Chapter 150: Important Matters

"Something has come up," Lu Yichen also stood up. "And it's very important."

So she was still at work, and everything had been just his own wishful thinking. What a blow...

"What is it?" Xia Yuwei stopped in her tracks, wearing an expression that seemed to say, "Out with it, and I'm leaving the moment you're done."

"Since you've come to a bar, keep me company and have a drink," he said, signaling a waiter over. "Bring a bottle of Mr. Shao's G.P. liquor and open it."

"Yes, Mr. Lu." The waiter went to the cellar to fetch the wine.

"Did I say I would keep you company?" Xia Yuwei remarked. The label of being self-righteous was firmly stuck on him for good.

"You don't have to speak, just listen to me," Lu Yichen said. Looking at her restless posture, as if she were ready to bolt at any second, he had the urge to pull her into his arms, kiss her fiercely, and ruffle her feathers, just to see if she could still remain so carefree... and so exasperating...

"Then you can buy two more bottles of G.P. later." Xia Yuwei sat down, and upon seeing the imported liquor brought by the waiter, she suddenly recalled Liang Baily's advice—it would be best to secure a sale. Fine. She would just treat him like an ordinary customer.

The liquor brought by the waiter was a high-proof spirit from the G.P. line, and also the most popular kind. The bottle was opened, and the transparent liquid poured into the glass, filling the air with a rich aroma.

"Would the lady care for some?" the waiter asked, holding up a glass.

"No," Lu Yichen said.

"I will," Yuwei said at the exact same time. She reiterated her intention. She merely wanted to taste what the liquor produced by her own company was like. Besides, he had no right to decide whether she drank or not. She wanted to remind him that she disliked his arbitrary decisions!

The waiter glanced at Lu Yichen again.

"Very well. Pour her some." Her defiance made him deeply uncomfortable, yet it was still better than her cold, hardened expression that chilled him to the bone. Lu Yichen realized that his bottom line where she was concerned kept lowering and lowering...

"Pour a bit more," she said, watching the waiter pour. The waiter symbolically added just a sliver more. It seemed he only took orders from Lu Yichen. So Xia Yuwei said again, "Pour a bit more."

The waiter tilted his hand and poured a solid half-glass.

"When did you learn to drink?" Lu Yichen frowned, though he didn't reach out to take the glass from her hand. She was acting like a rebellious child right now, opposing him at every turn, and she seemed rather pleased to see him ill at ease.

Xia Yuwei picked up the glass, held her breath, and took a large gulp. A fiery sensation immediately rushed from her throat down to her stomach, and soon her entire body grew warm. Her head spun instantly, and her complexion flushed a bright crimson.

"Fool," Lu Yichen said under his breath, watching her overdo it.

"Who's a fool? You're the fool!" A dizzy Xia Yuwei took another big gulp of liquor, reached out, and pointed a finger at him as she scolded.

"Not only are you a fool, you're a big liar, a massive freak, a self-righteous idiot..."

"You think you're hot stuff just because you have money? You think you're amazing just because you're young!"

"Bullying me, all you ever do all day is bully your older sister! Aside from bullying me, what other skills do you even have..."

"Blacklisting, lacking self-respect, disgraceful—you're the shameless one! The most shameless person in the entire world is you..."

"Money, money, money. Aside from money, do you even know anything else matters..."

Her vision was blurred, her voice was low, and she took on a rare, endearing, and seductive charm. She seemed to find scolding him addictive and couldn't stop. No wonder Liang Baily loved scolding people so much; it really did feel wonderful...

Listening to her incoherent rambling, Lu Yichen was torn between laughter and tears, but there was nothing he could do with her. Since she had already been drinking like this, he wouldn't drink a drop. Otherwise, neither of them would be able to drive and they'd have to call someone else. He didn't want to share his time with her with anyone else, not even a tiny bit.

After rambling for who knows how long, her head gradually sank onto her arms and she stopped moving, her hand dangling off the edge of the table.

"Weiwei," he called out to her.

She gave a vague response to show she wasn't drunk.

"Weiwei." He took her hand, but she shook him off, raised her head, and smiled at him. "You wouldn't take advantage of someone in a vulnerable state, right?"

"I wouldn't," he said.

"That's good." With that, she collapsed onto the table again. When he called her, she still replied, but simply refused to raise her head. He held her hand, and this time she didn't struggle.

"Weiwei. If I told you that eight years ago, I was drugged into unconsciousness and hypnotized to have all memories of you wiped away, which is why I left you so abruptly, would you forgive me?" One of his hands held hers while the other gently stroked the back of her hand.

"No," she mumbled vaguely. She had no idea what he was talking about; she only knew that whatever he said, her answer had to be no.

"Back then, I hadn't completely forgotten you. Sometimes fragments would surface in my mind and give me a headache. A headache so severe it broke me out in cold sweats and kept me awake all night. Yet I had no idea why. I only felt like I had lost something—the most important thing in the world. My heart felt hollow, with a terrifying void..."

"It wasn't until a year ago that someone helped me break that spell. All I could remember was our happy times from seven years ago. All I wanted was to find you immediately. But they told me, seven years had passed. Everything had changed."

"When you needed me the most, when you were in your deepest pain and helplessness, I suddenly vanished without leaving a single word. You must have hated me. You surely would never forgive me, it had to be that way."

"It's not like that," Xia Yuwei muttered unsteadily as she lay sprawled across the table. She was determined to oppose him to the very end.

"Do you know? The moment I thought about you hating me, a thought crossed my mind—I would rather have never recovered my memories at all..."