The Choice

Shu Yunyi was already on edge, and the sudden sound startled her so much that she nearly dropped the beer bottle in her hand.

She cautiously turned around, and her heart instantly sank.

Shen Yi had somehow gotten up as well and was now standing in the living room.

Shu Yunyi instinctively backed away toward the corner, hiding the two bottles of beer behind her.

Hearing the commotion, Shen Yi walked over and saw Shu Yunyi cowering timidly.

"What are you doing up so late?" Shen Yi asked her.

"N-nothing..."

Shu Yunyi, feeling guilty, couldn't bring herself to look Shen Yi in the eye and kept her head down, hoping to brush it off.

Seeing her curled up and fidgeting, Shen Yi asked curiously,

"Going to the bathroom?"

"Huh? No... I mean, yes! I’m going to the bathroom."

Shu Yunyi instinctively denied it at first, but then her eyes lit up, and she quickly nodded.

"Then why are you just standing there? Go ahead."

Shen Yi urged her.

"Oh... okay."

Shu Yunyi muttered in response, keeping her head down as she slowly shuffled past Shen Yi.

Shen Yi frowned at her odd way of walking. Just as he was about to ask, he noticed her carefully lifting her nightgown to cover her legs, as if trying to avoid exposing herself.

Seeing this, Shen Yi couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head. His teacher, who was nearly ten years older than him, could sometimes be adorably modest.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her body before, yet here she was, covering up so tightly just to use the bathroom.

He had gotten up to use the bathroom too. The apartment was small, and there was only one shared bathroom.

Seeing that Shu Yunyi seemed more urgent, Shen Yi let her go first. He could wait.

Once Shu Yunyi was forced into the bathroom, she quickly closed the door behind her.

As soon as the door shut, she pulled the two cold beer bottles out from under her nightgown and let out a long sigh of relief.

Shen Yi had almost caught her red-handed. If he had seen her sneaking alcohol, there would have been no way to explain herself.

In a moment of quick thinking, she had tucked the two cold beer bottles under her nightgown, which was why her walking had looked so strange.

The icy bottles pressed against her thighs had left her freezing, so as soon as she entered the bathroom, she pulled them out and began rubbing her skin to warm it up.

Now that Shen Yi had forced her into the bathroom, she couldn’t drink the beer. She decided to hide it and wait until Shen Yi went back to his room before sneaking it out again.

Shu Yunyi sat on the toilet for a while, pretending to use the bathroom, then stood up and flushed.

She opened the door, composed herself, and walked calmly toward her room as if nothing had happened.

"Stop!"

Shu Yunyi’s heart skipped a beat, and she froze in place. Slowly, she turned around.

As if her worst fear had come true, she saw Shen Yi standing in front of the refrigerator.

The double-door fridge was wide open, and the soft light from the emergency bulb inside illuminated Shen Yi’s face, casting half of it in shadow. Shu Yunyi couldn’t make out his expression.

"What’s wrong?"

Though her heart was pounding, Shu Yunyi still clung to a sliver of hope.

"The beer in the fridge is missing."

Shen Yi’s voice was quiet but firm, as if stating an undeniable fact.

Shu Yunyi’s heart raced, and she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She instinctively smoothed her hair and stammered,

"H-how would I know? It wasn’t me. Maybe you just miscounted..."

She wasn’t good at lying, and her words came out haltingly. It was almost as if she had written "I stole it" on her face.

Shen Yi didn’t respond. He simply closed the fridge door and walked over to stand in front of Shu Yunyi.

"Where’s the beer? Did you drink it?"

Shu Yunyi didn’t dare look Shen Yi in the eye, nor did she try to argue. She just whispered,

"N-no... I left it in the bathroom."

"Go get it."

"Okay..."

Shu Yunyi obediently went to retrieve the bottles.

A moment later, she returned with the two bottles. They had been left outside for a while, and now condensation had formed on the surface.

She placed the bottles on the coffee table and nervously clutched the hem of her nightgown, waiting for judgment.

"Sit down."

Shen Yi’s tone was gentle as he invited her to sit.

Shu Yunyi sat uneasily on the sofa. Even though she was the teacher and the elder, the roles seemed to have reversed in this moment.

She felt like a trembling little mouse that had run into Shen Yi, the seasoned cat.

"Why did you sneak the beer?"

"We can talk about anything and face challenges together. Why go to such lengths?"

Shen Yi sat across from her, speaking earnestly.

Shu Yunyi’s lips quivered. Shen Yi wasn’t angry or yelling, which only made her feel worse. She whispered in defense,

"I was afraid... afraid you’d be disappointed..."

"And you think I’m not disappointed now?"

"Who said they’d quit drinking? Who did you quit for? Me? Or yourself?"

Shen Yi’s words, though soft, felt like a heavy weight pressing down on Shu Yunyi, making it hard for her to breathe.

At this point, she almost wished Shen Yi would scold her. It would have made her feel better.

"I’m sorry. I won’t do it again."

"Please, just yell at me. Or even hit me if you have to..."

Shu Yunyi completely shed her teacher’s dignity and pleaded with Shen Yi in a soft voice. She couldn’t bear the guilt.

Shen Yi shook his head, ignoring her rambling.

"Why would I yell at you? What good would that do?"

"You still don’t understand. This isn’t just about a couple sips of beer. It’s about giving yourself an excuse. Once you start, it’s like a crack in a dam—it’ll only get worse. All the suffering, all the promises you’ve made, they’ll all be for nothing."

It might seem harsh, even cold-hearted. After all, he gave her beer every day. What harm could a couple extra bottles do?

For someone with Shu Yunyi’s tolerance, two bottles of beer were barely enough to wet her lips, let alone satisfy her craving. So why be so strict?

But that was exactly the problem. Those two bottles, though insignificant, could easily reignite the craving in her heart.

Shen Yi ran his fingers over the slowly thawing beer bottles on the table, then shook the water off his hands and continued,

"You’ve mostly overcome the physical addiction. What you need to root out now is the psychological craving."

If that craving wasn’t eliminated, she’d eventually fall back into old habits. Drinking needed to become something ordinary, not something she constantly thought about.

What he needed now was a decisive moment to cut the last thread of Shu Yunyi’s dependency.

With that, Shen Yi picked up one of the beer bottles and, to Shu Yunyi’s confusion, raised it and smashed it against the corner of the table.

"Bang!"

The glass shattered, scattering across the floor, and the beer spilled everywhere, filling the air with the scent of malt.

Shu Yunyi yelped and lifted a foot to avoid the shards, exclaiming,

"What are you doing?!"

She looked up to see Shen Yi holding the broken neck of the bottle in his right hand, pressing the jagged edge against his left arm.

The sharp glass had already nicked his skin, and a trickle of blood began to seep out.

Without flinching, Shen Yi applied more pressure, and a long, deep gash appeared on his arm. The irregular glass had torn through his flesh, leaving a gruesome wound.

He looked at Shu Yunyi, his expression calm, and said,

"Choose. The beer or me?"