Jiang Lan sighed. Forget it. Let him fool around.
"We finally managed to get together. Shouldn't we have someone give a little speech?" Pei Yanchuan joked.
"Sure, let's hear from Xiao Pei!" Wu You egged him on, and everyone else immediately started applauding.
Now he had to speak whether he wanted to or not.
Pei Yanchuan stood up and cleared his throat twice, looking every bit the leader. "Well..."
"All right, let's eat!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Just kidding, just kidding. Go on, Xiao Pei."
After all that teasing, what little nervousness Pei Yanchuan had felt vanished. He laughed along with everyone for a while before saying, "This Instance has brought us a lot of surprises. It's pretty clear that none of us have had an easy journey."
Hearing the youngest of them say something like that felt a little odd, but everyone listened attentively.
Their journey truly hadn't been easy. Some had endured bullying, some had been trapped by their families, and some had suffered misunderstandings and betrayal...
"But luckily, we can still sit down together and share a hot pot."
"We've found family and partners, and we've made friends we've trusted with our lives. This was the first place where I understood what a home was. I have older brothers and sisters who treat me well, people I love and people who love me. Sometimes I even think it wouldn't be so bad not to go back. Staying in the Instance forever might be pretty nice.
"We've been through so much together and faced so many dangers that could have killed us. Looking back, we've already come such a long way."
"So," Pei Yanchuan shifted gears, "doesn't that call for a toast? If we're close, we drink it all!" With that, he downed his glass.
The others picked up their glasses