"Brother Zhang, since this River God is so powerful and effective, why aren't you guys still worshiping him now?"
Zhang Xiao froze in his place when he heard Ning Huanxin's words.
He gripped the wine glass in his hand tightly. As Zhang Xiao had lowered his head, Ning Huanxin couldn't see his expression. However, she saw the veins of his hand become more apparent as they throbbed when he tightly gripped onto the wine glass. Ning Huanxin could tell from his movements that Zhang Xiao was overly emotional now.
"River God?"
After a moment of silence, Zhang Xiao suddenly raised his head.
Ning Huanxin finally saw that his eyes had turned red.
"Young lady, do you believe there are gods in this world? Since these gods and deities accept the worship and offering made by us humans, shouldn't they be filled with compassion and love?"
If there were spirits and deities, they should be loving and compassionate.
Zhang Xiao's eyes became more profound and complicated. There was nothing but bottomless grief filling in his eyes. "20 years ago, something happened in this village. Since then, no one has ever dared to pay their respects to the River God. In fact,… they don't even dare to go near that river. It's all because they once angered the River God, and the price of offending the deities is extremely high, so high that even human lives couldn't afford it."
The man's old and sorrowful voice rang in Ning Huanxin's ears.
Ning Huanxin swirled the wine in her glass. She hesitated for a while and then finished the wine in her glass.
Ning Huanxin had noticed that when Zhang Xiao spoke about what happened 20 years ago and mentioned the River God, he always referred to as "they" and not "us."
Therefore, one could see that, whether from the perspective of his heart or his subconscious, he disassociated himself from the villagers in Zhang Clan Town, and perhaps he didn't even approve of what happened so many years ago.
If she were to make a bold guess, what kind of man would attract the attention of a girl like Li Yan, one that was considered the most beautiful woman in both villages?
And who was that man that Li Yan was willing to give herself to and spend her entire life with him only?
Everyone believed in the River God's existence, but Li Yan didn't believe in it at all. One can see that her way of thinking differed completely from the other girls of her age in the village.
It was likely that the man influenced Li Yan, so—
"Zhang Xiao, do you still remember Li Yan?"
Ning Huanxin suddenly raised her head and asked coldly.
"Crash!"
The wine glass in Zhang Xiao's hand fell onto the table, and the wine spilled all over the table.
His eyes widened as he stared at Ning Huanxin in utter disbelief.
Right now, Zhang Xiao could not utter a single word, but his expression and behavior made the answer evidently clear to Ning Huanxin.
Ning Huanxin lowered her head, carefully placed her wine glass back, and poured another glass of wine for Zhang Xiao.
She didn't continue probing for an answer, let alone ask Zhang Xiao if he was Li Yan's man.
Ning Huanxin quietly passed the wine glass over to Zhang Xiao, and then spoke gently, "I saw that you visited her grave. That box of rouge… you bought it for her, right?"
It was from an old brand from a long time ago. Ning Huanxin also knew that the brand probably wasn't even available on the market anywhere now.
However, Zhang Xiao had one with him. He might have bought one many years ago and kept it with him all along, or maybe he had bought many pieces of that product before the brand ran out of business and kept them all along.
Regardless of these possibilities, Ning Huanxin was willing to believe that Zhang Xiao and Li Yan were truly in love.
He had missed her dearly, day after day, year after year.
"She really liked that smell, the smell of that rouge."
Zhang Xiao finally spoke again.
And Ning Huanxin finally was lucky enough to be his audience. She was the only sole audience of this story of Li Yan and Zhang Xiao.