Chapter 42: Face Blindness

An hour had passed since the performance had ended.

Because Little Bei’s performance was unique, she even won an award.

This was the first time Great Eastern Village got everyone’s attention in such a special way.

Although Great Eastern Village wasn’t the most remote village in the county, it was still quite secluded. Nobody expected such a fascinating performance to take place there.

It was noteworthy that basically all the students who had come to perform were from the town.

In the past, whenever there was an event, it would be just the students from the county or town competing against each other.

Unexpectedly, this year, a village kid had become the exception.

Although everyone was surprised, they had to admit that Little Bei’s performance was really good.

Little Bei received an award and even earned the right to study at the art school free of charge.

Students who were chosen like this could study freely over the weekend and not pay any school fees.

“If there are any events we need a little actress or dancer for, our school will inform you. Practice well. In the future, you might get chances to perform or perhaps even go on TV.”

“I will. I’ll do it.” Little Bei immediately replied excitedly.

This was the second time she had truly performed on stage, and she had already fallen deeply in love with this feeling.

Dressed in beautiful clothes, she had stood on the stage and attracted everyone’s attention.

She loved this feeling.

Acting was also very interesting. She hoped to act more in the future.

After this small talk, Mu Jingzhe left with them.

Ji Buwang turned a corner to see if he could meet Mu Jingzhe. He focused on looking for people with short hair and saw an extremely eye-catching bun and a pair of rabbit ears.

It was those two children!

In the blink of an eye, they were in front of him. Ji Buwang was eager to make a move, wanting to pinch those rabbit ears.

Xiao Wu moved aside vigilantly and accidentally caused the bunny hair clip to fall on the ground.

Ji Buwang: “…”

“I’m sorry.” Ji Buwang apologized. How had he messed things up again?

Upon saying that, he bent down to pick the hair clip up. However, Mu Jingzhe happened to bend over to pick it up too, and their heads ended up bumping into each other.

Mu Jingzhe felt her vision turn dark and felt extremely helpless.

She had noticed Ji Buwang earlier and had been about to speak to him when he’d reached out to touch Xiao Wu’s bunny hair clip.

What a strange man.

Mu Jingzhe covered her head and looked at Ji Buwang. “What are you doing?”

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Ji Buwang staring at her. “It’s you. I can see you.”

His eyes were filled with shock.

Mu Jingzhe: “Considering that we’re so close, it’s only natural that you can see me.”

“No, you…” Ji Buwang was shocked and speechless.

When his head had collided with Mu Jingzhe’s, it had buzzed for a moment before he’d heard a voice that had left a deep impression on him despite the fact that he’d only heard it today.

He had found her.

He raised his head eagerly and saw her face close up.

He really saw it clearly.

Her eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, and chin could be seen clearly.

They were no longer blurry. He could see everything clearly.

This was the second time he had seen a person’s face clearly.

Ji Buwang’s breathing quickened for a moment. He couldn’t bear to blink as he stared at Mu Jingzhe, afraid that it would all quickly turn blurry.

Mu Jingzhe felt uncomfortable under his intense gaze. “Is there something on my face?”

“No,” Ji Buwang answered distractedly before sighing sincerely. “It’s really beautiful.”

Thanks to her clearly distinguishable facial features, her face was really beautiful.

Little Bei and Xiao Wu raised their heads in unison.

Mu Jingzhe was embarrassed. “You’re not teasing, are you?”

“No, of course not,” Ji Buwang quickly replied before finally blinking.

After blinking, he realized that Mu Jingzhe’s face was still very clearly revealed in front of him.

At that moment, Ji Buwang even suspected that he had recovered from his illness, but when he looked at others, everything was still a blur.

Amid this blurriness, only Mu Jingzhe’s face was clear.

Ji Buwang’s heart was about to jump out of his chest. He took a deep breath to calm down.

“Sorry, I’m just too happy. I can’t believe I can see you.”

The first time he had seen a human face clearly, it had belonged to his parents. However, after that clear visual, he hadn’t been able to see it again because they had parted ways.

In less than a minute, his world had become blurry again.

Until today.

Ji Buwang couldn’t bear to look away.

Mu Jingzhe looked at Ji Buwang and a guess quickly flashed across her mind. “Are you face-blind?”

She had asked casually, not expecting Ji Buwang to be stunned.

“You…” He looked around. “How did you know?”

In this day and age, few people knew about this illness.

Other than the people closest to him, no one knew about his problem.

Besides attracting curious probing gazes, such a strange illness would also attract many malicious gazes. It was fine if people were just teasing, but what he feared was complete malice.

That was why he had been trying to hide it until now, using myopia as an excuse. No one had suspected anything. He was surprised that Mu Jingzhe actually knew about it.

Mu Jingzhe: “…”

She had guessed it right just like that?

In her real life, she had never met anyone with severe face blindness. However, she had seen it on many television dramas and novels before, so she stayed relatively calm.

“It was just a casual suggestion. I didn’t expect you to really have that. No wonder you were so strange before.”

Mu Jingzhe glanced at him. “Is it quite inconvenient?”

Ji Buwang nodded vigorously.

It wasn’t just inconvenient. It was incredibly troublesome.

Some people might think that he just couldn’t see other people’s faces clearly and believe it wasn’t a big problem, but they didn’t know how much trouble it caused him.

He couldn’t see people’s expressions, nor could he read their emotions. He couldn’t share moments of joy with them, nor could he distinguish good from evil.

Because of his face blindness, he had been different from others from a young age. It was never safe for him to go out. Furthermore, the most pitiful thing was that he couldn’t even remember his parents’ faces.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried seeking treatment for his condition, but there was no cure.

However, his identity was special. He had to keep going out and interacting with many, many people.

In the end, he could only train his other senses and cooperate with his sense of hearing and smell to actively face them. He could remember people by memorizing their hair, body movements, and sounds, as well as some characteristics such as their moles and gait.

He had been training since he was young, and with practice, even if people gained weight or became thin, and their hair and clothes kept changing, he could always distinguish them by the sounds they made.

Under the cover of his family’s help, he usually made no mistakes. No outsider knew that he had this problem.

In order to help him recognize them at first glance, his parents had worn iconic hair accessories and watches for more than ten years while maintaining their hairstyles and figure. In order to reduce his uneasiness, they’d identified themselves right away and constantly kept him company.

His grandfather had changed his name for him to Buwang[1], in hopes that he wouldn’t forget his parents and he would get better.

But in the end, even when his parents were gone, he’d failed to ‘never forget’ them. In fact, he couldn’t even see his own face clearly.

After more than twenty years, his mind had stored a lot of information on voices, hairstyles, and physiques. Apart from that, he only remembered two faces.

Now, a third face had appeared clearly before his eyes.

This feeling was too exhilarating and blissful.

Amidst the blurriness, a face lit up his world like a lighthouse, shining in his mind and heart.

No one could understand this feeling except him.

No matter how many people were around, he could see her at a glance.

He was no longer afraid of not being able to find her.

[1] meaning ‘never forget’