Long Time No See (GL) - Chapter 25
A stream of slightly warm air, mixed with the smell of alcohol, seeped into Yun Shu’s nostrils. Gu Weiran’s fair complexion was tinged with a blush, like white clouds in the sky brushed with vibrant red, creating a hazy beauty from her eyebrows to her eyes.
The alcohol stimulated every nerve, thoroughly igniting her cells. She tried hard to balance her swaying body.
Yun Shu raised a gentle and charming smile, about to reach out and embrace her, but then, Gu Weiran’s thin lips slightly parted, slowly moving closer to her.
“I…” Gu Weiran’s intoxicated eyes fell on Yun Shu’s lips. Her body involuntarily leaned forward. Their lips were close, separated by mere inches, causing Yun Shu’s nerves to tense up, making her forget to step away.
A vague ambiguity permeated the air, and a strange yearning emerged deep within Yun Shu’s heart.
“Weiran…”
“So dizzy…” Gu Weiran weakly uttered two words, then tumbled and fell into Yun Shu’s arms.
Yun Shu, unable to fully bear the weight, took a step back as if being tackled by her and was pressed against the wall. Gu Weiran wrapped her arms around Yun Shu’s waist, burying her face in the crook of her neck.
Her breathing carried a scorching heat, which sent a tingling sensation through Yun Shu.
Yun Shu’s hands hovered in the air, unsure what to do. Pushing her away felt cruel; not pushing her away made the embrace intimately crossing a line.
Gu Weiran’s head grew heavier. As it drooped, it accidentally touched that soft area. Feeling comfortable resting there, she couldn’t help but rub against it a few more times.
“You really are…” Yun Shu awkwardly supported her. Looking up into the mirror, she noticed herself flushed as if by a red tide, her cheeks crimson.
Gu Weiran was like a quiet kitten, nestled in Yun Shu’s arms.
She had lived alone for many years and had never been this close to anyone. It felt as if a drifting duckweed had found an anchor point, an isolated boat had found the shore. Her drifting, empty heart was slowly being filled.
It was a feeling of having support and being needed.
The long-lost feeling warmed her heart. The years were so long; could her heart truly come alive again?
“I, want, to, go, home.” Gu Weiran subconsciously mumbled a phrase, pulling Yun Shu’s thoughts back. “Okay, let’s go home.” She bent down and turned around, letting Gu Weiran lie directly on her back.
A person who is dead drunk is heavier than usual. Yun Shu struggled to carry her on her back and walked towards the parking lot. During this time, the driver and waiters offered to help, but were all declined.
The rainy night, under the street neon lights, had a dreamlike beauty. The pattering raindrops hit the car window, softly and persistently pressing down on Yun Shu’s heart, stirring up a deep-seated sadness.
The night of the heavy rain took Teacher Lin’s life. Since then, she hated rain, hated this deep, desolate rainy night. Life constantly reminded her that she was an abandoned and despised person.
Her biological father dared not acknowledge her, her mother left her without a word, her dearest teacher had passed away, and Weiran, whom she had lived with day and night, resented her.
As unbearable as life was, that’s how hopeless it felt.
Everything about her was so dark that she never dared to dream of happiness.
Until her reunion with Gu Weiran.
Gazing at the person lying on her lap, Yun Shu smiled knowingly, feeling much more at ease with Weiran around.
She gently cupped Gu Weiran’s face with her palm, unable to resist lightly stroking it with her fingertip. Gu Weiran felt something on her face, grabbed at it, and continued to sleep.
Yun Shu bowed her head, covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.
The driver, A Jie, looked through the rearview mirror and was surprised to see this unusual side of her.
“Miss Yun, you didn’t drink too much, did you?” He thought Yun Shu was behaving this way because she was drunk.
“No, someone was blocking drinks for me today.” Yun Shu’s smile didn’t fade. Her finger became a cat teasing stick, extending out and retracting.
Gu Weiran occasionally chased it away with her hand like shooing a mosquito, which greatly amused Yun Shu.
This was the first time A Jie had seen Yun Shu like this. Whenever he drove her, she was always serious, burdened with heavy thoughts, wearing a faint melancholy, which was even more pronounced on rainy days.
Yun Shu didn’t like listening to music or talking in the car. The time spent on the road was always spent immersed in her own world, allowing no one to approach.
As the driver and bodyguard sent by the Chairman, A Jie knew his duty and place and was usually silent.
Seeing her smile so happily today made A Jie happier than anyone.
“I wish Miss Yun could be this happy every day.”
Yun Shu didn’t look up, answering faintly: “Hope so.”
“By the way, Miss Yun, Miss Ming is back in the country. She might come to find you in a couple of days.”
“Got it.”
Yun Shu’s cold distance prevented A Jie from continuing the conversation. He really wanted to talk more with her, even tell her a few jokes, but had to swallow it all back in the end.
He was just a driver and bodyguard, a person humble to the dust. What right did he have to care about her, who was on the clouds?
Yun Shu was wary of A Jie, feeling that although he respected her on the surface, he was actually Ming Shangdong’s eyes. Whether out of concern or other motives, she didn’t like being watched.
She thought A Jie’s gaze was surveillance, but little did she know it was actually admiration.
With A Jie’s help, Yun Shu managed to get the unconscious Gu Weiran back home. As soon as she lay down on the bed, she vomited all over the floor.
“I can drink a thousand cups and not get drunk. No one can take me down.” Gu Weiran shouted, then collapsed again.
Yun Shu pressed her hand to her forehead, sighing in exhaustion, and cleaned up the vomit on the floor again and again.
“Cough! Cough!” Gu Weiran coughed a few times while tossing and turning. Yun Shu thought it was caused by the vomiting and didn’t pay much attention.
She struggled to help Gu Weiran take off her outerwear, and her hand accidentally touched her skin, feeling something was wrong.
A little hot? Yun Shu pressed her head against Gu Weiran’s forehead. The slight warmth startled her.
She wasn’t running a fever again, was she? She quickly found the thermometer and tested her: 37.9.
A low fever, even more difficult to manage.
Yun Shu remembered that Gu Weiran was sickly when she was little, often running a fever and needing IV drips. When it didn’t reach 38 degrees, they used physical cooling. At that time, Teacher Lin would stay up all night giving her sponge baths with warm water.
She could only try that first.
She helped Gu Weiran remove all her clothes and covered her with a blanket.
During the sponge bath, Yun Shu deliberately avoided sensitive areas, focusing only on the neck and armpits. However, because she was hot, Gu Weiran used her hand to push aside the blanket covering her, exposing her plump, pale chest.
At this moment, Gu Weiran was like a blooming peach blossom, flushed with redness. Yun Shu lost her composure for a moment, and her hand instinctively moved away. Gu Weiran, however, flipped over, hugging Yun Shu’s hand to her chest, and her long legs were also exposed.
Yun Shu felt her hand enveloped in softness. Her face suddenly turned red, and a sense of inexplicable shame washed over her.
She hadn’t done anything, yet it felt like she had.
Weiran was unconscious, but she was not.
Weiran had grown up. They couldn’t be as reckless as they were when they were children, and she shouldn’t develop that strange feeling—like a feather tickling her heart, lightly itchy and hard to bear.
Yun Shu tried to pull her hand back, but Gu Weiran started tossing and turning. “So uncomfortable…”
“Weiran? What’s wrong?”
“Uncomfortable, Yun Shu, I’m uncomfortable.” She softly called Yun Shu’s name, but she was still unconscious.
“I’m here, I’m here.” Seeing her about to vomit again, Yun Shu quickly grabbed the trash can. Gu Weiran started dry heaving; there was nothing left to throw up, only sour liquid and bile came out.
Yun Shu’s heart was gripped with pain. Seeing Gu Weiran’s temperature rising, she started searching for fever-reducing medicine, rushing back and forth.
Gu Weiran went through several cycles, her temperature fluctuating. Yun Shu stayed up all night. It finally stabilized at five in the morning.
Looking at the quietly sleeping Gu Weiran, Yun Shu collapsed onto the floor, exhausted.
Gu Weiran was sleeping on her side. To prevent her from feeling nauseous again, Yun Shu leaned against the bed, holding her hand, and fell asleep.
In her sleep, Gu Weiran curled her fingers, and their hands naturally interlaced.
It was a night full of dreams. Gu Weiran felt as if she were floating in heaven, sometimes feeling pain, sometimes feeling warmth. She couldn’t remember anything, only that Yun Shu had appeared in her dream. Their fingers were intertwined, and she almost kissed Yun Shu.
Sure enough, that dream she had before was not made out of thin air; she had long harbored a delusion.
Gu Weiran sat up with a splitting headache. The room light was dim. She thought it was still dark outside. She picked up her phone and saw it was nine o’clock!
Damn, she was going to be late!
She leaped out of the bed, then suddenly felt a chill. She realized she was almost completely naked??
Who took off her clothes?? She quickly dove back under the covers, trying hard to recall last night, but it was a complete blackout.
Who brought her back? Yun Shu?
After a lot of struggle, she got dressed, quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face, planning to rush to the company before the ten o’clock regular meeting. As she walked into the living room, she saw Yun Shu walking out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl of hot white congee.
“Have breakfast.” Yun Shu was wearing loungewear, her hair casually tied up with a hair tie, looking dignified and elegant.
Gu Weiran stared at her blankly. “Not going to work?”
“I took the day off. Stay home and rest well today.” She looked very tired, but her smiling eyes were still gentle as water.
She was relieved to see Gu Weiran looking lively again, but did her eyes look a little odd?
“Why are you staring at me? Did I forgive you?” Gu Weiran sat down at the table, still angry about being scolded yesterday.
“Aren’t we even now?”
“When?”
An apology via text message was insincere. Yun Shu should sincerely do something to make her happy; it would be too much of a loss to forgive her so easily.
Yun Shu narrowed her eyes: “It seems you had a blackout.”
“No, I just don’t remember clearly.” Gu Weiran didn’t want to fall into Yun Shu’s language trap. What if she was tricking her?
She lowered her head to drink the congee, feeling weak all over, and her stomach was a bit uncomfortable. A hangover truly took its toll.
“Last night, I asked you to forgive me, and you said…”
“What did I say?” Gu Weiran was afraid she had said something embarrassing. The unknown of a blackout was terrifying.
“You said… if I gave you a hug, you would forgive me.”
Gu Weiran nearly spat out the congee she had just drunk. “How is that possible? How could I say something so pretentious?” She vehemently denied it. Was she that tasteless when drunk?
“Oh, you won’t admit it? It’s fine. I was prepared for this move. I recorded it. How about I play it for you?” Yun Shu pretended to reach for her phone. Gu Weiran quickly waved her hands: “No, no, no. I admit it, I admit it.”
She thought Yun Shu had actually recorded it. Wouldn’t it be too embarrassing if she heard her own voice cutely asking for a hug with no self-respect?
Yun Shu smiled with a hint of amusement, raising an eyebrow: “So, we’re even.”
“Wait!” Gu Weiran unconsciously tugged at her clothes. “That… last night, did I… say anything else, or do anything? Like my…” She stammered, pointing to her clothes, too embarrassed to speak.
“I took off your clothes. Is there anything else you want to know?”
Indeed… she wondered if she had done anything else humiliating.
Gu Weiran mumbled, “Then… did I… not cause you any trouble?”
“You were just a bit heavy, hard to carry, but other than that, you were fine.” Yun Shu calmly took a sip of milk. Gu Weiran frowned: “I only weigh 92 pounds. Where am I heavy?”
“When you’re drunk, you’re like 192.”
Gu Weiran was speechless. She rubbed her eyes. She didn’t know if it was because of all the tears from yesterday or the alcohol, but her eyelids felt too heavy to lift.
“Did you cry yesterday?”
“No! How could I cry?!”
“Then why are your eyes swollen?”
“How should I know? Didn’t sleep well, I guess.” Gu Weiran lowered her head guiltily. Yun Shu put away her smile. “Is there anything else uncomfortable?”
“Everything is uncomfortable.”
“There’s a medicine box in the study with stomach medicine, fever medicine, and eye drops. You can eat the congee in the thermos pot when you’re hungry. You are not to go anywhere today, and don’t eat indiscriminately. Stay home, and call me if you feel unwell.” Yun Shu instructed her and started getting ready to go out.
“Didn’t you say you took the day off?” She actually thought Yun Shu planned to stay home and accompany her all day!
“Well, there are other things to do.” Yun Shu smiled and walked into the makeup room. Gu Weiran followed her. “A date?”
“Meeting someone important.”
“Then take me with you.”
Yun Shu raised her eyes, not saying anything.
“You were the one who said it originally, that I should be your assistant, accompany you at work, accompany you on business trips, and live with you. So you should take me wherever you go. I plan to be an octopus and stick to you all the time.” Gu Weiran’s consciousness was fully awakened after the hangover. She wanted to get close to Yun Shu and also wanted to properly understand the things she hadn’t touched before.
She didn’t want to back down anymore.
“Are you still drunk or something?” Yun Shu felt Gu Weiran was talking nonsense.
Gu Weiran’s eyes dimmed, and she said disappointedly: “You’ll leave in seventy-two days. We have one less day together every day that passes.”
Yun Shu slowly stopped applying lipstick. Her gentle eyes turned to Gu Weiran, teasing: “You remember so clearly. Are you reluctant to see me go?”
“Yes, I wish you wouldn’t go, and would stay for a lifetime.”
It was meant to be a teasing remark, but Gu Weiran answered seriously. Yun Shu saw her sincerity and yearning in the mirror.
The two looked at each other in the mirror for a moment. Gu Weiran walked behind Yun Shu, her hands unconsciously resting on her shoulders. She leaned in and softly asked, “Can you stay?”