Although his temperament had not gone stormy, and though he remained calm, there's such a cloud of melancholy that hovered around him, with a radius of a mile or so. Chen Linyun sensed it the moment he rang the doorbell in his penthouse and got answered by a lamentable, rueful, pallid version of Zhu Li Qiang who was drained of life, albeit still in denial. This version was miles and miles too far from the delusional, cheerful, simpleton of a prince that he was who still believed in fairies and deities and angels and happily-ever-afters.

Now he knew that real life sucks big time, and fairies don't mingle with real humans. He had learned it the hard and most upsetting, harrowing way, and at the stake of almost losing an extremely precious one.

As a loyal bother, Chen Linyun stayed quietly by his side, keeping him company despite the lack of invitation to the young master Zhu's abode. Chen Linyun invited himself to Zhu Li Qiang's place and decided to go there the moment Teng Man Rui appeared on their doorsteps a day prior – one sunny, chilly Sat.u.r.day afternoon in November. Though not knowing what the real problem was, Chen Linyun could deduce quite well that it somehow was related to Zhu Li Qiang, and he was quite right – even though the young master Zhu had not denied or confirmed anything.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

So during the first afternoon that Chen Linyun visited him in his penthouse, they suffered in silence, and drank together in silence, too. Chen Linyun respected his friend's preference and had already been grateful that he had opened his humble penthouse to him, an intruder.

As for Zhu Li Qiang, he too was relieved by Chen Linyun's presence since it somehow meant that Teng Man Rui had safely arrived at Chen's mansion and that she's in the comfort of her best friend, Jinxu – a comfort that he knew so well he could not give to his angel.

As the night deepened that Sat.u.r.day, they talked less and drank more, and the small instances that Zhu Li Qiang spoke up, he only gave the gist of what he's going through.

"I cannot save her this time. I am not enough." He said in between sips from his drink, breaking the silence that enveloped them. It was already seven in the evening by then, and they were drinking in silence for hours already.

Chen Linyun glanced at the Zhu young master sideways, before he took a sip of his beer. He chugged down quite a bit first, thinking of a suitable response. He couldn't find any. He couldn't even decipher the meaning behind the young master's words. All he knew was that it was full of thick sentiments which source he could not fathom at all.

'The problem seems far from simple.' His brows twitched ever so slightly. 

"She's still drowning, but this time, I cannot yank her up from it. I can only watch helplessly…" Zhu Li Qiang continued. He whimpered like a child as he leaned his head at the back of his hand which was holding his beer bottle. They were currently seated side-by-side at his modern black kitchen counter. His unit was dim, with the only yellow light coming from a lampshade at the corner of the room as a source of illumination.

"This time…" Zhu Li Qiang was on a monologue. Chen Linyun left him be.

"This time… She's the only one who can save herself… I'm so worried for her… My angel…" He tapped the bottom of his beer bottle on the countertop repeatedly. "I'm so useless. She's suffering yet I cannot do anything to alleviate it. I can only watch from the sides."

Chen Linyun sighed. What could he say? He tapped his friend's back gently as he yelped all his heart's yearnings. 

Wasn't Man Rui the same at their house earlier?

'Maybe these two can talk it out? It seems whatever their misunderstanding is, it isn't anything trivial. It's breaking them both.' Chen Linyun wore his face in a frown as he tried his best to comfort Zhu Li Qiang by continually tapping his shoulder. "It will get better, Li Qiang. If you think you've reached the worst – the rock bottom, the seabed – then you cannot go any lower. The only way to go is up. Just wait and see. Give it time to ripen and season."

"I know." He stopped hitting his bottle's bottom on the countertop, leaned his head on it, but turned it towards Chen Linyun. "Still, it won't erase the single fact that she doesn't want me by her side. She said she cannot take to breathe the same air as me. She said I'm the last person whom she wanted to see."

"It hurts. Those are hurtful words." He sighed. "Yet, I somehow understand her. I… I… witnessed her humiliation… But… That's f.u.c.king better… Still way better no matter how ugly it was… It's still better not having her alive… Oh, G.o.d. Thank the heavens she's still alive and breathing to this day!" 

He raked his head with his fingers and pulled his hair with it as if he was losing his sanity. He rested his elbows on the countertop and nestled his head on it.

"Can you imagine living a single day without your wife in it?"

"You wouldn't wish for that, do you?"

"Anything's way better than that, isn't it?"

"That's what's happening, Chen Linyun!"

"I can make do with anything as long as she's still around! G.o.dd.a.m.nit!"

"I can accept anything! Except if she won't be here in the world of the living anymore!"

"Why can't she see it?"

"AHHHH!!!" He pulled his hair in utter vexation.

Chen Linyun just allowed his friend to rant. He was not at the right place to meddle. He didn't even know what had transpired between them.

After that, they returned to drinking in the silence and their session ended at around half past two at his own house merely because they had run out of booze, and since the master of the penthouse had been knocked out of consciousness from drinking too much.