Chapter 32 The condition is a kiss from me.
Jiang Shiyan remained serious: "No, I'm surrendering."
Xu Yuewei gritted her teeth: "I don't have any sincerity here that I need you to invest."
"Of course there is! You haven't answered my question yet."
His large hand climbed onto her wrist, and through her sleeve, his fingertips gently rose and fell.
"You said you've only held two men, me and that child, is that true? I don't remember it being like that."
Xu Yuewei kept her legs tightly together, her brows slightly furrowed, her whole body refusing to communicate.
She didn't remember saying that, and wasn't sure if he was bluffing her.
Jiang Shiyan considerately translated the question for her from Chinese to Chinese: "Have you ever loved anyone else?"
Xu Yuewei held her breath, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Jiang Shiyan bent his arm on the table slightly, lowered his body and then raised it again, taking the opportunity to step back a little, his smile not reaching his eyes:
"Never mind, back then, you didn't really love me, did you?"
He stared intently at the woman who was so close to him.
Compared to her completely soft curls, her straight black hair hanging near her collarbone was colder and harder, like a group of densely packed knife tips, loyally guarding the city.
He reached out and touched it gently.
As if awakened from hibernation, Xu Yuewei pulled her chin back slightly, causing the guards to panic. Her defenses were not as impenetrable as they seemed.
He naively found a sliver of comfort in such a trivial matter.
During the silence, Xu Yuewei swallowed her words several times before she could speak. She wanted to answer, "I don't even love myself, how can I love you?"
But I couldn't bring myself to say it.
She recalled what she had said to Li Qianyi at the karaoke bar that day; it wasn't a joke, she was serious.
When we're young, we say love is sincere; but as we grow into boring, conservative adults, talking about love seems so foolish.
Moreover, as he went from probing to pressing, his premonition that the past would soon repeat itself was growing stronger and stronger.
She doesn't want to.
Xu Yuewei watched a variety show where there was a debate topic: If you could drink a potion to forget all your pain, would you choose to drink it?
She had a deep impression of that episode because she usually sees debates as a fence-sitter, swaying between two sides, but in that episode she was particularly determined to drink, even if it meant cutting off a big chunk of her good flesh; numbness was better than pain.
As she was thinking about these things, her hair was suddenly touched.
Xu Yuewei made a decision at that moment.
She moved her dry eyes and uttered the phrase she used often during her student days, but never thought she would use it on him.
"I already have someone I like."
She kept a watchful eye; this time, the guardian was either the slightly drooping and elongating eyebrow tail or the fine, translucent downy hairs on her face.
"Oh, you like it." Jiang Shiyan nodded knowingly. "Then that's all."
"...Think whatever you want."
Xu Yuewei jumped off the table, the folds of her skirt smoothing out, allowing more light to stream in, like ripples spreading across a calm sea.
Jiang Shiyan suddenly remembered the moment he hugged her. It should have been such a familiar touch, but the unfamiliar fabric made him feel nothing.
"Wait a minute, weren't we talking about my brother?"
Her voice brought him back to his senses. He glanced up and saw her with that same wary expression as before.
The man pressed the tip of his tongue against one corner of his lip, parting their taut lips. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, and under her increasingly impatient gaze, said in a very irritating way:
"Oh, I was lying to you. I didn't lend him any money."
"..."
"If you don't believe me, search here. If you find the IOU, I'll admit defeat."
Xu Yuewei crossed her arms and looked around. She noticed a bookcase on the wall opposite the TV, with some shelves filled with books and others with decorative items.
She walked back to the door and picked up the jade box, saying in a good-natured manner, "Let me put this away for you first."
This will prevent him from using this as an excuse to make a fuss and drag things out endlessly.
Opening the glass door at the top of the bookcase, it's clear that there's almost no dust on the shelves, and the gleaming trophies are also dusty. Presumably, someone cleans them regularly, given how precious they are.
Xu Yuewei glanced at the bottom shelf, thinking that the things at the bottom should be less important. She could simply move them around to make room for the jade carving.
But at first glance, she noticed something out of place, like that meme about "lying on your resume but getting a job"—a Samoyed hidden among the white chess pieces.
If I'm not mistaken, it's a blind box with an orange outer packaging featuring a character figurine. It's not some recently popular IP, but it occupies a square compartment at the bottom, receiving more treatment than a trophy.
A yellow sticky note was pasted on the top of the box, but the wooden frame above blocked her view. She could only see the corner of the note with half of the character "勿" (do not) written in black ink.
Xu Yuewei reached out to take it, but suddenly everything went black as a warm touch covered her eyes.
"This cannot be touched."
This was the most serious thing he had said since she came in.
Just as Xu Yuewei was about to explain, the hand covering her eyes was removed, and the spot where the blind boxes had been placed became empty.
Jiang Shiyan raised his arm, placed the item on top, and pushed it inwards: "All done."
Didn't you say we couldn't move?
She glanced at him inexplicably, too lazy to ask any more questions, squatted down and picked up the jade box, which was just about the right size to fit inside.
"Do we still need to find an IOU?" Jiang Shiyan reverted to his usual frivolous manner, hands in his pockets, blocking her way.
"You didn't hide in that box, did you?"
Although the blind box appeared unopened, it cannot be ruled out that he tampered with the bottom.
Xu Yuewei was speechless: "A very creative safe."
“There are even more creative ones.”
Jiang Shiyan pointed to the door, "I've put a spell on this room. If you want to get out, you only have two choices: first, agree to cooperate with me and go record..."
"And the second one?"
He seemed to have been waiting for her to say that; his expression softened, and a sly glint flashed in his eyes, as if to say, "You've fallen for my trap."
Give me a kiss.
"…………"
Xu Yuewei lowered her eyes and thought for a while. Without much hesitation, she rolled up her long, thick eyelashes. Although she tried to suppress her emotions, her eyes were not entirely calm.
"Okay, I'll record it."
This was their last connection.
After it was over, the kite string broke, and that was the end of it all.
*
However, she can't record today.
Even the most skilled guqin player cannot sight-read. The guqin is not played using standard musical notation or numbered musical notation; it needs to be translated into tablature, which is like a foreign language to laymen. Only after memorizing the fingering can one successfully play a piece.
Jiang Shiyan sent her all the audio files, and the two of them sat down on two beanbag chairs in the lounge to discuss how to make changes.
A small Bluetooth speaker was placed on the floor between the TV and the sofa, playing ancient-style zither music, which made Xu Yuewei a little distracted.
Strangely, the two people who were just moments ago at loggerheads and testing each other suddenly switched roles in perfect harmony, like two fledglings nestled peacefully in their respective nests.
It seems to be the fastest they've ever made up after a fight.
However, it can't really be called a reconciliation.
The music gradually faded and ended.
"What do you think?" Jiang Shiyan asked.
Xu Yuewei gently brushed her hair aside to cover up her momentary lapse in concentration, and blurted out, "The teacher who set the example played very well."
After saying that, I felt it wasn't appropriate; what if the other person was his friend...?
I remember there was a guqin in the practice room I went to last time. He said it wasn't his, so their studio might actually have a teacher who can play the guqin.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuewei quickly changed her tune: "What I meant was, it's very standard and has great reference value. What kind of effect do you want to change it to?"
She remembered that during their previous meeting at the teahouse, someone mentioned that there were a total of five pieces that would require the use of the guqin, one of which was a purely ancient piece, while the others would either be for ensemble, introduction, or interlude.
The song that was played just now, being so complete, must be the most important one.
"Speaking of which, there's a classic guqin piece called 'Guan Shan Yue,' which is just one character different. It's more grand and majestic. Do you want that style? Or something more gentle, like 'Wo Long Yin,' which Zhuge Liang played during the Empty City Stratagem in the Three Kingdoms period? You've probably heard of that, right? Let me make it clear, I'm better at the latter."
"This must be in line with the plot, probably a sense of vastness and remoteness. Imagine what it would feel like for someone to exhaust all their resources but still be unable to defy fate..."
He paused for a moment, then said, "I think I'll get over it."
Xu Yuewei jotted down keywords in her phone's notes app without offering any opinion.
Jiang Shiyan didn't need her approval; he simply turned his head to look at her.
They fell silent as if by unspoken agreement.
Due to the restriction of her dress, Xu Yuewei could only sit with her legs together at an angle. When one side became stiff, she would switch to the other side. After repeating this several times, she became restless.
She quietly stretched her leg forward, her square-toed leather shoes making a soft scraping sound on the wooden floor.
She quickly stopped what she was doing and secretly glanced at the person next to her.
Jiang Shiyan sat upright with one leg raised, his arm resting on his knee, and his other hand holding his phone, leaning slightly forward.
She then realized that he hadn't sunk into the sofa like she had; he had been sitting upright for almost half an hour, which was quite impressive.
But if she wanted to sit up like him, she would have to pull her skirt up above her knees. This skirt, which she had picked out from the closet before going out, was more for show than practical use.
In the previous times we met, whether she was working at a coffee shop or attending Xu Yaochen's treacherous banquet, she dressed simply and casually, which was suitable for meeting friends and people she didn't care about, but not for meeting her ex.
Although she deliberately avoided meeting Jiang Shiyan during the time she thought she wouldn't see him when arranging the time with Pan Mingxuan, she was prepared for the worst and carefully selected her time to be just the right amount of flamboyance, without being too deliberate.
Even though she had planned ahead, she had no intention of completely confronting him. The situation developed more and more beyond her control, and she felt like she was standing in front of a dilapidated wall with holes in the brickwork, holding paint and not knowing where to start trying to cover it up.
"Are your legs numb?" Jiang Shiyan suddenly asked.
Xu Yuewei paused in her turning motion, realizing he had seen through her, and without further ado, she simply stretched out her legs, curling them up like the letter L: "Mmm."
Jiang Shiyan's gaze slid down to her groin: "Do you need me to massage it for you?"
She replied firmly, "No need."
"Can I rub it for you?"
"...?"
She looked at him, her gaze quick and stiff, like an NPC turning to the player when a dialogue is triggered in a game, which made the man laugh silently.
"I was just kidding because you look so nervous."
He also leaned back, lying down to become an even bigger L, mimicking her ungainly sitting posture.
"See where you can change the overtones, and re-arrange a new version. Don't worry about crescendos and diminuendos; that's the mixing's job. I guess you won't contact me proactively for the recording, so I will. Remember to answer. Are you planning to lie down until your legs recover on their own, or should I help you up?"
He spoke very fast at the beginning, only slowing down at the last sentence.
Xu Yuewei was completely speechless; she had actually expected him to be very professional.
"No need, I'm fine now."
She didn't feel anything at first, but as soon as she moved, it felt like every nerve in her leg was crawling with insects. But she gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand up.
She was so sore she could hardly breathe, and she had to deliberately suppress the swelling in her chest, but she managed to stand up on her own, which was a victory in itself.
Just as she thought that, she couldn't accept how childish she was. She looked down at her toes, and after a brief moment of self-reflection, she said to him with a cold face, "Can I go now?"
"Okay." Jiang Shiyan didn't get up, but remained relaxed in the sofa.
Xu Yuewei glanced at him in surprise, then went to unlock the door.
The door opened like a page of a book, and her gaze followed, looking towards the quiet corridor and stairwell.
Looking back, the man was still sitting.
It's like telling her: I won't chase after you, you can take your time.
Having grown accustomed to being surrounded and intercepted by him, I found myself feeling somewhat unaccustomed to this situation.
Xu Yuewei walked out of the room, closed the door behind her, and slowly exhaled a long breath.
After she left, the L in the room deformed and stood as an I.
Jiang Shiyan fished out the soda can that had rolled to the corner of the table. It had been sitting still long enough after the earthquake that the bubbles had all gone down.
He shook it gently a few more times, then immediately pulled the tab.
White bubbles rushed out one after another, making a hissing sound as they were released. A few seconds later, they receded and formed a puddle of sweet water lingering at the mouth of the can.
Jiang Shiyan smiled and took a sip.
This time he won his bet; the sparkling water didn't spill onto his hands.
As he looked up to drink water, he happened to glance at the bookshelf. Between the two trophies on the top shelf, the gray blind box stood out conspicuously.
The note was curled up at the edge, so there was no risk of it being seen by anyone.
But as Jiang Shiyan shook the soda can, some hidden emotions welled up inside him, like bubbles in water, unable to rise to the surface or sink to the bottom.
As the coin flew through the air, he hastily chose the side he didn't want her to see.
Now I'm wavering, wondering if it's better to let her see it.
But he had already lost once and was hesitant to gamble again.
-----------------------
Author's note: Gamblers have no future!
Sorry for the late update, here's a red envelope as compensation for this chapter~
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