Chapter 40: White Bird

  Dear, I wish we were a pair of white birds on the crest of the waves!

  The meteor has not yet fallen, but we are already tired of its brilliance.

  The sky is low-hanging, in the morning light that blue star's faint glow

  Awakened in my heart, a lingering sorrow that refuses to die.

  Dewy lilies, roses in a dream, a thread of fatigue slips out.

  Ah, dear one, don't chase after the fleeting sparkle of a shooting star.

  Don't dream of the faint glow of that blue star in the dew.

  May we become white birds on the wave crest: you and I!

  My heart is entwined with countless islands and the shores of Dan Nan Lake

  There time will forget us, sorrow will no longer come.

  In the blink of an eye, we will be far away from the erosion of roses, lilies and stardust.

  As long as we are a pair of white birds, dear, emerging in the waves!

  The White Bird by W.B. Yeats

  The curtain opens, and the stage is shrouded in a thick white mist. Suddenly, a string of piano sounds flows like a cloud in this two-story space. The melody is quite familiar, and upon closer listening, it turns out to be the tune of "Memory of Qin's Night" from the opera "Night Golden Earrings", but with all the complicated instruments removed, leaving only one piano, re-arranged, with a different meaning.

  A beam of blue light poured down, and a piano and pianist appeared in the beam. People whispered to each other, accustomed to the noisy performances of nightclubs, feeling fresh for a moment. As the blue light gradually dimmed and disappeared, another heavenly sound gradually emerged, like casual humming and singing, ethereal and distant, as if from outside the sky. The venue suddenly fell silent, and people seemed to hold their breath, with no sound of birds or animals.

  Another beam of white light descended from the sky, and in the beam of light, a figure in a white cheongsam appeared vaguely. It was a woman wearing a white cheongsam, sitting sideways on the stairs with her hair pulled up high, revealing a swan-like neck.

  "The mirror reflects you, but you don't ask"

  The woman sang out the first sentence, different from the singer's gorgeous and elegant tone, her singing voice was clean and soft, moving in a different way.

  "Fragrant flowers surround and gently touch"

  The woman sang out the second sentence, and immediately stood up elegantly, turning around to face the audience. The top-grade cloud brocade fabric lightly wrapped around her slender and elegant body, with a faint golden glow flowing in the white light. The woman lowered her eyelashes, and on her delicate face, a red lip appeared, like a red plum bursting out of a silver and white wrapping, perfectly timed.

  "The water reflects the deep building, and the building is also warm; the moon holds the wind and clouds, and the clouds stay."

  The woman slowly walked down the stairs, with the white feathers on her hair flowing gently in the air, like a wave of white light hitting Huaichen's heart.

  She was like a brave and persistent white bird, lightly dancing in the ripples. This was Huaiyin's favorite poem: "Beloved, I wish we were a pair of white birds on the wave crest! ... Don't dream of the flashing meteor, nor the dim glow of the blue star in the dew... My heart is entwined with countless islands and the shores of Dan Nan Lake, where time will forget us, and sorrow will no longer come... As long as we are a pair of white birds, beloved, emerging from the wave flowers..."

  She yearns for freedom, casting off the worldly vanity and sorrow, with those who also long for freedom, soaring in the sky and dancing on the waves.

  She closed her eyes and suddenly felt an urge to cry, her throat slipped lightly, suppressing and restraining.

  Everyone in the room, except for Makoto, had their eyes fixed on the stage. Makoto looked at Kaji, who appeared solemn and sorrowful, frozen in his eyes as a godlike figure that didn't belong to this world.

  On the stage, the background curtain gradually emerged with the strengthening of the lights, it was a picture of a night scene in Qin Dynasty, red flower boats, purple painting corridors, blue arch bridges, green river water, to reflect the theme of the movie, also dotted with blooming pink cherry blossoms in the night sky, quite characteristic of the era.

  The audience in the entire venue finally woke up like a dream, applauding and whistling, with some even blowing a few whistles. Huai Jin opened her eyes, and the surrounding sounds brought her back to reality from that white free dream. The dream was beautiful, but the white dream had to be paved with countless red blood. In her mind, she flashed back to the bright red blood on Dong Zhiyu's work pants, his pale face, his determined and angry eyes, and the weak heartbeat when he changed clothes for her that night... Everything, did she also have a magnificent free dream in her heart? Did she also dream of transforming into a white bird on the waves, flying freely?

  "A ten-mile memory of Qin, a mirror flower and water moon; at the entrance of Wuyi Alley, a row of decorated buildings"

  The woman on the stage stood in front of the microphone, and the troupe that had once accompanied the singer finally came on stage, each holding a fragrant fan, twisting and turning behind the calm and elegant singer.

  She raised her eyes and looked towards the private room on the second floor, where she could clearly see Hua Jin sitting in the front row. She knew that he was also looking at her.

  "Do you know where the river water carrying these lantern boats will flow tomorrow?"

  A faint voice asked, Huai Jin only felt a strange sensation in her stomach, staring at Dong Zhiyu on the stage, she hoped to have an answer.

  "Never mind"

  Dong Zhiyu lowered her eyelids again.

  "Please hold me in your arms. When the fireworks fade, don't forget this night of remembering Qin, the dazzling moment, the shadows that once reflected as a pair in the river water."

  The song ended, and the singer bowed deeply to the audience before walking off the stage.

  The scene erupted in another long round of applause, punctuated by occasional whistles.

  "Hey!" A dark-skinned officer behind Huai Jin spoke up, "Who is this woman?"

  Hu Xiao, the translator who had been waiting at the back of the room, stepped forward: "Reporting to Commander Imai, that is Dong Zhiyu, an English translator from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Translation Department 2."

  "Cheers!" Imai's eyes sparkled with excitement, a whiff of alcohol escaping his mouth. "Hu Sang, go invite Miss Dong over, she'll watch the show in our private room tonight."

  The other officers burst out laughing and all applauded in agreement.

  Huai Jin turned her head, her lips moved slightly, but ultimately didn't say anything. Suddenly, she turned to look at Zhen Ji, but unexpectedly Zhen Ji was also looking at her. Huai Jin's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly turned her head back again.

  The next program has started, but the people in this box are not interested in watching. Everyone is preoccupied with their own thoughts, waiting for Dong Zhiyu's arrival.

  Before long, footsteps sounded at the door, and Huai Jin looked over with everyone else. Two black-clad guards brought Dong Zhiyu to the entrance, she had added a red silk shirt outside her cheongsam, covering her injured arm, the white feather on her hair was already removed, her hair was let down, under the previous bun and hair gel, it was slightly curly, with a different charm.

  "Miss Dong! Please come over here!" Imai said passionately.

  Dong Zhiyu hesitated and looked at him, then turned her head to glance at Huai Jin. Seeing that Huai Jin had slightly winked at her, she walked over: "May I ask, is there any instruction?"

  Konoe and several other officers burst into another fit of laughter, causing Dong Zhiyu to furrow his brow, Huai Jin to raise his body, and accumulate momentum for the impending attack.

  "What's up?" Imai stretched out his hand and then pinched Dong Zhiyu's buttocks without any reserve.

  Dong Zhiyu had never suffered such humiliation before. He jumped up and rushed towards Noguchi, grabbing whatever objects were within reach to smash at his head.

  "Bang!" The cup lid scraped across Noguchi's nose and hit the wall of the private room with a loud crash, shattering into pieces. Noguchi covered his nose, standing up and about to explode, when a low voice stopped him: "Noguchi!"

  Huai Jin stood up and walked in front of Dong Zhiyu to shield her, "Miss Dong is my friend, I won't let you touch a single hair on her!"

  Imai sake also woke up, staring at his eyes and confronting Huaijin for a while. Everyone present weighed the pros and cons, and Kageyoshi specifically instructed the officers of the army to stay in the shade when they left two days ago. Now is not the past, and the surface can no longer be as reckless as it was two years ago. This Huaijin is also a disciple of Kageyoshi, and they don't want to cause any trouble for Kageyoshi, so everyone comes to pull Imai and advises him to stop here.

  Konishi sat down with a scowl, looked at his hand and found it was covered in blood. It turned out that the cup lid had hit his nose so hard that it was bleeding. Just as he was about to get angry again, someone came in from the doorway, "The old boss Wang next door sent me to ask what happened here?"

  Everyone was at a loss for words, and Huai Jin said: "Director Jing is not careful and fell, his nose is broken. Let's call a doctor to check." After finishing speaking, he rushed to the black-clad guard at the door and said: "Quickly go to Fu Laoban's place and let him find a doctor to come over."

  Someone came in and glanced around at everyone before retreating to answer. Huai Jin pulled Dong Zhiyu up: "Come with me." He then took her out with him.

  Only then did I hear Makoto's voice behind me: "Itoi-kun, please don't get angry. Makoto will help you wipe away the blood."

  Huai Jin pulled along Dong Zhiyu all the way to the third floor attic, closed the door, "Are you okay?"

  Dong Zhiyu shook her head and immediately lowered it, two tears rolling down.

  Huajin wanted to hold her in her arms, it was an instinct, she knew that if it were someone else, they would do the same and it would be natural, but she retreated, a voice in her mind saying: "You can't touch her, how could you possibly hug her?"

  She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Dong Zhiyu, "Here."

  Dong Zhiyu took the handkerchief and wiped her eyes, "I... I just... no man has ever treated me like this." After saying that, tears fell again, and she quickly used the handkerchief to wipe them away.

  "I understand." Huai Jin felt his nose slightly sour, and once again restrained the urge to hug her, standing stiffly like a wooden pole. For the first time, she thought she was very silly.

  "That... is all in the past, don't think about it anymore. You performed exceptionally well today, I really liked it."

  Dong Zhiyu raised his head and saw Huai Jin smiling slightly, "Really like it?"

  "Hmm!" Huai Jin thought for a moment and said, "You should have been arranged to be a songstress in Yejinling at the beginning, rather than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

  Dong Zhiyu burst into laughter, she had never known that Huai Jin had such a side, her face was slightly flushed, "Thanks for what happened earlier."

  Huaijin didn't respond, but something had been on her mind since earlier. That day, Zhenji said someone was looking for Dong Zhiyu, who could that be? Was it a family member? Did Zhenji recognize her again just now?

  "There's something I want to tell you." Huai Jin spoke up.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Just now in that private room there was a geisha named Makoto." Huaijin said, observing the reaction on Dong Zhiyu's face.

  Dong Zhiyu was slightly startled, as the matter of Zhēn Jì had been a knot in her heart for several days, and she hadn't expected Huái Jǐn to bring it up on her own initiative. She looked at her with curiosity.

  Hua Jin looked at her expression, first slightly complex, then full of curiosity. What did that complexity mean? Did they already have a connection? Or something else?

  "She seems to be looking for you, someone asked her to find you, but I don't know the specifics."

  Dong Zhiyu stared into Huai Jin's eyes, she didn't seem to be lying, so why did she sneak into Zhen Ji's room that day? What was their relationship after all?

  "She has found me, it was my family's old steward who asked her to find me. But I must ask you, how did you know about this?"

  "I also knew by chance, but I'm not convenient to reveal the specifics. Today I told you this matter, just thinking that maybe your relatives or old friends are looking for you, or at worst some bad people, in any case, it's good that you know now, since you've already been in contact, then it's fine."

  Dong Zhiyu felt a hint of disappointment, it seemed that Huai Jin was not going to tell her about her and Zhen Ji's affairs. For some reason, she had convinced herself in her heart that the two of them had an unusual relationship.

  She didn't respond, so Hua Jin asked again, "Are you in a romantic relationship with that American named Matthew?" As soon as she finished asking, she realized how unusually nosy and gossipy she was being today.

  Dong Zhiyu thought for a moment, that night quickly passing by her side must have been Huai Jin, otherwise she wouldn't have asked this question, "This, I also find it inconvenient to reveal." She almost choked out these words.

  Huai Jin couldn't help but hear her emotions and lightly laughed, "If you don't say anything, then it's fine. If Ye Ming Tian asks, I'll just tell him it was me."

  Dong Zhiyu pouted, "Who cares what he thinks!"

  Huai Jin lowered his head to look at her, his eyes filled with a smile, and his usual cold demeanor was nowhere to be seen. Dong Zhiyu looked into his eyes, feeling an inexplicable surge of tenderness and warmth in her heart, followed by an inexplicable blush.

  So he quickly averted his gaze and said, "Hey, it's going to be New Year's soon, are you staying in Nanjing?"

  The smile in her eyes gradually faded away, "I haven't decided where to spend the New Year yet, but I'll be going to Shanghai tomorrow." After saying this, she had already regained her usual cold demeanor. He Shuqiang had been secretly detained and interrogated for two days, and it was said that he had confessed to eight or nine out of ten items on the list, so it was time for her to meet with an old friend.

  Dong Zhiyu saw her face turn cold and seemingly unhappy, so he carefully asked: "You're going to Shanghai, do you have relatives there?"

  Huaijin thought for a moment, the matter of He Shuqiang was only known to Fu Qiusheng and her. According to the rules, those who didn't need to know shouldn't be told, "Just an old friend, looking for him to handle something, it might be done before the new year."

  "This way," Dong Zhiyu said after a moment of hesitation, "I'll be going to Shanghai in two days to reunite with my aunt's family. If you've finished your business before the new year and haven't decided where to spend it, if you don't mind, you can come find me." As she spoke, she pulled out a pen and notebook from her bag, quickly wrote down an address, tore it off, and handed it to her, "This is my aunt's address and phone number."

  She took the paper from him, glanced at it, and then folded it up and put it in her pocket. "Thank you," she said after a pause. "Let's go down now. You go find your friend and enjoy the show with an open heart. Don't worry about Imai."

  Is there also a free and easy dream in your heart? Do you also dream of transforming into a white bird on the waves, flying freely?

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