Chapter 53 Let's Move

The room temperature was set at twenty-six degrees Celsius—the most comfortable for a person. Jiang Yao's brows knitted faintly as she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Ye Yiyi's delicate and charming face.

“Yao, you’re awake!”

Propping herself up, Jiang Yao looked around and realized she was lying in her own bed.

“What happened to me?” she asked softly, rubbing her aching head.

“You fainted,” Ye Yiyi replied with a gentle sigh. “Cheng Yanchi took you to the hospital and had a full check-up done, but in the end, nothing was found. The doctor couldn’t pinpoint any cause and could only suggest you come home and rest for a while.”

Jiang Yao shook her head, feeling a heavy weight inside her skull. Her mind still lingered on the moment before she passed out in the rain.

“Where’s Cheng Yanchi? And...” Jiang Yao stopped mid-sentence.

Ye Yiyi understood what she meant. “Oh, those two—Cheng Yanchi and He Yunqing—whenever they’re together, it’s either arguing or fighting. They were disturbing your rest, so I chased them out earlier.”

“Yiyi, about He Yunqing...”

“You don’t need to say it, I already understand,” Ye Yiyi leaned in, resting her chin in her hands as she looked at Jiang Yao. “Actually, I overheard He Yunqing and Irene outside the door that day. I already guessed most of it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Ye Yiyi said sincerely. “Yao, whether you believe it or not, I’m not angry with you at all. You must have had your reasons for not telling me certain things. I just didn’t expect that He Yunqing had done something like that in the past.”

She sighed. “Yao, do you really hate He Yunqing now?”

Did she hate him?

Jiang Yao had wondered: if He Yunqing hadn’t been there back then, would her fate have taken a different course?

She gave a bitter smile and shook her head. “Even if He Yunqing hadn’t been there, my days probably wouldn’t have been much better. The one I should really hate is the person who hurt me then. To project my hatred onto someone else would be the act of a coward.”

“So you don’t blame him at all?” Ye Yiyi was surprised. “Then why...”

“Of course I blame him.” Jiang Yao coughed lightly.

She blamed his guilt.

Even in her darkest days, Jiang Yao refused to use her experiences to win anyone’s sympathy. No matter what she’d been through, she always saw herself as equal to others.

She despised being looked at with pity.

Especially by He Yunqing.

He Yunqing, who only felt guilt and sympathy toward her.

When had she started expecting something from this man? She hated even more this wishful hope she harbored.

“How foolish of me, isn’t it?” Jiang Yao asked softly.

Ye Yiyi hugged her tightly. “If you’re a fool, then I’ll be foolish with you.”

Jiang Yao loved the fresh scent of jasmine Ye Yiyi always carried. She smiled gently. “Yiyi, let’s move house.”

A few days later, deep into the night.

After several busy days out of town, He Yunqing finally returned.

As usual, he took a bottle of milk, stood out on the balcony, and let the chilly night wind brush his face. He sipped gently from the bottle.

The light next door was off.

No sounds came from within.

The girl who used to sit on the balcony, braving the cold wind and drinking chilled beer, was gone.

He knew she would never appear here again.

Everything returned to its quiet state, as if nothing had ever happened.

He turned his head, gazing silently at the chair where she used to sit. In a haze, he could almost see her there, taking bold gulps of icy beer, a satisfied smile curling on her lips.

The vision vanished a heartbeat later.

He gave a faint, bitter smile.

Never before had the large room felt so empty.

He took out his phone and stared at Jiang Yao’s number in his contacts for a long time. In the end, he didn’t call—just slid the phone back into his pocket.

He glanced down at the bottle of milk in his hand.

Turning back, he set it aside, opened the fridge, and took out a can of cold beer.

Irene’s words echoed in his ears: “After a while, maybe you won’t even know what it is anymore...”

His eyes grew darker as he raised his head, his throat working as he drained the beer in one go, just as she used to.

Though she’d said she was moving with Ye Yiyi, in truth, only Jiang Yao had moved.

Ye Yiyi had joined the cast of a new show and was living with other actors, rarely coming home.

Jiang Yao was once again living alone.

Her life seemed to return to its old rhythm—work, then home, stealing moments to visit Aunt Qin and Chen Shu in secret.

She hadn’t seen He Yunqing for a long, long time.

The world was strange that way: when someone is a stranger, they appear everywhere in your life. But once you accept them into your world, they vanish without a trace.

Jiang Yao understood that she and He Yunqing were people from two different worlds. Their brief crossing was just a fleeting misalignment—they would ultimately return to their own paths.

“Ten Miles of Spring Wind” was as lively as ever.

Jiang Yao worked her usual part-time shift there.

She’d picked up another job too, for the extra income and for Ye Yiyi’s sake.

“Yao,” called Manager Zhao, seeing her lost in thought over a glass, “a guest in one of the private rooms ordered a ‘Murder on a Rainy Night.’ Take it to them.”

Jiang Yao snapped back to herself and began making the cocktail. “Manager Zhao, I’m a bartender.”

“So what? Bartenders can deliver drinks too. The guest asked for you by name. In this business, the last thing we want is to offend a customer. Go on, maybe you’ll get a nice tip out of it.”

Jiang Yao could only shake her head, pick up the finished cocktail, and head to the designated room.

In this world of neon and shadows, all rules seemed blurred.

She had seen it all and had learned to adapt.

At the door, Jiang Yao knocked softly, then carefully entered, setting the drink down on the table.

“Your drink. Please enjoy.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me after just a few days.” The familiar, magnetic voice sounded from above.

Jiang Yao froze, instinctively looking up—and fell straight into He Yunqing’s deep, unfathomable eyes.

In the dim light, the contours of his face were even sharper and more defined. His naturally cold and handsome features now carried a hint of mystery.

He seemed thinner than before, yet somehow more elegant, more striking than ever.