The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 37
Chapter 37: The Kiss
[77 Deep Water Double Chapter] Carefully traced that…
Xie Shiwei uncontrollably fainted when she saw the bl00d soaking Jiang Xiyao’s long dress.
When she woke up again.
Looking up, she saw not the bright spotlights of the restaurant, but streetlights one by one, scattered and shining through the car window, flowing across Jiang Xiyao’s nose bridge and jawline.
Perhaps the car’s tinting film was too effective. The cool tones it filtered created an unreal whiteness on the skin covering that superior bone structure.
It was the white of cooled porcelain, the slickness of wax.
Xie Shiwei suddenly shivered.
The woman, whose lap she was using as a pillow, tilted her dark eyes toward her: “You’re awake?”
Jiang Xiyao raised her hand and squeezed her soft face, suddenly showing a hint of displeasure, and said something inexplicable: “You’re so small, Xie Shiwei.”
A small bundle when she fainted in her arms.
Now that she looked, her head was small, her face was small, her mouth was small, and her ears were small.
As for her body, the curves looked exquisite, but Jiang Xiyao could actually hold her in one hand.
Even the area the custard bun was so proud of, which seemed to have a good appetite and could eat a lot during their night activities, was so small that Jiang Xiyao suspected that on the day she really had to eat it, she would cry and beg her, saying she couldn’t.
She didn’t know why, but she really hoped Xie Shiwei could grow a bit bigger.
The cold skin, which had never been in prolonged contact with human skin, began to crave Xie Shiwei’s warmth, wanting to touch more of her.
—She wanted to hold more and more of Xie Shiwei.
The girl on her lap obediently let her rub her. After a while, however, she asked a confused question that Jiang Xiyao hadn’t anticipated:
“Sister, why are we here? Today… you took me to a restaurant for a part-time job, didn’t you?”
The comfortable restaurant environment, the unexpectedly smooth training, high hourly wage, and a rich woman chasing her to give tips.
Xie Shiwei felt like it was all a dying fantasy because she had gone crazy looking for a job.
Even…
She even dreamed that during work hours, Jiang Xiyao had cornered her in the wine cellar, in a place where anyone could pass by.
She had lifted her skirt, and with an honest physical posture, pleaded with the woman to wipe away the traces that shouldn’t have flowed out during work.
[Cheating at work, and a master’s task. My fetish is truly perverse.]
Hearing this muttered sigh, Jiang Xiyao paused: “You… don’t remember?”
She had just taken the rare step of seriously searching historical cases of illegal human experiments to see if there were any with rapid recovery that she could adapt to lie to this idiot.
Turns out, she didn’t need to?
Xie Shiwei acutely sensed the problem from her words.
Her fainting also depended on the situation.
Seeing things that were too terrifying, beyond her acceptance range, often meant waking up with partial amnesia, similar to a blackout after getting drunk.
Her most severe blackout was the memory of her father killing her mother, leaving the three-year-old her alone at home, locked up with her mother’s corpse for an entire night—
About that night.
About her parents’ appearance and everything before she was three years old.
She had forgotten everything completely.
Her grandparents would comfort her in their dialect, “Forgetting is good. Don’t remember, don’t remember, it’s best not to remember.”
And Zhong Chuyao, her well-acquainted, knowledgeable best friend, would spin her pen and smile at her:
“A severe trauma-induced self-protection mechanism? Isn’t that quite good?”
“Those especially terrifying, especially frightening things—not remembering is a kind of happiness.”
Before the summer of her Gaokao, Xie Shiwei heard their comfort so often that she also felt her unique ability to faint at will, accompanied by blissful forgetting, was a special gift from God to compensate her.
And everything shattered the moment she learned about her grandfather’s car accident.
She followed her limping grandmother to the hospital, but she was the first to faint outside the emergency room, hitting her head on the cold metal chair, leaving her head bruised and bloody.
Lying on the emergency room bed, when Xie Shiwei woke up, the first thing she saw was her grandmother, trembling, kneeling outside the emergency room door, unable to sign the few thin papers after several attempts.
Xie Shiwei was anxious to get up, but the room spun, and the nurse pressed her back down.
When her grandmother turned and saw her awake, she cried and waved her hand at her: “A-Mei, don’t come. Don’t come. You stay well. You lie down well.”
Watching her grandmother nearly fall several times, Xie Shiwei felt a huge hole in her heart.
A cold wind whistled in, chilling her soul until it trembled.
—It was the familiar fear that controlled her.
Her self-protection mechanism was too strong, preventing her from accepting her grandfather’s death, and even briefly making her forget the incident, which forced her grandmother at that age to personally sign the death notice and take care of her husband’s remains.
She heard the nurse sighing to a colleague during a late-night shift change:
“Ai, an old grandma just came in. She’s so pitiful. Her husband didn’t make it. When I saw the director asking her to sign the notice, I was afraid she’d have to be rushed into the emergency room herself the next second.”
“Huh? What about her younger family members? Are they all unfilial? No one came?”
“There’s a granddaughter, look, lying in the emergency room. She collapsed faster than the grandma. The old lady specifically told me that her granddaughter couldn’t handle the shock and asked me not to tell her the situation. Ai, she’s also someone who can’t be relied upon.”
“That’s terrible. Misfortune always targets the poor. The old lady is already lonely and miserable. Why is she also burdened with taking care of a fragile, princess-syndrome girl? Too tragic.”
Xie Shiwei fiercely pinched her own thigh under the blanket, silently crying all night.
She didn’t want to faint! She didn’t want to faint! She couldn’t faint!
If she hadn’t been so useless, Grandma wouldn’t have had to bear the bad news alone!
The next morning, she called Zhong Chuyao with a weak, hoarse voice, begging her to stay with her, and begging her to help her, to keep her from fainting again no matter what.
“Chuchu, I’m begging you. Grandpa still needs a funeral. My grandma is old. The village needs to hold rites, find someone to look at the date and the gravesite. She can’t be overworked anymore. Please, watch me…”
“As soon as I faint, just pinch me awake, okay? I’m begging you. I swear I’m only asking this one time—”
Zhong Chuyao didn’t let her say those other weak words.
And her good friend did more than she asked: she not only found a very professional funeral rites team, taking charge of chanting, blessing, and keeping vigil, but she also helped her find the best priced gravesite, and even helped her negotiate the accident compensation.
But the true “gift” fate gave Xie Shiwei came one morning, while Zhong Chuyao was still with her.
It silently took away her grandmother too.
Zhong Chuyao had initially planned to hide it from her, handle everything, and let her slowly recover on her own.
But when Xie Shiwei came home and looked around, she suddenly realized something. Her legs gave way, and she began to cry kneeling on the ground, until her friend came back, and she pleaded with a pale face:
“Is it what I think it is? Please tell me. Even if I faint, wake me up and tell me over and over again, okay? I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to forget anymore—”
“N-No, I can’t trouble you that much. I’ll write in my diary. I’ll go write in my diary right now. You just have to hit me and throw the diary at me, okay?”
She had even started to fear.
That one day, she would wake up and forget her two most beloved relatives, just like she had forgotten her biological parents.
It turned out that even God was stingy with gifts. Such a gift also demanded a price she couldn’t afford to pay.
Zhong Chuyao looked down at her. After a long time, she sighed and squatted down to look at her.
“Weiwei, you shouldn’t push yourself so hard.”
“When a loved one passes, some people take a lifetime to accept it. With me here, you don’t have to force yourself to face it. You can take your time.”
Finally, her friend hesitated, then placed her palm on her head and stroked it.
“I will always be with you. I won’t let you forget anything you want to remember. Is that okay?”
Fortunately, with her good friend’s company, Xie Shiwei managed to get through the darkest period of her life.
When her emotions slowly recovered and she suggested watching some anatomy documentaries and horror movies to toughen herself up, Zhong Chuyao joked with her:
“No need, huh? I’ve already designed several different styles for your customized anti-fainting device.”
“Don’t worry. Until you make new friends, I, the most important person by your side, will definitely be healthier and live longer than you. There will be no scenario where you have to pinch yourself awake to clean up my remains.”
Xie Shiwei reached across the table to cover her mouth for talking nonsense.
But the passing Mrs. Zhong, who was on leave at home, added:
“True. Don’t be afraid. Mom has already saved money for you underground… At worst, Mom can go one step ahead of you and save up for you down there. Even if Weiwei can’t help you with the burial, you won’t become a lonely ghost.”
Xie Shiwei was baffled by the mother and daughter’s lack of taboos.
Unknowingly, she joined their laughter.
Until this very moment.
Realizing that she might have unexpectedly fainted, accompanied by partial amnesia, Xie Shiwei acutely noticed one thing:
Last time, when she heard the rumors of Sister’s car accident, she was just crying desperately. But this time, she suddenly blacked out. Why?
—Could it be that she’s already less able to accept something happening to this person than she thought?
The loss after recovery, if it happens again, is crueler than an unprepared withdrawal.
But, but this person is perfectly fine right in front of her now.
Wait! No! Has she actually already experienced something terrifying, and the Sister appearing now is a figment of her imagination? Is she fake?!
Hearing the girl’s inner thoughts becoming increasingly absurd.
Jiang Xiyao pressed harder as she kneaded her face, and laughed as she spoke:
“What are you thinking? Why the strange expression?”
“I really didn’t expect your alcohol tolerance to be so poor. You just smelled the scent wafting from the wine cellar and passed out drunk, and I had to carry you home. How are you planning to thank me?”
When red marks were pinched onto her soft cheeks, Xie Shiwei’s gaze finally focused:
“…Passed out drunk?”
So her memory loss was only because she smelled too strong an alcohol scent and passed out drunk?
“Yes.” Jiang Xiyao replied lazily, but her hands were busy, as if holding her in her lap wasn’t enough. She rearranged her hair and skirt: “Or what did you think it was?”
The ill-intentioned whisper was concealed in the shadows of the luxurious, unlit back seat of the commercial car.
“Xie Shiwei, you wouldn’t tell me that you dreamed something happened to me—and then try to use that excuse to check my safety, grope me, and take advantage of me, would you?”
The girl shook her head slightly and quickly.
But Jiang Xiyao was very dissatisfied with her reaction.
Thinking of her earlier request to touch her, which ended with a perfunctory, uncaring gesture, and her immediate head shake now at the mention of taking advantage of her, she lowered her eyes, her tone full of displeasure:
“Not taking advantage? What does that mean? Are you daring to despise me?”
As the girl’s eyes widened in surprise, unable to react to her unexpected response.
Jiang Xiyao’s palm traced the shimmering qipao fabric, landing on the side of the girl’s leg, patting it lightly.
Her red lips parted, delivering a chilling warning:
“You’re finished.”
“Later, when I check that tissue, if it’s not satisfactory enough for me, the massage tonight will definitely not let you off.”
Xie Shiwei: “!”
The object that she was almost getting used to after wearing it for a long time, suddenly became an intense foreign object because of the beauty’s words, making her restless.
[What counts as satisfactory? Does it mean not a single drop is allowed to wet it, or must it be uniformly soaked through? Why didn’t Sister tell me the standard earlier?]
[Wuwu, I’m going to be severely punished by Sister. Can it be the kind I like? I’ve really wanted to experience that pink cat paw paddle for a long time. Hurry up and punish me, punish my disobedient parts—]
Her inner thoughts were becoming wilder.
It even looked like white mist was about to emerge, showing the corresponding scene.
But the car suddenly braked hard at this moment!
As the idiot, lost in her colorful fantasies, was about to hit the back of the front seat, Jiang Xiyao quickly cushioned her. She then raised the partition and asked aggressively:
“Can you drive? Did you buy your license with coffin money?”
Halfway through venting her anger.
She heard faint, fragmented voices surging around them.
[It’s him, it’s him! Those despicable capitalists from the Zhou family keep raising the price of the wine yeast, saying it’s scarce, which makes the stingy boss yell at me for being incompetent, and the stupid customers call me petty…]
[Damn it! If I could get the raw material, would I have to be their dog? I smelled it the moment this b1tch showed up. That unique alluring smell is exactly the same as the one in the wine!]
[If I can become the exclusive supplier of this wine, hehehe! I’ll be rich! Good thing I was smart and kept someone to work as a waitress. As long as I kidnap her, that ‘close-as-sisters’ girl will definitely…]
[Anyway, so many people saw her getting hurt just now. If it comes down to it, I’ll just kidnap both of them!]
Jiang Xiyao glanced out the window.
She saw the male manager who had been bowing and providing attentive service at the restaurant.
The bedbug actually followed them here?
It seems she’ll have to find a safer residence for this custard bun another day.
However, this situation was also quite good now—
Jiang Xiyao had been starving for a very, very long time.
“Suddenly saw an acquaintance.” She proactively moved the person in her arms to the adjacent seat and stepped out of the car: “I’ll go say hello. You go home first.”
Before getting out of the car, Jiang Xiyao remembered Xie Shiwei’s habit of reporting things, and added:
“I’m not coming back tonight. Sleep by yourself.”
Xie Shiwei stared at her blankly, not expecting her reward to just ‘pop!’ and disappear in such a short time!
She instinctively looked out the window, curious to see what old acquaintance, oblivious to the danger, Jiang Xiyao, in her current “missing person” status to evade the black-hearted hospital’s pursuit, could be meeting.
Before she saw her walk toward anyone, she first heard her highly penetrating curse.
She was cursing the driver to hurry up and take the passenger to the destination, or she would give him a bad review.
So Xie Shiwei turned to worrying about herself. She was afraid the driver, in a fit of rage, would floor the gas and send her flying.
On the spot.
She saw the manager look surprised and approach with a very polite attitude: “Miss Jiang? Was that you in the car just now? I’m so sorry, I almost implicated you—”
“Hey, you pauper begging and acting like a dog at your age.” Jiang Xiyao interrupted him without hesitation. When she grinned, the seductive mole seemed to shimmer with mockery:
“Do you know how much your ‘daddy’s’ time is worth? You couldn’t afford it even if you were torn apart and sold. Understand?”
The manager’s face froze.
Gritting his teeth, his eyes filled with malice, he still bent over to her more skillfully: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Miss Jiang. Fate brought us together. It’s not good for us to block the road. How about we talk in my car?”
He gestured toward his car.
Jiang Xiyao only tilted her head: “What kind of wretched thing is worthy of inviting me for a ride?”
[You ungrateful b1tch! I’m going to slice your mouth to pieces!]
The manager bit his teeth, making a grinding sound, and took out his phone: “Then I’ll book a luxury car for you. Please wait and meet me at the commercial district so we can discuss the compensation in detail, okay?”
Jiang Xiyao just scoffed:
“Does your smooth, completely unfolded, evolutionarily stunted brain only come up with methods that make people wait? I think you, you’re only fit to be water that becomes scum when boiled.”
Two hours later.
In the abandoned building in the suburbs, the sound of a frantic machete chopping meat was heard.
“Thud-thud… thud-thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud-thud…”
Later in the night, it changed to the sound of a stone pestle constantly pounding a stone mortar, as if there was an endless amount of paste to mash.
The tireless sounds kept the moon awake.
The bright moonlight shone into the window of Happy Residential Area, causing Xie Shiwei to turn over again, her heart heavy.
…She couldn’t sleep.
Her old wooden bed was thin and hard. She almost fell asleep as soon as she touched it and never suffered from insomnia. Now the bed was as soft as a cloud, and the bedding was very skin-friendly. Xie Shiwei found that she had started to catch the insomnia of the rich.
Could it be that because Sister isn’t here, she feels an intense sense of unworthiness for this overly comfortable life?
Xie Shiwei decided to sleep on the floor to cure this rich-person’s ailment.
But she didn’t expect that.
The cold floor was where she slept for three days.
“…Xie Shiwei?” During a break in her major class, her roommate reached out and waved her hand in front of her, then looked at her notebook in surprise: “You didn’t take any notes this entire class? I was planning to copy yours.”
After speaking, the roommate looked at her with an admiring gaze:
“The key points the teacher just outlined, a total of four books, I’m afraid I won’t be able to memorize them all. Are you already confident? Hey, hey, did you already guess how she’s going to set the exam questions?”
Xie Shiwei looked down at her notebook, her expression blank.
Near New Year’s Day, the school was gradually entering final exam week. This ancient literature class was taught by eight different teachers over the semester, each with a different focus. In this class where the exam scope was so hard to guess, and the teacher had proactively outlined key points…
She hadn’t taken notes?!
Aaaah, Xie Shiwei, are you planning to die after today!
She slowly, slowly turned her head, thinking her brain must have broken from too much insomnia lately.
“Uh, how about you lend me your notes to copy first?” Xie Shiwei habitually showed a pitiful expression.
Her roommate paused.
She couldn’t help but rub her nose: “Um, are you flirting with me? But it looks really weird.”
Xie Shiwei paused again.
She realized that in the short few days of being with Jiang Xiyao, she had gotten used to being dressed in all sorts of pretty clothes, or not wearing any clothes in bed, and having her obstructive bangs pushed back—
She had actually made a cute expression at someone while wearing her usual deliberately unflattering clothes.
This was terrifying!
She had spent so many years cultivating the habit of not attracting attention, of enjoying being alone and passing through the world without being specially noticed by anyone, but it had all changed in just a few days.
And the person who had entered her life like a female ghost in that damp, sticky rainy night, vanished without a trace after transforming her into a different person!
Xie Shiwei pursed her lips. For some reason, she was suddenly a little angry.
In her strange expression, her roommate quickly apologized: “Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I used the wrong words… Um, you can use the notes however you like, but can you help me predict some questions before the exam?”
The roommate said awkwardly: “I don’t want to memorize so much. Four books, I definitely can’t memorize them all.”
Xie Shiwei paused, didn’t explain to her, and only said: “I’ll try my best.”
Although she usually paid close attention in class and understood the teachers’ focuses, she didn’t want to commit to anything before starting her own revision.
Before leaving the classroom with her roommate’s notes, she heard her complaining to another closer friend: “Did you see Xie Shiwei’s expression just now? Wow, so fierce, so cold. It scared me.”
“I originally wanted to invite her to revise in the dorm during the final exam week, so we could all immerse ourselves in the study atmosphere. Plus, I recently got a set of really good skincare products that I was planning to share with her… but I was so startled!”
“It’s not that her face was never cold before, but it’s different, you know? That ‘do not approach’ aura—”
The rest of the words stopped when Xie Shiwei stood next to her again.
Her roommate turned her head and was nearly scared to death.
While her face changed colors, Xie Shiwei was only looking at the photo on her phone.
“This set of skincare products has not obtained the cosmetic or medical device license to be sold on the market. The corporation has not conducted any advertising or promotion for it either. If you have an allergic reaction, it will be very difficult to seek compensation from them.”
Her roommate was taken aback, looking at her with disbelief:
“Huh? Is that so? But it’s quite expensive, almost one hundred thousand yuan a set. I heard it’s used in rich women’s circles. It takes the route of private customization, so it’s not meant for public circulation anyway, right?”
“Don’t you know that the Zhou family owns a skincare brand and production line that has been around for decades? A relative of mine said this product made her look radiant and her cell vitality became ten years younger. It’s currently the only topical skincare product that can rival medical aesthetics.”
Xie Shiwei didn’t speak anymore.
She didn’t understand those high-end terms, so she couldn’t participate in the discussion.
More importantly, she realized that the only reason she dared to stand there and self-righteously stop someone from using an item bought at a huge cost—
Was simply because Jiang Xiyao had told her not to use it.
That was all.
But even if she brought up that name, who would believe her?
Xie Shiwei could imagine their reaction with her eyes closed. Their faint contempt the last time she asked You Jiayi to apologize to Jiang Xiyao during the camping trip was the best proof.
But she still, as if going crazy, wanted to try one more time.
“Jiang Xiyao said this isn’t good to use.”
Her roommate instantly looked like she had seen a ghost, even looking at her with concern:
“A-Are you okay? Didn’t Jiang Xiyao and Le Qiong get hit and killed by the truck You Jiayi was driving at the school gate? Why are you suddenly mentioning that name? Eww, that’s bad luck.”
“I’m telling you, even if she were alive, don’t believe her nonsense. Xie Shiwei, you’re naive and easily fooled. You don’t understand. She would only want to monopolize good things like this for herself. No one else deserves to use the same things as her.”
Xie Shiwei didn’t say anything.
Was she truly naive?
No. She was deliberately bringing up that name, trying to prove that her time spent with Jiang Xiyao these past few days was not a frantic hallucination of her own.
For this, after leaving the school gate, Xie Shiwei even deliberately went to the police station, wanting to report a missing person, but all she received was a caring comment from the police: “Student, is the pressure of final exams too much?”
That’s right—
Jiang Xiyao had said she was hiding at her place alone to evade the black-hearted hospital’s tracking and hadn’t told anyone.
But precisely because of this, the death certificate issued by the hospital for Jiang Xiyao was a confirmed “no such person”. Unless she could produce some evidence to prove the person was alive.
And Xie Shiwei’s phone didn’t have a single picture of Jiang Xiyao.
Because she knew that person hated being photographed.
So every time at home, or outside, when she saw a very, very beautiful shot, Xie Shiwei would only slowly blink her eyes, using them as a shutter, wanting to engrave Jiang Xiyao’s beautiful moments in her mind.
This person, who said she would only be gone for that one night, had vanished without a word for three days.
She had aggressively forced her to add all her contact information but refused to reply to a single message.
Did she get bored of staying with her? Did she really encounter danger but couldn’t call for help? Or was she doing something important and couldn’t spare the time to reply?
Xie Shiwei suddenly felt powerless at that moment.
Because no matter which one it was, she couldn’t influence it.
Even if Jiang Xiyao was in danger, she couldn’t even find a single reason to report it to the police for her.
Leaving the police station, Xie Shiwei saw a stray cat. She bought a cat treat from a nearby store. When she squatted down to feed it, she avoided the cat’s polite, friendly rub.
Because she didn’t want the stray cat to be like her—
It was clearly prepared to stray forever, but then one day, it was forcefully grabbed into a hug, petted, and brought to a fragrant, warm place, feeling an unprecedented warmth.
The little cat, having been vigilant for a long time, thought its life would be like this from now on. But when it opened its eyes one day, it found the human who brought her back had suddenly disappeared.
And the little cat’s stray life had to continue.
On December 31st, New Year’s Eve, the hotel reservations were full. They even added tables in the lobby, so they specifically notified Xie Shiwei to come in for overtime.
The manager who had hired her had apparently gone off to start his own business, becoming the restaurant’s wine supplier. A separate space in the restaurant’s cellar was sectioned off to store those barrels of special rice wine.
Xie Shiwei always refused the task of fetching wine.
Because as soon as she entered the cellar, smelling that strong, unique scent mixed in with the wine aroma, she would always think of Jiang Xiyao, and even feel an irrational desire to stay in the cellar forever.
However, after avoiding it many times, she still couldn’t escape. The restaurant owner came to work overtime tonight and beckoned her over:
“Little Xie, I see you’re the cleverest. Those guys always like to steal drinks when they go to fetch wine for customers.”
“I remember you have an alcohol allergy, right? You go fetch the wine. Don’t let anyone else go. Tonight is already crazy busy, and people are starting to cause trouble. It’s annoying.”
Xie Shiwei looked at the hall.
The customers who had too much to drink were getting louder.
But every table, without exception, had ordered this special “red wine yeast rice wine.”
She would usually be scared by such a scene, but now she wanted to hide in the wine cellar for some peace and quiet, so she obediently nodded and said yes to the boss.
When she stepped into the wine cellar again, the strong aroma surged toward her all at once.
The rich wine scent seemed to condense into a cloud that embraced her.
But after she sneezed and covered her nose, it hesitated for a moment and then suddenly dispersed.
Xie Shiwei was busy pouring glass after glass of wine. She heard the person who came to pick up the wine suggest, with a glint in their eyes:
“Xie Shiwei, are you tired?”
“I’ll take over for a bit? I heard this wine cellar is very eerie—”
She hastily interrupted: “Stop, stop, stop! Stop right there! I’m timid. I’ll faint if I hear a ghost story. If I fall into a wine barrel later, coupled with my alcohol allergy, will you be responsible for the compensation for any consequences? I’m recording this now, okay?”
Her colleague walked away angrily, their face twitching: “Stingy! I think you just want to keep it all to yourself! I’ll be watching you constantly! Dare to steal a sip and you’ll lose your bonus!”
Therefore.
Xie Shiwei was busy until after eleven at night, and was even responsible for cleaning the wine cellar.
Perhaps it was the long time spent in the wine-scented environment, or the exhaustion from working overtime tonight, but when she put down the cleaning tools and was ready to leave, she leaned against a pillar for a moment and unconsciously fell asleep.
The noise outside grew louder and louder.
People were frantically shouting the countdown: “Ten, nine, eight…”
But these sounds couldn’t wake the tired girl.
She leaned her head against the wall, her glasses sliding down her nose. Perhaps the wall was too cold and hard, or uncomfortable to lean on, but her body gradually slid toward the wine barrel next to her.
“Thud.”
An oval oak wine barrel suddenly tipped over, perfectly cushioning the spot where she slid and collapsed.
Xie Shiwei slept hazily, but she felt like she was sinking into a delicate, soft, continuously sinking embrace. It was as if someone was holding her, willingly letting her use them as a pillow to sleep.
However, in this wonderful dream, she only mumbled:
“I hate you… I really, really hate you… Jiang Xiyao…”
The murmur was drowned out by the countdown from the river outside the cellar window: “Five, four, three, two—”
“ONE!!”
The final second of the New Year’s Eve countdown rang out, accompanied by the ringing of the New Year’s bell.
In the silent wine cellar, clusters of wine-red liquid erupted from the mouths of all the wine barrels. It was as if countless carbon dioxide had been instantly compressed, turning the wine into sparkling wine!
“Bang, bang, bang!”
Outside the window, colorful fireworks bloomed one by one in the night sky.
Inside the wine cellar, the red wine blossoms, even grander than a champagne tower, passionately, shockingly, wantonly rose, bloomed, and joyfully opened!
The bursting wine condensed into a cloud of red mist in the air.
The mist floated down.
Amidst the celebratory “Happy New Year” blessings of the crowds outside—
It covered the lips of the sleeping girl.
Carefully and meticulously.
It traced those pink lips, making them vivid and luscious.
Like a bloody brand being applied.
The wet trace was applied repeatedly, tirelessly, until a drop of “bl00d” almost condensed and dripped from her lips.
The wine, which had been mimicking the shape of the fireworks outside, blooming into a shower of light and a cosmic whale, compressed its condensed bubbles into a sound effect for the mist-tracing:
“Mwah…”
“Mwah~ Mwah~ Mwah~”
Listening closely, the “mwah” sounds even formed a crooked, human-like voice, clumsily saying to her:
“Hap-py New Year~”