haven't seen you for a long time

The next day, Jiang Zhizhi got up around four o'clock and joined Chen Yuping in setting up the offerings and burning incense. Li Rongrong and her family were coming over in the morning, so Chen Yuping started preparing early, and Jiang Zhizhi helped her in the kitchen.

Around seven or eight o'clock, Jiang Zhizhi received a message from Xu Honghan on her mobile phone.

【Happy New Year, Junior Sister.】

Jiang Zhizhi quickly replied to him.

【Brother, Happy New Year.】

After thinking about it, he sent New Year greetings to Li Rongrong, Pu Yu, Lin Qingyu and Lu Xiye.

After exiting the message, he looked at Xu Qingbo in the contact list, was silent for a while, and ultimately did not send a message.

They haven't been in touch since Xu Qingbo skipped a grade.

This is good. She doesn't want to be the inner demon standing in his way. He has a wider world to explore, just like Xu Honghan did in the past.

I'm going to pay New Year's greetings to my teacher today. Many of her students are going too. They're clamoring to meet you, their junior sister, and asked me to come pick you up. I'm almost at the gate of your neighborhood. Please tell your mother to come out.

When Jiang Zhizhi came out of the community with large and small boxes, Xu Honghan's car was parked at the entrance of the community.

Seeing Jiang Zhizhi, he hurriedly got out of the car.

The trunk was full, so he put the box on the back seat.

"How do you carry so many things?"

"I can't go to the teacher to wish him a happy new year empty-handed, right?"

"You are still young. As long as you come, the teacher will be very happy."

*

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zong Qinghai's home was exceptionally bustling. People began arriving around seven in the morning, and by eight, over a dozen waves of guests had arrived. Some were Zong Qinghai's students, while others were local scholars and professors from Nanshi. However, some left after paying their respects, leaving most of the remaining guests to Zong Qinghai's students and close friends.

When Jiang Zhizhi and Xu Honghan arrived, the people in the main hall, led by Zong Qinghai, were exchanging pleasantries. When they heard Lin Hongxia say that Jiang Zhizhi had arrived, all the guests looked outside curiously.

Jiang Zhizhi did not come on the first day of the Lunar New Year last year, and many people did not see her. Now, a year has passed, and everyone is very curious about Zong Qinghai, the "closed" disciple.

Jiang Zhizhi, wearing an ordinary white cotton coat and a red scarf around her neck, followed Xu Honghan, looking like any other junior high school student. If there was one thing that distinguished her, it was her eyes. They were bright yet profound, as if they held many secrets, impossible to discern.

However, the older people present noticed something fishy. The girl before them looked an awful lot like Zong Qinghai's daughter, who had died of illness decades before...

There are almost no female students in Zong Qinghai. All those present are men. Jiang Zhizhi is the only girl, like a lotus in the mud.

"Teacher, I'm here to wish you a happy new year." Jiang Zhizhi followed Xu Honghan to Zong Qinghai and bowed.

Zong Qinghai waved to her happily, "Come here quickly."

Jiang Zhizhi walked over obediently and held his hand.

"These are all your senior brothers. You've already met them, Fuyuan. These are..."

Jiang Zhizhi followed Zong Qinghai to greet everyone one by one. Everyone guessed that Jiang Zhizhi would come today and prepared red envelopes in advance. After all the greetings, Jiang Zhizhi received more than a dozen big red envelopes and her hands were full. It was Xu Honghan who helped her collect the red envelopes.

It was not yet nine o'clock, and there was still some time before lunch. Yang Fuyuan looked at this little junior sister and said with a smile, "Zhizhi, I heard from Xu Honghan that you are learning Go?"

"Not only did she learn Go, she also won second place in this year's Nanshi Youth Go Competition." Xu Honghan and Pu Yu's brother Pu Shao are Go friends and knew about Jiang Zhizhi's participation in the competition very early.

"What? You can get second place after learning for less than a year? I don't believe it. It's still early, Zhizhi, let's play a game and let me see your strength." It was Yang Fuyuan who urged Jiang Zhizhi to learn Go at that time. He is now very curious about Jiang Zhizhi's Go skills.

Seeing that the others seemed to want to watch her and Yang Fuyuan play this game of chess, Jiang Zhizhi agreed.

Within five minutes of setting up the chessboard, Jiang Zhizhi had a rough idea of ​​Yang Fuyuan's moves. He was very old-fashioned, each move solid and precise. Jiang Zhizhi had seen so many chess games of this style that she could almost always predict his next move.

It would not be difficult for Jiang Zhizhi to defeat him, but in this situation, she definitely could not win.

If you want to perform well but cannot win, you have to consider more.

However, when Jiang Zhizhi was thinking about it, the brothers who were watching the game thought that she was stumped, as if she was thinking about how to break the deadlock.

After two hours of playing chess, Yang Fuyuan won by two and a half pieces, but he did not feel happy at all. He just breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had just escaped from a tiger's mouth.

"You really have only studied for a year?" Yang Fuyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face full of suspicion.

It’s hard to imagine that Jiang Zhizhi is a novice, as she can fight him like this on the chessboard.

"Well, I learned it at the Zhibai Go Room. I happened to meet a fellow Go player who was very good at Go. She taught me."

Xu Honghan helped explain, "The little girl who taught her has a father and brother who are both professional Go players. She started learning Go at the age of three and is a Go prodigy in Nanshi."

Others also started talking.

"Let alone people of the same age, even a professional Go player would find it difficult to train a Go novice to this level in just one year. This shows that our little sister is also a Go genius."

"Yes, if Junior Sister wasn't a genius, why would the teacher accept her as a student?"

"Junior sister, you should be in high school now, right? Have you decided which university to apply to?"

Everyone present was a gifted child. Almost any one of them was the top scorer in the college entrance examination that year. They had skipped grades many times when they were in school. So they thought that Jiang Zhizhi was in high school at the same age as them.

Xu Honghan said: "She is still in the second grade of junior high school."

"Second year of junior high? Second year of junior high is pretty good. We didn't get to enjoy campus life properly when we were in school. Now when I think about it, I can't help but feel regretful."

…

Jiang Zhizhi was not very good at communicating with others, so Xu Honghan was the one who dealt with it. She only needed to interject occasionally, and she was quite grateful to him for that.

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon when she came out from Zong Qinghai's place. Sitting in Xu Honghan's car, she let out a long sigh.

The feeling of being surrounded by a group of people is simply suffocating.

"Tired?" Xu Honghan handed her a hot water cup. "Drink some hot water and take a rest."

"Thank you." Her mouth tends to get dry when she's nervous, and she was indeed a little thirsty now.

"Would you like to watch fireworks tonight?"

"The fireworks display at Changming Lake?"

"There are too many people there. Aren't you tired? I know a great place where you can rest, have a barbecue, and watch the fireworks."

Xu Honghan started the car as he spoke.

Jiang Zhizhi was indeed tired. Although she wanted to go home, it was still early and she didn't want to disappoint Xu Honghan, so she agreed.

After driving for more than half an hour, Xu Honghan took Jiang Zhizhi back to his apartment building.

Standing on the terrace, you can see very far, with your sight extending to the horizon.

Jiang Zhizhi suddenly realized that from this direction, there were almost no tall buildings and the scenery was very clear.

"The good place you're talking about isn't... your home, is it?" She suddenly realized.

"Yes, I bought this apartment because of its great view. It's more convenient to watch the fireworks from here than from Changming Lake. I've prepared the ingredients. Do you want to rest for a while or start now?"

“Senior Brother…”

"Ring-ling——"

Before she finished speaking, Xu Honghan's cell phone suddenly rang. He took out his phone, took a look, and answered the call.

"Qingbo? Well, I'm at home. I can't come over now. Let's talk about it tomorrow. Oh, by the way, Zhizhi is here too. We're going to have a barbecue and watch the fireworks together. Do you want to come over?" After a pause, Xu Honghan glanced at his watch. "It's not even five o'clock yet. It'll start around six. Come by yourself. I won't pick you up..."

After hanging up the phone, he looked at Jiang Zhizhi and said, "Qingbo is coming too. It will be more lively with more people. What did you want to say?"

"No, nothing. Let me help with the ingredients. Are they in the fridge?"

"Wait a minute." He held her back and took out a pair of brown lambskin gloves from his pocket and put them in her hands. "This is a New Year's gift, specially prepared for you. Try it on and see if you like it."

Touching the smooth material of the gloves, Jiang Zhizhi immediately felt that they must be worth a lot of money. "No, no, I can't accept it..."

Xu Honghan was so nice to her that she felt embarrassed.

"It's only natural for senior brothers to give junior sisters New Year gifts. In addition to gifts, there are also New Year red envelopes. You can accept the red envelopes from other senior brothers, but you can't refuse mine." Xu Honghan put the red envelope in her hand and gently rubbed her head.

"Thank you, senior brother. I won't accept the red envelope, but I will accept the New Year's gift." Jiang Zhizhi returned the red envelope.

"Really? It only happens once a year. Use your pocket money to buy something nice."

"No, I haven't prepared any gifts for my senior brother, so I feel embarrassed to ask for his red envelope."

"Really? All right then."

"Well, I'll go prepare the ingredients."

"I bought all the ready-made ones. Just open the packaging and put them on the plate. I'll get some vegetables."

While the two were busy, the doorbell outside rang. Judging from the time, it should be Xu Qingbo coming.

Xu Honghan was cutting potato chips and couldn't move his hands, so Jiang Zhizhi went over and opened the door.

Outside, Xu Qingbo was clutching two large bottles of drinks in one hand and a small pack of fireworks in the other. Having not seen him for nearly a semester, he had grown considerably taller. A clean, long, white cotton coat accentuated his usual refined and clean appearance, like a beautiful winter snow.

The moment he met Jiang Zhizhi's eyes, he was stunned for a few seconds, and the air seemed to become silent. It took him a while to come back to his senses and said calmly: "Long time no see."

"haven't seen you for a long time."