Chapter 10

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The movie had already ended by the time Ye Zi woke up, and the glaring lights caused him to squint. But he felt warm. That person that did not leave. He had a thick down jacket draped over his body and he could smell a light fragrance from the fur lining the hood.

“Awake?” Rabbit’s voice sounded above him.

Ye Zi quickly straightened himself up, only to realize that he had been sleeping on Hare the whole time. Hare had taken off his jacket for him and was only wearing a thin dark gray sweater at the moment.

Ye Zi felt a little embarrassed and he quickly threw the jacket back to Hare. “Put it on!”

“Sure.”

Hare nodded and put the jacket on. There was a clear look of amusements in his eyes as he asked, “Did you sleep well, Ah Zi?”

“…”

“You were even snoring earlier. Did you have a good dream?”

“Shut up!”

Ye Zi quickly strode out of the theaters, his ears completely red. Hare followed behind him and observed him carefully, his amusement growing deeper.

After going out, Ye Zi headed for the bus station. He could clearly feel that Hare was right behind him, and he could even see his shadow covering his own on the snowy ground.

“Stop following me,” Ye Zi complained.

“I’m not following you. It’s just…I need to take the 61 bus as well, Senior Ye.”

“Don’t talk to me like we’re close!”

“Ah Zi.”

Ye Zi decided to ignore him, and the two did not speak anymore after that. But even without any words, Ye Zi knew that Hare was constantly by his side. He followed him into the bus and stood right beside him. When people began to fill the bus, he would cover right behind him to leave him some space. To tell the truth, Ye Zi didn’t really like being treated this way. These are things a man would do for a woman, just like how he protected Nie Haixia.

After five stops, he got off. Hare followed as well.

Ye Zi frowned. “Do you even live here?”

Hare shook his head.

“Then why did you get off?”

“I’ll send you home, just in case you come into any danger.” Hare smiled sweetly at him.

You’re the only danger here!

“Where do you live?”

Hare froze for a moment. “Around the South Gate.”

“Isn’t that in the opposite direction?!” Ye Zi sighed. “You’re still in high school, you should focus on your studies. When I was in my second year of high school, I studied every single day and even had to go for tuition on the weekends. We had classes even during the winter vacation! Meanwhile, you’re out there running about every day. Can you even keep up in your classes?”

Hare’s face turned slightly red, feeling shy. “Ah Zi, are you worried about me? Then, why don’t you tutor me instead?”

Ye Zi wanted to cuss at him.

But Hare knew where his boundaries were. After checking his watch, he said, “It’s late now, you should go home quickly, Senior. I’ll be going as well. See you next time.”

Then, he turned around and left.

***

After returning home, Ye Zi rested for a moment before sending his girlfriend a text. He needed to have a proper talk with her soon.

This time, Ye Zi made himself clear. He told his girlfriend, “Haixia, I cherish you a lot and I hope we could stay together forever, but I can feel that you don’t care about me as much as I care about you. You’re sometimes nice to me, and other times not. I can’t grasp it at all. There must be many things about me that you’re unhappy about, so why don’t you tell me? If possible, I’d like to change myself for you. I don’t want to be kept in the dark the whole time, it’s not healthy for either of us that way.”

This time, his girlfriend quickly replied. “There’s nothing bad about you, hubby!”

“Then are you unhappy with my family situation? It’s true, things aren’t so great right now, and there’s no way for me to give you a solid promise…”

Before Ye Zi could finish typing, he received another message from his girlfriend.

His girlfriend typed, “I’m sorry for yesterday, something just came up all of a sudden and I really couldn’t come see you.”

Ye Zi responded, “I called your house the other day. Your mother told me that you went out, but you didn’t go out to see me.”

This time, it took a few minutes for his girlfriend to respond, “My friend wasn’t feeling well so I went to see her…That’s why I couldn’t go to the theaters with you. I’m sorry.”

Ye Zi told her, “Then why didn’t you tell me that yesterday? I definitely would’ve agreed if you’d told me. I called you so many times, and I thought something bad happened to you.”

This time, his girlfriend called him directly. He could hear from the receiver that her voice was very nasally. Clearly, she was crying. “I was just in so much of a hurry yesterday that I didn’t hear you call. I’m sorry hubby…Trust me, please? I really do like you! You’re the person who treats me best, I can’t lose you!”

Ye Zi felt his heart soften. He really couldn’t handle his girlfriend’s tears after all. On that night, he and his girlfriend spoke on the phone for more than an hour before they switched over to QQ. After chatting for a while, the two of them finally went to sleep.

It was New Year’s Eve the next day, which symbolized the start of new beginnings. The other houses have long prepared their Spring Festival couplets and their prosperity signs while the families, big and small, all waited to enjoy their reunion dinners before gathering to watch the Spring Festival Gala in the evening. Meanwhile, in Ye Zi’s apartment, everything felt cold and quiet, and a musky smell was coming from the air conditioner. His mother and his uncle were still out having fun and would not return till after the Spring Festival.

He woke up early at 7 that morning, but his mind was filled with grey emotions. He didn’t feel like getting up at all.

All of a sudden, he recalled the New Year’s he had spent through all the twenty-some years of his life.

When he was in junior high, Ye Zi spent the New Year’s with his mom. They couldn’t afford to eat anything fancy or to go anywhere nice. At the very most, they would go out to see the fireworks at night before heading back to watch the Spring Festival Gala.

When he was in elementary school, Ye Zi was still living the life of a young master. Every year, they would visit a luxurious place and have a fancy banquet dinner.

It really is funny. For more than ten years, he thought that he really was a biological son of that family. It wasn’t until later that he found out that he was adopted. For the boy who was raised in accordance to the strictest and most efficient training methods, the one who was told that he would become heir, the one so filled with pride and confidence was simply abandoned in the end, together with his mother.

And that was the reason why Ye Zi never went through the rebellious age with Han Yao, his mother. He knew that Han Yao was not really his mother. Even so, she raised him for all these years as if he were her own flesh and blood. For him, she washed all the clothes and the dishes, to the point that her clean unsullied hands turned red with wear and became swollen and ugly with sores. As the years passed, her beautiful face became wrinkled and her gait grew heavy. He really felt very grateful to her and he wanted to protect her. He hoped that she could achieve happiness and obtain a complete family with a husband that truly loved her. Even if he had to kill for that to happen, it didn’t matter.

Only, Ye Zi felt an incomparable sense of loneliness to pass the Spring Festival in this way.

As if everyone had already left and joined the lively crowd, leaving him alone in this small, cold space.

Absently, his mind wandered into a few daydreams. They were all pure white and quite depressing, even causing him to feel a boundless sense of fear. He was afraid that he would be trapped in this dream, never to walk out.

He didn’t want to have those nightmares again. Ye Zi sat up and made himself some soy milk and steamed buns before cleaning up his room.

At noon, he went out to have some food before coming back to play games.

During the night, he just casually cooked himself some food, but as he got distracted, he ended up messing up his woof, and it tasted almost as if he was chewing on a lump of wax.

After that, he sat on the sofa, feeling depressed at times, and irritable the others.

The notification bell of a text message sounded from his phone. It was a message from Hare.

Hare: How are you planning to spend New Year’s Eve?

Ye Zi: Sleeping.

Hare: How could such a wonderful time be put to waste? Are you alone, Ah Zi?

Ye Zi: Yeah. Why?

Hare: Can I spend the New Year’s with you? ^^

Ye Zi was stunned.

Ye Zi: Where are you?

Hare: Right downstairs of your place.

Ye Zi quickly ran to the balcony and opened the windows. Being greeted by the biting cold winds, he couldn’t help but shiver. Indeed, there was a person sitting there in front of the flower bed downstairs underneath the heavy downpour of snow.

He was wearing a white down jacket with brown fur lining the hood, and he had a scarf and a pair of gloves on him to keep warm. The winds were so strong out that even the shriveled trees at the side were shaking, and it looked like the snowflakes were dancing on corkscrews. Ye Zi even had the illusion that the guy had already merged with the snow to become one entity, like would be completely covered by the frost and snow in the very next moment.

This damn fool!

This time, he didn’t hesitate anymore.

Ye Zi grabbed his keys and ran downstairs.

When Hare saw Ye Zi, he stood up, surprised. His nose and his face were all red from the cold and his hair was messy. He really was a pitiful sight. “Ah Zi, why did you come down?”

“Were you planning to sit here all night if I wasn’t at home?”

Hare nodded. His hot breath poured out from his lips and icicles could be seen hanging on his eyelashes. “Yeah. I’ll wait here, downstairs of your house, and pass through New Year’s with you.”

“You crazy idiot!”

Ye Zi scolded him under his breath. Then, he grabbed his cold wrist and dragged him over to his unit.

This time, Hare was even more surprised. He asked inquiringly, “Ah Zi?”

Ye Zi strode through the snow and dragged Hare upstairs. His actions weren’t gentle in the slightest, and even his voice was firm. “Things will get troublesome if you freeze to death outside of my house.”

Hare watched Ye Zi’s back as they walk, watching him stop to open the door, and seeing the lights flow out through the gap of the door before gradually spreading out.

His eyes suddenly turned red and he felt his nose wrinkle. He took a deep breath and couldn’t help but grab onto the corners of the other man’s clothes.

Ye Zi turned to look at him. “What’s wrong, kid? The cold finally getting to you?”

Hare stood at the door and laughed. “As expected, I really like you the most, Ah Zi.”

“I can kick you out at any moment, you know? Fine, I won’t scare you anymore. Come in. Just look at what the cold’s done to you!”

“Okay!”

|TOC|

The New Year’s here is based on the lunar calendar, which means it falls on a different day each year and the first day of New Year’s is the coming of Spring, that’s why reunion day for New Year’s Even is often called “passing the winters”, and also the reason why it’s the Spring Festival in China.

Don’t quote me on that though I’m the asshole who whines about having to go to reunion dinners so what do I know.

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