One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

36

Shi Yi smiled, "It was your first time seeing him. It's okay."

She knew the way she was defending Zhousheng Chen was a little overprotective and had not left much face for her friend.

But she simply could not watch him have to suffer even the tiniest bit through anything. Even if it was just a small furrowing of his brows or slight hesitation in something, she did not want to see it.

Shi Yi now reached to drink some tea, trying to suppress that uncomfortable taste of alcohol.

Something warm came and covered her hand that had been resting on the edge of her chair. Zhousheng Chen held that hand in his own as she turned her head to look at him. She could feel he was enveloping her hand into his palm.

He was not someone who could comfortably display his private feelings in front of outsiders.

As a result, Shi Yi merely smiled at him to indicate that he did not need to say anything, that she understood. What he wanted to say, she knew already.

He blamed her somewhat but also blamed himself. He was upset she had suddenly consumed the liquor and he had not been fast enough to stop her from doing it. Now, the look in his eyes was rather stern. Shi Yi lowered her head and smiled before turning away so that she was no longer looking at him. Out of the blue, she wondered, if something went wrong in the laboratory, would Zhousheng Chen have this same expression on his face?

Shi Yi truly did not have even the slightest alcohol tolerance.

When they left the small building where their restaurant had been, her face was already slightly red, and she could not seem to reign in her smiling expression. So this was the reason why people liked to have a few drinks during happy occasions?

She brought him to listen to pingtan. Because the contest staff, participants, and media had already left that afternoon, there were only a few random visitors who were being hosted and entertained for various reasons for free by the officials of the scenic district.

On the stage, pingtan rang out while down below, there were row after row of benches that were basically empty.

They were sitting in the northwest corner of the theatre. In the beginning, she had simply leaned herself against his shoulder, but later, using the little bit of tipsiness caused by the alcohol as justification, she slowly slid down until she was lying on his thighs. She lay there like this, her head tilted to gaze up at him. She would never tire of looking at him.

Her eyes were fixated on Zhousheng Chen for quite some time, and so, he eventually placed his arms on the back of the bench in front of him. Resting his forehead on his arms, he looked down at her.

Or rather it could be said, he allowed her to look up at him even more freely and to her heart's content.

He was wearing a plain black polo shirt. His face had been shaved clean. Very clean.

Perhaps because he spent all of his time in a laboratory and everything he came in contact with or did had only to do with research, he did not look at all like a man who was nearing thirty years old. At most, he looked like a graduate student in his twenties.

Shi Yi reached up with her hand and rubbed his chin. "This morning, there was still some... um, newly grown stubble."

Zhousheng Chen smiled at her. "Did it scratch you this morning?"

His voice was very mild as he asked this, but her mind sprang to other images. The flush in her cheeks deepened, and she mumbled, "I'm not going to talk to you about that."

The alcohol's influence amplified all the emotions that were rolling like waves in her heart.

Her hand stroked his cheek as she said quietly, "I remember, there is one book that has a really well-written line in it."