Jie Jingchen was satisfied, a teasing smile playing on his lips.
"Who on earth are you? What is your motive for impersonating me?" Zhou Hongyi glared at Qin Mei.
"N-no... that's..." Qin Mei stammered. Faced with Zhou Hongyi's questioning, her confidence instantly evaporated. Her brow furrowed as she looked toward Xie Jingchen. "Xie Jingchen, are you sure your wife's name is Zhou Hongyi, and not Qin Mei?"
"You're Qin Mei?" Xie Jingchen looked utterly astonished. Thinking of how attentively Qin Mei had cared for him these past few days, he couldn't help but wonder, 'Is she really that despicable and vicious Qin Mei?'
"Is your wife Zhou Hongyi, or Qin Mei?" Qin Mei pressed. Xie Jingchen's reaction had already given her the answer, but she still wanted to make one last, desperate attempt.
"Zhou Hongyi." Xie Jingchen wasn't stupid. He had naturally guessed that Qin Mei had mistaken him for someone else.
'Six months ago, the affair between Qin Mei and Jie Jingchen caused a massive uproar. How could she possibly mistake the man?'
Qin Mei was left speechless, wanting to cry out to the heavens. 'What kind of ridiculous mix-up is this?'
'After a whole week of such careful, meticulous attention... who was I even taking care of? Who is my husband? And where is he?!'
Zhou Hongyi wasn't stupid. She could tell something was off. Instead of attacking Qin Mei, she turned to Xie Jingchen. "Xie Jingchen, you'd better give me a reasonable explanation."
"I..."
"Hehe, it's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! Sister-in-law, please don't be angry, it's just a mix-up, hehe. I... well, I have amnesia, so I recognized the wrong person," Qin Mei explained with a nervous laugh.
"The wrong person?" Zhou Hongyi asked suspiciously. "Is there really nothing going on between you two?"
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Qin Mei swore. Worried Zhou Hongyi wouldn't believe her, she quickly added, "Sister-in-law, I promise you, while I was taking care of him these past few days, aside from helping him eat and drink, I didn't touch anywhere I shouldn't have, and I didn't look at anywhere I shouldn't have. Besides, look at the state he's in! It's not like I could take advantage of him anyway."
This girl really would say anything. Never mind Xie Jingchen—even Zhou Hongyi felt embarrassed for her.
This was a hospital ward, not their home. Besides, there were other patients in the room. What could they have possibly done that was out of line? Zhou Hongyi was a reasonable person. "Forget it. Since it's a misunderstanding, it's fine now that it's been cleared up."
Qin Mei breathed a sigh of relief.
But then Zhou Hongyi thought of something, and her expression changed. "What about taking him to the bathroom?"
"The nurses did that," Qin Mei answered quickly, without a trace of guilt. She pointed at Xie Jingchen and smiled. "In his condition, I wouldn't have been able to help him to the bathroom anyway. That's a job for the professionals."
Zhou Hongyi was completely reassured. She sat down on the edge of the bed, smoothing her messy hair.
Qin Mei stood frozen in place, utterly at a loss. 'So, Xie Jingchen isn't my husband. I've wasted all these days... I wonder what condition my real husband is in.'
Without even gathering her things, Qin Mei walked off with her head hung low to find a nurse and ask about her husband's hospital room.
Jie Jingchen's profound eyes held a scrutinizing gaze as he watched Qin Mei's retreating figure. Since the truth had come out, she hadn't spared him a single glance.
"Jing Si," Xie Jingchen called out, his expression conflicted. He looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself.
'Qin Mei was supposed to be taking care of Jing Si, but I was the one who received her care. Qin Mei has amnesia and got the wrong person, but what about Jie Jingchen? What was he thinking, watching his own wife take care of another man?'
Jie Jingchen raised his eyes, looking at Xie Jingchen with an unreadable expression. He said slowly, "She has amnesia."
"She has amnesia, but you don't," Xie Jingchen said, his meaning clear.
Jie Jingchen said nothing.
Zhou Hongyi sensed the underlying meaning and couldn't help but ask, "So *they're* the actual husband and wife?"
"Yes." Xie Jingchen nodded.
Zhou Hongyi didn't understand. Full of curiosity, she asked, "What's the story here?"
"Well... Ai! It's a long story. Darling, I'm hungry." Xie Jingchen clearly didn't want to discuss another couple's private matters.
Zhou Hongyi raised an eyebrow. Though curious, she saw that Xie Jingchen was evading the subject, so she didn't press for details. "I'll go see what the cafeteria has."
Qin Mei returned, shuffling dejectedly over to Jie Jingchen's bedside.
Jie Jingchen didn't speak. His expression was hard to read, his dark eyes as deep as an abyss.
Qin Mei's small face was taut, her expression a strange and conflicted mix as she sized up Jie Jingchen from head to toe.
"Your surname is Jie?" Qin Mei asked, her tone heavy with an unreadable implication.
"Mhm," Jie Jingchen replied with a hum.
"Jie Jingchen?" The name seemed to be squeezed from between her gritted teeth.
"Mhm," Jie Jingchen replied coolly.
Qin Mei ran her tongue over her back teeth, took a deep breath, and forced a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "So *you're* my husband?"
Jie Jingchen's silence was a tacit admission.
"Jie Jingchen, you saw that I had the wrong person, but instead of saying anything, you just watched coldly from the sidelines. What is wrong with you?" Internally, Qin Mei was on the verge of a hysterical breakdown.
'She'd heard of men being cheated on, but she'd never seen one who practically arranged it himself!'
Jie Jingchen remained silent, offering no explanation.
'Could he tell her he was just trying to test her?'
"Jie Jingchen, you bastard!" Qin Mei cursed. Her former self had possessed incredible self-control. No matter how furious she became, she never let it show. She would suppress all her negative emotions, bottling them up deep inside. She would endure, and when it became unbearable, she would simply force herself to endure it again.
'Sometimes she even wondered if she would end up with depression.'
'And yet, she had died from overwork, not depression.'
But after transmigrating to the 1970s, it was like a switch had been flipped inside her. She was done putting on a front, done enduring. If she felt awful, she would vent. If she wanted to fight, she would fight. If she wanted to curse, she would curse. She was impulsive and spontaneous, and it felt liberating and easy.
Jie Jingchen watched her, his gaze impossibly deep. "I did ask you," he reminded her.
Qin Mei froze. Thinking back... it seemed... yes, he had warned her.
'She remembered his question at the time: "Are you sure he's your husband?"'
'And she remembered her answer. "Are you kidding? As if I could ever mistake my own husband."'
Half of her anger instantly vanished. Knowing she was in the wrong, Qin Mei lowered her head guiltily.
'But could she really be blamed? All she knew was that his name was Jie Jingchen and that he was a man. She knew nothing else!'
"You should have just said it directly! Who's supposed to understand your hidden meanings when you beat around the bush like that?" Qin Mei grumbled. Jie Jingchen's behavior was shameful. He knew she had the wrong person, yet he just let her wander further and further down the wrong path.
'If Xie Jingchen's real wife hadn't shown up, would he have just watched as she took care of Xie Jingchen until he was discharged from the hospital? Watched as she followed Xie Jingchen home, only to be beaten to a pulp by the Xie Family and Zhou Hongyi for being a homewrecker?'
'He was too cruel! This man was malicious to the core!'
Jie Jingchen's tone turned grave. "You have amnesia. If I had told you that you had the wrong person and that *I* was your husband, would you have believed me?"
'No, she wouldn't have. She probably would have chewed him out so badly he'd wish the ground would swallow him whole. Qin Mei was highly scam-aware.'
Qin Mei picked at the palm of her hand. Her voice was quiet with guilt. "You could have just said so. Maybe I would have believed you."
"Is that so?" Jie Jingchen's face was dripping with sarcasm, his tone nonchalant. He'd be a fool to believe her. As far as he was concerned, she was just making excuses. "My name is written right here."
Qin Mei glanced up and reminded him with a humorless smile, "I'm illiterate."