As the New Year's bell rang, more enthusiastic cheers and blessings erupted from the crowd. The bright fireworks burned out, leaving only gray smoke in the sky. Within a few minutes, the people gathered under the century clock dispersed in all directions.
The strength in Chu Mian's hands became lighter, which meant that Ran took the initiative to let go of herself.
"I saw them." Yu Ran said, clenched his hand even tighter, and pulled Chu Mian to Fang Zhao's side, then let go of his hand naturally, and reached into his pocket to get the phone.
Several people looked at each other, and then asked each other in unison: "Where's Cui He?"
"Huh? I thought she was with you."
"I can't get in touch with her."
"I don't even answer the phone now."
They started to get anxious, Chu Mian put away her mobile phone and said, "Don't worry, she has a high awareness of precautions. She usually tells us when she leaves the house. Maybe it's something temporary at home. I'll ask tomorrow morning."
The few people reluctantly let go and looked for a free taxi on the road. Fang Zhao and Ye Xi took the priority to get on a car to leave, and Chu Mian's house was not far away, and they could walk back in a while, so he stayed to see off Yu Ran.
Chu Mian observed the surrounding traffic conditions clearly, and said, "Go to the opposite side of the road to call, there are few cars here."
Yu Ran followed him, and asked casually, "Chu Mian, have you spent Chinese New Year outside before?"
"No."
"Me neither." Yu Ran said, "My mother used to not let me go out at night, but now that I'm in high school, she is more relaxed."
Chu Mian turned to look at him, "So you are obedient at home?"
"Of course, you know that 'Hundreds of goodness and filial piety come first'?" Yu Ran walked up the steps beside the bridge, and the Lanjiang River was frozen under his feet.
His eyes were empty, and his tone suddenly became deep: "I think back then, when my mother had a fever, she said she wanted to drink fish soup, but there was nothing in the market. I had to take off my clothes and lie on the Lanjiang River to melt the ice... "
Before he finished speaking, Chu Mian chuckled beside him.
Yu Ran turned to face Chu Mian, made a semicircle with his hands in the air, and smiled brightly, "I fished out such a big carp for her!"
The smile on Chu Mian's lips deepened, and she couldn't help but pushed Yu Ran's shoulder, not wanting to hear him running the train with his mouth full.
Yu Ran jumped down the steps, white air escaped from his mouth: "Chu Mian, let's come next year... No, we will also come to the New Year's Eve in the evening of 2013? Come early, I promise not to be late."
The two looked at each other, and Chu Mian almost blurted out "Okay", but after thinking about it rationally, by the end of this year, they will already be sophomores in high school, and their studies will be more intense, and no one can predict whether they will be able to find time to go out.
but…
"Okay." After a few seconds of consideration, Chu Mian simply agreed to Yu Ran.
After all, there are still 365 days until the promise is fulfilled. By then, the two of them will definitely forget what they said today, so it is better to agree now-at least they will be happy about it right now.
The two waited together for a while, and finally a taxi pulled over. Chu Mian watched Yu Ran get into the car, and when he drove far away, he remembered to take out his earphones and go home listening to the song alone.
The next morning, Chu Mian woke up naturally, squinted her eyes, grabbed the phone, and called Cui He.
This time the other party answered quickly, and took the initiative to explain the reason for disappearing last night.
"My dad blocked my mobile phone and disconnected my broadband. He just won't let me go out at night. This idiot is so annoying." Cui He cursed his father in a low voice on the phone, and then his tone became much lighter, "It's okay! We didn't fight, he just locked me in the room."
Chu Mian got up and poured water to drink, and heard Cui He ask herself again: "Hey, can you get some aceon autographs for me?"
"Who?"
Cui He patiently introduced: "Aceon, the boy group that debuted in your father's company, last night's New Year's Eve concert was so handsome!"
Hearing her screaming emotionally on the phone, Chu Mian just woke up confused and indifferent, and replied: "I don't know, I'll ask him after the Chinese New Year."
The two chatted casually for a few more words before hanging up the phone. Chu Mian found that his aunt was not at home, so he left breakfast for himself on the table. He finished it quickly, and went back to his room to do homework for the New Year's Day holiday. This final exam must not be slack, because I have to meet my parents during the winter vacation and report the exam results of this semester.
During the break after finishing the first subject, Chu Mian opened the phone contacts, found the number Xu Si sent him last time, and dialed again.
Soon, the other party answered.
Chu Mian asked politely, "Hello, is this Mr. Wen Junying?"
He had called several times before, and the other party was busy, so he finally got a response today.
The man on the phone was very cold: "Who is that?"
Chu Mian introduced herself as a reptile lover, and got the contact information through someone's introduction. Now that she has the intention to buy, she came to seek advice from a reliable seller.
"Add QQ to talk." The man read a series of numbers to him.
Chu Mian opened the computer to log in to his account. After the friend application was approved, he directly clicked into the other party's QQ space album. Sure enough, he saw a variety of photos of reptiles, mainly snakes and lizards. He clicked back and wanted to enter the next photo album, but after the webpage was refreshed once, it displayed "This space is only open to designated friends" on the page.
The other party deliberately shielded himself just now, and he could see that he was a little vigilant. Chu Mian had no choice but to take a photo of her student ID card, paint it in a mosaic and send it over.
After a few minutes, the man asked him, "What price do you want?"
Chu Mian replied: "Look at the eye, if you like it, buy it, I can afford the price."
After posting this sentence, he added another photo of Fiona.
It seems that the fiona is rare and of excellent appearance. The man is relieved and finally willing to communicate with this young rich second generation. The space browsing permission is also open, "Look at the last two months, do you like it?"
Chu Mian clicked into the photo album, and found that there were a lot of photos, covering a wide range of species, obviously not personal breeding. But he remembered that Xu Si said that this person still owes money, if there is a unit that specializes in breeding reptiles, he will not often flee to other places.
After comparing several photos, Chu Mian judged that most of them were stolen network maps.
Chu Mian can now be sure that the descendant of the chat box is a liar. After all, it is illegal to breed ball pythons in China, and many people who want to raise them are unwilling to go to the Forestry Bureau for approval, so some black market dealers can take advantage of them.
"Excuse me, do you still have double heads like Xu Siyang?" Chu Mian pondered the tone of the text, trying to make herself appear polite and simple, "I want that kind, it's so cool."
The man quickly replied: "That kind of food can't be kept alive, and it will die within a few months."
"It's okay, I will get tired of playing for a long time, how much do you sell it for?"
The man said: "It's out of stock. The probability of mutating into a double head is too small, and I've only seen it twice."
Chu Mian asked, "What about the other one?"
The other party now regards him as a boy who wants to open his eyes, and said indifferently: "I don't remember, you can look in the photo album."
Chu Mian had browsed through the 3 0340 ball python two years ago in the photo album just now, but did not see the double-headed Honduran milk snake. So he found Marika's photo on the computer, sent it to the man, and asked, "Is it this?"
"right."
Chu Mian asked again, "Is this one dead too?"
"Dead early."
The man's words must have made Chu Mian's breathing heavy.
"It's not in your photo album." The temperature of Chu Mian's fingertips plummeted as she typed, "It was stolen from me at a trade fair two years ago."
The chat box fell into silence, and within five seconds, Chu Mian saw that the person's chat avatar turned gray, and the message couldn't be sent out, so she probably blocked herself directly.
Chu Mian called, and it was busy as expected.
There was silence in the room, Chu Mian couldn't even hear his own breathing, he held his phone with his mind free, slowly got up, walked to the bedside and lay down.
In fact, Chu Mian has long lost the energy to hate and hate those poachers. The older he gets, the more he can accept the fact that "there are many bad people in the world", and he will no longer have any emotional reactions.
But he can't do it, the more he grows up, the more openly he accepts parting.
Even though she has guessed many times in the past that Marika's lifespan has come to an end, Chu Mian still faintly expects a miracle to happen to her, hoping that she will be treated gently by a patient owner in a place where she can't see, and then die without pain .
—Sure enough, such a small probability of "miracle" will not be related to me.
Chu Mian buried her head in the pillow, closed her eyes, and wanted to fall asleep quickly.
He suddenly discovered that when people are depressed, relying on sleep to escape reality is a pretty good way, and he can lose consciousness in just a few seconds... It's actually quite convenient.
He smiled self-deprecatingly.
This time, he slept for a full twenty hours.
Waking up in the early morning, Chu Mian found a few packs of snacks to eat, then turned on the computer and played games to relieve boredom. He decided to indulge himself during the New Year's Day holiday, watch movies and entertainment programs, and concentrate on studying when he feels better.
The sky turned from dark to bright, and the sun also leaked from the sky.
After Yu Ran got up and turned on the computer, he was surprised to find that Chu Mian was playing "League of Legends", and after asking, he found out that he had been playing for four or five hours.
"Damn it, you are so addicted to the Internet." Yu Ran sighed, "You usually have a different face when you are alone at home, right? Are you smoking a cigarette in your mouth now?"
Chu Mian laughed, her chest was not as tight as before, and said, "You woke up too late."
[The wolf hides beside the dog]: What are you waiting for me
Chu Mian didn't know what to do for a while, and she didn't deliberately go online, but after each game ended, she had to click on the friend list to confirm.
So just now Yu Ran took the initiative to send a message to himself, which can be called a small surprise.
Yu Ran asked: "Have you set me as a special concern?"
"No."
[The wolf hides beside the anti-dog]: "Then you shoot me now."
[Wolf hides beside anti-dog]: "Let's say."
"why?"
The other party replied: "Because I shot you! You have to do the same!"
Before Chu Mian could find out where the "special concern" function is, Yu Ran made a new request: "Also remember to be invisible so I can see it."
Chu Mian did as he said, and sent the screenshot. Yu Ran is very satisfied and wants to play games with him.
The two connected to QQ voice, and Yu Ran was noisy as soon as he opened his mouth, shouting: "Come on! Chu Mian! Let's become stronger together! Accept the baptism! Accept the experience!"
Chu Mian hurriedly turned down the volume of the earphones, and he opened his mouth to talk to Yu Ran, so the corners of his upturned mouth naturally drooped down.
It was at this time that Chu Mian realized that he had been facing Ran 30340 for a long time... smiling all the time.
Without much hesitation, he asked, "Yu Ran, when will you go offline?"
"It's time for dinner, it's still early, what's the matter?"
"I'm going to play until I go to bed at night."
Yu Ran's voice was very straightforward: "Okay, anyway, I don't do my homework, so I will accompany you."
Not long after Yu Ran finished speaking, Chu Mian felt hungry, and his appetite came late after a long absence. He had no choice but to put down the mouse first and go out to buy some breakfast, while Yu Ran was always sitting in front of the computer and waiting for him to come back.
Although the sun is not warm enough in winter, it is bright and precious. Chu Mian loosened the zipper of her coat so that she could take a deep breath and let the clean air circulate in her lungs.
The street remained unchanged. As he walked, he remembered: It is already a new year.
Then... I should be brand new.
He breathed heavily, took his hands out of his pockets, thinking that Yu Ran was still waiting for him to go back to play games, so he quickened his pace and walked towards the sun.
The homework during the three-day holiday on New Year's Day is no less than that during the National Day period. However, the final exam is approaching, and the teachers have no time to check it. They only correct the answers in class and give a quick explanation.
Yu Ran forgot to bring several notebooks, so he turned around and read them with Chu Mian, only to find that he hadn't written any of them.
"Damn, I've finished writing all the Chinese anyway, are you leaving it all empty?"
Yu Ran couldn't believe it, but at the same time, a sense of superiority also emerged spontaneously, imitating the teacher's tone and reprimanded: "What have you been doing for three days off? Are you going to rebel? You just know how to play! Just let yourself degenerate, and drag Yu Ran Together, we will bring down Yu Ran!"
Chu Mian laughed.
The teacher was giving a lecture on the stage, and Yu Ran was quietly putting on airs below. He found that Chu Mian had written a wrong basic question, so he turned around and took his homework and arranged it, "Look, we are in the same classroom. Can you write?"
Chu Mian raised her eyebrows, "Didn't you bring the paper with you?"
"That's right." Yu Ran put his copy back into the bookcase as if nothing had happened, "But I just want to read it with you."
He lay on the back of the chair and raised his eyes to look at Chu Mian.
As a result, the two of them stared at each other in silence for several seconds, and at the same time, both felt that the atmosphere was inexplicable, and immediately looked away hastily.
Chu Mian looked down at the question absently, and occasionally glanced at Yu Ran, noticing that this angle seemed familiar.
Then I recalled... On the night of the New Year's Eve, I looked at him the same way.
"Chu Mian."
"Ok?"
Being called by Yu Ran's name suddenly, Chu Mian's heart beat a beat faster.
Yu Ran tilted his head and said, "It seems that the teacher didn't say this page."
"… Oh."
Chu Mian hastily turned over the paper.
After the last two days of class, everyone finally ushered in the final exam. According to past experience, in order for the teacher to let the students have a good year, the questions should not be too difficult. Many people firmly believe that. As a result, the test papers were in their hands, and everyone realized that they had overestimated the kindness of the teachers. After a few subjects, the classroom was crying and howling.
Yu Ran doesn't care about grades, the winter vacation is the most important thing. He pulled Fang Zhao aside and whispered, "How about we do something meaningful during the Chinese New Year? For example, tree Chu Mian or something..."
"You really have a wicked heart." Fang Zhao grabbed Yu Ran's shoulder and pushed him to Chu Mian's side, "Chu Mian! Yu Ran is going to plot against you again! Let's go to ktv to get him a TV later!"
In order to prevent Yu Ran from touching her, Chu Mian gently wrapped his arms around his neck, and led him towards the outside of the classroom.
Today was the first formal gathering in the class, and more than a dozen people were willing to attend. The class leader booked a luxurious ktv room from Xuehua, and went to a nearby KFC to buy a lot of family buckets. Soon, another boy went to the supermarket to carry a case of beer and came back, and the atmosphere suddenly became high.
Yu Ran was racing against time to eat french fries, fearing that they would go soft. But Cui He didn't have enough people to play the game, so he was called to participate.
He saw a silver hemisphere placed in the middle of the bar, with a depression like a fingerprint on it. After asking, he learned that this thing was a simple version of a "lie detector", and it was not expensive to buy online.
Yu Ran immediately sat down enthusiastically, rolled up his sleeves, "It's so fun, why don't you ask Chu Mian to come over?"
Cui He rolled his eyes, "Why call him, he's so duplicity, it's boring."
The other game-playing students, Yu Ran, were fairly familiar with each other. Each of them put their hands on the instrument in turn, and the last person asked questions. The bar quickly became lively.
At the beginning, the questions were relatively ordinary, and the scale was at most "how many times have you been in love" and "do you like someone now?" Yu Ran honestly answered "no" every time, and successfully escaped the electric current of the instrument.
If you are not charged, then the questioner will be fined to drink. Among them, Yu Ran was the only participant who escaped all punishment.
"Damn, aren't you nervous about fucking lying? Are you ashamed to say with this face that you have never had a date?" Cui He drank another glass of wine, "Forget it, let's not play the lie detector, let's play 'hand and mouth' No one', can you do this? You can only say numbers up to five, and your hands and mouth can't be the same. I'll come first."
Although Yu Ran understood the rules of the game, his brain reaction speed couldn't keep up with their rhythm. After several rounds, he failed the most times, and the third can of beer had already been pushed in front of him.
He pulled off the tab, and as soon as his lips touched the cold jar, his attention quickly shifted to other places.
While Cui He and the others were playing the game, the other students had been taking turns singing beside them, and they cut to Chu Mian's song before they knew it.
In fact, Chu Mian was not very motivated. He only went to order songs because of the begging of several female classmates. When the microphone was handed over to him, even the addicted to play with the mobile phone couldn't help but look at it.
Yu Ran raised his head after he spoke.
Everyone knew that Chu Mian was fluent in English in class before, but they didn't expect that when he sang, his voice would be two degrees higher than usual, making it more refreshing and melodious. In addition, the song he clicked was very relaxed and lively, which made others enjoy listening to it, and the mood was unconsciously happy.
Yu Ran fixed his eyes on the front, forgot the taste of beer in his mouth, and kept holding it to his mouth after drinking.
He saw Chu Mian standing under the light, the sleeves of his gray sweater half rolled up, his arms were slender and clean. The light was yellowish, and shone at an oblique angle, which further highlighted Chu Mian's tall figure and perfect bones. When she lowered her eyes to look at the teleprompter, the shadow of her eyelashes covered her eye sockets.
After the song ended, the students on the sofa applauded and praised in unison.
Yu Ran drank too much beer, as if there was a fire burning under his skin, he felt dizzy and hot.
He put down the jar and kept fanning his cheeks with his palms, but the heat didn't dissipate at all, and instead continued to rise.
Cui He saw that his eyes were a little strange, and asked with a smile: "Did you drink too much?"
He slowed down a bit: "Huh?"
"You can't do it, Yu Ran." Cui He laughed loudly.
Yu Ran's thinking was slow, and he didn't realize what Cui He said just now.
Not only that, he then called beer "canned food", dice "rubbers", and even Cui He's name "Chu Mian" several times.
"Why, you miss him so much?" Cui He shook Yu Ran's shoulders, "How about I call him over?"
Yu Ran didn't respond, and lowered his head to twiddle his fingers. Cui He turned his head and wanted to call Chu Mian, but found that he was chatting with his classmates, so he didn't bother him.
After all, Chu Mian is usually too slow to catch up. Now that he has the opportunity to get acquainted with other students, Cui He thinks it is a good thing.
Everyone played until nine o'clock in the evening. For safety reasons, everyone unanimously decided not to renew the booth, and come out to get together after the winter vacation.
"Let's go, Yu Ran." Cui He stretched out his hand to grab Yu Ran's ear, and found that it was terribly hot, "Hey, don't lie on your stomach, you should go wash your face in cold water."
She couldn't drag Yu Ran, so she called Fang Zhao over, and the two of them tugged together, but Yu Ran insisted on competing with them. Chu Mian put on her coat slowly, approached them, and found Yu Ran with a dull expression on his face.
He didn't say a word, he raised Yu Ran's arms, trying to pull him up directly.
This time Yu Ran didn't use any strength, and obediently stood up straight—
Then he hooked his arms directly around Chu Mian's neck, raised his legs and jumped onto the opponent, shouting, "Sneak attack!"
Chu Mian was caught off guard by a full frontal "sneak attack", and could only support Yu Ran's legs subconsciously.
Cui He took a coat, turned around and saw Yu Ran hanging in Chu Mian's arms, and was instantly stunned.
As a boy, Fang Zhao is not sensitive to this kind of scene, and he still persuades Yu Ran to come down quickly, so as not to make Chu Mian angry.
In fact, Chu Mian was not angry.
His whole face is hotter than Yu Ran.
In order to prevent Yu Ran from falling off her body, Chu Mian raised one knee against the wall, supported Yu Ran's rear hip to lift him up, and then supported it with both hands.
Yu Ran buried his face on Chu Mian's shoulder, muttering something in a low voice, but Chu Mian couldn't hear clearly.
Chu Mian knew that she should put him down now, pinch his face, or take him to the cold water. But the moment Yu Ran's breath touched her neck, Chu Mian reflexively tightened her strength.
Fang Zhao even said to Fang Zhao in a mysterious way: "You help him put on his clothes."
Fang Zhao responded, found Yu Ran's coat to cover him, and put on the down jacket and hat to prevent the clothes from falling off.
Cui He watched Chu Mian walking out of the private room with Yu Ran in his arms like this, and couldn't help saying, "Fuck."
The other students in the class were standing at the door of the elevator, talking endlessly about the party just now, when they turned around and saw Yu Ran hanging on Chu Mian's body and being hugged by him, everyone couldn't help saying: "Fuck."
Chu Mian turned her face away in embarrassment, and explained, "He drank too much."
Everyone nodded hesitantly, not knowing whether to help Yu Ran get down, or to divert their attention so as not to disturb the two of them sticking together.
The elevator door opened slowly, and the students unanimously moved out of the way for Chu Mian before they entered.
In the small space, everyone was silent. Everyone felt that the atmosphere was unusual, but no one was willing to open their mouths to ease it.
Just when the air was freezing cold, Yu Ran, who had been burying his face on Chu Mian's shoulders, suddenly raised his head, raised his head to the sky and screamed, "Aww—"
The students around me trembled in fright.
"Don't bark." Chu Mian turned her face away and bumped Yu Ran's head.
Ye Xi couldn't help stretching out a finger, poking Yu Ran's temple, and asked curiously in a low voice, "Yu Ran, are you going to become a wolf?"
Yu Ran pressed his face on Chu Mian's shoulder again, and then nodded at her with an "owwow".
The students laughed lightly, but Chu Mian's mind went blank.
When the elevator went down to the first floor, Chu Mian carried Yu Ran out the door, and then urged him to get off her body.
Yu Ran turned a deaf ear to it, and instead clamped Chu Mian's waist and hips even harder with his legs.
"If you don't go down... I'm going to faint." Chu Mian felt her heartbeat soar, "Yu Ran, are you listening?"
"Listen." Yu Ran rested his chin on Chu Mian's shoulder, and after a moment of silence, he finally leaned back and looked at Chu Mian.
He said seriously, "Chu Mian, you look really good today."
The faces of the two were so close that Chu Mian's breathing almost stopped.
"Did you fucking have plastic surgery?"