Le Yao came to stand beside me, mirroring my posture as we both gazed down at the city below. After a brief silence, she asked, “Can you tell me why you ran off alone to this hill, which is out of the way of everything?”
“But you found me, didn’t you?”
“Could you please answer my question seriously first?”
“I just wanted some peace and quiet… Luckily you came looking for me, otherwise I wouldn’t have known how to get back down. I reckon this path down the mountain must be several kilometers long.”
Le Yao ignored my sense of relief and glanced at several cigarette butts crushed on the ground, asking, “After smoking so many cigarettes, do you even care about your lungs anymore?”
“Just a few cigarettes—half a lung would be enough for me… Haha!”
Sighing, she said, “I don’t even know how to persuade you anymore. You mope around in Suzhou, and fall apart emotionally—that I could accept, since you were hurt there. But in Beijing, the heart of the imperial city, where the emperor’s grace lingers everywhere, instead of showing reverence, you stand on top of this mountain, broadcasting your gloomy mood as if you wanted the entire city to know. That’s practically treasonous… Zhaoyang, wouldn’t it be better to live more brightly?”
I replied concisely, “As if nobody in Beijing ever got depression!”
Le Yao pursed her lips slightly, momentarily at a loss for words. She too gazed at the blurry lights below for a while, lost in thought. After a long pause, she said, “After living in Beijing for so long, I never realized there was such a great spot to view the night scenery.”
“For you, any place without fans bothering you is a good place…” I paused briefly before asking more seriously, “Can you tell me why you came to Beijing this time?”
“You first.”
“I came here just to talk with Yang Congrong about some company matters.”
“Hmm? And how did that go?”
I tore open another can of beer, took a sip, and then replied, “I feel really confused… Actually, the establishment and subsequent operation of this company have little to do with me.”
Le Yao wore an expression of expected confirmation as she replied, “Of course! Everyone knows it’s Jian Wei who’s been supporting your company behind the scenes. I was actually quite puzzled—how could you, Zhaoyang, silently accept help from your ex-girlfriend? So you were actually feeling secretly troubled about this all along!”
I didn’t respond, only gripping my beer can tighter before taking another large swig.
Le Yao continued pressing me, “Then what are you thinking now… Why don’t you just quit the company? Why endure others’ gossip for such a trivial matter?”
I looked at her and asked, “Do you really think I should do that?”
“I do. Leaving that company, which never belonged to you in the first place, would make you more relaxed and free. Just like me now—doing nothing every day, sleeping until I wake naturally, it’s truly priceless!”
“But have you ever considered, without a stable income, how would I survive?”
“Aren’t you still the biggest shareholder of the company? Once the company’s value is assessed, you could cash out your shares, which should be enough to support you for the rest of your life. Besides, you don’t have high living standards, and you don’t spend much anyway.”
“Thank you so much for thinking so far ahead for me!”
Haha… When you become rich overnight, don’t forget the woman who gave you all these suggestions. You’d better give me some dividends, so I can live without worries for the rest of my life too!
Le Yao had completely derailed the conversation. She either had gone too far or was just bored out of her mind. I no longer wanted to continue this conversation and planned to finish my beer before leaving.
Unexpectedly, Le Yao suddenly turned very serious and asked me, “Zhaoyang, can you tell me why, after so many years have passed, you still can’t forget about Jian Wei?”
“Nonsense!”
“You know in your heart whether I’m talking nonsense or not… Don’t think that just because you now have Mi Cai as your girlfriend, you can hide your nostalgia for the past!”
I remained silent, desperately trying to deny what Le Yao had said. I had long since moved on from my past with Jian Wei.
Le Yao didn’t seem ready to let me off the hook. She asked again, “You don’t have to answer that question if you don’t want to, but can you tell me what exactly it was about Jian Wei that you fell in love with in the first place?… At least in my eyes, she’s so self-righteous that she’s really annoying!”
Instantly, I was drawn into memories. After a long silence, I replied, “You misunderstood her. Actually, she’s a great woman… Perhaps I’ll never forget the hardest year we spent together in Suzhou… Actually, it wasn’t that hard. Just living together and dreaming about the future was already a kind of happiness.”
“So you always feel guilty toward her, right? After all, she was a rich young lady, yet she stayed with you through a very difficult time, even depending on your bar singing to survive.”
“Maybe…”
Le Yao tucked a strand of hair blown loose by the wind behind her ear, and smiled bitterly, “Perhaps what she did for you, others have also done for you before—you just never noticed… Haha, in this world, she’s not the only rich young lady.”
“Are you talking about Mi Cai?”
Le Yao’s expression suddenly turned sour, and she stared at me silently.
Her gaze made me uneasy, so I quickly changed the subject, asking, “Let’s stop talking about me. Haven’t you told me yet why you came to Beijing this time?”
Le Yao clearly replied in a dismissive tone, “I came to Beijing to visit some old friends, okay?”
Her dismissiveness annoyed me a little, so I said impatiently, “Fine by me… But I must warn you in advance, maybe after some time, I might even struggle to support myself, so I won’t be able to help you anymore!”
“Really?… If your livelihood really becomes a problem, even if you bring me several buckets of instant noodles every day, I can accept that too!”
“In any case, you just don’t want to work seriously, right?”
“You said it. Suddenly I want to ask, did Jian Wei work at all during that year she was with you?”
“Do those two things even relate to each other? Are they even the same?”
“I didn’t say they were related. I just wanted to ask whether she worked back then!”
“No, she just did some part-time work at CC’s restaurant.”
“Oh! So the current CEO Jian, who now seems so successful, was once such a lazy woman! Never thought that would be possible…”
Her sarcastic tone made me very uncomfortable. Just as I was about to say something, my phone rang again. I temporarily pushed aside my irritation, took the phone from my pocket, and my heart instinctively quickened when I saw the caller ID—it was Jian Wei calling. She must be concerned about my trip to Beijing. Perhaps after I left in the afternoon, Yang Congrong had already spoken with her. If that were true, I should think carefully about whether to confront her during this call!
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