Yu Lingshan tossed Xu Shi’s empty drink bottle into the trash can. Then, she swept her hair back, picked up the wine glass from the table, and downed the remaining red wine in one go.
After finishing, she didn’t look at Xu Shi. Instead, she leaned on the coffee table, buried her face in her hands, and let her hair fall around them.
“I’m sorry,” Yu Lingshan said.
Xu Shi was already stunned silly. Her face was flushed, her heart was racing, and she hadn’t fully processed what had just happened.
A few seconds later, Yu Lingshan lifted her head. That simple movement made Xu Shi flinch again.
Yu Lingshan rested a hand on the wine bottle, let out a soft laugh, and said quietly, “I’ve had too much to drink.”
Xu Shi didn’t say anything.
Yu Lingshan added, “Do you believe me?”
Xu Shi swallowed, not really knowing what she was agreeing to, and managed an “Mhm.”
Yu Lingshan turned to look at Xu Shi and pointed in another direction. “Do you want to go hide in the bathroom?”
Xu Shi: “Oh.”
No sooner said than done. Xu Shi threw the blanket off her lap, stood up, and headed for the bathroom.
But after two steps, she realized she wasn’t wearing her shoes, so she went back to put them on. A few steps later, she suddenly stumbled and nearly fell.
“Slow down,” Yu Lingshan said from behind her.
Xu Shi mumbled a random “oh” and rushed into the bathroom.
This time, her face was even redder than before, blushing all the way down her neck to places she couldn’t see.
She turned on the tap and splashed some water on her face. Then, suddenly, the image of Yu Lingshan leaning in close replayed in her mind.
It played in 0.01x slow motion, capturing every detail, even the look in Yu Lingshan’s eyes as she stared at her lips.
The image froze on the moment Yu Lingshan leaned in again. It felt so real that Xu Shi instinctively took a step back, even though nothing was there.
Then, she pressed her lips together.
It was five minutes before Xu Shi came out. She had intended to peek from around the corner first, but Yu Lingshan spotted her immediately, so she had no choice but to walk out.
Yu Lingshan was leaning back on the sofa again. The blanket was half on her stomach and half on the spot where Xu Shi had just been sitting.
As Xu Shi walked from the hallway to the edge of the blanket, Yu Lingshan only glanced at her briefly, as if she had simply gone to the bathroom and nothing at all had happened.
Her expression was natural, and she even looked a little sleepy.
Xu Shi took off her shoes, lifted the blanket, and sat down, leaving about half a person’s width between herself and Yu Lingshan.
After she settled in, she heard Yu Lingshan suddenly laugh.
Xu Shi tensed up.
Yu Lingshan: “I thought you were going to go home.”
Xu Shi pursed her lips. “I promised I’d stay for dinner.”
“Right,” Yu Lingshan’s smile deepened. “Yes, that’s right.”
She added, “Our Xiao Zhi always keeps her word. How nice.”
Xu Shi couldn’t decipher the meaning behind her words. It sounded a bit sarcastic, and she couldn’t tell if it was a compliment or a jab, so she just managed a small laugh.
Yu Lingshan suddenly sighed. “It’s so unfair.”
Xu Shi: “What is?”
Yu Lingshan didn’t answer that question. Instead, she asked, “Do you hate me?”
Xu Shi understood this question. “No,” she said.
Yu Lingshan: “Why not?”
Xu Shi didn’t know why either. It seemed strange and inexplicable, but she just didn’t feel any aversion. She even thought, so what if she kissed me?
She also thought that if she made a big deal out of it, Yu Lingshan would be very embarrassed, and she couldn’t have that.
“You’ve had too much to drink,” Xu Shi said, helping Yu Lingshan explain her behavior. “People do a lot of strange things when they’re drunk. It’s okay.”
Yu Lingshan laughed at that. She turned to look at Xu Shi. “Xu Xiao Zhi, I can’t figure you out.”
Xu Shi muttered under her breath, “I’m the one who can’t figure you out.”
Yu Lingshan laughed again. “What was that?”
Xu Shi knew Yu Lingshan had heard her. “Nothing.”
Yu Lingshan picked up the wine glass from the table. “That’s good.”
Xu Shi didn’t ask what Yu Lingshan meant by “that’s good.” Deep down, she was afraid—afraid that something would progress further. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to control it, and perhaps a feeling that she didn’t want to.
Later, Yu Lingshan leaned over again. This time, she didn’t kiss Xu Shi; she fell asleep right in her arms.
Xu Shi felt like the movie was incredibly long, as if it would never end. Once Yu Lingshan was sound asleep, she picked up the remote and discovered it was actually over three hours long.
By now, Yu Lingshan was no longer in her arms. She had slid down a bit and was now resting her head on Xu Shi’s lap.
Perhaps this was the most comfortable position. Yu Lingshan was sleeping soundly.
Xu Shi pulled the blanket over, trying her best not to move her legs as she covered Yu Lingshan.
As the blanket reached her shoulders, Xu Shi inadvertently glanced at Yu Lingshan’s lips. She sniffled, swallowed, and quickly looked away.
She covered Yu Lingshan’s entire body, then leaned back against the sofa herself, closing her eyes and listening to the hypnotic movie.
Gradually, Xu Shi also fell asleep.
But soon, Xu Shi was woken up by a phone call.
It wasn’t just Xu Shi who was woken up, but also Yu Lingshan, who was on her lap.
The ringtone was loud. Xu Shi groggily answered it. Seeing it was a call from her mom, she whispered, “Mom.”
Her mom sounded puzzled. “Were you sleeping?”
Xu Shi: “Mhm, what’s up?”
Her mom asked, “Where are you sleeping?”
Xu Shi glanced at Yu Lingshan, who had closed her eyes again, and prepared to leave the living room to take the call somewhere else.
“At a friend’s house.”
Xu Shi supported Yu Lingshan’s head, about to stand up, but Yu Lingshan grabbed her hand, stopping her from moving.
Mom: “Which friend?”
Xu Shi: “Just, a friend.”
Xu Shi tried to move again, but Yu Lingshan held on, even wrapping an arm around her leg. Xu Shi had no choice but to sit back down obediently.
Mom: “Which friend? I know all your friends, don’t I?”
Xu Shi hesitated. “A new friend.”
Mom: “A guy or a girl?”
Xu Shi: “A girl, of course.”
Xu Shi thought that would be the end of her mom’s questions, but to her surprise, her mom pressed on. “A new girl friend? Who is she?”
Xu Shi ruffled her hair and gave a half-truth. “You know I entered that competition? She’s a designer, too.”
Her mom said, “Oh. So you had lunch at her place?”
Xu Shi: “Mhm.”
Mom: “What about tonight? Are you eating at her place too?”
Xu Shi: “Mhm.”
Her mom paused for a moment, then gave a dry laugh. “You just met and you’re already this close?”
Xu Shi continued to smooth things over. “We’re like-minded, so we have a lot to talk about.”
“Alright,” her mom finally relented. She then asked Xu Shi, “I want to download a dance video. How do I do that again? You taught me last time, right? That website, do you remember it?”
Xu Shi: “I remember.”
Next, Xu Shi walked her through the process from memory.
Once her mom was done, Xu Shi asked, “Anything else?”
Mom: “Why are you in such a hurry to hang up?”
Xu Shi: “No, I’m not.”
Mom: “That’s all. Come home early tonight.”
Xu Shi: “I know.”
The call ended, and Yu Lingshan was awake too. She pushed herself up, leaning on the blanket, and looked into Xu Shi’s eyes. “‘Like-minded’? You have a lot to talk about with me?”
Xu Shi stuck out her tongue. “Hehe.”
Yu Lingshan tilted her head. “What’s that supposed to mean, Xu Xiao Zhi? Is it so hard to admit you know me? Why are you hiding it from your mom?”
Xu Shi faltered, suddenly realizing she didn’t have an answer to that question.
Yeah, why was she hiding it?
“Has your mom been pressuring you to find a partner?” Yu Lingshan asked.
That was an easy question. Xu Shi nodded. “Yes.”
Yu Lingshan raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me she’s also setting you up on blind dates?”
A shiver went down Xu Shi’s spine, but she answered honestly, “I’ve met a few.”
Yu Lingshan made a sound of understanding and picked up her wine glass. “Any you were satisfied with?”
Xu Shi shook her head. “No.”
Yu Lingshan said, “Oh. So, if you found one you were satisfied with, you’d get married?”
Xu Shi felt increasingly unnerved. “I… I guess so.”
“That’s good.” After saying this, Yu Lingshan tilted her head back and drank all the remaining wine in her glass.
What Xu Shi didn’t expect was that from that moment until Yu Lingshan finished making dinner, she didn’t initiate any conversation with Xu Shi. Her answers to Xu Shi’s questions were extremely perfunctory—just “mhm”s and “oh”s.
At one point, while she was stir-frying, Xu Shi merely commented that she’d used too much oil, and Yu Lingshan actually went on strike. “You cook it, then.”
Xu Shi didn’t dare breathe and immediately retreated from the kitchen.
The remarkable thing was, the dinner Yu Lingshan made that evening was surprisingly delicious, a significant improvement from lunch.
Of course, the two things were unrelated.
To make Yu Lingshan happy, Xu Shi took one bite and gave her a thumbs-up, saying with an exaggeratedly surprised expression, “Mmm, this is delicious! So good! It’s fragrant and tasty.”
Yu Lingshan finally broke into her first smile in hours. “Thank you.”
Xu Shi chuckled.
That evening was the first session of Xu Shi’s training class, and Yu Lingshan knew about it.
So they didn’t linger over dinner. As it happened, Yu Lingshan had all the materials He Yi had told Xu Shi to prepare, so she helped her pack them into her backpack.
“Be a good little kid in class and listen to the teacher,” Yu Lingshan said as she helped Xu Shi put on her backpack.
Xu Shi no longer had the energy to argue that she wasn’t a little kid. Whatever Yu Lingshan said was right; whatever Yu Lingshan called her, she was.
So she said, “Okay.”
Yu Lingshan said she was heading out, so she would drop Xu Shi off on the way.
Then she said she knew someone upstairs, and since she was already here, she might as well say hello. So she ended up going upstairs with Xu Shi.
When Xu Shi arrived, a young woman from reception came out. She seemed a little surprised to see Yu Lingshan and politely called out, “Teacher Yu.”
Yu Lingshan smiled at her. “I’ll leave Xu Shi in your hands.”
The young woman: “Okay.”
It was Xu Shi’s first time taking this kind of class, but she was very adaptable. She understood everything the teacher said and quickly caught up with everyone else’s pace.
The two-and-a-half-hour class flew by. After everyone else had left, Teacher Zhang walked over to her.
“How was it?” Teacher Zhang asked her. “Are you adjusting okay?”
Xu Shi nodded. “Yes, I am.”
Teacher Zhang seemed about to say something else, but she suddenly looked up at the back door and smiled. “Ah, Teacher Yu is here to pick you up.”
Hearing this, Xu Shi looked toward the back door and, sure enough, saw Yu Lingshan leaning against the doorframe.
Yu Lingshan waved at Teacher Zhang as a greeting.
“Alright then. If you have any questions in the future, just ask me,” Teacher Zhang said to Xu Shi.
Xu Shi shouldered her bag. “Okay, thank you, Teacher.”
“You’re welcome.”
Xu Shi quickly packed her things and trotted over to Yu Lingshan’s side. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
Yu Lingshan: “Do you have a habit of eating late-night snacks?”
Xu Shi shook her head. “No.”
“You do now,” she said. “Surely no one dislikes crayfish, right?”
Xu Shi started laughing. “Surely not, surely not.”
Yu Lingshan raised a hand. “Let’s go.”
Xu Shi immediately raised her own hand, letting Yu Lingshan link arms with her. “Let’s go.”
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