"Does it burn?"
Xie Jinghui swallowed, fighting the urge to touch a strand of hair at Shen Shuangjian's forehead.
"Shuangjian, it's all right. If you can't drink, a couple of sips will do."
Seeing that just two sips had reddened Shen Shuangjian's eyes, she hurried to intervene too. "It's fine, it's fine. Let's just keep playing!"
Shen Shuangjian did not feel drunk. The strong smell of alcohol in his breath merely made him a little uncomfortable.
Though he had never drunk before, he had some idea that drunk people burned all over as though they were ill, staggered when they walked, and could not think clearly.
He considered himself sober, yet the strange sensation still made him clutch Xie Jinghui's sleeve, and he kept forgetting to let go.
"Have some water."
Noticing his discomfort, Xie Jinghui poured him a cup of water, hoping to wash away the taste of alcohol in his mouth.
Shen Shuangjian evidently had the same thought. He was even more impatient than Xie Jinghui; before he could reach out, his head had already leaned forward.
With Xie Jinghui holding the cup, Shen Shuangjian swallowed the water in small sips. It did little good, but it did dispel some of the alcohol's smell.
"Come on, Shuangjian, next round. Hurry!"
Lin Weiluo's call forced Shen Shuangjian to put aside the discomfort of drinking for the first time and reach out to join a game he had no skill at whatsoever.
In the third round, Shen Shuangjian lost again.
Looking down at his clenched fist, Shen Shuangjian even widened his eyes a little belatedly, as though he could not believe he really was this unlucky.
"Hahaha! I won again! I won again!"
Lin Weiluo's luck was off the charts, letting her beat the odds again and again. She looked excitedly at the stunned Shen Shuangjian and asked with a mischievous grin, "Shuangjian, truth again this time?"
The last question had left Shen Shuangjian's mind utterly blank, and in the end, unable to answer, he had taken two sips of wine.
This time, Shen Shuangjian ought to have learned his lesson, no matter what. So he shook his head gently. "I'll choose the other one."
There were many possible penalties for a dare, but when Shen Shuangjian was the one being punished, people always instinctively discarded many kinds.
For instance, anything too tiring or difficult did not suit him, nor did anything embarrassing or ridiculous suit the thin-skinned Shen Shuangjian.
"Hmm..." Lin Weiluo propped her chin on her hand. After a moment's thought, she said with a smile, "Then persuade someone to drink. Choose one person and get them to drink three cups in a row. You have to find a way to make them finish."
Lin Weiluo's penalty sounded difficult, because with anyone else, after three cups went down, even if the person urging them to drink survived, the onlookers would still skin them alive.
But for Shen Shuangjian, such a penalty was far too easy, because... probably no one would have the heart to make things difficult for him.
And that was indeed the case. No sooner had Lin Weiluo finished speaking than Yu Sheng, sitting opposite, was already impatient to offer himself up.
Unfortunately, Shen Shuangjian, who looked rather troubled, did not so much as glance at him.
Three brimming cups of wine were soon placed before Shen Shuangjian. Whether from nerves or something else, he suddenly felt a little hot.
His fingers trembling slightly, he lifted one of the cups and slowly turned toward Xie Jinghui. Shen Shuangjian pressed his lips together, not having the slightest idea how to persuade someone to drink.
Yet Xie Jinghui said nothing, merely lowering his gaze to look quietly at Shen Shuangjian. Compared with the others, most of whom smelled of alcohol and were a little excited, his silent composure seemed all the more aloof.
Shen Shuangjian probably had no idea at all that he was a little drunk.
At that moment, he was both timid and so very bold.
Not knowing how to persuade someone to drink, Shen Shuangjian could only reach out, half nervous and half apologetic. His slender, pale fingertips lightly tugged Xie Jinghui's sleeve, and he lifted his eyes.
"Th... thank you."
And so Xie Jinghui, who by all rights ought to have made things a little difficult for Shen Shuangjian, willingly took the cup and drained it.
The bayberry wine was like poison wrapped in a sweet shell. At first, there was a tart, astringent sweetness, but only when it entered the throat did the fiery sting of the strong alcohol make itself felt.
Yet Xie Jinghui did not even frown, his gaze fixed on Shen Shuangjian as he raised the second cup.
When he noticed a little damp perspiration beginning to bead on the tip of Shen Shuangjian's nose, Xie Jinghui's first thought was what Shen Shuangjian would say next.
The first cup had earned a thank-you. For the second, then, would he have to offer greater stakes to make someone willingly drink cup after cup of strong wine?
In reality, however, Shen Shuangjian said nothing. He merely gave him a silent look, and Xie Jinghui drank without complaint.
Shen Shuangjian had grown warm enough to sweat a little. Sitting closest to him, Xie Jinghui was the first to catch that cool fragrance gradually warming.
Most beauties carried fragrance in their very flesh and bones, while Shen Shuangjian was like someone fashioned from honey within, yet coated in frost and snow without.
At first, the sweetness of the sugar was blocked by the frost and snow, leaving a faint fragrance, cool and crystalline. But once he began to melt, the sweetness within could no longer be hidden, however he tried.
By the third cup, however, Xie Jinghui suddenly felt a little unwilling.
He wanted more. He wanted to know more.
He wanted so badly to peel away Shen Shuangjian's distant, guarded shell and carefully savor his thoughts.
He wanted to know what manner of interaction Shen Shuangjian truly preferred, why he always seemed close yet distant, why he was sometimes aloof and sometimes shy and natural.
But in an instant, Xie Jinghui dismissed all those thoughts.
He gently took Shen Shuangjian's hand, shutting out all the surrounding noise and gazes. At that instant, all he saw, all he thought of, was this cup of wine Shen Shuangjian had brought him himself.
"Mr. Xie..."
Shen Shuangjian looked up in some bewilderment. His already hazy reason left him unable to distinguish whether the glimmer in Xie Jinghui's dark eyes was dangerous or safe.
Xie Jinghui's voice was low and coaxing. "What's my name?"
Shen Shuangjian froze for a moment, but still answered instinctively, "Xie Jinghui..."
Those three syllables were a casual reply, yet as they fell upon Xie Jinghui's heart, each rang out with particular weight.
Xie Jinghui's gaze softened further. "And then?"
Almost expectant, almost yearning, he waited for Shen Shuangjian to say what came next.
Xie Jinghui was not greedy. He did not ask for more. He did not need Shen Shuangjian to say anything that would shake him to his core.
Even if it was only a casual, "Xie Jinghui, drink it."
Xie Jinghui would not hesitate for a moment. Even if what was held before him was gut-wrenching poison, or the strongest wine in the world, enough to leave him utterly drunk, Xie Jinghui could drink it at once.
Yet Shen Shuangjian's thoughts never entwined with his. He merely looked at him with hesitation and confusion.
And so, guided by Shen Shuangjian's hand, Xie Jinghui breathed in the ever-stronger fragrance and slowly drained the cup.
Perhaps, by the rules, Xie Jinghui had lost everything on these three cups of wine.
But Xie Jinghui knew that, ordinarily, these three cups were a sweetness he could never obtain, no matter how he begged.