Chapter 27

After the meal, Qiu Yi sent Tao Luanxi home as agreed. The car stopped steadily in front of the gate of the community. Tao Luanxi opened the car door and prepared to get out with her coat in her arms, but Qiu Yi grabbed her wrist.

"Which office is your uncle's in the XX district?"

Tao Luanxi was stunned for a moment, then narrowed his eyes: "Have you investigated?"

Qiu Yi smiled openly: "I just searched it during dinner."

Tao Luanxi knew what was going on in those smiling eyes, so she pointed a finger and warned, "Don't go to my dad's place and disturb my work."

"It wouldn't be considered a nuisance if I picked you up for dinner and gave you some snacks, right?" Qiu Yi said earnestly, "If you're really worried about what your colleagues might think, then I can just not show up and wait for you outside."

Seeing that the other party was determined to achieve his goal, Tao Luanxi sighed helplessly: "The Chinese New Year is coming soon. I can't stay there for many days."

Qiu Yi calculated the time and thought so, so he reluctantly settled for the next best thing: "Then I'll find you on WeChat? It's not too much to chat or something!"

The other party's expression was too eager, and Tao Luanxi couldn't think of any reason to reject him for a moment, so she simply nodded and agreed, but she still took precautions in advance: "I'm not sure when I will come back."

Once the office gets busy, Tao Luanxi may not be able to touch her mobile phone for the entire afternoon. Eating in the evening and walking the dog also take up a lot of time. She also has a fixed three-hour study time in the evening. Although it is a holiday, Tao Luanxi does not have much time to rest.

"Your words are enough." Qiu Yi pinched Tao Luanxi's wrist. The slender wrist was not even as thick as Qiu Yi's two fingers together through the clothes.

Qiu Yi let go of her hand with a lingering feeling: "See you next time."

The silver Mercedes gradually disappeared on the road. Tao Luanxi stood at the door of her house, silently complaining that no one knew when they would meet again.

Qiu Yi really did what he said, and he sent Tao Luanxi good morning and good night messages every day, and occasionally found some small talk. Tao Luanxi occasionally glanced at her phone in her busy schedule, and she could always see unread messages from Qiu/Bianbian on the lock screen. Tao Luanxi was slow to reply to messages, sometimes only a few messages a day, and a new reply would be sent almost one or two seconds after receiving the message. Tao Luanxi sometimes really wondered, why did this guy wait for his message every day?

Once, Tao Luanxi was called away just after she finished reading a message and had no time to reply. When she came back, she had already forgotten about it. As a result, it was not until noon the next day when the other party sent her a pitiful emoticon. Tao Luanxi suddenly realized that she had not replied to the message, and she couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

I don’t know when it started, but Tao Luanxi also developed the habit of opening the screen to take a look at it anytime and anywhere, so as to avoid replying late and looking like he was bullying the other person.

The part-time job at the law firm ended three days before the Chinese New Year, and Tao Luanxi was soon paid. Tao Luanxi happily lay on her bed at home and sorted out her own small treasury. The combined amount of the old-age savings from the past few years and her own savings from part-time jobs totaled several tens of thousands of yuan. Looking at the five-digit number in the bank card, Tao Luanxi experienced the happiness of being rich for the first time.

The adults were not at home, so Tao Luanxi went alone with the dog to buy things for the New Year. He used his own purse to buy a new toy for Silly Girl, a pair of gloves for his mother, and a tie clip for his father.

It snowed a little during the past two days. On New Year's Eve, a hot pot was bubbling on the table at home. Tao Luanxi gave out the prepared gifts like treasures, and then received two red envelopes from his parents respectively.

Tao Luanxi opened the red envelopes in front of her parents and counted them. "Well, one thousand each. There was also a peace amulet in her mother's red envelope."

Tao Luanxi stuffed the red envelope into her pocket: "Thank you, beautiful mother, thank you, stingy father."

Mr. Tao laughed and cursed: "I bought two bags of horse hoof tendons for Silly Girl. At least you know how to lick me. I gave you a red envelope of 1,000 yuan and you say I'm stingy?"

Tao Luanxi hummed twice in a pretentious manner without saying anything, and lowered his head to eat the meat that his mother Tao had just prepared.

"By the way, how was your final exam?"

Tao Luanxi nearly choked to death after taking a mouthful of spicy soup. He coughed for a long time and gave his father a look that said "bring whatever you want".

The adults in the Tao family usually don't ask Tao Luanxi about her studies. On the one hand, they don't want to put too much pressure on their children. On the other hand, their children are also strong. They have always been the first in their class, so they don't need to worry about their studies. Seeing the situation, the Tao couple were a little surprised.

"Well, did you win the exam?" Mother Tao asked gently, not knowing that the word "again" was an invisible stab in the back.

Tao Luanxi bit the lotus root slices until they made a crunching sound. After a long while, she said in a muffled voice, "Yeah."

"..." Dad Tao silently glanced at his wife for help.

"That 'big fool' again?"

"……kindness."

"Oh, it's no big deal. Being second is also good. Your mother and I are both very satisfied."

"..." Tao Luanxi had to admit that his father was really good at dancing in a minefield.

"Comrade Tao," Tao Luanxi put down his chopsticks and stared at his father dimly: "Don't mention the word two to me again in the future."

"What's wrong?"

"I have allergies!"

“…”

The sound of firecrackers outside never stopped until the end of dinner. Tao Luanxi's house was close to the street outside, so the sound was particularly loud. It began to snow outside again. Old Tao took Silly Girl to have fun in the front yard while Mother Tao was busy in the kitchen at the back. Tao Luanxi made a cup of tea and knelt on the sofa, quietly watching the snowflakes floating outside the window.

Some students in the class group started showing off their New Year's Eve dinner and sending greetings to each other, but Tao Luanxi did not join in. She just glanced at them and went to the side.

After a while, the phone rang. Tao Luanxi picked it up while watching the silly girl outside, without even looking at the caller ID on the screen.

A familiar male voice sounded: "Have you finished your meal?"

Tao Luanxi was slightly stunned. This was the first time Qiu Yi called her. In the past, he always sent messages, not even a voice message.

The sound was slightly distorted as it entered the eardrum through the electric current. Tao Luanxi turned around and sat down: "I've eaten."

"It's snowing outside. Did you see?"

"I'm watching!"

Qiu Yi on the opposite side laughed twice, his voice was clear and pleasant. Tao Luanxi couldn't help but think that if the voice was heard by those fangirls, she wondered how crazy they would go.

"It's a bit noisy over there! Are there firecrackers at home?"

"No, just the sounds of the street outside."

"kindness."

The two were silent for a while. Amid the crackling sound of the electricity, Tao Luanxi could still hear the other's breathing.

"It's very quiet over there."

"Me?" Qiu Yi smiled and said, "No one is setting off firecrackers here. It's quiet, but a little lonely."

"Wenxinyuan."

"No, I'm with my grandpa."

"Oh," Tao Luanxi just remembered Qiu Yi's family background. Even if their relationship was not good, they couldn't leave him alone somewhere else during the New Year.

There should be a lot of people in that kind of big family, drinking and chatting, and it should be more lively than their ordinary families.

Tao Luanxi put his forehead close to the receiver, but he couldn't hear a single word of conversation.

"Have you finished your meal?"

Qiu Yi hesitated for a long time and said, "I guess I've eaten it!"

"What do you mean? Shouldn't your family have a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner?"

Qiu Yi chuckled twice: "I think it's about right. I'll ask Lin Fan some other day."

"...You didn't go?"

Qiu Yi did not give a direct answer: "No one welcomes me, and it would be uncomfortable to go. It is better not to go. It is quieter at home."

Tao Luanxi felt her throat tighten: "Your grandpa... doesn't want you to go either?"

"Maybe only grandpa wants it, but he's not the only one there. If I go, the whole table will feel uncomfortable. It's better not to go. Grandpa can understand."

Tao Luanxi put himself in his shoes and thought that if it were him, he would probably also plan to stay at home.

"What are you doing now?" Tao Luanxi asked.

"I don't know what to do. I guess I'll just fall asleep if I get bored later."

A bit pitiful.

Tao Luanxi looked out the window. His dog had its front paws on Tao's father and its tail was about to break off. The person on the other end of the phone could only sleep in boredom.

So pitiful.

Tao Luanxi glanced at the time and said, "Wait a moment." Then he took the phone and went upstairs.

Tao Luanxi first charged her mobile phone, then found her headphones and plugged them in. Finally, she took out her computer and opened the video software. After everything was ready, Tao Luanxi said to the other end of the microphone: "Let's watch the Spring Festival Gala together!"

“…”

In Qiu Yi's imagination, Tao Luanxi was soft-hearted. After hearing what he said, he probably would be willing to chat with Qiu Yi for a while longer. Maybe he could even get a few words of Tao Luanxi's comfort. This way, this year would not be wasted. But who knew that the other party would do such a thing.

"…Um, it's not that I don't want to, but how did you come up with this idea?"

"Didn't you say you had no one to accompany you?" Tao Luanxi said innocently, "Then find something to do. The traditional activity on New Year's Eve is staying up all night. I don't need to explain this to you!"

"Is there some inevitable connection between staying up all year and watching the Spring Festival Gala?"

"This is a traditional project of our people," Tao Luanxi patiently helped Qiu Yi popularize knowledge blind spots: "It happens every year!"

"…Do you chase him every year?"

"That's not the case. I usually find something else to do," Tao Luanxi explained, "but my dad watches this with my mom every day!"

After finishing the words, Tao Luanxi was stunned for two seconds, and suddenly realized that this sentence was ambiguous.

The other party said meaningfully, Tao Luanxi's ears were burning, and he quickly explained: "No, I didn't mean that, I just wanted to find something for you to do!"

"Okay, that's good. Anyway, I can chat with you, so it doesn't matter what I watch."

Tao Luanxi was very satisfied: "Then you go ahead and look for it, we'll start soon."

The evening program was very long, longer than a day's classes combined. Tao Luanxi lay on the table with drooping eyelids, and only relied on chatting with Qiu Yi to keep himself awake.

After finally making it to twelve o'clock, the host counted down on the sound system. Tao Luanxi sat up straight and breathed a sigh of relief: "At this moment, I finally understood how difficult it was for Lao Tao to watch TV with my mom for so many years!"

Qiu Yi didn't reply, but Tao Luanxi knew that he must be smiling with his lips pursed at this moment.

The bell rang, and Tao Luanxi was ready to turn off the show and go to bed. The sound in the headphones was very soft, like a sleepy murmur, and the "Happy New Year" greetings from the computer speakers made Tao Luanxi unable to distinguish what Qiu Yi said at the first time.

"Yeah, okay, you too." Tao Luanxi said perfunctorily, thinking that after all, it was just a New Year's speech similar to the one given by the host in the video.

"Good night."

"Good night." Tao Luanxi wanted to turn off all electronic devices and go to bed as soon as possible, but when she saw the reminder on WeChat that the call had ended, Qiu Yi's words just now appeared in her mind again. The gentle voice was separated from the noisy background. Tao Luanxi's heart tightened unconsciously. The other party clearly said--

"I like you so much."

The author has something to say: Tao's inner thoughts: My dog ​​has someone to play with, but this person doesn't?! Too bad, I'll watch the Spring Festival Gala with him!