Chapter 26

Lu Lanlan picked up the water and turned around, only to see Fu Chunian staggering toward the bed.

Seeing him unsteady on his feet, Lu Lanlan immediately ran over. Water splashed out of the basin, soaking the front of her clothes, but she didn’t even notice.

She rushed inside, set the basin down, and reached out to support Fu Chunian.

As soon as he felt the cool and soft touch, Fu Chunian lowered his gaze to look at Lu Lanlan.

In that instant, he noticed the wet spot on her clothes. Her white shirt had become slightly transparent from the water, revealing the black undergarment beneath.

His face instantly flushed red, from his neck all the way to his ears.

“Slow down,” Lu Lanlan said, completely unaware of her exposure. Her entire focus was on Fu Chunian.

To support him, she pressed closely against him, making Fu Chunian’s body temperature rise rapidly.

When they reached the bed, both of them let out a sigh of relief.

As soon as Fu Chunian lay down, he quickly pulled the blanket over his waist.

Lu Lanlan chuckled at the sight. “You’re drunk, yet you still remember to cover yourself with a blanket?”

She adjusted the blanket for him, then turned to grab his towel and wet it in the basin.

With the blanket covering him, Fu Chunian felt free to openly stare at Lu Lanlan, his gaze growing more intense.

When she walked back over, his eyes turned hazy again.

Lu Lanlan wiped his face, then his hands, before placing the towel down and handing him a cup of water. “Drink more water.”

Seeing that he wasn’t getting up, she leaned in and wrapped an arm around his neck to help him sit up.

She didn’t realize just how intimate their posture was.

This was not the kind of distance that should exist between two people who were just friends.

All she knew was that Fu Chunian was drunk, so she should take care of him—just as he had taken care of her when she was injured.

Unseen by Lu Lanlan, Fu Chunian clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly, struggling to suppress the urge to pull her onto the bed.

The cup of water was quickly finished. Lu Lanlan set him down again, then grabbed a basin to fetch warm water for his feet.

Since Fu Chunian was already lying down, Lu Lanlan simply used a towel to wipe his feet clean.

Once everything was done, she glanced at him and smiled. “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

Aren’t drunk people supposed to fall asleep easily?

“I can’t sleep,” Fu Chunian murmured, reaching a hand toward her. “Lanlan.”

She walked over and stood beside him. “What is it?”

“Lanlan,” he lifted his hand slightly, as if trying to grab hers, but in the end, he put it down. He didn’t want to scare her away just yet.

“I’m sobering up a little. You should go rest,” he said.

“Okay,” Lu Lanlan nodded and left his room.

Back in her own room, she only realized while changing into her sleepwear that her clothes had been soaked.

“Good thing he was drunk, otherwise this would’ve been so embarrassing,” she mumbled, hanging the wet shirt at the foot of her bed.

—-

Early the next morning, Fu Chunian suddenly woke up, his face darkening as he lifted his blanket.

Grabbing clean clothes, he quickly changed and sneaked out while everyone else was still asleep to wash his soiled underwear.

Just as he finished, he ran into Lu Lanlan, who had gotten up to use the bathroom.

“Why are you up so early?” she asked. Then, as she got closer and saw what he was washing—his underwear—she felt awkward and took two steps back.

The moment Fu Chunian heard her voice, he quickly balled up his underwear in his hand.

Both of them felt awkward. As Fu Chunian struggled to think of something to say, Lu Lanlan scratched her head and awkwardly apologized, “Sorry, I gave you too much water last night.”

When Fu Chunian realized she thought he had wet the bed, he immediately denied it. “No! That’s not what happened!”

“Then what was it?” she asked, confused.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she saw Fu Chunian’s face turn red. That’s when it dawned on her that she had asked something she shouldn’t have.

“Uh… it’s still early. I’m going back to sleep,” she quickly said, turning around and heading back to her room without even going to the bathroom.

Fu Chunian stared at her retreating figure, then glanced at the underwear in his hand, his gaze darkening.

—-

During breakfast, Lu Lanlan had already forgotten the morning’s awkwardness and chatted with Fu Chunian about how drunk he had been the night before.

Fu Chunian, on the other hand, lowered his eyes, remembering the beautiful sight he had seen the previous night.

After breakfast, he didn’t leave right away. Instead, he waited until Lu Lanlan had finished cleaning up and stepped outside to wash the dishes before quickly standing up and turning away.

He stayed in his seat for a while before finally walking out of the room.

—-

Two days later, the village chief, accountant, and women’s affairs officer called Lu Lanlan to the village office to discuss the position of scorekeeper.

She hadn’t expected such a great opportunity to come her way and immediately agreed.

After leaving the office, once the initial excitement wore off, she began analyzing why she had been chosen for the role.

The village chief had said it was because she was educated—but weren’t all the educated youth in the village just as qualified? Besides, she had some past conflicts with the village chief’s son.

Then she recalled how Fu Chunian had gone to see the village chief a few days ago and came back drunk.

Her gut told her the two events were connected.

She immediately went to the fields to find Fu Chunian and asked directly, “Fu Chunian, did you go see the village chief that day because of me?”

Although no one else was around, she lowered her voice to avoid trouble for both of them.

Fu Chunian nodded. “I overheard Brother Xiangdong mention that Xu Xiaoxia was leaving for the county. That meant her scorekeeper position would be vacant, so I thought I’d try to get it for you. If it worked out, you wouldn’t have to work so hard.”

Lu Lanlan frowned. “Fu Chunian, didn’t I tell you not to be so nice to me? I’ll misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand? You mean you’ll think I like you?” Fu Chunian chuckled.

“Lanlan, don’t feel so pressured. I just saw an opportunity and thought I’d help. We’ve been classmates for years, and now we’re in this situation together. Helping you was easy—it was just a few bottles of liquor for me.

Besides, instead of thanking me, your first reaction was to think I like you. Aren’t you a bit full of yourself?”

Seeing her face darken, he quickly added, “Of course, you do have the right to be confident.”

Hearing this, Lu Lanlan felt she might have overthought things.

“Lanlan, we come from the same place, we’ve been classmates for years, and we should help each other out. Besides, you’re still pretending to be my girlfriend. If I don’t treat you well, it’d seem like I have bad intentions. You’ve been nice to me too, and I never doubted you.”

Fu Chunian’s words left Lu Lanlan speechless.

In the end, she could only reply, “I understand,” before walking away.

Watching her leave, Fu Chunian’s face lit up with a victorious smirk.