23 . Princess, that’s a bit too much ah!

The air was mixed with the smell of alcohol, not too strong, but it blew into Qin Zhaoyi’s nostrils following the wind.

It was hard to say who was more intoxicated at the moment.

Luo Yue slowly turned her face, staring at Qin Zhaoyi with a serious expression. Then, she chuckled softly, “Princess Qin.”

When she said the last two words, her tone was soft, carrying that unique, southern gentleness. It was the kind of voice that could make your bones turn to jelly upon hearing it.

That gentle smile held a hint of teasing.

Qin Zhaoyi’s ears suddenly turned red, but she didn’t step back. Her fingers gently pressed against her waist, urging her to answer.

Luo Yue’s eyes curved even more, a smile playing on her lips. She said, “Do you know your current behavior is very dangerous?”

Her waist was resting in Qin Zhaoyi’s palm, and the two were extremely close. Luo Yue half-turned her body, and just a few centimeters forward would be kissing distance.

Qin Zhaoyi’s throat moved slightly, and even the sound of her swallowing saliva was quite pronounced in the quiet breeze.

“I’m fine,” Qin Zhaoyi pretended to be calm. “It’s not as dangerous as you drinking and not going home at night.”

“I’m back now, aren’t I?” Luo Yue raised an eyebrow playfully, her gaze falling on the car in the alley. “Did you buy a car?”

She casually changed the topic.

Qin Zhaoyi frowned, sensing that she was playing around again. She remained silent, only taking a step closer.

Each step was riskier than the last.

“Are you planning to settle down here?” Luo Yue asked casually.

Qin Zhaoyi stared into her eyes and asked, “Do you like it?”

Even though she had only known Luo Yue for a short time, she had already learned her conversational style. She had grown accustomed to the straightforwardness and patience in Luo Yue’s interactions. Miss Qin, who was usually unemotional in both her rejections and requests, displayed extraordinary patience when facing Luo Yue. Even the questions she asked were often ambiguous.

So when Luo Yue inquired, “Like what?”

Qin Zhaoyi’s fingers lightly pinched her waist, and she retorted, “What do you think?”

Luo Yue suddenly chuckled, leaning forward with a hint of languid charm in her gentle face, enhanced by the effects of the alcohol she had consumed earlier. Her forehead was perfectly positioned against Qin Zhaoyi’s chest, and she playfully tapped her heart in slow, sensuous rhythm, accompanied by soft laughter. “Princess.”

“Why don’t you learn something better?” Luo Yue teased before settling her head on Qin Zhaoyi’s chest.

Feeling encouraged, Qin Zhaoyi placed her palm flat on Luo Yue’s waist, no longer hesitating to touch her. Her voice was somewhat hoarse as she replied, “You knew I learned it from you.”

Luo Yue tugged at the cuff of her shirt, saying, “I quite like it.”

The two of them seemed to be on different wavelengths. Luo Yue’s way of speaking wasn’t particularly logical. They were discussing various topics, and then she suddenly blurted out this statement, catching Qin Zhaoyi off guard. “What?” Qin Zhaoyi responded.

“Didn’t you say you learned it from me?” Luo Yue stood up straight, trying to maintain her balance, her cheeks turning slightly red. She looked at Qin Zhaoyi with starry, misty eyes. She continued, “So, I’ll give you a straightforward answer.”

Qin Zhaoyi inquired, “Yes?”

Luo Yue twisted her shirt cuff, tightened her forearm briefly, then quickly loosened her grip, as if she were just playing with her clothes, examining their quality. Qin Zhaoyi’s gaze followed, but Luo Yue remained unfazed. Her tone was light and airy as she said, “I said I quite like it.”

Qin Zhaoyi finally realized that she had given an ambiguous answer to her previous question.

She had answered rather sincerely, but Qin Zhaoyi wasn’t satisfied with that.

She hesitated slightly and stepped forward, asking, “Do you like the car, or do you like me?”

In just a few words, she used an eerie rhythm to cut off her sentence.

If you listened carefully, her throat sounded dry, and her tone had a slight tremor at the end.

Luo Yue looked at her and suddenly reached for the back of her neck. The cool touch gave Qin Zhaoyi’s neck a layer of goosebumps. Her hand on Luo Yue’s waist added some heat, so she took another half step forward. Luo Yue followed suit, retreating until her back was against the door.

“If you were to settle here,” Luo Yue’s voice was soft, rising and falling with the distant sound of the waves, “I should be very…”

Before she could finish her sentence, a sudden male voice interrupted, “Luo Yue.”

Both of them quickly withdrew their hands and turned to look.

Cheng Shijing was standing there with his phone, squinting as he looked over. His expression was less than pleasant.

Qin Zhaoyi didn’t care much and raised her eyebrows to meet his gaze. There was no avoidance, and a hint of provocation was apparent.

Cheng Shijing walked over briskly, handing his phone to Luo Yue. “So, you can still find your way home after getting drunk, huh, Luo Yue?”

When he called her Luo Yue, there was a unique sense of intimacy, as if in that moment, he had separated Qin Zhaoyi from their world.

Qin Zhaoyi’s expression soured even more.

Luo Yue, however, casually smiled. “You can just give it to me tomorrow when I go to work. There’s no need to make a special trip.”

“And this,” Cheng Shijing took a bottle of sobering medicine out of his pocket. “My mom specifically got this for you.”

“Please thank Auntie for me,” Luo Yue replied.

Cheng Shijing, with his hands in his pockets, gave her a sidelong glance. “Cut it out with the politeness.”

Luo Yue smiled and didn’t say anything more.

Cheng Shijing looked at Qin Zhaoyi and said rather impolitely, “Haven’t found a place to stay yet?”

Qin Zhaoyi was even less polite. “I’m not staying at your place.”

Cheng Shijing was about to say something to retort when Luo Yue pinched him and said, “What are you doing? Acting childish?”

The familiar intimacy was palpable.

It was like a family member and a stranger having an argument, and typically, the first person to respond was the one who was closer.

Qin Zhaoyi felt like even though she was in the same space with them, there was an invisible wall separating her.

It was clear that the two of them belonged to different worlds.

“Teasing her,” Cheng Shijing casually chuckled, and then advised Luo Yue, “Have your hangover remedy and go to sleep early.”

After saying that, he left swiftly, just as he had come.

Cheng Shijing, who had suddenly visited, was like a gust of wind—no trace of his arrival, but very cold.

He had lowered the intense atmosphere between the two to a freezing point.

Qin Zhaoyi observed Luo Yue and carefully chose her words, “You…”

“I’m a bit tired,” Luo Yue interrupted, pushing open the door and entering. She appeared sober now and swallowed the words that were stuck in her throat.

Some things, some feelings, needed the right moment to be expressed.

Qin Zhaoyi had missed it just now.

Following Luo Yue into the house, Qin Zhaoyi stood in the empty living room, thinking that she couldn’t let the night pass like this.

So, when Luo Yue came out of the kitchen after taking the hangover remedy, Qin Zhaoyi called out, “Luo Yue.”

Luo Yue looked her way.

In that moment of eye contact, Qin Zhaoyi straightforwardly asked, “Do you like me?”

Luo Yue was slightly taken aback.

It seemed like she had never encountered someone so direct and proactive.

But Qin Zhaoyi didn’t have much experience in this area. Her career had entered a stagnation period precisely because she had messed up her writing about romantic relationships. These past few days, every time she saw Luo Yue, she felt completely off.

It wasn’t until tonight, when she was waiting for Luo Yue to return home like a fool and scrolling through Weibo, that she saw someone recommending a poem. There was a line in the poem that she felt was particularly fitting for her current mood—

“You are my spring, making me anxious.”

Qin Zhaoyi was not good at concealing things; she preferred to be straightforward.

After a long silence, Luo Yue countered, “And you? Do you like me?”

Qin Zhaoyi hesitated for a moment and muttered, “I don’t know.”

Luo Yue let out a relieved chuckle and said, “Then what are you joking about?”

With a playful smile, Luo Yue deftly replied, “I do like you, after all, who doesn’t enjoy looking at beautiful women?”

Qin Zhaoyi replied, “It’s not like that.”

Just as she was about to explain, Luo Yue interrupted, “You haven’t even figured out your own feelings but you’re trying to explore mine.”

She sipped her drink, tilted her neck slightly, revealing a graceful neckline, and said, “Princess, that’s a bit too much ah.”