she got into college and her life got back on track, the two of them should go their separate ways?

That thought left her feeling confused—and a bit wronged.

She had been intentionally avoiding that issue, telling herself she’d deal with it after the college entrance exam. But today, for some reason, it got dragged back up again.

Now she couldn’t calm down.

Feeling restless and distracted, she gave up on studying and returned to the living room. She saw Han Zecheng giving Guoguo a bath. She stood at the bathroom door for a while and asked if he needed a towel or fresh clothes for Guoguo, but he had already prepared everything.

When Guoguo finished bathing, she went to tell him a story, but the child looked at her and said he wanted Dad to play Chinese checkers with him, and for Mom to just watch.

So Han Zecheng played with him while she watched.

She looked at him doing all this, thinking back to every moment they’d shared over these past days. She thought—he really was a good father, and also a good husband.

With him around, there was nothing to worry about. Everything felt safe and steady.

And yet, something just didn’t sit right in her heart.

Guoguo had fallen asleep.

The two of them left Guoguo’s room one after the other. He looked back at her and said, “I’ll run a bath for you.”

Su Ruo quickly said, “I can do it myself.”

But he had already gone to the bathroom.

In that moment, Su Ruo suddenly felt like… he was taking care of her the way someone would take care of their own child.

But her own father had never done things like that for her.

Her father hardly spared any thought for daily life—he needed someone to take care of him instead.

After Su Ruo finished her bath and saw that no one was in the living room and the bedroom lights were off, she guessed he must be in the study.

She pushed the door open and saw him sitting in his usual spot, reading a book.

No matter the time, his posture was always straight and upright.

Even his expression while reading was firm and focused.

As if nothing could ever shake his concentration.

As if nothing had ever happened between them.

Only Su Ruo was left pacing around like a headless chicken.

There was no helping it. When it came to willpower, who could match him?

That thought suddenly made Su Ruo feel a bit uneasy.

She felt like he had stirred up all her emotions, yet he himself remained completely unaffected… just like that time he kissed her.

Then she remembered—right after she woke up, he had told her that once she got into college, if she met the right person, they could discuss divorce.

Was that still what he was thinking now?

Maybe he didn’t really care about her at all.

Maybe he was only good to her because she just happened to be Guoguo’s mother.

If they got divorced, he would probably remarry, just like her father had, and he’d treat the next woman just as well, maybe even have more children.

After all, who was truly irreplaceable?

Just like Yuan Chengyang—he had once been good to her too, but when she went to the countryside as an educated youth, he immediately got together with Su Jia instead.

Thinking about this made Su Ruo feel even worse.

She felt that if she really divorced him, he’d move on without a second thought.

The more she thought, the worse she felt. She threw down her book, walked to his desk, and said to him, “Brother Han, about that educated youth from today—he and I are just study group members helping each other. There’s nothing else between us, and there won’t be in the future.”

Han Zecheng paused, turned to look at her, and said, “I know.”

Su Ruo’s words suddenly caught in her throat.

The way he said that made it seem like she was being overly dramatic.

She felt even worse.

Looking at his face—handsome like a stone sculpture, with hardly any expression except a slight shadow in his eyes—she bit her lip and asked, “Brother Han, the way you treat me now… is it just out of responsibility? Is it just because I’m your wife, because I’m Guoguo’s mother, so you feel like you have to treat me well?”

“If it were someone else in my place, you’d treat her the same way, wouldn’t you?”

Han Zecheng frowned slightly.

He didn’t understand why she had gone in such a roundabout way just to say this.

How could someone else be Guoguo’s mother?

The hypothetical didn’t make any sense, so the conclusion didn’t either.

Also, she seemed upset again.

Why was she upset?

When Su Ruo saw him just frowning and staring at her like she was making trouble out of nothing, she gritted her teeth and blurted out, “Brother Han, didn’t you say before that once I got into college, and if I met someone suitable, then you wouldn’t need to be responsible anymore, and we could separate and talk about divorce… I remember when I just woke up, you said that.”

Han Zecheng’s expression changed instantly.

His hand clenched tightly around the fountain pen, almost tearing the paper beneath it. The veins on the back of his hand bulged.

What was she trying to say?

But he pressed his lips together and didn’t speak.

Su Ruo sensed the sudden tension in his expression.

She began to feel nervous too. She realized… she might have said the wrong thing.

But once the arrow leaves the bow, there’s no turning back. Since she’d already said it, she had to finish.

She mumbled, “But you really don’t have to do all this for me. I’m an independent person… I mean…”

The atmosphere grew colder and colder. Seeing the veins bulging on his hand, she finally couldn’t continue.

She didn’t even know what she was trying to say anymore.

She wanted to say he didn’t need to treat her so well out of responsibility.

He didn’t owe her anything.

In fact, it was her who owed him now.

But for some reason, she felt wronged.

And her words somehow came out sounding like an accusation…

She shook her head. Under his piercing gaze, she turned away in frustration and disappointment, placing her hand on the paperweight on his desk as if that could ease the awkwardness.

He still didn’t say a word, just stared at her.

She couldn’t bear it and finally spoke again in a low voice, “I’m sorry. I just wanted to say—I don’t want you to feel obligated to be good to me. I don’t want to rely on your kindness just because I’m your wife… I…”

“So, what you mean is—you want to draw a clear line with me now?”

He finally spoke, but his voice held a faint sarcasm.

He had originally thought they could just get along peacefully. Then, once she got into college, if she really wanted something else, they could talk about their relationship then.

But clearly, she couldn’t wait that long.

Su Ruo’s eyes instantly turned red.

Aside from when she had just woken up, he had never spoken to her in such a cold, mocking tone.

She bit her lip, heart aching wave after wave… she had never felt this awful before.

She lowered her head and whispered, “No.”

After speaking, she glanced at him—and saw that his face was ashen, his expression even colder than usual.

Her heart clenched. She quickly explained, “I’m not trying to push you away. I just… don’t want you to treat me well purely out of duty. That makes me feel guilty, like I owe you.”

Han Zecheng: …

No matter how much self-restraint he had, she managed to anger him so much his heart and lungs hurt.

He said coldly, “Fine. If you think my kindness is giving you pressure, then from now on I’ll be colder toward you. There are just over ten days until the college entrance exam. Keep calm and stop overthinking. We’ll talk after the exam.”

After saying that, he didn’t want to stay there a moment longer and got up to leave.

But just as he turned and hadn’t yet taken a step, someone tugged at his clothes.

He frowned and turned to look at her, only to see her biting her lip, eyes red, stubborn yet aggrieved, clutching the corner of his shirt.

Aggrieved? What was she aggrieved about?

He hadn’t expected her amnesia would make her personality this difficult.

But then it hit him… She’d lost five years of memory. Right now, mentally, she was just a teenage girl. And he—he was a man in his thirties. Why was he bickering with a teenage girl?

But thinking of that only made him more frustrated.

He forcibly suppressed his anger and, trying to keep his voice even, said, “Go back to studying. If seeing me gives you pressure, I…”

He couldn’t just move to the single dormitory either. What would others think? What would Guoguo think?

He didn’t care about others, but he couldn’t ignore Guoguo. He couldn’t let her be talked about.

He took a deep breath and said, “I’ll try to leave earlier and come home later. I’ll eat dinner at the cafeteria, and you just take care of yourself and Guoguo.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

Of course Su Ruo didn’t mean that.

On impulse, she rushed forward and hugged him around the waist, pressing her cheek against his back and said softly, “That’s not what I meant.”

Han Zecheng: …

He froze for a moment. Then his hand rested on hers. He slightly turned and looked down at her, seeing her biting her lip, her eyes brimming with tears.

He looked at her for a long while. He wanted to pry her hands off but slowly, it was as if he realized something. His eyes darkened, and something stirred deep in them.

He reached out and stroked her cheek. The tears that had been brimming finally fell, landing on his dry hand and soaking in.

He had been restraining himself all along. But in that moment, he could no longer hold back. He gently pushed her back a little, then grabbed her chin, lowered his head, and pried open her lips for a kiss.