The dim light shone through the lush, intertwined leaves, casting a hazy glow on a corner of the night sky.
The spring breeze rustled the leaves, and together with Xu Shiyue's voice, it quietly drowned out the noise of the street.
The surrounding noise seemed to be suddenly pushed away, and it moved further and further away from Lu Shizhen.
She was enveloped by Xu Shiyue from behind, and Xu Shiyue held her wrist, which was gripping the car door handle.
The man's voice carried a faint smell of alcohol, and at such close range, it made Lu Shizhen's ears feel hot.
The constant flow of passing vehicles stirred up gusts of lukewarm heat, constantly reminding Lu Shizhen just how ambiguous their actions were.
Lu Shizhen's bright red earlobes were almost melting from the ambiguous warmth of that moment. How could she not understand the meaning behind Xu Shiyue's words?
But a knot seemed to be twisting in her heart, making her feel very awkward. Her tone was also particularly stiff as she clarified, "Miss Xu, I didn't abduct you. You came to the celebration banquet voluntarily."
"Now that the banquet is over, there are hotels nearby. I think Miss Xu can afford any kind of suite, right?"
Xu Shiyue, however, seemed oblivious to Lu Shizhen's obvious rejection and continued to lean against her, asking, "In that case, may I stay at your house for the night?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Shizhen turned her head sharply.
Looking at Xu Shiyue's face, which was very close to his, he reminded her, "Miss Xu, my home is not a hotel."
"That's why it won't feel empty."
Perhaps Xu Shiyue was slightly drunk, for her usually impeccable calm tone carried a hint of loneliness and desolation.
Her chin rested on Lu Shizhen's shoulder, and her slightly deep voice seemed to be embedded in her body, making her look as pitiful as a cat abandoned by its owner.
Cat lovers can never refuse their cats' requests.
Lu Shizhen softened again and compromised, saying, "One night at most. You have to leave tomorrow morning. I still have work to do."
"Thank you, Teacher Sixteen." Xu Shiyue smiled at Lu Shizhen upon hearing this.
Those dark eyes were veiled in a misty haze, as if from intoxication, with starlight scattering and falling upon them.
Bright yet shrouded in mist, the sound carried by the wind to the ears was filled with alluring tenderness, like a cat, or a fox.
Lu Shizhen's heartstrings trembled, and the chaotic syllables floated haphazardly in her heart.
Without even checking whether Xu Shiyue could stand steadily, she opened the car door and quickly got into the taxi.
The streetlights, spaced apart on both sides of the highway, swept past the windows in beams, casting flickering light on and off inside the carriage.
Lu Shizhen leaned against the window, looking at the night view outside as if avoiding it, but her gaze still drifted back to Xu Shiyue's figure for a moment.
The fairly spacious carriage was divided in two by the two of them, with Xu Shiyue sitting upright on the other side of the back row.
At the celebration banquet, she was flattered and toasted by Editor-in-Chief Chen several times. Later, she drank the champagne poured by Xiaoning, and now she seems a little drunk. Her raven-feather eyelashes droop like fans, hiding her dozing eyes underneath.
Even though she was taking a short break, Xu Shiyue's back remained ramrod straight, showing no sign of slacking off.
The flickering light fell on her, and her neckline, no longer bound by ribbons, drooped to both sides, leaving inch by inch of snow-white skin in Lu Shizhen's eyes.
Whether it was to breathe a sigh of relief or simply by accident, Xu Shiyue's collar ribbon had somehow come undone and was now hanging loosely on both sides, as if it were restlessly scattered in the midst of tranquility.
The pale white color complements the pitch-black night, spreading upwards one by one from the tightly sealed buttons below, creating a rebellious allure within its orderly design.
Lu Shizhen paused, hesitating whether to remind Xu Shiyue, but then heard the other person's voice ring out before she could: "I'm in a bad mood."
The voice came suddenly, and Lu Shizhen's heart skipped a beat. She then subconsciously denied it, saying, "No."
“I have it,” Xu Shiyue replied.
The man's voice remained calm as always, but the brewing effects of alcohol were undeniable.
Lu Shizhen blinked, puzzled, unable to tell whether Xu Shiyue's last sentence was a question to her or simply her own drunken ramblings.
The streetlights continued to flicker on the car window, and Xu Shiyue remained seated with her eyes closed, though she seemed somewhat unguarded because of the two sentences she had just spoken.
A budding idea popped into Lu Shizhen's mind.
Even if she already had the answer in her heart, she wasn't so willing to give up until she heard Xu Shiyue actually say it.
The awkward feeling was still lingering in Lu Shizhen's heart. She glanced at the drunken Xu Shiyue and said, "What's wrong with you? Shen Yanxing cares about you so much, he even called you."
Lu Shizhen's tone was very calm, so calm that it was almost too stiff.
She didn't particularly like mentioning the name "Shen Yanxing," and as she spoke of it, it was as if she was picking at something, with a lot of complaints popping into her head.
Why are you so worried about her? It's really kind of her to remember that Xu Shiyue left S City for the capital amidst her busy schedule.
And what kind of concern is this? They've been off the plane for so long, almost finished their meal, and only now they're calling.
What kind of thoughtful check-in is this? They're really getting along famously! They're completely unqualified!
Seriously substandard!
"Why should I be in a good mood just because Shen Yanxing calls me? She's not you."
Lu Shizhen was mentally nitpicking at Shen Yanxing when Xu Shiyue's voice pulled her back to reality.
His resting eyes slowly opened as the second half of the sentence was spoken, and his calm, still eyes looked at her.
The awkward madness suddenly subsided, and Lu Shizhen froze on the spot.
A firework burst open on the other side of the night, each tiny spark a whisper of excitement, burning away her awkwardness completely.
For a moment, Lu Shizhen didn't know whether she was happy because Xu Shiyue seemed indifferent to Shen Yanxing, or because of the words she said that she actually cared about her.
Or perhaps, both.
"Lu Shizhen, do you sometimes feel like there's something unseen binding you?"
Xu Shiyue's calm eyes lost their clarity, becoming hazy and slightly intoxicated.
She looked at Lu Shizhen like that, as if sharing a secret she had been keeping deep in her heart, her voice, though not very clear, betraying her distress.
Lu Shizhen understood how the world worked better than anyone else, and she heard Xu Shiyue's words very clearly.
She was also quite surprised that Xu Shiyue could actually feel the main system binding her.
"A two-minute phone call, apart from the initial greetings, was spent giving instructions on work. They even made me go outside to listen to it, trying to create a shady scene for me. They really went to great lengths."
A light laugh, tinged with disdain, escaped Xu Shiyue's lips, clearly revealing her disgust.
She slightly relaxed her straight back and leaned back in the chair, resting her head on her disheveled hair.
Xu Shiyue spoke casually, but Lu Shizhen took it all to heart.
Therefore, Xu Shiyue's departure just now was not her own doing; it was that damned main system that interfered once again.
Did the main system interfere with Xu Shiyue's behavior countless times during these five years?
Does the fact that she can feel this constraint mean that she often resists it?
Today, because she had drunk some alcohol and was not in a good mood, that restraint pushed her to stand up, answer the phone, and utter that extremely ambiguous "wild goose flight".
The long hair hanging down beside her face was ruffled by the raised hand, with a few loose strands falling across Xu Shiyue's face.
The streetlights outside the window cast flickering light on her profile. She glanced at Lu Shizhen without making a sound, her lowered eyes shattering the light within them: "I don't like this feeling, it's like my whole life doesn't belong to me anymore."
This was the first time Lu Shizhen had sensed the emotions Xu Shiyue was expressing.
The words "I don't like it" were presented to her in a series of sentences, until finally they were clearly stated in front of her.
Xu Shiyue loathed the constraints that controlled her behavior and was deeply troubled by them.
It was as if small pebbles had fallen from the seemingly impenetrable barrier, creating a subtle yet powerful tremor.
The main system is trying to control her, but Xu Shiyue hates and rejects everything the main system has arranged for her.
She doesn't like it.
Xu Shiyue didn't like it.
These two sentences were like bold, enlarged font, deeply imprinted in Lu Shizhen's mind.
My beliefs are wavering.
Lu Shizhen carefully concealed the existence of the system from Xu Shiyue and tentatively asked, "But what if this would give you the best ending?"
Instead of answering Lu Shizhen's question, Xu Shiyue asked, "Do you know what people outside are saying about me?"
"Selfish, despicable, a madman who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals."
One negative word after another, spoken in Xu Shiyue's tone, reached Lu Shizhen's ears, familiar yet strange.
Lu Shizhen used to love using these words to describe Xu Shiyue in her later years, but now they sounded more jarring than ever before: "No, that was all them..."
But before Lu Shizhen could finish speaking, Xu Shiyue interrupted her: "They're right."
Despite the negative connotations, Xu Shiyue accepted them with complete composure and even joy.
A deep smile seeped from her eyes, like a flame burning in the darkness, bright yet full of danger.
She looked at Lu Shizhen with an unwavering, almost obsessive, attitude: "So Lu Shizhen, what I want will definitely be mine. If you force what I don't want on me, even if you hold a gun to my head, I will not compromise."
“The person I love is not Shen Yanxing, so I will never be with her in this life.” Xu Shiyue looked at Lu Shizhen, her deep gaze going straight into her eyes. “The person I love caught me in the sea of red flowers that stretched to the sky, and also died in the sea of red fire that stretched to the sky because of me.”
The blinding light shone through the car window behind Xu Shiyue, making Lu Shizhen's heart race.
She had never imagined that a single sentence could have such power, turning her world upside down.
In the rearview mirror, a hand slowly reached out from the clearly defined back row, causing the upright body to silently lean forward.
Xu Shiyue raised an eyebrow slightly, staring into Lu Shizhen's eyes, and returned the question to the beginning: "So you're still in a bad mood?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
