NB Chapter59

His gaze lingered for a second, then he continued laughing and chatting with those around him while clinking glasses and swapping toast. At every banquet and drinking gathering, he moved through the crowd with effortless ease, never slipping out of character for even a moment. Yet after only a few sips of champagne, I had already watched Zhang Mingsheng cycle through several carefully crafted smiles, each one like a different mask.

Zhang Mingsheng didn’t care to understand others; when he wanted to use them, he simply played along with their needs to flatter them. Whether it could be called pathetic for a deviant like him to pour so much effort into competing over ordinary worldly matters, I honestly couldn’t tell.

I set my wine glass down on the table and scanned the room, searching for anyone from the Yang family. The guests were all people of wealth, dazzling and polished to perfection. I was an unfamiliar face, dressed far too modestly to stand out; at a glance, it was obvious I had neither status nor influence. All night long, smiling expressions passed over me only to freeze into brief, indifferent glances the moment they landed on me, changing as swiftly as cards flicking through a shuffle.

When I looked back, Zhang Mingsheng was already gone. Only Mrs. Tang remained in the crowd, wearing a shallow smile as she accepted the surrounding attention, occasionally tossing a few words to those beside her.

Finding nothing of interest, I decided to leave. Before going, I grabbed a small dessert from the long banquet table and tossed it into my mouth. It wasn’t too sweet, though the portion was disappointingly small. After finishing it, I headed off to find a restroom to wash my hands.

Stepping out of the brightly lit main hall, I entered a quieter corridor where the lighting was still clear, but the atmosphere had cooled. There was almost no one in sight; only the occasional waiter or wandering guest drifting past, pushing open a door that led to somewhere unknown. I made several turns and got lost among the identical doors. As I passed one slightly ajar left, I suddenly heard a groan.

A man’s groan.

It sounded blurred and honey sweet as if he were enjoying something that was both painful and pleasurable.

I slowed my pace, sensing it was time to discreetly turn back.

“Gege…” The young man’s voice suddenly pitched higher; it sounded remarkably familiar.

It was Zhan Weiqing.

He was actually in a vacant room at Zhang Mingsheng’s birthday party, having /// with someone.

And he called them “Gege.”

Could it be?

An image of Zhang Mingsheng holding Zhan Weiqing with the two of them nestled together immediately flashed through my mind.

The next second, something hard pressed against my back.

I spun around and delivered a back-kick.

Zhang Mingsheng suddenly stepped back two paces and evaded it with practiced ease. A few purple grapes slipped from the glass bowl in his hand and scattered onto the floor, rolling away in different directions.

“Wow, what a move. I’ll have to remember not play this kind of ‘surprise’ with a cop next time,” Zhang Mingsheng said in a low voice. “I’d love to spar with you if given the chance, but I’m afraid doing it here might ruin someone else’s fun.”

The moans from inside the room rose wave after wave as if the occupants were completely oblivious to the commotion outside. Was doing that kind of thing really so pleasurable?

“Why are you here?”

“And where should I be then?” Zhang Mingsheng gave a puzzled, helpless smile. He thrust the small glass bowl into my hands, walked toward the crack in the door, and peered inside.

“Hey!” I grabbed his shoulder and lowered my voice. “Are you peeping? Careful, you’ll ruin your eyes.””

But with that one move closer, I also caught a glimpse of the scene through the crack in the door.

The main character on the bed was indeed Zhan Weiqing.

But there were two other people.

Three people in total.

Zhan Weiqing’s skin was strikingly pale, caught in contrast between two warmer, wheat-toned bodies on either side.

I turned away immediately.

Zhang Mingsheng left a few seconds after me, even going so far as to help them close the door. He then fished a cigarette out of his pocket and walked straight toward the exit.

After walking about five paces, he looked back and beckoned me with his hand. “I have a secret to tell you.”

I thought about it for a moment, then followed.

We reached a place where the tide came into view. Gazing out at the distant sea beneath the vast night sky, I walked over and stood beside him. “What secret?”

“The secret is that I am actually a rather conservative person, Officer Yu.” Zhang Mingsheng turned to look at me, speaking with a smile. “He isn’t my type.”

I turned to leave at once.

“Officer Yu!” Zhang Mingsheng grabbed my wrist. “Do you want to go out to sea?”

I pulled my hand back. “No.”

The younger Zhang Mingsheng was still somewhat different from the man he would later become.

Zhang Mingsheng gripped me tight, refusing to let go. “Nothing will happen to you. If you’re afraid, take this.”

Zhang Mingsheng fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a suppressed handgun. Without breaking eye contact with me, he chambered a round and fired a shot into the empty ground. The bullet sank into the earth; it was very much real. Then he twisted my wrist and forced the gun into my hand.

“If you’re worried, then kill me and throw me into the sea,” Zhang Mingsheng said. “Didn’t you say you killed your partner? Killing me is just the same. If you come with me, I will answer three of your questions.”

Zhang Mingsheng took me onto his yacht, something I had never seen before. As I stepped aboard, he instinctively reached out to steady me. I sidestepped his hand and instead held onto the railing. He quietly pulled his hand back without saying a word.

As soon as the yacht’s engines roared to life, two figures appeared at the far end of the pier, running and waving their arms as they shouted. Zhang Mingsheng didn’t react at all, let alone stop what he was doing. The yacht continued to accelerate, pulling farther and farther away from the dock. In the end, those two people shrank into distant specks, left standing helplessly on the shore.

Heading out to sea at night, the spray churned into a murky white foam, slamming violently against the hull. I leaned against the railing, still holding the handgun in my hand. Only when the shoreline had faded into a thin thread of scattered lights did the yacht gradually slow down and eventually come to a stop, drifting on the water’s surface. Looking out into the distance, I felt a surge of awe, like I was staring up at the sky itself. And yet, we hadn’t even gone that far from the pier.

To ordinary people, the sea is boundless and unfathomable.

Zhang Mingsheng emerged from the cockpit, walked onto the deck, and handed me a glass of wine.

I didn’t take it.

Zhang Mingsheng smiled and drained the glass in one gulp. “You really loathe me, but I don’t dare ask you why, for fear you’ll regret saving me. I often wonder, if I were to die, would you have a better impression of me? I’ve heard that people are always more forgiving toward the dead.”

“…Absolute nonsense.” I turned my head, only to see him taking off his clothes. I took two steps back. “What are you doing?”

Still smiling without a word, Zhang Mingsheng threw his suit jacket onto the deck, took off his ring, kicked off his shoes, and then climbed over the railing before leaping straight into the sea.

He vanished almost instantly.

I gripped the railing and leaned half my body over to stare into the water. Madman, he truly was a madman. I shouted his name. He really was looking for death! I desperately wanted to just leave, but if anything happened to him, wouldn’t the blame fall entirely on my head?

The sea breeze was chilly. I gritted my teeth, ditched my watch and the handgun from my pockets, kicked off my leather shoes, and dove headfirst into the ocean. I can swim, but I absolutely hate it.

I paddled with all my might while shouting loudly as I searched the surroundings. In the vast open sea, the realization of his death slowly caught up with me. I had killed him; he no longer existed in this world. Death was a destination even more hollow and immeasurably vast than the ocean itself.

I called out for Zhang Mingsheng even louder. Just as I was about to change direction, a pair of hands clamped onto my legs.

A figure suddenly emerged from the water right in front of me with his hair dripping wet and his features soaked through.

Zhang Mingsheng looked like a merman under the starlight. He smiled at me, his teeth gleaming white. “So, Officer Yu is actually willing to risk his life to save me. It seems things aren’t as bad as I thought; I don’t have to die after all.”

Seeing his playful, smirking face, a fire rose in my chest. I turned around and began swimming back toward the yacht.

Zhang Mingsheng sat down beside me while chuckling softly; this time, the glass in his hand was filled with red wine.

“You swim quite well, Officer Yu. Do you swim often?”

“I remember your name is Fuchao, isn’t it? ‘Soothing the tides.’ What a fine name. Even if you fall into the water, it will also protect you.”

The young Zhang Mingsheng was practically incessant.

The stars filling the sky were reflected in the sea. A truly dangerous man is like a whirlpool in water; hazardous, yet impossible not to be drawn toward. Once you come too close, he no longer allows you to drift away, though it is never clear whether what binds you is love, or a hatred so deep it refuses to let go.

The yacht was still some distance from the shore. I sat motionless and was wrapped in a blanket.

“You told me last time that you wanted countless ‘moments like this’.” Zhang Mingsheng sat down. “Did you ever say that to your partner?”

“There was no need.” My voice turned cold at the thought of the past. “He wouldn’t have listened to me. He only wanted to keep people tied to his side.”

“It seems he made you very unhappy.” Zhang Mingsheng placed his wine glass on the deck and followed my gaze outward. After a long silence, he said, “I think I can actually understand him. If you like something today, you’ll want it tomorrow too; you’ll want it day after day, year after year, for an entire lifetime. Life is very short. While you’re still young, whatever you want, you should hold on to it as tightly as you can.”

“What do you think ‘holding on’ means?” I asked. “Is it buying a cage or a house to lock someone away? Or is it building a family, creating a relationship, and forcing an identity on someone until that identity replaces their very name?”

Hearing this, Zhang Mingsheng frowned. “Is that… not allowed?”

“No one wants to live like that.” I said, my voice sharp with anger.

Zhang Mingsheng fell silent.

“Perhaps so. There are people who carry a hollow in their hearts so desperate to be filled that they convince themselves only a violent storm can do it. But are we really living just to spend our entire lives patching over a wound torn into our souls in childhood?”

I was questioning him, but I was also questioning my past self.

For a brief moment, an eerie silence settled over the yacht, and all that could be heard was our breathing. The sea breeze, the night sky above, and the slow, rhythmic surge of the tide formed the only movement in the stillness.

After a long while, Zhang Mingsheng spoke, “It’s a good thing you didn’t drink.”

---

Unlock the complete translation HERE!