Chapter 232

A thought also occurred to Xia Xi—could she pretend to have amnesia?

Otherwise, how could she explain her behavior upon waking? It would be so embarrassing…

Lu Mingji made space at the bedside for the doctor to examine Xia Xi, and meanwhile reported the situation to the doctor: "She asked me what year it is now, did she smash her brain? In TV dramas, it's always like this—brain injury, waking up with amnesia, either not remembering who she is, or her memory stuck in the past. Her situation probably falls into the latter."

Doctor: "……"

Xia Xi: "……"

Before she could speak, the doctor pried open her eyelids and shone a small light into her pupils.

The middle-aged balding doctor asked her: "Do you feel dizzy?"

Xia Xi nodded, then shook her head, and said: "I felt a bit dizzy when I first woke up, but not so much now."

The doctor asked again: "Does your head hurt?"

Xia Xi touched the back of her head—no wonder she had felt a faint pain there; it turned out she had a bump on the back of her head, hard to the touch, fortunately the skin wasn't broken.

"That spot is probably where you hit when you fell; it's not serious, take some medicine, apply it for a few days and it'll go down. I'm asking if you have any other pain?"

"No."

"The brain CT is fine, and there are no other injuries; logically it shouldn't affect memory." The doctor's expression turned grave. "Besides not remembering the date, have you forgotten anything else?"

Xia Xi suddenly fell silent.

It's too hard to lie in front of an authoritative doctor; Xia Xi rubbed her temples and decided to tell the truth: "Doctor, I don't have amnesia; it's all a misunderstanding—I was just groggy from sleep."

Lu Mingji, hearing that, wasn't entirely reassured: "Are you sure you're okay? Do you still remember what happened last night?"

Xia Xi deliberately avoided looking at Xu Yanfeng; she was now fully awake and naturally recalled everything. Last night was the Xu Clan's and Broad and Elegant's celebration party; all members of the design firms participating in the bid attended, she was toasted by many people, accidentally drank too much, slipped away to a quiet place to clear her mind, not expecting Xu Yanfeng to show up.

They kissed.

At the time she was drunk, muddled by Xu Yanfeng's words, she thought it was revenge on him, not realizing she was handing him an advantage. After sobering up, she hurriedly left, didn't watch where she was going, and bumped into Ling Yan.

Ling Yan's emotions were somewhat out of control, plus she had a misunderstanding with Xia Xi, they couldn't see eye to eye, an argument broke out for no reason, then an accident occurred—she fell down the stairs, hit her head, and passed out.

She had a dream, in which she replayed all the past events she had experienced.

When she first woke up, her mind was still foggy, mixing dream and reality, thinking she was on a plane going abroad, while everything before her was her dream—hence her bewildered act of clinging to Xu Yanfeng and not letting him go.

Xia Xi wanted to pull the blanket over her face.

Lu Mingji was still waiting for her answer: "Huh?"

Xia Xi steeled herself and said: "I remember."

Lu Mingji couldn't rule out the possibility that she was putting on a brave front, and seriously said: "Then recount the whole story of last night—how did you fall, did you drink too much and lose your balance?"

"No." Xia Xi was evasive, "... had a slight run-in with someone."

"Who? Who did you have a conflict with?"

At the time he wasn't on the scene; hearing the commotion, he rushed over and saw Xu Yanfeng holding Xia Xi as they pushed through the crowd, anxiety and panic hidden beneath his tense facade, his voice low and hoarse as he shouted at the driver to drive.

Lu Mingji turned his gaze to that man with a strong presence—could it be because of Xu Yanfeng?

Xu Yanfeng and Xia Xi had once been a couple; from what he had observed, their breakup hadn't been pleasant, but Xu Yanfeng didn't strike him as someone who would clash with Xia Xi…

Before he could speculate further, the ward door was knocked, interrupting his thoughts.

The doctor was still there, confirmed Xia Xi was fine, breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "If you're not at ease, you can stay for observation for a day; if there are no other symptoms you can be discharged. Drink less in the future—hitting your head is no small matter."

Xia Xi felt ashamed and thanked the doctor.

The doctor walked out, brushing past the woman who had just entered.

Xia Xi watched Ling Yan approach slowly, her expression a little odd: "How did you come here?"

Ling Yan carried nutritional supplements, first glancing at Xu Yanfeng; she hadn't forgotten the look he gave her when Xia Xi had the accident that night—sharp as a blade, cold light flashing.

She hadn't slept all night; closing her eyes, that gaze filled her mind.

She feared Xu Yanfeng would misunderstand her, and also feared Xia Xi might truly come to harm, making her a sinner—even jumping into the Huang He couldn't wash it away. So early that morning she had her family's driver bring her to the hospital; just now she heard the doctor say Xia Xi was all right, and the worry in her heart eased by half.

"I came to see you and apologize." Ling Yan set down what she was holding, shifted her gaze to the bed, spoke slowly and clearly, as if addressing someone else: "You should know I didn't do it on purpose, and I didn't push you. At that moment, I let go of your hand, you happened to strain outward to break free, lost your balance and fell."

That's actually how it happened; she wasn't lying, but from an onlooker's perspective it looked like she had shoved Xia Xi, causing her to fall down the stairs.

In idol dramas, the female rival loves to use this trick to frame the female lead; Xia Xi would surely not be so low.

Xia Xi indeed didn't want to wrong her; her fall was an accident, but was it really completely unrelated to Ling Yan? Not necessarily.

"You seem to have overlooked something—if it weren't for you gripping my wrist and forcibly arguing with me, the accident wouldn't have happened." Xia Xi leaned against the headboard, though she was much shorter than the others, her presence wasn't weak: "Are you rushing to clear your name because you're afraid I'll extort you? No need."

The other two men in the ward remained silent.

Lu Mingji could see Ling Yan came with ill intent, but having witnessed Xia Xi's fighting prowess, he wasn't worried she'd lose. He'd hardly ever seen anyone gain the upper hand against Xia Xi, unless she simply didn't want to engage the other person.

Coincidentally, Xu Yanfeng had also witnessed Xia Xi's strength; back in school, when girls targeted her, she never let him intervene, handling things beautifully on her own.

Ling Yan couldn't suppress the rising anger, wanting to argue with her, but mindful of Xu Yanfeng's presence, she had to restrain her temper, speaking in an awkward tone: "I said I came to apologize."

"Personally, I think an apology that feels insincere is worse than none, because it often makes people angrier—just like me right now, I'm quite annoyed."

Having experienced many things, Xia Xi's dealings with others have become much smoother compared to years ago; she no longer acts on whim or behaves arrogantly, because she has no backing or capital. It's been a long time since she's been so unforgiving toward someone; her attitude toward Ling Yan isn't just because of what she said last night, but also because of that slap, which made her feel humiliated.

She had grown up this far, and even during her toughest period she had never been slapped—so who does Ling Yan think she is?

Ling Yan's teeth were almost grinding to pieces; she felt this trip was utterly pointless.

She endured and endured, then adopted a slightly more sincere tone: "Sorry."

Even if her tone sounded sincere, only she knew whether her heart was truly so. Xi didn't want to see her; looking at her another second made her head hurt more: "If you can't say you forgive me, just go."

She wasn't stupid either—could she not see that Ling Yan's ulterior motive wasn't the drink, that she wasn't really here to apologize, but was putting on a show for someone?

Xia Xi chuckled inwardly; Ling Yan likes Xu Yanfeng—she could just go after him openly. She and Xu Yanfeng have no relation anymore, and there's really no need for her to come make things difficult for Xia Xi. The energy she spends vexing her could chase eight hundred Xu Yanfengs.

Ling Yan felt Xia Xi was ungrateful; she looked at Xu Yanfeng, who had no intention of speaking up for her, making her feel even more wronged, and unwilling to stay and suffer humiliation for nothing, she turned and left.

Seeing her reach the door, Xia Xi still felt unhappy and called out: "Wait a moment."

The 'click-clack' of her high heels stopped; Ling Yan turned around, and Xia Xi gave her a smile—not a friendly one, but laced with warning; Ling Yan didn't know why she could understand the meaning behind that smile.

A intuition surged in her heart—Xia Xi knew whatever she was about to say to Ling Yan would certainly not be pleasant.