BL - One Night In Pingjing

Parked one block away from Hua Zhendan"s house, he opened his s.h.i.+rt and removed several wires that had been previously taped to his chest. He then made a call.

"h.e.l.lo." The voice from the other end spoke immediately the call connected.

"h.e.l.lo, Su Yang. It"s me, Qiu Dawei."

"How did your escapade go?" Su Yang asked.

"Very well. Thanks a lot for the recording device."

"Don"t thank me. You paid for it."

"Right. Can you help me edit the audio and remove that part where I said I would win Hua Zhendan back? He doesn"t need to hear that."

"This would cost you extra money, though..."

Hua Zhendan had told him about Su Yang when he was talking about his many fights with Xuan Tianyi. However, Hua Zhendan hadn"t failed to mention that she put a price on everything. Qiu Dawei nodded. "Okay. You do it. I"ll pay you any amount you want."

"You"re a good sport."

"Can you do me one more favor?"

"That... Of course. It"s—"

"Going to cost me extra, I know."

"What do you want?" Su Yang asked with a cheer in her voice.

"Can you get Xuan Tianmei to send this recording to Xuan Tianyi? He needs to know what kind of a person Shen Rui really is. If Hua Zhendan doesn"t react to this like I want him to, then maybe Xuan Tianyi would come back home to win his lover."

Su Yang was silent for a moment. When she finally spoke up, she asked. "I usually mind my business, but why are you doing this?"

"Isn"t it obvious? I really just want Hua Zhendan to stop being sad."

"At the moment, Hua Zhendan is depressed and vulnerable. If I have learned anything from my mentor, this should be the best time to go after him. You"re still in love with him, right? Instead of trying to reunite him and some other person, why don"t you just enjoy the spoils of war?"

Qiu Dawei sighed. "I"m not the kind of guy who preys on other people"s misfortune to squeeze out benefits for themselves.." He continued. "I don"t care for Xuan Tianyi, but I care very much for Hua Zhendan and I want him to be happy. Unfortunately, Hua Zhendan loves Xuan Tianyi and not me. Even if I"m able to win Hua Zhendan back, which I"m sure would be a lot of work, he still wouldn"t be happy with me. And... I"m not trying to reunite Hua Zhendan and some other man, I"m just trying to make him happy again. No matter what it takes."

"Why did you tell Shen Rui you would go after him then?"

"I was trying to rile her up and get her to confess. I have no intention of feeding my affection to someone who won"t return it."

"So, you were bluffing as well when you promised to make her lose her son"s affection?"

"Yes. I mean, I would love to give Shen Rui a taste of her own medicine, their mother-son bond is so strong that Hua Zhendan always just forgives her, neverminding what she has done. I can"t possibly do anything about that." Qiu Dawei shrugged as he spoke the last words.

"I sent the recording to your phone." Su Yang said.

"Okay. I"m outside Hua Zhendan"s apartment now. I"ll just go in and play this to him. Don"t forget to give it to Xuan Tianmei like I asked you to. Send me your bill. I"ll send your payment a little later."

"Don"t worry about it."

Qiu Dawei furrowed his brow. He wasn"t sure Su Yang had been speaking to him. "What shouldn"t I worry about?"

"Paying me."

"Ah! Why not?"

"Well... You"re going through all this trouble for someone else"s happiness. Mostly. If you can be this nice, then surely, I can do one nice thing for you as well."

Qiu Dawei smiled. "I thought you wanted to be evil like Shen Rui. Isn"t that why she is your mentor?"

"No. I never said I wanted to be evil like her. I just want to be able to scheme like her. If I had half of her scheming skills, I"d be able to mess with people to amuse myself. Pity I"m not that smart."

Qiu Dawei smiled again. "Don"t put yourself down. I"m sure you"ll be able to scheme like her someday."

"Thanks for that. I"ll keep it in mind. Bye now."

"Bye."

Qiu Dawei checked the recording to ensure it was what he wanted. He then started his car continued to drive until he was in Hua Zhendan"s garage.

Qiu Dawei walked towards Hua Zhendan"s door with celerity but gave it a lazy knock on arrival. Quicker than he expected, Hua Zhendan opened the door to let him in. 

"Hey." Hua Zhendan mumbled as Qiu Dawei entered the apartment.

Qiu Dawei looked around the living room and gave Hua Zhendan the once-over. Everything in the apartment, including the owner, looked and smelled fresh. Without restraint, he commented. "You look good."

Hua Zhendan chuckled. "You weren"t expecting me to, right?"

"Well, no." Qiu Dawei replied honestly. "Not after the state I last saw you in."

Hua Zhendan sighed. He took a seat on a sofa, crossed his legs and announced. "Xuan Tianyi was here this morning."

Qiu Dawei raised a brow. "So, you two made up?"

Hua Zhendan shook his head with a small, sad, smile on his face. "No. He came to tell me he was leaving, he said he didn"t want to break up and he wanted me to see him off."

"And?"

Hua Zhendan shrugged. "I told him I was serious about what I said before."

"..."

"If indeed, he was leaving, then that would mean he hadn"t chosen me."

"..."

"He smiled, looked up at me with this deep sadness in his eyes and said that if I meant it, then he definitely wouldn"t choose me." Hua Zhendan sighed sharply. "The long and short of it is that he broke up with me."

Qiu Dawei still didn"t understand. "And that lifted your mood?"

Hua Zhendan shook his head. "No. I"m dying inside. But I figured that if he could make a decision to leave me, then I can decide to get over him. So, I"m not going to sit and mope around anymore. I took a bath, cleaned my apartment and I"m going to order some food." He said, then picked up his phone to dial the restaurant.

Qiu Dawei flung the phone from Hua Zhendan"s hand.

"What happened?"

"You can"t let Shen Rui win. I won"t let you."

"But she already won, didn"t she?"

Qiu Dawei sighed and sat beside Hua Zhendan. "Look, her plan wasn"t something far in the future."

Hua Zhendan folded his arms and listened with rapt attentiveness.

"She deliberately helped Xuan Tianyi out because she knew it would result in this argument. Her plan was to break you two up, then separate you and let time do the rest."

"How did you know this?"

"I got her to tell me." Qiu Dawei brought out his phone and navigated to the edited recording that Su Yang had sent him. Just before he pressed the play b.u.t.ton, he said, "Listen to this."

Hua Zhendan listened to the recording till the end and then sighed. With a downcast voice, he said, "Well, she won."

Qiu Dawei"s face contorted from anger and despair. "This doesn"t make a difference to you? You won"t try and win him back?"

"No. She was right. And she does know me." He shook his head. "Xuan Tianyi didn"t choose me. I don"t think there"s anything there worth fighting for."

"He was just manipulated into thinking you"re the bad guy." Qiu Dawei explained.

"You don"t get it, Qiu Dawei. I"m tired."

Qiu Dawei said nothing and listened.

"I"m tired of the back and forth. I"m tired of breaking up today and making up tomorrow. I"m tired of being treated like a toy; tossed aside when convenient and played with when bored. I don"t want to do this anymore." Raising his hands in surrender, he said firmly. "I give up."

"Then, what do you want?" Qiu Dawei asked calmly.

"I just want..." Hua Zhendan paused. "I just want to get away from all of this scheming and plotting. To go somewhere surrounded by simple and innocent people. A place where I won"t be suspicious when someone is kind. Even if it"s just for a moment. Is that too much to ask?"

"I don"t know if there"s such a place."

Hua Zhendan released a deep breath. "I want to look for my birth parents."

"What?"

"They don"t have all of this money that turn people into demons, right? I doubt they"ll have any need for evil plots and schemes."

"But... They—"

"Abandoned me and left me to die when I was a kid. I"m aware of that. Still, they can"t be any eviler than Shen Rui is, right?"

Qiu Dawei shook his head. He couldn"t imagine that anyone in the world could be like Shen Rui. "Perhaps not."

"And I"ll never know unless I find them. So I"m going to go find them."

Qiu Dawei smiled and thought to himself. "Yes, they can"t be any eviler than Shen Rui. And she would lose your affection like I bragged to her she would. This is perfect. I could never have planned something this perfect."

"What are you smiling about?" Hua Zhendan raised a brow at him.

"I"m just happy you aren"t dirty and ugly like the last time I saw you."

Hua Zhendan smiled. "I stunk as well."

Qiu Dawei laughed gently. He stood up and walked towards Hua Zhendan"s kitchen. "Let"s not talk about that. I"ll quickly make you something to eat, okay?"

Hua Zhendan nodded. "Okay."