Sounds of sobbing and sighing filled the surroundings. Zhou Rong tilted his head back and drank the second cup of wine in one gulp.
“The third cup.”
Zhou Rong turned forward, facing the gaze of all 118 special forces, raising his glass to the starry night sky with fireworks crisscrossing:
“In this past catastrophe, the virus took away countless lives, with global population dropping by more than half. Many small countries have disappeared from the human map.”
“If future generations write history, they will discover that no words or rhetoric can fully describe the cruelty of this disaster, nor can any language describe the arduous efforts humans made to survive.”
“We carried the spark through the dark night, ultimately reigniting the torch of racial continuation on a mountain of corpses. We survivors don’t need history to record our merits or need empty, beautiful praise. As long as the mountains, rivers, and millions of spirits bear witness to our successive struggles and never-give-up efforts.”
Zhou Rong raised his glass from afar, then poured the last cup of wine on the ground:
Cheers to us ordinary humans.”
Everyone fell silent and raised their glasses.
Fireworks outside shot into the night sky, bursting with brilliant light, illuminating everyone’s moist eyes.
Under warm lights, the crowd was bustling, and the aroma of food wafted far and wide.
Zhou Rong, having been plied with drinks, finally escaped the crowd, pulling Si Nan’s hand out the door and standing in the courtyard.
Sometime during the night, snow began to fall, with delicate snowflakes illuminated in orange-yellow light, romantically swirling and landing on their hair and shoulders. Zhou Rong leaned in to kiss Si Nan’s lips, seeming slightly embarrassed, and pulled out a white paper box tied with a pink ribbon from behind.
“It’s… it’s a cake,” he stammered slightly at the end. “I made it myself, try it.”
Si Nan opened the box, revealing a palm-sized strawberry jam cake, bright red strawberries drizzled with syrup adorning the snow-white cream, with an elegant piped border, and two little sugar figurines holding hands and laughing.
Zhou Rong nervously watched Si Nan take a bite: “Is it good?”
Si Nan nodded, licking the cream from the corner of his mouth.
