After I Lost My Memory, My Ex-Husband Became My Caregiver - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
My memories began to return in the early hours before dawn.
I had a fever that day. When I woke in a daze, I saw Zhou Yinghuai sitting by my bed.
He didn’t touch me.
He only dipped a cotton swab in water and gently moistened my lips.
I said, “Zhou Yinghuai.”
His hand paused.
“Mm.”
“How far along was the baby?”
He lowered his head.
Only the soft beeping of the machines remained in the ward.
“Eight weeks.”
I closed my eyes.
“Was I happy when I found out?”
For a long time, he didn’t speak.
So long that I thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“You were.”
He said, “You found out in the kitchen. You stood there holding the pregnancy test for ten minutes.”
My eyelids trembled.
The scene slowly rose to the surface.
The sunlight had been beautiful that morning.
I stood in the kitchen doorway, clutching the pregnancy test in my hand, while Zhou Yinghuai was peeling an apple.
Just as the peel was about to break, I grabbed his hand.
He said, “The knife.”
I said, “Zhou Yinghuai.”
He looked up.
I handed him the pregnancy test.
He stared at it for two seconds, as if he hadn’t understood.
Then he put down the knife and pulled me into his arms.
His hands were trembling badly.
“Qingyu.”
He only called my name.
Back then, I laughed at him. “Mr. Zhou, you don’t even tremble when you’re negotiating deals worth hundreds of millions.”
He said, “This is different.”
The memory broke off there.
I opened my eyes, tears sliding along my temples and into the pillow.
Zhou Yinghuai wiped them away with a tissue, his movements impossibly gentle.
I turned my face away.
He stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
I said, “Don’t just say that.”
He asked quietly, “Then what can I do?”
I stared at the ceiling.
“I don’t know.”
That was the truth.
I hated him.
But I also remembered the man in the kitchen who had held me.
I didn’t want to forgive him on behalf of my past self, nor did I want to pretend to be calm on behalf of my present self.
Zhou Yinghuai said, “Then hate me for now.”
I turned to look at him.
His eyes were filled with red veins.
“You don’t have to rush to remember, and you don’t have to rush to forgive me.”
“I’m here only because I want to take care of you.”
I asked, “You’ll take care of me until I’m better, and then what?”
He was silent for a moment.
“Then if you want a divorce, I’ll sign the papers.”
“If you want to sue me, I’ll cooperate.”
“If you never want to see me again, I’ll disappear.”
I laughed, but my tears fell even harder.
“What good does it do for you to be so sensible now?”
He lowered his eyes.
“Not much.”
His voice was very soft.
“But I have to learn.”
The next day, Xu Jianing brought news.
Zhou Yan had been released from prison early.
I nearly knocked over my glass of water.
“Wasn’t he sentenced?”
Xu Jianing frowned.
“His sentence was reduced, and the paperwork went through very quickly. Someone from the Zhou Family Old Residence is helping him.”
Zhou Yinghuai’s expression darkened.
“Did he contact you?”
Xu Jianing nodded.
“He sent me a photo.”
In the photo was the intersection from the night of my car accident.
Through the curtain of rain, a figure stood beside the wrecked car.
The person wore a black raincoat and held a phone in their hand.
There was a line written on the back of the photo.
When Sister-in-law wakes up, it’s time to settle the rest of the score.
The moment I saw the words “Sister-in-law,” my palms went cold.
Zhou Yinghuai reached out, about to take the photo.
I pressed it down first.
“Don’t make decisions for me this time.”
He looked at me.
I said, “I’m not the person I was three years ago, who could only wait for you to decide whether you believed me or not.”
Zhou Yinghuai withdrew his hand.
“All right.”
Xu Jianing looked between us and raised an eyebrow.
“So what do we do now?”
I picked up my old phone.
“First, we find out who took this photo.”
Zhou Yinghuai said, “I’ll have someone look into it.”
I glanced at him.
He paused, then corrected himself.
“I’ll look into it with you.”
It was a clumsy thing to say.
But hearing it made my chest feel a little less tight.
