As for Zhao Yicheng’s excuses, Xu Yinsheng certainly didn’t believe a word.
She immediately dragged him into the bedroom and pulled out several criminal tools from the bedside cabinet, tossing them in front of him.
Zhao Yicheng lowered his head to look.
A Pink Collar with a bell, a Red Cord as thick as a finger…
Hm, he did have some memory of these.
Of course, when his mental state was unstable, he used that Red Cord to leash Xu Yinsheng’s neck, training and taming little Yin in the villa, calling it Cat Walking with great pride.
Thinking back on it now, he really did feel quite guilty.
He’d been too extreme back then.
Noticing Zhao Yicheng’s odd expression, Xu Yinsheng glanced over and snorted.
As expected, all men are pigs—stubborn and shameless!
“…Did I really do this?”
Zhao Yicheng frowned, still unable to believe he’d do something like that.
If it was truly as Xu Yinsheng described, then either his mental illness had gotten worse and he needed to double his medication, or he’d been completely fooled by Xu Yinsheng.
“Want me to demonstrate for you right now?”
Xu Yinsheng rolled her eyes.
She muttered to herself—if she weren’t the person who’d experienced it, she might’ve been tricked by Zhao Yicheng’s superb acting skills.
Damn, worthy of being an old hand in finance, his heart was as black as coal!
Who could’ve guessed that, upon hearing her sarcasm, Zhao Yicheng would simply nod and immediately hand the two items on the floor to her.
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks a lot.”
Xu Yinsheng gritted her teeth.
Zhao Yicheng, could you be any more shameless?!
Wasn’t this just making her put those things on herself!!
“I might really have amnesia.”
Zhao Yicheng’s face was serious, but his cute, childish face made it impossible to take his solemnity seriously, instead lending it a sense of humor.
Xu Yinsheng: ….
Fine, might as well just go for broke.
She accepted the collar from his hand, and with her slender, jade-like hands, she fastened the Pink Collar securely around her fair, delicate neck.
The metal clasp and bell jingled with her every move.
After putting it on, she blinked adorably at Zhao Yicheng, then slowly lowered her head, stretching her neck adorned with the collar toward him.
Finally, she swept her hair aside to make the clasp even more visible.
“Does this jog your memory now!!”
She squeezed the words out through clenched teeth.
“No impression.”
Zhao Yicheng shook his head.
“No impression?!”
She looked up, glaring angrily at this Little Prince in front of her.
“Mhm.”
He responded lightly.
In that moment, Xu Yinsheng finally exploded: “Zhao Yicheng, you little brat!! How dare you mess with me!! I’m going to fight you!!!!”
As she finished, she lunged to tackle the Little Prince—who only came up to her waist—onto the floor.
But Zhao Yicheng dodged slightly, and not only did she miss, she lost her balance and fell to the floor herself.
“Ah…”
She bared her teeth in pain, tears welling up uncontrollably in her eyes.
Zhao Yicheng reached out to help her up, patting the dust from her clothes.
His expression was calm, with a hint of helplessness:
***
“I really didn’t lie to you, everything I said is true. Since neither of us can convince the other, let’s use evidence to decide.”
“And where would we get evidence?”
Xu Yinsheng asked, rubbing her sore behind.
“We’ll have it soon.”
That night, after a couple of drinks, Zhao Yicheng took a quick shower, slipped into a cute tiger-striped pajama set, and hugged Xu Yinsheng as he drifted off to sleep.
Minute by minute, time ticked by.
Gentle snores began to fill the room, and the child-sized Little Prince version of Zhao Yicheng clung tightly to the Big Sister-like Xu Yinsheng, just like a kid hugging an oversized plush toy, sleeping sweetly.
In the darkness, a pair of pitch-black eyes suddenly opened.
Moonlight poured in at the bedside, casting a small shadow.
The Red Cord, as thick as a finger, was silently grasped in someone’s hand and, without a sound, looped around Xu Yinsheng’s fair neck.
“Ride the horse, ride the horse, giddy up giddy up!”
A childish voice suddenly rang out, unusually clear in the darkness.
A pair of lively eyes snapped wide open—fear, anxiety, struggle, all kinds of emotions surged in those eyes, eventually coalescing into a sigh.
She looked toward a direction aglow with blue light:
“See, I wasn’t lying, was I?”
***
The next morning, Xu Yinsheng—with a red face and a black look—threw the video recording in front of Zhao Yicheng, then left with dignity and returned to her own bedroom.
Ignoring his mischievous attitude, Zhao Yicheng took the tape from the video, inserted it into the computer’s drive, and started playing last night’s footage.
The images were dark, but clear enough to show exactly what happened last night—including his reactions.
At the same time, on the other side.
Xu Yinsheng sat in her bedroom, stewing in anger.
Honestly, it’s not like she couldn’t understand Zhao Yicheng’s hobby of “riding the horse.”
If Zhao Yicheng would just be honest, she could cooperate with him.
Men—they all understand these things.
But his refusal to admit to his scummy behavior just made her sick.
Sitting there, Xu Yinsheng leaned back, flopping onto the bed.
She casually picked up the Black Notebook from the bedside cabinet—the contact method left by her future self.
But ever since the last time she used the shrinking potion, that notebook had played dead.
On a whim, she picked up a pen and wrote a line:
“Are the strange things happening to Zhao Yicheng lately your doing?”
She expected, as usual, that her message would sink like a stone, never receiving a reply.
But right as she finished writing, a graceful line of handwriting appeared directly beneath her question.
“Bingo, didn’t expect you to guess so quickly. What can I say? Not bad for me—my brain works pretty well. .（*1マ≤）ヅ”
After the words, there was an emoticon, all cute and bubbly, making one smile in spite of themselves.
But right now, Xu Yinsheng couldn’t care less.
She waved her pen with a flourish, words pouring out:
“No way, it really was you!”
“Do you have a grudge against me or something! Was it necessary to mess with me this much?!”
“You’re my future self for heaven’s sake. Even if you don’t want to help me, at least don’t kick me when I’m down, alright!!”
All the pent-up emotions in her heart poured out into words, and at that moment, Xu Yinsheng just wanted to vent—let out all her suppressed anger!
“Kiddo~ how can you blame me for this? Who told you to swap the growth potion for the shrinking one?”
Another line appeared on the crisp white page, and at the same time, all of Xu Yinsheng’s furious insults and ancestral curses were wiped out.
On the A4-sized notebook, only this one line of black words remained.
Xu Yinsheng fumed even more. Just as she was about to fire back, a sudden knock sounded at the door.
She quickly closed the Black Notebook, walked to the door with the notebook in hand, and pulled it open.
Outside stood the Little Prince, dressed in adorable children’s clothes, head lowered, holding the video tape in his hands.
“Sorry. Maybe I really am sick.”
“I’ll go see a doctor this afternoon. Let’s sleep in separate rooms for the next few days.”
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