Chapter 26 — If you dare to forget what happened tonight, then…
The bad news: Xie Hejing had been working too hard and ended up in the hospital.
He had a stomachache and drove himself to the hospital.
He’d suffered from this condition for a long time, but this time the pain was especially severe. Even the doctor was amazed at his tolerance for it.
By the time Nan Xu found out, it was already afternoon. She was in the middle of a job interview.
She had just walked out of the office building, decided the company wasn’t a good fit for her, and was scrolling on her phone to look for more openings when she happened to see a message from Aunt Zhang.
She hurriedly took a cab to the hospital and was met with the sight of a pale-faced Xie Hejing.
Her brows furrowed. She wanted to scold him a little, but with Uncle and Aunt Zhang both there, it wasn’t her place to say anything.
Nan Xu held her tongue until evening. When the couple finally went home to prepare dinner and left her to watch over him, she finally called out softly, “Brother.”
Xie Hejing looked completely unfazed. “Go on, say it. Your face is all scrunched up.”
Nan Xu kept her expression stern. “Your lifestyle is way too unhealthy. It’s lucky nothing serious happened this time, but what if something does? What would Uncle and Aunt do then?”
It was clearly a lecture, yet somehow Xie Hejing looked… pleased.
He bit the inside of his lip to stop himself from laughing.
A few seconds later, he sighed, lowering his gaze. “I can’t help it. Without an assistant, I have to handle everything myself.”
His expression even looked a little pitiful.
Nan Xu blinked in surprise. “It’s been days already, and you still haven’t hired anyone?”
Last time, after weighing her options, she had turned down his offer—she thought she needed to keep looking for a better position. She hadn’t expected that he still hadn’t found an assistant.
Xie Hejing, face perfectly serious, said, “No one suitable.”
“Plenty of people must be applying to your company. And you still can’t find one decent assistant?” Nan Xu sounded doubtful.
“An assistant has to be with me all the time. Professional skills aren’t enough—they also need to be someone I can work well with,” Xie Hejing explained.
Hearing this vague and picky standard, Nan Xu couldn’t help but complain, thinking of all the rude people she’d run into during her job hunt. “You’re hiring an assistant, not a partner. Why make it so complicated? Someone competent should be good enough.”
But at that, Xie Hejing’s expression hardened. He said each word with emphasis: “I will not settle.”
Nan Xu instinctively drew her neck back.
She hadn’t found the right job herself, and now Xie Hejing hadn’t found the right person either. Lowering her eyes in thought, she wondered—should she just take the job as his assistant?
But being his assistant meant sticking close to him all the time. She worried…
Her sighs and side glances eventually caught his attention. He asked, “Nan Xu, do you realize you’re completely incapable of hiding what’s on your mind?”
That shut her up. Left with no escape, she muttered reluctantly, “President Xie, I suppose I count as ‘working well with you,’ don’t I?”
Xie Hejing arched a brow. “Barely.”
Nan Xu: “…”
“If… if I were to be your assistant, then you mustn’t—”
She cut herself off.
Xie Hejing frowned. “Say it.”
“You—” Nan Xu’s cheeks grew warm, and before she could stop it, the memory of that night in the kitchen flashed through her mind. She drew in a breath and blurted out, “You can’t just kiss me for no reason.”
For no reason.
So… if there was a reason, then it would be allowed?
Xie Hejing was quietly dissecting her words, a faint smile flickering in his eyes.
Seeing his silence, Nan Xu gathered her courage and pressed, “Well? What do you say?”
At her question, Xie Hejing put on a perfectly serious expression. “We have a proper working relationship. Please don’t entertain any wild assumptions. And also…”
He deliberately mimicked her, stopping halfway.
Nan Xu prompted, “And also what?”
Xie Hejing narrowed his eyes slightly—like a predator lying in wait, though on the surface he looked calm, even harmless, all serious composure as he let her step into the trap herself.
“And also, don’t go imagining things about me.”
Nan Xu’s eyes widened. It took her a long moment before she managed to stammer out, “As if I would.”
“Besides,” Xie Hejing said, “there’s something I think I should make clear to you.”
Nan Xu, not thinking much of it, deleted the job postings on her phone without even looking up. “Go ahead.”
“The first time—it was you who kissed me.”
Her hand froze mid-motion. She stared blankly, caught off guard.
. . . . .
It had been the night after the college entrance exams, when the class organized a gathering.
Xie Hejing hadn’t gone—he had something else to do. But Nan Xu, thinking there might not be many more chances to join such events, decided to attend.
She had barely arrived when she spotted Wen Qi in the crowd. Wen Qi waved her over and motioned for her to sit beside her.
Nan Xu wasn’t familiar with the environment, but Wen Qi was bold and outgoing, pulling her into games and piling food on her plate.
Later, Wen Qi even coaxed her into drinking.
Flustered, Nan Xu refused, but Wen Qi slung an arm around her shoulders, laughing. “Xuxu, didn’t you just have your birthday a few days ago? We’re adults now! Don’t you want to at least know what alcohol tastes like? Don’t you want to find out what your tolerance is?”
Hearing that, Nan Xu wavered. She kept refusing, but Wen Qi’s persistence wore her down, and she finally agreed to try a fruit wine.
One sip turned into another, and soon it spiraled out of control.
Nan Xu had never had a good tolerance. It didn’t take much before she was dizzy and unsteady, slumping against Wen Qi’s shoulder.
Wen Qi clearly hadn’t expected her to get drunk so easily. A few small glasses, and she was out. Alarmed, Wen Qi didn’t dare drink more herself, afraid they’d both end up wasted.
She carefully rested Nan Xu’s head on her lap and told the noisy crowd to give them some space, staying beside her protectively.
When Nan Xu regained a sliver of awareness, she started insisting on going home—but stubbornly refused to tell Wen Qi where she lived.
Anxious, Wen Qi tried asking around, but quickly realized—no one would know Nan Xu’s address.
After much coaxing, Nan Xu finally mumbled out the name of a neighborhood.
The moment Wen Qi heard it, she froze. Wasn’t that where Xie Hejing lived?
They lived in the same neighborhood!!!
But there was no time to process the shock. She called a cab and went along with Nan Xu. When they reached the entrance, she still wanted to escort her to the door.
But Nan Xu adamantly refused. In the end, they made a compromise: once Nan Xu got home, she would send Wen Qi a voice message, and only then could Wen Qi leave.
Nan Xu had walked this path countless times before. Swaying, she made it to the front door, leaned against it, and fumbled with her phone to send Wen Qi a voice message.
She was drunk, her head spinning, her words halting and broken as she forced them out.
“Qiqi, I…I’m home. You—you should head back too. Be…careful.”
Only after receiving the message did Wen Qi finally feel at ease enough to leave.
The house was pitch dark. Aunt Zhang was still working overtime at the office, and Xie Hejing hadn’t returned yet either. Leaning against the entryway wall, Nan Xu stood there for a long time, her legs feeling impossibly heavy. She was too lazy to move.
That was, until she noticed a shadow drawing closer and closer.
She tried hard to open her eyes wide, but the lights were off and the alcohol was making her head spin. All she could make out was a vague, moving shape in front of her—some kind of “unknown creature.”
Drinking had made her bolder. She grinned and cheerfully greeted it.
“Hello there!”
Xie Hejing: “…”
He had been lying comfortably on the sofa when the door suddenly opened. Hearing Nan Xu’s voice, he realized she had come home—and had been standing in the entryway all this time, doing who knew what.
He came over to take a look. One whiff of alcohol, the slur in her voice—it was obvious. He frowned. “Nan Xu, you’ve been drinking? You dare drink?”
The “unknown creature” could even talk. Nan Xu nodded. “Mm… tastes awful. But there were one or two flavors that weren’t bad. I’ll bring you some next time.”
“…”
Seeing her still savoring it, Xie Hejing grew more annoyed. “What are you doing drinking? Go back to your room and wash off that reek of alcohol.”
When pulling her didn’t work, he sighed, ready to just scoop her up and carry her upstairs.
But the moment he drew close, Nan Xu, muddled and half-asleep, felt the coolness of his presence washing over her. She mumbled something under her breath, and then—her arms looped around his waist.
Xie Hejing’s body went rigid. He froze in place, the side of his waist suddenly burning hot, as if on fire. Even so, his voice was deliberately flat as he said, “Nan Xu.”
But the “drunkard” didn’t respond. Her breathing had already evened out, as if she’d fallen asleep right there, clinging to him.
Irritation prickled at him. He bit down on the inside of his lip, glancing sideways at her. She was fast asleep against him, eyes closed. When he tried to shift, the “drunk” tightened her hold, as if protesting his movement.
Xie Hejing’s temper flared. He pried her arms off, though in truth, she hadn’t been holding on with much strength—just the stubborn persistence of a drunk.
He coughed lightly, bent down, and shook her a little. “Hey, Nan Xu. I’ll take you upstairs. Can you wash up and change by yourself? Don’t go suffocating under the covers.”
But Nan Xu, sunk deep into sleepiness, only shook her head, trying to burrow back into him. “Don’t bother me. I’m sleepy…”
She slipped right through his grasp.
Xie Hejing exhaled sharply, bending down again, still trying to reason with this “drunk ghost.”
That was when her legs gave out. She stumbled forward—landing squarely against his lips.
Xie Hejing’s heart lurched violently.
Nan Xu, in her drunken state, was oblivious. All she registered was the cool, soft press of something against her mouth—like chilled, sweet jelly. Instinctively, she gave it a bite.
The wires in Xie Hejing’s brain went off with a violent crackle.
He shot upright, taking a hurried step back.
But as he retreated, Nan Xu leaned forward. Her unsteady steps left her swaying, nearly falling, and every so often he had to catch her.
No matter how he tried, the distance between them never widened—it stayed perilously close.
The nerves in his head throbbed with a dangerous rhythm.
Until, with his next step, the back of his leg hit the sofa. There was nowhere else to go. He fell back into it—Nan Xu tumbling down with him, right onto his chest.
Xie Hejing let out a muffled groan, his whole body burning—especially across his chest.
It took him a long while to steady himself. Staring up at the pitch-dark ceiling, he could clearly hear the pounding of his own heartbeat—fast, too fast.
Somewhere in that midnight silence, it felt as if something fragile yet fiery was blooming. His lips pressed into a stubborn line as he asked, almost against his own will:
“Nan Xu… do you like me?”
But Nan Xu had no awareness at all. She was like some drunken rogue teasing an upstanding man, humming carelessly, wriggling until she found a comfortable spot, and then sinking into deep sleep.
With no answer forthcoming, Xie Hejing’s face darkened. He carried her back to her room, then waited on the sofa until Zhang Huiwan came home. He explained what had happened, asking her to help Nan Xu change clothes and wash up.
After Zhang Huiwan was done, she returned to her room—never imagining that Xie Hejing would go back again.
He opened Nan Xu’s door and stood in the doorway.
Looking at her sleeping peacefully, utterly unaware, a sudden surge of impulse pushed him toward the bed.
He leaned down, wanting to kiss her. He even wanted to wake her—so she would see him kissing her, so he could savor the look of panic on her face.
And then, press her for an answer.
Why she had provoked him.
Whether she truly liked him or not.
But just as his thoughts blazed, he stopped short at the last moment.
After a long struggle with himself, he shut his eyes tight and brushed a light, tender kiss across her forehead instead.
The words he spoke, however, came out edged with steel: “If you dare forget tonight, then don’t ever see me again.”
As if fate itself were echoing his threat, Nan Xu really did forget the whole night after she woke. And the two of them… truly stayed apart for a long time.
Yet that sentence lingered in Xie Hejing’s heart, circling endlessly, never once spoken aloud.
Not until the day he saw Nan Xu again.
Even now, listening to him recount it, Nan Xu was completely stunned. “I—I…”
Of course, Xie Hejing hadn’t told her everything. But every detail of how she’d “taken advantage” of him—he remembered it all, vividly.
Nan Xu stammered “I…” for a long time, unable to form the rest of her words. Shock coursed through her. That she had done something like that while drunk—could there have been more? Had Xie Hejing spared her the details out of embarrassment?
Cautiously, she asked, “I… didn’t do anything else, did I?”
At her words, Xie Hejing’s gaze loosened, his tone drawling, careless:
“What else did you want to do?”
“For example… possess me?”