BSS - Chapter 119

Chapter 119

Xu Wei narrowed her eyes as she spoke. On the screen, the little friend's cheeks were flushed red, her gaze wandering—clearly, she was drunk.

So she continued, "You... how long have you been drinking?"

The little friend slowly flopped onto her stomach on the bed, her eyebrows nearly touching the screen. As if she hadn't heard her, she just hummed for a long time without saying anything.

Xu Wei called out, a little worried, "Deng Chuan?"

The camera shook violently. The next second, Deng Chuan was lying flat on the bed. She was still in her party clothes. She reached up to loosen her collar, rolled over comfortably, and hugged the blanket she had pilfered from Xu Wei's bed.

Xu Wei called her again, "Deng Chuan? Can you hear me?"

The little friend nodded and grunted in response, then hugged the blanket and tilted her head, looking like she was thinking.

She hadn't forgotten Xu Wei's question. She thought for a long time, so long that Xu Wei thought she had fallen asleep, before she finally spoke slowly, "Mmm... I don't really remember. I think there was a lot of alcohol... mixed drinks, so it went to my head a little."

It was impressive that she could still think so clearly at a time like this. Xu Wei sighed in relief, a bit exasperated. "Honestly. Is your head spinning?"

"Mmm..." Hearing Xu Wei's complaint, Deng Chuan seemed to want to say something. She hesitated, then stopped moving, still clutching the blanket tightly. She held it in for a long time, until the page in Xu Wei's hand was about to be turned, before she seemed to give up thinking, lowered her head, and nuzzled her cheek against the blanket with a practiced motion.

She nuzzled it again and again, giggling foolishly. "What are you doing..."

Xu Wei took it all in. Knowing she was drunk, she said softly, "I'm looking at you."

Deng Chuan tilted her head, her speech even slower. "Looking at me... what?"

"Looking at how silly you are." It was rare to see her like this. Xu Wei chuckled, her voice gentle. "Does your head hurt? Go to sleep now, okay?"

"Mmm..." Deng Chuan thought for three seconds, then shook her head firmly. "No."

"Alright." Xu Wei set her book aside and coaxed her patiently, "Then what do you want to do?"

"...I want kisses."

Deng Chuan buried her face in the blanket. Xu Wei couldn't see her expression, but she heard her tone suddenly become dejected. "I want kisses..."

Sounding quite pitiful, Xu Wei played along. "Who do you want kisses from?"

"I want them from my wife..."

Xu Wei tried to scare her. "You're not even of legal age. How could you have a wife?"

"I do!" The little friend finally lifted her face from the blanket. Xu Wei saw her face scrunched up, on the verge of tears. "I have a wife! I like my wife so much..."

"Oh." Teacher Xu remained calm, coaxing her further. "Why do you like your wife so much?"

"Because... because..." Deng Chuan rolled over again, lying on her back. Xu Wei could only see her profile, her brow furrowed in serious thought. She repeated "because" for a long time before finally squeezing out, "I can't say it..."

Xu Wei also furrowed her brow, dissatisfied. "You can't even say that? Aren't you just silly?"

The little friend stared blankly, seemingly genuinely hurt.

Xu Wei watched for a while. Deng Chuan remained motionless in that position. Thinking she was done with her antics and ready to sleep, she coaxed softly, "You're sleepy, right? Cover yourself with the blanket and sleep, okay?"

There was no response from Deng Chuan. Xu Wei listened quietly for a while before realizing she was sobbing softly.

Drunk people seemed to be exceptionally emotional. Not knowing what was wrong this time, Xu Wei was both worried and helpless, unsure how to communicate with this drunkard. She said a few things, but the other girl acted as if she hadn't heard, crying to herself.

"Sigh." She sighed along with her. "What am I going to do with you?"

The little friend sniffled. "I want kisses..."

"If you get kisses, will you go to sleep obediently?"

"Mmm." She nodded seriously, adding with perfect logic, "I want to kiss my wife."

Xu Wei was so exasperated by her persistence that she laughed. "What if your wife isn't willing?"

"...I don't know." The person lying on her back choked up, then sat up and leaned closer, her eyes brimming with tears like a pitiful puppy. After a moment of grievance, she said in a low voice, "Then... then I'll just hold her."

As she spoke, she tightened her arms, hugging the blanket and nuzzling her cheek against it again, her voice growing weaker. "I want my wife..."

She finally quieted down.

Xu Wei stared at Deng Chuan's profile, buried in the blanket, for a long while before raising a hand to rub the bridge of her nose.

After hanging up, the room should have been quiet, but Juzi, being in heat, couldn't settle down. He jumped off the bed and started wailing all over the room, making her head throb.

Xu Wei was at her wit's end with the cat. She couldn't focus on her book, and she was worried about Deng Chuan. Would she have a headache when she woke up from being drunk? Was there anyone there to take care of her? Would her friends take care of her? ...Although Deng Chuan was very conscientious and always reported who she was going out with, and Xu Wei knew Deng Chuan's close friends, in her eyes, that whole group of them were still just kids...

This worry intensified until Xu Wei put her book aside, completely unable to calm down. She picked up her tablet to look at, but her mind was still a mess.

Xu Wei sighed at this, unable to help but think, This is getting more and more like raising a child.

The longer they were together, through the passing years, Xu Wei always found herself worrying about Deng Chuan like this, to a point where she could hardly control it. Xu Wei didn't know if this was a side effect of the long distance. Yang Jing had told her before that this mindset wasn't normal. But Xu Wei understood that, in reality, she was more dependent on Deng Chuan than she had imagined.

Just like now, she was thinking, if only this kid were home right now. She and the two cats really wanted to see her. Juzi liked to cling to her, so he wouldn't keep meowing. She would hug her, and kiss her, and the little friend wouldn't have to cry.

Xu Wei was lost in thought for a while before coming back to her senses. She picked up the tablet lying beside her. On the screen was a dense page of an English academic paper in digital format. Xu Wei pondered, highlighting some notes in the paragraphs.

Outside the window was a clear autumn day.

---

When Deng Chuan woke up, it was already the next morning. She sat up from the messy covers. Her phone lay to the side, its battery dead. Her head hurt badly, she hadn't changed her clothes, and the smell of alcohol that hit her when she looked down made her frown.

Deng Chuan didn't rush to shower and change. She first plugged her phone in to charge and turned it on. A flood of messages instantly appeared on the screen. Undistracted, she tapped only on the pinned message and saw that Xu Wei had sent two messages after their video call.

Deng Chuan rubbed her temples and unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

Xu Wei's two messages had been sent half an hour after the video call.

The first was a voice message, eight seconds long.

The second was text, with her usual restrained punctuation: When you wake up, drink a glass of warm water first. Make the shower water a bit hotter, don't catch a cold.

Deng Chuan didn't listen to the voice message right away. Instead, she dutifully updated Xu Wei on her status first: I'm awake. My head hurts so much.

She added a pitiful puppy sticker.

While Xu Wei hadn't replied yet, she went to the closet, picked out clean clothes, and went into the bathroom to shower.

After her shower, while she was drying her hair, Lao Lin knocked on her door. "Wanna go out to eat tonight? A friend of mine is putting something together."

The Mid-Autumn Festival fell on a weekend, which was very convenient for Chinese international students to organize get-togethers. Because their social circles weren't large, they would always pull people in, whether they knew each other beforehand or not.

Deng Chuan had no objection, but she asked one more thing, "Will there be drinking again?" Seeing Lao Lin smile, she waved her hand and added, "I can't drink anymore. I drank too much mixed stuff last night. I blacked out after getting back to my room and I'm still a bit out of it. My head is killing me."

"Got it." Lao Lin was understanding. "It's usually just beer and stuff. When the time comes, just say you're on cold medicine. No one will give you a hard time."

"Okay."

The two agreed on a time to leave. Deng Chuan's hair was still wet, dripping down her clothes. She finished talking in a hurry, wanting to blow-dry her hair and close the door, but Lao Lin held it open and added with a grin, "The girl sitting next to me last night wanted to add you on WeChat. Should I send her your contact?"

Seeing Deng Chuan frown, Lao Lin said, "Is it inconvenient?"

"A little," Deng Chuan admitted.

Lao Lin hesitated. "Then what should I do? The girl is a friend of a friend. It's pretty awkward."

"Forget it." Deng Chuan thought for a moment. Adding her was no big deal. "Go ahead and send it. It's fine."

"Alright." Lao Lin knew her personality and didn't waste words. "Thanks. There's a sandwich in the fridge, you can heat it up and eat. I'm heading out first."

"Okay, see you later."

"See ya."

After closing the door, Deng Chuan blow-dried her hair, tidied up her messy bed, and went to the kitchen to heat up the sandwich Lao Lin had mentioned. As expected, there was a new friend request in her WeChat. The note read: I'm Angelia from last night.

Figuring this was the friend of a friend Lao Lin had mentioned, Deng Chuan accepted the request. She glanced at her chat with Xu Wei again; there was still no reply. She sat down at the dining table, preparing to listen to the eight-second voice message.

On second thought, she went back to her room to find her headphones.

Putting on headphones was definitely the right choice, Deng Chuan thought after listening to the message.

The anticipation of saving the voice message for later, the fantasies she'd had in the shower, were now fully and satisfyingly realized.

Deng Chuan took a bite of her sandwich, feeling the egg yolk and mayonnaise spread between her lips and teeth. She listened to it again.

In the voice message, Xu Wei, on the other end, was kissing her, lingering and restrained.

Hearing those distinct sounds of saliva and breath, Deng Chuan blushed, feeling utterly hopeless.

Her hands felt a little weak as she typed: Wife.

For a moment, she didn't know what else to say, so she just sent another: Wife.

By the time she finished the sandwich, Xu Wei finally replied, as if she had just seen her messages. Her reply was proper and caring: You're awake? Did you drink any water? Does your head still hurt?

It still hurts a little. Deng Chuan was about to whine to her out of habit, but also sought her praise: There's another party tonight. I already told them I'm not drinking.

So good. Xu Wei praised her as expected. Deng Chuan grinned, then thought about last night and asked: I drank too much mixed stuff last night and blacked out after it went to my head. I didn't do anything weird, did I?

She couldn't remember anything herself, so she couldn't help but feel anxious.

No. Xu Wei's reply was quick.

Deng Chuan relaxed, only to see another message from her:

You were very good last night.

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