Back at my place, I opened the door and was surprised to find Mi Cai inside, holding a stack of documents.
I asked in astonishment, “Why are you back? Didn’t you say you’d be staying over there?”
“I came back to pick up some documents.”
“Oh.” I responded wearily and headed toward my bedroom.
Looking at me carefully, Mi Cai asked, “What’s wrong with you? You seem really down.”
“Down? I’m just a bit tired!” I replied dismissively.
Mi Cai glanced at her watch and said, “It’s 11:30 AM, time for lunch. You seem tired at a very odd hour!”
I looked at Mi Cai but didn’t respond, continuing toward my room. Unexpectedly, Mi Cai placed the documents on the coffee table and followed me into my bedroom.
“What are you doing in my room?”
Knowing Mi Cai’s tendency for logic, I expected her to reply something like, “You’ve been in my room plenty of times,” but instead she asked, “You seem really troubled. Is it about Le Yao’s bar and the debts she owes?”
“CC told you about this too!” I exclaimed. I had thought CC had only told Mi Cai that I had returned to Suzhou for Le Yao, but apparently she had also mentioned Le Yao’s high-interest debt. It seemed that CC and Mi Cai had become very close friends indeed.
Mi Cai looked at me for a long time before saying, “If you need help, you can tell me. I think I can assist you.”
After she said this, I looked at her too, then changed the topic after a pause, asking, “You’ve got your documents, aren’t you going to work soon?”
Mi Cai didn’t say anything else and finally just nodded, leaving my room. I thought she must have realized that I was reluctant to ask for her help, so she didn’t insist further.
…
After Mi Cai left, the room suddenly became quiet. I closed my eyes and curled up under the covers. Before long, I actually fell asleep, only to wake up as the wind of dusk began to blow in.
I sat on the bed in a daze for quite a while before remembering my evening appointment with Xiang Chen. I quickly put on my coat, washed up briefly in the bathroom, and hurried downstairs, hailing a taxi to the hotel where we had agreed to meet.
Upon my arrival, a silver Audi A4 and a black Range Rover approached. I recognized the Range Rover as Xiang Chen’s car. Looking more closely, I realized that the driver of the Audi was Fang Yuan, with Yan Yan sitting beside him. Apparently, Fang Yuan had bought a car during the few months I was away. Thinking about it, it made sense—he was now deputy manager of the planning department at Baoli Department Store, and he needed a good car to match his status. I was genuinely happy for him, considering how well he and Yan Yan were doing.
Once both cars had stopped, Fang Yuan and Yan Yan stepped out of the Audi, while Jian Wei and Xiang Chen exited from both sides of the Range Rover.
Their couples’ presence once again highlighted my loneliness. My legs felt like they were weighed down, and I could only stand there, forcing a smile as I watched them approach.
Jian Wei and Xiang Chen were behind, while Fang Yuan and Yan Yan were in front. Fang Yuan came up to me, complaining, “Zhaoyang, you just got back to Suzhou and you’re treating Xiang Chen and Jian Wei to dinner, but you didn’t invite Yan Yan and me. What’s that about?”
I just smiled, unsure how to respond. Fang Yuan and Yan Yan didn’t know yet that I had already broken up with Li Xiaoyun, leaving me alone again. This situation was hard to explain to them. If they found out, they would probably blame me.
After a while, I finally said to Fang Yuan and Yan Yan, “Whether I invite you or not, you’re here anyway!”
Yan Yan patted my shoulder and laughed, “Hmph… we’re just good at showing up uninvited!”
I forced a smile and then turned to Jian Wei and Xiang Chen, who had been watching nearby, saying, “Let’s go inside and sit down.”
Xiang Chen smiled, and Jian Wei linked her arm with his. The two of them walked into the hotel first. Watching their backs as they walked together, I felt a vague sense of discomfort. Perhaps during these three months without contact, their relationship had grown even stronger, while I, as a past chapter, was gradually fading and being erased from her memory.
At that moment, I realized that even if I rarely thought of Jian Wei anymore, facing her in person still stirred up my emotions. After all, we had once loved so intensely, and now I had to watch helplessly as she walked beside someone else. Those days I had tried to forget her suddenly felt forced.
Fang Yuan patted me on the shoulder, snapping me out of my daze. “What are you standing there for? Go inside!”
I nodded and followed Fang Yuan into the hotel, pushing all those negative emotions deep into the corners of my heart that I didn’t want to touch.
…
Inside the hotel private room, the five of us sat around the table. After ordering food, we began chatting casually.
The chatterbox Yan Yan, ever the gossip, asked, “Zhaoyang, why didn’t you bring your fiancée with you this time you came to Suzhou? We all wanted to meet her and see what kind of woman managed to settle down a playboy like you.”
I chose to answer Yan Yan’s question indirectly, forcing a smile and saying, “This time I came back, I don’t plan to return to Xuzhou.”
“Wow, that’s a lot to take in!” Yan Yan exclaimed with wide eyes.
Not only Yan Yan, but Fang Yuan also looked surprised. Even Jian Wei, who had been chatting with Xiang Chen, stopped and looked at me, waiting for an explanation.
I looked elsewhere, remained silent for a moment, and then said, “We broke up.”
“No way! You two even bought engagement rings!” Yan Yan asked in shock again to confirm.
Finally, I put on an indifferent expression and said, “If a marriage certificate can’t bind two people who don’t want to be together, how could an engagement ring do any better?”
Yan Yan, still puzzled, asked insistently, “Why wouldn’t you be together? Was it your fault or hers? Is this related to you suddenly coming back to Suzhou?”
I nodded and said, “It is related to my return to Suzhou. I ran into a bit of trouble… I came to see Xiang Chen about this matter… Let’s eat first, we can talk about the rest later.”
Hearing that I had run into trouble, Fang Yuan and Yan Yan looked worried. Finally, Jian Wei, who had been silent, asked, “What kind of trouble?”
“We agreed to eat first…” I replied.
Jian Wei still looked at me calmly, waiting for my answer, and so did Xiang Chen.
Eventually, even Fang Yuan said to me, “Don’t keep us in suspense. I know you, Zhaoyang, you wouldn’t ask for help unless it was really serious. So what kind of trouble are you in?”
I looked around at everyone waiting for an answer, knowing I had to explain. I composed myself, lit a cigarette, and finally said, “A friend of mine owes a million in high-interest loans. It’s a tough situation, and I hope Xiang Chen can help me out…” I added, “To be honest, I might not have the ability to repay it in the next few years, but I will definitely try my best to figure something out.”
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