The Older Brother of My Student is My Secret Crush

Chapter 44

Xiao Chen really could not stand watching Yu Na's terrible luck anymore, so he took the cards from her and said, "Let me play for you."

It had to be said, he did have some luck.

The first round he drew was landlord, and he completely destroyed the peasant couple opponents.

Lin Shuan finally got to drink her first cup.

Then in the second and third consecutive rounds, Xiao Chen got three wins in a row.

...

Since none of them were the sort to cheat, all three had quite a lot to drink throughout the night.

Han Chengxun could hold his liquor well, so he was fine.

Lin Shuan and Yu Na did not drink often, and also had low alcohol tolerance. Lin Shuan fell straight asleep, while Yu Na's eyes were drooping, barely clinging to consciousness.

Han Chengxun carried Lin Shuan back to their room, then came out looking a bit worriedly at Yu Na. He asked Xiao Chen, "Can you handle this?"

Just as Xiao Chen was about to reply, Yu Na, who had been lying prone on the table the whole time, suddenly sat up. Her face was bright red, and she had a proud smile on her face, as if believing that she had a high tolerance. "I'm not drunk!"

"..."

Drunk people never admit that they're drunk, so Xiao Chen lost all confidence. "I thought I'd be okay before, but now I don't know anymore."

He held onto Yu Na's arm. "Let's go."

Yu Na shook Xiao Chen off forcefully and babbled drunkenly, "I said, I'm not drunk!"

Seeing this, Han Chengxun offered his sympathy without an ounce of sincerity. "Good luck, bro."

Xiao Chen: "..."

He followed Yu Na out of Han Chengxun's home. Yu Na refused to let him support her, but Xiao Chen walked behind her anyway. That way, whenever she stumbled, he could catch her from behind without actually touching her.

Once they were in the elevator, Yu Na had originally been standing, but as the elevator descended, the sudden vertigo caused her to lose her balance and stumble straight backward.

Xiao Chen reacted swiftly and put his arm around her shoulders, speaking to her in a low, mocking voice, "Not drunk, huh?"

Yu Na's body stiffened. She didn't struggle free, just stubbornly claimed, "I'm really not drunk! I can still drink more!"

His voice was especially charming in the quiet, confined space. With a hint of laughter, he sarcastically taunted, "Oh right, you're not drunk, I'm the one who's drunk."

Right on cue, the elevator stopped at his words.

Worried that she couldn't stand steadily, Xiao Chen didn't remove his arm.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a white-haired old man holding two iron balls standing right outside.

He gave the two a meaningful look before calmly stepping into the elevator.

Yu Na had her eyes closed, leaning towards Xiao Chen's side. As the elevator doors shut once more, an obvious feeling of descent could be felt again.

She turned to face Xiao Chen directly, disregarding his reaction. Lifting her arms, she wrapped them around his neck in a bizarre gesture.

"..."

Xiao Chen's breathing abruptly halted as his mind went blank, his body tensing up in response to this strange behavior.

He glanced at the old man staring at them from the other side, smiled awkwardly, and thought to himself, whatever, let him misunderstand then.

Yu Na completely ignored the old man's existence. She rested her head on Xiao Chen's shoulder, her voice very soft, warm breaths falling on his neck.

"Xiao Chen..."

Xiao Chen didn't push her away. An inexplicable heat arose in his chest. Hearing his name uttered so gently, he couldn't help the tenderness that seeped into his own voice. "Hm?"

"We—"

She had only said two words before falling silent.

Xiao Chen felt his heartbeat growing erratic. He vaguely guessed what she wanted to say next.

But reality greatly differed from his assumptions.

Yu Na hugged him tightly, as if holding onto her one and only pillar of support. Face flushed red, she nuzzled into his shoulder, words slightly slurred as she said the unbelievable:

"It's like our plane is about to crash..."

"............"

Xiao Chen: ???

He wanted to shove her off right then.

With an exaggerated eye roll, he retorted indignantly, enunciating each word, "Crash your *ss plane!"

The words left his mouth.

The air froze.

The old man's expression changed.

Sensing the mood, Xiao Chen was filled with awkwardness. He smiled apologetically over and over, "Sorry, not talking about you, sir."

One second, cursing the crashing plane.

The next second, apologizing politely.

The two sentences flowed seamlessly together, making it rather hard not to think he did that on purpose.

The old man just gave a cold humph, without another word. But his face said it all.

Deep wrinkles covered his features, the slightest change in expression causing them to jump and dance about. Scrunching together one moment, wildly fluttering the next.

He simply continued this little performance within the confined space.

Fortunately, when they arrived at the first floor, the old man left with nary a glance back, expression inscrutable as he strode out steadily, thermal flask in hand.

Xiao Chen selected the basement level two button. Yu Na still had her arms wrapped around him.

His posture was somewhat stiff and awkward. "Hey, let me go," he said woodenly.

But Yu Na didn't react at all, spouting even more nonsense by the second. She gave a couple of dissatisfied grunts, mumbling, "We can only be together forever...if our plane crashes..."

The elevator had already reached the underground parking garage.

As the doors slowly parted, Xiao Chen didn't give any response to her drunken rambling, only taking it as nonsense induced by alcohol.

He pried Yu Na's arms off of his neck and placed them back down. Though she seemed able to walk, her soul looked to be drifting. Xiao Chen supported her the entire way. After much difficulty, he opened the passenger door and somehow managed to stuff her inside.

He then got into the driver's seat himself, as if having survived an ordeal. Seated at last, he heaved a long sigh of relief.

Now he understood that one should never provoke drunk people. Too frightening.

Xiao Chen didn’t hurry to start the car. Instead, he turned to face her direction. Yu Na had slightly curly hair flowing down to the nape of her neck. Her features were delicate yet not lacking in refinement. Slender, arching brows framed large bright eyes lined thinly with glittery shadow. Lips plump in shape, stained red and moist. With her mouth slightly parted as she breathed softly and evenly in slumber, she looked extraordinarily well-behaved.

Xiao Chen’s resentment from earlier gradually melted away as he examined her sleeping face. The crease between his eyebrows relaxed of its own accord, without him even noticing. For some reason, her previous words suddenly echoed in his ears once more—

“Is it only when our plane crashes that we can be together forever?”

A chuckle escaped Xiao Chen in the darkness.

“Hey,” he called out.

But Yu Na’s eyes remained shut, ignoring him completely.

Xiao Chen crossed his arms, putting on an act as if they really were about to crash. Voice dripping with drama, he exclaimed, “We’re crashing! Wake up!”

Still no response.

About to exit the parking garage, a serious question popped into his mind—where would she sleep tonight?

Xiao Chen had no choice but to wake her. Shaking her arm, he asked, “Hey, where are your house keys?”

Yu Na frowned, slowly cracking open her eyes before letting them fall shut again. Impatiently, she slapped the pocket of her skinny jeans.

“...”

Since she had tight jeans on, Xiao Chen didn’t feel right rummaging through there himself.

After hesitating a while, he grabbed her wrist and used her own hand to fish the keys out of her pocket.

Although drunk Yu Na would spout nonsense, she didn’t make a single sound once asleep.

The entire ride, only her soft breathing could be heard with her face turned towards him. Xiao Chen’s eyes kept involuntarily darting to the side.

The scent of alcohol permeated the vehicle interior, seeming to numb his senses as well.

Arriving at Building 9 of Jinyu Gardens, Xiao Chen shook Yu Na awake. “We’re at your place.”

But she was sleeping like the dead without hearing a thing.

Xiao Chen could only get out first and open the passenger door, bending down to shake her arm once more. “Hey—”

A barely audible murmur came from the woman inside.

“We’ve arrived. Wake up.”

Yu Na slowly opened her eyes again, gaze unfocused. Seeing Xiao Chen, she seemed to find it unbelievable. After rubbing her eyes, she uncertainly called out his name, as if confirming it was really him, “Xiao Chen...”

His voice was gentle. “We’re here.”

The corners of Yu Na’s lips curved up when she was certain it was Xiao Chen. A dimple briefly appeared at the side of her mouth. Bathed under the golden glow of the car lights, her eyes misted over like a veil had been drawn across them.

She stared straight at Xiao Chen's eyes unabashedly and softly repeated his name again, “Xiao Chen...”

"Hm?"

"There's something I want to tell you." Yu Na crooked a finger at him.

Xiao Chen's heart skipped a heavy beat. He naturally leaned down in response. The mingling smells of body warmth and alcohol diffused into the space around him.

Trying to calm his inexplicable emotions, he lightly coughed once. "What is it?"

Yu Na's voice took on a coy, pleading tone. She blinked pitifully at him and said slowly, "I can't walk..."