Chapter 22

"Why are you still wearing a cold face if you don't like it?" Ke Chengyu raised his eyebrows.

Zhou Yinhe said irritably, "It's innate, is that not okay?"

"Sure, why not." Jiang Jibai went along with him: "Let's drink."

Wen Ling didn't know that Zhou Yinhe, after being mocked by his childhood friends, had returned to Sijiucheng and begun preparing to slightly scheme against Ruan MiaoMiao.

The audio she recorded when she jumped into the lake that day could now be used; as long as she bribed the banquet staff to plug the USB drive into the sound system and play it.

Wen Ling knew this was just petty squabbles, but Ruan MiaoMiao's pure, innocent image was deeply entrenched in everyone's eyes, and to eradicate it completely she could only take it step by step.

She was merely a vicious supporting character in someone else's novel world, and had deeply offended the author's favored heroine; she feared she couldn't change the plot and would again meet a tragic end.

In the evening, Wen Ling learned from the person she had reassigned to follow Zhou Yinhe that Zhou Yinhe was currently at Nys, and everyone at the gathering were the influential figures of Sijiucheng.

She curled her lips in a smile, changed into clothes suitable for a bar, and went out.

Knowing Zhou Yinhe was in a private room, and with so many people around, she didn't go over to him; upon seeing Manager Song, she smiled with her eyes, then turned and entered the dance floor.

Zhou Yinhe made an excuse to leave; as he passed through the transparent corridor on the second floor, he heard bursts of cheering from the first floor, frowned slightly, glanced over, and discovered Wen Ling dancing in the center of the dance floor, twisting her body.

Seeing her in a black tight miniskirt and diamond-studded stockings, the surrounding men cheered and were captivated by her; Zhou Yinhe's first reaction was not anger at being deceived by Wen Ling, but a sour ache in his chest upon seeing those men.

He gritted his teeth, went down the corridor to the first floor, strode straight into the dance floor, grabbed Wen Ling's hand and pulled her outward; Wen Ling was dazed at first, then, suppressing her excitement, she jogged to keep up with his steps.

Until they left Nys, standing at the entrance, the surroundings finally ceased to be chaotic; Zhou Yinhe stared gloomily at Wen Ling, the displeasure in his eyes deepening, flashing with a cold, furious light.

"Aren't you supposed to be back in M Country? What were you just doing in there?" His voice sounded like it contained ice chips, icy cold.

Wen Ling seemed afraid to meet his gaze, lowered her head to avoid his eyes, her nose tingled, and tears fell like a broken string of pearls.

"I can't bear to leave you." Wen Ling said softly: "I can't bear to leave you, that's why I didn't leave, but I was afraid that if you saw me angry you wouldn't come looking for me, but I really couldn't cheer up, so I came here to play a bit."

Zhou Yinhe stared, still angry just moments ago, now that he had calmed down he realized why he was so angry.

Zhou Yinhe took a step back, feeling as if he were losing his mind.

When he spoke again, his cold, hard tone still held a hint of concern: "Hurry back."

Wen Ling looked up at him in a daze, her eyes still moist, tears on her face not yet fallen, glistening in the light.

"Go back? Back where? Are you still going to send me back to M Country?" With each question she asked, a few tears fell; Zhou Yinhe felt his breath catch from her crying, and his chest began to feel stuffy and uncomfortable again.

"Go home! Your home in Sijiucheng!" Zhou Yinhe turned his head, giving up completely.

Wen Ling let out a dazed "ah," then realized, wiping the tears from her eyes with her fingers, she asked cautiously: "Are you concerned about me?"

"Don't you know how much trouble you caused Jiang Jibai last time in Nys when you almost got into trouble?" Zhou Yinhe didn't want to admit it, and instinctively snapped: "You can play however you want, just don't cause trouble for others."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhou Yinhe saw a flash of hurt in Wen Ling's eyes, and he immediately regretted it.

Wen Ling was angered by him; her initial tears and grievances had been an act to fool Zhou Yinhe, but now her anger and resentment were genuine. She struggled not to flare up, biting her lip as she said: "I'm leaving, I won't bother you anymore, goodbye."

Watching Wen Ling's forlorn retreating figure, Zhou Yinhe instinctively stepped forward a few paces to chase her, but seeing she didn't look back, he stopped in his tracks and cursed himself: "Why did I have to be so sharp-tongued?"

Ke Chengyu didn't know how long he had been watching the show from the sidelines; when Wen Ling left, he looked at Zhou Yinhe and couldn't help but chuckle.

"How's that? You can insult us without fear of our anger, but when you insult the woman you like you immediately know regret, right?"

Zhou Yinhe was now irritated, also upset because he had made Wen Ling unhappy, and he didn't want to deal with Ke Chengyu at all, about to leave without even glancing at him. Ke Chengyu stood where he was, watching him, his voice just loud enough for Zhou Yinhe to hear, teasing: "Are you going to fix your foul mouth or not?"

"No." Zhou Yinhe spat out the word coldly.

Ke Chengyu didn't mind, and continued: "Fine, you're used to insulting people; next time you unintentionally insult that girl again, see if she'll still bother with you."

"Unscrupulous." Ke Chengyu ignored Zhou Yinhe's darkening face as he turned to look at him, loving the drama and throwing four words at Zhou Yinhe before turning back to Nys.

Zhou Yinhe stared gloomily at Ke Chengyu's back, standing still for a long time before turning and striding away.

The driver waited for Wen Ling in the parking lot; she got into the car silently and didn't say a word all the way back to Lang Po Wan.

Aunt Zhou had already gone to sleep next door; opening the door, only Hehe was sitting in the entryway waiting for her, and when she came back he meowed at her repeatedly.

Wen Ling crouched down, petted Hehe's little head, and the grievance she had endured all the way finally burst forth.

Tears pattered onto the smooth, shiny floor, while Hehe anxiously circled the silently weeping, yet anguished Wen Ling.

Wen Ling squatted in the entryway for a long time; when she finally stood up her legs were numb and sore, she had no energy to play with Hehe anymore, and she shuffled step by step upstairs until she reached her room.

The next day, Aunt Zhou heard from the driver that Wen Ling had come home very late the previous night, so she didn't come to bother Wen Ling in the morning, only coming to knock on her room door near noon.

After knocking for a long time with no response, Aunt Zhou feared something had happened to Wen Ling, so she hurriedly found Wen Ling's bedroom key and opened the door.

As soon as she entered, the smell of wine flooded her nostrils; Aunt Zhou frowned at the chaotic room, litter everywhere, shards of crockery and liquor bottles scattered across the floor, and the paintings that had decorated the walls were torn into small pieces strewn everywhere.

On the bed lay a small lump; Aunt Zhou rushed forward and saw Wen Ling curled up, her hand pressed on her abdomen, eyelids swollen, face pale, lips tightly bitten, hair and pillow soaked with sweat, and she knew Wen Ling's stomach ailment had flared up again.

She quickly pulled out her phone to call Qiao Hongyun; after hanging up, she sighed heartbrokenly.

"Ah Ling..."