T/N:
Hey guys. I’m sure you noticed but the previous chapter didn’t post even though I had it scheduled. It has since been published so give it a read. Sorry for the missed chapter.
Chapter 38.1 The Promised Land (End)
The two looked at each other, and after a long silence, Li Su said, “If I say it was Song Qingluo who beat me, would you believe it?”
Lin Banxia: “…”
“Okay, I was the one who hit you.” Li Su gave up, “Believe me, it was definitely not for revenge. At that time, pain could help you break out of that state. I’m very experienced… It was definitely not to exact private revenge.”
Lin Banxia fell into deep thought.
If it were before, Li Su probably wouldn’t realize what Lin Banxia’s expression meant, but after what happened before, he already knew very well that Lin Banxia looked white and tender on the outside, but it might be really black when cut inside, so he struggled: “Why don’t you hit me back?”
Lin Banxia: “I don’t hit people.”
“Then…” Li Su was about to say, “What do you want to do”, but he suddenly remembered Lin Banxia’s weakness. He threw away the wooden stick in his hand, took a deep breath, and stood up from the ground. He got up and put his hand into his pocket for a while.
Lin Banxia was thinking about what he was going to take out, when he saw Li Su take out a small notebook, then with a stroke of his pen, he essentially signed a number, tore out a page and handed it to Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia was confused: “What is this?” He took it and saw the words “XX Bank, cash check” written on it.
“Hush money!” Li Su put his right arm around Lin Banxia’s neck, leaned over and whispered, “God knows that you know that I know it!”
This was the first time for Lin Banxia to see something like a check. He felt it was a bit novel, so he held it in his hand and looked at it.
“Is the deal concluded?” Li Su asked.
Lin Banxia thought for a while and said, “Okay.” He put the check in his pocket. This was the first time he saw this thing, and he didn’t intend to exchange it, so he just kept it as a souvenir.
After Lin Banxia was taken care of, Li Su breathed a sigh of relief, squatted down and continued to poke his ants happily. At this moment, Li Ye came out of the house, holding Li Su’s mask and sunglasses in his hand, and handed them to Li Su who was squatting on the ground. Li Su seemed to be used to it and didn’t even look back when he took it. Li Ye didn’t care either. He nodded to Lin Banxia, then turned around and went in. Li Su put on his sunglasses and mask, and the ants on the ground suffered again.
“Are you unhappy?” Lin Banxia asked him.
“It’s okay.” Li Su said.
“What happened?” Lin Banxia was a little confused.
Li Su turned to look at Lin Banxia and said, “Guess how I sent out the video of the team member’s death?”
Lin Banxia then remembered that the reason why they came here was because Li Su sent a video and it was received by people outside, which is how the next story came to be. But from beginning to end, Li Su never explained how the video was sent.
“Aren’t you curious?” Li Su asked.
“I’m curious.” Lin Banxia said.
“He’s not curious, not at all.” The ants on the ground were crawling around in panic because of a wooden stick. Li Su used the wooden stick to block their way. Looking at their panic, he twitched the corner of his mouth, “From the time I got in the car to now, he didn’t say a word to me.”
Lin Banxia: “…”
“He didn’t even ask what happened.” Li Su said.
Lin Banxia licked his lips and wanted to comfort Li Su with a few words, but obviously, no matter what he said, it was a bit pale, because even if they were ordinary friends who finally escaped, they would definitely care about each other. Lin Banxia recalled that in that place, Li Su imagined many Li Ye. According to the rules, Li Ye was obviously part of what Li Su wanted most in his heart, otherwise it would not have appeared.
“Forget it.” Li Su was a little discouraged. “Actually, I used a loophole to send the video out. It was just an attempt. I didn’t expect it to succeed.”
“How did you try?” Lin Banxia asked.
Li Su smiled and said: “I told it, please let me send a video to seduce the real Li Ye.”
Lin Banxia: “…”
“Hey, it really came true.” Li Su said with a cunning look, “It’s a pity that it didn’t work later. It probably found that humans are all a bunch of liars.” After saying this, he waved his hand at Lin Banxia, motioning for him to go in and drink, saying that he planned to go around and find some ants to poke at.
Lin Banxia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and could only watch him leave. When he turned back into the tavern, he suddenly remembered what Li Su said just now. He thought that Li Su was not a liar. However, after the video was actually released, his inner expectations probably changed and turned into worry and fear. From that moment on, he no longer had expectations of Li Ye coming to his side.
Of course, these things were all Lin Banxia’s own thoughts, and he didn’t know whether they were right or wrong. When he returned to the tavern, he saw that Li Ye was still drinking slowly, but Sergey had collapsed. Sergey was lying on the table, muttering the same words. Lin Banxia didn’t understand Russian and cast a confused look at him.
“Irina.” Li Ye spoke next to him, “He is calling Irina’s name.”
Lin Banxia laughed dumbly, a little sad.
The few of them drank for a while, and probably drank more than one bottle. Lin Banxia was completely exhausted, his head was groggy, and he was lying on the table with his entire body limp.
“Are you still drinking?” Li Ye asked him.
Lin Banxia shook his head, indicating that he was done. He frowned and said with the last of his sense: “Are you angry with Li Su?”
Li Ye looked at Lin Banxia expressionlessly and did not respond.
“You shouldn’t be angry with him.” Lin Banxia said, “He is very sad.”
After a long silence, Li Ye’s green eyes were like a piece of cold and clear amber. There was no emotion at all. He stared at Lin Banxia quietly, as if he wanted to see something on Lin Banxia’s face. Lin Banxia looked at him without flinching. The two looked at each other. In the end, Li Ye looked away first. He raised his wrist and looked at his watch and said, “Let’s go, Song Qingluo should be back soon. ”
Lin Banxia said, “Yes.”
Sergey had passed out completely drunk, so Li Ye supported him. The group stopped a taxi from the roadside and returned to the B&B where they lived. As soon as Lin Banxia entered the house, he saw Song Qingluo sitting in the living room. Song Qingluo had changed his clothes and sat quietly on the sofa, doing nothing, as if in a daze.
“We are back.” Lin Banxia said loudly, “Why did you go?”
“Going to drink?” Song Qingluo said. It should be clear even without asking because the group smelled strongly of alcohol. Sergey was being supported by Li Ye and was still making a fuss.
“Yes, first round, first round. Let’s rest for a while and then go have some drinks at night.” Li Su said with a smile, “How about that, can that thing be sealed?”
Song Qingluo shook his head.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became quiet, and Li Su’s face changed slightly: “What should we do? This thing needs to go for stress relief…I’m afraid…”
Song Qingluo said: “They are selecting locations for stress relief.”
Song Qingluo had explained the concept of stress relief before. If you had to say it again in easy-to-understand terms, it would be that you had to put a stone into a wooden box, but the stone was hot from the fire, so you had to find a place or use a method to let the stone cool down before it could be successfully put into the wooden box. Otherwise, other more serious consequences may occur.
Li Su was very irritated: “Have you considered the consequences of failed stress release?”
“We are doing calculations,” Song Qingluo said. “The specific data will be available later, but it has nothing to do with us.”
“Why doesn’t it matter?” Lin Banxia was a little confused, “Isn’t this something we have sealed?”
“Each country has its own department.” Li Su said, “This is just a cooperation. So, this thing has been taken over by them. Only they know the specific situation.”
Lin Banxia said: “Can it still be like this?”
Li Su spread his hands: “That’s it. Forget it, don’t think about it anymore. Let’s go rest for a while and go for a drink in the evening.” He hummed a song, casually entered a bedroom, and went to sleep.
Li Ye settled Sergey and went to rest. Only Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo were left in the living room.
Song Qingluo raised his eyes and looked at Lin Banxia, his voice was still as light as a feather, he said: “Aren’t you going to rest?”
“Well… there were so many people there, it was hard to ask.” Lin Banxia said hesitantly, “Is your chest okay?”
Song Qingluo said: “It’s okay.”
Lin Banxia pursed his lips but did not move.
Song Qingluo understood what he meant, thought for a moment, and said softly: “You… want to take a look?”
Lin Banxia said: “Is it okay?”
Song Qingluo nodded, then he took off his coat, and then unbuttoned his shirt, exposing his chest and waist, revealing a hideous scabbed wound on his abdomen. It looked very painful. Although it had been sutured, it was not bandaged and was just exposed. Lin Banxia took a breath of cold air. He leaned over and carefully touched the area around the wound with his fingertips. Although Song Qingluo didn’t say anything, Lin Banxia could clearly feel that Song Qingluo’s body slightly stiffened for a moment. Clearly it still hurt a lot.
“Does it hurt?” Lin Banxia felt a little distressed, “Why don’t you wrap it up so that you won’t disturb it when you wear clothes?”
“It’s okay.” Song Qingluo lowered his eyes, “It’s a little itchy.”
Lin Banxia raised his face, his brows drooped, like a pitiful, helpless child, and asked, “Can it get better? How long will it take for it to be completely healed?”
Song Qingluo looked at his face, and for some reason wanted to rub Lin Banxia’s soft-looking brown hair. So, he did as his heart desired, carelessly sliding his fingers through Lin Banxia’s hair. His fingers felt a little itchy, and the itch slid down to his heart, causing his heart to tremble. His voice was very calm, no different from usual: “It will be fine. It’ll be about a month or two, don’t worry.”
Lin Banxia didn’t realize that there was anything wrong with Song Qingluo’s movements. He actually felt comfortable having his hair combed, just like a hamster enjoying having its hair smoothed. He tilted his head, numbed by alcohol, and became happy. “It’s so fast, that’s great.”
“Are you tired? Go to sleep.” Song Qingluo smelled the strong scent of alcohol on him.
Lin Banxia didn’t get much rest last night. As soon as he got out of the car, he was dragged by Li Su to drink so much alcohol, so Lin Banxia was indeed sleepy now. His mind was a little sluggish. When Song Qingluo said it would be fine, his mood immediately brightened. Lin Banxia, with a smile, bent down and helped Song Qingluo button up his shirt button by button. He then patted Song Qingluo on the shoulder: “Comrade, you have worked hard.”
Song Qingluo: “…”
“I’m going to bed, see you tonight.” Lin Banxia stood up, yawned profusely, and entered the bedroom, falling into a deep sleep almost as soon as his head hit the bed.
He slept soundly this time, without even a dream from beginning to end. When he woke up, he felt refreshed and didn’t even have the usual headache after a hangover. Lin Banxia got up and planned to go get some water, but he saw that the others were all awake and sitting in the living room watching a Russian TV series. He didn’t know whether they could understand it or not.
Li Su saw that he was awake and said hurriedly: “Banxia, you are finally up. Let’s go out and find something to eat?”
Lin Banxia said: “Okay. Are we going now?”
“Let’s go.” Li Su said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve come to Russia. I must try the steak and seafood. I’m starving. Come quickly.”
So, the group changed their clothes and went out.
After dark, the streets became a lot more deserted, but the pub was still lively. Sergey seemed to know the neighborhood very well and said that the steak there was delicious, so the group walked in.
Lin Banxia thought they were here to eat, but as soon as they sat down, Li Su ordered alcohol again. Lin Banxia was wondering how he could drink again, and then realized that Li Ye was not there. It was also because Li Ye didn’t like to talk on weekdays, but he didn’t realize until now that they were missing someone.
“Where did Li Ye go?” Lin Banxia asked.
“Why do you care so much?” Li Su didn’t care.
Lin Banxia looked at Song Qingluo: “Aren’t you going to persuade him?”
Song Qingluo’s expression was as calm as his tone and he said, “Let him drink.”
Lin Banxia was speechless.
Li Su smiled, added half a cup of alcohol to the glass, and then added one-half of ice water to it, and drank three cups in a row. After three drinks, an abnormal blush appeared on Li Su’s face. He said he was hungry, but he only took a few perfunctory bites of food and started drinking again. Sergey, who liked to drink, immediately got on the same airwaves with Li Su. Catalyzed by alcohol, the two quickly became brothers. They put their arms around each other’s shoulders and drank one glass after the other.
Lin Banxia was dumbfounded.
Song Qingluo was obviously used to Li Su’s appearance. He was sitting next to him and eating steak elegantly with a knife and fork. He seemed to have no interest in drinking.
“He is just an alcoholic.” Seeing Lin Banxia’s stunned look, Song Qingluo explained coldly, “Li Ye was like this before he became an adult.”
“What happened when Li Ye became an adult?” Lin Banxia asked, “He suddenly woke up?”
“No.” Song Qingluo said ruthlessly, “He couldn’t beat Li Ye anymore. He will be beaten when he drinks. After being beaten several times, he gave up.”
Lin Banxia: “…” This seems to be a bit different from the happy scene he imagined. Why did it feel full of the cruelty of reality.
Translator’s comments:
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