The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 2102 Dancing with the Devil
Sometimes panicked, sometimes feigning composure, sometimes fearful and uneasy, sometimes all smiles.

Like a perfect liar, yet a terrible actor.

Joan Carter looked at Johnny in front of her, seemingly able to see through his smiling face to his true nature. His deeply sunken eye sockets and the constant sweat pouring out gradually calmed the turmoil and fluctuations in his eyes, leaving only indifference, as if he were looking at a stranger.

She didn't even bother to expose his lie; she simply turned around silently, opened the door, left, and closed it.

No nostalgia.

But Johnny didn't chase after them. Instead, he started rummaging through drawers and cupboards, trying to search every nook and cranny of the room.

Even if it's just one grain, there's a kind of madness in his eyes.

Joan Carter... went home, driving home alone. She had been calm and composed the whole time, but she couldn't hold back her tears.

"Burning pain..." She used all her strength but still couldn't resist the burning sensation in her internal organs, as if she were in hell.

Looking up at her two daughters running towards her, Joan Carter took a deep breath, regained her composure, and a smile returned to her lips.

Life seemed to return to normal, and Johnny and Joan Carter once again became two parallel lines that never intersected.

However, having lost his balance, Johnny inevitably continued to slide deeper into hell.

He was arrested at the airport because drugs that shouldn't have been found on him were discovered, which made headlines across the news and was broadcast on radio and television. Despite this, he still tried to lie and argue with Vivian.

Later, Vivian also left because he tried to hang a photo of himself and Joan Carter in the house. Vivian begged him not to, and the two argued, which turned into a farce, which turned into a fight, and the children witnessed it all.

Vivian left with the children and filed for divorce; she could no longer endure it.

One wave after another, yet it never stopped, until he discovered he was bankrupt, drowning in debt, and unable even to pay his phone bill.

But he needs his phone back on because he's waiting for Jon Carter to call him back. What if he can't receive Jon Carter's calls if his phone is out of service?
Johnny went to the bank and begged humbly and without dignity, but the bankrupt credit system did nothing to help, and everything seemed to have reached a dead end.

At his lowest point, Johnny finally mustered the courage to walk across Nashville to the suburbs to find Joan Carter.

He even started proposing to Joan Carter, but Joan Carter was furious and disappointed in Johnny, who was looking at him with a distraught and hoarse voice.

She had neither the time nor the energy to sympathize with Johnny. She needed Johnny to get back on the tour because she had to shoulder the responsibility of supporting her family. Her second marriage lasted eight years, but it ended in failure, with her good-for-nothing husband leaving everything to her alone.

Johnny watched as Joan Carter angrily turned and left, wandering around like a ghost. He got drunk in a bar, stumbled into the woods in the middle of the night, and collapsed unconscious. When he woke up the next day, he found a villa in the forest that was about to be sold.

Johnny moved in, trying to get back on his feet.

Johnny mustered his courage again to call Joan Carter. He was spending Thanksgiving alone, but his parents were coming over with their two children, and he just didn't know how to prepare dinner.

Joan Carter accepted his invitation, and she came with her parents, sister, and children, because Thanksgiving is all about family and celebration.

However, some people think differently—

Ray Cash, always critical and dismissive, found fault with Johnny from the moment he stepped onto the court.

Finally, Johnny couldn't hold back any longer and exploded at the dinner table, "...Jack isn't here, is he?"

Even after all these years, Jack's absence remains a huge, irreparable wound, but they have never truly engaged in a conversation.

Jack's death was an accident, but Ray shifted all the blame onto Johnny, even suggesting that Johnny was the one who should have died.

For a twelve-year-old, this was a burden he would carry for a lifetime. Johnny vented all his anger and pain, but Ray didn't buy it at all. Instead of backing down, Ray continued to despise Johnny.

"...You are nothing. An empty house is useless; having children but not seeing them is useless; a big, old tractor is stuck in the mud, useless."

Indifference, disdain, and contempt—Ray's words drove Johnny into a complete retreat.

Johnny quietly left the house, stubbornly and persistently trying to drive the tractor out of the mud, while the others quietly packed up and left.

No one cared about his struggle.

Joan Carter was about to leave, but her mother said, "You should go find him, Joan."

"mom!"

"He's a complete mess right now."

"I won't go there, if I go there..."

“Your heart is already there, baby.” Not only her mother, but her father also nodded, his eyes showing approval and affirmation.

Finally, Joan Carter had no choice but to turn and walk toward Johnny, who was still struggling and venting his anger. Johnny still couldn't get the tractor out; not only that, but the tractor started to back up and slid into the lake.

In a panic, Joan Carter jumped into the lake, pulled Johnny out of the water, and brought him ashore.

Johnny lay in the mud like a rag doll, his eyes devoid of any light. "You should leave me," he whispered.

That was more than just despair. There was no strength or vitality in his voice.

Joan Carter couldn't leave in the end; she stayed in the house with Johnny all night, her eyes constantly swaying with struggle and inner turmoil.

Then, she stayed. Not only her, but also her father and mother.

They helped Johnny escape the dark abyss of addiction, they drove away his bad friends with shotguns, and they dragged Johnny back.

Finally, the rain stopped and the sky cleared.

“It’s so good to see you again.” Joan Carter sat at the foot of the bed, smiling. “Is there anything else I can give you?”

Johnny gazed quietly at the woman bathed in sunlight before him. "Just stay here." He watched her silently, a complex emotion welling up in his eyes. He could find a familiar light and shadow in those eyes, and he whispered, "You are an angel."

Joan Carter smiled, her eyes slightly reddening. "No, I'm not."

“You’ve always been there for me.” Johnny carefully took Joan Carter’s right hand, but dared not hold it too tightly.

Joan Carter: "I have a friend who needs help, and you are my friend."

Johnny was stunned, a hint of confusion in his eyes. "But I've done so many wrong things."

Joan Carter's lips curled into a smile, and she quipped, "You've done some, indeed."

Johnny's lips twitched slightly but failed to form a smile; the expression quickly faded as he seemed to sink into deep, deep sorrow and pain.
“My dad was right. I should have been the one who was sawed to death that day.”

He said.

(End of this chapter)