Chapter 33

In the second half of the gathering, Yu Min stayed dazed the entire time. She wasn’t drunk enough to pass out, but she felt weak all over, with no strength in her limbs.

Lin Baixin pulled her upright and let her lean against her shoulder, giving her something to brace herself on.

Before long, her eyelids grew heavy and her breathing turned shallow. Yu Min felt as if she were still conscious, but her thoughts had gone hazy. She didn’t want to sleep, and she didn’t.

Lin Baixin touched her face again, her fingertip brushing lightly over her skin. “You’re already like this, and you still don’t want to go back?”

“I’m not going back...” Yu Min insisted. The shoulder she was leaning against was a little hard and uncomfortable; by now, her courage had grown, and she was getting used to pushing her luck. She shifted closer into Lin Baixin’s arms and spoke slowly. “I’m waiting for Sister Lin Qi. She’s going back with us.”

“Lin Qi may not be going back,” Lin Baixin said. “She might have something to do, or other plans.”

Lin Qi hadn’t said any of that to Yu Min in person, so Yu Min didn’t know. She couldn’t make sense of it either: if she wasn’t going home tonight, where could she go? And at this hour, what plans could she possibly have?

The obedient student was simple-minded, with a straight, one-track way of thinking.

Lin Baixin didn’t say more. There were people around, so it wasn’t convenient to explain.

“Want some water?” Lin Baixin asked again.

Yu Min didn’t want any. Alcohol was water too; she had drunk so much of it she felt full and couldn’t take anything else in. Lin Baixin let it go and was about to say something else when another friend nearby noticed what was happening and offered to help. Lin Baixin turned her head and exchanged a few words with that person.

During that time, Lin Qi also came over. That woman was as unreliable as ever; seeing Yu Min in that state, she burst out laughing and teased her on the spot. “Hey, Yu Min, what are you doing? This won’t do. Today you’re the star; we all came here for you. The cake ordered for you hasn’t even been cut yet, and you’re already going down. What are we supposed to do if nobody cuts it later? If you don’t cut it, then we can’t eat it.”

Lin Qi also said, “Tonight’s cake was picked by Lin Baixin. If you don’t cut it, you’ll be wasting your Sister Baixin’s thoughtfulness. What a shame.”

Yu Min couldn’t handle teasing and said very seriously, “Mm, I want to cut the cake.”

“We’ll cut it later. Can you hold on that long?”

“Yes.”

Lin Qi laughed again, and so did the others at the table. To everyone present, this little sister who listened to anything people said was simply too amusing. Out of everyone here, Yu Min was the only one who was really young, and even looking at her made people like her; in her current state, she was even more endearing. Someone joined in with Lin Qi and said, “Xiao Min, then after you cut it, I want the first piece. Okay?”

Yu Min always agreed when asked and nodded. “Mm.”

The person turned the conversation around and asked, “Then what about Lin Baixin? Which piece does she get?”

Yu Min froze. Her muddled brain hadn’t thought of that. After a moment, she hesitated and changed her answer. “Sister Baixin gets the first piece.”

“Didn’t you just say I’d get the first piece? If both of us are first, how are we supposed to divide that? That won’t do; there can only be one first place, not two.”

Yu Min couldn’t answer. She got stuck. She couldn’t make the choice. On the one hand, she had just been led along and already agreed; on the other hand, Lin Baixin clearly had to be first, with no one allowed to come before her. Should she keep her word, or follow her heart? She hesitated, her lips parting, and after a long moment she finally answered in a small, uncertain voice, “Sister Baixin comes first.”

Lin Qi took the lead in cheering, delighted beyond words, and slapped that friend on the back. “Did you hear that? She said her Sister Baixin comes first. You can’t compare, not even close.”

The others joined in the nonsense too, as if they had seized on something and found a chance to torment that friend. See? You had to go and tease the kid; now you’ve shot yourself in the foot.

That friend wasn’t annoyed at all; she was laughing too. In truth, she hadn’t really meant to make Yu Min choose, and the answer wasn’t surprising. They had only just met, so who could compare to Lin Baixin?

The Lin Baixin in question tugged at Yu Min after a while, still saying the same thing: ignore these people. They were too bored; every one of them had too much free time.

Someone ordered a hangover soup. It didn’t do much, but at least it would warm the stomach. The first bowl was handed to Yu Min; it had been ordered specifically for her.

After the teasing died down, they went back to talking about other things and returned to proper conversation.

Family matters, work, and bits and pieces of daily life.

Most of the people present were unmarried. The oldest was only in her thirties; in a small county town, that age was basically already at the stage where kids could be running around. But in Kyoto, staying unmarried at that age was still very common; there were plenty of people like that.

Still, unmarried didn’t mean single. Most of them had stable partners, and once they started talking about life, the conversation inevitably turned to romance.

Some had gotten together with someone; some had broken up again; some had been on and off with their partners, swearing in the middle of a breakup that they’d never have anything to do with each other again, only to show up here together today looking as close as could be.

The bar owner came in again at that moment and sat down right beside Lin Qi. Lin Qi took her hand and ran her fingertips over the back of it.

The interaction crossed the line of ordinary friendship; it looked far too intimate.

Yu Min had no intention of noticing it, but even if she were dull-witted, she could still tell something was off.

Lin Qi and the bar owner were definitely not ordinary friends. When they spoke, they leaned very close; the bar owner always habitually leaned toward Lin Qi, and Lin Qi didn’t reject her or put distance between them. In fact, she even naturally hugged the bar owner again, this time around the waist.

Staring at someone too openly was rude, so Yu Min withdrew her gaze and, while sipping the hangover soup, let her peripheral vision linger there instead.

Perhaps sensing her stare, the bar owner soon turned her head to look over. Their eyes met for an instant.

Caught in the act, Yu Min felt guilty and immediately looked away.

The bar owner smiled and didn’t take it to heart. She turned back to chat with Lin Qi for a while longer, still standing so close that her lips were almost brushing Lin Qi’s ear.

The cake was finally brought out; it was a large two-tier cake with a mousse filling that was soft and smooth. After Yu Min cut it, she handed out slices one by one, calling each person’s name in turn.

The first piece went to Lin Baixin. The second was for that friend from earlier, then Lin Qi... When Yu Min handed the cake to Lin Baixin, she accidentally brushed against that person’s hand. She pulled back first, but Lin Baixin seemed not to notice—or rather, didn’t pay much attention.

The cake was delicious; it had been made according to Yu Min’s preferred taste and suited her perfectly.

“Don’t thank me; today isn’t even your real birthday yet.” Lin Baixin saw what she was about to say and spoke before she could. “This was all arranged in a hurry. It was ordered at the last minute, so it isn’t that great. We’ll get a new one next week.”

This was already very good. Yu Min took a small bite of the cream and nodded. By then she was still dizzy and unsteady; she couldn’t tell whether the alcohol hadn’t worn off yet, whether the room was too stuffy and lacked oxygen, or whether it was both.

The gathering didn’t break up until nearly eleven. As expected, Lin Qi didn’t go back with them in the same car tonight; she still had things to do. She called them a designated driver and reminded them, “Send me a message when you get there.”

Lin Baixin agreed and took Yu Min to the back seat of the car.

After getting some fresh air outside, and once the car had been driving for a while, Lin Baixin closed the window. Yu Min’s face was no longer flushed, but the tip of her nose was red, and so were her lips. The scenery outside the car was pulled into broken streaks by the steady motion of the vehicle. She tilted her head and stared out for a long time in a daze. When the car turned onto another road, she turned back and looked at Lin Baixin.

On a freezing night, the yellow glow of the streetlights spilled into the car; even the breath the two of them exhaled seemed pale and warm.

“Still feel bad?” Lin Baixin asked softly.

Yu Min answered, “I’m not uncomfortable anymore.”

“There’s still some way to go. Rest and sleep for a bit; I’ll wake you when we get home.” Lin Baixin’s voice was gentle.

Yu Min’s eyelids had long since stopped feeling heavy. She blinked and hummed in response, then shifted a little toward the middle to rest.

Lin Baixin was tired after being busy all evening too, and took the chance to rest as well.

Yu Min didn’t sleep. At first she pretended to close her eyes; later, once there was nothing around them but the sound of the car moving, she opened them again and looked at Lin Baixin, who had tilted her head back against the seat and was quietly staring off into the distance.

Lin Baixin let her look. Only when the car reached the road outside their residential compound did she finally say softly, “Why do you keep looking at me?”

Alcohol had blurred her heart and burned through her nerves. Yu Min was sincere and unguarded; without thinking, she said, “You’re pretty...”

Lin Baixin laughed helplessly and took that as Yu Min talking nonsense from being muddled.

“All right, we’re almost there. Get ready to get out. Once we’re upstairs, go into your room early; otherwise you won’t be able to get up tomorrow.”

Upstairs, Yu Min walked on her own and didn’t need anyone to support her anymore. She went in, washed up and tidied herself obediently, then lay down properly on the bed without making Lin Baixin worry at all.

With the help of alcohol, she fell asleep faster than usual. Less than two minutes after closing her eyes, she was sound asleep, though the blanket only covered half of her and her upper body was still exposed.

Lin Baixin happened to pass by the bedroom door, stopped, then after a moment went in and walked to the bedside to pull up the blanket and tuck her in.

Feeling someone touch her, Yu Min made a soft, unconscious sound and shifted.

She was sleeping on her side, curled slightly, her hair spread across her face. Lin Baixin stood by the bed and waited until she stopped moving before stepping closer and brushing the hair away from her face.

But she wasn’t very well-behaved in her sleep. When Lin Baixin’s hand touched her, she instinctively nuzzled into it and pressed against it.

Frozen there, Lin Baixin couldn’t pull her hand back right away. Her fingertips accidentally brushed Yu Min’s ear; she trembled, and it took a long while before she slowly withdrew her hand.

Yu Min knew nothing of this, remembered none of it, and had no impression of any of it at all. She only knew that she had come back and then fallen asleep. Everything after that was completely unknown to her; she had slept straight through, not pretending.

She dreamed again that night, but it was an ordinary dream; she didn’t dream of Lin Baixin. It wasn’t like the previous time.

Yu Min slept very soundly and didn’t wake until morning. Her biological clock didn’t even help; she forced herself to sleep until 9:30 the next day before waking up.

The experience of being drunk was actually pretty strange; it was novel. The first thing she did after waking was find someone to share it with. She still remembered how she’d crossed the line last night, how “unruly” she had been, and how she’d ended up leaning into Lin Baixin’s arms.

Yu Min went into the small group chat and sent a string of exclamation marks, not mentioning Lin Baixin; she only said that she had been drinking.

Zhao Shiyu and the others replied instantly, astonished:

- You’ve got some nerve now, Yu Min.

Li Xueting queued up behind her:

- You’ve got some nerve now, Yu Min.

Yu Min:

- I’m never drinking again. That was scary.

Li Xueting zeroed in on the key point:

- What was scary?

Yu Min:

- Nothing.

Li Xueting:

- Oh? There’s something going on again.

Zhao Shiyu:

- Exactly, exactly.

Wen Yun: +1.

Yu Min definitely wasn’t going to tell them what had happened. She had her pride. She fobbed them off and muddled through, absolutely refusing to explain clearly, dangling the three of them on a hook and thoroughly whetting their appetites.

When she went out, Lin Baixin hadn’t gone to the shop during the day and was still at home.

Yu Min had thought she’d gone to the shop. Last night, she hadn’t washed thoroughly enough in the shower and still smelled a little, so she showered again. After finishing, she only put on a loose top and opened the door with a pair of pale, long legs left bare.