Song Yan didn't say another word. Instead, he flicked his sleeve and walked forward. Jinghong, on the other hand, walked over to the wooden railing and leaned against it. She lowered her head and glanced in the direction of the hall.
With her beautiful eyes downcast and her voice soft, she said, "It seems that one of Director Song's friends is in some trouble."
Jinghong's words made Song Yan stop in his tracks. He followed her gaze and saw the chaos and commotion in the hall.
Many people had surrounded two individuals in the middle. The on - lookers were chattering away, saying all sorts of things. But Song Yan frowned deeply when he saw the face of the person being surrounded.
Shen Huaian originally didn't want to get involved in this. He had been quite startled in the side room just now and had planned to go back directly.
But seeing Song Yan's increasingly solemn expression, he also looked down. To his great surprise, wasn't the person surrounded in the middle Ye Zhiqiu, who had just separated from them?
"This... Isn't this Teacher Ye? He has always been a non - controversial person. How did he become the center of this?"
Shen Huaian looked rather surprised. Logically speaking, Ye Zhiqiu had a cold personality. He was never seen getting close to anyone, and would take a few steps back when others tried to talk to him.
So how did he become the source of this commotion?
The voices in the hall were all jumbled up. It was impossible to make out any useful information. Shen Huaian knew what he was talking about.
He knew Ye Zhiqiu well after getting along with him for this period. For things to get to this point, it must be that the other person had gone too far.
Song Yan watched from the upper floor for a while and noticed that the man standing in front of Ye Zhiqiu was dead drunk. He was reaching out his hand to grab Ye Zhiqiu's lapel. Ye Zhiqiu looked really unhappy. He looked up and slapped the man's outstretched hand away.
His face was extremely dark. It seemed that he was really angry.
None of the people present stepped forward to stop the man. They were all just watching the show, whispering comments from time to time. The drunkard laughed when his hand was slapped away and took a step closer to Ye Zhiqiu.
"Hey, I just like feisty beauties." The drunkard raised his voice when he said this, so loudly that even Song Yan could hear clearly.
Shen Huaian frowned upon hearing this. Looking at the situation in the hall, he said angrily, "This man is really going too far. No wonder Teacher Ye is angry. But he doesn't know martial arts. With so many people surrounding him, he can't even leave. Song Yan, look..."
Before Shen Huaian could finish his sentence, Song Yan had already propped himself up on the wooden railing and flipped down. The words that Shen Huaian hadn't said got stuck in his throat. He stared at Song Yan's action in disbelief.
This was the second floor! How could he just jump like that?
Ye Zhiqiu looked at the drunkard in front of him. The man was spouting lewd remarks. He hated it the most when people called him a beauty to his face.
He reached out and grabbed the drunkard's hand. His face was full of displeasure as he said word by word, "Please behave yourself."
But his gentlemanly behavior had no effect on the drunk man. Instead, the man reached out and stroked the back of his hand, with a greasy smile on his face.
"Pretty little thing, as long as you come with me, I can give you anything you want."
"Anything you want? I think you should go see a doctor for your eyes."
Just then, Song Yan jumped down from the second floor and landed steadily in front of Ye Zhiqiu. He reached out and grabbed the drunkard's hand. Although he was smiling, he broke the man's fingers with force.
There were a few crisp cracking sounds, followed by the man's howls as he fell to the ground. A servant who had been watching the show quickly rushed to his side, helped him up, and said in the direction of Song Yan, "Do you know who he is? How dare you disrespect Young Master Huang!"
Song Yan laughed when he heard this. He took a step forward, sized up the Young Master Huang hiding behind the servant carefully, and finally shrugged and said, "I've been in Yuling for so many years, but I've never seen a Young Master Huang with such bad eyesight."
He deliberately emphasized the words "Young Master Huang", and with his nonchalant attitude, it sounded even more sarcastic.
The pain in his fingers had sobered Young Master Huang up a great deal. Hearing Song Yan's attitude, he immediately got angry. "Who do you think you are? How dare you talk to me like this?"
"Yo, isn't this Young Master Huang?" Just as Song Yan was about to say something to retort, Shen Huaian's voice rang out. He waved his fan and managed to squeeze into the middle of the crowd with great effort. He spoke up about the situation.
When Young Master Huang heard the voice, he knew that things were going to be bad. Sure enough, he saw Shen Huaian, his arch - enemy.
"Not only does Young Master Huang manage his family business poorly, but his eyesight is also not very good. You actually dared to be disrespectful to Director Song here. No wonder your business has been going from bad to worse these days."
Shen Huaian's words completely sobered Young Master Huang up. He blinked his eyes and finally saw clearly the face of Song Yan standing in front of him.
Immediately, he knelt on the ground and said tremblingly, "Greetings, Director Song. I drank too much just now and failed to recognize you. It's all my fault. Please be magnanimous and spare me this once."
Song Yan couldn't help but smile at the man's sudden change of attitude. Just now, he had looked so arrogant and domineering, but now he was so cowardly.
"The person you should apologize to is not me." Song Yan said this coldly.
Hearing this, Young Master Huang panicked even more. He quickly turned to Ye Zhiqiu and said, "I drank too much just now and misrecognized you. It's all my fault. I'll make up for it."
"You..." Song Yan was still dissatisfied with the man's words and wanted to say something else, but was stopped by Ye Zhiqiu.
Ye Zhiqiu gently stood in front of Song Yan. His tone was calm, and his expression returned to its usual cold look. "That's enough. Let it go."
His voice was soft, and it was hard to tell what he was feeling at the moment. Song Yan frowned. He originally wanted to help Ye Zhiqiu get revenge, but unexpectedly, Ye Zhiqiu didn't seem to care.
But this was Ye Zhiqiu's business after all. Since Ye Zhiqiu didn't mind, there was no need for him to make a fool of himself. So he waved his hand, and the crowd automatically divided into two sides.
Ye Zhiqiu turned around and walked away in a hurry, as if he wanted to escape this place quickly.
Seeing this, Song Yan didn't say anything. Instead, he followed Ye Zhiqiu out of the brothel.
After they left, the hall was filled with discussions again. As usual, Shen Huaian took care of the aftermath for Song Yan.
"How long are you going to follow me, Director Song?" Ye Zhiqiu didn't stop walking. He didn't turn back, but he knew that Song Yan had been following him.
His voice was soft, and his expression was as cold as ever when he said this.
Song Yan rubbed his neck. He had never met someone who didn't appreciate his help before. He didn't know what to say in this situation.
For some reason, he just felt that Ye Zhiqiu was unhappy now. He wasn't as magnanimous as he claimed to be. The reason why Ye Zhiqiu didn't want to talk more about this matter, he guessed...
"You're afraid of that scene." Song Yan blurted out what was in his mind. Ye Zhiqiu stopped in his tracks when he heard this.
"So what if I am? So what if I'm not?" Ye Zhiqiu turned around and looked into Song Yan's eyes. He said this coldly.
Song Yan didn't expect Ye Zhiqiu to say this. There were too many unexpected things about Ye Zhiqiu, but he seemed to have gotten used to Ye Zhiqiu's unpredictable behavior.
"I just think that you care a lot about this matter. For so long, no one has listened to what's on your mind. It must be very lonely being alone. I want to be with you in this situation."
Song Yan said this almost instinctively. It was only after he said it that he realized how cheesy his words were.
...
For a moment, the atmosphere fell into silence. Song Yan was so embarrassed that he didn't know how to break the silence. Ye Zhiqiu let out a soft sigh after looking into Song Yan's eyes for a long time.
Song Yan:! Why did he sigh?
"You should have heard what A Qing said to me before." Ye Zhiqiu lowered his head and said this. His voice was so soft that it seemed to disappear in the wind.
Although his tone was still as cold as ever, Song Yan thought that there was no longer that sense of aloofness in his words.
"What she said was just nonsense. You don't have to take it to heart." What A Qing had said to Ye Zhiqiu at that time was far from kind. It was almost like a curse. Although Ye Zhiqiu hadn't shown any emotion on his face at that time.
Song Yan knew that he actually cared a great deal about those words.
He wasn't good at comforting others, so he could only say this dryly. And Ye Zhiqiu was actually the last person who needed comfort.
"What she said is true. I won't die, and you know it. Just because of this, everyone around me will regard me as a monster. Isn't the reason you got close to me because of that serial murder case?" Ye Zhiqiu's voice was soft. He looked at Song Yan's expression and lowered his beautiful eyes.
Facing Ye Zhiqiu's words, Song Yan actually didn't know what to say, because things were indeed as Ye Zhiqiu had said. He had no way to refute.
He had gotten close to Ye Zhiqiu because of that case, but the longer he got to know Ye Zhiqiu, the more he realized that Ye Zhiqiu wasn't as hard to approach as he seemed. He was just scared.
But Song Yan didn't know how to say these words.
Seeing that Song Yan didn't say anything, Ye Zhiqiu didn't mind. He had expected this situation from the very beginning.
So he continued on his own, "I'm an immortal monster, just as A Qing said. Misfortune follows me everywhere. Even when I die, I'll be alone."
"I'll be by your side. Even if you come back to life, the first person you'll see will be me. So... You're not alone."
Maybe it was because Ye Zhiqiu's expression was so sad, or maybe it was because these were the words he had always wanted to say to Ye Zhiqiu. Anyway, he had said them now.