Chapter 1943 — Now I Remember?

So Uncle Qing was choosing his words, searching for a tactful way to put things, hoping to spare Grandma Sun at least a little grief.

"Uncle Qing, Grandma Sun, the two of you must have so much to say to each other. Why don't you go into a room and talk alone? Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, and I will watch some TV for a while," Wei Zhao said. The meal was nearly finished, and no one seemed to have much appetite left, so he made the suggestion outright.

"Yes, yes!" Uncle Qing had in fact been longing for a private word with Grandma Sun; with everyone watching, he truly would not have known how to begin. It was not that he meant to keep secrets from Gu Mengyao and the others—it was simply that there were things he had no way of saying aloud.

"Mr. Fu... sir, come to my room and we'll talk there," Grandma Sun said with a sigh. What had happened today was far too strange; she could scarcely take it in. Still, she could see that Uncle Qing did not seem to be lying—she simply could not yet persuade herself to believe him.

"Ms. Sun... you needn't call me Mr. Fu anymore. My name now is Li Fu. Just call me Li Fu," Uncle Qing said. He did not wish to expose the identity of Fu Li, lest old enemies learn of it and come looking for him.

"Very well... Mr. Li Fu..." Grandma Sun was slightly taken aback. No wonder the name had seemed a little familiar when Gu Mengyao made the transfer—Li Fu, Fu Li. Were they not simply each other reversed? Could it be that the name Fu Li truly occupied so great a place in her heart?

Once he had gone into the room with Uncle Qing, Wei Zhao sat down on the sofa, and Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu came over as well. The television was on, but at that moment all three of them had their minds on Uncle Qing; none of them was in any mood to watch.

"Sister Yaoyao, do you think Grandma Sun really is Uncle Qing's wife?" Shen Yushu asked.

"She must be!" Gu Mengyao said. "I've never seen Uncle Qing so beside himself. And his eyes don't look false—there would be no reason at all for him to lie..."

"Oh, then it's really strange. Why doesn't Grandma Sun remember Uncle Qing? Could she have taken some of that forget... gah!" Shen Yushu had gotten this far when she suddenly noticed Gu Mengyao glaring at her with murder in her eyes, and she clapped her mouth shut in fright!

She had meant to ask whether Grandma Sun had also taken the Forgetfulness Herb potion, but it occurred to her at once that Wei Zhao was sitting right there. If she said it aloud, he would surely pester her with questions, and then it would be hard to explain. Besides, on second thought, Grandma Sun's case was not the same as Wei Zhao's—she had forgotten everything, not merely forgotten Uncle Qing...

"Yes, perhaps for some reason Grandma Sun has lost her memory and forgotten a few things..." Gu Mengyao hurried to follow Shen Yushu's line.

"Forgotten a few things?" Wei Zhao suddenly frowned. He could not shake the feeling that ever since his qi deviation this time, he too had forgotten certain things—though what exactly, he could not say. But it seemed likely to have something to do with Feng Xiaoxiao. Something about his first wife, perhaps?

At that thought, Wei Zhao asked, "Yaoyao, I seem to have forgotten some things too—things about my first wife. Who exactly is my first wife?"

Gu Mengyao was ready to explode. She could have kicked Shen Yushu all the way into outer space. Of all the topics to bring up, she had to pick this one—raising it now was simply inviting Wei Zhao to ask questions. Yet with Wei Zhao present, she could not scold Xiaoshu, for that would only make him more suspicious.

So Gu Mengyao merely shot Xiaoshu a glare, then turned to Wei Zhao and said with feigned astonishment, "You don't remember anything about your first wife?" "I don't. What exactly happened?" Wei Zhao asked.

"It was like this..." Shen Yushu rushed to make amends, and told Wei Zhao about the scheme Feng Xiaoxiao had devised... It had to be said that Xiaoshu had a gift for talk; under her vivid telling, Wei Zhao found himself believing her.

"You mean that at first I wasn't too fond of Xiaoxiao, so I took her as a concubine, and she agreed that I should find a first wife as well?" Wei Zhao thought back carefully. His first meeting with Feng Xiaoxiao had indeed been somewhat unpleasant—the girl had thought of nothing but playing tricks on him, and he had tricked her right back more than once. Afterward he had heard she was ill, and that was when they came together... So what Shen Yushu said might well be true.

And knowing Feng Xiaoxiao's temperament, she had seemed forever to be egging him on, urging him to try threesomes and foursomes and fivesomes with her. What Xiaoshu said was probably true...

So in fact he had no first wife at all—he had simply been looking for one all along?

If that were so, then it made sense. Yet why did he feel that something was still not quite complete?

"Yes, yes, that's just how it was!" Shen Yushu said. "The truth is this: back then Sister Yaoyao and I didn't know Xiaoxiao was suffering from a terminal illness, so we rather shut her out. And then I said that Sister Yaoyao and I could have threesomes with you, and Xiaoxiao wouldn't stand for it—she insisted you find a first wife so she could have threesomes too and fight us on equal terms..."

Gu Mengyao listened with her face darkening by the word, yet she let Shen Yushu go on. After all, the tale Shen Yushu was spinning was plausible enough; if Gu Mengyao had to explain it herself, she would not have known where to begin.

"And after that..." Wei Zhao nodded. Some of what Shen Yushu described did seem to stir something deep in his memory—it did seem that such things had really happened—so Wei Zhao did not doubt her.

What Wei Zhao did not know was that Shen Yushu was plainly making a hash of it, transferring onto Xiaoxiao what had actually happened with Tang Yun. It was Tang Yun who had sought out Xiaoxiao to stand against her and Yaoyao—not Xiaoxiao who had wanted a first wife found!

But twisted about as Shen Yushu told it, it rang true enough in a false sort of way, and Wei Zhao felt it really had happened just so.

"Then... then we went looking, of course, and before we'd found anyone, Xiaoxiao and I made up and became a two-woman prank squad, and then—nothing came of it..." Shen Yushu said.

"So that's how it was." Wei Zhao nodded. "I had a qi deviation before and forgot some things, but with that reminder from you, I've recalled a bit... though it's still not clear. At least I understand what happened now."

"Yes, yes! And when Xiaoxiao left, she spoke to me and Sister Yaoyao too—she said that if you were going to find a first wife, the two of us were to help vet her, and you weren't to bring home just any trashy woman." Shen Yushu had begun fabricating orders out of thin air.

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