Chapter 26 Fireworks First Words "Happy New Year"
When Yan Ning returned home.
Lin Xinci was in the living room, video-calling Yan Xiangrong, who was on a business trip. Yan Ning's parents didn't ask any further questions about his late return, as he'd used the excuse of extended cram school classes.
The family of three chatted for a while.
Soon, it was time to rest. Lin Xinci's biological clock was always punctual, so she yawned.
Seeing this, Yan Ning said tentatively while the phone was still on:
"Mom, I want to watch the New Year's Eve party later, is that okay?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Xiangrong chimed in over the phone, "Sure, it's New Year's Eve after all. Mom will agree."
Lin Xinci glanced at Yan Xiangrong first, then said:
"Okay, stop watching and go to bed early."
After the phone call was hung up.
Lin Xinci went to the bathroom to take a shower, and Yan Ning turned on the TV in the living room and randomly switched to a channel broadcasting the New Year's Eve Gala.
Yan Ning sat on the sofa for a while, with no interest in watching TV at all, his attention completely focused on the bathroom.
As soon as he heard the continuous sound of water, Yan Ning immediately turned up the volume of the TV, then carefully opened the locker and took out the mobile phone that he had just put in.
Not long after that, Yan Ning made an excuse, "Mom, I'm a little sleepy. I'm going back to my room first."
Close the door.
Yan Ning quickly pressed the power button, but when he turned on the phone, the new incoming messages were empty.
She glanced at the time.
Thirty or forty minutes passed.
I don't know what the situation is like with Lu Chen.
Yan Ning was very worried, so he turned to look through the information records.
Because this phone is basically not used on a daily basis, apart from official call fee information and marketing advertisements, the only message in October was the one she sent to Lu Chen -
A text message from someone claiming to be a neighbor's sister, delivering keys to a "child".
At that time, Yan Ning had no idea that it would be Lu Chen who came to get the key.
Just like now, she had no idea that just three months later, she would be anxiously waiting for Lu Chen's call late at night...
The string of numbers above that message should be Lu Chen’s number.
Yan Ning was a little hesitant, wondering whether to send a message or call directly, but she was worried that it would affect Lu Chen.
I was confused for a long time.
Yan Ning finally leaned back, lay on the bed, put the phone on his chest, and decided to continue waiting.
After lying down for a while, I heard the sound of the bathroom door opening outside.
Yan Ning hurriedly stuffed his phone under the quilt, and quickly turned over and stood up, pretending to make the bed.
Lin Xinci came over and knocked on Yan Ning's door, pressed the doorknob, and opened the door:
"If you feel sleepy, go wash up quickly and put on your earplugs to go to bed early, otherwise the firecrackers at night will keep you awake."
Yan Ning responded with a "OK".
After confirming again that his phone was in silent mode, Yan Ning went to the bathroom.
Coming out of the bathroom and closing the door, Yan Ning wiped his hair while glancing at his phone.
No new news.
After blowing my hair and washing up, I took out my phone——
Still no.
Yan Ning pursed her lips, and simply took out the homework in her schoolbag that she had not finished during the holiday, turned on the desk lamp, and wrote for more than half an hour.
During this time, she kept her cell phone in her pajamas pocket and checked it from time to time - but there was no new message.
Finished half of the paper.
It's almost twelve o'clock.
Yan Ning was not sleepy at all, but she was worried that Lin Xinci would come out and see the light in her room, so she turned off the desk lamp and lay down in bed.
She was lying on her side, her phone on the pillow, within her field of vision.
From time to time, the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks could be heard outside the window.
Because he was absent-minded before, the curtains were not drawn completely, leaving a gap. Yan Ning looked through the gap and looked at the lonely stars in the sky, feeling very complicated for a moment.
She was worried that the matter had not been handled yet. She didn't know what kind of explanation Lu Chen would use for what happened tonight. Would the school buy it? Would they embarrass him?
I was also thinking, could it be that Lu Chen had forgotten the agreement they had made?
Or maybe it was too late and he had gone back to rest? Or did he think she was asleep?
She was thinking in such a mess, and took out her phone to check the time.
11:55.
Then.
Wait another 5 minutes.
In 5 minutes, it will be the new year.
Then she would send a greeting to Lu Chen, and if he replied, she would ask about the situation. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with that.
Just decided.
Yan Ning's cell phone screen, which had been turned off, suddenly lit up again.
She immediately lowered her eyes to look—
【You have a new message】
My heartbeat started to accelerate almost as soon as I opened the phone.
Source: 18XXXXX9527
To thank new and old customers, this cinema is offering a limited-time, limited-quantity promotion, including free annual passes... To cancel, please contact TD.
This one looks like a scam text message.
The number was not Lu Chen’s previous one.
But, I thought about the movie we watched together and the joke about getting a free card.
Yan Ning's intuition told her——
opposite.
It’s Lu Chen.
She pursed her lips, edited a message directly, and sent it:
【Are you Lu Chen? 】
The reply came back almost instantly:
【Um. 】
Yan Ning subconsciously held his breath, sat up from the bed, and typed quickly:
【Is the matter resolved? 】
Opposite party: [Okay.]
Yan Ning breathed a sigh of relief.
She lowered her eyes and wanted to continue typing, but her hands hovered over the keyboard for a long time without pressing the first key. There were so many things she wanted to ask that she didn't know where to start.
At this time, the screen lit up again.
A new dialog box pops up on the screen:
Is it convenient to call?
Yan Ning's heartbeat suddenly started to "bang bang" a few times.
But after a moment's thought, she quickly got out of bed, without even putting on her slippers, and tiptoed to check again, and her bedroom door was locked.
Then he came back, put his feet on the edge of the bed, buried his head in the quilt, and replied:
【convenient】
Immediately, the phone screen flashed.
Incoming call number:
18XXXXX2316
It turned into the same one as before.
Such moments.
He was very considerate of even the smallest details.
Yan Ning's heart was moved. He quickly pressed the call button and said in a very low voice, "Hello?"
On the other end of the phone.
Lu Chen's voice, mixed with the rustling wind in the night, came, "Are you still asleep?"
How can she sleep?
Yan Ning said "hmm".
I was just about to speak again to ask about Fang Bai and what happened next.
It was as if Lu Chen had guessed what was in her mind.
He said in a calm voice:
"Drinking, fighting, and deliberately photoshopping photos to spread rumors about innocent classmates—these three things combined resulted in expulsion from the school and expulsion from No. 1 Middle School."
Yan Ning paused. He didn't expect that the school's handling results would come out so soon.
but……
Fighting? With Lu Chen?
"What about you? Has it implicated you? Do you want me to testify?"
Yan Ning was nervous and spoke very quickly. As he spoke, he subconsciously raised his elbows to support himself, and the quilt covering his head was lifted up, and the cold air leaked in from outside.
In fact, it goes without saying that once she gets involved in these things again, it will be very difficult to explain it to the school and her parents.
But what if the person on the other end of the phone says they need it now?
She would immediately change her clothes and go out without hesitation.
A light laugh came from the microphone.
"Are you so nervous about me?"
The hazy night made his voice sound gentle and ambiguous.
Yan Ning couldn't help but feel a slight heat in his ear, which was close to the receiver.
"I'm fine. I'm just a kind-hearted classmate passing by and sent the person to the hospital out of kindness."
Yan Ning was slightly stunned.
I immediately realized what Lu Chen meant—
Fang Bo was so drunk that he was incoherent, and the fight didn't stop there. Indeed, he couldn't identify Lu Chen.
This person is really...
Yan Ning couldn't think of an adjective.
But she felt inexplicably relieved and could only mumble "hmm" again.
There was silence for two or three seconds.
Lu Chen had no intention of talking about anything else, and Yan Ning did not ask any further questions.
The corner of the quilt that was lifted up fell down again.
In the small space, Yan Ning heard the background sound of fireworks coming from the microphone and asked:
"So where are you now?"
"By the city river."
Lu Chen's tone was casual, as if he was just chatting with her in a normal way.
"The moon is quite round today. There are several vendors setting up stalls nearby, selling things like ring tossing and shooting guns. They're still open."
Opposite the Municipal Hospital is the city river.
So, he might have just finished dealing with Fang Bo's matter and contacted her...
Yan Ning nodded subconsciously.
Then he realized that the other party couldn't see him and said, "Oh."
He laughed again.
This time, it seemed that she was not just feeling hot in her ears.
The thick quilt isolates the outside world and the oxygen inside is limited.
Her breathing was a little difficult, and her temperature was gradually rising.
Another three or four seconds of silence.
But, the sound of fireworks in the background became louder and louder.
Finally, in an instant, the sound reached its peak.
And at the same time.
She heard Lu Chen on the opposite side say:
"Happy New Year."
The first New Year's greeting of this year.
From Lu Chen, who was separated from her by the phone line.
I was stunned for a moment.
Yan Ning pulled back the edge of the quilt and through the gap in the curtains saw fireworks exploding in the sky not far away.
Then, her heart suddenly began to beat rapidly, like exploding fireworks.
But he also covered the microphone with his hand and replied softly:
"Happy New Year."
Outside the window, in the receiver.
At the same time, there was a continuous sound of fireworks.
She heard Lu Chen speak again, and he said, "The kitten apple that day was very sweet."
It seemed to be a nonsensical sentence or a change of subject.
The cold air made his mind much clearer, but at this moment, Yan Ning didn't even think about it and replied without hesitation:
"From now on, I will give you apples on Christmas Eve!"
The person opposite was silent for a moment.
Then, he chuckled and said, "Okay."
Yan Ning didn't know what her heartbeat that suddenly became irregular when she heard the answer meant.
But she was very happy in her heart.
Because, with this agreement, it is no longer her unilateral decision.
Starting from the first day of this new year.
She and Lu Chen.
We are just friends.
-
The first day back from New Year’s Day holiday.
Jiang Caijun came to the class and announced the news that Fang Bai had transferred to another place. He asked the class monitor to pack up Fang Bai's things left at school and send them to the security room at the gate. He didn't say anything else.
There are many rumors among students.
I heard that someone saw Fang Bai with a bruised face and nose in the city hospital two days ago. The short and fat middle-aged man who followed him was suspected to be Hawkeye King.
In addition, Cheng Yuan from Class 14 was busy writing a self-criticism on the first day of school, and the reason for his self-criticism was still a fight.
Everyone knows that Cheng Yuan is still pursuing Wen Shujin.
Many people connected all the recent events together and guessed—
Cheng Yuan hit Fang Bai.
The reason is that Fang Bo was involved in the incident of secretly taking photos and photoshopping them.
But there are different opinions as to why Fang Bo did this.
Everyone talked about it enthusiastically for a few days, but because it was near the end of the semester and the protagonists of the incident were no longer around, the enthusiasm quickly faded.
Life returned to normal.
Yan Ning, as always, was not very interested in rumors, but he would listen to Xin Jing talk about them from time to time.
But this week, every time Yan Ning came back from the bathroom with hot water, he would habitually take a look outside the corridor of Class 1 first.
because--
Ever since the situation at Fang Bo Hospital was witnessed, the news has become increasingly dire.
Yan Ning was always worried that on New Year's Eve, Lu Chen's injuries would not only be on his face and hands.
However, for several days, Yan Ning hadn't encountered Lu Chen even once, despite being in the same class. They went to school at different times, so they wouldn't run into each other.
There were too many people doing the daily morning exercises for the entire grade, and Yan Ning only saw Lu Chen twice from a distance through the crowd. He could only barely confirm that there was no Band-Aid on his face and his gait did not seem abnormal.
Until Thursday.
After lunch break, Yan Ning went to the office to deliver the math test paper.
In the corridor behind Class 1, the familiar tall figure finally appeared. He put one hand on the railing, leaned slightly, and chatted with a boy with a crew cut next to him.
Yan Ning hurried over, and when the distance between them was only three or four meters, he slowed down a little.
On a winter afternoon, the warm sun is at its peak.
There were a few students outside, chatting in the sun.
At this time, someone passed by in the opposite direction. Yan Ning gave way to him and stopped beside the railing.
She simply stood there and started to bask in the sun, then leaned forward and pretended to look at the scenery. After trying it, her eyes passed the two boys next to her and she just happened to see Lu Chen.
Lu Chen was lying sideways, with his right cheek facing her.
Yan Ning looked through it carefully——
Lu Chen's face was intact.
The previous abrasion has healed without leaving any scar.
Before he could feel at ease, Yan Ning wanted to try again and check Lu Chen's hand.
Unexpectedly, the two boys next to me suddenly left.
And perhaps her staring action was too conspicuous. Lu Chen, who was two or three steps away, turned his gaze accurately in the next second and glanced indifferently in her direction.
Then, stay still.
After a moment of confusion, his eyes were filled with his usual smile again.
Yan Ning, who was caught, did not feel guilty. She even secretly pointed to her hand on the railing as a hint.
But they just stared at each other for two seconds.
Although the smile in those dark eyes became even wider.
Yan Ning didn't realize it at all, he really understood what she meant.
At this moment, the boy with a crew cut seemed to sense something and was about to turn around to check.
Yan Ning realized that it was Fang Ze'an. He was startled and quickly turned his head to look the other way.
at the same time.
Lu Chen's casual voice came from the other side, "Aren't we talking about next week's game? Why are you distracted?"
Fang Zhe'an: "...?"
No way.
Is this the legendary case of the wicked being the first to complain?
Yan Ning stayed in the corridor for a few seconds and then walked towards the front door of Class 2.
Before turning into the classroom, she glanced at Lu Chen again.
This was the first time she saw Lu Chen, like many other boys, putting his arm around someone else's shoulders in a friendly manner.
But it's okay.
Lu Chen's right hand, which was resting on Fang Ze'an's body and probably controlling Fang Ze'an's movements, seemed to have fully recovered.
Yan Ning's nervousness finally subsided a little.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
