Chapter 44

Staring into Qiu Li’s red, hopeful eyes, Yan Xiao couldn’t get a single word out.
Her chest felt tight and heavy.
She didn’t even dare to meet his gaze.
“I feel so dizzy…”
Qiu Li was already heavily drunk. After keeping his head tilted back for so long, the dizziness only got worse. He pressed a hand to his forehead, brows furrowing as he muttered in frustration, “Why is it spinning so much”
Yan Xiao: “…”
“Come on.” She sighed and resigned herself to her fate, hauling him up. “Let’s get you inside. Seriously, what were you thinking drinking this much?”
At one meter eighty-six, Qiu Li towered over her. The moment he stood, his entire weight leaned against her, nearly toppling them both back onto the lawn.
“You’re so heavy!” she grumbled under her breath.
Completely unaware of anything, Qiu Li let his spinning head fall naturally onto her shoulder and even burrowed closer, mumbling as he rubbed against her, “So dizzy…”
That low, muffled sound was pure, drunken whining, and it made Yan Xiao’s scalp prickle.
After what felt like a wrestling match, she finally managed to drag the drunken cat inside and onto the living room sofa. Once he was safely lying on his side, she collapsed onto the carpet, panting.
She was exhausted.
From the sofa came Qiu Li’s groggy voice: “Ah, why is the ceiling spinning?”
Yan Xiao: “…”
She didn’t bother replying. After a minute’s rest, she stood up and went to the kitchen to get him some water.
“Here, drink a little.” She sat down beside him and lifted his head. “Next time, you’re not drinking again, you hear me?”
He tried to move but couldn’t lift his head properly. Out of options, Yan Xiao fetched a straw and held it to his lips. “Here, drink this way.”
Just as she was about to feel relieved for his cooperation, Qiu Li suddenly pushed her hand away, face darkening. “I don’t want milk!”
Yan Xiao blinked. She looked at the glass of plain water in her hand, then back at his sulky expression.
Milk? What milk?
“Don’t be difficult,” she said, patting his cheek. “It’s water. Look properly.”
Qiu Li frowned, staring at the straw with visible displeasure. “I don’t want milk.”
Yan Xiao almost burst out laughing. After a moment, she decided to play along. “Oh? You don’t like milk? You used to drink plenty when I gave it to you.”
He blinked slowly at the straw, then raised his eyes to her.
Those hazy, reddened eyes, shining faintly under the light, made Yan Xiao strangely uncomfortable. She quickly turned away, heading to the bathroom to wet a towel.
When she came back, he was still staring at her in silence. The damp towel brushed over his forehead, darkening the strands of hair that fell there, making him look soft and well-behaved, almost painfully gentle.
“I’m not drinking,” he muttered.
Yan Xiao chuckled. “Oh? Not drinking? How much milk have I given you before? You didn’t seem to mind then.”
Qiu Li: “…”
He went quiet again.
Seeing him like this, Yan Xiao felt as if she’d discovered a new world. Normally, he was cunning and sharp-tongued, always pulling tricks to mess with her, but drunk? He was obedient, silly, and absurdly cute.
She couldn’t resist. She reached out and poked his cheek.
He didn’t have much flesh on his face, but the skin was soft and springy to the touch, surprisingly pleasant. She poked again. And again.
“You said you don’t like milk,” she teased, deciding to follow the thread. “Why not? You don’t like the taste?”
Qiu Li blinked, his eyes startlingly bright even in his drunken haze.
“Mm,” he murmured.
Yan Xiao laughed out loud.
They said alcohol made people honest, but apparently this scheming villain could lie even while drunk, and so convincingly, too!
If she didn’t know him as well as she did, she might’ve believed it.
“Don’t like it, huh?” She pinched his cheek lightly, pretending to glare. “Then why did you drink it so happily when I gave it to you?”
Qiu Li’s voice was low and soft. “Because you gave it to me.”
Yan Xiao: “…”
Her hand froze mid-pinch.
For a second, her mind went blank, as if someone had dropped a hammer right on her chest.
After a long silence, she leaned closer, staring straight into his eyes.
She wanted to see just how deep his act went, how good this so-called villain’s self-control really was.
But Qiu Li’s face didn’t change. Clearly, he was drunk out of his mind. When she moved closer, he even blinked at her and gave a small, drowsy smile.
Yan Xiao surrendered with a sigh. She picked up the glass again and held the straw to his lips. “Drink.”
Qiu Li’s lips parted, ready to object again, “I don’t want mil-”
“Drink,” she said firmly, face hardening.
Qiu Li: “Oh.”
And just like that, he obeyed.
He drank an entire glass in one go. When he finished, he released the straw and murmured, “I want more.”
Yan Xiao couldn’t help laughing, ruffling his hair affectionately. “Wait here.”
When she came back with another glass, Qiu Li was already fast asleep.
His hair was still damp, plastered to his forehead, his lashes long and dark against his pale skin, he looked so peaceful, so soft, it made her chest ache.
She stood there for a while, then sighed quietly and set the cup down on the coffee table.
She thought she understood now why he’d been drinking.
If she were in his place, maybe she’d feel the same.
But so what if he was sad? Feelings didn’t change reality. The Qiu family’s attitude toward him wouldn’t change either. Normally, he seemed calm and self-assured, so why was he being so stubborn tonight?
Afraid he might choke or vomit in his sleep, Yan Xiao didn’t dare leave. She sat cross-legged on the rug beside the sofa, watching him.
After a long while, the peacefully sleeping Qiu Li suddenly opened his eyes, panic flashing across them as he stared straight at her.
Yan Xiao frowned. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t answer, just kept looking at her.
“Do you want water? Or need the bathroom?” she asked.
Instead of replying, he reached out and pinched her cheek.
Yan Xiao: “…”
Did this drunk cat just grope me?
“What are you doing?” she snapped, swatting his hand away. “Don’t think being drunk gives you a free pass”
Qiu Li’s gaze softened, and he let out a small breath, as if relieved. “Thought I was dreaming.”
Then his head dropped sideways, and within a second, he was fast asleep again, leaving Yan Xiao sitting there, utterly disheveled in the alcohol-scented chaos of the living room.

The next morning, when Qiu Li woke up, his head was pounding and his body felt sore all over.
He sat up, pressing his temples, and as pain stabbed through his skull, fragments of last night’s events began flooding back one by one.
Yan Xiao came over last night?
Qiu Li jerked upright. Only then did he realize he’d fallen asleep on the living-room sofa. A blanket from his bedroom had been draped over him, and a glass of water sat on the coffee table.
As for Yan Xiao, there was no sign of her.
His brows furrowed. For a second, he wondered if he’d imagined it all in a drunken haze.
But before long, he was sure it hadn’t been a dream. She had come. She’d stayed with him for quite a while, too. He even seemed to remember talking to her? About something? But the details slipped through his pounding head like water through a sieve.
He smacked his forehead, trying to recall the fragments, when the door opened.
Footsteps echoed from the entryway.
He looked up.
Yan Xiao was standing there, carrying breakfast. When she saw he was awake, her eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh, you’re up already? I thought you’d be out cold all day.”
Qiu Li: “…”
She set the breakfast down on the dining table, fetched bowls and chopsticks from the kitchen, and frowned when he still didn’t move.
“What are you sitting there for? Go wash up and eat! Aren’t you hungry?”
Before he could answer, she added, “I’m starving.”
Seeing how casual and normal she looked, Qiu Li finally relaxed. It didn’t seem like he’d said or done anything too embarrassing last night. Letting out a quiet “mm,” he stood and headed toward the bathroom.
He’d barely taken two steps before turning back. “Thanks for last night.”
Yan Xiao froze for half a second, suddenly guilty for reasons she couldn’t name. She forced a bright smile.
“You’re welcome, but if it ever happens again, I’ll knock your head off.”
Qiu Li laughed. “Mm.”
Hearing the sound of running water from the bathroom, Yan Xiao took out her phone, planning to message Qiu Yan to apologize for ditching the party early. Maybe she could treat him to lunch or coffee as compensation.
She had just opened his chat window when,
[Ding! 976 points reached!]
Yan Xiao: “!!!”
Unbearable. Absolutely unbearable.
With a loud smack, she slapped her phone down on the table, marched to the bathroom door, and yelled,
“Qiu Li!”
Inside, Qiu Li was washing his hair. The sudden shout startled him so badly he nearly slipped. “Huh?”
Huh?
You still dare “huh”?
What do you mean, huh?!
Gritting her teeth, she shouted, “You got wasted yesterday! I was the one who dragged you back inside! If it weren’t for me, you’d have been mosquito food by now!”
There was a pause, then his voice came, amused and lazy. “Mm. I know.”
That only annoyed her more. You know, and you still have the nerve to start hating me first thing in the morning?
Four points! she fumed inwardly. A whole four points of favorability gone! Do you even know what that means?!
Just as her resentment boiled over,
[Ding! 980 points reached!]
Yan Xiao: “…”
She exploded.
“The face I wiped was yours, the hands I wiped were yours, the blanket I got was yours, and the stomach medicine, I was the one who fed it to you!” she yelled toward the bathroom.
“I did all that, and you secretly mark me down?! You heartless villain!”
The water suddenly stopped running.
Hands on her hips, Yan Xiao waited, determined to get an explanation today.
After a moment, his voice came again, warm and faintly laughing.
“Thank you. I remember everything.”
Yan Xiao arched a brow. That’s your idea of repayment?
A minute later, the sliding door opened a crack. Qiu Li poked out his damp head, hair dripping, and said with that maddening calm,
“Can you pass me the towel?”
Yan Xiao felt all her fury dissolve into helplessness, like punching cotton. Still grumbling under her breath, she grabbed a towel from the rack and shoved it toward him.
Qiu Li hesitated. “Um”
“What else do you need me to bring?” she snapped.
A faint blush climbed his ears. “Nothing.”
The door slid shut again.
Standing outside, still fuming, Yan Xiao suddenly froze, and realization dawned.
Her face went scarlet in an instant.

Author’s Note:
Little Li: “Anything you give me is precious. (#^.^#)”
Xiao-xiao: “Cut the nonsense! Even if you begged, I wouldn’t hand you your underwear! (σ｀д′)σ”