Around 7pm, Xu Tingsheng felt hungry.

  He couldn’t return to the riverside residence for the time being. At the very least, Xu Tingsheng couldn’t very well appear again before Lu Zhixin today. Huang Yaming and Tan Yao had driven off to have fun with some medical faculty chicks. They simply wouldn’t even bother inviting him for such matters now.

  His remaining roommates were all busying themselves with matters pertaining to members of the opposite sex.

  If it was the canteens, there should only be leftovers and cold dregs remaining by now.

  The loner Xu Tingsheng wanted to find someone to eat dinner with. In the end, he could only think of Fang Yuqing who was currently just as much as a loner as he was. So he called him.

  After hearing him out, Fang Yuqing said, “I’m driving right now. I’m on the way to Suzhou. I bought two dumplings from the service centre just earlier and I’m biting on them right now.”


  Taken aback, Xu Tingsheng asked, “And what play are you staging?”


  Fang Yuqing roared into the phone, “And wasn’t it you who frightened me? My head’s been filled completely with red ever since this afternoon……Yuqing’s wedding invitation. Whenever I closed my eyes, I would see her wearing a wedding gown and getting wed to someone else. In the end, I couldn’t stand it and just drove out here.”


  “Where are you now?”


  “I just got on the highway a while ago.”


  Despite thinking this to be great, Xu Tingsheng could not resist teasing Fang Yuqing as he held back his rising laughter, asking, “To ask her if she will invite you to her wedding?”


  “To tell her that I will definitely marry her before she turns 25,” Fang Yuqing said.

  “Can’t you just call her and tell her that?”


  “I……”


  “You what?”


  “I lost my mind just now and withdrew all my money to buy a ring.”


  A ring. He had embarked on a quest of a thousand miles with a single-minded determination to propose? Xu Tingsheng was shocked by the sudden burning passion of the usually lackadaisical Fang Yuqing as he was unable to speak for a time.

  Discovering after some time that no response was forthcoming, Fang Yuqing continued, “Hey, say something, will you……to be honest, I’m panicking a little right now……I keep thinking about turning back! What do I do?”


  “You can’t just turn back so easily on a highway, right?”


  “Yeah, it’s fortunate for that.”


  “Scared of getting rejected?”


  “I’m really kinda. You don’t know this, but Yuqing has a soft exterior but a tough disposition. When she refused to stay in Yanzhou, she’d actually already mentally prepared herself for breaking up with me. I’ve got no confidence of succeeding at all now.”


  “Don’t think about that first, “Xu Tingsheng said, “Won’t it be night by the time you get there? Do you know where she lives?”


  “Yeah, I’ve been then before……” Fang Yuqing said, “When her parents both weren’t at home once.”


  “You’ll have to do it in front of her parents this time then. After all, it’s their daughter you want to marry. You can’t just propose to her never even having met her parents before.”


  “Why is it that the more you say, the more I want to turn back……”


  “Turn back and wait to receive her wedding invitation?” Xu Tingsheng breezily replied.

  Immediately he heard that characteristic ‘vrroom’ of acceleration from Fang Yuqing’s decrepit Volkswagon. He was going all out.

  “I’m hanging up then! Drive carefully, and call me if anything crops up,” He hung up.

  Therefore, Xu Tingsheng was still ultimately forced to eat alone. Switching buses twice, he found that traditional seafood noodle store that was Xiang Ning’s favourite, ordered the noodles that Xiang Ning had previously ordered for him, and sat down.

  Over a year ago, there had once been a period of time during which he had come here to buy takeaway for her everyday.

  Perhaps because the Xu Tingsheng of back then had liked to chat with the boss a little when standing in front of the counter waiting for the takeaway to be packed, describing Little Xiang Ning as Big Xiang Ning and his previous life as his present life, the boss who ran a thriving business actually still remembered him.

  When the store was slightly emptier, the boss made use of this time to come over and greet him, “It’s been a long time since you last came.”


  Xu Tingsheng smiled, “Yeah!”


  “Your girlfriend doesn’t like my noodles anymore?”


  “She should still like them,” Xu Tingsheng replied, aware that the 22-year-old Xiang Ning had still loved eating these noodles.

  “Then……” The boss stopped mid-sentence,saying in the end, “Never mind.”


  Perhaps having seen too many people who had once come together with their partner coming alone before, he knew that he shouldn’t be asking about this now.

  Although Xu Tingsheng had always come alone back then, he had been able to tell that he came with happiness in his heart each time. He liked talking about that girl whom he had never brought over before.

  After Xu Tingsheng had finished eating the noodles, the boss walked over, carrying a cup in one hand and a set of takeaway noodles in the other.

  “The is strawberry wine personally brewed by my family. It’s distilled from high-grade white wine; you’re guaranteed to be dizzy with a single cup. These noodles are the same as what you just ordered. Choose one of the two; that’ll be on the house.”


  Give her the noodles or drink that cup of wine, drunkenly returning home alone to sleep.

  Xu Tingsheng understood what he meant.

  Seeing how he remained silent, the boss waited for a bit before putting down both the cup of wine and the noodles.

  “You can only choose one. We’re a small business,” The boss smiled as he offered……

  Staggering back to his dormitory, Xu Tingsheng found it already closed for the night. Unable to enter, he could only find a hostel to stay the night.

  When Fang Yuqing’s call came in, he was already blearily about to drift off into sleep.

  Xu Tingsheng gave him a random ‘hey’.

  Fang Yuqing asked, “What’s with you? Your voice isn’t right?”


  “I drank a little and ate two bowls of noodles, one of them by the roadside,” Xu Tingsheng said, “But enough about that already, let’s talk about you first. I just love hearing stories about how fools throw everything aside and go all out before their stories then end in great tragedy.”


  Fang Yuqing went ‘scram’ before saying, “I’m outside her home district now, but I don’t dare to go over. What should I do?”


  “Go find a provisions shop nearby, buy an Erguotou and bottoms up,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  “Okay,” Fang Yuqing said……

  Fang Yuqing downed two whole bottles of Erguotou, because he discovered that just one wasn’t enough. Then, he called Yuqing.

  The first thing that Fang Yuqing said was, “Yuqing, don’t you marry someone else.”


  Taken aback, Yuqing asked, “Are you drunk?”


  Fang Yuqing said, “I’m already outside your home district right now. I, I’ve bought a ring.”


  Yuqing said, “Stop it, Yuqing. You’re drunk.”


  Fang Yuqing asked, “Don’t believe me? I’ll come and knock on your door in a bit then. Open the door for me if you dare. I wanna propose.”


  Yuqing was silent for a long time, low sobs audible on the other end of the phone before she said, “I’ve thought about it, Yuqing. I’ve thought about it. But remember two semesters ago, when we ran into your parents out on the streets and I met them for the first time? I never thought about it again afterwards. The reason I’m still together with you now, unafraid of what others may say behind my back, is that I wanted to accompany you for another two years.”


  Fang Yuqing was crying as well, “I know, but don’t you care about them. You will open the door in a while, won’t you?”


  Yuqing stopped emphasising ‘you’re drunk’ as she coaxed Fang Yuqing as she would a kid, smiling even as she wiped off her tears, “Alright, alright, I’ll open the door for you. Is there anyone beside you right now? Hurry up and go home.”


  Fang Yuqing hung up.

  Yuqing called him again, but he did not hear it.

  He knocked on the door of her home.

  Then, at that very instant when the sound of the doorknob turning resounded, he knelt down on one knee, opened the box containing the ring and raised it up high.

  The door opened.

  “Wi, will you marry me?” The drunken Fang Yuqing was still feeling nervous, stuttering flusteredly as he dared not raise his head.

  When some time had passed and he still could hear nothing, Fang Yuqing looked up.

  “Um……hi, auntie……” He said.

  Next, a middle-aged man walked over as well. Just like his wife, Yuqing’s father was stunned silly by the scene before his eyes.

  “My name is Fang Yuqing, and I want to marry your daughter, Yuqing,” Fang Yuqing said.

  The sound of a door opening resounded before hurried footsteps could be heard. Soon, a pyjamas-clad Yuqing appeared behind her parents. As she stood there, she saw Fang Yuqing who was kneeling over by the doorway.

  “You, you really came?” A blushing Yuqing asked.

  “Heh,” A drunken Fang Yuqing laughed in a silly manner before looking up and saying to Yuqing’s parents, “That’s her, it’s her I want to marry. Your daughter.”