Chapter 67: No Early Romance Allowed
Chapter 67: No Early Romance Allowed
It was almost ten o'clock when Fang Yuenian got home. The house was brightly lit, and the exterior lights at the front door were also on, so she simply went in through the front door.
Wang Jing was watching TV alone in the main room. There were some fruits and melon seeds piled on the coffee table in front of her. She was wearing a thick cotton coat and had a blanket over her legs. She was watching TV with a smile. When she saw her son turn the doorknob and come in, she smiled and said, "Hey, you're home?"
“Okay,” Fang Yuenian replied.
He came back empty-handed. Wang Jing had seen him frantically making noodles earlier, carrying them out the door despite the heat in his hands. Now that he saw the bowls were gone, she didn't mention anything, but got up and said, "Are you freezing? It's snowing heavily outside. Do you want something to eat? I just boiled some spiced eggs, have one and try it?"
Fang Yuenian smiled and said, "Okay."
Wang Jing went to the kitchen, and Fang Yuenian sat down on the sofa. The Spring Festival Gala was on TV, and it was quite a lively skit.
A moment later, Wang Jing brought out two steaming hot tea eggs. Seeing her son just sitting there with the electric hot water bottle right next to him but not even holding it to warm his hands, she quickly told him, "Put this blanket over your legs, be careful not to get your legs cold."
"It's alright, Mom, you can cover it up," Fang Yue Nian put her phone on the coffee table, feeling the chill still lingering, and shivered involuntarily. "Why are you boiling eggs at night? Hmm, they look delicious."
Wang Jing refilled his cup with hot water, saying, "Try it and see, I don't know if it's too bland."
While peeling the eggshells, Fang Yuenian asked, "Are they all asleep?"
"Yes, your grandparents went to bed early, and your dad went out." Wang Jing yawned and reached for a handful of sunflower seeds to crack open.
The phone on the coffee table rang; a text message had arrived.
Wang Jing watched as her son put down the half-peeled tea egg, hastily wiped his hands, and headed to check his phone. She found it strange: "Who are you texting? What's the rush?"
“Oh,” Fang Yuenian tried to sound natural, “classmate.”
Wang Jing smiled too. Since there was no one else around, she deliberately asked, "Female classmate?"
"Um...ah?" Fang Yuenian was a little embarrassed and quickly shook her head, "No."
Wang Jing smiled and shook her head, then continued eating sunflower seeds and watching TV.
The text message really came from a female classmate, although Fang Yuenian thought it was Cheng Bing.
On his way home, he looked at the text message Cheng Bing had read aloud earlier. Sure enough, it was from a number he hadn't saved. He replied, "Sorry, I'm not planning on dating."
The content was modified. He first typed "I don't have those kinds of feelings for you," but after typing it, he felt it was wrong and deleted it. A thought flashed through his mind: should he write "I already have someone I like" like Cheng Bing? But he always felt that this was not a good excuse. After thinking it over, he decided that it was better to be simple and direct.
He quickly texted Cheng Bing again: "Remember to reply to Zhang Qing's text message, and be nice to him."
Unexpectedly, Cheng Bing didn't reply, but the unknown number did: "Why don't you plan to? We can manage without affecting our studies, and you haven't even asked who I am..."
It's the Lunar New Year, so there's no need to be too harsh with words. Fang Yuenian replied, "It has nothing to do with studying. I won't ask who you are. Thank you for your kindness."
After sending that message, he let out a sigh of relief, put down his phone, and continued peeling the tea eggs.
These tea eggs were cooked by Wang Jing for guests tomorrow. It's a custom in Shuibiwan that every household has tea eggs on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, especially the elderly. When their children and grandchildren come over, they must eat a fragrant spiced egg, and then taste their own pickled spicy coriander and ginger. That's the first taste of the New Year.
Grandma Fang always complains of backaches and pains whenever guests come during holidays, and her daughter-in-law prepares all these things for her.
Fang Yuenian wasn't hungry, but he ate with relish. Seeing that he finished one without saying a word, Wang Jing asked, "Are you really hungry? Was it good?"
“It’s delicious,” Fang Yuenian said hurriedly. “I’m not hungry, I just want to eat something.”
Wang Jing said, "Then let's eat some other snacks. It's not good to eat too many eggs in the middle of the night. If you want to eat them, you can eat them tomorrow morning."
"good."
Fang Yuenian drank some water and nestled into the sofa. It was a hard cotton sofa, and he felt cold, so he got up and went to his room to find a warm coat to wear. He then watched the Spring Festival Gala with Wang Jing.
Wang Jing looked at her son, who was sitting at a distance from her, and thought about how this was his first birthday in high school. She suddenly felt a little emotional.
Over the past six months, her son has become much more mature and seems to have grown up. But growing up means having his own thoughts, which even a mother can't fully understand. She hesitated, wanting to ask something but unable to bring herself to speak.
Fang Yuenian picked out a bag of preserved plums, chewing them while watching TV with great concentration.
A little while later, Cheng Bing's text message arrived. He said, "Okay, I understand."
Although a simple text message was his style, Fang Yuenian felt that the man was not very happy, so after thinking for a moment, she took the initiative to say, "I have already replied to him, so don't worry." Then, as if leaving herself no room for maneuver, she quickly sent out the text message.
Cheng Bing replied quickly this time: "Okay, I'm not worried."
Fang Yuenian seemed to be able to see the faint smile on Cheng Bing's lips behind those few words.
He felt a little relieved and texted again: "Remember to pack my lunchbox properly and bring it to me next time."
Cheng Bing: "I'll make you something delicious tomorrow."
Fang Yuenian typed almost immediately: Okay! Then she stopped and changed it to: "You're going out to visit relatives tomorrow, right? Don't bother, let's get through these next few days."
That evening, Fang Yuenian received a series of birthday wishes via text message. At the top of the hour, as usual, he lit a string of firecrackers and threw them out the door, completing the ritual of opening the door to wealth and welcoming the new year.
At the turn of the year, many people sent mass text messages to wish each other a happy new year. Among a bunch of fancy messages, Cheng Bing's message stood out as simple and clear: "My second birthday wish is that Fang Yuenian can study hard and not date too early."
Fang Yuenian almost spat out her water as she was drinking it.
The first day of the Lunar New Year was a sunny day after the snowfall. The heavy snow overnight had transformed the surroundings into a vast, pristine white world.
The snow behind the house was too deep, so Fang Yuenian picked up a shovel and dug out the path leading to the wharf. Standing on the wharf and looking across, she saw that the area in front of the Cheng family's house was covered in a blanket of white, and the orange leaves under the snow had a deep green hue.
The pear tree had lost all its leaves, and pretty little wooden lanterns were tied to its trunk, swaying in the morning breeze.
Relatives came to visit, and Wang Jing was in charge of cooking. Fang Yuenian was ordered not to study today, so he had to lead the two children to build a snowman. He used to not do this kind of work, but this year everyone seemed to think that he had grown up and wouldn't be as stubborn as a junior high school student, so they entrusted the two little brats to him with peace of mind.
Fang Yuenian didn't sleep well again last night and wasn't in much spirits. The snowman she built was crooked, but the little rascal was very happy.
After a busy day, he started waiting for text messages.
I also picked out two small firecrackers, intending to bring them with me if I went to see Cheng Bing.
Wang Jing was busy cleaning up the leftovers and tidying up the kitchen. Fang Yuenian had just mopped the floor in the main room and hadn't done much work when Wang Jing called her to go play.
"Don't just stay at home all the time. Aunt Hongmei is playing cards at her house. There are quite a few people. They're just betting a dollar or two. Why don't you go and take a look?" she said.
She wouldn't have spoken like that before. She would have said things like, "Why aren't you doing your homework yet?" or "You have so much time to play." But no matter what, she could tell that her son had something on his mind. She guessed wildly that he was under too much pressure from his studies, or that he had really grown up and started paying attention to his female classmates.
Fang Yuenian put her phone in her pocket. "I'm not going, it's too noisy."
Wang Jing added, "I heard the newly built square in the village is quite lively, with many people setting off fireworks. It's not dark yet, why don't you go and take a look?"
Fang Yuenian was somewhat tempted, and Wang Jing noticed this, so she continued, "Go find your classmates. Don't stay at home alone. Yuenian, high school is too tough. Don't shut yourself off too much."
Cheng Junjun called at that moment.
Wang Jing was washing up when Fang Yuenian answered the phone, and she didn't pay much attention.
"Hello?" Fang Yuenian said.
Cheng Junjun noticed that he didn't greet anyone or say "Happy New Year," so she knew he had someone with him. She suppressed her cheerful tone and tried to speak calmly, "Come on over! We're setting off fireworks in the square! Hey—Bingbing, move aside a bit, don't block their view..."
With a bang, a firework bloomed in Fang Yuenian's mind.
Without hesitation, he replied, "Right away, I'll be right there!"
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