Someone can't drink

As dinner continued, Shi Meili put a pitcher of wine and small glasses on the table. It was impossible to get drunk from that much, but it would brighten up the evening.

Ling's younger brother, after thanking her, went to his room to study, and the middle one moved to the couch to watch soccer.

Shi Meili ley also got up to clear the dishes, leaving her son and his guest to finish their wine. The man was still amazed at how all his ingenious plans had collapsed over a mere overnight stay.

He had originally wanted to observe the secretary from afar. To find out about Ling's family and figure out his feelings. And now he would sleep in his house, drink wine with him, and sleep in the same room with him. He silently poured himself another and then felt Ling lay his head on his shoulder.

"Huh?" turned around Jiang Wei, "is he asleep?"

"He always passes out quickly, he can't drink," Shi Meili came up and said, "I'll show you to your room, help take A-Ling away."

While the mistress held her son's body, Jiang Wei stood up and then, throwing Ling's arm around his neck, lifted the young man. The middle brother looked around and was not at all surprised to see this picture, everyone knew that the eldest could not drink, so it was not worth it, to begin with.

Going up to the second floor, Shi Meili walked to the end of the corridor and opened the door. The room was unexpectedly large, divided in two by a screen. There were two beds in different corners.

Shi Ling took turns living here with his younger brothers before they grew up. Jiang Wei led Ling to the bed, meanwhile, the hostess opened the closet and pulled out several stacks of clothes and clean towels.

She showed him where the bathroom was and left. Jiang Wei went out after her to retrieve his bag from the car. He purposely stood outside for a long time to let the cold night air bring him to his senses and clear his mind.

When he returned to his room, he found that Lyn was gone. From behind the bathroom door came the sound of water. Taking advantage of the moment, Jiang Wei laid out his things and sat down on the bed, hidden by a screen.

Ling couldn't see if Jiang had returned, so he went straight to his seat, crawled under the covers, and soon fell asleep. Jiang Wei took a shower and cautiously walked out of the bathroom.

He couldn't help himself and walk over to Ling's bed. Squatting down, he stared at the sleeping young man for a long time, interrogating himself and his feelings.

When Ling threw his jacket over him, hugged him, touched his knee, and looked strangely into his eyes, Jiang Wei was willing to swear that the boy clearly remembered everything about that night. Yet he deliberately concealed his feelings, taking no steps to move the relationship forward.

As he pondered this, Jiang Wei noticed that one strand of Ling's still damp hair fell over his eyes, and he frowned in his sleep. Reaching out, the man removed the unruly hair and suddenly bravely touched the young man's cheek. It was soft and delicate, like a child's, which made the man's hand tremble and recoil. He scolded himself for his impulse and returned to his bed.

After a little twisting and turning, he began to fall asleep, but something prevented him from doing so. Through sleep, he heard two annoying sounds: water dripping in the bathroom and a clock ticking somewhere in the room. Realizing he had met his mortal enemy, the man fidgeted on the bed, then sat up.

He tried to cover his head with a pillow, but nothing helped. Standing up, he wanted to find a clock in the dark room, but only hit the corner of the dresser. Walking back, and rubbing the bruised spot, he had already regretted staying the night in the Shi house a hundred times when suddenly Ling rustled on the bed next to him. He took a few steps across the room and disarmed the ticking clock.

After that, he also went silently into the bathroom, and a moment later the water stopped dripping. The astonished Jiang Wei was still sitting on the bed when the night angel walked up to him and, pushing on the man's shoulders, put him back into bed. Covering Jiang Wei with a blanket, Shi Ling returned to his bed like a silent shadow and made no more sound.

Still dumbfounded by the secretary's behavior, Jiang Wei stared into the dark ceiling, and then he fell asleep. But before he did, he had time to think that Shi Ling knew his strange phobias from somewhere, and he was pleased to receive his concern.

"Tomorrow we must be sure to thank him," the man thought.

Ling woke up first. Perhaps because he slept in a place that had become a stranger to him. But remembering the events of the previous day, he was surprised to note that he was living with his boss again, just as he had done a month before.

Shi Meili's act was beyond his son's comprehension. The only reasonable explanation for it might have been her attempt to set Ling up with his boss, but it was unlikely she was capable of even thinking of such a thing.

He still immediately thought about it, but he was tense, hiding his feelings to comment on her decision. Jiang Wei also acted strangely in agreeing to such a humiliating proposal for him.

His director had stayed in the most expensive hotels and eaten sumptuous food. But apparently, the experience of living in Ling's apartment had influenced his tastes.

Cautiously bypassing the sleeping boss, the young man crept into the bathroom, and then he remembered his ridiculous rescue mission in the middle of the night.

His sensitive sleep was shattered by the noisy behavior of the principal. Later, when he crashed into the dresser, Ling was quite awake and realized what the problem was: the boss lacked absolute silence.

He got up and quickly pulled the batteries out of the clock and then carefully shut off the water in the bathroom. He remembered this precisely because he was now trying in vain to open the water back up.

He didn't understand how it could be that he had jammed the faucet himself, and now he couldn't open it himself. After standing there perplexed, Ling decided to go get the key and unintentionally bumped into a sleepy Jiang Wei. Hiding his hands, red from struggling with the faucet, behind his back, Ling lowered his eyes down.

"What have you been doing here?" the man asked uncertainly, and then pulled one of Ling's hands toward him, frowning as he looked at the red skin. He even peeled it off in places.

Jiang Wei snorted, letting go of Ling's hand. Looking behind the young man's back, he saw only a crane and guessed in a moment what was wrong. He stepped forward and confidently opened the water.

Then he turned the young man toward the basin and put his palms under the cold water. Gradually the throbbing pain began to pass and the young man's face relaxed.

"That's better," Jiang stated, "where do you have the first aid kit?" he asked, fumbling through the shelves. Finally, behind the mirror, he found a small box with a red cross on it. "Give me your hand," Jiang continued to control the situation.

He pulled out a Band-Aid and gently taped the spot where Ling had peeled off his skin. After finishing the procedure, Jiang Wei stood at a loss in front of Ling, unsure of what to do next.

"Thank you," Ling thanked, glancing up at his boss.

"And thank you for taking care of the silence," Jiang Wei answered.

Shi Ling smiled in response, studying the buttons on his pajamas. In Jiang Wei's presence, he began to act more and more like a bashful schoolgirl.

He decided to take a shower afterward and began to circle the man on his right, but Jiang Wei caught up with him and pinned him against the wall. The young man stared at him in amazement and was afraid to move. Jiang Wei leaned over and whispered in the young man's ear:

"By the way, the suit suits you very well, but it's even better without it."

The young man's face flashed like a tomato. He hadn't expected his boss to use his secret to embarrass him so soon.

Running out of the bathroom, Shi Ling grabbed his clothes and hid. He didn't want to get into another embarrassing situation. He only stopped outside near the outhouse. Hastily pulling on his pants and sweater, he opened the door and walked in.

Once upon a time, this was where he spent all his free time. At that time he had dreamed of becoming an artist, so the outhouse was full of paintings. Going around the room, he even found blank canvases and wondered.

He had plenty of time now and almost nothing to do. Since he had worked so hard all year to pay back his debts, he could afford a hobby.

He made a short shopping list: paints, brushes, paint thinner, a palette, and other art supplies. He was also going to look for new clothes, just as he had promised himself earlier.

When he had finished his revision, he went to breakfast. It turned out that his brothers had already gone to the restaurant with his mother. Shi Ling opened the refrigerator and found the food his mother had left for him and Wei.

The man was walking around the house and while looking at the pictures, he stopped in front of a picture. It was an oil painting with Ling's house in the center. Some things looked different like the trees were lower and there was no fence yet.

Jiang Wei looked at the picture for a long time, making Ling embarrassed, and then went over to the table and got ready to eat breakfast.

Ling placed the rice and soup in front of him. Jiang Wei thanked and ate in silence.

"I'm going into town, I need to get some things, what do you plan to do?"

He suddenly switched to speaking informally to his boss. The man didn't seem to hear his familial address and, without taking his eyes off his food, said that he would like to go with him.

Shi Ling didn't mind, especially since the boss had a car. They went to the center of town, where there was just Uncle Ling's clothing shop. While the young man chose clothes, his boss strolled barely around the store.

He was sure that all of the young man's dull clothes came from here. If he had his way, he would have bought his assistant a dozen expensive suits and made him wear them, but thinking so, he looked back at the young man and hesitated.

Such formal clothes were changing him, robbing him of that homeliness and warmth. Perhaps he liked the homely, often blushing with embarrassment Ling liked better than the icy replica of him in the exclusive suit.

After the clothes shop, Ling took the man to a store for creativity. Jiang Wei stared in wonder at the items he didn't know the name of and didn't understand what they were for.

While Ling was selecting the items he needed, Jiang Wei began to guess that the author of the painting might have been Ling. He became doubly curious as to how well his assistant drew. After shopping, Ling offered to grab a bite to eat at his mother's restaurant.

Steaming coffee and cake had just been placed in front of the men when Jiang Wei's phone came to life.

The man frowned as he looked at the caller's name because it was Li Guang again. Shi Ling realized that he also cared.