Chapter 48
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a familiar, sinister laugh came from the rabbit cage:
"Ugly fox, it seems the pretty girl is about to get a boyfriend~"
Before the last note could finish, Chi Jun turned his head to look.
The rabbit's smile froze, and it grabbed a lettuce leaf and stuffed it into its mouth. After countless lessons of being "sealed off," it finally learned to shut its mouth in advance.
*
Chi Jun didn't realize it at first, but then he remembered that Xu Qingzhou didn't need to work a part-time job on Christmas night, did he?
Xu Qingzhou's response to this was:
I switched shifts with someone else on Christmas Day.
As the little girl spoke, the corners of her lips curved into a slight smile, and her round, clear, and innocent eyes, like black grapes, sparkled.
It looks cute.
She seemed genuinely looking forward to her "movie date" with Zheng Yangshu that day.
Chi Jun stared at her for a while, then casually said "Oh."
But that day, Li Rui noticed something was off about Xu Jun in the internet cafe.
This guy is even fiercer than a Tibetan Mastiff. He slaughtered the opposing team, leaving them with nothing but profanities. After the game ended, he even sent them private messages with profanities.
If you lose, such profanity is inevitably insulting, but if you are the winner and the opponent is clearly defeated and broken, such profanity seems like a compliment.
Li Rui took a sip of milk tea with relish, but while she was happy, she didn't forget that Chi Jun seemed a little off today.
"What's wrong, Mr. Jun? Who upset you?"
Chi Jun had a preserved plum lollipop in his mouth, leaning back in his chair, looking lazy.
"The other side is too weak."
"..."
Li Rui choked for a moment, thinking to himself, "Damn, this handsome guy is really arrogant."
Just as he was about to ask if he should go to that newly opened sauerkraut fish restaurant at the street corner for lunch, Chi Jun suddenly turned to look at him:
"By the way, let's go see a play on Christmas Day."
Li Rui was present when Wang Shuai gave out the theater tickets that day.
Upon hearing this, he paused in his milk tea-slurping motion and pointed to his own nose:
"Me? Weren't you going to go with our sister?"
Chi Jun didn't want to admit that his invitation had been rejected, so he made up a random excuse:
"She had a part-time job that night and couldn't leave."
“Ah… I see,” Li Rui said, “Then you can give it to Gui Gou. Wasn’t he the one who kept pestering you for tickets that day, saying he wanted to have a crush on him?”
Actually, Chi Jun wasn't interested in watching plays. Since Xu Qingzhou wasn't going, he figured he might as well give it to her.
But for some reason, when I thought about how Xu Qingzhou and Zheng Yangshu were happily watching a movie together, while I was left out and had to give my ticket to someone else, I felt... inexplicably annoyed.
"I can't contact you by phone."
Chi Jun made an excuse to refuse.
"No offense to you, Xu Jun, but now that you're working and earning money, why don't you buy a phone?"
While complaining, Li Rui pulled out his phone: "Luckily I have one, I'll contact them right now—"
Before he could finish speaking, his phone was snatched away and thrown onto the table.
Li Rui: "?"
Chi Jun: "I can go alone even if no one is with me, why do I have to give the tickets away?"
Li Rui, as if his brain had shut down, blurted out:
"Then why did you contact me in the first place?"
As expected, Chi Jun remained silent.
The silence of others carries an unspoken awkwardness and embarrassment, but Xu Jun is just too handsome. He acts all high and mighty, and he's usually good-natured and always smiling. But when he's in a bad mood and stares at you with droopy eyelids, it's really quite intimidating.
Li Rui endured it for five seconds, but the stare made his scalp tingle and his heart race; he couldn't take it anymore.
"Okay, okay, I'll go, I'll go, alright?"
*
The next day was Christmas. When Xu Qingzhou returned home the night before, he took a small package box out of his schoolbag.
The packaging box looked quite exquisite. Chi Jun looked up from the book and asked:
"A gift from someone?"
Xu Qingzhou nodded and began unpacking the package.
There's an apple inside.
"Just one apple?"
Chi Jun found it strange; why would an apple need special packaging?
He put down the book, walked over, picked up the apple, and glanced at it.
It's bright red, unlike ordinary apples, and looks quite pretty.
Who sent it?
Chi Jun asked the question casually, but the moment he asked it, a name automatically came to mind.
Xu Qingzhou didn't think anything of it; after all, Zheng Yangshu had given apples to all the members of their study group. She looked down and wrote on the paper: [Zheng Yang]
Before he could even write the last character "舒", there was a crisp "crack" sound. Looking up, he saw that Chi Jun had already taken a big bite out of the apple.
Meeting her gaze, Chi Jun calmly said:
I'm a little thirsty.
"..."
Apples are meant to be eaten anyway.
Xu Qingzhou smiled but didn't say anything, then lowered his head and started doing his homework.
*
Christmas Eve has passed, and Christmas Day has officially arrived.
The weather wasn't very good that day; there was no sun, and the sky was covered in thick, gray clouds, making the light rather dim.
Since the movie was scheduled for the evening, Xu Qingzhou stayed home during the day as usual, doing housework and writing papers.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, she packed her schoolbag and prepared to leave.
Before leaving, he hesitated for a moment, then took off his school uniform and put on his own casual clothes.
Chi Jun was squatting in front of the rabbit cage, teasing the rabbit with a large cabbage leaf in his hand. Seeing this, he raised an eyebrow slightly:
"Aren't we going to see a movie tonight? Why are we leaving so early?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Qingzhou's eyes flickered briefly.
She paused for a moment, then took out a pen and paper and said:
Let's go to the bookstore to study first.
Chi Jun said "Oh," and then added, "So diligent."
Xu Qingzhou was momentarily at a loss for words. After thinking for a moment, he tried to make conversation by asking:
What time are you planning to leave for your play tonight?
Chi Jun: "No rush, we'll talk about it later."
Because his words were rather ambiguous, Xu Qingzhou began to suspect that he might not be planning to go.
Perhaps it was the guilt she felt for refusing Chi Jun's invitation, or perhaps the awkward atmosphere made her want to say something, so Xu Qingzhou blurted out:
Have you found someone to go see it with?
Upon hearing this, Chi Jun stared at the words on the paper and suddenly stopped.
The awkward atmosphere seemed to grow even more intense at this moment.
Xu Qingzhou's fingers froze as he silently put away his pen and paper, pretending he hadn't said anything.
Just as she was about to play dead and skip the topic, and head out with her backpack, Chi Jun chimed in, "Of course, there are too many people who want to watch with me, they even got into a fight over it."
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
While saying "they fought" is a bit of an exaggeration, given his previous observations of Chi Jun's popularity, Xu Qingzhou felt that the word "too many" was at least somewhat credible.
With that in mind, she left with peace of mind.
*
However, Li Rui, the Sanda champion who was completely unaware that he had won the "fight," had already forgotten about the play he was supposed to see that evening.
He stayed up all night playing games and didn't start catching up on sleep until 9 a.m.
I slept until 5 p.m.
At six o'clock, Li Rui was dragged out of bed by Chi Jun, who had a bad feeling and rushed to his house. Li Rui was completely stunned, with a tuft of hair sticking up on his head.
"Xu Jun, what brings you to my house?"
Upon seeing Chi Jun's expressionless face as he shoved the theater tickets in front of him, he suddenly remembered something and snapped back to reality.
"Damn it, I completely forgot! You wait here, I'll wash my face and change my clothes!"
Chi Jun ignored him, giving Li Rui only a pitiful little time to change his clothes before dragging him outside.
Having not eaten all day, Li Rui's stomach was growling with hunger. He wanted to eat a bowl of noodles, but Chi Jun blocked his mouth with a hamburger halfway through, leaving him unable to speak. In the end, in this chaotic scene, Chi Jun dragged him to the theater.
Fortunately, there was still half an hour before the ticket check-in for the play, so there was still plenty of time.
Chi Jun casually found a seat and sat down, while Li Rui went to the vending machine to buy a bottle of water and tried his best to swallow the remaining half of the hamburger.
This is the only theater in the town, with a bright and spacious interior.
In addition to plays and dance performances, there is also a dedicated cinema that, besides the regular movie screenings, also regularly re-screens some classic old films.
Perhaps because the movie tickets here are quite expensive, the cinema is practically deserted.
So when Li Rui swallowed the last hamburger, he easily caught a glimpse of a familiar figure.
"Hey! Hey hey!"
He pointed to the distance and shouted while frantically patting Chi Jun's arm.
Chi Jun's arm was red from being hit, and he couldn't help but frown and look in the direction the man was pointing.
Then, unexpectedly, they met the gazes of Xu Qingzhou and Zheng Yangshu.
Chi Jun: "..."
The two had just picked up their tickets. Xu Qingzhou had her hair tied in a neat ponytail, wearing a jacket and jeans, and was holding two cups of cola. Zheng Yangshu, on the other hand, was wearing a black jacket and casual pants, and was holding a bucket of popcorn.
At first glance, the young man and woman do look very well-matched.
Li Rui glanced at it once, and a meaningful expression appeared on his face.
He turned to look at Chi Jun: "Didn't you say that our sister went to work a part-time job tonight? How come she's here?"
Chi Jun glanced at him and responded arrogantly.
How would I know?
Li Rui: "..."
As they were talking, Xu Qingzhou and Zheng Yangshu walked towards them side by side.
Zheng Yangshu: "Brother."
Chi Jun nodded and then introduced Li Rui to him.
Xu Qingzhou naturally recognized Li Rui, but she never expected... that the person accompanying Chi Jun to the play tonight wouldn't be a girl, but Li Rui...
However, Chi Jun looked completely calm, and Xu Qingzhou felt that he was making a fuss over nothing.
After all, no one says that two people can't go to see a play or movie with a same-sex friend.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the movie theater staff started checking tickets.
Zheng Yangshu and Xu Qingzhou waved and turned to head towards the ticket gate.
Chi Jun and Li Rui stood there, watching the couple leave.
When they were more than five meters apart, Li Rui couldn't help but tug at Chi Jun's sleeve and whisper:
"Xu Jun, is that guy mocking us for going to the play together as two guys? Otherwise, why is he staring at us and laughing?"
Chi Jun: "Why don't you ask about the food stuck in your teeth?"
"..."
While picking the vegetable leaf off his teeth in front of his phone screen, Li Rui noticed the advertising board at the entrance of the movie theater.
"Oh my, isn't this that classic romantic movie? Is our sister going to see this with that guy?"
Just then, the theater crew started calling for tickets.
Chi Jun ignored him and turned to head towards the ticket gate.
Li Rui was still nagging in my ear: "On Christmas, she went to see a movie late at night with a boy... Xu Jun, is our sister dating someone too early?"
"What's the guy's family background like? Is he a classmate?"
"She's quite good-looking and polite, but these days you can't judge a book by its cover. You'd better be careful."
"Wait a minute, bringing a girl out to the movies so late at night, could that guy have ulterior motives—"
Before he could finish speaking, Chi Jun suddenly stopped, turned around, and walked straight behind him.
Li Rui was completely bewildered:
"Hey, Xu Jun, they've already checked the tickets, where the hell are you going?!"
Without turning his head, Chi Jun strode straight towards the movie ticket window, leaving behind only the words:
“Nip early romantic relationships in the bud.”
Li Rui: "?"
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