Chapter 47: The amorous are angered by the heartless (IIX)

Li Shiyi and the others had come early; the venue hadn’t gotten lively yet, and only a few people in couples or trios were at tables drinking wine, and on a round stage half the height of a person, a female singer with a supple waist was crooning a song, in a scarlet qipao with black, curly hair, her arms wrapped in long gloves, and even her operatic gestures at the microphone were incredibly charming and delicate.

The manager brought them to a reserved sofa seat, fan-shaped and leather-brown, a crowded and short, four-sided table; Tu Loayao, head bowed and eyes on the tip of his nose, not even taking the attention to glance at the female singer, was incredibly dedicated to standing by Wu Qian’s side, hands folded in front of his abdomen, belly drawn in and chest held out, remarkably like a muscular, well-built bodyguard.

Li Shiyi was the first to sit, her shoulders half relaxed and her legs crossed, one over the other, tilted upwards and bringing a distinguished posture; A Luo sat at the side, and crossed her Western pants-clad legs, in the opposite direction of Li Shiyi, and lowered her head to look at the wine list.

Song Shijiu sat at Li Shiyi’s right side; the Western sofa was soft and cushiony, not hard like wooden chairs, and it caused Song Shijiu to sink in in a moment; she simply relaxed her neck, her shoulder gently nearing Li Shiyi’s, separated by the material of the shirt touching her smooth skin, a fragrance both faint and enticing enveloping her within, causing her heart to be as excitable as a monkey and her mind to canter like a horse.

Though they hadn’t come to the venue proper, the force of the music’s sound was still not small; it hammered against Song Shijiu’s heart with a high sound, and she raised her hand to press against her right ear, and, in the silence of the moment of blocking it, heard Li Shiyi’s voice fall into her left ear. “What will you drink?”

She turned her head; because of the clamour, Li Shiyi was incredibly close to her, her head slightly inclined, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. Song Shijiu thought a moment, and asked, “Is there coffee?”

Li Shiyi withdrew her body, and replied, “There is,” her index finger tapping against the wine list in A Luo’s hand.

Song Shijiu gazed at her inclined form and her appearance of whispering into A Luo’s ear, and a subtle feeling of being bewitched arose. Only after did she understand that the time when a person was most filled with allure was not usually when they were nearby, but when they were estranged; when she’d finished enquiring without reluctance when doing things in a strictly businesslike manner, when she carelessly talked cheerfully and wittily with another, when she had already turned her bosom to you, only to once more turn her face towards a different direction, seeming neither close nor distant. The feeling of distance grasped the imagination, grasping an unwillingness, and also grasping longing. She always desired Li Shiyi incredibly.

Song Shijiu blinked, and took up the warm water the waiter had delivered in her hands.

A Yin, seeing she wasn’t chatting, had Wu Qian and Tu Laoyao accompany her all around on a stroll; the remaining three lazed about on the sofa, Li Shiyi slightly bent over, her arm propped on her thigh, her right hand supporting her jaw, her gaze casting about the entrance hall, seeming as if to be waiting for something.

Before even the time it took for a cup of tea to arrive, Song Shijiu, in dark blue cheongsam, returned from the brilliant lights and vibrant colours, lifting her skirt, swaying too and fro, head lowered and walking incredibly carefully; A Yin, half laying, raised her hand to tug at her, and she clutched at A Yin’s hand, circumventing the low table and going in, walking until the centre; A Luo drew the tips of her feet back, yet saw she didn’t have any intention of passing by her, and in fact returned to sit to the left of A Luo. Unexpectedly, she hadn’t sat at Li Shiyi’s side; A Luo was a bit astonished.

Li Shiyi leaned back, her left hand settling on her knee, her index finger moving. In the dusky, hazy lamp light, she saw Song Shijiu speaking in a quiet voice with A Luo, her face lowered a bit more than A Luo’s, her pitch-black eyes looking upwards, glistening and bright because of the reflection of the light.

Song Shijiu and A Luo weren’t very familiar, and there was a bit of embarrassment, but actions had reasons, and deliberating over and over, she finally asked, “Don’t you…have an incredible amount of money?” The attire of the group had all been arranged by A Luo; Li Shiyi’s ivory-buckled shirt, the large pearls on A Yin’s neck, and the dazzling diamond ring on A Luo’s finger.

Li Shiyi, hearing what was said, pressed her lips together, and calmly extended her head, lowering her eyes and gazing at her.

A Luo smiled faintly at Song Shijiu. “What is it?”

Song Shijiu cast a glance at Li Shiyi, and asked her again, “You and Shiyi, who has more money?”

Li Shiyi’s heart leaped with a ge-deng, a bit inexplicably; she raised her hand to hold the wine, taking an aloof sip.

A Luo humorously glanced at Li Shiyi, and said cordially, “If compared to Shiyi, it ought to be me.” Ling Heng is another matter, she supplemented in a phrase in her heart.

Song Shijiu thoughtfully let out an “o”, drawing back and sitting properly, her hands on her knees, grasping at and releasing her skirt. She pondered it for a while, and then finally summoned up her courage and touched A Luo’s arm and turned her face, pressing it to the back of her neck, raising her hand to pull at her hair, exposing her fair ear, and said lowly, “I…”

A Yin withdrew her gaze from the stage, and, seeing this scene, was slightly distracted; A Luo was also a bit baffled, raising her gaze to glance at A Yin, just about to lower her head and ask Song Shijiu, when her body was enclosed by a pair of slender arms; Li Shiyi pulled at Song Shijiu’s wrist, and said, “Come over.”

Song Shijiu paused; her body was much more obedient than her mind, and followed Li Shiyi’s actions to rise and return to sit again, once again at Li Shiyi’s right side. Li Shiyi didn’t look at her, and put the wine list in her other hand back. “Your coffee is over here,” she said in a quiet voice.

Song Shijiu nodded, only glancing once, not having much interest. “Shiyi,” Song Shijiu called her name, after listening to half a song, in an incredibly low voice.

“What is it?” Li Shiyi tilted her head.

Song Shijiu raised her hand once more to tug at the hair at her temple, and said uneasily, “My earrings, the diamond tassels, they’ve disappeared.”

Li Shiyi raised a brow, and Song Shijiu explained, “My ears aren’t pierced; those earrings were hung on, incredibly unstable; just then, I don’t know where they fell off, and I looked for them the whole way, and even after begging for Tu Laoyao’s help, I still couldn’t find them. I didn’t dare to tell Wu Qian,” she added.

Li Shiyi inclined her face to gaze at her, neither concerned nor worried; even her brows weren’t furrowed, and she even looked over her empty ears at an exasperatingly slow pace. Song Shijiu asked, “I don’t know how much they cost, but it probably isn’t a small amount; if we weren’t able to compensate it, would you say that’s alright?” Song Shijiu was very anxious, anxious enough that her eyelashes were trembling continuously, yet Li Shiyi’s heart felt as if it were a bubble that had been burst, a small peng sound, suddenly becoming flat. A Luo’s earrings had to be compensated for, yet Li Shiyi’s money counted as “our”. This manner of saying was incredibly subtle, and it made Li Shiyi press her lips together to faintly hide a bit of a smile.

She leaned forward and picked up the coffee and gave it to Song Shijiu, and then picked up her own wine and tried a sip, which carried a faint chill to her stomach, and only then said, “It could be compensated for.”

“Really?” Song Shijiu restrained her breath.

“Really,” Li Shiyi said.

Song Shiiju’s heart fell like a large stone, and the corners of her eyes bent, and she raised her coffee cup to her lips.

Only after less than half a shichen, Xianyuesi turned into a genuine paradise, wine goblets and gambling chips mingling, cups going out and cups coming in, the liquid of wine splashing in glass cups, exactly as showy as the bustling, cosmopolitan city, the dancers’ long legs kicking out from within the petals of their skirts, another new, indistinct indulgence of sound and colour. The saxophones’ tune urged on passion, and had to wait until love was exhausted to end its sound.

There was a young woman with an incredibly methodical bearing, in a finely embroidered, creamy-white qipao, the space between her shoulders a carved emptiness, her glossy hair combed into great curls, and her elegant moissanite headband was fastened at one side, her tapered face and plum-coloured lips, her coquettish, fox-like glances seeming to fly upwards, the ends of her brows rising almost to her temples. This was a young woman familiar with nighttime entertainment venues, and knew not to wear gaudy red; white clothes and white ornaments were the most dazzling jewels in the night.

The jewel took one step and swayed thrice, swaying to the bar, and, without thinking, ordered a cocktail, relaxing and appraising the people in the venue; her mist-like gaze swept to and fro, sweeping over the paunchy men, and the young men who harboured ulterior motives, and the young ladies who kept hatred int heir mouths and carried jealousy, and finally fell to the form of an unhurried Li Shiyi.

Li Shiyi exchanged glances with her, and bent her arm, placing it on the back of the sofa, nonchalantly raising one of her crossed legs softly upwards.

A Yin and A Luo had some sort of feeling in their hearts; as she turned her handkerchief over, she kept watch out of the corner of her eye; Song Shijiu held the coffee, face tilted and silent as she gazed at Li Shiyi; Tu Laoyao and Wu Qian still stood upright, unbothered by the ebb and flow of the matters of life.

When Li Shiyi’s boot moved for the third time, the young lady jewel took the wine offered by the waiter, enclosing the straw in her mouth and biting it, the tip of her tongue moistening her lip, and then she set the glass down, and walked in Li Shiyi’s direction.

The small paper figure hidden on the back of the sofa stretched out half its body, and hid its figure by Li Shiyi’s ear, and said, “That’s her. In the afternoon, I spoke with the small snake in the mountain god temple nearby; this young woman’s form has the aura of a mythological animal on her.”

Song Shijiu glanced at it; it cleverly leaned forward and got back into Li Shiyi’s pocket, its neck sticking out as it fainted.

The young woman got closer and closer; Li Shiyi welcomed her, her gaze never leaving her, and she reached out her hand to adjust her cuffs, and then uncrossed her legs, her hands gently curling at her sides, and she rose to smile beautifully at the arriving person. Song Shijiu held the coffee, which had been penetrated with the cold, and gazed at Li Shiyi following after that young woman to the dance floor, taking a dance with her. Light and shadow were affectionate like this; Li Shiyi’s brushstroke appearance and figure, her aloof yet loose brace on the young woman’s waist, her hand grasping loosely, even her posture and movements having a sense of complete propriety.

A Yin, seeing Song Shijiu gazing at Li Shiyi, was baffled, and rose to sit by her side, picking up a sugar cube for her and putting it into her coffee. The coffee being this cool, sugar put in wouldn’t dissolve well, but when the young lady wasn’t happy, sweets were the best relief.

Yet Song Shijiu didn’t express a look of desolation, and she put her coffee cup down, covering her hands over her hands on her thighs, above her knees. Just now, before Li Shiyi had risen, her right hand had gently, appeasingly patted here. She didn’t understand what the implication of this action was, but in all, it made her feel much more at ease.

In the flickering light and passing shadows of the dance floor, Li Shiyi inclined her head, and asked the young woman in front of her softly, “How is the young miss called?”

“Yunyun,” the young lady replied.

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