"What's wrong?" Liang Shi glanced at Liang Wanwan, who had already passed out drunk, and went over to help her up.
Chen Mian didn't even offer to lend a hand.
“She’s had too much to drink,” Chen Mian said.
Liang Shi: "..."
“I know,” Liang Shi couldn’t help but retort. “I can see it. I asked why you got drunk? Were you bullied at school? Or for some other reason? And what are you doing? You’re fine, aren’t you? Why did you have to make me pick you up?”
“You’re her older sister,” Chen Mian said.
Liang Shi: "..."
“You can ask her about the rest.” Chen Mian put one hand in her pocket. “I won’t see her again after this.”
Liang Shi asked in surprise, "You two had a fight? Because of school?"
She did know that the two had collaborated at school; Liang Wanwan had mentioned it to her once before.
"No." Chen Mian pursed her lips slightly, but still didn't say anything.
Liang Shi looked puzzled, but knew he couldn't get anything out of Chen Mian, so he simply took Liang Wanwan and left.
Chen Mian always had a cold and indifferent demeanor, with little expression.
She was like that when we first met.
But today, she gave Liang Shi the feeling that she was deliberately avoiding something.
It was later discovered that she had never looked at Liang Wanwan once throughout the entire ordeal.
Liang Shi took Liang Wanwan home, and then on the way to Xu Qingzhu's company, he bought mango pomelo sago and a cake to pick up Xu Qingzhu. Downstairs, he also ran into Sally and Lin Luoxi, and by the way... he also got their invitations.
The date was set for the day before the Lunar New Year.
Liang Shi looked them over and smiled, "Congratulations."
Sally patted her on the shoulder: "You must come then!"
Married women cannot be bridesmaids; Xu Qingzhu and Liang Shi can only be guests.
On the way back, Xu Qingzhu inserted a straw, held the cup and drank. After walking for a while, she remembered to ask, "Where's Wanwan?"
“She got drunk,” Liang Shi said. “I put her in the second bedroom.”
“She doesn’t look like an alcoholic child. What happened?” Xu Qingzhu asked.
Liang Shi shook his head: "I know nothing about it."
After a moment, Liang said, "But I feel it's related to Chen Mian."
Chen Mian's attitude was strange.
After Liang Shi returned home, she received a message from Chen Mian: "Did Gu Xingyue let me hear 'The Lonely Bird Syndrome'?"
Liang Shi hesitated, unsure how to reply, and then put the matter aside.
However, while she was chatting with Xu Qingzhu, her phone vibrated slightly.
Xu Qingzhu thought it was hers, but when she took it over, she saw Chen Mian's new message.
Chen Mian: [Have you met Qi Jiao?]
Chen Mian: [Did Qi Jiao make me listen to "Lonely Bird Syndrome"?]
Chen Mian: [Where did you see Qi Jiao?]
Xu Qingzhu read it to Liang Shi.
Liang Shi asked her to reply: 【Qi Jiao has passed away.】
But Chen Mian replied: "Where have you seen her before? Take me there."
//
Chen Mian is a very stubborn person.
After returning home, Liang Shi spoke with Chen Mian on the phone.
Liang Shi asked Chen Mian why she was so sure that it was Qi Jiao who said it, and Chen Mian said that she had a dream.
In her dream, someone was running a shop. The shop was decorated with blooming flowers and had a blue signboard. Qi Jiao was standing at the door.
Qi Jiao was smiling gently, and the person standing opposite her was Liang Shi.
Chen Mian was the first person to dare to come and question Liang Shi based solely on a dream.
But Liang Shi simply couldn't fabricate lies to deceive her.
Because this dream is real.
The sign for "The Deep Sea Never Sleeps" is indeed blue, Qi Jiao does indeed own a flower shop, and Liang Shi has indeed met her.
After thinking for a long time, Liang Shi replied, "Qi Jiao has gone to another world."
Chen Mian then asked, "How can I get to that world?"
Liang Shi paused, then said helplessly, "I can't go."
The system says that repairs to the dimensional world are underway, and the portal to another dimension has been closed.
And she will no longer travel between the two worlds.
After a long silence on the other end, Chen Mian asked, "Is she doing well?"
“Very good,” Liang Shi replied.
Chen Mian only asked about this matter. She didn't ask why Liang Shi was able to go to that world, nor did she ask why Liang Shi knew these things. The only thing she was interested in was Qi Jiao.
After hanging up the phone, Liang Shi still felt somewhat lost.
Xu Qingzhu asked her what was wrong, and she shook her head and smiled, "Sometimes I feel that fate is too cruel."
Lovers may never be able to be together.
Xu Qingzhu laughed at her for being sentimental, and Liang Shi didn't say anything.
The next day, after waking up, Liang Wanwan left a note apologizing and thanking everyone before leaving.
However, Liang Wanwan wrote in the note that Liang Xinran was going to enter the entertainment industry, and told Liang Shi to be careful and not to run into her.
Liang Shi then messaged Liang Wanwan, asking if something had happened at school.
Liang Wanwan replied: 【Yes, there were some, but it wasn't serious, and it's all gone now.】
Liang Shi: [That's good.]
At that moment, Liang Wanwan was standing on the school playground when she suddenly squatted down, buried her head in her knees, and burst into tears.
Her unrequited love ended in this desolate winter.
The moment a crush is spoken, it is destined to perish.
Chen Mian therefore blocked her on WeChat, added her phone number to the blacklist, and even withdrew from the project she was working on with her mentor, cutting ties cleanly and without leaving any room for negotiation.
Her words kept echoing in Liang Wanwan's mind: "I have someone I like."
“I know,” Liang Wanwan said. “It’s Qi Jiao, right? I don’t mind.”
After drinking too much, Liang Wanwan mustered up her courage and revealed her true feelings, "I can wait for you to forget her and move on."
"I won't forget," Chen Mian said.
Liang Wanwan tugged at her sleeve, "Then...can you treat me like her?"
Chen Mian stared directly at her, her gaze icy and devoid of any warmth.
“You don’t need to compromise,” Chen Mian said. “We’re not a good match.”
Chen Mian pulled her hand away.
After that, Liang Wanwan forgot how much she had drunk, right after Chen Mian left.
One cup after another, he drank until he passed out drunk.
She didn't know how she got to Liang Shi's house, but when she woke up, she found that Chen Mian had blocked her.
It was done too hastily.
It extinguished all of Liang Wanwan's love and extinguished all her hopes.
//
Chen Mian also drank all night at home and was drunk all night.
She listened to "Lonely Bird Syndrome" on repeat.
The canvas also depicts people who have remained unchanged for decades.
Chen Mian dreamed of Qi Jiao, the smiling Qi Jiao.
After waking up, it's all gone. The song "Lonely Bird Syndrome" ended with that lyric.
"A lone bird flies into the Milky Way and boards a ship"
Someone raised the sail
Someone stopped at the other end.
Chen Mian called Gu Xingyue like a madwoman, asking her if she had heard of "Lonely Bird Syndrome".
Gu Xingyue was taken aback and replied that she didn't.
The image of Qi Jiao from her dream kept appearing in Chen Mian's mind, so she called Liang Shi to confirm it.
Everything is true.
But it seems there's nothing we can do.
//
Liang Shi was unaware of the relationship between Chen Mian and Liang Wanwan.
I just found it strange.
When she asked Xu Qingzhu later, Xu Qingzhu also kept it a secret and wouldn't tell her, only saying that she was too dull.
Liang Shi: "..."