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Ye Minjia blinked roguishly. “Nothing, just calling you once. Xin’er, does it sound nice when I say it?”
Bai Jiangxin couldn’t be bothered to deal with him.
“Does it sound nice, does it sound nice?” Ye Minjia leaned close to him, relentless.
Bai Jiangxin grew impatient. “It sounds bad. Shut up.”
Ye Minjia said, “Then who calls it nicely?”
Bai Jiangxin didn’t speak again. At this moment, Ye Minjia’s arm was still pressed against him, and his teasing inner voice also drifted into his mind.
His eyelid twitched uncontrollably. Without showing it on his face, Bai Jiangxin shifted slightly to the side, distancing himself from this meddlesome person.
He and Xiang Di were both outwardly reserved people. Although he didn’t know how this guy had discovered the subtlety between him and Xiang Di—whether Xiang Di had accidentally given something away, or he himself had slipped up—in any case—
He should treat this guy to a meal some other day.
─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───
The game had already reached the final round. Xiang Di’s fighting spirit had been completely ignited. “1!”
Wang Sichen: “2!”
Liang Qianqian: “3!”
Zhou Linxiao: “4.”
Only the last number remained. Ye Minjia and Bai Jiangxin had no other choice but to shout 5 at the same time.
Ye Minjia: “Ni—”
Just as the “ni” sound came out, Bai Jiangxin directly spoke: “Di Bao’er.”
Xiang Di, who had been watching the fun from the side, suddenly felt her heart tighten.
Ye Minjia blinked, as if he hadn’t heard clearly. “Huh?”
“Di Bao’er.” Bai Jiangxin deliberately dragged out the tone, repeating calmly. “Di. Bao’er. Did you hear clearly?”
His enunciation was steady and clear, each word pronounced distinctly, as if afraid Ye Minjia hadn’t heard, and also as if afraid someone else hadn’t heard.
Ye Minjia seemed to suddenly have amnesia. “Eh? Whose nickname is that again?”
Wang Sichen laughed at him. “Did you drink yourself stupid? It’s Xiang Di’s nickname.”
Ye Minjia looked at Xiang Di. “Is that your nickname?”
Xiang Di nodded. “…Mm.”
“Oh, I remember now.” Ye Minjia looked enlightened, then looked at Bai Jiangxin. “Xiang Di’s nickname, you say it pretty smoothly.”
Bai Jiangxin said calmly, “It’s just that the nickname itself is easy to say.”
Xiang Di pressed her lips together. The hands resting beside her thighs quietly clenched the fabric of her skirt.
She had heard this nickname since she was little; it was already extremely familiar. When she was young, the elders at home would hold her in their arms and affectionately call her Di Bao’er again and again.
This nickname represented her family’s doting love for her. Xiang Di never expected that one day, she would hear her own nickname come out of Bai Jiangxin’s mouth.
Secret crushes were countless rounds of being pulled back and forth between imagination and clarity, countless times imagining the tone you would use when calling my name.
And he had just called it more than once. Xiang Di knew this thought was very narcissistic, but she simply couldn’t stop her heart from speeding up. She couldn’t stop herself from repeatedly recalling the sound of Bai Jiangxin calling “Di Bao’er” just now, as if she, too, were being doted on by him.
She quietly lifted her eyes.
That single glance was fatal. Under the flickering atmosphere lights in the private room, she happened to collide with Bai Jiangxin’s calm, quiet gaze.
Damn it! She hurriedly shifted her gaze away and spoke to Liang Qianqian beside her.
Bai Jiangxin silently curved his lips, lifted the glass cup in front of him, and tilted his head, intending to take a sip—only to drink a mouthful of air.
Only then did he look at the rim of the cup and realize that it had long been empty. He hadn’t noticed at all.
─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───
They had already played enough of the “Change Name and Surname” game. If they kept playing, it would get boring. Ye Minjia planned to switch to a new game, but before that, he was going to go take a piss first.
“Liang Qianqian.”
Liang Qianqian: “Huh?”
“You just drank so much fruit wine, don’t you want to go to the restroom?”
Liang Qianqian reacted. “Oh, I do.”
The two of them went out together. Standing in the corridor outside the private room, Ye Minjia looked at her approvingly. “Not bad, that coordination just now was very good. You’re teachable.”
Liang Qianqian smiled modestly. “It’s all thanks to your wise guidance, old sir.”
Ye Minjia: “Of course.”
“But does that little trick of calling nicknames actually work?” Liang Qianqian said. “I feel like the two of them didn’t really react.”
“What do you know. Hearing a nickname from an elder’s mouth and hearing it from the mouth of a peer of the opposite sex are completely different feelings, okay—especially when it’s from someone you like.”
“Really?” Liang Qianqian blinked. “When I heard Zhou Linxiao and Bai Jiangxin call me Qianqian just now, I didn’t feel anything special at all.”
Those two were both publicly acknowledged school heartthrobs.
“No way.” Ye Minjia frowned. “Do you seriously have zero girlish heart?”
Liang Qianqian shrugged. “Maybe I’m just cold-hearted.”
Ye Minjia suddenly realized something. “I get it. It’s because your name itself is already a reduplicated word, so when people call you Qianqian, of course you don’t have that intimate feeling of being called a nickname.”
Liang Qianqian also felt that made sense. “Alright then, people with reduplicated names like me don’t deserve nicknames.”
When Liang Qianqian’s parents named their daughter back then, their original intention was actually very good. The name Qianqian, whether read or written, was especially beautiful. Choosing this name was also hoping she could be like luxuriant grass and trees, lush green and full of vitality. But in the eyes of many people who didn’t understand the name, it was just that her parents had been lazy and careless when naming her.
At this moment, Ye Minjia suddenly tilted his head toward her, curved his lips, and said, “Qian Bao’er? Do you feel anything with this nickname?”
Liang Qianqian: “……”
Liang Qianqian rolled her eyes at him and turned around to leave.
For a girl like Xiang Di, who looked cute and sweet, being called Bao’er was fine. But she, a dignified big-sister type with a net height over 170 cm, who would even get called “auntie” by kids when she went out shopping without wearing a school uniform—how could Ye Minjia even bring himself to say that.
So damn corny. Idiot class monitor.
─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───
After returning from the restroom, since Ye Minjia still hadn’t found any good games, the group, in order to kill time, temporarily played a few rounds of a dice-rolling call-the-number game.
Under the catalysis of the game, two dozen bottles of fruit wine were quickly used up. This round happened to be Xiang Di who lost. Ye Minjia was just about to pour her a drink when he realized that all the bottles on the table were empty.
Zhou Linxiao called the server over to bring another two dozen bottles of fruit wine. Xiang Di could only owe this round first.
While waiting for the alcohol, they played a few more rounds. During this time, Xiang Di lost two more rounds. At this moment, the server finally came in carrying the fruit wine and placed all of it on the table. Ye Minjia directly grabbed a bottle and handed it to Xiang Di.
“You owe several cups already. Stop talking nonsense and just chug the bottle.”
A bet is a bet. Xiang Di could only drink from the bottle.
Her throat was narrow, so she drank rather slowly. She had only drunk a little over half the bottle when the phone in her pocket rang.
A mouthful of wine choked in her mouth. Xiang Di subconsciously spat out a small mouthful, set down the bottle, and glanced at the caller ID—it was Xiang Sheng calling.
He was definitely checking up on her. Xiang Di was having a great time and originally didn’t want to answer, but she was afraid that if she didn’t pick up, Xiang Sheng would directly come over to take her away. Then everyone would know her brother was a borderline-content influencer.
Xiang Di said, “I’m going outside to take a call.”
Wang Sichen thought she was trying to run away. “Hey, can’t finish drinking and you’re running?”
“I’m not running, I’m just answering a call.” Xiang Di placed the bottle on the table. “I’ll leave the wine here. When I come back, I’ll continue and finish it.”
She also looked at Ye Minjia for help. “Is that okay, class monitor?”
Ye Minjia was busy opening bottles, still counting in his head who had just owed a cup and hadn’t drunk it yet. He perfunctorily waved his hand. “Just remember yourself how many cups you owe.”
Xiang Di said don’t worry, she wasn’t the kind of person who would default, and then went out to take the call.
Ye Minjia was opening bottles in a fluster, and when he looked up, he saw that the others were completely motionless, all sitting there playing with their phones, not a single person taking the initiative to help him.
True heartbreak always comes with loud shouting. Ye Minjia spoke up, “Hey, you lords and ladies, are you really going to watch me alone here busy pouring wine for all of you? I’m the class monitor, not your ox-horse, okay.”
Zhou Linxiao reacted the fastest and immediately stood up. “Sorry, sorry. I thought you liked opening bottles. I’ll help you.”
“My bottle opener became sentient or what, I like opening bottles?” Ye Minjia rolled his eyes hard, casually picked up a bottle of fruit wine that had already been opened. “Who owed wine just now? Confess voluntarily.”
The worst loser was Xiang Di. The others were all fine, only owing one to two cups each.
After pouring one bottle, then another, Ye Minjia raised his cup. “Cheers, everyone.”
Xiang Di had finally gotten rid of her biological brother’s check-in call. As soon as she entered the private room, she saw everyone clinking glasses.
What part were they at now?
She walked over and asked, “Did we start a new game?”
“Not yet, we’re making up for the wine owed from earlier.” Ye Minjia said. “You went out before finishing your drink, I still remember. Hurry and drink, hurry and drink. Don’t default.”
Xiang Di said “oh,” lowered her head, and reached for the wine.
Picking up the bottle she had placed on the table earlier, she froze and asked, “Why is my wine gone?”
Ye Minjia: “Huh?”
“This bottle was the one I was drinking from earlier. I even tore a small opening as a mark.”
Xiang Di raised the bottle in her hand and showed Ye Minjia the mark she had made before leaving.
Ye Minjia: “……”
Wang Sichen reacted. “Holy crap, class monitor, you poured Xiang Di’s wine and gave it to us?”
Ye Minjia said guiltily, “All the bottles were on the table. I didn’t pay attention just now. Looks like I really did. Sorry…”
Just now Ye Minjia had already poured two bottles, so who exactly had drunk Xiang Di’s bottle was now impossible to know.
Everyone could only tacitly assume that they themselves had drunk Xiang Di’s bottle.
Worried that Xiang Di would feel awkward, Liang Qianqian quickly said, “It’s fine. So what if someone drank the wrong one? It’s not like anyone’s going to die.”
Zhou Linxiao and Wang Sichen were fine. It was just drinking the wrong wine. The girl herself was clean and proper. As long as Xiang Di didn’t mind, there wasn’t much of a problem for them.
Ye Minjia’s expression was complicated. It wasn’t because he himself had drunk Xiang Di’s wine. He was worried about Bai Jiangxin’s side.
At the beginning, he had even reminded Bai Jiangxin not to drink the wrong bottle, and then turned around and harmed him, committing such a low-level mistake.
But those two had already kissed in private anyway, so it should be fine… right?
Everyone else knew that Bai Jiangxin had a cleanliness obsession. For a moment, everyone looked at Bai Jiangxin.
All afraid that he would flip his face and walk out on the spot.
Noticing everyone looking at him, Bai Jiangxin raised his eyebrows. “Why are you all looking at me?”
Ye Minjia asked hesitantly, “Your body… you don’t feel any discomfort, right?”
Bai Jiangxin’s expression was unusually calm. “What discomfort could I have?”
It was just that the link had occurred a week earlier than he had expected, and Bai Jiangxin was very certain that he had drunk from Xiang Di’s bottle.
But Xiang Di’s expression clearly didn’t look very good.
【Heaven above, what I wanted was an indirect kiss, in-di-rect kiss, do you understand? Not for him to directly drink my saliva! Why don’t you just let me spit straight into his mouth, that would even save the middleman’s cut. I’m convinced.】
The mental image was far from beautiful, and Bai Jiangxin’s expression also darkened.
There were many ways to have “no middleman taking a cut.” Couldn’t she imagine some other way, for example—
Forget it. With her hamster-sized courage, better not expect anything.
