Chapter 63

After a few rounds of laughter and banter, the song on the stage over there had already come to a close. The boss was directing the waiters to clear away the props. The few people who had gathered in front of the stage to enjoy the fun had mostly dispersed, leaving behind leftovers as they headed back to their rooms. Some, still unfinished, continued their lively conversations in the gentle night breeze.

After Shen Nian burped happily while holding the bottle of wine, she reached out and patted Zhou Zifang, who was lying across from her. "Why is Lu Jiyu gone?"

Zhou Zifang was half drunk and was about to rush to see Zhou Gong in a daze, but his dream was shattered halfway.

Dong Lin, who was standing by, picked up two peanuts and threw them into his mouth. He looked at Shen Nian like an experienced person: "Why do you care about him? Didn't you notice that there is one person missing?"

"Jiang Wan? Yeah, didn't she go out with Li Qingxi just now? Why did she come back alone?"

Li Qingxi was somewhat impressed by the girl's slowness, but he couldn't say anything casually, so he just said casually: "She might be a little drunk and went back to her room to rest."

"Oh." Shen Nian nodded, convinced by the answer, and then circled back to the first question: "Where did Lu Jiyu go?"

Li Mu's face flushed from drinking, and he was looking up at the stars. When he heard her say that, he smiled knowingly and said, "Why are you looking for him? Do you like him?"

"Is it not possible?" Shen Nian nodded generously.

Li Mu shook his head: "Maybe it's really not possible."

"Why?"

"Hey, say it." He pushed Zhou Zifang's waist.

Zhou Zifang thought this guy was quite good at passing the buck, but he didn't want to take the blame, so he kept his mouth shut and played dumb. Finally, it was Dong Lin who spoke.

"Don't you see?"

"What do you see?"

"He and Jiang Wan are a couple."

Shen Nian's brain froze for a few seconds: "No one said that."

"Sister." Dong Lin touched her head affectionately. "As adults, we should learn to see for ourselves. Don't you agree, Chen Meiyun?"

Chen Meiyun was a little concerned about Jiang Wan's secret love affair, but she was absolutely against it. Someone trying to steal her best friend's boyfriend was something she absolutely couldn't tolerate. "There are plenty of men in the world. Lu Jiyu is already taken. You should find someone else."

Li Mu suddenly laughed out loud: "What are we doing?"

"Everyone is heartbroken."

"Don't take me with you, I don't have any." Zhou Zifang, the single guy, hurriedly distanced himself from the matter.

On the other hand, Chen Meiyu, who was usually very sensitive, sat there motionless. Seeing the person opposite her looking at her, she curled her lips and said frankly, "I guess it will be soon too."

Zhou Zifang wanted to ask, "What's coming soon?"

Li Mu patted him and struggled to sit up: "Hey, why are these two people back again?"

After hearing what he said, the people sitting there turned their heads to look at the store entrance. The two people who had disappeared for more than an hour came back one after another.

Jiang Wan had her hair in a ponytail when she left, but now she had just a hastily tied bun at the back of her head. She walked over to sit next to Chen Meiyun, found a beer bottle with the bottom still on the corner of the table, and was about to pick it up when a hand came over and covered the bottle mouth. Lu Jiyu lowered his eyes and stared at her: "Still drinking?"

He was wearing headphones and talking on the phone. After taking a distracted look at the person sitting there, he took the bottle of wine away and brought the kettle to Jiang Wan. His meaning was very clear: you should drink some water.

The spectators nearby were stunned by the undercurrent between the two.

Li Mu: Damn, this is an amazing feeling of being a husband.

Zhou Zifang: He is a troublemaker and meddlesome.

Li Qingxi: Didn’t we agree not to make it public? But you’re not hiding it at all, buddy.

Jiang Wan really poured himself half a glass of water, and after pouring it, he asked Chen Meiyun next to him: "Do you want some?"

Chen Meiyun leaned close to her ear with a smile, half jokingly and half threateningly saying, "Go back and give me a good account of all the ups and downs of your journey."

Lu Jiyu hooked his legs to open the chair and sat down opposite Jiang Wan. He took out his cell phone and put it on the table, but the call was still going on.

"Who are you calling? You're so reluctant to part with each other?" Zhou Zifang leaned over and glanced at Lu Jiyu's phone screen with an ambiguous look.

The result was a set of super white teeth.

"Hi, Brother Zhou, long time no see."

It’s Gao Zhuo.

Gao Zhuo's appearance is not particularly outstanding, but his smile is extremely contagious. Zhou Zifang let this smile flash, as if he was back to the age before he became a poisonous husband.

"Hello, where are you?" Zhou Zifang looked at Gao Zhuo standing by the river, with a crowd of people crowding around him.

"I'm back home, and the fireworks are about to start." He was excited, his eyes gleaming with an irresistible smile. On the day the results came out, Zhou Zifang had specifically asked Lu Jiyu about Gao Zhuo's exceptional performance, exceeding his best estimate by over twenty points. His admission to University C was a sure thing.

Zhou Zifang himself is not a diligent student, but he has always admired such people from the bottom of his heart.

"I forgot to congratulate you, Gao Zhuo, you're so awesome! A role model for us!"

The boy in the video scratched his head sheepishly: "I will keep working hard!"

He was halfway through his words when the crowd behind him suddenly stirred, signaling that the fireworks display was about to begin. The audience on the riverside had already begun a spontaneous countdown.

At this time, Li Mu also came over and greeted him: "Long time no see!"

As he finished speaking, a loud bang came from the sky on the other side of the video, followed by a huge colorful firework blooming brilliantly in the sky.

There was a lot of "wow" sounds in the background.

"I want to see it too." Li Qingxi leaned his head closer.

"I want one too, I want one too." The remaining girls responded one after another.

Gao Zhuo was a little overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of so many unfamiliar faces. He simply turned the camera around and pointed it directly at the quiet and dark sky. At this moment, in this sky, one dazzling firework after another was vying for the first place, like embroidery on brocade, vying for beauty.

"Should we make a wish when we see fireworks?" Shen Nian raised his head and looked at the people around him.

Li Qingxi laughed: "It's okay to make a wish when you see a shooting star, but why do you have to make a wish when you see fireworks?"

"I don't care." Chen Nian glanced between Lu Jiyu and Jiang Wan and said loudly: "I wish God would give me a handsome guy who is 185cm tall! I must suffer the pain of love this year!"

Dong Lin patted her with his hand: "You are already a handsome guy of 185cm, and the rest are honey. Do you still want to suffer?"

After she reminded him, Shen Nian nodded: "That's true."

"What about you? You don't have any wishes?"

"Why would you make a wish at such a young age?" Zhou Zifang peeled two small walnuts for himself and clapped his hands. "It's too late to even dream."

Li Mu lazily kicked him with his foot: "You don't strive for progress yourself, and you suppress the enthusiasm of others."

Zhou Zifang snorted: "Okay, then I also wish to find a girlfriend like Liu Yifei."

"People are setting off fireworks over there, and you're farting here?"

"vulgar."

"Forget it, forget it. Let's stop talking about this. Shen Nian and I are going back tomorrow. Let's do one together. It will be our practice." Li Qingxi stood up with a glass of wine and started: "How does the poem say it? Don't worry about having no friends on the road ahead, everyone in the world knows you!"

"You have to be a cultured person!" Lu Jiyu folded his arms, leaned back in his chair leisurely, and nodded to her.

Li Qingxi gave him a glare: "Don't let this little guy get cocky. Tell me about your graduation speech! Lu Beibei!"

Lu Jiyu didn't act pretentiously. He picked up the wine bottle he had just taken from Jiang Wan and looked at Li Qingxi. "I don't have anything special to say. I just want to tell you that the road we're on now is the best one. There's no need to look left or right. As long as we keep going, there will always be a day when we'll reach a place full of flowers. Don't you agree?"

Li Qingxi had only intended to tease Lu Jiyu, but she hadn't expected him to become so serious right from the start. He hadn't said much tonight, as he always had, his participation was minimal. He had a face that could easily take center stage anywhere, but he simply preferred to confine himself to the corner, seemingly indifferent and detached, yet seemingly knowing everything.

Going to study in the United States at such a young age was not originally part of Li Qingxi's plan, and she never told anyone the reason for her sudden decision.

Out of pride. Out of anger. After Li Mu went to England, she looked like the one left behind in China. Her personality wouldn't allow people around her to see her that way. So she went her own way, ignoring her family's objections and going to school in the United States. She didn't tell her family much about the troubles she had encountered in the past few years.

Lu Ji had never discussed this issue with him, but he understood everything.

"Of course." Li Qingxi tried hard to control his emotions, raised his glass high to the others, and sighed sincerely: "This is really the most wonderful summer I have ever had in my life!"

"Who says it isn't?" The others also agreed with a smile.

"Take me with you, take me with you!" Gao Zhuo, who was almost forgotten, shouted from the other end of the phone screen.

"Okay, okay!" Zhou Zifang smiled and lifted him to the middle position.

Then--

With a crisp "bang", the wine glasses and bottles were pushed together, and the wine spread everywhere. The glass reflected the most brilliant galaxy in the sky, and was also filled with the brightest smiles of boys and girls.

All good things happen in summer.

No matter where they will drift to in the future, the starlight sprinkled on their shoulders tonight will be cast into their blood, and we will pray for them day and night.

I want to buy some osmanthus flowers and put them in the wine, but it doesn’t feel like the travels of my youth.

Fortunately, they are still young at this moment and still have boundless expectations for the future.

The party lasted almost until midnight.

Lu Jiyu went to the front desk to pay the bill, and Zhou Zifang and Li Mu were responsible for sending the girl back to her room.

When paying, Lu Jiyu also bought two bottles of mineral water from the waiter. Just as he opened the bottle to take a sip, a WeChat message popped up on his phone.

It’s still that sweet dumpling.

——Oh no, I may have to report until midnight today.

Lu Jiyu typed with one hand: "Pretending to be drunk, aren't you the best?"

——You can escape the first day, but you can’t escape the fifteenth.

It's rare to hear a hint of helplessness in her words.

Lu Jiyu smiled and replied, "Then I can only wish you good luck."

There is one more thing.

gazer: When will you add me back on your WeChat account?

Jiang Wan on the other end was also rude.

The dumplings are a little sweet: 5,000 on WeChat, would you like to add me?

gazer: Can I pay in installments?

The dumplings are a little sweet: how do you say that?

gazer: one cent a day.

Dumplings are a little sweet: A person’s life only has more than 30,000 days, are you trying to trick him?

gazer: ...

Jiang Wan immediately rescinded the above message and replied with another one.

Dumplings are a little sweet: You are trying to trap me, you have bad intentions. Let's not talk about it for now, Chen Meiyun has already taken out her belt.

Lu Jiyu knew she was playing fast and loose again, but he still said to her kindly, "Don't play too wildly, you have to get up early tomorrow."

After he sent this message and was about to put his phone away, a hand came up on his shoulder.

Lu Jiyu knew who it was without turning around. He handed him another bottle of water on the counter and asked, "What brought you back?"

Zhou Zifang was also a little thirsty, so he took the water and drank most of it in one gulp: "I came to pick you up. It's so late, it's not safe to leave you alone."

Lu Jiyu turned his head and gave him a thank you expression: "My room is in two different directions from yours, it's not on the way, thank you."

After saying that, he turned around and was about to leave. Zhou Zifang called out to him from behind, inexplicably: "Lu Beibei."

Lu Jiyu looked at him tiredly: "Anything else?"

Zhou Zifang swallowed the water in his mouth and said hesitantly, "No, it's okay."

No! Actually, he has something to do.

He saw Lu Jiyu as soon as he entered the room, holding a mobile phone and smiling passionately. He thought she was chatting with Jiang Wan, but when he looked closer, he saw that it was the sweet dumpling again. But wasn't he already with Jiang Wan?

No way, could it be that Lu Jiyu was really determined to be a scumbag? Zhou Zifang had a lot of chaotic thoughts, completely caught in the struggle between his conscience and his conscience.

After Li Qingxi left, Jiang Wan and the others returned home after staying in Xinjiang for a few days. Lu Jiyu had to fly to the capital midway and did not go with them.

Jiang Wan and her friends arrived in Nanyuan on a 2 p.m. flight, and Jiang Huainan came to the airport to pick them up in person.

Jiang Wan had originally intended to decline Jiang Huainan's offer of a ride to the airport, but he was too enthusiastic. As soon as the plane landed and the signal was restored, she sent a WeChat message to him to let him know, and then Jiang Huainan called.

"Wanzi, are you here yet?"

"I'm here too. I'll be waiting for you in the underground garage."

Chen Meiyun, sitting next to her and texting with her mother on WeChat, took the time to ask, "Hey, I heard Chen Wulin did pretty well on the exam this time, right?"

Jiang Wan was looking at the scenery outside the small window of the plane and said nonchalantly, "Well, he told me about the results."

"No, he will also apply to F University."

"That's not the case." But she knew that the schools he applied to were all in the capital. Jiang Wan was not stupid either, and she knew at least that he did it on purpose.

But Jiang Wan couldn't guess his real motive, nor was he too lazy to guess.

Chen Meiyun's mother came to pick her up, but she hadn't arrived yet. After Jiang Wan took her luggage and said goodbye to her, he took the elevator to the parking lot alone to find Jiang Huainan's car.

"Wait for me in Area D."

Jiang Wan stood at the exit of Area D and waited for five minutes. Then he picked up his phone and listened to Jiang Huainan's voice message again. After confirming that he was talking about D and not B, he was about to ask again where he was.

She was halfway through sending a WeChat message when a white Volkswagen slowly pulled up in front of her. The passenger window rolled down, and Jiang Huainan smiled and waved at her, "Wanzai."

The underground garage was not ventilated and was filled with exhaust fumes. Jiang Wan was already suffocated and expressionless. After a perfunctory smile, she went straight to open the back door of the car.

Turns out there was someone inside.

"Jiang Wan, long time no see." Sitting in the dark seat in the back row, Chen Wulin, wearing a striped T-shirt and light-colored jeans, looked at her with a faint smile in his eyes.