If the Deep Sea Forgets You

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Her mother's tears were already falling as she cupped her mouth to stop herself from crying out loud, though her tear-filled eyes made her look exceptionally sad. Xia Qingyi could not imagine that her past was like this. She wanted to cry together with her mother, to help soothe her sadness, but she found that she could not cry, because she did not have this part of her memory.

"What happened next?" she asked.

"After that, you were taken by three of the men. The remaining three men stayed to watch us. Your younger sister was so frightened that she fainted. My arm had fractured from the beating while your father was about to collapse from exhaustion. I could only wait for you to come back. We couldn't do anything. I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" her mother choked on her tears as her shoulders shook tremendously.

Xia Qingyi patted her mother's shoulder. For the first time, she was so glad that she did not have her memories from the past. She did not want to remember the pain she felt from the past, so that she could comfort her mother easily, as if she had just heard a story about a stranger.

It was merely another person's story, no matter how painful, how twisted and how much empathy she felt.

"That group of people came back after two days, but you didn't. They said that they didn't need the interest owed from the loan anymore, that it would be fine once we repaid the money that we owed within two weeks. I ask them about where you were. They'd told me that I should just treat it as if you had died and that there was no need to look for you anymore, that I already had a daughter anyway."

"But the both of you were different. You're my daughter too. Why can't they just give you to me?" her mother's voice trembled. "For a long time after that, I went to the police station to file a police report to say that you'd been killed by them. Those police kept telling me okay, yet there was no more news from them."

Her mother patted her hand, "It's a good thing that you didn't die. Han Liang was the first one to meet you two years ago. It was then that I knew that you hadn't died. I went to see you to ask you to come back to us. Yet you said that you wouldn't come back since you and I are in different worlds now."

Xia Qingyi said, "Han Liang told me a few days ago." She turned her body to give her mother a big hug. "You don't have to be sad anymore. It's all in the past. Besides, I can't remember anymore."

Her mother continued to cry as she leaned on her shoulder and whimpered quietly. Xia Qingyi quietly gave her a hug as she patted her.

After that, she and her mother stood in front of the tombstone for a long time as they embraced each other. Her mother would glance at Nian Nian's photo on the tombstone from time to time and would say a few sentences to herself. She would then glance at her occasionally, patting her hand while she smiled bitterly, as if she was afraid that Xia Qingyi would leave.

By the time they had returned from the cemetery, it was already dark. There was a two hour traveling distance from here to her home in S City. Her mother tugged on her hand as she asked her to not go back today and to stay with her in F City for the night. Han Liang had also moved out a while back and her mother was the only one left in the house.

Xia Qingyi glanced at her watch and estimated that even if she were to go back to S City now, it would already be midnight by the time she reached there. Perhaps, she might even disturb Mo Han's rest, which was why she might as well not go back.

Nevertheless, she still had to give Mo Han a call to tell him about her whereabouts, in case he might seize this opportunity and continue to fault her for it if she had not done so.

Her mother was a little tired after they had returned to the house in F City. Xia Qingyi told her to head in first and rest for a while, and that she would head in after the call.

She sat at the steps on the front porch and called Mo Han.

The call rang for three times before the call got through on the other end, and she could hear Mo Han's voice.

"I brought forward my schedule and came to F City to see my younger sister with my mother. It's too late now, so I won't go back today." There was still a bit of anger laced in Xia Qingyi's tone when she spoke.

Mo Han paused for a while before he said okay from the other end of the call.

Xia Qingyi got a little angry at his indifferent tone, though she still tried to suppress her emotions the best she could. "I'll probably reach home tomorrow afternoon."

"That's fine. You can come back anytime you want." Xia Qingyi heard Mo Han saying this from the other end of the call.

Xia Qingyi gripped the phone tightly as silence ensued the phone call. Mo Han said after a while, "If there's nothing else, I'll hang up."

Xia Qingyi shouted at him, "Wait, don't hang up."

Mo Han was silent on his end of the call, as if he was waiting for her to continue.

"I… know that you've been distancing yourself away from me. If you don't want to see me again, you can just tell me directly. It's also okay to ask me to move out. I don't have a reason to stay at your place now after all… But, please don't treat me like this, like it's a waste of your time to even talk to me."

Xia Qingyi did not know what she felt as she said this out. All she felt was all sorts of pressure from unknown sources that pressed heavily in her chest as they moved around anyhow in her body. Her hands were held tightly into fists, as if she was cheering herself for the words she had just said. It had been a while since she had wanted to say this, though she had felt that their relationship would never be able to go back to what it was after she did.

Ultimately, Mo Han and her could not go back to the type of relationship they had originally.

Xia Qingyi felt that there was nothing to lose since she had already confronted him. "You don't have to act as if you're very busy with work, come back home so late everyday or avoid me when you're home anymore. I will move out. I know how you feel. Since it's impossible between us, then let's cut our ties like you wanted, so it won't be awkward next time we meet."

Mo Han, who was on the other end of the call, kept quiet. He did not speak even after Xia Qingyi had said all this. It was so quiet that Xia Qingyi had thought that the phone signal had been cut off on his side. She moved the phone away to take a look at it, only to find the call time continue to move second by second.

"Do you really think this way?" he asked quietly, as his breathing hardened.

"Yes."

"We'll talk again after you're back."

Xia Qingyi did not know what else to say after hearing his words and merely kept quiet. Mo Han asked from the other end of the call, "Are you alright?"

She hummed in response. On the other end of the call, Mo Han said with an extremely flat tone, "You hang up first."

Listening to his words obediently, she nodded her head and hung up, only to realize afterwards that he had told her to hang up first as she stared at her phone. But why did he do that? Why did he ask her to hang up first?

Xia Qingyi found herself getting caught up by such a small issue again.

She stayed with her mother for a day, before she got on the bus to go back to S City the next afternoon. She wanted to start packing some simple things when she went back in the afternoon originally. She could probably leave when Mo Han came back at night.

However, she was stopped by a group of people before she could even reach home.

At that time, she had already reached the apartment block and was about to take out her keys from her bag. She had been waiting for the lift, though she was already blocked by a well-built person before she could even take out her keys.

Xia Qingyi almost thought that they were the group of loan sharks from when she was young, and they were here for her.

However, they had only lifted their hands to stop her and did not do anything else.

"Can… I help you?" she looked at them guardedly.

"You must be Miss Xia Qingyi." One of them made the other men put down their arms as he asked her with a smile and his body slightly bowed.

Xia Qingyi started to panic a little due to his smile. She summoned her courage and said, "Yes. Can I help you?"

"It's like this, President Du would like to meet you." he pointed to the side and Xia Qingyi finally noticed that an extended black limousine had unknowingly stopped next to them. The car body was beautiful and smooth. She could tell that it was owned by a rich person with just a glance.

"I don't think… I know President Du."

That person continued to smile. "It's alright. It'll be fine as long as President Du knows you."

"But I don't really remember… if I've done something that would make President Du remember me." Xia Qingyi laughed bitterly.

"It's about your older brother. President Du would like you to pass a message to your older brother." she could feel that man's smile slowly faltering with the different sort of resistance from her.

She was about to say something else when one of the man covered her mouth and carried her over his shoulder towards the direction where the car was. Xia shook her head desperately. She felt especially dizzy when her head facing downwards. As a result, she just let them do what they wanted to see what their motive was.

That man threw her onto the backseat of the car and closed the car door with strength. She sat up and saw a man sitting opposite of her.

He looked dignified and wore a black suit. Both of his legs were on the seat as he leaned against the seat with his eyes squinted, as if he was studying her. Xia Qingyi thought that this was probably the 'President Du' that they had mentioned.

"President Du, I think you should know that what you're doing now is counted as using violence to illegally restrict my individual freedom?" Xia Qingyi said unhurriedly as she reorganized her clothes.

President Du moved forward, wanting to get a clear look of her face. "You're Mo Han's younger sister, Xia Qingyi? This is slightly interesting."

The car that the both of them were on suddenly started to move slowly. Xia Qingyi asked, "Where are you taking me?"

President Du asked, "Why? Are you afraid?"

Xia Qingyi broke into a smile instead. She sat straight and looked into President Du's eyes. "Of course I'm afraid. I'm afraid that President Du might get called a kidnapper for no reason while I'm fine later on. Wouldn't that be unjust?"

President Du changed his posture. "You're definitely Barrister Mo's younger sister. You're quite good with your words." He lit a cigarette without a care. Xia Qingyi furrowed her eyebrows at the choking smoke. She could not help but to breathe with her mouth opened wide. President Du, who was sitting opposite her, merely exhaled a mouthful of cigarette smoke slowly. "You don't have to worry. I only wanted to say one thing. You can leave after I'm done."

"If it's something that you want to say, you can just say it in the car. We don't have to delay President Du's time any further."

President Du laughed, "We can't do that. We have to at least eat a meal for me to express my sincerity for such a pretty lady before we can properly discuss the matter."

Xia Qingyi knew that she would not be able to leave for a while no matter what she told him. Since she is in such a situation, she might as well sit up and be ready to see what tricks he had next.