Chapter 16: An Eventful Night

Bai Xueyan’s dress lay discarded on the floor. She had removed her bra and was leaning over the edge of the bed, vomiting, her shoulders and back exposed.

Chen Ye immediately turned away to preserve her privacy, though the sight remained fixed in his mind. Then she vomited again, filling the room with the sharp smell of alcohol.

He hesitated. Her clothing had slipped, and helping her would be awkward. But she looked miserable; he couldn’t simply leave her.

“I feel awful… Oh…” She retched, trembling with discomfort.

Chen Ye went to her, supported her arm, and gently held her hand. He massaged the Neiguan point on her wrist, which he believed could ease nausea and vomiting. Drunk and barely conscious, she leaned against him.

After a while she stopped retching. Encouraged, he massaged the Hegu point on the back of her hand, between the first and second metacarpal bones. He believed it could calm her as well as relieve nausea.

She gradually seemed more comfortable, breathing heavily with an arm around his neck. Chen Ye kept his eyes lowered and concentrated on the massage, pushing aside distracting thoughts. Soon she rested quietly against his shoulder, apparently asleep.

“Bai-jie? Bai-jie?”

She didn’t respond. He gently laid her down, pulled the covers over her, and turned to find a mop for the vomit that had missed the wastebasket.

She murmured, apparently uncomfortable in her clothes, and pulled her bra from beneath the covers, tossing it to the floor near his feet. Still half asleep, she removed her lace underwear beneath the covers and dropped it there too. Then she began to snore softly.

Chen Ye felt drawn to her, but he would not linger. He fetched a mop and cleaned the floor. The two garments had become soiled, so he took them to the bathroom and rinsed them. He hadn’t intended to wash her intimate clothing by hand, but when rinsing didn’t clean it, he rubbed it clean and hung it on the drying rack.

By the time he finished, it was after three. He returned to the basement and fell asleep.

Some time later, a shout came from the stairs. “Chen Ye!”

“Present!” He sprang up, hurriedly put on his trousers, and went out. It was morning.

“Bai-jie?” He rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Bai Xueyan stood above him in a long silk robe, her face pale. “Were you in my room last night?”

She vaguely remembered him helping her upstairs, but nothing afterward.

“Yes. You were sick, so I cleaned up.”

Her face reddened. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothing! I just mopped the floor…”

“Did you mop the floor, or did you take off my clothes?” she interrupted coldly.

“I swear, you took them off yourself! And you did it all under the covers. I didn’t see anything.”

Flushing deeply, she frowned and rubbed her temples. “Then why did you wash my underwear?”

“You threw it on the floor, and it got dirty, so I…”

“A man’s hands are for making his way in the world, not washing a woman’s underwear. Understand?” she said sternly.

“Understood!” He stood up straight as though being reprimanded by a superior.

“Let’s pretend last night never happened.”

She couldn’t remember, but she had a feeling he hadn’t done anything improper; she believed she would have noticed otherwise.

“It’s getting late. I have to go to work. There’s an old electric scooter in the villa that nobody uses. I was going to throw it away. If you can ride it, it’s yours.”

“Thank you, Bai-jie!”

“You’re welcome.” She turned to go upstairs and change, then looked back. “One more thing. At work, call me President Bai, not Bai-jie. You can call me Bai-jie at the villa when no one else is around.”

“All right.” He understood that she wanted to avoid gossip.

After she drove away, Chen Ye found the scooter. It was old but still usable, and far better than squeezing onto a bus. He charged it and wiped it down with wet wipes. An hour later, he rode to work, arriving at nine on the dot.

He hurried inside and clocked in. Then he noticed something was wrong: the atmosphere in the center was unusually tense.