Close to eleven at night, the national highway was empty as Chen Xi carried Qin Lie speeding under the streetlights.

The intersection ahead showed a red light. Chen Xi stopped the motorcycle, looked back at Qin Lie, and reminded him, “Hold on tight.”

Qin Lie smiled silently and asked casually, “Where are we going?”

Chen Xi replied, “To pick up Brother Yang Guan.”

Qin Lie was slightly surprised. “You’re close with Yang Guan?”

Chen Xi said, “He’s my brother.”

After a pause, she added, “His sister Yang Shan and I are childhood friends. I used to always pester Brother Yang Guan. When I opened this repair shop, Brother Yang Guan even contributed a hundred thousand yuan.”

Qin Lie smiled, about to say what a small world it was.

Chen Xi asked, “I heard from Yang Shan that you and Brother Yang Guan were high school classmates?”

Qin Lie hummed in acknowledgment but said nothing more.

Chen Xi suddenly remembered how Yang Shan used to drag her and Han Susu to buy fried cakes at the Third Middle School gate, eating while waiting to see handsome guys.

The person they were waiting for back then must have been Qin Lie.

She smiled slightly and couldn’t help but sigh, “What a small world.”

Qin Lie hummed faintly.

Chen Xi said, “Everyone came tonight. We can’t be missing him.”

The two arrived at the clinic to find the rolling shutter door closed.

Chen Xi rode her motorcycle into the alley and stopped at Dr. Yang’s courtyard gate. Surprisingly, despite the late hour, the courtyard gate was open.

Chen Xi parked the motorcycle at the entrance and walked into the courtyard with Qin Lie.

Dr. Yang would go to sleep at nine in the evening, and his room was dark. Yang Guan’s room still had lights on.

Chen Xi and Qin Lie walked to the door and discovered it was slightly ajar.

Chen Xi was about to knock when she suddenly heard a familiar voice from inside—it was Han Susu’s.

“Yang Guan, how long are you going to pretend to be oblivious?”

Chen Xi’s knuckles stopped just short of the door panel. She froze abruptly, standing in place in disbelief.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Chen Xi stood blankly at the door, waiting for a long time without hearing anyone speak inside.

She glanced at Qin Lie beside her and found him with his hands in his pockets, posture relaxed, lips carrying an indescribable faint smile.

A bit gossipy, yet somewhat relieved, even with a touch of heartfelt warmth.

The light spilling through the door crack illuminated his face, making his usually cold, hard features seem somewhat softer.

Chen Xi silently turned her head to look at the chestnut-colored door panel.

After a long while, she heard Yang Guan’s unperturbed voice.

“It’s late. Go home.”

The sound of a chair moving came from the room. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the gate.”

Suddenly, there was a loud thud, as if someone had heavily fallen back into a chair, followed by the chair creaking under the strain.

From the sound of it, Han Susu seemed to have sat on Yang Guan’s lap.

“Get up.”

Yang Guan’s voice became colder, carrying a trace of barely perceptible restraint.

“I won’t.”

Han Susu’s voice carried an exaggerated hint of drunkenness.

Chen Xi knew that when she was truly drunk, she wouldn’t speak—she’d just fall asleep quietly.

The Han Susu at this moment was choosing to be drunk.

The chair twisted as if they were struggling against each other, finally ending with Yang Guan’s helpless sigh, “What exactly do you want?”

Han Susu said, “What do I want? After all these years, can’t you tell?”

A heart-wrenching silence.

Through the thick door panel, Chen Xi could feel Han Susu’s hysteria tonight.

After a while, Yang Guan said flatly, “I’m blind. I can’t see.”

Han Susu asked, “Your eyes can’t see, but can’t your heart see either? Yang Guan, I’ve liked you for so many years. Can’t you feel it at all?”

Another silence, then Yang Guan’s cold voice came from the room, “No.”

Han Susu laughed coolly.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m telling you to your face now—I like you, I want to be with you, I want to sleep with you, I want to be around you every day. Is that clear enough? Do you feel it now?”

Qin Lie raised his hand to pinch his earlobe, wondering whether he should continue listening.

He glanced at Chen Xi and found this woman’s ear was practically pressed against the door, eyes wide open, listening completely absorbed, her expression carrying a trace of conflict.

Qin Lie put his hands in his pockets and smiled speechlessly.

In the room, Han Susu straddled Yang Guan’s lap, stubbornly looking at the cold man before her, suppressing the turmoil in her heart.

She was drunk, desperate—if she didn’t speak her heart tonight, she felt she would die.

Yang Guan’s gaze remained unperturbed, looking straight through her nearly shattered expression toward the boundless darkness deep within his heart.

Suddenly, he grabbed Han Susu’s arm and gently lifted, pulling her off his body.

Han Susu struggled, wrapping her arms around Yang Guan’s neck and refusing to let go, approaching him like a moth to flame.

“Yang Guan, I just want to hear one honest word from you today.”

She struggled, breathing heavily.

Yang Guan gripped Han Susu’s hands and paused, “Fine, listen carefully—there’s no possibility between you and me.”

After saying this, he pushed Han Susu away from himself without mercy.

Who knew that in the next second, Han Susu grabbed Yang Guan’s wrist as he pushed her away and forcefully pinned it against the wall.

The wrist bone hit the wall with a dull thud.

Han Susu was startled, never imagining her strength could be so frightening.

She looked at the man under the lamplight, seeing the light reflected in his eyes, and suddenly became obsessed with imagining herself lying beneath him, his cold, pale hands touching her and making her whole body tremble.

Such images, even fantasizing for a second, could make her dizzy and entranced.

She suddenly sat back on Yang Guan’s lap, desire surging in her heart. Meeting Yang Guan’s indifferent expression, it transformed inch by inch into a consuming fire.

She suddenly felt defeated, her heart as if an ice pick had carved a hole in it, all grievances, anger, and madness pouring out at once.

There was no turning back now. Probably after this time in her life, she would never again have the right to be crazy for him.

Tears streamed down Han Susu’s face as one hand gripped Yang Guan’s wrist and the other held the back of his head.

Like a massive wave from the deep sea, she crashed toward him with devastating force, fiercely kissing his cold lips.

Yang Guan’s entire body stiffened. He turned his head to dodge, but Han Susu relentlessly pursued his averted face, frantically kissing his mouth.

Her soft chest pressed against him, her breath sweet and fragrant.

Yang Guan was like someone had pressed his pause button. In just a moment of confusion, his teeth were pried open by her tongue tip.

His wooden tongue and her soft tongue tip entwined, entangling together frantically.

Gradually, only the heavy breathing of a man and a woman remained in the room, with no other sound.

Until much, much later, Yang Guan’s low, hysterical roar came from the house: “Han Susu, don’t fucking play with me.”

After a suffocating silence, Han Susu’s tearful voice came: “I’m playing with you?”

“Yang Guan, remember this—I can swear to heaven on every word I said today. If you don’t believe me, I’ll get hit by a car as soon as I walk out…”

Yang Guan interrupted: “Go find Chen Xi. It’s her opening day, and she’s unhappy that you’re not there.”

Somehow, his voice had returned to being unperturbed, like stagnant water.

Han Susu stared blankly at Yang Guan’s calm face, her heart growing colder bit by bit.

Time passed minute by minute, and the passionate warmth between them cooled down gradually.

After a long while, Yang Guan said flatly, “You should go.”

Han Susu got up from him, brushed the disheveled hair from her cheeks behind her ears, and slowly walked toward the door.

She reached the door, looked back at Yang Guan, and said lightly, “Yang Guan, don’t regret this.”

Qin Lie stepped aside. In the next second, the door was pushed open with a bang, and Han Susu walked out with tears streaming down her face.

Seeing Chen Xi, she stopped in surprise. After a moment, she ran out without looking back.

Chen Xi looked through the open door into the room and saw Yang Guan sitting alone under the lamp.

His expression was calm, without any emotion on his face.

Chen Xi glanced at Qin Lie and hurriedly turned to chase after Han Susu.

She caught up with Han Susu in the alley and grabbed her.

Han Susu stopped, turned to look at Chen Xi, and asked irritably, “How much did you hear?”

Chen Xi’s heart was a mixture of emotions. She couldn’t describe what she was feeling at this moment. After hesitating, she still asked what was in her heart.

“Susu, are you serious?”

Han Susu was stunned for a moment, shook off Chen Xi’s hand, and turned to walk forward.

Chen Xi quickly caught up with her, “Don’t be angry, listen to me.”

Han Susu suddenly stopped and said pitifully, “Chen Xi, we’ve been such good friends for so many years. How could you ask such a question?”

“Am I serious? If I weren’t serious, why would I torture myself here for no reason? Do I lack men chasing me? Or do I enjoy being abused?”

She suddenly crouched on the ground, buried her head in her arms, and cried.

“I don’t believe he can’t feel it. He’s just running away, always running away, just refusing to face me.”

Chen Xi crouched down and sighed softly.

“Susu, you come from a good family, have had everything you wanted since childhood, and you’re so beautiful. I don’t know how many boys have liked you since you were young.”

“Life has always been kind to you, but Brother Yang Guan… he’s different from you.”

Han Susu suddenly looked up with tearful eyes.

“Chen Xi, I know what you’re going to say. You’re like him—you both think I’m acting on impulse, looking for thrills with him, just playing around.”

“Let me tell you, I’m not that kind of person. Don’t think I’m still single now—I matured earlier than you. I had feelings for him when I was in elementary school. After all these years, I like him more and more.”

The night sky was clear, moonlight spilling into the alley, casting everything in brightness.

Han Susu wiped away her tears, the light in her expression dimming.

She understood that she and Yang Guan had no possibility now. Having torn through this paper-thin barrier, she didn’t even have the chance to secretly love him anymore.

Han Susu wiped her tears, they fell again, wiped again, fell again.

She looked up at the night sky, her voice gentle yet firm.

“Chen Xi, do you know? In my eyes, Yang Guan has always been that Yang Guan.”

“That Yang Guan whose smile could kill me.”

In the moonlight, Chen Xi looked at Han Susu’s beautiful face, crying in such a disheveled state, yet still so beautiful.

Looking at Han Susu, she smiled gently.

“Hearing you say this makes me so happy. In my heart, Yang Guan is my brother—no one can compare. I’ll stay here my whole life, watching over his happiness.”

“But Susu, what you just said isn’t right. I never thought you were acting on impulse. I just think this path is too difficult.”

“You’ve never suffered hardship, never experienced setbacks, never tasted the helplessness of daily necessities. Now you’re making vows, but have you considered your parents’ attitude?”

“What if one day you can’t hold on anymore? What would happen to Brother Yang Guan? Heaven has already taken so much from him. I don’t want to see him lose again…”

Han Susu interrupted her, “So I don’t even deserve a chance to try once?”

Chen Xi was suddenly stunned. Yes, so she couldn’t even have a chance to try once?

Didn’t Brother Yang Guan even deserve a chance to love desperately once?

She looked up at the bright moon above.

Even the moon has its phases of waxing and waning, let alone love.

Chen Xi looked at Han Susu, was silent for a while, then said quietly, “Susu, Brother Yang Guan watched us grow up. Even if he has feelings for you, he’d rather endure it for a lifetime.”

Han Susu said, “I know.”

She knew she was completely out of luck.

Chen Xi said, “So… if you want to win over Brother Yang Guan, don’t do it when he’s calm…”

Han Susu suddenly looked up at Chen Xi. After a long while, she smiled faintly.

That extinguished hope quietly sprouted again in her heart.