The underfloor heating in the room was too stuffy, so Gu Chen stood on the balcony and opened the window to let in a cool breeze. The combination of hot and cold air caused a layer of fog to form on the phone camera lens.
Looking at the other person's face, Xiang Yu felt a strange sense of unease.
Feelings of excitement.
"Ahem." Xiang Yu coughed twice, and noticing that the surrounding environment seemed a bit off, asked, "Aren't you inside?"
"I'm on the balcony, getting some fresh air, it's too hot." Gu Chen lifted his collar.
"Bro, are you video chatting with Boss Gu?" Li Yifan was busy grabbing red envelopes in the class group. Xu Youqing had just been generous and sent a big one, which had now caused a red envelope rain to fall from everyone in the class.
Seeing that her cousin and Gu Chen had started video chatting again, she wondered where two grown men could have so much to talk about all day long, they weren't a young couple.
Xiang Yu said, "Let's chat for a bit."
Gu Chen heard Li Yifan speak from the other end and laughed, "Happy New Year, cousin."
Not only did he say that he would send a red envelope to the other party, but he also sent a red envelope to them.
Li Yifan was all smiles when he received the red envelope, thinking to himself, "You two can chat all you want, you could even start a relationship."
"Thank you, Boss Gu!"
Li Yifan leaned in front of the camera to express his gratitude loudly, while Grandma Hou, who was making dumplings, heard that it was Gu Chen and asked in a loud voice, "Xiao Yu, is this Xiao Chen?"
"Hey, it's me! Grandma!" Gu Chen laughed loudly.
Xiang Yu took the phone and let Gu Chen talk to Grandma Hou.
"Grandma, I heard from my classmate that you're coming to X City for the New Year. I'll come see you in a few days."
"Hey, good, good." Grandma Hou looked up at the screen and smiled, her hands moving at an uninterrupted pace as she made dumplings.
"Grandma will make dumplings for you when you come back." Grandma Hou's eyes lit up when she saw the steamer basket containing dumplings, and she told Xiang Yu to lower her hand a little.
"Come on, Xiaoyu, let Xiaochen see the dumplings you just made."
"..." Xiang Yu was taken aback and said in protest, "Forget it, Grandma, it doesn't look good."
When making dumplings, Xiangyu tried her hand at it and made a few, but unfortunately, they all turned out strange. Either there wasn't enough filling, so the dumplings were flat, or there was too much filling, so some of them leaked out.
Anyway, it's nowhere near as good as what Grandma Hou and my mother's aunt made.
Upon hearing that Xiang Yu had made dumplings, Gu Chen insisted on seeing them.
"Hey deskmate, let me see, are you afraid I'll laugh at you?"
Xiang Yu hummed in agreement, then lowered his phone camera slightly to show the other person the whole picture.
Gu Chen said, "It looks great! It's not ugly at all. My deskmate's is the best-looking one!"
Xiang Yu's face, already flushed from the stuffiness of the underfloor heating, turned even redder at the tips of his ears after being praised like that.
Grandma Hou smiled and said, "Right? I also said it looked good, but Xiaoyu lacked confidence and refused to wrap it no matter what."
"It looks delicious." Gu Chen smiled brightly. "Grandma, I want to eat the dumplings you make."
Grandma Hou was delighted, "Then when you come, Grandma will make you another one!"
Gu Chen laughed heartily. Sun Xiaoli and Sun Xiaona exchanged a glance, and seeing the old lady was happy, they also smiled.
After chatting for a few more minutes, Grandma Hou told the two of them to go back to their own business, as she needed to cook the New Year's Eve dinner.
Xiang Yu took her phone back to her room, closed the bedroom door, and chatted with the other person. Gu Chen did the same, going back to his room to chat with the other person.
In the absence of others, Gu Chen let loose and let loose. Since the two of them hadn't seen each other much during the holiday, seeing her boyfriend's face now filled her with longing.
"Boyfriend," Gu Chen said with a pitiful look, "did you miss me?"
"Hmm..." Xiang Yu pursed her lips, too shy to speak.
Gu Chen insisted that he speak, and continued, "Hmm, what do you mean? Do you want to or don't you want to?"
"I miss you," Xiang Yu whispered.
Her face turned red after she finished speaking.
Seeing him like this, Gu Chen was stunned, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he suddenly felt his mouth go dry.
"Sigh, I can't seem to get my boyfriend back." Gu Chen slammed onto the bed with his phone in hand. Startled, Yu Zai, who was nestled under the covers, jumped up. Seeing Gu Chen looking over, she was about to run away when he scooped her up in his arms.
“Boyfriend, look how much the little fish looks like you~” Gu Chen said, then rubbed the little fish’s white belly a few times.
Fishy had no idea what was wrong with its owner, and looked like it was questioning its very existence.
I want to run away.
But Gu Chen pulled her back again, and started sucking and stroking her.
Fish: I feel terrible. I want to escape, but I can't.
Xiang Yu laughed and said, "Let it go; it looks unwilling."
Gu Chen let go of his hand, and Yu Zai jumped up to the top of the bookshelf in two quick leaps, peeking out its cat head to secretly observe Gu Chen's movements below, afraid of being caught and taken back.
"Boyfriend, when are you free?"
Xiang Yu thought for a moment. He didn't have any relatives to visit, and he would probably be free around the second day of the Lunar New Year. After telling the truth, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Gu Chen calculated his plans and asked, "Shall we go to the movies on the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year?"
She leaned closer to the phone and whispered, "Let's go on a date, boyfriend~"
"Okay." Xiang Yu had nothing else to do, so he agreed readily. He was available anytime the other party wanted.
The two were video chatting, but someone sent a message in the group chat, which had been silent all along.
[The four beasts of the four directions, east, west, south, and north, live together under one roof]
- Xu Yubo: [Video]
If you look at the corner, the background is a European-style hall, and there is another floor above the hall, which should be a villa.
From this perspective, the main characters are Xu Youluo, who is sitting in the center of the hall playing the piano, and Xu Youqing, who is sitting next to her playing the erhu.
The two people's expressions went from gradually getting into a good mood to utterly dejected. There were other people around, probably relatives.
There were quite a few people.
It's obvious at a glance that the siblings were forced to perform in front of their extended family.
-Xu Youqing: ……
-Xu Youluo: ……
- Zhu Yang: [Video]
The video posted by Zhu Yang was very short; it was just a shot of his back facing the kitchen.
The person in the back looked familiar; Xiang Yu remembered that it was Shen Bin, the man who had found the nightclub that day.
Spending the Lunar New Year together?
Xiang Yu felt fortunate that the system was currently dormant, otherwise it would definitely have gone over to cause trouble.
The system seems to dislike Shen Bin.
Xu Yubo, the oldest member of the group, sent a personalized red envelope to everyone.
- Xu Yubo: Here you go, Happy New Year.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Yang also gave red envelopes to the three high school students.
Zhu Yang: Wishing the three children happiness every day.
-Xiangyu: Thank you, brothers.
Xu Youqing: Thank you, brothers.
Xu Youluo: Thank you, brothers.
Xiang Yu thanked Gu Chen in the group chat, then opened her WeChat Moments and saw that Jiang Wensong had posted a short video.
In the video, the family is reunited. Grandpa Jiang is already able to hold his own rice bowl and eat by himself, and he can even say a few simple words while eating.
The video caption reads: "Grandpa asked me to film this video to say thank you."
He raised the corners of his mouth in a smirk.
New Year, new look.
very nice.
[Author's note: Xiangyu: I miss you too.]
The countdown to the young couple's identities being exposed has begun, hehe.
Chapter Eighty, My Mother, I
Chapter Eighty: A Missed Opportunity: Mom, I...
Xiang Yu woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, his breathing disordered and he couldn't stop panting.
Her pajamas were soaked with sweat from her back. Xiang Yu reached up and brushed the stray hairs that were sticking to her forehead, revealing her panicked eyes.
I picked up my phone in the dark and glanced at it. It was a little past five in the morning. Through the gap in the curtains, it was pitch black and completely silent outside.
Xiangyu had a nightmare.
In his dream, space was distorted, everything seemed real yet also like nothingness. He was twisted and torn apart in the nothingness, only to heal again, in a never-ending cycle.
Xiang Yu sat quietly in the darkness, pressing his hands to his chest, feeling his heart pounding, unable to come to his senses for a long time.
He only looked up in a daze when he heard a noise outside the door.
Sun Xiaoli quietly closed the bedroom door and turned to see her son standing at the bedroom door looking in her direction.
"There are a few files in the hall that need to be reopened, I have to go take a look." Sun Xiaoli walked in and saw that Xiang Yu's hair was slightly damp, the collar of his pajamas was loose, and the fabric on his left chest was wrinkled. She frowned even more.
"What's wrong? Is your chest uncomfortable?" Sun Xiaoli asked anxiously. Her son's illness hadn't relapsed for a long time, so long that she had almost forgotten that Xiang Yu was born with a heart condition.
"No, I just had a nightmare." Xiang Yu shook his head.
Sun Xiaoli visibly breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed his head, and said, "It's good that you're alright. Drink some warm milk and go back to rest."
"……good."