After I Lost My Memory, My Wife Started To Chase Me - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Temper

Weishu sat on the long couch, and Beige sat on the single armchair to her left, her brow furrowed in thought. “I don’t know where to begin,” Beige said, unconsciously tapping her hand on the armrest. A visible crease of anxiety was etched on her brow.

Weishu gave her all the time she needed to organize her thoughts about the past. After a while, Beige finally spoke.

“I told you that you came back to the country when you started college. You barely spoke to anyone back then. It’s probably for the best that you don’t remember it, because the state you were in was so suffocating just to watch. At first, I thought you hadn’t adjusted to the environment in China, so I tried everything to take you out and cheer you up.”

Weishu thought Beige would start with the cat, Ding Dong, but instead, she went all the way back to her college days. She instinctively sat up straight, pricked up her ears, and asked, “And then?”

Beige seemed to be recalling an unpleasant memory. She took a deep breath and spoke a little faster. “Later, I realized you just couldn’t be happy. You were always staring blankly into space. One time, I took you to a farmstay, and there was a scruffy little ginger cat there. You played with it all afternoon and even cooked the fish we caught to feed it. That night, you told me, on your own, that you had a little cat back in your other country.”

Weishu was stunned, feeling herself sink into the same joyless atmosphere Beige was describing. She grew even more confused. What was wrong with me back then?

“I went and asked Yu Qing, hoping to bring the cat back to be with you, only to find out that it wasn’t a ‘little cat’ at all,” Beige said, a faint sense of helplessness on her lips. “You had picked up an injured lynx from the mountains and raised it. It got too big to keep at home, so you had to send it to a zoo.”

Weishu’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ shape. “I thought Yu Qing was just making that up!” she said in disbelief. That was a lynx! With its thick hide and strong muscles, it was like a small mountain. One paw could smash a person’s head open. It was a second-class national protected animal!

Weishu suddenly understood. She pointed to Ding Dong’s shadow hiding behind the door. “So… you gave me Ding Dong because of that lynx?”

Beige looked at her for a moment, her gaze lowering slightly, her voice laced with apology. “Pipi, the lynx’s name was Pipi. I went abroad to see it and tried to find a way to bring it back. The country doesn’t allow private ownership of protected animals, so I thought maybe I could figure out a way to open a zoo. But when I went, Pipi was pregnant, and no matter how high I offered to pay, they wouldn’t let her go.”

Beige’s perfect features rarely showed much emotion, but now they were filled with deep apology, even a sense of frustration and helplessness. She looked at Weishu quietly and said softly, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t bring the pet you loved back to you.”

Weishu’s mood immediately lifted. Beige was willing to start a zoo just to bring a lynx back for her. The thought of Beige going to such great lengths to make her happy made her feel incredibly warm inside. “You don’t have to apologize. You really don’t. You’re so good to me. I’m so happy, haha!”

Beige sighed, shaking her head. “I went to ask Yu Qing if there was anything I could do to make you happy. Yu Qing said you’ve always disliked the pet trade and advocated for adoption instead of buying. So I adopted Ding Dong. Its bloodline isn’t pure, and it probably has some domestic cat genes.”

Weishu blinked, leaning forward eagerly. “It’s so cute. So then what? You gave it to me, but I didn’t want it?”

Beige glanced at Ding Dong, her eyes filled with deep emotion. “At first, when you saw the little cat at home, you froze in place for a long time. I couldn’t tell if you liked it, so I gave you Ding Dong. You were clumsy and your arms were rigid, but you held it in your arms all day without saying a word. At night, you even took it to your room to sleep with you.”

As Beige spoke, Weishu imagined a tiny little Ding Dong with a round face and round body, definitely adorable and soft to touch. She must have been overjoyed to have frozen for so long.

“Then what?” Weishu knew there was more to the story.

Beige’s voice dropped, and the expression on her face hardened. “Then you threw the cat back at me and said you wouldn’t keep it.”

“Why?” Weishu asked, shocked.

A tuft of fur peeked out from under the couch, waving back and forth. Beige stared at Ding Dong, who had crept over to eavesdrop, and gently closed her eyes.

“I don’t know,” Beige said. “My attention was completely on you. You were so cold and your expression was full of disgust. I didn’t dare say anything for Ding Dong.”

Weishu was so anxious she wanted to slap her thigh. Her eyes widened. “But you should have asked for a reason! You have to ask! You just let me throw your gift away? Where was your temper?”

Ding Dong saw that no one was paying attention to it. It changed direction and poked its head out to look at Beige. Beige reached out, bent down, and stroked its head, slowly rubbing its chin and poking a small, pointed tooth.

Beige tilted her head to look at Weishu. “I didn’t ask further because I found bl00d on the corner of Ding Dong’s mouth. You noticed me looking and your eyes got even colder and more disgusted. You said you had hit it, and if I wanted Ding Dong to live, I should keep it far away from you.”

What the hell?! Weishu’s brain exploded. She jumped up, her finger trembling as she pointed at Ding Dong. “It? Me? Hitting a cat?”

Beige lowered her gaze. Remembering this clearly made her feel awful.

Weishu cursed under her breath, no longer able to hold back the frustration she’d felt for days. “No, why? Is there something wrong with me, or are you crazy? And you even let Ding Dong call me ‘Mom’? What kind of mother would do that?”

Ding Dong was startled by Weishu’s sudden movement. It flipped over and hid in the sofa, only its eyes visible.

Beige took Weishu’s wrist and pulled her back down onto the couch. She kneaded her tense shoulder muscles and sighed. “Don’t get worked up. Listen to me. I took Ding Dong to the vet. The doctor couldn’t find any injuries and guessed it wasn’t the cat’s bl00d. They just gave it a shot of vitamins and told me to take it back. Later, I found a wound on your wrist.”

Weishu’s expression froze. It took a long time for her to awkwardly return to normal. She whispered, “So I was bitten. Why didn’t you say so earlier… It seems like there was a communication problem between you two. If I were Ding Dong, I’d be cursing you both for being crazy. Where was your temper?!”

Beige patted Weishu’s head, watching her defend the cat. She felt a strange sense of division. “It’s not ‘you two.’ It’s ‘you’ and ‘I’.” She moved her hand down to cup Weishu’s face, smiling. “Are you cursing yourself?”

Weishu rubbed her face, not wanting to admit it. “If what you’re saying is true, then I have to admit I deserve to be cursed. But right now, it’s just your side of the story. Maybe you’ve left something out.”

Weishu just said this to save face, but she didn’t expect Beige to actually nod. “That’s right,” she said casually, “I did hide something.”

“Huh?” Weishu slowly looked up. “What?”

The smile on Beige’s lips faded slightly. “You just asked me where my temper was. You’re right. I have a temper too. You threw Ding Dong back at me, and it was still curled up, with bl00d on its mouth. You said you wouldn’t keep it, and you looked at it and me like we were dogs. I got angry. I did lose my temper.”

At this point, Weishu should have been upset. But she just blinked, unaffected, ready to watch the drama unfold. She looked smug and slightly annoying. “What could you do? Not make me dinner? Not call me ‘honey’? Hide in a room and grow mushrooms?”

Beige didn’t say anything. She just looked at her, her eyes dark and deep. Weishu suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.