"Yes, I made a mistake." Xue Jing's attitude in admitting his mistake was quite good, but he felt a little uncomfortable. Although his eyes were glazed, he wasn't blind. He noticed a wet, greasy stain on Ha Yue's lips.
She even put on makeup so she could drink with these grandsons?
Didn't you say last time that you no longer pursue the kind of appearance that can be enhanced by makeup?
Why make it so fancy! What makes these people so special? They don't even deserve to ride in a tricycle with two pigs.
“But I didn’t throw up. I only drank a little bit.” Xue Jing made a very small gesture towards Ha Yue. This was the truth. He knew his limits and wouldn’t actually drink himself into oblivion.
It might sound tasteless, but while Director Zhao was in the restroom, he used a tissue to cover the rim of the glass and poured it all into the trash can.
Taking advantage of his tipsy state, Xue Jing lowered his fingers and hooked Ha Yue's wrist, which was resting on her lap, intending to hold her hand under the table.
Ha Yue glanced at him, slapped his arm away, placed the wine glass in front of him in front of herself, poured him a large cup of hot tea and put it in his palm to help him sober up. Turning back, Ha Yue picked up the 1.5-liter Hero's Cup and drank it all in one gulp to everyone at the table.
When she put down her glass, she remained expressionless, drinking as if it were water, and said to Director Zhao with a smile, "Director, I'll drink the wine for him. We're alumni, it's the same whether I drink or he drinks."
"You can drink the same thing as me."
"And you guys, Jinzi's friends, right? Tiedan, Datou, and Little Chicken? I seem to remember you three owe me drinks last time. Come on, fill them all up, are you going to drink? I'll drink for him, you're the first one, you start."
"Is this just playing Texas Hold'em or bragging? If you're a man, stop dawdling."
"Damn it." Everyone around groaned in despair. Everyone knew that Ha Yue was a master of drinking and never got drunk.
Suicheng has a small social circle, and most of the young people who love to drink have been together at some point. When Ha Yue first joined the drinking party, many restless young men thought that if she drank too much, she would embarrass the top students. But what happened was that she was a heroine among women, with a much higher tolerance than the men, and she was just there to cause trouble.
Seeing Xue Jing and Ha Yue together, the group of energetic young men glared at Jin Zi and said sourly, "Is this even possible? I've heard of men drinking for women, but how come it's the other way around?"
"Sis, what's your relationship? Why are you protecting each other?"
Jinzi scratched her head and looked in Xiaoyu's direction for help. Not far away, Xiaoyu, who looked pregnant, was grilling starch sausages into her belly. Upon hearing this, instead of helping Hayue out of the predicament, she got excited and immediately picked up an iron skewer and joined in the commotion: "Yeah, sister, what's your relationship with Teacher Xue? You can't drink this wine for us if you don't explain clearly."
There are also rules to follow when drinking.
Xue Jing, listening from the other end, was quite anxious. Everyone knows that the most taboo question for adult men and women in ambiguous relationships is, "What exactly is our relationship now?" For an eighteen-year-old, asking a crush directly is called pure love, but for a twenty-six-year-old to ask such a question is simply being tactless. The destructive power of such an ultimatum is comparable to a comet hitting the Earth.
He himself didn't dare to force Ha Yue to give him an explanation, so how could he let others force her?
Before everyone could finish speaking, Xue Jing tried to snatch the wine glass from Ha Yue's side. Unfortunately, before he could finish saying, "I'll drink it myself," Ha Yue pressed down on the rim of the glass with a single finger.
His fingertips, slightly calloused, made a soft sound that only Xue Jing could hear when he rubbed them against the rim of the cup.
Those fingertips felt like they were rubbing against his heart.
Xue Jing saw Ha Yue frown, ponder for a moment, and then suddenly understand. She parted her red lips slightly, and her voice, like a mountain stream, was straightforward and clear, "Us."
As Ha Yue lightly tapped her teeth, Xue Jing held his breath, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.
Once she had whetted everyone's appetite, Ha Yue curled her lips into a giggle, her attitude relaxed.
"We used to be boyfriend and girlfriend, schoolmates, and also author and reader."
The alcohol flowing in Xue Jing's blood probably evaporated directly from his pores because of Ha Yue's words. His heart was pounding, his vision became incredibly clear in an instant, and even his eardrums could feel the beat of his pulse.
"And now?"
"We're not really in a relationship, but I think I kind of like him."
As she spoke, Ha Yue glanced back at Xue Jing, her gaze like the sea breeze, capable of stirring up waves half a person high. Their eyes met for less than a second before Ha Yue quickly looked across at the other side and said loudly, "Is this okay? I like him, so I'm drinking for him. You guys haven't been liked by anyone before, have you? Drinking for someone you like is only natural, isn't it?"
"What are you standing there for? Pour the wine."
They clinked glasses and exchanged toasts, and after several rounds of drinks...
Xue Jing had only drunk a third of the hot tea in front of him when eight cases of empty beer bottles were already piled high on the floor next to the table.
Senior Zhao, the eldest in the family, was the first to be affected. Ha Yue had just finished a round for Xue Jing, and his head slumped onto the table like a heavy weight, losing consciousness. No matter how Jin Zi shook his arm, he just kept snoring and didn't react at all.
Countless times Ha Yue's wine glass was filled. At first, Xue Jing sat upright next to Ha Yue, like a smiling lucky cat, respectfully pouring wine for her with both hands, his eyes full of affection and his face full of obedience.
But as Ha Yue drank more and more heavily, he eventually stopped playing games and insisted on clinking glasses with people. Jin Zi's friends either disappeared under the pretext of buying cigarettes or collapsed in the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet. In the end, a few of his unfortunate friends, in order to avoid drinking, helped each other upstairs to the KTV and locked the door from the inside.
Even though the outcome was clear, Ha Yue had become the biggest winner in the room. The little drunkard glanced at the empty bottles on the table and then asked the owner to bring over a dozen ice-cold beers.
No one else noticed, but Xue Jing saw it clearly: the new wine hadn't been opened yet, and Ha Yue had secretly poured herself into her mouth several times from the empty cup.
She already has too much.
Only Jinzi and Hayue were still drinking at the table. Xue Jing was not the type to interfere with others, but seeing that Hayue had drunk at least thirty bottles of beer and hadn't even gone to the bathroom, he was really afraid that the drunkard would ruin himself. So he said to Jinzi, who seemed to be relatively sober, "Jinzi, most of the people have left. Let's call it a day."
As he spoke, he gently touched Ha Yue's forehead, which kept tilting to the side, and said, "It's so cold. Take Xiao Yu home and rest early. I think she's had enough to drink. I'll take her to the restroom and then we'll be back."
Jinzi thought his words made a lot of sense and was about to nod when Ha Yue slammed her hand on the table, turned around and pointed her index finger at Xue Jing's chest reproachfully: "You, don't speak! People who don't drink at the table, well, they don't have that, what? word, the right to speak!"
"I haven't finished drinking yet. If you want to leave, go ahead... go ahead."
"The door, the door is over there."
The rose-colored lip gloss had been intimately smudged onto the transparent glass, and even though it was waterproof, it was starting to bleed out of the glass.
Xue Jing held her slightly cold hand with his left, and stroked her chin with his right fingers, slightly stabilizing her neck. Then he used his thumb to wipe away the color from the corner of her lips. His voice was sweet and gentle, like coaxing a little girl who insisted on staying at the amusement park, "I didn't say you couldn't drink. Jinzi has to go home now. Shall we go back and continue drinking? You can drink as much as you want. I'll definitely keep you company."
"It's uncomfortable sitting here. Aren't your pants tight after drinking so much? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
The table vibrated, and the colorful skewers escaped gravity, temporarily rising into the air before falling back onto the plate.
Director Zhao, who was sleeping diagonally across from Ha Yue, was startled by Ha Yue's pat. He sat up straight like a roly-poly toy, adjusted his glasses which were uneven, looked around blankly, and couldn't find his wife. Only then did he realize that he had fallen asleep at the dinner table.
The director's stomach rumbled; he was starving from sleeping. His disposable bamboo chopsticks had long since fallen to the ground and been trampled to a charcoal color by the crowd. He tore a large piece of lamb from the roasted lamb chop, stuffed it into a flatbread, rolled it up, and shoved it into his mouth. In a daze, he echoed Ha Yue, "Yeah, Xiao Xue, be quiet. Those who don't drink should listen to the adults and not interrupt. I'm not saying this to criticize you, but with your low alcohol tolerance, can you really keep my junior company? I'll do it. If you can't, you can sit at the table behind and wait."
As he spoke, Director Zhao picked up a bottle of beer, and without even using a bottle opener, he bit the cap with his teeth and popped it open with a "click." He then spat the gold cap onto the ground and reached out to pour beer into Ha Yue's glass.
"hiss."
Xue Jing still maintained a friendly expression, but his tone was icy cold. He thought to himself, "What kind of adult is this? We're all adults. You're a few years older than me, so you're just an old man at most. Does not drinking make you inferior? Didn't you hear Ha Yue just announce in public that she likes me?"
He could patiently coax the drunken Ha Yue, but that was unique in the world; he really had nothing to say to other drunkards besides Ha Yue.
A real man should quit drinking, go home, cook for his wife, and be a virtuous, gentle, and considerate woman.
A director, using a gathering as an excuse, doesn't come home to fulfill her duties as a husband. Did she help the kids with their homework? Did she mop the floor? Didn't she just say that her second child has gastroenteritis and is vomiting everything he eats?
Besides, if Ha Yue can drink from his cup, that's called mutual affection, a passionate romance, an indirect kiss. But what's going on with Director Zhao, an old wall lamp with two children, pouring her wine from a chewed-up beer bottle?
He certainly wouldn't let the other party take advantage of him.
Just as Director Zhao was about to put the bottle in Ha Yue's glass, Xue Jing pressed down on the rim of the glass. Not only did he press it down, but he also slapped Director Zhao hard with his other hand.
With two fingers together, a red mark was immediately left on Director Zhao's wrist. Sensing the disrespectful signal, the director immediately glared and yelled, "Hey? What do you mean by this?"
There was no mention of playing the pimping game now, was there? When did the game change?
"Don't you know what I'm doing?"
Just as the two were about to start fighting, Jinzi, who had been sitting silently opposite them, suddenly burst into tears.
Large tears streamed down his wheat-colored face, landing squarely on the table. As he sobbed, he pulled out an ultrasound report from his pocket and waved it in the air like a prisoner waving a white flag. He swayed his head and tail as he said to Ha Yue and Director Zhao, "Sister, Director, please stop talking about my brother. Even though you are my sister and my director, my brother is still my brother."
"Huh?" Director Zhao didn't understand at all, having only skimmed the surface. Ha Yue shook her head in confusion and asked him, equally bewildered, "Who is this 'whose brother' you're talking about?"
Jinzi threw the receipt on the table, pointing to Cao Xiaoyu's name on it, and tearfully accused, "You don't know how good my brother Xue Jing is. He not only paid my medical expenses in advance, but also helped me hire a lawyer to give me free consultations."
"I'm not stupid. Lawyers are so shrewd; they make a living with their words. There's no such thing as a free lunch. It must be my brother Xue Jing who took pity on me and secretly helped me behind the scenes!"
"The reason the child is healthy and Xiaoyu is able to become a mother is all because of him! So, can you two be nicer to my brother? Stop scolding him all the time. My brother is so pitiful, he's so thin he's unrecognizable, as pale as a ghost. My brother is so old, and he's still not married. In Suicheng, isn't he just an old bachelor? I'm really afraid he'll die alone with no one to take care of him!"
You can eat whatever you want, but you must never say whatever you want.
Xue Jing was startled by Jin Zi's passionate thanks. He didn't care about Director Zhao's argument, nor did he care about being called an "old bachelor." He immediately waved his hand and said seriously, "No, no, no, good brother, don't say that. The reason why the child is healthy and Xiao Yu can become a mother is definitely thanks to you. It has nothing to do with me."
As he spoke, he turned his head to face Ha Yue and spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a war correspondent were looking for a camera.
"Really. Ha Yue! Don't get me wrong. I didn't even know them two months ago. You should know that, right?"
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