Chapter 46: A Punishment-Like Block to Lin Zhi’s Mouth…

This area was far from the dormitory and the teaching building, and during leisure time, there were almost no other people passing by. However, Lin Zhi still nervously glanced around.

At this moment, it was bright daylight, and their position would easily give away what they were up to if anyone happened to look.

“Stop looking, there’s no one,” Lu Liu tugged at Lin Zhi’s hand. “Look at the camera.”

Lin Zhi quickly turned his gaze to the phone. He was half a head shorter than Lu Liu, so he intentionally stood on tiptoe, forcing a fake smile.

Lu Liu took three pictures in a row, and Lin Zhi’s expression didn’t change at all, looking as stiff as a mannequin.

“Looks good,” Lu Liu flipped through the photos and, satisfied, handed the phone back to Lin Zhi. “Keep it well.”

One of Lin Zhi’s hands was still being held by Lu Liu. He opened the newly taken photo with one hand and grew more displeased as he looked at it, frowning deeply. He seriously doubted Lu Liu’s taste. Was that unfocused look in his eyes, the exaggerated display of teeth, and the messy hair really attractive?

“Can we retake it?” Lin Zhi hovered his finger over the delete button. “I wasn’t ready just now.”

“Don’t delete it,” Lu Liu quickly stopped him. “Send me a copy.”

“No, let’s retake it.”

“This one’s good, it’s a little silly, but cute.”

“…If you’d said it was cute first, then said it was silly, I might have considered sending it to you.”

“Mm…” Lu Liu smiled obediently. “Send it to me, it’s really cute, it looks a little silly.”

“Nope, not sending it,” Lin Zhi decisively changed his mind. “I’m a grown man, don’t call me cute.”

In the evening, Lin Zhi and Lu Liu arrived first at the barbecue restaurant that their roommate had suggested and made a reservation. The meat in the restaurant was cooked and eaten at the same time. After the roommates arrived, they discussed and placed their orders.

They had briefly introduced themselves in the morning, and since they were all about the same age and male, there wasn’t as much awkwardness when they met again. After placing their food orders, they also ordered quite a few drinks to make it livelier.

The boys, who had left home to go to college, were eager to prove they were mature enough to belong to the realm of men. And with barbecue, beer was of course the perfect match.

“Can you drink?” Lu Liu asked quietly, tilting his head toward Lin Zhi. “If you can’t, don’t force yourself, they won’t say anything if you don’t drink.”

“I can,” Lin Zhi nodded confidently. “I have a pretty good tolerance.”

In his past life, after going through many frustrating things and having no one to confide in, he often turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows. At first, just a little would make him dizzy, but over time, he built up his tolerance, and drinking two or three bottles of beer in one go became nothing for him.

“What about you? Can you drink?” Lin Zhi asked in return. “If not, just say something nice, and I’ll help you drink.”

Lu Liu chuckled. This wasn’t a situation where they had to drink, but he was happy to say something sweet. He leaned close to Lin Zhi’s ear and said, “I’m not very good at drinking, baby, please help me.”

The warm breath brushed his ear, and Lin Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t take it and turned his head away, saying, “Good boy, I’ll help you.”

Lu Liu’s roommates, besides Gao Zhenghong, were named Xiang Yuan and Cui Yanghui. Cui Yanghui was a true northerner, the kind that was especially northern. Like most northern men, Cui Yanghui was bold, straightforward, and didn’t care about small details, and he had a great tolerance for alcohol.

Cui Yanghui said, “When I was little, my dad always took me out drinking. Every time, he’d let me taste a little, and the more I tasted, the better I got at drinking.”

Xiang Yuan was the complete opposite of him. He had been a studious person from a young age, and even now, he hadn’t turned eighteen. He was obedient, followed his daily study routine, and his family always treated him like a child, never letting him touch alcohol, which was considered something for adults.

Xiang Yuan, curious, asked, “Is beer good? Will you get drunk if you drink a few sips?”

“How could beer possibly make you drunk!” Cui Yanghui grinned, encouraging him. “Just try it yourself and you’ll see if it’s good.”

“…Maybe not,” Xiang Yuan suppressed his curiosity. “I’ve never had it before.”

However, after taking a bite of the hot, spicy grilled meat, and seeing everyone else at the table enjoying their drinks while he was the only one holding a soft drink to toast with them, Xiang Yuan couldn’t help but take a few sips of beer.

He set the rest of the beer down, because… Xiang Yuan thought beer tasted awful! He didn’t understand why Cui Yanghui and Lu Liu’s boyfriend were drinking so enthusiastically.

Lin Zhi kept his word. Seeing that Lu Liu was busy grilling meat for him and only occasionally taking a sip of his drink, Lin Zhi didn’t want Lu Liu’s roommates to think their meal wasn’t enjoyable, so he mustered his energy and followed Cui Yanghui’s pace, drinking one cup after another.

Since it was Lu Liu who invited his roommates to dinner, it was their turf, and one of them had to “entertain the guests.”

“Don’t compete with him,” Lu Liu put a freshly grilled piece of meat onto Lin Zhi’s plate. “Eat a bit first, or your stomach will hurt later.”

“Mm.” The tender and flavorful steak was far more appealing to Lin Zhi, so he obediently set the drink aside for the time being.

Cui Yanghui was drinking with great pleasure, but the next second, he almost had his eyes blinded by the scene before him. No one was grilling for him, so he reluctantly set down his drink and started grilling for himself.

The meal lasted over an hour, with heavy flavors filling their stomachs. Afterward, Lin Zhi picked up a pack of mint candies from the convenience store downstairs, not wanting to breathe on Lu Liu when they spoke.

Lu Liu had been following him the whole time, but it wasn’t because Lu Liu was clingy. It was because Lin Zhi’s face and neck were evenly red, and he didn’t look very sober.

The mint candies were paid for by Lu Liu, who took two out and fed them to Lin Zhi himself.

The cool mint taste stimulated Lin Zhi’s senses, making him slightly dazed but obedient. Originally, it had been Lu Liu following him, but now, the roles had completely reversed.

Lu Liu distributed two candies to each of his roommates waiting outside the store and said, “You all go back first, I need to take him back to school.”

Cui Yanghui looked at Lin Zhi, who was red-faced and stumbling behind Lu Liu, feeling a little guilty. “I thought he could drink well, so I made him drink a few more cups…”

“It’s fine,” Lu Liu chuckled. Lin Zhi had been so confident earlier, he too had believed Lin Zhi could drink, so he didn’t stop him.

After the roommates left, Lu Liu “helped” Lin Zhi stand by the roadside to hail a taxi. After a while, they finally managed to stop an empty car, but Lin Zhi kept pulling Lu Liu backward, frowning and saying, “I don’t want to take a car, I’ll feel like throwing up.”

Lu Liu helplessly apologized to the taxi driver, then turned to softly ask, “How about we find a place to rest for a bit before going back?”

“No rest,” Lin Zhi, not completely sober, spoke in short, direct sentences. “Let’s walk back.”

“It’ll take a long time to walk back.”

“That’s fine,” Lin Zhi unconsciously revealed his inner thoughts. “I can stay with you a little longer.”

Lu Liu laughed: “Alright, let’s go.”

Lu Liu never thought of himself as a gentleman. Taking advantage of Lin Zhi being a bit unclear, he asked, “Is it really because you dreamed that I was your noble person that you want to be with me?”

“Of course not.” Lin Zhi’s tone actually held a sense of disdain, as if saying, “You believe that kind of thing?”

After waiting for a while without getting an answer, Lu Liu asked again, “Then why?”

“Because I’ve liked you for a long time.”

“How long?”

Lin Zhi counted on Lu Liu’s fingers, adding and subtracting for a while, then said, “About nine years.”

Lu Liu: “…”

As expected, he wasn’t sober. Nine years ago, they were only in fourth grade and didn’t even know each other.

Lin Zhi didn’t realize the twists and turns in Lu Liu’s mind and just laughed awkwardly, “No matter what you become, I’ll still like you. Aren’t I awesome?”

Lu Liu didn’t quite understand the logic in this sentence, but it sounded nice when split apart. He nodded and mindlessly complimented, “Awesome, you’re the best.”

“You’re even more awesome,” Lin Zhi glanced at him sideways, “You’ve been lying to me for so long and I didn’t even realize.”

“Hm?” Lu Liu turned to stare at him. “When did I lie to you?”

“You’re clearly him…”

Lin Zhi started a sentence but didn’t finish it. His unfinished words left Lu Liu frowning, and with a slightly sour tone, he asked, “Who is he?”

“I’m not telling you.”

One of the streetlights was broken, and this stretch of road was pitch black. Lu Liu was not too happy. He pushed Lin Zhi against the wall behind the camphor tree and quietly asked again, “Who is he?”

His breath brushed Lin Zhi’s face, making him feel a little flustered, his mind becoming more and more muddled, like a ball of mush. Without thinking, he blurted out, “No… um…”

Lu Liu’s jealousy flared up, unwilling to hear what he didn’t want to hear, and as a punishment, he covered Lin Zhi’s mouth.