Chapter 1166: Chapter 7: Momentary Darkness
Ren Ziling took the lead, found a spot to drink milk tea, and sat down—at home, she could hardly get any junk food, the high-sugar, high-calorie kind, basically non-existent in any place at home where things could be hidden.
But after turning thirty, Mammy Ren had pletely let herself go and wasn’t too concerned about her figure, and happily ordered a large cup of caramel flavor.
Akiko paid the bill.
Ren Ziling’s professional gossip instincts kicked in immediately. Instead of sympathizing with this dancing girl, she was frustrated by her choices, “What, you two got together after just a few days? My god, can you really believe in this kind of love at first sight in a foreign land? Girl, you are too young. Haven’t you considered the possibility that he might just be toying with you?”
“He… he’s not that kind of person.”
Ren Ziling shook her head, feeling it necessary to give this kid a wake-up call from a woman’s perspective… however, this girl truly seemed infatuated. She went through great lengths to find a scumbag, traveling all this way to a place where she knew no one, having exhausted her money, not finding the person, and resorting to sleeping on the streets, relying on her little talents to earn a living on the street. Even so, she didn’t think about leaving, and that was truly not easy.
Watching the girl’s worried and heartbroken appearance, Ren Ziling couldn’t help but inwardly sigh.
At this moment, Akiko quietly beckoned her to e over—Ren Ziling frowned, excused herself to the girl, and went over to Akiko.
“Sister Ren, what do you plan to do about this person?”
“I’m still thinking.” Ren Ziling pondered: “How about we help her?”
Akiko said, “How can we help… this kind of situation is quite mon, isn’t it? Once she realizes the reality, she’ll naturally go back. We really can’t do much, after all, it’s a matter of emotions.”
Ren Ziling said, “That’s true. But this young lady doesn’t even have a place to stay right now. Can you really bear to just watch?”
Akiko hesitated and said, “But… but what if it’s some kind of new scam? I heard scams these days are very sophisticated and deeply rooted?”
Ren Ziling chuckled, “It’s good to be cautious. But you also have to look at the person… I bet there’s always a man somewhere who’d pay for this woman. With her qualifications, she could easily earn money doing something else. Moreover, even if it is a scam, they wouldn’t choose to deceive us, would they? What’s there to cheat me out of, my monthly salary can’t even cover a hot pot meal after deductions, right?”
“But… but I still think it’s better to be cautious.”
Ren Ziling patted her on the shoulder, suddenly saying, “What if it’s true? If it is, then this child’s journey here to find her love is a story worth pursuing. Furthermore, if the man isn’t really a scumbag but has some unspoken difficulties, it’d be a story that catches people’s eyes, especially for you young girls.”
Akiko was stunned, “Sis Ren, are you running out of article ideas and seeing stories everywhere…”
Ren Ziling gently grabbed Akiko’s shoulder, “What did you say? I couldn’t hear you clearly?”
Feeling the grip on her shoulder tightening, Akiko promptly shut her mouth.
Ren Ziling switched to a gentle pat, “It’s decided then!”
…
“I… should I just leave?”
The girl looked slightly uneasy at the relatively simple yet extremely clean house and said to Ren Ziling, who had warmly brought her here, “There’s really no need to trouble you… I retrieved the money from earlier, I can find a hostel.”
“Small places like that are even less safe.” Ren Ziling waved her hand, “No worries, there are not many people at my home, just me and my son living together.”
Ren Ziling continued to organize her bag without lifting her head.
“Your son?” The girl was somewhat surprised and gaped slightly.
“My ex-husband’s son.” Ren Ziling shrugged, very nonchalant.
“And… and your husband?” The girl seemed even more puzzled by the relationship.
Ren Ziling said calmly, “A few years ago, he died unexpectedly.”
“I’m sorry.” The girl whispered.
Ren Ziling shrugged, “Kid, if you’re going to stay at my place, even if just temporarily, you have to follow the rules… and the rule at my place is not to talk about unhappy things.”
“And… and your son?” The girl looked at the time, it was almost ten o’clock in the evening.
“He’s probably ing back soon?” Ren Ziling said casually, “My son has a rather eccentric personality and doesn’t talk much, but he recently started dating… Ah, speaking of, this cheeky kid hasn’t brought his girlfriend home in a while, I wonder how their relationship is… Ahaha, sorry, enough about that. So, shall we talk about your situation instead? I’m not much good at other things, but I do have a knack for finding people. Tell me about your boyfriend?”
The girl nodded and began to fall silent, seemingly recalling something.
“His name… is John.” At this moment, she looked at the unlit phone screen, gently caressing it with her fingers, speaking softly, “He’s very gentle, doesn’t talk much usually, but whenever he speaks, he unknowingly draws attention. Yes, he’s also very quiet usually, as if nothing can upset him, and it seems like he understands everything. We met during an accident. We both ended up in a very cold place…”
“A very cold place? An accident?” Ren Ziling asked curiously, “Skiing?”
“It was a cold storage room.” The girl smiled slightly, “Although it sounds a bit unbelievable, there were some rather plicated reasons.”
“Hmm… not that strange.” Ren Ziling shrugged, “Weird things happen a lot these days. Speaking of which, just the other day I… never mind, continue.”
The girl nodded, “Before that, I didn’t really know him, and I felt a bit resistant to him. However, being in the cold storage room, it instead made me feel very reassured. It felt like as long as he was there, nothing bad would happen.”
Ren Ziling said, “In times of danger, it’s easy to develop feelings of dependence. Between men and women, going through life and death situations easily sparks emotions… maybe it’s not really love?”
“Perhaps.” The girl sighed, “Actually, I’m not that sure either, maybe you’re right.”
“What happened afterward?” Ren Ziling asked, “Did you two get along well?”
The girl gently looked up, sometimes smiling, sometimes looking bitter, “We… we had a pretty good time together. I thought those days would last. But unexpectedly, one day, John suddenly disappeared. No matter how I searched, I couldn’t find him. I tried everything, and finally found out he was from this city.”
“Didn’t you ever think this guy, this John was just playing around?” Ren Ziling couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows.
The girl looked down, quietly stroking her belly, and said softly, “No matter what… there are things I need to let him know. At the very least… I need an answer.”
Seeing the girl’s action, Ren Ziling internally exclaimed “holy shit”… Mammy Ren, having seen so much, couldn’t fail to understand the implication of this girl’s action!
“How many… how many months?”
“Over two months now…”
“Don’t worry.” Ren Ziling suddenly grasped the girl’s hand, “As long as this scum… um, as long as he’s still in this city, I’ll definitely find him for you!”
“Thank you, Ms. Ren.” The girl said gratefully, “I, I really don’t know how to thank you. It’s so great to meet you.”
“Stop with the Ms. Ren already, just call me by my name? Or you can call me Sister, since I’m a few years older than you.” Ren Ziling smiled, “Song Ying, right? Then I’ll just call you Little Ying.”
“Hmm…” The girl… Little Ying nodded.
The sound of a door opening.
“Oh, it should be my kid back home now.” Ren Ziling stood up suddenly, as if she remembered something, and said, “Don’t be too surprised, my son is a bit older.”
Little Ying nodded.
Ren Ziling walked to the door in slippers, “Kid, you’re finally back? Where have you been fooling around? Also, when are you going to bring my future daughter-in-law here? I haven’t seen her in ages, you’re killing me!”
Luo Qiu frowned—not because of Ren Ziling’s words, but because he saw the girl behind Ren Ziling.
“Oh… Let me introduce you.” Ren Ziling turned around at this point, “This child is Song Ying. She ran into some trouble, so I plan to let her stay here for a few days. You don’t mind, right?”
Little Ying’s face changed slightly when she saw Luo Qiu. She quickly covered her mouth with her small hand, tears streaming down her face, as she said in a hoarse voice, “John… John, is it really you? Am I dreaming?”
Let’s take a moment to review the scene.
Ren Ziling’s mouth hung slightly open, and it wasn’t fixed; rather, the opening gave a feeling like it would drop open any minute.
She pointed to Little Ying with a trembling hand, then her neck stiffly turned around, her trembling hand pointing at Luo Qiu, eyes wide open, “He, he, he’s very gentle, doesn’t talk much, very… very quiet… my goodness!!! You are that jerk?!! And using a fake name??”
Luo Qiu: “?”
Little Ying suddenly rushed over and jumped at Luo Qiu, seemingly with too much force, pushing them outside the doorway.
Song Ying whispered, “Play along with me, it’s about your father.”
Luo Qiu lightly furrowed his brow.
…
…
Ren Ziling paced anxiously back and forth in the living room, periodically glancing toward the balcony—the sliding door was locked, so she couldn’t hear whatever Luo Qiu and Song Ying were talking about, only seeing their actions.
Luo Qiu had his back turned, pletely blocking Song Ying… But she seemed to have her mouth covered, her body trembling slightly, appearing quite emotional.
“John… Luo Qiu… John… my son? Jerk?”
Ren Ziling was in a panic, “Oh my God… can it be that this kid, has secretly been smoking, drinking, and getting tattoos behind my back all these years, getting into bad habits? No, no, don’t scare yourself, no, no…”
“Ah… What do I do? The baby? What to do… Damn it?? Am I really going to be a grandma? A grandma? Hmm…”
…
Luo Qiu glanced at Ren Ziling’s appearance in the living room expressionlessly, and looked at Song Ying… Song Ying indeed covered her mouth, but it wasn’t for crying, she was trying hard to suppress her laughter.
“S-sorry, just couldn’t hold it in.” Song Ying giggled, “It’s not easy to see you look so dumbfounded… Even Song Haoran couldn’t make you do this, hahaha!!!”
Luo Qiu looked at Song Ying without speaking—in a sense, he was caught off guard.
Luo Qiu would never activate his boss abilities when returning home… Once he returned home, he pletely considered himself a mortal.
He withdrew awareness, withdrew all abilities, simply being someone as human as possible, pushing open the door of this house which still had over twenty years of a mortgage left.
Song Ying’s laughter gradually subsided, and she lowered her hand.
Looking at Luo Qiu’s expressionless face, she suddenly felt uncertain, and a strong sense of unease made her stammer, “I… I didn’t mean it, I, I just wanted to make a joke… You always seem so calm. I just wanted to see you surprised… I’m s-sorry, I’ll explain soon, don’t worry…”
Song Ying gradually couldn’t lift her head up.
Her fingers subconsciously gripped the corner of her clothing, seemingly really on the verge of tears, stammering, “I… I didn’t know… you, you won’t be mad, right?”
Too scary.
She never knew that this man, who was like a spring breeze in front of her grandfather, in front of the entire Song Family, and even in front of her before, could have such a face.
She also didn’t know that when she was scared, she could be so… weak, so humbling.
“As long as there’s no malice.” After a while, Luo Qiu finally opened his mouth to say.
When Song Ying looked up at Luo Qiu again, it seemed like that terrifying version of him was just an illusion… Once again, he was like the gentle spring breeze in the fields, so soft that it made one feel at ease.
That feeling where she instantly felt as insignificant as dust disappeared without a trace… But her heartbeat didn’t calm down.
“Sort yourself out first, at least make yourself look a little more relaxed.” Luo Qiu said indifferently, “That woman in the living room, her mind tends to wander.”
“You… you’re not mad anymore?”
Even though that feeling disappeared, Song Ying still felt unexplainably weak… This was unlike her usual strong demeanor—she couldn’t even explain it to herself.
“I said, as long as there’s no malice.” Luo Qiu looked at Song Ying, suddenly asking, “Leaving that aside, what did you just say… about my father?”
Song Ying seemed to find a good opportunity to ease the tension, quickly nodding, “Actually, the reason I’m here is because my grandfather sent me. We found out that your father’s death back then seems like it wasn’t an accident… It might have been man-made.”
Suddenly, the entire city plunged into plete darkness… As if the entire city power cut off in an instant.
Not just this city.
Looking from a satellite image, one would find vast lands, outside the lands, and even everything within this lunar night hemisphere, instantly shrouded in darkness… or enveloped by darkness.
In the darkness, Song Ying couldn’t see Luo Qiu’s face… But she had a feeling that his expression just now was something he didn’t want others to see.
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