Chapter 126: Never Seen the World
Chapter 126: Never Seen the World
On the way, Li Peixiang was as talkative as if he had just been locked up for a month. It turned out that he had only just brought Meng Xiaoyang back a few days ago and was eager to say something. Meng Xiaoyang bought hot coffee for Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing. Fang Yuenian was overjoyed and rubbed her forehead, saying that she was indeed too sleepy.
Li Peixiang paused briefly because his phone indicated that the battery was low. As he turned the corner, he said to the passenger, "Honey, could you charge my phone?"
"Cough!" Fang Yuenian almost spat out her coffee.
Cheng Bing quickly grabbed a tissue for him and took the cup from his hand.
"Cough..." Fang Yuenian coughed continuously, and it took her a long time to calm down. She clutched her chest and said, "What, what is this, baby??? Li Peixiang, could you be any more cheesy?"
Meng Xiaoyang calmly charged Li Peixiang's phone, while Li Peixiang said disdainfully, "You can call Cheng Bing 'baby'? You've never seen anything like it."
Fang Yue Nian looked on with a puzzled expression. Damn, this death is really something else now.
He laughed in exasperation, then turned to Meng Xiaoyang and asked, "What on earth did you fall for? With a character like that?"
Meng Xiaoyang said absentmindedly, "Yeah, yeah, it's just like that."
Li Peixiang was displeased: "Honey, how can you be so perfunctory?"
Meng Xiaoyang glared at him. "Drive carefully."
"oh."
Fang Yuenian's teeth ached. She turned her head to look at Cheng Bing. She had never heard him call her "baby" before.
Cheng Bing seemed to sense his thoughts and silently handed the drink back to him.
Fang Yue snorted and kept her head down, drinking her coffee amidst Li Peixiang's flirtatious remarks.
The two of them didn't go back to Shuibiwan tonight, and Li Peixiang didn't invite anyone else; it was just the four of them having a small get-together.
Although he still talks nonsense, Fang Yuenian could clearly feel that Li Peixiang had changed a lot. He was overly clingy to Meng Xiaoyang without any attempt to hide it, and when he was quiet, his eyes appeared steady and composed.
Fang Yuenian asked Meng Xiaoyang where he was staying, and Meng Xiaoyang replied, "I'm staying at my uncle's house these days, and I'll be going back to my grandma's house in a few days."
These words probably stung Li Peixiang a bit. He broke open a can of Coke, took a big gulp, and said, "Are you guys coming to the city for the New Year? Aren't you two having birthdays? Want me to celebrate with you?"
"Can Xiaoyang come up?" Fang Yuenian asked.
"he……"
"I can't come, it's inconvenient, and besides, I want to spend more time with Grandma." Meng Xiaoyang moved Li Peixiang's Coke in front of her and pushed a bowl of vegetable soup towards him. "What are your plans for your birthday?"
"No, it's New Year's Eve, I had too many things to do," Cheng Bing said.
Fang Yuenian couldn't stand the little tricks between the two in front of her. Her competitive spirit kicked in, and she said arrogantly, "But we exchange birthday cakes and birthday noodles every year."
Li Peixiang scoffed and stirred the vegetable soup with a spoon. "Little Niannian, you can't provoke me now. You don't understand my happiness."
"I don't know you?" Fang Yuenian scoffed. "Forget it."
Li Peixiang glanced at Cheng Bing and said provocatively, "Brother Bing might know a little... Ah!"
Meng Xiaoyang slapped him hard on the back, "Shut up!"
Fang Yuenian was a little slow on the uptake. When he saw Cheng Bing expressionlessly drinking her soup, he suddenly realized, "Damn it!"
Li Peixiang wasn't joking, so he quickly smiled apologetically and said, "I was wrong, I was wrong."
Fang Yuenian still delivered a few heavy blows to him, but Li Peixiang's attitude of admitting his mistake was good, so it was over.
After the four finished their meal, Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing were quite tired, so they found a hotel nearby to stay in. The conditions were definitely not as good as the previous hotel, but it brought back memories of the first time they stayed together several years ago. Li Peixiang and Meng Xiaoyang, who had come over for a late-night chat, knew that the two of them were in different cities in the same city and probably needed to be alone, so they left not long after.
After showering, the two hugged and talked.
Fang Yuenian said, "I think Xiao Yang has become much more cheerful, and he doesn't look as weak as before. It seems that Li Peixiang's constant calling him 'baby' has been quite effective."
Cheng Bing looked at him and said, "The two of them are a good match."
Fang Yuenian was surprised and asked with a smile, "Really?"
"Um."
"Do you know that He Linjie has never given up on Meng Xiaoyang?"
Cheng Bing frowned slightly: "What?"
Fang Yuenian rubbed his arm and said with a touch of emotion, "If he had realized it earlier, Li Peixiang wouldn't have had a chance. After all, they are childhood sweethearts, just like you and me. But Brother Cheng, if I had reacted like He Linjie back then, wouldn't you have been heartbroken? It's so pitiful to think about."
Cheng Bing smiled and said, "It's okay. I won't like anyone else but you. You can always wait until you've figured things out before you pursue me."
This sweet talk came a bit suddenly, but Fang Yuenian was a sucker for it. He pounced on the man and gave him a good kiss. After the kiss, he said with lingering affection, "Then call me something nice."
Cheng Bing thought for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Baby?"
Fang Yue Nian responded with an even more intense kiss.
·
Winter break is every year, but this year is very different.
The students from prestigious universities who went to Beijing for their studies seemed to be adorned with a golden halo. From the moment they returned to Shuibiwan Village, Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing kept running into neighbors and villagers. Every time they met, whether by the roadside or at the gate, everyone would greet them and ask: "You're here with XX? When did you come home? Wow, you look so much more impressive now!"
This way of greeting showed that she was being treated as an adult, and Fang Yuenian was quite proud of it.
As the Lunar New Year approaches, the villages and towns surrounding Shuibiwei are always brimming with festive spirit.
As the twelfth lunar month drew to a close, every household bustled with activity. Diligent wives made two trips a day to the market to buy meat, vegetables, rice, flour, peanuts, candies, small snacks, and clothes and shoes for the young and old. Steamed glutinous rice cakes, hot New Year's cakes, fried glutinous rice balls with meat, and fried tofu were all prepared in baskets and crates. Even those who were usually lazy would abandon their usual lively mahjong games, roll up their sleeves, cover their hair, and begin cleaning the accumulated dust inside and outside the house. Life, amidst this vibrant and bustling everyday life, passed by year after year.
College students who don't have winter break homework have no reason to be idle. Fang Yuenian went shopping with Wang Jing and arranged various year-end affairs for the family, keeping her extremely busy.
And so it went until New Year's Eve. Early that morning, Cheng Bing stood at the door and saw someone on the other side of the river hanging small lanterns on the fence of the courtyard wall in the snow. Upon closer inspection, he saw that Fang Yuenian had pulled the hood of his down jacket over his head and was covered in snow.
Cheng Bing watched for a while, then went back to get her phone and called him.
Fang Yuenian was determined to decorate the courtyard wall. Other families in the village would hang colorful trinkets, but the Fang family had never had a courtyard wall before, so they never had the chance. Now, of course, he had to have a good time. He carried a basket of small lanterns and hung them one by one. And that wasn't all. He also had to put up the "Fu" character and couplets at the door. Anyway, all of this was his job. Wang Jing was busy cooking and inviting the ancestors.
His phone rang in his down jacket pocket. He took it out and glanced at it, then instinctively turned to look at the Cheng family's house on the other side of the river.
The snow fell heavily this year, starting at dawn. Now, the snowflakes are falling softly. The fruit trees in front of the Cheng family's house are coated with sap and wrapped with rope, their branches looking ancient and profound under the snow. Beside the trees, Cheng Bing stands tall and straight, wearing a camel-colored coat.
Fang Yuenian was overjoyed. She quickly put down the lantern basket, walked to the water's edge, waved to him, and said into the phone, "Brother Cheng! Happy birthday!"
"Happy birthday to you too," Cheng Bing waved her arm, her voice tinged with amusement. "So busy so early in the morning?"
“Hanging things up, and you? Hey, you look really good in that outfit, so stylish!” Fang Yuenian praised him, then suddenly had an idea, “Hey, don’t move, I’m going to take a picture of you. The composition of my position is excellent, I have to capture it. Put your phone down first, and move a little closer to the pear tree.”
Cheng Bing smiled and did as she was told. "Anything else? I can't hear you once I put down the phone. What else do you want, great photographer? Just say it all at once."
Fang Yuenian: "That's all, that's all. You'll look good just standing there casually. Hurry up and stand properly."
Cheng Bing followed his instructions and posed as he wanted. Fang Yuenian took a picture of the photo, which was taken through the water and snow. She looked at it for a long time and was very satisfied with it. She quickly sent the photo to Cheng Bing and asked, "How is it? Isn't it beautiful?"
Cheng Bing is just a tiny dot in the photo, but the trees and snow around him, the cold river in front of him, and his upright posture, though not very clear, are all striking.
Fang Yuenian was extremely satisfied with the photo. After hesitating for a while, she couldn't resist setting it as her phone wallpaper, thinking that no one would see it anyway, so she might as well enjoy it first.
Cheng Bing told him to hurry up and finish his work so he could go back, as it was too cold. Fang Yuenian quickly agreed, shook the snow off his hat, and hurried off to get to work.
Because of the heavy snow, Wang Jing planned to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner early so that she could sit warmly and watch TV and eat melon seeds afterward. Fang Yuenian put on an apron and helped out, but was soon kicked out by Wang Jing.
Grandma Fang was in a good mood today—Fang Yuenian thought it was because her mother-in-law, Hongmei, had just been scolded by her daughter-in-law yesterday. This made Grandma Fang feel better; she ate and slept well, and felt no pain or unhappiness anywhere. She tidied up and went into the kitchen to help prepare the food. Teacher Fang was retiring honorably at the end of the year. In the morning, he wrote couplets for his family with great interest. After finishing, he instructed his grandson to put them up, creating a harmonious scene of grandfatherly love and grandsonly filial piety. Fang Wu had bought himself a pair of leather shoes, which he would wear even in the snow to show off. At this moment, he was probably at someone else's house.
When Fang Yuenian had some free time, she carefully looked around the entrance and found that the couplets, the character "福" (good fortune), and the cross-stitch of Wang Jingxiu's "家和万事兴" (home and everything prospers) were framed and hung in the main room, looking brand new.
It seems, it seems... this is a rare peaceful Lunar New Year's Eve.
But he had nothing to do at the moment; after all, he had already taken a bath and finished his chores, so he wanted to see Cheng Bing. (Author's note:)
Thank you for reading. This book
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com