She couldn't bear it.
As soon as the New Year's bell rang, colorful fireworks burst forth against the indigo sky, creating a lively and joyous atmosphere.
Hu Tong didn't watch the Spring Festival Gala. After having New Year's Eve dinner and receiving lucky money, he took his phone back to his bedroom and played online mahjong with his roommates by the bed.
Hu Tong, unusually indifferent to winning or losing, chatted and laughed, firing one shot after another.
Yeah, it doesn't hurt. Anyway, every penny lost is counted, and the room has a ceiling.
It was Zhang Xianyu, who had the best temper, who was the first to lose her temper: "Zhou Min, can you please stop counting cards!"
"Entertainment Bureau, do you even know what the Entertainment Bureau means?!"
"I didn't count the cards, I just had good luck."
Zhou Min's voice came over, mixed with rustling sounds, reminding one of her guiltily pushing up her glasses as she spoke.
Jiao Yuhong said calmly, "I heard you muttering to yourself."
Zhou Min was shocked: "Did I read it out loud?"
"No," Hu Tong chuckled. "She's trying to trick you."
Zhou Min remained silent for a long time, but did not delay playing her card.
The atmosphere in the four-person group chat became quite cold when one person was missing. Hu Tong calmed down and finally managed to get a set of four suits by frantically clicking.
"Wow, I'm a genius!"
A dazzling golden light effect flashed by, and Hu Tong happily started the next game.
Zhou Min realized that keeping quiet wouldn't do her any good, so she cleared her throat and made conversation, "Well, speaking of which, my family wanted me to go on a blind date the other day."
"Huh? How could that be? You're only a freshman!"
Zhang Xianyu was the first to fall into the trap, and in surprise, she randomly played a card.
Zhou Min suppressed a laugh as she played the tile, then continued to lower her voice, feigning annoyance, to lure others into the game. "Sigh, my family says good men are all snatched up; if you're too late, they're gone."
"It sounds even harder to get than spare ribs during the Lunar New Year," Hu Tong said dismissively.
Zhang Xian retorted in a shrill voice, "What? Your family is way too anxious!"
Jiao Yuhong scoffed: "Idiot."
“You’re acting a bit like a domineering CEO, Honghong,” Hu Tong said. “I’m not happy about it.”
"Then you're an idiot too."
Jiao Yuhong usually speaks clearly, but this time she deliberately dragged out her words, making them sound sticky and lazy, which made people feel intimate.
Hu Tong blushed for no reason, raised his hand to fan his slightly burning cheeks, and said, "I'm not stupid, I've done all the questions you sent me."
Hu Tong wants to join his class advisor's lab in the second semester of his freshman year and needs to prepare for a computer-based test in advance.
After hearing about it, Jiao Yuhong sent her a Word document titled "The Problem Remains Even After the Person's Departure," which was a set of programming problems that had been passed down for countless generations.
The questions weren't particularly difficult, but each one was classic. While coding, Hu Tong discovered many confusing points of knowledge—although they didn't affect the program's operation, a mistake was a mistake, and getting the correct result from a series of bugs didn't give her any sense of accomplishment.
"Really? You're awesome!"
Jiao Yuhong continued to speak in that sticky, mushy tone.
Zhou Min was no longer calm: "What question bank! What have you been studying behind my back?!"
Hu Tong was vague: "You wouldn't be interested in a question bank."
"You haven't even said what kind of question bank it is, how do you know I wouldn't be interested?"
Zhou Min suddenly felt that mahjong was no fun and kept pestering Hu Tong and Jiao Yuhong with questions.
Zhang Xian patiently urged Hu Tong to tell her.
It wasn't until Hu Tong won the first hand and Jiao Yuhong followed with a winning hand, making a huge profit, that Zhou Min realized that the two of them had used her tricks to turn the tables on her!
"A feint attack!" Zhou Min exclaimed, looking at the plummeting scores. "But... what kind of question bank is it?"
Well, that's the dedication of a top student.
Hu Tong said helplessly, "You know, it's the selection process for Professor Wu's lab. I did some practice questions beforehand, otherwise I'd always feel anxious."
"That's it?" Zhou Min clicked her tongue. "Let's play another round. I'm going to win it back."
Zhang Xianyu was on the verge of tears: "I'm not playing anymore. No matter how we play, I always lose. You guys are too cunning, you just fool people like that."
Upon hearing this, Hu Tong and Zhou Min exclaimed in unison, "Who's bluffing you!"
Hu Tong: "I really did do a lot of practice problems."
Zhou Min: "I really want to get married."
Zhang Xianyu decisively forgave the whole world and started another game, mindlessly playing cards according to the system prompts, "Xiaomin, you say it."
She's definitely going to lose the money, and if she can't even get to eat the melon, she's really not going to have a good New Year.
Zhou Min coughed seriously, building up the suspense, before saying, "He's the son of one of my dad's classmates. He's also studying in Beijing, and his circumstances are quite good. My dad wants me to meet him; if it doesn't work out, we can just make friends."
"And then? And then?" Hu Tong pressed.
How could someone who has never been in a relationship say no to observing the development of human emotions!
Zhou Min sighed: "I went to see him, and he was indeed a respectable person. Unfortunately, our date was to spend the whole afternoon playing a claw machine with an extremely loose claw, and we wouldn't stop until we won one."
Zhang Xianyu asked, "So who caught him?"
Zhou Min sighed again: "We didn't catch anyone. In the end, a few kids cried, so we stopped and went home. Stubborn as me, we're not a good match."
Zhang Xian nodded with deep feeling: "That's true. It's better to have one active and one quiet, one scholarly and one martial, just like Tongtong and Brother Streetlight, they complement each other."
Why did we suddenly bring her up?
Hu Tong said irritably, "They don't complement each other at all."
"Tsk, did you have a fight?" Zhang Xian said casually. "What little problems are there? We can work them out. Streetlight Bro is so popular, I've seen his profile picture on the confession wall several times."
"It's not like a gear, it doesn't need to be broken in..."
Hu Tong muttered something and lit Jiao Yuhong's firecracker.
After the game ended, Hu Tong stopped playing.
"I'm sleepy too," Jiao Yuhong said, closing the room and sending a red envelope to the dormitory group chat. "Happy New Year, friends."
Hu Tong grabbed the red envelope, exchanged blessings with her roommate, and then turned off her phone.
Lying on the soft bed, I stared blankly at the ceiling.
Outside the window, fireworks crackled and popped, and Zhang Xianyu's soft, gentle words still lingered in her ears, like feathers tickling her heart.
I feel very uncomfortable.
Hu Tong turned over and forced himself to close his eyes and go to sleep.
But then someone knocked on the door.
Hu Tong rolled out of bed and opened the door with an impatient look on his face.
It's Cheng Zhou.
He stood by the door, wearing a white crew-neck sweater and loose blue-black plaid pajama pants. His hair, dyed black again, was a little messy, and his long eyelashes were slightly lowered, covering the surging emotions in his eyes—as if he had rolled around in bed several times before finally deciding to come find her.
"I……"
Cheng Zhou opened her mouth, but under Hu Tong's inexplicably resentful glare, she lowered her head, a faint blush gradually spreading across her fair skin. "Let's make up."
Hu Tong felt his little finger being gently hooked.
Looking down, a gold bracelet was coiled in Cheng Zhou's palm, with an enamel butterfly in the center. The dim light could not hide its lustrous and warm color.
"apologize."
As Cheng Zhou spoke, he looked at her, asking if he could put it on her.
Hu Tong raised her hand and watched Cheng Zhou bend down, gently and carefully putting the bracelet on her wrist under the light in the corridor.
The chain was cold, while his fingertips were warm.
“I shouldn’t have given you the silent treatment,” he said.
A tuft of black hair on Cheng Zhou's head stood up and trembled incessantly in front of Hu Tong's eyes.
She suddenly realized the reason for her unease.
She and Cheng Zhou weren't like gears that needed to be broken in; they were two completely different pieces of a puzzle.
It was precisely this difference that allowed them to fit together perfectly.
But that also means that two puzzle pieces in different poses will be combined to form an unknown new pattern.
Two become one, something extraordinary becomes vulgar; she swallows him up, or he swallows her up. Hu Tong is unwilling to accept either.
Or rather, she couldn't bear to part with it.
Hu Tong didn't know if this was a thought that had been hidden in his heart for a long time, or a way of making amends after being rejected by Cheng Zhou.
Anyway, she did have that feeling, a faint, bittersweet feeling of reluctance.
She was actually reluctant to part with it.
After putting on the bracelet, Cheng Zhou looked up and saw Hu Tong staring blankly at the gold chain on her wrist.
"What's wrong?" Cheng Zhou tilted his head slightly, his eyes clear and focused.
"If you don't like it, we can go to the jewelry store tomorrow and choose another one."
"No."
Hu Tong stood with his back to the window, amidst a dappled array of light and shadow. He looked up, his eyes suddenly crinkling into crescents, sparkling.
"I love so much."
call out--
After a sharp, high-pitched sound, a huge firework bloomed in the sky, and its brilliant, warm golden light flooded into the room.
Before he was swallowed by the light, he heard her say,
"Cheng Zhou, Happy New Year."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
