☆, 11. An Unexpected New Year (2129 words)

"Feng Zihao!!! If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute!!! You bastard!!!"

Li Yaxi was overjoyed; Lu Wei was just as fun as he had been in her previous life. It was a pity that Lu Wei had loved the wrong person in his past life; if she could change his fate in this life, she wouldn't stand idly by. Laughing, joking, and chatting, everyone, except Zhou Yang, thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

The food had gotten a bit hot, so Li Yaxi took off her coat, revealing the jade beads on her wrist. Zhan Xiaoyu and Zhao Yi didn't understand the meaning of these jade beads, so when they first saw Li Yaxi wearing them, they only complimented them on how pretty they were. However, Lu Wei had grown up in the Feng family and recognized the jade beads.

"These jade beads are... quite pretty," she said, glancing at Feng Zihao with some surprise before understanding dawned on her.

Zhou Yang clearly saw the look Lu Wei gave Feng Zihao. Could this jade bead be related to Feng Zihao? "Brother Wei, what's wrong with this jade bead? It's quite beautiful, it must be very valuable. You seem to have seen it before, Brother Wei?" Although it was a question, it was spoken with certainty.

Although Lu Wei seemed carefree, he was definitely a meticulous person. He understood Zhou Yang's feelings for Feng Zihao. Previously, Feng Zihao had no one around him, and although he didn't like Zhou Yang, he could see how good Zhou Yang was to his brother, so he turned a blind eye. But now it was different. It was obvious that Feng Zihao cared a lot about Li Yaxi, more than he expected. Although he didn't know Li Yaxi well, it didn't stop him from respecting his brother's choice. That was blind loyalty; a brother is someone you absolutely have to stand up for. "That jade? It belonged to Zihao's grandmother. Zihao wore it when he was five and didn't take it off until he was little. I haven't seen him wear it since, so I was a little surprised to see Yaxi wearing it. But it suits her well, and it looks good."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yang's face turned even paler, her fingernails digging deeply into her palms. "Really... Ya Xi, Zi Hao is so good to you, giving you something so precious."

Feng Zihao frowned, somewhat annoyed by the underlying meaning of those words.

Li Yaxi, however, seemed unconcerned. "Hehe, yes, Zihao is very good to me. He gave me jade and took me around to find delicious food and fun things to do. So, my biggest gain from coming to B City is meeting you all, and also meeting Zihao."

Li Yaxi spoke those last few words to Feng Zihao with utmost seriousness, so serious that Feng Zihao couldn't see himself reflected in those deep, dark eyes. He subconsciously murmured, "No... not B City, it's W City."

"What?" Zhan Xiaoyu was sitting next to Feng Zihao, but his voice was too soft for him to hear.

Zhan Xiaoyu's voice pulled Feng Zihao back to reality: "It's nothing."

Li Yaxi heard it clearly and was shocked by those words. So, he remembered. So, he had been thinking about her for so long.

Hatred often accumulates slowly and imperceptibly. For most of the semester, he had seen Feng Zihao's heart completely devoted to Li Yaxi. He felt like he was sitting on pins and needles every day. He was completely blind to Feng Zihao's kindness and only had eyes for Li Yaxi! How could he not hate him!

During winter break, Li Yaxi didn't return to W City but went to Haiding District. The place had been renovated for over half a year but he hadn't lived there. He even got a dog license for Little Ears so he could take Little Ears with him every day, even though he spent most of his time in his spatial dimension. He spent the entire winter break soaking in the spiritual spring and poring over stocks.

Sometimes he thought about Feng Zihao. Now that they were closer in this life, he finally understood the depth of Feng Zihao's love for him. In their past life, Feng Zihao, as his senior, had taken good care of him at school, even after graduation, asking some lower-year students to look after him. But later, when he fell in love with Han Weiming, Feng Zihao relentlessly obstructed him. It was then that he realized Feng Zihao's feelings for him. And because of this, the slight affection he had felt during their school days vanished because of Feng Zihao's obstruction, replaced by Feng Zihao's harshness and sharpness. It was his failure to cherish him in his past life that hurt him. So, in this life, he approached him with guilt and a desire to repay a debt of gratitude, and only then did he discover many things he hadn't seen in his past life.

Li Yaxi hesitated, holding her phone, wondering whether to call him to wish him a Happy New Year. After agonizing over it all night, she finally sent only a text message, which Feng Zihao replied to very quickly.

Happy New Year! Get some rest and don't stay up late.

Li Yaxi looked at the text message, her chest filled with sweetness, and she fell asleep with sweet dreams.

A month passed quickly, but it felt incredibly long for Feng Zihao. He even considered going to W City to spend time with Li Yaxi, but unfortunately, he had too many relatives to visit. He finally made it to the start of the school year and rushed back to school. I've never seen a child who loves school so much.

Feng Zihao went directly to Li Yaxi's house. In winter, B City is dry and cold, so Feng Zihao didn't ride his bike in the morning, but he still went to Li Yaxi's house to pick her up and the two of them walked to school together.

Li Yaxi slowly went out, and when she saw Feng Zihao, she ran over with a pleasant surprise, spreading her hands out, "Zihao, Happy New Year! Red envelope!"

When he saw Li Yaxi running happily towards him, his chest felt full, but when he heard Li Yaxi's words, his heart sank. He had forgotten to prepare a red envelope for Yaxi. What a blunder!

"Um... Ya Xi... I forgot, I'll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?"

Li Yaxi's face fell, she snorted and turned to leave. Feng Zihao quickly chased after her, "Yaxi, don't be angry. I promise I won't forget tomorrow. I'll give you a big red envelope tomorrow, okay!"

Li Yaxi looked at him with a hint of grievance, "If I hadn't told you, you wouldn't have remembered at all, right? If I weren't younger than you and not the right person to give you a red envelope, I wouldn't have forgotten you. I even went out of my way to pick out a gift for you, but you've completely forgotten about me."

After saying that, she took out a beautifully wrapped gift box from her bag, threw it into his arms, and turned to leave. Feng Zihao was so excited by the gift that he didn't know what to say. Seeing Li Yaxi running away angrily, he quickly chased after her, calling out, "Yaxi, don't run! It's my fault, I haven't forgotten you, I'm sorry, Yaxi, slow down!"

Li Yaxi ran to the intersection to wait for Feng Zihao, who was chasing after her, without noticing the car that was illegally approaching from behind. Startled, Feng Zihao shouted for Li Yaxi and ran towards him. When Li Yaxi noticed, she instinctively stepped back, but it was too late.

When Feng Zihao picked up Li Yaxi, who had fallen to the ground, he dared not breathe or exert any force, for fear that if he made a mistake, the person in his arms would be gone.

A piercing pain shot through her ankle. Li Yaxi clutched the shirt of the stunned Feng Zihao, her voice weak and faint, "It hurts... my foot hurts," before fading into darkness.