“Director Shen, Director Shen? Mr. Shen? Hey….. Shen Qingzhou.” Yu Man struggled to keep him upright, confusion written on her face. He’d fallen asleep just like that?

She reached out and supported his waist, preventing him from falling to the floor. “Even if you want to sleep, you shouldn’t do it like this. Hey….. I can’t keep this up any longer.”

Yu Wan, left with no other choice, helplessly dragged him to a nearby couch. Her face was bright red with exertion. Practically all of Shen Qingzhou’s body weight bore down on her. After pushing him up onto the couch with all her might, she fell too and landed right on top of him.

Shen Qingzhou was fast asleep. In his unconscious haze, he could only dimly sense something soft pressing against his body. He instinctively pulled Yu Wan into an embrace. As his arms wrapped around her, she struggled to get off the sofa.

“Red Bean, don’t move…..”

“.......”

Yu Wan was speechless.

Red Bean? Red Bean? How was she at all like Red Bean?

She tried to escape from his embrace, but he only squeezed her even tighter. After a few attempts, she gave up and quietly leaned against his arm.

It was her first time seeing him from such a short distance; she could even see his pores. As she recalled the way he’d kissed her just now, Yu Wan’s heart started thudding erratically in her chest. He’d been drunk right?

Yu Wan pursed her lips. What nonsense….. There was no way his personality would have changed so much if he weren’t drunk.Sigh. Would he even remember all this tomorrow? If he did, what sort of expression would he make?

If he didn’t remember…… it seemed she’d still come out ahead. A smile rose unbidden to her lips. Seeing Shen Qingzhou like this was really taking advantage of him. Hm. Lin Yeyu had surely never been this lucky.

Yu Wan mulled it over for a while before falling asleep. She’d had quite a bit to drink that night as well. She’d been dizzy this whole time. After all that excitement, she felt an inexplicable calm as she sunk into Shen Qingzhou’s embrace. As a result, she’d unwittingly fallen asleep.

The next morning, Shen Qingzhou was the first to wake up.

He was hungover and his head throbbed with pain. He opened his eyes and tried to block the sunlight pouring in the windows and lighting up the room. However, the moment he tried lifting his hand, he realized something was amiss.

A head was resting on his arm and a pale, slender arm was wrapped around his waist. Shen Qingzhou’s eyes gradually widened; he didn’t quite know how to react to what he was seeing.

“Oh……” the body in his arms shifted and nestled its head back into his embrace. When she found a comfortable spot, she went back to sleep.

Shen Qingzhou took a deep breath. Yu Wan?

He evaluated their current situation:  they were two adults, smushed together on one long sofa. Judging from their position, he’d been the one to pull her tightly into his embrace while she’d naturally made herself quite comfortable.

Shen Qingzhou’s temples throbbed violently. “Get up,” he said hoarsely.

The woman in his embrace shifted, but still didn’t seem awake. Shen Qingzhou helplessly used his free hand to tap her face. “Yu Wan, get up.”

“Quiet down….”

“Hurry and get up.” This time, his voice was loud enough to startle Yu Wan awake.

“Wha-, what is it?”  She looked up and met Shen Qingzhou’s eyes.

Five seconds later, Yu Wan cried out in alarm, rolled off the sofa, and landed on the carpet.

“What happened?” Shen Qingzhou stood and glanced down at her.

Yu Wan‘s hair was a complete mess and her voice trembled as she said, “last night, you held me tight and wouldn’t let me leave.”

“What?” Disbelief flashed through Shen Qingzhou’s eyes.

Yu Wan saw he’d forgotten and hurriedly explained, “I swear I’m not lying. I didn’t take advantage of you; it’s you who insisted on embracing me, all the while calling me ‘Red Bean!’”

“I…..” Shen Qingzhou covered his face, his ears gradually turning an intriguing shade of red.

“You got drunk last night,” Yu Wan said quietly. “Did you forget? Inwardly, she was somewhat despondent. Had he forgotten their kiss as well?

Shen Qingzhou lowered his hand and looked at her. “If that’s what happened,” he said somewhat stiffly, “I apologize. But, why did you come to my room?”

“That…..” Yu Wan thought about it, then pointed to the cake sitting on the cabinet. “I came to wish you a happy birthday and give you a cake. Who knew you’d succumb to your baser instincts?”

Succumb...to his…. baser instincts?

The corners of Shen Qingzhou’s mouth twitched.

“If you don’t believe me, look for yourself. You took several bites.” Yu Wan got off the floor and brought the cake over. “Look! This is where you bit it.”

The moment Shen Qingzhou laid eyes on the bitemarks, scenes from the night before popped into his head. He tensed up, then slowly glanced at Yu Wan’s….. lips.

Yu Wan, afraid he wouldn’t believe her, pointed at her own bite marks and said earnestly, “look, you ate quite a bit.”

But Shen Qingzhou didn’t seem to hear her. Instead, he was fixated on her lips. As he watched them open and close, his thoughts drifted toward the night before. It seemed that he….. remembered.

He subconsciously touched his fingers to his lips. Both last night’s soft tenderness and a certain sweet sensation seemed to linger on his lips. Yesterday, he kissed Yu Wan.

Shen Qingzhou was surprised to discover that he wasn’t at all disgusted. On the contrary, he was rather pleased.  Even drunk, he knew what his heart desired. Otherwise, there's no way he would have been muddle-headed enough to do something like that.

There was a profound look in his eyes as he gazed silently at Yu Wan, not saying a single word.

When Yu Wan finished talking, she noticed that Shen Qingzhou seemed to have gotten distracted and awkwardly put the cake aside. “Um, I’d better get going…..”

“Wait.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t go.”

“Ah?”

Shen Qingzhou coughed lightly, paused to think, and said, “there’s bread in the fridge. You can use it to make breakfast.”

“.......”

He got to his feet and walked away. Without even looking back, he said,  “I’m going to go take a shower. There’s another bathroom. Feel free to use it.”

“.......”

Yu Wan walked into the other bathroom, picked up the toiletries the hotel had supplied and organized them before walking into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and picked out ingredients for breakfast. As she worked, her mind was racing non-stop. Shen Qingzhou had actually forgotten! Drunk people really were terrifying.

But if he’d forgotten, that was good too. Otherwise, things would really be a bit awkward….

Shen Qingzhou finished his shower and emerged in clean clothes just as Yu Wan finished making breakfast. She carried it to the dining table and set it down. “Mr. Shen, eat up.”

“Mm.”

Yu Wan sat across from Shen Qingzhou and examined him as she ate her breakfast. He was prim and proper, silent and cold, in stark contrast to how he’d acted last night.

“Mr. Shen, have you ever gotten drunk before?” Yu Wan asked curiously.

“Cough.” Something seemed to stick in his throat. “Not very often.”

“Then…. Do you know what you’re like when you’re drunk? What I’m saying is, do you know how you hold your liquor?”

Shen Qingzhou’s fork froze in mid-air. A hint of a smile flashed through his eyes, just out of Yu Wan’s sight. .

“Oh? What am I like?”

When Yu Wan saw his faint smile, her words caught in her throat. “It was, that sort of, um, it was a bit impudent.”

Impudent? Only she would think of a word like that! A faint smile tugged at Shen Qingzhou’s lips. “How was I ‘impudent?’”

Yu Wan furrowed her brows. “You mistook me for Red Bean and hugged me all night long! Isn’t that impudent enough?” And it wasn’t just that, you even kissed me!

Shen Qingzhou chuckled. “At home, Red Bean often jumps into bed with me. If I mistook you for Red Bean…. You’ve only yourself to blame for being too much like him.”

Similar to Red Bean? He had to be joking, right?

“Ding-dong!”  Yu Wan was just about to object when the doorbell rang, startling her.

“Who is it?”

Shen Qingzhou looked at her in befuddlement. “Why so jumpy? I’ll go get the door.”

“Wait! Wait! I’m still here! Don’t open the door just like that! What if they misunderstand?”

“Does it matter?” Shen Qingzhou glanced at her, then calmly walked towards the door.

Yu Wan stared, wide-eyed, as he opened the door, completely at ease.

“Surprise!” Tang Yue stood in the doorway, a radiant smile on his elegantly handsome face. “Well? Aren’t you delighted to see me?”

Shen Qingzhou looked at him indifferently. “Why are you here?”

“I couldn’t make it in time for your birthday yesterday,  so I came by today to make up for it. I heard Yeyu was there last night.”

“Mm.”

“Aw man. I’ve really done you wrong, then. As your dear friend, I wasn’t there for you.” As Tang Yue spoke, he stepped inside. “But I brought you a…….”

When Tang Yue saw Yu Wan sitting at the dining table, he stared in utter astonishment, temporarily unable to finish his sentence. “....a pleasant surprise.”

Tang Yue suddenly whipped his head around and stared at Shen Qingzhou, “you, you! You! You! You!”

Shen Qingzhou closed the door and glanced at him disdainfully. “What kind of ‘pleasant surprise’ couldyoubring me?”

Tang Yue hurried after him; he had no time to waste arguing. “Shen Qingzhou, Shen Qingzhou, are you for real?

“What do you mean, ‘are you for real?’”

“Her!” Tang Yue excitedly. He pointed disbelievingly at Yu Wan. “You even brought the pretty lady from across the street to work with you? Jeez!”

Shen Qingzhou wasn’t in the mood to explain it to him. Instead, he leisurely returned to his seat at the dining table and continued eating his breakfast.

Tang Yue took a seat as well and stared at Yu Wan in keen fascination. “Hey, we meet again.”

Yu Wan nodded. “Hello. I’m the crew’s scriptwriter, Yu Wan.”

“Scriptwriter? You’re the scriptwriter?”

“Mm.” Yu Wan tried to explain, “so don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not……”

“Ohhhh, so you’re the scriptwriter,” Tang Wan looked at her gleefully. She was in the director’s room this early in the morning, wearing slippers, even! Moreover, she was dressed so haphazardly. Wah…. This was way too exciting!

When Yu Wan saw his bizarre grin, smile, she shut her mouth, worried that she hadn't explained it properly.

Tang Yue patted Shen Qingzhou’s shoulders. “Director Shen, you really know how to abuse your status for personal gain.”

Then he looked back at Yu Wan and said, “little scriptwriter, what are you writing next? Has Director Shen already agreed to film-….. Oh, how about I invest in it? You two can just think of it as a gift.”

“......” Yu Wan didn’t know what to say.

Shen Qingzhou glanced at him, “if you’ve got nothing better to do, get back to work. Don’t make a ruckus here.”

“This is a classic example of prioritizing your girlfriend over your friends,” Tang Yue said in displeasure. “I really do have to get back to work soon, but I mentioned that I had a surprise for you earlier. Don’t you want to know what it is?”

“Not interested, thanks.”

“What if it was about Red Bean? You still don’t want to know?”

“Red Bean? Yu Wan was the first to react. She looked at him curiously and asked,  “what’s up with Red Bean?”

Tang Yue arched his brows. “I’ll be taking care of business in Beijing for a week or so, so I had someone bring Red Bean over. He’ll be here this afternoon. When I go home, I’ll take him back with me.”

“You brought Red Bean here?” Shen Qingzhou frowned.

“Well, yeah! Don’t you know much Red Bean missed you over there?” said Tang Yue. “I know you’re so busy with work that you don’t have time to look after him, but don’t worry; it’s just this week and I’ll take him with me when I leave.”

“There’s no need to take him back, I can look after him!” Yu Wan said in obvious excitement.