Gu Nianzhi was drifting in and out of consciousness. What is going on? Hadn’t I been on the road to the official residence before passing out? What was Song Jinning recalling?
Gu Nianzhi’s eyes shimmered as she glanced at Song Jinning’s face in confusion. “An explosion? What’s happening?”
Chen Lie’s head lurched up, his round eyes casting an incredulous look from behind the round glasses as he stared at Song Jinning. “Mrs. Song, are you talking about the experiment 16 years ago?!” He was aware that Song Jinning had become like this after the infamous failed experiment.
“16 years ago?” Song Jining was still disoriented, but had keenly picked up on something Chen Lie said that didn’t make sense to her. “What do you mean, 16 years ago?” Her face fell, “What are you talking about?”
Gu Nianzhi understood now. Song Jinning’s conscious was clear, but her memories seemed to have stopped at what happened after that massive explosion 16 years ago. Had she forgotten everything else that happened after? That made sense. Since she’d become ill, she only remembered her memories from before she turned 18 and had forgotten everything since she’d turned 18. Every day, certain cells in her body had experienced reverse growth, turning back the clock so that she would forget everything that happened the day before—making her forever 18.
“That’s to say, Mrs. Song has gained some memories after waking up.” Chen Lie looked down to begin recording onto her medical chart, “Mrs. Song is 48 years old this year, so her memories have been recovered from before she turned 18 to before she turned 32. That means it’s been recovered to 16 years before.”
Gu Nianzhi huddled closer to Chen Lie and whispered , “Then what about the past 16 years of memories? Are they really all gone?”
“That’s hard to say.” Chen Lie shook his head with a sigh. “The injury caused by the explosion had organic influences on her for the past 16 years. Her memory cells were unable to keep the previous day’s memories. For example, goldfish have a seven second memory. For the past 16 years, Mrs. Song has only had a 24 hour memory, which is just a bit better than that of a goldfish.”
Gu Nianzhi was pained. She stared at Song Jinning in shock and thought about all that had happened in last 16 years. This was all too cruel to Song Jinning. However, she didn’t remember anything, and they weren’t yet sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
Song Jinning listened to Chen Lie and Gu Nianzhi’s exchange and felt perplexed. “What are you guys talking about? I’m 48? That’s not right? Aren’t I 32?” She looked dubiously at the rotund Chen Lie, then at the slender and beautiful Gu Nianzhi. She felt that Gu Nianzhi seemed more trustworthy and stared at her as she asked, “You’re Gu Nianzhi? Can I call you Nianzhi?”
“Yes, Mrs. Song.” Gu Nianzhi hastily said, “Don’t worry, tell me slowly.”
Song Jinning closed her eyes, her mind a mess. The longer she was conscious, the more her mind began looping the memories of that incident.
…
The earth shattering boom, the fire that blotted out the sky, and the lab leveled to the ground by the explosion. Many people were screaming and running from the fire—she thought she was done for, but someone suddenly rushed over to violently push her and her father out of the lab. She rolled more than a dozen times on the ground and lay behind a big boulder in front of the lab building. She realized that her father had run back… And then, nothing. She opened her eyes to see everything reduced to ashes. The aftermath of the explosion was incomparably powerful, causing a huge shift in the magnetic field at the site. She could still recall the shock wave that had seemed to penetrate her brain, but it didn’t seem like a shock wave that could be coming from the lab.
…
Song Jinning opened her eyes in a daze to look at Gu Nianzhi, then Chen Lie. “What’s going on? Tell me.”
“Mrs. Song, how about I call Boss over? It’s better if he talks to you.” Chen Lie thought about how the experiment Song Jinning had participated in had been a top level classified military experiment. For the past 16 years, the experiment was still classified at the highest level and no other experiment had surpassed its significance. No one else had been able to replicate the experiment either. Bai Jinyi had spent 16 years trying to replicate the experiment but had made little progress. Now that Song Jinning was awake and seemed to have her memories from 16 years ago, this was the best news the military had received in the last decade and a half. However, this news had to be handled by Huo Shaoheng and couldn’t be altered by anyone else. Chen Lie tugged on Gu Nianzhi’s sleeve as he gave her a look. “Go get the Boss.”
Gu Nianzhi agreed, then smiled at Song Jinning. “Mrs. Song, please wait for a bit. I’ll go get Huo Shao and all your questions will be answered.”
“Huo Shao?” Song Jinning frowned. “Do you mean Guanchen? Where is he?”
Gu Nianzhi was bewildered by her questions. No way? She still can’t remember that she had a son?! Gu Nianzhi grit her teeth and said, “Mrs. Song, Huo Shao is your son. Your blood and flesh son, Huo Shaoheng. Did you forget?”
Chen Lie couldn’t stop her in time and was so furious he dragged Gu Nianzhi to the side and whispered angrily to her, “Why are you telling her now?! Mrs. Song just woke up. You can’t shock her like that!”
“But she does have a son!” Gu Nianzhi felt wronged. “It’s fine that she forgot the past, but she remembers her husband now. Why is it that she can’t remember having a son?” She felt the injustice this meant for Huo Shaoheng; it would be terrible if Song Jinning’s illness had made her forget him, and then that she still couldn’t remember him after recovering.
Chen Lie couldn’t even shoot her another glare before Song Jinning softly spoke from behind them, “Shaoheng? He’s just 12. Why would we need to call him?”
The pair exchange a glance before turning around to say to Song Jinning, “Mrs. Song, you’ve misremembered. Huo Shao is 28 now.”
Chen Lie spoke as he pushed Gu Nianzhi out and said, “Hurry up and get the Boss here!”
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t delay it any longer and quickly ran out of Operating Room B. She arrived at the living room and saw Huo Shaoheng come downstairs from the second floor. He was wearing a white dress shirt with the buttons neatly done up. The first button was undone to reveal a peek of his collarbone. His sleeves were rolled up to show off his muscular forearms and his hands were in his finely pressed military trouser pockets. He walked down slowly, scrolling through the military issued iPad for the latest reports and updates.
Gu Nianzhi bolted up the stairs to grab his arm and cried, “Huo Shao! Great news! Hurry up and come with me!”
“Yeah yeah,” Huo Shoheng answered dryly and pried his arm out of Gu Nianzhi’s grip. “Walk properly.”
Gu Nianzhi blinked. She didn’t care about his remark and so she happily walked alongside Huo Shaoheng. She whispered, “Huo Shao, hurry to Operating Room B. There’s an important surprise!”
Huo Shaoheng froze mid step and glanced at Gu Nianzhi “What is it?” He knew that Song Jinning needed at least seven days to regain consciousness, but it was only the third day. Could it be that something was wrong with her?
Gu Nianzhi acted coy, “You’ll find out once you go and see for yourself.”
Huo Shaoheng followed her to Operating Room B to see Chen Lie opening the door and walking out.
“Boss, you’re finally here. Hurry up and go in! Oh my God! I can’t take it anymore! Your mother is too amazing, she was truly a genius! I think she’s still a super genius now who surpasses most geniuses by a long shot! How did I not know that the human body has meridians that can reveal actual pathways?! Boss, isn’t your mother a High Energy Physicist?! How does she have medical knowledge too?” Chen Lie the medical genius seemed to have come across his first opponent in over a decade. He had apparently been interrogated so extensively that he’d ended up sweating like a dog and had been made to run away.
Huo Shaoheng stopped before the door to Operating Room B, his heart thumping hard but his face carefully composed. “What are you talking about? My mother is awake? It’s only been three days, yet didn’t you say it’d take at least seven?”