When Zhou Yuanyuan gave the gift, she was thinking that if the adults saw her giving the gift to Huo Yingjie, and Huo Yingjie accepted it, then the parents would also approve of their relationship.
She had assumed that Huo Yingjie, who was always smiling, had feelings for her, but she hadn't expected him to be so difficult to talk to, rejecting her in front of everyone.
Zhou Yuanyuan was embarrassed. The blush on her face turned from shyness to anger and resentment. She grabbed her scarf and ran out.
Huo Yingqi had just come out of the house when she saw Zhou Yuanyuan running out. She quickly went up to her and said, "Second brother, how could you do this! Yuanyuan gave you the scarf just to keep you warm. If you didn't want it, you could have just said so. Why were you being so heartless!"
When the Zhou family heard Huo Yingqi's words, they also felt that Huo Yingjie had gone too far. After all, Yuanyuan was a young woman, and they should give her some face.
Huo Yingjie was not angry at his sister's actions. Instead, he politely said, "In my heart, Yuanyuan is just like you, my sister. I have no romantic feelings for her. If I knew my feelings and still accepted Yuanyuan's kindness, that would be harming her. You are young and don't understand, but Uncle Zhou should understand my good intentions."
Zhou Zhengqi was taken aback. Thinking about it, it made sense. His Zhou family and the Huo family used to be roughly equal, only they had suffered some losses in several power struggles and were temporarily inferior to the Huo family. Huo Yingjie didn't like his daughter, so a direct rejection might not look good on the surface, but when it came to matters of the heart, a swift and decisive approach was always better than indecisiveness and dragging things out!
“Yingjie is right. Yuanyuan is still young. She will understand your good intentions in the future,” Zhou Zhengqi said. His daughter was not so low as to beg others for her affection.
Huo Yingqi was taken aback. Didn't Zhou Yuanyuan say before that her parents agreed to her dating Huo Yingjie?
Previously, when Zhou Yuanyuan was knitting a scarf, her parents were very supportive. They heard that the recipient was Huo Yingjie, after all, the two families were old friends, and Huo Yingjie was also a talented young man.
This attitude presupposes that Fok Ying-kit also has feelings for his daughter. If not, they wouldn't be happy if their daughter were the only one interested in him.
After all, matters of the heart aren't something you can force. Even in the People's Republic of China, where love is a matter of freedom, such a relationship is not supported.
Seeing that Uncle Zhou had also said the same thing, Huo Yingqi became anxious, stamped her foot, and chased after him. Her good friend, who liked her second brother so much. Now her second brother was showing no respect for Yuanyuan at all; she wondered how heartbroken Yuanyuan would be!
Huo Yingqi chased after her to the Zhou family's house. The old lady of the Zhou family was anxious when she saw her granddaughter run back. She didn't know what had happened and was comforting her at the door.
But Zhou Yuanyuan kept the door closed, so she couldn't get in and could only anxiously wait outside.
When Huo Yingqi came over, the old lady of the Zhou family saw that she was her granddaughter's little sister, so she came over and said, "Qiqi, come here, help me ask Yuanyuan what's wrong?"
Huo Yingqi knew what was going on, but she was too embarrassed to tell Grandma Zhou, so she quickly nodded and said, "Grandma Zhou, you can go down first, I'll go in and ask."
After Grandma Zhou went downstairs, Huo Yingqi started knocking on the door, saying, "Yuanyuan, open the door! Please open it!"
Upon hearing Huo Yingqi's voice, the girl inside cried even louder.
“Yuanyuan, don’t be like this. Although my second brother rejected you, you are both so young, neither of you is married. Who knows what the future holds? If you keep crying like this, you’ll have no chance at all,” Huo Yingqi said. She desperately wanted Huo Yingqi to be her sister-in-law. If Zhou Yuanyuan hadn’t only liked her second brother, but instead liked her eldest brother, she would definitely have made her eldest brother marry Yuanyuan instead of that Zhao Huanhuan who was never home.
Hearing Huo Yingqi's words, the crying inside subsided a little.
Seeing that Zhou Yuanyuan wasn't unmoved by her words, Huo Yingqi continued, "That woman is three years younger than my second brother, and she's also a sent-down youth. You can only meet her once a year during the Spring Festival. Think about it, even the deepest feelings will fade if you don't see each other for a long time. That's when you feel that your opportunity has come."
With a "click," Zhou Yuanyuan opened the door and let Huo Yingqi in.
Grandma Zhou, who lived upstairs, was slightly relieved when she saw that her granddaughter had stopped crying.
"Yingqi, do you think I still have a chance?" Zhou Yuanyuan looked at Huo Yingqi hopefully. "Your second brother just said that, how can I have the face to confess to him again?"
Huo Yingqi smiled mysteriously and said, "I've heard that the woman won't be able to come back and reunite with my second brother anytime soon. If you have the chance to spend time with my second brother, you'll have a great opportunity."
My second brother is, after all, at the prime of his life, and if a young girl takes meticulous care of him, he will definitely be moved.
“But…” Zhou Yuanyuan was a proud daughter of heaven, and she was always the one being fawned over. She had never begged someone so humbly before.
Her pride told her that she couldn't be so humble.
But she couldn't control her feelings. Just thinking about being with Huo Yingjie in the future made her feel like she could overcome any difficulty.
Huo Yingjie was the man she had liked since childhood—so handsome and so capable. Although they hadn't known each other for long, she simply loved Huo Yingjie.
“If you don’t seize this opportunity, it will be too late once my second brother and I are transferred to the same educated youth group and can see each other frequently. I heard yesterday that not only does my second brother like that girl, but my second uncle and aunt also like her very much. They’ve watched her grow up. If she weren’t outstanding, she definitely wouldn’t have so many people liking her.” Huo Yingqi’s deduction was correct; this was Yuanyuan’s only chance.
After hearing this, Zhou Yuanyuan seemed to have made up her mind and said, "Anyway, I'm going to join the army soon. Since I'm going to work anyway, why not work for your second brother? Just like you said, proximity makes it easier to get closer to someone. I don't believe that I can't warm up your second brother, who's like a rock, by spending time with him day and night."
“Yes, that’s how it should be. The revolutionary Long March was 25,000 li, and you’ve only just gotten so far. If you give up now, you’ll be letting down all the years of friendship you’ve shared,” Huo Yingqi said, secretly pleased. As long as her friend could pull himself together, the chances of success were very high.
Huo Yingqi didn't even consider what would happen if Huo Yingjie still didn't like Zhou Yuanyuan, and Zhou Yuanyuan was deeply in love with him.
They're still too young. Like flowers in a greenhouse, they don't know the dangers outside. They're headstrong and make assumptions.
"Yes, I must be strong, I must work hard, and I must never give up easily and let that woman have her way," Zhou Yuanyuan said firmly, her determination replacing her sorrow.
"Well done, that's more like it," Huo Yingqi said. "You're so smart and beautiful, you'll definitely achieve your goal. Besides, I'll try my best to go with you. Even if we can't work in the same place, being closer will allow us to see each other more often!" (To be continued.)
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