Chapter 1: Amnesia from a Car Accident

Chapter 1 Car Accident and Amnesia

In Yangcheng, after the Qingming Festival, it was still drizzling.

Xu Moxing endured the intense pain in his body and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the blinding white ceiling, and the sound of machines beeping in his ears.

Xu Moxing struggled to turn his head and looked out the window.

The window wasn’t see-through; it was all fogged up.

Water vapor gathered on the glass, turning into beads that streaked down the glass.

Xu Moxing realized what it was: the notorious humid, rainy season typical of southern China.

He’d gone through it almost every year, and this was his twenty-second.

The only impressions he had of this season were clothes that got wetter the longer you hung them, dripping floors and walls, and even the bedding feeling damp to the touch.

“I hate this weather…”

With his head in a fog, he dozed off again.

When he woke up again, he heard a woman’s voice.

“You’re awake? Are you feeling okay?”

A nurse came by on rounds and, seeing the patient awake, asked a few routine questions.

Xu Moxing heard the nurse speaking. His brain went on autopilot; he wanted to respond immediately, but his body wouldn’t obey.

After a few seconds, Xu Moxing finally spoke. “It hurts a lot. What happened?”

“You were in a car accident.”

Xu Moxing didn’t answer; he just thought, “So a car accident. No wonder I’m hurting this much. How much is this gonna cost me? I’m still a student, I don’t have much money… Am I gonna have to ask Mom for money again? I don’t want to…”

Seeing that he didn’t respond, the nurse continued without waiting for an answer.

“The hospital fast-tracked your treatment. Your phone’s locked – fingerprint and face unlock both failed, so we couldn’t contact your family.”

Xu Moxing gave a nod. “Where’s my phone? I’ll contact them myself.”

The nurse went to get his phone and handed it to him.

Xu Moxing entered the password, unlocked the phone, and scrolled through his contacts, looking for a familiar name.

He couldn’t find one.

Xu Moxing frowned. He knew that number by heart, so he dialed it without hesitation.

It rang forever before someone picked up.

“Hello?”

A guy’s deep, kinda rough voice came through. Xu Moxing’s frown deepened.

He could tell it was Su Lichen’s voice, but it didn’t quite match the voice he remembered.

Still, Xu Moxing said something.

“Hey, A Li, I was in a car accident. Can you come and help me?”

The other end went quiet for a second. Xu Moxing heard Su Lichen’s breathing get heavier.

Su Lichen quickly broke the silence.

“Which hospital? Tell me the address.”

“I don’t know. Let me get the nurse to help. Hang on.”

Xu Moxing looked at the nurse, who was checking his blood pressure, and chose his words carefully.

“Excuse me, nurse, could you please tell my friend the address of this hospital?”

Hearing him say “excuse me” politely, the nurse felt pleased and eagerly took the phone from Xu Moxing. “Sure, I’ll tell your friend.”

“Hello, we are at the Yangcheng Eighth People’s Hospital, Inpatient Building 1, 3rd Floor, Room 301.”

Xu Moxing heard that too. He was confused – why was he in Yangcheng?

He was supposed to be a senior in Shencheng, interning!

He’d have to wait for A Li to get here; A Li sure knew all his plans.

Su Lichen wrote down the address, said “Thanks, please look after him. I’ll be right over,” and hung up.

The nurse returned the phone to Xu Moxing.

Xu Moxing, still out of it, held the phone to his ear. “A Li, did you get it?”

There was no answer.

The nurse, still in a good mood, said kindly, “He said he’ll be here soon. He just hung up.”

Xu Moxing looked at the nurse, finally pulled the phone from his ear, glanced at the screen, and saw the call was definitely done.

Su Lichen seemed really far. Xu Moxing felt like he waited forever.

Then he figured it out. Right, A Li was also an intern in Shencheng. The high-speed train from Shencheng to Yangcheng only took about half an hour.

Then from the station to the hospital by subway would take way longer – probably a couple of hours.

Xu Moxing had planned to just stare out the window and wait, but his body, beat up from the crash, quickly wore him out, so he fell asleep again.

Before sleeping, a doctor came in to check on his condition.

Other than that, nothing too serious, but his legs couldn’t move temporarily. He’d be stuck in a wheelchair for a few months, then need physical therapy. As long as he took good care of himself, he would recover.

As long as he wasn’t going to be a pro athlete, his legs would work just fine like anyone’s.

He was lucky – other innocent people like him had been killed instantly.

According to the nurse earlier, this accident was caused by someone deliberately drove into the crowd out of spite. Three people died on the scene. He, at least, was still alive.

When Xu Moxing woke up again, Su Lichen had already arrived, sitting on a nearby stool playing with his phone.

Xu Moxing didn’t speak at first. He quietly looked at Su Lichen, feeling as if it had been a long time since he’d seen him, as if a lifetime had gone by.

Su Lichen looked like a stranger – way more mature. Xu Moxing had never seen the clothes he was wearing.

He was wearing business casual. Right then, Xu Moxing thought A Li looked really mature, like some hotshot on TV.

They were still interns, not even officially graduated yet – they should be wearing casual stuff.

No matter how much he stared, this guy didn't match the Su Lichen he remembered.

Xu Moxing had seen enough, and since Su Lichen still hadn't reacted, he called out to him.

"A Li."

Hearing the voice, Su Lichen quickly locked his phone, turned around, briefly met Xu Moxing's eyes, then looked away.

"You up? How do you feel?"

"Yeah, fine. But why do you look so much more mature? Aren't we still interning? You seem like you've been out in the world for years."

Xu Moxing let out a low chuckle after saying that.

"..."

Su Lichen paused, stared deeply at Xu Moxing for five seconds, then stood up and pressed the call bell.

Once his laughter died down, Xu Moxing looked at Su Lichen again, wondering why A Li wasn't saying anything.

"What's wrong? Are you mad because I said you look old?"

Su Lichen shook his head without speaking.

Before Xu Moxing could ask further, the doctor arrived.

Su Lichen stood up to greet the doctor. "I think he's having memory issues."

Xu Moxing looked confused.

Then the doctor fired off a series of questions at Xu Moxing.

"Name."

"Xu Moxing."

"Age."

"22."

"Gender."

"Uh, male."

"What year is it now?"

Xu Moxing gave the year that was five years earlier.

Everyone fell silent. The doctor wrote a referral for Xu Moxing to get a brain MRI.

"The emergency room only did a CT. We planned to do an MRI once his condition stabilized. He was answering fluently, so I didn't push the MRI."

The doctor quickly explained to the patient's family – Su Lichen.

Su Lichen nodded, fighting the urge to frown.

Eventually, while Xu Moxing was completely bewildered, he was diagnosed with selective retrograde amnesia, he'd lost almost all memories from the last five years.

Xu Moxing's mind was stuck at 22, but he was really 27!

Xu Moxing was rolled back to his room. The doctor explained the situation to the family member—Su Lichen—outside the room.

"There's no perfect cure. We'll prescribe some medication to take slowly. We'll have to wait and see if it comes back slowly. If not, it usually doesn't affect daily life. You should keep an eye on whether the memory loss keeps getting worse.

If it stops, this kind of selective amnesia is linked to both brain damage and psychological stuff. You really need to watch his mental health."

Su Lichen's brow was tight, and the doctor tried to comfort him.

"You need to keep a cool head, as a caregiver. Try not to upset him. He'll also need rehabilitation training for his legs in a few months, which is going to be brutal."

Su Lichen nodded. "Thanks, doc. I'll keep that in mind."

After the doctor left, Su Lichen found a smoking area and smoked two cigarettes with other family members he didn't know.

It had been ages since he'd smoked.

He smoked once in a while as a freshman and sophomore. But after getting together with Xu Moxing, who hated it, so he basically gave it up.

After starting work, stress and the fact that smoking helped with socializing led him to start up again.

But he'd never smoke around Xu Moxing. After they split, he went completely cold turkey. It had been almost a year since his last cigarette.

Su Lichen smoked and mentally counted the months.

Strictly speaking, it was nine months exactly. They'd split last August, and it had been nine months since.