Chapter 269 - He Is Gone
On Zhenyi's side.
Zhenyi picked the glass and gulped it down in one go again. After Alcina left, she ordered one more bottle. The waiter refused her as Alcina had threatened him not to give her any more alcohol, but Zhenyi being Zhenyi, she played the I'm-your-boss card.
Just as Alcina returned to the table, Zhenyi's phone rang.
"Your phone is ringing," Alcina said, occupying the chair.
"It is most likely to be my Bà," Zhenyi muttered under her breath. "I'll be damned if I pick up his call."
Since the phone was placed on the table, Alcina could see the caller's name. Since Zhenyi had refused to even glance at the phone screen, Alcina was left with no option but to pick it up herself. She couldn't deal with an intoxicated Zhenyi.
"It could be an important call," Alcina said again.
Zhenyi scowled. "Since you're so worried about me, why don't you pick up the phone yourself?"
Alcina had a hard time controlling --pouring the alcohol bottle on her head-- to knock some senses into the drunken mess. She was hurting, alright. But it didn't mean she would be worrying everyone else about her safety. So, she picked up the call.
"Wife, where are you?" The voice on the other side of the phone spoke.
Alcina stiffened all of a sudden after hearing the voice.
"Hello? Zhenyi, can you hear me?" Long Jie said in a very worried voice. "Please, don't scare me. I'm coming to get you."
Alcina came out of a daze when Long Jie's worried voice entered her ears. She took a deep breath and normalized her voice to sound firm but it failed in the end.
"H-hello."
"Who are you? Let me tell you, if you dared to hurt my wife, I won't leave you." Long Jie's cruel words pierced Alcina's heart but she managed to keep the smile on her face intact. "Are you even hearing me?"
"Sorry to break your fantasies, Sir. I have no intention of hurting your wife. And I'm a responsible citizen and most of all a kind-hearted human being, so I couldn't bear to see your drunk wife harming herself. I didn't know helping a stranger was such a crime in your eyes."
Although Alcina's conscience was bruised after calling herself a "responsible citizen" and a "kind-hearted human being", she chose to ignore it.
She heard Long Jie heaving out a long sigh. She was waiting for his next ruthless words, but they didn't come as she was anticipating.
" Thank you, Miss, for taking care of my wife," Long said. "Can you look after her for a few more minutes? At least until I reach there?"
Alcina was about to open her mouth to say that she was not her babysitter but just then, Long Jie said, "Please."
She swallowed the words back. "Okay."
It was the least she could do.
"Thank you!" And with this, he disconnected the call but not before saying, "If I can help you, please don't hesitate to ask."
'I wonder if you will help me out when we come face to face for the first time, Ah-Jie. You already hate me, what would you do when…"
'Would you forgive me for killing your brother, Ah Jie?'
____
A few days earlier….
"Ah-Jie," Feng Siyan spoke as soon as Long Jie picked up the phone.
"Ah Siyan, how are you?" Long Jie asked him casually as if they were buddies catching up. Well, they were... in a twisted kind, but it wasn't the reason Feng Siyan called.
Feng Siyan didn't know how to break the news regarding Lord Tang to Long Jie.
"How is the little princess?" Feng Siyan asked first because they couldn't tell Faye about her father abruptly, given how extreme emotions always ended up increasing her body temperature.
"Everything is alright?" Long Jie said. He could just feel something was not right, but his heart didn't have enough courage to ask.
"I have bad news, Ah Jie," Feng Siyan whispered, his clutch on the phone tightened. "Lord Tang is gone."
"No!" Long Jie didn't know why his heart was aching. "You're joking, right?" He knew that Feng Siyan was not the one to joke about his Master's death, but still, his heart was not ready to accept this unfortunate news. He needed to see it with his own eyes.
"Ah Jie, please don't let the little princess know about it. I dare not imagine her reaction."
"I want to see him once," Long Jie said, suppressing the storm raging inside him. He wouldn't believe that his brother was gone just like that. He needed to see him once. He didn't care about anything else. He needed to go there. "I have to see him with my own eyes, please. I will be coming to you now. Ah Siyan, we will save brother, right? He saved us once. Now it's time to fulfill our duties as his brothers."
"You can't meet him. Lord Tang is gone. They succeed in killing him. He once said, ' I'll be gone when I serve the purpose of my birth.' Lord Tang has served his purpose and now he is gone, forever. You have to accept it even if our hearts refuse to do so," Feng Siyan with that same gloominess in his voice. His cold face had now molten. He wasn't the same Feng Siyan that we all know.
"Please, let me see him for one last time," Long Jie begged him."What will I tell the little angel?" His eyes were now red and teary." How will I tell her that the father she is waiting for is gone?"
"It's time we fulfill our responsibilities as his brother, " Feng Siyan's grim voice was now transformed into that of authority. "I will take Lord Tang's responsibilities until the real successor is declared to take his position. You must take the little princess's responsibility until her mother comes to take her."
"Who is her mother?" Long Jie asked. It caught him off-guard when Feng Siyan said that Faye's mom would take her responsibility when she was absent in her life. Just how much did they trust her to give Faye to that woman?
"Don't ask about that woman," Feng Siyan said in a harsh voice. "It's forbidden to take her name."
"Why?" Long Jie asked him immediately.
"Because she was the one who poisoned Lord Tang."
_____end of flashback_____