Side Story: Lu Mingqi 2

3.

Memory disorder.

It sounded a lot more reasonable than the whole “awakening memories” explanation.

After a brief period of doubt, Jiang Yueling accepted it surprisingly quickly.

She said it didn’t really matter. Ever since she’d escaped that supposed “fate of the villainous female lead,” her spirits had clearly been much better.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t doing nearly as well.

She was still my wife, but somehow…

she didn’t seem to love me the way she used to.

If I could have chosen, I would have wanted her memories to come back as soon as possible—to have her put me on the same level as those gold bars she loved so much.

Thinking about it now, it was almost funny.

The youngest spent all day getting jealous over one man after another, while I spent my days competing with gold bars and stacks of cash.

Jiang Yueling treated money like her life.

She used to treat me almost the same way.

I was the other half of her life.

She was sensitive.

Perhaps she’d noticed how worried I was.

And clearly, she didn’t want to watch me spiral like that, so she started trying to cheer me up.

The problem was, she was terrible at this sort of thing.

Usually, I was the one comforting her.

Rather than overthink it, she simply asked me what I wanted for my birthday and promised to prepare a surprise.

I’d never heard anyone describe a surprise that way before.

But coming from her, somehow, it made perfect sense.

I thought about it for a while.

And then I actually came up with something.

When I moved out on my own during college, my grandfather transferred ownership of a duplex in the city center to me.

While my parents were helping me move, they happened to find the little “marriage contract” in a box of old toys.

They even teased me for knowing how to “plant the seeds of romance” from such a young age.

For more than ten years, my memories of Jiang Yueling had gradually faded, leaving behind only the image of a chubby, adorable little girl.

But when I looked at that yellowed piece of paper again, the memories buried beneath the dust suddenly came rushing back.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about them.

Looking back, she had simply been the little girl from next door I used to play with.

That was why I told her that the first time we met had been at her brother’s birthday party.

That night, she came running down the stairs and crashed straight into me.

Apparently, her habit of not watching where she was going had started that early.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

She straightened herself up and spoke in a soft, pleasant voice.

At that moment, I thought…

Maybe that collision had hit me somewhere deeper than just my body.

But Jiang Yueling didn’t remember.

She actually didn’t remember.

It was obvious from our blind date that she liked what she saw the moment she looked at me. Her eyes had lit up immediately, and she was clearly quite pleased with my appearance.

It was fine.

In the end, she had still become Mrs. Lu.

And if we counted from that little marriage contract, she had technically been the one to make the first move.

So that made things fair.

I asked her to sign another promise, this one guaranteeing that she would never leave me.

I knew it had no legal standing whatsoever, but the psychological effect was immediate.

She just didn’t understand.

She was far too practical, always convinced that aside from houses, money, and gold, nothing else really mattered.

I didn’t exactly disagree with her philosophy.

At the end of the day, this world still ran on material things.

I worked and made money.

If not for that, what lofty ideal was I supposed to be chasing?

If the company hadn’t belonged to my family, I probably would have been coming in late and leaving early years ago.

I wasn’t short on money.

Before I got together with Jiang Yueling, I wasn’t particularly interested in making more of it either.

My older brother was the heir the family had chosen and groomed from an early age. He was exceptionally capable, practically flawless, and more than capable of carrying the entire family on his shoulders in the future.

Because of that, our family never placed too much pressure on me or the youngest.

As long as we followed our older brother’s lead and didn’t cause trouble, they were satisfied.

If either of us could make something of ourselves, all the better.

When I went on my blind date with Jiang Yueling, I asked her what she liked.

Her eyes lit up immediately.

“I like money!”

“…Money is nice.”

She looked at me as though she’d finally found her soulmate.

“Right? How is anyone supposed to live without money these days?”

If I hadn’t known she was the eldest daughter of the Jiang family, I would have thought she’d grown up dirt-poor.

She raised an eyebrow and gave a haughty little huff.

“Do you have money? If you don’t, I’m not marrying you.”

I nodded.

“Not an unlimited amount, but enough to take care of you.”

“Then you’d better work harder from now on. I’m expensive.”

What else could I possibly say?

She’d already made herself perfectly clear.

If I didn’t throw myself into my career, how was I supposed to marry her?

After we got married, I discovered that she wasn’t exactly thrilled about how much I worked either.

Once, I happened to see her texting her friends.

“My husband’s true love is his job.”

Before I could even get offended, she sent another message.

“But he works so hard because he has to support me. Oh my God, he loves me so much!”

“I’m the happiest freeloader in the world!”

I was standing right behind her when I saw it.

I nearly jumped.

She noticed me immediately.

Then she jumped up, wrapped her arms around my neck, and acted spoiled.

“Hubby, you came home two minutes late today. I missed you.”

My irritation vanished instantly.

I caught her before she could lose her balance.

“Is your true love really your job?”

She froze for a second before giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Of course not. You’re my true love.”

“What about you?”

“Who else could I love besides you?”

That answer sounded very pleasing.

Seeing that I no longer looked angry, she took advantage of the opportunity and continued.

“I love you the most, hubby. How did I get so lucky to marry such a wonderful man? I must have saved the world in my past life.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Do you want to buy something again?”

She beamed and ran off to grab her tablet.

“Zhang Yong recommended a few investment opportunities to me. Take a look.”

“You really are obsessed with money.”

I took the tablet from her.

“If only you loved me as much as you love money.”

She answered without hesitation.

“I do. Money is half my life, and you’re the other half.”

“Then I’m honored.”

She nodded firmly.

“Good. You should be.”

I looked at her for a moment before finally admitting it.

That answer made me quite happy.

All right.

If I could stand on equal footing with money in her heart, I’d say I was doing pretty well.

[THE END]