Xing Wu firmly grabbed Qing Ye’s wine glass and set it on the table. “That’s enough eating and drinking. Time to wrap up. Everyone go home to your mothers.”

With Xing Wu ordering them to leave, Fat Hu and the others couldn’t stick around. Xing Wu had figured it out – this girl was incredibly stubborn. If the punk kids didn’t leave, she’d keep challenging them until the end. To stop her from drinking, he had to chase this group away quickly.

Once everyone left, Qing Ye stood up unsteadily. She had indeed drunk beer before, but never more than half a glass. Today she had over three glasses and the first one she had drunk particularly quickly. Now just standing up made her head spin.

Xing Wu locked the door and came in to find Qing Ye stumbling up the stairs, clutching the railing. She had managed to climb two floors but then retreated one, nearly missing a step and falling backward. Seeing this, Xing Wu’s heart jumped and he rushed over in a few steps, grabbing her waist to prevent her from falling backward.

However, Qing Ye lifted her head, her cheeks flushed, and pointed at him with a giggle: “Big Cousin?”

“You’re crazy,” Xing Wu said stone-faced as he let go, then pushed her towards the upper floor. Qing Ye’s movements were uncoordinated, and fearing she might fall backward again, Xing Wu simply stayed behind her to protect her.

After she finally managed to climb upstairs, she stopped at the landing, clutching her chest with her brows tightly furrowed.

Xing Wu walked over to look at her condition and asked, “You’re not going to throw up, are you?”

Qing Ye shook her head, sniffling with reddened eyes, when suddenly tears fell without warning, leaving Xing Wu dumbfounded.

What was this about? Was she about to act drunk? Was this some kind of prelude? Dropping a few tears as a warning?

Xing Wu hated it most when girls got drunk and acted out – it showed no class at all. He immediately pulled her toward her room with a cold expression, planning to throw her on the bed and leave quickly.

However, before they reached the door, Qing Ye burst out crying with a “Waa!” Xing Wu’s body tensed as he turned to look at her. Qing Ye had quite some strength, suddenly breaking free from his grip and shouting: “You only know how to be mean to me! Xing Wu, you jerk! I’m a stranger here, and you’ve been mean to me since I arrived! My parents never yell at me, no one has ever yelled at me!”

Xing Wu’s head began to throb as the words floated through his mind: Here she comes, here she comes, stumbling in drunk…

Xing Wu put his hands on his hips and was about to speak when he saw Qing Ye’s reddened eyes glistening, her chin lifted defiantly, like a homeless Persian cat – noble and proud, yet pitifully delicate. Her rosy lips pouted slightly, her eyes sparkling as she stared at him: “Say something! Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you hate me that much?”

Xing Wu knew he wouldn’t be able to escape easily tonight, so he didn’t rush to leave. Instead, he crossed his arms and looked at her with a faint smile at the corner of his eye: “When did I ever say I hated you?”

“You did say it! Your eyes, your mouth, your voice, your actions – everything tells me you hate me. I’m sleeping in your room, and you can’t even come home. You’re upset about it, aren’t you?”

Xing Wu turned his head aside and took a deep breath in exasperation, then turned back to tell her calmly: “I’m not upset with you. I’m upset with myself. Whether I come home or not has nothing to do with you. Don’t fucking flatter yourself.”

Qing Ye’s tears immediately spilled over: “See, you’re being mean to me again…”

Xing Wu opened his mouth but found himself momentarily speechless. Qing Ye sniffled and said plaintively: “You think I wanted to come to your house? I didn’t even know what your house would be like before I came! I’m stuck in the barbershop all day, can’t even go out. I’m practically molding away here. I don’t know anyone, have no friends to talk to, no one to take me around to see things. I don’t even know where to buy a facial cleanser, toner, face cream, or sunscreen – I have nothing…”

Qing Ye broke down in desperate sobs. At first, Xing Wu couldn’t understand – was not having a facial cleanser worth crying so heart-wrenchingly about? But then, watching her tiny shoulders trembling, Xing Wu understood. She wasn’t crying about these daily necessities, but about leaving her home, her familiar places, and all the people she’d lived with day and night.

Xing Wu had never left Anzi County, his furthest journey being to the eastern edge of the county town, at the border of the neighboring city. He couldn’t fully empathize with Qing Ye’s desperation, but he could understand some of it, especially after seeing those photos of her life.

Xing Wu stepped closer to her, his voice softening: “I’m not being mean to you. If you need anything, just tell me.”

Qing Ye “hmph-ed” and turned her head away. It was hot outside, and Xing Wu wanted to pull her into the room. But as soon as he tugged at her, Qing Ye’s body swayed like a piece of paper about to fall, collapsing against his chest.

That soft body suddenly falling against his chest made Xing Wu’s eyes flutter dramatically. He looked down at the half-lidded Qing Ye, almost instinctively wanting to push her away, but his raised hands stopped midway, unable to follow through. He worried that if he pushed her away, she would cry again and accuse him of hating her and being mean.

Xing Wu had always thought girls were troublesome creatures. He had never paid attention to any girl, nor had any girl dared to be unreasonable with him. But now, facing Qing Ye’s drunken state, Xing Wu couldn’t bring himself to let go.

After two seconds of internal struggle, he still placed his hand on her waist to guide her into the room, but he felt his palm burning, the small waist in his hand so delicate he could encircle it completely. It felt as if he applied any more force, it might snap, causing an unprecedented strange feeling to rise in his heart.

Qing Ye in his arms mumbled: “Feel awful.”

Xing Wu scoffed: “Weren’t you acting so tough earlier? If you can’t drink, don’t force it. The face doesn’t count for much around here. Next time, don’t do things just to save face and end up suffering for it.”

Xing Wu laid her on the bed, took off her shoes, and lifted her ankles to put her legs up as well. Qing Ye was naturally pure and beautiful – when her eyes were open and defiant, she radiated light; when closed in sleep, she was quiet and docile. This unconscious form lying on the bed held a forbidden allure of youth.

Xing Wu’s gaze tightened, and he quickly stood up to walk around to the other side to turn on the air conditioner. Then he pulled over a blanket to cover her, but unexpectedly, Qing Ye, who had been lying on the bed, rolled over and pointed to a pile of clothes beside the bed, telling Xing Wu: “Those need to be washed.”

“…”

If she weren’t drunk, Xing Wu would have wanted to give her a knock on the head. Was he a laundry worker? She was getting carried away ordering him around! Not even a hint of self-consciousness or embarrassment.

Xing Wu stood with his hands on his hips, looking at her lying there – long eyelashes drooping, pink face squished chubby like a baby’s. Hmm, a giant baby.

Xing Wu sighed and walked to her bedside. Good grief, another small mountain of clothes had accumulated in just two days. Was she wearing clothes or eating them?

As Xing Wu bent down to clean up, Qing Ye felt someone swaying in front of her eyes and half-opened them to see sexy buttocks wrapped in tight jeans. Qing Ye mumbled: “Nice butt.”

Xing Wu was startled and turned back to glare at her: “What did you say?”

Qing Ye, eyes closed, said one word: “Nice,” with her hand flopped by the pillow giving a thumbs up.

Xing Wu felt a surge of blood stuck in his chest, unable to rise or fall. Was this girl… flirting with him?

Seeing she wasn’t moving anymore, Xing Wu took the clothes downstairs, cleaned up the messy table, washed the dishes, and then washed Qing Ye’s clothes too. In the bathroom’s yellowish light striking his sharp features, his usually expressionless face broke into a smile as he looked at the soft light blue fabric in his hands. Had he, Xing Wu, been possessed? Helping a girl wash clothes? Even if you gouged out the eyes of his brothers outside, none of them would believe it.

After washing the clothes and wringing them out, Xing Wu took them upstairs. When he opened the door, Qing Ye was already breathing evenly, the blanket kicked completely off. Xing Wu stepped lightly, holding the basin in one hand while pulling up her blanket with the other. He hung the clothes on the drying rack by the window, turned up the air conditioner temperature a bit, and opened the door ready to leave.

He had already reached the stairs when remembering how Qing Ye had said she felt awful earlier, he worried she might get up to vomit in the night. So he simply flopped down on the couch and didn’t leave.

However, when Qing Ye woke up early the next morning, Xing Wu was already gone. Her head hurt quite a bit, mainly because she rarely drank so much. She thought Xing Wu had left the night before, and she didn’t have much memory of it.

Due to the hangover, Qing Ye was listless all morning, just lounging upstairs without coming down. It wasn’t until lunchtime that she finally came downstairs.

Yellow Hair and Fat Hu had come back with Xing Wu again. To Qing Ye, these three were like the three stooges, always sticking together as if they had nothing better to do.

But Qing Ye’s guess was right – except for Xing Wu who needed to run between two places, the other two had nothing to do.

When Yellow Hair saw Qing Ye come down, he said with a smile: “Cousin, heard you got drunk last night? Acted all wild?”

Qing Ye froze, looking toward Xing Wu, who acted as if he hadn’t heard anything, and continued feeding Grandmother. Qing Ye asked Xing Wu uncertainly: “Who did I act wild with last night?”

Only then did Xing Wu slowly look at her and ask back: “Don’t remember?”

“…” Damn it, if I remembered would I be asking you?

A faint, inexplicable smile lifted the corner of Xing Wu’s mouth, making Qing Ye a bit nervous. She had a vague memory of yelling something messy at Xing Wu, and it felt quite satisfying at the time. This morning when she woke up, her whole person felt much more relaxed, but she couldn’t quite remember exactly what she had yelled. As for whether she had done anything else, she couldn’t remember that either.

Yellow Hair added fuel to the fire with a joke: “It’s fine, cousin, we’re all family here. We don’t mind if you take advantage of us.”

He would have been better off not saying anything – when he did, Qing Ye lifted her head to stare at him, and then… she blushed.

She blushed because her upbringing wouldn’t allow her to act so improperly. If she had acted wild with them while drunk last night, she might as well find a piece of tofu to smash her head against and die.

So Qing Ye picked up some food, grabbed her bowl, and ran to the kitchen to eat, seemingly unable to even look at them out of embarrassment.

Once she left, Yellow Hair lost his composure, clutching his chest and letting out a string of “Holy shit,” then excitedly said: “Did you see that? Did you see it? Cousin just blushed at me and ran away shyly, couldn’t even look at me! Oh no, after last night’s interaction, she must have fallen for me!”

He grabbed Fat Hu and continued: “Fat guy, did you see? Did you see her blush?”

Fat Hu scratched his head: “Maybe… maybe she was just hot?”

“Hot my ass! Oh my god, I’m going to have a teenage romance!”