Chapter 54 – I, Su Someone, certify with my real name

“That time in Ding County! I remember now, that was when Captain Ying had become the vice-captain!”

Zhou Ming nodded. “Yeah, he was all hot-blooded – give him a small switchblade and he’d dare to rush forward. Even thinking about it now I find it very funny, haha.”

He had just finished speaking when a waiter came up with a few dishes, breaking the topic.

“All right, it’s all old now, real men don’t boast about past achievements.” Zhou Ming laughed and said, “Eat, eat.”

Su Yi tilted her head and glanced at the guy beside her. His expression remained unchanged as he helped her get a bowl of soup.

“Drink soup.”

“Mhhm.” Su Yi took it over and, while someone chatted with Zhou Ming about a recent mission, grabbed his hand and dragged it under the table.

The guy’s hand was wide and rough, and she could faintly see the veins. Su Yi moved from the palm to the elbow and there was nothing strange to be felt the whole way.

Where did the guy really get injured at?!

“Sister-in-law, girls have to eat this.” Someone sitting not too far away turned the turntable to deliver the snake meat to her. “It’s said to be good for one’s beauty, you’re a celebrity too, if you eat it you’ll become prettier.”

Su Yi released Chu Ying’s hand and said softly, “Yeah, thanks.”

From the start to the end, the guys never stopped talking. A few got a tad high, and even began singing in chorus – 

𝆕There is strength in unity𝆕

Su Yi sat there eating quietly, very different from those who are competing to see whose alcohol tolerance was higher.

Zhou Ming picked up his cup and said, “Ying-zi, come, let’s drink.”

Chu Ying nodded. He had driven here and hadn’t planned to drink, so he didn’t have a glass. Picking up the one he had confiscated from Su Yi, he filled it to the brim, raised it and said, “Happy retirement.”

Zhou Ming laughed and said, “Happy, happy! In the future, let’s all meet more often. We’re all brothers, if there’s any problems just say it out. Right, Ying-zi, you helped Hui-zi settle his issues, right? That brat called me, all teary-eyed and snotty.”

“Small thing.” Chu Ying downed it in one gulp.

“Hey, don’t drink like that, you have to send Xiao Yi home later.”

“I’m calling a driver.” While speaking, Chu Ying poured himself another glass. Halfway through, he got up and said, “I’ll go make a call.”

The moment Chu Ying went out, Zhou Ming asked, “Xiao Yi, when did you get together with Ying-zi?”

Su Yi smiled. “Just recently.”

“I know. Recently I keep seeing Captain Ying and Sister-in-law on the news, and it’s my wife who showed it to me. I keep telling her that this guy’s my captain, and she refuses to believe it!”

The guy beside laughed. “Why don’t you take a look at how different you are from Captain Ying?”

Another round of laughter emerged.

“Fate, it’s all fate.” Zhou Ming cheeks were red as he said, “I don’t know how many years it’s been since I could drink so freely. Xiao Yi, you do remember Ying-zi, right? You kept staring at him then, it couldn’t have been that at that time –”

“Of course, I remember,” Su Yi said with a smile, “I actually have some impression of you too.”

“Yeah, then do you have a deeper impression of me, or of Ying-zi?” Zhou Ming smiled. “Back then, I noticed that you wanted to cry but daren’t, and had kept trying to make you laugh.”

Su Yi laughed a few times in accordance and was about to reply when the sound of the door opening came from behind her.

Chu Ying walked in, picking up the jacket slung over the chair and Su Yi’s hand.

“Then we’re leaving.”

“You’re leaving now?” Zhou Ming looked at the time. “How late is it?”

“It’s almost nine,” Chu Ying said, “she has work tomorrow.”

Su Yi paused. She herself had almost forgotten that she needed to make a trip to the office tomorrow. “Never mind, I can wake up,” said she.

Chu Ying ignored her. “I’ll have the driver call over some other drivers. All of you have drunk, so you shouldn’t drive.”

“What’s this compared to that time I drank while driving? You were even sitting beside me then!” Zhou Ming seemed to have found another topic to talk about, and said with a laugh, “We were so certain we were going to die, and I felt like I must have at least a drink before I met the Maker.”

“You had alcohol then?”

“You guys wouldn’t know that would you – when I was at Yun Nan, there was always alcohol in the back seat. Just in case I get unlucky and die soon, I could still have something to drink.”

Su Yi’s hands tightened. As required by the script, she had trimmed her nails, leaving only a short bit of white. On the way back, Wu Xue helped her paint it pink. Now the pink part had sunk into the back of Chu Ying’s hand.

Chu Ying didn’t even flinch, and simply pulled the woman out of the room.

They first went to the receptionist’s desk to get the bill.

Then when they got into the car, Chu Ying said calmly, “Drive.”

“All right.” The driver immediately started the car, and asked, “Director Chu, the car window … Do you want it open?”

“A little, close it after you hit the highway.”

Smelling the faint alcoholic scent on the guy, Su Yi felt uneasy and insecure.

The car hadn’t driven for long when her hand had snuck under his suit jacket, and, with the layer of the white shirt between them, began moving around as if searching for something. The guy stayed still, letting her explore.

“Where’s the wound?”

It was then that Chu Ying caught her hand. “It was way back, it’s long since healed.”

Su Yi said, “Where —”

Her words were interrupted by a kiss. The guy’s kiss was heavy and harsh and this time. Su Yi was pressed against the door, her consciousness getting messier as his tongue stirred. The door handle behind her was jabbing right at her back, hurting her.

As if sensing her discomfort, as he kissed, Chu Ying moved a hand behind her and helped block the hard object.

Su Yi struggled weakly, saying breathily, “We’re still on the car — ”

“It’s okay.”

Because he had drunk, the guy’s voice was very low, even a little raspy.

The driver focused on driving, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

When they got home it was almost eleven. The two basically kindled the moment they touched. Su Yi was exceptionally eager today. Tugging on Chu Ying’s tie, she brought him to the bathroom.

Not too long later, her neck was covered in red. Chu Ying sat on the edge of the bathtub, still sucking on her earlobe.

Su Yi was panting heavily, seated on his thigh while trying to handle the strange feeling coming from her lower body as she asked, “Why have I never found a wound? Where did you get injured?”

Chu Ying grabbed her hand, moving it down until she was somewhere below to the right. She felt a round, uneven scar.

When making love, Su Yi was a classic example of someone who was all bark and no bite. While she was very loud about it usually, when they really got down to it she would follow Chu Ying’s tempo. On top of that, usually she was too into it, and even until today she had never discovered this scar on the guy.

– 

On the big bed, the guy lay on his stomach, his hands propping his face. This movement caused his shoulder and back muscles to bulk up, defining the contours  very clearly.

Sprawled on his back, Su Yi’s fingers were lightly stroking the scar on it. This small, round mark didn’t look as hideous.

“What caused it?”

“A gun.”

The room recovered its previous peacefulness. Chu Ying could still feel the woman’s hands lingering near his wound. Until Zhou Ming had mentioned it, he really didn’t remember there being such a story between him and Su Yi.

Barely a few years into joining the army, he was assigned to special operations. The team he was part of was Iron Wolf, which was like a brick that’s used wherever needed. When there’s a natural disaster, they’re required in search and rescue; if there’s a rioting crowd, they’d be summoned to quell the rebellion; if there’s an operation to take down drug dealers and they’d get involved too. His wound on the back was in fact also a remnant from that last drug bust they’d done.

He had been involved in too many movements, saving too many people. The landslide at Ding County had trapped quite a number of people, and the situation was dire. Even if he carefully tried to recall what had happened then, he couldn’t recall what she used to look like. Zhou Ming said she was a little thing. So she must be shorter than she was now.

He was thinking this when he felt a warm wetness on his back. He hadn’t yet come back to himself before a few more drops dripped onto his back. He raised a brow and got up, looking at the person behind.

Su Yi put her hands in front of her eyes, refusing to look at him. The light in the bedroom shone onto the back of her hands, all wet and shimmering.

He looked a little helpless, and pulled the person into his embrace.

“What are you crying for?”

Su YI shook her head, sniffing. “No idea.”

After a moment of silence, she asked, “Did it hurt?”

“I’ve forgotten, I wasn’t awake.”

The guy tried to make it appear very harmless, but Su Yi’s tears flowed even more freely. She didn’t like crying. Usually, outside of acting she’d never be caught with tears, until she’d met Chu Ying – her tear ducts seemed to be undergoing a second puberty, and came as readily as they wanted to.

How lucky that he’s all right!

How lucky that she could meet him!

When she went out to eat with Li Min, she’d once said jokingly that on all the big things, she’d always been unlucky, and only on the small things did she have some luck. Now she wanted to retract her words.

There’s no one luckier than her in the world.

The cloth on Chu Ying’s shoulders dampened. Supporting the person’s head, he wiped her tears away with his palm. Su Yi didn’t know why, but she stuck out her tongue and licked his palm lightly.

This lick caused an unstoppable reaction. The loose-fitting household clothes she had just put on was easily peeled off. The tears she had only just stopped were forced out once again not too long after.

Chu Ying’s eyes were dark, and he was more forceful than usual. After this round, Su Yi wiped her tears away messily with the pillow. When she was about to get off the bed the guy behind her caught her and retrieved her.

In a moment, Su Yi’s hand was set against his abdomen as she sobbed, “Are you a beast!”

From top down, the guy kissed her lips. “Don’t cry in the future,” he said, “when you cry I want to get it on with you.”

Su Yi was forced to accept what he wanted to do, unsure whether to laugh or to cry after listening to his logic.

……

After things were over with, she was so tired she didn’t want to move.

Chu Ying hugged her and said, “Go to sleep.”

She mumbled an agreement and, after a moment, felt an emptiness to her side. She opened her eyes in a slit and discovered that the other had gone to the balcony.

He just stood there, doing nothing at all. Not too long later he returned to the bed.

She turned around, settling herself in Chu Ying’s embrace. She’s not sure if it’s an illusion – she kept feeling that she wasn’t the only one whose emotions were out of whack tonight.

The next day, Su Yi went to open the door for Wu Xue with walnut* eyes. 

[*swollen like walnuts]

Wu Xue was first taken aback by her eyes, then, upon noticing the ring of red around her neck, her eyes widened even further.

After closing the door she asked, “Director Chu… doesn’t have any special interest, does he?”

Su Yi dealt with the soreness of her eyes and while casually fiddling with her hair, walked barefoot into the bathroom.

She washed her face, hiding the fatigue in her eyes. “Didn’t I say it before?”

Wu Xue said, “What did you say?”

In the spacious bathroom, Su Yi’s voice echoed heavily.

“Real, number one in the world,” she said. “I, Su Someone, certify with my real name.”

“…”

edited by larkspur!