Calculer

Chapitre 8

"You...you drank it? That was what my dad drank when he came back. How could you just casually drink it in someone else's house..."

“It was your brother who made me drink it.” Before Yang Yi could finish speaking, Xu Chen interrupted.

Yang Yi stomped on the ground and shouted, "Get out of here!"

Xu Chen stood up, laughed, and walked over step by step, while Yang Mian looked at Xu Chen with hostility.

"You're so cute." Xu Chen reached out and stroked Yang Yi's smooth skin, but Yang Yi angrily pushed his hand away.

"Get out of here right now!" Yang Yi roared.

"I know you like Gu Xing." Xu Chen remained calm and unhurried.

"..." Yang Yi fell silent, slowly calming down. She knew that Gu Xingyi truly regarded her as his younger sister, and she felt a sense of loss again, squatting down and crying.

Xu Chen ignored Yang Yi and slowly walked around the room. He reached the dining table, looked at a crack in it, and said, "Last time I..." He trailed off, seeing Yang Yi still crying, he went over, knelt beside her, and began to comfort her.

Gu Xing and his group escorted Xu Chen to the girls' dormitory.

"I'll visit your home again sometime," Xu Chen said to Yang Mian, who was standing not far away, as he walked back to his dormitory.

"Okay...okay." Yang Mian replied, secretly nudging Gu Xing with his hand and whispering, "You should say something too."

After listening, Gu Xing just mechanically smiled at Xu Chen. Yang Mian and his group watched as Xu Chen entered the dormitory and then dragged Gu Xing all the way back to the apartment.

Everyone except Gu Xing started drinking beer as soon as they entered the house, while Gu Xing just sat blankly on the sofa. Yang Mian downed a can in one go and saw Yang Yi in the dining room, holding a beer in one hand and resting her chin on her other, watching the group of people come in.

"Yi, what are you doing? Why aren't you asleep? You're still drinking beer." Yang Mian wasn't in a good mood after what happened tonight, and his tone was a bit harsh.

Yang Yi didn't say anything, just smiled, and walked back to her room with her beer.

"Gu Xing, don't go looking for that Xu Chen again. We were lucky this time; that woman didn't harm us. But next time might be different." Li Xu took a few sips of beer, recalling the strange events from earlier, and felt a lingering fear.

Gu Xing ignored Li Xu, and so on, he turned a deaf ear to everyone's shouts, drinking sounds, and drunken arguments.

Night fell, and the house fell silent. The lights were off, and everyone was drunk and lying on the floor. The bright moon shone on Gu Xing on the balcony. Gu Xing sat on a chair on the balcony, puffing on a cigarette and sipping alcohol, looking at the stars. He pointed to a few stars and muttered, "Actually, that's not Orion. I lied." Then he laughed aimlessly.

Yang Yi appeared behind Gu Xing, sat down against the wall, looked at Gu Xing in front of her, and whispered, "Fool."

A long time passed, and Gu Xing was completely drunk and unconscious. Yang Yi walked out onto the balcony, and the moonlight shone on her. Slowly, Yang Yi's face cracked like dried mud, and eventually all of it fell off. Her figure also became a little taller, and she became Xu Chen.

Yang Mian was the first to wake up in the morning. Suddenly, a delicious aroma wafted through the air; the living room, which had been a mess the night before, was now clean and tidy. Yang Mian got up and saw that the dining room was filled with fragrant breakfast dishes.

At this moment, Li Xu also walked unsteadily behind Yang Mian.

"You woke up even earlier than me. Did you make all this?" Li Xu was already hungry. He sat down in the chair and started eating the breakfast on the table.

"I didn't make this. Could it be Yang Yi? But she can't make this much." Yang Mian looked at the breakfast on the table, which looked like a Manchu Han Imperial Feast, and couldn't help but walk into the kitchen. A girl was making breakfast with her back to him.

"Yi, no need to make any more, there's too much, we can't finish it." Yang Mian had just woken up and hadn't seen clearly, so he thought it was his sister.

Seeing that the girl did not respond, Yang Mian called out again, "Yi".

The girl turned around...

"Wow...wow!" Yang Mian rushed out of the kitchen in a panic. Zhang Da also woke up and looked at the flustered Yang Mian with Li Xu.

"What's wrong? Did you see a ghost?" Li Xu, with something in his mouth, followed Yang Mian's gaze to the kitchen doorway, where he saw Xu Chen wearing an apron and carrying a plate of breakfast out of the kitchen.

Li Xu immediately realized who made the breakfast and tried to spit it out, but Xu Chen shouted, "Don't spit it out! If you eat the breakfast I made, you have to swallow it."

Li Xuzhen swallowed it, caught his breath, and said tremblingly, "You dare to come out in broad daylight."

"I'm not a ghost, why can't I come out?" Xu Chen smiled charmingly, indeed not like a ghost.

“But you’re not human either.” Yang Mian didn’t want to be polite with her anymore.

Xu Chen smiled smugly, sat down, picked up some pastries with his fingers, and said, "Let's just say you were right."

"In short, let's keep to ourselves and not bother each other anymore, so please stop bothering us, especially Gu Xing." Yang Mian was afraid that Gu Xing would hear him, so he secretly glanced at the balcony again, but there was no movement.

Xu Chen ate the snack in his hand and said, "I just wanted you guys to play with me. I envy your friendship. Gradually, my envy turned into jealousy."

"So what do you want?" Zhang Da had already regained consciousness.

"Don't let things get out of hand... Let's talk things out slowly." Li Xu stood up and walked to Zhang Da's side.

"I want to play a game. If you win, I'll..." Xu Chen licked his fingers, his movements surprisingly elegant. Right now, Xu Chen was toying with Yang Mian and his group of mice like a cat.

"...I will return 'her' to you."

"Who?" Li Xuxin became anxious, but Yang Mian didn't ask. He saw Da Kai sleeping on the sofa and rushed to the balcony. He saw Gu Xing sleeping peacefully on the chair with a towel draped over his body.

"Could it be..." Yang Mian rushed into his sister's room like a madman, but there was no one inside.

Yang Mian rushed out and roared, "You filthy woman, where did you put my sister?"

Yang Mian lost his mind and rushed towards Xu Chen, almost unable to stop Zhang Da and Li Xu.

"Yang Mian, calm down."

"Heh... Yes, Li Xu is right. If you want your sister to be safe and sound, you have to listen to what I say. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that, after these few days, your sister can come back."

"That simple? No way," Li Xu asked incredulously.

"Of course, the premise is that you all have to play games with me for three days. If any of you can't take it and quits..."

"Okay, I agree." Yang Mian didn't think much of it. Just thinking about his innocent and adorable little sister, he was willing to jump into a latrine for her.

"Don't rush, I haven't told you the rules yet." Xu Chen stood up, glanced at the balcony, then walked to the liquor cabinet, took out the leftover Moutai from last night, and continued, "For the next three days, you all have to play a game with me. If you can't take it, just call my name three times and you can quit. But your sister..." He took a sip of the liquor, "It tastes awful. I really don't understand why you boys like drinking so much." Xu Chen glanced at the anxious Yang Mian and continued, "The rules are: all five of you have to participate together. Starting tomorrow, you have to spend three days at school and can't go outside. And two things you need to remember: 1. These three days refer to the current time, not your individual time; 2. My strength is limited, so don't give up easily."

Li Xu was a little confused: "What did you mean by your first point just now?"

"You'll understand when the time comes," Xu Chen said, putting down his drink and walking out of the apartment.

Seeing that she had left, Yang Mian immediately woke up Da Kai and Gu Xing.

That evening, Gu Xing and four others sat around on the floor of room 202. Da Kai found a two-meter-long wooden stick somewhere. Everyone listened to Li Xu tapping the wooden fish. Normally, they would have found Li Xu incredibly annoying, but now, everyone felt an immense sense of peace.

The game starts as soon as it's past midnight, and everyone is incredibly nervous, but they all agree that no matter what happens, they won't quit.

"The game starts at midnight tonight. Everyone stays up all night, just in case. We can take turns resting tomorrow morning." Gu Xing had recovered from his disappointment.

Everyone said firmly in unison, "Okay, we won't sleep tonight." Everyone seemed very determined.

A knock on the door woke Li Xu from his dream. Li Xu got up from the floor, opened the door, and found it was Mo Xiaoqiang from the next dormitory. Li Xu yawned and said, "What do you want so early?"

"It's still early, it's already nine o'clock. Where's Da Kai?" Mo Xiaoqiang asked Li Xu while craning his neck to look into the dormitory. He saw Da Kai sleeping on the floor with a stick in his arms, and Zhang Da, Yang Mian, and Gu Xing were all sleeping like corpses.

"Damn, why are they sleeping on the floor when there are beds available? Have they all gone crazy?"

"Mind your own business. Tell me, what are you doing here?" Li Xu was still a bit sleepy and wanted to get rid of this guy quickly so he could go to bed and sleep for a while longer.

"Let's find Da Kai to play basketball." Mo Xiaoqiang held up the basketball in his hand.

Only then did Li Xu remember Yang Yi's matter. He immediately pushed Mo Xiaoqiang out of the dormitory and said, "He's busy. Come back in three days."

"What? No time? No time and you're still sleeping here? Sleeping until nine o'clock, still sleeping like a dead pig and refusing to get up?" Mo Xiaoqiang shouted, as Li Xu pushed him out of the dormitory, and then Li Xu slammed the door shut behind him.

With a "bang," Yang Mian and Zhang Da were woken up again.

Yang Mian stretched and saw Gu Xing and Da Kai sleeping on the ground. He stood up, kicked them a few times, and shouted, "You two pigs were talking so nicely last night, but now you're sleeping like you're dead." Then he remembered that he was also asleep and felt embarrassed to continue scolding them.

Gu Xing woke up and saw that the other three, except for Da Kai, were still awake. He stood up embarrassedly. Da Kai slowly opened his eyes. Gu Xing looked down at Da Kai and scolded him, "Didn't you say you weren't going to sleep last night? But you slept like a pig."

"Don't you sleep like a pig too?" Yang Mian couldn't help but scold Gu Xingye.

Li Xu calmly said, "Aren't you the same as Zhang Da? It's hard on me to stand guard here for you all by myself. Now I'm going to sleep. You two keep watch for me and don't disturb me, understand?" After saying that, Li Xu went to bed.

After hearing this, Yang Mian was truly grateful to Li Xu and said, "Rest in peace. I'll get you lunch at noon."

Suddenly, a quarrel broke out outside the window. Li Xu, always eager to find something to do, jumped out of bed and went to the window with Gu Xing and the others to look out.

"It looks like there's a fight," Li Xu said, but no one paid him any attention; everyone was watching intently. After a while, the school supervisor came to mediate, and the incident was over. Li Xu lay back down on his bed.

At noon, Gu Xing and the others all got their meals and went back to their dorm to eat. Li Xu had already woken up by then, and someone even brought his food back for him. He ate it with great relish.

In the evening, Mo Xiaoqiang came to find Da Kai to play ball again, mentioning that he had knocked on the door for quite a while that morning. Li Xu finally opened the door, still half asleep. Everyone stared at Li Xu after hearing this, but Li Xu closed his eyes and started tapping on a wooden fish. Da Kai refused Mo Xiaoqiang's request and then dragged Li Xu out of bed, making him go to the canteen to get food for everyone.

After dinner, everyone started playing cards again. Gu Xing sat at the computer and surfed the internet. A group of people came into the next room, and the leader rushed to Gu Xing's side and said, "There are live football broadcasts online. Let's watch them here."

Gu Xing also loved watching football. After asking for the website address, he asked them, "You have computers where you are, why are you watching here?"

"This is really weird. All the computers in several rooms broke down yesterday, so I had to come here to have them checked."

Gu Xing, Yang Mian, and their group exchanged bewildered glances, as if they understood the underlying reasons.

Li Xu whispered, "It must be that woman's doing, otherwise it wouldn't be such a coincidence."

Zhang Da nodded in agreement, but for a moment he didn't know what Xu Chen was up to. After playing cards for a while, another person came into the dormitory and told Zhang Da that someone was looking for him.

He shoved the cards into his pocket to prevent Li Xu from peeking, and walked out of the boys' dormitory. There he saw a tall and slender girl standing not far away, looking just like a model, and quite attractive.

He walked over with a shy smile and said gently, "Fang Yi, what brings you here?"

Fang Yi said coquettishly, "Didn't you ask me to go to the movies? What, you forgot?"

Fang Yi was the object of Da Kaixin's affections for a long time. He had been pursuing her for over a month and finally managed to get her to agree to go to the movies with him. However, Yang Yi's matter was still unresolved, leaving him in a dilemma. He turned around and looked at the boys' dormitory, where he saw Yang Mian, Li Xu, and some of his roommates from next door had come out and were watching him from a distance.

"Wait for me a moment," Da Kai said, then turned around and walked up to Yang Mian.

Da Kai said to Yang Mian shyly, "I want to go to the movies with Fang Yi..."

"That woman said we can't go outside the school..." Yang Mian became nervous.

"I know that, don't worry. I'll go to the school's screening room with her. I definitely won't go outside the school."

"Alright then, be careful on your own," Yang Mian said worriedly.

"Don't worry, even if I die, I won't quit." Da Kai patted Yang Mian's shoulder heavily.

Yang Mian nodded, indicating that he believed him. Da Kai then walked back to Fang Yi's side, and together they walked towards the screening room.

Yang Mian and the others returned to their dormitories, but Da Kai and Fang Yi went to the screening room. This was a cultural area on campus, ostensibly for improving students' cultural literacy, but in reality, it only showed art films. Usually, no one came to watch it except for some students in love, so it became a good place for students to date.

As usual, an art film was playing in the screening room. Da Kai said apologetically, "I'm sorry for bringing you to see this. Actually, I wanted to go to the cinema to see it, but..."

Fang Yi smiled and said, "It's okay, this place is actually quite nice, and I've wanted to watch this movie for a long time."

"I'm glad you like it." Da Kai grinned foolishly at Fang Yi, who shyly lowered her head.

Da Kai happily stayed by Fang Yi's side until the movie ended. The two walked out of the theater, and Da Kai escorted Fang Yi all the way back to the girls' dormitory. Along the way, Da Kai didn't know what to say. They arrived at the girls' dormitory quickly, and Fang Yi turned around and said to Da Kai, "Thank you for tonight."

"No, it's nothing. I'm really sorry about tonight. Next time, I'll treat you to a movie at the cinema and then treat you to something to eat." Da Kai felt really bad for Fang Yi tonight.

Fang Yi replied, "Actually, tonight is quite nice too. I also enjoy watching art films."

"Really? I'm glad you like it."