I Woke Up And My Girlfriend Was Gone - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Shen Qingzi’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it was clear enough for everyone present to hear, instantly drawing every gaze in the room toward her.

She leaned half-against the table, took Zuo Yin’s glass, and gave Sun Yuqing’s glass a light clink. As if to prove her sincerity, she downed the drink in one go.

The haze from the barbecue smoke made the overhead lights appear soft and blurry as they hit Shen Qingzi’s exposed neck and shoulders, tracing an elegant, fluid curve. As the sharp alcohol went down, her thin lips were left glistening with the oils of the grilled meat and the shimmer of moisture. Her slender neck pulsed rhythmically with a slow, gentle swallow—an intoxicating sight in more ways than one.

By now, the alcohol was truly starting to hit Zuo Yin. The rising heat burned her cheeks, and she couldn’t help but swallow hard in sympathy.

Sun Yuqing, seeing Shen Qingzi empty the glass, was tickled pink. “Wow, I haven’t seen A-Zi so spirited in a long time! Hahaha, what’s this? Are you upset because you saw me ‘bullying’ your little Xiao Yin?”

Shen Qingzi set the glass back down in front of Zuo Yin and leaned her weight on one arm to look at Sun Yuqing. “Why? Can’t it simply be that I wanted to share this drink with you?”

Sun Yuqing nodded vigorously. “It certainly can!”

Shen Qingzi crinkled her eyes, signaling for Sun Yuqing to pour more. Sun Yuqing, hugging the bottle happily, immediately squeezed into the gap between Zuo Yin and Shen Qingzi.

Zuo Yin propped herself up at the edge of the table with half-closed eyes. Over Sun Yuqing’s shoulder, she stared unabashedly at Shen Qingzi, who was busy intercepting the drinks meant for her. Shen Qingzi sat beside a now-disheveled Sun Yuqing, her back ramrod straight and her expression composed. Since the start of the party, she had finished at least seven or eight glasses, yet showed no signs of intoxication.

It was as if… the drunken woman Zuo Yin had met in the bar that night wasn’t her at all. How did she even get drunk back then? Zuo Yin wondered, but her brain could only process one physical sensation.

So hot.

The creeping intoxication muddled her mind, and her face was flushed a deep, burning red. Zuo Yin raised a hand to tug at her collar, pulling off her outer baseball jacket and using her other hand as a fan.

Sun Yuqing, who was chatting with the others, noticed Zuo Yin fanning herself. She turned back and eagerly poured the beer into Zuo Yin’s empty glass, saying with a mischievous grin, “Hot? Or thirsty? Here, one drink and you’ll feel better!”

Zuo Yin knew perfectly well she shouldn’t drink more, but when the glass, chilled and beaded with condensation, was pressed against her burning cheek by Sun Yuqing, she couldn’t resist. The thin mist on the glass felt heavenly against her skin. With a dry throat, Zuo Yin took the glass and downed a large, refreshing gulp.

“Hahaha, feels great, doesn’t it?” Sun Yuqing hooked her arm around Zuo Yin’s neck and began a drunken monologue. “You’ve settled a matter on your mind, and I’ve settled one on mine. Little sister, Sister was wrong about that thing before… do you know how guilty I felt…”

Zuo Yin swirled the glass, her eyes reflecting the light dancing in the liquid. Hearing Sun Yuqing’s heartfelt (and drunken) words, the melancholy she had been suppressing for days began to leak out. The part-time job taken by someone more experienced, the lack of money to study at the studio, even her most precious painting sold by Zuo Lan to some unknown person…

In the past, Zuo Yin never paused to think if this was called “fate.” she was too busy running for her life to have time for self-pity. But now that she had a moment to stop and look at this lively room, she felt a sudden chill.

Fortunately, the alcohol was warm. Zuo Yin raised her glass and drained it. The chilled liquid passed her throat and hit her stomach like fuel to a fire, burning away the trivial miseries of life and replacing them with a sense of temporary relief. She finally understood why Zuo Lan loved to drink. Alcohol makes the hands shake—and hands are a painter’s life—but alcohol also lets you forget.

However, Sun Yuqing was a formidable drinker. Between the constant toasting, Zuo Yin finally reached her limit. The world began to spin, yet Sun Yuqing was still in high spirits. After several failed attempts to decline, the glass was suddenly snatched out of Zuo Yin’s hand by a third person.

Shen Qingzi pulled the glass toward herself. “Alright, she’s had enough.”

Zuo Yin propped her head up, nodding dizzily at Shen Qingzi. “Mm.” She didn’t really know what was being said, but she instinctively trusted this person. She obeyed.

Shen Qingzi looked at the swaying Zuo Yin with a flash of displeasure in her eyes. In the short time she had turned away to speak with Zhou Lin, Sun Yuqing had pounced on the child again.

“Oh, A-Zi-zi! Xiao Yin wants to drink, don’t stop her! It’s a rare happy occasion!” Sun Yuqing complained, pushing her own glass toward Zuo Yin and pouring another round until the foam overflowed.

Dealing with a messy drunk like Sun Yuqing left no other options. Shen Qingzi pressed Sun Yuqing’s glass firmly in front of its owner. “Then let the two of us drink.”

Hearing this, Zhou Lin, who had been observing from the sidelines, couldn’t sit still. She reached out to grab Shen Qingzi’s arm. “A-Zi! You’re lecturing others, but you’ve had plenty yourself! Don’t drink anymore. What did I just tell you? Did you forget already? You know your stomach isn’t great. Yuqing won’t stop until she passes out—how long do you plan to indulge her?”

Shen Qingzi pulled her arm away from Zhou Lin’s grasp with uncharacteristic indifference. “I’m fine.” Her voice was calm and steady, no different from usual.

She took the bottle Sun Yuqing was trying to aim at Zuo Yin and filled a large glass for both herself and the drunk. An unreadable smile touched her lips. “I’ll drink with Yuqing until she’s satisfied today.”

“Yes!” Blissfully unaware of the storm about to hit, Sun Yuqing raised her bottle high, a goofy grin plastered on her face.

…

The party lasted until midnight. The meat was gone, and the bottles were empty. Wu Yuan and Chang Ming had been drunk under the table by Sun Yuqing as usual, and Sun Yuqing herself was now hugging a cushion, mumbling incoherent sentences.

Zuo Yin was the best behaved of the four drunks. She had fallen asleep face-down on the table shortly after the “duel” between Shen Qingzi and Sun Yuqing began, draped in a small blanket Shen Qingzi had found from somewhere.

“I knew we’d end up staying the night,” Li Yu said, struggling to haul the drunken Chang Ming off the floor. His tone was relieved. “Luckily Professor Xu converted the second floor into a lounge last year, or we’d be booking hotel rooms right now.”

“True,” Zhou Lin agreed, helping Shen Qingzi pull Wu Yuan up.

The four drunks were moved to the second floor in two trips by the three relatively sober survivors. After Shen Qingzi and Zhou Lin helped Li Yu settle his brothers, they took the elevator back down for Zuo Yin and Sun Yuqing.

The small hall reeked of barbecue and alcohol. Empty bottles lay scattered everywhere. On the relatively clean tatami mat, Sun Yuqing was kneeling in a “head-to-the-ground” bow. In the time it took them to go upstairs, she had somehow found another bottle. Her hands were shaking too much to open it, yet she persisted.

“Ah… you’re back… help me, help me open this~” Sun Yuqing waved the beer at them comically. “A-Zi-zi, Lin-lin-ny~~ Come on, keep drinking…”

“She’s going to regret this so much when she wakes up tomorrow,” Zhou Lin laughed helplessly at the elevator door.

“Mm,” Shen Qingzi agreed. She was holding her phone, and at some point, she had started recording. Through the lens, Sun Yuqing was kneeling on the tatami in a highly difficult pose, her face as red as a ripe persimmon.

Zhou Lin: “Why did you give her so much? She’s barely conscious.”

Shen Qingzi smiled, continuing to record. “She started it.”

“She was clearly picking on Zuo Yin…” Zhou Lin’s words trailed off.

The lights in the living room suddenly felt too bright, and the stack of glasses on the table felt out of place. Zhou Lin noticed many things that were different from the norm but chose to suppress them deep in her heart.

Sun Yuqing continued walking a comical, winding “straight line” in Shen Qingzi’s frame, eventually bringing the peacefully sleeping Zuo Yin into the shot. Zuo Yin hadn’t done anything out of line like her previous drunken encounter in the bar; she had simply stayed slumped over the table.

Watching Zuo Yin’s sleeping back through the screen, Shen Qingzi felt she was just an ordinary nineteen-year-old girl after all. But seeing her thin frame rise and fall with each breath—sharp like a thin blade—made her heart ache.

Perhaps she’d had enough fun. The temporary excitement from the alcohol faded, and Sun Yuqing collapsed onto the tatami before reaching them. She brushed her hair out of her face and muttered, “Ah… Her Majesty is a bit weary… someone… help the Emperor back to the palace!”

Shen Qingzi stopped the recording and turned to Zhou Lin. “Let’s go.”

“Okay,” Zhou Lin nodded. She stepped past Sun Yuqing and headed toward Zuo Yin.

Just as Zhou Lin reached her and prepared to put an arm around her waist to lift her from the table, a shadow fell over them. A pair of hands reached out and took Zuo Yin first.

Shen Qingzi took Zuo Yin directly from Zhou Lin, leaning the girl against her own shoulder. “I’ll take her.”

…

Sun Yuqing (biting a handkerchief): Waaaaah, none of you love me! Am I just something to be stepped over?! I’m not a fire pit for good luck!