Nanshan Road is one of the most lively and prosperous places in Jinbei City. It is ranked first as a must-visit place in most travel recommendations.
The streets at night are filled with flashing neon lights and bustling with people. There are snack bars on both sides of the road, constant shouting, diners gathered in groups, and the aroma of various foods wafting out of the shops, making people salivate.
Huo Ran walked alone in the crowded crowd, carefully observing every seemingly inconspicuous shop he passed along the way.
There are many snacks here that he has never seen in Yanping City. They have strange names and it really opened his eyes.
Originally, Huo Ran should have brought Jiang Nansheng with him. It was normal for a boss to take his assistant on a business trip to eat local delicacies together.
But he had just accidentally exposed Jiang Nansheng's secret love, and it would feel a little weird if he were to spend time with her outside of work.
Although Jiang Nansheng was badly rejected two days ago, his professionalism was excellent and did not affect any of the important tasks assigned by Huo Ran.
This was also the reason why Huo Ran did not transfer his assistant away easily after he found out that he had a crush on him.
Work ability and personal feelings should be combined, and we should respect every diligent and dedicated employee. We should not want to destroy the position and achievements that others have worked hard to obtain with just a few words.
Fortunately, Jiang Nansheng was also very considerate outside of work. After hearing him say that he had someone he liked, his face changed from red to white for a while, then he lowered his head and said to me sincerely: "I'm sorry, Mr. Huo, I will definitely not cause you trouble in the future."
Huo Ran, who was full of thoughts at that time, nodded and said nothing more.
Matters of the heart are inherently unpredictable, and it is not his responsibility if he cannot respond to other people's love.
After realizing that he liked someone, Huo Ran seemed to have grown a lot in terms of emotional issues overnight.
In the past, I just had a vague feeling that I wanted to hurt others, because I didn't understand what kind of feeling "like" was, and I didn't understand the feeling of being rejected. According to common sense, that should make people feel bad.
So Huo Ran instinctively wanted to escape and was willing to reject others directly, hoping that they would give up on their own after getting a response. However, the result was the opposite of what he expected, and he fell into an increasingly chaotic situation.
But now, after accidentally tasting the sour taste of knowing that the object of his secret crush already has someone else, Huo Ran understands this feeling firsthand.
I feel lonely and lost, with a heart full of love but nowhere to pour it out, yet there is also a secret and tiny expectation.
Maybe one day, the other person will look back at you
That touch of expectation is like a small grass growing out of a crack in a rock. As long as the longed-for sun sheds a little light, it will climb the cold rocks and grow wildly, trying to reach the beautiful sky that is out of reach.
And Huo Ran didn't want to be anyone else's sun anymore. That would be a chronic injury more cruel than a ruthless rejection.
Because now his heart is very full and his eyes are occupied by that particular person, he has no time to care about others, let alone look back.
Although the relationship has not yet begun, Huo Ran has already realized that he should keep a distance from all opposite sexes.
Yes, I am gay now, so I have to be careful when interacting with people of the same sex.
Adhering to the principle of maintaining moderate interactions with all humans who have mate selection tendencies, Huo Ran carefully sorted out pp's friend list.
He deleted all the people who had added him for casual chat over the years, and also cleared out all the non-business partners who had been unusually attentive to him. The remaining people were grouped into the categories of [work][relatives and friends][classmates][no notes, I forgot who they were].
Huo Ran felt no psychological pressure when deleting friends one by one.
…Anyway, everyone thinks that this account is used by Huo Zhendong.
Justified.jpg
After resolving some potential risks, Huo Ran felt temporarily relieved when looking at the clean and tidy friend list.
When I get back to Yanping, I will have a good talk with that flower-sending maniac and my childhood friend and reject them once and for all. From now on, I will feel relieved and won't have nightmares anymore.
Strangely enough, the fresh roses that had been delivered on time every day for more than a month seemed to have stopped in the past two days, according to Jiang Nansheng's report.
Maybe the other party knew that I was in Yanping, or maybe he finally gave up. Either way, it's a good thing.
Huo Ran didn't think much about it, he just felt a little relieved.
What immediately came to my mind was an irresistible desire to meet Tao Zhiyue.
Strictly speaking, Huo Ran had not actually met Tao Zhiyue yet, because Tao Zhiyue wore a mask that day.
If I had known this, I would have asked the staff to distribute drinks enthusiastically that day.
At this moment, he was surrounded by couples on the street, and countless vivid and happy smiling faces passed by his eyes, causing the lonely Huo Ran to always can't help but imagine what the other person looked like, and imagine which snack stand the other person would be attracted to if he was here.
Based on the contact during this period, I feel that Tao Zhiyue probably doesn't like to eat things that are too sweet. Although he doesn't reject spicy food, he seems to prefer lighter food and has a more traditional taste.
Subconsciously following this standard, Huo Ran bought all the snacks that met the requirements. When he encountered a store with a long queue, he would use his cash as appropriate.
After walking around, Huo Ran's pocket was full of snacks, attracting the attention of passers-by.
I was about to find a place to sit down and take notes while tasting the food, when my cell phone suddenly rang.
Huo Ran was stunned. He quickly freed his hands and took out his cell phone from his pocket. When he took a closer look, he felt inexplicably disappointed.
As soon as the call was connected, Huo Sihan's high-pitched groundhog scream came from the other end.
"Ahh, are you really in love?!"
Huo Ran had the foresight to take the phone far away, waited for her to finish screaming, and then took it back at the right time: "No."
Huo Sihan suddenly stopped being excited and became confused: "Then why did you change your profile picture to such a cute one! This makes sense!"
"Oh, this was given to me by the person I like in the game." Huo Ran suppressed the waves in his heart and said lightly.
"!!!!!!"
Amidst the strange rumbling noises, I seemed to hear the wild sound of banging walls and tables.
It seems Huo Zhendong is not at home, Huo Ran, who was used to this scene, thought silently.
After a long while, Huo Sihan came back panting, "This is the style of Animal Island! I am definitely not seeing things! You are actually having an online romance!!"
"It's an online romance." Huo Ran was very serious. "To be exact, I'm not in a relationship yet. I'm still in the pursuit stage."
Huo Sihan forgot for a moment the shock of her brother, who had been single all her life, suddenly coming to his senses. She said in disbelief, "The person you like has given you flowers, why are you still pursuing him? You two are clearly in a relationship, what are you doing?!"
"Because he has never been in a relationship, I want to pursue him seriously once. This will be a very important experience."
At this point, Huo Ran was a little uncertain: "Being pursued by someone you like should be a happy thing, right?"
"… Damn, this question is beyond the scope." Huo Sihan gritted his teeth.
“… Sorry, I forgot.” Huo Ran felt a little guilty and gave his sincere blessing to his sister, “You will definitely meet him in the future.”
"I shouldn't have called you!"
Huo Sihan's tone was filled with grief and indignation. "I didn't expect that the tide would turn. I will also be humiliated one day. Goodbye!"
Huo Sihan, who was unexpectedly swallowed by the lemon, hung up the phone quickly.
There were crowds of people around him. Amid the beeping and disconnected sounds, Huo Ran held the mobile phone and thought his sister was stupid and funny. Then he came to his senses and remembered that his other hand was full of carefully selected snacks.
The rich aromas mixed together, along with the smell of fireworks filling the streets, quietly imprinted this picture in my heart.
It would be nice if there was another person around.
Huo Ran stood there and thought for a while, a silent smile in his eyes and a burning gaze.
I remember doing homework all night long that night.
Every stage of a relationship has different scenery. The ambiguous period is a tacit test of each other, the passionate pursuit can be extremely romantic, and when you reach the passionate love period you can finally be intimate and sweet without any scruples. As time goes by, it will gradually turn into a long-lasting, plain and warm relationship.
These are the notes that Huo Ran, a newbie in love, carefully took after looking at the hundreds of pages provided by the search engine.
At that moment, he could hear the other person's even and shallow breathing, which quietly flowed into the silent night. So Huo Ran held his breath involuntarily and made the sound of clicking the mouse very soft.
When browsing netizens’ comments, I often see people regretting that they agreed to be together too quickly and missed that green and passionate stage. Looking back on it in the days to come, they always feel that they are missing some of the good memories they should have.
But time cannot be reversed, and emotions cannot be repeated, so Huo Ran does not want to leave any regrets.
I hope to bring that person all the best things I can imagine.
That night, Huo Ran, who had eaten so much for the first time, took a long walk back to the hotel. Along the way, he was trying to expand his overly rich vocabulary, attempting to describe the taste of each snack with fifty words.
When I walked into the room, the memo on my laptop was already full of words, and I had carefully left blank spaces for the layout.
Finally, the task was completed. Huo Ran couldn't wait to open pp and ask Tao Zhiyue, who he hadn't contacted for several hours, what he had eaten in the evening.
By the way, I tactfully introduced the delicious food on Nanshan Road to him, and then asked him subtly if he wanted to eat there.
After I clicked on the chat box and was about to type, the page suddenly refreshed.
Tao Zhiyue changed his profile picture to a new one.
Huo Ran felt like he had discovered a new world. He immediately clicked on the portrait image, looked at it carefully for five minutes, and then saved it to his camera roll.
This should be a photo taken by Tao Zhiyue himself. He put the leaf in his palm, and both his palm and the autumn leaf were warmed by the sunlight.
Looking at his own colorful flower avatar, Huo Ran felt particularly happy.
I opened the special dark brown notebook and wrote neatly on a new page: I like the golden yellow sycamore leaves in autumn.