Couple of Mirrors – Chapter 33: Yan Wei Arrested
(cn: blood, guns)
Xu Youyi stares into the water. Who should I believe now? she wonders.
Just then, a voice calls out. ‘Youyi?’ She looks up.
Yan Wei ducks behind one of the bridge’s steel columns. Who is this man?
The newcomer is, of course, Xie Yifan, star reporter of Dagong Bao. ‘It’s been a long time,’ he tells Xu Youyi.
Xu Youyi looks away. ‘Not long enough, to be honest.’
Undeterred, Xie Yifan goes up to her. ‘I know what you’ve been through. I’ve heard everything. Youyi, when I heard you weren’t doing well, I rushed all the way here from Beiping just to see you. I’ve missed you so much all these years. It would be different if you were doing well, but with the way things are now…’
He grabs hold of her shoulders. ‘I don’t mind raising another man’s child with you. I hope you can give me another chance, and that we can start over.’
Xu Youyi pulls away. ‘Yifan, what you did back then — abandoning me so that you could pursue your ambitions — is no different from what Zhou Heng has done. While I don’t think it was wrong of you to choose your career over our love, you did make a choice back then. It’s unacceptable for you to be turning around at this point and asking me for a second chance.’
She turns her back on him. ‘I stopped loving you the moment you left me.’
Yan Wei has been eavesdropping from her hiding place. Hmph. So he’s just another piece of trash, she concludes.
Suddenly, she looks up, startled…
…and sees Agent Bai pointing a rifle at them from a nearby rooftop.
‘Careful!’ she yells, rushing out from her hiding place.
Xu Youyi turns — then a gunshot rings out, and blood spurts out from Xie Yifan’s stomach. ‘Yifan!’ cries Youyi.
Yan Wei fires at Agent Bai as Xu Youyi anxiously tends to Xie Yifan.
One of Yan Wei’s bullets pings off the wall just above Agent Bai’s head as he ducks.
Xu Youyi looks towards her. ‘Yan Wei…’
‘Get behind that column!’ Yan Wei commands. Xu Youyi scrambles to pull Xie Yifan into the shelter of a column as Yan Wei continues to shoot at Agent Bai. One of Agent Bai’s bullets hits Yan Wei in the shoulder.
Yan Wei glances briefly at Xu Youyi, who’s checking on Xie Yifan…
…and then raises her gun and aims it at Agent Bai again. Xu Youyi looks up at her. Why do you always manage to turn up when I’m in the most danger, risking your life to save mine?
Just then, Jiang Bin and Chen Yong appear on the scene. They fire at Agent Bai, and he quickly slips away.
Now that they’ve temporarily eliminated one source of danger, Jiang Bin turns to Yan Wei. ‘Miss Yan, please come with us.’
He puts Yan Wei in handcuffs and leads her away.
Chen Yong follows, with a bleeding Xie Yifan in tow. ‘Get everyone into the car!’ Jiang Bin orders. ‘We’ll stop at the hospital first.’
Later that evening, Yan Wei is sitting alone in her jail cell when a police officer tells her, ‘Yan Wei, there’s someone here to see you.’
Her visitor is, of course, Xu Youyi. ‘You only have one hour,’ the police officer tells them, and leaves.
‘How did you manage to get in here?’ Yan Wei asks.
‘I hired a lawyer,’ says Xu Youyi, ‘and applied for permission to visit.’
‘Oh,’ says Yan Wei. ‘So that’s something you can do.’
‘Yan Wei, tell me the truth,’ says Xu Youyi. ‘Did you kill Zhang Wan?’
Yan Wei is silent for a long moment.
Finally she says, ‘…yes.’
‘Why would you do such a thing?’ Xu Youyi demands. ‘Why do you have so many guns hidden away? Did you have an ulterior motive for getting close to me?’
And why do you keep risking your life to save mine, time after time? she adds internally.
Yan Wei is silent again for a while.
Finally she says, ‘I’m sorry. If you really want to know, I’m willing to tell you the whole story. I won’t hold anything back.’
***
Please view the original manhua here.
Translator’s note:
- ‘Beiping’ is the old name for the city now known as Beijing.
douqi 随笔 