Tan Ni lived on the other side of the villa, and it took more than ten minutes to go up and down the stairs. No one was disturbed because Tan Yuchen ordered them not to.
When the maid brought the medicine, she was startled to see Tan Yuchen holding Miss Meng in his arms, and she almost buried her head in his chest.
Meng Jiuyi immediately wanted to go down.
Tan Yuchen pressed down with one hand and clicked his tongue.
"Don't move!"
After applying the medicated oil, he rubbed it into her wound, waiting for the bruises to slowly disperse. His skillful technique was more like that of a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. Meng Jiuyi didn't feel any pain, just a slight numbness.
Tan Yuchen said ambiguously:
"Normally, you would never lose to me, and you would argue with me so hard that you would try to find a way to win even in the cracks of rocks. If Miss Meng really used this indomitable spirit on someone else, how could things have turned out like this? It turns out that you used all your brilliant tricks on me."
The man's eyes were deep and dark, and the coldness emanating from him could be sensed from a great distance, let alone Meng Jiuyi, who was in his arms.
She thought he was speaking up for Tan Ni, so she turned her face away and her expression became even more indifferent.
"I was planning to talk to her this afternoon to clear things up. I didn't know she would come. If you think I caused her to have a relapse, I can go and apologize to her."
Tan Yuchen asked, "That's it?"
The man's face was expressionless, his gaze still lingering on his face, leading Meng Jiuyi to believe that he was dissatisfied.
Her breathing suddenly stopped, a faint sour feeling filling her nostrils. This emotion came inexplicably and irrationally, so much so that in the midst of the burning embarrassment, she couldn't help but wonder if she had gotten too caught up in the role.
Their relationship has always been purely transactional; could they really have believed his sweet talk?
The relationship between men and women is nothing more than sexual intimacy. Naturally, he would unconditionally protect his younger sister and do everything he could to punish those who hurt her.
Meng Jiuyi kept his head down and spoke in a businesslike tone.
"If you're still not satisfied, I can find a way to make her—"
Before she could finish speaking, Tan Yuchen suddenly stomped her feet, causing Meng Jiuyi, who was sitting on her lap, to bounce up as well.
Startled, she grabbed his shirt collar and looked up in a panic, only to bump into his confrontational face.
He gripped the back of her neck and pulled her close. His intense gaze made her unable to meet his, and just as she was about to look away, he had already captured her face and kissed her without warning.
The kiss came so suddenly that Meng Jiuyi's heart tightened instantly.
He's really crazy. This is still Orange Garden. What if someone comes and sees them? Besides, Xu Yanzhi is waiting downstairs. Meng Jiuyi is afraid that he will provoke Tan Ni even more if he comes up early, perhaps after the agreed fifteen minutes.
She pushed hard against his shoulder, but Tan Yuchen let her hit him. He kissed her forcefully, his hot breath lingering behind her ear, each word hoarse.
"You little bastard, you chase after everyone else and try to coax them, but you never know how to coax me."
Meng Jiuyi was startled. Her breath was filled with his hot breath, as if it wanted to burn her. She turned her face away and struggled to avoid his kiss.
Why should I comfort you?
The man turned back, his words carrying a relentless tone.
If I remember correctly, we met first, right?
It was him, of course.
“We’ve run into each other more often during this period than my sister has.”
He held her chin, leaving Meng Jiuyi no choice but to answer.
"So what?"
Tan Yuchen snorted coldly, "You can't wait to chase after Tan Ni as soon as she appears, afraid that she will misunderstand half a word you said, right? Aren't you worried that I will be angry? You spend all day in front of me, being all lovey-dovey with him. Aren't you worried that I will pick up a big knife and kill him?"
Whether he would actually kill someone or not, Meng Jiuyi didn't know, but she felt that she might be strangled to death by him.
"...You chose to be the substitute yourself. If you don't want to, you can end the relationship now."
She was so eager to blurt it out that a sudden silence fell between them, even their breathing became still.
Meng Jiuyi opened her eyes.
The anger that had been on the surface had completely dissipated from the man's eyes. He was almost expressionless, and Meng Jiuyi fell silent for a moment.
"You think you can run away after I've fallen asleep?" he said.
Who's asleep?
Didn't I give you eight hundred yuan last time?
Tan Yuchen pressed his fingertip against her lips, staring at her with an irresistible gaze.
"Take back what you just said. Don't even think about it."
Footsteps could be faintly heard in the corridor. Meng Jiuyi immediately got off his lap and went to the room to see Tan Ni.
On the dimly lit balcony, Tan Yuchen still sat on the sofa, his expression even more somber than the night.
He lit a cigarette. After a slight clang of the lighter, a cluster of blue flame appeared. Through the wisps of smoke, the man raised his eyelids and stared at the corner with extreme vigilance.
The two men stared at each other across the distance. Xu Yanzhi had been watching them for a long time, and there was a fierce glint in their eyes.
--
Tan Ni was lying in bed resting, tears welling up in her eyes, when she saw Meng Jiuyi enter after the door was pushed open.
She turned her face away angrily, "You're really shameless. I already told you I never want to see you again."
Meng Jiuyi ignored her tone, sat down in front of her, and helped her put the water back into the thermos.
"You're only finding out about my thick skin today? Do you think everyone can sit there like Miss Tan and have a lot of people fawning over them? If ordinary people don't have a thick skin, how can they get by in this cannibalistic society?"
“Ni Ni, everyone has a different personality. I can never be as honest as you in sharing my feelings. I feel presumptuous even telling others. I didn’t interfere when you expressed your feelings for Xu Yanzhi. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to tell you before. Now that you’ve found out, am I completely wicked, more despicable than anyone you’ve ever met?”
Her voice trailed off towards the end, and a wave of soreness washed over her.
Tears streamed down Tan Ni's face as she turned away.
".....sorry."
Tan Yuchen had just asked her if she had vented all her resentment on one person and if she should apologize to that person. Thinking of her thoughtless words, Tan Ni burst into tears.
“I shouldn’t have said that to you, but I couldn’t help it. You know, Xiao Jiu, I’m actually so envious of you. You have a healthy body and endless possibilities for the future, unlike me, who feels like I have one foot in the grave at any moment and am just a walking corpse counting down the days. So I blame all my setbacks on my broken body.”
"If I were rejected because of my good health, I could come up with countless reasons to continue my life, but I can't. I would keep thinking about whether my body, which is prone to illness, is holding me back, whether I am being disliked by others, and whether your kindness and indulgence towards me are just perfunctory and flattering."
"You always say I'm cheerful and optimistic, but I'm not at all. I'm sensitive and insecure, afraid that others will see that I care about these things, even though I care about them to death."
She smiled when Xu Yanzhi rejected her, but the accumulated darkness, like rats breeding together, eventually emerged.
"The harm you caused me is insignificant, and I hurt you with my careless words. We're even. Let's not contact each other again. I'm sorry, I really may not be able to face you anymore."
A glistening tear rolled down Meng Jiuyi's chin. She didn't reply, but simply got up and walked to the piano to sit down.
The Tan family almost always grants Tan Ni's requests. This crystal piano comes from a world-renowned brand, uses Svarovsky crystal elements, and is priced at a staggering $35 billion.
Meng Jiuyi's piano skills are terrible; he just pressed a key from memory.
What is the first note of the Grand Polonaise?
No one answered from behind, and Meng Jiuyi guessed it.
So I pressed a key randomly by feel, but my memory must have been wrong. A very strange melody flowed through the room, and the whole piece sounded like ghosts howling.
Tan Ni couldn't bear to listen anymore, and even forgot to cry.
"This piece is in E-flat major. You can't even understand this most basic thing. Chopin would be furious if he heard you."
Meng Jiuyi didn't have time to retaliate against her bad temper, and his eyes were somewhat dazed.
"I once heard a girl play this piece at a banquet. Before that, the piano was just a high art to me, something that was too sophisticated for me to appreciate. But at that banquet, I actually understood it. That's when I realized that melodies can also convey feelings and give people a constant source of hope."
"At that time, I watched her from afar at the banquet and guessed that God must have been very generous in giving all the good things to this girl. She was beautiful, generous and helpful. Her family background was just her most inconspicuous advantage. She also had a field that she loved very much and shone brightly in it. She was rich and had something she loved. How amazing!"
Compared to her, I'm probably nothing, not even a drop in the ocean. That day, I thought that if I could be friends with someone like her, I would definitely have an endless source of energy every day. I'll always remember the day I heard her play music, at the wine tasting party at the Tan family's villa.
Tan Ni was taken aback and looked up at her.
Meng Jiuyi walked up to her and sat down next to her. "You said you envy me, but there isn't a day that I don't envy you. You said I can be high and mighty in front of you now, how could that be?"
Love isn't everything in life. If you think I'm superior just because someone else likes me, aren't you underestimating me? I'll get very angry too, because you're attaching all my value to someone else.
Tan Ni's lips trembled slightly.
Meng Jiuyi felt a lump in his throat and reached out to wipe away Tan Ni's tears. "Ni Ni, no matter if we can still be friends in the future, in my eyes you will always shine brightly, and no one can compare to you."
She took the photo from the back of the phone case and placed it in Tan Ni's palm.
Tan Ni picked it up and saw it was a photo of her playing the piano that night.
Meng Jiuyi took the picture, developed it, and placed it behind her phone to encourage herself.
Tan Ni burst into tears.
The room wasn't completely dark; apart from a sliver of gold shining through, the two people's conversation could be roughly heard.
Tan Yuchen leaned slightly against the balcony, a cigarette dangling from his lips, staring into the void. Silence surrounded him, and even his agitation gradually subsided. Only his heartbeat remained clear as ever.
After a long pause, he lowered his head and curved his lips slightly.
He always thought he was good at comforting people, but it turns out she was even better at it.
*
When Meng Jiuyi came out, she didn't see Tan Yuchen, but Xu Yanzhi was waiting by her side. She didn't know how long he had been waiting, but he draped a suit jacket over her shoulders.
Meng Jiuyi was somewhat uneasy.
"Have you been waiting long?"
Xu Yanzhi curled his lips slightly, "Just in time, I overheard Miss Meng giving advice to someone."
Meng Jiuyi smiled. She had a medicinal oil smell on her body, which Xu Yanzhi could naturally smell. He gently picked up her arm to examine it and found that the bruises were covered with medicinal oil.
"...It's...it's nothing, I just bumped into it by accident."
She was worried that Xu Yanzhi would ask who helped apply the ointment, but to her surprise, the man didn't ask and remained silent for a moment.
"It's because I wasn't careful enough."
When he got in the car, he called the doctor at Songhe Medical and asked him to come and take a look. Meng Jiuyi thought it was making a mountain out of a molehill, but she couldn't go against the man's insistence.
As the car drove away from the orange grove, the soft glow of its taillights gradually faded into the night until they became just two dots.
Upstairs, a pair of indifferent and profound eyes stared intently through the smoke. As the smoke cleared, Tan Yuchen made a phone call to Jiang Zhou.
"Have you finished what she asked you to do?"
Jiang Zhou said, "I have already given the specific materials to Miss Meng, but I told Miss Meng that there is still one thing missing. Without this one thing, the chain of evidence is not valid."
Tan Yuchen waited quietly for what would happen next.
"We still lack evidence to corroborate the suspect's identity, such as fingerprints."
--
This is a long chapter of 3400 words. Goodnight.
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