SWG Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ruan Shengyi crossed her legs, her hand propped on her chin, her whole body leaning forward slightly, and said, “The one you ordered has ice, this one doesn’t have ice.”

“How much?”

“For you, it can be free.”

Xiao Wenyu’s gaze slowly fell on the very beautiful drink. The outer wall indeed had no frost at all. Under the flowing, soothing colored lights, it glowed with a warm luster. Placed on the table, it was clear and crystalline.

She asked again, “Why?”

Ruan Shengyi considered herself an extremely taciturn person, but the woman in front of her’s continuous questions, and the way she spoke, almost spitting out one word at a time, made her feel how correct the saying “if you have a mouth, you have to talk” was.

Before she could answer, the woman suddenly smiled, “You’re very pretty.”

This wasn’t a compliment, because the wine glass was pushed back in front of Ruan Shengyi, making a “please” gesture.

This was a rejection.

Ruan Shengyi gently tapped the bottom of the glass and said, “It’s a perk of the house, you don’t have to push it back.”

“You…”

She suddenly leaned forward, looking at the woman’s still indifferent and tranquil, but hard-to-hide sad, slightly red eyes, and said, “I run Tonight Intoxicated so that there’s no more sadness and sorrow in this world. No one will leave Tonight Intoxicated with red eyes.”

“Unless she’s drunk and throws up, making her eyes red.”

After speaking, she slowly pushed the glass back half an inch, but only half an inch. It still stopped near the Ruan boss’s place.

Just like Ruan boss, who now seemed to have leaned forward twice, but hadn’t even touched the edge of the table, maintaining the longest and most appropriate distance.

Maintaining a sense of communication and care.

Xiao Wenyu smiled helplessly, raised her hand to wipe the corners of her eyes, dabbing them again and again. All the crystal drops at the corners of her eyes were wiped away, but the redness in her eyes couldn’t be easily dispelled.

She wiped, then stopped her hand, sighing softly.

“Ruan boss, can a drink like this, or alcohol, really make people happy?”

“Aren’t you, not sad?”

Ruan Shengyi had barely finished speaking when she received a “as expected” look from the woman, who stared at her with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, as if even a bit of bitterness had been diluted.

So Ruan Shengyi pushed the glass slightly again, saying, “Maybe? When you’re sad, eating some candy will make you a little happier. When you’re in pain, drinking some wine and forgetting everything will always make you a little happier, right?”

Xiao Wenyu’s thin lips trembled slightly, and after a long time, she said with a bit of self-deprecation, “Really?”

“Breakup?”

“Divorce.”

“…”

Autumn nights always have a bit of chill.

Not far from the booth in this corner was a vent leading to the street. The night wind, carrying unswept fallen leaves, rustled against the thin wire mesh of the vent. The slight sounds and the cold air swirled together and seeped into the noisy room.

This small change in temperature shouldn’t have been felt.

Xiao Wenyu counted the length of the silence in her heart, raised her hand, and just as her hand touched the wall of the glass, the glass was pushed into her hand.

Ruan Shengyi: “Then we should celebrate even more, saying goodbye to a terrible person for good.”

Xiao Wenyu looked at her in surprise.

And looked at her seriously.

The woman’s appearance wasn’t sharp, but she did have some heroic spirit.

Her eyes were very bright, a pair of eyes sparkling and shining. Even though they were blocked by these ordinary and even slightly faded glasses, the light in her eyes could pass through the reflection of the brilliance on the lenses and fall into the eyes of others. Her ink-like waterfall of long hair was casually half-tied behind her head, held by a hairpin, revealing a little tail that Quiteed casually. Below that was a fair and smooth neck.

Really, she was a very beautiful person.

Just like this resplendent bar, it was bright, and maybe there was a little bit of beauty.

But it was only maybe.

Xiao Wenyu retracted her gaze, picked up the drink, turned her head, and smiled helplessly: “It seems this glass is impossible not to drink?”

Slender fingers, for the first time in a real sense, broke through the boundary of being guests to each other, taking the glass that she had been pushing towards her from Xiao Wenyu’s hand. Then she heard the person who had been probing for so long suddenly seem to sheathe her sharpness, saying, “You don’t have to. If it makes you happy, you don’t have to drink it.”

Xiao Wenyu’s hand hadn’t had time to retract, but the Ruan boss had already downed the drink in the glass, and wisps of liquid slid down her lips to her fair neck, then gradually disappeared into her shirt.

A drop of water soaked into the white shirt at her shoulder.

Just this one drop was already a bit searing to the eyes.

Xiao Wenyu averted her eyes as if escaping.

But Ruan Shengyi turned her hand over and placed the glass upside down on the table, wiped the corners of her lips, then raised her hand and waved the clear glass. “There really isn’t any alcohol or ice.”

She scoffed, “It really is like plain water.”

“Ruan boss, how’s your alcohol tolerance?” The woman finally leaned against the table as well, propping her chin with one hand, and casually and naturally playing with her hair that had passed her shoulders with the other.

The chestnut-brown long curly hair was really obedient under her hands.

But Ruan Shengyi’s gaze inevitably fell on her fingers. There were some traces of work left by the years on her slender fingers, and there was also a very clear ring mark.

That circle of skin was still fair and unmarked, but soon it would blend into the surroundings, completely obliterating the past years, and submerging them in the long river of time.

As if sensing her gaze, Xiao Wenyu changed hands imperceptibly, and the ring mark hid in the shadows, just like her, shrinking into the corner, not wanting to see the light.

So Ruan boss smiled and withdrew her gaze, casually flicked the glass in her hand, then steadily caught it in her hand, and said in a deep voice: “Since Miss Xiao doesn’t want to drink alcohol or a drink today, then I can only show you my alcohol tolerance another day.”

“Another day might be a bit long. Maybe it’ll take at least a month, maybe…” it’ll take many years.

“Miss Xiao, my bar has a minimum charge. If you’re willing to come every time and order without drinking, then I don’t mind either, since I’ll have earned the money anyway.”

Both of them knew what the light flickering in her eyes meant, but some things couldn’t be said on the surface, and some things couldn’t be done on the surface.

Xiao Wenyu tried to look directly into those eyes, but after a moment, she shifted to the side, avoiding the probing gaze, and said in a deep voice: “No one can say for sure about the future.”

“Alright.” Ruan Shengyi tilted her head, smiled, and withdrew her gaze, shaking her head slightly, “Alright, let’s talk about the future in the future.”

“Your friend is back. I’ll go first.”

“Miss Xiao, come often.”

She wasn’t someone who dragged things out, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to run this bar so successfully at such a young age. But for a moment, perhaps because of the noise in her heart, or perhaps because she had been sitting for too long and was dizzy, she even got up half a step slower.

But only half a step.

She quickly got up, turned and left the booth, brushing past Lu Ke, who had jumped around and was already a bit drunk.

The woman looked at her dazedly, and stumbled and sat down on the soft sofa. Before she could put down the glass in her hand, she pointed at Ruan Shengyi’s back and said, “Is Ruan boss giving out benefits again? What did she give? Wenyu, are you drinking? If you’re not drinking, give it to me!”

Xiao Wenyu lifted her skirt and came over to tidy up this slightly dizzy person. Lu Ke waved her hand instead, “I’m not drunk! I can still drink!”

“Drunk people always say that. Did you drive? Do you need a designated driver?”

Xiao Wenyu helped her sit up, placed the drunkard’s arm on her shoulder, and was about to pull her up when this person suddenly exerted some strength, pulling Xiao Wenyu to stagger, almost taking her down to the ground with her.

Lu Ke held up an index finger with light gray extended nail art and gently tapped Xiao Wenyu’s nose, squinting her eyes and said, “You were just looking at Ruan boss’s back, what did you say?”

“…”

Xiao Wenyu tried to help her up again, lowering her voice: “I didn’t say anything, you saw wrong.”

“Impossible!” The drunkard suddenly raised her voice, tightly grasping Xiao Wenyu’s hand, “You definitely said something! What did you say? The lip movements look like two words, and also like three words…”

Xiao Wenyu turned her head away from the question again, casually pulled a topic, diverting Lu Ke’s attention to that side, escaping this guy’s endless chatter.

What did she say?

She only looked at that back, which hid a bit of frustration behind its freedom, and felt sorry for her, so she softly said, “Next time.” That’s all.

There would be many more chances to meet in the future, so there was no need for her to completely ruin the relationship.

Lu Ke was still making noise, and the bar’s nightlife was still noisy.

The other person’s heart had long been set on going home.

Go back to the corner that truly belonged to her.

Xiao Wenyu looked back at the Tonight Intoxicated sign, slowly withdrew her gaze, pinched her handbag, and went with Lu Ke to get into the car.

*

Bartender Xie Yu—that is, the not-so-bright bartender who said she wanted to make Ruan Shengyi a lethal amount of See You Tomorrow—trotted in from outside.

She ran to the side of the bar, mysteriously saying, “Boss, that girl just left.”

“Did she pay the bill?” The Ruan boss, who was wiping glasses, answered casually.

“Oh my, that’s for sure. But, I saw it with my own eyes, she looked back reluctantly when she left!”

Only then did Ruan Shengyi realize who she was talking about, and unceremoniously threw the cloth she was using to wipe glasses into Xie Yu’s arms, impatiently saying, “She wasn’t drunk, what were you sending her off for?”

“Hey!!” The woman shrieked, “Boss, I didn’t say who I was talking about, okay!”

Ruan Shengyi: …

She was so angry that her face was about to turn red.

But Xie Yu was still recklessly poking at the other bartender, Ye Min, “See, I told you I was right, right?”

“Our boss’s 27-year-old heart must have been completely riled up all at once, tsk tsk, but that girl is really pretty! How old do you think she is? She looks pretty mature, she should be a bit older than the boss, right?”

Ye Min felt an icy gaze that hurt even her bones, pursed her lips, and slowly withdrew her hand that was trying to advise Xie Yu. Immediately afterward, her right to give a gentle cough of reminder was also taken back by Ruan Shengyi.

Good luck, my friend.

Ye Min lowered her head, took the glass, and quickly moved away from this battlefield.

“Xie Yu.” It was the woman’s extremely cold voice, and the words she spoke were even more despairing, “You’re on the night shift tonight.”

Xie Yu: …

Before she could defend herself, Ruan boss pushed the menu in her hand, “You take over, I’m going to rest for a while.”

After Ruan Shengyi’s figure gradually disappeared into the back room, Xie Yu finally couldn’t help but whisper, “The boss wasn’t rejected, was she? Our boss is so pretty, it shouldn’t be possible, right?”

Ye Min poked her and scolded, “Still talking? Be careful the boss fires you!”

Ruan Shengyi had no time to pay attention to their nonsense. She slipped into the changing room. There was a large mirror in the changing room, and in the mirror was a person with messy hair.

She leaned almost her entire body against the mirror stand, looking at the person in the mirror, who was so blurry to her that she hardly recognized herself, and shook her head violently.

What are you thinking? What are you doing?

Ruan Shengyi, are you crazy?

But the person in the mirror had flushed cheeks and eyes so moist that they were about to drip water, just like…

A complete lunatic.

“Slap.”

The dull sound of a slap echoed in the small changing room.

Only after the echo ended did Ruan Shengyi slowly exhale a breath of air. The temperature of her cheeks gradually receded, and her eyes were no longer so moist and scary.

Just as she relaxed a little, behind her, a woman’s voice chuckled.

“Ruan boss.” The voice got closer and closer. “How come you’re even slapping yourself?”

…