After that, the two changed the subject. After chatting for a few more minutes, Tang Yu asked Mu Xing about his purpose in coming to the casino. Knowing that Tang Yu had a connection with Zhang Derong, Mu Xing didn't hide anything from him and told him about Kudo Daiki. Hearing that it was related to Mr. Kudo, Tang Yu became interested, and the two went together to look for Kudo Daiki on the other side of the platform.
On the small viewing platform, Bai Yan had been restless ever since Mu Xing left. Young Master Sun kept talking about boring topics, making it unbearable for her, and she was too tired to keep up.
She thought bitterly to herself, and had to admit that Mu Xing had truly spoiled her. She no longer wanted to recall or use even the coping skills she once knew so well.
Finally, the first half of the match ended. Before she could speak, Young Master Sun suddenly said, "It's a bit stuffy in here. Why don't you come outside with me for a walk and get some fresh air, Miss Bai?"
Bai Yan readily agreed.
After half the game ended, the spectators crowded into the corridor, some to relieve themselves, others to buy snacks and drinks. Amid the commotion, Young Master Sun suddenly put an arm around Bai Yan's shoulder.
He leaned close to Bai Yan's ear and said, "Be careful not to squeeze."
The heavy weight pressed down on her, making Bai Yan feel awkward, but she could only pretend to walk forward naturally.
Just as she reached the exit in the center of the stadium, through layers of crowds, Mu Xing's figure suddenly caught Bai Yan's eye.
Mu Xing was talking to Tang Yu beside him and hadn't seen Bai Yan walking towards him yet, but Bai Yan felt inexplicably flustered.
She didn't want Mu Xing to see someone embracing her, and she didn't want Mu Xing to look down on her—even though she knew Mu Xing would never look down on her.
In the chaos, impulse overwhelmed reason. Young Master Sun was still talking when his hand suddenly went empty as Bai Yan turned and dodged to the side.
Unexpectedly, a vendor selling iced soda happened to walk by, and before she could dodge, Bai Yan crashed into the basket of iced soda!
"Crash!" A series of sounds of glass bottles shattering exploded in her ears. The colorful soda instantly soaked through Bai Yan's thin lace cheongsam and socks, and a chill crept over her body, revealing glimpses of her curves beneath the cheongsam.
The vendor yelled shrilly, "Are you blind?! You... this young lady, are you hurt?"
"Young Master!" The moment the glass bottle shattered, Young Master Sun's henchmen surrounded him, effectively creating a boundary around Bai Yan so that the onlookers could quickly pinpoint the source of the commotion.
A cacophony of voices surrounded her, and amidst the mess, Bai Yan stood frozen in place.
She tried to cover her soaked body, only to find that she had nothing to hide. The shards of glass scattered on the floor mercilessly reflected her predicament.
Just as shame and anger were about to overwhelm her, a warm coat was suddenly draped over her. Looking up, she met Mu Xing's icy face. Those dark eyes seemed to devour her.
Handing a banknote to the vendor, Mu Xing didn't even glance at the young master surrounded by people. With a cold face, he grabbed Bai Yan's hand and led her away.
With one hand clutching her coat over her shoulder, Bai Yan staggered slightly as she followed Mu Xing, her high heels clattering on the floor. She was about to tell Mu Xing to slow down, but Mu Xing had already slowed his pace, no longer as hurried as before.
The two walked on like that, one after the other, without saying a word.
After turning a corner, Mu Xing led Bai Yan straight into the nearest restaurant and booked a suite.
She walked silently into the suite, and after the waiter left, Mu Xing said, "Take care of this." Then she turned and left.
In her haste, Bai Yan reached out to pull her, but her fingertips barely brushed against Mu Xing's shirt, leaving a fleeting mark.
Mu Xing left in a hurry without looking back.
The sound of the door closing was swallowed by the carpet, leaving only silence in the room.
Looking down at her palm, Bai Yan pursed her lips and took off Mu Xing's coat. The coat originally had a faint fragrance, but it was now entangled with orange blossom perfume, instantly becoming hazy and ambiguous.
She sniffed the air almost greedily, then carefully folded her coat and placed it on the sofa before getting up and going into the bathroom.
Slowly wiping away the sticky soda stains from her body, Bai Yan returned to her room in her bathrobe. Looking at the stained cheongsam she had taken off, she felt a little worried.
She originally wanted to call the brothel and have a maid bring her clothes, but she didn't want to waste her breath explaining what had happened.
If her mother found out she had made such a fool of herself and left the guests stranded on the field…
She was just about to put on her dirty clothes when suddenly there was a knock on the door, and Mu Xing walked in again, covered in sweat and clutching a paper bag in his hand.
Bai Yan quickly went to greet her: "What happened to you...?"
Catching his breath, Mu Xing handed her the paper bag and said, "Inside are new clothes, including an outer shirt and an inner shirt, and... a menstrual belt."
Forgetting her shyness, Bai Yan quickly took out a clean handkerchief and wiped Mu Xing's sweat. Mu Xing didn't refuse, but just looked at her.
As she wiped, Bai Yan asked, "You just went to buy these?"
Mu Xing nodded: "It would have been fine to have the waitress buy it, but the main problem is that I'm worried she won't be able to find menstrual pads."
Menstrual belts were a novelty, and were only sold in certain foreign firms. The nearest one Bai Yan knew of was several streets away.
The thought of Mu Xing running off to buy these things for her made her nose sting with tears.
Before he could even wipe away his sweat, Mu Xing urged, "Go and change your clothes quickly, or you'll catch a cold and get a stomachache."
As she spoke, she got up to go out so that Bai Yan could change her clothes. But as soon as she turned around, Bai Yan suddenly reached out and hugged her from behind.
Two hands encircled each other's bodies, clasping tightly together. Curly hair playfully peeked into the collar, sending a shiver down their spines. Their bodies intertwined, their hearts colliding fiercely across their chests, so far apart, yet so close.
No one spoke, nor did anyone need to.
After a while, Mu Xing patted Bai Yan's hand and said softly, "Go change your clothes, be careful not to catch a cold."
Bai Yan nodded, she let go of her hand, the clasped hands separated from each other's palms, but then entwined at the fingertips, but finally let go.
After tidying up, Bai Yan stepped out of the inner room and smelled a sweet scent with a hint of spiciness.
"All changed?" Mu Xing was sitting on the sofa waiting. When she came out, he said, "I ordered you a cup of ginger tea, it can help warm you up."
As she spoke, she looked Bai Yan up and down for a while, and then smiled and said, "I had my eye on this cheongsam before, and it looks really good on you."
Although it was just a slight smile, it instantly dispelled all the bitterness in Bai Yan's heart, and she couldn't help but smile back.
Even the ginger tea seemed to taste sweeter.
Bai Yan sipped her tea, while Mu Xing watched quietly.
She had already said too much on the court, and originally intended to say less now, not wanting to seem too eager. But as she watched, she couldn't help but revert to her true nature.
"...It's not that I want to be nosy, but since you know you're not feeling well, don't be polite and drink soda. Saying something will do you good, and you won't offend anyone."
"Besides, what's so great about soda? It's been iced for so long, and it's full of foreign additives that are bad for your health. It's not just that it tastes bad, it's also inconsiderate. What I hate most is that it's clumsy and fussy; it's annoying just looking at it..."
In the end, it's clearly not about the soda, but about complaining about people.
Bai Yan lowered her head and sipped her ginger tea, unable to suppress a laugh. After Mu Xing finally finished rambling, she said softly, "You only know that soda is bad, but don't you know that casinos are even worse? Why would... Miss, come to a place like this? Aren't you afraid people will worry about you?"
Mu Xing looked at her and suddenly asked, "Who's worried? Are you worried?"
Bai Yan gave her a coquettish look and said in a low voice, "Since you know that, you should come to places like this less often."
After a moment of silence, Mu Xing changed the subject, saying, "For the past month or so, I've been preparing to change the pharmacy's business model. Do you remember what I told you before? Now I want to take control of the power myself."
"...I also found out that the old-fashioned Japanese man that Boss Zhang mentioned to me has a nephew. I want to use the nephew as a breakthrough to get close to that Japanese man. If I can get the prescription, I won't have to worry about further controlling the market."
Mu Xing talked on and on, and Bai Yan listened attentively, using both her ears and her heart.
Every word and phrase, without mentioning any emotion, reveals affection in every single sentence.
She heard Mu Xing clearly say that she was trying, that she was changing.
She remembered Mu Xing saying, "Wait for me, okay?" She had only taken that sentence as the end of giving up, but she never expected it to be the prelude to perseverance.
As they discussed their business plan, both of them became emotional.
Touching his nose, Mu Xing coughed and said, "Hurry up and drink it. I'll take you home after you're done."
Bai Yan drank silently, afraid that if she nodded, her tears would fall into the bowl.
Chapter 55
After everything was settled, Mu Xing and Bai Yan left the hotel.
As dusk approached, pedestrians strolled along the street in twos and threes. They didn't discuss any heavy topics, but chatted idly, walking side-by-side along the street, just as they had done countless times before.
"You just said your courtesy name is 'Xuanji'? Do your family members call you that too?" Bai Yan asked.
Mu Xing said, "Well, my original name was Mu Xuan, but my mother and the others called me 'A Xuan'. After I started my formal education, I changed my formal name to Mu Xing. Xuanji was a name given to me by my aunt."
Bai Yan nodded, thought silently for a while, and then suddenly said, "Ah Xuan."
Mu Xing casually replied.
Bai Yan then said, "Ah Xuan."
Mu Xing responded again, then turned and raised an eyebrow at Bai Yan. Bai Yan smiled back at her and said, "I'll call you Ah Xuan too, just like them."
Mu Xing smiled and said, "Then, in return, I will call you by your nickname from now on."
She was about to call Yan'er when Bai Yan interrupted, "Shu Wan, call me Shu Wan."
She said earnestly, word by word: "She Yu Shu, Ri Mian Wan, Shu Wan."
Mu Xing was taken aback, but immediately agreed, "Wan'er."
Bai Yan smiled and quickly responded.
The two had walked into an alley. The sky was darkening, and the golden light that suddenly appeared flowed through the alley. Bai Yan smiled, her joy as gentle as the evening breeze.
“A very good name,” Mu Xing said. “The moon rises bright and graceful. It has a peaceful and pleasant meaning.” She didn’t show it on her face, but her heart was pounding.
Shu Wan, Bai Shu Wan? Is this... Bai Yan's real name?
After hesitating for a moment, she asked somewhat reluctantly, "Shu Wan... is that your real name?" She was worried that bringing up the past would hurt Bai Yan's feelings.
Bai Yan did not show any sadness. She nodded and was about to speak when a low groan suddenly came from the deep alley.
The alley was deep and dark, making the groan sound particularly eerie.
Startled, Mu Xing immediately reached out to protect Bai Yan. Coming away from her joyful mood, she then noticed a faint, almost imperceptible, smell of blood in the air.
Another low, painful groan came, clearer than before, and it seemed to be a woman's voice.
Nervously clutching Mu Xing's clothes, Bai Yan whispered, "What's going on...? It looks like a woman?"
He patted Bai Yan's hand to comfort her, then turned to look at the alleyway not far behind him, feeling very conflicted.
The smell of blood and the groans clearly indicated that someone was injured, and her instinct as a healer prevented her from standing idly by. However, it was late, and in such a place, any rash action could be dangerous. If she were alone, it wouldn't be so bad, but with Bai Yan beside her, she dared not act impulsively.
With her thoughts racing, Mu Xing was about to tell Bai Yan to wait in a safe place when Bai Yan whispered, "Should we go and check on her? What if something happened to her..." Perhaps because she had experienced helplessness before, even knowing there might be danger, as a woman herself, she couldn't just turn around and leave.
After thinking for a moment, Mu Xing took Bai Yan's hand in return and whispered, "Stand behind me. If things don't look right, we'll leave quickly."
Bai Yan nodded.
Having made up their minds, the two held hands and walked breathlessly toward the source of the sound.
As they drew closer, their heavy, rapid breathing grew louder, the stench of blood lingered, and mottled bloodstains gradually appeared on the ground.