Chapter Ten: Don't Let Him Come Any Closer

After a whole night of IV drips, Ye Xingchen’s allergic symptoms had nearly subsided, so he went through the discharge procedures and left the hospital with a bag of medicine. However, his lips were still swollen, and his tongue felt thick and clumsy.

“When is the car coming?” He was about to lose his mind. Was there really such a shortage of cars at the hospital entrance?

Ye Mengxia glanced at the gloomy Ye Xingchen and pulled a silk scarf from her backpack. “Why don’t you use this to cover up?”

“No way, it looks awful.” The looks those people just gave him—had they never seen an allergy before?

Suddenly, Ye Xingchen turned and stared at her. “Call your family’s driver to pick us up.”

“Okay.” Ye Mengxia hurriedly pulled out her phone, but after a few minutes, there was no response from the other end. She handed him the phone. “No one’s answering.”

Yan Mu and Lin Manting, standing nearby, burst into laughter.

“This is a hospital, after all. Your luck is something else,” Yan Mu teased.

Ye Xingchen shot them a murderous glare. “Shut up.” Only then did they quiet down, but his disheveled state really was too funny.

Twenty minutes later, Ye Xingchen resigned himself to fate, quietly took the silk scarf, wrapped it around his face, and leaned back against a tree, utterly defeated.

At that moment, Su Yichen pointed ahead and said urgently, “A car’s coming.”

All five of them quickly stood up. Ye Xingchen was the first to rush over, but as he was about to climb in, a fat man squeezed past, grabbed him with one hand, and leisurely sat down. The man was obviously some sort of street tough, a dragon tattoo winding up his neck and arm, not sparing Ye Xingchen even a glance.

Would Ye Xingchen back down? Not a chance. He immediately started arguing with the man. The driver, afraid of trouble, tried to mediate, “How about you all sit together?”

Ye Xingchen wasn’t stubborn for the sake of it. He was just about to agree when, just as Ye Mengxia was standing beside him, the man shoved her as he got out of the car, almost knocking her over.

Luckily, Su Yichen caught her from behind.

Su Yichen stepped in front of Ye Mengxia, his gaze turning icy. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Damn it, you dare lay a hand on my sister?” Ye Xingchen exploded and started throwing punches. Yan Mu wasn’t about to stand by, either—he grabbed the man’s arm, and with a few moves, the guy was pathetically sprawled on the ground.

All those years of taekwondo training paid off.

“Idiot, dare to lay hands on my sister? Do you even know who I am?”

In the end, they didn’t get in the car—the driver had long since fled. But only a few minutes later, another car arrived. When they got in, they saw someone unexpected: Lu Chengze was driving.

Ye Xingchen asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to pick up Mengxia. We agreed yesterday to go to the amusement park together today, didn’t we, Mengxia?” Lu Chengze looked at her with gentle eyes.

Mengxia nodded sweetly. “Mm-hmm.”

Su Yichen looked at her, saying nothing.

“This is a date between me and Mengxia. Why are you all getting in? Or do you mean to tell me, Ye Xingchen, that you don’t even have a car?” Lu Chengze continued, “Also, what’s that thing you’ve wrapped around your mouth?”

“None of your business.”

“Ye Mengxia, get out of the car,” Ye Xingchen snapped, grabbing her wrist, but she shook him off.

“No, I want to go have fun with Aze.”

“Ye. Meng. Xia! You are not allowed to go out with him alone, understand? Last time you came back alone, wasn’t it Su Yichen who picked you up? Have you forgotten?” Ye Xingchen’s temper flared.

Lu Chengze shot him a look of annoyance. “I’ve already explained last time to Mengxia. I had something urgent…”

“Oh, so you left her to walk home in the rain?”

“Don’t be fooled by this bastard,” Ye Xingchen warned.

Yan Mu, on the side, felt unjustly dragged into it again.

Seeing the situation get out of hand, Lin Manting quickly grabbed Mengxia’s arm. She didn’t want her friend to revert to her old self. “Mengxia, I’ll go with you.”

Mengxia looked at them and, for once, agreed. “Aze, why don’t we all go together? Maybe they haven’t been to the amusement park before. And if we wait, the lines will only get longer.”

Her voice was soft. Su Yichen turned to look at her, his eyes growing dark and unreadable.

Lu Chengze frowned, clearly displeased, but finally nodded. “Fine, but there are too many people. Su Yichen, you get out.”

“No way. We’re all going,” Ye Xingchen insisted.

“It’ll be overloaded, don’t you get it?” Lu Chengze retorted.

Yan Mu quickly raised his hand. “I’ll get out.”

Su Yichen looked at Mengxia. “Ye Mengxia, do you really want to go with him?”

“Of course I do. Hurry up and get out,” she replied.

Su Yichen looked her in the eye, said “Alright,” and got out of the car.

Lu Chengze sneered. “Heh, what a leech. Mengxia, is he clinging to you?”

“I don’t know.” For some reason, Mengxia suddenly felt a wave of irritation she couldn’t explain.

Up front, Ye Xingchen kicked the seat in annoyance. “Are we leaving or not?” Idiot, just wait and see what I’ll do to you later.

The four of them arrived at the amusement park, which was bustling with people and filled with attractions. Lin Manting immediately started dragging Ye Xingchen everywhere, insisting they try everything.

“Ye Xingchen, let’s ride the Ferris wheel,” she suggested.

“What’s so fun about spinning around? If you like, go ride the carousel instead.”

“Oh, come on—are you afraid of heights?”

“Who said that? Fine, let’s ride. Just don’t cry and cling to me later.”

Lu Chengze took Mengxia’s hand. “Mengxia, let’s do this one too.”

“Alright.”

So the four of them went off to play, full of excitement.

Ye Xingchen ended up vomiting terribly. Even Lu Chengze looked a bit pale.

Mengxia laughed and asked, “Manting, do you want to go again?”

“Sure, sure!”

Just as Lin Manting was handing Ye Xingchen a bottle of water, Mengxia took it first, standing in front of Ye Xingchen and speaking softly.

“Ye Xingchen, go with Manting one more time.”

“No… I can’t.”

She frowned and continued, “But when you brought other people here before, didn’t you go on it several times?”

“When did I ever—ugh…” Ye Xingchen couldn’t finish before retching.

Lin Manting looked a little disappointed, but she wasn’t insistent. “Forget it, let’s try something else.”

They headed to the haunted house. Mengxia and Lin Manting led the way, feeling the thrill. Suddenly, a masked ghoul jumped out. Before they could react, Ye Xingchen, who had been clinging to their clothes, bolted out, vanishing without a trace.

When they emerged, they found him standing in the sunlight, catching his breath. Seeing them approach, he quickly put on a fake smile. “So, where to next?”

Mengxia sighed softly. “Forget it. If you’re this scared, it’s not fair to make you come with us.”

“Oh, good.” Ye Xingchen breathed a sigh of relief.

Mengxia took Lin Manting’s arm and walked ahead, saying, “When you look for a boyfriend, make sure he’s brave. That way, you can try everything.”

Lin Manting nodded. “You’re right.”

“Wait! I’m fine, really. Where are we going next?”

Mengxia smiled slightly and pointed ahead. “Let’s try the rapid water ride, what do you think?”

“Ye. Meng. Xia!”

“Never mind, then—Aze can come with us,” she replied.

Lu Chengze swallowed. “I’m a little thirsty. I’ll get you all something to drink…”

“I’ll go too,” Ye Xingchen said.

Mengxia glanced at him. “Aze is going to buy drinks. Why can’t you ever make decisions? Can’t you just come with us?”

Lin Manting pulled Mengxia aside. “Forget it. If he doesn’t want to, let’s just go ourselves.”

“I just… I…”

But before he could finish, the two girls walked off hand-in-hand. In the end, Ye Xingchen followed after them anyway.

So why had he refused just now?

They played well into the afternoon, nearly three o’clock, without having had a proper meal. Mengxia called for a car but didn’t let Lu Chengze drive them.

In the car, her expression was indifferent. She took out a motion sickness pill for Ye Xingchen, whose face was already a bit pale. After dropping Lin Manting off first, the driver was about to take Ye Xingchen home, but he shook his head.

“I’m not going home. I’ll stay at your place tonight. You don’t mind, do you?”

“That’s fine.”

Ye Xingchen slumped weakly against the seat and asked the question he’d been wanting to ask most. “Ye Mengxia, what are you really thinking? Ever since you lost your memory, you’re hot and cold. If you don’t like Su Yichen, don’t string him along. Just reject him, flat out, and he won’t keep working at the internet café near your house every day.”

“You wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore, wouldn’t that be better?”

Mengxia was stunned for a moment, her expression growing somber. After a while, she finally spoke. “Let me ask you—why did you insist on coming with us to the amusement park today?”

“Wasn’t it for your safety?”

“Really? That’s not like you. Normally, you’d just drag me out or drive off and leave me behind,” she said evenly.

Ye Xingchen was speechless. “I… yeah… I…” He couldn’t finish. By his nature, he should have beaten up Lu Chengze on the spot.

Mengxia said, “In the future, don’t ask questions like that anymore. And as for Su Yichen… it’s my fault. Don’t let him get close to me again…” She opened the window, closed her eyes, and leaned back against the seat, finally able to breathe.

The suffocating air eased, just a little.