Chapter 13

Editor: mako

Proofreader:jlycen

When I was leaving the house, Lu QingFan quickly ran after me and placed a picture of him and me as teenagers in my hand. When I turned it over, I saw a line of illegible numbers on the back. It was a foreign phone number that I had never seen before, so it must be the number of his private residence.

He told me, “Pei JiYu, if you feel regretful, you can call me at this number.”

He seemed to have foreseen my ending.

What I hated the most was his all-knowing expression, so I persisted in my penniless state. Even when I was at the end of my rope, I was willing to humble myself and work as a waiter in a nightclub rather than go back home.

In this life, Pei JiYu can compromise with anyone, but he will never show regret in front of Lu QingFan.

I won’t give him a chance to face me with such a taunting and pitying expression ever again.

I’d rather sink in a lifetime of nightmares than to hear him say to me, “don’t dream again”.

So, I didn’t regret it.

This was Pei JiYu’s final bit of pathetic self-esteem.

When I opened my eyes, it was as if I had finished recalling the entirety of my past.

Luckily, it was short enough, I mocked.

I suddenly realized that in my entire time of living, I had only myself to blame. My heart was too weak, reluctant to part with warmth that did not belong to me, and blindly pursuing impossible relationships. Not learning from the moths attracted to the fire, I eventually ended up in ashes, becoming nothing. This was not something that I could really blame others for.

It was only at such times that I could see myself clearly.

How naive, how wilful. After 20 years of dreaming, it’s time for me to wake up.

Opening the bedroom door, I saw that Meng SiQi had already prepared breakfast and was sitting at the dining table waiting for me. The winter morning sun fell upon his shoulder through the glass windows. His whole body looked like the Virgin Mary, bathing in holy light, saving all living beings from suffering.

I sat opposite him.

“I shouldn’t have taken you to a place like that last night. It was my thoughtlessness that caused you to suffer such a fright,” he apologized to me first.

“No, I’m the one who should apologize for getting you into such a terrible situation.” It wasn’t his fault. “I didn’t tell you that I was with He Li before.”

“I was also not frank with my identity. I’m actually the eldest son of the Meng family.”

Ah, the Meng family.

No wonder this doctor could be invited to such a high-class dinner; it turned out that he was the son of the Meng family. TianBao hotel was a property under their jurisdiction, so how could they not invite the owner to attend.

In fact, after last night, I had my doubts, but I still felt surprised hearing it directly from him.

It was big news that the eldest son of the Meng family actually worked as an oncologist in a small hospital in this city, and I roughly had an idea of the reason. Long ago, my father once mentioned it by accident that Meng SiQi’s mother died early, leaving her son at odds with his stepmother and solely brought up by his grandmother.

For such a reason, my father had refused to take another wife, as he was unwilling to let Mother down. I, at that time, had also secretly pitied the eldest son of the Meng family. It was unexpected that it turned out to be Meng SiQi.

Speaking of which, when Mr. Meng remarried, I had been there but was only around seven years old. I ended up not remembering anything from that time, and what I knew was all told to me by others.

I said, “Since we had kept secrets from each other, we’re even now, and no one owes anyone anything.”

Both of us laughed.

I suddenly became worried. “Will He Li trouble you? His attitude was bad last night.”

“You have to have faith in me. He can’t do anything much to me.”

That’s right. Although he was a little doctor, he was still part of the Meng family, and He Li would not be silly enough to trouble him.

I couldn’t help thinking that if He Li had known that I was the young master of the Pei family, would he have treated me more sincerely?

With just that small amount of sincerity, it would have been enough for Pei JiYu to be happy.

What I wanted was so little, could it be considered as being greedy?

In the afternoon, I received a phone call from Chen ErXin.

When the connection was established, I got scolded. “Pei JiYu, are you deaf? Why did you take so long to answer my call!”

I moved the cell phone away from my ear and waited for him to calm down.

I asked, “Have you vented enough?”

“You still dare to anger me!” Chen ErXin’s anger has not disappeared, and it was obvious that it would take another three minutes for his breathing to smoothen out.

“Nevermind, there’s no use getting angry with people like you.” He sounded helpless. “Are you free this afternoon? I’ll treat you to a cup of afternoon tea.”

As I was currently feeling gloomy, I gladly agreed.

At 1:30 in the afternoon, I arrived at a cafe called “Borderless” in the business district right on time. As I felt the warmth of the cafe washing over me, I could see that Chen ErXin was already sitting there waiting for me.

I yawned and walked over. “It’s a good time for a nap. You’re clearly trying to torture me when you chose to meet at this time.”

“At this time, only pigs would be sleeping!”

Chen ErXin then flagged the waiter and ordered me a cup of Mandheling coffee.

I asked, “Why did you ask me out?”

“Can’t I reminisce about the past?”

“What could we reminisce about?”

I didn’t believe that he came back just to meet an old acquaintance. Why would he ask me out to recall our past from overseas?

Surprisingly, he didn’t scold me. He just looked at me, hesitating as if there were words that couldn’t be spoken, before spitting out after a long time, “Pei JiYu, how have you been these past few years?”

My eyes widened till they were as big as copper coins.

Was he concerned about me?

Ah, it’s like meeting a real ghost. Was it possible that he was possessed? After four years of heated verbal exchanges in college, I had only ever heard him curse at me, never asking if I was doing well.

Now, he’s actually asking me if I was doing fine!

Shivering suddenly, a sense of foreboding filled me.

I asked, “Why are we meeting here? Coffee is so bitter.”

“That’s because you didn’t add sugar!”

This was the normal Chen ErXin.

He sighed deeply before saying, “I have an appointment with my cousin’s husband’s brother here to discuss divorce matters. I’m not familiar with this place, so please help me out.”

Listening to him speak Chinese, I had a headache. “Foreigner, that means he’s your cousin’s brother-in-law.”

He shrugged.

“That man is determined to abandon my cousin, and today, I’m here to discuss the conditions.” He then said, “It’s a pity my cousin doesn’t want anything as long as the man changes his mind.”

I sighed. “The wife leads such a miserable life, while the husband is unfaithful.”

Chen ErXin frowned, “Don’t speak to me in Chinese prose. I can’t understand it.”

I sighed again. “Ah, foreigners, they don’t understand anything you say.”

In this world, there were a lot of sad Huo XiaoYu, but not one capricious yellow robed gentleman. Go and ask that unfaithful gentleman Li why he failed to live up to that person ¹ This is a reference to the Tang dynasty’s romance story “霍小玉传” ( The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu ) where it tells the story between poet Li Yi and courtesan Huo XiaoYu. However, looking at the original story, I feel that the author was probably referring more towards the adaptation by Tang YiReng, “The Story of the Purple Hairpin”. In this adaptation, Huo XiaoYu believed that Li Yi was being unfaithful to her as he did not return to find her. It was only with the help of a person in a yellow robe that the two lovers met, resolved their misunderstanding and got reunited. I guess the author wanted to say that there are many heartbroken women who may have possibly misunderstood their partners. In that case, they should approach them to ask and resolve any possible misunderstanding instead as there might not be any external help (aka yellow robed man) .

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This is a reference to the Tang dynasty’s romance story “霍小玉传” ( The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu ) where it tells the story between poet Li Yi and courtesan Huo XiaoYu. However, looking at the original story, I feel that the author was probably referring more towards the adaptation by Tang YiReng, “The Story of the Purple Hairpin”. In this adaptation, Huo XiaoYu believed that Li Yi was being unfaithful to her as he did not return to find her. It was only with the help of a person in a yellow robe that the two lovers met, resolved their misunderstanding and got reunited. I guess the author wanted to say that there are many heartbroken women who may have possibly misunderstood their partners. In that case, they should approach them to ask and resolve any possible misunderstanding instead as there might not be any external help (aka yellow robed man)