Drunk On The Night Breeze - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ruan Lingfeng suspected that he was destined to never be able to finish a meal properly with Tao Zhi.

This time, they didn’t go to a crowded, messy roadside shop. Instead, they found a high-end private kitchen nearby with good privacy and atmosphere and took a private room. Since neither of them had driven, Tao Zhi ordered a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon after they finished ordering the food.

Ruan Lingfeng felt a bit embarrassed: “This meal is worth way more than that ticket of mine.”

Tao Zhi: “Well, I have to eat too, don’t I? I’ll order whatever I want.”

That’s what he said, but while ordering, Tao Zhi had actually asked Ruan Lingfeng if he had any dietary restrictions.

Ruan Lingfeng wasn’t a pretentious person. He was long accustomed to the social dance of treating others and being treated; he could just send a gift of equal value or treat Tao Zhi back next time. The atmosphere between them was relatively harmonious. They chatted about the live show for a while until the waiter knocked and entered to serve the food and open the wine.

As the wine was poured into a glass and pushed toward Ruan Lingfeng, he looked at the swirling red liquid and asked casually, “How’s your alcohol tolerance?”

Tao Zhi gave a scoff: “It’s alright. I don’t usually get drunk.”

It made sense. Tao Zhi raced cars and had been in a band; he looked like the type of teenager who loved to play hard. There was no reason he wouldn’t know how to drink. Ruan Lingfeng suddenly remembered that he had smelled Tao Zhi’s pheromones once—the scent of a strong liquor. Though he didn’t know why he, with his sensory deficiency, could smell that specific scent, he hadn’t looked into it further because he’d been busy.

…He wondered randomly: if Tao Zhi couldn’t hold his liquor, wouldn’t he get drunk just by smelling his own pheromones?

The thought made him chuckle to himself, amused by his own wild imagination. Pheromone scents were just scents, not actual alcohol.

Seeing Ruan Lingfeng laughing, Tao Zhi felt a bit self-conscious, as if he were being mocked. He masked his embarrassment with an annoyed tone: “My tolerance really is okay. What are you laughing at? …You can drink, right? Don’t force yourself if you can’t; just have a sip for the sake of it.”

“Of course I can,” Ruan Lingfeng blinked. “Don’t forget what I do for a living.”

“What do you do? Aren’t you a planner?”

“I am a planner. You don’t actually think I just sit in the office every day, chat for a bit, draw some diagrams, and finish the proposal, do you?” Seeing Tao Zhi’s “is that not how it works?” expression, Ruan Lingfeng explained helplessly, “Leaving aside the times we have to fight other companies for projects—where we don’t just need a good plan, but also have to drink and sing with bosses and artists to keep them happy—even after getting the project, if the agency’s partners aren’t good enough, we have to find top-tier professionals ourselves. Guests, VJ teams, sound teams… we have to drink with all of them too.”

“You have to do all that yourself?”

“I am a wage earner, after all.”

“Oh.” Tao Zhi lowered his head to take a bite of food, thinking that Ruan Lingfeng had it pretty rough. He had participated in one of those industry dinner parties early on and found it deathly boring; he refused to go a second time. But Ruan Lingfeng seemingly had to go frequently. As such a conspicuous Omega, he probably dealt with old perverts trying to force him to drink, yet he likely had to maintain a smile and navigate the situation.

At this thought, Tao Zhi’s expression turned slightly strange. “You asked me out to a show today and are eating with me… you aren’t just ‘socializing’ with me to keep me happy, are you?”

Ruan Lingfeng thought to himself that there was probably a little bit of that, but when Tao Zhi wasn’t acting crazy for no reason, he was actually quite cute. He reminded him of Ruan Xinyu—they were both like children. Spending time with them was actually much more comfortable than dealing with people who had long since been stained beyond recognition by the industry’s “big dye vat.”

“How could that be?” Ruan Lingfeng thought for a moment and used an unassailable excuse: “I’m eating with you because I want to.”

By saying that, he emphasized his own willingness. What he didn’t say was that he “wanted” to go to most social dinners, too.

However, Tao Zhi really fell for this line. He snorted again, indicating he accepted the explanation.

Ruan Lingfeng added: “I thought you’d prefer beer or the kind of spirits you mix with soft drinks. I didn’t expect you to order a bottle of dry red as soon as we got here.”

Tao Zhi looked at Ruan Lingfeng as if he were an idiot. “You match the wine to the atmosphere. Beer is for skewers or when you’re at home. Besides, the Cabernet here is decent. Just try it.”

With that, he raised his glass, gesturing for Ruan Lingfeng to clink glasses with him.

Ruan Lingfeng raised his glass as well, keeping his rim slightly lower than Tao Zhi’s. This was a good habit he’d cultivated at dining tables; no matter who he drank with, he kept his glass lower to show respect.

As it turned out, those few glasses of wine were exactly why Ruan Lingfeng felt he and Tao Zhi were never meant to have a peaceful meal together.

Tao Zhi, who had started out claiming to have a great tolerance, suddenly slumped onto the table unconscious after just a few glasses.

Ruan Lingfeng called his name first—no reaction. After waiting a while, Ruan Lingfeng hesitantly nudged him a few times, increasing the force. Tao Zhi still didn’t react.

Ruan Lingfeng: “…” So much for “not usually getting drunk.”

He couldn’t just leave him slumped there. Ruan Lingfeng sighed and contacted Chen Ping, asking him to come pick him up.

As luck would have it, Chen Ping wasn’t in Yuncheng. He said finding someone else to pick him up would be too much trouble, so he asked if Ruan Lingfeng could help drop Tao Zhi off somewhere he could stay.

Ruan Lingfeng rubbed his temples. “Fine… where does he live?”

But the other side didn’t give the address. Chen Ping explained: “Tao Zhi has a very strong sense of territory. He doesn’t like people coming to his house. I’ve been there once and couldn’t even get through the front door; I had to talk to him at the entrance. Even if I gave you the address, you wouldn’t be able to get him in. I don’t know his security code.”

Ruan Lingfeng: “…I can’t exactly take him back to my place, can I?!” He didn’t want a random Alpha in his home either. “How about I get him a hotel room? But if he’s photographed, it’ll be a mess.”

“No, you can’t…” Chen Ping said. “He’d probably explode if he woke up in someone else’s house. How about this—please take him to the studio. There are two lounges in the studio, remember? One is for other staff to rest when they work late, and the other is for Tao Zhi’s personal use… Although he doesn’t usually let people into his room, he left a spare key with me. It’s in the top-left drawer of my office desk. Please go find it.”

“Fine…” That was the only option.

Chen Ping added: “I’m really sorry. I didn’t expect him to get drunk; I’ve never heard of this happening before. I’ve really troubled you.”

“It’s fine,” Ruan Lingfeng said.

But how to get this person back was the problem.

Ruan Lingfeng thought for a long time. He calculated that with his own strength, he probably couldn’t drag or carry this guy. Ask two waiters or security guards to help drag him away? No, that was too risky. If some lurking paparazzi caught it, they might think Tao Zhi was in trouble with the law. It would be a joke if that made the trending searches.

Ruan Lingfeng made one last attempt. He crouched in front of Tao Zhi and patted his face: “Wake up, wake up.”

…This time, Tao Zhi moved. He raised his head somewhat sluggishly and looked at Ruan Lingfeng with narrowed eyes, seemingly confused.

Ruan Lingfeng asked: “Can you get up?”

Tao Zhi stared blankly for two seconds, then nodded vigorously twice and stood up.

And then he stopped moving.

Ruan Lingfeng tried asking: “…Walk a bit?”

Tao Zhi was like a robot that had received a command. Only after Ruan Lingfeng said it did he take a step. He said “walk a bit,” so Tao Zhi took exactly one step and stopped again, looking back at Ruan Lingfeng as if waiting for the next command.

Good heavens. Ruan Lingfeng was stunned.

Is this the drunk Tao Zhi? He was blank and obedient, completely different from his usual “I want to kill someone every day until the Lunar New Year” persona.

Ruan Lingfeng suddenly felt a surge of playfulness… since he was drunk, he probably wouldn’t know, right?

“Give me a peace sign?” Ruan Lingfeng said.

Tao Zhi actually raised his hand and made a peace sign.

Ruan Lingfeng continued: “Spin in a circle.”

Tao Zhi spun in a circle.

Wow. Ruan Lingfeng couldn’t help but offer praise: “Good boy.”

At this moment, he really wanted to throw a frisbee for him to catch.

But then Tao Zhi frowned. Usually, when Tao Zhi made this expression, it was a precursor to an explosion, but not this time. He spoke, his voice slightly raspy and carrying a hint of grievance: “Stop playing. I’m so tired, I feel awful. Let me go back and sleep.”

Ruan Lingfeng: “…Alright.” He knew when to stop.

Taking Tao Zhi back to the studio didn’t actually take much effort. Tao Zhi was cooperative the whole way and even knew to keep himself wrapped up tight so as not to reveal his identity. He fell asleep obediently in the car, and when they reached the destination, Ruan Lingfeng woke him up and he followed Ruan Lingfeng inside.

Ruan Lingfeng led him to the lounge Chen Ping had mentioned. He had expected just a simple place with a bed, but it turned out to be a fully equipped small room, even with a shower and a small kitchen. It had many signs of being lived in; it looked like Tao Zhi spent the night here often.

Why? Was he too lazy to go home after practicing late?

But now wasn’t the time to ponder that.

As soon as Tao Zhi entered the room, he began taking off his clothes. Caught off guard, Ruan Lingfeng saw his toned, though not overly bulky, upper body muscles.

Ruan Lingfeng quickly turned around: “What are you doing…”

Tao Zhi’s voice was still a bit more clingy than usual: “I’m not allowed to change clothes to sleep?”

Ruan Lingfeng thought to himself that he shouldn’t argue with a drunk teenage Alpha. “Then hurry up and change so you can sleep.”

Having said that, he still felt it wasn’t right to let him just pass out like that. Ruan Lingfeng walked toward the fridge in the kitchenette: “I’ll see if you have anything here to help you sober up. If not, I’ll cook some sugar water for you.”

“I’m not drunk,” Tao Zhi said.

“Every drunk says they aren’t drunk.”

“It’s really not being ‘drunk,'” Tao Zhi said, his voice sounding increasingly listless. “It just hurts.”

Tao Zhi had already sluggishly changed into his pajamas. Ruan Lingfeng turned back to look at him and saw that his face was much redder than before. He didn’t look like he was in the hyperactive state of being drunk; instead, he looked completely drained of energy.

Ruan Lingfeng walked back, brushed aside the hair on Tao Zhi’s forehead, and pressed his palm against it.

It was burning hot.