“Why aren’t you saying anything? Did drinking a bit of alcohol short-circuit your brain?”

Xu Xingchun remained silent for a long time. His outer jacket collar was pulled all the way up, nearly covering the tip of his nose. In the pitch-black night, his eyes looked somewhat misty.

Lowering his eyes slightly to look at Fu Xueli, after a while, he exerted a bit of force and pulled her over.

One tall, one short, his entire body leaned against her from behind. The light was mostly blocked by Xu Xingchun’s looming figure. She turned her head slightly, and the two were breathing each other’s air, with the somewhat intoxicating alcohol scent spreading. Such a simple action, yet it seemed to contain endless, indescribable affection.

Fu Xueli originally wanted to ask, do you want to get in the car and rest…

Just as she began to speak, Xu Xingchun raised his arm. His fingers touched her chin, then he gently covered her lips with his hand, not allowing her to speak anymore.

He murmured, “Let me hold you a little longer…”

So she quietly let him lean on her for a few minutes. Fu Xueli’s heart surged with an indescribable tenderness.

From the time she first knew Xu Xingchun, he seemed to have never been able to hold his liquor well. Back in high school during holidays, sports meets, and class gatherings, whenever things got lively, he would disappear.

But Fu Xueli was different. As soon as she left school, she liked to play anything exciting, gravitating wherever the crowds were.

In her memory, there was once at a skating rink when a guy brought by Li Jieyi from another class came to play a drinking game with Fu Xueli. The stakes were that the loser would become the other’s girlfriend, that kind of thing.

She had crushed ice in her mouth, chewing it bit by bit. Unfortunately, it was too noisy at the time and she didn’t hear clearly what the stakes were. After sizing up the person, she casually and generously agreed, “Sure, bring it on.”

After gulping down several drinks, someone beside her reminded her. When Fu Xueli heard this, she was shocked. Although she liked to fool around, she rarely agreed to this kind of thing. She originally wanted to quickly slip away, but there were too many onlookers around making a commotion, so she had no choice but to steel herself and continue drinking with that boy.

Her alcohol tolerance was okay. At first it didn’t matter, but later on she still couldn’t quite hold up. After that, she had no memory of what happened—anyway, she was completely out of it.

A few days later, Fu Xueli heard from Song Yifan that Xu Xingchun had finished drinking for her. At the time, he was still wearing his white school uniform shirt, with two buttons loosened, and he directly picked up several bottles of mixed alcohol and tilted his head back to chug them down.

Almost everyone present knew this honor student, and instantly the crowd erupted.

When Xu Xingchun got drunk, unlike others who became flushed with color, his face turned deathly pale instead, without a trace of blood. Beads of sweat dripped down from his short sideburns. His forehead and the tip of his nose were covered in cold sweat. After finishing the drinks, he collapsed after walking just a few steps, scaring Song Yifan and the others so much they almost took him to the hospital.

……

Coming back to her senses to check the time, it was already almost past eleven o’clock. Fu Xueli opened her phone, using the faint light to look at him, and called out, “Xu Xingchun, are you very tired?”

“Mm.”

“Did you drive here?”

“A colleague drove me.”

“He didn’t drink?”

“He drank a little.”

“Drunk driving? What would you do if you were stopped by traffic police?”

In the darkness of night, his voice carried a hint of laughter. “No one will stop my car.”

“……”

Fu Xueli muttered, “Hmph, watch out for concerned citizen Miss Fu, who will file a real-name report against your damn government agency for all kinds of abuse of power for personal gain and misuse of authority.”

“What are you rambling about now?” Xu Xingchun stood up, rubbed his temples, his eyes a bit clearer than before.

“Um…” Her shoulders were sore and aching from being pressed on. She took the opportunity to rub them. Turning to look at him, wanting to speak but hesitating, “Um…”

Looking like she had something to say but couldn’t get it out.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.” The topic was on the tip of her tongue, but she changed direction several times. Fu Xueli said, “Do you want to see fireworks?”

Xu Xingchun couldn’t help but laugh for a moment. “It should already be past the time for setting off fireworks.”

She was bewildered by his laughter, tilting her head. “I’m serious, what are you laughing at?”

Then, like magic.

She pulled out a lighter from who knows where.

Standing on the gravel path, several sparklers meant for children were held in Fu Xueli’s hands and lit up. Cluster after cluster of glittering, sparkling brilliance flashed in the darkness of night.

In the now-empty park, she waved them around casually. “Does it look good? These are props I took when I was filming a commercial.”

After playing with them a bit, she noticed Xu Xingchun standing two steps away, watching but not saying anything.

The sparklers quickly went out. Fu Xueli’s face showed some embarrassment. She walked over. “Don’t you like them?”

“I like them.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“For my birthday before, you also set off fireworks for me. I remember.”

Fu Xueli felt bashful. Uncomfortably looking left and right, after a long while she slowly said, “Haven’t you watched TV or Weibo or anything these past two days…”

“Someone told me.”

“Told you what?”

“Said he lost his love.”

“…” Fu Xueli was at a loss for words.

That wasn’t what she wanted to ask about.

Were they completely on different wavelengths?

When Xu Xingchun leaned down, it was silent and soundless. “He’s your fan.”

Fu Xueli hesitated for a moment and stepped back. “And then?”

“But you said on TV that you like me the most.” Without warning, her fingertip was kissed, and Fu Xueli’s whole body shrank back.

His voice was low. Having just drunk alcohol, it was a bit warm and a bit hoarse. She suddenly felt this sentence was especially tender.

So, Fu Xueli said out of the blue, “Xu Xingchun, your voice sounds so good. I want to kiss you.”