Chapter 50: Just Want to See How Beautiful My Sister Is

Ye Mo stared blankly at Lin Jie, then let out a helpless laugh. "Lin Jie, are you a fool?"

Lin Jie pressed his lips together. "How am I a fool?"

Why? Should an honest person always be called a fool?

"Lin Jie, you're such a big fool, really. So stupid it hurts!" Ye Mo lay on top of Lin Jie, shouting into his ear.

Lin Jie chuckled softly. He turned his head, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Ye Mo with feigned confusion. "Hmm?"

"I'm not a fool. I'm an honest man," Lin Jie drawled lazily.

He called himself an honest man. He had always been an honest man… and there's nothing wrong with that.

There was never anything wrong with being honest... Ye Mo, those were your words.

"What's so good about being so honest?" Ye Mo muttered quietly.

Why take her words so seriously… Just hold her in your heart, that's all.

Lin Jie pretended not to hear.

"As a reward for being so honest, I'll sing you a song." Ye Mo's voice was light.

Lin Jie looked at her, a glimmer of surprise in his eyes. "Really?"

"Of course. Be good, go pick 'Anhe Bridge' for me. I'll sing it a capella," Ye Mo replied with a playful smile.

Lin Jie thought about Song Dongye's "Anhe Bridge." From a musical standpoint, it was a good song, but for Ye Mo to sing something in that style… he couldn't imagine any hidden meaning in it.

"A song is just a song, what's with all the deep meanings?"

After Lin Jie queued up the song, he asked Ye Mo, a bit bewildered, and she mocked him with a glance while holding the microphone.

Mo Jiale had organized the party, and as Lin Jie's closest friend, he was always accommodating to whatever Ye Mo wanted.

Before Ye Mo, there had only ever been one girl who could make Lin Jie behave so obediently.

"Everyone, quiet down. Let's take a break, enjoy some fruit, and listen to the beauty sing for us," Mo Jiale signaled for the room to settle, including the girls and the waitstaff.

The room fell silent.

Ye Mo sat casually, holding the microphone loosely as the intro played, swinging her long legs absentmindedly.

Everyone watched Ye Mo in silence. Even though emotions can be hard to still after a few drinks, the sight of her striking profile beneath the white cap instantly quieted all their restlessness.

Long lashes, bright eyes, a high nose, jet-black hair... Ye Mo's features were striking and sharp, her beauty enviable.

Someone once said that the intro to "Anhe Bridge" was long, and she would never wait it out… just like she would never wait for them.

Lin Jie remembered that comment vividly, and so he, too, unconsciously placed himself in that scenario... Would Su Jiamei wait for him?

Su Jiamei would wait through the intro, smiling as she listened to him sing... but she would never love him.

As the intro neared its end, just as everyone anticipated Ye Mo's voice, she suddenly held the microphone up to Lin Jie's mouth.

Lin Jie froze, and so did everyone else.

Only Ye Mo looked at him, beaming brightly. "Sing!"

Had Lin Jie not been drinking, he might have just brushed Ye Mo off, calling her a "liar" and nothing more.

But he had been drinking, and he was in a good mood. So, he glanced at Ye Mo lightly and said, "Liar."

The word, carried by the microphone, drifted lightly through the room, reaching everyone's ears.

And then Lin Jie began to sing.

"Let me see you again

From south to north

Like eyes blindfolded by the Fifth Ring Road

Tell me once more

About that day

The girl holding a box

And the man wiping sweat..."

Lin Jie's voice was low, tinged with a faint sorrow. His singing was captivating, carrying his own unique tone, bringing life back to the group who had been slightly disappointed not to hear Ye Mo sing.

"Amazing, amazing, Brother Jie's a vocal god," Zhao Yan whispered in Mo Jiale's ear. "If he sang like this at the New Year's party, guitar in hand, looking all sad... imagine how many girls would fall for him."

Mo Jiale smiled, saying nothing, though the admiration in his eyes spoke volumes.

Lin Jie knew his voice carried a trace of sadness. Could he help it?

Every time he thought about that night's events, he would laugh bitterly to himself, feeling a sudden, inexplicable melancholy.

He thought to himself, alcohol really is something. It strips away all the masks, revealing your true feelings.

Fine, fine, Lin Jie admitted it—he was a little sad.

"I know those summers

Are like youth, never to return

What replaces dreams can only be reluctant compromise

I know the boasts of youth

Will fade with time and a laugh

Leaving me trapped in this city

To remember you…"

It felt so much like that radiant summer he'd once longed for, so much like the girl he had once fallen for.

Lin Jie kept singing, his voice growing hoarser.

It was almost time to end.

"I know those summers

Are like you, never to return

And I will never look forward to anyone like that again

I know this world

Is full of regrets every day

So hello, and goodbye."

He would never look forward to anyone again, so hello... and goodbye.

Lin Jie had never imagined that a song he had once heard in passing could stir him so deeply.

When the song ended, Lin Jie let out a sigh of relief, smiling as he looked at the woman who had held the microphone for him the entire time... this beautiful liar.

Ye Mo grinned at him, the corners of her lips curling upward. "Not bad at all."

"Big sister, you're a liar. You said you'd sing, didn't you?" Lin Jie asked.

Belated applause and cheers erupted.

"Do you really want to hear me sing?" Ye Mo laughed, looking at Lin Jie. "Wait for it."

"How long?"

"Someday."

Fine, if Ye Mo didn't want to say, then so be it. That was as good as a rejection, wasn't it?

"By the way, how did you know I could sing?" Lin Jie asked, as if suddenly remembering something.

"I'm not dumb. I've seen your posts. For a while, you kept uploading clips of yourself singing. You were pretty good," Ye Mo replied.

On those short video platforms, the kind where the face is obscured and you just follow the lyrics.

"I see. Well, Mo-jie, you said you sing well, so I'd really like to hear it sometime."

"We'll see how you behave," Ye Mo teased, smiling at Lin Jie.

The others, too, were getting into the mood, or maybe it was Zhao Yan's envy of Lin Jie's moment in the spotlight that pushed him to boast about his own singing.

The group's focus shifted back to singing from drinking.

Lin Jie's gaze drifted back to Ye Mo.

Ye Mo met his eyes, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Nothing, just wanted to see how beautiful my sister really is."