Chapter 32 Not Important
Ling Shen's gaze, through the crowd, was fixed squarely on Su Nian, as if the surrounding clamor had become a silent backdrop. The vibrant lights shattered into tiny specks of light in his pupils, but nothing compared to the dark currents surging in his eyes as he gazed at Su Nian.
Yuan Wenzhong shook the whiskey glass, and the sound of ice cubes hitting the wall of the glass was crisp, but his gaze seemed to be pulled by an invisible thread, always entangled with the two people.
When Su Nian appeared, he knew full well that Ling Shen was definitely interested in the person before him. He was all too familiar with that look. Unlike the indifference Ling Shen wore when facing Jiang Yi, the way he stared at Su Nian now was as if to sear her into his bones, the burning possessiveness almost solidifying into something substantial.
But what made Yuan Wenzhong's heart tremble was not Ling Shen's attitude, but Su Nian sitting in the corner. He could clearly sense the contradiction in Su Nian.
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that the clothes were worth a fortune. An ordinary person would treat such clothes with great care, as if they were treasures. But Su Nian was different. He was clearly used to such clothes and didn't even care about their value.
His eyebrows were curved into a gentle arc under the gold-rimmed glasses, and he always had just the right smile when he spoke. But when he lowered his eyes to sip the wine, the cold light reflected from the edge of the lens was so sharp that Yuan Wenzhong's knuckles suddenly turned white.
The amber liquid in the cup rippled finely. He stroked the lines on the bottom of the cup, remembering that when Su Nian took the glass just now, the subconscious action was a habit developed over many years.
"Who is this person? The bookstore owner doesn't have such a temperament." Yuan Wenzhong thought to himself, but he couldn't figure it out.
The crisp sound of the crystal glass exploding tore through the air, and the dark red wine splattered like blood, dripping slowly along the cuffs of his white suit. Chang Zi had already passed out drunk on the sofa, and the waiter beside him frantically wiped Su Nian's sleeves with a towel.
Su Nian's slender fingers pressed down on the waiter's raised wrist. The temperature was neither high nor low, but it carried an unquestionable strength.
"It's okay, just go ahead and I'll clean it up."
As Su Nian left the private room, Yu Tao and Yuan Wenzhong surrounded Ling Shen. Yu Tao strode forward, his bony fingers firmly gripping Ling Shen's wrist, and snatched the whiskey glass filled with amber liquid from him. Drops of water dripped down his palm.
"What are you thinking?" The glass cup hit the marble table with a crisp sound, which was particularly harsh in the silent space.
"Exactly. Who is this Su Nian? Are you serious?" Yuan Wenzhong took off his gold-rimmed glasses, a rare occurrence. His gesture to wipe the lenses betrayed an undisguised seriousness. The light from the chandelier flickered on his glasses, making the worry in his eyes even more vivid.
Ling Shen reclined on the leather sofa, the alcoholic flush still lingering on his cheeks. He tilted his head back to gaze at the dazzling lights overhead. The glare made him squint. He raised his hand and pressed his knuckles against his sore eye sockets. His Adam's apple moved, but he swallowed back the words he had on his mind.
Yu Tao squatted down and looked him in the eye. His slightly cool palm roughly pulled down his arm, and the cuff slipped down to reveal the dark pattern on the watch. "You have never brought anyone here, except that Jiang Yi. This Su Nian, what on earth are you..."
Before he finished speaking, Ling Shen had already stood up by holding the armrest of the sofa, his leather shoes slipping on the carpet, and the smell of alcohol mixed with cedar perfume hit him in the face: "It doesn't matter, he's just..." The last word dissipated in his throat, and the words "it doesn't matter anyway" were said vaguely and decisively.
Ling Shen had just finished speaking when Su Nian, who had just finished tidying up her clothes in the bathroom, walked in. Her sleeves, which had been neatly tied, were now rolled up to her elbows, and even a few buttons on her collar were haphazardly undone, revealing a faint glimpse of her collarbone.
The few people who originally wanted to hold Ling Shen back suddenly stood there awkwardly, looking at Su Nian who was still smiling, mumbling but not knowing what to say.
"What's wrong?" Su Nian was the first to speak and broke the silence. Yu Tao smiled and said, "Nothing, nothing."
Yuan Wenzhong noticed Su Nian's arm with his sharp eyes. On the arm that should have been as white as jade, there was a long scar. "Your injury?"
Su Nian brushed his arm away carelessly, "It's nothing, just an old injury from many years ago."
Ling Shen's previously dilated pupils suddenly contracted, and he stumbled, clutching the bar beside him. The alcohol receded like a tide, and memories suddenly flooded back: the dark, dense forest, a pair of thin hands pulling him from the bottom of a pit, the warm blood dripping onto his body, the heat making his heart tremble.
In a trance, Ling Shen felt that his heartbeat was so painful that it made his eardrums hurt, and there was a taste of rust in his throat. He had to dig his nails deep into his palms to barely keep himself standing.
The alcohol slowly wore off, and Jiang Qichen's words suddenly popped up in Ling Shen's mind, but he quickly shook his head. The injury on Jiang Yi's arm was not fake.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence. Yes, it's a coincidence." Ling Shen kept comforting himself in his heart.
"Ling Shen? Are you okay?" Yuan Wenzhong's voice pulled him back to reality from his memories. He then realized that his breathing had become heavy and fine cold sweat was oozing from his forehead.
He subconsciously looked at Su Nian, who was lowering his head to adjust his sleeves, and his profile looked even warmer under the dim light.
As if she noticed his gaze, Su Nian looked up and smiled at him gently, the smile in her eyes still gentle, as if she had not heard their conversation at all.
"I'm fine." Ling Shen's voice was hoarse from having just recovered from the shock. He raised his hand to loosen his tie, trying to hide his rapid heartbeat.
He was still a child when the incident happened. When he saw Jiang Yi lying next to him with an injured arm, he stubbornly believed that Jiang Yi was the one who saved him. But what if Jiang Yi didn't save him back then?
Ling Shen's knuckles left bluish marks on the marble tabletop, and the cold touch ran up his spine along his fingertips.
He staggered, holding onto the carved chair back. The friction of the leather was particularly harsh in the silent box, and finally fell onto the soft sofa. The spicy taste of the whiskey surged in his stomach, but it made his nerves more clear.
Yes, he should check again. Yes, check again, even if it's just for peace of mind.
Ling Shen looked at Su Nian sitting in the corner. In a trance, his childhood memories strangely began to overlap with Su Nian in front of him.
"Hehe." Ling Shen raised his head, closed his eyes, and laughed bitterly. Meanwhile, Su Nian, on the other side, had actually heard the entire conversation. He heard Yu Tao and Yuan Wenzhong questioning his identity, heard the name, and heard Ling Shen's vague words.
The waiter next to him looked at him with pity and sympathy, but Su Nian didn't care at all.
蘇念只覺得自己好像馬上就要找到一個出口，內心所有的糾結所有的困惑，因為淩深的話全都平息了下來。
‘是啊，他們原本就沒有什麽關系的，就像淩深說的，不重要。’蘇念低頭看着手中的酒杯，‘可為什麽，心裏還是會痛呢？’
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