Celebration

Barbecue and beer!

Chu Yu had discovered that Su Ruo really did like those two things. When the first chapter of The Garden of Words was published, she had taken him to a barbecue restaurant.

And today, not long after the two of them had gotten home, Su Ruo had driven over and honked her horn downstairs.

It was the same old routine: she ordered a mountain of meat they could never finish, along with... a whole table of beer.

"Hey, Su—" Chu Yu started, only to swallow the rest of his words under Su Ruo's warning glare.

"Sister Su, do you really need to order this much alcohol every time you call me out to celebrate something?"

"Have you forgotten how you ordered a whole crate of beer last time, and then... only a few bottles got drunk?"

"And this time, it's not just you and me. Zhao Qinyin's here too..." Chu Yu said, looking toward Zhao Qinyin, who sat quietly beside him.

"Heh." Su Ruo shot him a sidelong glance.

"I was just in a bad mood last time. Today, this beauty is in a great mood. I finally put a certain bastard in his place at the serialization meeting. Enough talk—we're drinking until we drop!" Su Ruo said, her teeth clenched.

Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin knew exactly who Su Ruo meant... Song Jiayu, the deputy editor-in-chief of Ink Fish Manga Company.

Chu Yu was curious about this Song Jiayu, a man he'd heard of but never met. Just how annoying could he be?

Anyone who had spent enough time with Su Ruo would know that, despite being beautiful, she was easygoing, optimistic, and serious about her work. Most importantly, she didn't hold grudges or sweat the small stuff.

Yet whenever she mentioned Song Jiayu, she looked disgusted. Now that she was close with Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin, she would go on and on about how awful he was.

"Forget it. Just mentioning him annoys me." Su Ruo picked up a bottle of beer and three glasses, then poured with a glug-glug-glug.

"Today's the day we celebrate Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal getting serialized on Man Ying. No need to say anything else—let's drink!"

With that, Su Ruo downed her glass and looked at the other two.

"Hey, Sister Su, that's going too far. I'll drink with you. Zhao Qinyin can have a couple of soft drinks—" Chu Yu hadn't finished speaking when—

Zhao Qinyin, seated right across from him, had already lifted her glass. She drank slowly, then, once the glass was empty, turned her gaze toward the other beers on the table.

Chu Yu wondered if he was seeing things.

The School Student Union President. The class monitor of Class Five Grade Three, a gifted class. A beautiful, quiet girl, and the top student in the entire grade.

How come she drank like such a pro?

How come one glass wasn't enough, and she'd opened a bottle and poured herself another?

What the hell?

Was that her third glass?

"What are you thinking about?" Su Ruo asked Chu Yu.

His train of thought was interrupted.

"Do you know why I ordered so much food and drink the first time we ate together?"

Su Ruo looked at Zhao Qinyin.

Having changed into casual clothes after getting home, Zhao Qinyin looked much more youthful. Her fair cheeks seemed to have taken on a faint blush after she'd drunk a bottle of beer.

Su Ruo looked at Zhao Qinyin.

"It's because I used to have a habit when I ate with a certain someone. I ordered the beer for him, and the meat for myself."

"But I got drunk that day, and you couldn't drink or eat. That whole table went to waste..."

"What do you mean?" Chu Yu frowned as he drank the beer in front of him.

It wasn't that he couldn't drink it, but no matter how many times he tried, he thought it tasted awful.

"Oh, right. This was your first time eating with Zhao Qinyin!" Su Ruo said with a smile, looking at Zhao Qinyin.

"Do you mind if I talk to him about you?"

"I'd rather you didn't!" Zhao Qinyin replied. Even with her cheeks flushed from the beer, her tone was as steady as ever.

"Aw, how boring!" Su Ruo said, looking disappointed, but she didn't say anything more.

"What... is going on?" Chu Yu looked at Zhao Qinyin, who was downing one glass after another without anyone even urging her to drink.

His impression of Zhao Qinyin had been turned upside down a little today.

"All I can say is..." Su Ruo glanced at Zhao Qinyin.

"Out of everyone I've known in my life, she can drink the most."

"What?" Chu Yu felt as if he'd misheard.

Two hours later, Chu Yu and Su Ruo were both dizzy. They rested their heads on the table, trying to wait out the effects of the alcohol.

Only Zhao Qinyin remained as straight-backed as ever. From two hours ago until now, she had kept up the same steady rhythm... of drinking.

Her cheeks were a little red, but her eyes had never lost their clarity.

She poured the last half-bottle of beer into her glass and drank it down.

At last, every last bit of food and drink on the table was gone.

Only then did Chu Yu understand what Su Ruo meant earlier when she said she could eat and Zhao Qinyin could drink.

Zhao Qinyin had drunk eighty percent of the beer, and Su Ruo had eaten eighty percent of the food.

Chu Yu alone could neither eat nor drink, and was just about ready to pass out.

Whoever married these two would be poor for the rest of their lives!

The thought flashed through Chu Yu's mind.

"Are you two drunk?" Zhao Qinyin stood and looked at the two of them, heads down and foreheads resting on the table.

"N-no... not drunk!" Su Ruo raised her head, stammering.

"Is it over?" Chu Yu raised his head, but he seemed to see two or three Zhao Qinyins in front of him.

"What a pain." Zhao Qinyin looked at the two of them, who were clearly in no state to manage themselves, and shook her head.

In their drunken haze, Su Ruo and Chu Yu only vaguely felt that they had gotten into a car.

All three of them squeezed into the back of a taxi.

Despite having drunk so much, Zhao Qinyin seemed perfectly clear-headed. She even had the mind to take out her phone and scroll through Weibo.

"Damn you, Song Jiayu! Just you wait—I'll cut you up..."

Su Ruo, who had fallen asleep beside them, suddenly began shouting. She even started punching and kicking the back of the front seat, and the taxi driver's face immediately darkened.

Chu Yu was in somewhat better shape.

"Hey, Zhao Qinyin."

His head was foggy too, but he realized she was sitting beside him, so he said what had been on his mind.

"Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal has been approved for serialization..."

"I was wondering... if you'd keep working as my assistant. Would you be willing?"

After spending more than a week together, Chu Yu had gained a deep appreciation for how much a manga assistant could improve his efficiency.

Before, he'd thought hiring an assistant was pretty expensive. Now, he felt the money was well spent.

Once he'd confirmed that Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal would be serialized on Man Ying, he'd started thinking about it.

His earlier agreement with Zhao Qinyin had only required her to help him finish the first three chapters by Friday.

Now, Chu Yu wanted their working relationship to continue.

He'd meant to bring it up at the table earlier, but he'd gotten dizzy after drinking and hadn't had the chance.

Now, in his hazy state, he'd remembered and asked Zhao Qinyin without thinking.

Keep working as the manga assistant on Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal!

Zhao Qinyin hesitated when she heard him, then gave the matter some careful thought.

"Let's talk about it again when you're sober," Zhao Qinyin said softly.