Chapter 16 : The Playbook

This was the sixth day since Jiang Yanlin had met Péi Wanyi.

The late-night message seemed to have pressed pause on their invisible progress bar. She hadn’t replied, and Jiang Yanlin hadn’t initiated contact either.

Her busy day stretched into the evening. Li Yuncheng stayed on a voice call with her, and they chatted idly now and then, neither disturbing the other.

Until Li Yuncheng, bored and scrolling through Instagram, saw a photo posted by a mutual friend and suddenly let out a surprised “Huh?”
– “Jiang Yanlin, is this you?”

Jiang Yanlin clicked on the chat window and looked at the screenshot of the photo she had sent.

The background was the second floor of El’s restaurant. A group of people were drinking. The photo was focused on the table, with parts of some people in the frame. In the far-right corner was Jiang Yanlin, watching the movie.

Although it was only a partial side view, Li Yuncheng recognized her at a glance.

Jiang Yanlin glanced at the account owner’s name and immediately knew who it was.

“It’s a pianist from the party that day, named Lu Sien.”

Li Yuncheng’s voice immediately rose in an exaggerated tone.
– “He’s my friend! What a small world!”

If she had heard this a week ago, Jiang Yanlin might have had some reaction.

Now, her heart was as still as water, completely unfazed.

Li Yuncheng’s mind worked quickly, and she immediately made the connection.
– “Wait a minute, isn’t this the party where you met that young miss?”

Jiang Yanlin didn’t deny it.
“They’re friends.”

Li Yuncheng’s desire for gossip was now completely uncontrollable.
– “My friend’s friend is practically my friend too. I have to find a chance to get you all together next time.”

At times like these, Li Yuncheng’s Chinese would suddenly improve by a level.

Jiang Yanlin said nothing. Every friend had their own personality, and what they liked or didn’t like to do was their own freedom. As long as no one was hurt, being happy was all that mattered.
—Even if someone was hurt, it was their own business.

But Jiang Yanlin was indeed surprised that Li Yuncheng and Lu Sien also knew each other. The two seemed to have nothing in common.

– “We met in Fukuoka before. We were eating at the same ramen shop. He started chatting with two uncles next to him, and when they heard he was a pianist, they just kept talking to him. Before they left, they even gave him their business cards and invited him to be a music teacher at their school in the future.”

Li Yuncheng couldn’t stop laughing.
– “I knew he was Asian from the moment I saw him, so I went up to say hi, and sure enough, he could speak Chinese. We added each other as friends and followed each other on Instagram, and then we found out we had several mutual friends. What’s that called, Murphy’s Law?”

Li Yuncheng chattered on, but Jiang Yanlin didn’t find her noisy. She liked hearing these kinds of stories; they made her feel the wonderful connections between people.

Jiang Yanlin had added Lu Sien as a friend that day but hadn’t spoken to him. She had heard that he was on tour with an orchestra, staying in each city for only a short time, and was no longer in the country.

But Li Yuncheng thought it was simple. “Just call him over for a drink online.”

Their group of friends was always scattered around the globe, their time zones never aligning, but they would chat in their group chat and occasionally have online drinking parties on weekends, maintaining their relationships quite well.

Li Yuncheng was a woman of action. She sent a message to Lu Sien to ask for his permission and then pulled him into the small group chat for drinking that Jiang Yanlin was in.

The two of them greeted each other, and thanks to Li Yuncheng’s lively personality, the sense of distance quickly diminished.

There were two other people in the group, but it was their bedtime in their time zone, so the three of them didn’t chat for long before returning to their own busy lives, only agreeing to have a drink online together next time they were free.

After hanging up, Jiang Yanlin had a simple healthy meal, rested for a while, and then did a twenty-minute anaerobic workout.

Only after finishing these daily routines did she have time to think about other things.

Regarding the conversation in the early morning, although Jiang Yanlin’s reply was a skillful deflection, she also knew that there was a problem hanging there that she would have to face sooner or later.

That was El, who still had a very good impression of her.

When it comes to feelings, if one party is interested and the other is not, the most humane thing to do is to make a clean break.

Jiang Yanlin had already tried to do so a few times, but it seemed it wasn’t enough for El.

Even though she had used Péi Wanyi as a shield, El couldn’t see Péi Wanyi’s attitude at all.

Perhaps in his simple mind, he hadn’t thought about the real reason why Péi Wanyi had been coming to the gatherings so frequently lately.

Jiang Yanlin knew that, in the end, this problem was inseparable from her.

So the most suitable person to be the bad guy was still herself.

She didn’t know what Péi Wanyi would do in her place, but that didn’t matter.

Jiang Yanlin didn’t like to sit back and reap the benefits—sometimes also known as “waiting for death.”

She had always been the one to control the situation.

After weighing the timing and method, Jiang Yanlin made her decision and sent a message to El, asking to talk to him alone after closing time.

The new staff El had hired had taken over most of the work, so he finally had time to man the bar. He replied to her message quite quickly.

After setting a time, Jiang Yanlin washed up, changed, put on makeup, and left the house at the appointed time.

El had recently adjusted his business hours, closing two hours earlier at ten-thirty at night.

This was because business had been slow before, and he wasn’t tired even if he stayed open until midnight. Now, the situation was completely different. He couldn’t stay up that late, and his body couldn’t take it.

“I plan to hire more people at the end of the month. Then I can rest more often.”

The two of them sat at the bar chatting. He excitedly told her how he had done two more promotions through the marketing bloggers she had recommended. The traffic had temporarily saturated, and the estimated revenue could support another expansion.

Seeing that he was proceeding steadily and not aggressively buying promotions, Jiang Yanlin knew that his business wouldn’t have any fatal flaws in the short term.

After the small talk ended, El asked her curiously,
– “By the way, Jiang, what did you want to talk to me about?”

The staff cleaning up in the kitchen had already left. At this moment, only the two of them were in the restaurant.

Jiang Yanlin didn’t answer, silently pursing her lips, which made El ask with some concern, “What’s wrong?”

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and said softly,
“Actually, I wanted to thank you. Since I met you at the party, my life has been a lot more fun, and I’ve made many new friends, especially you.”

Opening move—you are a great friend.

El immediately relaxed and said with a smile,
– “Don’t say thank you. I’m the lucky one to have met you.”

Jiang Yanlin paused, sighed inwardly, but continued,
“No, I have to thank you, because it’s been a long time since I’ve met someone I have feelings for.”

Second move—I truly have feelings for someone else.

El’s smile faded a little, but he still managed to force a smile.
– “I see. Mavis is indeed a very cool person. Many people like her.”

Jiang Yanlin raised an eyebrow, surprised that this simple-minded guy could say something with such a hidden meaning.

But everyone has their own thoughts; this is also part of human complexity.

She looked at El, smiled faintly, and said with some embarrassment,
“Although I’m not sure what this feeling is yet, I want to get to know her better, and she feels the same way.”

Third move—rebut the opponent’s argument.

El let out a surprised “ah” at her words.

Jiang Yanlin didn’t give him more time to digest it, saying directly,
“But she sent me this message yesterday.”

She took out her phone, opened a pre-prepared photo album, and showed him a screenshot of a chat record.

It was the sentence Péi Wanyi had said last night.

Fourth move—press the advantage, present evidence.

El’s face immediately turned red.
—His feelings had been made public in this way before he had even had a chance to express them.

Jiang Yanlin apologized to him in her heart and finally said,
“I know you have good intentions towards me, and I also know that Mavis is your good friend, so the whole problem is my fault. I feel very sorry about this because I don’t want to hurt either of you. You are my friend, and I care about your feelings too.”
Jiang Yanlin said seriously, looking at him.

El processed the information, and in just a few seconds, he made his choice.

“No, Jiang, you can’t say that.”

He turned around, his tone very gentle.
– “I do have a good impression of you, because you’re special and cool, but I know you don’t like me.”

El said, scratching his head. “I’ve been too busy lately, I didn’t notice Mavis’s feelings.”

Jiang Yanlin said softly, “She hasn’t contacted me since. She probably needs some time to think things through.”

Having achieved her goal for the trip, she was ready to wrap things up.

But El retorted,
– “No, you don’t know her. I have to make things clear with her right now, otherwise she’ll overthink it and make a choice she’ll regret.”

He was a bit anxious, even letting some English slip out. He got up to get his car keys.

– “I know where she is today. Let’s go right now.”

Jiang Yanlin hadn’t expected him to react so quickly. His way of doing things was also impetuous. He quickly locked up the restaurant and took her to his car.

It wasn’t until they were in the car that Jiang Yanlin asked, “Where are we going?”

What she really wanted to ask was, did she really need to go with him?

Jiang Yanlin had only planned to have a talk with El today, a preemptive strike, but everything else was completely unplanned.

El answered as he drove,
– “A Qiu and Xiao Nuo invited them to sing karaoke today. It’s at Chun K, not far, about ten minutes away.”

Jiang Yanlin couldn’t help but fall silent.
—She hadn’t even thought of an excuse to slip away yet, and ten minutes was hardly enough.

Jiang Yanlin really didn’t want to join in the fun, but she also didn’t want to dampen his enthusiasm, since this was what he wanted to do.

And it was indeed what she wanted to achieve.

So after thinking about it all the way, Jiang Yanlin gave up the idea of finding an excuse to leave.

Although El’s decision to go was impromptu, he had already asked for their room number on the way and headed straight upstairs after parking.

– “I told them you just got off work and that I invited you to sing with us.”

He was always quick-witted at critical moments, even coming up with an excuse for her.

Jiang Yanlin had a new understanding of him. She nodded, not forgetting to say,
“Thank you. I’ve caused you trouble, and yet you’re still helping me like this.”

After saying it, she cringed at her own feigned innocence for a second.

But El comforted her sincerely,
– “No, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Chun K was on the sixth floor of the mall, taking up the entire floor. El found the room number and led Jiang Yanlin in.

Everyone from the party that day seemed to be there, except for Lu Sien.

Jiang Yanlin had met them once before, so they exchanged greetings.

Péi Wanyi was sitting on a single sofa in the corner, playing on her phone with a bored expression.

Hearing the commotion, she looked up, her gaze lingering on Jiang Yanlin for a moment before shifting to El, who was standing very close to her.

The next second, she indifferently looked away.