I seemed to have already gotten used to Leyao’s crying and wasn’t particularly panicked. I simply waited for the moment she would finally burst into tears, believing that doing so would release the emotions she had been suppressing. But things didn’t go as expected—Leyao never let herself cry and release her feelings. Something uncertain had bound her heart, so even though we cursed at each other when facing one another, we did so cautiously and carefully.
While she was sobbing softly, I cleaned the room and then said to her, “Why don’t you rest a bit? I’ll go make lunch, and I’ll call you later.”
“Zhaoyang, I beg you, stop giving me this sense of security anymore. I’ll get addicted to you and never be able to escape my obsession. My current pain entirely comes from you, not from that malicious media scandal. Don’t you understand? The determination I made before is about to collapse completely!”
Leyao’s sudden outburst left me completely stunned. Was she truly indifferent about her career in the entertainment industry? And had I completely misunderstood the source of her pain?
As I remained silent, Leyao suddenly threw herself into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably, “I lost again—I lost to myself again… All my resistance collapsed the moment I saw you… Zhaoyang, I don’t want to stay in the entertainment industry anymore. It’s really exhausting and dirty! Take me away from this circle. Let me stay by your side and support your entrepreneurial journey. I promise I’ll be a good wife… Please, say yes?”
Her crying voice turned me into a stone devoid of thoughts… When I first arrived, I only wanted to cook her a meal and offer a few comforting words, never imagining taking her away from the entertainment industry or making her my wife.
After a long silence, my mind finally started working again, and I recalled the past—remembering the first time I met her at the bar, the lonely and pitiful look on her face. I felt regret, wondering why I hadn’t fallen for her at that moment… Now, it was too late.
“Zhaoyang, will you agree to my request? Just say yes, and I’ll immediately issue a statement announcing my withdrawal from the entertainment industry! From then on, I’ll stay by your side, sharing all the joys and sorrows of your life…”
Finally, I said to her, “Leyao… Please calm down. I can’t give you what you’re asking for right now. Maybe… maybe Meicai and I will get married soon.”
Leyao looked completely devastated: “This world is so unfair! I accompanied you through your darkest times, witnessing countless scenes of you wearing a studded leather jacket and holding a guitar, singing with a broken heart. Yet, years later, Meicai easily took away the best version of you—the future better version of you… Does love really have to be so unreasonable?”
At that moment, my heart was overwhelmed with mixed emotions. I recalled again those heartbreaking nights when a certain woman always stayed with me at the bar, chatting with me, drinking with me, and giving me some silly little trinkets. But I always threw them away the moment I walked out of the bar because I had no extra pockets to carry them, and I never thought those little things were important…
I dared not recall more of the past because, after the passage of time, those once trivial events now carried new meanings. I felt a sudden urge to run away with the woman tightly hugging me to the ends of the earth, as if she was the only one truly willing to stay with me, helping me escape reality’s constraints, passing through flowers and brambles together, eloping to the farthest town…
Perhaps, I really am a man who always fails to grasp the essence of love!
…
Finally, my phone rang in my pocket, feeling like a lifeline. I broke free from Leyao’s embrace, took out the phone, and my mood took another sharp turn. This call was from CC, the person I had been worried about for so long.
I eagerly answered the call, but due to my complex emotions, my mind suddenly went blank, and I didn’t know what to say.
CC said to me, “Zhaoyang, I’ve already arrived in Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal). When you called me the other day, we encountered a mountain flood. My teammates and I were trapped in the mountains. After my phone ran out of battery, I didn’t get a chance to charge it again!”
“As long as you’re safe, that’s fine, that’s fine!”
“I’m sorry for making you worry!”
Suddenly, I remembered Meicai and quickly said, “You should call Meicai later. She was extremely worried too!”
“Okay… By the way, I’ve seen the recent entertainment news. It’s really infuriating. This kind of baseless malicious hype will ruin Leyao!”
I fell silent again…
CC continued, “I’m about to board the plane now. I’ll first fly to Kunming, then transfer to Beijing. The total journey is about six hours.”
Once again, I marveled at fate’s unpredictability. If I had known CC was only six hours away, I wouldn’t have come to Beijing, thus avoiding being caught in this dilemma.
…
After ending the call with CC, I sat on Leyao’s bed, lit a cigarette for myself, and finally said to Leyao after calming my emotions a bit, “CC should arrive in Beijing this evening. I’ll help you tidy up the house first, and then I’ll return to Suzhou.”
Leyao quickly shifted her gaze without responding, retreating to where she had previously sat and picking up the game controller again. But I seemed to see that in her world at that moment, there was no continuation…
I left her room, cleaned it thoroughly, and then picked up my luggage. The ingredients I had prepared for cooking were already forgotten in a corner near the refrigerator.
When I left this time, I didn’t say goodbye to Leyao again. I made a solemn vow in my heart never to appear before her again with this wandering soul unless one day I really had the intention to elope with her to the farthest town… But would that day really come?
I didn’t believe it would, otherwise there would be no need for me to leave her at this moment.
…
In the evening, I returned to Suzhou but didn’t contact Meicai. Instead, I took my guitar and went to Aji’s music shop, bought another studded leather jacket, and finally headed to the riverside…
Even at night, the air was still filled with heat. I couldn’t even wear the thick leather jacket, which was quite ridiculous. At this moment, I was once again restricted by the hot weather…
I lit a cigarette, wanting to sing that song I had sung countless times—”Elope.” But just as I strummed the guitar string, my phone rang again. Once more, I was restricted, forced to suppress my desire to sing, and took out the phone from my pocket… It was a call from Meicai.
At the moment I answered the call, a sense of guilt suddenly arose in my heart. I thought about those impulses of “eloping” I had felt in Beijing, but I never considered Meicai as the woman who would run away with me. I was already dangerously close to emotional infidelity.
I looked down at the grass beneath me and pressed the answer key. Meicai’s voice came through the phone: “Zhaoyang, can you come back from Beijing tomorrow?”
“Why? What’s up?”
“Mi Lan said she wants to invite us for dinner tomorrow night… I hope you can come back. I think she’s trying to reconcile with you and resolve the past unpleasantness!”
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