Jiang Ye was about to laugh from anger.
After this incident, Bai Chen Zhu guarded against him intensely. As soon as he approached a step, Bai Chen Zhu immediately perked up and retreated a step, accompanied by a vigilant gaze.
“I said we’re lovers.”
“I know.” Bai Chen Zhu made a hand gesture. “So just stay there. Yes, stay there, at least two meters away from me. Don’t come closer. Thanks.”
He paused, then stiffly reassured him, “Boyfriend.”
Anyone who woke up to suddenly have a partner—and one who kept coming over to cuddle and kiss—would feel unaccustomed.
Bai Chen Zhu found it strange. Everything felt extremely strange. So he decided to placate the other man for now.
“Tch.” Jiang Ye was completely at a loss with him. He circled around him twice, seeing that the man was impenetrable like a turtle shell. He had no choice but to adapt to the current situation.
“Since you know I’m your boyfriend, don’t leave so easily. Relax, I won’t do anything to you.” Jiang Ye’s eyes flickered. “While you were away, I found myself a job.”
“What job?” Bai Chen Zhu walked beside him. Seeing the man turn serious, which was quite different from earlier, he gained a bit of courage and walked shoulder to shoulder with him.
Jiang Ye felt like he was raising a cat; it took enough patience for Bai Chen Zhu to approach him voluntarily. He thought carefully. “It’s a job without pay. Speaking of which, it’s all thanks to your video.”
He had initially pushed for travel between cities to get people to help find Bai Chen Zhu as quickly as possible, but he hadn’t expected what came after… He glanced at Bai Chen Zhu beside him and let it drop.
—
Jiang Ye led him openly into the Dawn Research Institute. The guards nodded and saluted the two of them, clearly recognizing Jiang Ye.
Bai Chen Zhu looked around, feeling even stranger, especially when he heard someone quietly call Jiang Ye ‘commander’.
‘Commander’? What was that?
Before he could figure it out, Jiang Ye took him into a small hall. It was empty inside, with only a few tables and chairs in the middle. There, Bai Chen Zhu saw Zhou Meng Meng.
She was hugging a young woman tightly while staying close to a middle-aged man. All three had slightly red eyes.
“Sorry to interrupt your reunion.” Jiang Ye expressed his apologies, though his face showed no embarrassment. “I have a patient here, it’s quite urgent. Zhuo Hua-jie, you should recognize him.”
“Little Bai!” The young woman saw who it was and hurried over. She wore silver-rimmed glasses, had her hair in a ponytail, and was dressed in a white coat—neat and refreshing. Her appearance resembled Zhou Meng Meng’s somewhat, and her eyes were red.
Seeing her about to pounce, Bai Chen Zhu instinctively stepped back.
His action stunned Zhou Zhuo Hua, and she stopped a few steps away from him. “What’s wrong with you?”
“See,” Jiang Ye turned his face slightly, carefully observing Bai Chen Zhu’s movements, “he doesn’t recognize me, and it seems he doesn’t recognize you either.”
Bai Chen Zhu frowned.
Jiang Ye half-jokingly said, “Don’t be afraid. You know the Dawn Research Institute, right? We’re just here for a simple check-up. We won’t sell you off for experiments.”
“Where did you find him?” Zhou Zhuo Hua wiped the corner of her eye. Having first reunited with her long-lost sister and now seeing the missing Bai Chen Zhu, the emotional ups and downs made it hard for her to compose herself.
“He came back on his own. As soon as he appeared at the city gate, someone notified me. I don’t know more details than your sister does.” As Jiang Ye spoke, his gaze fell heavily on Zhou Meng Meng.
“Brother Bai has no serious injuries; he just doesn’t remember the past.” Zhou Meng Meng looked at her sister, then at Bai Chen Zhu. Seeing his apparent aversion, she couldn’t help but say, “Brother Bai, you can relax. Although Brother Jiang’s personality isn’t great, he’s not a bad person. I’ve watched him grow up since I was little.”
As soon as she said this, Zhou Xuan lightly patted her head—not hard, more like a gentle reprimand.
Zhou Meng Meng narrowed her eyes and grinned. “Alright, I got the last part backward.”
The atmosphere here was warm and joyful, but Bai Chen Zhu felt like an outsider, awkwardly inserted into the room, completely out of place. Yet they were all looking at him, leaving him half-believing, half-doubting.
He glanced at the deeply moved Zhou Zhuo Hua but remained silent.
The fact that he didn’t turn and run immediately already showed his choice.
“I’d like to ask you to give him a full-body check-up now. I’m worried he has other injuries.” Jiang Ye shifted his gaze from Zhou Meng Meng to Zhou Zhuo Hua’s shoulder.
Zhou Zhuo Hua quickly said, “Of course! Meng Meng, go with Dad first. Sis needs to step away for a bit. Little Bai, come with me.”
—
Bai Chen Zhu followed her through several labs, left and right. They were all routine checks he’d seen at hospitals before. His tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Little Bai, how much do you remember now?” Zhou Zhuo Hua examined the report closely.
Bai Chen Zhu said, “I only remember being at a hotel for a business dinner, then suddenly falling from the building…”
“What business dinner?”
“Work-related.”
“Aren’t you still in university?” Zhou Zhuo Hua set down the report, her expression indescribable.
‘How does she know for sure I was in university?’ Realizing something, Bai Chen Zhu quickly said, “I must have mixed it up. My memories are very jumbled; I can’t remember.”
The furrow between Zhou Zhuo Hua’s brows deepened.
Bai Chen Zhu probed, “How do you know me?”
Zhou Zhuo Hua was completely unguarded. “Through Jiang Ye. You know Jiang Ye, so I know you. If you don’t remember Jiang Ye, then you don’t remember university either?”
‘Jiang Ye is connected to my university?’ Bai Chen Zhu’s eyes shifted slightly. “I don’t remember anything except everyday knowledge.”
“This is a big problem.” Zhou Zhuo Hua looked troubled. “Wait here; I’ll go find my dad.”
Bai Chen Zhu sat alone in the lab, looking around the cold, unfamiliar room. He saw Zhou Zhuo Hua return with Jiang Ye.
“Your injuries are all minor; no big issues. But there’s still some blood clot in your brain that hasn’t dissipated. We’ll go with conservative treatment—bed rest as much as possible. I’ll prescribe some medicine now. Come find me after you finish it. Also, medicine is limited right now, so I recommend trying acupuncture or massage…”
Sensing Bai Chen Zhu’s unfamiliarity and wariness toward her, Zhou Zhuo Hua only asked about his condition and gave instructions, saying nothing more. But her face always showed a hesitant look, as if she wanted to say more but feared misunderstanding.
Bai Chen Zhu’s head spun from listening, but Jiang Ye beside him paid close attention. He went to get the medicine and returned, nodding his chin at Bai Chen Zhu. “Let’s go. It’s getting late; time to rest.”
“Go where?”
“My place.” Jiang Ye tossed the medicine in his hand casually, acting perfectly natural. “I’ll have to watch you take it from now on.”
Bai Chen Zhu didn’t respond and got up, following a step behind Jiang Ye’s side. Without looking back, Jiang Ye reached for his wrist. Bai Chen Zhu jolted and reflexively shook him off. “What are you doing?!”
“Holding hands.” Jiang Ye was utterly righteous. “Did you forget you have a boyfriend?”
Bai Chen Zhu stepped back.
“Fine, fine, no holding then.” Jiang Ye raised both hands in surrender and sighed heavily. “You were already skinny, but now you’re even skinnier. Haven’t been eating properly?”
Such casual words easily lowered one’s guard. Bai Chen Zhu shook his head. “Where would the food come from?”
He’d been eating fruit and foraging.
But with just him and Zhou Meng Meng, they couldn’t hunt much meat. Bai Chen Zhu didn’t mind; his appetite hadn’t been great lately anyway.
Jiang Ye looked at him with heartache. “When you were with me before, it was either fish or chicken. How did you manage so poorly on your own?”
Bai Chen Zhu didn’t bother refuting and simply turned his face away.
“No need to be so guarded. Let me tell you something.” Jiang Ye paused and looked around. “Never mind, I’ll tell you when we get back.”
Bai Chen Zhu felt a rare spark of curiosity.
Jiang Ye brought him into a small villa. It was empty, with only a few chairs on the first floor. He openly led Bai Chen Zhu to his own master bedroom and set down the medicine.
Before Bai Chen Zhu could suggest sleeping on the sofa, Jiang Ye dropped a bombshell. “When Zhuo Hua-jie was talking to you earlier, you didn’t think you’d usurped someone else’s identity, did you?”
Though Bai Chen Zhu said nothing, his eyes clearly expressed his thoughts.
Jiang Ye laughed. “I know some little secrets between us, so you can trust me a bit more.”
If not for this trip to the institute, Jiang Ye might not have recalled it.
He tilted his head slightly, his pale lips curving up. “There was indeed an original host with the same name. When you arrived, he was already gone. From start to finish, the one we knew was you. We’ve been together since the early days of the apocalypse… Come to think of it, you forgot the book that explains how we met too?”
He was so certain that Bai Chen Zhu had no room to question—like whether the Jiang Ye he knew was really him, or how Jiang Ye recognized him… Amidst the whirlwind of thoughts, only one light question escaped Bai Chen Zhu’s lips. “What book?”
Jiang Ye said, “Then do you remember what work-related dinner you were at?”
Bai Chen Zhu fell into a long silence. He rubbed his aching forehead. He truly couldn’t remember. But because of Jiang Ye’s words, he did feel the man before him might be trustworthy.
“No worries; you’ll remember eventually.” Jiang Ye was optimistic about it. “As long as you’re back.”
This time, he wouldn’t let anyone leave first, no matter what.
He’d thought it foolproof: let Tang Zhao and Bai Chen Zhu leave first while he brought up the rear. Unexpectedly, the seemingly safer group drew a large wave of pursuers into danger, while he’d hijacked the Alien Race leader and flown off in the spaceship…
When he found the wrecked little car, his heart nearly leaped out.
But he soon realized Bai Chen Zhu must have jumped from the vehicle then.
Jiang Ye swallowed hard, forcing down his currently pounding heart to maintain his composed facade, not wanting to scare the person who’d just returned.
“I have two sets of bedding. The bed’s big; we can sleep together.” Jiang Ye pulled another set from the cabinet.
Bai Chen Zhu asked politely but distantly, “Can I sleep on the sofa?”
“No.” Jiang Ye’s face changed instantly. “The doctor said bed rest as much as possible. Did you forget? Bed. Rest. On the bed!”
Bai Chen Zhu pondered, glancing at Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye countered, “Mr. Bai is kind-hearted and wouldn’t make the homeowner sleep on the sofa, right?”
Bai Chen Zhu, who had exactly that idea, gritted his teeth and replied, “Mm… yes, I suppose so.”
“Eat first, then medicine. Wait here; I’ll get dinner.” Jiang Ye pushed the door open and left.
Soon, Bai Chen Zhu, who’d been staring blankly at the bedding by the bed, heard someone calling his name.
He opened the door and saw Jiang Ye placing two portions of food on the table. Facing the steaming hot meal, Bai Chen Zhu felt momentarily dazed.
Vegetables, rice, and meat?
Not only good lodging, but such good food too? Bai Chen Zhu had the illusion of being kept. He thought deeply and felt he was indeed pretty much being kept right now.
‘What can I do in return?’ Bai Chen Zhu looked serious, lost in thought.
“Not eating?” Jiang Ye chuckled at his cautious demeanor. He sat with arms crossed, foot tapping the ground to tilt the chair back on its rear legs.
After a moment, Bai Chen Zhu came over.
“Sit.” Jiang Ye handed him chopsticks but didn’t eat himself, instead watching Bai Chen Zhu intently.
Bai Chen Zhu hesitated, picked up a small bite of rice, chewed it slowly, and only swallowed after a while. “Aren’t you eating?”
“I am. I eat fast; it won’t delay anything. You first.” Jiang Ye pinched his wrist this time, and Bai Chen Zhu didn’t dodge.
Bai Chen Zhu had a standard frame, with a thin layer of muscle over it. His rolled-up sleeve revealed defined, flexible, and strong arm lines.
But it was all bones to the touch. Jiang Ye withdrew his hand, frowning.
Bai Chen Zhu ate slowly with little appetite. After less than a third, he said he was full—far below a normal adult man’s portion.
Jiang Ye raised a brow, wanting to poke his cheek but recalling Bai Chen Zhu’s evasiveness all along. His fingers twitched before retracting. He confirmed several times, “Really full?”
“Mm.”
“You’ve taken poor care of yourself.” Jiang Ye sighed for the umpteenth time, took his leftovers along with his own portion, and finished it all.
Watching him eat heartily, Bai Chen Zhu felt a strange sense of familiarity.
