After renting the apartment, Chi Yao welcomed the winter holiday.

Chi Hanshan and Bai Qin were in Jing City, so naturally, he had to return to Jing City for the New Year holiday.

Lin Zhexia felt a bit unaccustomed to this, after all, they had always spent New Year together on Nanxiang Street before.

“What’s wrong,” Chi Yao noticed her drooping mouth, “sad to see me go?”

“A little bit.”

Lin Zhexia made a gesture with her hand, “But just a tiny bit.”

But she was also happy that Chi Yao could spend the holiday with his uncle and aunt: “I’ll call you on New Year’s Day, at midnight.”

She said this with curved eyes, her face beaming with a smile.

Just like every time she had accompanied him during previous New Year celebrations.

“Alright.”

“You have to stay up with me for New Year’s Eve,” Lin Zhexia said, pressing her advantage.

Chi Yao still said, “Alright.”

Before parting at the station, the two clung together chatting for a while. He Yang stood at the side with his luggage, waiting for them: “Are you done yet? I swear, you two are together every day, how can you still have so much to talk about?”

“The holiday is just a few days away, is it necessary?”

“If you two insist on being like this, making me stand here waiting, have you considered my feelings?”

Chi Yao seemed to find his words amusing. He put away the “whatever you say is right” attitude he showed to Lin Zhexia, and slightly lifted his eyelids: “Why should I consider you?”

He Yang: “…”

He Yang: “We’re supposed to be good brothers, you know.”

“I’m the type of person,” Chi Yao admitted straightforwardly, “who forgets his friends when a girl comes along.”

He Yang very slowly shifted his gaze to Lin Zhexia, as if silently saying, “Can’t you control him?”

In moments like this, Lin Zhexia demonstrated the classic trait of couples presenting a united front. She drawled slowly: “Sorry, me too.”

He Yang closed his eyes.

He was in despair.

“Let’s end our friendship,” he said mournfully, “I don’t want to be friends with you two anymore.”

—

Lin Zhexia and He Yang carried their luggage back to the residential complex together.

Just as she exited the elevator, she ran into Wei Ping, who was putting up Spring Festival couplets.

Wei Ping: “You’re back! Just leave your things there, I’ll carry them in for you.”

Lin Zhexia handed him her bags and explained: “Some… specialties from Lianyun. Though I don’t know why, as a local, I would buy local specialties. Maybe it creates more of a ‘coming home for New Year’ atmosphere.”

Wei Ping earnestly validated her: “Your reasoning makes some sense.”

Lin Zhexia: “Right?”

Wei Ping: “Perfect for New Year, enjoying local specialties is quite nice.”

Lin Zhexia: “I think so too.”

This conversation was overheard by Lin He inside the door. Lin He was busy tidying Lin Zhexia’s bedroom, which needed new bedding since no one had lived there for so long. Her voice carried from inside: “As if! Just too much money to spend, isn’t it? Why buy local specialties? And Chi Yao didn’t even stop you.”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

After so many years of living under Lin He’s care, she had become immune to her mother’s grumbling.

This winter was still very cold.

Outside hung frost and snow, along with red ribbons.

On New Year’s Day, Lin Zhexia began preparing red envelopes for others.

“I’m still a child myself,” she protested before preparing the envelopes, “…aren’t college students still students?”

“Are you not embarrassed?” Lin He asked her.

“I’m not embarrassed at all.”

But no matter what she said, she still prepared several red envelopes for the other children who would come to pay New Year visits.

The first visitor that day was a little boy who had come to their home for the New Year before. The boy had grown much taller, and his first words upon entering were: “Where’s your brother? Isn’t he home today?”

Lin Zhexia crouched down and stuffed both milk candies and a red envelope into his hands: “Happy New Year, but he’s not my brother.”

The boy said, “Thank you, sister,” and then asked: “If he’s not your brother, then who is he to you?”

“He is my sister’s boyfriend.”

This concept was clearly beyond the comprehension of a boy his age: “What does boyfriend mean?”

Lin Zhexia thought for a moment: “A boyfriend means… someone a sister likes very, very much and wants to be with all the time.”

The little boy made an “oh” sound: “Then I have a girlfriend too.”

Lin Zhexia: “Who is your girlfriend?”

Little boy: “Iron Man.”

“…”

“Iron Man can’t be your girlfriend.”

“Why not? I like him very much and want to be with him all the time.”

Lin Zhexia let out a breath, deciding not to continue discussing such an advanced topic with him: “How did you do on your final exams? What score did you get?”

This time, he hadn’t done well.

Unlike the past two years, he no longer volunteered his scores.

The little boy actively ended the conversation: “Chat over. Thank you for the red envelope, sister. I need to hurry to the next house.”

“…”

After the little boy left, Lin Zhexia collapsed on the sofa and messaged Chi Yao to complain-

Remember that boy from before-

I told him you’re not my brother, but my boyfriend-

Then at the end, he said Iron Man is his girlfriend-

…-

Never mind-

He’s just a child

Chi Yao replied quickly, probably also being made to pay New Year visits by his parents-

Tell him, not everyone will have a girlfriend when they grow up

Lin Zhexia replied with six dots: ……

Fortunately, the boy had already left.

Fortunately, he wasn’t here for the New Year this time.

Otherwise, who knows what he might say to these children?

A while later, Lin Zhexia went to the kitchen to help Lin He cut fruit. After finishing, she poked Chi Yao again: What are you doing now.

Between couples, “what are you doing” roughly equals “I miss you.”

Being rarely apart, Lin Zhexia’s frequency of saying this increased today-

Paying back the courtesy-

Telling a kid next to me that I have a girlfriend

Lin Zhexia imagined the scene: what did they say?

She said, ‘I didn’t ask you’-

‘What’s wrong with you?’.

Lin Zhexia leaned against the kitchen doorway and suddenly burst out laughing.

It seemed that being in love made people do many childish things they wouldn’t normally do, like explaining what a boyfriend is to a little boy, or like him, someone who usually had no patience for children, initiating conversation with them, only to be rebuffed.

After dark, when all the visiting relatives had dispersed and the Spring Festival Gala was nearing its end, it entered the countdown phase.

Just as the female host on TV shouted, “Are you ready to count down with us to welcome the new year?”, Chi Yao video-called her.

The first thing that appeared in the video wasn’t his face, but darkness. Just as Lin Zhexia was about to ask, “Why can’t I see you?” a flash of light appeared in that darkness, followed by countless fireworks shooting into the sky.

“Scaredy-cat,” his voice came through the video, “look at the fireworks.”

Lin Zhexia hadn’t bought fireworks this year. The person she used to set off fireworks with wasn’t there anymore, and she didn’t feel like going out to set them off alone. Besides, some areas of Lianyun had banned fireworks this year, so the outside was unusually quiet.

Jing City was truly different from here.

The entire city was vast and spacious, and the dialect people spoke around him were vastly different from Lianyun.

After a while, when the fireworks had finished, she finally saw Chi Yao’s face in the video.

“Did you cut your hair?” Lin Zhexia asked. “It looks a bit shorter.”

Chi Yao made an “mm” sound.

Then he continued talking to her: “Did you get any New Year money?”

In the video, Lin Zhexia didn’t respond for a long time.

She suddenly seemed stiff, appearing restless, and the smile on her face became awkward.

Chi Yao belatedly realized something, so he tilted his head slightly, and sure enough, saw Chi Hanshan and Bai Qin’s faces peering at the phone screen from left and right.

Chi Hanshan: “Don’t be so stingy, let me and your mother take a look too.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Lin Zhexia adjusted herself before timidly raising her hand to greet them: “Hello, Uncle and Auntie.”

Bai Qin’s face was still as she remembered. The woman had been in business for many years and exuded a shrewd aura. Although none of her features had changed, that shrewdness had diminished considerably now, replaced by a kind of gentleness.

While greeting them, she wondered about her appearance.

Was her sitting posture proper just now?

What about her hair? After lying on the sofa for so long, was it messy?

…

Only after Chi Yao took the phone to a private place to continue talking with her did she come back to herself: “They don’t dislike me, do they? Did I seem very awkward just now?”

Chi Yao: “No, they like you very much. I like you very much, too.”

In the end, they both said to each other almost simultaneously: “Happy New Year.”

After hanging up, she realized she still hadn’t answered Chi Yao’s question about New Year money.

She hadn’t received any New Year money this year at all.

Originally, this was a small, trivial matter.

But she could “unreasonably complain” to Chi Yao and express her disappointment.

She had only gotten halfway through her protest about the New Year money, not having finished editing the message to send, when her phone vibrated lightly.

[“Boyfriend” has sent you a transfer.]

Lin Zhexia deleted every word of what she had been planning to say and sent a question mark instead.

Boyfriend: New Year money, I collected this year

Boyfriend: Handing it over

Boyfriend: My salary will have to be handed over in the future anyway, consider this early practice.

After the New Year, the holiday began to feel long.

Lin Zhexia met up once with Tang Shuxuan and Chen Lin. At first, they each talked about what had happened at their schools, like Tang Shuxuan recently having a pursuer, Chen Lin, who almost failed her finals. When it came to Lin Zhexia’s turn, before she could say anything, her phone on the side made a sound.

“Who is it?” Chen Lin asked.

Lin Zhexia didn’t even look: “Probably Chi Yao.”

Then she took a few bites of the cake in front of her before unlocking her phone in front of them.

Tang Shuxuan and Chen Lin were caught off guard when they saw the contact name [Boyfriend].

Tang Shuxuan: “…”

Chen Lin: “…”

“Wait,” after a long time, Tang Shuxuan found her voice again, “you two are dating? That wasn’t a joke back then?”

“…”

Lin Zhexia: “Who would joke about this?”

Tang Shuxuan: “Mainly because you and Chi Yao…”

Tang Shuxuan was about to say “How could you possibly be together?” but suddenly, as if something clicked, she suddenly thought, why couldn’t they be together?

They were the closest people to each other in this world.

After the meet-up with Tang Shuxuan and Chen Lin, the holiday felt even longer.

After finishing her holiday assignments, she remembered the message Chi Yao had sent her that day at dinner, saying he had returned to school early.

So after lounging at home for a few days, Lin Zhexia couldn’t stand it anymore and negotiated with Lin He: “Mom, I’m planning to go back to school. There’s nothing to do here, and you’re probably annoyed seeing me around all day. Why don’t I give you some peace and go back to school first?”

Lin He: “I think you find me annoying, always nagging you at home.”

Lin Zhexia: “…If that’s how you want to interpret it, fine.”

Lin He gave her a side-eye but didn’t stop her: “If you want to go back, then go ahead. You’ve got nothing to do hanging around the house all day anyway.”

Lin Zhexia had originally assumed that when Chi Yao said he “returned to school,” she subconsciously thought that the school dormitories were now open. So she packed her things and bought a ticket back to Lian University. However, when she dragged her suitcase to the entrance of the girls’ dormitory and saw the tightly wrapped chains and lock on the door, she was dumbfounded.

“Auntie,” she stopped someone cleaning nearby to ask, “isn’t the dormitory open?”

The woman looked at her once: “Young lady, it’s not time to return yet, no one’s allowed in.”

“…”

Lin Zhexia crouched at the entrance of the girls’ dormitory with her suitcase, clutching her key ring in her hand, and took out her phone to message Chi Yao-

Did you return to school?

Chi Yao replied with a “?”.

Lin Zhexia typed: Is the boys’ dormitory open…

She didn’t send it, looking down at the keys in her hand, she finally realized: he had a place to stay, he didn’t need to stay in the dormitory.

“I’m currently at the entrance of the girls’ dormitory,” Lin Zhexia finally pressed the voice message button and said word by word, “you might need to come pick me up.”

—

Half an hour later, Lin Zhexia stood at the door of his rented apartment.

Chi Yao carried her suitcase and opened the door: “Why aren’t you going in?”

Lin Zhexia hesitated: “Oh.”

Chi Yao’s rented apartment was a one-bedroom with a living room. The decoration was bright and clean. From the entrance, one entered a foyer where the decorative items were those they had bought together when furnishing the place.

In her previous imagination, she would occasionally visit his place to hang out, as before.

Now, unexpectedly moving in until school started was completely beyond her expectations.

After entering, she took things out of her suitcase: “Do you have space in your wardrobe?”

“Yes.”

Lin Zhexia began moving her clothes from the suitcase. She first carried over a few jackets.

When she returned, she saw Chi Yao crouching beside her suitcase, trying to help. His hand turned over a sweater folded on top, preparing to pick it up along with the clothes underneath.

“Wait,” Lin Zhexia wanted to rush over, but still some distance from the suitcase, she could only shout with a red face, “…don’t take that.”

But her words came too late.

Because Chi Yao’s hand paused, and he had already touched the next layer.

Very soft.

With lace trim.

And thin straps.

His fingers had already lifted it, exposing the underwear to the air, white, with a simple, plain style.

It looked very similar to the one he had accidentally hooked in the kitchen before.

Lin Zhexia walked over, crouched on the other side of the suitcase, snatched the underwear back, and pushed it under the sweater, self-deceptively saying: “You didn’t see anything.”

“I’m not blind.”

Chi Yao seemed to find it amusing, flexing his knuckles, and lazily commented: “…Quite cute.”

…

Lin Zhexia’s face turned bright red.

He probably meant to say it was small.