Chapter 184: I owe you in this life (1/2)

Chapter 184: I owe you in this life

The previous night, Fu Cheng and Xu Tingsheng had left the small bar having finished hearing the tale of the ‘Flowers Blossoming’ female singer. Discovering Xu Tingsheng to have started tearing some time along the way, Fu Cheng asked, “Now, will you go to Xihu City?”

Xu Tingsheng shook his head, “I won’t go. I should let it end just like this. It’ll be better for Apple, and it’ll be better for me this way as well.”

Fu Cheng thought that Xu Tingsheng’s tears were from him having thought of Apple due to the tale of the bar’s female singer. In truth, Xu Tingsheng had only heard ‘three years’ and ‘I’m still waiting for him to return’.

That was a story that belonged to Xu Tingsheng and Xiang Ning.

Unable to convince him, Fu Cheng did not insist on his opinion.

The two semi-drunken guys decided to walk the remaining journey back on the streets of Shenghai. It was already after 1am in the morning. An inadvertent tale which had resulted in great difficulty for both sides seemed like it would finally be coming to an end just like this…

If it wasn’t for Xu Tingsheng having received a call from Song Ni this very night.

Song Ni asked, “Xu Tingsheng, will you be coming tomorrow? I just asked Apple, but she wouldn’t say. I’m in Xihu City together with Apple and her assistant right now. Will you be coming tomorrow?”

Xu Tingsheng said, “I won’t.”

Song Ni said, “But, but Apple’s in a very bad state right now.”

Xu Tingsheng said, “I know. After she gets through this, she’ll be fine.”

Song Ni said, “No, you don’t know, you don’t know. It’s not just all that. It’s that Apple really is in a very bad state. I…I’ll get Apple’s assistant to speak to you.”

Apple’s assistant got on the line. Xu Tingsheng remembered that she was a slightly chubby girl. Back then, when Apple’s company had dispatched a car to collect her in Jiannan, Xu Tingsheng had seen this girl before, having given her a friendly smile.

“Hello,” She said.

“Hello,” Xu Tingsheng said.

“I think that Apple has depression, and it may be very serious,” She went straight to the point.

Walking along the streets in the middle of the night, Xu Tingsheng suddenly trembled slightly.

While depression didn’t sound as serious as those incurable diseases, it was the second killer of human beings that was inferior only to cancer. Millions of people worldwide died of depression every year…some professions with comparatively greater pressure had a particularly high risk.

Now, Xu Tingsheng learnt that Apple had depression, and it might also be very serious.

Xu Tingsheng tried hard to compose himself, asking in a voice that was still trembling somewhat, “Why? What I mean is-how do you know? Was there a hospital checkup?”

“No. I asked Apple to see a psychologist before, but she wouldn’t listen, and even threw a very huge tantrum…Actually, she treats me very well. We’re just like sisters. She would never have thrown a tantrum at me before.”

“Still, I really can tell that it’s depression. Over these past two months, she’s grown from lively and mischievous to rarely talking. Also, she almost doesn’t sleep at all, and only eats a little. She’s already thinner by more than twenty kilograms now.”

“Once, I entered her room in the morning and discovered that her bedsheets and pillowcases had all been removed and ripped into long, thin strips. She’d been doing it for the entire night, her fingernails broken, her hands bleeding. When I entered, she was still in the midst of ripping.”

“Also, when our Boss wanted her to ask for the songs from you guys last time, she didn’t utter a single word from start to end. She was like this over in his office, and she was still like this when she had gotten back. She just sat there, not sleeping, not uttering a sound. When I call her now, it takes a very long time before she finally reacts.”

“I…” Xu Tingsheng didn’t know what he should say, because the assistant’s narration was already virtually sufficient for a conclusion to be made.

“Believe me, I can really be certain of it!” The assistant said urgently, “Because…because, her current situation is very similar to a a singer whom I used to follow before. It’s virtually exactly the same. That singer had depression, and she’s already no longer singing now.”

“What was that singer called?” Xu Tingsheng asked.

“……”

The assistant reported the name of a female singer whose surname began with the letter ‘L’. It was a singer who had been very popular in the country before. The assistant had said that she no longer sang, while Xu Tingsheng…he had heard the news of this female singer ultimately leaping off a building and committing suicide due to depression in his previous life before.

Since the assistant was saying that Apple’s situation was virtually exactly the same as hers and she was the one who usually spent the most time with them, Xu Tingsheng had actually already gotten his answer.

“Got it. I’ll contact you guys tomorrow morning.”

Xu Tingsheng hung up and sat down by the street, looking dazed, dismal.