"Sister Youhe! I only heard from Dad yesterday that you were back. Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?"
Anxi excitedly stepped over the threshold, her cheeks flushed with shyness.
An Youhe was having dinner with her grandmother when she saw Anxi and was pleasantly surprised.
She put down her chopsticks and smiled slightly, "Anxi? Only three months have passed, and you've changed so much."
The boy had clearly grown taller, approaching 180 centimeters, and his voice had become somewhat rough, carrying the magnetic quality unique to young people.
Grandma asked, "Have you eaten? Let your sister get you another bowl."
An Youhe hurriedly got up, "I'll get you a bowl."
"Hehe." Anxi smiled shyly and sat down next to her grandmother. "Then I'll have to trouble you, Sister Youhe."
An Youhe handed the bowl to Anxi, who quickly reached out her long arms to take it.
The girl smiled slightly, feeling somewhat relieved. Her cousin had always been a quiet and reserved person, and she had been worried that he might be bullied at school. But seeing that Anxi was more cheerful today was a good thing.
"Thank you, Sister Youhe."
"It's nothing." An Youhe thought of Anxi, who was still a freshman in high school and had a busy schedule. "Why are you back so early? It's not the weekend."
Anxi sighed helplessly and said, "We didn't have a National Day holiday. It's been delayed until now. Giving us three days off on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is a way of making up for the lost holiday."
"I see." An Youhe wasn't surprised at all, because this was a basic routine at No. 1 High School.
How have your studies been lately? Are you under a lot of pressure?
"It's alright. My grades have always been mediocre. If I want to reach your level and Ye Zhou's level, the pressure will be quite high."
"Don't put so much pressure on yourself, just do your best."
"Hmm. Sister Youhe, it's still better to talk to you. You should be my mom! My mom would never talk to me like this. She told me to study as hard as I could, as long as I didn't die. Sigh."
As she spoke, Anxi received a slap on the forehead. The old lady glanced at her grandson sideways and said, "What are you saying? Your mother is only doing this for your own good. You're always spouting nonsense."
Anxi pouted, "Okay, Grandma."
He turned to An Youhe and said, "Youhe, please be my grandma, waaaaah!"
This almost made the old lady furious.
After the meal, Anxi offered to help wash the dishes.
"There's a lantern festival in town tonight, let's go have some fun," Anxi said excitedly.
"The Lantern Festival." An Youhe's thoughts drifted away. She had been to the Lantern Festival when she was very young, with her parents. Later, she went to school and her parents were busy, so she didn't have time to attend such small gatherings.
She remembers how lively the lantern festival was when she was a child, with all sorts of programs. The lantern festival has been passed down for a long time and has a history of more than a thousand years.
The old lady came out leaning on her cane. "Go play with Anxi. Anxi is looking for a companion."
An Youhe turned to the old woman and asked, "Grandma, are you going?"
“Why would I go? I’m an old man, and all the people who go there are young girls and boys. I’m not going.”
An Youhe had no choice but to give up.
The town is quite far from home; it takes forty minutes to get there by tricycle.
An Youhe followed Anxi and set off in her uncle's electric tricycle.
At six o'clock in the evening, the sky turned dark blue, and antique-style glowing decorations were installed on both sides of the street.
Entering the alley felt like stepping back into ancient times.
Many pretty girls were also dressed in Hanfu (traditional Han clothing) and strolling around with small fans.
People from various villages and towns who had heard of its fame arrived in droves; it was a sea of people.
Anxi picked up a small silk fan from the stall, on which was painted a portrait of Lin Daiyu from Dream of the Red Chamber, and showed it to An Youhe.
"Sister, look at this fan, isn't it beautiful!"
"It really is quite beautiful," An Youhe praised.
Anxi put down her fan and continued walking forward.
"Sister Youhe, why do you seem a little unhappy? Isn't it fun here?"
Anxi walked up to a stall selling masks and finally couldn't help but ask, because Anyouhe hadn't looked at any of the stalls since they arrived, and seemed to have no interest in those exquisite little trinkets.
The girl blinked, unaware of her own state; she had originally intended to come out to change her mood.
An Youhe's lips curled up slightly as she reached out and grabbed a funny Pigsy mask with blue cloud patterns. After putting it on, she shook her head.
"How's this mask? I really like it!"
Anxi couldn't help but laugh, "Sis, you're so funny, this mask is really pretty, hahaha!"
As the boy spoke, he also took a mask from the stall; it was a mask shaped like Sun Wukong.
"Hey, you idiot, hahahaha." Anxi deliberately made her voice high-pitched, imitating Sun Wukong's voice, but ended up with a mess of different sounds.
"Big Brother, something terrible has happened! Master has been captured by a monster!" An Youhe imitated Zhu Bajie's clumsy voice, but others could tell from the voice that there was a beautiful girl behind the mask.
They bought two masks for five yuan, and the two of them wore the masks while strolling around.
Many people were also releasing lanterns along the river; the lanterns were all different and very beautiful.
Almost everyone on the street was wearing a mask, and it was only on this day that wearing a mask wouldn't make you look like a bad person.
"Sis, there's a place over there selling candied hawthorns, do you want some?"
The girl was silent for a while, thinking how nice it would be if Ye Zhou were here.
"I want to eat it."
"Okay, I'll go buy it. You wait here for me!"
An Youhe stood in the moving crowd, her small frame struggling to stay still.
She glanced up casually and saw a tall man wearing a red and white fox mask, a head taller than the rest of the crowd.
The man was wearing a high-necked gray sweater and a black trench coat, with his hands in his pockets. He was tall and had an outstanding presence. He stopped in front of a stall selling trinkets.
An Youhe's heart suddenly raced for no reason. After all, it had only been four days; he couldn't possibly be back so soon.
But they really look too alike.
Her legs moved toward the man wearing a half-fox mask as if they were not under her control.
In the end, An Youhe stood firmly by the man's side.
The man turned around, then looked down at the girl, his eyes behind the mask filled with confusion.
An Youhe felt somewhat uneasy. She regretted her actions at that moment, realizing it was all wishful thinking on her part. How could it possibly be Ye Zhou?
He was just a man of similar height and temperament to him.
She opened her mouth to apologize, but the man smiled, leaned down slightly, and stared at the pair of beautiful big eyes behind the mask.
"Do we know this Sister Bajie?"
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