Chapter 59 The Bet: She wanted to believe him one more time.

The night before the New Year was Leung Yik-chi's last performance of the year.

After the performance, the orchestra members took their instruments and returned to the dressing room. They huddled together, their faces beaming with joy, remarking that the year had finally come to a perfect end.

Liang Yizhi asked Wu You if she had any plans for tonight. Wu You shook her head, sadly putting her hands on her hips, and said, "I can't indulge myself anymore. I've gained weight recently, and I'll start dieting after this last meal of the year!"

Liang Yizhi mocked her, "There are only four hours left this year, you'd better hurry up."

Shi Ruocheng walked over and overheard their conversation: "You're not fat at all, why do you need to lose weight?"

Wu You: "So I can wear nicer clothes and take prettier photos."

"But I think you look great in this outfit today."

"But it makes me look fat, so I haven't dared to eat much today." Wu You pinched the non-existent fat on her stomach.

Liang Yizhi, ever the astute one, said, "Brother Shi, did you hear that? It's New Year's Eve today, shouldn't we treat Wu You to an extra meal?"

Shi Ruocheng then showed a look of sudden realization: "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that. Wu You, do you still have time tonight?"

Wu You looked around: "Yes, there is..."

Shi Ruocheng didn't give her a chance to refuse: "Then I'll wait for you outside for a while, and I'll see if there are any other restaurants available."

After Shi Ruocheng walked to the side, Wu You immediately shoved Liang Yizhi.

"Yizhi, what are you doing?"

Liang Yizhi said with a smile, "Anyway, you're free tonight, aren't you?"

She had long noticed that the two of them were starting to develop a strong bond, and she was intentionally trying to push things along.

Wu You said, "But I'm not prepared yet."

"No need to prepare, the clothes, makeup and hairstyle are all taken care of, this is a golden opportunity."

"You're not suggesting we both go to dinner in these formal attire, are you? That would be so weird!"

"Don't worry, I think you look good in anything."

Wu You: "Then come with me."

"I have plans tonight. I won't be a third wheel."

He Man called her this morning and said she had arranged to meet at the rooftop garden in the city center to celebrate the New Year together tonight.

After changing their clothes, they walked out of the lounge together, Liang Yizhi's eyes intentionally searching for something in the corridor.

Gu Yinyan stood in the corridor, his slender figure particularly eye-catching.

However, there were other people standing next to him.

Liang Yizhi recognized her at a glance; she was the girl she had bumped into a couple of days ago, the one who had said goodbye to Gu Yinyan outside the concert hall.

How could they be together at this time?

Did Gu Yinyan bring that girl to her performance again?

As soon as she turned her gaze towards him, Wu You encouraged her from the side, "Go ahead, don't overthink it, just rush up and ask him directly!"

Liang Yizhi composed herself and walked over to them.

"Gu Yinyan".

Gu Yinyan turned around and, upon seeing Liang Yizhi, took the initiative to introduce the two people beside him: "This is my friend, Liang Yizhi, who is also the cello of the orchestra. This is Si Kexin."

"Hello." Liang Yizhi nodded.

"Hello," Si Kexin smiled sweetly and gracefully, then tilted her head up at Gu Yinyan, "So, I'm not your friend yet?"

The slight reproach in that tone made Liang Yizhi's heart ache.

She had known Gu Yinyan for so many years, and she had never seen a character like this before.

A flood of questions kept popping up: What is her relationship with Gu Yinyan? Is she a new friend of his? Or is she his girlfriend from when he was abroad?

Gu Yinyan spoke up at this moment: "It depends on how you define a friend."

As soon as he finished speaking, he changed the subject again and answered very decisively, "But in my opinion, we are not yet, I'm sorry."

He reached out and tugged at the strap on Liang Yizhi's shoulder: "Give me the zither."

"Um?"

Liang Yizhi did as she was told and took off the violin case from her back.

Gu Yinyan: "It's cold outside, wait here, I'll go get the car."

The cello, which looked enormous on Liang Yizhi's back, became a size that matched Gu Yinyan's physique when it was on his back.

After Gu Yinyan left temporarily, only Liang Yizhi and Si Kexin remained.

Si Kexin took the initiative to strike up a conversation with her: "Miss Liang, you play the cello beautifully, and you are really amazing."

Liang Yizhi shook her head and smiled slightly: "It's just work, nothing different."

"But people who have a special skill are really impressive."

Si Kexin appeared to be genuinely praising her. She recalled her childhood:

"I also studied the cello for a while, and I've also studied the guzheng, violin, piano, and pipa. But..."

"Give up?"

“I learn something for a while, then lose interest and move on to something else. My mom has always said that I only know the basics of everything and can’t do anything well. But I also know that I’m rather restless and can’t calm down, and I’ve never been able to change that.”

“But that also shows that you are a person full of curiosity about the world,” Liang Yizhi said.

"The fact that you can still be interested in everything is a remarkable ability in itself; there's no need to force yourself to be interested in anything else."

Si Kexin grinned: "Really?"

Looking at the long-haired girl in front of her, she seemed to be moved by those words.

Si Kexin asked, "How long have you known Gu Yinyan? A long time, right?"

Liang Yizhi nodded: "It should be more than ten years."

Si Kexin exclaimed in surprise, then laughed and said, "I think I know why he looked at you like that."

“You must have never seen his expression when he watched you perform, right?” Si Kexin recalled the scene when she sat next to Gu Yinyan just now. “In his eyes, it didn’t look like a symphony performance at all, but your solo recital.”

Even though it was their first meeting, Si Kexin couldn't understand, and would never forget, the look in his eyes when he gazed at the stage.

Perhaps what interests her is just that moment when he is fascinated by the people on stage.

Si Kexin shrugged: "I shouldn't have met him here. I just made a fool of myself."

As she lifted her foot to leave, Liang Yizhi called out to her, "Miss Si, aren't you leaving with Gu Yinyan?"

Si Kexin waved her hand and said, "I have my own driver, you guys have fun."

"Then I wish you a Happy New Year." Liang Yizhi waved goodbye to her.

"Happy New Year!" Si Kexin said. "If we have the chance to meet again next time, we can get to know each other better."

"no problem."

As Si Kexin walked away, bodyguards followed and escorted her into the car.

Gu Yinyan's car also drove up to Liang Yizhi.

"Si Kexin is gone?" he asked.

“She just left,” Liang Yizhi said. “Miss Si said her driver would take her.”

Once she got into the car, Gu Yinyan got straight to the point: "Si Kexin is the daughter of my father's friend. The total time I've spent with her is less than 24 hours."

“She was also a blind date that my mom found for me. She arranged to meet me here without my consent.”

Liang Yizhi feigned modesty: "I didn't ask."

"Yes, you didn't ask, but I wanted to say it myself."

Even without Gu Yinyan's explanation, based on their brief conversation and her one-time encounter with Si Kexin, Liang Yizhi could roughly guess the relationship.

Liang Yizhi said, "Ms. Si is very nice, and she suits you very well."

"You've only known her for a short time, and you already know she's right for me?"

"It's obvious."

"So, where do you think He Xintu is a good match for you?"

Leung Yik-chi said, "He's very interesting, and he knows a lot of things I don't know. Most of the time I spend with him is very interesting."

"Really?" Gu Yinyan clearly disagreed with her. "You're only interested in him out of novelty. Once that novelty wears off, how long will you stay interested in him?"

Liang Yizhi had never thought about such a question.

"Feelings can be cultivated. As long as we get to know each other, feelings can support us to go on together."

“Then I think I’m more suitable for you,” Gu Yinyan said. “I can give you both the familiarity and the novelty you want.”

He gently reminded her, "Liang Yizhi, stop trying to push me out."

Liang Yizhi turned her head to look at the streetlights rushing past outside the window, her lips tightly pressed together, and she remained silent.

Gu Yinyan drove her to the hotel, and the waiter led them to the rooftop garden.

It was a huge, luxurious private room with floor-to-ceiling windows offering a view of the city's neon-lit cityscape, while the words "Happy New Year" played on a loop on the building.

Looking out from here, you can see fireworks rising intermittently. Fireworks can only be set off in the far suburbs, and from their perspective, they look like tiny images on an electronic screen, so they're not so frightening to Liang Yizhi.

He Man was pouring a bottle of red wine, while Jiang Huai was lounging on the sofa with his legs propped up on the coffee table, taking a selfie with the night view behind him.

Gu Yinyan went over and kicked his leg: "Don't block my way."

He kicked the person in the camera, causing them to sway and their mouth to open wide in pain, forming an "O".

"Of all the roads there are, why do you have to take this route! My leg just healed not long ago!" Jiang Huai bent his knees and hugged his leg.

Gu Yinyan said, "Your photo is too pretentious, I can't stand looking at it."

"You don't know anything!" Jiang Huai said disapprovingly, then called out to the other two, "He Man, Yi Zhi, from a woman's perspective, isn't he handsome?"

Liang Yizhi frowned: "Hmm... a bit like the Jiangzhehu region."

"It's so oily." He Man glanced at it and walked away with a look of disgust.

"You...you're all just jealous!" Seeing that no one was supporting him, Jiang Huai swung his arm and snatched the phone back.

Gu Yinyan had just sat down when the phone rang again. He glanced at it, then walked a short distance away to answer it.

He Man sipped her red wine and watched Jiang Huai fiddling with his phone. She added, "Let me tell you, you absolutely mustn't post this photo on your WeChat Moments. Otherwise, when Dr. Jiang sees it, he'll think you're just a good-for-nothing playboy again."

"What's so strange about this photo? It's just a night scene, isn't it?"

"But the scene and atmosphere of this photo are just wrong."

"Women are so hard to understand." Jiang Huai pressed the screen-off button. "And watch your words, I'm not the same person I used to be."

Liang Yizhi asked, "Dr. Jiang has accepted you?"

"Not yet." Jiang Huai picked up his wine glass. "It's my dad. He said my reputation at the company has been pretty good lately, and the department I lead has performed quite well. He said I've made progress, and starting next year, he can give me a small company under his management so I can start working my way up step by step."

"Sure!" He Man clinked her glass against his. "So, Little Jiang is about to become President Jiang?"

Jiang Huai lifted his collar with both hands: "Needless to say? When the time comes, no matter who Jiang is, whether it's Dr. Jiang, Nurse Jiang, or Doctor Jiang, they'll all be no match for me."

"Tch, you men are so slow at doing things," He Man complained.

"Gu Yinyan is the same. Didn't he tell us he had a target before? But we haven't heard anything from him since. That's not like him. Yizhi, you haven't heard him mention it either?"

When suddenly asked this question, Liang Yizhi paused for a few seconds before vaguely replying, "...No, I don't know."

"You two are always together, and he hasn't told you anything. It seems like things are still far from settled."

Jiang Huai boldly guessed: "I think the person he's talking about is probably his ex-girlfriend."

He Man: "Stop imagining things."

Jiang Huai testified: "I didn't make things up, I heard it."

He put down his glass, leaned forward, and lowered his voice: "Just a while ago, I went to his house and heard a woman's voice. When I went over, I found that he seemed to be on the phone. But I couldn't hear the content at all; I could only tell that it was a girl talking."

He Man: "Then how do you know it's that girl? Have you seen her before?"

“No, not at all.” Jiang Huai scratched his neck. “Actually, I always thought he was lying to us when he said he had a girlfriend. Otherwise, why would he hide her and never bring her to meet us?”

“I inquired about it a few years ago, and Gu Yinyan said that the girl was studying abroad in Spain. I overheard him on the phone, and it sounded like he was talking about Europe or something, so I guessed that he might still be in contact with her.”

He Man raised one eyebrow: "Really?"

Why would I lie to you? Want to bet?

What do you want to bet?

"Let's bet... on your new camera!" Jiang Huai said with a sinister smile.

He Man never expected him to set his sights on the camera she had just bought at great expense. She threw a cushion at him, hitting him in the face: "You're asking for an exorbitant amount, how shameless!"

Jiang Huai blocked her way with one hand and turned to Liang Yizhi: "She can't afford to gamble. Yizhi, are you going to gamble or not?"

This kind of meaningless betting was always just something they played around with among themselves.

But this time, Liang Yizhi actually wanted to be serious.

After thinking for a moment, she slowly said, "Then I bet she isn't."

Liang Yizhi didn't know how deep Gu Yinyan's relationship was with his ex-girlfriend whom he was keeping secret from them, nor did she want to speculate whether they still had feelings for each other.

She just wanted to blindly believe in Gu Yinyan's sincerity just this once.