The banquet concluded with thunderous applause accompanying the school management’s closing remarks. Jiang Chen dragged his slightly intoxicated body to his car before stopping in his tracks.
[Fu*k, how can I drive if I drank? This is going to be a problem.]
A troubled smile appeared on his face. Although his body condition was stronger than an ordinary person’s, enabling him to cleanse alcohol from his system at a faster rate, he was not like the masters in wuxia novels who could instantly dissipate the alcohol from their bodies. The police would find it hard to believe that he was not drunk.
Key in hand, he hesitated, not knowing if he should take the chance. In the end, he sighed.
He grabbed his phone and slid his finger across the screen but didn’t who to call.
Xia Shiyu just headed home; it would be inconsiderate to call her back.
Liu Yao?
When he saw that name, his finger paused before he pressed it without further thought.
“Hello?” From the other end, a slightly lazy voice sounded, as if the speaker had been about to fall asleep.
He pondered for a moment before opening his mouth. “It’s me.”
“Jiang Chen?!” came the ecstatic response.
“You have caller ID, right? Hmm, where are you right now?”
She was lying face-down on her bed, her smooth legs swinging back and forth in the air. A smile crept onto her face as she propped her chin up with her hand. “I’m home, why? Do you miss me?”
It was the first time Jiang Chen had called her.
Jiang Chen was silent, not knowing how to answer. In the end, he awkwardly chose to ignore the question.
“How far away is your home from Wanghai University?”
Liu Yao pouted with disappointment.
“Not that far. Two subway stations away.”
“Ahem, I drank a bit and can’t drive. Could you come and pick me up? I’m by the lake in Wanghai University,” Jiang Chen said shamelessly.
－
The pristine moon cast its light from the night sky and reflected off the glowing lake’s surface. A light breeze drifted by the lakeside, rattling the leaves to the sound of the wind. The September air already carried a slight bite.
He embraced the chill on his arms as he leaned against the marble fence, staring blankly at the hut sitting in the middle of the lake.
When was the last time he had visited this place?
Behind him was the English corner and a bench in a grassy field—an ideal place to practice recitations.
But it was also the perfect date spot, referred to by students as the Lovers’ Hill.
“What are you looking at?”
“Zoning out.” Jiang Chen turned around smiling but stalled, stunned by the glimpse of a beauty.
A white dress paired with high-heeled sandals—the pure white color….
As soon as he managed to regather his thoughts, he said sounding troubled, “If people didn’t know better, they’d think you a first-year student.”
The slight curvature of her lips showed a girl’s pride while the gorgeous face under the lamppost carried a hint of innocence.
[Did I drink too much?]
Jiang Chen rubbed at his temple.
“Of course. I even met a senior when I was walking over, and he volunteered to walk me home.” Liu Yao examined Jiang Chen’s face with a smile.
“Oh.”
Dissatisfied with Jiang Chen’s calm reaction, she asked, “Are you not jealous?”
Jiang Chen smiled, his eyes locked onto the gaze as limpid as the lake’s surface.
The words of “Why would I be jealous” were stuck in his throat.
“Perhaps, a little.”
He turned away from the attractive face to look at the grass field dotted with bright lights.
Liu Yao’s smile grew larger, her mouth shaping into a crescent.
“Then I told him, I already have a boyfriend, and he walked away blushing.”
Jiang Chen shrugged, chuckling. “Why are you so direct? They didn’t even say that they were going to chase after you.”
“The way he looked at me said it all. But I can’t accept anyone other than you.”
He fell into silence, which was soon broken.
“Do you want to be my boyfriend?”
“While we’re on the topic, did you purposely dress like this?” Jiang Chen diverted the topic with a troubled smile.
The pristine white dress, the gorgeous face without makeup, and the eyes as bright as the stars in the summer night.
Liu Yao also didn’t answer the question as she straightened her back and strolled around the rock path.
She turned to look at him with a gentle smile, her dress blooming with her motions.
“Am I similar to that girl who watched the movie with you?”
He fell silent, then started laughing hysterically. Perhaps it was due to the alcohol’s influence.
“She is not a good person, so why are you copying her?” Jiang Chen also straightened up from leaning against the fence, his laughter dying away.
“Am I like the girl in your imagination?”
Jiang Chen stopped again, and after a while, spoke with confusion, “Is there a difference?”
Just as he finished speaking, he already had an answer in his heart.
The girl in his imagination was pure, innocent, and adorable. In the end, he realized that everything had been a facade, but he still held feelings for Fang Yuanyuan.
Liu Yao smiled, looking at Jiang Chen. Although she didn’t know the girl he met in the past, she could guess. So with her cunning, she changed into a dress she had worn back in her university days.
“Like a traveler in the desert, heading to the imaginary kingdom, strolling alone,” he murmured as he gazed at the loving couple on the faraway grass field.
“Pshhh, you can write poems?”
“No. Just the complaints of a bored person at a boring time.”
For some reason, he missed Sun Jiao, that evil and naughty girl.
Perhaps, this was why he liked her?
The courage to love and hate, the straightforward way of expressing her emotions, and the naughtiness to act on the “wrong” ideas. She was becoming more civil, but Jiang Chen had the urge to tell her that “this was okay too,” because such a girl was nearly extinct in this world.
Here, what remained genuine?
Suddenly, a softness gently blocked his mouth, his eyes staring at a closed pair of eyes.
Lips parted.
Silence ensued before Jiang Chen eventually asked, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Mhmm.”
“Apart from material needs, why do you like me?”
If it was just about money, there were plenty of rich people.
A delighted smile blossomed on her face. “Maybe because of respect.”
The smile was beautiful, but also helpless.
“I see.”
Perhaps she sought after respect because she was not respected?
He paused, and after thinking awhile, asked, “Do you know why I accepted your invitation for a vacation?”
“Because of regret?”
Jiang Chen looked down. He didn’t say no, or yes.
“Take me home.”
Liu Yao looked slightly disappointed, but she smiled and nodded.
“Mhmm.”
－
He leaned back against the soft passenger seat and let out a long sigh. He then pulled at the collar that made him feel stuffy.
“Mingxin Area Mansion Community, the innermost plot. Do you know the way?”
“There’s always GPS.” Liu Yao forced a smile as she really hadn’t been to that area before.
Jiang Chen watched silently as she started the GPS and set the destination before he settled in to rest.
The car ride was smooth with Liu Yao increasing the speed once they left campus grounds. He opened his eyes, catching the colors of the city in his peripheral vision. Suddenly, he casually asked, “How have you been doing?”
“Not well.” Liu Yao steered as she pouted.
“Oh? Why?”
“Because the movie someone promised has still yet to happen.” Her voice sounded forlorn.
“Hehe, how much money?” Intoxicated, he smiled carelessly.
Screech!
The car suddenly stopped.
Liu Yao parked the car on the side of the road, took off her seatbelt, and looked him straight in the eye.
In her eyes… were tears?
“What’s wrong?” he asked with a bitter smile.
“In your eyes, I’m just a sl*t, right?”
Jiang Chen blanked. He didn’t expect one sentence would cause her to react this dramatically.
“Do you remember the lover lock at the edge of the sea?”
His throat slightly moved as he looked away, not knowing what to say. Of course he remembered. He engraved the name Chen Lele, the pure and happy girl that existed only in a movie.
“I can’t become your Chen Lele?”
“But you’re not…”
“I am.”
His lips were stopped by a soothing sensation.
The seat belt was unbuckled as he reached out to hug the lithe figure.
He was no longer drunk from the alcohol, but he was somehow more intoxicated.
It was already ten o’clock at night, and the streets were empty with an occasional car that screeched by.
Maybachs had excellent noise cancellation, insulating the noises from passing through to the outside. The tinted windows also obstructed the view into the car, making it impossible for the occasional passerby to see into the car.
He tightly hugged Liu Yao, smelling the fragrance of her hair and listening to her suppressed moans as he allowed the alcohol-induced sweat to roll down.
Perhaps intoxication was contagious?
Or perhaps it was only the idea of being intoxicated.
No need to think.
Even as autumn was about to take summer’s place, spring blossomed inside the car.