Chapter 85: Like a White Butterfly Part 2

A few minutes later, the same number called again. Ming Li recalled recent news about scammers using voice samples for AI fraud.

This time she didn’t make a sound, planning to blacklist the number if no one spoke within a few seconds.

But two seconds later, a voice came through the receiver. “A-Li.”

It was Gu Qingshuang’s voice.

She sounded drunk, slurring her words as she called her name.

“Gu Qingshuang?” Ming Li confirmed.

“Mm,” the voice on the other end responded softly.

Then came a long silence. Ming Li didn’t know what to say to her. Her words yesterday had been devastatingly harsh; she had assumed Gu Qingshuang would never want to see or speak to her again for the rest of her life.

But once again, Gu Qingshuang defied her expectations.

Ming Li had thought she understood Gu Qingshuang fairly well. Now, it seemed she was unearthing a side of her that no one knew.

Was this why Shen Lideng had treated her that way?

For the first time, Ming Li truly understood the phrase: Pity her misfortune, yet rage at her weakness.

“Aren’t you asleep yet?” Gu Qingshuang finally spoke after three minutes of silence.

“So you realize how late it is,” Ming Li said.

“Sorry.”

“…”

Ming Li didn’t understand why they were having this meaningless conversation in the dead of night. She could tell Gu Qingshuang was in a terrible state just by the sound of her voice—lifeless, muddled, as if she had lost the courage to do anything at all.

But Ming Li didn’t have the strength to do anything more for her.

Just dragging herself out of the mire had exhausted all her energy.

She had to cut ties with Gu Qingshuang as quickly as possible. She didn’t want to be pulled back into the depths before she had even finished saving herself.

“Is this your new number?” Ming Li asked.

Gu Qingshuang paused. “It’s my old one.”

The number she had used since her student days, though it hadn’t been active for a long time.

“I’m blacklisting it,” Ming Li said. “Don’t call me again.”

Gu Qingshuang froze. On the other end of the line, there was a sudden clatter—the sound of wine bottles being knocked over and rolling across the floor.

“Why?” Gu Qingshuang asked. “Didn’t you say your feelings for me are in the past? Why can’t we be friends?”

Her voice was heavy, so heavy it felt suffocating. Just listening to it felt like drowning in sorrow.

Ming Li felt her emotions being manipulated by her again.

“There is no ‘why’,” Ming Li said.

She hung up and immediately blacklisted the number.

Lying back in bed, Gu Qingshuang’s raspy, broken voice echoed in Ming Li’s mind. She sounded so miserable.

But what could Ming Li do?

She couldn’t save a shattered Gu Qingshuang.

She couldn’t go back to the past, nor did she want to.

…

In the darkness, Gu Qingshuang sat surrounded by empty bottles, clutching her phone tightly.

When she tried to call Ming Li again, there was only the busy signal.

Ming Li had blocked her again.

Gu Qingshuang didn’t understand. Had she done something wrong?

The alcohol clouded her mind. She wanted to ask for a clear explanation, to try and pull her relationship with Ming Li back to its starting point.

But that task was too difficult.

Long ago, Gu Qingshuang had understood that those who leave never return, and broken relationships can rarely be mended.

She simply refused to admit it.

the room was too dark and too cold.

Gu Qingshuang curled up against the foot of the bed, closing her eyes as a single tear fell.

She had tried her best not to form emotional attachments. Love was a fragile, ethereal thing that only led to pain.

She didn’t want to hurt others, and she didn’t want to be hurt herself.

So why had she allowed a tether to form?

Should she… should she cut this connection today?

Just as Ming Li said—let her go, and let herself go.

Gu Qingshuang knew she was sick. She was deeply ill and had been for a very long time.

A sick person should stay in their own territory. Why did she keep going out to disturb others?

How wicked, Gu Qingshuang thought.

She shouldn’t have made that call.

She shouldn’t have sought out Ming Li after drinking, especially after Ming Li had said such cruel things.

Thinking this, Gu Qingshuang raised her hand and slapped herself across the face.

“Don’t do it again, Gu Qingshuang,” she muttered to the empty room. “Stop doing things that make people hate you.”

“You are already loathsome enough.”

Gu Qingshuang suddenly covered her eyes with her hands. She should have locked herself in this room from the beginning, never allowing anyone to enter this cage.

The next day, Gu Qingshuang didn’t go to work. She stayed in bed for half the day before finally rising to see the scattered bottles. She gathered them into trash bags, threw her laundry into the machine, showered, and changed into fresh clothes before heading out.

In the depths of the previous night, Gu Qingshuang had decided to abandon this fledgling connection and return to her own darkness.

She didn’t have much to do today, so she bought two bouquets of flowers to visit Liu Siwang and Chun Liuyi on set.

Before leaving, she messaged Liu Siwang for the address and asked if she needed anything brought over.

Liu Siwang: [Nothing. Just come. I’ll buy you dinner.]

Gu Qingshuang: [Okay.]

Gu Qingshuang drove down the road, her car playing a random song.

A gentle, soothing female voice sang:

“Fire a shot into my heart with all your might… let everything return to zero in that great roar.”

Gu Qingshuang thought: Everything between Ming Li and me has returned to zero. It’s completely over.

For some reason, the thought made her heart throb with a sharp, localized pain.

It felt as though someone were kneeling on her chest, grinding her heart into the dirt until she couldn’t breathe.

It was a feeling she had never experienced before.

It was unfamiliar territory, but Gu Qingshuang told herself it wouldn’t happen again.

As long as she decided to let go, she could move on quickly.

After all, her life could continue just fine without Ming Li.

When she arrived at the set, Liu Siwang’s assistant came to meet her. As Gu Qingshuang followed the assistant, her gaze suddenly caught someone nearby, and her footsteps faltered.

Within the carefully crafted scenery of the set, Ming Li was dressed in a white gauze dress, dancing gracefully. She looked like a pure, white butterfly.