After a long while, Shen Nian slowly raised her head and gave Xiao Mubai a very regretful smile.
"It really is an unfortunate piece of news. I actually quite enjoy drinking, so it looks like I won't have the chance to drink again."
"And you're still smiling!" Xiao Mubai had an expression of disappointment, staring at her with a stern face.
The smile on Shen Nian's face deepened.
One sitting, one standing, one smiling, one with a stern face.
After who knows how long, it was eventually Xiao Mubai who couldn't keep it up any longer. He bent down and tucked her exposed hand back under the blanket.
"Xiao Mubai," she called him.
"Hmm," Xiao Mubai's voice was muffled.
"I dreamed of my parents," Shen Nian said.
Upon hearing this, he looked up at her.
He knew that Shen Nian's parents had left her when she was still in high school due to a car accident. Shen Nian rarely brought them up to him on her own accord.
He didn't respond, but just quietly looked at her.
Shen Nian continued, "I dreamed of things from when I was little."
Shen Nian seemed to be lost in memories, her face beaming with a bright smile, "When I was in kindergarten, there was a costume party. My parents took it very seriously and bought a lot of costume supplies. My mom and I dressed as princesses, and my dad was a knight. This kind of childish activity is usually not taken seriously by parents, so at the time, I was the most beautiful one..."
Recalling those childhood memories, her smile grew wider, and she even laughed out loud with a puffing sound.
"Now that I think about it, that was almost twenty years ago. Time really flies..."
Perhaps that memory was too profound, even though so many years had passed, Shen Nian still remembered it so clearly and vividly.
Xiao Mubai picked up the hot water kettle beside him. He had boiled the water earlier, and after it had boiled and automatically turned off the switch.
He placed a cup on the table and poured in half a cup of water. The temperature hadn't cooled down yet, and steam was still rising from it.
He took another cup and poured the hot water from the first cup into the second, then poured it back, repeating the motion several times to help the water cool down faster.
Hearing what Shen Nian said, he replied, "Missing your uncle and auntie? I'll take you to see them."
Shen Nian pursed her lips, "It's just been too long since I last dreamed of them."
She then gave a self-deprecating laugh, "The doctor just said that alcohol poisoning can cause delirium and hallucinations... Maybe I was just hallucinating."
"Your uncle and auntie probably know you're not taking good care of yourself, so they're unwilling to appear in your dreams," said Xiao Mubai, rarely saying such harsh words. Finally, he poured the hot water into the cup in his right hand, leaving just the bottom, and drank the remaining mouthful of water from the cup in his left hand to test the temperature. Confirming it wouldn't scald her mouth, he handed the cup in his right hand to her, his face unusually stern.
Upon hearing this, Shen Nian was stunned for a moment, lowering her head to look at the hot water handed to her by Xiao Mubai. She silently reached out and took it, then took a sip before softly muttering, "I just accidentally drank too much."
"Accidentally?" Xiao Mubai was amused by her poor lie. "You think I just picked you up off the street?"
So he didn't really know how much she had drunk?
Shen Nian pursed her lips and fell silent, feeling unusually guilty.
After a long while, she finally weakly asked, "How did you know I was... there?"
"Because I searched through every big and small bar in the capital city," Xiao Mubai answered before Shen Nian could finish her question, knowing what she wanted to ask.
"..."
He stared at Shen Nian, seriously joking, "Even alcoholics probably don't know the locations of all the bars in the capital as well as I do."
"..."Shen Nian lowered her gaze.
Before Shen Nian woke up, Xiao Mubai had been telling himself that if she woke up, he had to severely scold her. The harsher he scolded her, the more she would take his words to heart.
So from the beginning until now, Xiao Mubai had been cold and aloof, speaking in a way that lacked the gentleness of before.
But seeing Shen Nian silently lower her head, Xiao Mubai's eyes flickered, and a hint of sadness showed in his eyes. In the end, he sighed wearily.
He sat down and said in a tired voice, "If I couldn't find you, I would have gone crazy."
Xiao Mubai moved his lips, scrutinizing her carefully.
In the time they hadn't seen each other, she had become much more haggard, and there were many more worries in her eyes.
"I thought my distance would make you happier."
Yet she had still ended up in such a tattered and haggard state.
"..."Shen Nian's eyes flickered, and after a long while, she finally spoke.
"I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize to me for," Xiao Mubai said. "Since Lu Lingchuan is with someone else now, you should look forward too."
Upon hearing this, Shen Nian looked at Xiao Mubai in confusion.
How did he know...?
"I have a friend who knows Liang Jinghe, otherwise how could I deduce that after they got together, you would go out and get drunk?" Xiao Mubai said.
He stared at Shen Nian and said seriously, "Shen Nian, don't do this again. I'll worry."
Shen Nian curved her lips into a smile. "It was just drinking a bit too much. I also drink when making business deals."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Xiao Mubai said. "Do you know how scared I was? I was afraid that if I was even a minute late in finding you, when I pushed open the door, I would see you had committed suicide."
Lu Lingchuan and Shen Nian had been entangled for so many years, just as Xiao Mubai had loved Shen Nian for that many years.
Although Shen Nian had never accepted him and he had always been an outsider in this relationship, Xiao Mubai was very clear about what kind of person Shen Nian was.
If Shen Nian were more selfish, she would repeatedly assert her innocence and never let the Lu family shift the blame onto her.
In the end, she still valued her feelings too much, even blaming herself for why she didn't take Lu Lingrui with her when she ran away to seek help, leaving Lu Lingrui alone to face it.
On top of that, she couldn't let go of her feelings for Lu Lingchuan, but clearly the two of them could no longer go back to how they were before, so they ended up tormenting each other for all those years.
She was such a fool.
Now that Lu Lingchuan was with someone else, Xiao Mubai was afraid...
"..."
Xiao Mubai spoke very directly, and Shen Nian's eyelashes trembled.
After several seconds, she finally looked up and gave him a gentle smile.
"How could I? To go and die for such a trivial matter, my tolerance would be far too weak."
After saying that, she continued smiling: "Shen Nian and Lu Lingchuan have been entangled for so many years, perhaps because we were the only two people for each other, so we kept tormenting one another. Now that Miss Liang Jinghe has appeared, Auntie Lu must be delighted to know that Lu Lingchuan has found new affection and moved away from me, and her illness will surely improve too. Lu Lingchuan is someone who values family ties deeply; if Auntie Lu gets better, he will be fine as well. This is a good thing – he has finally taken that step forward, and we are no longer just treading in place."
"What about you?" Xiao Mubai asked her. "Auntie Lu will be happy, Lu Lingchuan will be fine... but what about you? Will you be okay?"
"Of course," Shen Nian said. "As long as Lu Lingchuan has taken that step toward a better life, I naturally won't continue waiting for him anymore."
[Just found out that there's backend censorship going on overnight, no wonder I kept getting blocked until 7-8 AM for the past two days. Today's chapter has been updated first, I'll find a new update time later and let you all know then.]
