Chapter 27 : Sobering Up

In the sleepless city of midsummer, many people stay up all night.

Jiang Yanlin wrote for several hours before feeling tired.

By the time she pulled away from her work, it was long past dinnertime. She often forgot to eat dinner when she was busy, but two meals a day were enough to sustain her, so she didn’t mind.

She routinely did her twenty-minute HIIT workout, tidied up her room, and washed up. In the blink of an eye, an hour or two had passed.

She enjoyed this rare leisure, which made her feel like she had regained control of her life.

So when Lin Ke’s call came, Jiang Yanlin didn’t really want to answer it at first.

She felt that the matter was already over and there was no need for any follow-up, but the other party probably didn’t think so.

So Jiang Yanlin still answered the call, planning to keep it short and get it over with.

– “Hey, good evening.”

Lin Ke was a bit reserved. He had indeed changed a lot in the past two years and was no longer the obnoxious, rich second-generation brat he used to be.

But Jiang Yanlin believed that a leopard can’t change its spots.

“Hello.”

Her attitude was still lukewarm.

Lin Ke cleared his throat on the other end of the line and said,
– “Sorry, I know that because of what happened before, you and Saike don’t want to have anything to do with me anymore. But I still want to thank you in person, at least for helping me this time.”

Jiang Yanlin raised an eyebrow, regretting not having recorded this.

Lin Xiaoqi and Saike would have loved to hear it.

Jiang Yanlin actually wanted to say directly that she hadn’t done it to help him.

But Lin Ke probably knew that in his heart. He was just still reeling from the shock of misjudging someone, especially after finding out about Han Xu’s dark side that had been hidden for so long.

Sometimes, Jiang Yanlin felt that fate was perhaps fair after all.

Lin Ke was born with a wealth that most people could hardly imagine. He could race cars, party, skip class, get into fights, and abuse drugs in the United States since he was a child. All of these were just the norm in his life.

Han Xu, on the other hand, came from a scholarly family. His ancestors had once been glorious, but unfortunately, the family had declined. By his generation, there was no longer any of that splendor.

All the power and wealth he craved had to be fought for with all his might, and it was likely that he would never reach the starting point of Lin Ke’s birth.

Yet, these two very different people met at a university in a foreign country and became the best of friends.

In their seven or eight years of friendship, Lin Ke had trusted Han Xu completely.

Rich second-generation brats all had this in common: they were reckless, arrogant, and acted impulsively without considering the consequences. No matter how big a mess they made, their parents would always clean it up for them, so they were reckless and condescending.

But at the same time, it was difficult for them to make true friends.

The people around them were either bad company who raced cars and partied with them, or they were deliberately flattering them with ulterior motives.

And Han Xu stood out among this group.

His background was not bad, he had strong social skills but was not high-profile, he was commendable in his academic achievements, and he was very hardworking. He would work as a part-time teaching assistant while studying, no matter how tired he was, to accumulate experience in advance.

In addition to his self-sacrificing personality, he would often help his friends clean up their messes and deal with trivial matters, so it was natural that he gained Lin Ke’s trust.

Even Saike, who usually had “men, get lost” written on her face, was initially fooled by Han Xu’s deep disguise.

“Do you know how my first dog in Minecraft died that time we came to his server to play? It fell to its death following me!”

Once, when the friends were drinking together online, Saike was still very sad when she talked about this.

She had very low feelings for humans, but her love for cats and dogs was abundant.

Later, to commemorate this dog that had accidentally fallen to its death in the game, Saike drew it and had a tattoo artist tattoo it completely on her left arm.

Han Xu, as the owner of that server, had heard about this that day and had immediately built a small grave where the dog had died, carving an epitaph with the most gentle poems.

Saike had cried in front of that tombstone for a long time, and it was from that moment that she truly felt that Han Xu was a pretty good person.

This was one of the reasons why Han Xu had been able to continuously build connections with people from all walks of life around the world over the years, and always managed to get true friendship.
—He was no longer a pretender, but a complex polyhedron.

In that entire year, Jiang Yanlin had actually learned a lot of practical skills from him.

Precisely screening targets, analyzing targets, and implementing customized strategies based on their weaknesses.

Although she might not use them, she was a good learner.

The only pity was that Han Xu had met Jiang Yanlin before he had fully matured.

Perhaps if he had practiced for another four or five years, he would have been flawless and would not have suffered such a tragic downfall.

But there was no such “if.”

Saike was the first to realize that Han Xu’s true intention might be the “green card.”

At that time, she and Jiang Yanlin were not close. They both thought the other was an old friend of Han Xu’s and had only had a drink together during an online gathering.

The only few conversations they had were when they were neighbors building houses in Minecraft, and she had taken the initiative to ask for Jiang Yanlin’s permission.

Jiang Yanlin had always been a person who was not keen on socializing. She was willing to do it for him too many times, which made her feel very annoyed. So she was hanging out in the game, and she didn’t care who else was playing on the server.

So for a long time, Saike had been fussing around Jiang Yanlin’s house, building one big house after another. By the time Jiang Yanlin finished her work and looked up, the wilderness on the screen had already become a large village.

Later, Lin Xiaoqi also came, and other people she had never seen before also joined one after another, surrounding the originally secluded place.

Jiang Yanlin was a bit annoyed at first.

There were so many empty spaces on this server, so why?

But she didn’t say anything.

Later, I don’t know who started it, but this group of people would deliberately come in to see what her character was doing when they passed by her house.

And then they found that Jiang Yanlin was always fishing by the lake.

Her house was a huge lakeside villa, with beautiful scenery, very leisurely.

Jiang Yanlin liked to fish while working. It was not a complicated operation, and it was a good way to combine work and leisure.

Saike was actually a person who was not very good at taking the initiative to socialize. She had wandered around Jiang Yanlin several times but had never dared to talk to her. She would only put some props in the mailbox at her door as gifts.

Jiang Yanlin returned the favor and gave them dozens of groups of fish she had caught.

Every day, they hardly communicated in the game, only stuffing things into each other’s mailboxes.

At first, they were very polite and would say thank you.

Later, someone started to be dishonest and secretly picked the sugar cane that Jiang Yanlin had planted by the lake, not leaving a single one.

She slowly typed in the channel: “Who did it?”

Lin Xiaoqi was quickly sold out and then chased by Jiang Yanlin around the entire village three times.

Later, this group of people all became Jiang Yanlin’s friends.

They lived all over the world, in different time zones. They would squeeze out a little bit of time from their busy and boring real lives to take a breather in the virtual world, so that they would have the energy to continue living.

Jiang Yanlin had rarely interacted with them, but it didn’t take long for her to be willing to team up with them to do dungeons, mine, and fight monsters, and then join their small group chat and talk on the microphone.

And they also had a strange liking for her, saying that although she didn’t talk much, she gave them fish to eat every day, and they were never hungry again.

In front of people she was gradually getting to know, Jiang Yanlin would only become more and more sarcastic:
“Who told you to surround me? I can only throw the trash at your doors.”

She said this, but her actions still accepted this group of people.

The village built by a group of people gradually took shape. Saike built the streets and planted cherry blossom trees that she had dug up from far away. Lin Xiaoqi also continued to fill in the functional buildings, making the entire village self-sufficient.

Jiang Yanlin finally participated, building a large sign at the entrance of the village with a few village rules, signed as “Village Chief.”

When Han Xu, the owner of the server, took a break from his busy work, he was surprised to find that the usually solitary Jiang Yanlin had already completely integrated into this group of people, and there was no place for him here anymore.

After that, Jiang Yanlin clearly felt that Han Xu was not happy.

He seemed to only want Jiang Yanlin to stay in this small game world, not go anywhere, and certainly not play with other people.

For this reason, he even moved his home in the game over, forcibly joining this village that had nothing to do with him.

And Jiang Yanlin’s growing friendship with Lin Xiaoqi and Saike also made Han Xu not very happy.

He had even tested Jiang Yanlin’s attitude, wanting to know what she thought of Saike and the others.

Later, Jiang Yanlin found out that all the isolation was because he had a guilty conscience.

Among this group of people, North American international students accounted for 60%, and Saike was the only one who had already obtained a green card.

Han Xu’s anxiety became more and more frequent as his work time increased.

When no one knew his actual relationship with Jiang Yanlin, he had already launched an offensive against Saike. That set of “precisely screening targets, analyzing targets, and implementing customized strategies based on their weaknesses” had long been used on the unsuspecting Saike.
—Starting with building a grave for her dog.

Later, when the matter came to light, Saike called Jiang Yanlin for three consecutive days to review these things. The more she talked, the more agitated she became, and the more her vision went dark.

“I’m really impressed. I can’t believe I was targeted by such a person one day, and I didn’t even realize it myself!”

Saike had seen many people with clear goals around her and was usually very vigilant.

But she really didn’t expect that there was always someone better, and there was Han Xu, this ruthless character who could pretend so naturally.

Jiang Yanlin also really didn’t expect it to turn out like this.

The Han Xu she knew was a very proud person. The image of a good person was just a way for him to obtain resources. From the bottom of his heart, he actually looked down on even Lin Ke.

What can a person do for profit?

Jiang Yanlin saw a living example in Han Xu.

In just a few short days of unraveling the threads, Jiang Yanlin, with a dozen-hour time difference, gathered information from friends in Boston, Paris, London, and Ottawa at the same time, gradually piecing together a rough timeline and process.

Han Xu was not only targeting Saike. While he was doing these things, he was also making rapid progress with two female students in Boston.

And both of these female students had green cards.

So, including Saike, the number of confirmed victims of his offensive had reached three.

The rest, those studying in Europe, were just a few girls he had flirted with, which was already considered lucky—not in the United States, not real targets.

Faced with this complete collection of evidence, Jiang Yanlin only did one thing, which was to send it to all the victims she could contact.

She didn’t show anything on the surface and didn’t let Han Xu notice any signs of the matter being exposed.

But he also had his very meticulous side. The two victims in Boston, Saike and Jiang Yanlin didn’t know them, and even after digging through all his relationships on Instagram and Facebook, they couldn’t find them.

Although it was a pity, Jiang Yanlin did not tend to do things to the extreme.

Han Xu had her address and phone number. If it came to a life-and-death struggle, she couldn’t afford that price either.

What’s more, she could save one, but she couldn’t save every one in the future.

She didn’t have that much time to pay attention to these things, and he was a living person who could walk around freely. Unless he was locked up, who could stop him from continuing to harm people?

Saike was also very scared. She had been looking for a job for nearly a year. After Han Xu heard about this, he took the initiative to offer to help her find an internal referral opportunity, so the two of them followed each other on LinkedIn.

This meant that Han Xu also had some of her private information, and she was not willing to take too many risks.

So the two of them were almost swift and silent in completing these reviews and follow-ups, without letting Han Xu notice.

Even on the surface, they would still reply to his messages, just at a lower frequency, slowly distancing themselves.

When discussing how much Han Xu would retaliate, Jiang Yanlin only said lightly,

“During his most depressed period, he once said that if one day he really didn’t want to live anymore, he would go on a shooting spree on the street and take a dozen people with him.”

After hearing this, Saike was silent for a long time before saying,
“He does have a gun.”

Jiang Yanlin comforted her, “Guns are banned in Boston. He has it stored in another state.”

And for him to be able to do this for his future and interests, it meant that he was not the type to risk his life.

Saike was barely relieved and stopped thinking about these unanswered questions.

After this, the two of them had planned to wait for the storm to pass and slowly give him the cold shoulder, but they didn’t expect to be unwittingly involved in the whole incident by Lin Ke.

Saike had always hated Lin Ke because he was rude and arrogant, with no respect for women.

Jiang Yanlin had almost never spoken to Lin Ke, also because she didn’t want to be tainted by that stench.

But Lin Ke’s background gave him a strong sense of confidence. He always felt good about himself and looked down on others.

He had heard some rumors from somewhere, about Han Xu and Saike’s scandal. In addition, he had added a bunch of false information, and the rumor that spread was that “Saike and Han Xu were having an affair.”

Lin Ke would never have dreamed that what he said would be screenshotted and sent to Saike a few minutes later.

At that time, Saike was on the phone with Jiang Yanlin. The moment she saw the chat history, she was so angry that she screamed in her bedroom.

Jiang Yanlin could very well understand her feelings.

Saike was a great beauty that was very rare in real life. She had a good background and talent. What was even rarer was that she was very hard on herself. She knew very well that in this world, she could only rely on herself, so she would work hard to get what she wanted. Whether it was her studies or her work, she was ten times more competitive than people from ordinary families.

For her resume, she could constantly participate in competitions. If her major had no job prospects, she would decisively give up looking for a job and switch to preparing for a new major, starting from scratch in a new field, studying for more than ten hours a day.

In front of her future, everything else had to be set aside.

Such an ambitious and capable person who was climbing up, was actually being slandered by this rich second-generation brat. It would be strange if she wasn’t furious.

For a full hour, Saike walked back and forth in her room, cursing these two brain-dead men.

Jiang Yanlin was also really angry. She didn’t have much of a reaction to the previous series of dramas, but this matter had crossed her bottom line.

Because Jiang Yanlin had a gut feeling that this matter was not unrelated to Han Xu.

Although Lin Ke was a disgusting idiot, he was also a real idiot, and the most suitable person to be used as a pawn.

So Jiang Yanlin patiently waited for a few days, sorted out all the evidence, backed it up, and then went to catch Han Xu off guard.

She didn’t mention a word about Han Xu’s own uncleanliness, only took the chat record of Lin Ke’s slander, threw it in his face, and asked a series of questions.

One, what was his intention in saying such things?

Two, where did he hear these rumors?

Three, did he know that he was spreading rumors about you and your friend?

Finally, she didn’t even give Han Xu a chance to argue and demanded that he and Lin Ke immediately apologize to Saike in person, otherwise this matter would not be over.

Faced with Jiang Yanlin’s sudden attack, Han Xu was indeed not very prepared.

He probably saw Jiang Yanlin’s aggressive side for the first time. Under the high-pressure attack, he also had a bit of a “I don’t care” attitude and would only repeatedly repeat that sentence: “What does it have to do with me if he’s a brain-dead and talks nonsense?”

But faced with Jiang Yanlin’s persistent “what did you say to Lin Ke that made him have such an association,” Han Xu also always beat around the bush and could not give a direct answer.

Jiang Yanlin was extremely disappointed in him.

It was one thing to be stupid, and it was his specialty to be despicable. But he was so cowardly that he didn’t even dare to give a direct reply.

Such a person would be like this for the rest of his life.

“Han Xu, the most successful thing you’ve done in your life is to be someone’s dog.”

Cleaning up Lin Ke’s messes time and time again, serving as logistics for those reckless rich second-generation brats time and time again, holding up the banner of a good person, all he did was for profit.

How is that not being born a s*ave, loving to be a dog?

After saying all this, Jiang Yanlin, regardless of how furious or panicked he was, directly deleted all his contact information, out of sight, out of mind.

The incident ended with Han Xu taking the initiative to apologize to Saike.

He still spoke in that fake and pretentious way. The meaning behind his words was nothing more than that Lin Ke was a fool and that he was completely unaware and deeply sorry.

Saike sneered, gave him a reply on the surface, but also didn’t delete him as a friend, not taking things to the extreme.

And Lin Ke never had the face to apologize. He just stopped contacting Saike’s circle.

Saike didn’t care whether he apologized or not. Anyway, he was a disgusting person to see.

But Jiang Yanlin knew very well that Lin Ke was also being used as a pawn in this whole incident. These two brothers were really two peas in a pod. It was best if they were locked together for the rest of their lives.

In the next six months, Saike became increasingly busy, studying for exams every day. Jiang Yanlin was also busy with the end of her project and had long forgotten these rotten people and things.

The group of people who used to play together had all returned to their own lives and rarely contacted each other.

But Lin Xiaoqi would still occasionally watch movies with them, have a drink, and chat.

Once, when she mentioned these two people, it was also as a joke. After chatting, they would forget about it.

Until mid-July, when Han Xu suddenly returned to the country, and Jiang Yanlin ran into him at a party, did she know that there was an exciting part of the original incident that she had never thought of.

It was already late. Jiang Yanlin got up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking into the distance to relax her eyes.

On the other end of the line, Lin Ke was still sincerely apologizing to her:
“I know that saying anything now is useless, and Saike won’t want to see me again. But I really want to apologize to you. At least I have to make this call.”

Jiang Yanlin thought it was all bullshit. He was just scared out of his wits by Han Xu and realized all the times he had been used as a pawn, so he felt that it wasn’t his responsibility that he had lost so many friends.

But she was too lazy to lecture an irrelevant person and just dealt with him perfunctorily, waiting for him to finish so she could hang up.

Lin Ke’s ability to see Han Xu for who he was this time was also the result of a series of coincidences.

At the party in July, when Jiang Yanlin saw the female companion by Han Xu’s side, she felt that she looked familiar at first glance.

Later, when they met in the restroom, she took the initiative to greet Jiang Yanlin.

Jiang Yanlin nonchalantly got a few words out of her and immediately confirmed that she was Lin Ke’s ex-girlfriend.

What was even more surprising was that, judging from the timeline, this girl was one of the two victims in Boston.

She didn’t like Han Xu that much either, but she needed Han Xu as a contact for her business. In addition, Han Xu was very good at pleasing people, so they had had a few dates and interactions.

When she mentioned Lin Ke, she was also full of sarcasm, her words full of contempt.

But she didn’t expect that half an hour later, she would see Lin Ke appear at the scene, furious.

Lin Ke was stuck in traffic on the way and was half an hour late. But he had received a message on the way, a photo of his ex-girlfriend holding Han Xu’s arm at the party.

He and his ex-girlfriend’s breakup was not complicated. He wouldn’t care whether the other party had a new partner or not.

But who was Han Xu? He was Lin Ke’s best friend from university until now.

At that moment, Lin Ke only felt a rush of blood to his head, making him unable to think about anything. He just wanted to rush to the scene and confront him in person.

Of course, that photo was not sent by Jiang Yanlin.

She had just casually said to someone she knew,
“Is that Lin Ke’s ex-girlfriend?”

Some people who hadn’t recognized her at first, now recognized her.

There would always be some busybody who would tell Lin Ke. She didn’t need to do anything else.

It’s just that Jiang Yanlin also didn’t expect that Lin Ke would actually be on his way to the party.

Han Xu probably never expected that Lin Ke would be on vacation in the country at this time and would happen to come to this party.

He even less expected that someone in the domestic circle would be able to recognize the person by his side.

And Jiang Yanlin, from beginning to end, had never met him at the party.

So that he couldn’t figure out, no matter how hard he thought, what that variable he had miscalculated was.

Later, Jiang Yanlin heard the follow-up from the onlookers.

Lin Ke’s ex-girlfriend was a very face-conscious person. After being messed with like this, she bought a plane ticket back to the United States on the spot.

She had also seen some clues from Lin Ke’s attitude. She probably wouldn’t see Han Xu as a good person anymore.

After all, a person who could do such a big business was definitely not a fool, just waiting to be deceived.

And after this battle, Lin Ke’s head was finally a little clearer.

He remembered the cause and effect of the Saike incident, and through various friends, he contacted Jiang Yanlin, repeatedly asking her to reveal a little bit of the truth to him, because he was getting more and more uneasy and scared the more he thought about it.

At first, Jiang Yanlin didn’t say anything. It wasn’t until he took the initiative to review the situation, confessing one by one how Han Xu had talked to him about those things and how he had misled him, that Jiang Yanlin, looking at the recording, reluctantly gave him some face.

Lin Ke, who got the last piece of the puzzle, was very devastated.

Jiang Yanlin didn’t care about his mood. After saying what she had to say, she hung up the phone.

Lin Ke was depressed for a long time after that. He still had one or two normal friends around him, who all advised him not to have any more dealings with Han Xu, but also not to make it too ugly.

The two of them had been brothers for seven years and had once lived together. They knew too much about each other. It was already ugly that they had fallen out. If they became enemies, it would not be good for anyone.

Lin Ke was also very afraid of a person like Han Xu, who didn’t show his emotions, going crazy. So he bought a plane ticket back to the West Coast overnight, avoiding Han Xu.

His call today was also to put an end to this matter, to do what he felt he should do.

Although Jiang Yanlin didn’t care at all, she still patiently waited for him to finish everything he had to say.

As soon as the call was hung up, she sent the matter to the group chat with Saike and Lin Xiaoqi for them to laugh at.

Saike immediately made a video call, laughing so hard that she slapped her thigh.

“Serves them right! These two brain-dead people also have their day.”

Lin Xiaoqi, after reading the record, also commented with a smile,
“Dog bites dog. Love to see it.”

The wonderful entertainment added a bit of fun to the boring life.

Saike didn’t chat for too long. It was already late at night on her side. She had to study for two more sets of questions before going to bed.

Lin Xiaoqi was speechless at her diligence and could only advise,
“You should still take care of your health. I’m afraid that if you hang there, even the Indian guy next door won’t be able to smell it. Who would find out?”

Saike sneered, “You’re so sweet. Thank you.”

All the pressure she faced came from her parents’ expectations and the excellence of her peers.

Under this stimulation, no one could stop her from climbing up.

After Saike hung up, Jiang Yanlin and Lin Xiaoqi chatted for another twenty minutes, caring about each other’s recent situation.

Lin Xiaoqi had recently switched to the modeling industry and had just received interviews from several major game companies. She was concentrating on preparing at home.

This short phone call was her only relaxation recently.

“Honestly, I sometimes can’t believe that Han Xu is such a person. He was too good to us at the beginning. It feels very contradictory.”

Lin Xiaoqi sighed. She was still young and couldn’t quite accept that a person she had given her true friendship to would end up like this.

Jiang Yanlin couldn’t comfort her, because everyone needs a long time to understand the true face of this world.

What Han Xu did was indeed despicable, and also very despicable and malicious.

But compared to the results of these things, Jiang Yanlin was more concerned about the source.

What drives human nature? After unraveling the threads, you can often find some logic.

It was in such observations and analyses that Jiang Yanlin gradually mastered the deep laws of dealing with people.
—You can’t just look at what a person says, you also have to look at what they do.
—But you also can’t just look at what they do, you also have to look at why they do it.

Finding the final answer may not change anything.

But at least after understanding it, a person can reconcile with many past events.

“Empathy” is by no means a get-out-of-jail-free card to whitewash the other party.

Instead, through this method, you can understand that there are such people in this world, so different from yourself, yet living a real life.

This is the most clumsy way to get to know the true face of this world.

After the rare chat ended, it was already past ten at night.

Jiang Yanlin remembered that the delivery box and the trash at the entrance had not been thrown away. She threw on a cardigan, picked up the trash, and went downstairs to throw it away.

The apartment’s trash disposal area was just downstairs. Jiang Yanlin looked at her phone messages as she walked to the corner on the right, threw the things away, and turned to go back.

It wasn’t until she was back at the entrance that she belatedly realized something and looked up.

Under the dim streetlight, a figure was standing under a tree, one hand in his suit pants pocket, looking at her without a word.

So scary.

“What are you doing standing there?”

Jiang Yanlin stopped and asked her.

Péi Wanyi’s long hair was loose, and her black shirt was open at the collar. Her whole person was as dark as ink, hidden in the darkness. Only her face was excessively white.

She looked at Jiang Yanlin and said nothing.

Only then did Jiang Yanlin realize something and slowly walked up to her, unsurprisingly smelling the strong smell of alcohol.

“Are you still sober?”

Jiang Yanlin waved her hand in front of her, and she was caught by her wrist.

“I’m not drunk.”

Péi Wanyi finally replied, her tone indifferent.

Jiang Yanlin pursed her lips, suddenly not wanting to continue this conversation.

“Then don’t stand here.”

She said and wanted to break free, but she was held by that force and couldn’t pull her hand back.

The emotions that Jiang Yanlin had spent a whole night calming down were easily provoked again.

So she also stopped talking and just fought against the force on her wrist, as if she would not give up until she broke free.

Two stubborn tempers were at a stalemate for a while, and neither of them gave in.

Jiang Yanlin felt that Péi Wanyi was really sick.

She didn’t speak properly and always launched some surprise attacks. Her skin was so thick, she would enter without invitation, take her phone number without asking, and buy slippers without permission.

One moment she would be staying in her house and not leaving, and the next she would disappear without a trace.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yanlin suppressed those emotions and looked at her coldly.

“Péi Wanyi, let go.”

This sentence seemed to have touched a tense nerve. Péi Wanyi suddenly pulled her in front of her and asked in a low voice,
“Jiang Yanlin, do you really see me as a dog?”

This was really rude, so Jiang Yanlin also laughed in anger.

She put away those smiles and replied without any emotion, “Miss Péi is not suitable to be a dog.”

She would bite people if you took her out, and she would tear up the house if you locked her in. Whoever raised her would be unlucky.

Péi Wanyi understood. This was saying that she didn’t even have the qualification to be a dog.

So after eating, she was too lazy to be perfunctory. Whether she was there or not, whether she left or not, she would not ask.

Péi Wanyi had really never seen such a woman.

Even more blatant than a man in her “ruthlessness after getting off.”

It was as if only in bed would she show those expressions, let those sounds leak out from the cracks, and let her hands be filled with softness and sweetness.
—Does that mean that it doesn’t matter who is in bed?

As Péi Wanyi thought, the force she couldn’t control finally hurt her.

The sound of Jiang Yanlin’s pain brought her back to her senses.

Péi Wanyi subconsciously let go of her hand. Her fingers in mid-air trembled and then were put away without a trace.

Jiang Yanlin looked at the red mark on her wrist and felt a long-lost throbbing in her temples.

She was so used to dissolving her emotions that she had almost forgotten what it felt like to be angry.

“Sorry.”

Finally, it was Péi Wanyi who broke the silence.

Before she could finish, Jiang Yanlin turned and walked away.

Péi Wanyi clenched her fingers tiredly. The alcohol had brewed in her blood for just the right amount of time and had not yet been metabolized, but it was already bewitching her nerves.

Originally, she didn’t want to come here.

When she left in the morning, she had told herself not to come here.

Perhaps the sleepless nights and the bitter wine were just some kind of desire at work. With a little cooling down, she could regain control.

At most, it would just be another withdrawal reaction.

No matter how tempting, it was just a more addictive dangerous substance.

Just like before.

It had just rained in the afternoon, and it hadn’t cleared up all night.

The evening wind was a bit chilly. It wasn’t until the first drop of rain hit Péi Wanyi’s face that she was slightly pulled out of her alcohol-numbed consciousness.

Péi Wanyi took out her phone. Her retina was a bit dizzy, so she squinted, opened the ride-hailing app, and prepared to call a car.

It was too late to take shelter from the rain. She would just go home and take a shower. After a night’s sleep, she would wake up early for work the next day. Fortunately, her body metabolized quickly and it wouldn’t affect her work.

Just as she was thinking, the rain came down in torrents, hitting Péi Wanyi’s body.

The driver who had accepted the order was on his way. Péi Wanyi turned and walked towards the apartment’s main entrance, estimating the time the driver would arrive at the entrance, and prepared to make a call.

The next second, a call came in. The number was not saved, but Péi Wanyi was not unfamiliar with it.

Her footsteps paused. Before the rain could completely drench the screen, she swiped to answer the call.

As soon as the phone was against her ear, Péi Wanyi heard her short and undeniable two words:
“Come up.”

As soon as the apartment door opened, Jiang Yanlin was not surprised to see a drowned rat.

She threw the clean bath towel in her hand onto Péi Wanyi’s head and said,
“Dry yourself before coming in.”

And then turned to go into the kitchen.

She took a pot, filled it with water, turned on the stove, boiled the water, and then took out a ready-made ginger tea bag from the fridge, opened it, and threw it in.

When she turned around, she saw that the person at the door was still dawdling, and Jiang Yanlin was furious.

“Come in, close the door.”

Péi Wanyi dried her hair, took off her shoes, and stepped onto the wooden floor.

She was still a bit dizzy, especially the light in the living room, a cool white light that made her see double.

That glass of brandy was still a bit too strong.

Péi Wanyi identified the direction, found the bathroom, and went in with ease, took off her clothes, ran the hot water, and started to shower.

It wasn’t until the hot water enveloped her body that she found the feeling of breathing and let out a long breath.
—f*ck, the self-pity trick is really not for humans.

After Jiang Yanlin finished making the ginger tea, she turned off the fire and went to mop the entrance clean.

The August rain was fierce, bringing a damp chill into the room, so there was no need to turn on the air conditioner.

After cleaning up the mess, Jiang Yanlin placed the ginger tea on the table and went into the bedroom to find some clothes.

The clothes Péi Wanyi had lent her had just dried. She took them out of the bag and went to knock on the bathroom door.

The next second, the door was pulled open, and a hand reached out.

Jiang Yanlin handed her the clothes. In the moment of exchange, she caught a glimpse of the bite marks on her wrist.

The memory of last night suddenly popped up. Jiang Yanlin pursed her lips and was about to turn and leave.

But the person in the bathroom held her back and easily pulled her into the misty world behind the door.

“Péi Wanyi, I’m really not in the mood.”

Jiang Yanlin was held in an arm. The force was no longer worth fighting against. The result would be the same, so she simply gave up struggling.

The person behind her just held her, leaned on her for a long time, and then said,
“Jiang Yanlin, I’m dizzy.”

Jiang Yanlin paused and finally couldn’t help but ask,
“How much did you drink?”

Péi Wanyi leaned on her shoulder and nuzzled her.
“I don’t remember. It was a friend’s birthday. I left first.”

The jumbled word order and key points made Jiang Yanlin really feel the power of a drunk person.

So troublesome.

Her clothes were already soaked. So she didn’t care much anymore and turned to pull her under the shower, letting the hot water wash over them.

“Just stand here, don’t move.”

Jiang Yanlin was really afraid that she would throw up later, which would be a disaster.

Péi Wanyi seemed to have telepathy and slowly said,
“When I’m drunk, I don’t throw up.”

Is that so?

Then I can’t even talk when I’m drunk.

Jiang Yanlin patiently held her until she had washed her hair and body, then turned off the shower and covered her with a dry bath towel.

Péi Wanyi was very well-behaved throughout the process. She let her fuss around, didn’t move randomly, and didn’t throw up.

Jiang Yanlin couldn’t stand the smell of alcohol on her. She took the new toothbrush she had used from the sink, squeezed some toothpaste on it, and handed it to her.

Péi Wanyi still knew how to brush her own teeth. She took it, put it in her mouth, and slowly brushed.

After brushing clean, she spit out the toothpaste foam, rinsed her mouth with water, and even washed the toothbrush clean and put it back in the cup.

Jiang Yanlin thought she should be sober by now and wanted to push her out.

Her clothes were soaked. Jiang Yanlin just wanted to take them off and take a quick shower.

But the person who had just brushed her teeth was staring at her without blinking, not speaking for a long time.

“Is there anything else?”

Jiang Yanlin asked with the last of her patience.

Péi Wanyi’s black hair was wet and hung on her shoulders. The bath towel was wrapped around her shoulders, revealing her clean and flawless face.

She lifted her finger and pointed at the corner of her own lips.

“I’ve brushed my teeth.”

Jiang Yanlin looked at her. “So?”

Péi Wanyi smiled at her.

“We can kiss now.”