Delicate Dice

Zhu Changyu sealed his special feelings for Xu Yangyang like broken porcelain, but still regarded her as his best friend.

Closing the drawer, he thought of his other friend, Tong Yun, and went to buy her a gift: a notebook and a scarf. Summer was about to pass, winter was about to arrive, and the weather was getting colder. She would need them.

As Zhu Changyu was thinking this, the moon hid in the clouds. When the clouds dispersed, the sun appeared and the weather became cooler.

At the school sports meet, Tong Yun was forced to sign up for an event. He specially brought water to cheer her on and also yelled at Xu Yangyang.

Just as he was calling out to Xu Yangyang, Tong Yun fell before he could even reach him. He ran over anxiously, but only after he saw Fu Xingchuan had carried her out of the runway did he catch his breath.

Tong Yun was seriously injured and needed to go to the hospital, but there was no room in the ambulance, so he took a car by himself.

There was a car accident on the way, and the traffic was so bad that he couldn't sit still anymore and ran over. Before he even reached the hospital, Fu Xingchuan sent him a message to tell him that they had returned to school.

Zhu Changyu stopped and turned back. Seeing with his own eyes that Tong Yun was fine, he finally felt relieved.

When they returned to the scene of the car accident, there was a kind passerby who was a doctor and treated the wounds of the injured. They kept thanking her and said that they would never forget her great kindness.

A sentence popped up in Zhu Changyu's mind: he was nice to Tong Yun just to repay his kindness.

But this idea was quickly overturned. He couldn't help but take a photo of Tong Yun. She found out and asked with a smile, "Are you taking a photo of me?"

He actually blushed, "This... the lighting is pretty good, the photo will turn out... beautiful."

Tong Yun's eyes narrowed into a slit, and Zhu Changyu dreamed of that smiling face. The next day, he admitted that he was not repaying Tong Yun, but rather that he liked her.

On Christmas Eve, he wanted to break an apple for her. Before the New Year, he wanted to set off fireworks for her. But these were just thoughts. Every time he ran into Tong Yun and Fu Xingchuan walking together, and saw that Tong Yun was not wearing the scarf he had given her, he felt vaguely uneasy, as if he had already anticipated something.

During the Chinese New Year period, Zhu Changyu wanted to chat with Tong Yun by asking questions, but Tong Yun was basically not online in order to concentrate on his studies.

At the beginning of the semester, he held his coming-of-age ceremony. He turned eighteen, and his father was away on a business trip, so his mother cried and hugged him alone. In fact, he felt a little uncomfortable without his father, but he thought that Tong Yun must be very sad because both his parents were away.

"Wow, look, Fu Xingchuan brought Tong Yun to meet his parents. They are such a good match!" Zhu Changyu heard the girls next to him talking and looked over. Tong Yun was very happy. He was worrying too much.

Xu Yangyang said that the flower language of Fu Xingchuan's Phalaenopsis bouquet is "happiness is coming", so Zhu Changyu learned how to make dried flower specimens from his mother. He not only made one for Lin Luo, but also made one for Tong Yun.

She went to Guangdong, so she was not sent out. During that time, Zhu Changyu took notes carefully in every class, thinking that Tong Yun might be able to use them when he returned.

He wanted to work hard to get into a good university so that he could be closer to Tong Yun. Zhu Changyu knew that there was a huge gap between them.

The gap was slowly narrowing. Tong Yun came back. When Zhu Changyu parked his electric scooter, he saw her talking and laughing with the gangsters. When he heard Fu Xingchuan say that her aunt was not found, was she shocked?

Before Zhu Changyu could ask, he heard that she was with Fu Xingchuan. Zhu Changyu looked up at the sticky note he had posted at the top of the noodle shop and decided to put aside his thoughts on Tong Yun. Fu Xingchuan was his best buddy, and he couldn't be so mean.

Tong Yun's grades began to decline. Zhu Changyu was worried, but he didn't dare to get close to her. He had to go find her friends in the sprint class and ask them to play ball with him every day so that he could see her.

She was mostly asleep or out of position. Her makeup was getting heavier, and Zhu Changyu felt that she was becoming more and more unfamiliar.

At the beginning of June, while playing a song under the teaching building, he found that there was a missing light where Tong Yun was. His heart beat fast and he always felt something was wrong. After school, he went back to find her.

Fortunately, it turned out that Tong Yun's makeup was just smudged.

Tong Yun was not in the same examination area as them for the college entrance examination. The night before the exam, Zhu Changyu sent her a message, telling her that it might rain the next day and she should remember to bring an umbrella.

Tong Yun replied to him: [Good luck on your exam!]

Zhu Changyu successfully completed the exam with the power of these six words. During the holiday, he heard that Fu Xingchuan took Tong Yun to Jinghe, so Zhu Changyu stayed at home.

One day, he found a drawing he had made on the wall as a child, which included a proposal to Xu Yangyang. He blinked, and his mother happened to pass by. He said, "Mom, let's move!"

He moved to a new home in the opposite direction of Xu Yangyang's house. It had been a long time since he stopped sending Xu Yangyang home from school. He had thrown away many of his childhood belongings, but he still kept the broken porcelain pieces and a Phalaenopsis specimen in the drawer.

The results were out, and Tong Yun didn't speak in the group chat. Zhu Changyu guessed she might not have done well on the test and wanted to comfort her, but she suddenly asked him to meet up. He ran towards her from the class celebration, still reeking of alcohol, but he clearly heard her say, "Zhu Changyu, I'm going abroad."

It was like a bolt from the blue. Zhu Changyu, drunk, confessed his love to her without caring about anything else.

The next day, Tong Yun couldn't remember anything and went abroad as usual. Nothing had changed and he was rejected as expected.

Tong Yun's plane going abroad flew by, and he also set out on the road to Guangli University. His parents drove him there.

Xu Yangyang was very angry. Zhu Changyu told her to take good care of herself and to pursue whoever she liked boldly, but not to compromise herself for others.

When he was in Guangdong, he walked through the streets and alleys. When his classmates asked him if he was going to shop, he shook his head. Someone then joked: Which girl are you thinking about?

Zhu Changyu did not answer.

As he was about to graduate, he planned to start a catering brand. His parents strongly supported him. His father took out the money he had saved for many years to buy him a house and get him married, and used it as the starting capital for his business.

His father hugged him and said, "I have worked for this day all these years, to be able to give you this money."

Lin Luo and Xu Yangyang also invested some money, and Zhu Changyu opened his own shop. One by one, he gradually expanded his market from south to north.

This journey wasn't all smooth sailing. Due to different tastes, stores in northern China were often facing losses and closures. Zhu Changyu constantly tried to improve and upgrade. Later, news of his donation to disaster relief in Henan Province went viral online, boosting the popularity of Sheep, Tiger, and Pig, making it a hit in northern China.

In order to repay his gratitude, Zhu Changyu donates money to various places every year.

The pandemic had a significant impact on Yanghuzhu, and most shops were closed. He sent a message to Tong Yun, asking her to stay safe while abroad, but she didn't reply. After she broke up with Fu Xingchuan a few years ago, Zhu Changyu had no way of hearing from her.

The phone rang. It was Xu Yangyang's mother, asking if she was with him. He hadn't been able to contact her recently, and he was a little worried. Zhu Changyu learned from Lin Xiao that Xu Yangyang was infected, so he took the risk and hurried back to Nan'an.

"Why are you still so unlucky?" Zhu Changyu asked her in the tone of talking to his sister, and took care of her as if she were his sister.

The New Year is coming soon, and Xu Yangyang asked him to move in with her to take care of Xuehua. Zhu Changyu was worried that it would have a bad influence on her, but she said it was okay. In fact, Zhu Changyu knew her feelings, he could tell from the look she gave him, but he didn't want to expose it.

One day, while looking for something, he opened a drawer in the entrance hall and saw a couplet. If seventeen-year-old Zhu Changyu knew the words on it, he would be very excited, but he was already twenty-seven this year. He pretended not to see it and closed the drawer.

Having witnessed so much separation during the pandemic, Zhu Changyu wanted to connect with Tong Yun even more. When he heard she had become an international volunteer teacher, he traveled around the world, hoping to reunite with her.

Until later he realized that a reunion was impossible, and heard Fu Xingchuan say: "Tong Yun passed away at the end of August 2013", Zhu Changyu seemed to have stopped breathing.

During the few days he spent hiding at home, Zhu Changyu was overwhelmed with thoughts. He kept wondering why he hadn't noticed it at the beginning. He clearly liked her, so why hadn't he told her earlier? Why did he still doubt her? Why didn't he stay with her? Why didn't he run faster after getting out of the car when she went to the hospital?

He didn't blame Fu Xingchuan or Tong Yun, he only blamed himself, his indecision and his powerlessness.

He found a rainbow on the beach and saw Tong Yun's diary, but there was little mention of him in it.

In order to relax, Zhu Changyu went to Nagqu to teach. There were Tong Yun's ideals and newspapers recording her donations. He helped her realize her unfulfilled wishes.

A few months later, he planned to introduce the sheep, tiger, and pig breeds to Tibet. Xu Yangyang came to see him once, and with Xuehua, they went to see the stars together.

He drank a little, but didn't dare get drunk for fear of blacking out again. Even with his eyes closed, he felt Xu Yangyang approaching. She kissed him and said she would always be with him.

How come she became as stupid as him?

Zhu Changyu didn't open his eyes. The stars twinkled in the sky. This was the first time Zhu Changyu had dreamed of Tong Yun.

He didn't dare to go to her grave and could only return to Nan'an. That day, Lin Qiao came to the store, and he cooperated with Xu Yangyang. Fu Xingchuan wanted to propose to her.

Zhu Changyu was very envious, but he couldn't help but think of Tong Yun. What would happen if she knew?

Zuo Xiaole's arrival brought the answer to Zhu Changyu. It turned out that Tong Yun and Fu Xingchuan had never had a relationship beyond that of classmates. He asked Fu Xingchuan for Tong Yun's relics.

Fu Xingchuan said that many things were in the UK, but there was one thing he had with him. Zhu Changyu took the yellowed paper and saw his name written on the back.

He listened to the sound of the waves alone and opened the paper. The contents recorded what he said to her when he confessed his love to her after drinking that day. She said she was very scared and didn't want to die. There were tear marks on the paper.

Zhu Changyu burst into tears, and the heavy rain wet the whole world.

The rain stopped, and he lay on the bed. His mother wiped his face, and his father fed him medicine. "Son, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't ask." His mother held his face in her hands. "Son, you can do whatever you want and go wherever you want. You can even choose not to get married. No matter what, your parents will always support you."

Zhu Changyu took the medicine obediently, recovered, and continued to live his life.

At Lin Luo and Fu Xingchuan's wedding, Fu Xingchuan said to him: "Tong Yun said that he hopes you can meet a better girl..."

"There is no one better." Zhu Changyu said calmly. Fu Xingchuan stopped talking and just hugged him.

Zhu Changyu and Xu Yangyang stood together to receive the bouquet. He smiled and said, "It's so close, you can definitely catch it, I won't help you."

Xu Yangyang nodded. Zhu Changyu sincerely hoped that Xu Yangyang would stop focusing on him and find her own happiness.

The bouquet came over and at the same time Zhu Changyu's cell phone rang. After seeing the note, he quickly walked away and went to answer it. He didn't hear the sound of the bouquet falling to the ground behind him.

All I heard was the head of the education foundation say, "The girl is thirteen years old this year. Her name is Caidan Jiangchu. Caidan means longevity, and Jiangchu means the sea. Mr. Zhu, would you mind meeting her and reconfirming your support?"

A gust of wind blew Zhu Changyu's hair. He said, "No need. Maybe I've seen it before in my past life."