Circ.u.mventing Fate - Volume 2 Chapter 362 Noble Role
“So…Let me get this straight. You lost your memories, all of them?” Lei Xing skeptically asked with knit eyebrows.
Tung Mei slowly nodded and haphazardly explained, “Ahhh, it appears so… my illness this time was…particularly severe. I was told I nearly died, um… well, the physicians called it a miracle I survived.”
“Really?” Lei Xing responded with the same skeptical tone.
Tung Mei nodded, “Yes. If not for Your majesty’s care, I would have already met my end. Thank you for saving my life.” She finished with a polite bow, her body quite tense. With Lei Xing’s tone, it felt more like an interrogation than a concerned “friend’s” curiosity.
Her aunt had been anxious about her making a mistake in the palace and had actually given her etiquette “reminders”. Her anxious aunt had even had her go through practice conversations and prepped her responses. Although her aunt must not have been that worried considering she threw her to the Lei siblings as soon as they showed up.
Tung Mei inwardly sighed and took a sip from her teacup, trying to ignore Lei Xing’s eyes boring holes into her.
“Where’s your bracelet?” Lei Xing suddenly asked, narrowing her eyes at Tung Mei’s empty wrists.
Tung Mei froze and looked up to see Lei Xing frowning at the jade bracelet on her wrist, “Bracelet?”
“The one you normally wear, it’s like a string of diamonds. The one you use to ta- Nevermind, you don’t “remember”…” Lei Xing said in the same unnerving skeptical tone.
Tung Mei nervously smiled and looked back down at her table with knit eyebrows, again trying to ignore all the probing stares.
{… There has to be a trick somewhere…Can’t imagine that quack couldn’t heal an illness. I mean the guy made a freaking poison detecting ring, some weird bracelet phone, and from what I gather, my bloody transmigration situation. Human anatomy shouldn’t be a problem for him… But then again, he couldn’t heal Chen You’s mother back then – he probably didn’t want to, pretty sure he could have… There’s no way you really lost your memory, right -}
“Jie, stop staring.” Xiao Ting whispered, pulling on Lei Xing’s arm, “You’re making Ying jie uncomfortable.”
Lei Xing turned her attention to Xiao Ting, who had parked herself right next to her, “Do you really believe she lost her memories?” Lei Xing quietly asked.
Xiao Ting pouted, “She didn’t recognize me or even Yong ge -” She sniffed and then bit her lower lip to hold back her tears, “Why? You don’t believe her?” Xiao Ting curiously asked.
Lei Xing scoffed and mumbled, “Of course not, it’s the oldest excuse in the book. Everybody uses it…”
{…What kind of illness can’t that quack treat? There’s a trick here, has to be (_ )…}
Xiao Ting knit her brows in thought for a bit and then c.o.c.ked her head, “Jie…didn’t you also say you lost your memories?”
Lei Xing froze, blinked a few times, and then laughed and pat Xiao Ting on the head, “That’s different, I drowned. Water can cause brain damage, don’t you know? Water-logged brain, brain freeze, and all that…brain stuff.” Lei Xing awkwardly explained.
Xiao Ting looked even more confused and before she could say anything more troubling, Lei Xing swiftly changed the topic, “Why aren’t you eating? I even ordered your favorite snacks, at least try some~” Lei Xing urged with a smile, obviously trying to distract her.
“Oh.” Xiao Ting somberly went, picking up a biscuit and nibbling on it.
Lei Xing inwardly sighed in relief and turned her attention back to Tung Mei and after a bit more thought, she threw out the question, “Do you know what transmigration is?”
“Me?” Tung Mei asked, glancing at Lei Xing to make sure she was talking to her.
“Yes, you.”
“Ohh” Tung Mei knit her brows in thought, “Trami -”
“Transmigration.” Lei Xing provided and then helpfully went on to explain, “It’s this theory of a soul traversing through time and/or space to enter a body. Quite interesting stuff, ever heard of it?” Lei Xing casually asked.
Tung Mei slowly shook her head and tentatively responded, “No”
“I see. I had thought that perhaps I had come across a like-minded individual.” Lei Xing said with a wistful sigh.
“I am sorry I am not able to be of help to you” Tung Mei awkwardly said with a bow, not quite sure what this whole “transmigrator” business was.
Lei Xing shrugged and picked up her teacup, “It is of no matter…”
{…Was worth a try, I guess. Anyway, fake or not, as the quack would say it’s “none of my business”..}
“This is all Yong ge’s fault.” Xiao Ting mumbled with a sniff.
Hearing this re-ignited Lei Xing’s dying interest and she promptly turned to Xiao Ting and quietly asked, “Lei Yong?” What did he do?”
Xiao Ting glanced at Tung Mei, who was picking at the snacks on her table, pretending that she could not hear the whispering siblings – just wanting this nerve-racking visit to be over so she could go home.
Satisfied that Tung Mei was not paying them any mind, Xiao Ting turned to Lei Xing and quietly explained, “I don’t know what they talked about but after we left your coronation… Ying jie, she was very sad that day. She looked very sick, pale, like she would collapse at any moment and -” She stopped, sniffed a few times, took a deep breath, and then chokingly continued, “She talked as if she was going away, saying goodbye and -”
Xiao Ting choked and tearily looked at Tung Mei and chokingly said, “I think, I think she did something… to forget. If only Yong ge had. I don’t understand why he would – Ying jie, I’m so sorry!” and then she started crying…again, loudly.
Lei Xing frowned, but before she could open her mouth, Tung Mei suddenly exclaimed in exasperation, “Why does she keep crying?! It’s annoying!”
Both Xiao Ting and Lei Xing turned to Tung Mei with raised eyebrows. Tung Mei immediately realized she had just said that out loud. She panicked and promptly kowtowed on the ground, “I deserve death, Your majesty – Wait, what am I saying? Please spare me, Your majesty!” She promptly corrected.
Xiao Ting saw this and her crying intensified, “Ying jie!”
“Your majesty, I apologize, it was a slip of the – the – the mouth? Anyway, it will never happen again. Your maj-”
“Both of you shut up!” Lei Xing irritatedly snapped, jumping to her feet. She took a deep breath and pointed at Xiao Ting, “You, you are supposed to be my ray of sunshine, not a storm cloud, so stop storming and start shining!” Xiao Ting innocently blinked at her wide-eyed with a furious pout, but she was definitely no longer crying.
Lei Xing then turned to Tung Mei and continued, “And you! Tung Mei – Xiao Ying, whatever you call yourself, get up and be your usual daring and borderline crazy self!”
Tung Mei raised her head and confusedly asked, “Crazy?”
Instead of responding to her inquiry, Lei Xing just growled in a menacing low voice, “Sit down.” Tung Mei gulped and promptly shuffled to her knees with a frown, no doubt offended about being called mad.
Satisfied, Lei Xing sat back down with a smile, which promptly fell as she looked from one pouting guest to a frowning one. Lei Xing then closed her eyes and heavily sighed, “I’m going to need a lot of alcohol…”
***
“Is there a reason you’re here or… are you just here to brood?” The Emperor asked, dropping the scroll in his hand and looking at Lei Yong with a scrutinizing eyebrow. Lei Yong had barged in here, announced that he came to visit, and then proceeded to park himself in a chair.
Since the Emperor was also in no mood to talk, he left his silent guest alone. But it had been almost two hours now and after Lei Yong’s nth sigh, the Emperor finally could not stand it anymore and had to ask before his irritation got out of hand.
“I’m not brooding! Who cares if she’s forgotten who I am?!” Lei Yong defensively responded with an incredulous expression, looking as if the Emperor had just punched him in the gut.
The Emperor narrowed his eyes at him and he realized that he had just shouted at the Emperor. Lei Yong cleared his throat, shifted in his seat as he massaged his neck, “Sorry… It’s nothing.”
The Emperor slightly smirked, seeing something amusing. He got up, walked down the steps and sat in the chair next to Lei Yong, and scrutinized him for a bit before finally asking, “So…who is this person that has ungraciously forgotten such a great person like yourself?”
Lei Yong narrowed his eyes at the Emperor, “Don’t patronize me.”
The Emperor scoffed, not at all bothered, “Let me guess, Miss Tung finally got tired of chasing after you? If you’re jealous, just say so -”
“I’m not jealous… I have no reason to be and I’ve told you, it’s not like that with us. I only see her as a sister. I’m just -” Lei Yong folded his arms, “…worried is all. Memory loss is not an easy thing to deal with a -”
The Emperor raised his eyebrows, “Miss Tung lost her memories?”
“It would seem so. Her aunt said the doctors have no clue why, they say it’s a miracle that she’s even alive and we should just be happy with that… I had no idea she was even sick.” Lei Yong mumbled that last bit, sinking further into his chair.
{…And what was I doing when she was at death’s door? Stupid!…}
To make it worse, if not for Xiao Ting insisting to go see Tung Mei, he would not have gone today. He thought it was better to give her space to move on, so he had been holding himself back from checking up on her all this time.
He had occupied and satisfied himself with either working or “doting” on Xiao Ting – although he was aware that his “doting” efforts were not exactly welcome. He might have been paying Xiao Ting a bit too much attention recently. Even their parents had commented on his sudden anxiousness over Xiao Ting. But he could not help it, he was not sure what to do with himself otherwise.
Moreover, he was just being a good brother.
The Emperor knit his brows in thought. Due to his exposition with Lei Xing, he was now skeptical of anyone who claimed memory loss. Not to mention, that Tung Mei had some sort of relationship with the elusive Doctor Lou. But these were secrets between him and Lei Xing, and not to be shared with anyone.
Lei Yong sighed, “How will I explain memory loss to her father? She doesn’t even know who her father is, much less remembering me.” He mumbled with a disgruntled frown.
The Emperor looked at Lei Yong, “You do realize that she is not your responsibility. Her father’s request to look after her was simply a ruse to help his daughter achieve her wish of marrying you. You know better than to be strung along like that. Since her pursuit of you has been relentless and you have no feelings for her, her memory loss – true or not, should be good for you -”
“How can you say that?!” Lei Yong angrily said, rising to his feet, “Emperor or not, I cannot tolerate that. You cannot expect me to rejoice in someone else’s misfortune, her misfortune.” He bit out, clenching his fists in anger.
The Emperor scoffed, “Calm down, I am not asking for you to rejoice in her misfortune. I am asking you to behave accordingly.”
“Behave accordingly?” Lei Yong asked, his irritation spiking, “How would you feel if Xing er’ suddenly forgot who you are?!” He angrily added.
The Emperor inwardly sighed, Lei Yong was usually good at picking up on clues, but it seemed his friend was too affected by Tung Mei’s condition to think straight.
On that note, the Emperor did not quite understand Lei Yong when it came to matters involving Tung Mei. From all indications, Lei Yong liked Tung Mei – he paid more attention to the girl than he did his own sisters. But of course, Lei Yong denied any romantic interpretations of his feelings.
It was odd… then again, perhaps not. The Emperor had no sisters and no other woman except Lei Xing had ever ignited any feelings in him. Therefore, the Emperor had no idea how Lei Yong came to the conclusion that what he felt for Tung Mei was sister-like.
Then again, Lei Xing was also the same with him. She never called her feelings “brother-like”, but she did refuse to acknowledge her feelings for him for quite a while. So the Emperor thought it might just be a thing with the Lei family. But then again, according to Lei Xing, she was not truly Lei Yong’s sister, so perhaps not.
Regardless, the Emperor sighed and honestly advised, “You are missing the point. You have made it clear to anyone who cared to listen that you do not share the girl’s feelings. Since you do not share her feelings, now that she has forgotten you, it is best that you do not stir up her emotions again.”
Lei Yong blinked a few times and then lowered his gaze, frowning down at the ground. The Emperor sighed and stood up as well, put his hand on Lei Yong’s shoulder, and added, “Do the noble thing and keep your distance… Unless things have changed.”
