The beach at night is much quieter than during the day, the dark blue sea water gently touches the shore, like a lover's hand, approaching and hesitating again and again. The moon is a thin crescent, and the distant red forest has become a deep black silhouette.

  Zheng Wei walked aimlessly along the coastline in front of the hotel, occasionally passing by children playing with inflatable rings and more often young couples embracing each other. She only stopped when she realized she had already walked a long distance, and when she turned back, the lights of the buildings were far behind her.

  Lin Jing had probably finished the call, and he went downstairs to look for her but couldn't find her. He should be anxious, but Zheng Wei didn't want to go back immediately. She needed a place to be alone and take a deep breath. She spread out her waterproof hoodie on the beach, sat down, picked up a sharp small stone that had been pushed up by the waves, and randomly drew on the flat sand. Footsteps sounded from behind, Zheng Wei turned around, saw a tall and slender figure, followed by the familiar scent of RUSH perfume that left a deep impression on her. She wasn't surprised, just rolled her eyes towards the sky in exasperation, saying: "You really did come, do you have something to say to me? Don't ask how I guessed it, it's all like this on TV. Can't you think of anything else?"

  The master of RUSH also smiled, "This plot is quite annoying, it's just that we all don't know who is the supporting actor and who is the real female lead."

  She took off the cloak from her body and spread it on the beach like Zheng Wei, "Do you mind if I sit down?"

  Zheng Wei said, "The beach isn't mine either. But I think if you have something to say, the person you should be looking for is not me, except that we barely qualify as colleagues. We don't have any relationship at all, and even grudges shouldn't be between you and me."

  "Yes, we were originally strangers. But a man connected you and me." Her tone was not aggressive at all, but rather like a little woman sharing secrets with her closest friend in the boudoir.

  "You should go find that man then, if I'm not mistaken, you've already called him, right? Moreover, you came all the way here with another man and appeared in the restaurant. Isn't it to let him see? This purpose has also been achieved. It's useless for you to start with me, the one who makes decisions is him, I can't help you at all." Zheng Wei hugged her knees and looked at the woman beside her.

  Xī jié played with the wet sand after the tide went out, not minding her beautiful hands covered in vermilion getting dirty. She said, "Zhèng wēi, I knew you saw me at the restaurant too. You didn't just guess about my relationship with Lín jìng today, did you?"

  "I don't care about your past relationship with him. As for now, are you going to tell me like on TV that you two have been inseparable? And do you even have his child? If so, I would find it hilarious. And also think that you're not as smart as I thought."

  "What if I really said that? Don't you care at all?" Shi Jie raised an eyebrow. Zheng Wei tilted her head and thought for a moment. "In comparison, I believe Lin Jing more."

  The sea breeze blew away Shu Jie's scattered curly hair, making this beautiful and proud woman look a bit desolate. She smiled at Zheng Wei and said: "You're right. But you're so confident because you've taken it for granted that Lin Jing loves you, and I love him, so in the food chain of the three of us, you're at the top and I'm at the bottom. You have reason to be condescending." "I didn't look down on you, loving him is your business, but why drag He Yi into this? He's a married man, you don't even like him, why use him to ruin his family?" Zheng Wei thought of Wei Shao Yi and inexplicably felt a few points of dissatisfaction with Shu Jie.

  Shi Jie threw the sand in her hand far away, "I didn't force him, he was willing to follow me, just like Lin Jing didn't force me, but I insisted on being with him, who can blame whom?"

  "What's the point of wasting time telling me all this?" Zheng Wei started to get impatient.

  "I just want you to know, Zheng Wei, I lost, but it's not because I'm not as good as you, it's just that people can't help themselves. Two years ago, I met Lin Jing for the first time at a business dinner party, when he was still not the deputy prosecutor-general. I've seen many men, but none of them were like him, looking gentle and calm on the surface, but with a desire to conquer in his eyes. He looked very good when he smiled, and when he nodded at me from the other end of the table, amidst the noise of people clinking glasses, I started to fall in love with him."

  Shi Jie said this with a hint of a smile on her lips, and even her eyes were soft. This expression was all too familiar to Zheng Wei, reminiscent of the girl who stood in front of the mirror in the dormitory, repeatedly admiring herself after her first kiss, with a radiant glow on her face. At this moment, Zheng Wei believed Shi Jie's feelings for Lin Jing, and perhaps every person who has ever been in love is like that.

  Xie Jie was lost in her own memories, completely ignoring Zheng Wei's emotional changes. "That day, I took the initiative to ask Lin Jing for his contact information. I asked myself, my conditions are not bad, and there are many people around me who pursue me, but I just like Lin Jing's indifference towards me. I thought of all sorts of reasons to see him again and again, he would smile at me and I would be happy for a long time, his casual words would make me think about it for an entire evening, just like a young girl in love."

  "Did Lin Jing do the same to you later?" She shouldn't have asked, but Shi Jie's tone was provocative, and Zheng Wei couldn't help but be bothered by her words.

  "As expected, Shi Jie sneered: 'If I said that Lin Jing later also loved me like this, and the sweet words he's told you, the actions he's taken towards you were all practiced on me first, would you still maintain your indifferent expression?'"

  Zheng Wei didn't say anything.

  "Are you scared? Actually, you don't have to worry. A man's heart is hard, but it will only soften when facing a specific person. I've always hoped that I was that person for Lin Jing, but unfortunately not. Lin Jing saw through my thoughts from the beginning and told me that I'm great, just not the one he wants to spend his life with. In other words, he doesn't love me. But I don't care, as long as he's willing to accept me. I can wait until the day he finally falls in love with me. I don't believe there's anyone better than me who loves him more. We've been together for two years, and although there were no promises, he occasionally thinks of me. I'm already happy just thinking about it, feeling that everything is worth it for his sake. At that time, I knew he was investigating He Zong, which was the first big case after he became deputy prosecutor. He needed this success to prove his ability to those who were dissatisfied with his young age and high position. To be honest, He Zong treated me well, but I really wanted to do something for the person I love..."

  Zheng Wei felt a chill run down her spine. "So you revealed China Construction's business secrets to Lin Jing, and he accepted them?"

  "He didn't deign to ask me to do anything for him, and perhaps without me, He would have fallen anyway in that situation. It's just that I don't want him to struggle so hard..."

  "In other words, Lin Jing didn't actually refuse your kindness?" Zheng Wei gritted her teeth.

  "At least I secretly put those files in a crucial place. People are like that. Although they know they can achieve their goal, who wants to take a detour if there's a shortcut?"

  "Do you know what I want to say? You're really stupid!" Zheng Wei said harshly. Shi Jie nodded. "I am stupid. He's now interested in Er Fen, and you won't help him because you don't love him that much. But it's okay, Lin Jing won't mind this. Compared to Er Fen's case, I know he values you more, this is the difference between loving and not loving. The first time I noticed you was at a western restaurant near Zhong Jian, where I had dinner with Lin Jing. We coincidentally saw you and He Yi there too. My relationship with He Yi has always been good, and that restaurant was introduced to him by me, so I also knew you were the girl he was matchmaking with. Lin Jing looked at you for a long time, that night when he sent me back home, I invited him up but he didn't agree. I guessed something went wrong there, just didn't expect it was you! After that, he gradually became cold to me, after some time passed, I called him and he had just come back from a friend's wedding. I said I missed him, but he said Shi Jie, let's break up, I found the woman I want to spend my life with. Zheng Wei, who is this person? You should know better than me!"

  Zheng Wei recalled that night at Ruan Ruan's wedding when she ran into Lin Jing again, but she never could have guessed the story that followed.

  "You can go on."

  Looking at the fishing fire on the sea that was bright and dark, "I spent two years by his side, devoting my whole heart to loving him. He wasn't my first man, but I always treated him as my last. As a result, he wanted to break up with just one sentence. Lin Jing is a person who does what he says, I know that, but in the end, I still can't bear his ruthlessness. I've cried and begged for everything, no matter how much I made a fuss or clung to him, he didn't get angry, nor did he turn back. Don't laugh at me, I even tried to threaten him with death, but he wouldn't even come to my house to take a look, just saying 'your life is yours, please cherish it.' His heart is really cruel!"

  Zheng Wei was slightly distracted, and the person in Shi Jie's mouth was Lin Jing, whom she completely didn't understand. However, for some reason, she believed that what Shi Jie said was true.

  Later, I also figured it out. Maybe he really didn't love me, so I gave him a call and asked him to have one more dinner with me, just to put an end to our two-year relationship. That day, I waited until very late for him to show up, but since he was willing to come, I was already satisfied. From the moment I saw him, I realized that all the excuses I had made were just because I wanted to see him again. We had dinner together, and from start to finish, his mind was elsewhere, which I could have ignored, but as soon as his phone rang, he immediately got up to leave...

  "So you splashed him with a whole body of red wine." Zheng Wei continued Shu Jie's words.

  Xie laughed until tears streamed down her face, "He really is yours, isn't it great to have a man at your beck and call?"

  Zheng Wei chose silence.

  "There's no one more foolish than me, I know he often comes in and out of the mansion for you, so I keep going to find He Yi, hoping that he'll see me with He Yi and at least be a little concerned. This time following you all to Beihai is also the same. But when he sees me, he doesn't care who the man next to me is, he only cares that I will interfere with you two being together. Zheng Wei, am I not as good as you? I'm prettier than you, more successful than you, and love him more than you do. The only thing I'm not better at is, he loves you but doesn't love me."

  It's cruel for a woman to admit that the man she deeply loves doesn't have her in his heart at all. How ruthless is that? Zheng Wei turned away, afraid of such despair, as if she had opened herself up again.

  Two women sat quietly by the sea, listening to the sound of the waves, each thinking about their own affairs. Love is like beauty, intelligence and wealth, it's not something we can get just because we want it, truly.

  Finally. Zheng Wei rubbed her sore calf and stood up, she said to Shi Jie: "I have a sentence that I often use to comfort myself when I'm most heartbroken, now I'll give it to you, very simple: May the gambler concede defeat."

  Xī Jié left, Zhèng Wēi watched her figure disappear at the end of her line of sight. The mobile phone in her pocket had vibrated many times. She picked up the call and before long, Lín Jìng hastily appeared in front of her with a burning anxiety.

  "Didn't I tell you not to go far? Why didn't you answer the phone? Do you know how dangerous it is for one person to be here? You're such a big person, but still like a child, unaware of boundaries!" He rarely spoke to Zheng Wei in such a heavy tone, but she knew. This was just because he cared too much.

  Zheng Wei looked at the man in front of her, who was nervous for her sake. He was also a man who loved another woman. Who could say that Lang Xiang's heart wasn't as hard as iron? Lin Jing was to Shi Jie what Chen Xiao Zheng was to Zheng Wei - one day, her Ah Zheng would become another Lin Jing. Perhaps every young woman had once met their own Chen Xiao Zheng before finding their Lin Jing; and every man had once been a Chen Xiao Zheng, but when he finally matured, he became a Lin Jing.

  "Xiao Wei, are you...?" A hint of worry flashed across Lin Jing's eyes.

  Zheng Wei smiled foolishly and scratched his head, "The clothes are too thick, I didn't even hear the phone vibrating."

  Lin Jing looked at her coat full of sand, sighed, took off his own overcoat and wrapped it around her, "Do you have to make every piece of clothing like this?"

  Zheng Wei giggled and sat back on her jacket, tilting her head to pull Lin Jing over. At first, he was unwilling, but couldn't resist her feigned innocent expression, and helplessly smiled as he carefully sat down beside her.

  She picked up the stone from just now, continued to scribble on the beach, wrote a few big words, laughed at herself, Lin Jing went over to take a look, and wrote nothing more than: Lin Jing is a bad egg.

  He smiled and snatched the stone from her hand, writing on the other end: Zheng Wei is stupid.

  Zheng Wei pretended to be angry and patted his shoulder, insisting on taking back the stone, but he had no choice but to yield due to the height difference. He raised his hand, and she couldn't reach it no matter what. Lin Jing dodged her attack sideways, casually wiping away a few extra words, leaving only the two names, then added two words between the two names, ending with a big question mark.

  Zheng Wei suddenly stopped making a fuss, she gently bit her lower lip, and quietly put her hands behind her back, fortunately the night covered up her flushed face.

  Lin Jing reached out to pull her hand behind his back, but she dodged it like a mud eel. He seemed not to know what to say either, and just made a "hmm?" sound, Zheng Wei knew he was seeking her answer.

  Just then, another wave came over, Lin Jing pulled her back a few steps, and after the spray had receded, the traces left on the beach earlier had disappeared without a trace.

  Lin Jing was somewhat disappointed, but Zheng Wei smoothly dodged the issue, "Oh oh, what did you write just now? I didn't see it, must be something to scold me with. Forget it, I won't bother with you anymore. I'm so tired, let's go back." She pulled on his sleeve to head back, but he refused to budge a single step.

  Just as Zheng Wei was about to continue making excuses, Lin Jing suddenly knelt down on one knee, causing Zheng Wei to jump in fright. "What...what is this? Don't scare me."

  Lin Jing grasped her wrist with a reverse grip, "Now you see?"

  She covered her ears and hastily used another hand to cover her eyes, but forgot to block her ears.

  "I'm very serious. Weiwei, marry me, I'll only say this once, but I'll take care of you for the rest of my life and make you happy." Lin Jing, half-kneeling on the beach, looked up at Zheng Wei, who still had one hand covering her eyes, saying nothing. He waited for a while, but couldn't hold back his anxiety, and forcibly pulled down the hand that was covering her eyes, only to find it wet with tears. "Crying? Why?" He hadn't expected her to cry at this moment.

  His proposal speech was uncreative, but Zheng Wei didn't expect that the same clichéd lines she had heard countless times in Hong Kong and Korean dramas would have such a profound impact when spoken by him. Is this really a lifelong promise? Is this really the greatest compliment a man can give to a woman? She tried to calm down, but her tears were beyond control. This was once her biggest dream since childhood - if only life could be like their first meeting, and they could go back to being Xiao Fei Long and Lin Jing, how perfect it would be.

  She remembered those deep black eyes, the full moon on the basketball court, the despair on Shi Jie's face, and Lin Jing's mother, Sun Aunt... If she stretched out her hand, she wouldn't allow herself to turn back.

  "Sorry, Lin Jing, it's too sudden, I didn't prepare..."

  Lin Jing's face changed slightly, from the moment he knelt down, his heart had been fluctuating, he disliked doing things without a guarantee, but this time he had to bet on himself. Zheng Wei's answer made the originally uncertain heart start to cool down.

  "What you mean is..." He tried to loosen his throat, he wouldn't give up until the last moment - no, it should be said that even if she refused, it wasn't necessarily the last moment.

  Zheng Wei shed tears and smiled, "I don't know if I'll be a good wife, but I'm willing to try."

  She lifted her head in Lin Jing's unexpectedly enthusiastic embrace, and through her misty tearful eyes, she saw the crescent moon hanging high. The moon only has one night as a ring, let alone people? Then it's for a lifetime, most women don't marry the one who leaves an indelible mark on their heart, she got Lin Jing, not that she didn't love him, why be sentimental?

  As they walked back to the hotel together, Zheng Wei said, "Lin Jing..." "Huh?" His hand was gripping too tightly, and Zheng Wei's palm felt a bit sore.

  "Shouldn't I have received a ring?"

  He smiled and said, "I was in a hurry when I came out and left it in the room."

  "And besides, your behavior just now was really tacky."

  "This is also my first time, I don't have any experience."