"Cheers!"
The two cans of beer clinked together, raising a little fine white foam.
It was close to midnight, and the overnight package had already kicked in.
In the internet cafe.
Tonight, there weren’t many people pulling an all-nighter, just a few folks lined up on the machines. They politely kept a significant distance from each other, to avoid being too loud with their trash talk while gaming.
Qiming took a sip of beer, and as the alcohol hit his taste buds, his eyes squinted slightly. The drink went down, but he still couldn’t forget that feeling of humiliation in his heart.
Among the clattering keyboard noises, he let out a soft sigh and couldn’t help but say,
"The heart of an old friend changes easily."
Cailang carefully cradled the beer can, took a noisy sip, and grinned foolishly.
"Co on, bro, let it go."
The ga hadn’t even logged in yet, and Qiming looked disheartened.
"True, when the old goes, the new cos."
Cailang was stunned, asking Yang to let it go, but not expecting him to let go this much.
This wasn’t letting go; this was running a reputation scam.
Anyway, as long as Yang was happy.
Suddenly, the internet cafe door swung open, and a comical voice rang out.
"How much for an all-nighter? Do you get a free Coke with it?"
Qiming stood up and saw Li Hua browsing the internet alone. Watching him pull out his ID from his pocket and haggle with the manager over a cup of Coke.
"What’s he doing here?"
"Should we say hi?" Cailang hesitantly asked.
Five minutes later.
"Co on, let’s start, log in, log in." Li Hua was overjoyed. He hadn’t brought much money for a late-night internet session, but running into classmates who treated him was a bonus.
Beer is ninety-nine percent rare, and it even cos with Coke. Dang, drinking this might just send to hell.
Ti to dig in, brothers.
The three of them sat together, and the friendship between guys was quickly established.
Qiming had too much on his mind and just needed soone to talk to. Coincidentally, Li Hua knew how to say so comforting words. It was truly Cao Cao eting his wife, a match made in heaven.
"It’s really bad luck, old buddy Qiming." Li Hua picked up the phrase from Jiang Nian’s mouth, casually saying, "I say, just consider her dead, and it’s over."
"The school is so big; if you don’t consciously seek opportunities, you won’t even run into her. Don’t have a sullen face anymore, imagine she got hit by a car, a happy occasion."
Li Hua had a way with words, and Qiming suddenly saw the light.
"Makes sense, brother."
Cailang gnawed on a chicken leg, nodding along.
"I think so too."
On the other side.
In Xu Qianqian’s living room.
She lightly touched her small distended belly, looked at Jiang Nian sitting beside her, hesitated for a mont, and asked,
"Do you feel like the amount is a bit much this ti?"
"Probably, it wasn’t this much before." Jiang Nian said while juggling skewers in one hand and a Coke in the other, struggling to swallow the at skewer, "Maybe the boss recently struck it rich."
"Good people have a safe life," Xu Qianqian said contentedly, leaning back on the sofa to rest.
The living room wasn’t lit, dimly illuminated.
The room was filled with the sll of barbeque; the projector quality was decent, projecting clear images on the screen, flickering on their faces.
The movie was new, likely an adventure story.
Jiang Nian got up to clean the leftover barbeque, packed it into a garbage bag, opened the door, and left it in the hall outside to ventilate.
When he returned, he turned his head and was startled.
In the living room, Xu Qianqian was wearing a blue sweater. She sat on the sofa, hugging her knees, focused on the screen with shining eyes.
Not washing your hands, eating grapes secretly over there.
You think I’m blind!
Jiang Nian couldn’t be bothered to say anything, simply leaned back on the sofa, and started the ga.
With a buzz, Xu Qianqian’s phone vibrated. She took out her phone, glanced at it, and her expression changed.
Why is she ssaging again?
Liu Ruoxin: "Qianqian, give my latest post a like."
Xu Qianqian sighed and replied with an OK.
The other was a good friend before her class change but dropped out for so reason. Recently, they reconnected, and she’d regularly complain.
Xu Qianqian glanced at soone and suddenly spoke.
"Do you rember Liu Ruoxin?"
"Of course, eliminate human tyranny, the world belongs to Trisolaris." Jiang Nian answered without even looking up, selecting a hero as he entered the ga.
A teammate joked, "Any girls? If not, we’re throwing the ga."
Jiang Nian was irritated, thinking this stupid ga was like this, still picky. Not fighting that, avoiding this, suddenly just throwing the ga.
So he kindly persuaded, [Enter 1 to revive your mom].
"No, it’s Liu Ruoxin." Xu Qianqian corrected his mistake, "We were in the sa class before, she used to live in Chunyuan District."
"Oh, right, didn’t she drop out last year?" Jiang Nian mindlessly played, "The bastard stole the buff, unfilial!"
Xu Qianqian was speechless and continued.
"She had a baby."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nian’s fingers froze, and he looked up at Xu Qianqian.
"She’s our age, right?"
"Yeah."
Jiang Nian frowned, pondering for a mont.
"So last year, she didn’t drop out because of illness, but because she was pregnant?"
"Probably, the timing matches up." Xu Qianqian wasn’t sure how to express herself, "She ssaged recently, showing off her baby, it feels like..."
"Are you envious?" Jiang Nian asked.
"No, I just don’t know what to say." She shook her head, "I asked when she got married, and she said she hasn’t yet, still negotiating the bride price."
"That’s rough, it’ll cost at least five hundred thousand in a year," Jiang Nian laughed.
Xu Qianqian remained silent for a mont, looking at the movie screen thoughtfully, then asked,
"Jiang Nian, don’t you think they had to grow up too quickly? Just out of school, they have to be adults and take care of a baby; isn’t it exhausting?"
"It was a crash," Jiang Nian said bluntly, lacking empathy, "If he’d just gone to the convenience store before taking his pants off, this wouldn’t have happened."
The words were harsh, Xu Qianqian wouldn’t listen, covering her ears and leaning away from him.
A buzz, Liu Ruoxin ssaged again.
"Qianqian, what are you up to?"
She used to reply with howork, then the other would express envy. And then say she wanted to go back to school or wish she could turn back ti.
A pure regretful queen, go back in ti, casually ruin your paradise.
Every ti Xu Qianqian didn’t know what to say, she could only blandly say platitudes like starting work earlier, recovering sooner.
Since she didn’t want to say hurtful things to Liu Ruoxin, she carefully avoided her pain points, which made Liu Ruoxin enjoy chatting with her.
If she was happy, she even invited Xu Qianqian to be her bridesmaid for the New Year.
She didn’t really want to go; they hadn’t seen each other for a long ti, and the other had changed too much. There were no common topics, and she actually didn’t like other people’s kids.
Although it sounded politically incorrect, she wasn’t that "fond of babies."
She preferred to cyber admire cute babies on Douyin over real-life child-rearing.
Not to be forcefully shown soone else’s crying ugly baby every day.
Oh, my baby is so cute drinking milk. The color of that poop is so healthy...must show friends to praise my baby.
Initially, she felt a bit guilty, wondering if she wasn’t kind enough.
But after hearing Jiang Nian’s words, she suddenly felt...the crudeness wasn’t wrong. It’s not her mistake, so why cater to the other’s emotions.
Thinking this, she decided to put down her worries and replied.
"Eating barbecue, watching a movie."
After about half a minute, the reply ca, surprised.
"No howork?"
Xu Qianqian’s fingers flew over the screen, quickly responding.
"Already finished at school, pure fun at ho."
The other was typing...this ti it took nearly a minute, and a long lant was sent.
"Really regret not studying properly in the past, haven’t worked much this year..."
Xu Qianqian didn’t finish reading and replied.
"If you don’t have ti to return to school now, you can contact the teachers next spring. Inquire about the single examination thod, you can get into a private college."
The other didn’t reply for a while, apparently didn’t expect such a formal response from Xu Qianqian.
"Aren’t private colleges expensive? And ti-consuming."
"Then consider a bachelor’s degree in adult education, or correspondence courses," Xu Qianqian didn’t want to engage emotionally, replied directly, "These don’t take much ti."
"But those aren’t as good as your proper college entrance exam qualification, feels useless." Liu Ruoxin sent several sweat emoji.
"Besides, it won’t help my future career planning, hard to return to school after entering society. Qianqian, what should I do?"
Xu Qianqian pondered, should accept parting ways and the unpredictability of life.
"Then have so late-night snacks first."
That’s the la joke she stole from Jiang Nian, in such situations, eat first. When encountering unpleasant things, sit down, have a al, then head to the pier for so fries.
Sure enough, the la joke worked, and the other fell silent.
If she still didn’t reflect, Xu Qianqian would hand her phone over to Jiang Nian. He had lots of la jokes, and his low standards often led to jaw-dropping comnts.
After a while, Liu Ruoxin started again.
"Qianqian, take a look at my Dong’er..."
She didn’t want to reply, the other being up so late, showing off her baby. So she tossed the phone to Jiang Nian, instructing him to give nonchalant responses, and not to ss things up.
Jiang Nian was a bit stupefied; he was just about to push the opponent’s crystal.
"Alright then."
An hour passed, and unknowingly the movie ended.
Xu Qianqian, still imrsed, shifted her gaze from the screen, lowered her eyes briefly. Couldn’t help but wonder if she forgot sothing, what exactly?
Oh right, chatting.
She reached out and asked Jiang Nian for her phone.
"Give my phone back."
"Alright." Jiang Nian handed the phone to her.
Xu Qianqian started another movie to continue watching; she said she’d watch until 3 a.m. It’s only 1 a.m., still ti for another one.
As she selected the movie, she opened the chat. Swiping up the chat history, she instantly saw darkness.
"Sidong Fist, two fists break through four walls."
She yanked Jiang Nian over, shouting.
"What nonsense did you send with my account!"
Jiang Nian was baffled, countering,
"Weren’t you having a nice chat?"
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