The two of them rode the motorcycle back to the repair shop. Han Susu got off the bike and, smelling the delicious aroma, ran to the bonfire, picked up a plate from the table, and asked Qin Zhan for some meat.

Chen Xi took off her helmet and watched Han Susu’s graceful silhouette, unable to help but smile.

She knew that Yang Guan deserved the best girl in the world.

“Chen Xi, come eat some meat!”

Han Susu turned around and waved at her.

“Mm.”

Chen Xi set down her helmet and walked toward the bright bonfire with a smile.

After a while, Qin Lie returned by taxi.

Chen Xi was sitting on top of Qin Zhan’s car, drinking beer, when she turned her face and, surprisingly, saw another person getting out of the taxi.

It was Yang Guan.

Chen Xi smiled and took a sip of beer, leaning back against the car roof and looking up at the cloudless night sky.

Today had been a clear day, with countless stars scattered across the heavens, twinkling brilliantly—absolutely beautiful.

This night was finally complete.

Qin Lie brought Yang Guan over to sit by the bonfire and handed him a can of beer.

Han Susu pretended to act nonchalant, drinking her beer and chatting intermittently with Yang Shan, occasionally stealing glances at Yang Guan.

He sat in front of the charcoal fire, gentle and quiet, just like before.

But tonight she had learned a secret—when Yang Guan felt shy, though his face remained pale, his ears turned deep purple with embarrassment.

The children had been given special permission to stay up late with the adults tonight, as excited as if it were New Year’s.

They swarmed over, chattering all at once: “Is everyone here now? Can we set off the fireworks?”

Yang Shan laughed and said, “Whoever makes me happy gets fireworks.”

Ruirui immediately scrambled into Yang Shan’s arms like a little kitten and showered her face with kisses.

Yang Shan was about to laugh until she got crow’s feet.

Qin Lie and Yang Guan had been drinking beer for a while when his phone’s WeChat notification chimed.

He pulled out his phone and saw it was a message from Chen Xi.

“Come over, car roof.”

Qin Lie was somewhat puzzled and looked up to see Chen Xi sitting on a distant car roof.

The night shrouded her in darkness, with only a hint of light outlining her slender silhouette.

Just as Qin Lie was about to ask what she wanted, Chen Xi sent another WeChat message.

“The last four design drafts—want to see them?”

Qin Lie smiled down at his phone and said to Yang Guan, “I’ll be back in a bit.”

With that, he got up and walked toward Chen Xi.

He climbed onto the car roof and sat down beside Chen Xi, asking, “Where are the drawings?”

Chen Xi pulled out a sketchbook from the bag behind her and handed it to Qin Lie.

Qin Lie turned on his phone’s flashlight, opened the sketchbook, and looked through it page by page.

He looked for quite a while, remaining silent throughout, but Chen Xi could see a trace of shock in his focused gaze.

“How are they?”

Chen Xi asked him with a smile.

Qin Lie smiled and said, “Given your recent state, that you could produce these characters—honestly, I’m quite surprised.”

Chen Xi found this comment somewhat unpleasant and asked back, “What’s wrong with my recent state?”

Qin Lie glanced at the dark circles under her eyes but said nothing.

Chen Xi remembered going to the clinic a few days ago to get medicine for Fan Mingsu and hearing Yang Guan and Yang Shan talking about Qin Lie.

Yang Shan had even asked Chen Xi to find an opportunity to advise Qin Lie.

Such an excellent person shouldn’t waste away in their small town doing nothing.

Qin Lie was looking down at the drawings when he suddenly heard Chen Xi say, “Qin Lie, live well.”

Qin Lie closed the sketchbook and asked with a bewildered expression, “Which eye of yours sees that I’m not living well?”

Chen Xi: “Holing up in a broken VR arcade all day, half-dead—isn’t that you?”

Qin Lie sneered, “What about you?”

Chen Xi looked equally bewildered: “What about me?”

Qin Lie: “Torturing yourself for a whole month over some guy—aren’t you tired?”

Chen Xi was startled and asked him, “Which eye of yours sees that I’ve been torturing myself?”

Qin Lie: “Staying up all night painting murals, working yourself to death—is that the plan?”

Chen Xi let out a cold laugh: “I’m tired, sure, but I’m fucking living with passion. What about you?”

Qin Lie: “Can’t tell.”

Chen Xi’s temper flared, and she spoke without thinking.

“Aren’t you just wasting away waiting to die?”

Qin Lie: “Why don’t you join me?”

He smiled and slowly retorted with sarcasm: “Make a few hundred million, then waste away and wait to die like me.”

Chen Xi was choked speechless by his response, opening her mouth but unable to say anything.

Qin Lie looked at the lively bonfire in the distance, but his gaze had grown cold.

The words about living well—his parents had said them more than once, Yang Guan had said them, even Qin Zhan, that heartless fool, had said them.

When they said it, he treated it like background noise, hearing it and laughing it off.

But tonight, hearing these words from Chen Xi’s mouth inexplicably hit his sore spot.

This woman was trying to counsel him with a hint of sympathy—what did she take him for? A waste, a loser?

“How I live is none of anyone else’s business.”

His tone was harsh as he threw down these words and started to leave.

Chen Xi was fuming and grabbed him by the arm.

“How the fuck are you so ungrateful?”

Qin Lie looked at Chen Xi’s hand gripping his forearm, feeling another wave of inexplicable irritation: “Are you sick?”

Chen Xi was so angry that veins bulged on her forehead: “Am I sick, or are you sick? You explode over one comment.”

Qin Lie: “You call that human speech?”

Chen Xi: “Which part wasn’t human speech?”

Qin Lie: “Chen Xi, let me tell you—in this little backwater place, no one has the right to think I’m a failure.”

Chen Xi: “Which sentence did I say you were a failure?”

Qin Lie sneered. “Live well”—what bullshit. Did he need someone stuffed with too much free time to come save him?

“Mind your own damn business.”

He tried to pull his arm away, but Chen Xi still gripped it tightly.

“What business do I have?”

The veins on Chen Xi’s forehead were throbbing. In all her years, she’d never seen such an ungrateful bastard.

Qin Lie: “What state were you in today at the opening? If you can’t let go, go to Beijing. You’ve lost your soul—what can you accomplish?”

Chen Xi was nearly dying of anger. While the breakup was sad, it wasn’t enough to make her lose her soul.

When she left home this morning, she saw Grandpa Guan, and the old man looked terrible.

Her several moments of distraction today were all because she was thinking about Grandpa Guan’s health and what would happen to Sensen in the future.

She shouted at Qin Lie: “Are you deaf or blind? How many times do I have to say it before you believe that the matter is over?”

From a distance came the children’s laughter: “Setting off firecrackers! Setting off firecrackers!”

Qin Lie was too lazy to say anything more and shook off Chen Xi’s grip to jump down from the car.

Suddenly, someone pushed his chest, and his body fell backward onto the car roof.

A crisp smell of alcohol hit him in the face as Chen Xi pounced on him and pressed her lips fiercely against his.

Suddenly, a firecracker exploded nearby, and the sky instantly burst with colorful fireworks, reflecting in Qin Lie’s suddenly blank mind as an eternal moment of beauty.

Sensen suddenly pointed at the distant car roof and called out: “What is Sister Chen Xi doing?”

The fireworks bloomed brilliantly, lighting up the night sky. Everyone looked in the direction Sensen was pointing, and instantly, there was an uproar.

No one was watching the fireworks anymore. Everyone had wonderfully varied expressions, laughing as they watched Chen Xi pin Qin Lie beneath her.

Qin Zhan whistled a wavering tune and took advantage of the chaos to secretly kiss Fangfang on the cheek.

Liu Boyang was so shocked that he crushed his beer can. Yang Shan sneaked over to Yang Guan and whispered gossip vividly in his ear.

Chen Xi kissed Qin Lie once, then suddenly sat up and raised an eyebrow to ask him: “Do you believe me now?”

Qin Lie propped himself up on his elbows, still maintaining the position of being knocked down by Chen Xi.

He didn’t say anything, just nodded toward the bonfire.

Chen Xi followed his gaze and was greeted by a group of people’s gossipy smiles.

Her face heated up. She turned and met Qin Lie’s almost-smiling gaze. Even though she was the one who had molested him, she suddenly felt like this guy was pretty shameless.

Chen Xi jumped down from the car, tossed her hair, and walked away.

Qin Lie slowly sat up, watching Chen Xi’s confident departing figure, and silently lit a cigarette.

A brilliant firework suddenly bloomed overhead.

His cold, hard lips twitched slightly, and he smiled faintly.

Everyone didn’t disperse until three in the morning.

Han Susu went home with Chen Xi. After a quick wash, they lay in bed.

Chen Xi turned off the lights, but Han Susu’s joy hadn’t ended yet—she continued giggling as she lay in bed.

“I never expected you to be so fierce.”

Han Susu giggled.

Chen Xi rolled her eyes at her in the darkness.

“I learned it from you.”

Han Susu’s face heated up, and she dramatically rolled over.

After some rustling sounds, she lay with her back to Chen Xi and sighed softly in the darkness.

“Chen Xi, how can I like him so much?”

Chen Xi reached over and ruffled Han Susu’s hair, saying with her eyes closed: “Sleep with him. You can do it.”

Han Susu grabbed the blanket and covered her burning cheeks. After a long while, she finally spoke.

“What’s going on between you and Qin Zhan’s brother?”

Chen Xi closed her eyes, the fireworks still lingering on her retinas. She suddenly recalled Qin Lie’s strong, powerful heartbeat and the unexpected warmth on his cold, indifferent lips.

It was hot.

Her throat felt dry. She cleared it and said: “Nothing much, just kissing for fun.”

Han Susu kicked Chen Xi with her heel: “I think you two are quite compatible. Why don’t you try dating?”

Seeing Chen Xi able to move on from her previous relationship, Han Susu was genuinely happy for her.

Chen Xi also kicked Han Susu: “You’re saying I’m compatible with that bastard?”

Han Susu laughed: “I think you’re quite compatible—one crazy, one wild.”

Chen Xi kicked Han Susu again, and Han Susu laughingly dodged.

She closed her eyes, wanting to drive that absurd scene on the car roof from her mind, but unknowingly, amid the brilliant replay of fireworks, she gradually fell asleep.