“Huh?”
Shen Yusi recalled that Qi Yue had already been drinking quite a bit before she arrived, and he’d just helped her fend off a lot of toasts.
Could he be suffering from alcohol poisoning right now?
She quickly sat down, reached out, and cupped the man’s burning face. Her fingertips pressed against his slightly damp temples as the bar’s spotlights illuminated his features.
Shen Yusi’s breath hitched. Damn, he’s handsome.
This guy really had the capital to play the field.
She was about to check on Qi Yue’s condition more closely when she saw his eyelashes flutter. There was no drunkenness in his eyes, only a mischief that was about to spill over. A low laugh vibrated, making Shen Yusi’s palm tingle.
He asked, “Are you worried about me?”
“…Boring.” Shen Yusi pulled her hand back, but he grabbed it instead.
Qi Yue teased her, “If something really happened to me, would you take responsibility?”
Shen Yusi shot him a glance, a little amused. “Plenty of people would line up to take responsibility for you. Where’s my place in line?”
“You’re being modest. After all, you’re the one who never replied to my messages.”
Shen Yusi bit her tongue, regretting that she’d even started this conversation. Now she’d given him the perfect chance to call her out.
Pretending to be flustered, she grabbed her phone, unlocked it, and swiped down to shove an unread message dialog right in Qi Yue’s face.
Casanova: [Was your injury serious?]
“Oh, there were too many messages that day. Yours got buried and I didn’t see it,” Shen Yusi mumbled, as if in regret. “I was wondering why you hadn’t messaged me all those days. Turns out it was because I never replied to you.”
It was a clumsy lie, but Shen Yusi used it effortlessly. She knew Qi Yue wouldn’t call her out on it. Since that was the case, she might as well play dumb.
Qi Yue looked at her with interest and nodded, as if confirming her words. “So, looking at you now, your leg injury is all better?”
“Yep.”
Just as Qi Yue was about to say something, a male voice cut in from the side. “Yue-ge, you’re here too?”
He turned and saw a familiar face. “Yeah, what a coincidence.”
The man walked into the booth and, noticing Shen Yusi beside Qi Yue, asked, “And who’s this beautiful lady?”
“A friend.”
“Oh — I thought she was the sister-in-law.” The man continued, “How about we head over to my booth for a few drinks? It’s been ages since we’ve seen each other.”
Before Qi Yue could answer, Shen Yusi spoke first. “You go ahead. My leg hurts.”
The truth was, Qi Yue had planned to refuse his friend’s invitation. But he caught the hint of dismissal in Shen Yusi’s words. He went along with her, making sure to give a special instruction before he left.
“You’ve had quite a bit to drink today too. Don’t wander off. Wait for me to come back.”
After Qi Yue left, Shen Yusi sat alone in the booth, pouring the remaining wine into her glass and drinking slowly.
She hadn’t sent Qi Yue away with any particular goal. It was just that the atmosphere had gotten too intimate. What if she got carried away and tried something indecent on him?
She didn’t want to be a female hooligan.
A lyrical DJ remix was playing. People on the dance floor were swaying their heads, and Shen Yusi moved along with the rhythm for a bit.
When she was alone, the alcohol quickly found the sadness she’d tucked away in a corner, pulling it out and magnifying it a million times.
His daughter has been in Yunchang for so long, and Shen Yanchu, as her father, hasn’t called her once. Lin Yingzhou has a girlfriend now. Teacher Z suddenly stopped talking to her. There might be a scar left on her beautiful leg.
Under normal circumstances, Shen Yusi wouldn’t care about any of these things. But with the alcohol’s influence, she felt a sudden wave of grievance and started drinking even more heavily.
Her phone vibrated. Shen Yusi opened the message.
Z: [?]
What little rationality she had left told her she hadn’t done her homework, and Teacher Z was here to call her out on it.
God! How diligent was he!
Shen Yusi opened her camera, deliberately recorded a video of the dance floor with its strobe lights flashing, and sent it to him.
So you can be too busy to talk to me, but I can’t skip my homework?
Lin Yingzhou had just finished washing up and was about to rest. Asking about the homework was just a routine.
School was about to start, and he’d been very busy lately. It wasn’t a big deal if Shen Yusi didn’t turn in her assignment.
But he never expected Shen Yusi to suddenly rebel like this.
Lin Yingzhou clicked on the video. A wave of noise blasted from the earpiece, jarringly loud.
Just as he was about to close the video, Shen Yusi’s voice came through.
He had to turn the volume all the way up just to barely make out the crazy things she was saying.
“Teacher Z, I’m drinking right now. I’ll send you the homework tomorrow.” A hiccup interrupted her. Shen Yusi paused for a few seconds before continuing.
“I know. I have to do it fifteen times over, right? Five today, five tomorrow, and the five punishment copies. I’ll give them all to you tomorrow…”
The video cut off there.
Lin Yingzhou’s brow furrowed. He quickly typed a message: [Which bar?]
Bars were always a mixed bag. A pretty girl getting dead drunk in a place like that was extremely dangerous.
Lin Yingzhou wasn’t sure if she had any friends with her. From the video, the seats around the booth looked empty.
Staring at the message that remained unanswered for so long, Lin Yingzhou started to feel he was meddling again.
It was her choice to go to the bar. It was her choice to drink so much.
Everything was her own choice. Why should he interfere in someone else’s choices?
Even as he thought this, Lin Yingzhou still sent the muted video to a friend, asking which bar it was.
Shen Yusi had already passed out on the booth, far too weak to reply to any messages.
Xie Sheng spotted Shen Yusi’s situation from the dance floor and quickly came back with Su Ze to look after her.
Noticing the constant buzzing, Su Ze reminded her, “Little Island’s phone is going off. Isn’t someone calling her?”
Xie Sheng picked up her phone and unlocked it. She saw several missed calls in the notification panel. “Some Teacher Z?”
She locked the phone and put it back, unable to help complaining.
“What’s wrong with him? Calling so many times this late. Doesn’t seem like a proper teacher to me. Let her sleep. We’ll deal with it when she’s sober.”
Ten minutes later, Shen Yusi was jolted awake by the DJ’s sound. “It’s so noisy.”
“Well, it’s a bar.” Xie Sheng asked, “Head hurt?”
Shen Yusi suddenly remembered there was a famous DJ playing here tonight. “Why aren’t you on the dance floor?”
“I didn’t feel right leaving you here alone.”
“It’s fine, I’m awake now. Go ahead.” If she remembered correctly, Xie Sheng was a fan of this DJ.
Xie Sheng still felt she was pretending to be tough. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m sure.”
Xie Sheng asked, “Then what’s 997 plus 9997?”
Shen Yusi thought she was asking what one plus one was, and was about to blurt out ‘two,’ when she realized something was wrong. “Holy crap, Xie Sheng, are you sick? Can’t you ask something easy?”
Well, if she can still curse, she’s probably sober. Relieved, Xie Sheng said, “Alright, alright. Stay here and don’t wander off.”
“Got it, got it.”
Alcohol is a diuretic. Seizing the moment when everyone was distracted by the DJ, Shen Yusi thought it would be a good time to go to the bathroom without a long line.
In the corridor leading from the restroom, she saw a familiar person.
Her head was spinning. She figured she must be dreaming. Why else would she see Lin Yingzhou in a bar?
A bar.
Lin Yingzhou.
These two nouns shouldn’t even be in the same sentence.
Seeing that Lin Yingzhou was actually walking towards her, Shen Yusi was certain she was dreaming.
As soon as she thought this, an inexplicable anger flared up inside her. She didn’t even like him anymore, and she still dreamed about him? How infuriating!
Shen Yusi charged forward, wanting to vent. She was walking too fast, and there was water on the floor, causing her to slip. She fell straight into his arms.
Lin Yingzhou caught her instinctively. A much softer body than his own slammed into his chest.
His breath stopped. The back of his neck went stiff. His palm hovered behind her waist, and for a rare moment, he was at a complete loss.
Shen Yusi took a deep breath, tears threatening to fall.
Why did she have to be so clumsy even in her dreams!
She pushed him away forcefully. “It’s all your fault!”
Lin Yingzhou grabbed her arm to steady her, confused. “My fault for what?”
Shen Yusi was like a bomb, primed to explode. “How dare you ask me! You clearly have a girlfriend. Why didn’t you tell everyone? You made me think you were single! I liked you so much! I even practiced calligraphy, trying to get into the class you teach! And I almost ended up being the bad guy who interferes with someone else’s relationship!”
Lin Yingzhou was speechless. He had no idea where this girlfriend had come from. “I don’t…”
Shen Yusi didn’t even give him a chance to defend himself. Her demeanor was that of a woman confronting a scumbag. “Shut up! I don’t want to hear your excuses!”
Lin Yingzhou looked at the person before him in disbelief, finding her utterly impossible.
He must have had too much free time to come here.
He was all washed up and ready for bed. But because of her drunken ramblings, he’d come all the way from the Lin residence to this foul place.
The dance floor was so loud his eardrums were about to crack. He’d searched all the way to the restroom just to find her.
And now? With her in this state, who could possibly bully her?
After her outburst, Shen Yusi noticed something different about Lin Yingzhou today. Her aggression waned, replaced by curiosity. “Why are you wearing glasses today?”
They looked good on him, too.
As she spoke, she reached out to take off the special glasses he had put on before leaving.
Seeing her about to snatch them, Lin Yingzhou grabbed her wrist firmly. “Don’t move!”
“…”
Shen Yusi was stunned by his tone for a few seconds. Then she reverted to her obstreperous state, pulling her hand back forcefully. “You yelled at me?! I practiced calligraphy for you, and you still yell at me?! Do you have any idea how hard practicing calligraphy is!”
Lin Yingzhou was silent. How could he not know? He knew all too well.
Shen Yusi began her accusations. “That Z makes me practice the same copybook every day. I’m about to puke from it, and he still makes me! I’m trying to drown my sorrows, and he still texts me to hurry up and hand in my homework! Tomorrow… tomorrow, I still have to write fifteen copies of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion for him.”
She hadn’t really been that upset, but the thought of having to make up for the homework once she was sober made the tears come.
Fifteen copies!
Who goes clubbing and still has to worry about homework!
Lin Yingzhou became even more silent.
He hadn’t been urging her. He’d only sent a question mark.
Shen Yusi blamed all of this on Lin Yingzhou. “I hate you! I tried so hard to get into Class B, to get close to you! And it turns out you have a girlfriend! So what am I practicing calligraphy for?! What am I trying to get into Class B for?!”
Lin Yingzhou stared at the drunk, babbling person in front of him. Suddenly, a wave of warmth surged through his chest, and an inexplicable feeling of relief washed over him.
So, after the hospital, it wasn’t because of that guy that she didn’t want to get into Class B. It wasn’t because of him that she lost interest in him.
It was because…
She liked him too much.
Too much to be the one who interfered with his relationship.
Having finally vented her pent-up emotions, Shen Yusi felt great.
But then a wave of dizziness and exhaustion hit her. Her legs gave way and she started to fall forward.
Lin Yingzhou caught her again.
Shen Yusi glared at him. “Don’t touch me, you bad person who doesn’t make your relationship public!”
How hypocritical could she be? She didn’t make her own relationship public out of necessity, but a man who didn’t make his relationship public was just trying to keep his options open.
Lin Yingzhou really wanted to let go right then and let her fall, so she could feel how hard the floor was. Maybe then she’d learn some pain.
In the end, he just held her up and let her rant.
Finally, when she seemed tired, he had a chance to speak.
Lin Yingzhou didn’t know why he was bothering to explain.
He never cared what Shen Yusi thought of him anyway.
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Lin Yingzhou wasn’t sure if she heard him. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder.
Her body was impossibly soft, like a ball of cotton draped over him, as if it could be crushed with a little force.
Lin Yingzhou really wanted to crack open her head and see if it was filled with tap water. Getting blackout drunk in a bar, then falling asleep on a strange man.
Did she not understand how dangerous this world was?
All his irritation was gone. He bent down, picked her up, and laid her down on a bench in the corridor.
It was already past eleven.
On a normal night, he would have been asleep by now. Instead, he was stuck here with this drunk, with no idea how long he had to wait.
She was deep asleep.
Lin Yingzhou looked down at her, and a sudden, impulsive thought seized him.
He wanted to know what color Shen Yusi was right now.
He thought about it, then reached up and took off his glasses. The faded world collapsed around him, and Shen Yusi’s face re-emerged on his retina.
Red.
An overwhelming, all-consuming red.
Her hair lay over the bench like a silk ribbon on the verge of dying embers.
The color of her lips seemed more vivid than he remembered, slightly parted with each breath.
Lin Yingzhou wanted to touch this color. His fingertips hovered just above the ends of her hair, never quite falling. The residual heat of the dying fire scorched his fingertips.
He saw his own shadow being enveloped by the red. A familiar feeling returned. Before his breath could stop completely, he averted his gaze and hurriedly put his glasses back on, shielding himself from everything that could trigger his reaction.
The red in Lin Yingzhou’s world grew dim once more.