The Lost Lamb's Trap - Chapter 18.2

Chapter 18.2: Stars (1)

Duan Litian drove her there. Someone opened the car door for them respectfully at the entrance.

The place was lit up with colorful lights, and there were great minds and common people talking and laughing. But their conversations were all about money and women. Duan Jiayang held her dad’s arm. Her dad introduced her like a beautiful and delicate doll, shaking hands and talking to people, telling her to call them “Uncle” or “Auntie.” She called them sweetly, but in reality, she couldn’t match the names to the faces and would forget them later.

Some people were blind. Duan Jiayang was standing next to her dad, and they couldn’t even recognize that she was his daughter. They hinted that he was very lucky with women and asked him to introduce them to some in the future. Their words were full of dirty jokes.

Duan Litian’s face was as black as the bottom of a pan. His eyes were about to pop out. He gripped Duan Jiayang’s arm tightly. Duan Jiayang tried her best not to throw her purse directly at the person’s face and tell him to get lost. She clenched her hands tightly.

“Jiayang,” Lan Yao was also there. She had been standing far away, watching the commotion. She was wearing a black suit and had blended into the world of fame and fortune. If she hadn’t called out to her, Duan Jiayang wouldn’t have noticed her. She waved to Duan Jiayang and said, “Come over and hang out.”

Duan Jiayang said a few words to her dad and went over. Duan Litian wasn’t actually angry. He was just making a big deal out of a small thing to show off in this setting. He sat on the sofa, and the person apologized and lit a cigarette for him. No one said sorry to Duan Jiayang.

A waiter gave Duan Jiayang a glass of champagne. Duan Jiayang’s eyes lingered for two seconds before she took it. She walked over to Lan Yao, who comforted her. “Don’t be angry. Just pretend they don’t exist.”

Lan Yao didn’t mention the flowers or the social media post. Duan Jiayang could only pretend she didn’t know anything. After escaping from the world of fame and fortune, her tense body relaxed a lot.

Duan Jiayang was very relieved. She didn’t say why, but after scanning the area again and not seeing that person, she let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“What’s wrong?” Lan Yao asked.

She blinked and smiled. “The light just flashed in my eyes.”

Lan Yao said, “Let’s go to the balcony and get some fresh air. It’s quite stuffy in here.”

The party was mostly men. They were arranged according to their status. The people with higher status had more people around them. Now, Duan Litian was sitting with two women. They looked like unknown models and third-rate actresses.

The women were soft-boned and flirtatious. Duan Litian was all smiles.

It was truly disgusting.

Duan Jiayang pushed her wind-blown hair behind her ear.

“You really don’t like it here?” Lan Yao asked.

Duan Jiayang was very frustrated but didn’t admit it.

“I didn’t like it at first either,” Lan Yao said, leaning against the railing. “If I had known that studying hard back then would lead to this, I wouldn’t have tried so hard, sigh.”

She laughed warmly to make Duan Jiayang happy, but Duan Jiayang tasted some bitterness. She suddenly remembered that when she was in private school, she and Lan Yao were in the same school. Lan Yao was on the honor roll.

She cheated on Lin Ke’s exam to get first place, but Lan Yao won several awards for piano and violin with her own skills. People in the business praised her, and they would even talk about her at the Duan family’s dinner table.

Now that she was in the business world, none of her certificates were useful. She had studied for nothing.

“Didn’t you know what you wanted to do when you were studying hard?” Duan Jiayang asked.

Lan Yao was silent for a moment before saying, “Maybe I knew, and maybe I didn’t.”

Maybe she knew… maybe she didn’t.

“If you knew what you wanted to do and studied hard for it, would it be a little easier?”

“It would be more tiring, and there would be a lot of pressure. Having a dream isn’t a good thing,” Lan Yao said. “Why are you suddenly so interested in studying?”

Duan Jiayang said, “I used to envy you so much. I thought you could do everything. Sister Lan Yao, I used to brag about you everywhere.”

Lan Yao hissed. “Don’t call me sister…”

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t be so envious. I used to be pretty…” Lan Yao smiled, not finishing her sentence. Duan Jiayang sipped her champagne and clinked glasses with her. They watched the moon together.

They kept drinking inside. The men’s voices got louder and louder, and their bodies got more and more bloated. It didn’t stop until 11 p.m. If Lan Yao hadn’t been there, Duan Jiayang wouldn’t have been able to handle it. She rested her chin on her hand, and her eyelids fluttered sleepily.

Duan Litian went to play cards. A few people were围着 a table. Duan Jiayang called out to him, drunk and tired, but he acted like he didn’t hear her. They were using a mahjong machine with their hands.

Lan Yao said her driver could give her a ride home since it was on the way. The two of them left early together. Lan Yao rolled down the car window and said the wind would feel nice.

The evening wind was a little intoxicating. The car stopped at her doorstep. Duan Jiayang pushed the car door open and got out, holding her skirt. Lan Yao also got out. Duan Jiayang was about to thank her. She looked up and saw a person leaning against a plane tree. Duan Jiayang’s eyes were blurry from drinking, and she thought she was seeing things.

Lin Ke looked up at her, her face expressionless, her eyes like a calm lake.

Their gazes stopped for a moment.

“Jiayang?”

Duan Jiayang immediately came back to her senses. She didn’t want Lan Yao to see Lin Ke. She said, “Thanks. I’m going back now. I’m a little dizzy. You… be careful on the road.”

Lan Yao maintained her proper etiquette, escorting her to the door but not going any further. Duan Jiayang walked step by step toward the house. Her high heels clattered on the stone path, and her steps were a bit unsteady.

She placed her palm on her forehead and rubbed it.

The housekeeper and maid at home thought Duan Jiayang was very drunk. They reached out to help her, but Duan Jiayang shook her head. She gripped her skirt and walked into the house. Then she stopped at the corner of the stairs and sat down. She raised her hand and smelled a strong scent of alcohol.

Her mind was a complete mess.

Her hair was already messy, and she didn’t have the heart to fix it. She held the railing and went back to her room. She took the hair clip off and clipped it to her waist. She opened the balcony door, and the evening breeze came in. The jasmine on her waist fluttered with the wind, bringing a scentless fragrance to the night.

Lin Ke was still standing downstairs.

It was funny. At first, the fence around Duan Jiayang’s house wasn’t this high, and no one would dare to climb over her wall and into her house.

Only her and Lin Ke.

Lin Ke was watching Duan Jiayang from downstairs. Duan Jiayang was watching her from upstairs.

The night was thick and dense. The stars and moon were covered by the darkness.

Duan Jiayang hadn’t really looked at her messages today.

Her phone rang, vibrating in her palm. She swiped to answer. Neither of them said a word. Their breaths and the wind had stopped.

Lin Ke kept looking up at the balcony where the lights were on. She didn’t know if it was because of the light or because she was wearing makeup today, but there was a red circle under her eyes.

Duan Jiayang’s arm was on the balcony railing, and her skirt was fluttering against her legs. She looked at the redness under Lin Ke’s eyes, and the moonlight pricked her twice, a dull pain.

After a long time, Lin Ke’s voice came through. She said her full name. “Duan Jiayang, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Duan Jiayang clenched her palm tightly and said, “I said I wasn’t going today. I didn’t tell you to wait for me all day.”

“Two days,” she corrected her.

Duan Jiayang gritted her teeth. “So what?”

“You didn’t say you wouldn’t come at all today.”

Lin Ke said again, “What if you came tonight?”

Duan Jiayang wanted to say, “Why are you being so stubborn? How long you waited has nothing to do with me.”

Lin Ke said, “Did you drink?”

After a moment of silence, her voice became very light. Duan Jiayang was ready for her to threaten her.

Lin Ke said, “Is your stomach okay? Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Duan Jiayang hummed.

She paused after humming and looked at her.

Duan Jiayang said, “None of your business.”

After she said that, Duan Jiayang realized that she had hung up the phone first, and those words hadn’t been said to her.

How did Lin Ke do it? She was fierce, sullen, and sinister, as if she was going to eat her up, but she still… cared for her through gritted teeth.

Was it because she cared about her?

She thought of the glass lights and the gold leaf in the champagne.

Floating up and down, her heartbeat and breathing were magnified by the night.

For no reason, her eyes became sore. When she blinked, her soft eyelashes became wet.

Many people were smoking and having cigars tonight. The smoke was so thick that she could smell it even on the balcony. Every time she breathed, it was as if she was inhaling all the smoke into her chest, which then rose to her eyes.

At that time, she was extremely uncomfortable, but she endured it. She was good at talking to everyone and pretending to be at ease.

Duan Jiayang had considered all the possibilities. How to deal with her, how to stop her from going crazy, and she had even thought of how to insult her and tell her to mind her own business.

She would say coldly and harshly that they were over long ago.

You are you, and I am me.

Why did she care about her?

Lin Ke was so annoying. Every time she felt that everyone in the world was the same, and that others would also care for her and comfort her, Lin Ke would always find a way to be different and hurt her, making her feel that what Lin Ke gave her was the kind of constant and eternal love and care that she wanted the most.

She was fierce to her, but she still cared about her.

Duan Jiayang chose not to look at her. She turned her head and saw the rose vines growing in the distance. They were blooming their buds in the moonlight. The moonlight couldn’t reach those inconspicuous corners. A pot of double-flowered jasmine was blooming furiously.

Duan Jiayang turned around and held the jasmine flower in her hand.

It was as if it was raining. One or two drops landed on the petals.

They were also bearing a weight that didn’t belong to them.

A few tears drowned it. She couldn’t breathe, as if the ocean tide was invading her. But this time, she chose not to let tonight’s moon know.

…

At 6 a.m., the stinging sunlight shone on her. The golden pajamas were faded to a pale white.

Duan Jiayang had drunk some champagne yesterday. She should have had a headache from the after-effects, but she was lying in bed with her eyes closed and felt refreshed.

She pressed her hand on her forehead. Her legs slowly lifted, and her feet rubbed against the cold silk twice. She started to procrastinate again, unsure of what to do today. She had to go to work on Monday and see Lin Ke. When she thought of Lin Ke, her body felt stuck to the bed. Her willpower told her to get up, but her body didn’t move.

Thinking of the consequences of procrastinating yesterday, she forced herself to get out of bed. Half of her body dangled from the edge of the bed. She picked up a slipper and slammed it down twice. She was so frustrated that she needed to vent. Duan Jiayang grabbed a pillow and threw it on the floor with all her might. She got off the bed and stepped on the pillow hard.

Of course, it wasn’t the one she slept on.

Duan Jiayang got dressed. She put on a white square-neck black dress with a slit. She went downstairs in her slippers. The auntie downstairs asked her how she wanted the dress washed.

The dark green dress cost 100,000 yuan. It would be a waste to ruin it. “Send it to the dry cleaner. Just get it back when it’s done. Have you made breakfast?”

The auntie nodded and eagerly brought the food to the table: salty tofu soup with steamed dumplings, and a plate of vinegar. “Is your stomach better? You can eat all of this.”

Duan Jiayang ate and drank.

After she finished eating, she didn’t take any more medicine. She took her bag and drove herself to the company.

The office was dead silent, quieter than ever. The sound of typing was soft, and they were careful when flipping through documents.

Duan Jiayang quietly placed her bag on the desk, moved her chair, and sat down. She asked carefully, “What’s wrong?”

As she spoke, she looked at the office. She had a vague idea of what was going on. She saw the glass, and the person inside… could see her clearly.

“Wow, you have no idea how terrible that person’s face is today. It’s sullen, with her eyes cast down, gloomy and cold, as if someone has hurt her…” a colleague in front of her whispered.

Yu Xiao turned and leaned over. “Maybe she drank too much and has a hangover. She’s so fierce… She’s usually a kind person, but today she’s really scary. I don’t know what happened. I hope it’s not work-related.”

Duan Jiayang’s heart felt tight. She didn’t look at the general manager’s office anymore. She hoped it wasn’t about her love life, but… it was probably impossible.

Usually, she would come out and walk around, but this time, she stayed inside the whole time.

The afternoon was stuffy and hot.

Duan Jiayang was preoccupied and couldn’t bear it. She ordered some coffee on her phone. She looked at the general manager’s office and ordered 30 cups in one go.

When the delivery arrived, she called Yang Ruiqi to go down and get it with her. She gave a cup to everyone, and there were two extra. She didn’t drink much herself. Her fingers tapped gently on the lid.

“For the general manager?” Yang Ruiqi whispered.

Duan Jiayang acted very smart this time. She said, “I bought for everyone, but I didn’t buy for her. That’s… that’s not good, is it?”

Yang Ruiqi said, “Then that’s perfect. You can take it to her.”

Duan Jiayang didn’t want to go in, which was why she had asked her.

Yang Ruiqi wasn’t stupid. It was obvious that Lin Ke was not in a good mood today. Who would want to go in and get themselves killed? Yang Ruiqi gave her a sympathetic look. “General Manager Lin is quite gentle with you.”

Just then, the general manager’s office door opened. She came out of the office. The long white pants covered her ankles, and her heels made no sound on the floor.

Yang Ruiqi immediately turned back, her fingers typing on the keyboard. She sent a message to Yu Xiao: [OMG, she’s so scary.]

Lin Ke went out for a bit. Duan Jiayang held the coffee cup to her face. It was ice cold, but she didn’t have the guts to go in. She didn’t even drink the coconut latte she had bought for herself.

Duan Jiayang didn’t see her face and didn’t know how scary she was. She lowered her head and worked on the wheel on her computer. The footsteps sounded again, and this time, they stopped next to her for a long time. Duan Jiayang’s mind was a mess. Should she press “3” or “4?” Should she adjust the X-axis or the Y-axis? She was hesitant and indecisive…

Lin Ke left, and she still hadn’t come back to her senses. Yang Ruiqi nudged her with her elbow. “Look.”

Duan Jiayang looked up. On her desk was a takeout bag with a restaurant logo on it. Duan Jiayang’s eyes moved to the office. Through the glass door, she couldn’t see what was going on inside, but Lin Ke could see her every move.

She thought of last night, of her words, “Does your stomach still hurt?”

Duan Jiayang got up and carried the food container out of the office. She went up one floor. This was where the high-level executives stayed. The decor was better, and there was a large lounge area. She used to come here to relax when she was bored. Everyone acted like they didn’t see her. She placed the food container on a table on the balcony.

Last night, she had sent a message to Lin Ke after she got back to her room, saying, “I’m not coming down. You should go.”

Did Lin Ke go back and drink because of that?

She had drunk champagne and slept well. What did Lin Ke drink to get so drunk?

Duan Jiayang massaged her temples. She wanted to apologize, but she also felt that it was better to let the misunderstanding continue and break off their relationship.

But she just wasn’t feeling well. She had no appetite and was in no mood.

Even after going upstairs, her heart still felt heavy.

The dishes were in a thermal container, and the flavors were still light.

Duan Jiayang stayed upstairs until 4:32 before going back downstairs. Her bag was downstairs, so she had to go back to the office. The coffee on the table hadn’t been touched. It had gone from being iced to room temperature. Duan Jiayang picked it up and put it down. Finally, she saved the bumpy wheel on her screen, took her bag, and left work.

Troubles never come alone. The hot summer that had lasted for a month gave way to a downpour in the evening. The moment she stepped out of the company, the wind rolled in, dust flew, and the weather completely turned.

Duan Jiayang looked up at the door and saw a familiar car. The window rolled down, revealing Lan Yao’s beautiful face. She said, “What a coincidence. I was just passing by here. Let’s get something to drink later.”

There were not that many coincidences in the world. They were meeting so frequently that Duan Jiayang could smell the scent of a planned encounter.

Duan Jiayang gripped her bag.

Lan Yao asked, “Do you have an umbrella? I’ll give you a ride.” She leaned over and opened a drawer nearby, taking out an umbrella.

It was only a few steps, and Duan Jiayang didn’t want to cause so much trouble. She held her bag and walked down the steps. The rain was pounding on the floor, and she could see the splashes.

As soon as she put her foot out, the rain that was about to fall was blocked. Duan Jiayang looked up. A black umbrella was held over her head. It was dominating, blocking the rain and covering her.

The fingers holding the handle were very tight. The bones in her fingers were tense, and at any moment, she could snap the fragile umbrella.

She held the umbrella.