Chapter 005 – Love Letter

Translator: Helliot

Editor: Isalee

“Meng Fu, come here and write me a love letter. Make it fancy, alright?” Di Jun beckoned to Meng Fu as soon as he entered the cell.

He looked quite out of sorts. Di Jun could tell something wasn’t right. “What’s with you? Soul came flying out after you saw your love or something?” Di Jun joked.

“It’s not a lover, it’s that woman’s husband.”

“What’s he come to see you for? Sounds to me like he’s a masochist. You could just say no, can’t you? You’ve got the right not to see anyone in prison.”

“No, I owe him.” If he wanted to see him being miserable, then let him. It would surely make him feel a little better if that guy could feel better as well.

“Meng Fu, you really are…” a good guy. If it weren’t for me, you’d be gobbled up in prison and there’d be nothing left of you.

“Didn’t you say you wanted me to write something?” Meng Fu asked after adjusting himself.

“Yeah, a love letter. Write it once for me and I’ll copy it down from yours.”

Meng Fu picked up his pen, and for the first time, he felt embarrassed to write. He had never written a love letter before and had no idea how to write one. “Boss, you’ll have to tell me what kind of person she is so I can prescribe the right remedy for the situation, so to say.”

“Prescribe the what now? My girl ain’t sick, she doesn’t need any meds.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Meng Fu explained patiently to him, “It just means I have to get to know her personality and what she likes so I don’t get anything wrong.”

“Oh.” Di Jun smiled. Even the fierce-looking scar on his forehead seemed to warm up a little. “Yi Ying, huh…She’s a very gentle woman. She likes reading, writing, and drawing…She’s really good at drawing, slapping the colors of the rainbow on paper, kinda feels like Picazzo, ya’know?”

“Boss, isn’t it supposed to be Picasso?” One person could not help but chime in.

“Shaddup, did I tell you to speak?!” Di Jun fumed and threw a kick over.

That person didn’t dare to speak anymore. He made a silent complaint in his heart: I also went to school for a few years! Picasso does abstract art. If it was colorful…then that’s clearly Van Gogh’s style.

When he heard Di Jun describe Yi Ying without holding back his praise, warmth trickled into his chest.

There are cold and emotionless familial bonds in the world, but pure love also exists. Even a bit of warmth can bring some meaning to a person’s life.

This man can be a ruthless gang boss, but he’s also an ordinary infatuated man who can write a simple love letter for the one he loves.

After some thought, he wrote the lyrics from the song at the end of the movie, “Love Letter”.

“Ah, my love runs riding on the south wind

Ah, through the blue winds, it runs to that island

Each time I meet with you

I end up forgetting everything

Just like a little girl in high spirits

Can you hear the heated beat of my heart?

On our bare bodies, the coral reef is twinkling

It’s OK if just the two of us get to drift away

Because I love you!

Ah, my love runs riding on the south wind

Ah, through the blue winds, it runs to that island

My tears, they come running down

Don’t look at me with those sweet eyes

Just like a little rose, I hang my head low

I want you to touch my petals

On the shore covered in the moss green of love

Our faces gradually come closer

I love you!

Ah, my love runs riding on the south wind

Ah, running through the blue winds, it runs to that island.

The purest love, and the purest song.”

“Meng Fu, I like the sound of what you wrote, but there are a lot of words in here that I don’t know.” Di Jun’s brows knitted together as he looked at the page full of words.

“Oh, uh…”

It wasn’t until a while later when Di Jun had seen Yi Ying and returned to the cell did Meng Fu finally realize how big of a mistake he made. Based on Di Jun’s level of knowledge, he could not have seen the movie, “Love Letter”, much less remember the lyrics.

But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. When Yi Ying saw the letter Di Jun tried to copy, she smiled from ear to ear. She even broke the fact that she knew Di Jun had asked someone to write a love letter for him.

Five years passed and winter arrived. Meng Fu was vaguely aware of the amount of time that had passed—perhaps he had been in such an environment for a long time, but he gradually forgot about the passage of time as well.

His aunt never visited again, and neither did Gu Ze.

He was like a speck of dust forgotten in a corner.

Sometimes, he even hoped that Gu Ze could come to him with news about Xiao Yi. Even if knowing would carve wound after wound on his heart, it would still be his only link with Xiao Yi.

“0732, you’ve got a visitor.”

He was lying in bed, reading the comic book that he had received from Di Jun when the guard called out to him.

A visitor? Who? Is it Auntie or Gu Ze?

Things were just so unpredictable sometimes.

“Xie Zhenzhen,” he called out to the girl sitting before him.

Xie Zhenzhen’s appearance had changed a bit from her high school days. Her hair was dyed and she had some light makeup on today. It felt like her image now did not overlap the one he had of her in his memory.

“I’m really sorry it took me this long to visit.”

“It’s alright, it’d be better if you didn’t come.”

If you didn’t, then it would’ve been easier for me to forget about you.

“It wasn’t on purpose. My parents sent me out to Australia to study. I figured since you wouldn’t be in A Uni anyway, it wouldn’t mean anything if I went there. I just came back recently, so I thought of coming to see you.”

“Thank you.” He smiled faintly, but he lowered his head a little so he could avoid meeting Xie Zhenzhen’s eyes.

Xie Zhenzhen’s heart suddenly went cold and a stinging numbness seemed to pour into her heart. Meng Fu wouldn’t look at her. He wanted nothing to do with her. Thus, her tears could not help but fall.

“Don’t cry.” Meng Fu raised his head to look at her and repeated once more, “Don’t cry.”

Not knowing what to do, he had the subconscious impulse to wipe away Xie Zhenzhen’s tears, but the chains on his wrists jingled as he moved.

It was an ear-piercing noise, so striking that it numbed his heart.

“I won’t cry. If you don’t want me to come, then I won’t come. Seven years…It’s only seven years. We’ll meet again then, alright?” Xie Zhenzhen wiped away her tears. “You must be bored in here, so I brought you some books you can read.”

On the table were several thick books on law. Civil law, criminal law, constitutional law, jurisprudence…a full set on the topic.

Heavily stacked on the table, it felt like they were weighing down Meng Fu’s heart.

Becoming a lawyer…Wasn’t that too presumptuous of a dream for him?

“Thank you.”

He suddenly remembered the love letter he wrote for Di Jun. Looking at the face of the girl in front of him, the love letter he wrote gradually morphed into the one Xie Zhenzhen wrote for him.

The first love letter he received.

At the end of that letter, she wrote, “Meng Fu, I’m waiting for your answer.”

At the end of February the next year, Meng Fu knew he would never see Xie Zhenzhen again, because Gu Ze was sitting in front of him, telling him about her.

“Long time no see, Meng Fu.”

“Mr. Gu. Do you know how my brother is doing?” he asked, anxious.

Gu Ze ignored him, instead passing him a stack of photos, all showing the same girl: Xie Zhenzhen.

Photos of her smiling, talking, eating, and even one with a man’s arm around her shoulder.

“Your girlfriend’s found herself another man this quickly, huh?” Gu Ze spat mockingly.

Yet he was disappointed to receive a reaction that was contrary to his expectations. Meng Fu should have been furious, vexed, and uneasy, yet why did he look through them so unperturbed and set them down so casually?

Perhaps some hid their sorrows deep inside. Little cuts ran through Meng Fu’s chest, but even more than that, he felt relief. He was glad that Xie Zhenzhen was doing well.

“It’s good that she’s doing well by herself.”

“Wow, how open-minded of you. If my girlfriend had been out with another man, I’d be pissed. But a pity isn’t it? She’s dead.” While enunciating the word “dead”, he glanced at Meng Fu from the corner of his eye.

He could see Meng Fu freeze up, just like a child who had done something very wrong and had no idea what to do.

Meng Fu wanted to apologize, but he knew that Gu Ze was tired of hearing him say sorry.

But other than sorry, there was nothing else he could give him.

Gu Ze rapped his fingers on the table, one tap sounding after another, rhythmic like a pounding heartbeat.

“I…” After a long pause, Meng Fu finally mustered up the courage to ask, “Mr. Gu, could I hear about my brother?”

“Your aunt never tell you?”

“No.”

A smile spilled from his lips and the rhythm of his fingers finally stopped. Gu Ze added in a meaningful tone, “Seems like everyone has abandoned you now, huh? Oh, my bad. I forgot about that autistic brother of yours. He’s in the hospital. I don’t know why, but why don’t you muster a guess?” When he saw Meng Fu silent, he paused for a moment before reading out the suspicions in Meng Fu’s heart. “Maybe it’s ’cause of his pollen allergy?”

His heart twisted up with unease. Just like he was stepping over countless thorns, the pain came from the bottom of his feet rising all the way to his heart, and there was nothing he could do about it. This man in front of him who hated him more than anything was his only link.

“Mr. Gu, please, I’m begging you. Could you tell Auntie to come?”

“You’re begging me? And who are you to have that right?”

Meng Fu’s pleading eyes suddenly went cold. Yes, what right did he have, and in what position did he stand that allowed him to beg this man?

“In fact, if you could have looked a little more annoyed when you saw that girl’s photos, I might have been in a better mood to help you with a favor. But what can we do? It turns out the girl isn’t your lover. I lost my lover, but you didn’t.”

“Some people just don’t show their hearts on their sleeves.”

Gu Ze stared into Meng Fu’s eyes, watching the light in them darken a little like a deep pond which depths could not be seen. Since he could not see Meng Fu’s sadness, he was sure that Meng Fu did not really love that girl.

Perhaps all he felt was a bit of novelty, and maybe a hint of passion; but it was not love.

Gu Ze was disappointed. He did not get to see the performance he expected of Meng Fu.

“Mr. Gu, help me out just this once, please?”

“Sure. I’ll help. I’ll do it if you kill yourself.” Gu Ze said both carelessly and casually. The sheen of Meng Fu’s shackles reflected in his eyes filled them with an icy coldness.

“I can’t do that.”

He couldn’t do it. He had Xiao Yi to think about. He couldn’t just die.

“Then there’s nothing I can do.”

“Mr. Gu,” he enunciated. Anxious, he stood up and looked at him. With his pleading eyes, he could see the disdain in the other man’s eyes.

He knew full well that even if he begged this man, he would never receive his help.

However, he still had to try. He couldn’t let Xiao Yi be hurt.

“Time is up,” the guard said.

He saw Gu Ze’s lips part as if he were about to say something, as if he was giving him one last thread of hope. However, before Gu Ze could speak, he had run out of time.

He kept looking back at Gu Ze as he was led to the door.

However, almost as if his open lips were a mere illusion, Gu Ze sat quietly on the chair, legs crossed as he watched him being taken away silently, a smile playing at his lips as if he were pleased or even mocking him.