LRTH - 16

It was the middle of summer, but Xiyun was a summer resort. With the glass door open and the air conditioner blowing on their backs while they barbecued, it didn’t feel hot at all.

Zhao Ke and a few other boys were diligently grilling meat, while the girls sat in the living room, chatting and watching a variety show on TV.

Xu Tingyou asked Song Chuxuan which university she wanted to go to. Song Chuxuan said her top choice was the Foreign Language Institute in Minghai City. She liked foreign languages, but she wasn’t sure if she could get in.

Xu Tingyou: “We also have many foreign language institutes in Hangzhou. The admission scores are about the same as Minghai’s.”

Song Chuxuan said, “I’m not considering staying in this city. I just want to go to Minghai.”

“Why?”

Fang Nanzhi also looked over. Minghai City... Li Yizhou was also going there.

“The reason is simple. I don’t want to stay with my parents anymore.”

Xu Tingyou nodded. “I guess so. It’s so annoying when your parents keep controlling you. I’m going to apply to a different city in the future, too.”

“Alright. You come to Minghai, too,” Song Chuxuan said, and then she asked Fang Nanzhi, “What about you, Nanzhi? Do you have a dream university?”

Fang Nanzhi was stunned. She almost subconsciously glanced at Li Yizhou, who was grilling not far away, but she quickly averted her eyes so that no one would notice.

“I... I haven’t thought about it yet.”

Song Chuxuan: “That’s okay. You’re only in the first year of high school. You have time to think about it.”

“You guys, stop chatting and come eat. The lamb skewers are ready,” Zhao Ke said.

Song Chuxuan: “Oh! Coming!”

The boys’ grilling was quite good. Fang Nanzhi originally wanted to take it easy, but she couldn’t resist the delicious food and ate a lot of skewers.

After the BBQ, everyone cleaned up together and went inside to play some games, including “Werewolf.”

It was Fang Nanzhi’s first time playing this game. Her logic was actually very strong, but she wasn’t very good at lying. Every time she got the “werewolf” card, she would get so nervous that it was easy to tell.

Li Yizhou was also a very logical person. Unlike Fang Nanzhi, he was good at being deceptive without showing it. No matter what card he drew, he would act like a “good person,” and for several rounds, the “good people” were defeated by him.

This led to Zhao Ke complaining and demanding that he be kicked out of the game.

Laughter and chatter filled the entire villa, creating a happy atmosphere for the recent graduates.

Since they had already prepared their own food for lunch and played all afternoon, everyone was too tired to cook for dinner. So, they decided to order a bunch of takeout.

There were few commercial areas around Xiyun, and the minimum delivery time for takeout was an hour. While they waited, everyone did their own thing. Some played games in the living room, and some went back to their rooms to rest.

The villa had many rooms, so Fang Nanzhi could have one all to herself.

The room was not small, and it faced the garden. There was also a lush park in the distance, which was a beautiful sight in the evening.

She didn’t immediately lie down to rest. Instead, she wandered around the room and finally went to the balcony to look at the scenery.

She had only intended to take a quick look and a few pictures, but she unexpectedly discovered two figures not far from the garden. They were too far away for her to hear what they were saying, but she could clearly see them.

Fang Nanzhi’s heart skipped a beat. Her first thought was to escape back into her room, but her legs felt like they were filled with lead, and she stood frozen in place.

She watched the girl in the distance say something, then hand the boy something.

It was an exquisite box with a ribbon tied on it. It was clearly a gift.

Was it a graduation gift for him?

A few seconds later, the boy took it. The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.

They exchanged gifts in a private place. The reason was self-evident. It wasn’t just a graduation gift; it had another special meaning.

Sure enough, Song Chuxuan liked Li Yizhou.

And he... he liked her, too, right?

Fang Nanzhi’s nose tingled. When they turned around, she turned her back, stumbling into the room and closing the balcony door tightly.

She hadn’t been able to prepare his graduation gift, and it was a good thing she hadn’t.

If she had prepared it today and brought it to him, how awkward would that be...

Fang Nanzhi felt a sense of relief mixed with tears in her eyes.

Song Chuxuan wanted to go to Minghai City for university, and he was also going to be in Minghai. Were they going to be together...

He should be with a girl like that. She was so pretty, and she had such a good personality.

And her own feelings should sink into the sea like a tiny stone, never to see the light of day.

________________________________________

The takeout was delivered an hour later. Everyone gathered in the dining room and started eating.

All the alcohol they had brought was placed on the table. Xu Yuanhao stared at it intently, but a glare from Xu Yuanhe and Li Yizhou made him silently shrink back and go back to eating his food.

Because of her long-term diet, Fang Nanzhi’s appetite was already very small. And with her low spirits, she wasn’t in the mood to eat. After only a little while, she said she was full and wanted to go for a walk.

The villa’s garden was quite big. After Fang Nanzhi walked a circle, Xu Tingyou also came out. The two of them sat on the steps, chatting idly.

“Move over, move over. Make some room for me.” Xu Yuanhao somehow came out as well, his clothes bulging as if he had something tucked inside.

Xu Tingyou had no patience for him. “We’re girls talking. What are you doing here?”

“Is there anything I can’t hear? I brought you guys something good.”

“What?”

Xu Yuanhao mysteriously pulled up his shirt and, like a magician, pulled out three cups from behind his back.

“They said this foreign liquor is really good. Do you want some?”

Xu Tingyou’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy? If Brother Yizhou finds out, he’ll skin you alive.”

It was a strange sight that the two siblings were more afraid of Li Yizhou than their own brother, Xu Yuanhe.

Xu Yuanhao whispered, “Well, don’t tell him, and it’ll be fine. They’re drinking inside, so they won’t pay attention to us. We can just drink it and go straight back to our rooms.”

Xu Tingyou thought that made sense. She actually really wanted to try it, but she was afraid of getting scolded. As she was hesitating, a hand suddenly reached out beside her. “Give me a cup.”

Xu Yuanhao and Xu Tingyou both froze and slowly turned to look at Fang Nanzhi.

The good girl and good student was actually asking for alcohol?

Xu Tingyou: “...Are you serious?”

Fang Nanzhi didn’t know why she suddenly became so rebellious. She just felt really bad and wanted to vent.

Didn’t they say alcohol could drown your sorrows? She wanted to try it.

“Yes. Just give me one cup. One is enough.”

Xu Yuanhao was delighted. “Alright, alright. We’ll each have one cup and see how it feels.”

Xu Tingyou: “Fine... but nobody says a word.”

“For sure.”

The three of them reached a consensus and started to “share the loot.”

Each poured a cup, quietly clinked them together, and took a sip.

It was spicy, with a hint of honey and sweet orange.

Fang Nanzhi’s eyes narrowed involuntarily. Her mind went blank for two seconds from the shock of the unfamiliar taste.

“Damn it, this doesn’t taste good. Why did they all say it was good?” Xu Yuanhao’s face was a mess.

Xu Tingyou also didn’t like the taste, but she pretended well. She shook her cup. “I think it’s alright. This is what adults’ drinks taste like. Do you get it?”

Xu Yuanhao refused to admit defeat and took another sip. While hissing and breathing, he said, “If you taste it carefully, it does seem to be alright.”

Fang Nanzhi didn’t say anything and quietly took a few more sips, letting the spicy and fragrant liquid slide over her lips, tongue, and down her throat... charging all the way down.

To her, this stuff really didn’t taste good. It was even difficult to swallow, but she drank it without a word, as if she were punishing herself. She finished the entire cup.

By the time Xu Tingyou and Xu Yuanhao realized it, she had already put the empty cup forward and said with a flushed face, “Another cup!”

Xu Tingyou: “Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Yes. The alcohol content doesn’t seem to be very high. I don’t feel dizzy at all,” she said.

Xu Tingyou looked at the liquid in her cup. Besides feeling a little hot, she didn’t feel anything else. “It seems so. And the more you drink, the more fragrant it seems to be.”

Fang Nanzhi: “Mhm!”

Xu Yuanhao: “Then bring it over. I’ll pour you another cup.”

“Okay, thank you!”

The three of them on the steps in the garden were drinking silently, while inside, in the dining room, a group of people was also playing drinking games. Zhao Ke and the others were clearly already getting drunk.

Li Yizhou didn’t drink much and didn’t really like to play those games, so he decided to quietly leave.

“Where are my siblings?” Xu Yuanhe also wanted to leave. He looked around and asked casually.

Li Yizhou: “They’re probably playing outside.”

“Oh.”

Li Yizhou got up. “I’ll go check on them.”

Li Yizhou was just using this as an excuse to leave the chaos at the table. So when he got to the garden, he didn’t expect the scene outside to be even more chaotic than the one inside.

On the steps, the three younger ones were sitting there, giggling stupidly and saying things no one else could understand. A bottle of foreign liquor with only a little left at the bottom was placed beside them.

Li Yizhou was stunned for several seconds before walking over and lifting Xu Yuanhao up. “Did you bring the alcohol out?”

The drunk Xu Yuanhao wasn’t afraid of Li Yizhou anymore. “Ah, yeah! Brother Yizhou, this alcohol is so good!”

Li Yizhou: “Who told you to drink?!”

“Not me! They wanted to drink it themselves, really! And, and Fang Nanzhi was the first one to raise her cup!”

“...”

Li Yizhou looked at Fang Nanzhi, who was sitting on the steps. Her cheeks were flushed, and she still looked like a good girl.

How could she be the first one to ask for a drink? It must have been Xu Yuanhao coaxing her.

Li Yizhou rubbed his forehead in frustration, took out his phone, and made a call. “...Tell someone who isn’t drunk to come down to the garden with you.”

Xu Yuanhe came out with their class president, Chen Kai, who was still sober. When Xu Yuanhao saw his older brother, he immediately lunged at him. “Bro, are you doing okay today?!”

Xu Yuanhe: “...”

He pushed him away, and Chen Kai, who was next to him, caught him just in time. “Wow... you’re so drunk. You’re so brave?”

Xu Yuanhao waved his hand. “No, no. And I’m not, not drunk.”

“Okay, you’re not drunk. Come on, come with me.” Chen Kai smiled and gestured to Li Yizhou and Xu Yuanhe. “Should I take him back to his room first?”

Xu Yuanhe: “Go ahead.”

Chen Kai took Xu Yuanhao and left. Xu Yuanhe looked at the two girls sitting on the ground, his face full of exasperation. “What kind of terrible alcohol tolerance do you have? And you still dared to drink.”

Li Yizhou: “It’s all your siblings’ fault for secretly bringing out the alcohol. Three minors. What are we going to do with them?”

Xu Yuanhe also had a headache. He tapped Xu Tingyou’s forehead in frustration. “You’re really something.”

“Ow... that hurts!” Xu Tingyou flailed her arms and tried to hit Xu Yuanhe. Luckily, he intercepted her in time.

Xu Yuanhe: “Xu Tingyou! Are you crazy?! You’re trying to hit me?”

Xu Tingyou: “You hit me first! What’s wrong with you?!”

He couldn’t handle his crazy sister. He kept leaning back, dodging her attacks. Eventually, he got so frustrated that he grabbed her hands and held them behind her back like he was arresting a criminal. “I’m taking her back to her room first.”

Xu Tingyou: “Ahhhhh—murder!! It hurts!!”

Xu Yuanhe: “You shut up!”

“I’m telling Mom!!”

“Fine, you can tell her. And you can also tell her you drank a bottle of foreign liquor.”

“...Ahhhhhh!”

Xu Tingyou was taken away. Li Yizhou watched Xu Yuanhe suffer through the high-decibel yelling, a little sympathetic. He turned to look at Fang Nanzhi, who was sitting quietly on the ground, and breathed a sigh of relief.

At least he was left with the most well-behaved one.

Li Yizhou crouched down in front of her and asked, “Can you walk?”

Fang Nanzhi slowly looked up at him. “Mhm?”

Li Yizhou patiently repeated himself. “Can you stand up and walk? Are you dizzy?”

Fang Nanzhi nodded.

Li Yizhou was relieved, thinking that she probably hadn’t had much to drink. “Then get up. I’ll take you back to your room.”

“Alcohol...”

“No more drinking.”

Fang Nanzhi’s brow furrowed. She was a little unhappy. She stood up unsteadily and turned to walk toward the house.

Li Yizhou followed a couple of steps behind her, guiding her. “To the left, go upstairs... to the right. Yes, this is your room. Go in and rest.”

However, the person who had been obediently following his directions didn’t open the door. Her hand was on the doorknob, her forehead pressed against the door, and her glasses were crooked.

She didn’t move for a long time.

Li Yizhou belatedly realized that she might not be as sober as he had imagined.

She was drunk, and quite drunk at that.

“Fang Nanzhi?”

“Mhm...”

“Can you open the door?”

“Mhm...”

“Then open the door.”

“Can’t open it...”

Li Yizhou’s eyebrows arched slightly. He was a little amused. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

He walked forward, wanting to pull her away so he could open the door, but he didn’t expect that she was already unstable.

A gentle tug was enough to make her head spin.

Fang Nanzhi fell backward like she had no bones or consciousness. Li Yizhou was startled and instinctively reached out to grab the person who was falling.

“Ugh... I’m dizzy...”

In her haze, Fang Nanzhi felt a point of support, so she leaned against it. Her forehead pressed against the person, and her glasses fell to the ground with a clink.

Li Yizhou felt a weight on his shoulder, and then a soft body pressed against him.

He grabbed her arm and smelled a strong scent of alcohol mixed with a hint of fragrance. The fragrance was from her hair. Although it was very faint, it stood out against the smell of alcohol.

He was stunned for a moment, then he turned his head slightly and reached out to open the door.

“Stand steady. Be careful.”

“How can I be careful...”

The person leaning on him suddenly looked up at him. Without her glasses to hide them, her eyes were watery, vibrant, and confused.

She asked him, her voice filled with grievance, “I can’t walk. How can I be careful...”

She was so close that her long, thick eyelashes gently brushed against his jaw. Li Yizhou’s lips were slightly pressed together. He put his arm around her and guided her into the room.

“There. Lie down.”

She stood by the bed, her hand still holding his shirt, unable to stand straight. “I can’t lie down. I’m dizzy. I can’t lie down...”

Her voice was a little tearful, as if she was in a lot of pain.

Li Yizhou was stuck, unable to move forward or backward. He felt a little soft-hearted. “Be good. Listen to me.”

“I want to go out.”

“What?”

“I want to go out and drink.” She suddenly pushed him away. “Xu Yuanhao! Tingyou!!”

“Come back!” Li Yizhou was startled and grabbed her arm. “You’re still trying to drink? If you three drink again, we won’t be able to face your parents tomorrow.”

“No, no, I want to drink! I don’t need to face anyone!”

“Fang Nanzhi!”

Seeing her in this state, Li Yizhou forcefully held her down.

So Fang Nanzhi was placed on the bed. Once her head touched the pillow, it was too heavy to lift. She looked up at him, looking extremely wronged.

Li Yizhou was both helpless and amused. “Stop making a fuss.”

She really stopped making a fuss. She just held on to the hem of his shirt and, after a while, suddenly whispered, “Okay... but can you... not leave...”

Li Yizhou didn’t hear her clearly. “What?”

“Can you not go with someone else...”

She was mumbling and very incoherent.

Li Yizhou didn’t understand, and he didn’t intend to. After all, a drunk person was speaking.

“Lie down and close your eyes. Your head won’t be so dizzy. Hurry.”

She didn’t let go of his hand. “Can you...”

Li Yizhou couldn’t do anything. To get his shirt out of her grasp, he coaxed her. “Alright, alright. I can. You go to sleep. Anything.”

________________________________________

The alcohol didn’t taste good at all, but she just wanted to drink...

Fang Nanzhi felt like she was floating on a cloud. Her body was uncomfortable, and so were her thoughts.

Didn’t they say alcohol could make you forget unhappy things? But why was her mind still on him...

What was she going to do? He was going to Minghai City for university with Song Chuxuan. He was leaving, and she wouldn’t see him again.

But she felt so unwilling. She still hadn’t gotten better.

She still hadn’t told him that she liked him...

She really wanted to tell him...

But she already knew the answer. It would just be a moth flying into a flame.

“Why is she still crying when she’s drunk?”

“Do you want a tissue?”

A voice came faintly. Fang Nanzhi’s eyes were half-closed. She saw a figure by the bed. She tried hard to open her eyes wider to get a clear look.

But she still couldn’t see clearly. Li Yizhou’s figure moved closer and then farther away, like a dream.

She saw him hand her a tissue. Her lips trembled slightly, and more tears gushed out.

“No...”

“Wipe them away.”

His hand was right next to her face, so close, but she couldn’t feel any warmth.

It must be a dream.

It must be a dream.

Fang Nanzhi blinked, and tears rolled down. The person in front of her became even more blurry.

If it was a dream, could she tell him? He was about to leave anyway, so she should just tell him... She should tell him now...

Confessing in a dream wasn’t like a moth flying into a flame.

It was just fake.

“You...”

“I like you.”

The person next to her suddenly fell silent.

Fang Nanzhi was completely unaware. She grabbed his wrist. “I really, really like you...”