CH 17

Chapter 17: Kiss God

Ruan Zhizhi accompanied Gu Nian to try on wedding dresses, then the two returned to the car. Gu Nian started the engine, grasped the steering wheel in her hand, and turned a corner. After thinking about it, she asked, “Zhizhi, if you have free time now, can you accompany me to the bar on 1943 Street for a while? I’ll be getting married soon, but I don’t know why—for some reason, my heart always feels empty, like something is missing. Keep me company and talk with me.” After saying so, she turned her head and looked at Ruan Zhizhi miserably. “Good Zhizhi, besides you, I don’t know who to tell these feelings to. Just stay with me.”

Gu Nian looked at her with watery eyes. With her pampered expression, not only would a man be helpless in the face of this crisis, even Ruan Zhizhi who was as calm as water could only raise her hands in surrender.

1943 was the most famous bar street in City A. Whether it was a quiet bar or a gay bar, everything one could need was available. It was a good place for men and women to seek thrills and get intoxicated.

Among these, the bar Kiss God was Ruan Zhizhi and Gu Nian’s former base of operations.

Ruan Zhizhi walked through the door of Kiss God. Raising her head, she glanced at the blurry, multicoloured lights twinkling on the signboard at the front door. She narrowed her eyes and thought about it. The last time she was here, she’d gotten dead drunk. That seemed to be two years ago already.

It turned out that in these past two years, her feelings for Li Sichen had truly, gradually faded with the passage of time. 

Good.

Just like in the past, the dance floor was full of people. Men and women provoked their desires, while on the stage, girls in alluring clothes and tall boots twisted their waists. Once in a while, they shot a seductive glance towards the onlookers.

Ruan Zhizhi and Gu Nian, like in the past, chose a sofa in the far corner to sit at. Gu Nian called the server over, and with lofty sentiments, asked for two glasses of beer and one bottle of 58-proof whiskey.

“Zhizhi, tonight we’re not going home until we’re drunk!”

Ruan Zhizhi watched her pour two full glasses of whiskey with heroic spirit and said dumbfoundedly, “Ancestor, we don’t have a man with us. What if I finish drinking all this alcohol on the table tonight, and then later I’m mentally confused and get abducted by someone who runs off? What’s to be done? Even if I wasn’t considering my own safety, I have to consider how your Cheng Fengjin will retaliate against me when the time comes.”

Gu Nian waved her hand as if she couldn’t care less. “Now that you mention Cheng Fengjin, my heart truly has knots…I love him, and yet I’m uneasy.”

“Cheng Fengjin is handsome, successful in business, and moreover, he’s single-mindedly set on you and grants whatever you ask for. If you ask me, what do you have to be uneasy about?”

Gu Nian raised her head, and with one gulp, she drained the entire glass of beer in her hand: “Zhizhi, I actually have a secret that I haven’t told you.” She reached out and poured another glass of liquor for herself. “At the very beginning, Cheng Fengjin’s qualifications were so good. Why would he choose to be with me? A large part of the reason is because I look a lot like his former girlfriend.”

The DJ in the bar was deafening, but Ruan Zhizhi still keenly seized the key points of Gu Nian’s words.

Gu Nian…looked like Cheng Fengjin’s ex-girlfriend?

“Saying this is truly very satirical and humiliating. Forgive me, Zhizhi, I’ve always been proud, arrogant, and spoiled. I really couldn’t say these words to you.” Gu Nian bit her lip and lowered her head to avoid looking at her. “At that time, I had just gotten to know Cheng Fengjin. Because I liked him so much, I always racked my brains to get close to him. Afterwards, my wish was fulfilled and he and I got together. I thought he liked me, until three months after we started dating. It was the first time he got drunk in front of me, and he unconsciously called his ex-girlfriend’s name. While calling it, he said I looked just like her.”

This quantity of information was a bit large. Ruan Zhizhi was stunned for several seconds before she managed to react. She pursed her lips, then softly asked, “Then afterwards when he was sober, did he give you an explanation?”

Gu Nian bowed her head. Her long bangs hung down, covering her eyes. “He said that when we first got together, it was indeed because my appearance and personality were very similar to his ex-girlfriend. But after getting along, he also truly liked me.” Speaking up until then, Gu Nian suddenly lifted her head and looked at Ruan Zhizhi with an incredibly serious expression: “Zhizhi, I know that Cheng Fengjin really loves me now. But just because he loves me so much currently, can he completely disregard the damage he has done to me in the past?

“His love for me was false at the beginning, but mine wasn’t. From beginning to end, I invested all my love in him.” When she mentioned this, she finally couldn’t help crying. “There were several times that I dreamed his ex-girlfriend would come back to find him. They reconciled and went back to before, where there was no place for me.”

“Gu Nian…”

Ruan Zhizhi saw Gu Nian shed tears and immediately panicked. Flustered, she hurriedly took out a tissue from her handbag and gave it to her.

“Zhizhi,” Gu Nian sniffled, “Zhizhi, tell me, what should I do?”

Ruan Zhizhi looked at her red eyes and felt an ache in her heart. She reached out to carefully clean Gu Nian’s delicate makeup stains from her tears. After a long time, she replied: “Gu Nian, you’ve been my only friend since childhood, as well as my best friend. So, you have to believe that every word I’m about to say is for your own good.” She paused, then continued. “You can only be happy by marrying Cheng Fengjin. Not only does Cheng Fengjin love and take responsibility for you, he also feels guilty. Therefore, he will be good to you for a lifetime. He won’t betray you and he won’t bring harm to you a second time. But also, you love him so much, don’t you?

“At least for now, you two are completely in love with each other, and his love for you has nothing to do with anybody.”

Perhaps it was because she had just drank so fiercely all at once, but at this moment, Gu Nian began to feel dizzy. She tilted her head and leaned on Ruan Zhizhi’s shoulder. Her voice was full of a thick nasal sound. “You’re right, Zhizhi, I know, I know you say this for my own good…moreover, the wedding day is already arriving. In fact, I really don’t want to leave him at all. If I leave Cheng Fengjin…I’ll die…”

She spoke disjointedly, her voice getting lower and lower until it was barely audible.

Ruan Zhizhi lowered her head to look at Gu Nian, who was leaning on her shoulder and had already closed her eyes. She couldn’t help sighing. “I told you not to drink so much, you didn’t listen.”

But now, what should she do?

Gu Nian had fallen asleep, and Ruan Zhizhi had also drank alcohol. She couldn’t drive at all. She wanted to give Cheng Fengjin a call, but remembered that when they had gone to try on wedding dresses that day, Gu Nian had told her that Cheng Fengjin was working overtime at the company tonight. 

So should she call, or not call?

Just as Ruan Zhizhi was trapped in a dilemma, she suddenly heard a commotion coming from the direction of the bar counter. 

Looking towards the source of the noise, Ruan Zhizhi found that the counter was now deserted. She had no idea what happened. At this moment, the surrounding sea of people were impenetrable inside and out.

The next second, passing through the crowd, she saw a man casually turning his head. 

The air seemed to freeze at this moment. 

Two pairs of eyes intersected in an instant. Unexpectedly, Ruan Zhizhi felt a little bit glad. 

The man with clear brows and eyes stood up from the bar counter, cut through the surging throng of people, and walked towards her step by step, calm and graceful.

It was still a familiar sight.

Ruan Zhizhi had no choice but to admit that Shi Yan really was her saviour.

He always showed up when she was at a complete loss, and then he’d rescue her.

“Ruan Zhizhi, what are you doing here?” He stood in front of her and spoke with a tone of voice that was surprisingly somewhat severe.

Ruan Zhizhi was stunned and assumed that he definitely misunderstood her for a single girl coming to the bar to find a thrill. She quickly pointed a finger to Gu Nian beside her, who had already entered the land of dreams. She unconsciously explained, “I came to accompany Gu Nian to drink, and she got drunk…So now, I don’t know how I should take her home.”

Once she finished speaking, she looked up pitifully at Shi Yan.

The man’s eyes softened in a split second. Ruan Zhizhi acknowledged that compared to other people, he was especially indulgent towards her.

Shi Yan bowed his head and glanced at Gu Nian who was already sound asleep. Without having to think, he called the waiter over to immediately pay the bill.

Ruan Zhizhi hurriedly stood up to try and stop him: “You don’t have to pay for it, I have money on hand.” As she spoke, she rummaged for her wallet in her handbag. By the time she found her wallet, the other party had already signed the receipt in bold cursive.

Ruan Zhizhi: “……”

Shi Yan lifted his eyes indifferently. “What are you in a daze for? Still not going?”

Having said so, he leaned down slightly. With natural motions, he reached out to take Ruan Zhizhi’s handbag and said, “I’ll help you hold the bag while you hold Gu Nian. Any problems with that?”

Ruan Zhizhi nodded without a second thought. While nodding, she suddenly realized that something wasn’t right. After thinking about it, she couldn’t help but open her mouth: “Although Gu Nian is very light, having a girl like me support her all the way to the parking lot…I feel that it’s still a bit difficult.”

Shi Yan sighed and crouched down in front of her, a somewhat helpless expression in his eyes. “Ruan Zhizhi, I also don’t want to let you get tired, but I have a slight phobia of contact with the opposite sex, so…”

Phobia of contact with the opposite sex?

Ruan Zhizhi was stunned when she heard his words. After recalling it for a while, she discovered that it really did appear that Shi Yan hadn’t taken the initiative to reach out and touch other girls. But when she carefully thought about it again, he had obviously approached her of his own accord before. Moreover, he had also done a few things that were quite ambiguous between males and females.

She couldn’t help but raise her head to look at him. At present, the two of them were so close that she seemed to hear his breathing.

She was sitting on the sofa, and he was crouched while looking down at her. He was still half a head taller than her.

The lighting in the bar was blurry, and the music was ear-splitting. The atmosphere was saturated with desire everywhere. Yet for a second, she didn’t seem to hear anything. Before her eyes there only remained the outline of this one man. With a hint of warmth in his indifference, he watched her fixedly.

His eyes were pitch-black and baseless, but there was a faint fog drifting up. At this very moment, his gaze seemed to be incomparably tender.

Although this kind of fragmentary warmth was like an illusion, only at this moment, she suddenly really wanted to sink into his eyes. She didn’t want anything, she just wanted to depend on him with a clear conscience.

As if enticed by something, Ruan Zhizhi opened her mouth and suddenly said uncontrollably, “Shi Yan—”

The man who was about to get up froze.

Immediately returning to her senses, Ruan Zhizhi shook her head vigorously and cleared her throat. “Ahem, I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry to trouble you again and again.”

It was absurd. Just now, there was a split second where she seemed possessed. She wanted to ask him whether he liked her.

Ruan Zhizhi, you must have been feeling so good about yourself recently. You’re actually so delirious to think that Shi Yan would like you.

Shi Yan smiled, not minding at all: “Ruan Zhizhi, I just hope that the next time you meet trouble, the first person you contact is me.”

Not like how we are now, when you only find me for help when we run into each other by chance.

I want to become the first person you think of when you come across difficulties.

I want to prove that I can solve all the troubles in your life, big and small. 

“Uh…but I’m afraid you’ll dislike me and find me bothersome. After all, our relationship is not particularly familiar.” As Ruan Zhizhi responded, she struggled to help Gu Nian sit up from the sofa.

Fortunately, although Gu Nian’s consciousness was muddle-headed, her body responded very cooperatively in getting up. Ruan Zhizhi wrapped one of Gu Nian’s arms around her shoulders and supported her to stand up. It was much easier than she expected.

Shi Yan was holding onto her cartoon handbag. He grasped the pink pompom on the bag and spun it around his fingertip carelessly. “I don’t know why, but when I can’t see you, each day is awfully uninteresting.”

Translator’s Note: Sorry for the lack of updates, I had exams and then I hurt my hand T^T Also, next week I’m starting my internship so I might come up with an uploading schedule.