Lin Lin wiped the corners of her eyes.
Opposite her was an extremely beautiful woman. Even though she was stumbling around drunk, her radiant temperament couldn’t be hidden. Her long, jet-black hair was slightly messy, her cheeks were flushed crimson, and her eyes were blurry.
The drunk beauty was swaying and gesturing like a shaman performing a ritual.
“Damn old men and women… and those… *hic*… people waiting to see me fail… I’m not going back! I won’t go back even if I die!”
She propped herself up against a nearby utility pole and knelt. *Thump, thump.* She kowtowed twice. It seemed to hurt too much because she immediately clutched her head and started rolling around on the ground.
Lin Lin was startled by this sudden performance. However, seeing the woman’s charmingly drunk yet somewhat pathetic and ridiculous state, she thought of her own recent embarrassment. She felt a strange, inexplicable sense of shared misfortune.
“Are you okay?”
Hearing the voice, Shen Xixi turned her head a beat late. Her blurry vision focused on Lin Lin’s face. After staring for several seconds, she frowned and asked in a slurred voice, “Who… who are you? What… what are you looking at! Haven’t you ever seen a beauty get drunk and go crazy?”
“No, I…” Lin Lin was speechless. This drunk had quite a temper.
“You… you were crying too?” Shen Xixi leaned in a bit closer, squinting her eyes to examine Lin Lin’s red and swollen eyes. Suddenly, she grinned and let out a foolish laugh. “Hehe… we… we’re both in the same boat! Come! Big… big sister will buy you a drink!”
As she spoke, she reached out to grab Lin Lin’s arm. Her movement was so wide that she nearly knocked herself over. With a *thud*, she bumped into the utility pole again and started whimpering while clutching her head.
Lin Lin’s originally terrible mood was dampened slightly by this comical scene. She couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
‘This drunkard is actually quite cute in a stupid way.’
But then she thought about it. A beautiful woman wandering around alone late at night and getting this drunk was either a party girl coming out of a bar or someone like herself who had run into some trouble and was drowning her sorrows in alcohol.
The latter was fine—at least it was clean. If she was the former type who frequented bars, Lin Lin wouldn’t dare get involved. Who knew what kind of trouble or illness she might have?
“Hey, are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?” Lin Lin didn’t get too close, asking from a distance.
Shen Xixi raised her tear-blurred face. A small red patch had indeed formed on her forehead. She pouted like a child who had suffered a great injustice.
“It hurts… it hurts so much…”
She spoke unclearly and then suddenly burst into loud wailing. Large tears fell one after another, mixing with the flush and dust on her face. She looked both disheveled and pitiful.
“Waaaaah… they won’t let me play. Even the game bullies me! Waaaaah—” She cried until she was out of breath, sobbing and gasping out her complaints intermittently.
Lin Lin was caught off guard by this sudden breakdown. She had no choice but to soften her voice and ask, “Who won’t let you play? What’s wrong with the game?”
Shen Xixi sobbed as she explained how she had been forcibly kicked out of the game. When she tried to log back in, the system ruthlessly prompted: **[Detected that the player’s blood alcohol concentration is too high. Mental clarity is insufficient. To ensure a safe experience, login is temporarily prohibited. It is recommended to rest fully before trying again.]**
She had been so angry that she downed half a bottle of Brandy, then wandered out in a daze. She didn’t even know how she had ended up here.
“I… I want to go in. It won’t let me. It says I’m drunk! I’m not drunk at all. I’m perfectly sober!”
Shen Xixi waved her arms, hiccuping and drooling.
Such a fine beauty was currently a complete mess.
Looking at her miserable state, Lin Lin even felt a subtle sense of comfort that someone else was worse off than she was.
She sighed and took a tissue from her bag. After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped forward, knelt down, pulled out two tissues, and handed them over.
“Clean yourself up. Your makeup is ruined.”
Shen Xixi looked up dazed. Seeing the blurry figure and the offered tissue, she slowly took it and wiped her face haphazardly. As a result, she smeared her eyeliner and mascara even further, looking exactly like a panda with wet eyes.
“Than… thank you…” she mumbled. Pouting, she asked pitifully, “Were you bullied too?”
Lin Lin sat down beside her. The concrete was a bit cold, but she didn’t care anymore.
The night breeze blew past, carrying the scent of smoke from a distant barbecue stall.
She was hungry.
“I guess so,” she laughed self-mockingly. “I wanted to see someone, but unfortunately, he didn’t even want to see me.”
Shen Xixi threw a punch in the air with shared indignation, though it was weak and limp. “Then hit him!”
Lin Lin laughed again at her childish behavior.
“What about you? Why are you here?”
Shen Xixi tilted her head. “I… I want to play a game. It won’t let me… *sob*… It says I’m drunk. I’m clearly not… *hic*…”
She began to ramble again, complaining about the game, her family, and everything that made her unhappy. Her logic was disorganized, and her sentences were disconnected.
Lin Lin listened quietly without interrupting.
Two frustrated women on a street corner late at night—one talking drunken nonsense and the other listening in silence.
***
Luo Tiantian felt her body warm up a bit after a bowl of hot soup, and the stinging in her throat eased slightly.
“Oh right, Su Xiao. I forgot to bring in the quilt I was airing out today.”
Luo Tiantian suddenly remembered.
The rental didn’t have a balcony, so hanging clothes and quilts to dry had to be done on the rooftop terrace.
“Huh? Look at the time. It even rained a little tonight. I’ll go get it for you. Just stay lying down.”
“I’ll go with you. It’s only on the fourth floor; it’s not far.” Luo Tiantian didn’t want to trouble Su Xiao too much, and lying down all the time felt uncomfortable.
Su Xiao couldn’t talk her out of it, so she supported her, draped a coat over her, and the two of them stepped out. They climbed the stairs together.
The hallway lights in the old building flickered on and off. Their steps were slow.
When they reached the iron door leading to the terrace on the fourth floor, the night wind suddenly rushed in.
“The quilt is over there.” Luo Tiantian pointed to the clothesline in the corner of the terrace.
The two walked over and saw a thin quilt still hanging there. It swayed slightly in the night wind and felt a bit damp to the touch.
“It really is damp. I can’t use it tonight.” Su Xiao efficiently took the quilt down, folded it, and held it in her arms. “Let’s take it back first. We can air it out again tomorrow when the sun comes out.”
Just as they were about to head back with the quilt, Luo Tiantian happened to look downstairs.
From the fourth-floor terrace, they could see the nearby road and street corner.
Under the dim streetlights, two figures could be seen squatting by the curb. They were very close to each other, and one of them seemed to be moving in a strange posture.
“Su Xiao, look over there… are those two people?”
Luo Tiantian squinted. She was a bit nearsighted, and being sick made her vision even blurrier, so she couldn’t see clearly.
Su Xiao followed her gaze and saw the two blurry figures as well.
“Looks like it. What are they doing on the side of the road so late? Are they drunk?”
Luo Tiantian looked more closely. She felt a strange sense of familiarity.
“Let’s go. The wind is strong; don’t look.” Su Xiao pulled at her. “Hurry back. You shouldn’t be out in the wind anymore.”
“Yeah…”
Suddenly…
“WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!!”
A voice with a cracked tone drifted from the distance.
Luo Tiantian and Su Xiao were stunned.
“HAVEN’T YOU EVER SEEN AN IDIOT?! IF YOU KEEP LOOKING, YOU’LL TURN INTO ONE TOO!!”
This time, Luo Tiantian and Su Xiao were certain. It was one of the people squatting by the road.
The voice clearly belonged to someone who had drunk too much.
“…”
Su Xiao was a bit annoyed and shouted back at the two figures, “WHAT ARE YOU BARKING FOR?!”
“WOOF WOOF WOOF!!” the voice from the other side replied.
“…”
Su Xiao was speechless.
“DON’T LOOK!!” it was the woman’s voice again.
She was probably drunk because of something sad and didn’t want others to see her.
Luo Tiantian tried to pull Su Xiao away, but Su Xiao’s temper flared. She shouted at the two figures again, “WHAT ARE YOU BEING SO COCKY FOR? WHAT’S YOUR NAME?!”
“Su… Xiao…!”
A slurred voice drifted back from the opposite side.
Su Xiao?!
Su Xiao almost thought she had heard her own name.
Dammit.
She couldn’t just take this lying down.
“I HAVE NO REASON TO HIDE MY NAME! IT’S SHEN XIXI!! IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS, COME AND FIGHT SHEN XIXI!!”
Hearing the voice, Shen Xixi tilted her head.
‘Shen Xixi?’
What kind of name was that?
Was she really so drunk that she couldn’t even hear voices properly?
Lin Lin covered her face nearby.
What was going on?
There was a Su Xiao on the side of the road, and on the building opposite them was a Shen… Xixi?
Either way, they were both acting completely neurotic.