EAY Chapter 61

So timid.

So timid.

61

“What do you mean?” Qi Ye stared at him coldly, “Testing my alcohol tolerance?”

Someone chimed in, “He’s quite arrogant.” Followed by a chorus of dismissive laughter.

Senior Zhou waved his hand at the others, “Alright, alright, don’t let our junior brother really think we’re bullying him. Qi Ye, it’s just a few drinks, it’s not about testing your alcohol tolerance, I really just want to make friends with you.”

“We’re not close, there’s no need to force friendship.” Qi Ye steadily supported Shi Ran, glanced at the person blocking his way, “Excuse me.”

In a closed space, lively music wouldn’t make silence awkward, but now the music was barely audible. After Qi Ye’s blatant refusal, Senior Zhou didn’t move aside or speak. The atmosphere in the private room became palpably awkward.

The other seniors eyed Senior Zhou’s expression, hesitating whether to take the opportunity to teach Qi Ye a lesson. Meng Nan was panicking, holding his and Shi Ran’s bags, ready to leave with Qi Ye at any moment. Seeing the situation stuck, he was about to say something conciliatory when Senior Zhou actually smiled, “Qi Ye is right, friends can’t be forced, it depends on fate.”

With that, he stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation. Qi Ye didn’t even look at him, directly supporting Shi Ran as he walked out. Meng Nan quickly apologized and ran ahead of Qi Ye and the others, helping to open the door.

Breathing in the cold, fresh air outside felt much better. Shi Ran mumbled a few words, and Qi Ye was about to touch his face, but with Meng Nan nearby, he had to retract his hand.

Meng Nan said apologetically, “Qi Ye, it’s all my fault, I didn’t take good care of Shi Ran. I’m a coward, I didn’t dare to go against Senior Zhou and the others. If I offend them, it’ll be hard for me at school, not to mention the scholarship…”

“You don’t need to explain all this to me, I know. I should thank you for calling me in time,” Qi Ye said gently. “Actually, if Shi Ran hadn’t already been drunk, and my alcohol tolerance wasn’t so bad, I wouldn’t have dared to confront them so directly.”

Meng Nan still blamed himself, after all, he had dragged Shi Ran out shopping, or they wouldn’t have run into those people. “Let me get a taxi, I—”

The person in his arms suddenly retched. Qi Ye quickly helped him to the side of the road. He turned to ask Meng Nan, “Do you have any tissues?”

Meng Nan patted his pockets, all empty, “I’ll go buy some!”

After Meng Nan left, Qi Ye dared to touch Shi Ran’s face, leaning closer to ask, “Are you feeling very uncomfortable?”

“Uncomfortable.” Shi Ran muttered, his beautiful eyes watery, reaching out to bury himself in Qi Ye’s arms, his tone aggrieved, “I told them I can’t drink, but they insisted I drink. They’re so annoying, I really want to beat them up.”

Qi Ye quickly echoed, “Yes, yes, they’re annoying. How are you feeling, do you want to throw up?”

Shi Ran retched a few more times, but nothing came out. He snuggled into Qi Ye’s arms again, this time smiling, “My boyfriend came to pick me up, I knew my boyfriend is the best and would definitely come to pick me up. Qi Ye, stand still, don’t sway, let me hug you…”

“I’m not swaying.” Qi Ye hugged him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, trying to keep him steady and prevent him from swaying left and right. Hearing him call him “boyfriend” repeatedly, his heart was sweet, but seeing Meng Nan running back with tissues, he quickly covered Shi Ran’s mouth. Shi Ran made a few muffled noises and breathed into his palm.

Qi Ye was so frightened that he quickly switched him to the other side. Meng Nan ran over and handed him the tissues, and Qi Ye immediately decided, “Meng Nan, you go back first, I’ll take Shi Ran to stay out for the night, it’s too noisy here, it’ll disturb your sleep, and we might alarm the dormitory supervisor.”

Meng Nan was stunned, not expecting this, and only said, “Then, did you bring your IDs?”

“It’s okay, we have electronic versions saved on our phones.” Qi Ye straightened Shi Ran, who was about to fall over again, “I’ll take good care of him, don’t worry.”

“Of course, I’m relieved, you’re definitely the best at taking care of him.” Meng Nan smiled and handed him Shi Ran’s bag. As Qi Ye took it, Shi Ran mumbled a few more words, and Qi Ye quickly covered his mouth, laughing, “He likes to swear when he’s drunk.”

“Alright, then I’ll take the bus back, be careful.” Meng Nan glanced at the time, waved at Qi Ye, and hurried towards the bus stop.

Qi Ye secretly breathed a sigh of relief, looking down at the dazed person in his arms, amusedly tapping his forehead, “If I really let you go back and cause a scene, I’m afraid the whole school will know tomorrow.”

–

Swiping the room card and entering, before he even had time to insert it into the power socket, Shi Ran was about to fall again. Qi Ye had no choice but to temporarily abandon turning on the lights, using the moonlight from the window to get him to the bed.

Just as he lay down and Qi Ye prepared to get up, Shi Ran reached out and pulled him back, tightly hugging his waist, muttering, “Don’t go, don’t you go.”

“How can you be so cute when you’re drunk?” Qi Ye lowered his head and kissed his hair, then hugged him, and the two fell asleep in each other’s arms.

When sleeping outside, Qi Ye’s sleep was very light, and even a little sound could wake him up. When he vaguely woke up, the room was still dark. He reached for the phone in his pocket and looked at it, it was a little after four in the morning.

He and Shi Ran hadn’t even taken off their clothes when they came in, and had been sleeping until now.

“Shi Ran, Shi Ran.” Qi Ye gently shook him, “Go wash up and change clothes before going back to sleep.”

Shi Ran hummed but didn’t respond. For some reason, Qi Ye found it particularly difficult to wake him up every time.

Hesitating for a while, Qi Ye said softly, “Then I’ll wash you.”

Still no response, so Qi Ye took it upon himself. He got up first, inserted the room card, turned on the light, and then carried Shi Ran to the bathroom.

The bathroom only had a bathtub to lie in. After Shi Ran lay in the bathroom, Qi Ye tried to wake him up a second time, patting his face, kissing him, but still no response. Qi Ye took a deep breath and started to use his hands.

Underneath the gray hoodie was a white shirt. Qi Ye’s slender fingers began to unbutton his buttons, one, two, three. When he reached the fourth button, Shi Ran miraculously opened his eyes, his eyes clear, as if he had been waiting for this moment, tilting his head to look at him.

Qi Ye immediately retracted his hand, panicking. Shi Ran clicked his tongue softly, looked at Qi Ye’s hand, and smiled slightly, “So timid.”

Qi Ye explained, “I wasn’t doing anything bad, I was going to give you a bath.”

“Mm.” Shi Ran yawned indifferently, leaned closer, and smiled like a mischievous little angel, “I didn’t say anything, continue.”

Qi Ye: “Were you pretending to be asleep?”

Shi Ran shook his head: “I really just woke up, if I were going to pretend, I would have pretended all the way.”

Qi Ye stood up and walked out: “If you’re awake, wash yourself, I’m leaving.”

Shi Ran: “Hey, I don’t have any energy, my whole body hurts, and my head hurts a lot. If you don’t help me, I’ll just go out like this.”

Qi Ye turned back, but wasn’t in a hurry to help him bathe, but leaned over and kissed him, his hand caressing his face, tender and lingering, more passionate and longer than any previous kiss.

His eyes were filled with a color he didn’t usually have, rich and heavy. Just looking at Shi Ran directly made Shi Ran blush. Shi Ran silently covered his chest with both hands, “I think, I’d better do it myself.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I can do it myself, I’m fully awake now.” Shi Ran patted his face, waving his little hands in a panic, “Go out, you go out.”