・・・☆・Forty One ・・・☆・

"Yeye, apparently Xiaoyou hasn't tried wine before, we have to go and corrupt her." Ximen's voice carried out through the bedroom as he appeared from who knows where. Yingyue lifted her head from the book she was currently trying to read to give him a look of confusion as to why she needed to go. Yingyue barely drunk only liking the odd thing. 

"You're reading, like an actual book. Where's my Yingyue bring her back you imposter." His words only grew in volume as he walked over to the bed which Yingyue was laid upon the reading glasses she almost always refused to wear perched upon the bridge of her nose and her eyebrows knotted together. This reaction was to be expected and was the main reason she was trying to read only when she was alone.

"I can read Xi, no need to blow it out of the water." Yingyue tried to brush it off but she did not blame him for she wasn't sure the last time she had willingly read something which wasn't school related. 

"Just because you can doesn't mean you normally do, so what book are you reading?" Ximen asked, though he already knew which book she held in her hands, the cover worn from the many times he had read it himself. 

"The Time Machine by H.G. Wells." Yingyue's voice was still clear but the rosey blush which had made it's way onto her face when he had sat beside her intrigued in her sudden urge to read was only darkening. 

"Why that one in particular? We have such a vast library at home why pick this one, there's many more like romantic ones which seem more in your kinda book style." Ximen was truly confused as to why she had picked this book he knew every book they had in their home and he was sure he nearly had a copy of every Emily Bronte book to have been published and that seemed like something she would enjoy more. His confusion was ebbed on when her blush darkened even further but it spurred him on as he could not remember the last time he had made her blush this hard as it must have been a while back now. 

"Because it's your favourite and I wanted to be able to talk more with you about the stuff you love." Her voice was quieter than normal now and Ximen found himself almost asking her to repeat it again louder so he could truly let the sentence sink in. Though he chose not to knowing she would change her words if he asked her to say it again. These words made his heart beat faster as he took just a second to take in just whom he had been graced with to spend the rest of their life by his side. 

"You're too cute for your own good. Now come on lets go get this youngin' drunk on fancy wine." His words were graced with a kiss to her forehead as he moved to pull her from the bed.

"Does this have to include me I'm not a big drinker." Yingyue whined as he successfully guided her from their room to the dining hall where Xiaoyou was waiting with Meizuo who was currently sitting a variety of wine glasses displayed in front of him on the table. 

"We're only taste testing, you can share my glass." Ximen proposed the idea and Yingyue found herself falling for the little puppy like eyes he gave her behind the gold rimmed glasses, the ones she loved so much. 

Yingyue was ushered to the seat opposite Xiaoyou for the chair was pulled out for her and she was tucked into the table by her fiancé who was doing something to show off their relationship. Yingyue pondered why for a moment, for she was certain that the young girl sat opposite her wouldn't try anything she seemed more excited to have been introduced to Shancai's university friends than actually wanting to get with any of them. Plus the young girl gave off these vibes which just screamed that she would be a good match for Lei surely the other boys could see it too. Then she had to remember just have oblivious they all were and that she was probably the only one who could tell this, and see the slight fondness the young girl held for their resident violinist. Yingyue just expected Xiaoyou did not want to voice anything nor show anything considering her friendship with Shancai and the forever slightly awkward love triangle which was going on. 

Once all four were properly sat at the table, Meizuo passed the first bottle of wine over to Ximen. The forever show off that Yingyue liked to call the man she loved opened the wine in the most over the top way he could before pouring a small amount in three glasses. Once he had put the bottle down, Ximen reached out with his non dominant hand to hold onto the one Yingyue had resting beside her on the table. The three that were drinking or 'taste testing' then took a swig from their respective glasses. 

The three older adults sat at the table all had their attention on the younger girl who claimed she had not drunk very much prior to the trip. Each sat waiting for her response to the alcohol with different kinds of ideas in mind. Considering how dark he red wine was, Yingyue thought the younger girl might not be overly interested in it considering it was a tough one for her to start on. Though surprisingly the other girl was able to drink a good portion of what was in her glass in one go. 

"I never expected somewhere like this to exist in such a place and have a wine cellar what a surprise." Xiaoyou spoke and Yingyue had to give the girl a smile considering it was a shame she had not been on such a holiday prior to this one and only deepened the reality that not everyone lived like her friendship group and self did. Yingyue had a moment to console just how fortunate she was. "This one has a strong fruity flavour, am I describing it right?" The young girl went onto add as she saw the strange looks she was receiving from the elder three sat at the table with her. 

Before Ximen answered the girls question he slid his glass over to Yingyue and gave her a look to suggest she better have a swig. Yingyue followed the directions and took a mouthful of the glass, she tried to prevent the grimace that took over her features. Xiaoyou was not wrong it was strong and Yingyue could tell it was a Merlot, most likely an old one at that. 

"You are correct, what is it Yeye?" Ximen replied and brought the whole tables attention to the one person who did not want to be drinking but was still be forced into doing the taste test. 

"It's a Merlot, fruity and supposedly sweet. Personally I think it's rank." Yingyue replied.

"You don't like the taste of anything." Meizuo spoke up from his seat and Yingyue rolled her eyes. 

"I do too, this just tastes like hair gel." Yingyue protested as she let out a little sound of disagreement to his prior words. 

"How do you know what hair gel taste like?" Xiaoyou's words were as teasing as the boys.

"So we were like 12 maybe 13..." Meizuo started.

"No don't I like her, don't scare her off already." Yingyue interrupted him and she could have sworn she got a beam of a smile off the younger girl. Meizuo listened to the older girl motioning to another glass that he must have filled when Yingyue was not paying full attention. 

"Try this one, it's drier." He started encouraging the youngest at the table and Yingyue knew his aim for the evening was to get the younger girl absolutely plastered. 

"It's definitely drier, and sour? I prefer the other one that's sweeter." Xiaoyou commented as she put the glass down luckily the younger girl was the only one who had that glass of wine as just watching her grimace was enough to discourage Yingyue from wanting to try it for herself. 

"This one is a smoked wine, the longer it ages the stronger it tastes." Ximen explained and Yingyue had to stifle a laugh at Xiaoyou's face as she watched the girl's face draw in confusion wondering how could get a smoked wine. 

"Are there people who actually like this wine?" Xiaoyou voice only showed signs of disbelief. 

"Plenty of people enjoy this..." Ximen started

"Like this idiot here." Yingyue piped up now recognising the bottle as one she had seen in their own rack in the kitchen. 

"Thanks for that real useful input baby, but as I was saying everyone has different tastes and preferences. For example Meizuo likes aged wines like Brandy the longer it's aged the more fragrant it is. Lei likes newer wine, Si prefers malt wine, Yingyue is a wimp and only drinks wine which tastes like fruit juice. Each person chooses something based on their preferences." Ximen continued his explanation as he gave the younger girl even more options for her to try if she so wished so. 

"And what do you like?" Xiaoyou seemed a little too curious for Yingyue's liking all of a sudden and she could see why Ximen was making such a show of their relationship earlier. Though the elder girl took a deep breath and tightened her hold on the hand of Ximen's that was still clasped in her own before getting ready to give the younger girl another reminder. 

"Xi will drink almost anything once. There's this nice little shop down the road of our house and I swear they know him by face as he's in there so often." Yingyue answered as she turned to face Ximen to gauge his reaction to her words. She could almost feel the pride which rolled off him when she mentioned their shared house before he realised maybe what could be taken from the last part of her sentence. 

"I'm no alcoholic but I do enjoy trying something new, every wine has it's own charm." Ximen continued to explain. The three watched as Xiaoyou went to take another massive swig from the wine glass with the smoked wine in it. This was definitely the strongest they had on the table and Yingyue saw Meizou's eyes light up as this was obviously the boys plan to get the new girl to the group drunk. 

"Be careful, that wine doesn't really suit you, its a little too strong." Ximen tried to pretend to be a voice of reason but this was a tactic Yingyue had seen the two boys use many a times before when getting new people involved around the group. By telling her it was too strong for her this would encourage Xiaoyou to continue drinking. 

"I'll be fine." Xiaoyou replied. 

"Just don't get drunk on us." Yingyue added with a small giggle for she knew the girl would be flat out drunk in the next hour or so. She suddenly felt the hand which she was currently holding onto turn, Yingyue turned her attention fully to Ximen with a look of confusion on her face until he looked down to his watch. 

"It's nearly dinner time, shall we head to the main dining hall to join the others?" Yingyue registered his words but for a moment stilled in her seat just to take another full glance at him. From how fluffy his hair looked that just shouted at her to run her fingers through it to the shiny gold rims of his glasses that encased the dark eyes she just adored. All the way to the ugly patterned black and white jumper that he insisted on bringing on the trip. 

"Shall we take these two bottles with us?" Meizuo asked but it was no question he was going to bring the opened bottles with him anyways. The only problem was the half drunk glasses on the table at present. Ximen quickly slid one of the two he had to Yingyue with another puppy like look to encourage her to drink the remainders of the glass. Despite knowing he would have full well finished the glass if she refused she didn't have the ability to refuse to drink the glass not when he was looking at her like that. So braving it Yingyue downed most of the glass in one mouthful hoping that this way she wouldn't be able to taste whichever one it was. The tiny inkling she did get did make it clear though that she was drinking the weaker Merlot and she had to be thankful about that. 

The group of four made their way up the stairs and towards the main dining room past the front door. Yet when they got to the front door they were met with a concerned looking Si and Lei who were conversing in rushed tones. 

"Xiaoyou maybe we can try some more different wines with dinner." Ximen spoke as soon as they were in the hallway though these words made the two in the hallway turn towards the group of four. 

"Xiaoyou, you are Xiaoyou?" Lei asked to which the younger girl nodded her head in response, Yingyue watched the boys with confusion wondering what was going on between the pairs. "Aren't you out for a night stroll?" Lei added on which confused everyone else around him. There was no chance the girl was out for a stroll she'd been with the others for what must have been an hour or so. Yingyue found herself suddenly clutching onto the sleeve of Ximen's, still ugly, jumper not liking the way this conversation was heading. 

"A night stroll, no I've been in the other dining room near the wine cellar with Meizuo, Ximen and Yingyue." The young girl replied and this caused alarm bells to ring for Yingyue, she didn't know exactly what had happened but she knew it was not good. 

"But Shancai went out to look for you." Lei's words suddenly brought the rest of the group in to what was going on and Yingyue could see them all collectively pale at the thought. Shancai did not know the area they were in at all, she did not know what the weather was out at night and considering it had started to get dark fast the temperature was going to drop very quickly. As the rest of the group was beginning to try to understand what was going on Si had rushed out the door, with no coat on mind you. 

"Wait what's going on?" Xiaoyou asked.

"Someone told Shancai that you went out for a night stroll."