Chapter 189 Drunken Wisdom

"He wants to, but he can't," Jingwei said after a pause.

"And why is that?" Xingzi asked curiously, pouring herself more wine. This story was getting interesting. "Is he getting blackmailed to keep his silence?"

"No," Jingwei said, her words shedding a hint of candlelight in the darkness of his mind. Shang Jing had technically threatened him to keep his mouth shut, but he had nothing on Jingwei - at least, nothing as incriminating as what he had on Shang Jing.

"But their families are good friends and business partners, so he's afraid of the fallout that will happen if he does tell someone. And there's no guarantee that he would get any punishment, so he might be endangering everything for nothing."

"It wouldn't be for nothing." Xingzi pointed out. "You'll - I mean your friend will be helping those victims! The families of all those that were hurt would definitely not think that it's nothing. It's important to stop your friend's friend from committing more atrocities. Surely that isn't nothing. And if your friend is really good friends with that criminal, then all the more he should stop him."

"What? Really?" Jingwei asked, surprised at her words. "Isn't keeping his silence the right thing to do? How could he… stab his friend in the back like that?"

"Keeping silent is the easy thing to do," Xingzi corrected gently as she took another bigger sip of her wine, her eyes clouded over for a moment. How many lives have been ruined by people who didn't want to act, assuming that someone else would play the hero? She mused sadly to herself, steadily draining her glass.

"Xingzi-jie?" Jingwei prompted. She seemed to be thinking about something else, falling silent as she chugged the wine as though it was cheap beer.

"Oh right, sorry for spacing out," Xingzi said, shaking her head. This was the time to impart some advice, not for her to visit memory lane. "I'm just saying, if your friend wanted the best for his friend, he should stop him from committing crimes, not enable him further! Friends don't let friends go down a dark twisted road without trying to stop them."

If Xingzi's earlier words were a candlelight in his mind, her words now were a whole host of street lights illuminating the path forward for him. Jingwei had never thought of it that way, but Xingzi-jie had a point.

If he didn't do anything and let Shang Jing go down this path of his, what will happen to him in the end? He had to stop him before Shang Jing went down the path of no return! He also needed to help all those poor victims of his, and stop him from creating potential victims.

But then he was still worried.

"Xingzi-jie, what if that friend of mine is afraid of retaliation? His older brother said that that friend of his might hurt him and his family members as payback."

Xingzi blinked and helped herself to another bigger glass of wine. That brother was clearly Tianwei. Those words had his cautious nature written all over it. He had always been the type to watch and wait, rather than jump immediately into the fray to do things. This attitude of his had been the cause of more than one argument.

"If you know that he'll retaliate, then isn't it more important to get rid of him in one swoop so he can't retaliate?" Xingzi said, making a chopping motion with her hand.

"Huh?" Jingwei asked, not believing his ears.

"I'm just saying, rather than praying he doesn't target your friend, isn't it better to be more proactive? Get rid of the threat and you won't need to live in fear. Be a man! Or a woman! Strike first!" She declared, thumping her wine glass on the table. Luckily she had drained the glass, so no wine spilled out.

Jingwei blinked. Xingzi-jie wasn't making sense near the end, her face red with the tell-tale flush of alcohol, and she was blinking slowly at him, as though seeing him for the first time.

"What kind of nonsense are you telling my brother?" Tianwei thundered from behind. Jingwei blinked, his brother was back from the toilet, and his shirt was still vaguely damp from his efforts to remove the red wine.

He didn't do a very good job, but thankfully the lighting in the restaurant was dim enough that it wasn't obvious.

Xingzi still laughed, happily drunk. "Nice shirt Tianwei, it looks like you had your period on your shirt, hahahhaha…"

Tianwei sighed, all his earlier anger vanishing.

"Why did you drink so much again? You know your own tolerance!" He scolded, pulling her wine glass and the wine bottle away. Xingzi-jie made several sad noises, but his brother was unmoved.

Tianwei then turned to him. "Jingwei, disregard whatever Xingzi told you. As you can see, she's now drunk and likely to spew a lot of nonsense. She will forget whatever she told you the next morning, when she's vomiting tonight's dinner in the toilet bowl."

"I'm not that drunk!" Xingzi protested. "And what do you mean to dis-disregard my words? My words are great. I'm giving him good advice! Remember Jingwei!" She did the chopping motion with her hand again. "Do it. Be decisive. Cut it!"

Jingwei nodded, his mind whirling with ideas. Finally, the weight pressing on his chest seemed to be lightening, now that he decided on a course of action that wasn't closing his eyes and pretending Shang Jing's sins didn't exist.

"Got it Xingzi-jie! You've been a great help!"

"See?" She turned to Tianwei and smacked his chest while smugly exclaiming. "Jingwei thinks I'm being a great help!"

Jingwei watched as her hand continued to remain on his brother's chest. His brother covered his hand with hers, and instead of shoving it away, he brought it down so that it rested on his thigh instead.

"I'm sure," Tianwei said, and was that fondness Jingwei detected in his voice? Did his brother get replaced with a pod person in the toilet?

"Ge, are you feeling okay?" Jingwei whispered. "You're acting… weirder than usual."

"I'm fine," Tianwei said, shooting him a vaguely irritated look. "Call for our driver to take you home. I'll need to drop her off first."

Oh. Clearly his brother had plans tonight.

"Wow, your thighs are really nice," Xingzi cheerfully mused as she began to paw his brother's thighs in public. His brother tightened his hold on her hand and glared at Jingwei.

"What are you waiting for? Do it now!"