Chapter 114: Memories and the Bar Table

"Ah Ji, am I beautiful?"

"Beautiful."

"Ah Ji, here, eat this."

"Thank you."

"Ah Ji, how much longer do we have to stay here?"

"I don't know."

"Ah Ji, why don't you like to smile?"

"Mm."

"You should smile more. You look good when you smile."

"Mm."

"Ah Ji, would you be willing to, for me..."

The voice gradually faded in Yan Jing's ears. That was as far as it went.

The Cameraman must have wiped every memory involving the face before him completely clean.

Those scenes were hazy, entirely devoid of clear details. He could only make out that the two of them seemed to have grown up together.

The Cameraman harbored intense affection for the owner of that face.

Then, once they grew up, the Cameraman left their childhood home with her.

That was all he could discern.

Everything after that was a complete blank.

But... what exactly was the Cameraman's long-cherished wish?

As he pondered this, a wave of intense hatred suddenly erupted in his chest.

And its target pointed straight at Yu Ling's face as she lay before him.

Kill her?

Yan Jing's heart stirred. He immediately lowered his gaze, concealing the murderous intent his body had generated on its own.

Fortunately, he had already turned his body sideways to face the group from Rotten Vegetable Village.

He couldn't kill her. At the very least, he couldn't kill her here.

Besides, she might not even be the one he needed to kill.

Just as he prepared to leave that space within his mind, another scene suddenly appeared before his eyes.

On a patch of pitch-black soil, the Cameraman squatted and buried a box in the earth.

"No one will disturb this place," the Cameraman muttered to himself.

"At least there's a tiny sliver of a chance it will make me remember you."

After saying that, he stood up, turned around, and left.

The surrounding air was a vast expanse of hazy white mist, making it entirely impossible to distinguish the location.

Judging from his words, however, it seemed the Cameraman had found a place to bury something that could awaken his memories.

That was it. Yan Jing's heart leaped.

If the Cameraman still held strong feelings for the owner of that face back then, he definitely wouldn't have completely deleted his memories of her without leaving himself a way out.

And among the Cameraman's memory-related abilities, there was indeed the power to create backups.

It was just a matter of where he had buried those memories...

Yan Jing pondered that phrase: "No one will disturb this place."

An idea formed in his mind.

With that, he exited the space within his mind.

He once again looked at Yu Ling's face before him, and then at Yu Xiran beside her.

At this moment, Yu Xiran's beautiful eyes were filled with resentment as she glared at Yan Jing, looking as though she wished she could swallow him alive.

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

The words Yu Xiran had spoken after throwing herself at him earlier now seemed like nothing more than a lure.

Yu Ling was the true entity of desire.

After all, memories didn't lie.

But... was that really the case?

Yan Jing nodded and said, "Thank you for your generosity, Miss Yu Xiran. I wish you and Mr. Meng Qianqiu a hundred years of harmony."

With that said, Yan Jing led the others away amidst the cheers and applause of the crowd.

Upon returning to their table, Yan Jing individually expressed his gratitude to everyone.

The words of support they had offered just now owed much to the group's active encouragement.

As a reward, Yan Jing opened the box containing the fried rice.

Immediately, the sound of people swallowing saliva echoed around the table.

"There are plenty of ingredients. Once this is finished, I'll fry up some more," Yan Jing said with a smile.

At those words, everyone at the table cheered.

Just like that, the group's meal lasted late into the night.

With fine food paired with good wine, everyone at the table grew a little tipsy.

"Wuu wuu wuu—waa waa waa— (Wuu wuu wuu, the fried rice is so good!)"

Rose wiped away her tears while stuffing fried rice into her mouth.

This was already the fifth bowl she had eaten using the mouth on her face.

Besides those five bowls, she had eaten another five using the mouth on her stomach.

Overcome with emotion, Rose hugged Mantou and bawled loudly, "(Miss Mantou, when you marry Mr. Yi Ji, could you please hire me to work at your house?)"

One-Eye was equally enraptured by the meal.

Though he didn't cry out loud like Rose, after getting Yan Jing's permission, he directly packed up five portions to take back to his mom.

The portion currently in his hands was his seventh bowl.

An Ze and Tiger were completely drunk.

The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder, arms linked, singing at the top of their lungs.

"Tonight is a good day, a good day—"

Surprisingly, Lu Miao didn't find the scene too noisy. She sat there quietly and pulled out her book again.

She had also eaten a lot of fried rice and drank plenty of wine.

For her, that amount of alcohol was clearly a drop in the bucket.

However, as Yan Jing mixed drinks, he noticed that while she flipped through the book, she would occasionally pause and zone out.

Cheng Xin and Shan Shan were also somewhat drunk, becoming the second pair at the table to start bickering.

"I think sometimes you're just too kind, too kind. You need to be tougher! Don't just agree with everything other people say."

"Yes, you're right. I am too kind sometimes."

"You mother—%*@#—"

As for the other bickering pair...

They had their arms around each other's shoulders, huddled together in drunken conversation.

"Kid Chen, let me tell you, I've got a big plan."

"Oh? How big?"

"Big, huge, incredibly big! I'm afraid I'll scare you if I say it!"

"What a coincidence. I have a big plan too."

"Then let's compare!"

Old Master Liu's stubbornness flared up.

"Bring it on."

Chen Nian didn't care about anything else, but when it came to competing with Old Master Liu, he never yielded a single inch.

"This plan of mine..." Old Master Liu lowered his voice and spoke slowly:

"...has to do with a god."

After speaking, he sat up straight and looked at Chen Nian, all traces of drunkenness completely gone from his face.

He stared intently at Chen Nian's face, hoping to glean some clue from his expression—such as whether Chen Nian would join his plan, or whether he would be frightened.

After all, the words he had just spoken were shocking enough.

If word got out, people would think he was crazy.

But to his surprise, Chen Nian suddenly smiled.

He looked down at the table and chuckled softly. "What a coincidence."

"My plan has to do with the earth."

At those words, Old Master Liu's eyes lit up.

He suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"I didn't expect that you were a madman too, kid."

"And I didn't expect an old geezer like you, who sounded completely devoid of fighting spirit earlier, to actually harbor such ambitions in your heart."

Chen Nian said calmly, "But ultimately, it still depends on whether a certain someone is interested."

"True, someone has to lead the way."

With that said, both of them simultaneously looked toward Yan Jing, who was mixing drinks nearby.

Under the dim lighting, his slender hands gripped a Cocktail Shaker. With a casual toss, it traced a perfect arc through the air, flipped several times, and landed firmly back in his grip.

The crisp clink of ice cubes against the cup, accompanied by the swish of liquid, evoked thoughts of crashing ocean waves at the height of summer.

The mixing process was a part of the drink itself.

Yan Jing looked up at the two men, who were acting unusually serious and secretive, and paused.

"Why are you giving me that look? Did you taste the cheap soda I used to water down the liquor?"

With that, Yan Jing successfully earned himself two middle fingers.

"Don't worry, it's easy to get this kid on board," Old Master Liu said with a chuckle. "He's the type who can't bring himself to refuse after you've helped him."

"You mean to say..." Chen Nian said.

"Exactly, you noticed it too, didn't you?"

Old Master Liu stroked his beard and spoke leisurely, "We're going to help him kill that woman."

Chen Nian nodded. "Alright."

With that, the two exchanged a smile.

Ever since Tiger suggested lifting that girl's veil that afternoon, both of them had sensed that something wasn't quite right.

It wasn't until just now, when Yan Jing was about to lift the veil again, that the increasingly suspicious duo focused their attention on his face as he turned around.

That was when they caught that fleeting trace of murderous intent.

It was a kind of hatred they had never seen from Yan Jing before.

As for why Yan Jing wanted to kill that woman, they didn't know, nor did they care.

They had lived through far, far too much in their lives.

If Yan Jing wanted to kill her, the two of them would help him do it.

Just like when Old Master Liu had been bombed this time; the group said they would handle it, and they did.

Thus, early the next morning...

"I need to take a trip to Solitude Lane," Yan Jing announced to the group. "I'll leave as soon as the results of the banquet's discussions are out."

Solitude Lane?

Old Master Liu and Chen Nian recalled that Yu Xiran and her group were also heading to Solitude Lane after finishing the marriage alliance.

The two exchanged a glance and spoke up:

"The three of us are going too!!"