Chapter 244

There was a little more than half a bottle of Maotai left, and the two of them shared it.

At first, Yu Shuheng only ate the braised pork ribs and water spinach, but later, seeing him eating the tiger skin green peppers non-stop, she couldn't hold back and picked one up to taste.

This taste was incredible; she was almost moved to tears by the spice and hurriedly used the white liquor to suppress the heat.

Li Heng smiled helplessly: "I meant to warn you, Teacher, that I put millet chili in these; I didn't expect you to use your chopsticks so quickly."

Yu Shuheng didn't make a sound; she lightly pursed her beautiful lips, holding the wine in her mouth, and closed her eyes to endure it. With elegance carved into her bones, she didn't want to lose her composure in front of others.

What's more, the young man in front of her was her student, and also someone entrusted to her by her best friend.

She couldn't let him see her make a fool of herself.

It wasn't until a long time had passed that the burning sensation of the millet chili faded slightly from the tip of her tongue. Yu Shuheng opened her eyes again and asked in a low voice, "Can people from your side all eat spicy food like this?"

Li Heng asked back, "Wang Laoshi is also quite good at eating spicy food; didn't you know, Teacher?"

Yu Shuheng shook her head slowly: "She isn't as good as you."

Then she asked, "If you keep eating like this, won't it affect your stomach and intestines?"

Li Heng said, "How should I put it? It's alright, mainly because we've been eating it since we were young, so our bodies have adapted. Of course, whether it has an effect still depends on individual constitution. Where we're from, there are quite a few people who get gastrointestinal diseases because of chili, but chili is addictive; once you get used to eating it, it's very hard for everyone to quit for a while."

Yu Shuheng could understand. A moment later, eager to try again, she picked up another tiger skin green pepper, but this time she had learned her lesson and passed it through the tea water first; the taste was just right.

She didn't stint on her praise, saying: "I didn't expect simple stir-fried chili with garlic to be so good with wine; your culinary skills are truly excellent."

Hearing this, Li Heng deliberately slowed down his eating speed, leaving some tiger skin green peppers for her.

As they drank, another cup of white liquor went down; by this time, both of them were a bit tipsy.

Especially Li Heng; usually, he was okay with beer, but he rarely drank white liquor like this, let alone mixing red and white wine. The aftereffect was very strong, and it went straight to the head.

If the woman opposite him wasn't his teacher who had helped him quite a bit, he wouldn't have bothered to serve her and would have gone back to the bedroom to lie flat long ago.

When they divided the last of the wine in the bottle, she rested for a short while and said: "Runwen's health has recovered very well. She said in her letter that she can already eat, jump, and exercise; the surgery didn't cause her any impact at all."

"Really? That's just great." Li Heng felt quite happy hearing that.

Yu Shuheng nodded: "After all, she's still young, and her body's various functions are at their most vigorous time; this kind of surgery generally doesn't have sequelae."

At this point, with the alcohol rising, she suddenly raised her head and asked tentatively, "I've always wanted to bring her to Shanghai to teach; what do you think of this idea?"

Li Heng was stunned for a moment, immediately realizing the subtext in her words, and after a long silence, he shook his head: "Wang Laoshi won't come."

She scrutinized his micro-expressions, but unfortunately, she couldn't obtain any useful information. Yu Shuheng stopped while she was ahead:

"Indeed, she is a very nostalgic person. If there are no special circumstances, she basically won't leave Shaodong County in this lifetime."

Li Heng agreed with this, picked up his wine glass, and said: "Teacher, come, the last cup, bottoms up."

Yu Shuheng picked up her glass and clinked it, drinking a mouthful with deep emotion: "The last time I drank so freely was during my university graduation. Runwen and I were about to separate, and we drank all night long.

Other dormitories were crying and wailing, unable to bear parting, but the two of us didn't cry or make a scene; we just kept drinking slowly until dawn, then each took our luggage and left."

Li Heng, who had experienced it once, empathized, "Truly carefree."

Yu Shuheng put down her glass: "Actually, she could have been assigned to a better place, but she chose to return to Shaodong County to teach."

Li Heng asked: "Why?"

Yu Shuheng shook her head: "She didn't say the specific reason. The verbal reason was that being a teacher was her childhood dream."

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said: "Actually, for a woman, being a teacher is a very good choice. There are holidays, and it's relatively relaxed and free."

"Mm, more or less."

This was also the reason she entered university to teach. A moment later, she asked: "Tell me the story of Song Yu and Xiao Han."

"Ah?" Li Heng exclaimed, his face showing surprise: "Teacher, why are you curious about my romantic affairs?"

Perhaps it was because she had drunk too much, or perhaps it was because after a meal of drinking, the two of them had talked about everything, but Yu Shuheng let go of her external coldness in front of him for the first time.

She explained: "I've never been in a relationship, and I yearn for it a little."

Hearing this, Li Heng was surprised again; he didn't expect such a scholarly and elegant mature woman had never been in a relationship, and even less did he expect that she wouldn't mind saying she yearned for it.

He leaned forward slightly, his eyes burning as he entered gossip mode: "Teacher, your conditions are so good, why don't you date?"

Yu Shuheng picked up a tiger skin green pepper, bit off a small piece, chewed slowly, swallowed, and then said:

"At first, neither Runwen nor I wanted to date, feeling that we were still young and should prioritize enjoying our youth. Later, we didn't meet anyone suitable. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder; I'd rather have nothing than settle for less."

Alright, finally the reason was known; it turned out that the two of them, because they loved to play, ended up playing away their life's major event.

Actually, this phenomenon is very common in later generations. Don't you see many older bachelors and spinsters who are nearly 40 and still alone? The problem lies in two points: being too playful and having standards that are too high.

However, thinking back, she is actually only 25 by real age, 26 by lunar age. For their social class, this is not old at all. If she really wanted to talk about marriage, with her conditions, there's no telling how many men would be scrambling to climb up; it would just be a matter of minutes.

After pondering for a while, Li Heng guessed that the other party knew roughly about his feelings, so he simply didn't cover it up anymore and asked: "Teacher, who do you want to hear about first?"

Yu Shuheng said: "Song Yu."

"Song Yu? That's relatively simple. My feelings for her belong to love at first sight; the first glance was for a lifetime, and I could never forget her after that." Li Heng recalled the day the two of them met in the corridor in their first year of high school, and his thoughts drifted away involuntarily.

Yu Shuheng showed no reaction on the surface, but inside she was a bit envious.

She actually yearned for this kind of love, but it was a pity that after waiting for so many years, she still hadn't waited for a man who could make her fall in love at first sight.

She held her chopsticks and asked, "So you never gave up on pursuing her?"

Although this wasn't very honorable, Li Heng tacitly admitted it.

The night was cool as water and terrifyingly quiet. She got up to pull the curtains in the living room, sat back down, and said: "That feels much better. What about your relationship with Xiao Han?"

Li Heng put a piece of pork rib in his mouth and recounted: "As for Xiao Han, it's slightly more complicated. The process of our acquaintance wasn't perfect; our first contact was a fierce argument over a stool during a composition competition, and the second time we even got physical."

Yu Shuheng asked curiously: "Who won the fight?"

"Her, uh, I should say them. She brought two little sisters to fight me alone. My arms, face, and neck were covered in scratches, burning with pain, and it hurt for many days. It was precisely these two times that, although she was still as stunningly beautiful as ever, the impression she left in my mind wasn't particularly good. Afterwards, for a long time, I always regarded her as a flood or a wild beast, and we didn't have much interaction," Li Heng said.

This process of acquaintance was completely beyond Yu Shuheng's expectations, "You, a boy, couldn't beat three girls?"

Li Heng smiled embarrassedly: "I come from the countryside and have done physical labor since I was a child; how could I really not be able to beat them? It's just that there were many people around, and she was a girl, so I didn't want to go too hard."

Yu Shuheng looked at him meaningfully: "Not because she's pretty?"

Li Heng drank his wine to himself and didn't take the bait.

She asked: "And then?"

Li Heng said: "Later, it was a bit of a cliché. She became good sisters with Chen Zijin and a childhood friend of mine, and she appeared in front of me every day. Although we ignored each other, as the number of contacts increased, turning hostility into friendship became inevitable."

Yu Shuheng asked: "Who took the initiative?"

Li Heng said: "Her, I guess. After the midterm exam in the second semester of seventh grade, the head teacher held a class meeting, moving the tables to the edges of the classroom and leaving the center empty as a venue for cultural performances.

It just so happened that the teacher arranged for Xiao Han and me to be neighbors. While watching the classmates perform, she suddenly said to me, 'Hey, Li Heng, share half of the orange in your hand with me'."

Yu Shuheng asked: "Was this the first time you spoke after the fight?"

Li Heng said: "Yes, there was a period of more than half a year in between where we didn't communicate."

Yu Shuheng asked: "Did you give her the orange? What was your reaction at the time?"

Li Heng said: "I gave it to her. But at first, I thought I had misheard, so I looked at her foolishly and even asked, 'Where is your orange?'. At that time, everyone in the class was given 4 oranges, and I didn't expect her to say righteously, 'I finished eating them.' Then I gave her half of mine."

Yu Shuheng thought for a moment and asked: "She deliberately finished eating her 4, didn't she? She just wanted to find an excuse to talk to you and ease the relationship. If I'm not mistaken, she must have secretly liked you by then."

The guess was completely correct.

Xiao Han herself had admitted this in her previous life, but Li Heng didn't respond and continued to tacitly admit it.

Tonight's Yu Shuheng was still that same Yu Shuheng, still as intellectual and beautiful, but she was no longer that same Yu Shuheng. Under the urging of the alcohol, she spoke much more than usual.

She asked: "Did Chen Zijin see the orange incident?"

"She saw it."

"Didn't she get jealous?"

"The two of them have always been in a relationship of being both enemies and friends; arguing, bickering, and being sarcastic to each other was a daily occurrence, and I was long used to it."

Yu Shuheng exercised her detective brain: "I think they got along reasonably well before, but ever since your relationship with Xiao Han eased, the number of arguments increased, right?"

Li Heng raised his wine glass, "I knew nothing could be hidden from you, Teacher."

Yu Shuheng also raised her glass to signal, "This isn't a difficult thing to guess; two women fighting for one husband will naturally lead to disputes. But your charm is indeed great."

Looking at what she said, Li Heng didn't know whether to cry or laugh, so he simply drank.

Taking a big mouthful of white liquor, she moved her lips elegantly, "The last question, why didn't you go to Peking University? Instead, you came to Fudan? Don't tell me it's because your scores didn't make the cut."

This was something Runwen had always wanted to know, and she was helping to ask on her behalf.

Of course, she also had the same desire to explore.

Why didn't I go to Peking University and came to Fudan? Could I tell you that if I want both Xiao Han and Song Yu, I have to conquer Xiao Han first to reduce the overall difficulty?

Anyway, since they were already talking about this, Li Heng directly ignored the eyes of Yu Laoshi that were staring fixedly at him and said calmly:

"There's no special reason. For the two of them, whoever I get is a huge profit. Let nature take its course; I handed the choice over to heaven."

Yu Shuheng pondered for a while and believed this. Then, for a long time afterward, she returned to her normal state, becoming a woman of few words, exuding a cold aura that kept strangers at a distance.

If it weren't for the fact that she kept drinking and eating in small mouthfuls, one would have thought they were facing a stone statue.

Silently, the white liquor was finally finished. She stared at the empty glass for a long time, then broke the silence and asked softly: "Can you still drink?"

To be honest, Li Heng was already 70% drunk, and his hands and feet were already a bit disobedient. Fortunately, his consciousness was still a sliver clear, but having drunk to this extent, he didn't chicken out and said with a thick tongue: "I'll risk my life to accompany a gentleman."

"Then accompany me home to get some wine."

"You're really going to drink!"

"Drink."

The two of them got up and walked toward the stairs. At first, it was fine; although their steps were slow, she was still relatively steady. But when they reached the corner of the stairs, her body suddenly staggered, and she almost fell. Fortunately, Li Heng was quick-eyed and fast-handed, supporting her arm.

"Teacher, why don't we stop drinking?" Li Heng said.

Yu Shuheng didn't speak, just turned her head to look into his eyes, staring fixedly.

After a short stalemate, Li Heng changed his words and said: "There are still two bottles of beer left at home. I'll go get them; let's have one bottle each, and then go to sleep after we finish."

In fact, there was half a dozen of beer left at home, all bought by Seeing Mai Sui and Sun Manning on their bicycles. But he didn't dare to reveal everything; it was obvious that the woman in front of him, like himself, had reached the critical point of drunkenness.

Yu Shuheng looked at him for a while and agreed.

Leaving her where she was, Li Heng felt his way down the wall to the first floor, turned on the light, and went to the corner of the kitchen to find the wine.

1, 2, 3

After counting, there were 7 bottles left, and he really only took two.

When he returned to the corner of the stairs, Yu Laoshi was no longer there, but had slowly returned to the sofa on the second floor.

Biting open the beer caps, Li Heng handed her a bottle, "That's all there is, it's all here."

"Mm." Yu Shuheng took the beer, clinked it with his with a 'duang' sound, and then started drinking just like that.

For the first time, he saw a sense of heroism in her graceful figure, which was rich in scholarly atmosphere.

Following suit, Li Heng also drank from the bottle, but he had reached his limit and didn't have the ability to finish it in one go, struggling to finish it in three tries.

After finishing, he shook the empty bottle and asked dizzily: "Do you have something on your mind today?"

"No, nothing, I just wanted to drink." Sure enough, just as Li Heng had expected, with red, white, and beer combined, she had also overdone it, and her speech had lost its usual crispness.

Putting down the beer bottle, Yu Shuheng tried to walk to the guest bedroom by herself, but before she had taken three steps, her figure swayed violently. This time she didn't persist, grabbing the corner of the sofa with her right hand to barely stand, and said slowly and heavily:

"Li Heng, help me to the room."

"Oh, okay."

He really wanted to say, you help me, I can't even stand steady myself. But he bit his tongue, gathered his spirits, walked over, supported her with both hands, and headed toward the guest bedroom.

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(End of chapter)