Chapter 86
The longing has become very, very strong.
'Beep beep beep—beep beep beep—'
'Beep beep beep—beep beep beep—'
"Hello?"
"Hello?"
Hearing the cold busy tone from the receiver, Cheng Sangluo subconsciously said "hello" twice before responding. Lin Jin had already coldly ended the conversation.
"Hang up on me!?" The puppy stared at the screen indicating the end of the call, its expression momentarily dazed, but quickly replaced by a deep sense of grievance.
How much courage did it take to force those heartfelt longings to slip from her lips? She had hoped for a gentle response from the crazy woman, but instead, she was abruptly hung up on.
Cheng Sangluo stood alone on the bustling pedestrian street, holding her tattered phone. It took her a while to finally frown.
She angrily stuffed her phone into her pocket, muttering, "If I contact you again, I'll be a shameless dog!!!"
When he looked up and saw the bustling noise around him again, this person who was used to being alone felt an unprecedented sense of unease.
Groups of friends, laughing and chatting, couples, walking hand in hand, or families, all enjoying themselves, brushed past her.
The warmth and happiness emanating from the strangers made Cheng Sangluo's loneliness all the more profound.
This stark contrast easily overturned her loneliness, prompting deep reflection.
Cheng Sangluo suddenly realized that if she hadn't entered Lin Jin's life, she wouldn't have been able to integrate well into the bustling world.
This kind of loneliness is thick and heavy, stemming from different relationships.
That broken family of origin will only accumulate disappointment and hurt, and will not bring her any happiness.
Aside from Bai Mu, who was far away abroad, and Wei Lian, who was in the military camp, she couldn't find a third person she could consider a friend.
When she thinks about love again, the image of that slender woman unconsciously takes over her mind, even conjuring up images of her at different times.
Lin Jin is decisive and authoritative in the company.
Lin Jin, standing in front of the convenience store, transforms the rain into a scene reminiscent of an ink painting.
Lin Jin, dressed in a camellia-patterned robe, swayed gracefully at home.
In embraces, in kisses, in the thick of the night, indulging in each other's company.
This kind of Lin Jin, that kind of Lin Jin, good Lin Jin, bad Lin Jin.
Cheng Sangluo shook his head frantically, and smiled bitterly as he wondered how he had managed to force a crazy woman into the realm of love.
There was only one point she couldn't refute.
Whether it's family, friendship, or love, she lived a pale and miserable life in all those relationships, which is why she ended up in the vast sea of people, unable to find anyone or any relationship to accompany her.
Cheng Sangluo's gaze lingered on the faces of the hurried pedestrians. She took a sip of her milk tea and sighed with a half-smile, "So this is what it means to be out of place."
This person finally realized, belatedly, that the person she had always thought was a crazy woman pestering her was actually herself.
......
Having no appetite at all, Cheng Sangluo drove her Bentley back to the villa on the hillside.
She was depressed and, without the madwoman's orders, seemed to have no energy for anything. So she took some stones and carving knives and sat on the edge of the cliff by the mountain road to watch the sunset.
The bleakness of the late autumn evening mirrored her solitary figure, but fortunately, the vibrant colors of the sunset somewhat dispelled her loneliness, preventing the scene from appearing too desolate.
Cheng Sangluo sat hunched over outside the guardrail. His seal-carving skills were becoming more and more proficient. Although his movements were slower, he no longer wasted material, and Lin Jin's name was no longer carved crookedly.
She was very serious while carving the seal, occasionally blowing away the accumulated debris and then smoothing it with her fingertips.
When one is fully absorbed in something, it creates the illusion that time has stopped.
Yes, time seems to slow down, which makes the longing feel even stronger.
It's so hard to say the words of longing, so I secretly hide them in every stroke of my pen. Even if I feel that doing this is meaningless, it is related to Lin Jin, so it seems to have become something that I have to do and do well.
After an unknown amount of time, the dazzling lights in the sky were replaced by the city's neon lights, and the mountain wind howled, carrying the chill of autumn, swirling around and around in the night sky.
Cheng Sangluo held up the seal she had carved, which shone with a soft light under the streetlights.
Her eyes shone as she examined the signature, a faint smile playing on her lips, as if she were quite pleased with her masterpiece.
Indeed, this seal is the best one ever engraved.
"How is it? This one I carved..." Cheng Sang unconsciously moved the seal in her hand to the side, but stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence, and her smile stiffened slightly.
Oh right, Lin Jin isn't here.
She reluctantly withdrew her arm, put the engraved stamp into her small cloth bag, and wondered who the person she was trying to curry favor with was probably having a candlelight dinner with right now.
The person I was trying to suppress turned into a puppy, a whimpering, aggrieved, and mournful puppy.
Who is it? Who is it? Why are you having a candlelight dinner? Will you die if you don't eat?!
So loneliness becomes a raging flood at night, a source of wild thoughts and torment.
Cheng Sangluo didn't get up to leave. Instead, she hugged her bent knees and quietly gazed at the city below the mountain, sighing, "How lively it is."
She was constantly envious, envious that everyone else seemed to live such a colorful life, while she had only temporarily escaped the problem of basic needs.
Thinking of this, Cheng Sangluo suddenly recalled a question Lin Jin had once asked her—After taking revenge, what do you plan to do?
She stared at the city lights coming on, lost in thought. Should she get a divorce after getting revenge?
Then what?
Should they forget Lin Jin and drift apart in the world?
And then what?
I feel so lost.
"Live in the moment, why think so much? What if I kick the bucket?" Cheng Sangluo sighed, stood up, and patted the dust off his pants.
She felt that she was now somewhat off track, and if she wasn't careful, she would be controlled by Lin Jin in her mind. So she started to mentally manipulate herself, telling herself not to fall in love, not to pour her unfounded feelings into hopelessness.
bite!
Cheng Sangluo had a sudden inspiration: why not take this opportunity to do something productive to stop the ever-growing longing in her heart?
She looked up at the dark night sky. There was something she needed to investigate while the madwoman was away, and tonight was the perfect opportunity.
To vent her anger at the crazy woman who was making her overthink, she pulled out her phone and started cursing again: "Hmph! Vanishing technique—turn off the phone!"
That bastard has probably forgotten how he patted his chest and made that promise at the airport.
......
Midnight.
Cheng Sangluo appeared outside Xu Songheng's villa with practiced ease, and following the route she had taken the first time, climbed over the wall and descended to the basement garden.
After all, they were experienced scouts, and their preparations for infiltrating someone's residence must have been meticulous.
Considering that Ji Nanxing might come to inspect the scene at any time, she couldn't leave any suspicious traces, so she dressed in a neat black outfit. To avoid being captured by surveillance cameras, she also wore a baseball cap and a mask, and didn't overlook even the details of gloves and shoe covers.
Standing in front of the sliding door leading into the corridor, she took out lock-picking tools from her waist bag.
Unexpectedly, these things were not used. The sliding door was not locked, presumably because the police missed it when they came to investigate, or perhaps because Xu Songheng had never paid attention to it.
She quickly packed her things and tiptoed through the corridor. The air was filled with a stench, forcing her to cover her nose and endure the unpleasant smell.
When she arrived at the koi pond, she saw that the pond had been neglected for a long time, and the fish inside were all belly up.
This indicates that no one has visited this villa for a long time.
Even though no one was around, Cheng Sangluo didn't dare to relax. She didn't know if the surveillance cameras in the house were working properly, so she could only avoid the cameras and slowly walk upstairs to the study.
Her purpose was simple: she needed to get the key to the hidden compartment in the desk and, incidentally, find the lock that matched the key, as it likely held some unspeakable secret.
There's plenty of time tonight; we might even find more reliable information.
Cheng Sangluo pushed open the study door and immediately opened the hidden compartment; the key was still inside.
She took the key and walked to the window, examining it in the light from outside. This old-fashioned, round-handled aluminum key was usually used for small black iron locks.
After thinking for a moment, she ruled out the locks on large items, so she searched the study for any small boxes that were locked.
The most dangerous place is often the safest.
For some reason, she suddenly recalled Lin Jin's memory of hiding in the closet when she was a child, and couldn't help but think, "The more dangerous the place, the safer it is."
She picked up the key and fell into thought again, thinking that since this thing was hidden in the study, according to the principle of proximity, it must be because something was hidden here so that it could be retrieved at any time.
Xu Songheng's study was ostentatiously decorated. The antique ornaments were very obvious and could be seen at a glance. The cabinets under the desk were also unlocked. Where else could one see something at a glance without being noticed?
Cheng Sang wandered around the room a few times, then glanced at the decorative bookshelf and the key in her hand, and suddenly everything became clear.
There is another type of lock that requires such a key, namely the old-fashioned privacy diary.
She strode to the wall of books, her eyes scanning back and forth as if she were playing a game of spot the differences.
The wide array of books showed nothing unusual until her gaze settled on an inconspicuous black hardcover book cover.
To be precise, it was the only notebook without any words on the entire wall of books, but it was easily overlooked because it was mixed in with a bunch of books.
She reached out and pulled out the notebook, feeling its heavy weight. She then realized that the notebook was not made of leather, but of hard iron, with a genuine leather covering on the outside.
It was quite difficult to pry open the metal box disguised as a notebook. The size of the hanging lock matched her guess, so she quickly tried the key.
With a click, the lock opened.
Cheng Sangluo took out the notebook hidden in the iron box and eagerly flipped through it. The notebook was empty. When she flipped to the back, a USB flash drive fell out from the hollowed-out part.
Cheng Sangluo, clutching the USB drive, complained, "It's like taking off your pants to fart—completely unnecessary."
*
There are no candlelight dinners, fine wines, or beautiful women here.
After meeting with Jin Manni, Lin Jin didn't even have dinner to catch up with her, as there were many things to deal with these days and the two of them had to work separately.
But as night fell, the large double bed was filled with loneliness.
Lin Jin had a poor appetite and did not eat anything all night.
As the night deepened, she suffered from severe insomnia, tossing and turning in bed, feeling miserable.
It's unclear whether the discomfort was due to separation from Cheng Sangluo, or the lack of medication over a long period, but more likely it's because Cheng Sangluo has been in a state of being unresponsive.
This woman was stubborn. After the phone automatically hung up, she dialed Cheng Sangluo's number again and again, tirelessly.
The number you dialed is currently switched off, sorry.
The number you dialed is currently switched off, sorry.
The number you dialed is currently switched off, sorry.
'......'
The craving for alcohol, which I hadn't had for a long time, came back with a vengeance. I drank one glass after another, but it couldn't relieve my loneliness.
She leaned against the headboard, her body seemingly boneless. The bottle of red wine beside her was more than half empty, and her phone kept playing busy signals from a telecommunications company. She couldn't help but gulp down the rest of her wine.
Longing is an unbearable torment that even drinking can't suppress; it only intensifies with alcohol.
"You bastard, where have you been?!" Lin Jin was furious. She slammed her phone onto the bed and mumbled drunkenly, "Didn't you promise to update me on everything? How could you go back on your word? Didn't you miss me? Women's words are deceitful!"
'Ding-ding-'
The cell phone rang suddenly, causing a flurry of panic in the spacious room.
Lin Jin lost her usual arrogant demeanor and hurriedly crawled towards the phone, forgetting that her injured foot made things difficult.
She endured the pain shooting through her ankle, lying somewhat awkwardly on the bed. When she reached for her phone and looked at the caller ID, her eyes were filled with drunkenness and anticipation.
When I finally saw the words "You bastard" flashing on the caller ID, my anxiety, which had been building all night without any contact, was finally put to rest.
However, her gentleness only lasted for the moment the call connected; when the "hello" sounded, her tone was icy.
The person on the other end of the phone didn't speak; their silence made it seem as if they had accidentally touched the phone.
Lin Jin didn't even bother pouring the wine; he grabbed the bottle and took a large gulp, his drunkenness tinged with a hint of anger: "Speak up!"
Cheng Sangluo asked bluntly, her voice muffled, "Are you wrong or not?"
"Am I wrong or not?" Lin Jin asked with a cold snort. Even though the stubborn mule wasn't in front of her, just hearing those four words made her imagine the bastard's smug expression. "I'd like to ask you, are you wrong or not?"
"Where did I go wrong?!" Cheng Sangluo bristled, raising her voice as she retorted, "You're the one who hung up on me! You're the one who wanted a candlelight dinner, fine wine, and beautiful women! You're the one who left me with a green hat on my head! How dare you ask me if I'm wrong or not?"
"Ha, so you called me in the middle of the night to argue with me?" Lin Jin was even angrier now. She thought the bastard was coming to apologize, but it turned out he just wanted to cause trouble.
"Who wants to argue with you? Do you think I'd have nothing better to do?" Cheng Sangluo didn't tolerate the crazy woman. Before hanging up, she mechanically reported, "I didn't eat dinner tonight. I had a stamp made. I'm lying in bed now, getting ready to sleep. Report complete. Go wherever it's cool. Bye."
'Beep beep beep—beep beep beep—'
Lin Jinxi moved her lips, stared wide-eyed, and listened to the busy tone on the phone. Her stunned expression was gradually replaced by anger.
She gritted her teeth, staring at her phone screen, and dialed the number again. "Cheng Sangluo! If I'm not having a good time, you won't be either!!!"
[Author's Note]
1. My pre-order novel, "The Sinful Lover," is available for collection.
2. Follow @同心难改的胡耀耀 on Douyin (TikTok) to join the reader group.
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