I Gave You a Chance, but You Couldn't Deliver

In 2005, the average annual salary for workers nationwide was over eighteen thousand yuan, while in Liaodong Province it was just over fourteen thousand.

In other words, the average monthly salary was only twelve hundred yuan.

Anping City in Liaodong Province was a third-tier city, and wages in Dongji County under its jurisdiction would only be lower, no more than a thousand yuan a month.

So when Zhou Yi claimed he earned just under ten thousand a month, there were only two possibilities.

Either he was bluffing... or he was corrupt!

Hou Xiaolei and Xiao Dechao thought Zhou Yi was bluffing, while Yan Lingling and Dai Yong thought he might have taken dirty money.

Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian, however, felt there was more to it and decided to wait and see.

"How much, exactly?" Bai Haoxuan composed himself and pressed, staring at him.

"Six hundred and thirty," Zhou Yi answered honestly.

"Fuck, you call six hundred and thirty 'just under ten thousand'?" Xu Heng demanded, his eyes wide.

"Does six hundred and thirty reach ten thousand?" Zhou Yi asked back, looking a little surprised.

Right, did six hundred and thirty reach ten thousand?

Huh? It really didn't!

With a snort, Tian Tian buried her face in the crook of Jian Shuyue's neck, her shoulders shaking nonstop as she nearly laughed herself to death.

Jian Shuyue patted her best friend's shoulder while watching the two men get thwarted again, a smile playing on her lips.

Hou Xiaolei, Yan Lingling, and the other old classmates suppressed their laughter and mentally gave him another thumbs-up.

Nobody does it like you, Zhou!

Bai Haoxuan and Xu Heng nearly laughed out of sheer frustration. They had never seen Shen Teng and Xiao Yueyue's comedy routine.

As the saying went, money gave a hero courage and gold gave a man backbone. They had intended to exploit Zhou Yi's low salary to knock him down a peg, only for him to defuse their attack so cleverly.

You're something else, kid. One slick trick after another.

In that case, don't blame us for playing dirty.

Without another word, Bai Haoxuan and Xu Heng filled their glasses with a glug-glug-glug, then began taking turns bombarding their primary target with drinks.

They firmly believed in one principle.

Against an overwhelming capacity for alcohol, all those fancy tricks were useless.

Half an hour later, the two of them ran into the restroom almost simultaneously, hands clamped over their mouths.

Watching them flee in defeat, Zhou Yi's still-clear eyes held the contempt and pity of someone thinking, I gave you a chance, but you couldn't deliver.

"We haven't seen each other in years, A Yi. You can really hold your liquor now!"

With a bottle in one hand and a glass in the other, Jian Shuyue sat down on Zhou Yi's left.

On his other side, Tian Tian raised a half-full glass, looking distinctly up to no good.

Zhou Yi understood immediately. They were just taking turns wearing him down.

He knew Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian could both drink a lot.

But can you handle this punch backed by twenty years of drinking experience?

As it turned out, they really couldn't.

Two glasses later, Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian had flushed cheeks and hazy eyes, while Zhou Yi remained as unshakable as a rock, as steady as a mountain.

Resting her chin on one hand, Jian Shuyue tilted her head and watched Zhou Yi. "A Yi, I'm actually really curious. What have you been through these past three years?" she asked softly.

"I remember you used to be quiet and introverted. Now you can talk more than anyone."

"You used to end up under the table after half a glass of liquor. Now you can outdrink anyone."

"You used to be an amazing fighter. Even the older students couldn't beat you. Now... oh, you're even better than before..."

Tian Tian kept nodding beside her. "Exactly, exactly."

Zhou Yi's gaze suddenly grew distant.

The truth was, it wasn't these brief three years that had changed him, but eighteen years that now felt like a fleeting dream.

Do you know how I spent those eighteen years-

In nightclubs with dizzying lights, keeping the music going and dancing on.

In front of a computer screen, hammering the keyboard as he furiously argued with paid online trolls.

In the sanda gym, unleashing a relentless barrage on his sparring partners.

At pianos that had passed through several owners, playing whatever came to mind and singing nonsense.

Over those eighteen years, he had learned to drink without getting drunk, to talk endlessly, to vent his pent-up frustration through sanda, and to soothe his lonely, uncertain heart with music.

But the one thing he never learned was how to tear off the label of "failure."

Some mysterious force seemed to be steering his life from the shadows.

Perhaps he wasn't possessed by a god of misfortune, but luck certainly wasn't on his side.

Watching the man fall into deep thought and remain silent for so long touched the softest places in Jian Shuyue's and Tian Tian's hearts.

He must have suffered so much these past few years!

But instead of letting hardship and setbacks defeat him, he forged ahead, emerged from his cocoon, and grew into an outstanding man.

Seriously, he's going to make me cry.

As the two women filled in the blanks on their own, they cast tender looks at Zhou Yi.

"It's all in the past. Let's not bring it up. Come on, enjoying a drink doesn't mean drinking ourselves under the table. Let's just finish what's in our glasses tonight."

Coming back to himself, Zhou Yi gave a hearty laugh and raised his glass in invitation.

Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian looked at their glasses, then unhesitatingly poured all their remaining liquor into Zhou Yi's.

Bai Haoxuan and Xu Heng watched from nearby, their eyes twitching. Good grief, you two really have no reservations at all!

Those are leftover drinks. Leftover drinks. Leftover drinks.

Important things had to be said three times.

Isn't that basically an indirect... you know?

Perhaps because they had drunk too much, neither Jian Shuyue nor Tian Tian seemed to have thought of that.

Zhou Yi had, but he could only pretend nothing had happened.

We're old classmates. Good friends. No need to worry about little details like that.

"As long as the affection is there, anything we drink counts as liquor." Jian Shuyue had a whole repertoire of drinking lines herself. Raising her glass, now filled with tea, she boldly drained it in one go.

By the time the gathering ended, it was nearly eleven at night.

Yan Lingling and Dai Yong lived in the same residential complex, so they left together in a taxi.

Xiao Dechao was heading roughly the same way as Zhou Yi and was about to pull him into a cab, but Hou Xiaolei beat him to it, shoved Xiao Dechao into the back seat, then climbed in after him.

"Well, I'm sharing a bed with Dechao tonight. Zhou, I've got a mission for you: make sure our two campus beauties get back to the hotel safely."

Hou Xiaolei secretly winked at Zhou Yi, thinking, Brother, this is as much as I can do for you!

Zhou Yi chuckled helplessly and waved goodbye to Hou Xiaolei and Xiao Dechao. After watching their taxi leave, he turned to Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian and asked with a smile, "Ladies, do you need an escort?"

He hadn't originally planned on it, since there were two ready-made escorts standing nearby. But since Hou Xiaolei had brought it up, courtesy demanded that he at least ask.

"Well, we've had too much to drink. You decide," Tian Tian replied with a touch of coyness.

Jian Shuyue was more direct. She opened the taxi's front passenger door and pushed Zhou Yi inside.

Xu Heng was just about to speak when Bai Haoxuan stopped him with a look.

There was no point saying more. They could simply follow.

The two taxis drove toward the Maple Leaf Hotel, one behind the other.

About twenty minutes later, Bai Haoxuan and Xu Heng, sitting in the trailing cab, saw the taxi ahead pull over.

Zhou Yi got out with Jian Shuyue and Tian Tian, and they strolled along the sidewalk on Dongji Bridge.

They were still nearly five hundred meters from the hotel.