Niu ShiLi, who won the Fu Yan Jie bet, exchanged looks with me. I reminded him with my gaze: “Aren’t you forgetting something?”, but he didn’t respond.
I was even a bit worried that Niu ShiLi was purposely leaving me hanging, to make me anxious about when he would make me suffer.
At this time, Sun Yu, the one who contributed the least and always headed to the infirmary, walked in front of me with a brand new bottle of Fu Yan Jie.
“Hehe, Ye Lin, you can’t go back on your words.” Sun Yu said with a smile, “The school doctor heard about the bet and donated a brand new bottle of Fu Yan Jie... or are you going to go back on your words as our class’ PE committee member?”
The class leader had been called away by teacher Yu. Xiao Qin, who was sitting next to me, clenched her fists like she wanted to punch Sun Yu to death, but she couldn’t do anything because of her androphobia.
All sights landed on me once Sun Yu brought up the bet.
Xiong YaoYue waded through the crowd and stood in front of me in protest.
“Hey, Ye Lin is exhausted after bringing our class to victory, but not only do you guys not thank him, you still keep bringing up the Fu Yan Jie bet. Do you guys have any humanity?”
“That’s right.” Loud Mouth said, “Sun Yu, you didn’t even play more than 10 minutes in all three matches combined. Why are you bringing this up when everyone is already happy?”
Sun Yu looked a bit awkward, but he didn’t give up. He placed the Fu Yan Jie on my table and said in defiance.
“This is completely different. I’m also happy our class won, but you have to keep your words if you made a bet, otherwise no one is going to believe what the PE committee member says anymore.”
Xiong YaoYue and Loud Mouth wanted to continue to defend me, but I stopped them and stood up from my seat. Other than Niu ShiLi, everyone around me seemed a foot shorter.
Sun Yu took a step back and put up a guard in case I hit him. He looked around towards the other basketball team members for support, but didn’t get any response.
The other team members already viewed me as a comrade after our victory in the life or death battle and I was glad.
It might be possible to muddle past this incident, but a man always keeps his word. I looked at Sun Yu with disdain (he retreated even further). Then I opened up the bottle of Fu Yan Jie and began to chug it.
If anyone wants to know what Fu Yan Jie tastes like, I can personally attest it’s sour and sweet with a hint of a taste of pregnancy.
As Director Cao said, it might smell nice but it tastes extremely strange. It made me think it’s a combination of czar wine and an archaic vinegar.
“Ye Lin classmate, don’t!” Xiao Qin let out a sad cry and covered her face because she didn’t want to see my twitching facial expression.
My actions stunned everyone around me. Xu LiJun stuck up his thumb and spoke with praise: “Ye Lin is a real man, respect.”
Respect my ass, I drank half the bottle and already wanted to vomit. I think I’ll get pregnant if I drank anymore.
But I couldn’t give up halfway. No matter how painful it was, I had to endure it.
Suddenly, I felt someone grip the bottle of Fu Yan Jie and it was snatched away from me.
Even if I was exhausted, the only one who could easily snatch it from me in class 2-3 was the stocky Niu ShiLi.
I was confused on why Niu ShiLi snatched the bottle away. As I was about to question him, I heard him say:
“The one who made the bet with Ye Lin was me. I’m sorry I dragged the other members of the team into it.” he paused then said, “It was an arduous journey and there might be unsatisfied people if there isn’t a proper resolution.”
Niu ShiLi then increased the severity of his tone and stared at Sun Yu. It only made Sun Yu feel more isolated.
“A lot of credit goes to Ye Lin for today’s match, you could even say he deserves half of the credit. Someone even told me if Ye Lin didn’t pass the final ball to me, then the one who would be drinking Fu Yan Jie now would be me.”
The words weren’t beautiful or rhetoric, but it was powerful and it touched me.
Niu ShiLi and I looked at each other. We used to be like fire and ice, but now our eyes were brimming with camaraderie.
“That’s why..” Niu ShiLi said loudly, “A man always keeps his promise. Since they are people expecting one of us to drink Fu Yan Jie, then I’ll let Ye Lin drink the first half and I’ll drink the rest.”
Niu ShiLi opened his mouth and chugged the rest of the bottle until it was completely empty.
Everyone watching was stunned.
Niu ShiLi wiped his mouth and placed the empty bottle on the table. He had a fierce expression that said ‘come over here if you weren’t satisfied’.
Who would even dare go over. You’re battle power is already off the charts for finishing that half bottle of Fu Yan Jie so quickly.
Just like the scared water Korin gave to Goku in Dragonball, it’s practically a poison! You can only become a true master after drinking that disgusting liquid.
What... is this power? I could also feel myself getting a bit stronger. Is it because of the Fu Yan Jie or is it all in my head?
Oh, it was all in my head. I felt bad for drinking Fu Yan Jie, so I wanted to trick others to drink it too. If someone actually fell for it, then I’m sorry, but isn’t it an interesting experience (LOL)?
I was especially touched after Niu ShiLi helped me finish the rest of the Fu Yan Jie. As I expected, friendship between men is much simpler. You don’t have to talk a lot nor do you need to whisper sweet words, sometimes you can already recognize each other as friends with a simple glance.
It was a friendship created by drinking the same bottle of Fu Yan Jie. The feeling can’t be understood by outsiders unless you drink Fu Yan Jie too. (Really, just one gulp. As Chinese people we’ve already eaten Sudan Red and gutter oil, so what harm can a little Fu Yan Jie do?)
Of course, there’s also the issue of Niu ShiLi not wiping the bottle opening when he drank the Fu Yan Jie. In theory, that’s what we can an indirect... indirect kiss... contemporary romance
Luckily, Little Smart wasn’t here, or who knows what kind of scary BL story she would have created.
That’s when I realized Sun Yu had also run away. He acted like a nasty person, but only made the friendship between me and Niu ShiLi become apparent.
Even though Niu ShiLi and I both kept our words, we still paid the price. Neither of us were able to eat lunch.
The most annoying was after Xiao Qin determined I wouldn’t die, she asked curiously:
“Ye Lin classmate, does Fu Yan Jie taste good?”
What do you think? I rinsed my mouth 50 times and I still couldn’t get rid of the taste in my mouth. I also want to barf every time I burp.
Niu ShiLi was pretty much in the same state. We had a deeper sense of camaraderie after seeing each other’s miserable state.
I heard that if you had heavy metal poisoning, you could drink milk to somewhat neutralize it. Fu Yan Jie might not be a heavy metal, but it is a heavy flavor, so I asked Xiao Qin to help me head to the school convenience store to get me a carton of milk.
What was unexpected was Xiao Qin even bought one for Niu ShiLi even when I forgot to ask,
“Ye Lin classmate, I have a good impression of Niu ShiLi since he drank half of the Fu Yan Jie for you. But I’m still afraid of boys and can’t apologize to him, so can this milk count as my apology?”
Seeing as I refused to reply, Xiao Qin pleaded with tears in her eyes, “If one carton of milk isn’t enough, then I’ll use my allowance to buy a lot of milk to apologize. Ye Lin classmate, please forgive me for the fact I beat up Niu ShiLi before.”
If I think about it, it wouldn’t be right forcing Xiao Qin who has androphobia to apologize to Niu ShiLi. I can’t guarantee she won’t continue to force He Ling to be Niu ShiLi’s girlfriend, but if she’s willing to buy milk for him, that means she’s at least feeling a bit apologetic.
Xiao Qin relaxed after I said I won’t keep pressing the matter.
I held the straw in my mouth as I passed the other carton of milk to Niu ShiLi.
“You didn’t eat anything either, right? Drink some milk or you might be too hungry in the afternoon.”
Niu ShiLi was stunned and didn’t immediately accept it. I joked: “What, you can’t drink milk because your surname is Niu?” (TN: Niu = Cow)
Niu ShiLi laughed out loud, “Nonsense, milk is originally for cows to drink.”
He grabbed the milk and began drinking and we both looked at each other and smiled.
Don’t misunderstand, we don’t have any kind of intimate relationship. It’s simply because milk is delicious when compared to Fu Yan Jie.
You would always smile if you starved for ten days and then suddenly get to eat until you were full.
I looked forward to the girl’s volleyball match in the afternoon. I heard the class leader’s vision wasn’t in great shape, she still had to play to defend their crown.
It meant I would finally be able to see the class leader play in volleyball shorts! How lucky, it seems Fu Yan Jie is a lucky medicine. (If there’s anyone reading who’s down in luck, I recommend you to give it a try)
done.co