Chapter 29: The Kiss of Despair

Alcohol provides a pretext for madness, and a reason for courage.

After a two-hour surgery, having confirmed that Chu Ci was out of danger and having seen to the necessary arrangements, Lu Huaining hurried back from the hospital to the seaside villa as night fell. The briny sea breeze poured in, awakening the dormant instincts within him.

Xue Zuining had vanished like a ghost, leaving no trail for anyone to follow. Finding her abandoned phone in the room, Lu Huaining pushed open the floor-to-ceiling window. His deep, dark gaze pierced into the night, more striking than obsidian.

"You mischievous cat," he murmured. "I know you’ve hidden yourself away in avoidance. Guess whether, when I find you again, I might also be able to retrieve that heart of yours that you’re so afraid of."

Simultaneously, in a different space, Xue Zuining’s slightly intoxicated eyes rested quietly on the rich-colored liquid in her glass. In a daze, the corners of her lips, stained by the alcohol, curled into a smile that was not quite a smile. Was she drunk? She shouldn't be. Otherwise, why would those haunting conversations still be echoing in her mind?

So, the man had known all along that her feigned docility was merely for the sake of revenge. All his gentleness and concessions had been nothing more than a performance to match her own act. In this one-woman show she had written and directed, he was not just an audience member, but the mastermind who had turned defeat into victory.

"Heh..." Xue Zuining looked at her own disheveled reflection on the surface of the glass and let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Xue Zuining, oh Xue Zuining, it turns out you were the most ridiculous fool in this play all along..."

The door, left slightly ajar, was suddenly pushed open. The abrupt light caused the person hiding in the dark corner to instinctively lower her head, as if desperate to escape this chaotic world.

The man’s silent footsteps trod through the darkness, slowly yet firmly encroaching. Xue Zuining’s gaze followed the line of his straight trousers as she slowly looked up. When her alcohol-drenched eyes finally landed on his backlit face, she suddenly raised her hand and drained the remaining wine in her glass.

The man’s gaze lingered on her flushed cheeks for a long time. When he learned from the surveillance footage that she hadn't left, he had been convinced that he would be the winner in this game of cat and mouse. He just hadn't expected to find this little drunken cat in the villa's wine cellar.

"Hey, why do you keep looking at me? That’s rude..." The drunken cat sniffed lazily. As he crouched down, she suddenly hugged the red wine bottle to her chest and shouted, "This is mine! Don't you dare grab it!"

"It’s yours, it’s all yours." Lu Huaining didn't know whether to laugh or be angry. Seeing how drunk she was—to the point of not recognizing him—he tried to coax the bottle from her arms. "Be good, give me the bottle, and I'll find you something even better."

"No... there’s nothing better here. Come, let me tell you a secret: I drank all of that man’s most precious wine..." The drunken cat licked her lips, still unsatisfied, and reached out to touch the man’s stiff expression. "Oh, are you angry? Then bite me."

"Xue—Zui—Ning. Do you have any idea what you’re saying?" Lu Huaining stared at the woman, who was too intoxicated to tell north from south. Seeing her ignore him and proceed to pour more wine into her goblet, he darkened his face and tried to stop her unsteady movements, only to see her smilingly offer the glass to him.

So obedient? He stared at her, but the very next second, the woman’s bold declaration shattered the foolish question in his mind.

"Come, drink this glass of Erguotou, and we’ll be friends."

The maddening effect of the alcohol had completely upended Xue Zuining’s nature. Much of the wine spilled as she shook the glass, the cold liquid splashing onto her fingertips. She blinked in annoyance, dropped the glass, and pressed both hands onto the man’s shoulders before letting out a hiccup. "Stop moving... you're making me dizzy."

Lu Huaining’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Gritting his teeth, he said coldly, "I am not moving. You are drunk."

"Who says I'm drunk?" To prove her sobriety, Xue Zuining withdrew her hands from his shoulders and stood up, swaying as she braced herself against the wall. A movement of her foot knocked over a wine bottle, but she ignored it, shaking her head as she muttered to herself, "Today... *hic*... to welcome a friend from afar, I have decided to perform a piece for everyone: The Drunken Concubine."

She turned around, swaying, and suddenly collided with Lu Huaining, who had also stood up. She tilted her head, staring at his face for a long time, then narrowed her eyes as if she had finally recognized him. Her delicate nose wrinkled. "Lu Huaining, why are you here?"

"I was here all along." Lu Huaining watched the drunken cat’s bizarre performance in silence. Seeing her stagger backward, he reached out to clasp her waist, his voice deep and stern. "Enough. Stand still for me."

"You're being mean to me..." Xue Zuining looked at the blurred face before her, her eyes suddenly reddening. When the man gently picked her up and she buried her head deep into his broad embrace, her tears soaked his shirt. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered faintly, "I'm sorry..."

She curled up quietly against his chest. With every step he took, he could feel their breathing and heartbeats synchronized. Lu Huaining carried her back to the bedroom and reached out to brush aside her messy hair. He stood up to fetch a damp towel to wipe her face, but then he heard a sudden change in the words she had been murmuring in her trance.

"...I'm sorry, Chen Sang, I'm sorry..."

Three seconds later, the person who had been quietly buried in the soft covers was suddenly thrown off the bed by a surge of fury. Her body, overtaken by alcohol, was dragged by an enraged hand toward the bathroom, stumbling as she went. Xue Zuining struggled with half-opened eyes, only for the man to grab her wrists and pin them behind her back.

"Damn it, I’ll let you think of him! I’ll let you keep dwelling on him!" Lu Huaining shouted viciously, pushing her under the shower. He turned the temperature to the far right and flipped the switch. Instantly, a torrent of cold water poured down, drenching both the drunken cat and himself to the bone.

The sudden deluge of cold water made Xue Zuining’s teeth chatter, her stomach churning with discomfort. She cried out, begging him to let her go, but she was pinned firmly against the wall by his overwhelming strength.

"Xue Zuining, open your eyes and look at me clearly—who exactly am I?" Lu Huaining gripped her jaw coldly. But the only answer he received was her dazed gaze. His hawk-like eyes, usually as still as an ancient pool, were now burning red. He roared hoarsely, "What is so good about him? So good that you can't see my devotion at all? I knew you were lying to me, yet I indulged everything you did, thinking that perhaps that way I could keep you by my side forever. You faked amnesia, you conspired with doctors, using the excuse of a hemorrhage to stop me from touching you—fine. I gave in to all of it. But why, damn it, do you keep using that man to trample on my heart over and over again?" He released her, dejected. "Tell me, is it that no matter what I do, you will never see me? I’m the one who’s fucking pathetic."

Just as he turned away in heartbreak, Xue Zuining, who had been sliding down the wall as her support vanished, moved instantly to stand before him. She raised her hands to hook around his neck and kissed him desperately with her wet, chilled lips.