Chapter 103: Clear-headed but Confused
"You're back?" Li Sishi called out to Shang Hanyou, who was standing at the corner ahead, with her eyes half-closed.
After calming down, Shang Hanyou managed to force a smile and walked over with the thermos in his hand: "Here, it's still very hot. You need to let it sit for a while before you drink it."
He then sat down to Li Sishi's left, and casually greeted Ling Chen, who was sitting to Li Sishi's right, saying, "Hi, you're here too?"
Anyone who eagerly goes to get hot water for a girl they like, only to turn around and find their seat taken and the girl chatting and laughing with them... even a saint would feel annoyed.
Shang Hanyou doesn't consider himself a saint with a good temper. In fact, he used to have quite a fiery temper. It was only after he suffered a loss with newspapers and magazines that he gradually changed to his current demeanor of always having a smile on his face.
Although many people thought that Lingchen and Li Sishi were a perfect couple—even he thought so a while ago—now that the situation is different, this seemingly joking pairing has become a thorn that attacks him at all times.
Then, this junior colleague and friend from the same music company not only sat in his seat tonight, but also seemed to have feelings for the girl he liked... It was because he discovered this problem that he had just suppressed his smile.
If he hadn't noticed that Li Sishi was turning her head away from the kiss, and then smoothed things over in the early morning, his old temper might have reignited.
Looking at Shang Hanyou's expression, Ling Chen seemed to have realized something: the world is nothing more than the pursuit of beautiful women by gentlemen, and with Li Sishi's face, it's hard for anyone to maintain a pure friendship with her.
And so, this older brother in front of me, who always thought he was quite composed, actually fell for such extreme beauty at some point without his knowledge.
Fortunately, everyone is progressing at a similar pace, and with the foundation of their existing friendships, they are unlikely to do anything overtly jealous or competitive for the time being—but there have been quite a few underhanded actions already.
For example, Shang Hanyou's sitting posture and actions, at first glance, make him look like a virtuous old woman bringing back hot water, secretly showing off to the newcomer who wants to climb the social ladder by relying on his looks... Ah Cai!
This association was so bizarre that Lingchen quickly interrupted his own daydreaming and then responded to Shang Hanyou's earlier words in a joking tone: "Yeah, seeing her sprawled here like a salted fish, I came over to 'pay my respects'."
She was a legendary Miss Hong Kong who was stunning from head to toe... Oh my!
He was also kicked by Li Sishi as a warning.
"What are you all doing surrounding me? Go sing and dance. I'll rest a bit longer before I go back to having fun. It's rare to be able to stay out a little later tonight..." Li Sishi pressed her temples and looked at the two currently high-profile superstars beside her with a hint of disdain.
Unfortunately, the Heavenly King can't be used as a painkiller, so what's the point of having the two of them around?
She's been pursued since she was a child, and even though she had a failed relationship in her past life, which makes her subconsciously reluctant to fall in love again so quickly, she can still see those who have feelings for her very clearly.
She didn't know when the friendships around her suddenly changed, but having experienced many classmates turning into secret admirers during her school days, Li Sishi remained calm when she received strange looks from both sides: anyway, whether she was calm or not, she couldn't stop the people around her from liking her, so she simply pretended to be confused until the end, in order to get as much peace and quiet as possible.
Her rashly pointing out the truth was the most likely cause of problems—even though the two men beside her were adults in their late twenties and early thirties, men together are prone to sharing the brain with the lowest IQ, and Li Sishi didn't want to gamble that they would act like her male classmates who had fought over her before, abandoning their brains at the slightest disagreement and tearing each other apart in front of others in an extremely ugly situation...
Before she had figured it out, everyone being "good friends" was the perfect answer.
"Although it's safer here, you're still drunk. It wouldn't be good to leave a girl like you here alone. I'm going to avoid drinking anyway, so I might as well stay here with you."
Sensing the urge to get rid of Li Sishi, Shang Hanyou quickly spoke before dawn.
Perhaps because he was a few years older, he was more likely to use a gentler approach. As he spoke, he picked up the pink and white pig-shaped thermos on the table and blew on it: "It's almost ready to drink. Why don't you try it?"
Considering that he had indeed gone out of his way to get her hot water, Li Sishi was happy to give him face, so she reached out and took a small sip: "Hmm... it's alright. Leo, you go play on the dance floor first, I'll be there in a bit."
"Consider it as helping me scout out a path." Seeing Ling Chen's somewhat hesitant expression, Li Sishi added.
"Okay, come over when you're done, I'll save you a good spot." Ling Chen slowly stood up from the booth.
Although this place is in a corner and dimly lit, it is still a "public" area.
In public, would Shang Hanyou really go so far as to launch a bird-like attack in such a short time?
Completely forgetting what he had just done, he walked away almost every step of the way, looking back every few steps.
Just as he was thinking that he could spend some quiet and leisurely time with Li Sishi after leaving in the early morning, Le Yun unexpectedly came over with a glass of wine.
Seeing Li Sishi drinking hot water, Le Yun was quite disappointed: "Look at your master, I can drink two bottles and I'm fine, but you can't handle just four or five cups."
Although the culture of urging others to drink is something he, as an alcoholic, doesn't particularly like, it's undeniable that in many social situations in this circle, one needs a certain alcohol tolerance to get through.
In the past, when the young apprentices were fulfilling their Miss Hong Kong duties by attending parties and banquets, they could use the excuse of being underage to get away with it; now that the fair-skinned young apprentices have grown up, if they don't practice their drinking skills, they might suffer in the future.
Therefore, Le Yun planned to take advantage of Pei Yansang's invitation tonight to give Li Sishi a good opportunity to practice her drinking skills...
"Master, while drinks are certainly enjoyable, you must also take care of your health! These days, so many artists suffer from illnesses due to overwork, coupled with a lack of self-care or an inability to resist temptations. They end up with a condition that even doctors would shake their heads at."
The ending.
"It doesn't matter, I'm well-off, I smoke and drink." Le Yun flicked Li Sishi's nose, "You're so young and you already want to be a housekeeper? Let me tell you, you're not good enough yet!"
"Sigh—Master, I'm doing this for your own good," Li Sishi replied, both amused and exasperated.
"Alright, alright, I got it. You can continue drinking your water. I'm going to sing a couple of songs over at the small stage first." Le Yun hurriedly grabbed her wine glass and ran off.
Seeing that Li Sishi was actually sighing and lamenting, Shang Hanyou smiled and shook his head: "You don't need to worry too much. Le Ji is a grown man, he knows what he's doing."
"Of course I believe he knows what he's doing, but I believe even more that he couldn't resist temptation. Thinking about what happened later in her past life and those who left because of illness, Li Sishi couldn't help but sigh."
Looking at her tightly furrowed brows, Shang Hanyou thought for a moment, then tentatively reached out and covered Li Sishi's hand on the table, making a comforting gesture: "Don't think too much, the more you think, the more annoyed you will become, why not go out and 'exercise' a bit?"
“You’re right, worrying here won’t help. You might as well go out and dance, clear your mind.” Li Sishi nodded, tightened the screws on her half-empty thermos, and put it away.
He stood up and turned his gaze to the other side of the dance floor, which looked bizarre and fantastical.
As expected of Hong Kong's famous disco princess, Pei Yansang was dancing wildly and changed several dance steps in just a few minutes. She moved through the crowd with a smile like a nimble little deer. Her energetic movements made Li Sishi want to smile as well.
After untying the hair tie and biting it to make a quick bun for easy bouncing, Li Sishi followed the movement of the colored lights to get closer to the handsome, fair-skinned young man who looked good even in the dim light.
"You're here?" Turning around, she saw that Li Sishi had indeed come to find her.
I was a little surprised and delighted when I saw her in the early hours of the morning: "Why did you change your hairstyle?"
“This hairstyle makes it easier for me to dance,” Li Sishi replied without hesitation.
"But I think you look best with your hair down... or like the ponytail you wore earlier, it would be more graceful when you dance." No wonder he's known for his bluntness, earning him the title of "King of Catchphrases" from Hong Kong media; his straight-male thinking and aesthetics are truly typical of a straight man.
Li Sishi glanced at the handsome young man who was trying to make conversation but couldn't come up with anything nice, with a half-smile, and then let go of his hand: "Oh, since you like things to be a bit more elegant, then I won't bother you."
Seeing Shang Hanyou squeeze in from behind, she readily reached out and took Li Sishi away. Before Ling Chen could react, she saw Shang Hanyou turn around and look at her with a smile.
young.
He said nothing, yet it was as if he said everything...
Just then, a song ended, and the next song was a slow one. Unlike before, when they were all jumping around in twos and threes, they couldn't force themselves to join other couples.
"What are you daydreaming about, why are you dancing!" Pei Yansang, who had just finished dancing a lap, saw Ling Chen standing blankly in the middle of the dance floor and assumed that he was just young and shy and hadn't found a dance partner, so she took the initiative to go up and "help him out."
So Shang Hanyou, who was dancing a slow dance with Li Sishi not far away, immediately looked over and laughed.
"What's so funny?" Li Sishi asked curiously, wanting to turn around and look at the merciless iron hand that had almost twisted her head again—of course, this time the hand holding her face and preventing her from turning her head was much gentler than the previous merciless iron hand.
Although it's still the same person and the same hand.
"It's nothing, it's just that the people over there aren't very skilled at dancing, so the result is a bit funny." This dance includes a rather intimate forehead-touching move, so he gently cupped Li Sishi's face and pressed his forehead...
It was pasted over.
As their breaths mingled, a deep, resonant voice said, "Concentrate."
"Wow, I didn't expect them to dance so well when they're serious!" Pei Yansang also saw the commotion and couldn't help but compare the seemingly intimate scene before her with their previous love-hate relationship.
"They look quite well-matched... Oops, you stepped on me!!!"
Even after getting into the back seat of Ye Shanyun's car, Pei Yansang, who was seven or eight parts drunk, couldn't help but complain that the young man's dancing skills in the early morning were terrible and that his feet were still hurting from stepping on her: "He's so tall and big, he must weigh at least a hundred pounds—ouch!"
Luckily, I have a strong immune system, so my foot isn't completely ruined...
Ye Shanyun, mindful of driving, hadn't drunk any alcohol tonight. Hearing how loudly she was talking, she quickly pulled out a bottle of mineral water and handed it to her.
Pei Yansang took the bottled water, tilted her head back, gulped down two large mouthfuls, let out a satisfying burp, and then naturally slumped back, casually patting Shang Hanyou sitting next to her: "Wake me up when we get there."
She, Ye Shanyun, Li Sishi, and Shang Hanyou lived in close proximity, so the four of them squeezed into one car.
In the bustling areas of Hong Kong, the city never sleeps, but in these slightly remote places, it is pitch black. Li Sishi sat in the passenger seat, chatting idly with Ye Shanyun and Shang Hanyou under the dim interior lights as a way to stay awake.
Later, it was unclear whether Ye Shanyun was more focused on driving or the audiophile was just too talkative, but it turned into a conversation between Li Sishi, who was sitting in the passenger seat on the left, and Shang Hanyou, who was sitting behind the driver on the right—it was unclear where he came up with so many topics, and they were all quite interesting.
The bumpy ride woke Pei Yansang up, and she groggily opened her eyes to see the back of a man standing in front of her.
With a puzzled and disdainful expression that seemed to say, "What's wrong with this guy?", Pei Yansang studied Shang Hanyou's strange and awkward sitting posture for a while before finally noticing something amiss on his profile, which was completely absorbed in chatting with Li Sishi to his left and right, oblivious to the situation around him.
So, when Shang Hanyou, who was whispering to Li Sishi across the diagonal line after finishing a conversation, turned around unexpectedly and bumped into Pei Yansang's meaningful smile.
"You...you're awake?" Feeling a little uneasy at her laughter, Shang Hanyou leaned back in the back of the car and took a sip of his mineral water as if to cover up his unease. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing much, I just saw you were having such a hard time 'chatting' and wanted to ask if you wanted to switch seats with me." Unexpectedly, this "October Mustard Green" (a nickname for a young man) had secretly developed feelings for her, yet he still persisted with this painstaking and tedious way of "flirting." Therefore, when Pei Yansang said this, her eyebrows and eyes revealed a meaningful anticipation of a good show.
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