Flying Ash Chapter 35

Chapter 35

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In less than 48 hours, a sudden storm dissipated without a trace, and the only aftertaste was probably reflected in the growing popularity of ①Xiao Hui Xia.

“I haven’t been online for the past few days. I just opened Weibo and thought someone had bought you a bunch of followers.” Tang Wenxi yelled on the phone, “Are we even considered friends if you don’t call me for such a big deal?”

Yi Hui smiled and said, “At that time, you probably should be asleep and you probably weren’t awake when it was resolved. Besides, there was no need to upset one more person.”

Tang Wenxi muttered angrily: “I’m not one more person… Hmph, blame that b*stard.”

“Which b*stard?”

After mentioning it, Tang Wenxi hesitated and said embarrassedly: “Just, just an *sshole, very bad, let’s not talk about him.”

Yi Hui uncharacteristically didn’t let him avoid it easily this time: “Are you dating?”

“Ah, dating? No, no, it’s all over the place now, how can there be any dating for me to talk about hahaha.”

You could hear his desire to conceal it even through the phone. Yi Hui sighed and said, “Is it Yang Chengxuan?”

There was a moment of silence at the other end, but eventually, Tang Wenxi didn’t avoid it anymore and said “en” in a low voice.

Yi Hui asked, “Why don’t you dare tell me?”

Tang Wenxi was like a teenager questioned by his parents about puppy love: “Just, as you know, he is a bit of a playboy…”

“The only thing I know is what you told me.” Yi Hui told the truth without mercy, “Since you know he’s a playboy, why…”

The relationship of the two of them seemed to be ambiguous before, so the qualitative change must have happened when he spent the night in the mountain and they stayed together. Yi Hui blamed himself a little bit, thinking that if he had cautioned him earlier, maybe it wouldn’t have happened like this.

Contrary to his attitude, after confessing, Tang Wenxi became quite open-minded: “Why not? It’s just dating, it’s not like I’m rushing to get married. Regardless of whether you succeed or not in the end, you should learn love skills and accumulate experience.”

Perhaps he was too sensitive but Yi Hui always felt that Tang Wenxi was trying hard to be brave, so he reminded him not to fall too deep. He didn’t expect his words would make him laugh: “Your tone is so old-fashioned, why do you sound like my teacher?”

Yi Hui thought that his actual age was indeed a little older than Tang Wenxi’s and he had more experience. He knew that no matter how rational people were, they would involuntarily fall deeper when facing people they liked.

What’s more, neither of them was a man whose reason could prevail over feelings.

“Don’t worry, I know.” Tang Wenxi dealt with it casually and then wittily switched the topic to Yi Hui, “But I don’t think you are much better. Don’t think I didn’t see it. What about that Dora-Hum-Hum, are you engaged in online dating with him?”

This interrogation came too suddenly. After taking a nap, Yi Hui’s head was still full of “online dating”. When he saw the lunch greetings and a photo of a lunch box sent by Dora-Hum-Hum, his face became hot for no reason.

He typed the reply: Isn’t it time for a holiday? Is your company still working?

As the New Year approached, the headlines were full of reports about the homecoming rush. The eldest son of Aunt Qiu’s family who was studying at the university in the nearby city had also returned. Every family in the town was lively. Yi Hui also helped Jiang Xuemei fill sausages and make rice cakes in the morning.

In the Yi family before, Yi Hui’s father rarely came back even during the New Year. He and his mother used to have a lonely New Year’s Eve dinner, so this was the first time in Yi Hui’s life that he experienced such a strong taste of the New Year.

Dora-Hum-Hum: En, working overtime.

Yi Hui shook his head and sighed: The bourgeoisie inhumanely exploits the labor masses [pitiful]

Dora-Hum-Hum: Begging for comfort. [pitiful]

It was rare to see him using emoticons other than roses. Yi Hui’s heart melted into a pool of water; he immediately typed a row of [hugs] and sent them over, saying: Be good, at least you will be paid for overtime!

No one would believe that the young master of  the Yi family who didn’t know the price of food, oil and salt would become an expert in financial management in his new body. In addition to earning money, Yi Hui was now capable of saving money. He endured the expiration of his Weibo membership a while ago and didn’t renew it. He waited until the end of the year for promotion discounts and bought it for a year, saving dozens of yuan. That day, he was so happy that he ate two extra bowls of rice.

He was not extravagant in his eating and dressing. Jiang Yimang brought him a bottle of soothing essential oil when she came back from S City. When he opened the lid, he smelled his favorite sweet fragrance of flowers and fruits. For fear that it would evaporate too quickly with the lid open, he stuffed a sponge in the mouth of the bottle.

He recalled it now and showed it to Dora-Hum-Hum: My sister gave it to me, Hum-Hum, can you help me find out how much it costs?

Jiang Yimang said that the store had a discount to buy one get one free. When he got it, the trademark and price tag were gone. After all, Yi Hui had been used to good things before; so after sniffing it for a while, he knew it was not cheap. Now that Dora-Hum-Hum had been additionally labelled as “knowledgeable and versatile” in his impression, he naturally thought of asking him first when encountering this kind of problem.

After his question, the other end was silent for a while, maybe checking the price. He received a reply in five minutes: It’s not expensive, it’s ten to twenty yuan.

Yi Hui was surprised: Really? [Doraemon is surprised]

Dora-Hum-Hum: Really. Whoever lies to you is a dog.

Faced with such a “deadly oath”, Yi Hui instantly dispelled his doubts and chose to believe him without hesitation.

Since the plagiarism incident, he unconditionally trusted every word Dora-Hum-Hum said. The strong were always admired, and coupled with an unexplainable sense of familiarity, even though they were separated by thousands of miles, the relationship between the two of them was getting closer, almost to the point where they could talk about anything.

If one flipped through the comments below the recent Weibo posts, the top hot comments would always be Dora-Hum-Hum and his roses. No wonder Tang Wenxi had such thoughts.

Yi Hui felt a little embarrassed again and switched to another topic: Where are you celebrating the New Year?

Dora-Hum-Hum: At home, in my own house.

From the previous chat, Yi Hui learned that he had two homes. He rarely returned to one of them because of his poor relationship with his father, and the other was his own home. Now he was the only one who lived there.

No one knew the taste of being alone in an empty house better than Yi Hui. Thinking of the ice and snow outside the window and the young boy, Dora-Hum-Hum, staying alone in an empty house and sleeping in a cold bed, he subconsciously felt distressed.

After thinking about it a little, Yi Hui had an idea on how to share warmth with his friend and said: Give me your address and I will send you something delicious [so happy]

Three days later, Zhou Jinheng, who received a call from the courier, didn’t even have time to say hello to the staff present. He grabbed his coat and rushed out the door.

The driver was given permission to go back to his hometown for the holidays early. Zhou Jinheng drove by himself, never letting go of the accelerator pedal. After a sharp turn and an ear-piercing sound of tires rubbing against the asphalt, the car was parked steadily in a space demarcated by a white line.

The courier who witnessed the whole process handed him a huge package in a daze and reminded him, “Sir, do you want to open it and check it…”

Zhou Jinheng weighed the package and his face under the mask lit up with a bright smile: “No, thank you.”

When he got back to the car, he couldn’t wait to unwrap it.

In order not to reveal his identity, he gave Yi Hui the address of a friend’s company in S City and then forwarded the package to the capital when it arrived at his friend’s side, so it had been delayed for some time. Zhou Jinheng was very anxious to get it, for fear that the little fool would put in the cake he made there. Even though it was cold, the bumpy journey would surely damage it.

The package was wrapped in many layers of foam that took a lot of time to disassemble. Zhou Jinheng even removed the courier slip with the sender’s name “Xiao Hui Xia” written on it, folded it and put it in his pocket. Opening the card, he suppressed his impatience and rough movements, holding it carefully as if it was his hard-won Oscar. 

【Dear Hum-Hum:

This is the original painting of the fireworks. Scanned electronic version always feels like it has less flavor. I am sending it to you for your disposal, hope you like it!

PS: Remember to put it in the fridge. Mom said it can also go bad in the winter if left for a long time.

——Your good friend Xiao Hui Xia】

Zhou Jinheng looked at the few sentences on the card seven or eight times and finally rubbed his finger on the word “Hui”, imagining Yi Hui in front of the table, writing this card seriously and reverently. 

Just like when he wrote that proposal letter.

Knowing that there was a painting inside, Zhou Jinheng finally understood why the package was so large. Taking out the heavy parcel, he guessed that there was something else besides the painting. When he unwrapped it, it turned out to be two large bunches of sausages neatly folded.

Zhou Jinheng couldn’t help laughing. He picked up the sausages tightly packed in a plastic bag and put them aside. He thought to himself that the little fool was right, the electronic version did have less flavor.

When the painting completely emerged from the wrapping in front of him, he was startled again.

The little fool loved romance. He expected that the fireworks the little fool wanted to watch had to be gorgeous, with the kind of dreamy effect used on TV and in magazines. Unexpectedly, except for the few fireworks that Yi Hui painted blooming in the air, the center part of the painting was occupied by the two ground fireworks. There was also a string of firecrackers being set off on the side. The whole painting was full of New Year flavor.

It turned out that the little fool never had thoughts of making it difficult for anyone; what he wanted was always that simple.

When he touched the painting with his palm, he felt the graininess of the paint, as if he had a chance to observe the whole process of Yi Hui’s painting, brushstroke after brushstroke.

When others painted, they moved the drawing paper. But Yi Hui himself moved around the drawing paper. Sometimes he stood and sometimes he squatted on a chair, his lips tightly pursed as he stared at the painting without blinking, his love for painting expressed in his body movements. 

Just like he used to show his love for him on his face.

Zhou Jinheng decided to frame this painting and carefully keep it with the other paintings at home. In the future, when the two of them have nothing to do, they can take out these paintings and enjoy them. When they see this painting, the little fool will definitely blush and not allow him to mention the old things again.

Zhou Jinheng leaned back in the seat and sighed deeply.

He hoped it wouldn’t be too long till then; preferably in the near future.

The cold front migrated from the north to the south slowly, and it snowed in S City on New Year’s Eve.

Yi Hui described it as “maomao xiaoxue” (furry little snow) and said that he needed a magnifying glass to see the snowflakes. Zhou Jinheng zoomed in on the photos he had sent. They were indeed very small, as small as if he used the snow as pretext to find a topic to talk about. 

 instead of words.

He didn’t need to ask to guess how lively Yi Hui’s place was. He heard that several of their neighbors gathered to prepare New Year’s Eve Dinner. In addition to the local specialties of seafood, the Jiang family also prepared pasta dishes with northern characteristics, such as fried crockets and dumplings.

Yi Hui was very happy. After he reported every dish to Zhou Jinheng, he took several photos and sent them to him. After being mindless for a while, he realized that he might have stabbed the lonely Dora-Hum-Hum’s heart and hurriedly said: Hum-Hum, what good things do you have for New Year’s Eve dinner? [gluttonous mouth]

Zhou Jinheng had just finished calling Zhou Huarong. He heard that the old b*stard invited the young master of the Tan family to the New Year’s dinner. He hung up the phone without saying a word and then blacklisted all those annoying numbers.

He stayed alone in his and Yi Hui’s house, profoundly feeling the coldness and loneliness of a home without laughter.

It was enough for him alone to feel uncomfortable. He didn’t want to spoil Yi Hui’s fun. He made up a few dishes and listed them in the message. He didn’t expect to be seen through by Yi Hui at a glance and be asked to be sent photos for inspection.

Zhou Jinheng was sitting alone on the sofa in the living room with the ceiling light off, and there were a few cans of beer open on the coffee table in front of him. He slowly lifted his phone, adjusted the front camera, casually pressed the shutter in the dark, and clicked send.

He didn’t expect to receive a selfie from Yi Hui.

It was not quite a selfie. There were three big white geese in the picture. The one in the center was held by someone who was tying a red, very festive bow around its neck. 

Zhou Jinheng focused all his attention on the white fingers tying the bow and typed: Just showing me your hands?

Yi Hui replied: You didn’t show me your face either [yawn]

Alcohol disturbed his sanity; Zhou Jinheng didn’t have time to think and sent out a sentence, “If I show you mine, will you show me yours?” When he thought about it, he felt that it was really stupid, like a despicable man asking for photos from others in an online chat.

He really wanted to see him so much. He wanted to see if he was doing well, if he was happy, if he gained a little weight… if he missed him.

Zhou Jinheng raised his hand and pinched the center of his brows, his intoxication dissipating a little, and changed his words before the reply from the other end came: Just kidding. Go to bed early if you are sleepy, don’t stay up all night.

Yi Hui hesitated for a long time, making him wonder if he was frightened by what he said just now.

A few minutes passed and then he sent a few words with a vague meaning: In the future [doge] (maybe author was trying to write dodge)

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