Убийство любви

Глава 2

Yes.

"Really?" I asked nervously. "Did he ask me what you said?"

Ah Yu laughed and said, "He asked about you, and I said..." She deliberately dragged out her words to keep everyone in suspense.

I asked urgently, "What did you say?"

“I told you you went to review the manuscript.”

"You're so clever!" I said, relieved. "Thank you so much."

"Are you really going to thank me?" Ayu said playfully, "Then you can treat me to dinner tonight."

“No problem.” I smiled and, recalling what had just happened, carefully examined Ayu. I found that she was indeed very beautiful. Her skin was as white as snow, her hair as white as clouds, her eyebrows as dark as distant mountains, her eyes as clear as autumn water, her nose delicate and straight, her teeth white and her lips red. Moreover, her figure was slender and graceful yet curvaceous. She could be considered a top-tier beauty. However, I had seen two beauties like her in one day, and they were exactly the same.

He suddenly waved his hand in front of my eyes, and I snapped out of it, asking, "What are you doing?"

"I should be asking you what you're doing. Why are you staring at her like that?"

"Oh...I..." I felt my face getting hot.

Suddenly, someone at the door laughed, "I bet A-Ming is staring at you because you're so beautiful." The person was none other than Sima Xiao, one of the three bachelors in our magazine.

I said, "What are you doing here if you have nothing to do?"

“I’m here to invite a beautiful lady to dinner,” he said, looking at A-Yu. “I wonder if the beautiful lady would do me the honor of joining me?”

Ayu gave a polite smile, but her eyes were somewhat cold as she said, "I'm sorry, I already have an appointment."

"Really? Who is it? It can't be A-Ming, can it?" He looked at me, a hint of jealousy flashing in his eyes.

“It’s Senior Brother A-Ming,” A-Yu said, looking at me.

“Senior Brother A-Ming?” Sima Xiao’s tone was a bit off. He gave me a forced smile and said, “A-Ming, you really have a lot of influence. A-Yu has only been working here for seven days, and I’ve asked her out five times, but she hasn’t come. You just came back from your leave, and you’ve already managed to get a date with a beautiful woman. I really admire you.”

I shrank back, to be honest, I really wasn't used to Sima Xiao's jealousy, so I quickly said, "No...no, it's not like that...Ayu, how about this, I'll treat you to dinner another day, you go have dinner with Axiao first today."

Ayu's face darkened, and she stared at me intently. I quickly said, "How about... how about the three of us eat together tonight? After all, the more people there are, the more lively it is."

Ah Yu exclaimed anxiously, "How could you do this?"

Sima Xiao hurriedly said, "Alright, it's settled then. Tonight at seven o'clock, it's my treat at the 'Red Maple Hotel.' I'll be waiting for you two to have a feast then, how about that?"

I quickly smiled and said, "Okay, it's settled then. See you there!"

A cold, ruthless glint flashed across A Yu's face, but she quickly smiled and said, "Fine, if that's the case, I don't care. I'll be there on time."

I was a little worried about her expression just now, sensing something was wrong. Then I heard Ah Xiao say happily, "Great! I'll call the table right away. You guys go ahead and get busy, I'll go prepare."

Chapter Three: The Woman of a Thousand Faces

After he left, A-Yu spoke, her voice tinged with coldness: "You're really easy to talk to."

“I’m sorry, Ayu, I felt sorry for Sima Xiao… no, no, I felt he was very sincere, and seemed to have a bit of a crush on you… I didn’t want him to misunderstand us…” Ayu’s face grew colder and colder, and my voice grew softer and softer.

"You've misunderstood us? He's interested in me? Why don't you ask me if I'm interested in him?"

"This...this..." Ah Yu, let me tell you, Sima Xiao is one of the most eligible bachelors around here. He's rich and powerful, and handsome too. You two would actually make a very good match."

"And what about you?"

"Me, what?"

"Aren't you a bachelor? Are you married? Do you think you're worse than him?" Ayu glared at me, her face flushed.

"I... this... this... hehe..." I didn't know how to answer, so I just chuckled awkwardly, my mind racing with excitement.

"Don't go tonight."

"Huh? What?"

"I told you not to come to dinner with us tonight."

"Why? Didn't we agree on this?" My mind was a bit foggy.

"Do you think it's something to be proud of, a girl like me, to be seen having dinner with two men like you?"

“Ah…” I suddenly realized and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Yu, I didn’t think of that.”

"So you shouldn't go tonight." Her tone was a little fierce, then full of sarcasm. "Aren't you afraid that Sima Xiao will misunderstand us? This way he won't misunderstand, huh? You feel sorry for him, so I'll give him this opportunity to satisfy your sympathy... Sima Xiao... huh."

I felt a chill run down my spine after hearing A-Yu's words. I couldn't help but worry about Sima Xiao. My feelings for A-Yu had also changed drastically in this short time. At first, I thought she was beautiful, playful, and cute, but now I felt that although she was beautiful, she was also somewhat sharp and incisive. Moreover, what she just said seemed to imply that she was interested in me. But how could that be? Although I could be considered handsome, I wasn't handsome enough to attract a girl as beautiful as A-Yu. Although I didn't want to admit it, Sima Xiao was indeed a little bit more handsome than me.

Seeing the cold glint in A-Yu's eyes, I didn't dare to speak for a moment, and could only grin foolishly. After a while, I glanced at the clock on the wall and immediately pretended to be surprised, saying, "Oh dear, we've been so focused on work that we forgot to leave. It's already 5:30. A-Yu, let's hurry up and leave." As I spoke, I tidied up the table. Seeing that A-Yu's expression remained unchanged but she didn't say a word, I forced myself to finish tidying up the table and continued, "Ah, Sima Xiao is coming to pick you up from get off work, right? Then you can wait for him here for a while. I'm leaving now."

She looked at me without saying a word, so I had no choice but to leave the workroom. Just as I stepped out, I heard a charming, soft voice behind me: "Ah Ming... Senior Brother..."

Hearing this, my heart skipped a beat. I turned around and my heart started racing. I saw A-Yu leaning against the corner of the table. Her cold and stern expression had turned into a gentle and charming one. Her eyes were sparkling as if they were about to drip water. She pursed her lips and gave me a bewitching smile, saying, "Senior Brother A-Ming, you told me this morning that I could call you A-Ming, didn't you?"

I felt as if I'd been struck by lightning, completely stunned, and could only stammer, "Yes...yes."

"Can I call you A-Ming from now on?"

"Yes...yes, that's fine."

"You still haven't answered me: are you married or not?"

"No...of course not."

"So, do you have a girlfriend?"

In that instant, I thought of Xiuxiu, and my heart sank. Then I shook my head and said, "No." My mind cleared up considerably, but I felt that Ayu's behavior was strange.

Ayu then asked, "Do you think I can be your girlfriend?"

I saw that she was so charming and alluring that I had never seen such a tempting woman in my life. I wanted to blurt out, "Of course you can?" But thankfully I regained my senses and just pretended to be indifferent and said, "I remember that you are having dinner with Sima Xiao tonight."

She seemed a little surprised, then smiled and said, "I just wanted to make him give up today."

So, you're saying you're going to reject him.

“The kind of person he is very persistent; verbal refusal is not very effective. I have a better way to deal with him.”

A thought struck me, and I asked, "What method?"

"Just you wait and see."

Looking at her eerie expression, my suspicions grew, but I couldn't see anything wrong with it, so I carefully said, "Actually, Sima Xiao isn't a bad person. I hope you won't hurt his feelings too much."

She gave a slight, cold laugh and said, "Don't worry, I will never hurt his feelings."

I nodded and said, "That's good. You wait for him. I'm going home."

"Goodbye, A-Ming, I'll wait for your reply."

I was a little reluctant to leave the workroom. The wind outside cleared my head considerably. I felt that everything that had happened that day was incredibly bizarre, strange, and utterly bizarre. In particular, Ayu's behavior at the very last moment before I left work made me blush just thinking about it. It was an irresistible temptation for any man, yet it was completely different from how I felt when I first met her that morning. No wonder people say that women are fickle. This Ayu could win an Oscar; she's practically a born woman of a thousand faces.

Thinking about it, I finally arrived home. I opened the door, expecting a sumptuous meal and welcoming smiles from my parents. But instead, the house was eerily quiet, the table empty. I called out, "Mom and Dad, I'm home!" I looked around the rooms, but no one was there. Where had they gone? I went to the living room, turned on the TV, and sat down. I found a note on the table. I picked it up and let out a shriek. The note was from my dad. He wrote: "Son, given your misdeeds of leaving without saying goodbye half a month ago and not honestly explaining why you left, your mom and I have decided to give you a taste of your own medicine. We're going on a trip. The destination is undecided; we'll go wherever we want. The return date is also undecided." "Come back whenever you want. Your job at home is to cook for yourself (your mom was worried you wouldn't know how, so she bought you two cases of instant noodles to eat) and do your own laundry (the washing machine broke yesterday, so your mom bought you a washboard, and she also told me to tell you your bed sheets need washing). Okay, that's all for now. Bye-bye, son. Wish us good luck. The date is today." After reading the note, I collapsed on the sofa, muttering, "Mom and Dad, why are you still acting like children? What are you doing? How could you be so heartless as to leave me alone at home?" I had no choice but to make instant noodles, but unfortunately, there was no hot water at home. I had to go to the neighbor's house to borrow some. They were eating delicious dumplings. I swallowed hard and went home to eat instant noodles. I really missed my mom's cooking. After eating, I watched a few moments of TV and then fell asleep haphazardly. I was sleeping soundly when suddenly a flute sound came from the yard. I jumped up and ran out of the yard. I saw the moon shining brightly in the yard, and the clear moonlight was illuminating the figure of a man in black.

I called out, "Flute-playing messenger!"

"Yes, that's me."

"What are you doing at my house in the middle of the night?" My palms were sweating, and I was now very glad that my parents were away on vacation.

"I came to your house, of course, to see you."

"You're looking for me? I don't think we know each other very well."

He laughed, a very strange laugh that made me nervous. I asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"I laugh at you, have you really forgotten everything?"

"What have you forgotten? Please stop being mysterious and just tell me what you have to say. I don't have time to guess."

"Ha... Qu Ming, do you know who your true identity is?"

"True form?...What true form? You think I'm one of the Eighteen Arhats? A fake form? A real form?"

He shook his head and said, "I don't believe you can really forget." He suddenly pointed to the crescent moon in the sky and asked me, "Qu Ming, are you still familiar with this crescent moon?"

"The moon?" I was really confused by him, so I could only smile wryly and say, "Of course I'm familiar with it. I see the moon almost every night."

He shook his head again and sighed softly, saying, "No... that's not how it is."

I snapped, "Hey, what are you trying to say? If you're just looking for trouble, I'm going back to my room to sleep."

Chapter Four: Dreams

He sneered, "Hmph, you really don't know? Then let me ask you, do you know who I am?"

"You, aren't you the Flute-Playing Messenger who leads people astray into the demonic path!"

“Indeed, I am the Piper, and so are you.”

"What?" I didn't understand the meaning of his words for a moment. I was confused and had a bad feeling.

"Don't you find it a little strange that I look exactly like you?"

I did feel strange inside, but I said aloud, "What's so strange about it? You're just impersonating me... Oh, right, I almost forgot. I'd like to ask you not to impersonate me, okay? I'm not some big shot. You won't get any benefit from impersonating me. Besides, if you use my identity to swindle and cheat people, I'll be in deep trouble. We're not that close, but we don't have any grudges against each other..."

His face was as cold as ice, and he finally interrupted my nagging, saying, "Enough. I didn't expect you to become such an idiot after your reincarnation. I overestimated you."

"Who's the idiot? You're the idiot, coming to my house in the middle of the night to disturb my sleep..."

"You are me!" he suddenly said, coldly.

"What? You...you're trying to fool a ghost...hahaha..." I pointed at him and laughed, but I was really worried and thought, "Oh no, oh no, this devil has got me stuck with him. It seems he wants to make me his scapegoat."

He sneered, "Is the crescent-shaped birthmark on your left shoulder the same as tonight's moon?"

"What did you say? How did you know?" I couldn't help but touch my left shoulder. There was indeed a crescent-shaped birthmark on my left shoulder, and what was amazing was that the crescent-shaped birthmark changed with the phases of the moon. A month has its waxing crescent, full moon, and waning crescent. If I were bare-shouldered and the crescent moon shone on my left shoulder, the birthmark would emit a faint blue glow. This birthmark was a source of great worry for my parents; they feared it might be harmful to me. My father had said that when I was born, my grandfather saw the birthmark, sighed deeply, and shook his head... He shook his head, but said nothing. My parents had asked him repeatedly about the birthmark on my shoulder, but my grandfather just wouldn't say. When pressed, he only said it was a secret of heaven, the will of heaven, and that revealing it would bring disaster to the whole family. My parents didn't dare to ask anymore. However, they never let me wear short-sleeved clothes when I was little, and they never mentioned the birthmark on my left shoulder to outsiders. So, apart from family members, no outsiders would know. Although I was curious how the flute-playing messenger knew, I thought that since he was not a human, it was not surprising that he had some precognitive abilities.

He said, "Because I have the same crescent moon mark on my body as you do."

I said anxiously, "Boss, you don't have to do this. Not only have you become my appearance, but you even imitate my birthmark. What heinous things have you done to make me take the blame? Am I destined to have no way to explain myself?"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Didn't you hear what I said? You are me, and I am you. Whatever you have, I will have too."

"So... what exactly do you want?" I felt like I was getting confused by him, so I had no choice but to ask this question to see what his purpose was.