“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The night sky erupted in a dazzling display as if countless bullets bursting from the darkness had shattered the stars. The sparks scattered and blazed vibrantly in the air, igniting the hearts of the young people below. They felt as if they had caught a glimpse of daybreak and a future full of promise. Hiding their fears, their youthful passion and naive boldness occupied the entire night.
They attempted to overturn the darkness, to overturn this light—
“Science God, Lu Cao, one provincial top scorer, one raw score top scorer, that’s fucking awesome!” someone shouted.
“We’re all solitary walking clocks, but we must also be the bells that ring out hope!” another voice called out.
“Hey friend, watch the copyright. That’s from Lu Cao’s essay,” someone reminded, the words deeply etched in their memory.
Xu Zhi simply gazed upward, thinking vaguely to herself: We’re all like apples under the leaf trellis, not quite ripe yet, crashing about recklessly.
Chen Luzhou, meanwhile, watched the fireworks with calm eyes, thinking to himself—Yesterday’s events are as if dead; today’s events are as if newly born.
In no time at all, the sparks gradually cooled and slowly dissipated, vanishing without a trace into the night. Silence fell once again.
This spot wasn’t far from where they had gathered for dinner. If they spoke loudly enough, they could probably still be heard. But since the small hill was behind the public restrooms, hardly anyone came over. Occasionally, they heard the rustle of footsteps as someone hurried to use the toilet before returning. Little did anyone know that just beyond the wall, two people were hiding.
The moment the fireworks exploded, Chen Luzhou could no longer hear what Xu Zhi was saying. But he saw her lips move and pieced together a reasonable guess at her words.
“Because the school director is my mother?” Chen Luzhou had one hand propped behind him. The air was filled with the acrid smell of fireworks. His obsessive cleanliness kicked in, and he used his sleeve to cover his nose. He tilted his head, hiding the lower half of his face, revealing only a pair of clear, clean black eyes. They held a hint of his signature “not easily fooled” look as he stared at her and asked, “What do you mean?”
“…If you didn’t hear, forget it,” Xu Zhi sighed, changing the subject. “Is your raw score the highest in the province?”
Chen Luzhou slowly withdrew his gaze. When the smell had dissipated a bit, he finally lowered his sleeve. Leaning back on his hands, he said absent-mindedly, “Not sure. Li Ke said Teacher Jiang mentioned it.”
“You mean the suspected exam maker?” she asked.
He laughed, feeling the need to defend Jiang Changwei. “Didn’t you do pretty well? Why do you keep calling him that? Teacher Jiang is a good person. His classes are interesting. He’s not one of those rigid teachers.”
“Alright, I’m sorry,” Xu Zhi apologized immediately, without a trace of sincerity.
Chen Luzhou tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Come on, I finally understand why your dad says you’re the champion of saying one thing and doing another. You just seem obedient on the surface.”
Later, Chen Luzhou would realize he was mistaken. Some people aren’t even obedient on the surface.
The starry sky inevitably seemed a bit desolate after the fireworks. Chen Luzhou glanced at her, one hand propping himself up, the other taking out the can of Budweiser from his tracksuit pocket. He waved it in front of her, asking, “Want some?”
Xu Zhi’s eyes immediately focused on it. She turned to face him, “You still have it?”
The two were suddenly face to face. Chen Luzhou’s clear black eyes looked at her calmly as he said, “I’ve been watching it all night. How could I lose it?”
He had kept it in his tracksuit pocket the whole time. Since zipping it up would make the bulge too obvious and someone would surely come to ask for it, he’d worn the jacket unzipped all night. This way, with it hanging loosely on both sides, no one could tell. However, he had slightly miscalculated—the beer was quite heavy. It weighed down one side of his shoulder, making his arm ache. He could barely lift his elbow, and the entire jacket was completely misshapen. Plus, since the beer had come straight from the cooler, the pocket was all wet, still emanating cold. This jacket was ruined.
The moonlight, perhaps scorched by the fireworks, cast a warmth-tinged glow on their heads.
They sat cross-legged, facing each other. Just as Xu Zhi reached out her hand, Chen Luzhou deftly avoided it. He was already tall with long arms; by raising his hand slightly, Xu Zhi couldn’t reach it at all. She could only stare at it longingly. She considered standing up suddenly to snatch it, but Chen Luzhou’s sharp eyes were clearly on guard. Every time she moved, his gaze swept over, giving her no chance for a surprise attack.
“Want a drink?” Chen Luzhou held his hand high. The loose sleeve of his tracksuit slid down, revealing a small section of his clean, strong forearm. The blue veins stood out like undulating mountain ridges, with a kind of terrifying vigor. Under the brim of his cap, those black eyes were direct and piercing. “What were those words you said earlier?”
Those eyes had hooks in them. It felt like waves crashing in her heart. Xu Zhi thought to herself, he isn’t easy to fool.
She sighed and said, “I said, it’s because you, Chen Luzhou, are a dog.”
He was far too clever. Holding the can of Budweiser hostage, with an air of “using the Son of Heaven to command the feudal lords,” his mind worked at lightning speed. He didn’t even need to count carefully. Raising his hand high like a monk in deep meditation, he stared at her coolly and said, “That’s nine characters. You only said eight earlier.”
Xu Zhi’s plan had backfired. She had intended to snatch the beer while he was busy counting on his fingers, but his mind seemed to be… quite sharp.
“Ten characters. How did you count?” she asked.
After the smell of fireworks had completely dissipated, a faint scent of jasmine wafted through the air. Chen Luzhou had always had a keen sense of smell. The moment the fragrance entered his nostrils, he instinctively glanced to the side and realized there was a jasmine tree right next to them, just above their heads. Clusters of white petals were hidden among the layers of leaves. Occasionally, a few flower petals would float down from above, disappearing into the lush green grass.
Chen Luzhou noticed quite a few petals had fallen on Xu Zhi’s head, and figured his head must be covered too. So he unconsciously ran his hand through his hair. “Want to compete with me in mental arithmetic?” he asked.
“Sure, I was also an abacus mental math champion when I was little,” Xu Zhi said confidently. A sudden idea came to her. “How about this: I’ll say a sentence, and if you’re capable, don’t count on your fingers. Just tell me how many characters there are.”
“Alright,” he agreed.
“Best three out of five. If you lose, give me the beer.”
“Fine,” he agreed even more readily.
“Then put the beer in the middle. Aren’t you tired of holding it up?”
Chen Luzhou had anticipated that Xu Zhi would take it, but he still put it down out of some faint trust in her. So when Xu Zhi grabbed it, he wasn’t particularly surprised. He just laughed coldly, giving her an expressionless stare. “Cheating, are we, abacus mental math champion?”
Xu Zhi asked, “Can I take a sip first?”
Chen Luzhou mocked her: “Why don’t you just finish it, and we’ll have a friendly competition?”
Xu Zhi twisted open the cap and took a drink, her eyes rolling as she looked at him. “That works too.”
“Have you smoked that cigarette yet?” he suddenly asked.
Xu Zhi swallowed the beer and smacked her lips, shaking her head. “It’s at home. Didn’t you say to leave it for Zhu Yangqi? I was just afraid of wasting it that day.”
She was quite obedient after all. In the warm glow, surrounded by pale white jasmine petals on the ground, Chen Luzhou casually changed his position. He rested his elbow on his bent knee and plucked a blade of grass, twirling it in his hand. With a somewhat presumptuous look, he glanced at her and asked offhandedly, “When you go to Beijing later, will you go out drinking with people?”
“I don’t know. Probably,” she said. “Otherwise it would be too boring.”
He held the grass in his hand, lowered his head, and lazily hummed in acknowledgment. Without looking at her, he averted his gaze elsewhere and cleared his throat, putting on an act. The face under his cap was cold and lean. For the first time, he spoke to her quite sincerely and directly: “Be careful to protect yourself. Guys only have one thing on their minds.”
Xu Zhi drank her beer, her eyes never leaving him. Even when she tilted her head back to drink, she peeked at him through the gap in the bottle. She stared at him curiously and asked just as directly, “What about you?”
This topic wasn’t suitable for further discussion. But Xu Zhi’s curious, bright-eyed gaze made Chen Luzhou pluck the grass in his hand and toss it at her head. “Why are you so curious?”
“I’m even more curious about something else,” Xu Zhi took a sip of beer, honestly suppressing that impulse. “But I’m afraid you’ll hit me if I ask.”
Chen Luzhou could almost instinctively guess what she wanted to ask. “…”
He changed the subject. “Still want to play?”
“Yes,” Xu Zhi put down the beer.
“Go ahead.”
“Today my dad bought me a dress. I like it, but my grandmother says the color doesn’t suit me. How many characters?”
“Twenty-seven characters. What color?”
They continued their back and forth. Xu Zhi answered honestly, “Purple.”
“Tonight’s fireworks were beautiful. Congratulations on getting the top raw score. I wish you a bright future. Remember to wear underwear in the future. How many characters?”
“…Thirty-two. Thank you.” Chen Luzhou was still exceptionally polite and well-mannered.
“I’ve told you before, right? My dad is a male doctor. If you have any embarrassing problems, go make an appointment with him. Don’t just look things up on Baidu yourself. How many characters?”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
He didn’t want to play anymore. Like the jasmine petals scattered on the ground, he performed a silent demonstration of “silence is golden.”
Xu Zhi looked at him quietly in the still night, sighed, and finally admitted defeat, apologizing, “Okay, okay, I was wrong. Let’s play seriously.”
“Last chance. If you say anything weird again, I’m leaving.”
“Alright. Because the puppy is wagging its tail. How many characters?”
“Eight,” Chen Luzhou said, then realized, “Is this it?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“What does it mean?”
“Just what it says,” she said lazily.
As soon as Xu Zhi finished speaking and reached for the beer to drink, Chen Luzhou snatched it away first. He raised his hand and asked her point-blank: “Are you going to tell me or not?”
Chen Luzhou thought she had drunk quite a bit, so he held the beer at a loose angle. But Xu Zhi hadn’t drunk much. Worried he might spill it, mainly because at that angle, the next second it would pour onto his head, Xu Zhi didn’t think and just lunged forward to adjust the angle.
“Hey, don’t spill it on me.”
Chen Luzhou immediately felt the weight of the beer and quickly corrected the tilted angle, holding it steady in his hand. But Xu Zhi’s sudden lunge caused her to stumble right into his arms. The Budweiser was unexpectedly knocked flying. Beer splashed everywhere, pouring down from above without warning. Both of them were splattered, with Chen Luzhou getting the worst of it. The can of Budweiser rolled from his head to his feet, spewing water as it tumbled along. Chen Luzhou instinctively pushed Xu Zhi away, so she only got a few scattered drops on her clothes.
Before Chen Luzhou could stand up, Xu Zhi had already pressed him heavily to the ground. She was half-kneeling, her whole body still in shock as she leaned on his shoulder. She hadn’t realized how close they were at that moment. Her eyes were fixed on the beer bottle rolling on the ground. Even though Chen Luzhou’s breath was right next to her ear, hot and close, she only thought it was the effects of the alcohol making her ears burn and her vision blur. She had no idea that if someone had taken a photo of their position, they might have thought the two were kissing.
“Chen Luzhou, I barely had two sips. If you wanted to say something, why did you have to use your hands?”
Xu Zhi yelled, then looked down and met his face. Because Chen Luzhou was sitting and she was leaning on his shoulder, Chen Luzhou now had his hands hovering politely in the air around her body, looking up at her. His hands weren’t touching her at all.
The air between them was filled with the intoxicating scent of alcohol. This was the first time Xu Zhi had seen his face up close, magnified so many times in perfect proportion. She could count each of his eyelashes. It was even more exquisite. This face, truly, was one to cherish each glance at. In the future, it would probably be hard to find someone more handsome than him. Maybe there would be, but not as interesting as him.
His eyes, perhaps moistened by the alcohol, shone as if wet with dew. The temperature of the air seemed to rise suddenly as if the lingering heat from the fireworks had reignited. The rustling sounds from the toilets started up again, and their classmates at the dinner had begun an enthusiastic game of Werewolf.
“The Prophet led the rhythm well this round. Numbers 6 and 9 are wolves. If all else fails, vote for 6, and the Witch can poison 9 tonight.”
“What were you werewolves doing all night, making out? You haven’t even managed to kill a single god role yet.”
“…”
Xu Zhi held him, her eyes and heart both burning hot. She knew his hands were still frozen in mid-air, but inexplicably, there was an electric current running up her spine. A voice in her heart said, “In for a penny, in for a pound.” Just kiss him once. They wouldn’t see each other after this anyway. He was about to leave soon.
Tonight, the moon hung high, and fireworks soared. The best she had ever seen.
We are all recklessly charging roses. So, she lowered her head, following the scent of alcohol, slowly leaning towards him. That familiar sage scent was stronger than ever before, entering her nostrils. It was Chen Luzhou’s scent, including his jacket, which always carried that faint, crisp fragrance.
The smell of alcohol and heat mingled together. Youthful secrets and tentative explorations were all mixed up in these unclear emotions. Their breaths grew closer and closer. Both of their gazes were burning hot, seemingly intertwining in the air, as if fearing the world wasn’t chaotic enough. In the last moment before their eyes closed, their gazes slid down along sweaty noses, curious and eager to try, finally fixing on each other’s lips.
Author’s Note:
“Yesterday’s events are as if dead; today’s events are as if newly born.” — from Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons.
“Recklessly charging apples” comes from a poem by Pablo Neruda.