As she spoke, she deliberately twisted her body on the bay window to show her "comfort zone".
Ye Fanshuang looked at her carefree and lazy appearance, and the corners of his lips curved upwards almost imperceptibly, an extremely subtle arc, like a fleeting ripple on the ice.
"Yeah." She responded again, her eyes falling on the quiet London night scene outside the window behind Su Xinghui, "London...quiet?"
"It's more than quiet, it's deserted!" Su Xinghui immediately responded, her face falling as she complained with a hint of grievance.
"There's no festive atmosphere at all! I can't even hear a single firecracker outside. Chinatown might be a little busier during the day. I went there with some classmates yesterday afternoon and bought some sugar-roasted chestnuts and rice cakes. They tasted okay, but it just felt... wrong."
She sighed, resting her chin on the cool top of the figurine, her eyes a little vacant. "It doesn't have that... that warm, noisy, lively atmosphere at home."
She was silent for a few seconds, as if recalling the excitement of previous years. Her voice lowered with a barely perceptible sense of loneliness: "Remember New Year's Eve two years ago? We secretly lit fairy wands on your huge terrace with a view of the river."
"The wind was so strong that a spark nearly burned a hole in my new cashmere scarf! I was so scared! You even laughed at me at that time..."
Ye Fanshuang listened quietly, the light from the other end of the screen softly outlining her delicate profile.
She didn't say anything, but her eyes seemed to drift away as Su Xinghui described, becoming less cold and more filled with gentle reminiscence.
That small, adventurous and silly "firework" seemed to light up a corner deep in her eyes at this moment.
"Yeah." She finally responded softly, her voice a little softer than before, "...The scarf is fine."
"That's just good luck!" Su Xinghui immediately retorted, her tone regaining its vitality, as if the loneliness just now was just an illusion.
"But the fireworks that day were really beautiful. The entire river surface was illuminated, just like daytime! Do you remember the last and biggest one? When it exploded, it looked like a giant golden chrysanthemum. We both shouted and danced on the terrace..."
As she spoke, she began to laugh, her eyes curved into crescents.
Ye Fanshuang looked at her bright smiling face, and a faint smile appeared in his eyes, like the surface of a lake where a stone was thrown, although subtle, it was real.
She didn't continue the conversation about the fireworks, but instead asked, "Have you eaten the dumplings?"
"I ate it, I ate it!" Su Xinghui's attention was immediately diverted, and she counted on her fingers as if she was presenting a treasure.
"My mom made them. There are three kinds of fillings, beef and onion, and... hey, your favorite one with shepherd's purse and pork! I asked her to make a lot more and freeze them in the freezer! Waiting for you..."
She was halfway through her words when she suddenly stopped talking. Her cheeks felt hot again and she abruptly changed the subject, "...I'll cook it for myself when I have time!"
"Yeah." Ye Fanshuang looked at her, her expression of trying to cover up her mistake. The smile in his eyes seemed to deepen a little, but he didn't expose her. He just said lightly, "...Shepherd's purse is good."
"Right, right!" Su Xinghui immediately followed up, "I knew you would think it's delicious too! My mom's cooking skills are amazing!" She was very proud, as if she had made the dumplings herself.
The conversation seemed to naturally drift towards more relaxed and trivial daily matters. Su Xinghui began to ramble on about the new, incredibly stuffy math teacher at her school.
The AP Calculus homework assigned was simply not something a human could do; he also complained about the terrible weather in London, how it rained endlessly, and how the clothes he hung out to dry took three days to dry and smelled musty.
Ye Fanshuang just listened quietly most of the time, occasionally when Su Xinghui talked about something particularly exciting or outrageous.
Then he would say "hmm" lightly, or make a brief comment or two, which was precise and venomous, often making Su Xinghui stare in dismay, and then evoke a new round of chattering rebuttals from her.
Occasionally, she would pick up the bone china cup at hand and sip the dark brown liquid in small sips, her movements graceful and calm.
Time passed quietly amidst the girls' trivial yet warm whispers. London outside the window was still shrouded in deep darkness, with only the occasional flash of car lights in the distance breaking the silence.
Su Xinghui had put the huge figurine in her arms aside at some point, and she relaxed completely in the soft wool cushion on the bay window.
She was holding a pillow with a cartoon panda printed on it, resting her chin comfortably on it, and smiling at Ye Fanshuang on the other side of the screen with no image at all.
"...and guess what?" Su Xinghui was just talking about a funny scene, and she was laughing so hard, "The professor tripped and almost fell off the podium! Hahaha... Ouch..."
She laughed so hard that she accidentally pulled a cheek muscle and rubbed it with a grimace in pain.
Looking at her silly smile, Ye Fanshuang couldn't help but curl up the corners of his lips into a clear arc, no longer the fleeting smile from before.
She was about to say something when her eyes swept across the pile of action figure boxes and finally fell back on Su Xinghui's face, which looked particularly lively because of excitement and happiness.
As he looked, Ye Fanshuang's eyes seemed to freeze for a moment, and the usual coldness dissipated quietly like mist, revealing something deeper and softer underneath.
She held the cup in her hand, and her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the smooth wall of the cup.
“…You…” Ye Fanshuang’s voice sounded, slightly lower than usual, with an imperceptible hesitation, as if he was carefully choosing his words.
She paused, her eyes still fixed on Su Xinghui's face, as if confirming something, before continuing.
"…Is your hair cut a little short?"
"Ah?" Su Xinghui was stunned by this question.
She subconsciously raised her hand and touched the ends of her hair that fell on her shoulders. The ends of her hair were trimmed more neatly, and the ends were also made into a very natural slightly curled shape, making her look lighter and more lively.
But this change is actually very subtle. She didn't even mention it during the video call yesterday, thinking of giving it a surprise the next time they meet.
"You can see this?" Su Xinghui opened her eyes wide in surprise, moved closer to the camera, and pulled the ends of her hair.
"I just trimmed the ends of my hair a little bit and permed it into a one-time curl! That's amazing, Shuang! What are you looking at me like that?" She felt a little proud and sweet in her heart, as if she had secretly eaten honey.
Ye Fanshuang leaned back slightly because of her suddenly enlarged face, avoiding the overly "passionate" scrutiny.
"It's obvious." She uttered these three words lightly as an explanation.
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