Watching his retreating back, Sang Zhi hesitated for a few seconds. She had initially intended to climb onto his back, but as if suddenly remembering something, she quickly withdrew her hand and said with utmost seriousness, "You can’t carry me on your back."
Hearing this, Duan Jiaxu turned his head. "This isn’t allowed either?"
Sang Zhi nodded and continued speaking to herself, "The doctor said you should avoid heavy physical labor for three months."
Duan Jiaxu was momentarily stunned, then the corners of his lips curved upward. "You remember that even when you’re this drunk?"
As if she hadn’t heard him, Sang Zhi didn’t respond. Instead, she lowered her gaze and slowly counted on her fingers, "You had the surgery in November. So, December, thirteen, fourteen..."
"Wait." As if something felt off, Sang Zhi frowned. "Twelve, thirteen..."
"..." Duan Jiaxu couldn’t help but laugh. "Twelve, one."
Only then did Sang Zhi look at him. Her mind was a tangled mess, unable to comprehend why it had suddenly jumped from twelve to one. Hesitantly, she asked, "Then... how many months is that... Brother, can you count it for me?"
"Three months."
Sang Zhi let out an "oh" and didn’t find anything amiss. Struggling to stand up, she sniffled and asked, "It’s been three months... So, can you carry me on your back now?"
Duan Jiaxu chuckled. "Yes."
Before Sang Zhi could climb onto his back, she suddenly remembered something else. "But I weigh over eighty jin..." As she spoke, she began crying again, as if utterly distraught. "I weigh over eighty jin..."
"..."
"And also," she glanced downward, her expression dazed, her sobs growing even more sorrowful, "I don’t have breasts... I don’t have any... wuwuwu... I don’t..."
Duan Jiaxu was still crouched on the ground. Perhaps he hadn’t expected to hear such words, as he froze for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. His chest heaved with amusement, laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath, his voice growing slightly hoarse.
"What are you talking about?"
"Why are you laughing at me?" Sang Zhi’s tears fell in big drops as she pointed at him, clearly unhappy. "You don’t have any either, so why are you laughing at me?"
"Mm, I don’t have any either," Duan Jiaxu immediately restrained his laughter. "So, how about we comfort each other, alright?"
"..." Sang Zhi stopped crying at once, as if she had found an ally, and willingly climbed onto his back. "Then... then you shouldn’t be too sad either."
Duan Jiaxu stood up, suppressing his laughter. "Mm, I won’t be sad."
Sang Zhi wiped her tears with her gloves. "Brother, what if I throw up again later?"
Duan Jiaxu tossed the clothes in his hand into a nearby trash can, glanced around, and coaxed her gently, "Just let me know when you feel like throwing up."
She hiccupped. "What if I can’t hold it in?"
"Then don’t hold it in," Duan Jiaxu said. "Just don’t throw up on my head."
Sang Zhi let out an "oh" and fell silent.
Worried that taking a car might make her more uncomfortable, Duan Jiaxu didn’t hail a taxi. Instead, he carried her on his back and walked in the direction of Yihe University. Casually, he asked, "You have to catch a flight tomorrow, so why did you drink today?"
Sang Zhi rested her chin on his shoulder and murmured softly, "I’m unhappy."
"..."
As she spoke, she seemed on the verge of tears again, her voice muffled. "Zhizhi is unhappy."
Duan Jiaxu tilted his head to look at her. "Why is Zhizhi unhappy?"
Sang Zhi didn’t answer.
Duan Jiaxu withdrew his gaze and looked ahead. The dim nighttime light cast faint, indistinct shadows on his expression, making it hard to read clearly. "Is it because of the person Zhizhi likes?"Sang Zhi rubbed her tears away and hummed in response.
"Can't say who it is?"
"Mm."
"Then describe him to me," Duan Jiaxu's tone was calm. "What is this person like? Is he a good person? Does he treat you well?"
Sang Zhi lifted her head and glanced at his profile. After a long moment, she tilted her head and stammered out a word: "M-male..."
She couldn't complete the sentence for the longest time.
"Male what?" Duan Jiaxu said. "Male god?"
Sang Zhi shook her head, enunciating each word clearly: "M-male fox spirit."
Duan Jiaxu: "..."
What kind of description was that?
"He's a good person, and he treats me well too." Sang Zhi's mood suddenly plummeted, sobbing as she spoke. "But he's nice to everyone, he's nice to everyone..."
"..."
At this point, Sang Zhi suddenly grew angry, her voice instantly rising as she cried and shouted: "Cen!tral! Air! Conditioning!"
"A scumbag?" This time Duan Jiaxu didn't laugh. After a few seconds of silence, he added, "Do you like him that much?"
Sang Zhi was truly heartbroken. She buried her face in his shoulder, tears continuously falling, sobs constantly escaping her throat, completely unstoppable, crying like a child.
Duan Jiaxu continued asking: "Someone who can make Zhizhi this sad?"
"..."
His tone gentle: "Then stop liking him, okay?"
Sang Zhi didn't speak anymore, only cried.
Duan Jiaxu also fell silent.
He entered Yihe University's campus gate and headed toward Sang Zhi's dormitory building based on his previous memory. The crying from the person on his back gradually softened until it disappeared completely, as if she had fallen asleep.
The campus at night was both quiet and lively, with groups of students coming and going. The road leading to the dormitory building was lit by warm yellow lights, tinting the fine snow with color.
It was as if they had entered another world in an instant.
Quieted down.
So quiet you could hear the sound of falling snow.
Duan Jiaxu suddenly turned to look at her.
Noticing Sang Zhi had closed her eyes, as if she had cried herself to sleep, but tears were still streaming out. Even in sleep, she seemed deeply distressed.
Duan Jiaxu called her name: "Sang Zhi."
The only response was silence.
Her breathing was even and rhythmic, warm and shallow against his neck.
Duan Jiaxu watched her for a long time, then suddenly laughed, saying in a breathy voice: "You like that type?"
"..."
"Male fox spirit?"
"Then," Duan Jiaxu murmured, "what if I become that type?"
The young girl showed no reaction at all, pulled into dreams by exhaustion and sleepiness, unable to hear anything.
"And only be good to you alone, okay?" Duan Jiaxu continued. "Then our Zhizhi wouldn't be so sad anymore."
"Letting someone else take care of you... I'd still feel a bit uneasy."
"Okay?"
"..."
"If you don't respond, gege will take it as your agreement."
Duan Jiaxu waited for quite a while. His brows and eyes gradually relaxed, his voice carrying laughter: "Good, our Zhizhi agrees."
"My conditions aren't bad either," Duan Jiaxu said playfully. "Not poor anymore, and quite handsome too. Except I'm a bit older than you."
"When I was twenty, you said I was old. Rounding it off, you're almost twenty now too." He seemed to find this reasoning amusing, teasing: "So our little Sang Zhi is old too."
This young girl he had watched over for so many years.If she could meet someone she liked, who would always be good to her.
That would of course be wonderful.
But he was afraid that in the process, she might get hurt.
That she would be like tonight, not even daring to speak her heart when drunk.
Crying even in her sleep.
Duan Jiaxu thought.
Aside from her family, probably no one could treat her better than he did.
"Big brother will earn more money, so you can afford candies that cost a thousand yuan each," Duan Jiaxu said. "Then you'll forgive big brother—"
"For planning to be an old cow eating young grass."
He laughed: "Deal?"-
Sang Zhi hazily heard Duan Jiaxu wake her up, ask for her dorm room number, then carry her upstairs on his back. He made her a cup of honey water and had her drink it.
He also seemed to have called a girl from the neighboring dorm to help her change clothes.
After that, Sang Zhi climbed into bed and fell asleep. When she woke up again, it was already the next morning. Her head was pounding painfully as she sat up dazedly, momentarily confused.
Memories from last night flooded back all at once.
She had said a lot of things.
She had also told him that she had someone she liked.
But even when drunk, her mouth remained tight—it seemed she hadn't said anything she shouldn't have.
But.
She! Threw! Up! On! Him!
"..."
Sang Zhi roughly grabbed her hair, burying her face in the blankets in despair. She checked her phone and found several WeChat messages from Duan Jiaxu.
Pursing her lips, she opened them.
Her other roommates were already awake.
Noticing her movements, they all turned to look at her in unison.
Wang Ruolan, sitting at her desk, looked up at her and asked gossipily, "Sang Zhi, was the guy who brought you back yesterday the friend of your brother you mentioned before?"
Sang Zhi paused, then raised her eyes. "Yeah."
Yu Xin grew excited. "Holy shit, he's really handsome! I didn't quite believe it when you said it before, but damn, he's way too good-looking!"
"Ah, seriously, compared to him, my boyfriend looks like a dinosaur," Ning Wei said, clutching her heart. "When we got back yesterday, we thought we'd walked into the wrong dorm."
Sang Zhi couldn't help asking, "When did he leave?"
"We got back around midnight," Ning Wei said. "He seemed to have been sitting at your desk the whole time. He left right after we came back."
Wang Ruolan added, "He probably stayed to take care of you because he was worried you weren't feeling well."
Sang Zhi nodded and looked down at her phone.
Brother No. 2: [I asked your roommate to wake you up at 9.]
Brother No. 2: [All the flights around that time are sold out, and I can't change the booking. There aren't any later ones either. You need to get up, or you won't make it back.]
Brother No. 2: [Drink plenty of water after you wake up. I'll come pick you up at 10 to take you to the airport.]
Sang Zhi replied with an "Okay," then checked the time—it was just past 9. She threw off the covers and started tidying her bed, muttering, "If I ever drink again in this lifetime, I'm a dog."
Yu Xin asked curiously, "What happened?"
Sang Zhi couldn't bring herself to say it.
Wang Ruolan grinned. "Did you kiss him when you were drunk?"
"No way!" Sang Zhi looked up sharply. "Don't talk nonsense."
"Did you confess to him?"
Sang Zhi pulled off her quilt cover and glanced at them. "If I had, I'd be going crazy right now."
Ning Wei pressed, "Then what did you do?"
Sang Zhi stopped what she was doing, hesitated for a long moment, and finally blurted out, "I threw up on him."
"..."The dorm room remained silent for quite a while.
Yu Xin cleared her throat lightly: "No wonder I smelled something off yesterday."
Wang Ruolan said sympathetically: "Looks like your crush has to end now."
Ning Wei: "Why couldn't you hold it in a bit longer?"
"I didn't mean to either." Sang Zhi let out a sigh, immediately recalling that scene again. She sniffed her own clothes and frowned, "Ah, whatever. I'll apologize to him later."
Ning Wei: "But he didn't seem to mind that much though."
"He's just that good-tempered. Even if I vomited on his head, he probably wouldn't get angry." Sang Zhi quickly tidied her bed and climbed down, "I need to take a shower first."
She grabbed a change of clothes and entered the bathroom.
Just before stepping into the bathroom, Sang Zhi could still hear her roommates saying: "What a god-like man."
"..."
After showering, Sang Zhi used the hairdryer to dry her hair. Because of the alcohol, her mental state didn't look too good.
Sang Zhi quickly applied light makeup, then opened her suitcase and started packing. She didn't have much to bring home - besides her laptop and a few books, plus the bedsheets that needed washing, she didn't plan to bring anything else back.
She finished packing in no time.
It happened to be exactly ten o'clock when Sang Zhi bid farewell to her roommates and pulled her suitcase out of the dorm.
Since it was holiday period, cars were allowed to drive onto campus.
Just after leaving the dorm building, Sang Zhi saw Duan Jiaxu's car. She dawdled her way over, thinking about how to properly apologize to him.
Soon, Duan Jiaxu got out of the car and came over to take her suitcase.
Not daring to look at him, Sang Zhi said quietly: "Good morning, brother."
Duan Jiaxu responded: "Morning."
She didn't say anything more, planning to properly apologize after getting in the car, and directly took the passenger seat. Duan Jiaxu put her suitcase in the trunk and got in the car a moment later than her.
Hearing the car door close, Sang Zhi looked over and stammered: "I drank too much yesterday, I wasn't feeling well..."
Duan Jiaxu glanced at her: "Mm."
"So I couldn't hold it in," Sang Zhi found it difficult to continue, lowering her head, "I accidentally vomited on you... that was pretty disgusting, right? I'm sorry, brother."
He said indifferently: "It's fine."
As he finished speaking, Sang Zhi felt him lean closer. Her breath hitched, confused about what was happening, and she instinctively looked up, meeting his gaze.
Duan Jiaxu looked down at her intently, then suddenly smiled. He leaned quite close, his hand reaching toward the side of her face, then grabbing the seatbelt beside her.
But he didn't hurry to pull back, staying in place for several seconds.
"What's wrong?" Being watched like this made Sang Zhi feel inexplicably uncomfortable, and she averted her gaze, "Oh, I forgot to buckle up..."
Duan Jiaxu fastened her seatbelt, his gaze still fixed on her. His peach blossom eyes slightly narrowed, deep and affectionate, carrying a hint of seduction.
Sensing through her peripheral vision that he was still watching her, Sang Zhi couldn't help saying: "What are you doing."
Duan Jiaxu slowly sat back, buckling his own seatbelt as he spoke with a faint smile: "Nothing."
Sang Zhi said suspiciously: "Oh."
The car then started moving.Sang Zhi glanced at him, feeling something was a bit off but unable to pinpoint what. She scratched her head, not paying it much mind, and lowered her gaze to check the boarding time. "The flight's at two-thirty. Should we head to the airport now?"
"Let's grab a meal first," Duan Jiaxu said. "We'll go to the airport after eating."
Thinking about how she'd be away for about a month this time, Sang Zhi hesitated but still asked, "Brother, how do you plan to spend the New Year?"
"Watching the Spring Festival Gala at home?" Duan Jiaxu thought for a moment. "And then waiting for Little Sang Zhi's text blessings."
"..."
Why does that sound so pitiful.
"I mean," Sang Zhi pursed her lips, carefully choosing her words, "you're, like, twenty-six this year. You should probably have a girlfriend by now. If you have time, you could—"
"Where would I get a girlfriend?" Just as the light turned red, Duan Jiaxu stopped the car and said lazily, "Is Little Sang Zhi going to introduce one to your brother?"
Sang Zhi was baffled. "Why would I introduce anyone? All the people I know are around my age."
Hearing this, Duan Jiaxu turned to look at her, his gaze sweeping over her from head to toe, light and quick. He smiled, his eyes ambiguous and gentle. "Around your age?"
She figured he'd follow up with, "Then forget it, with that bunch of kids you hang out with."
Sang Zhi could already guess. She twitched the corner of her mouth and nodded silently.
After a few seconds, Duan Jiaxu raised an eyebrow and let out a soft, drawn-out chuckle.
Just then, the light turned green. He withdrew his gaze. As the car started moving again, Sang Zhi heard him utter two more words, his voice so faint it was almost imperceptible.
"That works too."
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