TT Chapter 8. Drunk

By the end of the meal, Chen Ting felt that his relationship with Pei Yiyao had made great progress. The only thing he could not understand was why the girls at the diagonally opposite table kept looking at him with such mournful eyes.

Could it be… they actually liked Pei Yiyao?

Chen Ting shook his head. He really could not figure it out.

On the way back, he brought up the interview request. As expected, Pei Yiyao turned it down. But Chen Ting had only been passing along the message, so he simply nodded and said nothing more.

Pei Yiyao asked, “Do you have any connection with the campus press?”

Chen Ting looked up, confused. “No. My roommate Yang Shulin is in the press group, though. But we don’t really get involved in each other’s stuff.”

“Then I won’t do it,” Pei Yiyao said.

“Oh…” Chen Ting suddenly paused. Did that mean he only refused because of him? Maybe the aloof freshman wasn’t so cold after all. Maybe he was just warm on the inside.

That same warm-on-the-inside freshman even walked Chen Ting all the way back to his dorm, simply because it was on the way.

“I’m off.”

Chen Ting watched his back, muttering as he pulled out his phone to call his mom. Her name was Chen Su. Since his father had married into her family, Chen Ting had taken her surname.

His mother clearly had a bit too much to drink. After the usual questions “Is our Ting Ting doing well at school?,” she went on to remind him to be nice to Pei Yiyao.

“Yao Yao just got back to the country. There’s a lot he won’t understand. You’re the gege… you need to look after him…”

“Oh, our Ting Ting is a big gege now… but your hair still sticks up in the same spot…”

After a long effort coaxing his drunk mother into hanging up, Chen Ting returned to the dorm, only to be immediately “interrogated” by Yang Shulin, Bai Yu, and Jiang Hai.

Jiang Hai waved a clothes hanger like a weapon. “Come on, confess. When did you start secretly working with the enemy?”

Chen Ting thought for a moment. “Uh… before I was born?”

Jiang Hai looked stricken. “So it was a wretched twist of fate all along.”

Bai Yu nodded solemnly. But Yang Shulin was more curious about where Chen Ting and Pei Yiyao had gone to eat. His interest flared as he fired off question after question, and even pulled out the photos he had taken at the swimming hall to share with his roommates.

“Look at this! Pure skill. I even caught a water droplet in midair!” Yang Shulin was clearly proud of himself. In the end, he insisted on sending the pictures to Chen Ting. His reason being that Chen Ting and Pei Yiyao were friends now.

Chen Ting didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh.

The next morning, it was time for Chen Ting’s 50-meter and 100-meter finals. A lot of his classmates showed up, and even more came just to join the crowd. He even heard someone wondering aloud whether Pei Yiyao might show up.

Of course, Pei Yiyao did not appear. But Chen Ting did spot that long-legged girl who had confessed to him. She was waiting for him at the finish line and caught him on the spot.

Sensing that Chen Ting seemed a little uneasy, she handed him a bottle of mineral water and gave him a bright smile. “Don’t worry about it, senior. I’m really just here to cheer you on today.”

“Thanks.” Chen Ting caught his breath but didn’t take the water. Yang Shulin, quick on the uptake, handed over a thermos and laughed it off, smoothly brushing past the moment.

The girl’s name was Ren Yao. She looked a little disappointed, but that expression quickly vanished. Her large eyes blinked brightly as she looked at Chen Ting with anticipation. “I really do want to be friends with you. Our band happens to be looking for a drummer, someone just like you. Would you be interested?”

“A band?” Chen Ting looked surprised.

“Yeah!” The moment the band came up, Ren Yao’s eyes lit up. “A few of us freshmen put it together ourselves. We’re registered under the pop music club, already got a practice room approved. Everything’s ready. We’re just missing the last piece!”

“But I really only know the basics, and I’m not interested in joining a band. So I’m sorry. I can’t.”

Chen Ting was still smiling, but his refusal was firm. Ren Yao looked like she wanted to persuade him again, but Yang Shulin knew exactly how things stood. Chen Ting might look easygoing and agreeable, but he wasn’t someone who could be swayed just because someone said something nice or shed a few tears.

Ting Ting’s heart did not waver in the slightest.

“Ting Ting, look! The final group just finished. The results are coming out!” Yang Shulin jumped in at the perfect moment, grabbing Chen Ting and taking off at a run.

The two of them dashed through the crowd and disappeared within seconds. When they finally stopped, both were breathless. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Yang Shulin shook his head. “Now I finally understand why neither of us has a girlfriend. A girl comes up to us, and we run away. We totally deserve it.”

Chen Ting nodded. “Fair point.”

Just then, the final results were announced. Chen Ting had come in first in the 50-meter and third in the 100-meter. After the morning’s finals, his final event, shot put, began in the afternoon.

Since there were fewer participants in shot put, preliminaries and finals were held together. Under the watchful eyes of Yang Shulin, Juan ge, and the rest, Chen Ting burned through his last reserves of strength and managed to take second place.

With that, all his events were done. The only thing he wasn’t too happy about was the announcer saying, “Small body, big power.”

At that moment, Pei Yiyao had just wrapped up his swimming events. When he heard the comment on the broadcast, he immediately thought of Chen Ting. After a brief pause, he pulled out his phone and sent a message.

Pei Yiyao: Congratulations.

After seeing the message, Chen Ting turned to Yang Shulin and asked about Pei Yiyao’s results. Pei Yiyao had won first place by a landslide. They said the runner-up had been left so far behind he might as well have drowned in shame in the pool.

“You didn’t see it yourself, but that physique, that stride, that speed, it was unreal. If we could turn that into a proper feature, our press group would finally take off. I mean it. We’d be the headline.”

Yang Shulin had not seen the race in person either, but one of his friends had sent over a front-row video. He treated it like a national treasure, holding his phone out for Chen Ting to watch, all the while tapping different parts of Pei Yiyao’s frame on screen like an overly invested analyst.

Chen Ting thought the whole thing seemed a little too gay and politely declined the offer to have the video sent to him. He already had half a visual burned into his mind. Why would he want to keep a clip of someone half-naked? That just felt off.

Still, Pei Yiyao seemed like a genuinely decent person. Chen Ting had looked through his social feed out of curiosity and found it completely empty. Not a single update, not even a photo. That kind of quiet made him feel like they were the same type of person. As the saying went, real friendships stayed calm and clear. What they had now was just right. They kept a bit of distance, ate together once in a while, exchanged a message here or there. It was perfect

He quickly replied:

Donghu Crab King: Congrats to you too. [applause.jpg]

Pei Yiyao didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. Neither of them were the type to say more than necessary. The message had been sent, the sentiment received. That was enough.

From that point until the end of the sports meet, Chen Ting never saw Pei Yiyao again. Pei Yiyao had only participated in the swimming events, and once those were over, he disappeared completely.

Yang Shulin had managed to take first place in the tire-rolling race, a victory that catapulted Class 423 into first place overall in the department rankings, and avenged the humiliation they had suffered under the neighboring class the year before.

Lin Juan laughed heartily three times on the spot and, with a grand gesture, declared that they would be having a class dinner to celebrate. Naturally, everyone welcomed the idea with open arms. The only issue was that the day after the competition was Monday, which meant early classes. So the dinner was postponed to Friday night.

Friday turned out to be a perfect day. The weather was clear, the temperature was comfortable, and classes ended early.

Pei Yiyao stepped out of a professor’s office, arms full of academic reports. He checked the time on his watch, then glanced up at the clear sky. After a brief pause, he finally decided to head out and return the motorcycle.

The heavy bike had been sitting in the campus parking lot for almost half a month. If he didn’t return it soon, the owner might just storm onto campus and hang himself from a tree.

As he drove out of the campus gates, Pei Yiyao happened to see Chen Ting, someone he hadn’t run into for days. Chen Ting stood among a large group of classmates at the gate, clearly waiting for a ride. His curly hair made him especially easy to spot.

Chen Ting noticed him too. A motorcycle that loud and that flashy was impossible to ignore. But Pei Yiyao was going fast, so all they managed was a brief glance in passing.

“So cool… If I could own a bike like that one day…” the guys murmured with envy.

Chen Ting nodded. It was cool, but the price was even cooler. What he did not yet realize was that just three hours later, he would run into Pei Yiyao again.

Or rather, it would be a sober Pei Yiyao who encountered a thoroughly drunk Chen Ting.

In a commercial district about a thirty-minute drive from N University, Pei Yiyao had just said goodbye to a few friends and was about to call a ride back to campus. As he turned his head, he suddenly noticed someone crouched beneath the streetlamp across the road. That familiar bunny-like silhouette, paired with a head of unmistakable curls, made him stop in his tracks.

A few seconds later, he crossed the road in long strides and came to a stop in front of Chen Ting.

Chen Ting was curled up with his knees to his chest, as if he had fallen asleep.

“Pei—Pei Yiyao?” someone gasped behind him.

Pei Yiyao turned and saw that it was Yang Shulin, one of Chen Ting’s roommates. He frowned slightly and asked, “What happened to him?”

Yang Shulin looked strangely guilty. “Ting Ting got drunk… seriously. I don’t even know how it happened. He only had a few bottles of RIO.”

Pei Yiyao said nothing at first. Just then, Chen Ting seemed to stir from the noise. He swayed as he tried to stand, but lost his balance and pitched forward.

Pei Yiyao instinctively reached out and caught him, pulling him directly into his arms.

Chen Ting’s forehead bumped into Pei Yiyao’s chest. It must have hurt a little, because he looked up, eyes half-squinting. Their gazes met at close range, so close it felt like they could catch the scent of each other.

It was the sweetness of fruit liquor mixed with the chill of night wind.

“Hmm.” Chen Ting seemed to notice something. The next second, he suddenly leaned forward again and buried his face against Pei Yiyao’s chest, staying there without moving.

“Yang Shulin! Ting Ting! The car’s here, come on!” Lin Juan came running over from a distance, breathless from the sprint. She froze when she saw Pei Yiyao, then turned to Yang Shulin with a questioning look.

Yang Shulin looked just as bewildered.

Then Pei Yiyao said, “I’ll take him back.”

“But…” Lin Juan frowned.

“I’ll do it. We’re from the same dorm. We were going to head back together anyway.” Yang Shulin still didn’t feel at ease letting Chen Ting go with someone else. He stepped forward to pull him away, only to discover—

He couldn’t move him at all.

My Ting Ting.

Latching onto a guy and refusing to let go.

Yang Shulin was crushed. It felt like the little cabbage he had raised with care had just been snatched away by a pig. But there was nothing he could do. Chen Ting was drunk and couldn’t be reasoned with at all. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the pig carried the cabbage into the taxi and rode off into the night.

To make matters worse, that taxi had been the one Yang Shulin called. Furious, he immediately posted a story to his Moments.

YSL: #Tragic2018#

Meanwhile, Pei Yiyao glanced down at the person clinging tightly to him, frowning slightly but never pushing him away. Chen Ting didn’t smell bad, and his round, puffy face was the kind that was hard to dislike. Even now, leaning into his chest, mouth slightly open in sleep, he didn’t look the least bit annoying.

It was only then that Pei Yiyao realized just how small Chen Ting really was.

Small enough to fit perfectly in his arms.

The car turned a corner, and Chen Ting’s body shifted with the movement. He seemed uncomfortable, his brows furrowing in his sleep.

Pei Yiyao watched the expression linger, then quietly said, “Sir, could you drive a little slower?”

The taxi driver had been holding back his curiosity ever since the two young men got in and stayed tangled together in silence. Now that one of them had finally spoken, he seized the opportunity and launched into conversation with a cheerful grin.

“Don’t worry, my driving’s steady as they come. Around here in N City, I’m one of the best. Ask around, seriously—ask around! People will tell you I—”

Just as he was about to start bragging, a sudden sob cut him off.

Chen Ting, brow furrowed, had burst into tears without warning.

The driver wasn’t the only one startled.

Pei Yiyao stared at Chen Ting’s tear-streaked face. The boy’s sudden turn from sound asleep to sobbing like a pear-blossom bathed in rain left him completely at a loss. Several seconds passed before he managed to ask, stiffly and uncertainly, “What’s… wrong?”

“Wuwuwuwu…”

“I…”

“Wuwuwuwu…”

The more Chen Ting cried, the sadder he became, his breath catching in hiccuping gasps between sobs. The driver was so spooked he didn’t dare make a sound.

After the initial shock passed, Pei Yiyao found himself unexpectedly moved. Something about Chen Ting’s expression stirred a strange ache in his chest. He looked completely pitiful, his eyes rimmed red, his cheeks flushed even deeper than usual, and both hands clutching Pei Yiyao’s shoulders as if he were the only thing in the world he could hold on to.

“Don’t be afraid.” Pei Yiyao moved his rigid hands and gently patted Chen Ting’s back. The motion was unfamiliar, a little clumsy, but careful all the same.

To his surprise, it actually worked. Chen Ting’s sobs gradually quieted down, though his voice grew even more aggrieved, trembling with a kind of helpless accusation.

“Wuwuwu… why did you have to hit Ting Ting… why did you hit Ting Ting…”

Pei Yiyao froze.

So did the driver.

It took a full thirty seconds for Pei Yiyao to realize what he meant.

The driver had just said “ask around” twice (dǎ tīng dǎ tīng) but in Chen Ting’s drunken ears, it sounded like dǎ Tīngting (hit Ting Ting). No wonder he was so upset.