Jiang Cheng had never cared much for Valentine's Day before. This year was the first time he'd felt anything about it, yet he didn't have time to enjoy the feeling.

Still, he wasn't too concerned with formalities. As he studied, doing exercises and memorizing material, his eyes were full of review notes for each subject. Yet in his peripheral vision, his boyfriend leaned against the edge of the bed, playing on his phone.

Valentine's Day was just a few minutes away.

Outside the window, snow was falling, and the shrill howl of the north wind against the panes could be heard. Just listening made one feel cold.

But inside, it was quiet and warm, with snacks, the low murmur of him reciting, and the swoosh of his pen across paper. And there was Gu Fei, who brought peace just by looking at him.

Compared to gifts and formalities, this was the kind of down-to-earth scene he truly wanted.

High school entrance exams on his left shoulder, love on his right.

Oh boy.

Hello everyone, this is Jiang Cheng's live brain broadcast, Season 1. Recently contestant Jiang Cheng has devoted himself fully to warm ups for the high exam competition. Coach X, with your experience, how do you view his current state?

This contestant has great personal abilities and self-control. He's emotionally stable during competitions. For many contestants, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event. If he can devote himself fully, I believe he will achieve excellent results.

Do you think he's fully devoted right now?

Clearly not, there are still things in his peripheral vision... Oh, isn't that the champion from the last live stream of the Steel Factory Idiot Competition?

Gu Fei's phone, placed on the table corner, made a sound. Jiang Cheng heard it, but reacted as if he hadn't. Then the phone sounded again.

The phone rang twice.

That was Jiang Cheng's sole judgement of the noise in his focused review state. As for why the phone rang, whether it was a text, WeChat, or news alert, what the content might be, whether he should take a look... None of those subsequent thoughts occurred to him.

But after the two rings, Gu Fei softly tsked. At that, Jiang Cheng immediately snapped back to awareness.

"Hm?" He looked at Gu Fei.

"Who was that from?" Gu Fei asked. "The one before mine?"

"Before yours?" Jiang Cheng didn't understand at first. He reached over and picked up his phone.

Two messages.

The first was from Pan Zhi:

-Happy Valentine's Day! I'm definitely first, automatic timed delivery, perfectly on point, blowing away all those still carefully composing heartfelt messages!

The second was from Gu Fei:

-Look at me.

Jiang Cheng was startled, and raised his eyes to look over at Gu Fei.

"No matter whether it's Valentine's Day or not, I'm here," Gu Fei said. "Happy Valentine's Day, boyfriend."

"Happy Valentine's Day," Jiang Cheng smiled. "Boyfriend."

"Who was the one before mine?" Gu Fei pointed at the phone. "Was it...?"

"Oh, it was..." The realization suddenly hit Jiang Cheng hard, and he started laughing uncontrollably. He held out the phone for Gu Fei to see. "Pan Zhi."

"Damn," Gu Fei took one look and laughed too. He grabbed Jiang Cheng's phone and sent a voice clip back to Pan Zhi. "Pan Zhi, are you really that bored?"

"You noticed, huh," Pan Zhi's voice clip quickly responded. "Happy Valentine's Day, good night! You two go be romantic now."

"He actually used timed delivery?" Gu Fei tsked several times. "What a jerk."

"Bored jerk," Jiang Cheng said with amusement, as he pinched off a piece of wind-dried beef, from the pack he'd bought at the supermarket a couple days ago that was already almost finished. He nibbled each piece daintily, like a sissy, barely able to bring himself to take a proper bite. "You don't know how much random crap this guy has on his phone. At most three months and his phone's so messed up it stops working. He has to reset to factory settings. Three resets and the phone's basically done for. Time for a new one."

"Just stuff it in your mouth, okay?" Gu Fei looked at him. "There's still another pack left, no need to be so precious about it."

"Another pack left?" Jiang Cheng was startled. "Didn't we just buy one pack that day?"

"Two packs," Gu Fei sighed. "And here I thought you were so capable. When you're studying you still get memory lapses, huh?"

Jiang Cheng popped the whole piece of beef in his mouth: "Mm—comfortable! Refreshing! Why didn't you say so earlier! All night I've been nibbling away at it like sunflower seeds, taking eighty bites just to finish one piece."

"I only just realized you were reluctant to eat it," Gu Fei stood up, took the bag and handed it to him. "Here, take it with you. Let's go."

"Where to?" Jiang Cheng looked outside, unable to gauge the snowfall.

"Set off fireworks," Gu Fei went over to the window to take a look. "The snow's lighter now, wanna go? I just figured, doing it in the daytime, there are people everywhere. At night, even more people."

"Let's go, get some activity in, be romantic," Jiang Cheng stood up, eyes still fixed on his book as he read the last passage before stretching lazily. "A key symbol of traditional Chinese culture is traditional architecture, also called frozen art. A hallmark of mankind's entry into civilized eras is the invention of writing... The difference is, Chinese characters are a key symbol of Chinese civilization, and Chinese characters along with historical texts and classics are a testament to the longevity of Chinese culture..."

The two bundled up well before heading out. Going out to set off fireworks in the dead of night, braving the north wind and snow, probably no other couple in the entire Steel Factory would do it.

Luckily Gu Fei had his tricks.

Burrowing into the little mantou car, Jiang Cheng felt extremely blissful. "Drive, hubby."

"Driving," Gu Fei closed the car door and started the engine. "Buckle up, hubby."

"Hurry up!" Jiang Cheng slapped his back.

The little mantou drove off.

The streets were deserted, only fluttering snowflakes visible under the streetlights. Jiang Cheng quite enjoyed watching the snowflakes, able to see the tracks of the wind.

Wind was a fascinating thing, lacking shape, color, or smell.

Yet you could see it, in falling leaves, drifting snow, spinning scraps of firecracker paper on the ground, the yellow smell of withered grass, the white smell of coolness, the red smell of gunpowder...

Although the streets were already empty, Gu Fei still drove the little mantou to the riverside. The two hadn't been back since their last argument here.

The river held no water, just white from bank to riverbed.

"Definitely would have people here during the day," Gu Fei got out of the car. "For the Steel Factory area, this river's the most romantic spot, forcibly made to have water, grass, and trees."

"We're also forcibly being romantic," Jiang Cheng wrapped his scarf tight and followed Gu Fei down the riverbank.

The riverbank was just a rocky dirt road that was now covered in snow. Each step felt like it could slip straight through to the bottom.

Gu Fei reached his hand back and Jiang Cheng grabbed it. "Afraid I'll lose my balance and shovel you into the river?"

"No, I played school basketball after all," Gu Fei glanced back at him. "I just wanted to hold your hand for a bit, it's pretty warm..."

Before Gu Fei could finish, he stepped on something and his foot abruptly slipped.

Jiang Cheng reflexively tightened his grip on his hand, then felt a powerful dragging force. He leaned back slightly to resist it, but failed.

Without solid footing, he didn't last even half a second before the pull toppled him onto his butt. One foot kicked Gu Fei's already unsteady footing right out, sending him sprawling on top of Jiang Cheng.

The two tumbled down the slope, slipping and bouncing all the way to the riverbank.

"Fuck!" Jiang Cheng yelled out, feeling like his back all the way to his butt had been whacked by a stick.

"Did I crush your balls?" Gu Fei seemed fine since he'd landed on Jiang Cheng.

"If you'd crushed my balls could you hear me yelling now?" Jiang Cheng pushed himself up. His butt still stung. "What a special Valentine's Day, boyfri—"

Gu Fei pinched his leg, cutting off his words. At the same time, he sensed it—in his peripheral vision, right next to them on the riverbank, someone else was there.

Jiang Cheng whipped his head around and froze.

"Damn," Gu Fei muttered under his breath and stood up, reaching a hand down to Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng grabbed it and hauled himself to his feet. Together they turned and stared at the person less than ten meters away.

The atmosphere was extremely bizarre.

It was odd for someone to be here at this time and place, but since they had conceived of coming to the "most romantic place in the entire Steel Factory" for a date in the dead of night, naturally others could think of it too.

Bumping into someone wasn't a huge deal, and not everyone knew Gu Fei and him, or could make deductions like the gods on the Fourth Middle School forums... Besides, ever since coming out to Shen Yiqing that day, it was like setting down a huge sack of cement he'd been lugging. Nothing mattered anymore.

But this was one person.

And someone who definitely knew them, even quite well.

From a studying perspective, he didn't want people close to him knowing about this now, afraid it would trouble and distract him.

So... it was time to silence Wang Xu.

Who would have thought the first one silenced wouldn't be Zhou Jing but Wang Xu.

"What are you..." Gu Fei spoke first. "What are you doing here?"

"Celebrating Valentine's Day," Wang Xu answered.

In the cold wind, Wang Xu's voice sounded especially bleak and... sorrowful.

In that instant, Jiang Cheng temporarily put aside the silencing plan, shocked by Wang Xu's solo dog spirit insisting on coming to the riverside to freeze and torture himself on Valentine's Day night.

What kind of psycho was this?

"By yourself?" Gu Fei also seemed shocked. "Or waiting for someone?"

"I thought I'd be waiting for someone," Wang Xu was full of grief. "Didn't expect I'd just be by myself."

Jiang Cheng stayed silent, only now noticing the two neatly arranged hearts made of fireworks in the snow by Wang Xu's feet.

That made sense.

Wang Xu had carefully prepared a romantic confession scene, but the female lead Yi Jing simply hadn't come.

"Oh," Even the highly emotionally intelligent Gu Fei didn't know what to say in this situation.

The scene once again lapsed into silence.

The soft sounds of falling snow could be heard.