"Brother Xu, guess what she said?"
Xu Qingyan: "She likes someone?"
"Yeah." Zhou Mian's eyes dimmed slightly, "At that time, I thought she was talking about me. I still remember being incredibly nervous."
"My entire body was burning up, itchy everywhere. She said... she likes xxx, another good-looking intern in our department."
The night breeze blew, Pei Muchan and Zhou Lili were frolicking with fireworks in hand. Further off lay a stretch of profound darkness, where Xu Qingyan and Zhou Mian, two grown men, leaned on folding chairs across the dinner table.
The charcoal on the barbecue grill had long been extinguished, and the leftovers on the table turned cold. An orange night light clipped onto the edge of the table illuminated the two-meter area around it, brightness +1.
After a long pause, Zhou Mian drew a deep breath, his voice as hoarse as if he had smoked several cigarettes.
"I'm such a damned... unlucky guy, mistaking pleasantries for sweet nothings."