Chapter 29: Post-Drink Confession
Just looking at him lying passed out on the sofa, Shan Dai felt this was extremely tricky and didn’t know how to handle it.
“You probably can’t even go take a shower, right?” Propping her chin in her hands with her arms rested on the sofa, she looked helplessly and gently at the sleeping man. “Lying here, you’ll be completely out drunk in a bit. You won’t be able to entertain your friends either, right?”
Fortunately, Shen Jiani and two of his cousins were downstairs, and the rest were all his best brothers. It seemed there was no real need to entertain them—a group of them had just raided the drawers downstairs to find a deck of cards to play.
Who knew why Pu Huaiyan would have playing cards here? Probably because they had been here before, as they didn’t treat themselves like strangers at all.
Then she wouldn’t worry about it. She didn’t have the status to worry about it anyway; having put on a show all night, could she really get so deep into character that she’d act like the lady of the house to entertain his guests on his behalf?
Shan Dai went to pull the door partially closed, then returned to the bathroom to simply remove her makeup. She was feeling a bit dizzy too after drinking a few glasses of wine. She wasn’t good at drinking; in the past when social engagements were required in Lan City, Ziming was always the one who drank.
Red wine’s after-effects were indeed strong. After just those few glasses, she could feel a faint sense of dizziness in her temples. She had to remove her makeup early, or she wouldn’t be able to move at all in a bit.
After bustling around for fifteen minutes, she stepped out. The room was quiet, while noise still drifted up from downstairs—that group was playing to their heart’s content.
Pu Huaiyan seemed to be disturbed by the noise on the sofa, raising a hand to cover his forehead.
Shan Dai looked with difficulty at that partially closed door, then saw Pu Huaiyan’s sharp brows still slightly knit, appearing to sleep very uncomfortably. In the end, she still walked over and shut the door completely.
The soundproofing was quite good, and the world instantly fell silent. She walked toward the sofa and watched quietly for a bit. As the second hand ticked away, the crease between Pu Huaiyan’s brows was gradually smoothed out by the moonlight, bit by bit.
He became handsome again.
Shan Dai felt at ease, the corners of her mouth curving up unconsciously.
She went to sit on the single sofa next to him for a while, perhaps half an hour. Unable to wait for him to wake up, she stood up to head out.
Going downstairs to find the housekeeper, she saw him in the living room entertaining that group of people, talking to someone, busy for the moment.
Seeing that the aunties in the kitchen were also busy preparing tea and couldn’t spare a moment, Shan Dai strolled over to the doorway to catch the breeze while waiting.
By the outdoor pool, a man was answering a phone call. Wearing a white shirt and white trousers, he was very easy to recognize—it was Zhou Xiangming.
After watching for a moment, she realized that the person blocked by his tall body was Shen Jiani, oh, Pu Ci.
While the man was on the phone, she was causing trouble there, hugging his waist and swaying back and forth, almost making the two of them fall into the pool together.
The man hugged her in time to steady their bodies, his laughter ringing bright and unrestrained in the night. Hanging up the phone, he held the girl’s waist and spun her around on the spot.
Then the two of them discovered Shan Dai, who was smiling at them.
Both stood up straight awkwardly, looked at her with a smile, and then Shen Jiani silently ran over.
Shan Dai said with a smile, “Sorry, I was catching the breeze, didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“Oh my.” Shen Jiani covered her face. “Ms. Shan is going to tease me now.”
Shan Dai offered a sweet smile, genuinely feeling they were so sweet. This age gap looked every bit like a big brother and a little sister. Zhou Xiangming really doted on her; at the dinner table earlier, the little girl basically didn’t have a chance to handle food herself—he almost fed it right into her mouth. The penalized drinks from the Flying Flower Order were entirely swallowed by Zhou Xiangming alone, so the little girl didn’t touch a single drop of alcohol.
And yet Pu Huaiyan was eating green-eyed monster jealousy1 over this! She really didn’t understand what kind of random jealousy he was eating. Did he not know about Little Ci and Zhou Xiangming?
“So sweet, I’m getting envious just watching,” Shan Dai teased her.
The little girl was shy, running inside the house, far too embarrassed to linger.
A gust of wind blew through the courtyard, making Shan Dai feel a bit dizzy in her head, and she steadied herself against the doorframe.
Zhou Xiangming, who originally intended to just nod and head inside upon seeing this, reached out with a hovering hand to steady her. “Sister-in-law, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Turning her head, she met his caring eyes, thinking to herself that she seemed completely accustomed to this title of “Sister-in-law” now.
Life was truly strange—she had actually gotten used to considering herself Pu Huaiyan’s girlfriend.
“You guys go ahead and be busy, don’t mind me.”
“Where’s Huaiyan?”
“He drank too much and is resting upstairs. He’ll come down once he sobers up a bit.”
“Oh, alright. Aren’t you going inside to sit?”
“I’ll catch the breeze.” She looked at the scenery in the garden and the neatly lined-up luxury cars. “Looking at the scenery, I’m fine.”
“If you need anything, call me, or call Cici.”
“Alright.” At the mention of her, the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curve upward. “Little Ci said you two might get married next year. Congratulations in advance.”
The man immediately laughed. “The kid loves to play and is a bit impatient. I was actually thinking of moving it forward to the end of the year for her, I just don’t know if it’ll pass with the elders. Taking advantage of this trip to Toronto where everyone is present for the meeting, I’ll ask.”
A hide-it-as-she-might surprise rose in the depths of Shan Dai’s eyes.
On this beautiful night, she learned that her own heart fluttered for Pu Huaiyan, but at this moment, she heard another even more sincere relationship.
“Little Ci is still young, are you sure?” She used to think that getting married at 25 was already super, super early. She was the earliest among her undergraduate and graduate roommates to step into the hall of marriage, and that marriage had ended in a sloppy mess. So even though she clearly knew this person was Pu Huaiyan’s good brother and shouldn’t have such issues, she still subconsciously worried.
Little Ci was only 21 years old—at the exact age of innocent romance.
Zhou Xiangming said, “Yeah, she’s young. Otherwise, she would have dragged me to get married when she was 16. In Ontario, 16-year-olds can already marry with written parental consent.”
“…” Shan Dai was so shocked she didn’t blink at all. Turns out the little girl saying she wanted to be with him at 16 was actually an understatement!
Whenever Zhou Xiangming mentioned Pu Ci, his eyes were always curved. Seeing Shan Dai’s surprise, he even specially explained the relationship between the two of them to her.
“Cici and I have known each other since we were small—well, I should say, I’ve known her since the day she was born. I held her in the hospital that day; when she was born, she was soft like a little steamed bun, extremely cute. To Huaiyan, Cici is a demon king, a little demon king who only knows how to cause trouble. Because her parents were busy, Cici’s education was handled by Huaiyan since she was small. He taught her calligraphy, and she’d get ink all over him; he taught her piano, and she learned it like a sports car revving down the street, plus she liked using a calligraphy brush to write poems on the white piano. Huaiyan had headaches over her and felt she was very hard to deal with.”
Shan Dai laughed. No wonder Pu Huaiyan said staying with the little girl would shorten his life—turns out he truly felt she was a demon king! A big demon king who generously claimed on her lips that she didn’t want a salary, yet actually spent six million RMB a month on her credit card. Turns out she had been provoking him since childhood.
“But to me, Cici isn’t a demon king.” Zhou Xiangming recalled, “She’s practically a little angel. The year the kid was 8 years old, I had my 15th birthday. She had no money—the little thing was dead broke—and didn’t know what gift to give me. In the end, she tied a ribbon into a bow around her own hands, walked into my study, stuffed herself into my arms, and said to me softly and squishily, ‘Brother, how about I give myself to you as a gift?’”
Shan Dai curved her eyes, her heart turning soft.
Zhou Xiangming carried a smile on the corners of his mouth. “She said, ‘I can spend the entire day today accompanying only you; I won’t play with anyone else, and I won’t talk to anyone else.’”
His smile deepened even more. “At that time, I was being tortured to the point of going crazy by my studies. Suddenly seeing such a scene and hearing such words, my heart felt like it was about to melt. I held tiny little Cici in my arms and teased her, ‘Can you only accompany Brother for one day? Can’t you play with Brother for a whole year? Brother wants to play with you for a year; I won’t be free from academic troubles until I go to university next year.’”
“She said hesitatingly, ‘Then that’s fine too. I like Brother, and I’m willing to be Brother’s birthday gift for a whole year. Then when this day comes next year, I’ll tie a new ribbon bow, and when you go to university, take me along, okay? I’ll continue to give myself to you as a gift.’”
Shan Dai smiled deeply from the bottom of her heart.
Zhou Xiangming looked at the bright moon in the sky and said with emotion, “No one wouldn’t like our Cici. I’m also impatient to get married—sometimes I wish she’d grow up faster, and sometimes I wish she’d grow up slower.” He gave a serious nod, then offered a slight smile to Shan Dai, and walked inside.
Shan Dai stood on the spot, gazing at that bright moon, thinking: In Zhou Xiangming’s world, Cici was the only little angel in the entire world;
In her world, Pu Huaiyan was the only savior. She truly felt that Pu Huaiyan was so, so good—so good that she even had an impulse like Pu Ci’s, which was to drag him to get married the second she reached the legal age.
So good that she wanted to drag him to get a marriage certificate as soon as she got her divorce certificate.
Hearing the housekeeper’s voice heading toward the kitchen, Shan Dai turned her head and followed.
“Ms. Shan,” the housekeeper greeted her, “Is there anything you need? I can bring it upstairs for you.”
Shan Dai shook her head, “No need, Uncle Cheng.” Approaching him, she asked in a low voice, “Uncle Cheng, I want to ask you, are there any other guest rooms at home?”
“No more, the few guest rooms are all occupied by the guests tonight, and some even have to sleep on the sofa.”
“…” She was surprised. “They are all staying here tonight?” Looking out from the kitchen, she took a distant glance at those eight guys who were slumping around playing card games to their heart’s content.
Uncle Cheng said, “Except for Young Master Zhao who said he has things to do tomorrow morning and will leave in a bit without needing a room arranged, the others aren’t leaving.”
Shan Dai turned back and asked Uncle Cheng, “Then, do you know where Pu Huaiyan’s room is?”
“Sir’s room is on the fourth floor.”
“The fourth floor…”
“Yes, there’s only one room on the fourth floor. He lives there alone; he likes quietness.”
Shan Dai said in distress, “Then could you go support him back to his room? He mistook it just now and went into my guest room.”
“Then can’t he just sleep in your room?”
“…”
Shan Dai smiled awkwardly. “Well…”
The housekeeper seemed to understand, knowing it was inconvenient. “I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll support him. Don’t worry, Ms. Shan.”
“Thank you, Uncle Cheng.”
The middle-aged man handed the teapot in his hand to the auntie next to him. “Take this to Little Ci; she wants to drink this.” With that, he walked out.
Shan Dai followed him, taking the elevator to her room on the third floor.
Opening the door, Pu Huaiyan was still lying quietly on the sofa.
The housekeeper went over, carefully supporting his arm. “How did you get this drunk today?”
However, the man seemed uncomfortable, pulled his hand back, and turned to his side.
Shan Dai was anxious, going over to softly coax him, “It’s Shan Dai, can you hear me? Let Uncle Cheng support you back to your room, okay?”
He remained motionless.
Uncle Cheng tried to grab his arm again, but the man knit his brows and pulled his arm away once more. With this movement, his elbow bumped against the corner of the sofa.
That was the arm with the bone fracture from not long ago! Shan Dai was terrified, immediately going over to hold his arm. “Don’t, don’t, Uncle Cheng,” she said anxiously, “Forget it, his hand hasn’t fully healed yet; doing this might sprain it. Forget it.”
“Alright then. Let Sir just lie on the sofa; the sofa is long enough to sleep on.”
Shan Dai thanked him, “Sorry to trouble you, Uncle Cheng.”
“Ms. Shan doesn’t need to say such things; Sir is family, and so are you.” He indicated with a chuckle that she could find him again if she needed anything.
Shan Dai nodded, watching him walk out, then went over to close the door. It was truly loud downstairs.
Returning, her mind was already feeling very dizzy, feeling that the wine’s after-effects were five or six tenths present.
She couldn’t go sleep in the bed either—she couldn’t just leave him here, climb into bed herself, and spend the night in the same room, right?
Besides, she hadn’t taken a shower yet.
Shan Dai watched the man beside her for another half hour. After calling out to him a few times and finding that he didn’t wake up, she went to find a set of clothes. In the end, she carried them out to search for the public bathroom on the third floor and simply washed up.
There was no hair dryer in the bathroom, so she returned to her room’s bathroom to blow-dry her hair.
Not knowing whether she had forgotten to close the bathroom door tightly, the sound was a bit loud. When she stepped out, Pu Huaiyan turned over slightly.
Looking at the small patch of chest revealed by his open collar, Shan Dai felt that spending the night like this under the 20-something-degree air conditioning would probably cause him to catch a cold. She searched in the closet, pulled out an AC duvet, went over, and covered him with it.
The man didn’t move, letting her tuck the duvet around him.
Finishing her task, Shan Dai slowly stood up, looking at the man’s extremely handsome sleeping face with emotion. “Alright, sleep now. Tonight we each sleep on a sofa. Tomorrow, if my back aches, I’ll beat you up for drinking heavily all night without restraint.”
She let out a helpless laugh.
Just as she was about to leave, he moved again. She stopped in her tracks and turned back.
Not knowing if he was disturbed by her low murmuring, he actually opened his eyes.
Those eyes had long eyelashes, and the upward-curving angle of their outer corners was so handsome. That half-asleep, hazy look was extraordinarily, extraordinarily captivating.
How could a man be so handsome?
Shan Dai bent down slightly and asked softly, “You’re awake? Dizzy? Shall I ask the housekeeper to cook you a hangover soup?”
The man’s pupils remained stationary, staring straight at her.
Shan Dai turned around, preparing to go downstairs. “Wait for me a moment.”
A hand grabbed her wrist. Her body slammed the brakes, and turning her head, she looked at that excessively striking handsome face, then lowered her head to look at her tightly grabbed wrist.
Shan Dai felt extremely awkward and said, “What are you doing? I’m going to find the housekeeper to cook hangover soup for you.”
He held onto her without letting go, shifting his body as if trying to get up.
Shan Dai immediately bent down to support him.
With great difficulty, she helped him sit up. Just as she stood up straight, he suddenly leaned forward, his head plunging right into her waist.
Shan Dai was startled, and feeling that their posture was far too ambiguous, she immediately wanted to step back.
However, the second she took a half-step back, Pu Huaiyan tilted to one side as if passed out, just like in the dining room downstairs earlier.
Frightened, Shan Dai could only immediately support him. “Be careful.”
The man plunged into her arms once more, pressing completely against her body, and even reached out to wrap his arms around her slender waist.
Shan Dai’s whole body stiffened as if her acupoints had been tapped, but her mind was running completely counter to her body, spinning like crazy, thinking what to do, what to do… This was way too intimate.
“Shan… Dai.”
Muddily, she lowered her head—Pu Huaiyan was calling her name.
Shan Dai? He had never called her by her name before, always using “Madam” or “Ms. Shan”.
“Shan Dai…” Pu Huaiyan called her again.
Shan Dai snapped back to reality completely, looking helplessly at the man in her arms. “What’s wrong? President Pu… is calling my name for the first time, not even calling me Madam anymore.”
“Madam.”
“…” Could he understand what she was saying? She was stunned, her face burning hot uncontrollably for a moment, yet she couldn’t help but smile.
Pu Huaiyan’s voice was mumbled and slurred, “Madam, my Madam…”
“I knew it, you’ve always been calling your own Madam. Is there anyone like you? Your heart is too deep, so wicked.” Calling her Madam from the very first meeting—how could someone be like this?
So, could it be that he fell in love with her at first sight?
Realizing this, Shan Dai’s whole body burned hot in an instant, filled with disbelief.
She recalled their very first meeting, in front of the Building A game exhibition hall at Yanxin Times. His attitude toward her had been extremely good, gentlemanly calling her Madam and telling her to feel free to enjoy herself.
Back then, he had already taken a liking to her? So naturally, that led to him inviting Lu Zhixing out for dinner later that night, right?
Shan Dai found it hard to imagine that in this lifetime, someone would still fall for her after she was married, and at first sight no less, while she wasn’t even divorced yet.
It seemed very messy, yet because this side branch had emerged, her future life didn’t end up completely without order—able to only focus on work after divorce without even considering emotional matters.
Pu Huaiyan made her still hold immense fantasies about emotional matters.
He was a bright lamp in the dark, long night.
“Shan Dai…” the person in her arms murmured.
Shan Dai lowered her head helplessly. “Tell me, what’s wrong? After you finish talking, go to sleep. A lonely man and a solitary woman—even if I’m getting divorced, I’m not divorced yet. You really do whatever you want, President Pu.”
“Madam.”
“Mm, mm, mm, I’m here, speak if you have something to say.”
“I like you,” he said in a raspy voice.
Shan Dai froze, her heart missing several deep beats, her hands and feet turning soft. If he hadn’t been holding her, she felt like she might faint in an instant.
Her eyes forgot to blink as well, as if a hazy night fog enveloped him.
The man’s voice carried the raspiness after drinking, along with a slurred, half-beat delay, not very coherent: “I like you, Dai Dai… liked you, for a long time.”
Shan Dai’s breathing turned erratic. This “Dai Dai” was also something she had never heard before.
He seemed to truly be drunk. Compared to being able to walk into the room earlier, after sleeping on the sofa for an hour now, the wine’s after-effects had exploded, making him completely lose every shred of rationality.
“The first time we met, I liked you…” he said.
Shan Dai’s heart pounded wildly. Her thought from a moment ago was verified without warning at this very second, bringing an ultimate sense of tension. She thought to herself that even when Lu Zhixing confessed to her back then, she had never experienced such emotions—why? She didn’t understand.
She just couldn’t help but recall her first meeting with him again. In front of the game exhibition hall at Yanxin Times, the man that day had been extraordinarily handsome, extraordinarily gentlemanly, and extraordinarily gentle, nodding in greeting to her and calling her Madam, breaking her imagination of the ruler of such a multinational conglomerate being cold, dictatorial, and condescending.
So he really had liked her back then.
And back then she had thought that she would only meet such a figure once in this lifetime, never imagining that in less than two months, they would be under the same roof celebrating a birthday, with him holding her and confessing.
“Ma…dam.”
“Mm.” She snapped out of her daze, lowering her eyes to look at him quietly.
His hand loosened slightly, his body leaning backward, and she subconsciously embraced him.
The two figures fitted closely together again without warning, leaving no gap. Then her hands didn’t dare and couldn’t bear to let go, resting lightly on his shoulders to support him from falling.
The slightly high body temperature of the man transferred through her palms, making Shan Dai feel her injury itch slightly.
Pu Huaiyan seemed to raise his head, striving to look at her, but his gaze was very hazy, unfocused: “I like you, really,” he said to her, “Very, very much. Want you to get divorced, want you… not to be cheated on. Telling you, made you, sad, sorry.”
Shan Dai’s eyes flickered uncontrollably, mysteriously understanding what he meant by “sorry”—telling her that news and making her sad.
She let out a smile, lowering her eyes to look at the person in her arms, then slowly raised her head to look at the ceiling, suppressing the spreading soreness in her eyes.
“It’s okay, I’m not sad.”
She had long ceased to be sad. Thinking of Lu Zhixing being in the same city with his mistress right now, she felt that her past with him belonged to a previous lifetime.
Pu Huaiyan continued to murmur: “…Want you to get divorced, dreaming about it every day.”
Shan Dai sniffed. “I’m getting divorced, as you wished, and as I wished. I’ll get divorced as soon as I go back; he agreed.”
Pu Huaiyan seemed not to hear, muttering in a raspy voice on his own: “Our, fate… is so good, extra good. I went to find you, just looking at you once, made me very happy.”
Shan Dai was bewildered—went to find her? Going to Lan City? Going there that time was specifically to see her?
She lowered her head, watching his eyes slowly close as he couldn’t support them, leaning into her arms… unbelievable.
Yet he seemed unwilling to sleep, striving to speak, his voice growing even raspier and more strained: “But you… came to Beijing, didn’t tell me. I waited for your message, waited all night… you didn’t, reach out to me.”
Shan Dai’s breathing went completely wild. Recalling the first day she arrived, she had first asked Shen Jiani about his injury, and Shen Jiani had suggested she ask him directly.
She had told him then that she was here, right?
So he thought she would reach out to him and kept waiting, only to never receive it.
Shan Dai raised a hand and pressed away the dampness overflowing from the corner of her eyes.
Pu Huaiyan: “Couldn’t wait, feared you’d leave, left… without seeing you.”
“Sorry,” Shan Dai said, her voice heavy with nasal thickness, “Sorry.”
He seemed to still not hear, pouring out his innermost thoughts on his own: “You coming to accompany me… for my birthday, I’m very happy. If you didn’t come, I wouldn’t celebrate it; if you came, I’d celebrate, very happy.”
His words were somewhat slurred and repetitive, but that didn’t stop Shan Dai’s heart from shaking violently. Her body couldn’t help but sway, impacted by these revelations.
So today’s birthday banquet was organized because she had agreed to come, not because it was organized and he casually invited her?
So that was it. That night in the elevator when he casually invited her, saying friends wanted to celebrate his birthday and he didn’t want to brush off their goodwill—it was all fake.
“The gift, I like it,” he said, “Very, very much. The first birthday gift, you gave me, I like it…”
“I know.” Afraid he would keep forcing himself to speak, Shan Dai answered in a low voice, “I know.” Changing into it halfway through dinner, she had known long ago that he liked it.
“…Madam.”
“Mm.”
“Dai Dai.”
“I’m here, are you feeling uncomfortable?” She lowered her head, leaning close to his cheek, “Where does it feel uncomfortable?”
“I love you.”
Shan Dai dazed off, her eyes feeling as if blown by the wind for a long time, momentarily unable to see clearly ahead, terribly sore. It took a good while before she could clearly see that handsome side-profile resting against her waist…
Translator’s note
- 吃飞醋, eating unprovoked/groundless jealousy ↩︎
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