This afternoon, after returning to the company, I was still faced with endless trivial matters. Just before work ended, Luo Ben sent me a message telling me that he had already received the one million transfer from Mi Cao, but he didn’t ask whether I had contacted Wei Manwen in the message. Perhaps he also didn’t believe that Wei Manwen would really refuse to meet him for the last time. But the truth was, she really declined.
The next day, when night fell over the city, Leyao and I stood in front of a restaurant called “Desert of Darkness,” waiting for Luo Ben. This dinner, held to bid him farewell, had only invited me and Leyao. I understood that he didn’t want the departure to be overly sentimental, because apart from Leyao and me, he had many other friends, and nobody wanted him to leave in such a desolate manner. It would be better for him to leave quietly, without saying goodbye to a third person.
While we were waiting, I said to Leyao, “Luo Ben asked me to tell Wei Manwen that he hoped she could come to see him off, but she refused… I don’t know how to tell him about this later, so…”
Leyao sighed, feeling sad about the news, and then glared at me, saying, “Do you think I’m just a silly girl who can say hurtful things without thinking?”
“I didn’t mean that. After all, you’re a woman, so it’s different coming from you…”
Leyao interrupted, “So you mean, it’s a tragedy if it comes from your mouth, but a comedy if it comes from mine?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
Before I could explain, my words were interrupted again by Leyao, “Zhaoyang, you’re such a jerk, you know that? You’re holding the weapon that could kill Luo Ben, yet you want to pin the blame on me, making me take the fall for you!”
“Saying that you’re taking the fall might be an exaggeration. At most, it’s hiring someone to commit the crime…” I paused, then spoke in a low voice, “Actually, both of us are quite innocent. The real executioner is Wei Manwen.”
“So, don’t you think love is the most evil kind of emotion in the world? It makes us recklessly cause pain, and in the end, it hurts the innocent friends around us.”
I nodded thoughtfully and said, “Now that you mention it, love really is evil because it’s better at creating pain than family or friendship!”
While we were talking, a taxi stopped in front of Leyao and me. I saw Luo Ben sitting inside. In an emergency, I quickly grabbed the hem of Leyao’s clothes and whispered urgently and threateningly, “You tell him about that matter later, okay?”
Leyao slapped my hand away angrily and said, “Get lost… You tell him yourself!”
…
Luo Ben walked ahead, while Leyao and I followed behind him. I nudged her and asked, “Are you going to tell him or not? Just do me a favor, okay? It’s really hard for me, a guy, to bring up these heartbreaking things!”
“Do you think I’m made of stone and iron?… Get lost, you!” Leyao said, pushing me away like she was annoyed by a fly. I continued to persist like a fly, trying to persuade her with both emotion and reason, but she remained unmoved, cursing more and more harshly and pushing me harder and harder. So, we seemed to have a little fight behind Luo Ben’s back, but he remained completely unaware. Perhaps at that moment, he was still immersed in the image of meeting Wei Manwen the next day.
After we sat down in the restaurant, Luo Ben took out his notebook that he always carried with him and started writing something with a pen. Leyao asked him, “What are you writing?”
Without looking up, Luo Ben replied, “I want to write a song.”
“I suggest you don’t be sentimental. It’s really pointless now.”
Luo Ben still didn’t look up or respond, continuing to write in the notebook… Until we had placed our orders and the dishes were gradually brought to us by the waiters, he finally put the notebook back into his bag and finally asked me, “Zhaoyang, have you contacted Manwen?”
I really didn’t want to face this question. After hesitating for a while, I finally replied, “I contacted her.”
“What did she say?”
I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Luo Ben’s expression changed, and he turned to look at Leyao… Of course, Leyao couldn’t bring herself to say it either. She picked up her cup and, as if it had nothing to do with her, looked up at the ceiling light hanging in the private room.
I knew there was no escape, so I steeled myself and finally told Luo Ben, “…She… she probably won’t come. She said, wish you all the best!”
Luo Ben’s face suddenly became calm. He lit a cigarette, remained silent for a long time, shook his head, and said, “She will come… She will definitely come then!”
When Luo Ben said this, I kept watching him. There was no despair on his face at all. He truly believed that what I had told him was just a lie after some hesitation. In his heart, Wei Manwen would definitely come to the airport to see him off. This was his confidence, based on his belief in Wei Manwen!
At this moment, Leyao, who had remained aloof all along, finally advised, “Luo Ben, stop fantasizing! As another woman, I can tell you, if she said she won’t come, she really won’t come… but that’s not necessarily heartlessness, it’s just that she doesn’t want to make each other too sad. After all, even if they meet, they still have to face a long separation!”
I nodded, “Right, I think the same! Whether to say goodbye or not isn’t really a big deal, and it’s not that meaningful!”
After Luo Ben stubbornly replied, “She will come,” he ignored the food that the waiters had brought, took out the notebook from his bag again, as if he wouldn’t give up until he wrote this song and let Wei Manwen hear it… His appearance made both Leyao and me lose our appetite. We just watched him, immersed in his unrealistic fantasy, pouring all these fantasies into the lines and spaces of the notebook.
So, even Leyao and I gradually began to believe that maybe Wei Manwen really would come, in some corner we couldn’t see, silently bidding him farewell!
Leyao and I stayed with Luo Ben in this restaurant until late at night, but he left before us. When he left, he asked me again to play the guitar for him tomorrow. He wanted to dedicate this impromptu song to Wei Manwen. Then he looked disappointedly at his injured left arm, as if feeling that not being able to perform it himself was a great, great pity.
But his disappointment seemed more like a very absurd idea born under the name of love!
…
After Luo Ben left, Leyao and I stood at the entrance of this restaurant called “Desert of Darkness,” and we were also preparing to part ways. Before saying goodbye, I asked her, “Do you think Wei Manwen will show up at the airport tomorrow?”
Luo Ben’s firm belief seemed to have shaken Leyao a bit. After a moment of thought, she said, “Maybe she will come… but in a corner where Luo Ben can’t see!”
I nodded, “That’s possible… after all, there’s been so much emotional entanglement over the years!”
Leyao looked at me expressionlessly, put on her mask, pulled her knitted hat down a bit more, then raised her hand to hail a taxi. After opening the car door, she said to me again, “Pick me up at my hotel tomorrow at noon. We’ll see Luo Ben off together.”
I gave her an OK sign, and she got into the car. In no time, she disappeared from my sight, leaving me alone with the emptiness of this huge city. I was really feeling empty too, because all my close friends were leaving one by one.
Lighting a cigarette, I took out my phone from my pocket, hoping to log in to my email, expecting to see a reply from CC to the email I had sent her.
After all, what could be more perfect than her coming back after learning the news, and staying to keep Luo Ben here?
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