Chapter 9

In the noisy environment, my heart pounded like a drum. “The dare game isn’t over yet.” The school queen stood up, looking at us.

“Then let’s keep playing,” Jiang Yi said, swirling the glass cup on the table.

The bullet comments scrolled.

[You rascal, you just want to trick your wife into telling her true feelings.]

[But you ended up playing yourself, your secrets are all exposed.]

[The school queen is also too caught up in the moment. Can’t she see the person who’s always by her side, watching his crush chase Jiang Yi and even helping her with ideas? His heart must be broken.]

[Brave Jiang Yi fears no difficulties. He’s been waiting for his wife for five years; what difficulties can stop little puppy Jiang from moving forward?]

In the third round, Jiang Yi was again chosen for “Truth or Dare” and got “Truth”: [How many relationships have you been in to date?]

Jiang Yi paused, turning the bracelet on his wrist. “None.”

My eyes widened as I looked at Jiang Yi. “I’ve only liked one person my entire life.”

I quickly turned away, not daring to meet his gaze. The school queen, sitting opposite Jiang Yi and me, had eyes so red they looked like she was about to cry.

A new round began. Jiang Yi’s phone, which was on the table, suddenly received a call. He quickly hung up. I sharply noticed the caller ID was [SF Express¹]. Everyone at the table looked at Jiang Yi. Those further away vaguely saw Jiang Yi’s phone wallpaper. Gu Ran, who loved to watch drama, said, “Who’s the girl in that phone wallpaper?”

That’s when I noticed the wallpaper. It was a girl in a pure white gown playing the piano on a stage. The stage lights shining on her made her look like the female lead’s “White Moonlight²” in a novel.

Jiang Yi’s ears suddenly turned red, and he put his phone back in his pocket. He looked at Gu Ran. “Shut up.”

Then he feigned an unintentional glance at me. My roommate suddenly tugged my sleeve. “Hey, Yue, I remember you went to high school here, didn’t you?”

“You also told me you passed your piano Level 8 exam.”

That’s when I noticed the banner in the corner of the photo: Lincheng No. 1 High School New Year’s Eve Arts Gala. I vaguely remembered that in my third year of high school, everyone in the top class was just focused on studying and didn’t have much talent. The day before the performance, the class teacher called me to fill in last minute and perform a piano piece. And that day, I happened to be wearing a white dress like that.

Gu Ran stopped teasing. “No way, buddy, you’re doing pure love stuff without me?”

“In high school, weren’t we still competing to see who could pee further?”

Jiang Yi didn’t say anything. The dice on the table stopped. The school queen’s voice broke the atmosphere. “Jiang Yi was chosen again for the fourth round.”

“The ‘Dare’ is [Kiss the opposite-sex person for 5 seconds].”

And the school queen was sitting directly opposite Jiang Yi.

Footnote:

1. SF Express(顺丰速运):A major express delivery service in China, similar to FedEx or UPS.
2. White Moonlight(白月光):A Chinese internet slang term referring to a past love who is idealized and remembered fondly, often representing an unobtainable or perfect figure from one’s past.