Chapter 18 She felt as if she were being burned.
The corner booth by the window has a sofa that curves into a semi-circle around a low table. Scented candles are lit on the table, but you can't smell them; they just create a subtle atmosphere.
Xu Yuewei sat down and started playing on her phone. Xu Yaochen ordered two drinks and placed the most basic cocktail in front of her.
"I won't drink." She kept staring at her phone.
"You're not really afraid I'll drug you, are you?"
"...Don't try to make yourself look good, okay? I don't drink it because I don't like it."
"OK."
Xu Yaochen sat down opposite her, and soon realized something was wrong. "Didn't you say this place had good wine?"
Did I say that?
Xu Yuewei continued scrolling through her phone until she heard him ask again, "Why did you decide to stay in Wuqiao?"
Listen to this, the "how" sounds like it's blaming her.
Xu Yuewei turned off her phone with a flick of her wrist, casually crossed her right leg over her left, and said with a slight reproach in her eyes, "I don't think I have any obligation to tell you about my private life, do I?"
Xu Yaochen paused in mid-air, holding his wine glass: "Fine, then do as you please. But you'll have to cooperate a little, right? We can't let people think we have a bad relationship."
Xu Yuewei pursed her lips and smiled slightly, wanting to ask him, "Does your mother know that you use me as a source of pride?" but she picked up another glass of wine and swallowed her words.
I've wasted these past years. It's like I've returned to the body of that helpless girl from back then, fighting back against each other just to protect myself.
It's pointless and unnecessary.
After sitting and sipping their drinks for a while, Xu Yaochen took out his phone and glanced at it: "Let's wait a little longer, he's a bit far from here. But isn't this just accommodating you?"
Xu Yuewei: "If you really wanted to accommodate me, I wouldn't be sitting here right now."
Xu Yaochen clicked his tongue and gave her instructions on everything:
"In a little while, you'll say that you stayed in another city to work after graduating from university, and only came home for holidays. You're coming back for a while now, and you'll be leaving again soon."
Xu Yuewei also set conditions: "We'll only meet for half an hour; I won't stay a minute longer."
"OK."
About ten minutes later, Xu Yaochen's friend finally arrived, just before Xu Yuewei's patience ran out.
Upon meeting, she recognized him immediately; he was indeed the person she had bumped into on set that day.
She deliberately gave him a "So it was you" look, and the boy smiled shyly: "I'm so sorry about that day, I was almost late and I was in a hurry."
Compared to that brief encounter, he looked much cleaner and more refined under the warm, shimmering lights.
The boy introduced himself as an intern working as a photography assistant on the film set. Upon hearing this, Xu Yuewei made a look of sudden realization, smiled, and said, "No wonder, the photos are quite good."
The boy's flamboyant eyebrows seemed to freeze for a moment, then drooped uncontrollably. His smile vanished, making him appear insincere. He stammered helplessly, "Ah, um..."
He glanced to the side and quickly elbowed his good brother who had betrayed him.
Xu Yaochen casually draped his arms over the back of the seat, grinning, "He just took a picture for me to confirm if it was you, he didn't send it to anyone else, right?"
The boy quickly apologized, his voice blending into the clinking of glasses and the enchanting voice of the singer, making it somewhat indistinct.
The atmosphere calmed down a bit, but before she could say the lines Xu Yaochen had given her, he recited them for her, repeatedly referring to her as "my sister," which was quite irritating.
The boy seized the opportunity to flatter her: "I've known about you for a long time. I saw you on the alumni wall. Actually, I learned a little bit of the guqin when I was little because my mom liked it..."
Xu Yuewei slowly sipped the wine, whose name she didn't know, and half-heartedly went through the motions.
She glanced around aimlessly, and suddenly, when her peripheral vision caught sight of a figure, her unfocused pupils slowly widened.
To her left, across a table, was a person who had the entire booth to himself, his back to her, with broad shoulders above the edge of the sofa back.
"Sister, older sister?"
"……Um?"
Xu Yuewei was brought back to her senses, smoothing a stray hair behind her ear—a typical way of concealing her feelings. "What's wrong?"
“He wants to add you on WeChat.” Xu Yaochen repeated for the boy, “You two are colleagues, right?”
"No, I was just a hand double that day, and the filming is already over."
"...Oh, I see. Why didn't you say so?"
He asked Xu Yaochen the second half of the question, thinking he had lowered his voice, but he hadn't.
Then, the boy casually sat down next to her, keeping a half-person distance between them, and urged her to try a drink called Pink Paradise.
He held the wine bottle in the air, and just as Xu Yuewei was about to take it, he dodged to prevent her from getting it, but he lost his balance and the wine spilled out, dripping onto the sofa.
Boy: "Oops."
Xu Yuewei pressed down on the rim of the cup from above, but the boy still wouldn't let go. So she dragged his arm along with the cup onto the table.
"I'll drink it myself."
She put on a stern face, picked up the wine next to her, tilted her head back, and gulped it down.
As she looked up, her gaze passed over the boy and glanced to her left. It was the same spot as before, and the person who had been facing away from her turned his head slightly, the light outlining the unfamiliar profile of his face.
no.
It wasn't him.
My heart tightened for a moment, then gradually relaxed.
Xu Yuewei looked down at the wine in her glass, which swayed like silk. The glass was cold, but the wine in her stomach seemed to be boiling, with astringent bubbles rising to the surface.
She was startled to realize that she was actually feeling lost.
The waiter brought over a few more glasses of drinks, but Xu Yuewei wasn't in a good mood and pushed them all to them.
At the boys' suggestion, everyone started playing a game where each person had to say something they had done. If someone mentioned something they hadn't done, they had to break off a finger and take a sip of alcohol. The first person to break off all their fingers had to down the strongest drink on the table in one gulp.
In the first two rounds, all three talked about unique things, and each of them lost two fingers, which was equivalent to a tie.
In the third round, the boy went first. After thinking for a moment, he did something different: "I've been dumped before."
Xu Yaochen clearly knew this story, and laughed heartily, not forgetting to break off a finger.
Xu Yuewei also failed and had to drink a penalty shot.
Next up is Xu Yaochen, who uses this line of thinking: "I've shaken people off before."
The boy raised and lowered his finger, but it remained raised in the end. Xu Yaochen's eyes widened, his face clearly saying, "When did this happen?"
The two looked at Xu Yuewei again, and saw that she was raising her ring finger and little finger, her cheeks were slightly flushed from the smell of alcohol, and her eyes were calm.
She did not break her finger.
The drink he was drinking had a liquid that looked like a transparent blue sea. Xu Yuewei was curious about the taste, so she ordered the same drink.
She held the slender stem of the cup and took a very, very slow sip.
It doesn't taste good.
In the end, the boy lost and picked up the Long Island Iced Tea as punishment. He took two sips but couldn't drink anymore: "No, it's too hot for my throat..."
Xu Yaochen raised his wrist, revealing an expensive watch hidden in his sleeve, its dial reflecting a strange and wonderful light: "Alright, it's getting late, everyone can go home now."
Xu Yuewei put her glass on the table, surprised that he actually kept his promise. She glanced at her phone and realized that an hour had passed without her noticing; alcohol really does make mistakes.
The boy took a taxi and left, but Xu Yaochen said, "We drove here, so we're waiting for a designated driver," and remained seated.
Playing along to the end, Xu Yuewei smiled and waved goodbye to the boy, promising to let Xu Yaochen give her WeChat contact information.
It was just the two of them left, and she reached out to him to ask for the remaining payment.
Xu Yaochen placed the items on the table and pushed them over. This time, the packaging was quite simple, consisting of only a plastic bag.
Without even opening it, Xu Yuewei could see that something was missing; inside were only deformed silk flowers, not the carrot bag.
Xu Yuewei glanced at him.
Xu Yaochen rested his elbows on his spread knees, leaned forward, and said seriously, "I have something I want to ask you."
Xu Yuewei smiled and asked, "How long have you been holding it in?"
I knew it. If he was only coming to her to cover up a lie, then he must have had too much free time.
Xu Yaochen's eyes darted away, and he grabbed a handful of hair and swept it back: "Let's talk in my car."
Xu Yuewei stared at him intently and uttered a deep "No".
But then she regretted it.
Xu Yaochen stood up, walked over and sat down next to her. The sofa sank in, and he carefully lowered his voice, moving closer to her.
"I know that Dad gave you a sum of money back then, but how much was it?"
He was so close that even if she wanted to raise her hand to slap him, she couldn't create any distance.
I should have said it in the car. It would have been easier to slap someone then, and I wouldn't have been surrounded or had any worries.
She stared at him in disbelief, her eyes glistening with tears, as if they were about to fall at any moment, but it was just the effect of the alcohol.
"Xu Yaochen, do you have any conscience?"
That money was the final buyout fee for the father-daughter relationship, and also compensation for her emotional distress.
The agreed amount was three million, but Xu Shiheng said the factory wasn't doing well and dragged his feet, giving her only two hundred and sixty. Half of it was in her hands, and the other half was with Ye Wanzhi. She didn't touch a single penny of it, intending to save it up to buy a new house.
The thought of moving has crossed my mind countless times.
“I really need it urgently, really… I’m dating the daughter of the CEO of Yongle Department Store, you know, the one from Yongle… but I’ve run into some trouble recently.”
"You were also forced into an arranged marriage by Dad before, right? You can understand me, can't you?"
"..."
He talked a lot, saying that he had been scammed and extorted for a large sum of money, but he had used all the money to pretend to be rich and date women. His inheritance was in his mother's hands, and he dared not tell his mother about it.
Xu Yuewei's ears were buzzing, her entire brain was filled with noise, she felt very hot, a little dizzy, and had a feeling that she was about to shiver.
"...How could you think I could understand you? You're the one who wanted to climb the social ladder, and you brought this trouble on yourself. I really underestimated how thick-skinned you are. Don't be ridiculous, and don't ever show your face in front of me again."
Time flies in the bar. By the time the buzzing completely subsided, Xu Yaochen had been gone for who knows how long.
Xu Yuewei continued ordering drinks, one after another. She met the minimum spending requirement, and no one bothered to kick her out of the booth by herself.
She looked up at a light above the bar, and in no time, the halo of light blurred her vision. When she moved back into the darkness, everything in front of her seemed doubled and unreal.
She had a burning desire inside her, but she was used to holding it in. Even if she had a sandbag and a glass of wine in front of her, she would choose alcohol without hesitation.
Drinking is a good thing; it doesn't hurt anyone except herself.
No, there are still some, including Ye Wanzhi.
Thinking of her mother, Xu Yuewei's heart clenched painfully, and finally, a tear rolled down her cheek silently.
Her mother, just like her name suggests, was a leaf trapped in a pond, a withered branch that an old tree was struggling to reach out.
She met Xu Shiheng and gave birth to her child before graduating from university, and spent the rest of her life isolated from the real world.
Therefore, she didn't blame her for what happened later.
Now that Xu Shiheng has passed away, she can't bring herself to hate him.
Xu Yuewei prided herself on not being that fragile, but at this moment, she longed for someone to whom she could place her emotions, someone who could support her and prevent her from falling.
The ice cubes hit the wall, making a crisp clinking sound like a monotonous melody played on a harmonica. Xu Yuewei sat quietly.
As the resident singer reached the climax of the song, her female voice was incredibly evocative, beautiful, and full of charm.
Her wrists were sore and weak that she lost her grip, and the old glass shattered on the floor, spilling two-thirds of the wine and ice hockey puck onto her trouser legs and shoes.
Before the waiter arrived to clean up, Xu Yuewei picked up the slightly cracked cup, took out a tissue from her bag, and slowly wiped the liquid off her shoes.
She finally didn't want to drink anymore; she couldn't drink any more.
Fortunately, she was wearing flat shoes, so she could barely stand and didn't look too drunk.
She picked up her coat, and to prevent the silk flower from deforming, she didn't put the bag inside her purse. Her head was spinning, and she even forgot to put on her coat.
I remember the last time I came to this bar, she came through an inconspicuous back door near the restroom.
Although the plan didn't work, she kept this thought in mind, and being drunk, she walked straight towards the back door without thinking.
With a bag in her left hand and a coat in her arms, Xu Yuewei used her right hand to push open the door, creating a gap about half a person's width. The wind rushed into her collar like a flood.
The situation in Wuqiao is about to change.
The door was a bit heavy, so Xu Yuewei withdrew her hand and used her body to brace it before it was completely closed.
She had just stepped onto the outdoor concrete ground with one foot, and before she could even walk out, she suddenly froze.
In the dimly lit, sparsely lit narrow alley, Jiang Shiyan leaned against the wall by the door, a cigarette between his half-hanging fingers.
Hearing the noise, he looked over, his eyes dark and deep.
He quickly moved away, brought the cigarette to his lips, took a drag, and the smoke dissipated in the flickering moonlight.
Xu Yuewei froze on the spot, her eyelids twitched, and her half-closed eyes widened slightly.
The smell of smoke is solid evidence.
But it felt too much like a dream. She had never seen him lightly biting a cigarette butt between his teeth, nor had she seen his throat bobbing as the thin mist drifted by.
The scarlet flames were dazzling in the night.
She felt as if it were burning her.
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Author's Note: This is the key point!
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