CH 12

Entering the winter vacation meant that the Spring Festival was not far away. This kind of holiday and festival is the busiest time for the catering industry, and the Jiang family was no exception.

Since the siblings entered university, Papa Jiang and Mama Jiang put most of their energy into the store, and the atmosphere of this festival had faded a lot.

In the blink of an eye, the evening of New Year’s Eve arrived. The siblings had a New Year’s Eve dinner with their family in their own restaurant, and they were the first to go home to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

Before 10 o’clock, Jiang Meng’s group on her mobile phone began to issue various New Year blessings and red envelopes one after another.

She was lucky today, and she robbed several of the largest sums. Just as she was about to return a red envelope, a new message popped up on her phone.

[Li Ying: Happy new year.]

Jiang Meng couldn’t help being stunned and forgot to send out the red envelope. Her eyes were subconsciously aimed at Jiang Yu beside her. He was eating strawberries and watching the Spring Festival Gala; his phone was vibrating on the coffee table, and he didn’t even move his eyes.

After a pause, Jiang Meng pushed his arm: “Your mobile phone is so noisy; please check it quickly.”

Jiang Yu ignored her.

Jiang Meng simply picked it up for him and took a quick glance, and sure enough, there was a New Year’s greeting from Li Ying.

She threw the phone at Jiang Yu and said casually, “It seems that Li Ying sent you a message.”

Jiang Yu took the phone and checked.

Jiang Meng looked at him for two seconds, then clicked on Li Qianwen’s dialogue box.

[Jiang Meng: Did Li Ying send you New Year’s greetings?]

[Li Qianwen: No, when has he sent such a thing?]

[Jiang Meng: He sent it to me and my brother.]

[Li Qianwen: Oh, I guessed it.]

[Li Qianwen: He doesn’t need to send it in the future; thank you. *smiling*]

There was a list of unread messages in Jiang Yu’s WeChat; he didn’t even read them and clicked directly into Li Ying’s dialogue box.

[Li Ying: Happy New Year. *sprinkle flowers*]

Jiang Yu also replied, Happy New Year.

It didn’t take long for Li Ying to reply back, as if he were waiting for him.

[Li Ying: Did you watch the Spring Festival Gala?]

[Jiang Yu: I’m watching it.]

[Jiang Yu: Not good to watch.]

[Li Ying: I didn’t watch it.]

[Li Ying: My family was playing cards; I was lucky today and won five hundred.]

[Jiang Yu: *666*]

(vv: 666 means cool.)

[Jiang Yu: You can buy many cups of milk tea.]

[Li Ying: Yes.]

[Li Ying: Do you have fireworks there?]

[Jiang Yu: Yes, my sister and I are going to set them off later.]

[Li Ying: We can’t see fireworks here, so we won’t set them off.]

[Jiang Yu: Do you want to set them off?]

[Jiang Yu: Then you can come to our place.]

Jiang Yu didn’t receive a reply for two minutes after this message, so he simply got up and went to the bathroom.

Not long after he left, the phone on the sofa suddenly vibrated continuously.

Jiang Meng probed and saw that it was Li Ying’s voice call.

“Jiang Yu.” Jiang Meng shouted, “It’s Li Ying’s call.”

……

On the other side, Li Ying stood on the balcony on the second floor of his villa, listening to the music on his phone until it automatically hung up.

The cigarette burned to the butt, the last spark went out.

Inside the house was the noisy voice of the family, and outside the high-end villa area was quiet; except for the lit lights of every house, there was no trace of the New Year.

Li Ying twisted the cigarette butt in his hand into the ashtray, turned around, and went downstairs.

At this time, the phone vibrated in his hand, bringing a slight tingling sensation.

It was Jiang Yu’s call back.

His pleasant voice was transmitted to his ears through the electric current, and he said lazily, “I had gone to the bathroom when you called.”

There was also the sound of fireworks going off in the background.

“Hmm.” Li Ying stood on the edge of the balcony again, putting one hand in his trouser pocket.

He shook his palm slightly and took out a lighter from his pocket to play with. The metal body glowed coldly in the night, and a brightly extinguished flame sprang from his palm.

“Are there many people setting off fireworks?” Li Ying asked.

“Yeah.” Jiang Yu replied. Then there was movement from his side, and then Li Ying heard him open the window, and the sound of cracking fireworks rang in his ears more clearly.

“They usually set them off at 12 o’clock at night.” Jiang Yu said. His voice seemed to be mixed with the chill of the night, shaking a bit.

After a slight pause, Jiang Yu asked, “Do you want to set them off?”

After he finished speaking, he realised something, and he smiled lazily: “Forget it; your family should not allow you to come out at this time, right?”

Li Ying was silent for a few seconds: “I have several boxes of fireworks at home; will it be a waste if I don’t release them today?”

Jiang Yu thought for a while: “It seems a bit wasteful.”

Li Ying laughed: “Then let me set them off together with you.”

……

Li Ying went back to his room and changed into a coat, took the car keys and went downstairs.

Seeing this, Mama Li asked, “Are you going out?”

“En.” Li Ying said, “The two boxes of fireworks you received will be wasted if you don’t release them today, I’ll find a place to set them off.”

“That’s just right,” Mama Li beckoned to her little nephew, “Take Xiaoyu along; he has been shouting all day, wanting to set off fireworks.”

Li Ying and his little cousin looked at each other; the latter looked a little reserved and stood shyly in front of his aunt.

Li Ying smiled: “…Ok.”

……

When Li Ying drove to the square near Jiang’s house, Jiang Yu and Jiang Meng were already waiting by the side of the road.

Seeing him lead a ten-year-old boy over, Jiang Yu couldn’t help raising his eyebrows.

Li Ying handed a cup of milk tea to Jiang Meng and another cup to Jiang Yu: “This one has extra cheese.”

“You remember all of this; you are worthy of being a top student.” Jiang Yu boasted carelessly.

After a simple thank you, he took the milk tea, inserted the straw, and looked down inadvertently, making eye contact with the kid looking at him, one tall and one short.

Jiang Meng bent over and touched the child’s head, pointing to Jiang Yu: “Why do you keep looking at this brother?”

The child glanced at her, then at Jiang Yu, then at Li Ying. Several adults were watching him, so the child said frankly: “My aunt asked me to follow my brother to see who I will be setting off fireworks with today. I just asked my brother in the car. My brother said that I would set off fireworks with a very good-looking brother.”

Jiang Yu sipped his milk tea and laughed happily. He leaned over and pointed to the child, asking, “Is that brother good-looking?”

The child nodded, and after a while, he added seriously, “Very beautiful.”

“Who is more handsome, me or your brother?” Jiang Yu asked again.

Jiang Meng couldn’t help laughing, then pushed Jiang Yu’s arm and said, “Don’t bully the kid.”

After speaking, she stretched out her hand to the child and said, “Come on, sister will take you to play; okay, let the brothers help you set off the fireworks.”

The child looked at her for two seconds, then nodded, “…Ok.”

This square is very big; they found a place where no one was around and moved the fireworks boxes to the centre.

Watching Jiang Yu skillfully unbox, Li Ying glanced at his clothes and asked, “Don’t you feel cold in this?”

“It can’t be helped; I look handsome in this.” Jiang Yu said it and laughed first.

Li Ying also had a little smile in his eyes: “You will look handsome even if you wear more clothes.”

Hearing that Jiang Yu raised his head, both of them were half squatting and unpacking the box; the distance was a bit close.

Looking up, the two were almost close by.

Jiang Yu looked at himself faintly, reflected in his eyes, suddenly thought of something, and said with a smile, “Yeah, after all, I am a good-looking brother.”

After unpacking the box and setting up the fireworks, Jiang Yu beckoned Li Ying to back off.

Li Ying took a few steps back after listening to his words, and then he saw Jiang Yu holding a lighter to light the ignition part of the fireworks.

After waiting for a long while and not seeing the ignition, Li Ying was afraid of accidents and walked over: “How about you…”

At this moment, the fireworks were ignited, and Jiang Yu quickly got up, raised his gloved hand, put on his hat, and ran back.

Unexpectedly, after running a few steps, he collided with Li Ying, who was walking over, causing him to stagger back a few steps.

Fireworks shot up from behind them with a “xiu” sound, straight into the air, and then a burst of colourful crackers exploded above their heads, lighting up the entire night.

Li Ying was half a head taller than him. Jiang Yu raised his eyes under the hat, and the place where his eyes were looking was the sharp chin of the other party.

Jiang Yu aimed his eyes from bottom to top, facing Li Ying’s lowered gaze. Clusters of colourful fireworks were reflected in his eyes, from bright to dark.

This is the closest they have ever been. Li Ying seemed to hold him in his arms, and Jiang Yu could clearly feel his heartbeat and slightly undulating breathing.

After reacting, Jiang Yu straightened up and asked, “Why are you back here?”

The two took a few steps back, away from the fireworks.

Li Ying was silent for a moment, then glanced sideways at him and said, “Sorry.”

Obviously, he bumped into him, Jiang Yu didn’t know where the other party’s apology came from. But Li Ying has always been so polite that Jiang Yu didn’t bother to care about these details.

The two retreated to a safe distance and watched the fireworks quietly. Not long after, Li Ying’s little cousin ran over. Instead of running to Li Ying, he ran to Jiang Yu’s side.

For him, his elder brother was too serious, so he was not as good at talking as this beautiful elder brother.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a little guy running over. Jiang Yu glanced sideways.

The child seemed to be waiting for him and stretched out his hand: “Gege, can I hold your hand?”

Although Jiang Yu didn’t like children very much, this kind of well-behaved and sensible child was quite pleasing, so he stretched out his hand and said, “Yeah, hold it.”

The child was happy to hold his hand.

Li Ying glanced sideways and was silent for two seconds. He swept Jiang Yu’s hand, hanging by his side, and looked up at the beautiful fireworks.

Sitting on the steps by the side of the square, Jiang Meng raised her hand with a “click” to freeze the beautiful picture in front of her.

Then click into WeChat and send this photo to Li Qianwen.

[Li Qianwen: A family of three brought a dog.]

[Jiang Meng: *knife*]

[Jiang Meng: I suddenly felt that Jiang Yu seemed not so straight.]

[Jiang Meng: Sister, do me a favour.]

……

Not long after the new year, it was the day of the reopening of the university.

Time flies; Jiang Yu has entered the second half of his sophomore year in a blink of an eye, and his studies have gradually become busy, and he even has less time to play games. And he and Li Ying haven’t been in touch since the fireworks.

It was only later, when he had a dinner appointment with Zhao Wen, that Jiang Yu learned that Li Ying and Jiang Meng’s project team had recently moved to Jiangzhou city.

But this was not a big deal; he just heard it and didn’t take it to heart. After all, in his opinion, Li Ying probably won’t be able to become his brother-in-law.

(vv: You’re absolutely right, my dear dumb brother.)

Going home after class this afternoon, Jiang Meng was unexpectedly at home.

Jiang Yu saw her lying on the sofa. He took a can of Coke from the refrigerator and walked over.

“I heard that the project you participated in moved to Jiangzhou?”

He unscrewed the can of Coke and took a sip. Seeing that Jiang Meng was silent, he touched her arm again.

He saw Jiang Meng turn over listlessly and gave him a sleepy look: “Jiang Yu, I’m broken in love.”

“You only realised it now?” Jiang Yu was a little surprised.

“…” It took Jiang Meng all her acting skills to resist the urge to hit him at this moment.