The courtyard wall of Alice's manor was only two meters high. Lin Lei walked up to it, pushed off with his foot, tapped off the wall, and like an eagle spreading its wings, landed on the balcony where Alice was.
"Quick, crouch down!" Alice hastily pulled Lin Lei down.
Lin Lei, confused, sat down.
"Shh." Alice peered cautiously over the edge, then let out a long sigh of relief. "Thank goodness the gatekeeper is asleep. If he saw us, I'd be in big trouble."
Lin Lei understood.
"Let's sit and talk. The balcony wall will block us from view," Alice said with a smug smile, like a clever little fox. She casually wiped the ground with a burlap sack from the balcony, and then she and Lin Lei sat down right there.
Being able to see Alice made Lin Lei very happy.
"Brother Lin Lei, it's the middle of the night. Why are you still out on the street? Oh, right, didn't you say you're from
Why was he in Fenn City?
Lin Lei felt awkward. He couldn't exactly say he had come to the Blue Water Paradise with three brothers.
"I came to Fenn City to have fun with a few of my brothers. I felt stifled tonight, so I came out for a stroll," Lin Lei could only answer vaguely.
Alice nodded.
"Alice, it's the middle of the night. Why aren't you asleep?" Lin Lei asked, puzzled.
Alice pouted helplessly: "I went to sleep early, but my father, dead drunk, woke me up. You don't know how awful he is—gambling every day, drinking every day, and making a scene at home when he's drunk. It's so annoying."
"Running into a father like that, I'm so unlucky. Brother Lin Lei, what about you? How's your father?" Alice looked at Lin Lei sitting beside her.
"My father?" The image of his father, and the things they'd done together since childhood, surfaced in Lin Lei's mind. "My father doesn't gamble. Even when he drinks, he never gets drunk. But his education of me has been very strict, since I was little."
Alice sighed enviously: "Brother Lin Lei, you're so happy. Not like me."
Under the late-night moonlight, the boy and girl chatted on the balcony. They talked about fathers, then education, then their academies, then their good friends, and then shared interesting stories about themselves and their friends...
Lin Lei enjoyed the talk immensely. As they continued their long conversation, he became more and more familiar with Alice's life.
Gradually, the long night passed. A hint of fish-belly white appeared on the eastern horizon, and the whole land was filled with the fresh air of early morning. After talking half the night, Lin Lei and Alice hadn't felt the passage of time at all. It wasn't until dawn that the two of them realized it.
"Oh, it's dawn," Lin Lei finally noticed the time.
Alice reacted at the same moment: "Sorry, Brother Lin Lei. I made you keep me company all night."
Suddenly, Lin Lei and Alice both fell silent, a moment of awkward silence passing.
"Um, I should go now." Lin Lei sensed the atmosphere was a bit off and couldn't help but feel a little flustered. He stood up directly.
"Brother Lin Lei, will you come to Fenn City again?" Alice pursued.
"I will, if I have the time." After speaking, Lin Lei braced his hands on the balcony, flipped through the air, landed on the courtyard wall, and with a forceful push, sprang out. He landed on the street more than ten meters away.