Wen Shouyi’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
In the garden in front of the house downstairs, Qin Zhining carefully lifted the bottle and followed the stretcher around the fountain at the entrance to the mansion.
Wen Shouyi bit her lip and took out her phone to call.
Qin Zhining heard his phone ring, but he didn’t answer because he was concerned about Gu Nianzhi. He followed her into the mansion with the drip bottle in hand.
Wen Shouyi saw that Qin Zhining did n’t pick up even though she had been calling for a long time. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Was Gu Nianzhi trying to teach her a lesson?
She slowly put away her phone and clasped her hands. She leaned her head against the French window and watched the commotion downstairs.
He Chengjian then got out of the car under the orderly’s protection and entered his house.
Wen Shouyi, who was watching from the second floor, said, “Auntie Qin, General He is back.”
“Big Brother He is back?” Qin Yaoguang’s face instantly revealed a smile. Under the moonlight, she instantly as beautiful as a rose.
She stood up from the sofa.
She brought Wen Shouyi down to the second floor quickly and happened to see He Chengjian standing in the living room. She ordered the medical staff to send the stretcher to the room on the third floor.
“General He, you’re back.” Wen Shouyi held Auntie Qin’s arm and walked to He Chengjian with her.
He Chengjian saw the two of them and nodded. “Yaoguang, Shouyi, you two are still awake?”
He looked at his watch. It was already midnight.
“General He, it’s not like you don’t know. If you don’t come back, Auntie Qin will definitely refuse to sleep.” Wen Shouyi made a face.
Auntie Qin said softly, “We just had four surgeries today. Your four guards have already undergone the memory-stripping surgery. They’ll be fine after two weeks of rest.”
He Chengjian laughed. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened. He said gently, “I can rest assured that you’ll do your job.”
He paused for a moment and looked at the family doctors who were carrying stretchers up the stairs. “Yaoguang, Nianzhi is back.”
Auntie Qin’s name was Yaoguang. Only He Chengjian called her that. Everyone else here called her Auntie Qin. They had been calling her Auntie Qin for years.
Auntie Qin’s gaze was only on He Chengjian. She didn’t care at all. “You’ve worked hard. Rest early.”
“You too.” He Chengjian looked at her and thought about what Qin Zhining had said. Finally, he couldn’t bear it any longer. He walked to the corner of the stairs. “Yaoguang, come to my study. I have something to discuss with you.”
His suite was on the second floor. Qin Yaoguang’s suite was also on the second floor.
He Zhichu and Gu Nianzhi’s rooms were on the third floor.
Although Qin Yaoguang and He Chengjian didn’t live together, their suites were closely connected.
He Chengjian’s study was generally not accessible to others.
In the past, other than his first wife, only He Zhichu and Gu Nianzhi could enter and leave as they pleased.
Gu Nianzhi had gone missing, and He Zhichu had left as well. No one else had been able to get in or out of his study.
This was the first time Qin Yaoguang had stepped into He Chengjian’s study since their marriage.
She felt a sense of joy and sorrow after a long time.
After so many years, she had finally returned to Brother He’s heart.
She hadn’t waited in vain.
Qin Yaoguang pushed open the door to He Chengjian’s study and walked in slowly.
He Chengjian’s study was decorated in a neat and tidy manner. There was mahogany furniture, and the east wall was filled with bookshelves. There were layers of books on top of each other.
The curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows were half-closed, and the moonlight shone on a pot of night epiphyllum in front of the window like flowing water.
Qin Yaoguang’s gaze swept past the pot of night epiphyllum as if nothing had happened. She looked at He Chengjian, who was sitting behind the desk.
He Chengjian was an old man after all. He had been busy with work these few years and his body wasn’t very healthy. He looked a little haggard.
She said with concern, “Big Brother He, it’s already very late. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
He Chengjian sat in the dark and stared at Qin Yaoguang.
From this angle, she really looked very similar to his first wife, Qin Suwen.
It wasn’t her face, but her figure. Of course, their personalities were completely different.
His first wife, Qin Suwen, was soft on the outside but tough on the inside. Her personality was stubborn. Once she had set her sights on someone or something, she definitely wouldn’t turn back. She made no exception towards him.
However, his next wife, Qin Yaoguang, was tough on the outside but soft on the inside. She was very inflexible in her way of doing things and was very particular about principles. She didn’t show any emotion to anyone, except for him.
He Chengjian made it very clear that he didn’t have any intention of treating anyone as a substitute.
Moreover, he felt guilty towards Qin Yaoguang.
“Yes, you too. Don’t wait for me in the future.” He Chengjian stood up from behind the desk and walked in front of Qin Yaoguang. He reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
His actions naturally carried a sense of intimacy without any barriers. Even though he was just brushing her hair, Qin Yaoguang was so happy that she almost fainted.
She wanted to press her face against He Chengjian’s hand.
He Chengjian quickly retracted his hand and put them in his pocket. “Yaoguang, Nianzhi’s condition is special. Do you think we have to operate on her?”
Qin Yaoguang’s tender feelings in her heart were almost shattered by He Chengjian’s words.
She had never expected that He Chengjian would allow her into his study for the first time in so many years and even stroke her hair intimately all because of Gu Nianzhi..
Qin Yaoguang crossed her hands in front of her chest, and her body instantly stiffened.
“Brother he, this is an important matter. You can’t take such a risk just because Nianzhi has a special status.” Qin Yaoguang reverted to her business-like tone. “… It’s not worth it.”
He Chengjian paced around the study with his hands behind his back. He said, “I’m also in a difficult position. Ever since there was such a huge breakthrough in the development of science, it has always been the top secret of the empire. Only a few people know about it. Anyone who has been to the opposite side and whose security level isn’t high enough will have to undergo a directed memory removal surgery. This is the safest guarantee.”
Using physical means to remove the hippocampus related to this aspect of memory was the most foolproof way to keep a secret.
Only the dead could keep a secret, but in fact, apart from not being able to speak, a dead person could also leak secrets.
For example, a brilliant forensic doctor could deduce many things that happened before the dead person died from all the traces that the dead person revealed.
Therefore, it was impossible to think that only the dead could keep a secret.
But now, they had a special technique that allowed them to keep secrets without people dying.
All they needed to do was to remove a part of their memories.
Qin Yaoguang smiled aloofly and said, “Don’t worry, this kind of targeted memory removal surgery was invented by my grandfather. We have decades of clinical data in the Qin family’s hospital that proves that it’s very mature. It’s just a small, foolproof surgery that won’t have any impact on her life.”
He Chengjian looked at her deeply and said, “But Nianzhi is different. I heard from Zhichu that Nianzhi’s memories before she was twelve years old were gone. If you perform the targeted memory removal surgery on her now, wouldn’t she lose her memories for the ensuing seven years as well? What else would she have? Would she still be human?”
Qin Yaoguang didn’t speak for a long time. Finally, she scoffed. “… So that person isn’t completely crazy. He actually knew to remove her memories before sending her over there.”
“You mean that Nianzhi’s memories before she was 12 years old were also removed by someone?” He Chengjian was a little surprised. “How do you know?”
“That’s for sure. Otherwise, how could she have forgotten everything?” Qin YSo aoguang was very confident in the Qin family’s ancestral surgical techniques. “Shouyi tested her over there, but she really doesn’t remember anything.”
“That’s good too.” He Chengjian sighed and shook his head. “At least nothing out of control has happened.”
His dealings with the other side were top-secret secrets among the Empire’s upper echelons.
What had happened to Gu Nianzhi seven years ago was a complete accident.
If it hadn’t been for his son, he wouldn’t have gone to the other side to bring Gu Nianzhi back.
Qin Yaoguang knew He Chengjian’s intentions, so she followed up and advised, “Didn’t you want her to marry Zhichu? If you remove her memories from that side and wait for Zhichu to come back and rekindle their relationship, Nianzhi will definitely be completely devoted to Zhichu. When that time comes, you can just wait to have a grandchild!”
He Chengjian was obviously moved by her words.
He put his hands behind his back and looked out the window. He was moved. “If she could obediently be with Zhichu over there, I wouldn’t have forced her to come back.”
After a pause, his tone turned sinister. “But I will never allow her to betray him and marry another man!”
“Brother He, please calm down. Zhichu too good to her at the beginning and doted on Nianzhi too much.” When Qin Yaoguang said this, her jaw hardened. It showed that she was a very resolute person who would never waver.
“Yes! Not to mention doting, he’s completely devoted to her!” He Chengjian roared in anger. “How dare he lie to me! I always thought Nianzhi was with him over there!”
It wasn’t until he saw the video from over there and saw the grand engagement ceremony between Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng in red square in Russia that He Chengjian realized that his son had long lost Gu Nianzhi.
He wasn’t with Gu Nianzhi, and he refused to come back. He was still waiting for her to come back to him, and that made He Chengjian very unhappy.
How could his son be such a good-for-nothing?!
“If he can’t bear to do it, then I’ll have to do it for him!” He Chengjian put his hands behind his back. His eyes were extremely cold. “Alright, when Nianzhi wakes up, you can get ready to operate on her.”
“Okay, Brother He,” Qin Yaoguang said softly and took a step forward. “It’s getting late, Brother He…”
Wanting to hold He Chengjian’s arm, she stretched out her hand.
He Chengjian stepped aside and said without looking back, “Go back and rest first. I still have business to take care of.”
Qin Yaoguang’s outstretched hand hung in mid-air.
She was embarrassed for a while before she slowly withdrew her hand and clenched it into a fist. She turned around and walked out of He Chengjian’s study, then gently closed the door.
Wen Shouyi was waiting for her at the door.
Seeing her come out, she hurriedly smiled and said, “Auntie Qin, you’ve really waited for your hard efforts to come to fruition.”
Qin Yaoguang smiled and patted Wen Shouyi’s round face. “You’re the sweetest talker. Alright, it’s getting late. You should go back and rest too.”
“I’ll wait until you fall asleep.” Wen Shouyi held onto Qin Yaoguang’s arm and went back to the room with her. She quickly helped her to sleep.
Qin Yaoguang took a sip of salt water and whispered, “Brother He has agreed to perform Nianzhi’s surgery.”
Wen Shouyi pursed her lips and covered Qin Yaoguang with the blanket. She said reluctantly, “Must we do it? Doesn’t that mean she won’t remember anything? She’ll have to follow Brother Ah-Chu like a stalker all day long.”
She sat by Qin Yaoguang’s bed with her eyes lowered, but her mind was racing.
She didn’t want Gu Nianzhi to have this kind of surgery, not at all.
