His Addiction - Chapter 13

The alcohol was hitting Xu Zhi hard. Her reactions were noticeably slower. She stared at her phone for a full half-minute before answering the call.

She brought the phone to her ear. A slightly slurred voice called out, “Xiao Zhi Zi.” She responded instinctively, “Huh? What did you say?”

Liang Mushi clearly heard the noise on her end and raised his voice. “Where are you?”

“I…” Xu Zhi hesitated. “I’m at a bar.”

“What?!” Liang Mushi’s voice was laced with anxiety. “Why are you at a place like that? You never used to go. Who are you with? Which bar? I’ll come get you.”

Questions bombarded her like rapid-fire. Xu Zhi was dazed, her mind sluggish.

Everyone wanted to control her, to tell her what to do. Even Liang Mushi was the same.

He went to bars with his girlfriend, saying there were only so many places for young people to hang out. Now that she was at a bar, he disapproved.

“I…” She glanced at Liang Jinmo. “I’m with a friend. Don’t worry about me.”

“What friend?” Liang Mushi was worried. “Male or female? When did you meet them? Bars are complicated places. It’s dangerous for you to be there.”

Xu Zhi found him annoying, but also a little heartbreaking. His concern didn’t seem fake, which made it all the more cruel.

“Say something, Xiao Zhi Zi? Give me the address. I’ll come get you…” Liang Mushi’s voice slowed, as if he had suddenly remembered something. “Are… are you with the man you like?”

Xu Zhi was stunned for a moment. Before she could answer, Liang Mushi’s tone hardened. “Why are you drinking with a man you barely know? Do you even know what kind of person he is? I told you, most men aren’t good. You’re so easily tricked, you know…”

Xu Zhi gripped the phone tightly, interrupting him. “If I get tricked, it’s my own business. Mind your own business.”

Liang Mushi found her unreasonable. “Even if you’re throwing a tantrum, there’s a limit. You’re making yourself vulnerable to being taken advantage of by some random guy. Be good, give me the address.”

“I won’t,” Xu Zhi said, her nose stinging, wanting only to vent her frustration. “Even if I’m taken advantage of, it’s my own problem. Liang Mushi, stop trying to control me!”

After shouting, she hung up.

The surrounding music returned, buzzing in her ears.

Her phone vibrated again. It was Liang Mushi calling again. She hung up directly and turned off her phone.

Placing the phone on the table, she looked up and met Liang Jinmo’s gaze.

His dark eyes were deep and still as he watched her.

She pointed at her phone. “He’s the one who’s deceitful… He… he tricked me so badly…”

Liang Jinmo was silent for a few seconds. “You’re drunk.”

He had guessed she couldn’t hold her liquor, but he hadn’t realized it was this bad. She was clearly no longer sober.

Lost in her emotions, tears slipped down Xu Zhi’s cheeks. “Grandpa Liang said… we had a childhood engagement… that I would be the Liang family’s daughter-in-law someday… I believed him… He never denied it… Why didn’t he object?”

Liang Jinmo remained silent, taking a sip of his drink.

Xu Zhi wiped her tears haphazardly with the back of her hand. “But it’s okay. I just hung up on him. That’s the first time I’ve ever hung up on him like that.”

She considered it a form of revenge, though it was childish.

Liang Jinmo was still silent.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” She fought against the dizziness, staring at him. “You’re always like this… silent… You know… when you first arrived… I thought you were mute.”

There wasn’t much to say to a drunk person. Liang Jinmo didn’t intend to engage further. However, from the corner of his eye, he saw her take another large gulp of tequila. He couldn’t sit still any longer.

He moved to sit beside her and covered her glass. “Stop drinking.”

Xu Zhi’s mind was completely muddled, but her body was unusually sensitive. The man’s hand on hers was a foreign but not unpleasant warmth.

She turned to look at him. They held that position for a few seconds before Xu Zhi, without warning, leaned in and nuzzled her face against his neck, inhaling deeply.

Like a curious kitten.

He had a clean, woody scent, mixed with a faint smell of tobacco. It smelled good. Xu Zhi couldn’t help but lean in closer.

Liang Jinmo frowned, about to speak, when he felt her nose brush against his Adam’s apple as she lifted her head.

His body stiffened.

Completely oblivious, Xu Zhi inhaled again. Perhaps it was from exchanging too many ridiculous stickers with Yang Xue, but her hazy mind conjured up one of the lewd stickers Yang Xue, the fujoshi, had sent her. She blurted out the words on the sticker: “Brother, you smell so good.”

Liang Jinmo: “…”

If Xu Zhi had any awareness left, she would never have uttered such a shocking line. Even though he knew she was drunk, he was still speechless.

He tried to take the glass from her hand. “Stop drinking. I’ll take you back to school.”

“Don’t touch my drink!” Xu Zhi protested, clutching the glass tightly.

Liang Jinmo became forceful, reaching with his other hand to pry her fingers open.

In the struggle, the tequila sloshed out of the glass, spilling mostly onto Xu Zhi’s chest.

The bar was warm with the air conditioning and the crowd. They had taken off their coats shortly after arriving. Xu Zhi was wearing only a thin white shirt, now soaked with tequila.

Her senses were dulled. She stared blankly for a few seconds before murmuring, “The drink’s gone.”

This woman’s drunken behavior was truly something. Liang Jinmo snatched the empty glass and grabbed Xu Zhi’s down jacket, trying to wrap it around her.

“It’s hot! I don’t want to wear it!”

Xu Zhi started struggling like a child.

Liang Jinmo’s head throbbed. He had never dealt with a situation like this.

Just then, Zhou He returned. Seeing the scene, he was taken aback. “What’s going on?”

Liang Jinmo glared at him. “She’s never drunk before. You shouldn’t have brought her to a bar.”

A chill ran down Zhou He’s spine. Liang Jinmo’s gaze could be intimidating.

“She’s already drunk? After just a few sips?” Zhou He couldn’t comprehend it. “Her tolerance is terrible. She said she could handle tequila. I didn’t force her to drink it…”

He felt wrongly accused. He put down his drink and sat down. “Are you taking her back to school?”

Liang Jinmo didn’t answer. He was preoccupied. He tried to put the jacket on Xu Zhi for the third time, and she pulled it off again.

“I’ll help you,” Zhou He offered kindly.

Liang Jinmo blocked his hand. “No need.”

Zhou He paused, looking at him.

Liang Jinmo’s attention was entirely on Xu Zhi. He frowned, looking down at her, his voice softening. “Be good.”

Xu Zhi met his gaze. Drunk, she was unusually honest. “I don’t want to be good.”