68/Drunk
Chen Mian remembered the address of Shenyu Apartment. After hailing a taxi on the roadside and helping him up, she gave the driver the address. Throughout the entire process, Shenyu did not say a word or engage in any intimate behavior. It seemed that the hug earlier was a product of his lucidity. He leaned back in his chair, holding the cup of yogurt that had been squeezed out.
Chen Mian was worried that he would get dizzy, so she asked the driver to open the car window a little. The cold wind blew in and dried the sticky stuff on the back of his hand, making it even more disgusting. At least in Shen Yu's eyes, it looked like vomit stuck to his body. His germaphobia kicked in, and since he couldn't find anything to wipe it off, he simply ignored it and put it aside as if it wasn't his own hand.
There was indeed a little alcohol in his stomach, but he wasn't drunk enough to be completely out of it. He was just being a little deliberate, wanting to see how far Chen Mian would go for him, whether she would simply abandon him and go straight back to school. Shen Yu knew that Chen Mian never liked drunk people. Thinking about it, Shen Yu felt that Chen Mian was quite clever in every way. Because she didn't like drunk people, she never remembered what she was like when she was drunk, so she couldn't possibly dislike him.
His thoughts were scattered, jumping from one thing to another without any fixed focus. It was rare for him to be so carefree, without having to put so much on his mind. Besides his studies, he also had to deal with his family. It was his parents' idea for him to come to Beijing to study at Tsinghua University, and they also chose his major. Back then, they held a big banquet to quietly show off to all their relatives and friends that he was the top science student in his year. Then, while listening to his secretary's work report, his father patted him on the shoulder and told him that everything he owned would be his in the future.
He thought his dad was somewhat drunk, just like he was now—soberly drunk, aware of what he was doing and thinking, but his thoughts were unrestrained, wandering aimlessly. He also remembered his mother sitting next to him after the guests had left, asking if he had recently broken up with his girlfriend. He didn't say anything then, and his mother probably had a misconception of being a loving mother after being praised for raising her son that night. She gently told him, "Ayu, when you grow up, you'll find that all love is based on money. The higher you stand, the more you see."
He gave the same speech as his father on the plane, and Shen Yu didn't say anything at that time.
Then his grandfather, beaming with pride, said that the Shen family had a worthy successor, and that the family line would only grow stronger in the future. He added that the curse of wealth not lasting beyond three generations would not exist in their family.
Even though so much time has passed, Shen Yu, sitting in the car, really wanted to go back to that time and tell his grandfather that there would be no next generation, that he would be childless and without descendants.
It was such a mess. I was helped out of the car, and my vision was a little blurry. I could see things a bit double.
He smelled a strong hot pot smell mixed with alcohol, and he couldn't tell if it was from him or Chen Mian. He leaned against the elevator door, and the smell got stronger in the enclosed space. So he told Chen Mian to cover her nose, but he didn't hear a response. Chen Mian didn't say anything.
Chen Mian has never liked to talk. She is aloof. For a while, You Huai liked to use flowers to describe Chen Yin, telling him that Chen Yin was like a red rose blooming in his heart. At that time, Shen Yu thought You Huai was a bumpkin. Everyone has a rose. If you randomly stop someone on the street and ask them what flower your girlfriend is like to you, eighty percent of the answers will be roses.
A straight man who lacks knowledge about flower varieties cannot give any other answer.
But Shen Yu didn't want Chen Mian to be defined as one of the 80%. He searched on Baidu for flowers that were considered indifferent, deleted the adjectives, and finally typed in "niche flowers." He scrolled through them one by one and felt that none of them were quite right. Each one represented only one percent of Chen Mian, and none of them were complete or appropriate.
But at this moment, amidst the smells of hot pot and alcohol, he suddenly remembered something.
So he reached out his hand, then checked halfway to make sure there was nothing sticky on the back of his hand before placing it on the head of one of the three Chen Mian.
It didn't miss; it precisely touched the warm and soft strands of hair.
"sunflower."
Growing from soil composed of leaf mold, garden soil, and silt, it steadfastly blossoms towards the light.
The person being touched was somewhat bewildered, not knowing what he meant by suddenly mentioning sunflowers. She assumed he was drunk and didn't take it too seriously. Just then, the elevator dinged, so she reached out and pulled him towards the door.
To Chen Mian, this was just an ordinary scene, but to Shen Yu at this moment, it was as if he had fallen into a series of dreams, with all his memories switching back and forth and the timeline becoming blurred. He thought he was still in high school and was even a little confused as to why Chen Mian, who had clearly left with Zhao Lili's parents, would appear here.
Thinking this way, he asked her the same question: "Why did you come back?"
Chen Mian was holding his wrist, trying to unlock the door with his thumb fingerprint. Hearing the question, she paused for a moment. When she looked up, she saw his head down, looking intently at her. His hand was still on the door. The motion-sensor light in the corridor turned on and off. In the instant of darkness, Chen Mian had a strange feeling.
It was as if Shen Yu had been waiting here ever since graduation, but only today did he finally finally meet her.
During art class in the first year of high school, the teacher showed them a movie, Hachiko. The 45-minute class only allowed them to watch half of the movie, but even so, many students in the class had tears in their eyes. As a result, the music teacher in the next class was strongly urged by them to watch the movie to the end. Chen Mian remembered the ending very clearly: Hachiko waited at the station day after day, and the eyes that looked into the waiting room gradually overlapped with the eyes that Shen Yu was looking into at her at this moment.
It was as if he had been waiting for her for a very, very long time.
"Sinking Domain".
Snap, the light came on.
The tall boy in front of her leaned against the door, his gaze somewhat unfocused. The smooth lines of his face were particularly alluring under the light. The collar of his hoodie stopped just below his Adam's apple, and as his Adam's apple moved, the collar moved along with it, causing the two drawstrings to sway gently even without wind. His voice was low and husky. He then turned his head and asked her, "Hmm?"
What's most irresistible is either a shout that always gets a response, or the eyes that look at you no matter what you say.
Coincidentally, both of these exist in Shenyu.
Chen Mian pulled his hand up and brought it to his eyes, then answered him, "Because you held my hand."
—Why are you back?
—Because you stopped me.
So Shen Yu laughed, "I see."
"Then I'm pretty smart."
*
Once inside the apartment, Chen Mian took the hangover remedy she bought at the pharmacy and the honey water she bought at the supermarket into the kitchen. She boiled a kettle of water and was a little dazed while waiting for the water to boil. She opened her hand, closed it again, and finally opened it again, staring at the lines on her palm. Suddenly, her phone in her coat pocket rang.
She initially thought it was a message from her roommate, but when she took it out, she found it was a WeChat message from Song Ai, whom she hadn't contacted in a long time.
The content was quite simple, just a marriage certificate. Song Ai, wearing a white shirt, was standing next to a bald, fat man, smiling sweetly at the camera.
Song Ai: I forgot to tell you, I got married.
Chen Mian stared at the photo for a while before replying with a congratulatory message.
The reply came quickly: Congratulations my ass, we didn't get married because we were in love.
Chen Mian asked: Should we get married if we love each other?
Song Ai replied with a black line emoji: Marriage is a cage, but isn't it slightly happier to go into the cage with someone you don't dislike?
This response is very characteristic of Song Ai, consistently showing disdain for love while making no attempt to hide her own need for it.
Chen Mian didn't know what to say, and finally just said to Song Ai in a dry tone: I'll transfer the money to you.
Song Ai: I don't need you now. I'll rely on you to support me when I'm old and past my prime. What do I need you for a temporary meal ticket right now? If the money goes into my account, it will only arouse suspicion that I'm having affairs with other men.
Song Ai: I'm just telling you not to go back to Suibei unless it's absolutely necessary. My husband is a mistress who rose to power and he can't stand me getting involved with people from Chen Song's side. He's uncomfortable with me.
Chen Mian: Hmm.
As they chatted, the water boiled. Since Shen Yu didn't like sweets, Chen Mian poured half of the honey water she bought from the convenience store into a glass, added some hot water to dilute it, and then took it out, only to find no one in the living room.
The bedroom light was on, and the sound of water could be heard coming from inside.
When Chen Mian went inside, she found the bathroom door ajar. The light was on but the exhaust fan wasn't. The mirror above the sink, directly opposite the door, reflected the water droplets rolling down the black tiled wall across from it.
Chen Mian's gaze lingered on the water droplets for a moment, and then, as if possessed, she pushed the door open a little, revealing Chen Yu standing naked under the shower in the glass partition.
The glass door was shrouded in mist, and under the warm light, the person with already pale skin appeared even paler. There was still some foam in his hair, which was being washed down by the water and ran into his eyes, making it difficult to open them. So he closed his eyes and put some force on the round switch, making the muscles in his arm particularly prominent.
He didn't hear any footsteps, but felt sticky and smelly, so he went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.
They didn't even realize that they had been seen naked.
I simply took the showerhead and rinsed my face, then moved it down, from my collarbone to my dormant desires that were not yet erect.
Water droplets dripped from her eyelashes and were roughly wiped away by someone's hand.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Chen Mian standing at the door, looking at him.
He looked at her.
The person standing at the door remained calm, holding the cup steadily without spilling a drop of water.
"You can't take a shower after you're drunk."
She closed the door and entered the steamy room, looking into his eyes through the glass door of the shower enclosure, where water droplets kept rolling down.
"You will suffocate."
At this moment, Shen Yu felt like he was suffocating.
He wanted to have sex with Chen Mian. He could tolerate it before, but now he couldn't tolerate it at all.
/
A man who's three-tenths drunk can even shed tears while acting.
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