I was stunned for a moment, hastily redialing CC’s number, only to be met with a voice prompt indicating she was on another call. Besides admiring her efficiency, I was more worried about the aftermath of Mi Cai learning the truth. It might not be as touching as I hoped, but rather, she might be upset that I had deceived her again.

After an agonizing wait of 10 minutes, the phone rang again. I quickly answered, and it was still CC. She must have already spoken to Mi Cai.

“Zhao Yang, I just called Mi Cai.”

“Did you tell her everything?”

“Yes, I told her that you sold Jian Wei’s guitar, and now Jian Wei wants it back.”

I was both amused and annoyed: “CC, by telling her this, aren’t you making us look like squabbling children? This is not a situation where the truth should be revealed!”

CC was equally amused and annoyed: “You’re the one acting like a child! You took the guitar Jian Wei gave you, exchanged it for another one, and then gave it to Mi Cai. That’s not something an adult would do!”

“Enough, stop talking about it. In the end, it’s all because I’m broke. I was trying to keep up appearances, and now I’m stuck in an awkward situation!”

The more I spoke, the more frustrated I felt. At this moment, I realized more clearly the sadness of not having a material foundation. If I had had enough money to buy that Taylor guitar at the time, there wouldn’t have been this series of misunderstandings.

“Zhao Yang, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I’m the one who should apologize. You’ve been helping me deal with these problems that I can’t handle… But CC, you see what this incident reflects, right? Even if a butterfly is beautiful and colorful, not everyone has the ability to catch it. The reason I kept this from Mi Cai was because I didn’t want my good intentions to turn into a burden… But now it seems that even the best intentions have become a burden!”

CC sighed: “Why can’t love be simpler? If you like someone, be with them. If you don’t, reject them. This back and forth is really tiring!”

“That’s because we live in a complex world, and love itself is a thing that goes with the flow. It’s just a byproduct of the times, so love nowadays relies on money to be realized… Don’t you agree?”

After a moment of silence, CC stubbornly said: “I don’t believe it. There must be a kind of love in this world that transcends everything.”

“There is, there must be. But we no longer have the energy or time to pursue it. After 30, we both have to learn to compromise… Perhaps, I have already compromised!”

My words seemed to hit a nerve with CC, and she fell silent… Over the years, despite her persistence, there will come a day when time will make her let go of everything and settle into the mundanity of life.

CC suddenly laughed and said: “Zhao Yang, today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, can we not make our conversation so heavy? Besides, I called you to talk about Mi Cai.”

“Go ahead… I’m mentally prepared!”

“Actually, after I told her, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she kept asking me how I was doing in Beijing… Sometimes I can’t figure out her personality. She’s simple at times, complex at others. Simple enough to be adorable, complex enough to be intimidating!”

“The simplicity is her in life, the complexity is her in the workplace. What I fear most is her bringing the complexity of the workplace into her life. Clearly, she doesn’t want to handle this situation with the simplicity of her life.”

“So what do you think she’s thinking now? Will she help you redeem the guitar from A Ji?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you hope she will?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, I answered: “Of course not. If she redeems the guitar, then the guitar I gave her becomes a gift she gave to herself!”

“That’s true. You still like her a lot, so you hope to give her something that can accompany her for a long time.”

After a moment of silence, I said: “CC, it’s late. You should hang up and rest early. As for Mi Cai and me, let’s just let things take their course. Neither of us can force the other. Perhaps this strong personality is the reason we can’t get closer.”

“Okay, all I can do is build a bridge between you two. Whether you can meet in the middle of the bridge depends on whether you are willing to get closer… I’ll hang up now, you should rest early too.”

…

After ending the call with CC, I fell back into the depths of the night, lost in thought. After a while, I remembered to check my phone to distract myself.

I wasn’t sure why I opened WeChat, but it was worth it. I saw that Le Yao, who was still in Lijiang, had updated her Moments. Most of the posts were photos of her traveling in Lijiang. The scenery in the photos was beautiful, and so was she. I couldn’t help but give her a like.

Soon, Le Yao sent me a message: “Zhao Yang, you liked my post! Are you still awake?”

“I’m still awake!”

“What are you doing?”

“Lost in the depths of the night…”Le Yao replied with a smiling emoji, “What has stirred your artistic soul again? You’re even using profound words like ‘deep’!”

“Night.”

This time, Le Yao responded with a voice message, “Haha… You must be feeling lonely, Zhao Yang!”

“Why don’t you sing ‘South of the Colorful Clouds’ to cheer me up? If you do well, I’ll reward you!”

“Well then, allow me to embarrass myself!” Le Yao sent another voice message, singing a short snippet of the song related to Lijiang, ‘South of the Colorful Clouds’.

“Not bad, I’ll give you a like!”

“A like is my reward?”

“Yes, I’m not one for sincerity… But you, such a meticulous person, aren’t you going to give me a red envelope for the New Year?”

I was just joking with Le Yao, but she replied, “I’ve already prepared it for you, I’ll give it to you when I come back from Lijiang… By the way, aren’t you with Mi Cai? How can you be lonely?”

This was a question that hit a sore spot, so I replied emotionally, “Give me back the like I just gave you.”

Le Yao: “…”

After a while, she replied, “What happened? Did you two have a disagreement?”

“I can’t explain it to you in detail!… Sigh! Life is just a damn meat grinder, so shameless!”

“Zhao Yang, your mood changes so quickly, where did your artistic spirit go?”

“I’m not in the mood to chat anymore, I need to continue wandering in the depth of the night, slicing that stinky and hard piece of meat!”

Ignoring my refusal to chat, Le Yao sent another message, “Why don’t you come to Lijiang to relax? The bars here are good, the scenery is nice, and there are plenty of beautiful women. You’ll definitely like it!”

I was somewhat tempted by Le Yao’s suggestion. As I lit a cigarette and pondered whether to go to Lijiang, I received another WeChat message, but it wasn’t from Le Yao.

“Zhao Yang, I’m going to Xuzhou tomorrow, will you take me to play video games and eat hot pot?”

I blinked a few times, confirming that it was indeed from Mi Cai. But was she coming for the video games and hot pot, or for me?

This was a question worth pondering in the depth of the night.

—————————

I might not be able to update two chapters today. If there’s no second update before midnight, don’t wait. I’ll make up for the missing chapters tomorrow.