Chapter 52: Fireworks

After leaving the cinema, the street outside was…

After leaving the cinema, the street outside was crowded with people. Xu Muzhou’s eyes never left the back of the young woman’s head. His slightly cool hand was tightly wrapped in warmth, and that electrifying feeling of joy spread from his hand throughout his entire body.

His legs felt so weak that he couldn’t keep up with her steps. As he stumbled and fell, just as his knees were about to touch the ground, a slender waist embraced him.

“Are you alright?”

The young woman’s concerned voice was right next to his ear. A blush crept up Xu Muzhou’s fair face as his chest pressed against her body. His voice was soft and gentle, “I’m fine…”

Their posture was very intimate. Fang Chuning could smell the sweet fragrance emanating from his body, as pleasant as osmanthus in autumn.

Fang Chuning couldn’t help but bring her nose closer to the top of his head, gently sniffing the fragrance of his black hair. “What shampoo do you use? It smells so good.”

Xu Muzhou felt his cheeks burning as if on fire. His fingers tightly gripped her clothes, his heart pounding heavily. Even when they kissed, he hadn’t felt this flushed.

His rosy lips moved slightly. Fang Chuning vaguely heard him say something, but it was too quiet to hear clearly.

She stared at his enchantingly beautiful face, unconsciously leaning in to lightly peck the corner of his mouth.

The young man’s face reddened even more, his eyes looking at her with a dazed expression.

The passersby on the street were attracted by this high-looking couple. Their sweet interaction made the young boys and girls who passed by envious. In an inconspicuous corner of the crowd, someone secretly took a photo of this scene with a camera.

Xu Muzhou sensitively noticed something unusual. His gaze pierced through the dense crowd towards that corner, but it was already empty.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” Xu Muzhou withdrew his gaze, leaning into her embrace.

Fang Chuning sensed his change in mood. Thinking about it, she felt it might be because he was still uncomfortable about watching the movie. She gently comforted him, “Lili is the kind of person who acts without restraint. Don’t take it to heart.”

The young man lowered his eyes, looking somewhat downcast. “Your brother seems to dislike me very much.”

“There are many people he doesn’t like. Whenever something doesn’t go his way, he acts like this. You don’t need to mind him. You only need to care about me.”

Before she even realized it herself, the words of love had already slipped out. Fang Chuning’s ears grew hot, but her gaze remained firm as she looked at him.

Xu Muzhou’s eyes, shimmering with emotion, stared back at her steadily. His fingers gripping her clothes gradually tightened, as if trying to knead the fabric into his palm.

He blushed slightly and averted his gaze, nodding obediently.

Fang Chuning smiled, “I heard there’s a fireworks show at the harbor bay tonight. Why don’t we go there and take a look?”

“Okay.”

The harbor bay was located on the edge of the city center, by the sea, and was also part of Z City’s sea amusement area. Because of the fireworks show, by the time they arrived, the place was already packed with people.

However, it wasn’t dark yet, so it wasn’t the most crowded time.

There were many self-service photo booths set up at the harbor bay, but now that everyone has a phone in hand and can take photos anytime, anywhere, only a small portion of people were interested in the photo booths.

Two young men came to the outside of a photo booth, chatting and laughing. One of them was about to lift the curtain when the other pulled him back, “I think there are people inside?”

They stepped back to look under the photo booth. The curtain only covered two-thirds of the way, leaving a gap at the bottom where they could clearly see the legs of the people inside. It seemed to be a man and a woman, their toes pointing towards each other. It was obvious what they were doing inside.

The two young men couldn’t help but blush, hurriedly walking away to find another photo booth.

Inside this photo booth, the young couple who were embracing and kissing were none other than Fang Chuning and Xu Muzhou. Originally, they had come in out of curiosity to take a sweet couple photo, but somehow, they couldn’t help themselves and ended up kissing passionately.

After the people outside left, Xu Muzhou, breathing slightly heavily, gently pushed her away. A transparent strand of saliva stretched between their tongues. He swallowed greedily, but his eyes were like those of an uneasy fawn, misty with moisture. “Someone might come in…”

Fang Chuning licked her lips, still unsatisfied. “They won’t. They know there are people inside.”

With that, she eagerly leaned in again to bite his lips. She had never known before that kissing could be such a mentally and physically pleasurable thing.

Xu Muzhou’s eyes were half-open, allowing her to ravish his lips for a moment before gently pushing her away again. “There are so many people outside.”

Fang Chuning stared at his beautiful, moist lips, her breathing unsteady. Due to the prolonged kissing, his lips looked even more full and tempting. Being pushed away before she had enough made her heart itch terribly.

Outside, the sky had already darkened, and more and more people were gathering. The voices of people passing by the photo booth were indeed enough to make one nervous.

Fang Chuning reluctantly released her hold on him, her gaze falling on the machine behind him. The printed photos had already come out. She picked up the few photos, which were all half-body shots of her and Xu Muzhou together.

Her favorite one was a candid shot where she had kissed his cheek when he wasn’t paying attention. In the photo, the young man’s eyes were slightly wide, as if he had been startled.

“Look, your expression is so cute!” Fang Chuning said with a bright smile, pointing at him in the photo.

Xu Muzhou took the photo, his gaze softening to the extreme. “It’s because you were too sudden…”

Just as he finished speaking, he felt that soft warmth on his face again, and then it quickly left. Xu Muzhou’s eyes rippled with light as he looked up at her.

Fang Chuning smiled proudly, “You’re my boyfriend, so kissing is only natural!”

Xu Muzhou tried hard to control his accelerating heartbeat, his cheeks flushing red. His long eyelashes gently lowered, “Mm.”

Fang Chuning hadn’t expected him to respond, and instantly found him even more adorable. “Let’s go outside to watch the fireworks.”

With that, she took his hand and walked outside.

Just as they stepped out of the photo booth, fireworks exploded overhead, illuminating the already darkening sky. Like colorful peonies blooming one after another, the bursts of light came in quick succession, too fast for the eye to follow.

Fang Chuning pulled the young man through the crowd to a position near the sea railing to watch. She looked up, her pupils reflecting the brilliant colors, and shouted to him with a smile: “These fireworks aren’t even the most beautiful. In the future, I’ll show you even more beautiful ones.”

The sound of the fireworks completely drowned out her words, and Xu Muzhou couldn’t hear clearly what she said. But he could guess from her passionate gaze. He smiled and shyly placed a kiss on the corner of her lips.

The fireworks were set off in intervals, and when the time passed, the surroundings quieted down.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind her, “Hey? Is that really you!?”

Fang Chuning turned around. Two young men were standing behind them, one of them looking at her with delight. “I thought I recognized you from afar earlier. I can’t believe we’d meet again!”

Fang Chuning thought he looked somewhat familiar, but couldn’t quite place who he was.

The young man reminded her: “I’m Xu Yue. We worked part-time together at the supermarket before.”

With that reminder, she remembered. “Ah, hello.”

“You suddenly stopped coming to work after two days. I was wondering about it and didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.”

“Oh right, I suddenly didn’t need money anymore, so I stopped going.”

Xu Yue looked at her clothes. “Your family must be quite well-off, right? Why did you need to work part-time back then?”

Thinking back on the past, Fang Chuning felt a bit foolish and responded perfunctorily, not really wanting to talk about it.

Xu Yue didn’t press further. He noticed the young man beside her, and when he looked over, he realized just how handsome the young man was, like someone who had stepped out of a painting. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Seeing their clasped hands, he felt his question was quite unnecessary. Xu Yue suppressed a slight disappointment in his heart and smiled, “Your boyfriend is really handsome. You two make a great couple.”

Xu Muzhou’s eyes were calm as he nestled close to the young woman, pursing his lips without speaking.

“I don’t know if you have time, but how about I treat you to some milk tea?”

“No, thank you. We just ate not long ago,” Fang Chuning politely declined.

“I see…” Xu Yue looked at her for a moment. “Then I won’t disturb you. I’m going over there with my friend.”

“Alright, bye.”

After they had walked far enough away, the young man beside Xu Yue finally couldn’t contain his excitement and whispered, “How could you know such a beautiful girl and not introduce her to me!? That’s not being a good friend!”

At that moment, fireworks burst overhead again, the sparks illuminating his fairly handsome face. Xu Yue suddenly lost his mood for appreciation. “We just know each other, we’re not close.”

The little hope he had been harboring in his heart was completely extinguished. He felt as if he had already experienced a breakup before even starting a relationship.

…

Because of yesterday’s incident, Fang Tianli was in a very bad mood today. He was even a bit dismissive when Su Qi talked to him.

He was already extremely annoyed, and then someone came along to test his patience.

Fang Tianli was full of impatience towards the girl confessing to him. “What does your liking me have to do with me? If you really like me, then be sensible and stop bothering me.”

He didn’t care at all how the other person would feel hearing this, his words full of disdain.

Sunlight filtered through the ginkgo trees, dotting the ground. After chasing the girl away, Fang Tianli walked alone in the school’s grove. He hadn’t gone far when he glimpsed someone to his right in the trees.

He softened his footsteps and approached, standing behind a tree and squinting at the two people not far away. They seemed to be saying something. Fang Tianli couldn’t hear clearly, but he saw the girl suddenly raise her hand to gently caress the boy’s face. The boy didn’t shy away, but must have said something, as the girl withdrew her hand with some disappointment.

This continued for five minutes before the girl left first. Su Qi put the small gift box into his school uniform pocket and was about to leave when he saw Fang Tianli behind the tree.

His heart skipped a beat. “Lili?”

Fang Tianli looked at him expressionlessly. “What were you two doing just now?”

“Nothing, Yu classmate asked me to come out, saying she wanted to clear things up with me…”

“Don’t you like my sister? Why are you still bothering with these people?”

Su Qi lowered his gaze. “Because I can understand their feelings. It’s just like how I like Sister Ning. Even if there’s no chance, I still hope she’ll look at me once more.”

Fang Tianli couldn’t understand his words. “But you like my sister! If that’s the case, you should only have eyes for my sister. How can you still be entangled with others?”

“It’s not like that…” Su Qi’s eyes reddened, his delicate face looking weak and pitiful. “I’m not entangled with others. Don’t you believe me?”

Fang Tianli turned his face away, feeling uncomfortable, but seeing his expression, he couldn’t bring himself to say harsh words.

Just then, his phone suddenly buzzed with a text message notification. He glanced at it without much interest, only to find it was a picture message, and he had received several in a row.

The boy’s soft explanations hadn’t stopped, but he curiously opened the picture. When he saw the content of the image, his face instantly darkened.

Transfer student?

Fang Chuning blinked in confusion, “A transfer student when it’s almost summer vacation?”

“It’s like this, originally this transfer student was scheduled to transfer in at the beginning of the semester, but later due to some reasons, the timing had to be delayed.”

Fang Chuning nodded, no longer curious. She took the information and opened it. The name column inside caught her attention.

“Lin Yuechan…”

Teacher Song picked up the water cup on the desk and took a sip, saying, “I heard she was previously the top student in Y City, then transferred to an ordinary school in Z City. Her grades should be very good. The school board chairman agreed to let her transfer in with a tuition waiver.”