Chapter 9 Heart Wounds 2

  Shangri-La Club

  Mingde held a bottle of wine and lay on the sofa: "Yao! Is there anyone living opposite you?"

  "I don't know!"

  "Why don't I move in across from you? I've just hired a new little maid who is very well-behaved, and she can serve both of us, how about that?"

  "No! Absolutely not! I don't dare! She's yours. Besides, you also have to be responsible for whitening me, how can she become my neighbor?"

  "Don't be so pleased with yourself! Do you think that just because I've become your neighbor, it's inconvenient for you to bring women back home?"

  "You've had too much to drink, when have I ever brought a woman back home for the night?"

  Ming De thought for a moment, it seemed like there wasn't.

  Ling Shuiyue took a wine glass over: "I'll pour the wine into the cup for you, after all, you have to keep up appearances, don't you?"

  "Wow! You think I'm suitable for being an actor?" Mingde also wasn't used to drinking from a wine bottle, it looked too awkward!

  "It's suitable, very suitable! You're not always looking in the mirror, haven't you noticed that your eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and even nose, ears, chin, and forehead all have expressions. Take another look at me, one expression from dawn till dusk, I myself find it boring."

  "What did he say? Is this a human being?" Ming De's eyebrows were furrowed together: "As long as I'm not a human being, you're happy. You don't have any expression, but women just like you. Look at you, with your messy beard, what kind of image is that? But Zi Xi is foolishly following behind you, and it's even voluntary!"

  "This isn't some sloppy nonsense, this is the free and easy style!" Ling Shuiyue poured wine for Mingde, a smile actually floating at the corner of his mouth.

  "Are you deliberately teasing me? With your appearance, are you a romanticist? Do you understand Chinese?" Ming De raised his wine cup and drank it all in one gulp: "Why am I so unlucky to have become an actor?"

  "Ah, Ming De! You're now the idol of thousands! A stunningly handsome guy, a flower boy, a spokesperson for handsome guys, a cool and handsome guy, a handsome guy... even your photos on wallpaper websites are called '宅女福利' (a treat for house girls). Isn't this what you wanted when you were younger?"

  "That's just what I wanted when I was young, too superficial! These words are too illusory, without a sense of reality, I want reality." That's why Mingde likes to drink with Ling Shuiyue, Ling Shuiyue is usually a big iceberg, doesn't talk unless necessary, but once he drinks, he talks a lot and can say some really good things.

  "Are you not truly existing?"

  Zi Xi received a call from Chong Yuan, saying that Ling Shuiyue and Ming De were at the Shangri-La. Without even wiping off her makeup, she rushed over. She had come to make up with Yueliang, and on that day, she helped him walk out of the bar, feeling how tired and oppressed he was.

  A man got drunk alone, was it because of what she said two days ago that hurt his feelings, her words were just out of anger, she didn't want to leave him either, she wanted to be with him.

  She gently pushed open the door, as if someone was talking inside, it was Mingde.

  Ming De's eyes were slightly intoxicated: "Yao! Do you think Ming Xin would like me this way?"

  "Great! I love it! You live more genuinely and meaningfully than any of us."

  "But I feel like I'm just an illusion. I'd rather give up all the praise, the comfortable life, I'd rather she quarrel with me every day, annoy me to death, make me think she's hateful! Make me think she's despicable! She's the worst person in the world!" Mingde's tears flowed silently, and the sorrow and despair in his eyes grew more and more intense.

  When Mingde is heartbroken and troubled, he always mentions Mingxin. Ling Shuiyue has gotten used to it, and he's also used to thinking of Chou Baiguo when drinking with Mingde: "I almost every night fantasize that she stands in front of me, flaunting her stunning smile, lightly asking me: Have you forgotten about me? She only says these few words, then disappears... And my hands are left empty and aching...

  Ming Xin's mouth corner blood kept gushing out, and then, Chou Ba Guai's mouth corner blood also gushed out. I couldn't see or hear anything, my heart was in so much pain that I thought I would die. I don't want to drink! Drinking makes me remember everything, but it also makes me forget everything... Ling Shui Yue said, fiercely smashing the wine cup on the ground: He just wanted to forget her, he just wanted to forget her!

  He has been manipulated by that woman in 'Ruyi' emotionally. He hates his own lack of persistence, hates his weakness, and hates his infatuation with that woman even more!

  He misses that woman so much now, at this moment!

  Zi Xi sat paralyzed at the entrance: She understood, she understood everything. What was she? What exactly was she? She had never seen anyone as self-absorbed as herself, yet foolishly thought he was heartbroken and drunk because of her words.

  In his eyes, she was no better than a dead person.

  "You've had too much to drink, and you're smashing cups. I'm more elegant than you. Have another cup!" Mingde handed over the wine cup, waiting for Ling Shuiyue to pour him a drink, but found that Ling Shuiyue's hand was bleeding. Mingde sobered up halfway: "Yue——!"

  "It's nothing, just a slight scratch."

  "Zi Xi rushed in: 'You! You two are crazy! Both of you are crazy people living in memories!'"

  Ming De burst out laughing: "Yao! She said that both of us are crazy people! What's wrong with being a crazy person? At least the heart won't hurt."

  Zi Xi looked at Ming De who was laughing uncontrollably: He's really crazy!

  Mingde's head was leaning against the back of the sofa, with tears still lingering at the corners of her eyes.

  It's been a long time since they've had such an outburst. When that thing was suffocating them, they would vent like this. In a way, Ling Shuiyue and Ming De have lived in the shadow of the kidnapping incident for nine years.

  They witnessed the entire process of the event, the instant disappearance, the close pursuit, the heart-wrenching pain, and the life that was barely hanging on. From birth to death, they did not miss a single second.

  That kind of helplessness, powerlessness, and inaction that watches as loved ones gradually disappear, makes them feel deeply pained, with no intact body, every time they can't hold on, they will drown their sorrows in wine, venting the endless pain deep within their hearts...

  Ming De asked Ling Shuiyue: "Does it hurt?"

  "It doesn't hurt. I don't feel anything."

  "Have you heard about Nieselow's whereabouts?"

  "No. It's as if she evaporated into thin air."

  "It's better to evaporate it away!"

  "We have no evidence, just suspicion. Those two are habitual offenders, maybe it was an accident." Ling Shuiyue said the words he didn't even believe himself. That night, when he and Mingde were detained, they clearly heard the police officer next door say that the old six said he was instructed by a girl with the surname Nie, how did everything change the next day...

  "Don't tell me things you don't even believe yourself. That's not like you!"

  "Ah, Ming De! Maybe I've really changed. It seems like I've fallen in love with someone else."

  Ming De suddenly stood up from the sofa: "What?"

  "I think I've fallen in love with someone else."

  Ming De laughed: "Yao! Really? Can you really come out?"

  "I don't know, maybe it's another trap. I can't forgive myself for falling in love with someone else, I just can't forgive. And even more so, I couldn't forgive myself for betraying the ugly eight!" Ling Shuiyue clenched his fists, and the wound on the back of his hand cracked open again.

  Perhaps the physical pain will alleviate some of his guilt.

  "I've been waiting all my life for us to walk out of that shadow. I support you! Mingxi will also support you! Chou Baigui will also support you!"