Chapter 154: The Final Test, Taken to the Extreme
Ye Fuli couldn't bear Ye Zhen's words any longer and collapsed in a daze.
Seeing her face as pale as paper, Ye Zhen felt panic surge through her.
Please don't die here!
You can fucking restart, but I can't fucking restart!
I finally get to live this blissful life of slacking off and doing nothing—don't you dare ruin it for me, okay?
In our lives, besides romance, there should be something else, right?
Don't be so paranoid, ahhh…!
Though panicked, Ye Zhen kept her composure. She decisively called in two female workers to tend to the person, then summoned the factory's on-duty doctor…
Of course, this wasn't a vet—it was a retired doctor Ye Zhen had specially hired. He usually handled minor illnesses like colds and coughs for the factory workers.
"Take good care of her—this is the precious daughter of the Ye family, the billionaire CEO! Whether our factory soars to new heights and everyone prospers depends entirely on you."
Ye Zhen's reasoning was flawless, convincing everyone of its validity.
But there was one person who remained skeptical.
Jiang Zao was cleaning the hallway outside when she heard the commotion coming from Ye Zhen's office. She paused, startled.
Yet she did nothing, said nothing, and didn't even entertain any extra thoughts. She simply gathered the trash, bagged it, and tossed it into the factory's outdoor dumpster.
For her, the only thing left to focus on now was working hard to pay off her debts.
This task would take a long time…
She would be very busy.
Ye Zhen, naturally, hadn't acknowledged her either. To Ye Zhen, the two of them would never be friends—at best, they were employer and temporary worker.
Ye Fuli, lying in the guest room, had been hooked up to an IV drip.
As the old doctor put it, she wasn't seriously ill—just malnourished, likely from not eating properly for a long time.
Even as the IV flowed, Ye Fuli slowly regained consciousness. She lifted her eyelids slightly and looked toward Ye Zhen, who sat outside the door.
Her lips moved, and she whispered softly, "Ye Zhen."
Ye Zhen turned to look at her.
Ye Fuli smiled faintly and said, "I'm sorry if I've mistaken you for someone else."
This reaction was something Ye Zhen hadn't anticipated.
Ye Zhen couldn't help but stare blankly for a moment.
But she quickly regained her composure and said, "It's fine. Being somewhat like someone you like is my good fortune."
The words were merely a platitude.
Yet Ye Fuli found it somewhat touching.
In her understanding, she was certain the person before her was Ye Zhen.
No matter how much the other person tried to deny it, she remained convinced that no two people in the world could possess identical eyes.
So when Ye Zhen called it good fortune rather than a curse, Ye Fuli was genuinely moved.
What she had done…
wasn't entirely misplaced after all.
This was truly the best news she'd heard in recent days.
"I truly love her. Countless times I've imagined spending the rest of my life with her, wanting to gather all the world's treasures and offer them to her."
Ye Fuli closed her eyes and sighed.
In her cheerful mood, she decided to pour out everything she'd kept buried deep inside.
"Even though I've forgotten so much now, I still remember the flutter she gave my heart. She is the only warmth in the depths of my memory, and of that, I have no doubt."
"I loved her so deeply, yet I still lost her…"
"It was because I didn't understand the way or meaning of love. I deserved it, right, Ye Zhen?"
Ye Zhen froze completely.
Had these words come from the previous Ye Fuli, Ye Zhen might have felt a twinge of fear—fear that she might do something extreme in the next moment, like locking someone in a cage.
But now, coming from a sickly, weakened Ye Fuli with amnesia, Ye Zhen could only interpret it as genuinely sincere words, devoid of any aggression.
"Hey, wait! Don't ask me that."
Before she could stop herself, Ye Zhen blurted out the words, trying to halt her.
Ye Fuli tilted her head slightly, smiling at her as if she'd caught Ye Zhen red-handed.
"I'm talking to myself. You don't need to mind, Ye Zhen. After all, you said you're not her."
Ye Zhen abruptly stood up, grabbing a broom and making a few half-hearted sweeping motions on the floor to hide the panic in her eyes.
"Huh? Why is the floor so dirty? Oh my, it's filthy, absolutely filthy."
She forced an apologetic smile.
"I'll go find two more cleaning ladies to come in and sweep the floor again. By the way, would you like something to eat? I'll have someone prepare it."
Ye Fuli shook her head.
She pulled the blanket up to cover herself, no longer watching Ye Zhen's performance full of holes.
In that moment, Ye Fuli seemed to make a decision in her heart.
She would use an extreme method to test Ye Zhen's true intentions.
At this moment, her heart was filled with nothing but gloom.
If she had to live out her days in an illusion of beauty…
Then she would rather end this meaningless existence.
Carrying nameless guilt while drifting through life was not a path Ye Fuli could accept.
"No matter how wrong my actions have been, returning this life to her should be enough."
Ye Fuli thought this, suddenly feeling the heavy shackles weighing her down quietly unlock.
She let out a soft laugh.
"No matter how filthy I've become, a pure corner of my heart has always been reserved for her."
"But alas…"
"She won't be moving back in."
……
……
Time slipped away silently.
The New Year's Eve chimes rang out amidst a blizzard of snowflakes.
The festive atmosphere, long simmering, finally erupted in full force.
The crackling fireworks filling the sky stirred memories in Ye Zhen—and in Ye Fuli.
This was the outskirts of South City.
Fireworks were prohibited in the city center, but here they were permitted.
So every year around this time, crowds gathered here to set off piles of fireworks along the riverbank, chattering and clamoring until dawn.
"I don't approve of spending money just to watch others have fun," Ye Zhen said earnestly to the factory employees. "So don't expect me to chip in for fireworks, got it?"
At that moment, the veteran technician in charge of caring for the parrots chimed in cheerfully, "If everyone wants to have some fun, I'll go buy some."
Ye Zhen let out a resentful "Hmph." "No fireworks in the factory grounds. And don't scare the animals around here."
"Then we'll set them off on that hillside over there."
There weren't many young people at the factory, but there were several—all from poor families or with physical disabilities.
Ye Zhen hadn't expected them to earn her money, but surprisingly, each worked with remarkable diligence, matching the healthy workers step for step.
Thus, this business she hadn't paid much attention to still turned a profit.
Ye Zhen decided to give each of them a generous red envelope.
This holiday season, everyone celebrated with joy.
"Are you this considerate and gentle with everyone?" Ye Fuli suddenly asked.
"Huh? What are you talking about!" Ye Zhen wouldn't admit it. She retorted decisively, "Their wages are much lower than average. I'm not doing charity work—I'm actually a ruthless boss."
Ye Fuli smiled but said nothing.
With her intelligence, if she couldn't grasp this, she'd be out of her depth.
Ye Zhen cleared her throat. "Are you… planning to stay here indefinitely? I don't think I can keep employing idle hands forever."
The truth was, she genuinely didn't know how to deal with Ye Fuli right now.
Ye Zhen feared she might grow accustomed to Ye Fuli's fragility and succumb to excessive pity.
"I won't stay here forever."
Ye Fuli was an exceptionally honest person. Even now, with her memory lost, her true nature remained unchanged.
"I think after this New Year, I'll end my life."
Ye Zhen, who had been smiling cheerfully, instantly stiffened upon hearing those words. "What did you say?"
"I said I don't want to live anymore."
Ye Zhen took a deep breath and stared intently at her for a long moment.
Ye Fuli smiled faintly. "I don't want to live like this, in a daze."
Ye Zhen gritted her teeth. "So you want to die in confusion too, is that it?"
Though weakened by illness, Ye Fuli's eyes remained bright, without a trace of hesitation.
She wasn't the impulsive type.
Every word she spoke was carefully considered.
Lowering her eyes, Ye Fuli said calmly, "When people die, they see their life flash before their eyes. At that moment, I won't be as clueless as I am now."
These words left Ye Zhen speechless.
While others might not dare to speak such words, Ye Fuli could say them with certainty.
After all, she had truly died before…
"Forgetting isn't necessarily a bad thing, Ye Fuli," Ye Zhen countered. "It can be a fresh start. You still have a whole life ahead of you."
Ye Fuli shook her head.
She pulled out her phone, opened a chat window, and held the lit screen up to Ye Zhen.
"Ye Family Massacre! Former Chairwoman of Ye Group Poisons Entire Family…"
This wasn't public news.
Ye Fuli had used certain means to dig up this information from an intelligence broker.
She smiled, watching Ye Zhen's expression freeze.
Ye Fuli couldn't recall this memory at all. She barely remembered her biological mother's face anymore.
"If my own mother could do this to me, it means I've failed completely as a person, doesn't it?"
"At this point, can I even start over?"
"Ye Zhen, if it were you, could you?"
Ye Zhen remained silent.
To be honest, she couldn't.
In that instant, she suddenly felt that all her consolations had been in vain.
Ye Fuli hadn't made a reckless decision in the heat of an emotional breakdown—she'd been brewing this for a long time.
This was getting complicated.
Ye Zhen bit her finger.
"Fine, if you insist on killing yourself, there's nothing I can do. But since I look so much like your ex-lover, could I leverage her reputation to make you do something before you die?"
Ye Fuli: "No."
"At least you've been eating, drinking, and staying here at my expense these past few days. Don't refuse so quickly."
Ye Fuli still smiled. "I'm not easily fooled, Ye Zhen."
Smiling, she stood up and walked toward Ye Zhen.
Beneath a sky filled with fireworks, Ye Fuli placed one hand on her shoulder and whispered softly, "I'll give myself three more days to find her. If I can't, I'll leave this place."