Chapter Ten: The Philippine Family (3)
The dinner party was a grand affair.
There were even rumors that the strategist to the frontrunner in this election for president would also be attending tonight’s family dinner.
The host of the house had a formal outfit sent over for them.
Most considerate of all, he had once again sent over the finest medicine for treating external injuries.
His wounds had already been carefully cleaned and treated with medicine. Seeing that the host had thoughtfully prepared the medicine for him, Nan Bei actually felt a little embarrassed. Just how obvious had he been, for an outsider to understand him so well?
The wounds on his back had split open several times after too many violent fights, and had healed badly. On top of that, there was the escape from White Shark Coast, and the sex in the bathtub just now. It looked like there was little chance they would heal without leaving scars.
Nan Bei carefully tended to his wounds, wrapping layer after layer of gauze around his body.
Her hands slowly wound from behind him to the front, then back around to his back again. “Did the doctor who treated you just now warn you not to get the wounds wet?”
He gave a very calm “Mm.”
She smiled helplessly, then helped him put on his shirt, while she herself was still wearing only her thin underwear.
Cheng Muyang took the formal outfit from the rolling rack and patiently helped her put it on as well, not even allowing her to do it herself.
Only after fastening the necklace around her neck did he look at her through the wall-length mirror and tell her what would happen later that evening. “At the banquet tonight, I’ll take you for the first dance. Then someone will come and take you away.”
“And you?”
“I’ll leave at the same time.”
“You don’t need to worry about me too much,” Nan Bei told him. “My brother has a very good relationship with them. So the person you should be worrying about most is yourself.”
Cheng Muyang was considerably taller than her.
She met his eyes in the mirror and sensed a very subtle sadness between them.
She turned around, patted his chest with her palm, and smiled as she deliberately broke the mood. “People like us live such dangerous lives. We can only ever live in this one second. We can’t think even a minute ahead. So I won’t care too much about what happened in your past.”
He did not understand why she had suddenly said that.
“Tell me obediently,” she said, deliberately putting on a mean tone as she changed tack. “Besides Katyusha, do you have any other female confidantes? Hmm?”
Only then did Cheng Muyang understand.
He almost wanted to laugh.
Nan Bei looked at him with a smile. “It’s such a simple question. Why did you have to think about it for so long?”
Cheng Muyang pulled a drink from his trouser pocket. The little silver flask was gone. What he had in his hand now was a small, flat glass bottle filled with clear liquor.
He took a sip, then lowered his head and fed her a little less than half a mouthful.
She frowned, but obediently opened her mouth.
Luckily, they would be separating soon. Otherwise, he really would turn her into an alcoholic.
“Your question has something to do with a secret,” he said quietly after pulling away from her lips. “When we meet again, I’ll tell you the answer.”
The two of them finally stepped out of the room just before the ball began.
Whether it was the host or Katyusha, someone was so familiar with his fondness for liquor that the servant waiting at the door was holding out fresh mint leaves to dispel the strong smell of alcohol from their mouths. As his female companion, she stayed by his side the entire time, watching as he conspicuously introduced her to every distinguished guest at the host’s insistence.
The two of them kept moving through the crowd, raising their champagne glasses, clinking them frequently, exchanging pleasantries.
Her gaze continued to survey the surroundings. On this night, with the city lights just coming on, she believed there was more than one CIA agent lying in wait.
Cheng Muyang was very clever.
The CIA could not possibly expose itself in broad daylight. Rather than skulking around, he might as well move openly through the crowd, among the Philippine military and political figures, giving them no opportunity at all.
The lights gradually dimmed. Someone took Katusha’s arm and led her onto the dance floor first.
Cheng Muyang gently held her by the waist and, without warning, spun her onto the dance floor. Such an eye-catching entrance drew everyone’s attention. His face was blurred by the dim light, a faint smile hanging on it.
She placed one hand in his and followed his steps.
She suddenly remembered that night in the cruise ship’s bar. There had been no one else. The two of them had danced from deep into the night until dawn.
Back then, Cheng Muyang and she had been completely without restraint, intimate and ambiguous.
Her thoughts drifted for only a few seconds. When she came back to herself, he had already lowered his head in full view of everyone, just as he had that night, gently rubbing the tip of his nose against hers as though no one else existed.
“Nan Bei?”
“Mm.”
“Nan Bei.”
She gave another “Mm.”
She was already used to Cheng Muyang calling her this way every time. Repeating it again and again, asking for confirmation over and over, was really nothing more than a way of making her answer him patiently, no matter how many times he asked.
Cheng Muyang’s hand, resting at her waist, moved upward and steadied her face, making her look at him.
“Would you marry me?”
They were very close, close enough that she could not escape his gaze.
“Are you serious?”
“Very serious.”
She could faintly feel the heat of his palm through the hand they held together.
Both of them were suddenly a little flustered.
“Look at my hand.” His voice was very soft.
Nan Bei followed his gaze.
Her own hand rested in his palm, and his fingers were unmistakably holding a ring.
Translucent green.
Close enough to touch, suspended just before her ring finger.
He was waiting for her answer, yet his steps did not stop. Nan Bei looked at the ring between his fingers, very much wanting to reach out and put it on herself. She believed she would never meet another man like Cheng Muyang, a man who could make her heart stir so deeply. So many times, when he was tangled up with her, he always found a way to say something that struck straight into the depths of her heart.
He would say that the snow in Moscow was very suitable for letting people go deep and come back out lightly.
And if he were to lock her in a room, there would be only the two of them, by the fireplace, doing it for an entire day.
Then, late at night, he would accompany her as they watched the whole city of Moscow.
Nan Bei slowly clenched her hand into a fist.
She gently breathed out.
“You always force me to make decisions,” she pressed her face against his chest. “I really can’t this time. Since I was four, I’ve followed my brother everywhere, running for our lives. He would often secretly dump me at a stranger’s house in the middle of the night, then disappear for days before coming back covered in blood. He always carried a knife. Everyone was afraid of him, so they didn’t dare refuse to take me in. Most of them were poor families, but somehow there was always enough to eat. He was different, though. Every time, he made himself the bait, just so I could sleep soundly for a few days and have enough to eat.”
“That must have been hard,” he said.
“Mm. Very hard.” Nan Bei closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat, unusually restless. “So if he says, ‘Nan Bei, Cheng Muyang is our enemy,’ then I will never see you again.”
Cheng Muyang put the ring away, slipping it into the shirt pocket over the side of his heart. “Looks like green doesn’t suit you. Next time, how about a ruby?” he said lightly.
“That sounds nice. I really like red.”
She answered just as lightly.
Cheng Muyang smiled and said nothing more, simply pulling her against himself until she was pressed tightly to him.
The dance music reached its climax. The two of them moved together perfectly, until finally they crossed paths with another man and woman. It was Katyusha and a stranger. Katyusha seemed unexpectedly delighted and called out his name, while her dance partner looked at them politely with azure-blue eyes and nodded in greeting.
“Shall we switch partners?” Katusha suddenly suggested from not far away.
Nan Bei immediately understood what she meant.
Very naturally, the two pairs exchanged partners.
When the European man’s hand settled on her waist, she clearly saw the unmistakable delight in Katyusha’s eyes. Nan Bei looked away and felt her new dance partner watching her.
She looked at him. The man asked her in heavily accented London English, “Miss, are you Katyusha’s friend?”
She nodded and smiled.
From the corner of her eye, she saw that Cheng Muyang had already escorted Katusha to the edge of the dance floor. He casually picked up a glass of champagne from the tray of drinks being served beside them, raised it gently in her direction, and quietly bade her farewell.
Amid the crisscrossing lights and the crowd immersed in the music, his farewell seemed especially unreal.
Nan Bei politely stayed with the man until the waltz came to an end.
As planned, Cheng Muyang disappeared from the banquet hall. Nan Bei silently prayed that he would make it safely to the airport, while taking advantage of the bustle on the dance floor to quietly gather up her long skirt and leave it.
Behind this building was a huge natural waterfall.
There were just as many people gathered there, chatting happily, caught up in ambiguous flirtations, openly and covertly struggling against one another. It was all politics, and had nothing to do with her. There were many people talking, and she could not understand what they were saying, which also had nothing to do with her.
She remembered that this was not the first time she had rejected a marriage proposal.
When Shen Jiaming turned eighteen, he had nervously taken out a ring at her birthday dinner, right outside the door of her bedroom. It had also been a sudden proposal, which she had brushed off as a joke with just a few words.
She had rejected him easily enough, yet felt a little guilty inside.
But tonight, at the moment she rejected Cheng Muyang, she unexpectedly felt a deep sense of loss as well. Perhaps this was the last chance. His proposal had been a plea for her to return to Moscow with him.
She sat on a table beside the waterfall and, using a very casual excuse, borrowed a mobile phone from the couple beside her.
After dialing a string of numbers, she heard the familiar ringing tone.
Amid the sound of the waterfall, she quietly waited for Nan Huai.
This was the private line between Nan Huai and her, so the moment the call connected, she did not speak. Nan Huai spoke first. “Beibei.” His voice was not very clear. He was probably resting.
“Mm.”
“Had enough fun?”
Nan Bei laughed softly. “Mm.”
“I’ll arrange for someone to come pick you up,” Nan Huai said, unexpectedly calm, as though he had already seen through much of what had happened. “Whatever it is, we’ll talk when we get to Wanding.”
Nan Bei laughed softly. “Mm.”
“As for Cheng Muyang...”
Her heart suddenly leapt into her throat.
The voice abruptly disappeared, and the phone was pulled from her hand.
At the same time, the muzzle of a gun pressed against her back.
“Miss Nan Bei,” the London accent, not entirely unfamiliar, belonged to the man she had shared the last dance with. “I think the sound of this waterfall is too loud. We need to find somewhere quiet and have a talk.”
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