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"I don't want to forget him either," Xiao Qi said with a troubled expression. "But my body is acting up lately. The moment I mention him, I lose all control over myself. When he gets close to me, or treats me too gently, I lose control even more. He seems to have become like a curse to me. For instance, sometimes I suddenly find myself drawing near him, and other times I suddenly pull away. It's as if he has invaded my central nervous system, and my consciousness is no longer my own. Anyway, I just completely lose control."

Hearing this, Pan Sen understood immediately. Wasn't this feeling simply falling in like with Yi Chen?

What you like is what you like; even with amnesia, they still loved each other.

These two really had it rough. Separated for five years, and both suffering from amnesia upon reuniting, yet fortunately they managed to fall in love with each other all over again. I bet they'll reach a happy ending very soon.

Pan Sen replied with a solemn expression, "This symptom of yours is quite common. As long as you properly dive into a relationship, all those symptoms you mentioned will completely vanish."

A relationship?

Xiao Qi was dazed for three full seconds before she realized the hidden meaning behind his words.

"Dr. Pan, my body is genuinely acting up, and you're still making fun of me? Do you not believe a single word I'm saying?"

"I do believe you, but I'm not teasing you," Pan Sen coaxed step by step. "In my view, your symptoms are crystal clear. It can be summed up in five words: you're in love with Yi Chen."

Upon hearing those final five words, Xiao Qi's heart skipped a beat, and her face flushed bright red.

She immediately retorted, "I—I certainly do not like him! How could I possibly fall for someone who is so ice-cold? That's impossible."

"If you don't like him, then why did you help him conceal his amnesia?" Pan Sen asked, striking right at the heart of the matter. "If you don't like him, why did his affairs make you so furious? If you don't like him, why do you experience all these symptoms around him?"

"I—I helped him hide it because I'm just like Uncle Lei Feng, taking joy in helping others, and besides, I had my own motives," Xiao Qi defended herself guiltily. "He provoked me, so of course I had the right to be angry! As for these symptoms, that's exactly why I need to forget him!"

"..."

Pan Sen felt as though he were speaking a completely different language to a duck. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Xiao Qi spoke again.

"He's essentially a virus to me right now, which is why I need to purge this virus as quickly as possible."

"But you've already been infected by this virus, and you can't clear it out anymore," Pan Sen offered sagely. "Since you're in love with Yi Chen now, from now on, whenever you look at anyone else, you'll imagine you're looking at him. Even when he isn't by your side, you'll experience the hallucination that he's there. Have you had any similar symptoms lately?"

"Of course not!" Xiao Qi's guilt vanished instantly; she had never experienced any such symptoms.

"That simply means you lack a sense of security. Once you realize that the person you love also loves you back, you won't lose control anymore. You'll understand that all of this is what you deserve, and everything about you is fully accepted by him. Do you understand?"

"I don't understand."

Pan Sen: "..."

If she had been standing right in front of him, Pan Sen definitely would have knocked her on the head.

After talking for so long, to Xiao Qi it was all just a waste of breath. Too lazy to continue, he simply muttered that he was hanging up.

She trudged listlessly back to her workstation.

#

Anna called Li Cheng to ask how his investigation into Ye Xiyang was progressing.

On the other end, Li Cheng immediately served up a piece of gossip. "Miss Qiao, a few days ago, Miss Ye went to the Lin residence to see President Lin's father. As for what was said, I'm not entirely certain, but I heard that President Lin's father handed her a card, and she only left after taking it."

"Then she must have talked to Yi Chen's father about Yi Chen, which is why his father gave her the card. Still, I never expected her to be someone so greedy for wealth and vanity."

Anna didn't waste any extra thought on what Ye Xiyang might have said to Lin Baisen, but the fact that she accepted the card brought a genuine wave of satisfaction.

The greedier and more vain Ye Xiyang proved to be, the more advantageous it would be for her.

"As for Ye Xiyang herself," Li Cheng said, holding the light blue sapphire in his hand, "I found out that she went to the United States five years ago, and her parents followed shortly after. Later, they were all involved in a car accident. Ye Xiyang returned alone, so her parents must have perished in that crash. Nowadays, she runs a small restaurant with her aunt." He paused. "However, there's something rather strange. Ever since that car accident, all records and data on Ye Xiyang vanished completely, as if she had simply vanished into thin air for those five years. Therefore, I suspect she's hiding some secret from that five-year period."

"If there are no data records, then use people to dig it out," Anna said sinisterly. "You need to find another way to continue the investigation."

"I'm aware of that, Miss Qiao. The piece of gossip I just shared with you can be used to make President Lin detest her by framing it as her extorting money."

A hint was as good as a command, and Anna naturally understood.

Li Cheng hung up the phone and gazed at the sparkling blue sapphire with gleaming eyes. This sapphire had been picked up at that art exhibition. Only Ye Xiyang and President Lin had entered that studio, so this item unquestionably belonged to Ye Xiyang.

President Lin certainly wouldn't carry such an item around casually.

As an ordinary person, how could she possibly possess such a blue sapphire? Therefore, Ye Xiyang must harbor a secret.

Ye Xiyang, now that President Lin has lost his memories of you, let's see how long you can keep your secrets hidden.

***

Although Xiao Qi felt that Pan Sen's words were nonsense, they still managed to weigh on her mood.

She pondered it quietly to herself.

Lacking a sense of security.

Her superpowers had gone out of control seemingly ever since Lin Yi Chen forgot about her, after which her abilities became erratic.

In the past, knowing that Lin Yi Chen loved her one hundred percent gave her a strong sense of security.

And now that he had forgotten her, she lacked that security?

Xiao Qi grew somewhat irritable.

She did harbor a tiny bit of fondness for Lin Yi Chen, but this ice-cold version of him...

Let's run an experiment.

She picked up a pen and wrote the character "Chen" in her notebook. As she wrote, before she knew it, the page was already filled with rows of the character.

Staring at the character "Chen," she unconsciously began writing the character "Xi" beside it.

"Chen Xi" (Morning Sunlight)

Combined together, these two characters meant sunlight.

Morning sunlight symbolized warmth and brightness.

Lin Yi Chen must have lost his mother from a young age, which explained why he was such an ice-cold person.

An ice-cold person's greatest deficiency was sunlight.

Ye Xiyang was his sunlight.

So Ye Xiyang and he really were a match made in heaven.

Xiao Qi sighed softly, her fingertip tracing the character "Chen" as she counted stroke by stroke.

"He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not..."

"Who are you in love with?"

Hearing the voice, Xiao Qi slammed her notebook shut.

"Noth—you misheard just now, I was reciting perfume names."

Yi Yang lowered his gaze to inspect her guilty expression and teased deliberately, "Goofing off during work hours and caught red-handed by your boss. Prepare to—"

"If you dock my pay again, I'm going to have to resort to eating dirt."

"..."

"Then write a self-criticism report instead."

Xiao Qi put on a wronged expression. "Just look at this sorrowful face of mine, please spare me this once!"

How could Yi Yang ever genuinely make things difficult for her? He asked with concern, "What on earth is wrong with you? Surely you're not still angry with my brother?"

"Ah, you wouldn't understand even if I told you." Xiao Qi suddenly pointed at herself. "Yi Yang, do I look like the type of person who's in love with your brother?"

"It's glaringly obvious, isn't it?" Yi Yang suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute. If you don't like my brother, then why did you agree to be his girlfriend?"

"That was my letter—"

"What?"

"My optical illusion," Xiao Qi said, her eyes darting around guiltily as she avoided his gaze. "Didn't I tell you long ago that my role as his girlfriend is just a fake act? Besides, I—I really don't like him."

Even if she did like someone, it would be the capitalist version of Lin Yi Chen, and only by a tiny, tiny fraction.

"Are you telling the truth? You really don't like him?"

Xiao Qi nodded.

"Xiyang, you're too heartless! You're only telling me now that you don't like my brother? All this time, I genuinely thought you fancied him!" Yi Yang wore a deeply heartbroken expression for a moment, which instantly transformed into one of joy. "Though it's a good thing you don't, otherwise I might never have realized my own feelings."

***

"What are you talking about?"

Coming to his senses regarding what he had just blurted out, Yi Yang immediately averted his gaze. "It's nothing. No more goofing off during work hours, or you really will have to write that self-criticism report."

With that, he strode quickly into his office.

Xiao Qi felt he was acting rather bizarrely, but then, recalling her own predicaments, her shoulders slumped.

Superpower, you'd better behave yourself around Lin Yi Chen! Otherwise, you're going to be the death of me.

Xiao Qi stood up and headed toward the restroom, walking with a gait so sluggish she looked barely able to put one foot in front of the other.

"Ye Xiyang!"

Hearing the voice, Xiao Qi instinctively wanted to bolt, only to have the back of her collar grabbed. "What are you running for? Did you do something shady?"

"..."

Xiao Qi instinctively checked her hands; her superpowers were not acting up.

Then it dawned on her...

Oh right, what was she running for? She hadn't done anything to wrong him.

She swatted away the hand grasping her collar and raised an eyebrow. "Since President Lin says it's something shady, how could it possibly be spoken aloud? Or is President Lin implying he isn't human?"

"..."

Yi Chen chuckled lightly. "Off to the restroom?"

Wasn't that stating the obvious!

Xiao Qi glanced at him and suddenly noticed that although a faint smile lingered on his lips and he still maintained his usual aloof demeanor, there seemed to be a hint of composure mixed with a touch of melancholy.

He looked rather unhappy. Recalling things, hadn't he seemed quite pleased over in his office just a few hours ago?

Why now...

Could it be that he was upset because she hadn't accepted his gift?

Xiao Qi immediately shook off what she considered to be redundant thoughts.

Why should she care whether he was happy or not? She had enough troubles of her own to worry about.

"I'm going to the restroom," she said, turning on her heel.

The back of her collar was grabbed once more. "What are you doing again?"

Looking at Xiao Qi's defiant, fierce little expression, the heavy gloom weighing on Yi Chen's chest suddenly dissipated somewhat.

"Xiyang, don't you think..." Yi Chen feigned deep thought, "People should practice reciprocity in their dealings?"

"Huh?" Xiao Qi blinked in confusion, then instinctively nodded.

"Didn't I buy you a set of clothes? Shouldn't you buy me one in return?"

"What?" Xiao Qi stared at him as if she had seen a ghost. "You want me to buy clothes for you?"

Yi Chen nodded earnestly. "Didn't you just agree with my point about reciprocity?"

"..."

Xiao Qi felt utterly mortified. The man had set a trap for her!

With a forced, awkward smile, she said:

"President Lin, you are a grand CEO. Having an employee buy clothes for you—doesn't that detract from your prestigious status as president?!"

More importantly, if she bought clothes for a grand CEO, would she end up going bankrupt? ==