CH 32

Chapter 32: From today onwards, try to eat sweet things.

As soon as the sentence fell, Xu Sui raised her eyes in disbelief. The surrounding crowd roared and screamed in waves. Xu Sui was still stunned, and someone took the opportunity to push her.

With a “bang”, someone opened a bottle of champagne, and the foam shot out. Amidst the cheers, Xu Sui stumbled and fell into Zhou Jingze’s arms, her cheeks against his chest. Through the layer of fabric, the heat made her cheeks warm.

“Wow, congratulations to Master Zhou for not being single anymore!”

“Sister Xu take this beast away and take good care of him in the future!”

“May your love be long-lived!”

Ribbons and golden confetti fell on the top of their heads. Zhou Jingze grabbed Xu Sui’s shoulders, and the tip of his tongue arched his cheek. He smiled and scolded, “You idiot.”

The figure of the man in the corner of the light froze and then left desolate.

Zhou Jingze retracted his gaze and sat down with Xu Sui’s shoulders. He knew that Xu Sui was thin-skinned and gave a kick to the person next to him: “Enough now.”

They didn’t dare to cause too much trouble, and since Sheng Nanzhou organized a game, it didn’t take long for the room to be lively again.

Zhou Jingze retracted his hand from her shoulder and drank again, glass after glass. Xu Sui sat next to Zhou Jingze, still feeling unreal.

Zhou Jingze’s words were like a roller coaster, throwing her into the clouds.

The seats in the room were a bit crowded, and the people next to them were very into playing the game, using their hands and feet to make gestures. This caused Xu Sui’s knee to touch his knees from time to time—once, twice, like her heartbeat.

Zhou Jingze was still in a bad mood, drinking silently. Xu Sui sensed his low mood and wanted to do something.

In fact, Zhou Jingze was acting impulsively before and agreed. Then set Xu Sui aside. The surrounding was full of lively bustle and intoxicating alcohol. Zhou Jingze drank two dozen beers, and images flashed in his mind from time to time.

Before committing suicide, her mother said she loved him very much, but in the end, she still left him. There was also Zhou Zhengyan, who said that “the biological son isn’t as dear as the son on the side”. In their eyes, he was nothing.

Zhou Jing drank unconsciously and wanted to find a lighter. He fumbled around the things on the table. A burst of irritability arose in his heart, and just as he was about to get angry, a white lotus-like arm suddenly appeared in front of him.

He raised his eyelids, and Xu Sui held a silver lighter in her hand and handed it to him. Her dark eyes were quiet and well-behaved. Zhou Jingze was stunned for a moment and took the lighter, most of his anger dissipating.

Onward, no matter what Zhou Jingze needed subconsciously, Xu Sui would always find it for him. She stayed by his side the entire time and was not angry when she was left out. She was very obedient that she just told him to drink less.

Zhou Jingze lowered his head and bit on a cigarette. The lighter made a “snap” sound, and smoke rolled out from his thin lips. With a loose smile on his face:

“What do you like about me, en?”

He didn’t even like himself.

Not hearing the answer, Zhou Jingze raised his eyebrows and didn’t mind. He raised his hand to dust off the soot, leaned back on the sofa, and stared blankly at the scene of laughter and playfulness in front of him, silent and lonely.

The party ended at about eleven o’clock. A group of people was very drunk, and someone shouted: “Go back quickly, the dormitory will close in half an hour.”

Sheng Nanzhou replied: “Quit the f*** act, you climbed over walls multiple times.”

The group walked out of the door of the Flamingo Club, shoulder to shoulder. Sheng Nanzhou only drank a little wine and was still sober, so he called a taxi for the large group of people.

Xu Sui supported the drunk Zhou Jingze and wanted to hand him over to Sheng Nanzhou, but the latter forced her and Zhou Jingze into the same taxi.

“Sister-in-law, take good care of my brother. I’ll return his fight when I get back to school.” Sheng Nanzhou laughed.

“…” Xu Sui.

Sheng Nanzhou adapted faster to his new identity than her.

The taxi didn’t drive too fast, and the car felt a bit stuffy. Xu Sui lowered the window, and the cold wind poured in, cooling and refreshing. The wind lifted Xu Sui’s hair. Her profile was quiet and beautiful.

Zhou Jingze was very quiet when he was drunk. He leaned back on the seat and closed his eyes. If Xu Sui didn’t witness him drinking with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed that he was drunk. He was acting like his usual self at the moment.

She tilted her head and looked at Zhou Jingze in a daze. Suddenly, there was a sharp turn in the front, and the car suddenly braked. Xu Sui was thrust to the left, and although she was in a panic, she grabbed onto the seat but unavoidably fell onto Zhou Jingze’s thighs.

…

A moment of death.

Her cheeks were pressed against him, and she felt the throbbing and heat. Xu Sui got up in a hurry. Her face was flushed red. She secretly glanced at Zhou Jingze, fortunately, he was still sleeping.

Xu Sui sat upright again, staring out the window in a daze. After a while, Zhou Jingze seemed to be sleeping soundly. His head was unsupported and hit the window glass subconsciously, and then he sat back upright again.

After going back and forth like this, Xu Sui was worried that his forehead would hurt, so she carefully pulled his sleeve and slowly moved Zhou Jingze’s whole body to her shoulder.

For fear of waking him up, Xu Sui acted cautiously and nervously. In the end, Zhou Jingze fell to her shoulder with his eyes closed, and Xu Sui turned her head to look at him.

The dark, red light outside the car window swayed, and half of Zhou Jingze’s face was hidden in the shadows.

His warm breath sprinkled onto Xu Sui’s neck, itchy and numb, while also reminding her that this was not a dream.

From a glimpse of him in the corridor three years ago, he was in every corner of the high school. Xu Sui no longer had to watch him speak on stage from a distance across the crowd and chat and laugh with other girls.

He was also no longer the boy Xu Sui secretly liked and sang “I’m standing on your left side, like a galaxy across” when doing homework in high school.

But boyfriend.

The scenery outside the car window receded as fast as a movie, frame after frame. There was a huge illuminated sign with an exaggerated advertising slogan: Using it, dreams come true.

It was a dream come true.

Xu Sui looked down at Zhou Jingze leaning on her shoulder and said, “Many.”

“What do you like about me, en?”

“Many.”

——

Zhou Jingze had a hangover the entire night and woke up with a severe headache. At 5:50, when he would usually go out for morning exercise, the chime ringtone woke Zhou Jingze up at once.

He drank so much last night that he felt torn apart and couldn’t get up at all. Sheng Nanzhou happened to sort out the housework before heading out to the gym. He glanced at his pale face and said, “Don’t go, I’ll ask for a leave.”

Zhou Jingze’s throat was dry, coughing violently, and his whole body felt drowsy that the words coming out from him were extremely hoarse: “En, on your way, help me bring some cough medicine back.”

“Okay.”

The exhaustion swept over again, and Zhou Jingze laid back again. He had several bizarre dreams in a row and slept until two o’clock in the afternoon.

After Zhou Jingze got up, he was drowsy and went to the bathroom to take a cold shower to awaken himself.

When he was done showering, Zhou Jingze walked out with nothing covering his upper body, wearing only a pair of trousers and a white towel hanging around his neck. He coughed non-stop, causing violent tremors in his chest. He sat at the table and poured a glass of boiled water to drink— a quiet face flashed in his mind.

In his memory, when he was drinking heavily last night, someone poured him a glass of water. All the fragmented memories from yesterday came back. After leaving that house last night, he went to the room, and Xu Sui confessed to him.

What did he do? He rejected her because Zhou Jingze clearly knew what kind of person he was and didn’t want to harm a nice girl like her.

But in the next second, Zhou Jingze saw Shi Yuejie and was tricked by Shi Yuejie about his mother’s tablet being moved away— his purpose was very simple. He wanted Zhou Jingze to completely separate from that family. The farther away from them, the better.

So the moment he saw Shi Yuejie, Zhou Jingze’s hatred grew in his heart, and he agreed with Xu Sui without thinking. When he woke up the next day, he realized he was too impulsive.

Zhou Jingze decided to make it clear to Xu Sui, apologize, and let her do anything she want.

Zhou Jingze leaned back on the chair, his throat hurting badly. He thought the medicine Sheng Nanzhou brought was on the table, but he turned it upside-down and couldn’t find it.

He coughed and called Sheng Nanzhou. After the call was connected, he asked, “Where’s the medicine?”

Over the phone, Sheng Nanzhou laughed ambiguously and even a bit girly: “Oh, you’ll know in a while.”

“Psycho.” Zhou Jingze directly hung up.

The weather outside was very nice today, and the birds were crisply chirping. Zhou Jingze picked up the cigarette and lighter on the table and tucked them into his pocket. As he was about to head out, his phone rang.

Zhou Jingze didn’t look at the call and answered “hello” without any emotions. The caller on the line seemed to pause for a while, and then a soft voice came through:

“It’s me, Xu Sui.”

“En, what’s the matter?” Zhou Jingze clenched his hands into a fist and coughed. His tone was indescribably cold.

Xu Sui didn’t feel the change in his tone, and her mood fell instantly: “I have something for you. If you don’t have time—”

“I’ll come out right now, just in time to talk to you about something.” Zhou Jingze intercepted her words.

“Okay.”

Zhou Jingze hurriedly ran down the stairs, only to see Xu Sui already outside the dormitory gate. It turned out that she had arrived early. He walked over in two-three steps, black shadows casting down.

The sun was a little bright, and Xu Sui stood in the shadow under the tree, turning around after sensing movements. Her brows immediately flashed with joy when she saw Zhou Jingze. She hugged the things in her arms and ran towards him.

“Are you awake?”

“En.”

Xu Sui handed him the two Thermos containers she held tightly in her arms. The wind was blowing, and she tucked the few front strands of her hair behind her fair, round ears. Her tone was a little uneasy:

“I heard Sheng Nanzhou say that you’re not feeling well. I just had time in the morning, so I made a little sober tea and pear stew with rock sugar.”

Zhou Jingze looked stunned. He raised his eyelids to look at her and asked, “How long did it take you to cook?”

“Not long.” Xu Sui shook her head, a smile on her lips.

Actually, it takes some time to cook this thing since high-power electrical appliances are not allowed in the dormitory. She could only cook it slowly on a low fire, and while cooking, she seized the time to memorize the scientific name of the medicine. Liang Shuang also teased that the pear stew with rock sugar was full of medicine.

Zhou Jingze looked at her. He didn’t reach out his hands to receive it but coldly said: “I don’t like to eat sweet things.”

“Ah, then I’ll take it back—” Xu Sui’s expression dimmed for a moment, and she quickly retracted her hands.

Suddenly, a cold hand with clear joints grabbed her hand. Xu Sui’s heart jumped, and she suddenly raised her eyes. Zhou Jingze’s voice was a little hoarse but serious:

“I’ll try it.”

From today onwards, try to eat sweet things.