Chapter 13 The Rose Knight: The Knight Who Offers a Silver Rose
Liang Yizhi paused for a moment, then pushed open the door and walked in: "I called you from outside, didn't you hear me?"
"No," Gu Yinyan said truthfully, "the music was a bit loud."
Gu Yinyan pointed to the sofa next to him, gesturing to Liang Yizhi: "Sit down."
She walked over to him, but didn't sit down. A faint, smoky tobacco scent reached her nose. Liang Yizhi frowned, looked at the ashtray beside her, and asked:
"You smoked?"
Gu Yinyan didn't hide anything: "I just smoked one."
Upon receiving the answer, Liang Yizhi felt as if the lingering secondhand smoke had invaded her chest, leaving her with a very suffocating feeling.
"Didn't you quit before?" Liang Yizhi looked at the ashtray on the side, where specks of grayish-white cigarette smoke had fallen. "I thought that once you quit something, you wouldn't touch it again."
Liang Yizhi knew that Gu Yinyan imposed many restrictions on her.
When she was with Xie Yun, Gu Yinyan never took the initiative to ask her out; when she drank with He Man and the others, he was always the one who remained sober until the very end.
He will hide his ambition and restrain his desires.
Gu Yinyan is like the pendulum hanging on his wall. He has a set rhythm, and he may also swing between two extremes.
But he will never cross the prescribed boundaries.
Unless the pendulum breaks.
But now that person is saying to her, "You know me very well?"
He spoke in a flippant tone, as if teasing her.
Compared to Gu Yinyan's calm and composed tone, Liang Yizhi's expression was far from relaxed. After listening to his words, the downward angle of her lips remained unchanged, and her tone was serious:
"Gu Yinyan, I don't like jokes like that."
"You really can't tell a joke."
She looked at him.
After a long pause, Gu Yinyan composed himself, lowered his head to admit his mistake, and explained to her, "I only smoked these past two days."
Liang Yizhi still didn't feel satisfied after hearing this.
She didn't like Gu Yinyan making such jokes about their relationship.
No one can.
She genuinely considered Gu Yinyan her best friend. In fact, no one else understood him better than her; of all her friends, she had known Gu Yinyan the longest.
After thinking about it, Liang Yizhi calmed down.
Using the light from the floor lamp beside her, she carefully examined Gu Yinyan's face.
The rest of the body looked fine, but the scab at the corner of his mouth was particularly noticeable. Like a tiny flaw in a beautiful oil painting, even if it was barely perceptible, its presence was still unacceptable.
Liang Yizhi stared at Gu Yinyan's lips with extreme displeasure; she couldn't even imagine how much force he had used.
She had known Gu Yinyan for so long, and she had never seen him hurt her.
It's all her fault. If she hadn't been so impulsive, Xie Yun wouldn't have become so extreme.
Liang Yizhi pursed her lips, her face growing increasingly pale, her hands clenched into fists and hanging at her sides.
She tried to hold back, but she couldn't swallow her anger any longer: "No, I'm going to settle the score with that scumbag Xie Yun!"
She jumped up and turned to leave, but Gu Yinyan grabbed her wrist and pulled her back: "Don't be impulsive, I deliberately let him punch me. I fought back too."
Liang Yizhi broke free from him and said angrily, "Are you stupid? Why did you let someone punch you for nothing! This is a fight, do you think it's a joke? Is it fun? What if something happens?"
Gu Yinyan stared in astonishment at her small face beneath her bangs.
Whether it was anger or the rush of her journey, her hair looked frizzy, her eyes were wide open, and her eyes and lips were red, indicating that she was quite angry.
He knew that she really cared about this.
Gu Yinyan said calmly, "I let him make the first move so that I could retaliate reasonably; otherwise, I would be the one in the wrong."
"As for my injuries, they're nothing serious." Gu Yinyan pulled her to sit down on the sofa.
"His injuries are much worse than mine. Don't you feel sorry for him?"
"Why should I feel sorry for him? I'd rather he stayed in the hospital a few more days." Liang Yizhi plopped down, then, thinking of Gu Yinyan's injuries, turned around, cupped his face in both hands, and examined it from all angles: "Let me take another look, are you sure you're alright? Does it still hurt here?"
"It doesn't hurt."
Liang Yizhi acted as if she hadn't heard him, her gaze still fixed on the corner of his mouth.
As she looked, after a few seconds, she sensed something was amiss. Gu Yinyan's lips were full, but the corner of his mouth, connecting to the wound, was slightly sunken.
He was clearly trying not to laugh!
Liang Yizhi turned his face to the side, scoffed, and retorted, "Forget it, how could you, Young Master Gu, let yourself get hurt? You probably already took care of it a long time ago."
She was worrying about him unnecessarily.
Indeed, he was a young master who cherished himself, so how could he allow himself to lose his composure even slightly?
Gu Yinyan, standing to the side, savored Liang Yizhi's expression: "Alright, don't be angry anymore."
Liang Yizhi snorted coldly.
He changed the subject, asking, "Where did you just come from?"
Liang Yizhi wore makeup today, with curled eyelashes and dressed very carefully, clearly indicating that she had an important date.
Liang Yizhi said, "I just had dinner with Gary and came here."
She emphasized, "I left them there, and before I even finished my meal, I received He Man's call and rushed over immediately. Isn't that kind of me?"
Gu Yinyan nodded in agreement, acknowledging her performance.
He stood up and said, "Then have a couple of drinks with me."
After saying that, Gu Yinyan turned around and went out of the room to get a drink.
When he returned, the dim light from the courtyard outside the window reflected in the room, making it look as if it were covered with a layer of frost.
The singing hadn't stopped yet, flowing through this small space. The classical strings paired with the ethereal and melodious soprano voice had a charm that calmed the mind.
Gu Yinyan walked to Liang Yizhi's side and put down the bottle in his hand.
Seeing the sparkling water he offered her, Liang Yizhi asked, "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
“That’s right.” Gu Yinyan opened the bottle and pushed it in front of her. “Drink this.”
After all that... she thought he wanted to get the wine.
Liang Yizhi picked up the bottle. It was her favorite lemon flavor.
Gu Yinyan asked, "Do you still remember this music?"
When she first arrived, she was too anxious and preoccupied with his injuries, so Liang Yizhi didn't notice the gentle music. Now that she had calmed down, she recognized it: "It's 'Der Rosenkavalier'?"
"yes."
Gu Yinyan was playing Richard Strauss's opera "Der Rosenkavalier".
The story is about Octavian, a man who is caught having an affair with the marshal's wife. He is then ordered by the duke to act as a knight to deliver a silver rose to the duke's fiancée, Sophie, as a token of his love.
However, at the moment the silver rose was presented, Octavian and Sophie fell in love at first sight. After many twists and turns, the Marshal's wife finally learned of Octavian's change of heart and chose to withdraw from this love affair, allowing the other two to be together.
Right now, the CD is playing the second act. The knight presents Sophie with the symbolic silver rose.
The mezzo-soprano and soprano opened their mouths one after the other, their soft tones winding upwards, and emotions flowing between the notes.
It does sound like it can temporarily make you forget everything.
Liang Yizhi raised the bottle, tilted her head back, and took a swig. Carbonated bubbles, accompanied by a spicy kick, rushed in, dancing in her throat, leaving a slightly astringent aftertaste.
Neither of them spoke; they just sat there silently. A duet played intermittently in the background, making the atmosphere anything but boring.
Gu Yinyan stared out the window. He had just put down the bottle in his hand when he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder.
His hand paused for a moment.
Liang Yizhi leaned towards Gu Yinyan, her temples resting lightly on his shoulder, not completely against him.
"Gu Yinyan," she murmured his name.
"Um."
"I'm asking you, if... I were the one who cheated this time, would you still speak up for me?"
Perhaps due to the atmosphere, Liang Yizhi's emotions became unusually complicated, and all sorts of thoughts came to mind.
She didn't know why she asked the question. Perhaps it was because she had lost the person she loved most, and her family wasn't around. The only person she could rely on was Gu Yinyan.
Gu Yinyan's house is very large, and this study faces the courtyard, with a very open design.
But at this moment, she felt that the place was very small, as small as a small cup, filled with endless darkness, and she was upside down in it.
Gu Yinyan moved his lips and answered her, "You won't."
Leung Yik-chi: "Why are you so sure?"
"I just don't know how."
His answer was firm and resolute.
Gu Yinyan knew Liang Yizhi all too well. She had always been honest and upright, and had never done anything outrageous in her life. Even skipping classes, which was commonplace for other students in college, would terrify Liang Yizhi.
They fled, but in the end, they were left with an uneasy mindset and constant internal strife.
It's almost impossible for someone as honest and straightforward as him to act recklessly outside and make the same mistakes as Xie Yun.
Liang Yizhi leaned on his shoulder, her gaze drifting upwards as she looked up at him, seemingly dissatisfied with his perfunctory yet confident answer.
She pressed further, "So I'm saying, if... if I cheat on you with someone else in the future, will you... still be on my side?"
The moonlight outside the window was serene, and the floor lamp cast a soft glow on one side of them, their half-lit, half-shadowed silhouettes reflected on the clean glass window like a reflection on a lake at night.
Liang Yizhi felt a draft coming through the window, and a cool sensation, seemingly from nowhere, gently tickled her.
Gu Yinyan said, "Then remember to tell me in advance."
"Tell you?"
“Otherwise,” Gu Yinyan’s voice was clear and gentle, “how can I help you coordinate your testimony?”
A note from the author:
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President Gu's slap in the face is 50% complete.
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