Chapter 5: Dear White (2)

There was a sudden flash of white light as the train plunged into the darkness of a mountain tunnel. Shi Ruijie, who had been dozing off by the window of the train earlier, found himself standing in a ballroom crowded with men and women who were impeccably dressed. He looked down at himself and found that he too was well-dressed in a finely tailored smart brown checkered suit, with a glass of champagne in his hand. Glancing up, he found himself standing in an exclusive circle with four other respectable-looking men—two of them had heads full of grey hairs while the other two looked to be in their thirties.

The scene had suddenly changed. Was he still in the same dream? Was he still Yang Yi?

Shi Ruijie quietly listened to the conversation, occasionally throwing in a nod and a thoughtful hum. As he listened to one of the elderly men lament about how the recent change in the political scene had impacted his businesses badly, Shi Ruijie managed to piece together the few clues he had obtained.

He was still stuck in this dream as Yang Yi, alright. The only thing that had changed was time—it seemed that a few months had passed since the train scene where he had encountered Zhu Lirong. Today, Yang Yi was attending a charity gala with his father and older brother in Shanghai. While they had gone off together to mingle with the foreign emissaries, Yang Yi was tasked to network with the local businessmen. At the present moment, the speaker in his exclusive circle was a young man, who seemed to be a banker from the way he spoke. They were still on the same topic of how war would affect business profits and investments, but this young man was offering some insights into how one can invest in land and real estate at the opportune moment, so that in the long-term one can sell his land at a high price to reap in a windfall. On the inside, Shi Ruijie could not help but scoff. If this book were to follow the trajectory of real-life history, being a landowner would eventually only bring more disadvantages than benefits.

The young man noticed Shi Rujie's change in demeanour and turned to him calmly. With a polite yet withheld smile, he asked: "Does Mr Yang have a different opinion? Perhaps you might be able to share with us your thoughts from a different perspective."

"Pardon me, please continue what you were saying." Shi Ruijie shook his head before taking an elegant sip from his glass. Although he wasn't sure about the future political climate in this book, Dear White, he certainly knew that the author Yu Juan was writing a story about espionage and the various real-life political ideologies. Shanghai was a melting pot of people various nationalities, cultures and political beliefs—but no one would outwardly stand against the current leaderships and governments in the various territories of Old Shanghai. Who knew what would happen to him if he were to launch off into a whole explanation about various sociopolitical movements that would eventually change lives for the better in the modern society which he lived in today?

"No, no," the young man said earnestly. "Mr Yang sounded like he had a different thought. Having studied abroad, perhaps you have a different understanding of how one should invest one's money during times of conflict and financial instability?"

Shi Ruijie broke into a smile to mask his lack of investment knowledge. To be honest, he came from old money. His family had always had a fountain of wealth in their backyard. He had multiple investment portfolios in his name, but they were managed by his personal financial planners engaged by his parents. Maybe after today, he should really spend sometime to understand his investment portfolios...

"Well, there are a few lessons one can learn from history—" Clearing his throat, he was prepared to say a few words about how the economic turmoils after World War I eventually lead to the Great Depression. But he was suddenly interrupted by a few loud banging noises.

It took him and everyone around him a while to realised that those were gunshots. Soon, elegantly-dressed women were screaming hysterically and handsomely dressed men were shouting at one another as everyone rushed and jostled their way towards the exit.

The location where he was standing was not ideal for making a dash for the exit. Sounds of gunshots and glass shattering reverberated around the ballroom as a gunfight broke out in the middle of the hall. At first there were only two parties in the fight, then the police joined in the bloody affray. To avoid getting caught in the crossfire, Shi Ruijie could only follow the other guests up a flight of stairs to the second storey.

The stairs led up to a dim and long corridor. Shi Ruijie turned the knobs of the doors along the hallway, but found that they were all locked. Hearing the sounds of heavy footsteps and the ricocheting of bullets, the guests who found themselves trapped on the second floor could only crouch behind pillars and wait for the coast to be clear.

After some time, the gunshots stopped and the sound of light footsteps floated down the hallway. A young woman wearing the uniform of a waiter emerged from a corner as she ran in their direction. Noticing the frightened guests in hiding, she instructed them: "The coast is clear. Run in that direction towards the stairs to the exit."

Shi Ruijie stuck his head out from behind the wall, before getting up to his feet. As he stepped out from the shadows and moved closer towards her, he saw a familiar face. It was a face which he was just looking at about half an hour ago.

He walked past her, eyes moving down to the pistol in her hands. She had not noticed him—or was it that she had pretended not to notice him?

"Zhu Lirong?"

The young woman froze for a second, before turning around with an unreadable expression. Moments ago, her eyes were bright and clear, but now they were dark and cloudy. Was she still the same girl he had met on the train?

"Yang...Yi?" Her voice sounded uncertain and confused. Shi Ruijie thought that he had heard a tinge of joy, but her tone was heavily coloured with fear and dread. It was as if she was disappointed to see him. "Why... why are you here?"

Shi Ruijie stared back at her, his heart thumping in his chest. He opened his mouth to respond, but found that he didn't know how to answer her. The way she had asked 'why'—it was as if she was asking the heavens for an explanation.

"Why are you covered in blood?" Shi Ruijie gasped in alarm when finally noticed the brown stains on her cheeks and the patch of red on her white sleeves. "Are you hurt?"

Zhu Lirong brushed off his hand on her arm and took a few steps backwards. "Drop your pretence, traitor." Moving away from him, she raised the gun in her hands, taking aim in his direction. "We were wrong to think that you were different from your family. Now, you have to pay for your sins," she said, a slight tremor in her voice.

Gulping, Shi Ruijie staggered backwards. Having a gun pointed at him, he could feel his legs turning into jelly. He racked his heads to think of an explanation for this scene, but could only blame himself for falling asleep before he managed to finish reading the book. He had no choice now but to live out this scenario, which was probably going to end with his death.

Dammit, how could he be dying again in another dream? He should probably visit a psychiatrist when he woke up from his nightmare later.

"You should be angry to see me, but why do you sound distraught?" Shi Ruijie asked weakly.

"Because!" Zhu Lirong suddenly raised her voice, and the barrel of the gun shook as she moved. A heavy teardrop escaped when she blinked, trickling down her cheek. "Because I had wished at the start of this mission that I would not run into you today. I had hoped that our reunion would be in that little cafe on the corner of Changle Street—like we had planned, but it appears that fate has other plans for us."

"I—I'm sorry," he started to say and moved closer towards her instinctively. As if doing so would numb the prickly feeling in his chest.

"Don't come closer!"

"Just pull the trigger."

"Don't force me, Yang Yi."

"For the sake of peace. Just pull the trigger!"

"Don't force—! No, Xun-ge! Yang Yi!"

The stench of blood permeated the air as Shi Ruijie crumpled to the ground, clutching his chest. As he lay on his back, he felt a sharp pain on the left side of his back. He had only heard a gunshot before he found himself on the ground. Had she pulled the trigger?

"Yu Rong! Why were you just standing there, waiting for him to attack you?" A male voice echoed down the hallway.

Yu Rong? Where had he heard that name before?

"Was that necessary, Xun-ge? Was it necessary to shoot him?" Her choked-up voice resounded in his head. It was thick with regret.

He felt her kneel down beside him, hands feeling his back and attempting to put pressure on his fatalistic wound. His body jerked from the pain, but Zhu Lirong or Yu Rong (whoever she was) couldn't care less as she sobbed uncontrollably.

Shi Ruijie couldn't comprehend why.

He couldn't understand why she had acted like she was going to have her revenge on Yang Yi, but became devastated when he lay dying.

He couldn't understand why she had such a grudge against him and how their relationship had soured.

He couldn't understand why there was a premeditated assault carried out on the charity gala this evening.

He couldn't understand why he was having another nightmare where he died again.

He could only brace himself as his host body, once again, slipped into eternal slumber and breathed its last breath.

***