9 Thank You

Who...?

Zhi Ruo turned to look behind her and saw a man with a polite smile on his face. He was leaning against the door frame and had his hands inside the pocket of his coat.

She frowned. Who is this man?

"And who are you supposed to be?"

The man continued to smile. He walked towards them with large strides until he was only a step away from her.

"I'm only here to stop you from hurting this poor, drunken man."

The man then slowly removed Chou Tang from her grasp and held the drunk by his shoulders. Seeing that she made no move to oppose him, he thankfully nodded at her.

He then turned to the drunk again and lightly slapped his cheeks. "This behavior of yours is getting more and more out of hand. Would you like me to tell your girlfriend that you almost flirted with another woman?"

Hearing the man's words made Chou Tang snap out of his drunken state. He widened his eyes and shook his head, trying to sober up. The man delightfully smiled and handed him a glass of water.

"Here, try to sober up and take a good look at the person you offended."

Chou Tang gladly took it and gulped down its content. After a few moments, he could finally see his vision clearing up although the slight dizziness was still there.

"Well…?" the man had a cunning look.

Zhi Ruo crossed her arms. This man looked strangely familiar, but she could not seem to remember such a black bellied man.

The familiar way his eyes would crinkle and disappear whenever he smiled. His mannerisms. That eerily similar way he talked to people.

Chou Tang held his head and looked towards the woman whom he almost flirted with. She was tall. Taller than most average Asian women. And he felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding danger.

Without any warning, he suddenly prostrated himself and kowtowed three times. "Please forgive me! I did not recognize Zhuxi! This small one has realized his mistake!"

Because of the sudden movements, it had attracted the attention of the others. Most of them had curious looks and abandoned what they were currently doing.

"Oy-oy-oy… Why is that Chou Tang suddenly doing a dogeza¹ for?"

"What is happening right now? And who's the two besides Xiao Tong?"

"Perhaps someone accidentally walked in the wrong room?"

"Maybe the two are related to Xiao Tong?"

Meanwhile, the hostess in question was using Zhi Ruo as support while quietly mumbling nonsense. She was barely able to stand up were it not for Zhi Ruo's extraordinarily absurd strength.

"So with this, are you appeased?" the man looked at Zhi Ruo with that same smile.

Although his words contained no malice, she could faintly sense the double meaning. The dogeza was an excessive effort by the other party.

It made her seem like she had bullied him despite the man getting on her nerves. This aggravated her further but suppressed the feeling in her heart.

Ehem!

"There was no need to kneel. A simple apology would've sufficed. You made me seem like the villain."

"A beautiful villain for sure," the man muttered under his breathe.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!" the man feigned ignorance.

Mo Chou, who had been following her since a while ago, did not fail to notice the curious gazes of their batch mates. He had rushed over in a jiffy right after he paid respect to the old tree. Now, how does he appease the crowd? Since they had caused quite the scene. Only the background music could be heard.

Xiao Tong had already passed out leaning against Zhi Ruo, who was now confused by the sudden turn of events. The hostess had fallen asleep, the crowd was staring at them, and the man who claimed to have help her seemed to be in deep contemplation.

Zhi Ruo, who could no longer handle the silence, spoke up. "Hello everyone."

That seemed to snap the crowd out of their dazed state. One woman widened her eyes and said, "Oh my! Is that you, Zhi Ruo?" the woman jumped in surprise and grabbed her hands.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time. Do you remember me? You helped me conquer my stage fright during our first year in highschool."

Zhi Ruo searched her memories and vaguely remembered. She was Li Naira¹. True to her name, she had a round face which complemented her big, round eyes. She no longer had a wide body but slimmed down a great deal. Her lips turned up into a gentle smile. It made her happy that she was able to help someone.

"Of course. You have really grown up," Zhi Ruo spoke as she softly patted her head.

This made Li Naira blush and her heart sped up. Gosh, even though we are of the same age, Senior Zhi is gentle and attractive. If only she was a man, then she for sure would've chased after her.

It was the same for the rest of the women in the room. Because of Zhi Ruo's gentle attitude towards her junior, the rest of them did not hesitate to walk up to them and hope that she would praise them.

"Ah… Zhuxi is so gentle. If I were a man, I would definitely chase after her. Her attractive face, adding to her high intellect, such a peerless beauty deserved the world."

"I couldn't agree more. But imagine if she was a man? For sure she would've captured the hearts of all woman in the country. After all, who could resist a gentle and good-looking man?"

The women couldn't help but swoon while everyone squeezed to talk to her. Zhi Ruo became helpless in the face of these lovestruck women. She had no choice but to converse with each and every one of them.

The men, who wore sunken expressions, immediately sobered up and arranged the previously messy room. It was a fact that everyone in this room regarded Zhi Ruo as their savior. She led them to where they are today. And letting her see them in such an embarrassing manner made everyone snap out of their drunken state. This was the power of loyalty.

Such was only proper for a woman of Zhi Ruo's caliber.

While the others fussed over Zhi Ruo, Xiao Tong stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.

These people ah! She was trying to take a nap. God knows how much she drank that night. If her parents ever saw her get so drunk she could not get up, they would faint from shock and confine her in the house for who knows how long.

Zhi Ruo felt Xiao Tong move and said, "Are you finally awake? My shoulder is stiff from supporting you." As she said this, she moved her body away and let Xiao Tong slowly fall to the floor.

Aiya!

Xiao Tong fell, or more like slumped, to the floor. This made her awake and quickly scrambled to her feet. She rubbed her eyes and tried to get a clear grasp of the situation.

"Xiao Tong ah! You didn't tell us you invited Zhuxi too! Good thing Li Naira noticed her, so now we have a chance of catching up."

What?

Zhi Ruo was here?

Boom!

She remembered now. Because she had been strung along by the others to drink, Xiao Tong drank so much she drunk dialed Zhi Ruo and told her to come over. What the others didn't expect that Xiao Tong had low alcohol tolerance and got drunk on the first glass.

So embarrassing! Her conduct today completely went wild. It may be because she had a lot of pent up stress and today was the first time in a long while she had a chance to relax. Overcome with happiness, she let herself unwind and let out all the stress by drinking.

Zhi Ruo could no longer handle these people. She felt like fainting. Not many people knew she was anemic. Such a place which was quite dark and filled with people made her dizzy.

"Calm down, guys. I'm not going to disappear," she softly said.

This caused the others to blush. Of course she wasn't going to disappear! They got too excited and kept bombarding her with questions. Because this was a long awaited reunion, after the other finished sobering up again, they talked with each other for about an hour.

The mysterious man, who stood by in a secluded corner, suddenly approached Zhi Ruo and sat beside her.

Zhi Ruo paid no heed to him and continued to converse with the others.

It was going well until she felt her right shoulder tighten and it was getting harder to breathe. However, these people had been waiting for her and it would be rude to turn in early.

Suppressing the uncomfortable feeling in her chest, Zhi Ruo smiled and pretended she was fine.

Ha… Did it really have to be tonight of all times?

The man glanced at Zhi Ruo and the way she kept flexing her hands made him furrow his brows.

He distinctly remembered her having difficulty breathing in crowds.

"I think Xiao Ruo has had enough tonight," the man spoke up. "She's just finished a big project, you see?"

Zhi Ruo turned to the man beside her and frowned.

No one spoke. It seems the other have realized that they got too carried away.

"Of course! We're sorry for taking up your time," a woman interjected.

"You could've told us. We can reschedule for next time. After all, you're our president," another man nodded in response.

Zhi Ruo's features softened. "Thank you guys."

Although most of them had still wanted to continue the party, the others have already agreed to reschedule. Xiao Tong came over and wrapped everything up. She was left behind along with some of their old classmates who agreed to clean up the place.

Zhi Ruo went down together with the man, whom until now she hadn't bothered to find out his identity. She was currently seated at the lobby. The man had insisted on grabbing her a glass of water before leaving, much to her dismay.

The sun had long set. She quietly stared outside the window as people came and went. The urge to go home became stronger as she debated on whether or not to leave the man to himself. However, her guilty conscience would not allow it.

"Here," the man placed the glass on the coffee table across her. "Just so you know, it's not cold."

Then for the first time since that night, he smiled.