Although Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they ultimately gave birth to humanity. A momentary mistake doesn’t mean much – knowing one’s errors and correcting them is the greatest virtue.

Song Yue slowly regained consciousness from his daze, immediately feeling intense pain at the back of his head. It took him quite a while to come to his senses. What happened? Hadn’t he been hit by a car? Could it be that he’d been taken to the hospital? Song Yue looked at the expanse of white in his vision and struggled to sit up while supporting his head. He remembered going to the Qin Law Firm for an interview, and on his way back, a van had run a red light and charged straight at him. He couldn’t dodge in time, and the last thing he remembered hearing was the piercing sound of brakes and the screams of onlookers.

Tentatively checking his body, Song Yue found himself quite fortunate. Apart from the pain at the back of his head, nothing else seemed wrong. It appeared he had merely fallen to the ground – a blessing in disguise. “Awake? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?” A deep voice came from beside the hospital bed, startling Song Yue. He reflexively turned his head but moved too quickly, causing another wave of dizziness as his vision filled with white spots. It took quite some time before he could see the person clearly.

But when he finally saw who it was, he was shocked again. His lips trembled, and the word “President Qin” died on his lips. When he tried to speak, he discovered his throat felt as if it had been scraped with sandpaper – so hoarse that no sound would come out. Only then did Song Yue notice he was in a private hospital room, the kind that looked like a luxury suite costing over 1,000 yuan per day. Having lived a common life since childhood, he had never seen such grandeur. He wondered if the driver of the van that hit him was very wealthy. But that wasn’t the main point – the main point was, why was Qin Mo, the president of Qin Law Firm, the one accompanying him at his bedside?

Qin Mo was a benchmark figure recognized throughout their industry. Not yet thirty, he already owned his own law firm, had connections spanning various industries, and was quite popular in the field. Qin Law Firm was different from those established old firms – it had always favored recruiting newcomers. So after obtaining his lawyer’s license, Song Yue had gone there for an interview. But he never would have imagined that after being hit, the first person he’d see upon opening his eyes would be Qin Mo. Logically speaking, he shouldn’t even count as Qin Mo’s employee yet, right? And the intersection where his accident occurred was quite far from Qin Law Firm…

Song Yue felt great pressure under such scrutiny but still gathered his spirits to answer the doctor’s questions. Before long, two uniformed police officers actually entered the room. Song Yue endured his headache while watching Qin Mo negotiate with those two officers. The serious expressions on all three faces made Song Yue realize this was no simple traffic accident. A nurse gave Song Yue an IV drip, and the doctor arranged several examinations. When Song Yue returned to the room, he found the two officers had already left. Qin Mo sat in the room waiting for him with a grave expression, and the first thing he said upon looking up was: “Who exactly are you?”

“Song Yue.” Song Yue wouldn’t forget his own name and answered without hesitation. Recalling their previous conversation, he couldn’t help but laugh dryly. “President Qin, you don’t think I’ve been possessed by someone else after this car accident, do you?”

“You know me?” Qin Mo raised his eyebrows in surprise. Song Yue felt somewhat embarrassed. He had just been interviewed by Qin Mo today – surely this young master Qin couldn’t be so forgetful as to have already forgotten him? However, facing Qin Mo’s X-ray-like gaze, Song Yue still honestly replied: “I just went to Qin Law Firm for an interview today, so naturally I recognize you.”

“Interview?” Qin Mo was stunned at these words, staring at Song Yue as if pondering an unsolved puzzle. After a moment, he smiled bitterly. “What year do you think it is?”

“Isn’t it 2008?” Song Yue found this question from the young master Qin quite absurd, and was also uncomfortable with the other party’s attitude of speaking to him as if they were friends. He still clearly remembered Qin Mo’s poker-faced serious expression during the interview just hours ago. Qin Mo said nothing, picked up a phone from the bedside table, tapped the screen a few times, and placed it in front of him. Song Yue silently muttered that rich people were indeed different – what an advanced phone! It actually had a touch screen? He had thought the Nokia N85 he bought a few days ago was the most advanced! But this internal complaint was cut short halfway. Song Yue stared dumbfounded at the date displayed on the phone screen – 2012?! Was this some kind of mistake!

Song Yue was flabbergasted, and Qin Mo was speechless. The doctor was quickly called back and performed various tedious examinations on Song Yue, then diagnosed him with psychogenic amnesia. This type of amnesia was caused by brain trauma, leading patients to be unable to remember only a certain period of time – remembering old events but forgetting the present. Obviously, Song Yue had forgotten four years’ worth of events at once.

But to Song Yue, it felt as if he had merely taken a nap and upon opening his eyes, four years had passed. He had missed the Beijing Olympics and the South Africa World Cup, which had been spoiled with Spain’s victory. It seemed the world was supposed to end at the end of this year… None of this mattered much. Song Yue looked down at the iPhone 4S in his hands, handling it somewhat unfamiliarly, only now learning that this advanced touch-screen Apple phone was actually his own. More than half the names in the phone book were unfamiliar to him, and a wave of panic rose in Song Yue’s heart. It was as if someone had occupied his body for four years without his permission.

“The doctor says you can be discharged. There’s no obvious blood clots or trauma in your brain. He recommends you return to a familiar environment, which would help you recover your memories.” Qin Mo explained to Song Yue while taking out his phone to instruct his assistant to handle Song Yue’s discharge procedures.

A familiar environment? His parents were back in his hometown. In this city, he only had a shared rental with a friend, but he felt it was unlikely that four years later, he would still be living in that shared apartment. Because he noticed the suit jacket Qin Mo handed him bore the label of a famous brand sold at prominent counters in major shopping malls. Such a suit could cover several months’ rent for his shared apartment. After confirming that the pants and jacket he was wearing were indeed a matching set, Song Yue put on the jacket with trepidation, feeling increasingly unreal about everything. He had been conscious for a while now, and his head no longer hurt as much after receiving a dose of painkillers. Song Yue followed Qin Mo out of the hospital, and when they reached the main entrance, he instinctively looked at his reflection in the glass.

It was indeed his face, no mistake. Four years wasn’t too long – he looked much the same as when he had just graduated from university. However, both his hairstyle and clothing gave off a mature impression of someone who had been tempered by society. Song Yue felt that if he wore a more resolute and serious expression, he would actually resemble Qin Mo quite closely…

Getting into Qin Mo’s BMW, Song Yue couldn’t help but take a few extra glances, only to be stunned by Qin Mo’s direct statement: “Stop looking, this is your car.” Seeing Song Yue’s stiff expression from the corner of his eye, Qin Mo misunderstood and suggested, “Would you rather drive?”

Song Yue immediately shook his head – he remembered not having a driver’s license. Of course, his memory was incomplete, which meant that during these four years, he had not only gotten a license but also bought a BMW?

Good God! He knew lawyers could earn a lot, but which lawyer wasn’t exploited as an assistant during their initial junior period? What exactly had he been doing?

Sitting uneasily in the passenger seat, Song Yue watched the city through the car window and found that after four years, the city had gradually become unfamiliar. Many high-rise buildings he had never seen had replaced previous structures. Traffic was extremely congested, and they were quickly trapped in the jam. Qin Mo seemed very accustomed to such traffic, calmly following the flow of cars ahead, inching forward bit by bit. Song Yue suddenly remembered what Qin Mo had said when he first regained consciousness, and touching his still aching head, he asked hesitantly: “My injury… was I beaten by someone?”

“Yes, you were on the phone with me discussing a case you were handling at the time.” Qin Mo’s grip on the steering wheel tightened almost imperceptibly as he tried his best to suppress the anger in his chest. Song Yue fell silent. He knew lawyers easily made enemies, but when such a thing happened to him personally, it wasn’t so easy to laugh off. He forced a smile and said: “It seems they only wanted to give me a warning, otherwise they wouldn’t have chosen to strike while I was on the phone.”

Qin Mo’s tense hands relaxed. He was satisfied that although Song Yue had lost four years of memory, his calm and clear mind hadn’t been lost along with it: “You should rest at home for a few days, then come back to work when you’ve recovered.”

“No need, I’ll come to work tomorrow. I wouldn’t be able to rest properly just staying at home.” Song Yue felt that being stuck at home doing nothing would definitely drive him crazy. “Besides, didn’t the doctor say I should be in a familiar environment to recover my memory? I think during these four years, I must have spent far more time at the firm than at home.” This was exactly what any boss would love to hear. Even though Qin Mo wasn’t in the best mood, he couldn’t help but curve his lips slightly. Just then, traffic began moving slowly forward. Qin Mo spotted an opening and made a beautiful turn into an upscale residential community: “Alright, I’ll pick you up at eight tomorrow morning.”

Only then did Song Yue learn that he and Qin Mo lived in the same residential complex. He knew that senior lawyers at Qin Law Firm received excellent benefits and that the firm would even handle housing matters, but he truly hadn’t known he had mixed so well for himself. Watching Qin Mo lock the car and hand over keys before getting on the elevator, Song Yue obediently followed behind him, staying silent all the way to the other party’s front door. When Qin Mo saw that Song Yue seemed intent on following him into his home, he helplessly pointed to the door across the hall: “You really don’t remember anything at all – you live across the hall.”

“Oh…” Song Yue found keys in his suit pocket and turned to try them. Sure enough, the door opened at once. Qin Mo watched with narrowed eyes as Song Yue went inside, patiently waiting for a while. When nothing seemed amiss, he finally closed his own door. He always felt that Song Yue after losing his memory had a completely different personality from before…

Setting aside Song Yue’s shock at having such a substantial dwelling in this city where every inch of land was precious, and setting aside his immense gratitude that when he opened his computer – advanced and unfamiliar to him – the password he used was still his old familiar one, Song Yue spent the entire night frantically researching what had happened to him during these four years. Unfortunately, his apartment appeared to have professional housekeeping service and was spotlessly clean, with few items that might trigger memories. His QQ and MSN chat records were also clean, suggesting he probably used his work computer most of the time. The text messages on his phone were mostly advertisements and spam, indicating he probably made phone calls more often.