So going to the pier really allows one to get some French fries—would a seagull consider this a gift from nature?

Xiao Jingwen cleared his throat and said, “Since that’s the case, let’s not push it. We can work together another time if the opportunity arises.”

Zhang Miao nodded and smiled: “Definitely.”

“By the way,” Xiao Jingwen was suddenly curious, “is it convenient to ask what he is painting right now?”

Zhang Miao let out an “Oh” and answered: “He is painting a suit of Western…”

“Western…” Zhang Miao froze.

Xiao Jingwen was still waiting.

Lin Congzhi was painting a suit. A black suit hanging on a balcony on a rainy day, solemn, heavy, yet without support. Zhang Miao originally thought it was just a certain artistic vibe Lin Congzhi wanted to create, but at this very moment… she suddenly realized that the suit Xiao Jingwen was wearing right now was precisely…

Although suits were generally quite similar—especially men’s suits, which didn’t have too many wild variations—Zhang Miao had been in the industry for many years. After looking a couple more times at the fabric’s subtle weave and tailoring, she was nearly certain: the suit in that painting belonged to Xiao Jingwen! And he was wearing it right now!

“…Western attire,” Zhang Miao said.

“Is that so?” Xiao Jingwen nodded. “Alright then, I won’t disturb you any further.”

“Mm…”

That was a close call. Zhang Miao slowly let out a breath. Then, Xiao Chen instantly stuffed a small chocolate-covered cream puff into her mouth.

“Is it tasty?” Xiao Chen’s eyes sparkled as she quietly asked, “Sis, can we secretly pack some to take back?”

“…” Zhang Miao glared at her, chewing as she spoke, “Not allowed. If someone catches us, how are we supposed to make a living in the future?”

Then, swallowing it down, Zhang Miao added: “Get me another one.”

Coco had prepared a Milk Cap Glacier for Lin Congzhi using Blue Curaçao, vodka, and cream. This was already the third drink Lin Congzhi had consumed after sitting down at the water bar.

Even Coco could barely watch anymore. With one hand on his hip, he wiped the counter with a cloth and said, “Hey, this is an art exhibition after all! Are you treating this place like a bar?”

“So what?” Lin Congzhi felt aggrieved. “Today is the only day I get to drink.”

“Aiya, it’s not that bad. Your ex-husband added me on WeChat.” Coco tossed the cloth beneath the bar counter.

Lin Congzhi choked on a gulp of liquor, letting out a earth-shattering cough—

A soft handkerchief was handed to him. Without a second thought, he hurriedly covered his mouth and looked up at the person who approached. Xiao Jingwen said helplessly, “Drink slower.”

“…” Lin Congzhi felt even more helpless. Catching his breath, he said, “I was drinking very slowly.”

Without making a fuss, Xiao Jingwen glanced at the drink on the bar counter, said nothing, and nodded.

The culprit was behind the bar counter, smilingly wiping glasses. Lin Congzhi used the handkerchief to wipe away the alcohol on his mouth and fingers. Coco’s words just now had choked him thoroughly, causing some of the remaining liquor to spill onto the back of his hand.

A painter had calluses not only on their fingertips, but also along the edge of their hand from years of friction against paper. Lin Congzhi slowly lowered his eyes and wiped his hands. He had assumed this was a handkerchief Xiao Jingwen had picked up from the refreshment area in the exhibition hall, until he noticed the letter “X” embroidered on one corner of the handkerchief.

Coco had already prepared a fourth drink. He was in a great mood today, and since Lin Congzhi was so supportive, he mixed a beautifully colored Bellini. Pushing the glass forward, he said, “To smooth things down.”

Xiao Jingwen was puzzled—smoothing down the throat with a cocktail?

Lin Congzhi: “Thank you.”

Then he drank it all in one gulp, evaluating: “Sweet and crisp.”

Coco chuckled as he tidied his carefully maintained reddish-brown beard.

Lin Congzhi was still clutching his handkerchief, feeling somewhat unsure of what to do. Out of etiquette, he should take this handkerchief back, wash it clean, and then return it to him. While he was still mulling over his words, Xiao Jingwen had already extended his hand: “Return it to me.”

“Oh.” Lin Congzhi placed it on his hand.

Coco gave an eerie smile: “Mr. Xiao, you like it raw?”

Instantly, Lin Congzhi’s head buzzed. His neck turned toward Coco like a zombie with a clacking sound—what on earth are you talking about?

Xiao Jingwen looked expressionlessly at Coco, while folding the handkerchief a few times and stuffing it back into his pocket. Lin Congzhi felt somewhat gloating; he knew all too well the lethal power of that look from Xiao Jingwen. Xiao Jingwen was a cold and distant person—all the tenderness in his life had been bestowed upon Lin Congzhi.

Sure enough, Coco slunk away toward the bathroom area in embarrassment.

“Why scare him?” Lin Congzhi didn’t blame him, turning around to ask, “How did you find him?”

“Finding him was too difficult. He comes on and off the ship at his own whim. I only found him after finding his boyfriend,” Xiao Jingwen said, looking at the empty glass again. “How is his craft? Has he improved?”

“He has refined it.”

Xiao Jingwen was standing, while Lin Congzhi had one leg dangling and the other stepping on the footrest of the high stool, looking very casual. He didn’t invite Xiao Jingwen for a drink; the Xiao Jingwen he knew neither smoked nor drank, and currently, there seemed to be no change in that.

He was the same as well. He was still a drunkard with a mediocre tolerance, liking beautifully colored cocktails and various fruit-flavored cigarettes.

After a moment of silence between the two, the music in the exhibition hall changed, signaling the unveiling of the exhibit with the highest starting bid.

Lin Congzhi asked: “What has the highest starting bid this season?”

Xiao Jingwen said: “An antique jewelry necklace, with a starting bid of 35 million.”

Lin Congzhi nodded: “How much do you think it will fetch when the hammer falls?”

“At least 60 million.”

“What about my painting?” Lin Congzhi asked on a whim.

“Hmm?” Xiao Jingwen was also a bit surprised, because this person never cared about how much his paintings could sell for. “Interested in this now?”

Lin Congzhi shook his head: “Just asking casually.”

Xiao Jingwen actually smiled: “Are you trying to entice me into saying, ‘You can bid as much as you want’?”

“Not at all.” Lin Congzhi slid his fingers around the rim of the empty glass twice. “You want to buy it, right?”

“Yes,” Xiao Jingwen admitted frankly. “I don’t know what’s written on the description card, but I have to keep the painting, don’t I?”

Lin Congzhi lowered his head and smiled softly.

Most of the guests in the exhibition hall went to crowd around that antique necklace, gathering outside the cordon line. The gemstone necklace from 1926 sparkled with brilliant light under the lamps.

At this moment, the stamina of those few cocktails Lin Congzhi had drunk began to surge upward. He stepped down from the high stool and stood firm in front of Xiao Jingwen.

Everyone’s attention was drawn by the jewelry, so no one saw Lin Congzhi gazing at him with a pair of clear, bright eyes. The distance was very close, and the scent of alcohol teased Xiao Jingwen. Lin Congzhi was born with naturally upturned lips; his lips were very soft when kissing, but also fierce when arguing.

Lin Congzhi hooked the corners of his lips into a smile: “Do you want to know what’s written on the description card?”

“Mm.” Xiao Jingwen got his way. “If you tell me, I won’t bid on it.”

Lin Congzhi took a breath, let out a sigh, and looked past Xiao Jingwen. Coco had already returned to the bar. He said, “Coco, give me a glass of neat whisky, please.”

A beautiful, transparent ice sphere soaked in the glass. Lin Congzhi’s Adam’s apple rolled up and down his neck, and the liquor overflowing from the corners of his lips flowed down to his Adam’s apple, only to be wiped away by the tip of Xiao Jingwen’s finger.

He set down the glass, the ice sphere clinking inside, making Coco so frightened he didn’t dare ask anything. He could only watch helplessly as Lin Congzhi, after setting down the glass, grabbed Xiao Jingwen’s hand and dragged a CEO out of the exhibition hall all the way.

Two waiters stood at the entrance with their eyes lowered. Everyone understood clearly in their hearts, keeping their eyes and ears to themselves. This was a hotel located in the prime district of Yucheng, and today Gleam had booked all the halls except for the guest rooms upstairs.

Lin Congzhi didn’t know which area was empty. He dragged Xiao Jingwen around several bends on his own, not knowing where they had ended up. That glass of neat whisky burned inside his body like the boiler room of an old-fashioned steamship.

Finally, he walked into a narrow corridor with no one around. At the end was a thick wall, and the doors along the corridor were tightly shut, devoid of any sound.

Lin Congzhi stopped, turned around, and looked at him: “At 03:30 AM on June 5th, a waning moon at sea with a illumination of 4%. What’s written on the description card is: 17 days until the full moon. Happy birthday in 17 days, I miss you very much.“

At that moment, Xiao Jingwen experienced a slight ringing in his ears. His single-lidded, elongated eyes opened wide in astonishment, and his bangs swayed twice over his short, dense eyelashes. He nearly lost his balance—

Because Lin Congzhi stepped forward, grabbed his tie, pulled him down, and kissed him.

A kiss filled with the taste of alcohol, like biting into a liquor-filled chocolate.

Lin Congzhi had always been this way, clearly knowing what he wanted. He didn’t weigh the options, nor did he consider the consequences. It was true when they broke up back then, and it was true now when he kissed him.

He was dashing enough, capable of picking things up and putting them down, forever able to pass the test of his own heart. Just like this kiss.

Disordered breathing and heartbeats were exceptionally fierce in the quiet space. Lin Congzhi’s kiss required not only pulling him down, but also tilting his own head up. Although it was a kiss from below, it carried an absolute sense of aggression.

Especially with Xiao Jingwen standing there dazed, Lin Congzhi’s tongue pushed inside, biting his lower lip, sucking it after biting, dragging him down with one hand clutching his tie and the other hand wrapping around his neck.

—He was like a mermaid, intent on pulling Xiao Jingwen down from the ship into the depths of the sea.

Until Xiao Jingwen responded, tightly embracing him in frenzy, returning his kiss and his longing. That single phrase “I miss you very much” snapped Xiao Jingwen’s sanity completely. Holding the back of his head with his palm, he lowered his head and bent down even further, allowing both of them to kiss even deeper.

Having been separated for too long, they kissed almost recklessly. Lin Congzhi gripped the upper arm of his suit jacket until it looked like a clump of pickled vegetables, and today Lin Congzhi’s Tencel cardigan was also rubbed until it slipped down a stretch from his shoulder. If he hadn’t been wearing a T-shirt inside, the scene at this moment would have been utterly provocative.

One of them had been drinking, while the other had not. Yet the one who hadn’t drunk seemed to sink even deeper. Lin Congzhi’s hair spilled through his fingers; he no longer pulled on Xiao Jingwen’s tie, but placed both hands on his jawline, enjoying it thoroughly and openly.

The alcohol he had consumed was throwing a party in his stomach, and alluring sounds leaked out from the depths of his throat. Five years ago, if he and Xiao Jingwen kissed for more than ten seconds, they would inevitably end up in bed. Five years later, merely kissing had already irrigated a vast expanse of dry, cracked wasteland in his heart.

Lin Congzhi clung to him greedily, touching the chest muscles he hadn’t felt in a long time, unable to resist giving them a pinch. They couldn’t possibly fit together any tighter, as Xiao Jingwen clasped his waist even firmer.

Airy groans of “Ah” and “Mm” drifted through the air. Everything felt like an unstoppable disaster, helpless to resist and with nowhere to escape.

This kiss went from fierce to tender. In the end, both of them panted in tacit understanding, their wet lips rubbing against each other, as they finally opened their eyes to look at one another. What was desperate was that both of them remained sober. Their sanity could only support them up to this point; this kiss was already long enough, affectionate enough, and enough to outweigh ten thousand words.

“Can’t we try again?” Xiao Jingwen swallowed.

“We will argue,” Lin Congzhi said. “One of us will have to yield.”

“I can,” Xiao Jingwen looked at him.

“I don’t want to,” at this distance, Lin Congzhi could only stare into his eyes. “I don’t want you to yield, just like you don’t want me to endure. We both know very well why we rolled into bed five years ago after a war of words—it was because we simply liked that the other person would stick to their own choices and principles no matter what.”

The truth was exactly as Lin Congzhi stated, even though at this moment they were endlessly close to each other’s bodies, just an inch away from kissing again.

Xiao Jingwen had no way to refute: “Sometimes I really wish we were somewhat foolishly in love.”

Lin Congzhi patted his arm: “In our current state, we are already quite foolishly in love.”

Xiao Jingwen let out a helpless laugh, his Adam’s apple moving.

Things had walked into a dead end once again, just like the corridor they were currently in. To the left was a dead end; once they stepped out from the right, they would have to turn back into CEO Xiao and Mr. Lin.

Xiao Jingwen closed his eyes and said, “Then let’s both… let’s both think of a way again.”

“Okay,” Lin Congzhi didn’t hesitate.

He was willing to think of a way. A year ago, he stepped off the ship hoping to think of a way again.