acquaintance

  Tong Chen's figure has gradually moved away from me, I am still indulging in the pleasure brought by being conquered by her beauty and do not want to move my feet, and my mind has also begun to spread the normal man's first reaction after seeing a beautiful woman - 'If she were my girlfriend, it would be great...'

  After half a day of intoxication, I can only force myself back to reality. After all, my life is not without her, and too much indulgence will only bring me unnecessary melancholy. Perhaps with her, my life would have an additional element of beauty and happiness, but without her, my life still has to go on, and it won't necessarily be bad either.

  After I finished a series of emotional and psychological comfort, I suddenly felt very unimpressive. For a beauty, I was standing on the cold street, indulging in melancholy and sentimentality. Fortunately, I still maintained some sanity and didn't go crazy for her. So I smiled helplessly and continued to rush to the restaurant.

  "Long time no see! I didn't know you'd still come!!" As soon as I walked into the private room booked by Zhao Lijia, she complained to me while sitting on a seat and chatting with two girls.

  "Traffic jam... Harbin's poor traffic, you're not unaware of it!" I said to Zhao Lijia with a hint of embarrassment, if it weren't for the many beautiful flight attendants at this table, I wouldn't have shown such a humble attitude.

  "Stop messing around!! Follow the rules!! Zhao Lijia seemed to have noticed my concern, and with a sly smile on her face, she said to me relentlessly."

  "What's going on here?!"

  "Less garlic! Last time we had a class reunion, when I was late, you tortured me, and now I'm going to torture you!" Zhao Lijia said with hatred, evoking the residual memories that I didn't know how many years had passed, and also deeply felt how terrible it is for women to hold grudges. Although Zhao Lijia seemed like a "wolf in sheep's clothing" to me, my recent observations still allowed me to discover many of her feminine qualities.

  "Sorry! We're late!" Just as I was hesitating whether to show off my masculine side in front of the many beautiful flight attendants, a pleasant voice came from the doorway, and I subconsciously turned my head around.

  When I heard the voice from behind, I subconsciously associated it with the beautiful woman Tong Chen whom I had seen earlier in class, and fantasized that she was standing at the door. But reality is reality after all, and when I saw a stranger standing at the door, although I felt a slight sense of disappointment, this was in line with the actual situation. Suddenly, I realized that even though I only met Tong Chen once, she had already caused me to start having mild delusions, it seems that the love poison I've contracted is quite deep and has begun to affect my mind.

  "Good health! This time you have company! Someone is drinking with you!" Zhao Li Jia said with a smirk on her face.

  "I'll take the punishment!" The beautiful woman who came later said to Zhao Lijia, then brought over three cups, filled them with wine, and started drinking one cup after another, which made my hair stand on end.

  In such a stark contrast, if I still acted so coyly, then tonight I would become the topic of conversation among these women when they return to their dormitory before going to sleep. So I also took three cups and filled them with beer.

  "Right! Tong Chen will be up soon, just now I and she entered the hall when we met one of her friends, chatted for a bit and came! The beautiful woman standing next to me finished three cups of beer at an incredible speed, wiped her mouth, and said another sentence that shocked me the most, directly making me choke on my first cup of beer. At this time, I started to savor the words of the girl next to me with some excitement, and nervously waited for Tong Chen's arrival."

  "Are you talking about me? I can hear my name! Just as I was coughing uncontrollably from being choked by wine, another bright voice appeared behind me. At this moment, I had every reason to believe that what I had hoped for had happened, and I also vaguely felt that we might get to know each other tonight."

  "I'm telling you how to punish you! It's your turn now! Do things according to the rules! And there's a handsome guy to accompany you! Cheers! The previous cup doesn't count! Who made you spit it out!" Zhao Lijia said with a smile.

  "You know I can drink a lot! Can't you drink less?" Tong Chen's face had an awkward color, and he consulted with Zhao Lijia.

  "No way! Today's my birthday, I get to call the shots!" Zhao Lijia was relentless, and at this point, several people around them started chiming in, so Tong Chen also began pouring wine.

  To show off my masculinity in front of the beautiful girl, I drank three beers at an unusual speed. When I slammed the last cup on the table with a relaxed attitude, I saw Tong Chen struggling to finish her second cup, coughing non-stop. This scene triggered my instinct as a guy who likes beautiful girls to be gentle and considerate, so I suddenly snatched the cup from Tong Chen's hand before she could grab it, and downed her third cup of beer in one gulp under the surprised gaze of everyone, including Tong Chen. After putting down the cup, I didn't dare to look at Tong Chen's eyes, and pretended to be nonchalant.

  "Great! You're a hero saving a beauty!! Haven't had enough fun yet?" Zhao Lijia shouted from the side.

  "This is all for your own good! If everyone spits on the table, you'll be so embarrassed! It's your birthday, after all! Who doesn't drink? I'm starving to death! Let's start the meal quickly!" After I said a few words and made Zhao Lijia angry, I sat down with Tong Chen on either side of Zhao Lijia.

  After drinking four cups of beer, I started to feel dizzy when sitting there. At this time, my energy and vision also inadvertently flew to Tong Chen's body, which was only one person away from me, so the dazzling dishes on the table were no longer very interesting to me.

  "This is for you! Thanks a lot earlier!" Tong Chen suddenly placed a chicken leg on my plate, smiling at me and saying that, which made me momentarily flustered. But after being secretly delighted in my heart for a moment, I still calmly replied with a "you're welcome".

  "Right! Let me introduce you guys! Zhao Lijia, who was devouring chicken claws, put down the chicken claw in her hand, simply wiped her hands and mouth, and said to me and Tong Chen, "This is Kang Jian! My bro! This is Tong Chen! We're from the same unit, and also my close friends!" Zhao Lijia smiled as she introduced us to each other, trying to pat my shoulder to prove our brotherly bond, but just thinking about her devouring chicken head with oily hands earlier, I timely stopped her when her hand was still in mid-air.

  "You're Kang Jian!" Tong Chen asked with a smile, considering Zhao Lijia's usual practice of doing positive publicity for me in front of other girls without my permission. When I heard Tong Chen ask this, I was secretly happy that Zhao Lijia must have been doing a good job of paving the way for me in front of her.

  "It's me! Have you ever heard Zhao Lijia mention me?" I asked calmly, while preparing to hear Tong Chen say something like "I've always heard Zhao Lijia praise you as a handsome guy" or some other compliment about me.

  "You're the one who got drunk and wanted to pee at the girls' dormitory door, Kang Jian!" After hearing Tong Chen's words, the huge mental drop made me look at Zhao Lijia with an icy gaze, but she gave me an innocent look.

  "It seems... it's me!" I said awkwardly. Just as I was hesitating whether to reach out and shake hands with Tong Chen, he extended his hand towards me instead. Holding his smooth and soft hand again made me start to have fanciful thoughts...

  Zhao Lijia was very generous today, just like her usual personality. She didn't refuse anyone who offered her a drink, so by the time we were leaving, she was holding her purse and said to me "pay the bill" before passing out in Tong Chen's arms. So after I paid the bill at the front desk, Tong Chen and I helped her into a taxi and took her back to her place.

  After struggling with Tong Chen to carry Zhao Lijia to her room, I turned around and walked out of the room so that Tong Chen could help her change clothes.

  "Take a break! Let's sit for a while before we go!" Tong Chen shouted to me in Zhao Lijia's room. Although I showed considerable excitement upon hearing her words, I still replied calmly.

  Tong Chen walked out of Zhao Lijia's room a few minutes later, changed into slippers and walked into the kitchen. Before long, he came out with two cups of steaming hot chocolate and handed one to me.

  "Have a warm drink to warm yourself up! The heating has been cut off for the past few days due to pipe repairs downstairs, so it's quite cold!" Tong Chen said as she walked into another room and came out with a blanket.

  "We'll put this over our legs, and we won't be cold anymore!" Tong Chen said as she sat down on the sofa with her legs crossed, covering one end of the blanket over her legs. She smiled and handed me the other end of the blanket. I felt a little honored by her lovely gesture, so after a moment's pause, I also covered my legs with the blanket. The fragrance wafting from the blanket once again sent me into a state of intoxication.

  "You're in college now!?" Tong Chen asked me after taking a sip of chocolate.

  "Uh-huh! Right!"

  "University must be a lot of fun! But I didn't study well in middle school! Otherwise, I would have gone to university too!"

  "Actually, university life is quite boring and not as beautiful as teachers and parents describe it!"

  "What? How is this possible?" Tong Chen asked in disbelief.

  I'm not sure I should say this, but maybe when you have the chance to visit a university, you'll understand! Being a flight attendant must be very interesting! The treatment is so good! And you can travel all over the country freely!

  "It's okay! At first, it felt quite fresh! After a long time, it's just that. However, every time I can stay in different places for one or two days, it's really good!"

  "You just moved in recently, right!? I think you hadn't moved in yet when I came last time!"

  "Yes! It's been a week, I think! The sister in my dorm was transferred away, and I didn't want to live alone, so I moved over here! You've known Zhao Lijia for a long time, right?!"

  "It's been 7 years already!" I thought and said to Tong Chen.

  "It's been so long! Before, we always heard Zhao Lijia bragging about you in front of us, and we didn't dare to believe that there was such a great guy! But now I feel like you're really not bad! Tong Chen said with a smile, making me feel warm and fuzzy inside, letting me feel relieved that I hadn't been wrong to care for Zhao Lijia all along, and also making me start to have some expectations of Tong Chen in my heart."

  Little did I expect that after saying this, the two of us suddenly fell into silence, as if we had both tacitly agreed not to know what to say next. So I felt it was time to bid farewell, although I was very reluctant to leave like this.

  "It's getting late! I'm going to be late for my dormitory curfew! I'll leave first!" I reluctantly stood up from the sofa and said to Tong Chen. After hearing this, Tong Chen also stood up and saw me off to the door.

  "Uh... I got to the door and suddenly felt that I couldn't just leave like this, at least I should ask Tong Chen for her phone number. This is also a trick that Lao Er often teaches us. According to his theory, if you ask a girl for her phone number after the first meeting, it's equivalent to telling her that you have intentions towards her. If she happily and readily gives it to you, then it means she might also have intentions towards you."

  "What?" Tong Chen asked in surprise.

  "Can you...?" I muttered with a red face, while scolding myself in my mind "Damn it! Can't even ask for a phone number without blushing!"

  "Is that your phone? Speak up! Big boy, you're blushing just to give me your number! Give me your phone!" Tong Chen said with a big smile, her calmness surprised me. It seemed she had been through dozens of such situations and was trained to be fearless in the face of danger, making me feel ashamed of my own awkwardness at the same time.

  Tong Chen then stretched out her hand, took the phone I handed over to her, and entered her phone number in my phone. At this time, I also started analyzing it in my mind according to Lao Er's theory.