They sat side by side facing the bar. The bar was dimly lit, and the music had changed to an ambiguous ballad. Sweet nothings flowed around their ears. Looking back, couples were everywhere, necking passionately. Their plain conversation was like a clear stream, somewhat out of place in this decadent atmosphere.
“Sure.”
Ye Meng felt her ear canals tighten as if she too had stepped into the rhythm of pleasure-seeking, like the man had just agreed to go out and sleep with her.
However, Li Jin Yu didn’t even raise his head, his expression indifferent. His eyes seemed permanently fixed on his phone as he casually agreed, completely embodying the image of a dissolute man who refused no one.
Li Jin Yu’s appearance was the type that grew more appealing the longer you looked at him. Ye Meng hadn’t initially thought he was particularly special, but she wasn’t sure if she’d grown used to his face or if her earlier bias against his disposition had prevented her from really looking. She discovered that he was built entirely according to her ideal younger brother type. It was as if he had been drawn stroke by stroke from the handsome man template in her heart, without a single line going astray, every stroke perfectly placed. This level of compatibility couldn’t be achieved even with plastic surgery.
But his disposition—she disliked it and felt it needed correction. However, Fang Ya En was right; she could mold him. After all, those facial features and looks were nearly extinct.
A place like this bar easily stimulates one’s hormones, making the ear canals buzz.
So with an expressionless face, she asked again: “Perhaps, would you prefer to get married directly?”
Li Jin Yu froze, his expression filled with surprise, but two seconds later he resumed that casual, undisciplined attitude and smiled: “Are all you older sisters so desperate to get married?”
The term “older sister” derailed Ye Meng’s train of thought. What she had been about to say instantly flew beyond the sea of clouds, and she only asked: “Are you younger than me?”
“I’m ’93,” Li Jin Yu said, “I know you’re ’91.”
“Did Fang Ya En tell you that?”
Ye Meng felt it necessary to sew Fang Ya En’s mouth shut.
Li Jin Yu buried his head in his phone, searching for clues, and said absent-mindedly: “That day when you paid the surgery fee for her, you pulled out your social security card by mistake. The cashier had to enter it twice before you switched it back. I was standing behind you at that time.”
Ye Meng thought carefully, recalling that he might have been behind her that day, but then remembered: “But, hadn’t you already renewed the payment the previous evening? At the elevator, when I told you about Jiang Lu Zhi.”
“What? You suspect I’m interested in you?” Li Jin Yu looked exasperated. “The hospital changed a medication for the old lady, I was just asking if medical insurance could cover it.”
Ye Meng stared at him unblinkingly. He seemed annoyed by her questioning, his brows tightly knitted into a “#” shape.
People came and went in the bar, occasionally approaching him to chat. Li Jin Yu sat on the high barstool, one long leg loosely reaching the floor. He locked his phone and tossed it onto the bar, no longer interested in playing with it. He tilted his head back to stretch his neck and said resignedly: “I don’t get married. If you’re that desperate to marry, turn left outside, there’s a matchmaking agency there. I’m not interested in you older sisters. I prefer girls younger than me, ideally, those who are easy to deceive yet obedient, presentable, and who can warm my bed at home. Understand?”
“Li Jin Yu,” Ye Meng spoke as if she hadn’t heard, continuing with her question, “Did you do this deliberately tonight?”
“Hmm?” He had just raised his glass to his face, his brow bone slightly creasing.
“The scene you caused tonight, was it deliberate? You know perfectly well how small this town is, how full of rumors and gossip. Yet you did this anyway. Forget about marriage, you might not even find a proper girlfriend easily in the future,” Ye Meng pushed over the pieces of paper covered with phone numbers and obscene language, her gaze fixed directly on him, exposing: “What kind of relationship do we have? I don’t believe you did this for me. You did it deliberately.”
Li Jin Yu’s gaze grew cold, his expression weary and languid: “Are you burning the bridge after crossing it? If that’s the case, just transfer the money to me.”
“I’ll transfer the money to your sister, but right now I just want to know one thing. Are you doing this to anger your grandmother, or to anger someone else? Are you having a grudge match with someone? Do you think that person cares—”
“Is that any of your business?” Li Jin Yu looked at her coldly, as if she had touched a sore spot. All that seemingly casual indolence, in front of this woman, seemed empty. She could see his unease and struggle.
Ye Meng smiled oddly, her eyes suddenly softening as she spoke gently, as if inquiring or perhaps suggesting: “Li Jin Yu, have you ever seen a psychologist?”
Li Jin Yu froze completely, the lines of his body becoming more distinct. His eyelashes lowered slightly, his gaze unusually gloomy in the dim light. The uneasy waters in his eyes now seemed disturbed by her.
Ye Meng pulled a business card from her bag. At this moment, she had eyes only for this man: “Have you heard this saying? In the bottomless abyss, going down is also a journey of ten thousand miles ahead. Let me be blunt. No matter what harm you’ve suffered from other women in the past, with me, I will only treat you as a treasure. Think it over, and if you decide, come find me. I can help you. No matter what you’ve experienced.”
Ye Meng grew up in a special family where her three aunts couldn’t have children, so the whole family treated her as a unique treasure. Having received so much love, she liked to share it. In relationships, she was always the one who gave the most. She liked taking care of others, not being taken care of, and of course, she didn’t like clingy people. When she spoke sweet words, they were passionate and loving, but when she dumped someone, she could be quite heartless.
So when Fang Ya En heard about it, her soul trembled with shock and she dropped her chopsticks. Hurriedly wiping them clean with a napkin, she said: “Did you have to share this bombshell news while I was eating?”
“I had to take advantage while the old lady went for her check-up,” Ye Meng leaned back in her chair, idly tossing an apple in her hand.
“You changed your tune pretty quickly. Just yesterday you said it would be impossible to get involved with Jiang Lu Zhi’s ex-boyfriend.”
Ye Meng took a crisp bite of the apple, chewing slowly: “I did say that, but times change and people can’t stay the same forever. I hadn’t really looked at him properly before, but yesterday at the bar I took a good look, and he’s completely my type—cute and sultry. Would I still be a woman if I let such a fine specimen slip away? And looking at it from another angle, Xiao Jiang has been overshadowing me for so many years. If I get my hands on her ex-boyfriend, wouldn’t that be evening the score? Anyway, I just like his face… let Jiang Lu Zhi have a small advantage, I wonder if they’ve kissed.”
Fang Ya En had always understood Ye Meng’s thought process. She was the type to act on every whim. The best way to deal with her was to maintain some clarity; otherwise, you’d be easily swept up in her persuasion, not knowing up from down, and end up crashing painfully. She earnestly warned: “You’d better not cause any strange trouble.”
“What trouble could there be?” Ye Meng asked lazily. “By the way, what’s going on with Cheng Kai Ran?”
“What can that pig-brain of his say? Anyway, stay home these few days and avoid going out. When I’m discharged, I’ll talk to him.”
“Okay.”
Ye Meng disappeared for several days after that and hadn’t been to the hospital for some time.
When Fang Ya En messaged her, she took a long time to reply. When asked what she was doing, she eventually responded casually: stalking Cheng Kai Ran.
Fang Ya En immediately bristled and called her without hesitation. “Are you crazy? Didn’t I tell you to wait until I was discharged?”
Ye Meng had followed Cheng Kai Ran for several days, pinpointing his schedule for eating, drinking, using the bathroom, and working. At this hour, he would be at the arcade. So at this moment, Ye Meng was leaning against a streetlight below Cheng Kai Ran’s entertainment center, keeping watch, dressed inconspicuously—a baseball cap inside, covered by a hoodie outside—and saying casually: “Doesn’t your husband dislike you hanging out with them? Otherwise, if your mother-in-law finds out, there’ll be more trouble. Since I’ve decided to stay, I can’t keep avoiding him. At most, Cheng Kai Ran will beat me up once. It’s fine, I’ll handle this myself.”
For all his calculations, Cheng Kai Ran hadn’t anticipated that Ye Meng would actively seek him out.
The third floor of the entertainment center was an arcade, packed with people on weekends, mostly students in school uniforms. Business was booming. A circle of middle school students surrounded the dance machine, erupting in thunderous cheers. In the middle was a girl with excellent rhythm, wearing a baseball cap and a white hoodie. Her movements were graceful and precise, her timing particularly on point, directly breaking the record that had dominated the screen for years. A series of screams erupted beside her, causing Cheng Kai Ran to momentarily lose focus as if seeing the high school version of Ye Meng.
As the song ended, the girl stepped off the platform amid cheers, her forehead sweaty. Looking up, she saw Cheng Kai Ran standing behind the crowd, his gaze distant.
Ye Meng greeted him naturally, pretending it was a coincidence. “Kai Kai, what a coincidence.”
She deliberately called him that, making Cheng Kai Ran’s heart tremble, as if returning to their high school years when the three of them played games, surfed the internet, and counted stars while catching frogs by the small river at night.
Cheng Kai Ran realized she seemed unchanged, still the fearless girl who cared about nothing, as she had been back then. His soul flew far away, but his eyes remained fixed on her, afraid she would disappear in the blink of an eye. Yet his throat felt blocked by stones, unable to utter a word. He wondered if he had been mistaken back then if she had never really ended their friendship.
Ye Meng waved her hand in front of his face. “Cheng Kai Ran?”
It wasn’t until Li Jin Yu patted Cheng Kai Ran’s shoulder that he seemed to regain his soul and breath. “Oh, Ye Meng.”
Ye Meng hadn’t expected Li Jin Yu to be there. Since that night, the two hadn’t met again. Currently, beside him was a girl who looked both obedient and easily deceived, seemingly a high school student. She was indeed supremely gullible.
Ye Meng’s gaze didn’t linger on Li Jin Yu. She looked steadily at Cheng Kai Ran and smiled. “I’ve been back for so long, and Fang Ya En has been urging me to treat you to a meal. Since we’ve run into each other, do you have time today?”
She smiled innocently and openly. Cheng Kai Ran was completely entranced, saying as if possessed: “Yes.”
The location had been selected by Ye Meng in advance. When Cheng Kai Ran suggested going to his bar, Ye Meng politely declined. She gave the location to the driver, and Li Jin Yu, sitting in the passenger seat, glanced at it indifferently.
Wisteria Hotel.
Two hundred meters from the police station.
Li Jin Yu suddenly lowered his head and smiled.