Chapter 5: Has Li Zhi managed to stand firm after losing her?
From the time he started school, Zhou Ke had always been a good student in the eyes of his teachers. He was good at studying and polite. The only thing that made people sigh was his status as an orphan. He had no parents since he was a child. Even after being adopted, he did not have a good life for long. He was still a child himself and had to pretend to be an adult to take care of his younger sister who was a little over 18.
Back then, there seemed to be a clear line separating good students from bad students; they believed in grouping students of the same kind and not interacting with each other.
Zhou Ke was a typical good student, while Yan Yadong was a notoriously bad student.
Although the two were in the same class, they had no interaction whatsoever over the course of two years.
One Friday after school, Yan Yadong walked out of the school with his hands in his pockets. The group of people who were waiting outside the school to catch him saw this and quickly followed him. They soon cornered him at the entrance of the alley. They had a grudge from before, and today they were lucky to run into him traveling alone. The group surrounded him and shouted at him.
In the prime of their youth, they started fighting before they could even finish a few words.
Zhou Ke was passing by when he heard the sounds of fighting. He stopped and turned his head to look. He saw seven or eight people surrounding a figure in a circle, punching and kicking him. Muffled groans were mixed with vulgar curses. Zhou Ke was about to walk around them when he heard a familiar voice, "You Hao, you just wait!"
Zhou Ke focused his attention, half-pressing his eyes to look over. The other side had a large number of people and showed no mercy when they started beating Yan Yadong. After all, they were classmates. Zhou Ke watched for a while and thought to himself, if this continues, Yan Yadong will be sent to the hospital sooner or later.
He stood there, his brow furrowed, his face grim, and raised his voice to shout at the crowd: "Stop fighting!"
A voice suddenly came from behind him, and the group of people stopped what they were doing and all looked at him.
You Hao spoke calmly, "Who are you? Mind your own business and get lost."
Zhou Ke looked over without any emotion: "Just a friendly reminder, the police are here. If you want to go to jail, keep fighting."
Upon hearing this, chaos erupted in the alley. Someone swore, the leader kicked Yan Yadong one last time, and someone else, hearing the police sirens, panicked and shouted, "Forget it, let's run!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the seven or eight people scattered like startled birds.
As soon as everyone left, Zhou Ke saw Yan Yadong stagger to his feet, raise his arm and wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, then spit out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
Zhou Ke stepped forward. "Should I take you to the hospital?"
Yan Yadong grinned, gasped, and said dismissively, "He won't die."
From then on, Yan Yadong unilaterally regarded Zhou Ke as his good buddy. Having watched too many gangster movies, he always had a surge of passion in his heart. In Yan Yadong's own words, this was a "life-or-death" friendship. If it weren't for Zhou Ke, he might have really lost an arm or a leg.
After graduating from high school, one of them continued his studies, while the other entered the workforce. Yan Yadong admitted that he wasn't cut out for studying, but as the saying goes, when God closes a window, he opens a door. He wasn't good at studying, but he was good at doing business. After graduation, he went south to a coastal city, where he worked on construction sites as a civil engineer and in website development. After saving some money, a friend of his was about to open a restaurant but was short of funds. Yan Yadong inquired about the restaurant's location and spent a week observing the foot traffic there.
Once he had a better understanding of everything, he contacted his friend and said that he would make up the difference in the amount of money he was short, treating it as an investment.
After returning from out of town, the man was three shades darker and his belt was bulging. He thought he might as well become his own boss. Just then, Zhou Ke encountered some problems in his business, so he decided to get together with Zhou Ke to open a bar.
During those three years, the bar business was doing better and better, and he made a lot of money. Yan Yadong wanted to take out some of the money to open a billiard hall on Guanyin Street in the east. It was close to the school, had a large customer base, and was a sure-fire way to make money.
Zhou Ke has recently been helping him negotiate the rental price of the property.
Having finished their discussions, he specifically set aside time to talk to Yan Yadong about this matter.
Just before leaving, Lin Yu saw him about to go and asked him if he was going to a bar.
Zhou Ke said yes, and after meeting Lin Yu's blinking eyes, he paused for a moment and asked, "Want to go to a bar?"
Lin Yu only knew that Zhou Ke had been running a bar business with partners over the years, but she could count the number of times she had been to the bar on one hand. She didn't know exactly what part of the bar Zhou Ke was in charge of, and she was also a little curious about her brother's job. So when Zhou Ke asked her this question, Lin Yu thought for a moment and then agreed.
Yan Yadong had just come out of the lounge when he saw Zhou Ke with a girl in the distance. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was still sleepy, but when the two walked over and he saw her face, his eyes suddenly lit up: "Oh, who do we have here? It's my sister who's back."
Hearing the voice and looking at the person who came, Lin Yu politely greeted, "Brother Dong."
Yan Yadong exclaimed, "Hey, you're on summer vacation! When did you come back?"
Lin Yu: "Just a few days ago."
Yan Yadong suddenly realized: "I was wondering why your brother has been acting like a hands-off manager these past few days."
Zhou Ke: "You're not as good as me. You've been a hands-off manager for half a month now."
Upon hearing this, Yan Yadong fell silent. He was used to being carefree and considered himself the second-in-command, so he handed over the management of the bar to Zhou Ke.
"Oh, let's not talk about that." He quickly changed the subject, turning to Lin Yu: "Little sister, you've come all this way, just order whatever you want to drink, it'll be on my tab." Yan Yadong patted his chest and said generously.
Zhou Ke glanced at him and said indifferently, "What, am I not here?"
Yan Yadong exclaimed "Oh!" and laughed, "How come there are still people vying to pay these days?"
Zhou Ke remained silent, but Lin Yu, watching their back-and-forth, couldn't help but speak up: "It's alright, just treat me as a guest, I can pay the bill myself."
Yan Yadong: "That won't do. You are Zhou Ke's sister, so naturally you are my sister too. We're all family. Don't talk about being a guest."
Zhou Ke glanced at him, scoffed, and said, "Who's family with you? There are only two people in my family."
These words left Yan Yadong speechless. He took a deep breath, put his hands on his hips, and started his daily little argument again: "Who do you mean to say that I want to be part of your family? I was only doing this for Lin Yu's sake."
Zhou Ke: "There's absolutely no need for that."
Before he could finish speaking, a clear female voice came from behind him: "Lin Yu!"
Lin Yu turned her head, and before she could react, she was suddenly grabbed by a force that rushed towards her. She lost her balance and staggered back several steps. Fortunately, Zhou Ke was standing next to her. Seeing that she was about to fall, he quickly reached out and put his arm around her waist. Then he moved towards her and caught her with his body.
Things happened so fast that Lin Yu hadn't even had time to react before her back was pressed against her brother's hard chest.
Her mind went blank, and her body froze instantly. She hadn't been drinking, yet her legs felt so weak she could barely stand. Summer clothes were thin, and she was wearing a sundress. The large hand on her waist was pressed against her skin through the thin fabric, and her bare shoulder was pressed tightly against his. A tiny electric current surged through her body, climbing up her lower back to her scalp.
The heat enveloped her, causing her cheeks to flush an unnatural red.
Lin Yu stiffly looked up, and unsurprisingly met his deep eyes. The neon lights behind the bar cast shifting shadows on his profile, making his jawline appear even sharper.
Jiayi reacted first, grabbing her shoulders with both hands and saying worriedly, "Are you alright? It's all my fault for rushing over too fast. I was so scared. I really thought I was going to fall flat on my face. Luckily, Brother Zhou Ke caught me."
His palm pressed completely against the hollow of her waist, and through the thin gauze, he could clearly feel the softness of her skin. Zhou Ke suddenly pulled his palm back.
As the heat dissipated, Zhou Ke looked down at Lin Yu, his arm lightly supporting her lower back, his voice deep and hoarse: "Are you steady now?"
Lin Yu felt his warm breath on her earlobe and stood there, stunned and confused, her mind blank, briefly losing the ability to think.
She pursed her lips and stammered, "Stand...stand firm...."
Upon hearing the accurate answer, Zhou Ke took a step back and created some distance.
The sudden little incident left her stunned for a long time; her limbs felt weak and her feet felt like they were walking on clouds.
Jiayi sat at the bar, staring at her suspiciously: "Hey, why is your face so red?"
"Really?" Lin Yu pretended to be clueless and started making things up: "Maybe it's because there's alcohol in the air here, and staying here for too long makes it like this."
"I see." Jiayi was always easygoing and wouldn't press for details after receiving an explanation. She handed over the bar in her hand: "Alright, it's your first time here, see what you'd like to drink?"
Lin Yu looked at the wine list that Jia Yi handed over. The names of those wines seemed to have nothing to do with wine, and when she read them out, she couldn't tell what the ingredients were.
Lin Yu glanced at it. She was a novice and didn't have much experience, so she randomly pointed to a drink with an interesting-sounding name. Seeing this, Jia Yi looked up and said to the bartender in front of her, "Give me a drink called Lost Lychee."
Before the words "wait a moment" could be uttered, a deep voice suddenly fell from above Lin Yu's head: "This wine is too strong; you can't handle it."
Lin Yu suddenly looked up and blinked: "Brother, what brings you here?"
Zhou Ke snatched the wine list from her hand and said calmly, "You can't hold your liquor well, this wine is too strong for you. If you really want to drink, I'll make you a glass."
"You know how to mix drinks?" Lin Yu shifted her gaze from the drink menu to Zhou Ke's face.
Zhou Ke laughed: "You're the owner of the bar, after all. Even if you're not a professional bartender, you should at least know how to make all the drinks on the menu. Since it's your first time here, I'll make you a special cocktail."
As soon as he finished speaking, a sarcastic voice suddenly interrupted from the side.
"Brother Zhou Ke is biased! I've been to your bar so many times, and I've never seen you personally mix my drinks, let alone give me a special one." Jia Yi sat on a high stool, propping her chin up with one hand, and teased.
Just then, Yan Yadong happened to walk over from the side. Upon hearing this, he laughed and said, "Want a special drink? Come on, if Brother Zhou Ke won't make it for you, I will."
Jiayi's eyes lit up: "Wow, the sun must have risen in the west today! We're so lucky to have the two bar owners serve us."
Yan Yadong clicked his tongue and slowly took out a shaker from the pile of tools: "That's right, our skills are priceless."
In contrast to Yan Yadong's outgoing personality, Zhou Ke was rather quiet. When mixing drinks, he would just focus on his work. Lin Yu stared intently at him, watching the fine shadows cast by his eyelashes under his eyes, his thin lips pressed into a straight line, and the warm light from the bar surrounding him, as if he were coated with a layer of tender glaze.
Zhou Ke lowered his eyes, took out a shaker from the bar, and held the silver shaker with the back of his arched hand. His slender knuckles touched the cold glass. He picked up the tweezers, took out ice from the ice maker, and then found the liquor he needed from the liquor rack behind him. He then poured low-alcohol rum, blue curaçao, and other liquors into the shaker one by one. After all the liquor was added, he held the shaker with one hand and began to shake it up and down.
About a minute later, Zhou Ke stopped what he was doing, took a clean shaker, put three or four ice cubes in it, then slowly poured the drink into the glass. He then took a bottle of soft drink from under the bar, opened the packaging, and poured it over the drink. Finally, he garnished the rim of the glass with two mint leaves.
After doing all this, Zhou Ke looked up and pushed a layer of blue and white wine toward her, saying, "It's very low in alcohol, have a taste."
Lin Yu slightly raised her eyelashes, her gaze falling on the collarbone exposed at his collar. She quickly lowered her head, her palm holding the cool glass. Her long, thick eyelashes drooped slightly as she picked up the glass and took a small sip. It had a light sweetness on the palate, with a faint hint of alcohol in the aftertaste. It wasn't as stimulating as she had imagined; it tasted very good.
Noticing Zhou Ke's gaze on the top of her head, Lin Yu took another sip. This time, the originally sweet special drink tasted burning aftertaste under his gaze.
"Is it good?" Zhou Ke lowered his thin eyelids, his gaze falling on Lin Yu's face as he carefully observed her expression, and asked in a very soft voice.
Jia Yi's teasing and Yan Yadong's voice became blurred background noise, and Lin Yu's hand holding the cup felt slightly cold.
She nodded and praised without reservation, "It's delicious. Brother's bartending skills are excellent."
Upon hearing the praise, Zhou Ke smiled slightly, a faint curve appearing at the corner of his lips.
Compared to Zhou Ke's focus, Yan Yadong was clearly restless. He chatted with Jiayi while mixing drinks, and then turned to look at Lin Yu: "By the way, little Yu, are you planning to stay in Jiangcheng until the start of the semester?"
Lin Yu: "Mm."
Yan Yadong: That's great! Come over and visit often when you have time. It'll be free for you two. Order whatever you want to drink, don't be shy.
He had a good relationship with Zhou Ke, and treated Lin Yu like his own sister: "If you have any needs, just tell me, your staff member."
Lin Yu didn't stand on ceremony with him: "Okay, thank you, Brother Dong."
Yan Yadong: "Don't mention it."
A note from the author:
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