Chapter 38: The Pain Felt Distinctly Clear

As they left the restaurant, Long Tianze suggested they head to his bar for a while. An Xiaoning thought that Mei Yangyang would be too tired from a day of work, so she asked for her opinion. Unexpectedly, she responded in high spirits, "Sis, let's have some fun before we head home, I want to drink a little too."

"Sure then, as long as you aren't tired. Let's go there for a while."

'Night Spirit' Bar was exceptionally lively at this time, flooded with people inside.

The group sat in a corner table: they had a great view of the whole place, but it was rather hidden from other people's sight.

Long Tianze got the waiter to send a few glasses of wine and said, "Have a seat first, I'll take a look over there."

"Go on."

Mo Li sat beside An Xiaoning and finished a glass in one shot, remarking, "Xiaoning, why is it so hard to get a man's heart?"

An Xiaoning replied, "It's a heart after all, only one can fit inside. You can't love two or three people at the same time, right?"

"He wanted me to be by his side, but it turned out to be an illicit relationship. Now I can't face the world anymore, I've suffered enough."

"Then just leave him. It may be painful, but at least you won't have to suffer every day in the future."

Mo Li signalled to the waiter for another bottle of wine and the three toasted. Mei Yangyang, who could not drink well, went down immediately. Her face was instantly flushed.

An Xiaoning could still manage. She appeared unaffected while Mo Li was drowning her sorrows by drinking. The more she drank, the more she started slurring. Finally, she said the man's name: Ye Xiaotian.

Hearing this name, An Xiaoning almost spewed out the wine. Why was it this Ye Xiaotian again?

Gu Beicheng's car was his, Sun Weiwei's Godbrother was him too, and now him and Mo Li were...

In that instant, she had no good impression of this person.

She wanted to see for herself, what kind of man was this person?

Mo Li looked up at the pole-dance on stage and declared, "I'm going for a dance."

Without waiting for An Xiaoning's reply, she reached out to loosen her hair tie and her hair momentarily came down in a mess.

Following this, she took off her coat, revealing a small singlet, and started to move her body while supporting her hips. As she did so, her dangling earrings started to move in sync with her long hair.

Under the spotlight, her enchanting figure and seductive moves seemed to possess the strongest appealing factor.

Along with her refined facial features, all she gave off was endless flirtation.

The audience was in absolute madness — everyone broke out in loud cheers for her.

Just when the energy of the audience was at its peak, a slender figure walked towards her.

An arm grabbed onto her wrist, picked up her coat on the floor, and left in a hurry.

The audience was instantly full of sighs, overwhelmed with disappointment.

An Xiaoning saw the man clearly. It was Ye Xiaotian indeed.

She stood up immediately and walked towards them. After all, Mo Li was drunk. Although they only met twice, she knew she couldn't let him take her away like that.

As it happened, just as she was going over, Long Tianze was already there blocking their path. "Let go of her."

Mo Li desperately struggled to break free, but Ye Xiaotian had no intention of letting her go.

"What if I don't want to?"

Long Tianze glared at him, his face scrunched up in anger. "Ye Xiaotian, just try taking Mo Li away and leave this place!"

Ye Xiaotian softened his tone. "I'm bringing her home."

Long Tianze laughed coldly. "Naturally, I'm the one bringing her home. You have no right to do so. I've long wanted to lecture you — what do you take Mo Li for? Ye Xiaotian, who do you think you are?!"

Ye Xiaotian did not answer him. He looked over at An Xiaoning instead. "Oh, isn't this Beicheng's Sister?"

An Xiaoning could not be bothered to talk to him. "Please respect her wishes. If she wants to leave with you, nobody's going to stop her, but if she's unwilling, please let go of her. This is not a place where you can behave as you wish."

Ye Xiaotian loosened his grip as expected. "If that's what Young Mistress Jin wants, of course I wouldn't dare to not show face to Jin Qingyan and Beicheng."

A smile full of significance lingered on his face. With one hand in his pocket, he turned away and headed towards the door.

When Mo Li staggered, An Xiaoning helped her to a chair.

"My head hurts, I want to sleep..." She leaned on the sofa and closed her eyes.

"Let her sleep here first. I'll bring her to my lounge later — I'm not sleeping here tonight," Long Tianze instructed.

"Sure, Young Master Long. It seems like you have a close friendship with Mo Li?"

Long Tianze flashed her a smile. "We grew up together. Her mother was our housecook, so we are good friends who grew up playing together."

"Oh, I see." An Xiaoning just finished speaking when her eyes landed on the balcony area on the second floor.

A familiar figure was back-facing them, and standing right beside this figure was Chi Rui'er. Long Tianze noticed that her stare was fixed above and saw the two figures as well.

Long Tianze was at a loss for a moment, then he suggested, "Sister-in-law, should I call them down?"

"Don't," An Xiaoning stopped him. "We just came to let loose for a while, we'll leave soon."

Long Tianze nodded and poured another glass for her and Mei Yangyang. The three clinked their glasses again. Mei Yangyang drank down her second glass — she was close to a state of unconsciousness at this point.

An Xiaoning saw that she could not drink anymore and said, "Stop drinking and rest for a while. I'll send you back later."

Mei Yangyang murmured a reply, leaned on the sofa, and fell asleep as well.

Amongst the four, only Long Tianze and An Xiaoning remained clear-minded at this point.

She raised her head again and realized that the two on the balcony area had disappeared.

It turned out they had come down.

An Xiaoning saw that Long Tianze was about to stand up, but she stopped him. "Wait for a while."

He nodded, then watched with An Xiaoning as Jin Qingyan and Chi Rui'er moved to the bar to sit.

Jin Qingyan had not realized anything, but at this point, Long Tianze was in a flurry of panic.

He wanted to get his phone out to send a text to warn Jin Qingyan, but seeing the look of calmness on An Xiaoning's face, he seemed to have understood something. Hence, he decided against doing it eventually.

"If he didn't see me, don't tell him I'm here," An Xiaoning stated. "I'm leaving in a while with Yangyang."

"Okay."

A moment later, Long Tianze carried a sleeping Mo Li towards Jin Qingyan's direction.

Long Tianze did not speak to him indeed as he carried Mo Li upstairs, but An Xiaoning was staring at him from a distance. Maybe because there was nobody around her looking, or because they were shrouded in darkness, she was able to look at his every move and facial expression fearlessly, even managing to interpret his words from the shape of his lips.

She was consciously reminded to leave, but her body seemed to be glued to the sofa. Finally, feeling uncomfortable in her posture, she even took off her shoes and hugged her legs as she watched.

Perhaps because she was watching too intensely, when Jin Qingyan turned around incidentally, his gaze landed on her direction.

His gaze met her eyes — even in the dark, the recognition of this familiar pair of eyes was something that came naturally to him.

An Xiaoning's heart sank the moment she was exposed, but she did not hide immediately. As their eyes met, the pain she felt at that moment was distinctly clear.