Chapter 118

“At first, when I told those people you were my girlfriend, I still felt a bit guilty. But later, I slowly started to believe it myself. Whenever someone asked me who you were, I’d confidently say you were my girlfriend and that we went to the same school. Those people all looked at me with envy, saying my girlfriend was so beautiful.”

Yang Shunsheng had also noticed that when Chen Momo woke up, she genuinely didn’t remember anything that had happened before. Upon waking, she had repeatedly asked him who she was and where she was.

“I was worried at first, but then that worry turned into audacity. I realized you truly had amnesia, so I spun a web of lies to deceive you,” Yang Shunsheng said, a look of remorse washing over his face.

He had lied, telling her that her name was Chen Momo, that they were college classmates, and that they were currently traveling together.

“The truth is, I had no idea what your real name was. I came up with the name Chen Momo for you,” Yang Shunsheng confessed guiltily.

Chen Momo was completely stunned, her head now throbbing with intense pain. She tried hard to recall everything she had experienced, only to realize that every single detail was something Yang Shunsheng had told her. Even her own name was a lie!

“Then who exactly am I?” Chen Momo frowned, her voice icy.

Yang Shunsheng shook his head earnestly. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know who you are, either. When I first met you, I just thought you were so beautiful, which sparked a selfish desire to make you my girlfriend. Later, we got married. To earn your trust, I described scenes from our supposed college days to you over and over again, trying to convince you that we truly knew each other. But the truth is… I don’t know your original name, nor do I know where you came from.”

Suddenly, things began to click for Chen Momo. She remembered the details of her life with Yang Shunsheng after they were married, and how he would recount their college days. There were several times she had noticed inconsistencies in his stories.

For instance, he once told her they had met at a freshman dance. But a few days later, he claimed they had met at a mixer. When Chen Momo expressed doubt about his conflicting stories, Yang Shunsheng had immediately laughed it off.

“It’s been so many years, and we’re an old married couple now. Why do you have so many questions?” he had said. “Who can remember things from so long ago?”

After that, she had stopped asking. She felt he had a point; after all, so much time had passed, it was entirely possible he couldn’t remember every little detail. There were many other things that didn’t line up, either, but at the time, Chen Momo simply assumed that his memory was just fading with age. Now, it was clear there was a reason for all of it.

“It’s precisely because I made everything up that my descriptions were so inconsistent,” Yang Shunsheng admitted.

Chen Momo looked at him as the pieces finally fell into place. She finally understood why she had felt such a subconscious repulsion toward him. In her memories, whenever he tried to touch her, she would always make excuses and claim she was tired. His later infidelity was, in part, a result of her constant rejection.

“Shortly after we got married, you gave birth to Chen Xiaobao,” Yang Shunsheng said, dejection and pain evident on his face. “Actually, Xiao Bao isn’t my child at all.”

Recalling the details of their marriage, so many confusing issues suddenly made sense to Chen Momo. No wonder Yang Shunsheng never looked after Xiao Bao and never picked him up from school. Even on his rare days off at home, he was coldly indifferent to the boy. It wasn’t how a normal father would treat his child. At first, she had assumed he was just too busy with work. Now she knew the real reason.

Yang Shunsheng continued, “Momo, this monstrous lie has been like a knife piercing my conscience, keeping me awake at night and ruining my appetite. I know I’ve wronged you in many ways, but I simply couldn’t cover up this secret any longer. I wanted to tell you the truth, and I hope you can genuinely remember who you really are. Also… since we’re already divorced, you should go find the child’s true biological father!”

With that, he picked up the coffee in front of him, downed it in one agonizing gulp, and got up to leave.

Chen Momo was left entirely alone in the restaurant, drowning in immense anguish.

“Who exactly am I?” she wondered. “Where did I come from? Why am I here…?”

Before, she had trusted Yang Shunsheng implicitly; she believed whatever he told her. But now that he had admitted her entire past was a fabrication, she felt as if her world had completely collapsed! She couldn’t even remember her real name! For the past few years, she had been living a massive lie. She wasn’t Chen Momo, nor was she Yang Shunsheng’s wife, and all those shared memories were fake. Now, there was only one thing she needed to figure out—who she really was!

Chen Momo stood up, finding it hard to believe that such a novel-esque plot was actually happening to her. No wonder people always said Xiao Bao and Yang Shunsheng didn’t look alike at all. No wonder their personalities were so vastly different. Who was Xiao Bao’s biological father? And how was she supposed to remember her past?

Regardless, she made up her mind to uncover the answers! She couldn’t continue living in this haze. She had to recover her memories and help Xiao Bao find his real father. Yet, in a vast sea of humanity, figuring out her true identity would be an incredibly daunting task. Even so, she silently swore to herself that no matter what, she would find the truth.

BOOM—RUMBLE—

A sudden deafening explosion outside the window jerked Chen Momo back to reality. Not far away, a massive dome started to sway, and the very floor beneath her feet began to tremble.

The restaurant’s patrons dropped their belongings and scattered in a panic.

“Earthquake! It’s an earthquake!” the crowd screamed. The restaurant instantly descended into chaos.

Chen Momo steadied herself. Feeling the tremor of the ground, she knew with absolute certainty that this wasn’t an earthquake. Something had exploded!

Sure enough, after a brief moment of earth-shattering shaking, calm returned. It was as if nothing had happened at all. The people seemed to quickly forget their momentary panic, and everything returned to perfect order.