After finishing skewering the vegetables, Shi Jing found himself with nothing to do.
Everyone else had gathered around the barbecue grills, laughing and chatting.
He wasn’t particularly fond of being in lively crowds, so he wandered toward the beach.
There were many small shops along the shore.
Some sold souvenirs, some offered photography services, and others sold swimwear.
Colorful lights illuminated one after another, forming a long ribbon of light that faintly lit the boundary where the sea met the sand.
The moon hung at the edge of the clouds.
The ocean surface swayed gently, causing the reflected moonlight to shimmer and ripple.
Shi Jing gazed at the view for a while.
He wasn’t an artistic person.
Although he thought the scenery was beautiful, his mind was completely blank.
He simply couldn’t think of any elegant or sophisticated words to describe it.
If he absolutely had to praise it, all he could say was:
“It’s really pretty.”
So Shi Jing decided to browse the shops instead.
His version of browsing was simply walking past the storefronts.
He liked the feeling.
A sense of being detached from the crowd.
Walking alone.
When he passed a small photography shop, Mercury Records was playing inside.
“Obsessed with your eyes,
The traces of the galaxy can still be found,
Passing through the gaps in time,
They still truly
Pull at my orbit…”
The song was gentle and soothing.
The shop’s lighting was dim and warm.
The walls were covered with photographs left behind by previous visitors.
The entire shop resembled an old faded photograph.
Without realizing it, Shi Jing walked inside.
The store wasn’t large.
One wall was filled with pictures left by tourists.
A small television hung on the opposite wall, playing a black-and-white movie.
A boy sat on a bench with his back facing the entrance.
He wore a dark green jacket and black athletic pants.
One arm rested lazily on the table as he propped up his chin.
Hearing footsteps, he turned his head a beat slower than normal, as though the movie on the wall was far more interesting.
After seeing who had entered, his eyebrow immediately lifted.
“Why are you here?”
Shi Jing paused.
Truthfully, he had already recognized Jiang Yu while standing outside.
Yet he had still walked in anyway.
“I’ll come if I want to.”
Shi Jing sat on another stool and looked up at the movie on the wall.
To be honest, it had no sound.
The image quality was terrible.
After watching for a short while, he still had no idea what the movie was about.
He couldn’t get invested.
Jiang Yu, however, watched intently.
The warm yellow light fell across his face.
His long eyelashes cast shadows over his eyelids.
His gaze was focused, as though someone had crushed stars into his eyes.
Shi Jing studied him.
For the first time, he felt like he finally understood a little of why Jiang Yu had chosen the Directing Department.
“How much farther must I go before entering your heart,
How much longer before I can get closer to you,
The person so near, yet impossible to reach,
Waiting to meet you…”
Mercury Records happened to reach that part of the song.
Under such circumstances, it was difficult for Shi Jing not to remember certain things.
He had known Jiang Yu for exactly two years.
In Shi Jing’s eyes, Jiang Yu had always felt like a paper cutout.
Thin.
Flat.
A single sheet of paper.
He didn’t know what Jiang Yu liked.
What he disliked.
What he wanted.
What he hated.
Everything he knew about him came only from scattered rumors and bits of hearsay.
But now, looking at him like this, Jiang Yu finally seemed like a real person.
A tangible person.
“So I’m really that handsome?”
The teasing voice pulled Shi Jing back to reality.
He blinked and met a pair of dark eyes.
Jiang Yu looked rather pleased.
A faint smile curved his lips.
For some reason, Shi Jing suddenly felt flustered.
There was also a hint of embarrassment from being caught staring.
“I was wondering how someone could possibly be this ugly!”
Jiang Yu looked dissatisfied with that answer.
He seemed ready to say something else.
But the phone on the table suddenly rang.
Jiang Yu answered the call.
Zhang Yanzhou’s loud voice immediately came through.
“Brother Jiang, hurry back! We’re about to start the games!”
When they left, the shop owner—who had been lying on a lounge chair in silence the entire time—smiled and greeted them.
“Leaving already, handsome boys?”
Jiang Yu smiled.
“I’ll come back another time if I get the chance.”
“Sounds good.”
The owner looked to be in his forties or fifties.
He had a beer belly and patted it while squinting cheerfully.
After leaving the shop, Jiang Yu pulled a face mask from his pocket and put it on.
Then he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head.
Watching the entire sequence, Shi Jing suddenly remembered that the person beside him was technically an obscure little internet celebrity.
Shi Jing returned together with Jiang Yu.
Everyone attending the gathering had naturally grouped together.
Since there were so many people, they had formed four separate circles.
Tao Qi’an immediately started shouting.
“Shi Jing! Over here!”
The seat beside him had been intentionally left empty.
Obviously reserved for Shi Jing.
After sitting down, Shi Jing discovered that Jiang Yu was seated directly across from him.
Beside Jiang Yu sat Zhang Yanzhou, who wore an extremely suspicious grin.
Every few seconds he would glance at Shi Jing.
Then he would elbow Jiang Yu and whisper something.
His lips moved nonstop.
No one knew what he was muttering about.
Shi Jing frowned and spent quite a while trying to figure out what was going on inside Zhang Yanzhou’s head.
In the end, he gave up.
The guy was seriously weird.
The game was the classic Truth or Dare.
Old-fashioned, but timeless.
Like the annual Unforgettable Tonight song that always played after the Spring Festival Gala.
For something to remain popular for so many years, there had to be a reason.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—Shi Jing’s luck seemed pretty good.
The bottle skipped over him several rounds in a row.
Instead, it landed on Tao Qi’an.
He chose Truth.
The question was:
“How’s it going with your first love?”
Tao Qi’an immediately became shy.
His face turned red like a monkey’s backside.
Anyone could tell at a glance that he was still completely immersed in romance.
After hesitating for ages, he finally squeezed out six words:
“We’re in the talking stage. Not dating yet.”
Shi Jing had just begun to find the game boring.
He was about to pull out his phone and zone out.
Then, in the very next round, the bottle pointed directly at him.
The questioner happened to be Zhang Yanzhou.
His eyes instantly lit up.
Then he started glancing toward Jiang Yu so frequently that it looked like his eyes were cramping.
“Truth or Dare?”
“Truth.”
Zhang Yanzhou smiled mysteriously.
“Hehe. Hehe.”
The senior student in charge threw a bag of snacks at him.
“Can you stop dragging this out?”
Putting on a solemn expression, Zhang Yanzhou announced,
“I’ve decided to hand this precious opportunity over to my good brother—Jiang Yu!”
Jiang Yu held a bottle of fruit wine in one hand.
The pale blue liquid made his long fingers appear even fairer.
His gaze landed on Shi Jing.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he asked:
“Why do you hate me so much?”