Ex-boyfriend?
Fu Jia had just returned home when Xia Tong rushed out to greet him happily. Fu Jia was so excited, he thought, "She finally knows she missed me!"
Xia Tong pulled him to the table and pointed to the can of fruit: "Quick! Help me open it! I've been trying for over ten minutes!"
Fu Jia was speechless. He glanced back at Xia Tong, who was biting on a fork and staring longingly at the can of peaches. Seeing her greedy look, Fu Jia had no choice but to accept his fate. He patted the bottom of the can, then twisted it, and the cap obediently came off.
Xia Tong was overjoyed and took the can of food, praising him: "Fu Jia, I've discovered that you're only the most handsome when you're helping me open the bottle cap!"
Fu Jia watched as she scooped out yellow peaches spoonful by spoonful, completely ignoring him. He leaned against the door with his arms crossed and sighed coolly, "I'm just your long-term farmhand!"
"What are you unhappy about?" Xia Tong glanced at him and threatened.
"No, thankfully it's not a temporary worker." Fu Jia put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.
Xia Tong added, "Don't worry, you'll have plenty of opportunities to open bottles for me in the future. Look at my hand, it's from opening this bottle cap just now."
Fu Jia glanced at her and saw that both of her palms were red, clearly indicating she had exerted a lot of effort. Fu Jia grabbed her hands and gritted her teeth, saying, "How could you be so stupid? If you don't know how, don't try to be a hero. Is it really necessary to torture yourself like this?"
"Hey! Hey! You long-term laborer, watch your step! I'm the landlord! If you talk to me like that again, I'll make sure you can't even be a temporary worker anymore!" Xia Tong threatened him from a distance, pointing at him with the fork in her hand.
"Hmph, you foolish landlord," Fu Jia said disdainfully, leaning against the door.
"Hey, the landlord is going to the supermarket now. He'll ask you what you want to buy, and if I'm in a good mood, I'll buy it for you." Xia Tong finished her canned food and licked her paws like a satisfied cat.
"Now, the farmhand is asking you, would you like the honor of helping me carry things behind you?"
“No, if the landlord goes out to buy supplies, the farmhands have to stay home and do the work.”
What kind of work?
"Have I finished writing my summer internship report? How many of my two papers have I written?" Xia Tong spoke like a real debt collector.
"You really treat me like a farmhand!" Fu Jia said, displeased.
Xia Tong combed her hair, grabbed her wallet, and as she passed Fu Jia, she tiptoed and reached out to pat his head, speaking to him in a soothing tone, "Be good, don't wander around at home. I'll buy you candy when I get back."
After spending so many days together, Fu Jia had gotten used to Xia Tong's sudden penchant for role-playing and could quickly adapt to it. At this moment, he wore a resentful expression, like an abandoned child: "Remember, I want orange flavor!"
Xia Tong chuckled when she saw him like that: "Fu Jia, how can you be so childish?"
"One who stays near vermilion gets stained red." Fu Jia rolled her eyes inwardly. You just like this kind of thing, don't you?
Perhaps because it was the weekend, the supermarket was packed with promotions and people. Xia Tong wandered from one side to the other, buying a bunch of food. Just as she was picking out bread from the shelf, she noticed someone standing next to her—someone she used to like very much, someone she couldn't bring herself to hate even after his betrayal.
"Xiaotong?" Tan Zhihao was also surprised to see her, and his expression even contained a hint of guilt and embarrassment.
"Mmm." Xia Tong responded simply, and then put a few more red bean breads on the plate. She remembered that Fu Jia had also come to like eating this because of her.
"Are you here to buy something too?" Tan Zhihao asked, trying to make conversation.
“Yes.” Isn’t it obvious? Xia Tong kept staring at the bread on the shelf and answered him casually.
"You still love red bean bread as much as before," Tan Zhihao remarked, looking at her plate full of red bean bread.
"Xiaotong, I'm sorry, it used to be—" Tan Zhihao hesitated before he could finish.
"It's okay, it's okay." Xia Tong didn't want to argue with him any longer, so she interrupted him and put the weighed bread into the shopping cart. "You can continue shopping, I'm leaving now." Then she pushed the cart towards the checkout counter.
Unexpectedly, Tan Zhihao was following behind her, which made her walk even faster. But no matter how fast she walked, his voice still came from behind: "It was my fault before. I know I was a jerk. Please forgive me?"
Xia Tong didn't speak and didn't want to pay attention to him, but just kept piling the items from her shopping cart onto the checkout counter. The cashier, though a young woman, scanned the items very quickly, finishing in no time: "Miss, cash or card?"
"cash."
"Xiaotong, I really know I was wrong. Please give me another chance."
The cashier glanced at them curiously, then smiled knowingly. Young couples, after all, are bound to bicker. But as usual, she asked, "Miss, we currently have a promotion where you get a free waterproof shopping bag with purchases over 128 yuan. You're nine yuan short; would you like to buy something else to reach the minimum?"
“Xiaoying and I broke up a long time ago. I only realized then that you are the only one who is right for me. If it weren’t for you—” Tan Zhihao’s rambling stopped abruptly at this moment because she saw Xia Tong take a box of “Durex” from the shelf and hand it to the cashier with great composure.
The young woman was also quite surprised, staring at her with wide eyes: Usually, when a girl is short eight or nine yuan, she would choose to buy something like a box of xylitol chewing gum, right? What young girl would directly buy condoms?
Xia Tong was very satisfied with the peace and quiet. She clapped her hands and smiled at the cashier: "Is this enough to carry a shopping bag? I want that one, the blue one."
She stuffed all those snacks into the large blue shopping bag, took a few steps forward, and then suddenly turned back just before leaving, looking at Tan Zhihao, who was still standing there, stunned, at the checkout counter. He was as handsome as ever, in a white T-shirt, light blue jeans, and casual sneakers—a fresh-faced good-looking guy anywhere. He was still him, the one who had once made her heart flutter and then broken her heart. It was just that, much later, when she looked at him again, she couldn't quite understand why she had been so persistent back then.
"I forgot to tell you, I'm engaged." Xia Tong's voice was like a small thunderclap, striking his heart. But the thunder didn't end there. "It's Fu Jia."
"It's him again." Tan Zhihao suddenly realized, but a hint of anger lingered in his heart.
"It was him, no one else." Xia Tong felt a slight pain in her palms from the heavy shopping bags. She should have asked the farmhand to help carry them. "I don't deny it about that matter. It wasn't my intention, and although I've felt guilty countless times for lying to you, I don't want to apologize to you about it now. You've never truly believed me, have you?" For the first time, Xia Tong was willing to be open and honest with him about this, instead of simply shaking her head and denying it as before.
"Then you..." Tan Zhihao hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Don't you like me anymore?"
"I used to love red bean bread, and I still do. That's because my taste hasn't changed, and neither has the red bean bread. Just because I liked you before doesn't mean I can't let go now, because you've changed. If one day the red bean bread also changes its flavor, I might give it up too, because if there's no red bean bread, there are croissants and pork floss bread. What in this world is truly irreplaceable?"
Don't think too highly of yourself. You're just a stale red bean bread. How can you expect me to starve without you?
"How are you?" Being with someone you used to hate and fear so much, someone who hurt you so much, don't you have any psychological barriers?
“It’s fine now, and I’ll keep it fine in the future.” With that, she put down her heavy shopping bag, stretched her wrists, and looked at him: “Goodbye, Tan Zhihao.”
Tan Zhihao saw her pick up the shopping bag, turn around, and disappear into the crowd.
Youthful love is always like a beautiful dream. While in the dream, it seems too hazy, but once you leave, you always want to go back and relive it. He once minded her unsavory past, which was almost an unforgivable disgrace to his proud self, but when he actually lost her, he felt a deep sense of loss. Humans are mostly contradictory creatures like this: finding fault with the one they like, focusing on her imperfections for too long, and forgetting that they only liked the person.
But Xia Tong, who had disappeared into the crowd in Tan Zhihao's eyes, hadn't gone far. She was sitting on a bench on the first floor of the supermarket, frowning as she ate a carton of yogurt, scooping it out mouthful by mouthful. It wasn't that she couldn't let go; it was just that Tan Zhihao's appearance had stirred up painful memories of betrayal. "You took the initiative to leave, yet you expect me to stay put? Isn't that too selfish?"
Just then, Fu Jia called: "Were you kidnapped by human traffickers? Why aren't you out yet?"
“I was perfectly fine on a chair in the lobby on the first floor. How could I have been sold by human traffickers? I'd be lucky if I didn't sell anyone else.”
"With your IQ," Fu Jia sneered, speaking with disdain.
"What's wrong with my IQ?" Xia Tong asked, biting her spoon.
"If you failed the CET-6 twice, don't ask others for their opinion on your intelligence in the future," Fu Jia mocked her.
Xia Tong slammed down the phone angrily: "You always bring this up with me!"
While she was sulking to herself, Fu Jia walked up to her and picked up the shopping bag at her feet: "All you ever think about is eating."
Xia Tong sat on the bench, still slowly scooping up her yogurt, and said sourly, "People who have failed the CET-6 twice need to eat some yogurt to replenish their brain nutrition. Stay away from me."
Fu Jia pulled her up and said helplessly, "I admit I was wrong, okay? Come home with me."
You've chosen to leave, but I won't stay here forever. I'm grateful that when I walk away, there's always someone following me from afar, so that whenever I turn back, I know I can come back.
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Daily updates! Aren't I diligent? Praise me as much as you want! I promise I won't blush!!! Why can't I see my new chapters on the front end even after updating several times?!
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