“——Cough, cough cough.”

Xu You choked on a mouthful of porridge in her throat and couldn’t catch her breath.

“Tissue, tissue, give me a tissue.” She coughed, half covering her mouth, fumbling on the table for napkins.

Fu Xueli heard the commotion and looked over, hurriedly pulling tissues from her bag to hand over, “Here, here, here, how did you choke?”

She had just been turning her head to talk with Xu Xingchun and hadn’t noticed this side.

Xie Ci watched Xu You cough so hard she was swaying back and forth, her pure white face染上 tinged with a few traces of blush.

He lowered his head to look, placing his hand on her back patting, “Are you okay?”

Xu You waved her hand, unable to speak, only shaking her head to indicate she was fine.

He looked at her for a few seconds, “So did you hear clearly what I just said to you?”

“No.”

“Mm.” Xie Ci smiled, “You really think I have no temper?”

Xu You stirred her porridge, not looking at him, just saying softly: “Those are your own words.”

Xie Ci immediately asked: “What about the sentence before that, didn’t hear it or what, your grades are so good, can’t you grasp the key point?”

“Xie Ci, I want to discuss something with you.” Her expression was very serious.

“What is it?”

Xie Ci’s curiosity was piqued.

Xu You said: “I need to eat, so right now, can you not talk to me.”

“…….”

Xu You took another sip of porridge, her lowered gaze unchanged. Putting down the spoon, she freed her right hand to turn his face, adding: “And don’t look at me either.”

An unconsciously intimate gesture, yet done so naturally.

Both of them froze at the same time.

Xu You was like she’d been burned, quickly pulling back her hand.

Belatedly realizing what she’d done.

Xie Ci turned his head back over, glancing at her. Smiling silently and slowly.

They didn’t know from when their relationship had become somewhat subtle.

Maintaining a slight closeness that was neither near nor far, though it couldn’t quite be called ambiguous.

Xu You didn’t eat much, only drinking half a bowl of porridge.

Throughout the entire process, Xie Ci sat quietly beside her keeping her company, truly not saying another word.

Seeing this scene.

Everyone’s expressions varied, some surprised, some understanding, some grinning mischievously, clearly in tacit agreement.

The third floor of the hotel was for karaoke.

After the several tables of Class Nine students finished eating and drinking, they successively went upstairs to sing. Everyone was waiting for 12 o’clock to celebrate the new year together.

There were many wealthy second-generation kids in their class, each one spending big money, directly getting a super flagship room to play in.

The space was very large, the lights were flashing, genuine leather sofas for resting were arranged in long rows on both sides. Servers carried in several cases of beer, and several carts were full of food.

Fruit, popcorn, sunflower seeds, drinks… everything was available.

Song Yifan was the most rowdy, without a word being the first to sing, choosing “Single Love Song.”

Singing to the climax part, he was especially intoxicated, his left hand starting to wave, “Friends on the left, let me see your waving hands, sing along with me, okay?!!”

No one paid attention to him, Song Yifan pretentiously extended the microphone in his right hand.

“Hahahahaha holy shit.”

The group of people sitting there couldn’t stop laughing, Xu Xiaocheng threw a pillow over, laughing and cursing loudly: “Give it a rest, you idiot.”

Song Yifan tilted his head, dodging the attack, then shouted with his eyes closed: “Friends on the right, the wave isn’t big enough!!! Let me feel your enthusiasm!!!”

The whole room burst into laughter.

Xu You was feeling very tired overall, and rarely came to this kind of entertainment venue, so she could only stay on the sidelines as an observer, simply watching them have fun.

Some people were gathered around the song selection stand in front, she looked at her phone.

9:30

It was almost ten o’clock.

Xu You thought that after a while she’d go home, she couldn’t stay out too late.

Just as she was spacing out, not far in front diagonally, a male student held a microphone in his hand. His voice was amplified several times, ringing out from the speakers, “Hey, it’s boring with just us song kings singing, why don’t we get a few academic achievers to sing?”

This suggestion drew cheers from many people.

“Academic achievers, where’s the class monitor?” Someone turned to look, didn’t find him, but spotted Xu You sitting on the sofa.

“Hey there, that one, that one, Xu You!!!!!! Come sing one with us.”

Being pointed out.

Xu You was startled, and before she could react, the male student with the microphone had already walked up to her.

“Academic achiever, what song do you want to sing, let me set it up for you?”

That male student extended the microphone to Xu You.

Xu You waved her hand in refusal.

She really couldn’t do it. She’d had no musical cells since childhood, hadn’t listened to many pop songs, only knew how to sing a few children’s songs.

The male student wouldn’t give up, persistently saying: “It doesn’t matter, just sing whatever you know.”

“Come on, come on.”

“That…”

Xu You cleared her throat, explaining somewhat embarrassedly, “I’m sorry, I really only know how to sing children’s songs…”

—

Returning from the restroom, as soon as Xie Ci pushed open the door to the private room, he heard from inside a burst of:

“In front of the door there’s a grapevine, tender and green just sprouted, the snail carries that heavy shell, step by step…”

A slightly childish voice, with a lively and cheerful tune.

His hand paused, he backed out and looked up, doubting he’d gone to the wrong place.

Once inside, Xu You had her back to him, holding the microphone with both hands looking at the big screen, earnestly singing.

She didn’t move at all when singing, just stood there, extremely proper. Beside her was a girl singing along with her.

The two of them taking turns line by line.

Li Xiaoqiang beside them held rattles in both hands, shaking them up and down, cheering them on, “Woo-oh~~! Yao Chunbing you can do it!!!”

“Hahahahaha, Brother Ci, your wife is really funny.”

Song Yifan came over putting his arm around his shoulders, laughing while saying: “Too cute, how are there still girls like this nowadays, I can’t take it, I’m really dying of laughter, I really want to…”

Xie Ci glanced at him, “What do you want?”

“How would I dare, I don’t dare anything, don’t even dare to think.” Song Yifan immediately shook his head.

“The Snail and the Oriole” was sung halfway through.

Xie Ci propped his head up, half his body reclined on the sofa. With his feet up, he listened for another two seconds, the corner of his lips pulled up, unable to help but smile.

The more he smiled, the more he couldn’t stop.

Singing this kind of song in a KTV was one thing, but damn, this children’s song tune could actually make Xu You go off to the North Pole.

That was quite an ability.

Actually Xu You was also very embarrassed singing, because she kept failing to keep up with the tune. Her voice was very soft, just blending in with Yao Chunbing beside her.

There were still quite a few people egging them on nearby.

The phone in her pocket vibrated as soon as it rang, she immediately felt it.

Xu You immediately put down the microphone, pushed open the door and ran to the hallway to answer the phone, it was a call from Chen Xiuyun.

“Hello, Mom.”

“Are you home yet?”

“Not yet, I’m with classmates.”

“Still haven’t finished dinner?”

“Finished already.” She said.

“When are you coming home, don’t be too late, it’s almost ten o’clock, Mom is worried.”

“Mm… I should be soon…”

Xu You leaned against the wall talking on the phone, and as she was speaking, the door was pulled open from inside.

“Shh.” Xu You glanced over, immediately silently making a gesture to Xie Ci, signaling him to be quiet.

Chen Xiuyun was still saying on the other end: “It’s good to interact more with classmates, but the time…”

The signal here wasn’t good, the voice on the other end was intermittent.

Xu You stood up, moving her feet pacing back and forth, agreeing, “Mom, I know, I’ll go back right away, I’ll send you a message when I get home…”

Just after hanging up the phone, her arm was grabbed by someone, he casually asked: “You’re leaving?”

“Mm.” Xu You put away her phone.

Xie Ci tilted his head, “Want me to take you?”