161: Chapter 161 A Massive Social Disaster: Brother Fan, Let Me Explain

Once they left to pay the bill, the wind outside caused the alcohol to rush to their heads.

Li Cheng's steps began to wobble, and his head felt dizzy.

Zhou Yutong was even worse; the moment she stepped out, she hung onto his arm, relying entirely on him for balance.

"Brother Cheng... my head is spinning."

"I'm dizzy too."

"What should we do?"

Li Cheng took out his phone to call for a designated driver, but after poking at the screen for a long time, the words in front of him were all blurred and doubled.

Damn it, he was too drunk.

"Let's just take a taxi." He shoved his phone back. "Which direction is your place?"

Zhou Yutong shook her head, pressing her entire face against his shoulder.

"Too far... it'll take forty minutes by taxi."

Li Cheng steadied himself against a lamppost and scanned the surroundings.

Opposite the hot pot restaurant was a chain hotel, its neon sign flickering in the night.

He stared at that sign for three seconds.

"Let's just get a room and sleep it off."

As soon as the words were out, both of them froze.

Zhou Yutong lifted her head from his shoulder, blinked twice, and stared at him with round, wide eyes.

"You said... get a room?"

Only then did Li Cheng realize the ambiguity of his words and quickly added, "Two rooms. We'll get two rooms. We'll each sleep in our own."

"Oh." Zhou Yutong replied, resting her head back on his shoulder.

The two of them swayed as they crossed the road and pushed open the hotel's glass door.

The young woman at the front desk looked at the man and woman supporting each other, her expression quite subtle.

"Two big bed rooms." Li Cheng slapped his ID on the counter.

The receptionist looked down and typed for a long time before looking up, appearing quite troubled.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but rooms are tight this weekend. We only have one big bed room left."

Li Cheng's brain spun for two seconds. "What about a standard room? A standard room is fine too."

"The standard rooms are full too. There's only this one big bed room left."

Silence.

Zhou Yutong was slumped on his arm, her breathing already even. It was unclear if she had fallen asleep or was just pretending.

Li Cheng looked at the receptionist's face, which held a subtle smile.

"Forget it then."

Zhou Yutong lifted her head in a daze.

"Brother Cheng, just get it. I don't mind. We're just sleeping anyway."

She said this with a very natural tone.

Li Cheng opened his mouth.

The remaining bit of sobriety told him—it wasn't appropriate.

But the girl beside him was about to slide to the floor, and he couldn't very well leave her on the lobby floor.

"...Then let's get it."

The room card was in hand.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Li Cheng half-dragged and half-carried her into the room.

There was only a six-foot bed in the room, with white bedding spread out neatly.

Li Cheng peeled Zhou Yutong off his arm and helped her toward the bed.

The moment Zhou Yutong touched the bed, she pounced onto it, face-planting directly into the pillow without even taking off her canvas shoes.

"Shoes." Li Cheng bent down to pull off her shoes.

The canvas shoes were pulled off, revealing a pair of feet in white cotton socks.

He placed the shoes at the foot of the bed and turned to wash his face in the bathroom.

The cold water splashed on his face helped him sober up a bit.

When he came out, Zhou Yutong had already turned over.

She was lying on her back, her hair spread across the pillow.

She had already pulled off her jacket and tossed it by the pillow; underneath, she was wearing a small white camisole.

Two faint arcs below her collarbone were clearly visible through the thin fabric.

A section of her waist was exposed, flat and fair-skinned.

Li Cheng quickly looked away.

He pulled a spare blanket from the closet, spread it on the floor, and prepared to sleep on the floor.

"Brother Cheng."

Zhou Yutong's voice drifted over from the bed, sounding blurry.

"What?"

"Why are you sleeping on the floor... the bed is so big."

"It's not appropriate."

"What's not appropriate about it? We aren't doing anything else."

Zhou Yutong propped herself up with her arms, her eyes half-open and half-closed, her hair spilling over her shoulders.

"Come over. The floor is cold."

Her hand patted the bed beside her.

Li Cheng stood in place, clutching his pillow, frozen for five or six seconds.

He was a thirty-four-year-old man; how could he still be so flustered by a young girl in her twenties?

He threw the pillow back onto the bed.

"I'll sleep on the left. You move over."

Zhou Yutong obediently moved to the right, making space for him.

Li Cheng lay down, hugging the edge of the bed, leaving at least a person's width of space between them.

He stared at the ceiling.

"Brother Cheng."

"Hmm."

"Are you nervous?"

"Nervous, my ass. Go to sleep."

It was quiet for about five minutes.

Just when Li Cheng thought the night would pass by uneventfully—

A hand reached out from under the quilt and rested on his forearm.

Li Cheng's body went rigid.

"Yutong."

"Hmm?"

"Do you know what you're doing?"

In the darkness, Zhou Yutong's voice was very soft.

"I know."

Li Cheng turned his head.

By the light of the streetlamp filtering through the gap in the curtains, he saw Zhou Yutong facing him.

"Brother Cheng." She called out again.

This tone was completely different from how she had called him at the front desk earlier.

The trailing end of her voice was drawn out, carrying a hint of coquetry and a hint of testing.

Li Cheng closed his eyes for two seconds in the darkness.

He was thirty-four; his last relationship had ended three years ago, and he had gotten used to living alone since then.

But at this moment—

The alcohol was burning in his veins, a young, beautiful girl was lying beside him, and she had even taken the initiative to press her hand against him.

Li Cheng turned over to face her.

"Will you regret this tomorrow?" His voice was a bit hoarse.

Zhou Yutong shook her head.

Then she leaned forward, pressed her forehead against his chin, and nuzzled him.

Li Cheng's arm moved, and he pulled her into his embrace.

His hand slid down her back, touching the lower hem of her camisole.

Zhou Yutong's body trembled.

"Are you sure you won't regret it?" He asked again.

"Brother Cheng, you sure talk a lot."

After saying that, she sat up herself, crossed her hands, and pulled her camisole off from the bottom up.

The mattress made a faint sound.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"You're pressing on my hair..."

"Here?"

"Yes... mmm..."

Zhou Yutong's fingers dug into the muscles of his back, her nails leaving shallow marks.

"Brother Cheng..."

"Stop calling me."

"I, I can't control it..."

—

The next day at 10:00 AM.

Li Cheng's phone on the bedside table buzzed several times.

Zhou Yutong was the first to be woken up. She reached out in a daze, found the phone that wouldn't stop vibrating, and pressed the answer button, holding it to her ear.

"Hello..."

Her voice was hoarse and carried the grumpiness of just waking up.

There was a second of silence on the other end of the line.

"Where's Li Cheng? Why hasn't he come to the company yet?"

It was Jiang Fan's voice.

Zhou Yutong's eyes widened instantly.

She looked down at herself—

She wasn't wearing anything under the quilt, and Li Cheng was still snoring beside her, one arm draped across her waist.

"Ah—"

She threw the phone at Li Cheng's face like it was a hot potato.

Li Cheng was jolted awake by the impact and cursed as he reached for the phone.

"Who is it..."

"It's Brother Fan! It's Brother Fan's call!" Zhou Yutong wrapped herself in the quilt and shrank to the corner of the bed, her face turning bright red.

Li Cheng's brain snapped to attention, and the alcohol vanished.

He glanced at the phone screen—Call in progress, Jiang Fan.

He was screwed.

He cleared his throat and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Brother Fan, good morning."

"Good morning, my foot. It's already ten o'clock."

"Ah... it's ten?" Li Cheng sat up, bare-chested, and scratched the back of his head. "Brother Fan... let me explain."

"No need to explain. Come to the company first. And bring that person next to you along."

The call ended.

The room was silent for a full ten seconds.

Zhou Yutong poked half of her head out from the quilt, revealing only her eyes and forehead, her two eyeballs staring straight at him.

"Brother Cheng... does Brother Fan know everything?"

Li Cheng tossed the phone onto the bed, lay back down, and covered his face with both hands.

Zhou Yutong buried her face in the quilt and let out a muffled "ow."

She crawled over and hugged his arm.

"Do you think Brother Fan will fire me?"

"Not likely." Li Cheng pulled his hands away from his face and turned to look at her.

Zhou Yutong's hair was a mess, and there were creases from the pillow on her cheek.

She was wrapped tightly in the quilt, but a few red hickey marks were still visible on her shoulder.

Li Cheng looked for two seconds, then reached out and ruffled her hair.

"Let's go to the company first. Push everything onto me."

Zhou Yutong bit her lip and shook her head: "No, if we die, we die together."