Lin Shulan walked toward the restroom in a leisurely pace with her hands in her pockets and a freshly lit stick of cigarette between her lips.
Her Phoenix eyes, with their corners slanted upward, looked listless.
However, she suddenly gained a bit of spirit as she passed the sink.
She saw Chen Yuhe standing alone in front of the mirror, giggling incessantly. She seemed to be muttering to herself in a very low, indiscernible voice, sounding like an old lady talking in her sleep.
Is she so drunk that she’s started talking nonsense?
“What are you mumbling about?”
“Venmo me some cigarette money first so I can see your strength.”
***
Meanwhile, Ye Zhou finished getting some fresh air and prepared to head back into the shop.
By chance, he spotted Su Zhihan walking toward him from a distance with an ice cream in her hand.
She was taking small, constant bites of the ice cream, and cream was smeared all over the corners of her mouth.
Seeing this scene, Ye Zhou was a bit dumbfounded.
Su Zhihan really was a total foodie!
Then again, just how high was that ice cream stacked?
It was at least as high as a three or four-story building.
Ye Zhou decided to take back what he had said earlier in the private room.
Su Zhihan’s stomach definitely wasn’t connected to just one Doraemon Four-dimensional Pocket; it had to be two!
One for meals, and one for desserts.
A clear division of labor, each in its proper place.
“Student Ye? I saw you staring at the ice cream in my hand from way over there. Do you want to eat it too?”
Su Zhihan blinked her large eyes, which, paired with the tear mole at the corner of her eye, made her look innocent and cute.
Ye Zhou slowly came to his senses and licked his dry lips.
“Uh… can I?”
Su Zhihan nodded without hesitation and brought the ice cream closer.
“Sure. Since I walked a long way to buy this and it tastes really good, you can only have one bite.”
This immediately sparked a mischievous thought in Ye Zhou’s mind.
However, his rationality quickly suppressed it.
Taking a bite that would remove half the ice cream…
If he actually did that, he wouldn’t be human anymore, right?
“Ahaha… I’m just joking. Keep it for yourself.”
“Do you really not want any?”
Su Zhihan moved the ice cream a few inches closer, blinking her large eyes in confusion and doubt.
Ye Zhou froze for a moment, then shook his head with a smile.
“Really, I was just teasing you, don’t take it seriously. After all, you’ve already started eating it. It wouldn’t be right for me to take a bite now, logically or ethically.”
“Mm… actually, if you’re just having a taste, I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
“But since you’ve said so, alright then. I’ll head inside first?”
Ye Zhou nodded. Watching Su Zhihan walk away while burying her head in the ice cream, he couldn’t help but fall into thought.
After these few interactions with Su Zhihan, Ye Zhou had come to understand what kind of person she was.
She seemed like a young girl who was ignorant of the world’s affairs?
Like a bunch of daisies…
Fresh, simple, innocent, and pure.
***
Ye Zhou walked straight into the private room and gave a natural greeting.
At a glance, he saw Jiang Yingxue slumped on the table, motionless.
Driven by curiosity, he gently pushed her shoulder, but she didn’t react at all.
The surroundings were quiet; he could barely hear her light, steady breathing.
It looked like she had gotten drunk and fallen asleep.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Ye Zhou sat down in the empty seat next to Jiang Yingxue, her head seemed to have a radar installed as it accurately found his position.
She grumbled in a small voice, yet her tone carried a hint of entitlement.
“Ah… you finally brought the pillow.”
The corner of Ye Zhou’s mouth couldn’t stop twitching.
If the President had used his lap as a pillow, that wouldn’t have been a big deal.
But with her silver hair spread out, she happened to be facing inward, and her warm breaths were hitting his extremely awkward and sensitive area in puffs.
Ye Zhou stayed his teeth and acted as cautiously as a thief. He placed both hands on either side of Jiang Yingxue’s head, tentatively trying to prop her up.
To put it bluntly, even if she really wanted to lean on him to sleep, leaning on his shoulder would be better than leaning on his lap, right?
But things didn’t go as planned. Jiang Yingxue seemed even more displeased and actually shifted a few more inches inward.
“Don’t run away, my pillow…”
In that case, Ye Zhou had to take ten thousand steps back.
After thinking about it, he had no choice but to take off his jacket and drape it over himself to create a barrier between him and Jiang Yingxue’s flaming red lips. Only then did he feel a bit better.
It was just as they say: the distance between that sword and his throat was only 0.01 centimeters.
The situation across the table wasn’t looking optimistic either; they were performing a drama over the struggle for Plum Wine.
“Damned Lin Shulan, give the wine back to me! I haven’t had enough yet.”
“You’re wasted, you definitely shouldn’t drink anymore. If you pass out here, your parents will come looking for trouble with me.”
“Hic— am I drunk? No, right? Clearly, you’re the one who’s drunk and talking nonsense. Come to think of it, pasta should be mixed with No. 42 Concrete because it tastes good, hehehe… what are you doing?”
“Reading a novel…”
Lin Shulan frowned slightly. Even though she used her elbow to block Chen Yuhe’s stomach to keep her from getting close, Chen Yuhe still broke through the barrier with the brute force brought on by her intoxication.
“Oh! What novel are you reading? Strange, since when do you like reading novels? I thought you only liked playing games.”
“Isn’t it normal for me to change my tastes?”
“That’s true. Can I see?”
“Of course not, because the content is entirely unsuitable for children.”
“Oh! So that’s how it is. Then I’m going to report you to the President for reading naughty books and even trying to distribute them to me in public.”
“Do whatever you want. It’s not like we’re in the club anyway. But are you sure you want to keep wasting time with me?”
Lin Shulan rolled her eyes and inconspicuously swatted away a cup of Plum Wine that Chen Yuhe was stealthily trying to take.
“Ah, it hurts, wahhh… Damned Lin Shulan, you’re the person I hate most in this world!”
“Tsk, if you won’t let me drink, then I won’t. It’s not like I care that much.”
“Right, Little Ye Zhou? Your Senior Student is being bullied, you’ll help me get revenge, won’t you?”
Seeing the flames of conflict unexpectedly turn toward him, Ye Zhou froze and pointed at himself.
“Huh? How am I supposed to help you get revenge?”
“Pfft— how can you be so stupid? Watch as your Senior Student teaches you personally.”
Chen Yuhe wiped the wine stains from the corner of her mouth and suddenly crowded into the empty space on Ye Zhou’s left. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing and gnawing on him.
“Sss! Senior Student Chen, don’t use your teeth…”
On his left was the drunken, crazed Chen Yuhe, and on his right was Jiang Yingxue using him as a pillow.
Sigh…
Caught in the middle, Ye Zhou had a look of utter despair.
Lin Shulan turned off the irritating music in her Bluetooth earphones and immersed herself completely in the plot of the Liu Bei Literature; finally, things were quiet.
Meanwhile, Su Zhihan sat alone at one side of the table as if she couldn’t hear anything happening outside.
Her cheeks were bulging as she started a new round of slow chewing, carefully savoring the grilled meat.
***
It wasn’t until the shop closed that Ye Zhou and Su Zhihan helped the dozing Chen Yuhe and the fast-asleep Jiang Yingxue into the car, handing the keys over to Lin Shulan.
Since his home wasn’t far, he planned to just take a taxi back by himself.
As for the others, they were all well-acquainted, so Lin Shulan knew where they lived and could just drive them home.
With this, Ye Zhou could finally be considered free.
However, before Lin Shulan drove off, she slowly rolled down the window and said in a neutral tone:
“By the way, to avoid any misunderstandings if you run into someone you know, you’d better wipe your face and neck with some tissue.”
“Oh, okay…”
Ye Zhou opened the front camera of his phone with a puzzled expression.
It was fine as long as he didn’t look, but once he did, he was truly startled.
On his cheeks and neck, there were various lipstick marks left by Chen Yuhe. There were even a few spots where she seemed to have bitten off some skin with her teeth, with small dots of blood seeping out.
Oh! My goodness, this is truly worse than my grandma’s burnt apple pie!
***