TRCT_22

Chapter 22: Drunk — Playing So Big!

"Wow, Brother Ji has quite the drinking capacity!" Seeing him down the cup of Shaoxing wine in one gulp, Xu Changji couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Two drops of amber-colored wine spilled from the corner of his mouth. Ji Qingzhou raised his hand and wiped them away with his thumb, feeling the scorching heat rising in his throat, clicked his tongue, and said: "This wine is good, worthy of being from Jingzhuang!"

His alcohol tolerance was average, but since he was in a good mood from having solved a difficult problem, he poured himself another full cup.

"It should be aged Chenzhao wine," Qiu Wenxin beside him took a small sip, shaking his head as he commented, "The taste is rich and fragrant upon entry, with an aftertaste that is sweet yet crisp and cool. I'd guess it was brewed with water from the east of the bridge."

"Truly, a new establishment produces fine wine!"

"Take it easy, the aftertaste hits hard!"

Someone offered this reminder, but it happened to be drowned out by the burst of laughter from the surrounding guests.

Here on this side, Ji Qingzhou was drinking and eating, chatting idly with his newly acquainted friends, while Jie Yu'an had already finished his meal and set down his chopsticks.

He had no intention of having another bowl. After picking up his teacup to rinse his mouth, he quietly leaned back against his chair and listened to his friends converse.

The guests in the private rooms on both sides were making quite a ruckus. From the sounds of it, they seemed to have called for attendants as well. It was clearly a group of grown men discussing business, yet every so often came the coquettish sound of women urging them to drink.

Even when dining at an establishment like this they had to summon courtesans to accompany their drinking. This sort of custom was truly nauseating.

Jie Yu'an was inwardly sneering and looking down on the conduct of the guests in the neighboring private room, when he suddenly felt a weight settle on his shoulder, and the fresh scent of honeydew melon mingled with a faint trace of wine drifted toward him.

He instinctively reached out, intending to push away whoever had leaned against his shoulder, but his hand met a head of thick and silky hair, pleasant to the touch.

"What's going on, Brother Ji, are you drunk?"

Luo Mingxuan's booming voice rang out, interrupting Jie Yu'an's movement.

"It's still early, just a mere two cups of Shaoxing wine..."

Ji Qingzhou had lost his clarity midway through his words, feeling only that his feet were light beneath him and that his insides were all on fire.

"Give it a rest, you can't even speak properly!" Luo Mingxuan let out a mocking laugh: "Strange though, when you're drunk your ears turn red but your face stays pale..."

He watched Ji Qingzhou's hazy eyes shimmering under the swaying lamplight, and gradually lowered his voice, wondering if perhaps he himself had drunk too much as well. How else could he find the other's drunken face, half-concealed by disheveled strands of hair, so strikingly and breathtakingly beautiful...

Jie Yu'an absently ran his fingers through Ji Qingzhou's hair a couple of times, gave up on the idea of pushing him away, and said: "You all carry on. I'll take him back."

"Oh, then I'll go call A' You," Luo Mingxuan snapped back to his senses, as though fleeing from some kind of enchantment, hastily set down his cup and got up to run the errand.

The person leaning against his shoulder, whether already having drifted off to sleep or not, was limp as though boneless, without a trace of strength in him.

Jie Yu'an then took hold of Ji Qingzhou's left arm and looped it around his own neck, raised his hand to wrap around his shoulder, and steadied the person upright.

"Need any help?" Qiu Wenxin asked unhurriedly, yet showed not the slightest intention of rising from his seat.

"No need, he's not heavy," Jie Yu'an answered briefly.

He was still weighing whether to shift Ji Qingzhou onto his back and carry him that way, or simply hoist the person over his shoulder, when Luo Mingxuan's hollering already reached his ears.

"Hey, Brother Yuan, this is too inconvenient for you, let me support him. A' You, keep a close watch on your young master!"

"Just a mere two cups..."

"Enough with the mere two cups, come here you!"

Jie Yu'an furrowed his brow slightly. Although he knew there was nothing wrong with the other's suggestion, he felt inexplicably uneasy about it in his heart.

Without waiting for him to think it over, Luo Mingxuan finished speaking and warmly took hold of Ji Qingzhou's right arm, hooked it around his own neck, gave a slight tug, pulled him over, and half-embraced half-held him in his arms.

He then used his free hand to pick up Ji Qingzhou's jacket hanging on the back of the chair, turned his head and said: "Let's go, I'll see you all to the car."

Jie Yu'an's shoulder suddenly felt empty, and the familiar scent faded away along with it.

He felt inexplicably vexed deep down, and without a word picked up the walking cane leaning against the side of his chair, then walked out of the private room guided by Huang Youshu.

The night streets glittered with bright lights, yet the flow of people on the road was sparser than usual.

A car sped past, its headlights piercing through the thin mist and casting light upon a fine drizzle.

Jie Yu'an caught the damp moisture in the air and only then suddenly realized that his irritability and sullenness had in fact been brought on by the rainy weather.

In his childhood he had lived in Suzhou, where once the plum rain season arrived it would rain without stop day and night, gloomy and oppressive, damp and sticky. The old residence was always filled with the musty smell of rotting wood, and even the bedding and cotton quilts were perpetually damp, like dissolved paste.

So he had always detested rain.

After Luo Mingxuan helped Ji Qingzhou into the car, he said a quick goodbye and hurried back to the restaurant.

With Huang Youshu's help, Jie Yu'an settled into the car, brushed the water droplets from his shoulders and sleeves, and caught the scent of the other person in the enclosed space, his mood lifting ever so slightly.

The back seat was narrow, and Jie Yu'an inevitably had to sit pressed shoulder to arm against Ji Qingzhou.

As the car turned around, he felt the person beside him suddenly lurch toward the car door, and he quickly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

But it seemed he had gripped too hard, for the person who had already been dead asleep from drink was jolted awake by the pain, let out a soft gasp, and mumbled: "Gentler, that hurts."

Jie Yu'an released his hand and asked in a neither warm nor cold tone: "Awake?"

Ji Qingzhou was still in a drunken haze. Hearing that low and cool voice, he squinted and looked at him for a few seconds, unable to recognize who this handsome fellow was, but instinctively feeling a sense of familiarity. He gave a casual "mm," wrapped his arms around the other's arm, tilted his head onto the person's shoulder, and went back to sleep.

Jie Yu'an disliked being this close to people, but the damp smell of rain clinging to him made him unwilling to move. Left with no choice, he maintained that posture until they returned to the Jie residence.

After a journey of more than twenty minutes, by the time they arrived home, Ji Qingzhou had emerged from his dead sleep. Though still not fully lucid, he could at least walk on his own when supported.

Only he refused to let Huang Youshu support him, and would only cling to Jie Yu'an, impossible to pry away no matter how hard one tried.

"Young Master, how about I call a couple more people over..." After two failed attempts, Huang Youshu came up with the idea of calling for help.

Jie Yu'an let out a sigh, one hand holding his cane and the other supporting the drunkard, and said: "Let's go."

It took a full ten-odd minutes, but Jie Yu'an finally managed to get the person to the bedroom and lay him down on the bed.

The rainy night air was on the cool side, yet he had broken out in a sweat all over.

Huang Youshu also let out a breath of relief. Glancing at Mr. Ji sitting on the edge of the bed with a blank stare, he thought for a moment and suggested: "I'll go draw a hot bath for Mr. Ji and help him freshen up a bit?"

Jie Yu'an draped his suit jacket over the side of the bed and said with no small amount of indifference: "One day without washing won't make him stink. Go brew a sobering soup."

"...Yes, Young Master," Huang Youshu acknowledged, privately sighing in his heart that Mr. Ji was truly pitiful. Every day he devoted himself wholeheartedly to attending to the Young Master's washing and grooming, yet when it came to his own turn to be unable to care for himself, the Young Master couldn't even be bothered.

As Huang Youshu closed the door and left, the room fell instantly silent.

Jie Yu'an was just about to go sit on the sofa when, as he turned, his right hand was caught by a few slender fingers. He halted his steps and, though unable to see, turned back and asked: "What is it?"

Ji Qingzhou's thoughts were muddled. He understood that he was drunk, but did not know where he was, and in his dazed state his mind drifted back to his time in the modern world.

Looking at the handsome young man in a waistcoat before him, he mistook him for a bar attendant and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Don't go, I'll tip you. Stay and have a few more drinks with me."

Jie Yu'an turned his face away speechlessly, and just as he was about to pull his hand free, the other let out a puzzled sound.

"No, no, that's not right, you're not a waiter."

"Why do you have a cloth strip tied over your eyes? Playing so big, which establishment's male escort are you from?"

As he said this, he also looked down at where he was sitting, and muttered with a glazed look in his eyes: "A bed. Am I in a hotel? I ordered a male escort at a hotel? So it turns out I'm the one playing so big..."

Jie Yu'an couldn't be bothered with this drunkard and forcibly wrenched his hand free, but as he turned around he was hooked by the back of his belt.

"I said don't go," Ji Qingzhou's slender fingers slipped into the back of his waistband, then gripped his wrist and said: "Two thousand for one round, keep me company tonight."

"What?" Jie Yu'an frowned slightly.

"Not enough? Then how much do you want? A hundred thousand, keep you for a month, how about it?"

Good grief, handsome male models really cost a fortune...

For no particular reason, Ji Qingzhou also thought that with a figure that good, he might be some kind of model.

"What do you come into contact with on a daily basis?"

"Me? Just working, the income isn't much, but it's at least a six-figure sum. Think it over, I also have two apartments in Shanghai. Follow me, and I'll definitely make sure you live comfortably."

He was drunk, and his voice had softened as well, so that even such shameless words sounded like he was being coquettish.

Jie Yu'an knew full well that he was out of his senses and talking nonsense, yet still asked in a mocking tone: "Six figures? Where?"

"In... the bank."

"Which bank?"

"Can't say that..." Even drunk, he still knew to guard his private information.

Seeing the person still standing motionless with a rather stern expression, he grew somewhat anxious and rose to his feet, muttering "being a male escort with such an attitude, you'll never make any money," while stretching out his arms and reaching from behind to wrap them around the other's waist, his fingers nimbly giving a flick and undoing the belt buckle.

"Stop standing there, I've already paid..."

Jie Yu'an impatiently seized his meddlesome hand, then with a reverse hook of his own, undid the belt at Ji Qingzhou's waistband and yanked it out with a swish.

"Oh my, why are you even more eager than me?"

Ji Qingzhou was no match for the military-trained Jie Yu'an in agility to begin with, and now drunk on top of that, his reactions were half a beat slower than usual.

Before he could even figure out how the other had pulled out his belt, both his hands were bound tightly together by Jie Yu'an with the belt.

When Huang Youshu came in carrying the sobering soup, he found his Young Master sitting upright and properly on the sofa, while Mr. Ji, though lying on the bed, had his hands bound and tied to one of the bedposts of the Windsor bed.

The young man in white, his clothes and hair in disarray, eyes hazy with a watery mist, his face flushed a faint red from constantly rubbing against the pillow, his lips bitten to a deep red by his own teeth, all while struggling and letting out muffled pleas and curses.

"It hurts, let me go. Damn it, I'm done playing..."

"I'm filing a complaint, I want to file a complaint. Terrible service, and abusing customers on top of that..."

"I was wrong, I was wrong. Please let me go..."

"Young Master, this... isn't this a bit much?"

Huang Youshu set the sobering soup on the tea table and asked with some reluctance in his heart.

"He's throwing a drunken fit. Keep him tied up for now."

Hearing this, Huang Youshu had no other recourse, and not daring to look at Ji Qingzhou any further, he changed the subject: "Then I'll go draw your bath."

Jie Yu'an gave a sound of acknowledgment and said nothing more.

Dead drunk as he was, Ji Qingzhou struggled for seven or eight minutes before tiring out, and in less than two minutes of closing his eyes he had fallen fast asleep.

By the time Jie Yu'an had bathed and lay down on the bed, the person beside him had long since gone still.

Knowing full well how crafty Ji Qingzhou was, and worried he might be feigning sleep, he deliberately leaned over and listened to the other's breathing. Detecting nothing out of the ordinary, he then untied the belt from his hands.

"Truly restless."

Letting out a silent murmur, Jie Yu'an rubbed Ji Qingzhou's wrists, arranged his hands neatly at his sides, and tucked the blanket over him.

Before turning to lie back down, he hesitated for a few seconds, and ultimately could not resist the temptation. He reached out his right hand and tentatively brushed Ji Qingzhou's earlobe. Meeting no resistance, he continued tracing upward along the ear, his broad palm coming to rest over half of Ji Qingzhou's head.

His fingers sank into the thick, warm hair, gently stroking a few times, tender as though he were petting some small creature.

The young man's soft and even breathing drifted into his ears. Jie Yu'an was in rare good spirits, and could not help but think that it would be nice if Ji Qingzhou could always stay this quietly by his side.

But no sooner had the thought flickered through his mind than he heard the young man murmur in a low and husky voice.

"Filing a complaint, I want to file a complaint..."

Jie Yu'an guiltily withdrew his hand, lay in wordless silence for a moment, and settled back onto his own half of the bed.

.

The following morning, Ji Qingzhou opened his eyes considerably later than usual.

The moment he woke, he found his head unusually heavy and his eyelids swollen, while a needle-like stinging pain came in waves from both wrists.

He rubbed his eyes, wearily sat up, and gazed at the chinaberry tree leaves outside the window, glistening wet from the rain, as his memories rewound frame by frame like scenes from a film.

Yet his memories only reached as far as the moment he had, drunk, slumped against Jie Yu'an's shoulder.

What happened after that, how he had gotten back, and how he had ended up lying in bed, he could not recall at all.

Not that there was much to worry about. Jie Yu'an being able to look after himself was already something. The one who had it rough was most likely A' You, having to attend to his blind young master while also hauling this drunkard home...

Lost in these thoughts, Ji Qingzhou sat up and instinctively checked his aching wrists first.

One look, and his eyes went wide.

He snapped his head up toward Jie Yu'an, who was sitting on the sofa by the window leisurely drinking tea, and said furiously: "Did you beat me while I was drunk last night?"

Jie Yu'an turned his head, adopting the posture of someone listening: "Why would I beat you?"

"Then why are my hands all bruised and scraped? You must have abused me!"

"You were throwing a drunken fit. Tied you up for a bit."

"A drunken fit?" Ji Qingzhou repeated word by word in disbelief: "How could I possibly throw a drunken fit? When I'm drunk I always just pass out and sleep. Oh, so not only did you abuse me, you're also trying to frame me, is that it!"

"Would you like me to help you recall?"

Jie Yu'an let out a laugh of ambiguous meaning, then set down his teacup and recited in a calm, even tone: "Income isn't much, six figures, two apartments in Shanghai, a hundred thousand, keep me for a month..."

As Ji Qingzhou listened, his forehead began to break out in a cold sweat, and his earlier confidence was nowhere near as full as before.

Inwardly reproaching himself for being so audaciously brazen when drunk, he hemmed and hawed: "Well... well you didn't have to tie it so tight, you've rubbed the skin raw..."

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Do you not know your own strength? What am I, some unforgivable war criminal? You're not slaughtering a pig here, using that much force."

Jie Yu'an was silent for a few seconds, then said in a mild tone: "Sorry."

"What good is an apology..."

"Then what do you want?"

The moment those words came out, the tension in the room instantly thickened once more.

Ji Qingzhou took a deep breath, thinking that this fellow had after all done him a great favor last night, and held back his temper to speak reasonably: "Don't argue with me, my mental state is in a sorry condition right now."

"When is it ever not?"

"......"

Ji Qingzhou gritted his teeth, lowered his head and pressed his temples, and said nothing.

Then he silently threw back the blanket, got out of bed, and walked toward the door.

Listening as the sound of his footsteps gradually receded, Jie Yu'an instead felt a flicker of unease, and raised his voice slightly to ask: "Where are you going?"

"To get clothes and shower! I'm practically going stale!"

The young man's lively voice carried in through the echo of the corridor, and Jie Yu'an's expression instantly relaxed. He picked up his teacup as though nothing had happened and took a sip of hot tea.

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