Future Love Contract (GL) - Chapter 15

Zhao Xinyun carefully observed without revealing her thoughts. She felt that Gresya’s tone and expression were just teasing and not trying to test her, which finally allowed her to relax.

“Heavens above! Earth below! My Venus sunrise!” she dramatically threw her hands up and cried, “I’ve waited so many days, looked forward to it for so many days, and it got ruined by a lunatic…”

“What’s the big deal? If it weren’t so late now and you just got out of the hospital needing rest, we could’ve gone back to the plaza from this morning to watch it again,” Gresya replied, spreading her hands. “Or—” she opened her tablet, “we could watch it right here in the car. The small space has its perks too. It’s cozy.”

As she spoke, she reached out. “Let’s have a hug.”

The car was cramped, so a proper hug wasn’t possible. Gresya only put her arm around Zhao Xinyun’s neck. Even so, Zhao Xinyun still felt a bit strange.

“Gresya, thank you so much for everything today… I’m really sorry to have troubled you,” she said softly, resting her head against the seat back.

“What are you talking about? I was the one who caused you trouble to begin with,” Gresya’s gentle voice replied from above.

After a moment’s pause, she let go, and Zhao Xinyun lifted her head, her teasing expression returning. “But seriously, don’t go. I was just kidding earlier. It’s already so late. Even under a normal schedule, you should be resting. We still have work tomorrow. And although Jiang Yongxi has left, I don’t want to take the risk in case he’s still lurking there.”

Hearing this, Gresya nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and anyway, we’ve experienced it once already. Venus sunrises happen every hundred-something days—it’s not like it’s a once-in-a-century spectacle.”

While Zhao Xinyun generally agreed, she couldn’t help but retort, “But what if in a hundred-plus days, we’re already on a spacecraft for the extraterrestrial exploration mission? What then?”

“…Wouldn’t that be even better? Way more interesting than a Venus sunrise,” Gresya sighed, rubbing her forehead.

Even though Zhao Xinyun technically counted as a “patient,” she was the more relaxed one on the way home. The memory she had recovered felt like a heavy stone lifted from her chest.

She’d been thinking about it every day, not to mention the recurring dreams that constantly troubled her. Now that the mystery was partially solved—even if the answer wasn’t pleasant—she at least had some clarity.

As for Jiang Yongxi, she figured he wouldn’t be stirring up trouble for the next few days. After all, he couldn’t have guessed she found a girlfriend on Venus—although it was fake, he didn’t know about the agreement between her and Gresya.

That alone should give him pause while he rethinks his next move. By that time, her memory would likely be mostly restored, and she’d be in a better position to deal with him. If it came to it, she could call the police.

No matter how she looked at it, she had the upper hand. Thinking back, if Gresya hadn’t suggested the fake relationship earlier, things would’ve been much more difficult. She must’ve gotten lucky.

On the other hand, since Gresya didn’t know much and was too cautious to ask, she seemed even more nervous than Zhao Xinyun herself.

Even after arriving home, she kept asking about her physical and mental state. In the end, Zhao Xinyun grew impatient and hurried back to her room to rest.

She fell asleep quickly and, to her surprise, didn’t have the same recurring dream. Zhao Xinyun had expected Jiang Yongxi to show up again in her dream, or perhaps Gresya would make an appearance like in previous ones. But that night, she slept peacefully and dreamlessly—for once.

The next morning, Gresya knocked on her door and brought breakfast directly into her bedroom.

Seeing her, Zhao Xinyun sat up quickly. “I’m not actually sick or injured. You don’t seriously think a single hospital visit means I need this much pampering, do you? If that were the case, doctors and nurses would all need to buy robot housekeepers.”

Gresya didn’t respond right away. She set a tray table in front of the bed and placed the bowls down before saying, “Then just treat it as extra energy for your brain. That way, you’ll be able to come up with better strategies for dealing with that lunatic.”

What does that have to do with how you’re acting now?! Zhao Xinyun grumbled internally.

Even though she was happy to have had a good night’s sleep, she was frustrated that she hadn’t recovered any more memory fragments from her dreams.

Now, she had to force herself to consciously recall past events, but every time she tried, it gave her a headache. Eventually, she’d have to stop trying.

She didn’t want to make a big deal out of a minor problem and cause Gresya to fuss again, so she pretended nothing was wrong and sat in her car on the way to work.

That day, Jiang Yongxi still didn’t show up. On the way home, Zhao Xinyun thought to herself that even though she had memories of her past life, her personality, habits, and demeanor after the “transmigration” were obviously not the same as the original body’s.

She now just hoped Jiang Yongxi, without knowing the truth, would soon realize the differences between her and the original host and voluntarily give up on her—maybe even find a new target that better matched his criteria.

She really did dislike him. Not only because of the inherited memories, but also because of how he behaved at the hospital.

She knew she had the upper hand, but as someone naturally lazy, she didn’t want to deal with such senseless drama. If she could win without a fight—no, better yet, get him to back off on his own, that would be ideal.

And for the next few days, it seemed like she had calculated things right. Jiang Yongxi didn’t show up again, nor did he try to contact her in any way.

Zhao Xinyun originally thought it would be difficult for him to get her contact information on Venus, but once the panic of the first day wore off and she thought about it more carefully, the fact that he found her on Venus—appearing right when she and Gresya were watching the Venus sunrise among a large crowd of couples—felt too perfectly timed to be a coincidence. That thought sent a chill down her spine. How did he find her?

She’d only been on Venus for a month or two. And the time Jiang Yongxi spent finding her might’ve been even shorter.

Of course, if he had discovered she was aboard the Venus-bound ship while still on Earth, it would explain things better.

After all, the combined scale of Venus Base 1 and 2 was only comparable to a small city on Earth or Mars. For someone determined, tracking her down based on her arrival date within a month or two wasn’t entirely impossible.

Which brought her to the next question—what was his goal? There were billions of women on Earth.

Why was Jiang Yongxi so fixated on her? Why did he persist despite all her rejections?

Zhao Xinyun felt that this went beyond simply “falling for someone.” She wasn’t good at suspecting others’ motives, but now she couldn’t help wondering if he had some deeper purpose in getting close to her.

That night, she again slept dreamlessly. It seemed her journey to recover her memories was going to be a marathon.

Of course, if she saw Jiang Yongxi again—like the first close encounter on Venus or the second time in the hospital—maybe, as some people online had suggested, familiar people or events could trigger memory recall.

But Zhao Xinyun didn’t want to go down that route. In fact, her current thinking was: she’d rather never regain the rest of her memories than see Jiang Yongxi again—though she knew that was unlikely.

Then, the turning point came—completely out of the blue.

That day, Gresya came to pick her up after work, her whole face beaming with excitement, like she was lit from within.

Seeing how happy she was, Zhao Xinyun casually asked what had happened. The answer was both thrilling and surprising:

“The extraterrestrial exploration program is about to begin! In just a few days, we should be able to start registering!”

The moment she heard that exciting news, Zhao Xinyun practically jumped on the spot, instantly forgetting all about Jiang Yongxi. “Really?!”

“Of course it’s real—absolutely!” Gresya grinned. “And I just thought of another reason for you to join: it’s the perfect way to escape Jiang Yongxi! I mean—if you’re willing to sign up, of course. Even with current ship speeds, it’d take at least a year or two to return to Venus. By then, he’ll probably have forgotten all about you.”

“You’re saying I’m not charming enough?” Zhao Xinyun raised an eyebrow.

Seeing Gresya’s confused expression, she quickly waved her hand and added, “I’m joking! I just think he seems like the type who won’t stop once he’s made up his mind. This plan might not work.”

Gresya frowned. “Well, at least you’ll get a long stretch of peace and quiet. Oh, and the official announcement hasn’t come out yet—I heard it from Luo Peichen.”

“Oh, her?” Zhao Xinyun’s face turned worried. “Do you think she’ll disqualify me for mental instability or something?”

“No way. Where’s your head at?” Gresya said. “Besides, she doesn’t have anything to do with the selection committee. If she did, do you think you’d even be allowed to see her right now?”

“Why not?” Zhao Xinyun asked curiously.

“There won’t be that many people handling selection. If she were one of them, and the exploration program is starting soon, would she still be stuck here at Base One doing ordinary psychological consultations? And besides, your memory has already returned, hasn’t it?”