When discussing relationships at a drinking table, listeners find it intriguing, but for those in the story, even forcing a smile is difficult.

Cheng Wanyue gazed absently at the foam in her wine glass. Despite having vivid memories, she didn’t know where to begin. She and Qing Hang had never officially been together, so it couldn’t be called a breakup.

Before their final Cold War, problems had already emerged between them, but even now, she didn’t understand what she had done wrong.

One evening, Qing Hang mentioned that his only extracurricular activity in elementary school was playing ping pong. Hearing this, Cheng Wanyue became excited. She wanted to learn, but there were no ping pong tables on the No. 1 High School campus.

When she returned home, she persistently bothered Cheng Guo’an about it, asking during meals and right after waking up.

“Dad, next time you meet Principal Liu, could you suggest something? The school has basketball courts but no ping pong tables. Qing Hang plays well!”

With no way to resist her pestering, Cheng Guo’an did mention it to the principal, who coincidentally had been considering the same idea.

“We’re already planning to build them. Once the equipment arrives, they’ll be ready to use.”

“Will they be finished by the start of the semester?”

“They should be.”

When Cheng Wanyue set her mind on something, she was determined to make it happen. Before even buying ping pong paddles, she used the New Year’s money from her second aunt to buy two pairs of shoes with the same style in black and white.

She only cared about appearance when shopping; looks were most important, but attractive things were generally not cheap.

After waiting a month for delivery, she put on her pair and took the other to find Qing Hang.

His grandfather was ill, and Qing Hang had many small tasks to manage. As college entrance exams approached, he studied late into the night and had to wake up early to help with chores.

On weekends, more people came to sell recyclables. The courtyard wasn’t large, so he needed to organize the cardboard boxes collected the previous day; otherwise, visitors would have nowhere to stand.

Cheng Wanyue always liked to arrive quietly, hiding at the entrance and suddenly jumping out to startle him.

“Qing Hang!”

With a large stack of cardboard boxes in his hands, Qing Hang could barely turn his head. She had a new hairstyle, with a hat covering half her face, but it couldn’t hide her bright smile.

She seemed to be without any worries.

While others lost sleep and appetite, stressing over test scores, she slept well and ate heartily. Others worried about not getting into their ideal universities, but she continued playing as usual. Others would spend their rest days bringing home all their study materials, but she always arrived empty-handed.

“Wait ten minutes. Let me clean up these things, then you can come in.”

“It’s not dirty,” she ignored his instructions completely.

Qing Hang watched as she held a shoebox above her head, carefully squeezing through the messy recyclables to reach his side.

Cheng Wanyue spun around on a cardboard box. “Do I look different today?”

Qing Hang’s gaze fell on her feet. “Your shoes are new.”

“Do they look nice?”

“Yes, they do.”

“I have a pair for you, too. Try them on and see if they fit,” she opened the shoebox. “Let’s go to school tonight. You can teach me ping pong.”

Qing Hang didn’t recognize luxury brands, but he had seen this logo before.

Almost all of Cheng Yuzhou’s sneakers were this brand, and Cheng Yanqing often wore them too. He spent half a day organizing cardboard boxes worth 0.6 yuan per kilogram, which probably wouldn’t even cover the cost of the shoelaces.

“I can accompany you to play ping pong, for as long as you want, but I can’t accept these shoes. Take them back.”

Cheng Wanyue said, “I bought them for you.”

“I can’t accept them.” Qing Hang arranged the shoes back perfectly, closed the lid, and even wiped off the mud from the bottom of the box. “Cheng Wanyue, don’t give me such expensive things.”

More than one classmate had said that the Cheng family liked to help the poor—both Cheng Wanyue and Cheng Yuzhou did this. These comments just hadn’t reached the siblings’ ears yet.

“But I’ve already bought them. If you don’t take them, I can’t return them,” she said, a bit upset. “Isn’t throwing them away a waste?”

Qing Hang insisted, “I can’t accept them.”

“Why are you angry?” Cheng Wanyue had meant well.

Qing Hang stood up to continue working. “I’m not angry.”

They had argued before the New Year, and Cheng Wanyue’s visit today contained elements of reconciliation. She had come with a happy heart, but in less than ten minutes, she was filled with irritation.

Grandfather brought out a box of milk, even warming it with hot water. Cheng Wanyue refused it, threw the shoebox into the pile of recyclables, and left.

After that day, she never mentioned playing ping pong again.

Except for Yan Ci, the five of them ate together almost every day. Occasionally, Cheng Yuzhou would selfishly take Zhou Yu away, and then Cheng Wanyue would stop going to the cafeteria as well, leaving only Cheng Yanqing and Qing Hang at the table.

For these few years, the relationship between Cheng Wanyue and Qing Hang had been on-again, off-again.

When things were good, no one could come between them. When they argued, neither would acknowledge the other. If they encountered each other in the corridor going up or down the stairs, they would act as if they hadn’t seen each other.

Standing beside Qing Hang, Cheng Yanqing was also completely ignored by Cheng Wanyue.

“What’s wrong between you two?”

“Nothing.”

“My dad plans to send Cheng Wanyue abroad. I don’t know if she’s willing,” Cheng Yanqing was used to this by now; after all, they would reconcile in a few days. “Have your early admission test results come out? Should be no problem, right? How nice, you don’t have to take the college entrance exam.”

Qing Hang remained silent.

He could still hear Cheng Wanyue’s voice. She was watching the vocational school students playing basketball on the field. Someone asked her about the boy wearing jersey number 6, and she said he was fine, that she could get to know him.

She would meet many more people in the future.

The ping pong paddle in his desk drawer seemed superfluous, just like him standing here waiting for her to pass by.

Qing Hang was determined not to be distracted by Cheng Wanyue anymore, but two weeks later, she got into trouble because of that number 6 jersey boy.

Her habit of flirting without taking responsibility had never improved, but others wouldn’t be as easy to shake off as he was.

If Qing Hang had truly managed not to care about her, he wouldn’t have noticed her walking into an alley with no exit.

His first fight in life was during his sophomore year, when a boy made lewd jokes about Cheng Wanyue in public, saying her legs were beautiful and that she looked seductive in a short skirt.

That time, she had been very concerned about his injuries and kept crying. He only had a few scratches on his face, but she nearly covered him with Band-Aids.

But this time, she wouldn’t even look at him.

“He has nothing to do with me. Tell him to go away,” Cheng Wanyue’s expression was cold. If she had shown any sign of knowing Qing Hang, Number 6 would think she was rejecting him because of Qing Hang.

Number 6 appeared innocent on the surface, but was quite unstable.

Such people were frightening. She kept her distance from him on the second day they met, let alone date him. She was even afraid to be friends with him, fearing he might hold a knife to her throat in the middle of the night.

Qing Hang had been granted early admission and couldn’t risk any incidents. Fighting was a major offense—if it went on his record, it would be a permanent stain on his life.

Before Number 6 lured Cheng Wanyue into the alley, he had called many people, but Qing Hang could only see her and Number 6. Number 6 had his arm around her shoulder. She hated people smoking in front of her, even her father wasn’t allowed, but when Number 6 teased her by bringing the cigarette to her lips, she didn’t object.

She shouldn’t be with someone like him.

Qing Hang stared at her stubbornly. “Cheng Wanyue, come here.”

“Would you stop it?” She frowned. “Don’t think that just because you know me, you can interfere in my business.”

There was only one street lamp, stretching Qing Hang’s shadow very long.

Seeing that he wasn’t leaving, Cheng Wanyue pulled Number 6 deeper into the alley.

After who knows how long, the shadow in the corner disappeared, and his footsteps grew more distant. Only then did Cheng Wanyue breathe a sigh of relief.

Her hand, which had been tightly clutching her clothes, slowly relaxed. Her palm was covered in cold sweat.

She had been tricked by Number 6 into coming here. When she realized she was trapped with no way out, she wasn’t afraid. But when she saw Qing Hang follow them into the alley with a brick in his hand, she was so tense she dared not move, fearing he might smash the brick directly onto Number 6’s head. That lunatic Number 6 might kill him.

Being pursued by someone with such a dark personality was truly her great misfortune.

Shaking off Number 6’s harassment was troublesome. The early admission results had already been publicly announced, but Qing Hang hadn’t come to tell her, so she pretended not to know.

The last time she saw him was at the Cheng family home.

That day, Cheng Wanyue was uncomfortable due to her period and hadn’t eaten breakfast. Cheng Guo’an urged her to quickly eat something and do her homework, but she ignored him.

Qing Hang came to the Cheng house. She thought he was looking for her, but just like his first visit three years ago, he only spoke to Cheng Guo’an.

He had come to say goodbye.

But not to say goodbye to her.

The moment the front door closed, it was as if all the moments of those three years were locked behind that door. Each step Qing Hang took was a step further away from Cheng Wanyue.

Grandfather advised him, “Xiao Hang, say goodbye to Yueyue, so you won’t regret it later.”

Though he knew Grandfather was right, he still didn’t turn back.

If he had waited a little longer that day, or if the train had been delayed, he would have seen Cheng Wanyue running toward him with tears streaming down her face.

The train sped through the tunnel, running for eight years before stopping.

…

Cheng Wanyue’s silence caused the atmosphere at the drinking table to cool.

Xu Qian realized she might have asked the wrong question and was about to smooth things over when Qing Hang picked up a bottle of beer and drank three glasses in succession.

Soon, another round began, and the atmosphere became lively again.

Cheng Wanyue was called away by Meng Qi. Zhou Heng moved his chair to Qing Hang’s left side. “Qing Hang, you went a bit too far with this.”

Qing Hang clinked glasses with him. “I’m sorry.”

Zhou Heng smiled bitterly. “It’s quite awkward. You should have told me earlier.”

Without Zhou Heng, Qing Hang wouldn’t have seen Cheng Wanyue so soon. If Cheng Wanyue didn’t give him a definite signal, he had no right to prevent others from pursuing her.

Zhou Heng recalled the resignation letter. “You planned to resign in June. Were you going to find her?”

Qing Hang’s eyes were hidden in the night’s darkness. He tilted his head toward the empty seat beside him. “Yes.”

“The leadership wants me to study abroad for a while. I was hesitant before, but now there’s nothing to hesitate about,” Zhou Heng filled Qing Hang’s glass. “Once we finish this drink, it’s over. She doesn’t like me anyway. If I not only fail to win over the girl I like but also lose a friend, that would make me even more of a failure.”

By the time Cheng Wanyue returned, almost all the bottles on the table were empty.

Zhou Heng handed the keys to Cheng Wanyue. “Wanyue, it was nice meeting you. I’m not going back to stay tonight. I leave Qing Hang to you. Sorry, I got him drunk. Trouble you to take care of him.”

Cheng Wanyue ruffled Qing Hang’s short hair. “It’s fine. You can go.”

Zhou Heng got up, and Xu Qian followed.

Just as Cheng Wanyue put the keys in her bag, Qing Hang wrapped his arm around her waist. Meng Qi’s car hadn’t even driven far when he kissed her under the tree, urgent and passionate.

Her back hit the tree trunk, and the slight pain that traveled to her nerve endings confirmed that Qing Hang was truly drunk.

“Cheng Wanyue.”

“Hmm?”

He murmured, “I’ve missed you.”