"Hurry back, we're waiting for you to eat sushi!" Zijie dipped her finger in wasabi and tasted it. "Mmm, it tastes pretty good!"
Le Xi shook his head, giving her a "I don't want to talk to you anymore" look, and stood up to rush towards the bathroom. He stumbled and almost fell as he got up, but Shi Lu quickly reached out and caught him.
"I think I drank...drank too much...I'm a little dizzy..." Le Xi stammered. "I'll go outside for some fresh air to sober up."
Lexi said she was going to get some fresh air, but after everyone waited for a long time and found that the two of them still hadn't come in, they ran out to check and found Lexi sitting on a bench outside the izakaya, wrapped in Shilu's coat and asleep in his arms.
Yan Shuang was a bit drunk. When Zi Jie suggested going to a karaoke bar to continue their wild party, she agreed without a second thought, not even considering whether she was being a third wheel. So Shi Lu suggested taking Le Xi home while the other three continued having fun.
It was almost eleven o'clock when they got home, but Shi Lu showed no sign of leaving. The two of them lay on the bed, chatting idly and watching TV. They flipped through several channels, finally settling on a foreign language channel that was broadcasting about travel. Shi Lu said she loved traveling, and her favorite place was Xinjiang. She showed Le Xi photos saved on her phone, recounting interesting stories from her trips. As they talked, Shi Lu started getting handsy, and the two of them became entangled in a passionate kiss.
Oh~ the first time I said I loved you
I'm having trouble breathing and my heart is trembling uncontrollably.
Oh~ the first time, I held your hands.
I gently put it down, not knowing where to go next.
That's the reason we fell in love...
Shi Lu's phone rang, and Le Xi laughed and said, "Why is your ringtone so cheesy?"
"This perfectly reflects my current mood! What are you laughing at?" Shi Lu gave Le Xi a big kiss and picked up the phone.
"Hello? Is this Shi Lu? This is Zhang Zijie." Zijie said anxiously on the other end of the phone, "We're at the police station now..."
"Police station?"
"Yes, Chen Song got drunk and wrecked the KTV. I couldn't get through to Le Xi by phone, so I had to call your cell phone. Yan Shuang is also drunk. Could you come over?"
defeat
After leaving the police station, Shi Lu and Le Xi took a taxi to the police station Zi Jie had mentioned. On the way, they called a former college classmate who now worked at the Public Security Bureau, asking him to put in a good word for them. When they arrived, they found the three of them sitting awkwardly on a bench, receiving a lecture from the police. Shi Lu initially thought it was just a simple fight, but after hearing the police's account, he learned it was a brawl caused by people on drugs. Shi Lu smiled apologetically and made promises to the police, almost swearing an oath. Luckily, they had spoken to each other beforehand, otherwise it wouldn't have just been a fine. After paying the fine and compensating for the damaged KTV items, they were released. Unexpectedly, as soon as they left the police station, Zi Jie and Chen Song started another verbal battle, their insults consisting entirely of personal attacks.
Yan Shuang had been drinking and taking drugs, and was completely drunk. Shi Lu had no choice but to carry her out. The group stood on the street for almost ten minutes without seeing a car. Zi Jie started cursing again: "It's all your fault! If you want to go crazy, go crazy yourself! What the hell are you smashing?! Did a pig clamp your head on your head?!"
Chen Song didn't hold back either, launching into a tirade: "I got caught in a pig's trap, caught in a trap by you, you pig! I don't know what I did to you in my past life, but I told you to come back with me and you wouldn't, instead you came here to suffer. I came all this way to see you, and this is how you treat me, you pig!"
"Get the hell out of here! Who asked you to come? Who begged you to come? You're just being a jerk and you're blaming me?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I'm a jerk! I'm a jerk for falling for you, you pig!" Chen Song pointed at Zi Jie in a fit of rage, his hand trembling with anger.
"Who asked you to like me? Don't you have a wife at home and mistresses on the side? So many good girls are waiting for you! What are you pretending to be so affectionate with me for!"
"You..." Chen Song was so angry he couldn't speak, standing there dumbfounded, staring at Zi Jie's smug expression. The next second, he rushed in front of Zi Jie with rocket speed, turned his face around without a word, and kissed him in a fit of rage. Zi Jie was shocked, waving his hands and making "woof woof" sounds, but before his hands could hit Chen Song, Chen Song twisted and restrained him behind his back, slamming his head hard against the wall, leaving him dizzy and disoriented from the kiss.
Le Xi blushed and turned her head away. Shi Lu was a little surprised, but quickly regained his composure. Yan Shuang, clinging to Shi Lu's back, smacked her lips and mumbled, "Again, drink some more! Cheers!"
"He has too much energy. He's like a madman," Schru commented.
"You're the one who's crazy!" Zijie pushed Chen Song aside and yelled at Shi Lu.
"He's absolutely insane!" Chen Song shook his head helplessly. "How did I end up with a madman?"
"Do you have a problem with that?" Zijie turned around and glared at Chen Song until he forced the other party to make a gesture of surrender before he would stop.
"Why didn't you wear more clothes?" Zijie ordered Chen Song to take off his coat, then personally put the coat on Le Xi, and said with a serious face.
"Oh..." Le Xi obediently put on her clothes, and while Zi Jie was not paying attention, she winked at Chen Song, who was trembling with his arms crossed, as if to say, "Your Zi Jie is so fierce, why don't you do anything about it?"
Chen Song smiled, shook his head, and shrugged, as if to say, "Me, take care of it? Do you dare to take care of it?"
As if sensing something, Zijie looked up at the two of them, his face stern and menacing, and said, "What are you two doing?"
"I didn't say or do anything!" Chen Song immediately raised his hands in surrender.
"Hmph, I knew you wouldn't dare!" Zijie sneered, then turned and glared at Lexi, who was obediently straightening his sleeves as if nothing had happened. Zijie suddenly turned him around, his eyes wide as cowbells: "How can you be so clumsy? You can't even straighten your sleeves properly!"
"Zijie, I don't think I'll die from illness. I'll be 120% scared to death by you," Lexi said innocently, covering her ears. "Please let me know before you change your attitude. I can stand it, but I doubt Chen Song can!"
Zijie turned to look at Chen Song, who stood at attention with utmost reverence: "Don't be scared to death! Don't be scared to death! I still want to dedicate myself to the cause until my dying breath!"
"Stop talking nonsense and get back to City C!" Zijie said fiercely, his eyes flashing with malice.
"Hey, Zijie, are you finally planning to go back to City C?" Lexi shouted, grabbing Zhang Zijie's sleeve after letting go of her ears.
"What, you really want me to leave?"
"No, no..." Le Xi's expression of surprise vanished, replaced by a pained look. "How could I bear to..."
"Reluctant to leave? If you're reluctant, why do you say 'you're finally planning' to go back to City C?" Zijie emphasized with a cold laugh.
"That's not exactly what they said! But didn't the landlord say they were going to take back the apartment you were renting?"
"Really? Then I'll make another call and find someone better." She glared at Chen Song, who had been urging the landlord to terminate the lease, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. Before she could even fully pull the phone out, Chen Song snatched it away and threw it down the drain with a "thud."
"Oh no, my phone fell into the water, it's unusable now!" Chen Song exclaimed.
"Fine, you've got guts! I have two more cell phones in my room! You just wait! You just wait!" Zijie was so angry he was jumping up and down.
"Alright, let's go back to City C and settle the score slowly," Chen Song said with a shameless grin.
"Go back yourself if you want! I'm not leaving!" Zijie said angrily.
“Go back! If you stay here any longer, won’t Chen Song hate me to death?” Le Xi continued to embellish the story.
"Stop stirring up trouble!"
"What do you mean?" Le Xi said with a grin. "I'm busy teaching, running my shop, and being a teacher all day long. I'm so busy, what else could I be thinking about? You're the one who's lovesick and you're criticizing others."
“Le Xi…” Zi Jie sighed, stepped forward and hugged him tightly, “Qi Hui has come to L City.”
When Zijie said those words, he expected to see Lexi's somewhat insincere smile fade. But to his surprise, Lexi simply smiled and nodded, calmly uttering a single word: "Oh!" This response left Zijie feeling deeply frustrated. Remembering what had happened between Lexi and Qi Hui, he had expected Lexi to have a different reaction, and had discussed with Chen Song countless times how to tell him the news, fearing he wouldn't be able to handle it. But he hadn't anticipated Lexi's calm reaction.
"How did you know?" After a long pause, Le Xi finally asked slowly.
“My friend saw him here. Later, I had someone check, and the airline did have a record of him boarding the plane,” Chen Song said.
"Really? He's here..." Le Xi smiled. "So what if he's here? Do you expect me to throw him a welcome-back party?"
"And... he probably wouldn't want to see me either, would he?" he chuckled self-deprecatingly. He glanced back at Shilu, meeting Shilu's surprised and puzzled expression, and suddenly felt a deep sense of defeat.
The next day, Lexi skipped off to school again. But now she had a tail following her. However, starting today, besides Lexi, the tail Shiru had some other troubles.
For example, when I was writing an article for a magazine, I received a call from a student at Xingzhi College: "Hey Lao Shi, we're one short for a card game today, wanna come?"
For example, when I passed by the basketball court at noon, I was forced by a group of students to play basketball with them.
Or being fed by students while eating out.
But none of that matters, because Shi Lu has found a new source of enjoyment: being a good tailor. For example, intentionally or unintentionally going to Le Xi's "Twin Cities" to watch him make clothes.
Or during breaks, he could run to the classroom where Lexi was auditing classes and take a stroll around.
For example, he would go to Lexi's rented apartment to chat with her, but he would never dare to touch her inappropriately again. That feeling of timidity was very strange. So much so that Shilu was constantly afraid, afraid that Lexi would ignore him or hate him.
Shi Lu noticed that Le Xi had been acting strangely lately. He seemed to often stare out the window in a daze, and although he still laughed carefree, the smile didn't reach his eyes. His complexion had also been poor. Le Xi said it was probably because he had too much to do and hadn't rested well. But Shi Lu had a feeling that Le Xi's appearance could be described with one idiom: "disheartened and lost."
Yan Shuang said that concern leads to confusion, and Shi Lu herself began to find various reasons to explain. She explained that her panic stemmed from her love for Le Xi, and that as Le Xi's teacher, it was only natural for her to care about her student.
"Xiao Yao, how have you thought about what I told you last time?" After class, Professor Liu called out to Le Xi, nodding and smiling at him.
"Yes, Professor, I've made up my mind. When can we begin?"
"It depends on when you have time. How about I call you then? Your studies should be your priority; it wouldn't be good to waste your time." Professor Liu smiled and patted his shoulder approvingly, "You have good talent; with more effort, you will succeed."
Le Xi nodded happily, two blushes appearing on her face: "Yes! Thank you for the compliment, Professor. I will work hard!"
"Why are you thanking me? I should be thanking you." Professor Liu adjusted his glasses, took out two large foreign language books from his bag, and handed them to Le Xi. "These are the books you borrowed from me last time. Take your time reading them, and ask me if you don't understand anything."
model
"What were you talking about with Old Man Liu?" Shi Lu jogged up to catch up with Le Xi. He had just escaped from the clutches of the students when he saw Le Xi and Old Man Liu laughing and joking as they came out of the classroom. Seeing Le Xi laughing like that annoyed him a little, but he was mostly curious.
"Huh? Why are you always here?" Le Xi hugged the book to his chest, tilting his head to look at Shi Lu. When he was surprised, he always tilted his head and looked at people out of the corner of his eye, his lips would unconsciously pout, looking very well-behaved. However, what he said made Shi Lu furious—what did he mean by "why, every, time, are you here?"
"Yes, I'm here again!" Shi Lu said through gritted teeth, emphasizing the word "again".
"What a coincidence."
"What did Old Liu just say to you? He was laughing so happily."
"The professor asked me to be his nude model, what's wrong?"
“Oh, a nude model… What? A nude model?!” Shi Lu looked at Le Xi incredulously.
"Yeah, a nude model. Why are you so excited?" Yao Lexi pouted.
"No, nothing..." It really was nothing, just a slightly damp nose; she was probably getting a nosebleed from being too hot. Completely naked, fair-skinned, and utterly unclothed—oh my god, just thinking about it...it...it's unbearable!
But why have I never heard Lexi mention this?
The afternoon sun felt warm and comforting. Le Xi had no classes that afternoon, so after having lunch with Zi Jie and Chen Song at "Shuangcheng," she went to the workshop and hunched over her sewing machine, fiddling with her fabric and needlework. The humming of the sewing machine made the two outside even more drowsy.
"Two twos!" Zijie shouted loudly as he looked at the five dice under the dice tube.
“Three fives.” Chen Song rested his chin on his hand, confidently and calmly playing “blow-the-dice” (a game played with dice) with Zi Jie. While playing, he also negotiated with Zi Jie, “Hey, you’ve lost three rounds in a row, what if you lose again?”
“Four threes!” Zijie looked at Chen Song with disdain and shouted decisively.
"Open it." Chen Song said without changing his expression. Upon opening it, he saw that Zijie didn't have a single three in his hand.
"Hey, you lost again. What was the bet?" Chen Song said lazily, yawning.
"Hmph, bet my foot! You think you're so great just because you won a few rounds? You just wait, you just wait!" Zijie roared.
"Zijie, you're swearing again. If you say it again, I'll tie you up and take you back to City C."
Before I could even finish my sentence, Chen Song kissed me, his hands already groping restlessly inside my clothes.
"What are you doing? In broad daylight..."
"So what if it's broad daylight? It's sunny and the weather is great. They say ultraviolet rays can convert cholesterol into vitamin D in the body, want to try it? Outdoor sex sounds so exciting!"