Chapter 33 The Girl I Like
Since Su Wenjing adjusted her emotions, the dessert shop has not closed down for no reason again. Perhaps believing in his words that he would come back, Sister Jing made desserts very frequently in the following two weeks.
With the New Year approaching, most people in the shopping district were on holiday, so most of the unsold desserts ended up in Gu Zhaodi's stomach, making her face rounder.
Su Wenjing kept stuffing all sorts of desserts into her suitcase, leaving the girl feeling both helpless and touched.
She knew these desserts weren't the unsold items Sister Jing mentioned, but rather that Sister Jing knew the girl had a younger brother, so she made them as a gift last night.
"If Zhao Zhao doesn't finish it within two days, throw it away."
Su Wenjing added a word of concern, worried that the girl might be reluctant to throw it away and end up getting a stomachache.
Although the low winter temperatures can preserve food for a longer period, it is still far less fresh.
"I understand, Sister Jing." The girl's eyes were gentle. "Happy New Year, Sister Jing. I'll be back on the sixteenth of the first lunar month."
Nan'an Middle School starts on the 17th day of the first lunar month, so coming back a day earlier means I can stay in the school dormitory.
"Happy New Year to you, Zhao Zhao too," Su Wenjing said with a smile. She was also going back to City B for the New Year later.
Dragging her suitcase, the girl boarded the subway, said her final goodbye to Sister Jing, and began her journey home.
Unlike when she arrived, she felt less lost and helpless. Now she was at peace and even appreciated the scenery along the way.
At the entrance of Nan'an Railway Station, the girl suddenly thought of Uncle Dan. He was the person she met on the first day she arrived in Nan'an, and he had truly given her many wonderful memories in the past six months.
Thinking of this, the girl took out her phone and looked at her WeChat chat page with Uncle Dan, which only showed the very beginning: "You have added DAW as a friend, you can start chatting now."
The girl hesitated, wondering if sending Uncle Dan a "Happy New Year" message would be too abrupt. A conflict flashed in her eyes.
"Gu Zhaodi?"
The girl had just placed her luggage on the luggage rack, looking out the window at the platform, quietly waiting for the train to depart, when she noticed someone sit down next to her.
She was a little surprised to hear someone call her name.
Turning her head, she saw a handsome young man with delicate features looking at her with a smile.
"Gu Fang? What are you doing here?" A smile appeared in the girl's eyes. This boy was her junior high school classmate, and he had helped her before.
When Gu Fang saw that Gu Zhaodi recognized him, the corners of his mouth curved up even more. "I went to high school in Nan'an City, at Nan'an No. 3 High School."
"And you? What are you doing here?" The boy was eager to know how the girl was doing; he hadn't seen her since graduating from junior high school.
He didn't know how she was doing. All he knew was that she had become the top scorer in the city's college entrance exam. The girl didn't have many friends, and he couldn't find out anything else about her.
“I also study in high school in Nan’an City, at Nan’an Middle School.” The girl smiled.
Gu Fang's family lived in the town, and their family was one of the better-off families in the town. She wasn't surprised that he was studying in high school in Nan'an City, after all, he was a good student and his family had the money to support his schooling.
Gu Fang was slightly surprised to hear that the girl was attending Nan'an Middle School, since Nan'an Middle School was considered a semi-elite high school, and the girl's family situation made it impossible for her to get in.
Seeing the boy's confusion, Gu Zhaodi explained, "Someone sponsored my trip."
"It's so good that you can continue your studies." The boy was genuinely happy for her. He knew that the girl's family favored boys over girls, and he had thought that the girl would not continue her studies.
Gu Zhaodi smiled; she also felt fortunate to be able to continue her studies.
"It's already the 28th today, why are you only coming home now?" In Gu Fang's memory, Nan'an Middle School started its holiday a week earlier than theirs.
If Nan'an No. 3 Middle School hadn't started its holiday late, and if he hadn't been unable to get a high-speed rail ticket a few days ago, he wouldn't have bought a train ticket for today.
Gu Zhaodi didn't want to talk about the reason for this. She remembered the phone call she made home when school was about to let out for winter break.
Looking at the familiar phone number in her contacts, the girl hesitated and hesitated, but in the end she dialed it anyway.
The ringtone rang a few times before being answered, and a woman's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Who is it?"
The girl pursed her lips before slowly saying, "Mom, it's me, Zhaodi."
"Zhaodi?" Gu's mother looked at the phone number on her phone, not expecting her daughter, whom she hadn't contacted for more than half a year, to suddenly call.
"What do you want by calling?" Gu's mother thought she was calling to ask for money, and her tone was a little unfriendly.
The girl paused for a moment, realizing the implication in Gu's mother's words, and suddenly didn't know how to respond.
But thinking of her younger brother's expectations, the girl bit her lip and said softly, "I want to go home for the New Year."
Upon hearing this, Gu's mother's wrinkled face instantly tightened, and she immediately scolded, "Why did you come back? You're wasting your train ticket money. Don't come back."
Perhaps Gu's mother's voice was too loud, which not only frightened the girl but also attracted the little boy in the room.
Gu Bao ran to her mother's side, stood on tiptoe to reach for the phone next to her mother's ear, and called out, "Mom, give me the phone, it's my sister's voice."
He had faintly heard his sister's voice while he was playing in the room.
Feeling sorry for her youngest son, Gu's mother handed the phone to Gu Bao's ear.
Gu Bao said softly to Gu Zhaodi, "Sister, is that you? It's almost Chinese New Year, when are you coming back?"
The girl, holding back her grievances and tears, sniffed and said, "Sister might not be coming back. Gu Bao, be good."
When Gu Bao heard that Gu Zhaodi wouldn't be coming back for the New Year, he became anxious. He had been counting down the days until his sister came back, and the time was finally almost here.
"Sister, come back for the New Year, come back." As she spoke, Gu Bao's tone became aggrieved.
The girl gripped her phone tightly and said resolutely, "My sister has something to do, so she won't be coming back. She'll definitely come back next time."
As soon as the girl finished speaking, Gu Bao burst into tears, and two streams of hot tears fell to the ground like pearls.
Seeing her youngest son cry, Gu's mother grabbed the phone and angrily said to Gu Zhaodi, "Didn't you hear your brother calling you to come home for the New Year? Don't make your brother cry."
As soon as she saw her youngest son crying, Gu's mother instantly forgot that she was the one who hadn't let the girl come home for the New Year, and blamed everything on the girl.
Gu Zhaodi didn't intend to argue with her mother about what had just happened. After hearing her mother tell her to go back, she said a few words to Gu Bao and then hung up the phone.
The girl sat there blankly, and Gu Fang thought he had asked the wrong question.
"Did I ask the wrong question?" The boy's voice was tinged with caution.
The girl snapped out of her daze, smiled, and shook her head, saying, "I found a part-time job in Nan'an City, so I'm only just getting home now."
Seeing that the girl didn't want to talk anymore, Gu Fang didn't pester her to chat. Instead, he sat quietly next to her, just like he had in junior high school.
In junior high school, Gu Zhaodi would often finish her homework at school before going home, while Gu Fang, as the class monitor, would be kept behind by the teacher to run errands.
The two went from being strangers in the same class to being classmates who could chat for a few minutes, and then they didn't have much interaction anymore.
Later, Gu Fang found the girl and wanted her to be his tutor, so he would teach her in the classroom for an hour after school.
The girl readily agreed. She was almost in her final year of junior high school, and tutoring would allow her to earn some living expenses and high school tuition.
So, one of them taught diligently, while the other sat quietly listening. This continued until two days before the high school entrance exam.
With the girl's tutoring, Gu Fang's grades improved significantly, and his admission to Nan'an No. 3 Middle School was within the girl's expectations.
After several hours of travel, the girl groggily woke up. Seeing that Gu Fang was still asleep, she was wondering whether to wake him up when the train's announcement sounded.
"Good morning, passengers! The next stop is Lin'an South Station. Passengers who need to get off, please gather your luggage and prepare to disembark. The train will stop for ten minutes."
Before the girl could call him, Gu Fang had already opened his eyes, and the train slowly came to a stop.
Gu Fang casually took Gu Zhaodi's suitcase off the shelf as well.
"Thank you," the girl said softly.
This made Gu Fang's cheeks flush slightly. The girl he liked thanked him softly, which made his heart sink and he was instantly disoriented.
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