RMM – Chapter 26 Sleepless on a Lonely Pillow

Su Ruo and Liang Bo’an arrived at a Western restaurant. As they sat down, Su Ruo couldn’t help but secretly feel relieved. Thank goodness she’d often come to Western restaurants with clients before—otherwise, today would have been a disaster.

After ordering, Liang Bo’an spoke up. “This is actually the first time I’ve seen you in a while. How have you been lately?”

“Mm, I’ve been fine. I’ve just been staying at home and haven’t gone out much. You’re not mad, are you?”

Su Ruo smiled and continued, “Now that I’ve forgotten everything, I feel a bit distant from everyone. I might seem inattentive or indifferent at times, so please don’t take it personally.”

With a graceful motion, Liang Bo’an poured her a glass of red wine before replying, “Of course not. If you’ve forgotten, we’ll just get to know each other all over again. Who knows—maybe it’ll be a new beginning, which could be nice.”

Looking at the smile on his face, Su Ruo suddenly felt a sense of mystery about him—but it didn’t feel threatening, so she didn’t dwell on it. She smiled, half-jokingly, and said, “What, are you happy that I lost my memory? Now I don’t even recognize any of you—is that a good thing?”

Wasn’t it, though? Never mind reigniting hope—even just sitting together and having a meal like this was something he had long wished for.

“By the way, how are things with Xi Yuechen? I’ve heard he’s not exactly easy to get along with.”

“How could that be? The Commander is actually a very nice person. Though he seems a bit cold and serious, once you get to know him, you’ll find he’s kind—just not one for small talk. He gives off a strict vibe, but he’s bearable.”

Toward the end, Su Ruo even stuck out her tongue playfully. Liang Bo’an’s question had reminded her of Xi Yuechen again, and she couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing now.

Seeing how naturally Su Ruo defended Xi Yuechen—and even had a little smile in her voice as she spoke—made Liang Bo’an clench his fists slightly, his lips pressed tightly together, trembling ever so faintly. After a moment, he interrupted her distracted thoughts.

She must be thinking about Xi Yuechen again.

“The food’s here. Let’s eat.”

“Yeah, I’m really hungry now,” Su Ruo replied, snapping out of her thoughts a bit sheepishly.

Unlike Su Ruo’s relaxed and carefree evening, things weren’t nearly as easy on Xi Yuechen’s side.

Ever since returning to the base, Xi Yuechen had been constantly busy, not even getting a moment to catch his breath—meetings, deployments, planning—he was involved in everything. It was always like this before a drill: the atmosphere tense and heavy.

The big military exercise was set to begin in three days. The day after tomorrow, they’d head to the war zone and enter full lockdown mode.

After returning to the small apartment assigned to him at the base, he sat down on the sofa to rest for a moment and picked up his phone from the coffee table, falling into thought.

After dinner, Su Ruo returned home around nine. While she was in the shower, her phone in the living room started ringing. Covered in soap, she didn’t bother with it, planning to return the call afterward.

But the phone wouldn’t stop ringing, as if it wouldn’t quit until she picked up. With no choice, she quickly wrapped herself in a towel and, dripping wet, ran out to answer it.

“Hello? Commander?”

Seeing that the call was from Xi Yuechen, she didn’t even have time to process the emotions stirring in her chest before hastily picking up.

Hearing Su Ruo’s voice, Xi Yuechen finally relaxed. “Mm, what are you doing?”

“I’m in the middle of a shower.” She touched her still-dripping hair and answered truthfully.

“You’re not busy right now? Did you have dinner?”

“Just finished working. I ate.”

He had eaten, but it had been rushed—there wasn’t really time these days to sit down and have a proper meal.

“Mm, make sure you take your stomach medicine on time. Are things really busy for you right now?”

“We’re heading into the war zone the day after tomorrow. We’ll be completely cut off from the outside.”

Completely cut off?

“How long will that last? Is it dangerous?” She pushed down the odd feeling in her chest and asked.

“Not sure about the duration yet. It’s not dangerous. Where are you staying now?”

A faint smile curled on Xi Yuechen’s lips, his voice still calm.

“I’m living at Jingyue Mingdu. I was thinking of staying at Zhengjia Yard tomorrow night, so I won’t bother moving everything over.”

“Mm, whatever works for you. Just be careful.” Standing by the window, he looked out at the faint shadows of trees and scattered lights, and reminded her gently.

They didn’t talk for much longer before hanging up. Su Ruo didn’t know what else to say—and she didn’t want to disturb his rest.

She sat on the sofa for a bit, wiped the water droplets off her neck, and realized the soap on her skin had dried, making it feel tight and uncomfortable. With a small grimace, she picked up her phone and returned to the bathroom to finish showering. The air around her was thick with a faint sense of melancholy.

After calling Su Ruo, Xi Yuechen also made calls to his family and to her father, Su Feng. By the time he was done, it was finally time to rest. Lying in bed, he thought about his call with Su Ruo and suddenly felt the emptiness of his surroundings. The house, filled with only his own breathing, felt unnervingly quiet.

The next morning, when Su Ruo woke up, she reached for her phone and saw no new messages. With a little huff, she closed her eyes again and buried her face in the pillow, planning to sleep some more. But before long, she grew frustrated—she couldn’t fall back asleep.

Remembering that she had said she’d go to Zhengjia Yard today, she gave up on sleeping altogether and got up. Might as well head over earlier—she couldn’t sleep anyway.

The guard at the gate of Zhengjia Yard recognized her, so he let her in without asking for ID. Since she didn’t have anything of her own there, she just brought a few essentials. She didn’t even have breakfast before heading out.

That morning, Su Ruo suddenly felt the loneliness of being home alone.

“Oh, what kind of wind blew you over here so early today, Sister-in-law Ruo? I didn’t even see any magpies this morning!”

Xi Yuehui had just returned from morning training when he saw Su Ruo getting out of the car and teased her.

Su Ruo shot him a side glance, half-smiling as she picked up her things from the car. “Tsk, and who’s this sloppy, carefree young master? I really should call Dad out to see for himself—what do you think?”

Xi Yuehui was most afraid of his big brother and their father. Even though he knew she was just joking, he didn’t dare be lazy anymore and came over to help carry her things. With their big brother as the family role model, their father’s standards were through the roof—every word, every action had to be precise. If the old man caught him goofing off and joking around with his sister-in-law at the front gate, who knew what would happen?

Su Ruo glanced at his sudden eagerness to help and handed him her things without hesitation, then walked into the house empty-handed.

“Are you staying for a while?” Xi Yuehui asked, looking at what she had brought.

“Just a night or two. Where are Dad and Mom?” she asked, not seeing anyone in the living room.

“Dad’s probably in the garden. Not sure where Mom is,” Xi Yuehui shrugged.

But I called her this morning—where did she go?

“Is that Ruo Ruo?” Her mother-in-law’s voice drifted down from upstairs just as she was wondering.

A moment later, Shen Liang walked down the stairs.

“Mom.” Su Ruo stood up with a smile.

“After you called this morning, I went to tidy up Yuechen’s room a bit. You can stay there,” Shen Liang said as she pulled Su Ruo to sit with her on the sofa.

“You haven’t had breakfast yet, have you? Yuehui, go call your father—we’re having breakfast now.”

Sitting comfortably on the sofa, Su Ruo couldn’t help but feel a little sheepish. Her adaptability really was amazing—she’d already started treating this place like her own home…