Ah Heng's Twitching Place is a place with lots of bowlegs, lots of cartoons, oh yes, and the sashimi you want.
Tom nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
Upon reaching the mountaintop, we soaked in the hot springs, where the temperature was approximately 49 degrees Celsius. Steam rose rapidly, creating a misty atmosphere.
Men and women bathed separately, separated by a bamboo door. When the wind blew, bamboo leaves fell straight into the pool.
Ah Heng poked his head out, and it took him quite a while to adjust to the temperature. Remembering his childhood memories of swimming, he stuck his head in, held his breath, and swam around in the water a few times.
It was cold on the mountain, and by evening, snowflakes started falling again.
As soon as Ah Heng went upstairs and put on her bathrobe, she heard ghostly howls and screams coming from the men's bath opposite her.
Boy, what's wrong? Are you okay?
Hey, your ear's wet! Don't cover it up so I can't take it out! Oh dear, young man, no, it's gotten wet!
Hey, don't faint!
Hey, wake up, wake up!
Ah Heng dashed across to the other side, and the old men and young men blushed and began to scream.
Ah Heng couldn't tell whether she was blushing or not amidst the clouds. She cleared her throat and said, "I'm a doctor."
Looking down at Yan hope, the child was wrapped in a large bath towel like a roast suckling pig, his face flushed.
In the blink of an eye, I asked Tom how long he had been soaking.
Tom shrank back into the pool, covering his private parts, saying he hadn't come out at all. He had just gotten a leg cramp from swimming, and we had just lifted him out. When we tried to take off his earplugs, he covered them and wouldn't let us, and then he fainted.
Ah Heng, her face pale, dragged Yan hope outside and began performing CPR.
Finally, he spat out two mouthfuls of water, coughed for a while, and woke up.
He was dazed, looking at her with his eyes fixed on her.
His gaze was clear, clean, and without any imperfections, yet it stung her eyes.
Ah Heng said, "Yan hope, are you even a man? You can faint even while taking a bath."
Yan hope said, "I just had a dream that I broke up with you. Isn't that funny? How could I possibly break up with you?"
Ah Heng's face turned green. Yan hope, don't pretend to have amnesia right under my nose.
She gritted her teeth and said, "If you dare say the breakup is fake, I'll beat you to death."
Yan hope closed his eyes and laughed, "Go ahead and beat me to death, I regret it."
He said, "I would rather the Wen family be ruined, I would rather save you alone, I would rather you be left with only me, I would rather force you to be with a cripple, than open my eyes and not see you again."
He said, "I regret it."
That's so... self-righteous.
Ah Heng's face darkened. "Yan hope, are you like Pigsy from Journey to the West? You're so fickle. When it comes to business, it's Young Master Lu; when it doesn't, it's the Wen family's daughter."
He scratched the blanket and said I regretted it.
Ah Heng said, "You fucking said you broke up, I heard it with both ears."
He squatted in the corner and said I regretted it.
Ah Heng said, "I told you, if you dare say the breakup is fake, I'll beat you to death."
He scratched at the wall and said, "I already said it, go ahead and beat me to death, I regret it."
Ah Heng sneered, "Yan hope, don't you even look at yourself now? Your ears are ruined, and who knows when you'll develop hysteria and triple personality disorder? You don't want to be a burden to me, do you? You're not afraid, but I'm afraid my son will be deaf."
Yan hope buried her face in the blanket, tears welling in her eyes. I know, but... I regret it. At worst, we won't have any more children, okay?
Ah Heng, you're so fierce. What do you say? Don't you love Lu Liu? For the past two years, everyone's been telling me that Yan hope loves Lu Liu. That's right, Wen Heng, you're just a shill.
Yan hope rolled around in bed, clutching the blanket, conflicted. "I was the one who had it sent," she thought, "I was afraid you wouldn't forget me. But I've secretly watched Lu Mojun drinking tea with you, and I've secretly watched Yun shopping with you. I regret it."
Ah Heng's forehead veins are bulging. Say it again.
Yan hope covered his head and said, "Just kill me, I regret it."
Ah Heng was so angry that he sat on the bamboo stool and didn't say a word for a long time.
She picked up the chess set on the bamboo table and said, "Yanxi, aren't you tired of living like this? All day long, from dawn till dusk, you're always looking for trouble, tormenting yourself and others, always ready to put on a show. Aren't you tired?"
She said, "How about this, you play a game of chess with me. If you beat me, I'll let you regret it. If you lose, get out of my sight from now on. How about that?"
Yan hope, holding the red flag, led the way, and the troops marched.
Ah Heng learned chess from her father since she was a child. It took her about ten years to go from consistently losing to consistently winning. Seven years ago, she played a game with Master Yan under the banyan tree. After forty moves, she went straight for the opponent's king and checkmated him in one move.
I can't speak for other things, but she has certainly put in a lot of effort in chess.
She walked away without making a sound.
After another twenty rounds, Yan hope began to sweat. Four-fifths of his pawns had been captured, both of his cannons were destroyed, and he had no elephants left. His situation was dire.
His fingers were pale, gripping the car tightly, his nerves taut.
Just as Gangzhi stepped back, Aheng spoke calmly, took the chopsticks, and said, "Eat."
eat.
eat.
eat.
In the end, only the lone general and his lone horse remained.
Half of the country has crumbled and will not recover in more than two steps.
Ah Heng looked at Yan hope with a calm and gentle gaze.
He remained silent, his throat tight, his fingers stiff and unable to move. Gazing at the chessboard, he struggled with his moves, until finally, he reached a dead end.
His black hair was soaked with sweat; he had lost his Ah Heng.
forever.
Ah Heng glanced at him, then smiled. Suddenly, she reached out, and the wide sleeves of her bathrobe swept across the chessboard, where a fierce battle ensued, and everything was destroyed.
She said, "I give up."
She said, "I'll allow you to regret it, just this once."
But there will never be a next time.
Chapter 99
99
Do you love me, besides Lu Liu and the Yan family?
……like.
—————Epigraph
In this world, there are always some people who get stuck in a hole and can't get out no matter what.
She wondered, what is it about you that I love?
Young and beautiful? But I'm only twenty-three years old this year.
Incredibly smart? Wen Heng, you've never ranked fourth in the whole school since elementary school.
An amazing family background? Go ask the Bei Wen family what their family background is like, if it weren't for the Lu family constantly spying on them.
Love at first sight? Yes, this... is mine alone, you don't have it.
She brushed the chess pieces off the board, smiled, and said, "I concede."
Let him experience being manipulated in the palm of your hand, but in the end, she admits defeat because, after all, she loves him.
She said, "Yanxi, I'll give you a month to think it over carefully. Do you want to be with me for the rest of your life?"
lifetime?
Yes, for a lifetime.
That night, they drank a lot of alcohol.
A cool breeze blew by, and she said, "You like me, don't you, Yan hope?"
The stunningly handsome man lowered his head and smiled faintly, saying, "What do you think?"
She was completely drunk, and gently hugged him, saying, "Yan hope, say something. Tell me you love Wen Heng, except for Lu Liu and the Yan family. Otherwise, I can't go on."
He looked into her eyes, thinking to himself, "How can there be such a foolish person in this world?"
He held her, whose steps were unsteady, and said, "I like Wen Heng."
She burst into tears like a child. "Yan hope, Yan hope, if you lie, may you be punished by being reborn as Pigsy in your next life, never to meet Gao Xiulan again."
He held her close to his chest, his arms rising and falling, and said, "Fine, my punishment is to never see Gao Aheng again."
She said, "Yanxi, do other people's love stories also feel this painful, like wanting to cry whenever they see rain or cloudy days?"
Yan hope's eyes were dark and bright, but he gently closed them, clenched his fist, and said, "Yes, we're all the same."
Ah Heng said, Tagore said, the furthest distance in the world is when I stand in front of you and you do not know that I love you. But I can never understand. When I stand in front of you, if you have looked into my eyes, how can you lie and say that I do not love you? If we love each other, what reason do you have to bear not being with me? If you can pretend that you do not care about me at all, how can you not have the heart to mention Lu Liu to me?
She was so aggrieved, saying, "People always tell me that Wen Heng is the Yan family's chosen granddaughter-in-law, that she was born that way. So tell me, have you ever, even for a second, in your youthful arrogance, thought of this young wife, even though you've never met her, even though you've never cared about her?"
Her head was spinning, and she leaned on his lap, speaking softly.
Yan hope stroked her hair, his eyes filled with tenderness beyond words, but he didn't say anything more.
He smiled helplessly and said, "Hey, just pretend I never thought of that."
Having had countless first loves, how could Yan hope possibly recall a young wife whom his grandfather had repeatedly nagged him about?
From the age of eight, when he learned that he had a younger sister, he also knew that he had a young wife in a very, very far place, speaking a language he could not understand.
Then, he specifically learned those tongue-twisting words.
She said, "Tell me, Yan hope, tell me, do you love Lu Liu very much? How much do you love him? So much that you would give up being the crown prince of the Yan family for him?"