Drunk Together

⊙ A healing, slow-burn slice of life

⊙ The owner of a rice-wine shop in an old Jiangnan town X the one who...

⊙ An unremarkable shop in an unremarkable waterside town, and the ordinary lives of ordinary people

"The evening breeze kisses the lotus leaves. Let me drink my fill and fall asleep by the pond."

Their faces were still young, but their hearts had been through tremendous changes.

(1) One of them

The rain in Jiangnan never seems to stop. Today's misty rain was just like that rainy season day when they first met.

He lay beside her, his long, slender fingers gently stroking the ink-black hair spread across her chest.

He couldn't take his eyes off her face. After a long while, he tugged at the strands wrapped around his hand.

"What is it? Still thinking about that clueless childhood friend of yours?"

(2) The other one

She had never seen such fierce, unguarded passion in his eyes. The man before her shifted and overlapped with the boy she remembered, his schoolbag on his back.

She was more shocked than embarrassed, more flustered than fanciful.

"Don't do this. Let go of me first..."

The man growled in frustration:

"I've been grown up for years. What about you? Have you ever seen me as a man, a mature man just like him?"

P.S.

(1) A newcomer versus a childhood friend

(2) Not an age-gap romance between siblings. One-on-one, both virgins, happy ending

(3) It's fermented rice, also called jiuniang, not rice wine for drinking. It's a sweet fermented glutinous rice dessert with a little alcohol in it.

(4) The Jiangnan dishes in the story, including some time-honored brands, are all real. Feel free to visit the shops when you travel around Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

(5) May this sweet story, like chilled fermented rice, refresh you in the summer heat.

Theme: Never let down your hometown or your love.