Chapter 23: People of Two Worlds

  It was discovered that Ning Lan was also staring at the figure on the beach below, and Meng Zidan's high heels kicked her under the table, asking: "Lanlan, how long have you known each other? Why haven't I heard you mention him before?"

  "Huh?" Ning Lan turned around and reacted, "We've known each other for two days, what's wrong, is there a problem?"

  "Only two days?" Meng Zidan was taken aback and said: "In just two days, you two have become so familiar with each other?"

  Ning Lan leaned over and whispered with a smile: "You don't know, this person's face is very thick, familiar with everyone..."

  She also wanted to talk about Lin Zixian daring to grab her hand when he came to the company yesterday, but Meng Zidan suddenly interrupted with a sneer: "You'd better stop, don't use someone else's thick skin as a shield, don't think I haven't noticed... have you fallen for him?"

  Ning Lan's face suddenly flushed, and she said seriously: "What nonsense, it's just that Chairman Qiao attaches more importance to him, I've been in contact with him a lot, so we became friends."

  "Hey! You're all blushing, but still won't admit it." Meng Zidan burst out laughing and coldly hummed: "Lanlan, what kind of person are you? I'm not even sure. This is the first time you've brought a man here to eat with me, I won't say anything about that, but you're actually talking about keeping someone as a mistress? Others might think you're joking, can't I see that you're trying to make fake feelings real?"

  "That's impossible." Ning Lan refused to admit it.

  "That's good." Meng Zidan let out a sigh and said, "Actually, I had my eye on him from the start, but I was afraid of upsetting you. Since you don't like him, then I'll make my move now."

  Ning Lan's body trembled, her eyes staring straight at her. Meng Zidan burst out laughing and pointed at her, saying: "Look at yourself, you've been exposed! You can't even pretend anymore."

  Ning Lan suddenly realized she had been fooled and burst out in anger: "Meng Zidan! Are you looking to die?!"

  "Speak softly, be careful to be overheard." Meng Zidan smiled and carried the chair under her buttocks closer, staring at her for a while, gently grasping one of her hands and sighing: "You like who is your right, I don't want to interfere, but there's something I have to remind you, you and he are really not suitable."

  Ning Lan didn't know why she said that, and couldn't help but ask: "What do you mean?"

  "Do you still remember the underground parking lot? " Meng Zidan looked at the figure on the beach and said softly, "Just when those people were rushing towards us with knives, I actually felt a killing aura from him. This kind of killing aura is something I often feel from my brother, because he was in a special forces unit. The killing aura they have is honed through human lives. But he doesn't have the iron-blooded soldier's aura that my brother has. I'm very familiar with military personnel, and I can be sure that he's absolutely not a soldier. Then where did his killing aura come from? And he didn't let me call the police, which means his identity can't be exposed to light. How much do you know about his true identity, Lanlan? This kind of person is from a different world than you, and I'm afraid you'll get hurt someday!"

  Ning Lan fell silent for a moment, hesitated for a while, and slowly said: "I saw him kill many people with my own eyes!"

  "Huh...” Meng Zidan's face was filled with incredulity, she couldn't believe that Ning Lan, a city girl, wouldn't be afraid of Lin Zilei after witnessing such a scene. After being stunned for a while, she furrowed her brow and said: "You've known him for only two days, and you saw him kill many people with your own eyes... He was invited by Qiao Antian...... Was he also present when Qiao Antian was ambushed that day?"

  "It was him who saved us..." Ning Lan said half a sentence, and immediately shook her head with a bitter smile: "Zi Dan, I'm not convenient to say more about this now, I'll tell you later when there's an opportunity!"

  Meng Zidan stared at her for a while, then softly sighed: "In that case, I won't say anything. It's just that I think he doesn't seem to have that kind of intention towards you..."

  Lin Zi sat on the undulating waves, puffing on a cigarette against the wind, letting the ash scatter over himself, staring blankly at the distant sea, his eyes somewhat dazed, lost in thought.

  Ling Lan sat down beside him on the balcony, and inadvertently found the harmonica that had slipped out of his pants pocket, picked it up and handed it to him: "Your harmonica."

  Lin Zi Xian flicked the cigarette butt in his mouth towards the sea, took over the harmonica and patted it, afraid that sand had seeped into it. Ning Lan looked at him and asked: "What are you thinking about?"

  A hint of sadness flashed in his eyes, he shook his head and said nothing, holding the harmonica with both hands to his lips and began to play a mournful tune.

  The mournful and ethereal sound of the flute pierced through the waves, light, airy, and pleasant to hear. However, the faint sorrow in the melody could not be concealed, and even the turbulent sea seemed to calm down while listening to that heavenly music under the night sky.

  Ning Lan couldn't hide the surprise in her eyes, she couldn't imagine that this killer-like man had such a gentle side, and could actually play such a beautiful melody.

  Although she can't play the harmonica, she also has some general knowledge that the harmonica is an extremely difficult instrument to master, especially this complex harmonica in Lin Zixian's hands, which is even harder to play, let alone sound so melodious.

  At first, she couldn't quite make out what tune was being played, but as the melody unfolded and deepened, she remembered - it was "One Summer's Day", the theme song of "Laputa: Castle in the Sky". The harmonica's rendition had a unique charm, like heavenly music.

  Under the bewildered night sky, Ning Lan watched him play with abandon and deep emotion...

  Sitting on the veranda, leaning against the railing, Meng Zidan was also looking down with a shocked expression. The distance between them made it unlikely that they could hear each other's conversation, but the vibrations of the musical instrument were clear and distinct. As she listened to the ethereal and elegant sound of the flute, she couldn't imagine that the guy who didn't have any gentlemanly demeanor actually had such a side to him.

  The melody is like a heartfelt voice, and it's impossible to play the tune so skillfully without pouring emotions into it. Meng Zidan was enchanted for a moment, her thoughts dancing with the rhythm.

  Walking alone on the beach, Qiao Yun suddenly heard a moving melody, and involuntarily followed the direction of the sound. Until it was clear that there were two people sitting on the beach, one of whom was playing the instrument.

  At this moment, a cargo ship's searchlight happened to sweep over and freeze on the two people sitting side by side.

  Linzi leisurely forgets his emotions playing the flute, ignoring the dazzling spotlight.

  Looking at Ning Lan, with the help of the lamp light, he suddenly saw clearly his sorrowful and melancholic intertwined eyes, and was stunned for a moment.

  She couldn't imagine what had happened to this person, the sorrow hidden in his heart burst out through his eyes and was so moving. But she could hear from the melody that it seemed to be played for a deeply loved woman.

  With the light of the flashlight, Qiao Yun also saw the two people sitting side by side, surprisingly, it was Ning Lan and Lin Zixian. How did they end up here? Such a touching melody was actually played by that scoundrel...

  The spotlight only froze for a moment, and then flashed by. The two people sitting shoulder to shoulder fell back into the darkness, with only the lingering sound of the flute wandering in the desolate night.

  In the distance, a cargo ship's whistle suddenly sounded, directly interrupting that beautiful melody. Lin Zixian woke up with a start, holding his harmonica in his hand, and lit another cigarette.

  By the flickering firelight, Ning Lan saw that his mouth corners had instantly regained that lazy smile, as if nothing had happened earlier, amidst the misty clouds.

  "Ling Zixian, what kind of person are you?" Ning Lan couldn't help but ask.

  "It's nothing." Lin Zixian shrugged indifferently.

  "I'm asking about your background." Ning Lan explained.

  In the flickering light of the cigarette, Lin Zi Yan glanced at her sideways, a playful smile on his face as he blew out a puff of smoke towards her and chuckled: "To you, I may just be a fleeting passerby in your life, why bother knowing so much."

  Ning Lan was choked by smoke and coughed, but didn't avoid it, still asking: "Aren't we friends? Shouldn't I have the right to know your origin?"

  "Friend! Am I not your little white face that you support? Lin Zixian chuckled and suddenly looked out at the distant sea, his tone filled with a sense of melancholy as he sighed: "It's better if you don't know, knowing won't do you any good, we're not people from the same world..."

  Ning Lan was taken aback, turned her head to look towards the balcony, under the dim yellow light, Meng Zidan was leaning against the railing, recalling that she had said before that she and he were people from two different worlds, didn't expect Lin Zixian to say the same thing.

  "Which world are you from?" Ning Lan sighed softly, knowing that no matter how she asked, she wouldn't get an answer.

  "A world far away from your life, the underground world..." Lin Zixian stretched lazily, propped his arm under his head, lay down on the beach, blew in the sea breeze, listened to the waves rising and falling, and gazed at the stars in the sky.

  Ning Lan stood up, took a deep breath, and walked back to the balcony with light steps. She moved a chair and sat down beside Meng Xidan, and the two women leaned against each other.

  Before long, a huge whistle sounded on the sea, and a cruise ship with bright lights slowly approached the coastline. The colorful lights were as dazzling as neon lights, immediately attracting everyone's attention on the Ivory Coast.

  Perhaps it was the cruise ship's draft that couldn't get close to shore, three speedboats came from the direction of the cruise ship, riding the wind and waves at high speed, and the high-powered searchlights on the cruise ship shone on the three speedboats as they approached the shore.

  On the shore, under the light, a pair of golden boys and girls like jade girls got on the speedboat in the middle with a group of bodyguards, while the bodyguards of the men and women boarded the left and right speedboats.

  The man and woman were none other than Zheng Longqing and Qiao Yun.

  Ning Lan suddenly stood up, revealing a look of utter incredulity, unable to imagine how these two people could so brazenly perform this scene in front of everyone. Meng Zidan stood beside her and said, "Looks like you don't know what's going on either."

  Lin Zixian had already run up from downstairs, he knew Qiao Yun but didn't know Zheng Longqing, and asked: "Who is the man next to Qiao Yun?"

  "He is Zheng Longqing, the president of Sheng Qing Group!" Ning Lan replied with a frown.