hat it meant to cherish those close to him. He strongly wished to protect them from any injustice.Hearing this, his father smiled. "Su Chen, you're becoming懂事and understanding the nuances of human rel...Chapter 3: Du Songs and This Flowing Year

The Wei Mei Li of Ji Bu Oversea Middle School follows Junhao Yue's lead, knowing that he has many ideas. (Full text is small, in c literature. ): Upon hearing his natural calls to action, everyone cheers in agreement.

Li Luomei isn't afraid either and starts a game of "Speed" with several others. Tang Wu shakes her head, not wanting to play cards; she probably doesn’t know how to play them. Li Luomei thinks that since Junhao Yue initiated this challenge, she can't back down from it. Moreover, the other side is clearly showing no respect for her.

"Speed" is also a popular card game, where victory goes to whoever finishes their cards first according to certain rules. Players who still have one card left are safe without penalties; those with two or more cards drink a glass of alcohol, while those who haven't played any cards must drink three.

A few male students from overseas also gather and play this game around Li Luomei. Chen Lingshan privately tugs at her clothes but is deterred by the confident look in Wei Mei Li's eyes; she doesn’t intervene. During her stay in school, Li Luomei was a strong card player among female roommates due to parental influence, becoming proficient in all kinds of games like cards and mahjong.

A round of "Speed" is short-lived, but even just drinking a glass of alcohol repeatedly can be overwhelming. Wei Mei Li starts off steadily, frustrating the overseas students, while Junhao Yue drinks every now and then. He counters her style of carefully planning each move with aggressive attacks; soon enough, she falls into defeat, having drunk several bottles of wine. With limited tolerance for alcohol, her face turns red, making it difficult to speak coherently—a significant blow to her image.

Holding a few cards in his pale hands, Junhao Yue chuckles inwardly; there's no way he can't calculate Wei Mei Li’s level and mentality. With the cheers of classmates around him, seeing Chen Lingshan and Tang Wu’s angry expressions, it seems these two women will soon join in.

Chen Lingshan indeed helps Li Luomei aside: "Let me!"

"I'll join too." Su Can, who had been feigning interest in others singing, raises his hand to participate. It's clear that Junhao Yue’s classmates are supporting him by feeding him cards. Even though Junhao Yue wins, everyone else has to drink; these few students come from tough ethnic backgrounds and aren't afraid of alcohol. This minor amount is as soothing as a throat lozenge but is overwhelming for girls like Wei Mei Li who have limited tolerance.

The others allow Su Can to join in, and Junhao Yue doesn’t mind, since having more people feeding him cards lets him show how poorly the two girls perform.

Playing a card game without cheating involves both skill and luck. An expert player aims for perfection but always has an element of fate involved as well, given that luck changes according to environmental factors in the game.

If relying solely on this kind of setup, Su Can isn't sure he can defeat Junhao Yue. However, if his friends deliberately weaken their performance and give him opportunities, he can exploit these.

After several rounds, Junhao Yue and his group have drunk over five bottles of alcohol.

Su Cen's small "Three in a Row" and "Double Flight" ("QQ")

"Xinxin, no one dares to take over. Then they put out a pair of '2', hitting a full house. Since there are six people playing, no cards were discarded, not even the two jokers which were added as major players. Each person had nine cards. Upon seeing his ace in hand, Shun Junhao was prepared to counter and strike back against Su Cen's high spirits. Sadly, Shun Junhao held an ace but didn't play a single card, suffering silently.

Without playing any cards, it is commonly known as "Roast Duck" or "Spring". Different places have different names for this; in later times on the Tencent AllWorld game platform, it was called "Closing Cards". The punishment for closing cards is severe: three cups of wine, with each cup being about an inch high. Three and a half cups can fill up one bottle of beer.

This round Shun Junhao along with his three friends downed twelve cups in total, pulling out nearly three and a half bottles of beer from the cooler. Beer produced by Xia Hai at that time was quite potent; combined with what he had previously drunk, Shun Junhao became visibly disoriented. He only then realized that they had already finished more than half a case of beer, while Su Cen and Chen Lingshan hadn't even finished one bottle yet. There were still some leftovers in their glasses.

Chen Lingshan was smiling; during the summer break she had witnessed Su Cen defeat Zhang Xi's group with abandon, but that was through a different card game—dominoes. Now seeing Shun Junhao and his group getting drunk, she felt much relieved.

Now when they mentioned playing cards again from outside the sea area, everyone started stammering, no one dared to continue. If this kept up, before even an hour of singing had passed, all would likely collapse due to drunkenness. Although these people usually drank while exercising, drinking card game penalties cup by cup was quite sudden and intense; it felt like a storm brewing in their chests.

"Let's just sing for now, no more drinks! We need to relax," Shun Junhao quickly said as he saw the situation turning against him. He started looking at Su Cen differently, recognizing his quick-wittedness during card games and realizing that he had underestimated this kid.

The group began singing and eating fruit platters again, gradually warming up the atmosphere. Chen Lingshan, Li Weimei, and Tang Wu all felt much better. The people from outside the sea area were gloomy; they previously rejected Su Cen's group but now found it frustrating to be at a disadvantage.

In high spirits due to Li Weimei being drunk, she urged Chen Lingshan to sing a song. As soon as the others started teasing about Chen Lingshan singing, she stood up and selected "I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys, which was just beginning to gain popularity on the mainland. At that time, not many young people sang English songs; after the initial percussion, Chen Lingshan's clear voice immediately captured everyone’s attention.

Chen Lingshan singing this song with a girl’s tone didn't sound immature or raw but added an ethereal and melancholic touch.

Singing to "I Want It That Way," the atmosphere suddenly became unusually quiet, only Chen Lingshan's dark hair shimmering in the light was visible.

After finishing her song, many people spontaneously clapped. Shun Junhao’s eyes sparkled with praise, and Su Cen wasn't surprised because he knew from his future that Chen Lingshan would enter Beijing Film Academy on a path to stardom.

On this night of 1999, her talent and potential were already beginning to show.

Ru Junhao had an idea and said, "Why don't we play a game I'll pick a song for you to sing, and then you can choose one for me. We won't pick old songs from the 60s and 70s or foreign songs. Whoever doesn't finish their chosen song will have to drink a glass of beer on their own. What do you think You go first."

Although he had drunk quite a bit, his stubbornness couldn’t be suppressed, and he was determined to regain face from Su Cen.

Ru Junhao also sang "White Birch Grove," but to Su Cen's ears, which were seasoned by two lifetimes of experience, the performance sounded ordinary. Even Chen Lingshan’s voice, in Su Cen's view, still had some limitations. Although Su Cen wasn't a music critic, his broad musical education from another world gave him an edge over students of this era.

However, to current high school students, their voices were considered top-notch as long as they didn’t go off-key or make mistakes.

Another challenge The people from First Middle School weren't happy about it.

"Alright!" Su Cen smiled and picked a song for him first: "Only Wish to Love One Person" by Andy Lau.

Ru Junhao was speechless. He might know many of Andy Lau's songs, but this one was less known on the mainland even though it had become popular in Japan.

He hummed a few notes before switching to another song, and Ru Junhao downed his beer, then pointedly chose "If Heaven Has Feelings" by Andy Lau. This classic wasn't easy to sing from start to finish for someone of this era.

"It takes being hurt deeply to know how hard it is to find true love; who would want to understand love in such a way" The voice started, perfectly matching the original. Many people's first thought was that the original singer hadn't turned off their mic, but upon listening further, they noticed the voice wasn’t as robust and had some weakness. Nevertheless, this heartfelt rendition didn't have any gimmicks. Some people stood there, mouths slightly open, staring at Su Cen; to them, he sounded just like the original.

Ru Junhao stared dumbfounded at Su Cen. He faintly heard a sense of weariness in his voice but couldn’t figure out where such maturity came from in someone close to his age.

Su Cen’s chosen song's intro played softly, "You're Happier Than Before," which was part of Jay Chou's debut album. The official release date would be about a year later. Initially sung by Wu Zhongxian and then covered by Jay Chou, at this stage, Jay Chou had yet to make his mark.

When the song started playing, Ru Junhao was once again stunned.

"You're always too soft-hearted, too soft-hearted, taking on all the problems by yourself. Loving is easy, but living together is hard. If it's not meant to be yours, don't force it." An overseas boy and a girl from No.1 High School simultaneously sang this song, which somewhat resembles a monologue of a fair-weather boyfriend, in this place.

In an era when people's hearts are gradually becoming hollow, this meaningless but catchy song sparked a wave of commercially explosive trends.

Chen Lingshan became the focus of everyone's attention, like a princess being adored and placed at the center. As they got to know each other better, the gap between Overseas High School and No.1 High School faded away, with everyone mingling together.

Su Can couldn't help but smile wryly when he saw Lu Junhao, who had been defeated in the singing contest, curled up on a sofa beside him, his body shaking from being thoroughly drunk by several bottles of beer. Tomorrow morning after he sobered up, today's scene would be quite a blow to his ego.

Little did anyone know that even though Lu Junhao was drunk and his body wasn't under control, his mind remained clear; he purposely exaggerated his drunkenness so as not to lose face. "Oh, they say men who are good in cities won’t be loved by women! I just can't figure it out!"

Someone else started singing a love ballad, and the girls picked up microphones to join in. "Mom said true love would make everything wonderful; yet I ended up without any boy or girl friends!"

The latter part became mixed male-female chorus: "Oh, pray to heaven for help! Don’t despair... Heaven has its own arrangements..."

Su Can sat on the sofa, listening to these once-popular songs in the private room. They now sounded so real and true to him. His heart felt distant as he reminisced about the fragments of his past years and life's fleeting moments like white fluff, transparent under sunlight, suddenly feeling like a passing horse.

His arm brushed against something soft, making Su Can feel dazed; touching it again, he found it very comfortable. He could smell a fragrant scent which seemed a bit hurried, leading him to instinctively turn his head. Tang Wu was trying her best to lean into the sofa’s inner side with her long legs in skinny jeans slightly drawn inward.

She used both hands to cover the front of her clothes; the curves outlined by the cotton top inside her red blouse were quite full, but there were small creases and a few stray strands of hair falling down. She was blushing, with somewhat unfocused eyes and slightly parted lips; the slight resentment and reproach in Tang Wu's gaze at this moment, combined with her low hums, seemed mystifying.

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Brother "A Lifetime of Not Being Drunk" presented me a great New Year gift, the donations are quite strong, leaping into the patron level. In addition to this, I thank Silent Guest, Fingertip Sorrow, Midnight Garlic Wrong Thread Collect Mad Beast And Bundle, and others for your support on New Year's Eve. Wishing all brothers joy every second of the year and a happy new year!

Question: Visits:s wouldn't care much about it.However, when this male stood before Tang Wu, not a single person made any commotion. Even Zhang Xi, grandson Yi, and Li Ai, who were playing soccer on the field, paused...