The game begins

The three groups, twelve people in all, sat down beside the campfire one after another.

Tan Xuguang took out a notebook and some yarn and began explaining the rules:

"Most board games are hard to recreate, so let's play something simple: 'Forbidden Words and Actions.'"

With that, he opened the notebook and tore out the pages he had written on beforehand to use as cards.

"Everyone draws two cards. Use the yarn to tie one to your forehead. Each card has a word you're forbidden to say or an action you're forbidden to do. You won't know what's on your own forehead, but you can see everyone else's."

"We can use leading remarks to get someone to say the word on their forehead or perform the corresponding action. Once they do, that card is out, and they switch to their next one. When both your cards are gone, you're eliminated."

"Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded.

Tan Xuguang shuffled the cards. Each person came forward to draw two, chose one at random, and tied it to their forehead with the yarn.

After tying on her own card, Jiang Nian began looking around at everyone else's.

Song Jici: Say "sounds nice"

Wen Jincheng: Turn someone down

Tan Xuguang: Smile with your teeth showing

Shen Hui: Clap

Tong Chuhe: Perform something

Gao Wen: Say "go home"

Nie Xuzhi: Refuse to perform

Fu Zhenzhen: Say "so hard"

Liu Fan: Touch your nose

The remaining two, Chen Jia and Fang Xiaonan, whom Fu Zhenzhen had brought along, had "point at someone" and "cover your mouth," respectively.

Once everyone was ready, the game began.

At first, nobody spoke, afraid of triggering some forbidden word or action.

Jiang Nian felt they couldn't just sit there awkwardly, so she broke the silence. "Come on, let's just chat naturally."

With that, she looked toward Tan Xuguang and gave him a radiant smile.

Dimples adorned her cheeks, and the firelight lent her face a warmth as radiant as peach blossoms.

Tan Xuguang's heart skipped a beat at the sight. Instinctively, he returned Jiang Nian's smile with a sunny one of his own, revealing a cute little canine on one side.

"All right, Tan Xuguang, change your card."

Jiang Nian's expression changed instantly as she coldly and mercilessly told Tan Xuguang to switch cards.

Tan Xuguang: ?

"Hahahahaha!"

Everyone around them burst into laughter at the game's organizer, who had already lost a card right at the start.

Utterly bewildered, Tan Xuguang took the card off his forehead and saw what it said-smile with your teeth showing.

That damned beauty trap.

Why couldn't he control the corners of his mouth?

Shen Hui looked at Tan Xuguang, who had turned into a grinning fool over a single smile from Jiang Nian, with exasperation.

Pathetic!

Tan Xuguang cast a resentful glance at Jiang Nian, who was secretly enjoying herself, and reluctantly put on his last card, wanting to cry but finding no tears: apologize.

After Tan Xuguang's mishap, everyone gradually relaxed, chatting as they laid traps for one another.

Nie Xuzhi glanced at the cards on Jiang Nian's and Tong Chuhe's foreheads. Her eyes shifted as she casually posed a question:

"Does anyone have any hobbies or special talents?"

Gao Wen considered everyone else's cards when she heard this, understood what Nie Xuzhi meant, and chimed in with a smile:

"I don't have any special talents, but I really enjoy reading all kinds of mystery and adventure novels."

Shen Hui quietly joined in from beside her. "As far as talents go, I'm pretty good at the violin. Unfortunately, we don't have what we need here, so I can't play anything for you."

Looking ready to enjoy the show, Song Jici suggested, "Why don't some of us perform something to liven things up?"

Naturally, Fu Zhenzhen supported Song Jici's suggestion. "Sure! I'll go along with you, Ji Ci."

Song Jici then turned to Nie Xuzhi with a smile. "Shall we start with Nie Xuzhi, then?"

Nie Xuzhi froze. Weren't they supposed to call on Tong Chuhe and Jiang Nian? Was he using her as a stepping stone because going straight for them would be too obvious?

After considering it, she refused anyway.

"I don't really have any performance skills, so I'll pass. Chu He is such a good dancer. Let's have her do something instead."

That was exactly what Song Jici had wanted.

"Wow, change your card! You've lost that one too! Hahahaha!"

Tan Xuguang eagerly welcomed his first companion in misfortune, and Nie Xuzhi realized she had fallen into a trap.

She took down her card and glanced at it: refuse to perform.

She hadn't expected to dig a pit for herself.

With a sigh, Nie Xuzhi reluctantly switched to her second card.

Remembering the trap Nie Xuzhi had left unfinished, Jiang Nian looked at the "perform something" card on Tong Chuhe's forehead, unwilling to let the opportunity slip away.

"Even though we were setting a trap for Xu Zhi just now, couldn't you really dance for us, Chuhe? I've never seen you dance!"

With that, Jiang Nian gave Tong Chuhe a pleading look.

Of course, Tong Chuhe hadn't missed Jiang Nian's little scheme. She had roughly guessed what her own card said, but she didn't mind dragging Jiang Nian down with her.

"Of course, but you have to sing for me. It would be so lonely dancing all by myself."

Having achieved her goal, Jiang Nian happily agreed.

She really was setting a trap, but she genuinely wanted to see Tong Chuhe dance too. Even with their limited resources, any chance to watch was worth taking.

Jiang Nian and Tong Chuhe stood and walked over to an open patch of ground together. Jiang Nian turned to ask:

"Chu He, which song would you like? I don't know that many."

She wasn't very familiar with this world's music. Her head was full of songs from her previous life.

Tong Chuhe didn't particularly mind. She gestured for Jiang Nian to sing anything she liked; she could improvise.

So Jiang Nian stood there and sang a song she had once loved, providing accompaniment for Tong Chuhe on this makeshift stage before their handful of temporary spectators.

"Years later, white hair rests upon our brows, time settles at our temples. After tea, we close our eyes and speak of you and me, of all our unremarkable storms."

"With faltering steps, we support each other through the ice and snow, yet somehow, beneath the eyes of others, this love is crushed to pieces."

When she began to sing, the whole world seemed to fall silent, leaving only her voice flowing through the air. Every note seemed part of a carefully woven melody, lilting and sweet.

Clear moonlight spilled over the stage, draping Jiang Nian's singing in a veil of mystery. Tong Chuhe danced in the breeze to her voice, her movements graceful and light, like a fairy beneath the moon.

"Time favors restless wandering, with nowhere to escape. A hundred years of life has nothing to do with moments past."

"The handwriting on the title page of the poetry book beside me jokes of a brief respite in the year to come, and letters no one ever claims."

The lilting song wound like silken threads around everyone's hearts in the hazy night.

The audience beside the fire quietly lost themselves in the atmosphere. The noisy students around the tents also hushed their laughter and gradually drew closer to watch the performance.

"If I wake to meet tomorrow, tomorrow offers no reply."

"To dare hope for 'until we meet again' would be happiness enough."

"When we meet again and share a smile, I stand there trembling."

Your face is just as it was.