When Li Xingya realized that the two million she owed all came from the woman in front of her, the expression on her face finally began to crack.
And that “Sister Li Xingya” made her mind more flustered than ever.
‘Why?’
‘Why had I searched through the original owner’s phone and only found records of the debt in her notes, but never any information about this woman? Not even chat logs… nor payment receipts.’
As she thought, Li Xingya understood.
‘Ah… before committing suicide, the original owner had blocked this woman? And even deleted the chat records.’
‘But why go that far? To leave herself a better reputation after death?’
‘The original owner probably never imagined that after she died, I would inexplicably inherit this body.’
‘After all, as a depression patient, I really couldn’t fathom her thoughts.’
‘Rather, I’ve never been good at guessing others’ thoughts. I wasn’t good at dealing with people.’
‘In my previous life, as a diligent corporate slave, I spent most of my time at my workstation, living a two-point life between home and company.’
‘So what should I do now…’
“Li Xingya.”
“Yes.”
Li Xingya replied instinctively, her mind pulled back from wandering to reality.
Seeing the confusion in Li Xingya’s eyes, the woman’s expression visibly turned disgusted.
“Even now, you’re still going to pretend you don’t know me?”
“No… well, okay. The earlier claim about rebirth was too absurd, and I think you wouldn’t believe it, so let’s change the approach—I really have lost my memory.”
“What?”
“Four days ago, I only just found out that my name is Li Xingya.”
Li Xingya was still using what could be called an extremely poor communication style from her previous work life.
“Amnesia? Yes! It’s amnesia… Would that be easier for you to accept?”
Li Xingya thought she was making an effort to communicate.
She was trying to find a resolution both sides could accept.
***
Sitting inside the extended black car, Li Xingya, who had been forcibly dragged away, still couldn’t figure out where things had gone wrong.
From beginning to end, her attitude had been completely sincere.
She’d even told the woman in front of her that she was a reborn person.
The woman looked at Li Xingya sitting opposite her—pretty enough, but skinny and small.
She couldn’t connect this girl with the “Sister Li Xingya” online.
This was just a sixteen-year-old brat, still a minor.
She’d actually been tricked by someone like this.
“Li Xingya.”
“Yes.”
Just like a computer boot-up voice, the woman thought.
“Since you’re dead set on pretending not to know me, let’s start over. My surname is Jiang, my given name is Chiyue. I’m twenty years old. This time, make sure you remember my name, understand?”
On the surface, it was an ordinary tone.
But to Li Xingya’s ears, there was a hint of threat in those words.
Li Xingya forced herself to calm down and replied, “Understood… Miss Jiang.”
“Not Miss Jiang.”
Beneath her sunglasses, Jiang Chiyue’s eyes seemed to dissect Li Xingya.
“Just call me what you used to… Sister Li Xingya.”
Jiang Chiyue clung to the past, still obsessed with that title “Sister Li Xingya.”
Li Xingya: …
‘But I really don’t know how the original owner used to address Jiang Chiyue.’
‘In my previous life, I didn’t have such close friends, so I can’t figure out how to address her either.’
‘…So troublesome.’
‘A creditor again.’
‘And an internet girlfriend or something.’
‘Speaking of which, how could a mafia princess like her… get into an online relationship and be swindled out of two million by a sixteen-year-old?’
‘She must be too starved for love.’
‘She should just get a job. If she puts all her energy into work, she won’t have time to think about irrelevant things.’
‘Ah… speaking of work.’
‘I feel an itch—I kind of want to go to work.’
‘The reason Li Xingya spent all her time at her workstation in her previous life wasn’t just that she was avoiding interactions with others, but more importantly, she actually liked working.’
‘Maybe—that’s what they call a born workhorse?’
‘Anyway, for the current Li Xingya, she really wants to find a job and slowly pay off Jiang Chiyue’s debt, and finally cut all ties with this mafia princess.’
‘This ambiguous relationship line… is the most troublesome.’
“Li Xingya.”
“Yes.”
It was another boot-up-style conversation.
‘Jiang Chiyue understood that Li Xingya had drifted off again.’
‘She’s so different from online,’ Jiang Chiyue thought.
Li Xingya’s online persona was that of a twenty-five-year-old urban beauty, a gentle older sister who was great at comforting people.
Although this sister was a bit poor and always found various reasons to borrow money from Jiang Chiyue.
Until four days ago.
Jiang Chiyue suddenly couldn’t contact Li Xingya anymore.
She discovered that all means of communication between them had been unilaterally blocked by the other party.
So Jiang Chiyue decided to go and grab her in person.
Finding an ordinary person… things like that were pretty easy for Jiang Chiyue.
But when she saw the file with the name Li Xingya on it, she froze.
‘Who is this sixteen-year-old brat? Where’s my Sister Li Xingya?’
‘Well, she’s actually pretty good-looking, but—where’s my Sister Li Xingya?’
With a strange feeling in her heart, when Jiang Chiyue arrived at the door, when she saw Li Xingya answering it, her hanging heart finally died.
“Ha—!”
Inside the car.
Jiang Chiyue let out a long sigh.
“…This is really damn annoying.”
“Huh?”
Li Xingya was startled.
“Sorry, did you just… say something?”
‘If I heard correctly, some very bad words came out of Jiang Chiyue’s red, soft lips.’
“Nothing at all.”
Jiang Chiyue said coldly.
“I see.”
“So—have you remembered what to call me?”
“I’m very sorry… I hope you can understand this. After all… it’s amnesia. Please.”
Li Xingya forced herself to say.
What kept her going was still that manly spirit inside her.
‘Since I’ve decided to use amnesia as my excuse, I have to play the part all the way.’
‘Until I find a stable job, I’ll consider “playing” the amnesiac Li Xingya as my job.’
‘Thinking like that, even in such a terrible situation, I can still feel a little comfort.’
But Jiang Chiyue was different.
Hearing Li Xingya’s reply that sounded so much like a job, she grew more and more annoyed.
‘Pretending to have amnesia?’
‘Fine.’
‘Let’s see how long you can keep it up.’
“Li Xingya.”
“Yes.”
Li Xingya slightly raised her eyes to look at Jiang Chiyue, who was a head taller than her.
“You know, back when we were online, we made a promise—that as soon as we met, we’d hold each other and have a deep… kiss?”
Li Xingya: ?