On New Year’s Eve, Xiang Yu played mahjong at the Elderly Activity Center. Her phone kept ringing on the mahjong table and she answered the phone after she had nine tiles.
Tang Yuchi yelled on the phone, “Xiang Yu, did you think it wasn’t interesting enough? After giving a gift, you ran away? I went to buy a rhyming couplet, you didn’t wait for me to come home?”
In the morning, Xiang Yu went to the Tang’s house and gave a New Year’s gift to her godfather and godmother. Tang Yuchi was not there then, and she didn’t wait for him to return. After delivering the things, she chatted with her godfather and godmother for a few sentences, and then she got up and left.
Through the phone, Tang Yuchi took a bite of something, he chewed and complained vaguely, “If I hadn’t asked who bought this strawberry, I wouldn’t have known that you were here. Where are you now? I’m looking for you so we can have fun together.”
“Mahjong Hall, we’ve been there before, you coming?”
“Coming, wait for me!”
Half an hour later, Tang Yuchi drove to her, replaced Xiang Yu’s place, and took the 200 yuan that Xiang Yu won and placed it as a bet. Xiang Yu moved a chair and sat beside him playing snakes.
Two hours later, Tang Yuchi lost all 200 yuan, and he went in again, losing more than 400 yuan. After that, he said that he was out of luck and he pulled Xiang Yu to go. The three winners at the poker table were very reluctant to let him leave, they wanted the young master who gave out money to stay for a long time.
“We’ll stop playing, you guys continue.” Xiang Yu left the bag of melon seed snacks she bought before to the mahjong friends on the table, and they were willing to let them go with a smile.
Tang Yuchi lost money and lost his mouth from talking too much, “Did you buy water?”
“Can you drink this?”
Xiang Yu pointed to a 2.5-litre bucket of mineral water under the chair beside her, one-third of which had already been drunk.
Young Master Tang widened his eyes, “No, how do you drink from this thing?”
“Hold the bucket and drink, why can’t you drink it?”
“You are also a beautiful woman, so careless about your image in the mahjong hall? Just hold the bucket to drink?”
“A beautiful woman is beautiful in any way, understand?”
Tang Yuchi was really at wit’s end and he lifted it up taking a couple of sips, dropping a bit on his clothes, “Can’t you buy normal water? Is it easy for you to drink like this?”
Xiang Yu didn’t take it seriously, she opened the curtain and stepped out, “This is cheap.”
Behind her, Tang Yuchi seemed to say, “Following a person like Jin Fubai who spend money like water actually didn’t correct this aspect of you.” The mahjong hall was too noisy and the transparent plastic curtain crackled, smashing down so Xiang Yu didn’t listen to him.
Only when his name faintly sounded in her ears did she listen as she unnaturally turned her gaze to the sun in the distance.
Once out of the mahjong hall Tang Yuchi asked her, “Do I still need to pay you back the 200 yuan I just lost?”
“No, it’s your new year’s money.” Xiang Yu said with a smile.
“Xiang Yu, you can just follow me to my grandma’s house to eat at night. You haven’t seen my grandma and Aunt Chen has returned to her hometown. What meaning is there for you to go home by yourself? Going to eat microwaveable dumplings?”
Xiang Yu shook her phone, “What microwaveable dumplings? I found a takeaway app two days ago and I’ve ordered from it before. It’s very useful and can be delivered to your door.”
Tang Yuchi drove the car to Xiang Yu’s street and next to her building was a mini park. The two leaned on the fitness equipment and stood by the guardrail chatting.
At 4 o’clock the sky was not dark yet, and the lights were already lit up one after another. Witnessing this process with their own eyes, it felt quite romantic. Tang Yuchi lit a cigarette and Xiang Yu asked him, “When did you learn to smoke?”
“What about you? When did you change your style?”
Xiang Yu’s hair was cut short which was popular these days, her hair ends reached up to her collarbone and on the internet, it was called the first love hairstyle.
Tang Yuchi glanced at her twice and said in doubt, “You seem younger, like a high school student, Jin Fubai likes this?”
“What’s it got to do with him?” Xiang Yu lowered her eyes slightly and said lightly, ” The hairdresser suggested it.”
They hadn’t contacted each other much before the holiday, it seemed that Tang Yuchi thought that Xiang Yu and Jin Fubai had reconciled a long time ago. After all, when she was at his house last time she said she would consider giving him a go. Hearing what she said, he was stunned for a few seconds, “What’s the matter? You two are not doing well?”
Xiang Yu held a section of the iron fence, looking at the sparkling artificial river and pine trees full of colourful lights in the distance, “After having a meal that day we split up.”
“Was it because of the woman in the video? Does he have other women?”
“That’s his cousin.”
Xiang Yu didn’t say much, she just downplayed the situation saying that Jin Fubai would not treat her as a girlfriend and that it was boring to be together with him.
“Cough, cough, cough. He hasn’t contacted you again? Huh…” Tang Yuchi took a bite and asked as he coughed while smoking the cigarette unskillfully.
Xiang Yu patted him on the back twice and smiled faintly, “I blocked his phone number.”
Tang Yuchi, “…” He gave Xiang Yu a thumbs up.
Anyone who’s evaluated her actions will feel that Xiang Yu is asking for trouble. There may even be people who think that she was a university student who had just graduated yet did not work hard and instead went to find a backer. Now her backer being tired of her is what she deserves.
But no matter what other people think, Tang Yuchi has seen Xiang Yu lost look. He has seen her, a girl who was happy and a salted fish, spend several days watching “The Legend of Zhen Huan ” in a sullen mood under the quilt. He has also seen her when she watched the video of Jin Fubai with the other woman, she said that she was jealous and wanted to kill him.
Therefore, he knew that she really liked Jin Fubai, and it had nothing to do with other aspects.
Tang Yuchi sighed and pressed Xiang Yu’s head to his shoulder, “Come, I’ll lend you a shoulder, cry if you want to cry, I won’t laugh at you.”
Xiang Yu patted his arm and raised her head with a smile, “I’ve already cried, it’s Chinese New Year’s Eve now, why should I cry?”
The two people talked and laughed, not noticing a car had stopped behind them. It was a black SUV, half of a window was rolled down and a white jade-like hand came out along with smoke, and it tapped a cigarette, getting rid of the soot.
“Uncle Xiang and the others will not come back this year?” Tang Yuchi asked.
Speaking of this, Xiang Yu was a little bit more energetic, “They said that they’ll be back soon. If they have a lot of time, then we can go to a hot spring.”
The three of them have not sat down and eaten together for a long time. The last time was probably in high school, it had not happened once during the four years she was in university.
Xiang Yu didn’t know when the sun went down, it was almost buried under the outline of the distant mountain. She waved her hands and hurried him, “Don’t you want to go to your grandma’s house for Chinese New Year, go, don’t spend it here. “
Tang Yuchi was a little worried, “Make sure to call me. If you are bored, come to my grandma’s house and find me.”
“I know.”
Before Young Master Tang left, Xiang Yu stretched out her palm in front of him, “Give the cigarette to me, godmother finds smoking the most annoying, do you want her to scold you?”
“Okay okay, I’ll give it to you.” Tang Yuchi handed the cigarette to Xiang Yu, and put a scarf on her, “Don’t stay outside for too long. I’ll look for you tomorrow to play.”
Xiang Yu nodded, “Mm, I’ll head back after watching the sunset.”
When Tang Yuchi’s car got out of Xiang Yu’s sight, she leaned against the railing beside her, took out the cigarette case and glanced at it twice. This kind of cigarette was quite special, there were no Chinese characters on it, instead on it was a little red demon with long horns and a fork is painted on the cigarette case.
When he smoked just now, there was a smell of chocolate that was not too unpleasant, so Xiang Yu took one, recalling the way he smoked, and breathed it in. The taste of chocolate was an illusion, it was so bitter when she breathed it in.
What was so fascinating about this thing that men can’t put it down?
Xiang Yu’s phone vibrated in her pocket and she picked up the phone with a cigarette in her hand. It was Aunt Chen, she was worried that she hadn’t eaten during Chinese New Year and she told her that there were dumplings made by her in the refrigerator and that they could be eaten once they were cooked.
Xiang Yu smiled and said, “Thank you Aunt Chen, Happy New Year.”
Jin Fubai sat in the car for a long time. After he returned to China, he called Xiang Yu two times but they didn’t go through. He drove the car directly downstairs to her house, and he saw Xiang Yu cracking jokes and making small talk from a long distance.
He hasn’t seen her in ten days but the girl looked to be very energetic, and she didn’t show any sign of depression from breaking up with him. Jin Fubai was annoyed when he saw the man, frowning, he smoked two cigarettes in a row.
He tried to interrupt their chat, but the phone call didn’t go through and he didn’t know why. Was the girl’s phone broken?
After a while, the man named Tang Yuchi finally left. Jin Fubai took a breath and carefully observed Xiang Yu.
Xiang Yu had cut her hair and wore a short beige puffer jacket. She was lying on the railing with a cigarette and only took a breath before she refused to place it on her lips again In this leaning motion the jacket slid upwards, revealing her thin waist and hips wrapped in a tight-fitting high-waisted jean. Her hip shape is pretty, like an upside-down heart.
After a while, Xiang Yu answered a phone call, and the smoke between her fingers slowly disappeared with the wind.
Jin Fubai frowned suddenly, what? Her phone works? He took out his phone and dialed again but it still didn’t go through.
She blocked him?
The evening breeze was cool and the cigarette in Xiang Yu’s hand had already burned halfway. After hanging up Aunt Chen’s call she suddenly heard the sound of a car door opening behind her. She casually glanced back and saw a tall figure slowly approaching her in the dim light of dusk. It was Jin Fubai.
She had never thought that when they met again it would be in her own street. Xiang Yu was shocked for a moment and he had already walked to her side, took the cigarette in her hand, and held it between his lips. He looked affectionate when he looked at her and as he exhaled the white smoke, “Happy New Year.”
She wasn’t completely calm, otherwise, it wouldn’t have taken a long time for her to retract the fingers that had once held the cigarette. After a few seconds, she calmed down and asked calmly, “Why are you here?”
Jin Fubai smiled lightly and said softly enough to drown a person, “I’m afraid that you will be alone, so I came to accompany you for dinner on New Year’s Eve.”
Author: 殊娓
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