SWG Chapter 34
by VolareLi Wan tiptoed as she pushed open the door of the photography studio, then gently closed it, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Where did you go?” a tired voice asked. “You’ve gotten quite familiar with the people across the street, haven’t you?”
Li Wan heard her heart thump three times before she finally caught her breath, turning around with an apologetic smile. “Teacher, I just went over to ask if they had any recommended drinks.”
Xiao Wenyu slowly emerged from the shadows where the lights were off, leaning against the bar counter, one hand pressed against her forehead, eyes slightly closed. She said softly, “I’m not a kindergarten kid. Don’t worry about me restricting your social life. Go out and be bold.”
Li Wan raised two fingers to her forehead in a mock salute, then scurried over to support Xiao Wenyu’s arm. “Teacher Xiao, let me help you upstairs, okay? You’re so tired today, and you haven’t eaten anything. You should go to bed early.”
Xiao Wenyu’s eyes slowly opened, her long, curled eyelashes casting a shadow beneath them, adding a touch of color to her pale face and accentuating her vulnerability.
She trembled slightly and said softly, “I can’t sleep.”
This made the person standing beside her tremble. She couldn’t help but cry out in her heart: Ruan Shengyi, you’re so foolish! How can you let such a beauty be sad! No reason is good enough to make her sad!!
Xiao Wenyu couldn’t read minds and didn’t have the energy to try.
She was terribly dizzy and could only lean on Li Wan for support as they walked upstairs.
Li Wan saw that she was putting some weight on her, so she carefully and steadily supported her. They walked slowly, stopping and starting.
Suddenly, Li Wan said cautiously, “I overheard Xie Yu talking to Ruan Shengyi on the phone across the street.”
Xiao Wenyu hummed softly.
Li Wan gathered her courage and said, “It seems like it’s pretty serious. Xie Yu even said she’d be watching everyone who comes in and out of the bar for the next few days.”
Xiao Wenyu paused, and after a long silence, she sneered. “What does that have to do with us?”
“Did Ruan Shengyi ask me for help, or did she explain anything to me?”
She shook off Li Wan’s hand and walked upstairs alone. Standing in front of the full-length mirror, she said coldly, “Since she doesn’t want our help, we should mind our own business.”
Li Wan didn’t say the rest of what she wanted to say.
She didn’t have the right to say anything anyway. She could only pray for a peace charm for Ruan Shengyi in her heart.
She also sighed inwardly. The gentle sister is very powerful when she is angry! I really saw it today! But it’s also heartbreaking, like a beauty so broken that you can’t pick her up.
After a while, just as she was about to go downstairs to leave work, Xiao Wenyu, who had been arranging photos, suddenly asked, “What day is she coming back?”
“She” was self-evident.
Li Wan quickly replied, “She said the sixth. If I take a day off that day, Teacher, do you want to rest too?”
Xiao Wenyu took two steps back, looked at her photo tree, and sighed, “We’ll see when the time comes.”
She sounded a little better.
But Li Wan couldn’t quite gauge how much better that was. She fiddled with the hem of her clothes, thinking for a long time…
She couldn’t figure it out.
The adult world is truly difficult to understand.
She didn’t know that people have a limit to their anger and sadness.
Xiao Wenyu had already used up her limit, and she didn’t have the energy to be angry at Ruan Shengyi for no reason at this moment.
If.
She was saying if.
If Ruan Shengyi was willing to call her and explain before going to bed tonight, then she wouldn’t be angry for no reason.
Xiao Wenyu stared at the dark ceiling for a long time, so long that Tonight Intoxicated was empty, and she still didn’t feel sleepy.
She hadn’t had insomnia for several days, so her head was actually a little sore at the moment.
Her phone rang at this moment. She thought that Ruan Shengyi must not be asleep yet in the inland, so she didn’t even look at the name and answered the phone.
It was Lin Simu.
Xiao Wenyu wanted to hang up as soon as she heard that “Hello,” but Lin Simu spoke quickly before she could. “Don’t hang up.”
“Get lost.”
“No, please, I was wrong.”
That was rare. Miss Lin was actually admitting her mistake.
Xiao Wenyu held the phone, silent, neither responding nor refusing, just wanting to hear what kind of garbage this dog’s mouth could spew.
Sure enough, Lin Simu said, “Xiao Wenyu, can you help me with some proof?”
“Prove that I didn’t squander money or embezzle funds during our marriage…”
The rest was not something Xiao Wenyu should hear. She hung up the phone almost instantly, even giving up the right to say “get lost” again.
She wanted to follow what Zhuge Jing had said, to always stay on the periphery of the events, never stepping into the muddy waters of the Lin family, so that she could completely protect herself.
Xiao Wenyu pondered for a moment, sent a message home, and then completely turned off her phone.
Tonight, no one could drag her and An Qi into the water.
The interruption by Lin Simu made her even less sleepy, and the desire for some unspeakable pain was rising frantically as her sleepiness diminished.
After all, that was the only sleep aid that worked for her.
It sounded absurd, but it was true.
Xiao Wenyu turned around and stared at the cabinet, lost in thought.
After a long while, she sighed softly and chose to surrender to her body’s basic reactions.
She could go without sleep, but her baby couldn’t.
*
The sixth arrived in the blink of an eye.
When the door of Tonight Intoxicated was pushed open, Xie Yu was wiping the bar and washing the shaker. She casually said a “welcome,” but didn’t receive a response.
She looked up and took a step back in shock. “Whoa! A ghost!”
Ruan Shengyi’s haggard and lost look at the moment made it perfectly reasonable to call her a ghost.
Ruan Shengyi gently brushed the stray hairs from her forehead, slowly exhaled, and said in a deep voice, “Has it been calm these past few days?”
Although the video had been deleted, the mouths in the comment section couldn’t be shut. Every time the photos circulated, her heart felt like it was being squeezed, causing a dull pain.
She didn’t even know if she should come back.
Xie Yu came around the bar and took the things from her shoulders. “Don’t worry, nothing has happened these past few days. Everything has been calm as usual.”
Ruan Shengyi’s heart steadied a little. “That’s good.”
Ye Min happened to come around at this moment and said helplessly, “Boss, you really need to calm down. Although it’s not nice to say this, and maybe we’re being insensitive, but…”
“At least don’t drag other people down with you.”
Ruan Shengyi was silent for a moment, then turned to walk out.
Ye Min stopped Xie Yu, who wanted to speak, and shook her head. “She has to talk it out eventually, otherwise it won’t be good for her or Teacher Xiao, right?”
Xie Yu hesitated, but in the end, she could only sigh.
Xiao Wenyu had just seen someone off at her studio.
Li Wan wasn’t here today, and her physical condition was also a bit worrying, so she had pushed back some appointments that could be adjusted. Only those that couldn’t be pushed back were scheduled, and she was almost done shooting them.
She tidied up her set and stretched her shoulders. When she turned around, she saw an extremely haggard person standing at the door, silently looking at her.
The woman’s dark tea long hair had lost its color, and her eyes were no longer clear, but rather a bit turbid. Looking at her, her lips moved, and she said softly, “I’m sorry.”
Xiao Wenyu leaned on the counter, smiled, and said, “What did you do to offend me? There’s no need to apologize.”
“Aren’t we just neighbors across the street? You’re a good neighbor, and you even helped me look after security. How much is it? I need to give Xie Yu and Ye Min some security wages too.”
“…” Ruan Shengyi clenched her fist and said, “This is very complicated. Can you listen to me?”
Xiao Wenyu swayed, came around the counter, stood in front of her, and looked up slightly at the haggard and worn face…
It would be a lie to say she didn’t feel sorry for her, but many things couldn’t be solved with pity, nor could they be alleviated with pity and compromise.
She said, “Ruan Shengyi’s past is very complicated. I’ve heard some things about it these past few days.”
“But I’m not a very clean person either. I have complicated things on my back too.”
She raised her hand to Ruan Shengyi’s chest, listening to the trembling breaths beside her ear. She slightly avoided the mutual, knowing gaze, and lowered her head, letting the light above cast a shadow under her eyes, making her already pale face even paler.
Her lips, unadorned with lipstick, pursed, and she said in a deep voice, “I don’t have the energy to waste time with you in the past, and you don’t have the energy to fight against my pain and unbearable things. If we get close to each other, we will always consume each other…”
She sighed and ultimately couldn’t bring herself to say anything too cruel. She said softly, “Before we figure things out, let’s not take the next step so easily, okay?”
If they couldn’t truly huddle together for warmth, then they should each maintain their clarity and reason, trying to slowly get better in their own lives.
Ruan Shengyi raised her hand, wanting to grasp the hand pressed against her chest, but she didn’t know how to grasp it, nor what to say.
Xiao Wenyu was right.
She had no idea how to face her own life, let alone how to make Xiao Wenyu face these things. They could only consume each other.
It was too easy to say the answer. Her upper lip lightly touched her lower lip, and without even a complex vocal resonance, three words could be easily pushed out. But that would be too irresponsible, irresponsible to each other.
They knew it, and they restrained themselves fiercely.
So, Ruan Shengyi nodded slightly. “I’ll think it over carefully. Thank you.”
Xiao Wenyu smiled weakly. “You’re welcome. I’m going to get off work.”
“Before Ruan Shengyi figures everything out, you can also come to the second floor to find me and ask me.”
“Okay.”
Leaving the photography studio, Ruan Shengyi was still a bit dazed, her expression lost and confused, unsure of what to do next.
She sat down at a table in front of Tonight Intoxicated, sinking into the chair, trying to empty her mind, trying to find the answer on the premise of emptying her mind.
Suddenly, someone pushed open the door and came in. “Excuse me, is this Tonight Intoxicated, and across the street is The Fourth Kind of Primary Color photography studio?”
Ruan Shengyi was still annoyed and hummed softly in agreement.
The person chuckled, bowed, and said, “Sorry, sorry.” With that, he closed the door and left.
After a few seconds, she suddenly realized something was wrong and jumped up, almost bumping into Xie Yu.
Xie Yu: “What’s wrong?”
“Have people been coming to ask if this is Tonight Intoxicated these past few days?”
“…They’re not blind.”
Suddenly, the lights went out.
Xie Yu: “Hey, they didn’t say there’d be a power outage today. Where’s the backup power supply? Didn’t you pay the electricity bill?”
But the other person had already pulled open the door and darted out at lightning speed, causing the decorations on the door to rattle.
Ruan Shengyi looked around, and the whole street was brightly lit, with people coming and going in the restaurants next door. Only three shops on this street had lost power: Tonight Intoxicated, the convenience store to the right of Tonight Intoxicated, and the photography studio across the street.
Ruan Shengyi felt like her heart was beating like a drum for a moment, and her breath was taken away.
The convenience store owner also came out and was about to walk over when she saw her, but the boss didn’t have time to pay attention to her. She pulled out her phone and started calling Xie Yu through the door, while she directly jogged across the street and pushed open the door of The Fourth Kind of Primary Color.
Sure enough, it wasn’t locked. Xiao Wenyu would rest, but she wouldn’t lock the door so early.
The first time there was a power outage, Xiao Wenyu asked her about the main switch. She avoided talking about it because the circuit layout of the shops here was messed up. The main switches of several shops were connected together. If one tripped or was turned off, the others would inevitably follow. This matter had been reported for a long time, but in a small city, no one would come to fix it unless something happened, so things just went on in a muddle.
But this time might be different.
She told Xie Yu to check the main switch, then hung up the phone, turned on the flashlight, and shouted, “Xiao Wenyu! Where are you! Are you upstairs?”
She looked at each room, but there was no one on the first floor.
The stairs leading to the second floor were right in front of her. The second floor that Xiao Wenyu had repeatedly asked her if she wanted to go up and see was right in front of her. But Ruan Shengyi didn’t have time to think deeply. She grabbed the handrail and crossed several steps in a row, almost rushing up, shouting, “Xiao Wenyu, please answer me!!!”
But still, no one responded.
Or rather, there was a response, just not a sound.
The flashlight swept across, and she quickly found the woman lying on the ground on the second floor. Ruan Shengyi was so scared that her hands and feet went soft. She stumbled over, and her phone had already dialed the emergency contact number.
She tried to help Xiao Wenyu sit up, but the voice of the emergency doctor from the county hospital was so unclear in the microphone full of static, like celestial music.
“Hello, someone here has fainted. Jinghua Road Commercial Street, The Fourth Kind of Primary Color photography studio.”
“Okay, please don’t move the patient. You can turn the patient’s head to one side to prevent blocking the airway. The ambulance has already left. Are there any other symptoms?”
“I…” Ruan Shengyi wanted to speak, but her unfocused gaze trembled as she swept across a…
Shocking, but somewhat unclear thing, but an unclear thing was still shocking.
What was that?
The focus gradually solidified on the beautifully drawn tree.
The doctor’s words were sometimes near and sometimes far, surrounding Ruan Shengyi’s ears, but she had no strength to think. She said stupidly, “I don’t know…”
……