Chapter Forty-Four: Drowning Sorrows in Wine

  Another sleepless night because of Qin Ke Yi, I don't know if similar situations will happen again in the future. I'm really worried that if I'm with her in the future, I'll become neurotic due to frequent insomnia.

  After I got up and walked around the yard for about an hour, everyone came out of their rooms one after another to wash up. After a flurry of activity, they began packing things up. Marco and Guo Ceng got into Zhang Wei's car with us to head back, while the rest of the people boarded the rented bus together to return to school.

  The car had just gotten on the highway when Qin Ke Yi was already leaning against the seat and fell asleep, it seemed that she didn't sleep well last night either. At some point, Ma Ke and Guo Cheng also fell asleep in each other's arms, leaving only me to keep myself awake and drive the car to Ma Ke and Guo Cheng's place and wake them up.

  When the car stopped under my house, Qin Ke Yi still didn't show any signs of waking up, so I pushed her gently to wake her up, and then we carried our things upstairs together.

  "Ahh!! I'm exhausted......! Bath! Sleep!!" Qin Ke yelled loudly as soon as he entered the house, violently kicking off his two shoes.

  "Hey, look, there seems to be a letter for you on the table!" I said, pointing at a newspaper on the table.

  "Huh!? How can there be a letter from me!? This is strange!" Qin Ke walked towards the coffee table with a suspicious expression.

  "Where is it? Where did you see it?" Qin Ke asked me after flipping through the newspaper for half a day, standing there and asking me.

  "Look for it again!" I took advantage of Qin Ke's search for the letter and quickly slipped into the bathroom to start undressing and preparing to take a bath.

  "What the...! Kang Jian, you lied to me!! You wanted to take a shower first, didn't you!!! Get out of here!!! Open the door!" Qin Ke stormed over to the bathroom door and kicked it violently after seeing through my trick.

  "I'm naked now, if you're interested in me, I can open the door." I said to Qin Ke who was at the door while taking off my clothes in the bathroom.

  "Alright! Be careful! Don't regret it! You're now in the probation period, and every word and action of yours may affect my decision at any time!!" Qin Ke Yi said in a threatening tone outside the door.

  "I can't intentionally hide some of my thoughts and actions from you just because you're in a contemplative period, that would be irresponsible on your part, right?" I said with a nonchalant tone.

  "Bastard!!" Qin Ke yelled out a curse at the doorway as soon as he heard what I said.

  "Hey! If you're in a hurry, come on in and we can shower together. It's no big deal! I don't mind! Sooner or later it was bound to happen!" I opened the door and poked my head out, smiling as I said this to Qin Ke Yi. Qin Ke Yi responded to my inappropriate suggestion by kicking the door shut with a loud thud, then stormed off towards the living room. In order not to keep Qin Ke Yi waiting, I quickly washed up and got out of the bathroom. When I walked into the living room to call Qin Ke Yi in for her shower, I found that she had already fallen asleep on the couch.

  I walked over, gently picked up Qin Ke Yi, slowly walked into her room, gently put her on the bed, then turned around and left her room...

  When I woke up, Qin Ke Yi unexpectedly appeared in my room, kneeling beside my bed, staring at me with wide eyes close-up, prompting the dazed me to quickly wake up.

  "What are you doing? Trying to scare me?" I reacted suddenly to Qin Ke's actions, accompanied by a cold sweat.

  "Hehe! I'm hungry, can you go cook something?" Qin Ke said with a smile, speaking to me in a spoiled tone.

  "Let's go out and eat! I'm too tired to cook today." I sighed, then said to Qin Ke in a negotiating tone.

  "Okay! Where are we going?" Qin Ke Yi seemed to be very interested in my suggestion, jumping onto my bed and sitting down excitedly to ask.

  "What do you want to eat?"

  "Hmm...? Steamed fish then!? I haven't had it in a long time!" Qin Ke said after a moment of thought.

  "Okay! You go change your clothes."

  "Wait! I'll go take a bath first!! Be quick!" Qin Ke said after finishing, jumped down from my bed and ran towards the bathroom.

  We chose a Sichuan restaurant on Fourth Street, there weren't many people, after entering we ordered a pot of boiled fish and two bowls of rice.

  "Good health! Want another bowl?" Qin Ke Yi said softly to me after wolfing down a bowl.

  "Why don't you want it yourself?" I said while picking at my rice.

  "Pig head! I let you call me and you just call! What's the point of asking so much!" Qin Ke said in a low voice, gritting his teeth.

  "It's okay! What's wrong with eating two bowls? No one will laugh at you! Besides, no one knows you." I started to patiently advise Qin Ke Yi after noticing her embarrassment.

  "Are you going to call or not!!?" Qin Ke glared at me with her eyes and threatened in a low voice.

  "Alright! You asked for it! Waiter!! Give her another bowl of rice! Oh, and make it a big one!!" I smiled slyly at Qin Ke Yi and then loudly shouted at the waiter, my voice loud enough to be heard by everyone in the restaurant, including those in the bathroom. Qin Ke Yi, under the watchful eyes of the crowd and the waiter's smiling face, lowered her head, blushed, and accepted the large bowl of rice handed over by the waiter. After the waiter left, she didn't forget to glare at me with resentment...

  Just like I and Qinyi once said, I won't deliberately hide or change anything just because she's considering our relationship. Everything I show is as natural as before, I try to present all aspects of my life, all the pros and cons without reservation. The reason for this is that if one day we get together and have a fight, I don't want to hear Qinyi complain "Why didn't you do it like this when we weren't together?!" If there's any difference from before, it's that starting from now, I begin to care more about Qinyi every day. I think the reason is that after my heart acknowledges my feelings for Qinyi, it leads to a very natural and heartfelt concern for her.

  This period of time, except for Qin Ke Yi, has been occupied by Wang Ling's company for system development. Today, Tengda brought over a summary he and Li Songwei had done, just as I was discussing some details with Tengda, Ma Ke knocked on my door and came in, looking very down, not saying a word, and sat on the sofa.

  "What's wrong? You look like you've lost your last marble!" I said, handing Mark a Coke and asking curiously.

  "Is there wine?" Mark took over the cola and didn't open it, putting it on the coffee table, still asking me in a low voice.

  "Got it!" I nodded at Marco.

  "Have a drink with me!"

  "But there's hardly anything on the menu!" I said to Marco in a somewhat bewildered tone.

  "I've got it!" Mark said, pulling out a roasted chicken and a large bag of peanuts from his bag. It seemed he had been prepared all along, so I called out Tengda, who wasn't good at drinking, to come out and join Mark in drinking. Mark remained silent from start to finish, just drinking cup after cup, making me wonder if I had given him mineral water instead of 42-degree liquor. Tengda, due to his physical limitations, was just stuffing his face with food, completely ignoring Mark's emotions.

  "What's going on? Or is something wrong between you and Guo Cheng?" I snatched the wine glass from Marco's hand. Marco was silent for a few seconds before grabbing the wine bottle on the table, tilting his head back and pouring it directly into his mouth.

  "What the hell is wrong with you?! Can't you just speak for once?!" I yelled at Marco while trying to grab the bottle from his hand, but he blocked me with one hand and continued drinking. Just as the bottle was about to be emptied, Marco suddenly stopped his frantic drinking, slammed the bottle on the ground, and the chicken claw in Tengda's mouth also fell to the ground due to Marco's even crazier action.

  "Buddy, if there's something on your mind, just say it! Don't do stupid things like drowning your sorrows in drink. We're not kids anymore!" I stood still, looking at Marco silently for a moment before speaking solemnly. At this point, Marco suddenly hugged my leg and burst into loud sobs...