It was almost eleven. There were hardly any cars on the road, and the way was clear.
Chen Shouyi watched the scenery outside for a while, then turned his gaze away.
A question suddenly crossed his mind. Who would be setting off fireworks this late at night instead of sleeping?
He looked out the window again and saw that the fireworks had stopped.
A vague sense of foreboding suddenly came over him. He spoke up:
"Dad, drive faster."
"The road's too dark. I'm already going sixty. Any faster would be dangerous," Chen Dawei said.
"Slow down, slow down. We don't want to get into an accident," Mother Chen added.
With his parents standing firm, Chen Shouyi couldn't press the point. Besides, driving too fast at night really was dangerous.
Maybe I'm just imagining things, he thought.
A little over ten minutes later, they reached the national highway. There were even fewer cars on the road now; sometimes several minutes passed without a single vehicle coming from the opposite direction.
As the car gradually left the city behind, Chen Shouyi looked back at the darkened sprawl. A pang of sadness stirred in his heart.
This was the city where he had lived his whole life.
It held countless memories for him—and the girl who had been his first love.
He didn't know when he would return after leaving this time.
He didn't know when he would see Zhang Xiaoyue again, either.
To Chen Shouyi, love was like a fickle breeze on a scorching summer day: it came out of nowhere, then vanished without a trace.
As time passed, the buildings on either side of the road gradually gave way to farmland.
Chen Dawei raised the car's speed to seventy. "We should reach Pingqiu City in about half an hour."
"We'll stay