Chapter 423 - Xin Ziao, You Scoundrel. I'm Warning You—Stay Away From My Girlfriend

“Didn’t buy it. You’re not allowed to smoke when you’re with me.”

“That’s going to kill me.”

…

She had really been here before. Ruan Yang sighed softly, and she was very certain that she had been here with that man called Xin Ziao.

She turned back to look at the shop. The more she looked at it, the more familiar it seemed. Her memory also seemed to start extending outwards from the shop. She remembered that the two of them seemed to have taken that path…

Ruan Yang lifted her head and looked towards the path leading to the lake. She had mixed feelings for a while before she decided to head along that path.

There seemed to be very few people walking along this road and there wasn’t a single footprint on the snow. She walked for another 10 minutes before she got to the lake. The lake was as clean as a mirror. There was even a wisp of mist floating above the surface. At the center of the lake was a bridge.

She followed the path towards the bridge and after walking for a few more minutes, Li Shaobin called. He sounded angry. “Yangyang, where did you go? I couldn’t find you after I woke up.”

“I saw that you were sleeping earlier, so I went to walk around nearby. I’ll head back right now.” Ruan Yang put her phone down and gave up on the thought of going over. She turned to head back.

After walking for a few minutes, she met a young man wearing a brown overcoat on the narrow path. With one look from afar, she could tell that the overcoat was very expensive. The wind made the ends of the overcoat fly backward, revealing the suit he was wearing inside. As they got closer to each other, she could clearly see that the man had a very rare, handsome look. His features were so exquisite that he looked like he was carved out by an artist after deep thought. His deep eyes gave off an imposing aura but he also seemed very shrewd.

When his pair of eyes gazed at her, Ruan Yang felt as though her body was frozen. She felt an inexplicable surge of pain and familiarity.

That pair of eyes also seemed to be surging with intense emotions as the owner stood a few steps away from her. His thin lips started to tremble violently.

Ruan Yang suppressed the premonition she had inside and lowered her head as she continued to walk forward. As she walked past the man, he suddenly grabbed her wrist. “Ruan Yang, I’ve looked for you for a very long time. Are… are you doing… well now?”

The man’s voice was trembling slightly.

Ruan Yang lifted her head and met his face that was filled with complicated feelings, bitterness, pain, and joy.

At the same time, she could sense a stuffiness in her throat. It was the first time she had ever felt like this after she lost her memory.

“Did you also… come here… because of the times we shared together?” The young man gripped her arm tightly and it hurt Ruan Yang a little. She could suddenly confirm that this person was Xin Ziao. She seemed to have understood why she had fallen for him. After all, few women could reject such a handsome face, but she didn’t think she would be no exception even with her strong self-control.

It seemed like the two of them must’ve shared very deep memories together. Otherwise, the images wouldn’t have flashed past her mind.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know you,” She spoke after hesitating for half a minute.

She might’ve loved this person deeply but that was all in the past. Even if she regained her memory, she had already planned to walk out of the past and let it go. Therefore, she didn’t want to hide from him and only wanted everything to be gone with the wind.

“Ruan Yang, I know you’re still angry with me. You ignore me no matter how much I try to contact you but I was also forced to come to where we are today.” Xin Ziao appeared to be in pain. “The moment I found out you were back, I waited at your apartment but I didn’t see you. After that, I found out your address in Norway, and I thought you had returned to Norway. I even rushed over to Norway to look for you a few days ago, but your neighbor said you’d already returned. I’ve been trying to look for you and I’ve searched every place we went to before.”

Ruan Yang was stunned. Had this man been waiting at her apartment?

Why was she unaware?

She felt an inexplicable sense of gloominess but she didn’t want to go on like this with him. After all, she was to be blamed for not being able to control herself or for being too stupid to have fallen for him even tough men might be good at sweet-talking. “I think you’re really mistaken. I really don’t know you. I was in a car accident a while ago and I lost part of my memory. There are a lot of things I don’t remember.”

Xin Ziao was dumbfounded but he was still unwilling to believe her. That was such a joke.

Amnesia was only something that happened in dramas.

“Ruan Yang, you don’t have to patronize me like that.” Xin Ziao clenched his teeth and said emotionally, “Why would you be here if you had forgotten about me? Do you know what this place is? This is the place where we decided to spend our lives together.”

Ruan Yang suddenly understood why she felt a sense of familiarity here. “I’m here on vacation with my friend and I happened to be up early and saw a lake here, so I walked over. You’re Xin Ziao, right? I heard from my friends that I used to like a person called Xin Ziao. I was told that when I was with him, he had a fiance and he was the reason my reputation is so bad right now. If I were you, I would’ve gone far away when I see myself. What thoughts are you harboring to keep pestering me like this? I’m a public figure. You should think about my reputation. After all, Ruan Yang is now seen as a third party who destroys people’s families right now. Please leave me with the last bit of face. I really don’t blame you. It takes both hands to clap in a relationship, after all. Since I fell for you, I have to pay the price for that. I heard you’re already married. Please stay away from me. Also, I met your wife in a bar last time. Your wife is really fierce and scary. It’s terrible to be hated by someone like this. Please let go of my arm. I feel very bothered by the fact that I’m being touched by a married man.”

Xin Ziao’s face seemed to have lost a lot of color.

However, he was shrewd. He watched Ruan Yang without moving. Even when she spoke, the calmness in his eyes seemed to be unwavering.

In his memory, Ruan Yang had never viewed him with this expression. Maybe she really lost her memory.

How could she have lost her memory?

How could she have forgotten him?

“Ruan Yang, if you still remember what happened between us, you would definitely know how deeply in love we were.” Xin Ziao’s eyes were filled with sorrow. “I really love you. You know that.”

“I really don’t know that.” Ruan Yang tried her best to pull her arm out. As she turned to leave, she suddenly saw Li Shaobin running over.

Her heart sank and Xin Ziao gripped her shoulders from behind once again. “Ruan Yang, don’t leave yet. Let’s find a place to chat…”

“Xin Ziao, you scoundrel. I’m warning you—stay away from my girlfriend.” Li Shaobin rushed over like the wind and pushed Xin Ziao away angrily. After that, he stood in front of Ruan Yang, protecting her how a hen would protect her chicks.

“Girlfriend?” Xin Ziao felt as though he had heard the best joke of the year. “Li Shaobin, get lost. This is between me and Ruan Yang.”

“I said, Ruan Yang is my girlfriend right now.” Li Shaobin felt the scorn from Xin Ziao and there seemed to be a blaze in his eyes. “Stay as far away from her as possible. Don’t keep pestering her like superglue. You already have a wife.”

“Ruan Yang, is he really your boyfriend now?” Xin Ziao looked straight at Ruan Yang behind him instead.

Ruan Yang nodded her head silently.

The depths of Xin Ziao’s eyes were overcast with a layer of gloom. “Ruan Yang, don’t lie to me. I know you kissed him on purpose in front of me to spite me and you’re using the same trick again. There’s no point in doing that. I care a lot about you; there’s no doubt about that. Even if you’re just trying to agitate me, I’ll still be very angry.”

Ruan Yang’s eyes darted. So that was what happened when Li Shaobin said she kissed him before. “I told you that I really don’t remember anything from the past. I’m with him now. This has nothing to do with you. Forget it, Shaobin, ignore him. Let’s go.”

She pulled his hand and walked away. Li Shaobin held her hand and raised his brows at Xin Ziao proudly.

Did you see that? Ruan Yang is mine now.

Xin Ziao’s handsome face froze. When they had taken a few steps away, he clenched his teeth and said, “Enough, Li Shaobin. Don’t you hate me just because Zhou Shuyun from our high school class liked me? You bore a grudge towards me because of that and have been taking issue with me ever since then. Are you using the fact that Ruan Yang lost her memory to snatch Ruan Yang away from me for revenge? Can you be a bit more above board? Don’t use such underhanded tricks. Ruan Yang is innocent. Besides, I wasn’t the one who made Zhou Shuyun like me. She was the one who fell for me on her own. I’ve never had anything to do with that Zhou Shuyun from start to end.”

Li Shaobin was afraid Ruan Yang would misunderstand, so he quickly retorted, “Don’t mention Zhou Shuyun in front of me. That’s all in the past. Yes, I don’t like you, but that has nothing to do with Ruan Yang. I just purely like her. It’s not to take revenge on you. Don’t overthink it; I’m not as cruel as you.”

After saying that, he told Ruan Yang, “Don’t ever believe him. He’s a scheming person and likes to sow discord.”

Xin Ziao almost vomited blood. Who was the one sowing discord? “If Ruan Yang hadn’t lost her memory, would she have gotten together with you? Would she have liked you? Li Shaobin, take a good look at yourself in front of a mirror. Do you even deserve to be with Ruan Yang? What else do you know aside from merry-making and fighting ever since you were young?”

Li Shaobin let go of Ruan Yang and turned back furiously. Just as he was about to get rough, Ruan Yang suddenly said, “I think he’s pretty good. He’s probably better than you in every aspect.”