Cup after cup of sake.

Chen Xi felt it was as tasteless as drinking water.

Han Susu also felt the alcohol wasn’t strong enough.

But Yang Shan could only handle three cups before getting drunk.

After finishing a small pot of sake, she was completely tipsy.

A server knocked and entered, placing salt-grilled prawns on the table.

Chen Xi looked up and asked, “Do you have any liquor? Something with higher alcohol content?”

The server shook her head and smiled, “Sorry, this sake is the strongest we have.”

Chen Xi silently drank another small pot of sake, then suddenly stood up and walked toward the private room door.

Han Susu called after her, “Chen Xi, where are you going?”

Chen Xi reached the door and turned back, “I’m going to buy a bottle of liquor.”

Yang Shan swayed as she stood up, “I’ll go too.”

Chen Xi whooshed open the sliding door.

The cool corridor breeze hit her face, and she ran straight into a pair of dark, heavy eyes.

Qin Lie was passing by the private room door. He must have heard something and was turning to look over.

Their gazes collided.

Chen Xi steadied herself against the door frame, momentarily stunned.

Qin Lie didn’t stop walking and went directly into the adjacent private room.

Yang Shan pressed against Chen Xi from behind and also saw Qin Lie’s figure.

She secretly pinched Chen Xi’s shoulder and whispered excitedly in her ear, “That person just now looked like Brother Qin Lie, did you see?”

Chen Xi said nothing and bent down to put on her shoes.

The two passed by the adjacent private room door.

Yang Shan curiously peered through the crack, glancing inside.

Her expression immediately became more animated, her eyebrows practically flying upward.

Yang Shan pulled Chen Xi quickly to the stairway, looking gossipy, “There’s a woman in the private room, looks like the beauty from our Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital.”

Chen Xi was preoccupied with her troubles and wasn’t in the mood for gossip, only giving an absent-minded “oh.”

Yang Shan sighed wistfully, “A talented man and beautiful woman – they’re quite well-matched.”

The two bought a bottle of 52-proof liquor from the tobacco and alcohol shop across the street.

When passing Qin Lie’s private room, Yang Shan couldn’t help but want to peek inside out of curiosity.

Unfortunately, the private room’s sliding door was tightly closed, so she couldn’t see anything.

The liquor bottle was opened.

After two cups each, Chen Xi and Han Susu were also tipsy and rolled up their sleeves to play finger-guessing games.

Yang Shan was even more uninhibited.

She stopped eating and pressed her ear against the thin wooden wall to listen to the activity next door.

Chen Xi and Han Susu extended four fists, shouting, “Fifteen twenty!”

The fists opened – Chen Xi lost.

She raised a cup of liquor and drank it cheerfully, rolling up her sleeves and shouting at Han Susu, “Again, again!”

Yang Shan turned around and made a shushing gesture at them, then continued eavesdropping with her ear against the wall.

Han Susu curiously withdrew her hand and came over to quietly ask Yang Shan.

“What are you listening to?”

Yang Shan looked melancholy, “Listening to my lost youth.”

Han Susu said, “Let me listen too.”

She also pressed herself against the partition wall.

Chen Xi drank alone for a while and found it boring.

She held the liquor bottle in her left hand and the cup in her right, stood up, staggered a couple of steps, and joined them.

Chen Xi sat on the floor, filled her cup with liquor, drank it in one gulp, and listened intently.

The private room instantly fell quiet.

The conversation from next door came through clearly, word for word.

After listening for a while, it was mostly the woman speaking.

The man occasionally made a sound of acknowledgment, seeming reluctant to talk.

Han Susu quietly asked Yang Shan, “A blind date?”

Yang Shan replied, “Seems like it.”

Han Susu commented, “The man doesn’t seem very proactive.”

Yang Shan muttered quietly, “Right, why isn’t he talking? Feng Ke is so beautiful and has such a good personality.”

Han Susu asked, “Who’s Feng Ke?”

Yang Shan said, “The woman who’s talking. She’s a doctor in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Physical Therapy department at our hospital.”

Chen Xi drank another cup of liquor and suddenly thought of Qin Lie’s forbidding face, bursting into unexpected laughter.

Yang Shan quickly covered her mouth.

Chen Xi obediently made a gesture of zipping her mouth shut.

Only then did Yang Shan let go.

The three continued eavesdropping.

But there was a long silence from the other side.

Chen Xi couldn’t hear any gossip and found it boring.

She was about to get up and return to eating sushi when she suddenly heard a woman’s voice from the adjacent private room.

“Qin Lie…”

“You probably don’t remember me. I was also from No. 3 Middle School, in the class next to yours. I was also a math class representative.”

After a few seconds of silence next door, Chen Xi heard Qin Lie’s low voice.

“Oh, I don’t remember.”

She sat back down, poured herself another cup of liquor, and listened half-heartedly.

Feng Ke said, “Do you… Don’t know that today’s dinner is a blind date?”

Qin Lie chuckled softly, “Mm.”

Feng Ke: “Actually, I don’t like blind dates either, but when I heard your name, I came.”

Her voice paused, then she suddenly asked, “What do you… think of me?”

Without realizing it, Chen Xi also pressed her ear against the wall, waiting to hear Qin Lie’s answer.

After a moment, Qin Lie’s voice came through.

“Sorry, I won’t be staying in Dunhuang for life.”

These words suddenly struck Chen Xi’s heart.

She raised her cup and drank it all.

The strong liquor burned down her throat, igniting a fire in her stomach that spread to both cheeks.

She heard Feng Ke’s voice, “Are you going back to Beijing?”

Qin Lie replied, “Mm, possibly.”

The two in the private room fell silent.

After a while, Feng Ke’s voice sounded again.

“If… we get along well, I could go to Beijing…”

Hearing Feng Ke’s words, Chen Xi felt an inexplicable irritation in her heart.

After another silence, she heard Qin Lie’s indifferent voice.

“Why?”

Feng Ke asked back, “If we were together, and I didn’t go to Beijing, would you stay in Dunhuang for me?”

Qin Lie replied, “No.”

Chen Xi heard Feng Ke’s laugh tinged with helplessness.

“Then why are you asking why? Do I have a choice?”

Suddenly, Chen Xi shouted, “How is there no choice?”

Her cheeks were flushed red, holding the liquor bottle as she swayed to her feet, looking ready for a fight.

The adjacent private room suddenly went quiet.

Yang Shan and Han Susu both jumped up.

One covered Chen Xi’s mouth while the other was embarrassed to the point of scratching her head.

In desperation, Han Susu quickly shouted at the top of her voice.

“There just isn’t any. Look for yourself if you don’t believe us.”

Yang Shan looked mortified and continued the act with gritted teeth, “I didn’t see any either, really nothing.”

The two frantically pulled Chen Xi back to the table.

Only then did Yang Shan notice that Chen Xi had drunk half the bottle of liquor.

“Are you trying to kill yourself? Is that any way to drink?”

She snatched the bottle from Chen Xi’s hands and poured herself a cup of barley tea.

Chen Xi leaned on the table, propping her cheek with one hand, and smiled up at Yang Shan.

“What are you smiling about? Drink water quickly.”

Yang Shan was exasperated.

Chen Xi waved her hand, “This little bit of alcohol is nothing, I can still drink more.”

She reached for the bottle again, but Han Susu quickly snatched it away and placed it far out of reach.

“Eat something. No more drinking.”

The two watched Chen Xi eat a few pieces of sushi, and only relaxed when her stomach seemed fine.

When they were almost done eating, Yang Shan pulled a card from her bag and handed it to Chen Xi.

Chen Xi took it and asked through bleary, drunken eyes, “What’s this?”

Yang Shan said, “My brother heard you needed money and asked me to give this to you. There’s a hundred thousand in it, password is his birthday.”

Chen Xi was stunned, looking down at the bank card in her hand.

She suddenly remembered last night, wanting to speak to Bai Yuning but being unable to open her mouth.

For a moment, she couldn’t describe the feeling in her heart.

While she was silent, Yang Shan handed another card to Chen Xi.

“This one also has a hundred thousand – Susu and I contributed fifty thousand each. The password is my birthday. If you can’t remember it, just don’t withdraw the money.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Yang Shan burst into laughter at her joke.

Han Susu took Yang Guan’s bank card from Chen Xi’s hand.

She looked down, examining the front and back carefully, her slender fingers rubbing the raised numbers on the card.

Yang Shan took the bank card back from her and handed it to Chen Xi, asking Han Susu with amusement and exasperation.

“What are you looking at? Are there flowers on it?”

Han Susu shook her head and smiled without speaking.

She told Chen Xi and Yang Shan everything.

Except for one thing, buried in her heart for so long, quietly blooming into a secret yet passionate flower.

After dinner, all three were a bit drunk and staggered downstairs.

Yang Shan had driven there, but it was hard to find a designated driver in the small town, so they had to leave the car at the restaurant and take a taxi home tonight.

Coming out of the restaurant, the wind hit them, and the alcohol hit harder.

Chen Xi swayed twice, leaning on Han Susu, and looked up to see Qin Lie’s car slowly driving past.

She suddenly stepped forward and knocked on Qin Lie’s car window.

The car stopped, and the dark window slowly rolled down.

Qin Lie’s angular face turned toward Chen Xi, his thick eyebrows slightly raised.

Chen Xi leaned on the car window, curved her eyes, and smiled at Qin Lie.

“Can I catch a ride?”

Chen Xi loved Dunhuang nights most of all.

No matter the season or weather, once night fell, the small city had a flavor that mixed desolation with the warmth of human life.

Looking up, she could see stars invisible elsewhere.

She sat in the passenger seat, watching the brilliant lights of the Dang River scenic area through the car window.

The Dang River used to be beautiful, too.

Before the lights outlined it, you could see moonlight shattered by wind on the water’s surface.

Qin Lie dropped off Yang Shan and Han Susu at their destinations.

Finally, he brought Chen Xi to the gate of Fan Mingsu’s small courtyard at the Yang Family Bridge.

The streetlight at the intersection was broken, and the alley was pitch black.

Qin Lie stopped the car and told the woman beside him they had arrived.

Chen Xi reached to unbuckle her seatbelt and was about to get out when she suddenly remembered something, turning to look directly at Qin Lie.

Her gaze was sharp, as if trying to see through his exterior to his heart.

Qin Lie was confused by her stare and asked quietly, “What are you looking at?”

Chen Xi stared at him and asked thoughtfully, “What did you tell her?”

Qin Lie asked blankly, “What did I tell who?”

Chen Xi said, “Just now, when she asked if she had a choice? How did you answer?”

Qin Lie’s chest shook with a muffled laugh, and he suddenly asked Chen Xi.

“Did you find it?”

Chen Xi stared blankly, her expression confused, her drunken eyes hazy.

“Find what?”

Qin Lie snorted with laughter, “How should I know? You were looking for something so loudly. Did you lose money?”

“Or did you lose your ears in our private room?”

Chen Xi didn’t explain and giggled, the alcohol making her thick-skinned.

She laughed while opening the door to get out, swaying a few times before standing steady, and waved at Qin Lie.

Qin Lie smiled helplessly and turned the steering wheel to turn the car around.

Chen Xi swayed as she watched the car drive a few meters away, then suddenly remembered Qin Lie still hadn’t answered her question.

She chased after it a few steps, slapping the car window with both hands.

The car stopped, and the window slowly rolled down again.

Chen Xi gripped the car window with both hands and asked persistently, “You still haven’t told me how you answered her.”

Her hair was messily scattered over her shoulders, and she stubbornly gripped the car window, staring straight at him.

In her confused, hazy eyes was a kind of innocent charm that never appeared normally.

Qin Lie was speechless and asked with a half-smile, “Is my answer very important?”

Chen Xi nodded, then, after a moment, shook her head.

“You’re not important, but the answer is very important.”

She just wanted to know – do all men think women’s careers are just a game?

Not worth regretting if missed, not worth regretting if abandoned.

She just wanted to know – do all men naturally think that in marriage, women should be the ones who compromise?

A trace of disdainful smile flashed across Qin Lie’s rugged profile.

He withdrew his confrontational gaze and looked toward the impenetrable darkness ahead of the headlights.

“I said it wasn’t necessary.”

Chen Xi smiled, resting her elbow on the car window, her gaze still straight and sharp, “And then?”

Qin Lie asked, “Why should I tell you?”

Chen Xi leaned closer, her expression serious, looking at him eagerly, “Because I want to know.”

Qin Lie looked at her speechlessly for a while, then finally spoke.

“I said that at our age, we’re long past pursuing earth-shattering romance.”

“We’re all experienced adults. Every grown person must first be responsible for themselves, then for others.”

Chen Xi snorted dismissively through her nose.

Qin Lie continued, “She’s willing to give up everything and follow me now, but all passion eventually gets worn down by daily life.”

“Someday, she’ll feel that all her dissatisfactions stem from what she gave up for me back then.”

Chen Xi looked at Qin Lie, gradually becoming thoughtful.

Qin Lie said, “Chen Xi, I don’t want her to give up anything, and I don’t want to be responsible for her life.”

“Romance between men and women – who couldn’t do it? There’s no need for anyone to sacrifice their whole life for someone else.”