Zhou Wu had always found Wen Ci contradictory.
Throughout all three years of high school, she had behaved like a model student and an obedient child, yet she had approached him for a one-night stand.
At the time, Zhou Wu had thought appearances could be deceiving. Then, once they were in bed, he discovered it was her first time.
At the beginning, she had been in so much pain that sweat appeared on her forehead, yet she made no sound.
Later, when pleasure flushed her cheeks and the skin beneath her eyes red, she still made no sound.
Today, she was dressed so innocently, her soft hair resting over her shoulders. She drank only tiny sips of alcohol, became frightened by the speakers and watched other people play dice with wide, round eyes as though she were attending a lesson.
Yet she had also messaged him asking him to come out and kiss her.
Using the same voice and tone she normally used to say “all right” and “sorry”, she had breathed beside his ear and asked whether he had been a virgin.
It was common for people to become someone else after drinking.
What was strange was that Zhou Wu did not think Wen Ci seemed very different from usual.
She merely spoke a little more and became slightly braver.
She was still the same person.
She was obedient while sober.
She had been obedient while drunkenly asking whether they could become friends with benefits.
And now, after being kissed until she lacked oxygen and touched until she trembled, she was still obedient.
Zhou Wu did not know why she had suddenly asked that question.
His Adam’s apple moved.
He had also been drinking, and his voice was slightly hoarse.
“Was it uncomfortable that time?”
“It felt good.”
Wen Ci asked, “So was it?”
“Mm.”
Zhou Wu gave a brief answer.
Then he felt Wen Ci react even more noticeably, tiny goosebumps rising across her delicate skin.
“What’s going on?”
Noticing something was wrong, Zhou Wu wrapped one arm around her waist while the fingers of his other hand moved soothingly.
After a pause, he asked uncertainly, “Are you excited because you were my first?”
“Mm.”
Wen Ci’s voice was faint.
Remembering the things Dou Yiqing had said while insulting that blogger, she felt that her reaction might be rather inappropriate.
“I’m sorry.”
“…”
Why was she apologising?
Besides, what was so precious about a man’s first time?
That alone was enough to excite her?
Zhou Wu considered it lazily as his heartbeat gradually quickened.
His phone, which he had removed from his jeans and tossed onto the sofa the moment they entered the private room because it felt uncomfortable in his pocket, lit up again.
Zhou Wu glanced towards it.
The caller was Xiang Wenwen.
“Stop getting excited.”
He reached out and straightened Wen Ci’s face where it rested against his shoulder.
Zhou Wu had raised the high stool beneath her to its maximum height, allowing her to sit almost level with him.
He looked down at her and spoke casually.
Although he had no intention of letting her leave, he deliberately said, “Xiang Wenwen says he’ll drive you home.”
Wen Ci gazed at him with unfocused eyes.
“Zhou Wu can take me home.”
She had drunk far too much during Truth or Dare.
She was also honest and had emptied every glass completely.
By now, she was utterly drunk.
“Is Zhou Wu your driver?”
Zhou Wu began settling old scores in a cold, indifferent voice.
“He collects you after you climb through a window, drives you here and still has to take you home.”
“If you wanted to sit with Xiang Wenwen so badly, why didn’t you ask him to collect you?”
“I’m happy when I sit with you.”
Wen Ci leaned closer and rubbed her nose against his like a cat.
Her answer had nothing to do with his question.
“…We always sat very far apart before.”
Zhou Wu paused.
“Before?”
Wen Ci murmured, “Mm… You were too tall. You always sat in the final row.”
Zhou Wu realised she was talking about high school.
That reminded him of another matter requiring an explanation.
He caught her chin and moved her slightly away.
“Wen Ci, you were supposed to be a good student. Yet you already had a secret crush during your first year of high school?”
Wen Ci admitted her mistake.
“I’m sorry.”
“…”
Zhou Wu asked coldly, “What did he do to make you fall for him?”
Wen Ci tried to remember.
“He helped me carry my books.”
That was all?
Zhou Wu scoffed.
After a moment, he realised something was wrong.
“Wen Ci, Xiang Wenwen transferred into our school. He wasn’t there at the beginning of our first year.”
His tone was cold.
“Qin Yun and I were the ones who carried the books.”
Wen Ci nodded.
She knew.
At the time, she had been responsible for following them and signing for the textbooks.
All the other students had carried stacks of books, so naturally Wen Ci had taken some too.
She had developed late and had been extremely small and thin during her first year of high school.
Someone could easily have mistaken her for a first-year middle-school student.
Even that small stack of textbooks had looked like a mountain in her arms.
Zhou Wu had been walking through the corridor with several other boys, brazenly insulting their new form teacher, Old Yu.
Although they were all only first-year students, Zhou Wu had already been very tall, standing out among the other boys.
His teenage frame was lean and long, and his broad shoulders filled out his school uniform.
While talking and laughing, he passed Wen Ci.
He had glanced at her carelessly, a reckless smile still on his face.
Wen Ci had been so startled that she stopped walking.
Before she could react, he had already withdrawn his gaze.
Along with it, he had taken the textbooks from her arms.
Zhou Wu assumed her memories had become confused and that she had mistaken him for Xiang Wenwen.
He frowned and was about to release her when Wen Ci suddenly leaned forwards and kissed his chin.
“Zhou Wu, you looked so handsome in your school uniform.”
Zhou Wu:
“…”
What sort of drunken nonsense was this?
His brows unconsciously relaxed.
He said lazily, “Stop trying to fool me.”
Before he could finish, Wen Ci extended the tip of her tongue and licked his lips.
“…You looked handsome while playing basketball too,” she said unclearly.
“…”
While telling himself not to fall for the words of a drunk woman, Zhou Wu dragged out his voice and asked, “What else?”
Faint light entered through the glass panel in the middle of the private-room door and blurred across Zhou Wu’s face.
The shifting light outlined the straight, smooth bridge of his nose.
A faint drunkenness rested within the eyes looking down at her.
Wen Ci stared at him, dazed and captivated.
“And now,” she answered.
…
It was inconvenient inside a nightclub private room, and they could not wait for a designated driver.
Zhou Wu took her to a hotel next door to Blue Note and booked a room.
It was close enough that, even after entering, they could still faintly sense the movement from the bar.
Wen Ci lay on the bed kissing Zhou Wu.
He held her face with an almost forceful grip.
She had no right to close her mouth.
She could only keep raising her head and swallowing, making indistinct, suggestive noises that blended with the dense sounds of sucking.
Zhou Wu stood to retrieve a c*ndom from the bedside table, but Wen Ci caught his fingers.
“There’s one in the pocket of my jeans.”
“Ms Wen, you carry c*ndoms around with you?”
Wen Ci nodded.
“I always bring one when I’m meeting you.”
“…”
They had both been drinking, and their bodies were hot.
The taste of alcohol lingered between their lips and teeth.
Wen Ci reacted especially strongly that night.
Zhou Wu placed his fingers in her mouth and dragged them twice along her teeth.
“We aren’t at home tonight. Don’t be too loud.”
Everyone at Blue Note that evening was a friend.
After drinking too much, they often stayed overnight at this hotel.
There could easily be someone they knew in a nearby room.
Wen Ci held his fingers in her mouth, her cheeks bright red.
She spoke indistinctly.
“…All right. Sorry. It felt too good just now.”
“…”
By the time they finished, it was nearly two in the morning.
Wen Ci curled up on the bed, her pale back rising and falling sharply with every breath.
Zhou Wu stroked her back and called to her.
“Ms Wen.”
He had already felt that something was strange while they were in the private room.
During Qin Yun’s birthday party, Zhou Wu had assumed everything she said was drunken nonsense—meaningless words without any basis that could not be taken seriously.
But tonight, he discovered that Wen Ci did not actually lie much after becoming drunk.
Occasionally, she would say something that appeared disconnected from the conversation.
Yet after thinking carefully, there was always a reason behind it.
Wen Ci answered hoarsely, “Mm?”
“What is nineteen plus twenty-eight?”
Wen Ci remained silent for a very long time before answering, “Forty-seven.”
“Which student do you dislike the most?”
Without hesitation, Wen Ci said a name.
It sounded like a male student.
“Why?” Zhou Wu asked.
“He’s disruptive and likes bullying the girls.”
Wen Ci paused before adding quietly, “He’s very unpleasant.”
Zhou Wu nodded.
He had confirmed it.
Wen Ci genuinely did not lie after drinking.
On the contrary, she became extremely honest.
If he asked her these questions while she was sober, she might not answer at all.
Zhou Wu’s voice was lazy.
He placed a hand in her hair and slowly stroked her scalp as though they were merely chatting.
“Which season do you like?”
“Winter.”
“Dogs or cats?”
“I like Yeye.”
Wen Ci asked dazedly, apparently unable to tell where she was.
“Why isn’t Yeye at home today?”
Zhou Wu smiled.
“Lions or tigers?”
“…Neither.”
“Who is more handsome, Zhou Wu or Xiang Wenwen?”
“Zhou Wu.”
“Then who do you like, Zhou Wu or Xiang Wenwen?”
“Zhou Wu.”
Something seemed to scratch lightly at his heart, making it itch.
Zhou Wu swallowed and lowered his head to kiss her again.
He repeated, “Who do you like, Zhou Wu or Xiang Wenwen?”
“Zhou Wu.”
He asked several times.
The answer never changed.
She did not hesitate even once.
Zhou Wu changed the question.
“When did you start liking him?”
There was no answer.
Wen Ci had fallen asleep while he kissed her.
Beneath the faint bedside lamp, Wen Ci’s face was turned slightly to one side.
Her breathing was light and even, and she slept peacefully.
Zhou Wu raised his head.
In the strange mirrored panels decorating the headboard, he saw his own face.
The skin from his neck to his ears was red, as though Wen Ci had infected him.
His heart was also beating as rapidly as it did during s*x.
F*ck…
Zhou Wu released a long breath.
He raised one hand and traced the small, delicate bridge of Wen Ci’s nose with his finger.
“Wen Ci.”
After a long while, he smiled softly and sighed.
“That didn’t sound like a lie.”
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