It's best if you never come back.

"Mom and Dad? How dare you mention Mom and Dad to me?"

A sentence that Jiang Songyun blurted out during the argument haunted Jiang Songhe's mind like a curse.

Song Yun found out?

How did Song Yun know?

A sense of fear welled up inside Jiang Songhe, and she didn't know how to face it or dare to confirm it rashly.

But this afternoon, in front of outsiders, he reprimanded his usually proud younger brother, and he knew that his behavior was indeed excessive, a fact he readily admitted.

So he rushed to the nearest supermarket, bought ingredients and knives, returned to his hotel room, kneaded the dough, chopped the filling, and made a pot of dumplings.

He carried a steaming plate to Jiang Songyun's room and knocked twice: "Songyun? Are you asleep? I made dumplings for you, your favorite corn and shrimp filling."

There was no movement in the room for a long time, and his breathing gradually stopped.

Ta-da!

"You haven't eaten all day, it's not good to sleep on an empty stomach. Come out and have a bite while it's hot?" Jiang Songhe moved closer to the door, and hearing no response from inside, he finished his preamble and began, "This afternoon is Brother..."

"Stop banging! Aren't you annoying?!" Something slammed against the door with a thud. "I haven't liked corn and shrimp for a long time!!!"

Jiang Songhe's hand immediately stopped. After a long while, he turned around like a rusty machine, and it took him several tries to finally grasp the doorknob of his room. A sigh-like "Wrong" was quickly crushed by the sound of the door closing.

The plate of dumplings went from cold to hot, then back to cold, until finally they were soaked in water until they became sticky, soft, and torn, lying disemboweled on the plate.

No one actually ate a single one.

Jiang Songhe sat expressionlessly at the dining table, escaping reality by thinking, "New Year's Day is almost here."

He stared at the mess before him, and as he stared, his eyelids began to droop—

-

In the empty Jiang family villa, 17-year-old Jiang Songhe sat numbly by the round table in the dining room. The food on the table, which did not look very appetizing, had long since lost its heat, and the three brand-new bowls and chopsticks remained untouched.

On television, the hosts of the 2008 Spring Festival Gala took turns saying auspicious words around a large pot of dumplings: "May you be healthy, happy, and reunited in the Year of the Rat! Happy Year of the Rat!"

Jiang Songhe pressed the remote control button tightly and turned the TV volume up to the maximum, trying to drown out the endless, piercing conversations that kept running through his mind.

"Dad, when can you and Mom go back to Jingting?"

"Songhe, there's been a sudden problem with our overseas supplier, so Mom and Dad might not be able to come back this year."

"...Didn't we clearly agree that you and Mom would come home for Chinese New Year this year?"

"It happened suddenly, didn't it? Besides, your mother is heavily pregnant, and you're going to be an older brother soon. You don't want your mother and brother to suffer on such a long journey, do you? You're seventeen now, a grown man, you should be more sensible, right?"

"You always have sudden incidents every year, and every year you expect me to be sensible! Why should I?!"

"Why are you yelling at me, huh? Why should I? Because your mother and I provide you with good food and clothing! Because we earn money so that you and your brother can have a good life for the rest of your lives!"

"I've lived the same life as an orphan my whole life, and you call this a good life?"

"Your mom was pregnant with your brother because she was afraid you'd be lonely, wasn't it all for your sake?"

"Why did you give birth to him if he's like me, an orphan? For my sake? I don't need it! I don't need any damn younger brother, and I don't need you! You can do whatever you want, but you'd better never come back!!"

...

"Song He?!" Suddenly, someone was banging on the window of the villa, calling out to him in a strange, eerie way, "Jiang~~~Song~~~~He~~~~~"

Jiang Songhe knew who it was without even turning around. He smirked and rolled his eyes as he went to open the door.

"Hole!" The door opened, and Ni Haolang jumped out of the darkness, brandishing a gun with both hands to intimidate people. "How about that? Scared you? Haha!"

Jiang Songhe's gaze swept over Ni Haolang's swollen cheeks and the smeared makeup on his face. His brow twitched almost imperceptibly. He swallowed the words of abuse, then turned and walked back: "Want some more? I'll heat it up for you."

Ni Haolang skipped and hopped into the restaurant, plopped down next to Jiang Songhe, picked up an empty bowl, and as if he couldn't see the culinary disaster, grabbed his chopsticks and started eating: "Let me taste the 'Gathering of Heroes' prepared by Young Master Jiang himself~"

He started eating right after he finished speaking.

But I couldn't get it to chew.

"Ugh!" Ni Haolang grimaced and covered half of his face, silently spitting a piece that looked like a rib into his bowl. He said with a hint of sympathy, "Why don't you ask your aunt and uncle to hire a nanny for you?"

“I don’t like outsiders in my house.” Jiang Songhe snatched the bowl and chopsticks from Ni Haolang’s hands. “If you’re not going to eat, just leave it there.”

Ni Haolang rubbed his hands together, chuckled, and mysteriously pulled Jiang Songhe up, saying, "Come on, brother, I'll take you to a good place."

"Where?" Jiang Songhe asked, half-heartedly.

As they passed through the living room, Ni Haolang casually grabbed a down jacket from the back of the sofa and tossed it into Jiang Songhe's arms, then dragged her straight out the door: "Hey, you'll see when we get there!"

Ni Haolang took Jiang Songhe to a newly opened bar near Jiuweng Bridge. Strangely enough, Jiang Songhe followed him in without being dragged or pulled.

This was their first time in an adult-oriented place like a bar. One of them gave a cold, dismissive look, while the other smugly looked around.

Upon seeing a couple kissing openly, Ni Haolang, as if he had never seen anything like it before, tugged at Jiang Songhe, causing her to stumble, and then winked at her, urging her to blatantly peek at them too.

The shimmering disco ball swayed and rotated, sending light into that fiery corner. Good heavens, those two people who seemed oblivious to the world were actually men!

"Holy crap, this works too..." Ni Haolang was stunned.

"Tsk." Jiang Songhe raised her elbow to help Ni Haolang put his chin back on. "Didn't you bring me here to drink?"

"Oh, right, right." Ni Haolang and Jiang Songhe walked towards the bar. After thinking for a moment, he asked Jiang Songhe, "Hey, what did you think when you saw those two... you know?"

Jiang Songhe lifted his long leg, straddled the high stool, and gave his evaluation: "Disgusting."

Ni Haolang chimed in, "It is pretty disgusting, huh?"

"Would you two like some drinks..." The bartender had just finished settling the bill for the previous customer and was wiping the glasses when he came over to greet them. Seeing that Jiang Songhe didn't say anything, and seeing that Ni Haolang had to jump up onto the bar stool like a golden monkey, he took out a small sign from behind the bar: "Sorry, minors are prohibited from drinking alcohol."

Upon hearing this, Ni Haolang's face turned green. He immediately slammed his ID card on the bar counter and retorted, "What kind of eyes do you have? I'm a year older than this tall guy!"

Jiang Songhe's lips twitched, and he cursed Ni Haolang inwardly for being a idiot.

The bartender glanced down at the birth date on the ID card, then looked at Jiang Songhe with a smile: "So this person is a minor."

Ni Haolang then realized that he had made a big blunder and quickly put away his resentment, grinning and joking: "Hey bro, it's the New Year, a few hours won't make a difference."

“How about this,” Ni Haolang said, fanning himself with a handful of banknotes, “we’ll drink here until midnight, okay? After midnight, according to our ancestors’ rules, he’ll be 18 years old!”

"Alright." The bartender, hands on the bar counter, continued with his usual greeting, "What would you two like to drink?"

Ni Haolang: "Is there any wine that, once you drink it, can make you feel like you're living in a dream world?"

"Absinthe." The bartender took a bottle of fluorescent green liquor from the shelf behind him. "But I suggest you two pay the bill first."

"Who do you think you are?" Despite saying that, Ni Haolang still paid the bill first to prove that he was not short of money. "I'll take this whole bottle, and two glasses, please!"

How to describe the taste of this drink? It's neither bitter nor sweet, with a strong spice flavor. No wonder the bartender made us pay the bill first; he was too hasty.

The two exchanged glances, each downing half a cup in one gulp. Once their tongues were numb, they got used to it and then got into the mood, clinking glasses and exchanging toasts like adults.

Ni Haolang continued to ramble on and on, while Jiang Songhe just kept drinking one cup after another in silence.

They told someone they'd "drink until midnight," but before midnight even arrived, the two of them were already passed out.

Ni Haolang raised his hand and searched for a long time before finally finding his face. He smeared it on his double vision and said to Jiang Songhe, who was vaguely staring blankly across from him, "It's not my fault... hiccup. I mean... you're just too... hiccup."

Jiang Songhe remained motionless and silent.

Ni Haolang used his elbows to propel his upper body forward in a crawl, and only when he got closer did he realize that Jiang Songhe was crying.

Jiang Songhe's face was pressed against the bar counter, her nose was bright red, her eyes were unblinking, and tears flowed from the inner corner of her upper eyelid into her lower eyelid, then dripped from the corner of her eyelashes, forming a small puddle on the counter...

Ni Haolang stared at her for a long time at close range, but couldn't hear her breathing. Her face gradually turned red, probably from the strong alcohol. He leaned closer and whispered, "Song He..."

Jiang Songhe was afraid to hear words of comfort, but her head felt so heavy that she closed her eyes and hid in the darkness.

Ni Haolang pursed his lips, as if afraid that the pungent smell of alcohol would spray onto Jiang Songhe's face. A tissue for wiping tears was already handed to him, and then his elbow suddenly slid, bringing Ni Haolang even closer to Jiang Songhe.

Ni Haolang's pupils flickered, his body trembled slightly, and he released his lips, reddened from being pressed against his teeth, and secretly touched those wet, tightly closed eyes. At the same time, Jiang Songhe frowned and opened her eyes—

What are you doing?