Ch59 - I’ll think about it

When I asked the question, my mouth was pressed up against Sheng Min Ou’s ear, and I had asked in such a soft tone that no one could hear it. Therefore, when Sheng Min Ou answered with a monosyllabic “yes”, everyone lunged for the phone and took turns looking at the question.

“Do you wash your hands after using the bathroom?” Shen Xiao Shi’s mouth twitched, “What kind of boring question is this!” 

Liu Yue disagreed and offered her own critique, “Not necessarily, I think this question is pretty good. At least now we know Lawyer Sheng is an upstanding young man who cares about hygiene.”

The young lawyers in the law firm were usually afraid of Sheng Min Ou, and would never make fun of him. However today they might have been affected by the atmosphere of the whole place as they took turns roasting him.

“Who out of us could be more hygienic than our boss. Isn’t this clear from the sight of his office? It’s so clean that I could roll on it naked.”

“I’m seriously suspecting that you’re implying our boss has mysophobia right now.” 

“Your baseless suspicion has been rejected.”

“I’m also seriously suspecting that…you’re into our boss! You’re really out here thinking of stripping completely naked in his office hahahaha.”

“Fuck, do you want to die!”

No matter how the subordinates bantered and laughed, Sheng Min Ou bore the same expression, as if these things had nothing to do with him. After removing the electrode pads, he stood up, vacated the seat and walked out to the balcony to have a smoke after excusing himself.

I glanced at his retreating shadow and didn’t chase after him as I stayed back and hung out with everyone for a while longer. Turns out I lost the very first game and was excitedly pushed towards the ‘penalty chair’ by everyone to take a seat.

I picked a number at random and Liu Yue waited for a moment before reading out the corresponding question that popped up on her phone, “What’s the most cheesy nickname you have for your lover?”

“And I thought the question would be spicier but if it’s just this…” I was completely unafraid of the ten-second time limit, as I easily gave my answer in the last three seconds, “My little darling.”

Shen Xiao Shi couldn’t deal with my response as he rubbed his arms and exclaimed, “That is cheesy.” 

“If I knew it was going to turn out this way, as if it were all a dream, then why do I withhold my tears like so…”

Wu Yi somehow picked up the microphone again and began giving it his all as he sang emotionally into the mic. His singing caught everyone’s attention and Liu Yue paused the game after seeing that everyone’s attention was drawn towards the karaoke session.

“Feng Ge, is your little darling the beauty who came to pick you up in that luxury car the other day?”

I turned towards her and looked at Liu Yue who was questioning me. She was gossip personified, her eyes full of a burning curiosity. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“No it isn’t, and don’t randomly guess like that.” I took off the lie detector data cable and put it away before I got up and walked to the balcony.

Yearlvf atf yjimbcs atf wbbc kjr j ibcf, ygluta rlitbefaaf, klat rajgr rmjgmfis jqqfjglcu lc atf cluta rxs. Gfrqlaf atlr, atfgf kfgf j ofk mibevr vgloalcu jybnf, jcv lar qgfrfcmf wjvf la tjgv ab uefrr ktja atf kfjatfg kbeiv yf ilxf atf cfza vjs.

Vtfcu Zlc Ye ifjcfv jujlcra atf uejgvgjli, tbivlcu j mlujgfaaf lc tlr tjcv jr tf rqbaafv ws qgfrfcmf. Llr fzqgfrrlbcr gfwjlcfv cfeagji, jr tf vgbqqfv tlr ujhf rtbgais joafg.

Outside, I could still hear Wu Yi’s faint singing in the background. I moved towards Sheng Min Ou, leaning next to him against the railing without looking at him, and started talking as if it was to myself. 

“A while ago, Qi Yang’s sister seeked me out.”

From the corner of my eye I could see Sheng Min Ou suddenly stiffen, as if someone had pressed the pause button on him. A long while had passed, and still the silence stretched as I didn’t continue with the next line.

“Why did she look for you?” Sheng Min Ou asked.

I took a deep breath of air as I decided to beat around the bush, “Well actually, it’s nothing…” 

In my peripheral vision, I caught sight of the iridescent lighter flame flickering downwards, following the motion of his pointed fingertips. In the next instant, my wrist was pulled vigorously by the man beside me.

“Why was she looking for you?” Sheng Min Ou asked, his voice harbouring a threatening tone as he grabbed my wrist.

I honestly quite enjoyed him being like this, but at the same time I was also afraid of playing around too much and getting burnt as it would then be a rather difficult situation to fix. After considering things for a while longer, I decided to not continue taunting him as I answered his question.

“She showed me Qi Yang’s diary. Qi Yang wanted to die back then and deliberately provoked me into killing him.” 

Sheng Min Ou stared at me for a moment, stunned, then released my hand as he leaned back against the railing again. He then took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket again, as if he was about to light a second cigarette.

I rubbed my wrist, now sore from the strength he exerted when grabbing me as I leaned against the guardrail too. My eyesight was fixed to the sight in front of me as I continued, “Do you know what Qi Yang said to provoke me back then?”

The lighter lit up a flicker of a flame, and after a short while, the suffocating smell of smoke carried across the air towards me like a thick fog.

Sheng Min Ou never said a word. Ever since I had told him that I read Qi Yang’s diary, he seemed to have fallen into his own thoughts and forgotten my existence. 

But I knew it wasn’t like he really couldn’t hear anything I said, so I didn’t wait for him to answer, and continued to throw truth bombs at him.

“He said he was going to pull you down into the abyss.”

Sheng Min Ou froze again, and this time, he stayed motionless even longer.

I turned around, placing both my hands on the railing and circled him in front of me as I continued, “Do you know why I am telling you all of this?” 

Sheng Min Ou was holding a cigarette in his hand, and his eyes flashed with uncertainty. This time, I had really stumped him with my question.

I leaned my body closer to his until I was pressing against him, not at all afraid of being caught by anyone in this compromising position. After all, they would just turn out to be a few more Wu Yi’s. If they witnessed this moment then so be it, I actually wished that the whole world would find out about how crazy in love I was with him, so why would I care about these small details?

“I said I would protect you, so I will spend the rest of my life protecting you. In the same vein, if I said I liked you, then I will spend this whole lifetime liking you. Whether you hit me or scold me, I will never give up.” Due to the height difference, I couldn’t help but look up at him slightly, “Even if I get close to you, I won’t fall into the abyss, and I won’t be in harm’s way. However, if you remain as you are then you leave me no other choice, and who knows what I might do then. If in the future I end up jumping off a building or lying on a train track because of love, then that would be a losing trade for you.”

I couldn’t believe that such a day had come when I could play this game with Sheng Min Ou. No wonder they say that those that are loved are emboldened, I had only received slight confidence in the matter and I’m already coming up with nonsensical acts. When Sheng Min Ou does end up getting into a relationship with me, then wouldn’t I be so daring I’d soar up into the skies? 

“Are you threatening me?” Sheng Min Ou could also spot the signs of me heading up into the skies, as his eyes narrowed dangerously into slits.

To be frank, I was actually panicking slightly at this point, however since I had already gone this far I could not allow any traces of timidness to peek through, so I forced myself to remain calm.

“Yes.” I further narrowed the distance between us two as I slowly inched closer to him, “I’ll give you a few days to think about it, don’t let me down.”

When the word ‘it’ left my mouth, I was still more than an inch away from his lips. However, after that, each of the words came out even more slurred than the other, until the last two words had completely dissolved and melted in his lips. 

The bitter taste of tobacco was carried by saliva as it was received by my taste buds. However, my brain was overwhelmed instead by a surge of little dopamine figures flooding my brain.

They held hands as they rejoiced, exclaiming the antithesis of what was happening, “So sweet, so sweet, so goddamn sweet!”

This kiss was different from previous ones, as Sheng Min Ou offered no resistance. Instead, he allowed me free rein in tangling my tongue with his. I was intoxicated in the kiss, continuing with it until I felt like I couldn’t breathe anymore, until my legs went soft below me. It was only then that I reluctantly parted away from him.

I leaned against him, slowly recovering my breath. Suddenly, my waist was pressed down upon by a large hand as my whole body shivered in response, an intermittent ‘ah’ escaping me. 

That hand didn’t linger there, as it traced all the way up and hooked onto my back collar before tugging me away.

“I’ll think about it.” Sheng Min Ou pressed his cigarette butt against the guardrail and cast a sweeping glance at me before departing indoors, taking big strides as he did so.

I was still transfixed in my original spot wondering what ‘thinking about it’ was alluding to when my muddled brain finally came to and realised he was referring to our earlier conversation. At that moment, I could almost strip down naked and ride the railing out of pure excitement.

There seemed to be a surge of pent up energy in my body with nowhere to go to, so I could only wear a dumb grin on my face as I waved my arms, trying to express my unspeakable joy through physical movements. 

When people said “they’ll think about it”, it was likely a sign that things were going to go south. However, Sheng Min Ou was different; the fact that he would even “consider” this matter itself was an incredible feat for me to witness.

I stayed outside on the balcony for a long time standing in the breeze before I calmed down and walked back in again.

At 9:50pm, the restaurant politely hinted that they were going to close at 10pm because everyone would still have to return to work the next day. Given this, we decided to call it a night and to no longer continue the event.

Sheng Min Ou hadn’t drunk any alcohol so he was able to drive, and a few others who lived on the way went with him. 

Shen Xiao Shi ended up getting quite carried away afterwards as he drank quite a bit, so his walk was all crooked. I couldn’t allow him to return home by himself in that state, so I helped him to the side of the road, intending to stop a cab to get him home.

The street where we were at was famous for being ‘the street that never sleeps’ in Qingwan, and in terms of its bustling and lively atmosphere it ranked at the top of the list. However, given the high density of clubs and bars on the street, it also led to many youths getting inebriated and thus, the street had a reputation for having many incidents occur in the area as well. Then again because of said high proportion of youths in the area, the clubs on offer were a dazzling lineup, the assortment ranging from ambient bars to gay bars, to clubs ideal for finding one night stands; it had everything you wanted.

“Feng Ge, today really is one of the happiest days I’ve had in the past few months…” Shen Xiao Shi’s face was flushed in a drunken red, as his face showed a dumb grin, “I’m really very happy.”

“I’m also happy. These past few months I’m really feeling happier and happier with each passing day.” We were both talking about different things, the beginning of my sentence not matching with the end of his, but rather impressively we were able to continue the conversation. 

I saw the oncoming taxi arrive when Shen Xiao Shi suddenly hurried to turn in one direction. I thought he was going to throw up so I followed him. However, when he reached a flowerbed he suddenly came to a stop, his gaze looking straight ahead.

I followed his line of sight doubtfully and found Wei Shi’s figure not too far away.

A layer of shrubbery was planted in between where we stood and Wei Shi. In addition, the dark surroundings had also helped for our presence to go unnoticed by Wei Shi.

“You let me go!” Wei Shi waved an arm, also appearing like he had too much to drink, “I already have nothing to do with you. Stop pestering me, or have you not been beaten up enough yet?” 

The man holding onto him was quite handsome, his eyes deep and beautiful. At a glance, he seemed way too good looking, completely different from Wei Shi who had thick eyebrows, big eyes and had a rough appearance.

The man shrank when he heard the words, but he still didn’t let go, “Don’t be like this. Back then, it really wasn’t me who called the police, you must believe me…”

“I know, it’s not you, it was that little mistress you had on the side.” Wei Shi brushed off his hand rather forcefully and pointed at him as he swore, “What a duo, fucking scumbag and his bitch, the biggest mistake I made in this lifetime was to meet you. I beg you to stop bringing disaster to me and to get out of my sight. Don’t drag me into acting out a Qiong Yao drama with you as you pretend that you still can’t get over our past. I don’t want to fucking see you!”

Shit, was this the lover that Wei Shi said was the reason for his jail sentence? 

“I’m not going to, I’m intent on clinging onto you and bringing misfortune your way, I know you haven’t forgotten me.” The man instantly moved to close the distance with Wei Shi, as he placed both hands on his shoulders, as if he was going to force a kiss.

I was still sighing at the other party’s shamelessness, when suddenly I felt a lightness on my shoulders as Shen Xiao Shi raced out from beside me, his body nimble like a rabbit. He leapt over the metre tall shrubs and raced to the other side, delivering a flying kick as he sent Wei Shi’s ex-lover lurching through the air and landing two metres away.