The car moved to the bathroom entrance, waiting for Ye Meng to get in. The sun was sinking overhead, and the sunset painted the entire view a brilliant red. Li Chen happened to be coming out of the public bathroom at the basketball court. He saw Tai Ming Xiao sitting motionless like a terracotta warrior in the passenger seat of Li Jin Yu’s sports car—a terracotta warrior who had forcibly been fed an egg that was now stuck in his throat, rendering him speechless.

Meanwhile, the master in the driver’s seat had his arm resting outside the window, still without his seatbelt fastened, wearing an arrogant expression that said, “When you’re done looking, put it back for your lord.”

Of course, Li Chen knew about this matter. He should have been the first one to know. It was probably just a few days after that racing and forced kissing incident when Li Jin Yu directly told him. The two had been drinking nearly expired beer at the garage, casually chatting, when Li Jin Yu spilled everything at once, seemingly wanting to confide in someone. Li Chen was naturally the best listener.

At that time, Li Chen had taken a drag of his cigarette and asked, “Was it her idea?”

“Mm,” Li Jin Yu leaned back in the tire chair at the garage, his legs spread lazily, one hand resting on his leg holding the beer. He took a somewhat self-deprecating sip, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “At that time, she was about to return to Beijing. I thought she was playing me, so I suggested breaking up. Then she said if I didn’t trust her, we should get married. Isn’t she awful? She’s the one who wanted to leave, yet she tried to bind me with marriage. But I still like her.”

“That does sound a bit awful,” Li Chen nodded with his arms crossed.

Li Jin Yu inexplicably became annoyed again. “I was just saying. You don’t need to agree, bro.”

Li Chen smiled, “Tai Ming Xiao calls you a naive pretty boy, and I initially thought it wasn’t very fitting—at most, you’re a seemingly innocent schemer. But looking at it now, I think you are a naive pretty boy. Marriage is such a big deal, you should at least think it through. After all, your family background is what it is. Even if you waste away in that town, do you think your grandfather would leave you be? Luckily Ye Meng is a decent person. If you had met a female manipulator or someone with an even bigger appetite, what would you do?”

At that time, Li Jin Yu was leaning back in his chair, crushing the beer can with a crackling sound, denting it slightly. He lowered his eyelids, appearing obedient and serious while being reprimanded, looking extremely well-behaved, but his words were still arrogant, “You think I haven’t encountered those before?”

Li Chen raised his eyebrows, listening attentively.

“Do you remember when I was in high school, one of Li Si Yang’s college seniors? Forgot her name, anyway, she was majoring in French. She would wait for me outside my school every day, treat me to meals, and give me all sorts of random things. I had just returned from America then and had no friends in China except for you guys, so I always treated her like an older sister. I was only in high school then, and she seemed to understand the psychology of seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys very well. She portrayed herself as this cheerful, uninhibited, kind-hearted big sister, and then gave me all kinds of sexual hints. When she came to find Li Si Yang, she would always block my room, and lie on my bed without saying anything. I had to wash my sheets every day during that period. Li Ling Bai thought I was shamelessly masturbating all the time.”

Li Chen carefully recalled, and there indeed seemed to be such a person. That woman was quite beautiful, with a spicy personality, knew eight foreign languages, and had perfect scores in IELTS and TOEFL. She had good relationships with both Li Si Yang and Li Chen. Because of her uninhibited personality, they didn’t pay much attention and treated her like one of the guys. Who knew that behind their backs, she was constantly harassing their little brother Li Jin Yu, so they stopped associating with her. After a long while, a post appeared on a forum exposing this woman, saying she was a female manipulator who specialized in seducing high school boys.

Li Chen and Li Jin Yu had been close for many years, and everyone around them treated him like a little brother. There were indeed many people pursuing him, especially older sisters.

“You do have the type of looks that attract older sisters,” Li Chen concluded with a sigh. “Unlike me, I’ve never had this problem since childhood. The sisters were all afraid I’d seduce them.”

Li Jin Yu made a sound of agreement. “I’m afraid you’d seduce me too.”

“…”

Tai Ming Xiao still couldn’t quite believe it. He repeatedly examined the certificate, even went online to search for authenticity verification, and formally asked Li Chen, “Bro, is it illegal to forge this thing?”

Li Chen leaned down on his car window, smiling, and said, “Do you want me to bring mine from home for comparison?”

Tai Ming Xiao was greatly surprised. “You knew this secret all along?”

“A bit earlier than you.”

“…”

“…”

It’s over.

A long silence followed. The sun had set, and starlight met the sunset glow. Dusk enveloped everything, and behind them, a group of aunties had gathered on the basketball court for square dancing. Tai Ming Xiao felt like dark clouds were hanging over his head. He looked at Li Chen, then at the master in the driver’s seat.

—Get it now? That small-town husband Gou Kai mentioned is your grandpa me.

Your grandpa me.

Grandpa.

Li Jin Yu rarely used such a cocky tone, unless he was a bit upset or had been triggered.

Tai Ming Xiao felt like the Sword of Damocles was hanging over his head. His poor heart trembling, he secretly reached for the door handle wanting to sneak out, but Li Chen was standing outside chatting with Ye Meng. When the door opened, it was unexpectedly “banged” shut again.

This was like hitting a wall.

“Why are you running? Want to call Gou Kai?”

“No, I’m just getting out to smoke a cigarette, catch my breath.”

Tai Ming Xiao wanted to call Gou Kai to tell him not to come back for now.

Li Jin Yu smiled, his hand pressed against the car window, and leisurely took another drag of his cigarette. Exhaling, he said, “What are you afraid of? It’s Gou Kai who wants to pursue my wife, not you.”

“…Gou Kai was just impulsive. Last time he only sent flowers to her office once and said he wanted to pursue her, that’s all. Please don’t overthink it.”

Li Jin Yu suddenly turned to look at him.

Tai Ming Xiao’s hair stood on end. “Wh-what is it?”

“Oh, he even sent flowers? When did this happen?”

Tai Ming Xiao was shocked. “Y-y-you didn’t know?”

“I didn’t,” he leaned back in the driver’s seat, lazily tapping off his ash, and said, “She didn’t tell me.”

“…”

“…Forget I said anything.”

I’m sorry, Gou Kai, you might as well bury yourself in England.

Three sports cars left the basketball court, their engines rumbling loudly, drawing the attention of passersby. Ye Meng watched the people standing in the night breeze and asked from the passenger seat, “Are you planning to drive this car back to Ning Sui?”

Li Jin Yu followed behind the three cars, slowly merging into traffic. He steered with one hand, glancing at her, “No.”

“That’s good. This car is too flashy, and the engine is thunderously loud. The old ladies usually go to bed early, so you can’t even drive this car out at night—it would disturb everyone in town.”

“Mm.”

Ye Meng scrolled through her phone and casually asked, “Did you buy the pregnancy test?”

“I did,” he had bought it at a nearby pharmacy on the way to play basketball. He drove while turning his head to say, “It’s in the compartment below your door.”

The two of them were quite tacitly understanding about this pregnancy matter. If they were unlucky enough to conceive, they could only keep it—abortion was out of the question. But it would be best if there wasn’t one; they both felt that the time they had spent with each other wasn’t enough yet.

“I bought three different kinds. Wait five minutes for each one. Li Chen said that’s more accurate.” He stopped the car; there was a public restroom ahead.

Ye Meng thought to herself that this little rascal even knew to consult Li Chen. After reading through each set of instructions, she asked him, “Is Li Chen very experienced?”

“Li Chen has been with his wife for many years, and they lived together since college. What do you think? Generally, this kind of thing isn’t discussed with parents, especially not with my mom. Usually, guys just talk about it occasionally among themselves, getting a general idea.”

Ye Meng responded with a sound of acknowledgment, not interested in listening to him talk. She was a bit impatient because she was nervous. At this moment, she truly didn’t want a child at all. “If only I had known you in high school, then we wouldn’t feel like our time together is so short. Besides, your group of friends seems interesting.”

“With your eager personality, if we’d met in high school, wouldn’t I have been buying pregnancy tests at the pharmacy back then?” He leaned back in his seat, one hand on the steering wheel, his tone languid as he turned his head away and said, “Not very appropriate.”

“Oh, please.”

“Don’t copy how I talk.”

“I’ll copy if I want to.”

Ye Meng hadn’t gotten out of the car yet. Under the dim yellow streetlights, fireflies fluttered around the light, again and again. On both sides, the river surged, tumultuous and powerful. The entire city’s lights were behind them, merging with them.

Ye Meng got out of the car to go to the bathroom, leaving her phone on the passenger seat. Li Jin Yu sat quietly with his hand resting outside the window, smoking when her phone suddenly dinged.

He rarely looked at Ye Meng’s phone and didn’t often check up on her. He would be happy for Ye Meng to check up on him, but she rarely did. They both knew each other’s phone passwords but seldom took the initiative to look. If it weren’t for seeing the frequent WeChat notifications, and accidentally noticing it was from Gou Kai, Li Jin Yu probably wouldn’t have thought to open her phone.

The car interior was dim, pedestrians walked by indistinctly, and the changing neon lights from the roadside cast their glow on the face of the man in the car.

Li Jin Yu held his cigarette with one hand outside the car window, wisps of smoke rising from his fingertips, while his other hand quickly typed a reply on the screen. Then with a “click,” he locked the phone and tossed it back onto the passenger seat, his expression cold and arrogant.

Afterward, he sent one more message.