48/Fireworks
In this scene—the beach, the waves, the sparklers that had just been set off, and then being embraced—Shen Yu couldn't help but overthink. He looked down at the girl's head and said in a slightly playful tone, "What's the difference between this and a confession, Chen Mian?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than shouts, louder and louder, could be heard from not far away.
"What are you all doing in the dark? Come on over and set off fireworks!"
"How can we come to the beach and not set off fireworks!"
"—Shen Yu! You son of a bitch! Come here!"
…
Chen Mian released him, her expression returning to normal, as if she wasn't the one who had just wished him happiness every day.
His back view was rather cold and ruthless. He walked forward on his own, but after only a few steps, someone grabbed his wrist with a smile.
The height difference between them was such that when he reached out to pull her close, her head rested on his shoulder, her hair was ruffled, and her hair tie was pulled off. As her hair fell down, it was blown across her face by the sea breeze.
"..."
Tucking her hair behind her ear, Chen Mian's voice was a little muffled, "Chen Yu, you're really annoying."
Shen Yu: "Is that your catchphrase, Chen Mian?"
Over there, You Huai was still yelling at people like an old woman, urging them to come over quickly.
Chi Sheng also joined in the fun, shouting "Shen Yu!" repeatedly, as if summoning a soul.
Just as Chen Mian reached out to tug at Chen Yu's clothes, she was intercepted in mid-air as if anticipated. The moment their fingers intertwined, it was as if they had captured the entire summer night breeze in their hands, and he pulled her towards the light.
"—Chen Mian set off fireworks."
Sea breeze, waves, night, laughter—all these elements combine to create this moment.
She was reminded of countless moments they had spent together in the past. Then, as if rewinding, the scenes flashed back to that rainy night two years ago, when his hand, intertwined with hers, reached out to her. The black umbrella tilted slowly, and raindrops pattered down and fell to the ground. The boy's face gradually appeared before her.
At that time, the Shenyu region, like the night rain, was filled with the coolness of the evening breeze, and the eyes that looked at it were cold and indifferent, and the words of help were like charity.
As time dragged on, they were strangers who passed each other by without ever looking back at school. But once they left campus, their relationship became one of intimate physical transactions in bed. Money and goods were the best description of their relationship at that time. Then, as the days accumulated, these four words collapsed under the weight of their emotions.
—The Sinking Domain.
Chen Mian repeated those two words in her mind over and over again. The warmth of their intertwined palms was burning, and the dampness spread little by little. The sound of the boy's breathing as he ran fell into her ears.
She seemed to hear a tearing sound as the wind was cut through.
Then I smelled the refreshing minty scent on Shen Yu's body.
It wasn't a long distance, but it felt like running 800 meters at school.
In the final moment of stopping, Chen Mian's chest was still heaving violently, and her hand was still being held. But when Qiao Zhiwan looked over, Shen Yu pulled her into his pants pocket, as if hiding a secret that only they could see.
Fireworks were piled up all over the ground, all sorts of kinds. Chen Yu rummaged through them and found some sparklers, which he then gave to Chen Mian.
You Huai scolded him for forgetting his friends because of a beautiful woman. There are so many people here, and he only took from Chen Mian. What does that mean?
Shen Yu sneered and replied, "Don't you have hands?"
Chi Sheng squatted there silently, then suddenly lit a firework.
The fuse was lit, and after a hissing sound, the square firework box exploded.
—Bang, bang, bang.
I couldn't tell if it was the sound of a heartbeat or the sound of fireworks exploding.
Fireworks burst in the sky, and after they went out, new ones were set off again.
Fleeting beauty easily captures the eye.
Qiao Zhiwan glanced sideways amidst the fireworks and saw Chen Mian's face illuminated by the fireworks, while Shen Yu beside her smiled, tilting his head and looking intently at her.
Fireworks were something Chen Yin loved to play with, and You Huai bought her a lot. Chi Sheng was like a heartless tool for setting off fireworks. At first, he didn't realize it and was having a great time. But when he turned around, he saw his good brothers taking pictures of girls and holding a girl's hand, laughing like an animal. Only his resentful cousin was standing next to him, looking at the fireworks with a rather lonely expression.
It was only then that Chi Sheng realized he was just a tool.
He also understood the real reason why Shen Yu agreed to come. To hell with catching up after so long, he just wanted to be his laborer.
They've been like this since they were little. Chi Sheng is the easiest of the three to be fooled. Back then, all three of them were just little kids. When they were playing at You Huai's house, Shen Yu accidentally broke a vase, but he didn't say a word. He just quietly changed his position when the adults came out. Chi Sheng even wiped his sweat and asked You Huai's father, who had a gloomy expression, "Uncle, why is your face so dark?"
But he's also very easy to coax. Every time he gets angry and ignores people, after saying countless harsh words, Shen Yu will buy him some food and ask him, "Chi Sheng, have you grown taller recently?" and Chi Sheng will be fine again.
He's really grown up this time. He didn't wait for Shen Yu and You Huai to make up lame excuses to tell him that he wasn't a laborer and that he was their good brother. He didn't care what girls they were chasing either. He grabbed one of them by the neck and pushed him into the sea.
You Huai was still holding his phone when Chi Sheng pushed it into the sea. He yelled, "Chi Sheng, you motherfucker—glug glug—Chen Yin, what are you laughing at! This is your—glug glug—…phone!"
Shen Yu's pants were soaked, and his clothes were mostly wet. He wasn't as angry as You Huai; he just grabbed Chi Sheng and pushed him into the sea.
The situation was chaotic, and Chen Yin rushed over to try and salvage her phone, but You Huai dragged her down with him.
Chen Mian stood on the shore, watching Shen Yu coldly settle accounts with someone.
Amidst the commotion, Qiao Zhiwan walked over to her and said, "Chen Mian, my dad is preparing to divorce my mom. Do you know why?"
Before Chen Mian could answer, she continued, "Because your dad always comes to our door. He waits at the entrance of the community, and when he sees her, he pesters her for money. Calling the police is useless. After he got out, he went to my dad's company and caused chaos in my home. My dad found me a new place to live, and then they started arguing endlessly."
Chen Mian looked at her, her tone indifferent, "What does your parents' divorce have to do with me?"
This reaction was exactly what Qiao Zhiwan had expected. Chen Mian was always like this, but she had just been bottling things up for too long. The family arguments that had lasted for nearly a month had left her physically and mentally exhausted. The moment she finished the college entrance exam, all she wanted was to be free. Every day, all she could hear was Ruan Yanmei's pleas and Qiao Cheng's indifference. Later, Ruan Yanmei seemed to have discovered evidence of Qiao Cheng's infidelity, and her pleas turned into desperate cries.
How could you do this to me?
—What did I do wrong?
—Please, don't do this, don't leave me.
...
Ruan Yanmei also begged her, crying as she said, "Wanwan, please help your mother, please help your mother persuade your father, okay?"
Qiao Zhiwan felt extremely tired, and for some reason, she remembered what Chen Mian had said to her.
—The way you chased after Shen Yu, trying to please everyone, was quite ridiculous.
The words that had once filled her with anger now seemed to have a different meaning, because she saw her own reflection in Ruan Yanmei's fawning over Qiao Cheng—ugly and repulsive.
She chuckled softly, as if she had let go of everything from the past. "How can it have nothing to do with you, Chen Mian? You shattered my castle. You showed me the true nature of everything. To be honest, I should hate you, but I also think you're quite right."
“I’m good-looking, from a good family, have a good personality, and have special talents. What kind of boy can’t I find? Even if they divorce, I’m still my dad’s only daughter, and it doesn’t affect me at all. I just saw the world as it really is and realized that I’m not the protagonist of the world, and that everything doesn’t revolve around me. So Chen Mian, I don’t hate you because, apart from Chen Yu, I’m much better than you.”
She pointed at Shen Yu who was walking towards them and said to Chen Mian, "He is just someone I secretly love but can't have, but for you, he is the only thing that makes people jealous."
The words fell.
She walked away with a smile.
Shen Yu didn't know what Qiao Zhiwan had said to Chen Mian, but Chen Mian couldn't see anything unusual about it.
He was soaking wet; the bath was a waste of his time, and his hair was dripping wet.
"Go back?"
Chen Mian nodded.
As soon as he entered the room, Chen Yu started taking off his clothes. His soaking wet short-sleeved shirt was casually thrown on the ground like a rag. The logo of a fashion magazine was pasted on the door. Chen Mian had just glanced at it when she was suddenly pressed against the wall.
Shen Yu's upper body was naked, with fine sand clinging to her skin.
"Chen Mian." He lowered his head, whispered her name in her ear.
His voice carried a hint of desire, yet remained unspoken, as if veiled by a secret.
Ask her, "Do you want me?"
The fireworks set off in the darkness seemed to be reignited in the room.
The heat around his ears felt like burning yarn, tickling Chen Mian while simultaneously causing a wave of heat.
Shen Yu was like a large dog, clinging to her, his hands on her waist, moving inwards along her clothes, climbing inch by inch along her skin, stopping at the edge of her underwear, his index finger stroking her repeatedly.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you going to do it or not? Are you going to set off fireworks and make no noise?"
His voice was low and hoarse, like rolling waves.
Chen Mian's toes, hidden inside her cotton socks, curled up, like a cat whimpering, as if to say no.
But Shen Yu smiled and kissed the corner of her eye, saying, "I want it."
"I don't--"
Before he could finish speaking, he was swept up in someone's arms.
The water that hadn't completely dried off him clung to her.
The glass door to the bathroom was slammed open by his back.
The warm light burned Chen Mian's eyes, making Shen Yu's face appear as a blurry halo.
At that moment, Chen Yu's phone rang in his pants pocket.
"I'll celebrate your birthday with you."
It was Chen Mian's voice.
Chen Mian was taken aback, then looked at Chen Yu, "When did you record this?"
Shen Yu placed Chen Mian on the sink, the marble surface pressed against her thighs, and his gaze fell between her legs. His throat bobbed, and after the girl's clear voice rang in the ringtone, a song followed, the climax of Wei Lan's song "One Frame at a Time".
He said, "When you want to talk to me."
Chen Mian's fingers curled up.
Then Shen Yu kissed him, his body forced against the mirror, his back to a cold surface, while in front of him was the boy's burning chest.
He took her hand and touched the tattoo on her left chest.
He bit her lip, his voice seductive, his beautiful peach blossom eyes moist, and said to her, "Baby, I want you so much."
/
Let's start with a farewell scene; we'll do that in chapter 49, and then move on to the synopsis in chapter 50.
Personally, I don't think it's very angsty. The angst mentioned in the synopsis is just bittersweet. There's no reconciliation after a breakup, and the characters go to different universities but live in the same city.
More often than not, it's about becoming better versions of yourself before becoming partners.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
