Chapter 28: Help Me p2
On the way back to the hotel, Jiang Mi was already very familiar with the route. As usual, she leaned against the window, her mind always seeming to be occupied. She looked down at her phone, not even hearing Zhao Jia talking to her.
“Jiang Mi!”
Jiang Mi: “…”
She patted her chest. “You scared me.”
Zhao Jia: “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing.”
Jiang Mi denied it.
She looked out again. The wind outside was blowing hard, and there were empty shadows everywhere.
Yan Wei stood straight on the set, the night wind blowing up the hem of her clothes. Her figure almost melted into the night.
She tilted her head slightly and let out a heavy breath. Surui asked, “Let’s go? Back to the hotel?”
Yan Wei was silent for a few seconds, then looked at the place where the car had disappeared.
“Mmm.”
As she stepped out, her phone in her trench coat rang wildly.
She heard Mo Xi crying and shouting for her on the phone.
Yan Wei calmly hung up the phone. This kind of drama happened every few months. She was already used to it. Even Surui was used to it. She had been right next to her just now. Even though it wasn’t close, the voice from the earpiece had still reached her ears to some extent.
Surui paused and asked, “Home?”
This time, Yan Wei didn’t speak, but her face was as cold as an ice cellar, empty. No one could see what emotions were inside, only that it caused endless torment to the people around her.
Surui’s brow furrowed slightly. She could only pray in her heart that nothing would happen. She was afraid of Yan Wei in this state.
The moment she pushed open the door, the fermented smell of alcohol wrapped around her throat like an invisible tentacle. Yan Wei’s thin high heels crunched over the broken porcelain on the floor. The crystal chandelier cast a cracked shadow on the ceiling. She stepped on that shadow and walked slowly forward.
With every step, she could hear the sound of shattering.
Mo Yun was slumped on the floor. Hearing the footsteps, she slowly raised her head. Her originally dull pupils were now rolling with lava—it was a surging hatred.
Mo Xi, huddled in the corner, suddenly sprang up. Her tear-stained face, upon seeing Yan Wei, showed the hope of a drowning person grabbing a piece of driftwood. “Sis…”
“Why don’t you just die?!” Mo Yun suddenly erupted. Her jade bracelet hit the coffee table next to her, making a piercing sound. She staggered, about to pounce on Yan Wei. The veins on her neck throbbed under the influence of alcohol, like a fish about to suffocate.
Mo Xi held onto her mother’s waist for dear life. “Mom! What are you saying?!”
Her crying voice was mixed with terror. “How can you say such a thing to my sister!”
Mo Yun was still glaring at Yan Wei. “Why don’t you just die?”
Yan Wei’s face was as usual. She watched this farce that had been played out a thousand times with cold eyes, her face showing no change, only a shallow curve of her lips. “If I die, who will give you the wealth and glory you have now? Who will pay for Mo Xi’s private ballet lessons?”
She paused for a second, staring at Mo Yun’s hate-filled eyes. “After all, you can’t even hate me sober.”
The air suddenly froze. Mo Yun’s pupils contracted violently, as if this sentence had pierced a festering sore somewhere. Her chest heaved violently, her eyes red, as if she were trying to force herself to continue her nightmare. “If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have died!”
“Mom! Don’t say it! I’m begging you, don’t say it anymore!” Mo Xi also fell to the floor. “What does Mom’s death have to do with my sister? She was still a child back then! Can’t our family be a little more normal?”
“Normal? What’s not normal? Without her, we are normal!”
Mo Xi knew that the current Mo Yun, like every time before, couldn’t listen to what others said at all.
She was the one who had called Yan Wei back. She really had no way to clean up this mess. But when Yan Wei really stood in the middle of the mess, she was filled with endless regret.
The shards of the blue and white porcelain in the corner reflected the distorted reflections of the people in the room. Everything was in pieces.
She closed her eyes, as if that could turn everything into an illusion.
The alcohol had dilated Mo Yun’s pupils into a cloudy amber color. The silver strands at the woman’s temples, under the chandelier, were left with only an emotionless coldness. This woman, who would usually comb her hair, cook for her, and call her ‘sweetie’, now had a purplish bruise on her neck, self-inflicted with a necklace.
She couldn’t take it anymore.
Blood seeped from Mo Xi’s bitten lips. She wanted to ask for help. She knew her mother loved her, but she really couldn’t take it anymore.
“Sis…”
However, this plea died completely in the gaze that Yan Wei cast on her.
Yan Wei’s gaze was too cold, so cold that it could conjure up the snowy night of flying ice shards from many years ago—the Yan Wei of that time was also like this, watching her drunken mother stuff all her awards and admission notices into a shredder one by one.
She should have known long ago that their family’s relationship could never be normal.
She should have known long ago.
“I really don’t know what to do, what to do…”
But in fact, what did this count for? Yan Wei’s smile widened. What Mo Xi didn’t know was that in the many days and nights when she wasn’t in this house, she had already gotten very used to watching this scene.
She lowered her eyes.
Mo Yun was still looking at Yan Wei as if she were an enemy. “Go die, you should go die! The one who should be dead is you!”
After two seconds, Yan Wei slowly approached. Her patent leather high heels crunched over the glass shards, the sound like chewing on the past. She bent down and picked up the fruit knife on the floor.
“Do it.” She knelt in front of Mo Yun, turned the handle, and pointed the blade at her own heart. When the handle was stuffed into Mo Yun’s palm, Yan Wei’s smile became even more fervent. They were only inches apart, and they could even see the similar features reflected in each other’s eyes.
“Sis, what are you doing?” Mo Xi was a little scared and didn’t dare to approach for a moment.
“If you kill me, you won’t have to be in so much pain in the future.”
Her voice was bewitching, but Yan Wei’s expression was calm, so calm that it was impossible to tell whether this was a joke or if she was serious.
Mo Yun was trembling with anger, her withered palm hovering in mid-air. Mo Xi rushed forward and hugged Mo Yun, crying, “Sis, don’t be like this. I’m begging you, don’t be like this. I’m scared.”
After a long moment, the fruit knife in Yan Wei’s hand swayed. Her beautiful nails gave off a faint, bright luster. Yan Wei lowered her head and laughed. She suddenly let go of the handle. The silver blade fell, reflecting the afterimage of the chandelier and the brokenness of the room.
Yan Wei slowly stood up.
“I’ll sell this place. Take your things and get out of here.”
After she finished speaking, she took a wet wipe from the table and wiped her fingers one by one.
Then she turned without hesitation.
“Bang—”
Glass shattered on the floor, and shards flew everywhere.
Yan Wei’s footsteps paused. She lowered her head slightly and saw the bright red blood seeping out from the white skin on her ankle.
The winding line of blood on her ankle actually reminded her of that snowy night, when she was pulled out of bed by Mo Yun by the collar. It was also that same pair of hateful eyes looking at her. That night, she was thrown into the corridor by Mo Yun.
She stood at the door, listening to Mo Yun’s gentle voice as she coaxed a baby to sleep after regaining her senses.
She walked on the street, at first very slowly, then she started to run, running for her life.
Her thin pajamas, bare feet, and the ice shards seeping into her worn-out soles. From that moment on, her body seemed to have lost the ability to feel pain.
She looked at it for two seconds, as if admiring it.
As if she hadn’t heard Mo Xi’s concern, she quickly straightened up again.
“It’s paid off.”
Only after going downstairs did she realize that it was raining outside. The rain was torrential, with the wetness of a downpour. Walking to the side of the steps, she was wearing a long black dress, revealing a section of her calf. The raindrops splashed on her skin and seeped into the wound, causing a fine, dense pain and itch.
She didn’t know why, but the memory of Mo Yun dragging her to the morgue appeared in her mind. She looked at her beautiful mother’s already pale and stiff face, listening to Mo Yun’s hatred: Why wasn’t it you who died?
For so many years, the same sentence.
Not a single new idea.
The blood mixed with the rain spread on the floor under her feet. She stepped on it, crushing the reflection of the past into pieces.
Yan Wei took a breath.
The damp, rusty smell in the air reminded her of the smell of blood mixed with milk.
And so, a person’s shadow appeared before her eyes.
**
A black car, covered in water vapor, stopped in the underground garage. Jiang Mi got out of the car and waved goodbye to the driver.
On the way back, she had passed by a rice noodle shop. At home, Jiang Youshu used to often cook rice noodles for her and Jiang Hu. She was suddenly a little homesick, so she had gotten out of the car halfway.
Although she was wearing a hat and a mask, she was still recognized halfway through her meal. Fortunately, there weren’t many people. After paying the bill, she hurried away.
She was met with a downpour when she went out, and she got soaked. Fortunately, the driver was not far away.
She looked down and tugged at the white T-shirt that was clinging to her chest. The cotton fabric was a bit see-through after absorbing the water vapor.
Jiang Mi walked towards the elevator. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of the nanny van diagonally behind her. Fine raindrops floated on the dark car window, like a splashing galaxy. Jiang Mi counted the last few digits of the license plate to confirm. When she looked up again, she found that the driver’s seat was empty, only the overhead light casting a warm halo on the leather seat.
Her gaze shifted for a moment, she paused, and then turned back.
Her thoughts turned for a few seconds, hesitating about something.
Yan Wei was sitting in the car, watching the person walking forward. She stared at Jiang Mi’s footsteps, but very quickly, Jiang Mi stopped.
She watched Jiang Mi turn back.
The car door opened, and Jiang Mi’s footsteps stopped again. She turned her head and saw Yan Wei getting out. The silk black dress, wrapped in a chill, fell down, looking as if it had also been soaked. She was slightly surprised.
Her gaze moved down. A patch of bright red on the snow-white skin pierced her eyes—the rolled-up flesh was seeping with blood, winding down the cool white skin.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Mi ran over in a few steps. “Why aren’t you going to the hospital?”
She looked down as she spoke. The skin was broken, and it was bloody, making one’s heart panic.
Yan Wei lowered her eyes and looked at Jiang Mi. Her furrowed brow, her worried expression, the milky scent on her body. Her pulse was beating bit by bit, and her deadened nerves were jumping back and forth between silence and violence.
It wasn’t very late, and cars were still coming in one after another. Jiang Mi didn’t care so much. She pulled Yan Wei back and opened the car door. “Let’s get in the car first. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Jiang Mi didn’t notice Yan Wei taking a deep breath, nor did she see the strange look in Yan Wei’s phoenix eyes.
A force came from her arm.
Yan Wei grabbed her wrist. Her fingertips were colder than the rain, but they carried a certain burning force. Yan Wei said, “Let’s go upstairs.”
Jiang Mi opened her mouth and heard Yan Wei say, “A private doctor will come.”
Yan Wei had already let go of her.
The two of them faced the mirror of the elevator car. Jiang Mi looked at Yan Wei’s ankle and asked in a low voice, “What happened?”
Yan Wei didn’t answer, but asked in return, “Were you disappointed tonight?”
Her hoarse voice was wrapped in the scent of brandy.
Jiang Mi: “What?”
“Were you disappointed that you didn’t get to eat with Shen Ruoxi?”
“Ah? No.”
What was there to be disappointed about?
Yan Wei let out a soft hum, without any emotion. “Is that so?”
Jiang Mi replied, “Yes, I wasn’t disappointed.”
She looked up and saw Yan Wei in the mirror.
The silence continued, but no one spoke. A strange atmosphere lingered around them. The brandy pheromones almost filled the elevator.
She pursed her dry lips. She had clearly taken a preventive suppressor this morning, but at this moment, in the same space with Yan Wei, her glands were producing that tingling sensation again.
There was a dangerous sweetness in the confined space.
The elevator numbers slowly climbed. Jiang Mi stared at the constantly changing red fluorescence.
Past seventeen, eighteen.
Past nineteen.
Finally, it stopped on the twentieth floor.
The rain outside had stopped, but the cold wind was still blowing.
In the corridor, the two of them walked slowly forward.
Jiang Mi always looked down at Yan Wei’s ankle. The light was not clear, and she was always worried that Yan Wei, wearing high heels, would aggravate the wound.
“Are you okay?”
“How about… I carry you on my back?”
Yan Wei didn’t speak. Apart from the sound of the wind, it seemed that nothing else could be heard, so oppressive that it made one’s heart beat faster.
With a “beep,” the door opened.
Yan Wei entered first, and Jiang Mi followed behind. Actually, she shouldn’t have entered, but she felt that she shouldn’t leave Yan Wei alone here before the doctor arrived.
If there was anything she needed, she could still help.
Jiang Mi closed the door behind her. “Teacher Yan, when is your private doctor…”
The brandy pheromones suddenly approached, making Jiang Mi choke. She took a step back, and her back naturally pressed against the door.
The lights in the room were not on, only borrowing the lights from outside to cast a hazy dimness on a corner of the room.
“Jiang Mi.”
“Hmm?”
“I can’t wait for her anymore.”
Jiang Mi’s heart thumped heavily. She responded in a low voice, “Then let’s go to the hospital?”
She felt Yan Wei’s damp, brandy-scented breath on her face. She lifted her eyes, took a slight breath, and heard that low, seductive whisper:
“You help me.”
