Chapter 170: Offering Myself in Marriage

I braced one hand on Leyao’s shoulder to keep her from getting closer, while I took out my phone with the other hand and opened WeChat.

“Have you been lonely these days?”

I thought to myself: I sent you messages before, but you ignored me, so I’ll ignore you for a while too. After all, Leyao is around, and it’s not good to neglect her, so I put the phone back into my pocket.

At this moment, Leyao no longer wanted to play around with me. She took out some wet wipes from her handbag and said to me, “Give me your hand.”

“I can wipe it myself.”

But Leyao ignored my refusal, pulled my hand over, and wiped off the oil with the wet wipe. Then she took another wipe and cleaned her own hand as well.

After throwing the used wipes into the trash bin, she affectionately linked her arm with mine.

This time I didn’t shake her off, and asked suspiciously, “I remember when you came back last time, you still kept your distance from me. Why are you suddenly so affectionate now?”

“There were Luoben and CC around that day.”

“So you were putting on an act?”

Leyao nodded and said, “Only when I’m alone with you will I take off my mask. Don’t you want to see the real me?”

“CC and Luoben aren’t outsiders. It’s unnecessary!”

“It is necessary.” Leyao frowned, speaking heavily.

I stared at her for a while, unwilling to argue, and changed the subject, asking, “Have you found a hotel yet?”

“Never mind the hotel. Stay with me a little longer.”

“Alright, but we can’t just wander around on the street like this!”

Leyao thought for a moment and said, “Let’s go watch the train…”

I looked up at the sky. Not a single sparkling star was visible. The air was damp and cold, and it might rain or even snow soon. I refused, saying, “No way, the weather is going to change.”

“I don’t care. I want to go.”

I frowned and said, “Give me a reason to convince me, otherwise, go find a hotel to rest.”

Leyao lowered her head and softly said after a long pause, “Do you know what kind of life I live in Beijing? Every day I float in the world of fame and fortune, every day I shuttle between various clubs and attend one dinner after another. Every day I feel the tightly stretched string in my heart is about to be torn apart. It’s too tiring… really too tiring… Only when I’m with you do I feel peaceful, and feel like I’m still myself! Zhaoyang, please understand me a little and don’t refuse such a simple request for you but an invaluable one for me, okay?”

Looking at her pleading eyes, I felt compassion and took a deep breath before grabbing her hand and shouting, “Alright, let’s go… Forget the damn fame and fortune, forget the rain that’s about to come… Let’s go watch the train.”

So I pulled Leyao against the cold wind and ran toward the car parked by the roadside…

It was the same spot where Leyao and I had sat on the railway tracks a long time ago, but now the wind was colder, and the passing trains were no longer light and nimble as the Spring Festival approached. We seemed to see the eagerness of returning home from the carriages.

Leyao lay on my lap. I couldn’t bear to push her away, so I covered her with my coat.

“Zhaoyang, listening to the sound of the railway tracks, I really want to take a nap here.”

“I also want to sleep, but it’s too windy. Let’s not sit here too long, okay?”

“I know. Beautiful moments are always short.”

I sighed softly, thinking about the helplessness of life. Even if the scenery by these railway tracks is beautiful, it can’t feed us. We still have to keep working hard for our living.

Accompanied by the sound of the train passing over the tracks, we fell into silence. I even thought Leyao had fallen asleep when she suddenly took a stack of documents from her handbag and handed them to me, saying, “This is the bar’s equity transfer contract. I want to transfer 50% of the shares to you.”

I was taken aback but didn’t take the contract from her hands. Finally, I shook my head and said, “Leyao, I don’t want your shares. My involvement in the bar was purely out of friendship between friends. Once the bar’s business improves, I might return to Xuzhou.”

Leyao moved away from me, sat up, and asked in confusion, “Why?”

“For another kind of life.”

“But I want to compensate you.”

“I don’t need compensation.”

Leyao lowered her head and, after a long silence, spoke in a low and dejected tone, “I know I can’t compensate you. You even gave up a woman who was willing to marry you and a stable life for me.”

“Don’t talk about this. It’s all in the past. We must look forward, right?… I believe you will go further and further in the entertainment industry, and I also believe you will wish me to get better and better.”

“Of course I will wish you well, even… even resent myself for not being able to give myself to you completely.”

I smiled and said, “Don’t give yourself to me. I’m used to being low-key. I dare not marry a future big star in a grand way. I’m afraid the camera flashes will daze me!”

Leyao just looked at me without responding. She raised her hand and threw the equity transfer contract into the wind, then lay back on my lap.

A moment later, the rain really started falling, but she never mentioned leaving.

…

My hair was already soaked by the rain, and Leyao’s pants had a wet spot. We really shouldn’t have stayed here any longer.

Finally, I nudged the curled-up Leyao on my lap and said, “Let’s go. If we get wet any longer, we’ll both catch a cold. I don’t want to spend New Year’s Eve sneezing.”

“I don’t want to stay at a hotel. I want to go to your place!”

“I told you, as friends, you shouldn’t come to my place!”

“I said I want to go to your place, not to sleep with you. I can sleep on the sofa!”

“No way. I’m afraid I can’t control myself!” I firmly refused because she was much prettier than the average woman, and I was a man with normal needs.

“Why can’t you control yourself? Didn’t you also live with Mi Cai?”

I was taken aback and realized that I indeed had never had such thoughts about Mi Cai, not because she lacked charm, but because she was too perfect, so perfect that I couldn’t bear to desecrate her. But Leyao was different. After all, we had been intimate before. If there was an opportunity for a man and a woman to be alone together, it would be hard to control myself.

At this moment, Leyao whispered in my ear, “I’m on my period. You definitely won’t be such a beast!”

“Liar, I don’t believe you!”

“If I can prove I’m on my period, will you let me stay at your place?”

I: “…”

“Zhaoyang, I’m not lying to you… I feel a bit crampy right now!” Leyao said, trembling.

“Such omnipresent acting skills!”

“Feel my forehead.”

I reached out and touched Leyao’s forehead. She really seemed to have cold sweat, but I still asked half-doubtfully, “Could it be from the rain?”

“Don’t you trust me so little? I’ve been wrapped in your coat all along. How could the rain get in?”

I felt extremely helpless but more worried about her condition. I thought to myself: since Mi Cai isn’t here anyway, I’ll let Leyao stay in her room, and I can make her a bowl of brown sugar water to avoid her being alone and helpless in a hotel.

…

Finally, I brought Leyao back to the community where I lived, carrying her up the stairs…

“Zhaoyang, so this is where you’ve been living all along!”

“Yeah, although it’s a bit rundown, it has its charm.”

“I’ve always wanted to come and visit before, but you never gave me the chance. I finally got my wish today!”

“Don’t talk like that, or I’ll think you’re deliberately pretending not to have a period and cramps at all!”

While talking, I had already carried Leyao to the fifth floor, then coughed to light up the hallway’s motion sensor lights.

Just as I was about to take out my keys from my pocket, the door suddenly opened, and I was so startled that my mouth fell open… Standing in front of me was Mi Cai, who had returned from America!!