Chapter 74 New Year
◎With him, I won’t feel lonely◎
Not long after the exam week ended, all the school staff were on holiday, and Zhao Yan no longer went to school. Apart from occasional meetings, he spent every day accompanying Jiang Siyue to write her thesis.
After breakfast in the morning, Jiang Siyue looked at his back as he put the dishes into the dishwasher and sighed.
As expected, he will go upstairs to read later.
With Zhao Yan, the exam king, this was the most fulfilling winter vacation Jiang Siyue had in all those years. The constant flow of knowledge into her head felt great, but—
"Teacher Zhao." Jiang Siyue raised her head and acted coquettishly to Zhao Yan, "I'd like to apply for a day off." Reading books every day, it was a good vacation, and it felt no different from going to school.
Zhao Yan pressed the button, strode forward, cupped her face in his hands, and pecked her gently. "You're making a lot of progress every day. You really should rest. You don't have to work so hard during the holidays."
Jiang Siyue immediately clenched her fists and said with a grin, "It's all because of you!"
Zhao Yan looked innocent.
Jiang Siyue perked up and said with great emotion, "You're always reading papers and working, and it makes me feel guilty for slacking off. I should give you this sentence about not working hard during the holidays!"
Facing her accusation, Zhao Yan frowned, the corners of his lips curved slightly, and he gently pinched her cheek and said, "Okay, okay, it's my fault. From now on, I won't touch the documents. I'll do whatever you say."
Jiang Siyue couldn't think of any plans. It was a rare holiday, and she didn't want to waste time watching videos with Zhao Yan. She had already watched seven or eight of the DVDs on the cabinet, and there didn't seem to be any games at home...
After thinking seriously for a while and still to no avail, Jiang Siyue felt a little discouraged and thought that she might as well just read a book. But when she caught a glimpse of the calendar, she suddenly had an idea.
Today is the Little New Year in the north. New Year's Eve is a week later, but the house still seems deserted.
Jiang Siyue asked excitedly: "Zhao Yan, have you bought any New Year's goods?"
Zhao Yan shook his head, "No." He had no feelings about the Chinese New Year. He usually celebrated it with his family at home. Zhang Ying prepared the New Year's goods herself. After eating the New Year's Eve dinner, he would go back to his house to read papers and run data.
New Year’s Eve is a very ordinary day for him.
"How about we go shopping together?"
Her eyes were bright when she said this. Zhao Yan smiled more and stroked her satin-like hair, "Okay." The new year would be very different with her around.
As the Chinese New Year was approaching, the shopping mall was packed and the parking lot was also full. It took half an hour to finally find a parking space.
The elevator was still crowded after getting on. Jiang Siyue huddled in the corner of the elevator. Zhao Yan stood next to her, intentionally or unintentionally separating her from the crowd.
"There are so many people!" Jiang Siyue sighed softly.
Zhao Yan heard her like in her words, so he agreed: "Yeah, it's very lively."
Before Zhao Yan finished speaking, a middle-aged woman next to him immediately joined in, saying in a strong Beijing accent, "It's definitely lively during the New Year! It's just that there's no place to park in this shabby lot. It's so inconvenient."
Jiang Siyue had never encountered such a situation where a passerby took over the conversation. She instinctively looked at Zhao Yan. Zhao Yan raised the corner of his mouth and said, "A little bit."
The elevator stopped again at B2, and the aunt asked again, "Hey, you guys just got married, right? It's rare to see young couples shopping for New Year's goods these days."
It was visibly that Zhao Yan's smile grew more pronounced, and he said, "Well, we've been married for almost a year."
Jiang Siyue: “…”
After entering the supermarket, Zhao Yan pushed a cart and walked beside her. The supermarket was a sea of red, and the New Year atmosphere was very strong. When she walked to the fresh food area, Jiang Siyue looked at the exquisite ingredients and felt that she had forgotten a question.
She grabbed Zhao Yan's arm and asked, "Should we spend the New Year with Mr. Zhang? That way, we don't need to buy groceries."
Zhao Yan: "I'll probably only go there for a meal on New Year's Eve."
Jiang Siyue lowered her head, wanting to say something but stopping herself. Zhou Hong would probably call and urge her to go back to Wanjiang to pay New Year's greetings. They had such a custom there, so she would probably have to come back on the sixth day of the New Year at the earliest.
"My mom is probably coming to pay New Year's greetings." Jiang Siyue sighed softly, turned around and took a steak from the refrigerator. She didn't really want to go back, but she was afraid that Zhou Hong would nag her and call her repeatedly. Zhou Hong was like this to Jiang Lingling before, urging her to come quickly at dawn on New Year's Day.
"Forget it, let's buy it first. We may or may not come back." Jiang Siyue put things into the shopping cart in silence. "My mom will urge my sister to come back, but she may not urge me to come back."
Zhao Yan stared at her for a while and held her hand. Jiang Siyue stopped and looked up at Zhao Yan with a layer of mist in her eyes.
Jiang Siyue smiled and asked, "What's the matter?"
Zhao Yan frowned slightly, with a fleeting look of heartache in his eyes. He quickly smiled and said softly, "You took too much."
"Oh." Jiang Siyue nodded, breathed a sigh of relief, and pushed the cart away with Zhao Yan.
When passing by the department store, there were relatively few people. Jiang Siyue lowered her eyelashes and looked at Zhao Yan with a smile in her eyes. She said in a joking tone: "It's a good thing you didn't continue with that topic just now, otherwise I would have cried and it would have been so embarrassing."
Zhao Yan tilted his head and looked at her, "No."
"Isn't it embarrassing?" Jiang Siyue asked, "Then you are a lover..."
Zhao Yan took a bright red lion dance hat from the shelf next to her and put it on her head. The soothing hug made her completely silent.
"I won't let you cry." Zhao Yan patted her back gently, "I'm not very good at comforting her, and I can't bear to let her cry."
She didn't care if Zhou Hong didn't ask her to go home, but when Zhao Yan said that... Jiang Siyue's nose couldn't stop feeling sore. She lightly punched his shoulder and said in a thick nasal voice, "Then I'm going to cry?"
Zhao Yan was used to her occasional arguments, so he chuckled and said, "Then I'll just bite the bullet and coax her!"
"Tsk!" Jiang Siyue pushed him away, her face flushing red beneath her lion dance cap. "An old-fashioned trick."
Zhao Yan still had a smile on his face. Jiang Siyue took a lion dance hat from the side, tiptoed to put it on his head, and whispered softly, "You have to wear it too..."
The hat she got for Zhao Yan had two hems. The cute lion dance hat hung on his head, and paired with his cold and distant face, it gave him a unique contradictory temperament that made people want to... ravage him.
Jiang Siyue thought about it, reached out and pinched the hanging hem, and immediately one of her ears perked up. Jiang Siyue was happy, and the depression she had just felt disappeared completely.
Zhao Yan raised his hand to touch his hat. Jiang Siyue thought he was going to take it off, so she quickly grabbed his hand and said anxiously, "It's very cute. Don't take it off. Just wear it home like this."
In the mirror on the shelf, Zhao Yan glanced at himself and saw his ears pricked up from time to time, then looked at Jiang Siyue who was having fun.
Zhao Yan: “…”
*
On New Year's Eve, after having dinner at Mingmen Mountain, Jiang Siyue and Zhao Yan bid farewell to Zhang Ying and Zhao Yunshan and set off to go home.
Zhang Ying: "Siyue, what date are you guys returning to Wanjiang? Do you need me and Dad to go with you?"
Jiang Siyue didn't expect that she was talking about this and was stunned for a moment.
Yesterday, she saw Zhou Hong and Jiang Mingfeng post on their Moments, saying that they were on vacation at the beach with Jiang Lingling's family for the New Year.
"No need." Zhao Yan's cold voice interrupted her, like an ice blade, breaking through the obstacle in front of her.
"I'll take care of it." Zhao Yan took Jiang Siyue's hand and walked out.
"Okay." Zhang Ying was happy and at ease. "Drive safely."
It was fine when we came, but now it is snowing again on the way back. Goose feather-like snowflakes are flying under the orange street lights, and the warm lights have become dull.
After arriving home, Zhao Yan held an umbrella and opened the car door for her. Jiang Siyue unbuckled her seat belt but did not move.
"Zhao Yan, I seem to have eaten too much just now. I want to walk for a while." Jiang Siyue said.
The snow was not so heavy anymore. Zhao Yan put away his umbrella, took her hand with his other hand and put it in his pocket, and walked slowly forward. The rustling sound of his steps on the snow added a bit of tranquility to the night.
In her peripheral vision, Zhao Yan's eyebrows were like mountains, his eyes were cold, and the familiar smell on him calmed her heart, and the only bit of depression she had disappeared without a trace.
With Zhao Yan by my side, I won’t feel lonely, and that’s enough.
She took a deep breath, and the moment she let go of Zhao Yan's hand, she did not miss the doubt that flashed across his face. A warm current surged in her cold heart, and she raised the corners of her mouth slightly. She quickened her pace, walked around in front of Zhao Yan, and walked backwards forward.
Zhao Yan swept behind her and saw piles of new snow. After making sure there was no risk of slipping, his slightly furrowed brow relaxed.
Jiang Siyue: "How did you spend the Spring Festival before?"
Zhao Yan put his hands in his pockets, his cool and gentle gaze fixed on her. He said, "Reading papers, running data, correcting homework...that's all." She suddenly asked this, Zhao Yan was a little confused, "What's wrong? Want to go out and play?"
"No, I was just asking." Jiang Siyue denied it, but couldn't help but defend herself, "I don't like playing at all, I-"
Her feet stepped on a small raised snow mound and she slipped. Jiang Siyue screamed and instinctively reached forward to grab Zhao Yan's hand.
Zhao Yan has been exercising all year round, so it was easy for him to pick her up. After she stood firmly, he sighed leisurely.
Jiang Siyue, who had escaped the disaster, looked at the small bump with lingering fear, a thin layer of sweat on her palms. Suddenly hearing the sigh, she said stubbornly, "It won't hurt if I fall in the snow. I would be fine if you didn't pull me up just now."
Zhao Yan stared into her eyes steadily until Jiang Siyue couldn't bear it anymore and looked away first. Then he smiled and teased, "If you hadn't reached out, I probably wouldn't have been able to hold you back."
Jiang Siyue pouted, clenched her hanging hands, and accidentally touched the snow on the bushes. She opened her palms again, quietly made a fist, and clenched it in her palms.
Jiang Siyue smiled slyly, "Teacher Zhao."
"Hmm?" Zhao Yan didn't see her "little action".
Jiang Siyue said mysteriously, "Come here, I have something to tell you."
Zhao Yan obediently lowered his head, moved closer to her, and then——
Jiang Siyue quickly stuffed the ball of snow in her hand into his turtleneck sweater, then ran away with a giggle, shouting at him, "This is the price you pay for laughing at me!"
Zhao Yan: “…”
Jiang Siyue had completely expected that he would counterattack. After easily dodging a few snowballs, Jiang Siyue was very proud of herself. She hid behind the bushes and stuck her head out to make some harsh remarks.
"Teacher Zhao, you can't do it! I can't even catch it."
Zhao Yan stared at her with a smile on his face, and unconsciously tightened the snowball in his hand.
He wanted to catch the girl right away and show her what he was capable of.
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