Chapter 585

“All right, all right. I’ll go up and see if I can sneak a peek outside.”

Fang Qi stretched and got up from the floor.

He had no idea how his wife was doing now.

He gave Lin Xiaoyou a faint smile, then climbed the wooden stairs to the second floor.

The second floor of the cabin was small. There was a little wooden table, a few crooked low stools, and a small bed covered with an old cloth.

He walked over to the terrace door and pushed at it.

It didn’t budge.

He turned to the window and reached for the frame…

As expected, that was sealed shut too.

He leaned slightly toward the crack in the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of something outside.

The gap had originally been wide enough to let in a sliver of light.

The terrace should have been right outside. The string of shell wind chimes hanging there wasn’t far from the doorframe, and whenever the wind blew, their tinkling would drift in through the crack.

But now…

There was nothing outside.

The gap was pitch-black.

He couldn’t see the night sky or the sea. It was a pure, impenetrable darkness that had swallowed up the sounds as well.

He lifted his head and withdrew his gaze, letting out a quiet breath.

The floor beneath his feet was still trembling faintly.

Clearly, something enormous was churning beneath the sea outside the cabin, moving slowly and heavily, over and over.

But that was all.

It was so quiet.

Sigh.

His Crazy Girl was perfect in every way, except for one thing…

She was far too insecure!

He knew exactly why his wife had sealed the little cabin up so tightly.

The enormous thing outside had no hostility toward him, and Liguang was obviously well aware of that.

After all…

At the end of the previous cycle, he had passed right by that enormous creature.

So this Crazy Girl was doing it purely to keep an eye on him. She was afraid he might run outside and get lured away by that “grand prize.”

“Heh…”

Fang Qi shook his head with a smile.

That Crazy Girl really couldn’t go a single day without overthinking things!

He couldn’t even enjoy seeing his own wife show off her power!

However…

Fang Qi raised an eyebrow.

Actually, he could. His authority was still technically in his hands. All he had to do was take it back…

…Forget it. He would let her have her way.

If the creature outside hurt her because of this, it would break his heart.

He might as well wait here. This place was fairly interesting, after all. It wasn’t just him alone. There was also a…

“Senior, what exactly is going on with you?”

Ah.

Now things were getting interesting.

Fang Qi turned around.

Miss Genius was clinging to the top of the stairs, her upper body poking onto the second floor.

She didn’t hurry up. She merely poked her head above the steps, her bright almond-shaped eyes darting around as she examined the second floor before turning to look at Fang Qi.

“Senior, could it be that…”

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“You actually recovered your memories a long time ago, and you were just pretending?”

Fang Qi raised an eyebrow.

Lin Xiaoyou climbed up using both her hands and feet, and then…

Her round little face took on an expression of utter anguish!

She pressed one hand to her chest while pointing at Fang Qi with the other, which trembled dramatically.

“Senior, you…! And I even asked you before—‘You haven’t recovered your memories yet, have you?’”

She looked aggrieved and furious.

“Senior, don’t tell me you had already recovered your memories back then and were just messing with me!”

The more she spoke, the more worked up she became. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“Was that really so much fun?”

“Uh…”

“What are you talking about?”

Fang Qi rolled his eyes at her, leaning against the wall and shrugging.

“I really hadn’t recovered my memories back then.”

Thinking back to that time, he almost felt like laughing.

With his memories gone, he really had been hopelessly confused, thinking about all sorts of nonsense.

In front of him, Lin Xiaoyou blinked. Then…

She suddenly took a step forward!

“So when did Senior recover his memories?”

She stared at Fang Qi, her expression becoming rather peculiar.

“Could it be…”

Her eyes slowly widened, and then…

She abruptly raised a hand and covered her mouth! Her almond-shaped eyes opened impossibly wide as she stared at Fang Qi.

She looked as though she had been shocked by her own speculation!

“Could it be that Senior recovered his memories because…”

She blinked rapidly, her tone and expression exaggerated beyond belief.

“You were alone with me?”

Fang Qi looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

He neither admitted nor denied it. He merely asked in an even tone:

“Is that what you think?”

“Hmm…”

Lin Xiaoyou tapped a finger against her lips and thought for a moment before turning to him with a bright, impish smile.

“I think that’s exactly what happened!”

Fang Qi met her gaze.

One raised an eyebrow; the other wore a playful smile.

Yet both their eyes were perfectly calm.

The cabin was quiet.

The tiny space on the second floor was so still that they could hear each other’s soft, shallow breathing.

Fang Qi looked at her, and she looked back at him. Neither of them looked away first.

In the end…

Fang Qi was the one who smiled.

He raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, which had grown a little stiff, shaking his head as he laughed.

“As expected of Miss Genius. There’s always something strange and wonderful going on in that head of yours.”

Lin Xiaoyou blinked. Then…

“Hmph~”

She gave a light snort, the corners of her lips curling even higher.

“Senior, are you admitting it?”

She looked at Fang Qi, her almond-shaped eyes narrowing slightly.

“So I really guessed correctly?”

Her tone was matter-of-fact, without the slightest hint of surprise!

The earlier look of “shock” had long since vanished from her round little face. All that remained was a radiant smile.

Tsk, tsk. Just like before—she hadn’t changed at all.

Fang Qi didn’t answer right away. He sat down cross-legged again, resting his back against the wooden wall.

“Whew…”

He let out a soft breath, then tilted his face up to look at her.

“Miss Genius, could you tell me… how exactly did you arrive at that conclusion?”

He asked in a light, teasing tone, spreading his hands.

“Let me worship the thought process of a genius.”

Lin Xiaoyou didn’t sit down. She walked a circle around the little wooden table.

She really wanted to sit, but her bottom was honestly useless at the moment.

So she chose to lie across the little table instead, folding her arms and resting her chin on them as she looked at Fang Qi from the side.

“Senior, don’t be sarcastic!”

She widened her eyes, her tone suddenly turning forceful.

“Don’t forget—the ‘memory switch’ in your head was something I taught you!”

“I’m your ‘teacher’!”

At that, she grew smug again and lifted her little chin.

“Back then, you begged me for ages and ages!”

“What, now that you’ve learned it, you don’t respect your teacher anymore?”

The way she put it… wasn’t entirely wrong?

The smile on Fang Qi’s face deepened, and he quickly nodded.

“All right, all right, Teacher Lin! Then why don’t you teach this foolish student of yours again?”

He looked at her with an innocent, guileless expression.

Lin Xiaoyou propped her chin on her hands and stared at him for a long while…

“Hmph.”

Only then did she give another soft snort and slowly begin:

“The reason I was able to reach that conclusion is because…”

Her eyes gradually lost focus, as though she had fallen into a hazy memory.

The playful smile on her face slowly faded as well.

“I… considered this question before, too.”

Fang Qi didn’t interrupt. He simply watched her in silence.

Lin Xiaoyou gently rubbed her chin against her arms.

“When I first started university, back when I had just invented this ‘switch,’ things weren’t nearly so complicated…”

“Whether it’s ‘Lin You’ or ‘Lin Xiaoyou,’ they both knew… that there was this ‘switch’ in their minds.”

“Back then, ‘Lin Xiaoyou’ still remembered that she was the genius who had developed this switch, using it to forget sad and painful memories.”

“So she knew that once she turned her memories back on, she would be unhappy.”

“But…”

Her voice faltered. Her pupils refocused, and her gaze settled on Fang Qi once more. With a helpless curl of her lips, she said:

“But later, it stopped being that easy.”

“It wasn’t so simple anymore.”

“Because the later ‘Lin Xiaoyou’…”

She pursed her lips, softly exhaled, then lifted her smiling face to look at Fang Qi.

“Had already become a little fool who liked Senior and wanted to stay by Senior’s side.”

“In that situation, the switch in her mind couldn’t be kept, right?”

She raised a finger and lightly traced a circle beside her temple.

“If she kept it, then she wouldn’t be a complete little fool anymore, would she?”

“And if she didn’t completely become a little fool, how could she fool Senior and that person beside him?”

She winked at Fang Qi.

Fang Qi said nothing. He simply looked at her in silence.

Lin Xiaoyou shot him another sidelong glance and curled the corner of her lips.

“Senior must understand. It’s just like how ‘Fang Xiaoqi’ was a big fool who liked Liguang!”

“Senior had to completely become a big fool too, otherwise… how could he fool Liguang?”

She smiled sweetly at Fang Qi.

“Heh…”

At that point, Fang Qi finally couldn’t hold back a laugh.

…“Fang Xiaoqi,” huh?

He had to admit, the name was pretty fitting.

And as for being a big fool…

Was he really that stupid? Back then, he had only been an ordinary person, hadn’t he?

Well, in the eyes of Miss Genius, an ordinary person really was a big fool.

He wasn’t offended, though. Instead, he looked at her with interest, waved his hand, and said:

“Hey, hey, you can’t compare us like that. You and I are different.”

Lin Xiaoyou blinked.

“How are we different?”

Fang Qi leaned against the wall, folded his hands behind his head, and smiled at her.

“‘Lin Xiaoyou’ liking Senior was merely a psychological suggestion you gave yourself. It wasn’t normal ‘liking.’”

“But ‘Fang Xiaoqi’ liking Liguang…”

He thought of everything he and Liguang had experienced together, and his gaze softened slightly.

It had been wonderful.

He had absolutely no regrets about the choices he’d made.

“‘Fang Xiaoqi’… really did like Liguang.”

He looked at Lin Xiaoyou and smiled.

“I was slowly won over by her as I spent time with her.”

“That was the result of my wife’s efforts.”

“So that’s why it’s different.”

He looked at Lin Xiaoyou, a hint of subtle smugness in his smile.

“So even if I recover my memories, I’ll still like Liguang. But if you recover your memories…”

His hand slipped out from behind his head, and he pointed toward the round-faced girl lying facedown on the table.

“Wouldn’t you just stop liking me? That’s obviously different.”

Lin Xiaoyou didn’t say anything. Only… her eyelashes trembled ever so slightly.

“…Yes, yes, Senior is right!”

She glared at Fang Qi!

“Anyway, turning ‘Lin You’ into ‘Lin Xiaoyou’ is easy. All you have to do is activate the ‘memory switch’ in your mind.”

“But…”

She pursed her lips, and her voice grew softer.

“Turning ‘Lin Xiaoyou’ back into ‘Lin You’ requires a few little restrictions.”

Fang Qi noticed that her expression had grown serious.

“If ‘Lin Xiaoyou’ needs to trigger certain conditions to become ‘Lin You’ again…”

“Then ‘Fang Xiaoqi’ must need certain conditions to become Fang Qi again too!”

“And judging from what we know so far, Senior’s ‘trigger condition’…”

She winked at Fang Qi, then broke into another mischievous grin.

“Seems to have something to do with me~”

Fang Qi leaned against the wall and quietly watched her for a moment before giving a slight smile.

As expected of Miss Genius.

“I won’t deny that.”

He tilted his head and added:

“After all… just like you said, you were the one who taught me about this ‘switch.’ From the very beginning, it was connected to you.”

“I can’t help that.”

He spread his hands helplessly.

Lin Xiaoyou immediately became dissatisfied.

“Senior, have you started using that kind of circular reasoning too?”

She braced herself against the table and lifted half her body, glaring at Fang Qi!

“Then tell me, Senior. Is it because…”

She paused and took a deep breath. Then…

“Whenever you’re alone with me, you can recover your memories?”

She stared straight at Fang Qi.

Fang Qi said nothing.

“Or perhaps—”

Lin Xiaoyou raised a finger and pointed forcefully toward his head.

“As long as you’re alone with me, the ‘switch’ in your mind… becomes clearly visible?”

Her eyes burned as she stared at him!

Fang Qi continued to look at her with a smile.

“Senior!”

Lin Xiaoyou began blinking at him repeatedly.

Fang Qi looked up at the ceiling and pretended to think it over…

Then, under Lin Xiaoyou’s expectant gaze, he looked back at her and grinned.

He uttered four words:

“No. Comment.”

Lin Xiaoyou’s gaze froze. Then her eyes instantly went wide!

“Hey! Senior!”

She glared at Fang Qi and slapped the table hard!

But the movement was too big, and it tugged at the wound on her back…

“Hiss—!”

Her little face crumpled as she sucked in a sharp breath!

Then she tremblingly lowered herself back onto the table…

Fang Qi, meanwhile, leaned against the wooden wall and smiled at her as if nothing had happened.

This girl was pretty cute too.

Ah, ah, not cute in that sense! He just meant…

Ahem.

Fang Qi helplessly rubbed his brow.

Why was he still reacting automatically? Liguang couldn’t hear his thoughts right now.

Sigh, that Crazy Girl’s influence on him really was impossible to shake…!

Looks like he’d never be free of it in this lifetime.

Lin Xiaoyou glared at him viciously.

When Fang Qi refused to react, she rolled her eyes, then…

Suddenly, a sly smile appeared on her face!

“Se~ni~or~”

Her voice instantly became sweet and cloying.

Fang Qi rubbed his brow as he looked at her.

Had Miss Genius come up with another new idea?

“Tell me, what if I go and tell Liguang that you can only…”

She winked at Fang Qi again.

“Recover your memories when you’re meeting with me in private…”

Then she curled the corner of her lips.

“Senior, what do you think Liguang would do? Would she…”

“She’d twist your head off and kick it around like a ball.”

Fang Qi’s expression remained unchanged, and his tone was utterly calm.

Lin Xiaoyou’s smile froze for a moment.

But she quickly lifted her chin, gave a disdainful snort, and glared at Fang Qi again.

“Don’t think you’ll get off easy either, Senior! If you don’t explain yourself, I’ll expose you to Senior!”

Fang Qi glanced at her and replied indifferently:

“Liguang won’t believe anything you say.”

“…Oh?”

Lin Xiaoyou blinked, but the smile on her face only grew wider.

“Really, Senior?”

She tilted her head, her tone clearly challenging him.

“Do you really think so?”

“Don’t forget, my Sister Xiaoqing has the same personality, doesn’t she?”

“I’ve been around her since I was little, so I understand… ‘yanderes’ very well.”

Her gaze was brimming with confidence:

“I’m no worse than you, Senior!”

Fang Qi fell silent.

In the end…

He could only shake his head helplessly.

Fine.

There was simply no way he could respond to that.

If Lin Xiaoyou really went through with it, then she really would be blowing up at him.

His Crazy Girl was, indeed… suspicious by nature.

Forget hearing something like “meeting in private to recover his memories.” Even if she merely saw him and Lin Xiaoyou exchanging glances for a few seconds…

She could spin it into an entire melodrama!

She probably used that supercomputer of hers entirely for imagining things!

Wasn’t that exactly what was happening now? She had gone and locked him in a little black room.

But…

Fang Qi relaxed again, leaning back against the wall with his hands behind his head.

This was exactly why he liked Liguang.

There was nothing wrong with it.

“How about this, Senior!”

Lin Xiaoyou was still lying on the table, propping up her chin as she gazed at him, her almond-shaped eyes curving into crescents.

“I won’t ask that question anymore.”

“I’ll ask you another one. If you clear it up for me, I won’t blow up at you! How does that sound?”

With both hands behind his head, Fang Qi gave her a lazy sidelong glance.

“That depends on what you want to ask.”

Lin Xiaoyou straightened up, blinking.

“Okay, then my question is…”

She looked at Fang Qi, her voice growing softer.

“You after losing your memories—my ‘Senior,’ ‘Fang Xiaoqi’…”

The smile was still on her round little face, but her almond-shaped eyes had grown much more serious than before.

“You didn’t make him up as a fabricated personality, did you?”

Fang Qi: “…”

What a question.

The smile on his face slowly faded.

“The Senior Lin Xiaoyou likes really is…”

Lin Xiaoyou continued to look at him, smiling sweetly, yet her gaze…

It was like a nail, driving straight into his face!

“Your ‘former’ self, isn’t it?”

Outside the wooden house, there was utter silence.

Inside, the two of them stared quietly at each other.

Neither said another word.