*
The crowd on Xiangxie Avenue was bustling and thick with people, but Yeru, George, and Rein clearly spotted the figure of a young woman not far away. Lin Lei had been seeing Alice for quite some time, and the three of them had formally met Alice before, so they naturally recognized her.
"It's Alice," George said in a low voice.
At that moment, Alice was walking hand-in-hand with a young man, a slight smile on her face. If Lin Lei were there, he would have recognized this young man as Kalan.
"Jerk." A hint of killing intent flashed in Yeru's eyes.
Rein was also furious. "Lin Lei went to her house again and again these past two months, waiting for her bitterly. He even acted like a fool, using that memory crystal to record scenes. He told us he was going to marry this Alice. Damn!"
"What's wrong with Third Brother that she wouldn't want him?" George was also indignant.
Yeru snorted softly. "This isn't something we can interfere with. Let's go to Blue Water Paradise first. We'll talk when Third Brother gets back. The most important thing right now is to prepare him a little. If he's not prepared, he probably won't be able to accept this reality all at once."
George and Rein nodded.
Inside a private room at Blue Water Paradise, Yeru, George, and Rein all had furrowed brows. They hadn't called for any women to serve them, and only fruit juice sat before them. They were worried about getting drunk and messing up when they had to deal with Lin Lei.
"I know Third Brother's type," George said worriedly. "He doesn't talk much usually and trains extremely hard. There are tons of girls at our academy chasing him, and he's never accepted a single one. But someone like him, once he falls for someone, he falls much deeper than you or Fourth Brother."
Yeru and Rein both nodded.
For Yeru and Rein, losing a woman just meant finding another. It was nothing. But over the past year, judging from Lin Lei's reactions when they teased him about Alice in the dorm at night, they could tell how much he cared for her.
"So annoying!" Yeru suddenly downed the fruit juice in his cup in one gulp.
Rein snorted and said, "Big Brother Yeru, don't be so annoyed. It's just a woman. Third Brother might be in pain now, but after going through this, it'll be better in the future."
Yeru nodded again.
Yeru, Rein, and even George were all sons of prominent families. They had been exposed to matters concerning women from a young age. Rein and George were stricter, but Yeru had practically grown up in a nest of women.
Time ticked by second by second, and the three of them waited quietly.
Around one in the morning, with a creak, the door opened. Lin Lei, reeking of alcohol, walked straight in. "Huh? Why are you all here?"
Yeru laughed. "We're all waiting for you."
"Third Brother, did you not get to see that Alice again?" George asked, feigning casualness.
Lin Lei nodded silently, then slumped into a seat. "Why aren't you guys drinking today?" He bent over and took a few bottles of strong liquor from a crate nearby, directly pulling the corks and pouring.
"Third Brother, let me tell you something," Yeru said with a smile.
"Speak," Lin Lei said, his mood clearly terrible.
Yeru said softly, "Today on the road, we saw a girl who looked very much like your Alice. Really. She was a bit far from us, so we didn't see clearly if it was her. But that girl was with a boy."
"Liar," Lin Lei said flatly.
Yeru was taken aback.
Rein slapped Lin Lei on the shoulder and laughed. "Third Brother, we're all men. Men, right? When should you ever let a woman walk all over you? Your Alice has already stood you up several times. If it were me, I would've dumped her long ago. Even if she knelt and begged me, I wouldn't look at her."
"Fourth Brother, you little brat, what do you know?" Lin Lei said with a smirk, his breath heavy with alcohol. "Come on, enough talk. I'm in a bad mood. Drink with me."
Yeru, Rein, and George exchanged glances, then could only sit and join Lin Lei in drinking cup after cup.
The next morning, Yeru, Rein, and George were all slumped over the table asleep, while Lin Lei was the first to wake up.
Looking at his three good brothers beside him, a bitter smile touched Lin Lei's face. He thought to himself, "Big Brother Yeru, Second Brother, Fourth Brother, you spent time drinking with me, trying to persuade me. I understand what you mean. Alice has failed to appear two or three times now, and I've had a bad feeling in my heart too. It's just... I don't believe it. I'm not resigned."
Lin Lei walked to the window and looked down.
At five or six in the morning,
"Lin Lei." Derinkoort flew out from the Coiling Dragon Ring.
Derinkoort was always in a moon-white long robe, and his white beard was always so long.
"Grandpa Derinkoort," Lin Lei said upon seeing Derinkoort, suddenly feeling like a lost ship finding its harbor.
Derinkoort glanced at the sleeping Yeru and the others, then said with a smile, "Lin Lei, you have three good brothers. As for romantic feelings, let me tell you, in my nearly thirteen hundred years of life, first loves that succeed perfectly... probably only one in ten."
"Grandpa Derinkoort, I understand," Lin Lei said with a slight nod. "But, I believe in her."
Derinkoort nodded but said nothing more.
……
Mid-November, Lin Lei, carrying a bundle containing two memory crystals, once again came to Fenn City, standing before that two-story building.
"Uncle Hadley, has Alice returned?" Lin Lei asked the doorman Hadley politely.
Hadley shook his head. "No. Miss Alice hasn't returned once in the past month or more."
"Not once?" Lin Lei's brow furrowed deeply. "Uncle Hadley, I'll be going then." Lin Lei politely took his leave.