Shoutout to Kari for the commission!
“I…” Zhou Shirui’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Almost instinctively, he wrapped his arms around Le Cheng. His overwhelming emotions made it impossible for him to speak.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Come on, say it!” Le Cheng looked up and blinked his eyes, his expression very playful. “Say you missed me!”
“…Mm.” Zhou Shirui slowly lowered his eyes, his voice somewhat deep and hoarse. “I missed you.”
Unexpectedly straightforward.
His heartbeat seemed to speed up.
After actually hearing it, Le Cheng inexplicably felt a little embarrassed. He let go of Zhou Shirui and took the cake down from the yellow electric scooter he’d borrowed. He had specifically called ahead to order it from a bakery in C City, deliberately finding one that opened at seven. He had taken the high-speed rail at six-thirty.
To keep Zhou Shirui from recognizing his voice, he had even used a secondary SIM card to make the call and found a voice changer.
Celebrating a birthday really wasn’t easy, but Le Cheng felt that a birthday only came once a year. If it wasn’t easy, then so be it.
“Cake!” Le Cheng discovered that the bakery owner had also thoughtfully given him a bouquet of flowers. It wasn’t too flashy, with small flowers gathered together one by one, seeming to be forget-me-nots.
“Hold the flowers.” Le Cheng instructed him.
Zhou Shirui took them and lowered his head to look. There was a feeling in his heart that was difficult to put into words.
Le Cheng had even bought him flowers?
He didn’t have much of a feeling toward flowers, but at this moment, the fingers holding the flowers unconsciously tightened.
Zhou Shirui’s dark eyes were calm. “For me?”
“Of course.” Le Cheng carefully lifted the cake. “Of course they’re for you.”
Zhou Shirui pursed his lips slightly and took the cake. Le Cheng reminded him, “Be careful.”
The two naturally walked inside. Le Cheng parked the scooter in the basement, and they took the elevator upstairs from there. There was one unit per floor. Out of the corner of his eye, Zhou Shirui saw Le Cheng’s lips curled upward, as if he were very happy.
“Ding—”
The elevator doors opened.
“You…”
“You…”
The two spoke at the same time. Le Cheng froze for a moment. “You go first.”
Zhou Shirui seemed to be considering his wording. “You… why did you come?”
“I came to celebrate your birthday with you.” Le Cheng said as though it were obvious. He found a good reason. “Your boyfriend came to celebrate your birthday with you, isn’t that okay?”
Le Cheng’s acting bug kicked in, and he complained coquettishly, “Or is it that you actually didn’t miss me at all?”
Zhou Shirui’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
Le Cheng didn’t hear an answer and didn’t really care, continuing on his own. “What I wanted to ask just now was, do you live in such a big house by yourself?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui opened the door. “Come in.”
Le Cheng slipped inside. Zhou Shirui found him a pair of slippers. “They’re new, but they’re a little big.”
“It’s fine.” Le Cheng put them on. Zhou Shirui lived in a single-level apartment, decorated in black and white. It was quite nice-looking, but it felt a little lonely.
Le Cheng shuffled his slippers as he walked inside. He casually turned his head and saw Zhou Shirui carefully placing the cake down.
“Open it and take a look!” Le Cheng quickly said. “See if it got crooked.”
Zhou Shirui removed the beautifully packaged outer wrapping, revealing a simply styled cake, with light green and white as its main colors, giving it a very springlike feeling.
It had been preserved very well.
Zhou Shirui asked, “Have you eaten?”
Le Cheng shook his head, and his stomach let out a timely growl. “I’m so hungry, Zhou Shirui.”
His expression seemed a little aggrieved, but also very cute. Zhou Shirui said, “What do you want to eat? I’ll order something for you.”
“Don’t…” Le Cheng asked in confusion, “Zhou Shirui, don’t you eat longevity noodles on your birthday?”
“Longevity noodles?” Zhou Shirui said. “I’ve never had them.”
“It’s very simple. Fry a sunny-side-up egg, and the noodles are long and long. That’s longevity noodles.” Le Cheng sat in the chair, propping his chin up. “Let’s eat longevity noodles.”
Zhou Shirui said okay. He could make some simple meals, but his skill was average. He didn’t have much of an appetite and couldn’t really tell whether something tasted good or bad.
He took a handful of noodles out of the kitchen. They had been left behind by the aunt he’d hired last week. Zhou Shirui fried two eggs, then added clear water and put the noodles in.
While he was cooking, Le Cheng quickly took out the gift he’d brought and placed it right in the center of the table.
The noodles were made quickly and weren’t troublesome. When Zhou Shirui came out carrying two bowls of clear noodle soup, Le Cheng blinked, immediately spread open his palms, and pointed toward the white box in the center of the dining table, cheerfully providing his own sound effects: “Ta-da-da-da…”
He smiled with his eyes curved into crescents. “Look! What is this?”
Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes, put down the noodles, and then reached out to untie the bow.
The four sides of the paper box naturally unfolded outward, revealing two Q-version anime-style dolls rubbing their faces against each other before their eyes.
They were pinched very cutely, with big eyes, matte surfaces, and fluffy, fuzzy hair, looking like two little dogs warming each other.
Zhou Shirui seemed to freeze for a moment. He slowly asked, “You made them yourself?”
“You could tell just from this?” Le Cheng tilted his head. “Yeah. Then you should be able to tell that one is you and one is me, right?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui said, “I can tell.”
Le Cheng asked happily, “Do you like them? This is my first time making them. Aren’t they pretty impressive?”
Zhou Shirui’s gaze moved from the dolls to Le Cheng’s cheek. He seemed to have the illusion that he could see a tail wagging behind him.
“…I like them.” Zhou Shirui said quietly, “I really like them.”
“Then that’s good. This pair is for you.” Le Cheng thought that he could keep them as a memento even after they broke up. “Put them away.”
Zhou Shirui rewrapped the gift box. Only then did Le Cheng lower his head and pick up his chopsticks. A golden-orange fried egg lay on the snow-white noodles, while green bok choy rested beside it, looking quite good.
Le Cheng reached out with his chopsticks and stirred them a little before calling into the room, “Zhou Shirui, did you put it away?”
Zhou Shirui walked out of the bedroom. Le Cheng didn’t know where he had put it, so he hurriedly said, “Come, come! I’ll give you one strand of my noodles. This is how you eat longevity noodles.”
Zhou Shirui sat down and cooperatively held out his chopsticks. Le Cheng picked out the longest strand and slowly placed it onto the chopsticks that had been extended toward him, taking it quite seriously. Then he said, “Okay, eat. After you eat it, may everything go smoothly, may you live to be a hundred, and may you be happy in everything you do!”
These were actually very ordinary words of blessing, but Le Cheng’s expression was so sincere that the words became extraordinary.
Zhou Shirui paused slightly. Only after watching him finish eating did Le Cheng lower his head and begin drinking his own noodles.
After breakfast, Le Cheng was a little stuffed and automatically rolled himself onto the sofa, ordering Zhou Shirui around. “Put the cake away. Light the candles and make a wish tonight.” Zhou Shirui’s movements paused, but instead he asked, “Not lighting them now?”
“What’s the point of lighting them now?” Le Cheng said. “You have to say your wish at night for it to come true.”
Under normal circumstances, Zhou Shirui always went along with him, but this time, after being silent for a moment, he said quietly, “Make the wish now.”
Since the birthday person had said so, Le Cheng stopped arguing. He sat up and said, “Okay. I was originally planning to eat it tonight…”
“You tonight.” Zhou Shirui’s voice paused slightly. “Aren’t you leaving?”
“I’m not leaving.” Le Cheng’s eyes widened slightly, as if he had misunderstood him, and he deliberately put on a hurt expression. “You’re not going to kick me out, are you?”
He felt that Zhou Shirui wasn’t that kind of person. Although Zhou Shirui was homophobic, which at a certain level meant he was afraid of someone like him, if he said he wanted to stay, Zhou Shirui would definitely let him stay.
More importantly, Le Cheng felt that taking the high-speed train back and forth twice in one day would be exhausting, and he had already told Cao Fanqin in advance that he was going to a friend’s house to celebrate his friend’s birthday and might not come home that night.
Naturally, Cao Fanqin had said nothing.
“No.” Zhou Shirui denied it, but just as Le Cheng was about to pick up the candles, he quickly took them away and said calmly, “Then light them tonight.”
Not understanding why Zhou Shirui had changed his mind again, Le Cheng nodded. Then, thinking of something, his eyes lit up. “Zhou Shirui, let’s play a game!”
Because of some work-related reasons, all the computers and gaming consoles in Zhou Shirui’s house were top-of-the-line, and every room was equipped with a computer.
Now they could play online while facing each other, which was very convenient.
When their game characters were hiding in the grass, Le Cheng casually asked, “Zhou Shirui, is it usually just you at home?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui watched the screen. “Eight o’clock direction. Someone’s coming. Hide well. Don’t come out.”
“Okay.” Le Cheng whispered, “I think I heard gunshots.”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui efficiently took down half of the opposing full squad, while Le Cheng sneakily fired from the shadows. Zhou Shirui finished off the last one before saying, “Come out.”
“Zhou Shirui, you’re so good at games.” Le Cheng’s thoughts wandered. “Then where do you go for New Year’s?”
“Here.” Zhou Shirui answered briefly.
“Here?” Le Cheng was somewhat surprised. “Your… your family comes back?”
“They don’t.” Zhou Shirui said indifferently. “Why?”
“…Nothing.” Le Cheng naturally knew about his family situation. Zhou Shirui was very solitary in the setting, but Le Cheng hadn’t expected him to spend even New Year’s alone.
He knew that Zhou Shirui had actually gotten used to it and didn’t feel sad about it.
So he wouldn’t show any emotions that he shouldn’t.
***
Eight o’clock at night.
Le Cheng was particularly big on rituals, so he turned off all the lights in the house, then hurried back to the table, inserted the candles, found a lighter, and lit them. “All right, blow them out!”
Zhou Shirui lowered his eyes to look at the candles, then glanced at Le Cheng. After a moment of silence, he blew out the candles.
Le Cheng asked him, “Did you make a wish?”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui said. “I did.”
“Then that’s good.” Le Cheng said happily, “Now we can eat the cake!”
Zhou Shirui cut the prettiest piece for him. Le Cheng ate the entire thing, with a little cream still stuck to the tip of his nose.
He looked so cute that Zhou Shirui unconsciously curled his lips into a smile.
“Hmm?” Le Cheng blinked his big eyes, completely unaware.
Zhou Shirui laughed very softly, the corners of his lips lifting as he said quietly, “Tissue. Wipe it.”
“Oh.” Le Cheng took it, and Zhou Shirui helped him turn on the light.
Before going to bed that night, Zhou Shirui arranged a room for Le Cheng.
There were plenty of rooms in the single-floor apartment, so naturally there was neither a need nor a reason for them to squeeze into the same room.
He slept without dreaming.
Early the next morning, Le Cheng crawled out of bed and sleepily yawned, only to see Zhou Shirui cooking in the kitchen.
After washing up, he propped his chin up and sat at the dining table waiting. His hair hadn’t been combed yet, with a few strands sticking up messily, but his eyes were bright, and he looked eager for breakfast.
When Zhou Shirui came out, this was the scene he saw.
Le Cheng was already very familiar with him, so he was quite unabashed at this point. He poked his head over and asked what he had made and whether it was good. When Zhou Shirui brought the porridge over, he once again gave him plenty of face and said, “Lean pork congee? I love it!”
They finished the congee quickly. Zhou Shirui put the pots, bowls, and utensils they had used into the dishwasher. When he turned around, he saw Le Cheng sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, wearing a fluffy set of pajamas that exposed his fair, delicate neck. Sunlight slanted in, bathing Le Cheng’s lower half in a warm glow. Le Cheng rested his head on his hand, happily watching TV.
For some inexplicable reason, Zhou Shirui thought, perhaps he had never noticed before that when sunlight streamed into the living room, it would fall at an angle like this.
The scene was peaceful, nothing particularly special.
Only… today’s sunlight was especially good.
A burst of noise sounded in Zhou Shirui’s ears, somewhat loud, making it impossible for him to hear his own heartbeat clearly.
Le Cheng watched TV for more than an hour, finishing the last two episodes of the newly released drama, then stretched lazily.
He was the only one in the living room. Shuffling along in his slippers, Le Cheng searched room by room until he found Zhou Shirui working in the study.
His slender fingertips tapped away at the keyboard. Zhou Shirui was focused on his work and hadn’t noticed him. Le Cheng watched him for a while, then turned back and looked at the huge, empty room. Suddenly, he made a decision, pulled out his phone, and sent Cao Fanqin a message.
He decided not to act spoiled today.
He wouldn’t do it for the next two days either.
As he lowered his head to send the message, Zhou Shirui finally noticed him. His gaze glanced over, and he asked, “Are you leaving?”
Le Cheng was a little hesitant, and a little conflicted.
Leaning against the doorframe of the study, he said to Zhou Shirui, “I was going to leave.”
After celebrating his birthday, he really should leave.
Zhou Shirui lowered his eyelashes, concealing the expression in his eyes, and said indifferently, “…Mm. I’ll see you off.”
“Then do you want me to leave?” Le Cheng asked.
Zhou Shirui suddenly raised his eyes, his throat unconsciously tightening. “…What do you mean?”
Le Cheng put it another way. “I mean, do you want me to stay and spend New Year with you?”
He didn’t use “accompany,” but rather “with you.” There was no trace of pity in it, only a simple desire to do this.
Zhou Shirui still had little expression on his face, but his voice was clearly tense and hoarse. “Then what about your mom and dad?”
“New Year’s Eve is the day after tomorrow.” Le Cheng said, “I can take the train home in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve. That way, I’ll still have spent New Year with you, right? We can wish each other a Happy New Year in advance!”
New Year.
The word had never meant anything particularly special to Zhou Shirui.
Just like birthdays, New Year, and holidays, none of them were particularly special.
But at this moment, Zhou Shirui secretly began to look forward to it, looking forward to this otherwise unremarkable holiday.
Seeing that he kept saying nothing, Le Cheng thought he was unwilling. Although he understood, he was actually a tiny bit sad.
He had thought that even though Zhou Shirui was hom*phobic, he still regarded him as a friend. Although Zhou Shirui maintained clear boundaries with him, he was still a good person and treated him well.
“You…” Le Cheng asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“All right, then.” Le Cheng lowered his eyes sadly. “Then this afternoon I’ll just…”
“Okay.”
“Hm?” Le Cheng didn’t hear him clearly. “What?”
“You can spend New Year with me.” Zhou Shirui looked at him and slowly said, “Le Cheng. Stay and spend New Year with me.”
Le Cheng knew it! He wasn’t some self-obsessed person after all!
Le Cheng happily, yet deliberately awkwardly, said, “Fine, fine, then I’ll stay.”
Although that was what he said, there was a smile in his voice.
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui answered, his calm eyes fixed on him. “What do you want to eat for lunch?”
***
They needed to prepare for New Year, but Zhou Shirui’s house didn’t have many ingredients. Since he usually hired an auntie and didn’t cook for himself, Le Cheng suggested that they go out together to buy some ingredients and cook on New Year’s Eve.
After wandering around the supermarket for several hours, Le Cheng and Zhou Shirui returned home with their arms full, filling the refrigerator to the brim.
“Eh?” Le Cheng suddenly remembered. “We seem to have forgotten to buy shrimp!”
Zhou Shirui glanced at him. “I’ll go buy some.”
Le Cheng said, “No, no.” He shook his head. Going out again just for that was rather troublesome. “It’s fine if we don’t eat shrimp.”
But Zhou Shirui unexpectedly insisted. “I’ll go. It’s convenient. I’ll be back very soon.”
“Okay.” Le Cheng nodded. “Then I’ll wait for you at home.”
Zhou Shirui’s hand paused on the doorknob. After a moment of silence, he said, “Okay.”
It was already very late. Zhou Shirui arrived at the supermarket’s fresh-food section, bought the shrimp, and by then the sky was already completely dark.
He drove back. He should have gone directly to the underground parking garage, but for some reason, he inexplicably ended up beneath his own building.
The streetlights in the residential complex were very bright, giving everything a luxurious, brilliantly lit feeling. Zhou Shirui didn’t know what he was thinking. He stopped the car, opened the door, and looked up at his own floor.
There were huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and the floor was high enough that he couldn’t see much. But vaguely, he could see a point of light.
It was just an ordinary point of light.
That was Le Cheng leaving the light on.
Zhou Shirui thought, What is Le Cheng doing? He should be watching TV under the light, legs crossed, and perhaps eating the plate of cut fruit Zhou Shirui had prepared before leaving.
Zhou Shirui stopped thinking about it. He opened the car door, started the engine, drove into the underground parking garage, and took the elevator upstairs.
Then he took out his key and opened the door.
He was carrying the things when he heard the sound of shoes. Then Le Cheng shuffled over to him in his slippers, just as he had imagined. Holding a small fork and eating a piece of fruit, he tilted his head and asked, “You’re back? Why did it take you so long?”
Zhou Shirui’s chest was gradually filled with something, though he himself didn’t notice it. The corners of his lips lifted slightly, and he answered with a quiet “Mm.”
“I bought you some dessert. Want some?”
“Eat, eat, eat!” Le Cheng was very enthusiastic, following closely behind him, like a little tail.
Zhou Shirui turned his head and looked at him in his fluffy pajamas. It seemed like he really did have a tail.
He lowered his eyes and placed the dessert on the table. “Okay, but you have to finish the fruit first.”
***
When New Year’s Eve finally arrived, Le Cheng got up and saw that Cao Fanqin and Le Shuhai had both sent him messages.
[Cao Fanqin: Chengcheng, what time are you coming back this afternoon? When you come back, have Little Zhou take you home.]
[Le Shuhai: My precious son, have fun at your classmate’s house! Dad will wait for you to come home!]
Le Cheng couldn’t help feeling his face heat up. How did they both know he was at Zhou Shirui’s house?
Their guesses were way too accurate!
He replied to them one by one, then got up and began decorating the house with Zhou Shirui.
He had specifically asked Zhou Shirui to buy paper-cut window decorations. He wet them with water and stuck a row of them onto the floor-to-ceiling windows.
They really didn’t look very good. Le Cheng felt a little like laughing, but afraid that Zhou Shirui would dislike them, he said, “Don’t look at them and think they’re a little mismatched, but they really have a New Year’s atmosphere! Don’t you think?”
Zhou Shirui cooperated. “Yes.”
Le Cheng then stuck the red blessing characters he had bought onto the doors. He put them on both the bedroom doors and the outside door. They weren’t particularly beautiful; the goal was simply to make everything festive and bright red.
By noon, the two of them cooked together. Le Cheng actually knew how to cook, but his skill level was about the same as Zhou Shirui’s. He could make some simple dishes, but he was pickier than Zhou Shirui. Even if the food he made himself wasn’t tasty, he would still complain about it.
The two of them cooked while looking at the recipes. The kitchen was very large, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious. They made a total of eight dishes. Le Cheng found a moment to come out, turn on the TV, and switch it to CCTV to watch A Year in and Year Out.
Actually, he didn’t like watching it. He just wanted it playing in the background.
Lively.
Festive.
During the latter half, Zhou Shirui kicked Le Cheng out of the kitchen. With nothing to do, Le Cheng suddenly had an idea and found two radishes and washed them clean.
After several hours of work, they finally got to eat. Le Cheng gave commentary as he ate, but all of his reviews were positive.
At the dinner table, Le Cheng suggested, “Later, why don’t we make two radish lanterns?”
Zhou Shirui looked confused. “Radish lanterns?”
“Yeah.” Le Cheng said, “You hollow out the radish and put a cotton wick inside, and then it can be used as a lantern.”
Le Cheng smiled with his eyes curved. “That way, you can light a radish lantern on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. It’ll look really pretty!”
Zhou Shirui looked at him and nodded. “Okay.”
After dinner, they rested for a while before Le Cheng and Zhou Shirui began carving the lanterns together.
The two of them held small knives and kept hollowing them out. After Le Cheng had worked for a while, his hand became extremely tired from gripping the knife handle, so he shamelessly made Zhou Shirui do the hollowing while he went to carve patterns onto the other radish lantern Zhou Shirui had hollowed out.
Zhou Shirui said nothing. He took it over and saw Le Cheng’s lowered eyelashes, long and thick, his expression extremely focused. His lips were unconsciously pursed slightly as he carved the character “blessing.”
The radish lanterns were soon hollowed out. Le Cheng carved the two round, plump radishes beautifully, then called Zhou Shirui over to carve their names.
Stroke by stroke, they were all carved.
[Le Cheng Zhou Shirui]
Le Cheng looked proudly at his masterpiece, happy with it, when he suddenly scrunched up his face.
Zhou Shirui asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It looks so good now.” Le Cheng said slowly. “But by the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, this radish lantern won’t look good anymore. It’ll have wilted.”
Zhou Shirui was silent for a moment. “It’s fine. It still has the same meaning.”
He took out his phone. “Let’s take a picture of it now.”
“Okay.” Le Cheng also took out his phone and took a picture of the radishes. “Let’s preserve what it looks like at the peak of its beauty!”
Zhou Shirui put the radish lanterns into the refrigerator to keep them chilled. Le Cheng checked the time, then went back to his room to pack his luggage.
His high-speed train was at five-thirty in the afternoon.
Le Cheng had brought very little, so he finished packing in less than two minutes. He sat on the bed and turned his head, only to find Zhou Shirui quietly leaning against the doorframe, his long legs conspicuously crossed, watching him.
When he saw Le Cheng turn his head, Zhou Shirui was silent for a moment before asking, “Are you leaving?”
“Mm.” Le Cheng nodded. “I have to go back.”
“Okay.” Zhou Shirui’s expression was calm. “I’ll drive you.”
Before they went downstairs, Zhou Shirui looked at Le Cheng and asked whether he had forgotten anything. “ID, phone, earphones, charging cable, cash…”
Le Cheng felt around and found that he had everything, then nodded. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget anything!”
They went to the underground parking garage and got into the car.
It was very close to the high-speed railway station, so they arrived quickly. Le Cheng jumped out of the car, and Zhou Shirui took his luggage out of the trunk.
Le Cheng said, “Zhou Shirui, bye-bye.”
Zhou Shirui pressed his lips together. “…Mm.”
Le Cheng left, becoming a tiny black dot.
Zhou Shirui stood there and watched for a while before driving home.
The house was no different from before. Zhou Shirui wiped the table with a cloth, inexplicably feeling that it was a little too quiet.
He imitated Le Cheng and turned on the TV. Listening to the lively background noise, he continued wiping the table.
At eight in the evening, it was completely dark outside.
The Spring Festival Gala had begun. Zhou Shirui had never liked watching these things. He reheated the food they hadn’t finished at noon, quietly ate it, then cleaned up, making the dining table as clean as it had been before.
But it was also a little different.
Le Cheng had stayed here for three days, and in front of the dining table were the little white flowers he had trimmed.
Zhou Shirui’s gaze shifted, landing on the throw pillow on the sofa that Le Cheng liked to hug the most.
There were also the paper-cut window decorations pasted in a row across the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Le Cheng had folded many little stars and placed them in a small box on the coffee table. They were all things he had made to pass the time when he was bored.
Zhou Shirui lay flat on the sofa and pulled over the pillow Le Cheng liked. There was a little emptiness in his heart.
The clock struck midnight, and his phone began ringing with a series of notifications, with messages flooding in from various group chats.
Zhou Shirui scrolled through them and found Le Cheng’s message wishing him a Happy New Year.
There was also a little pouting expression afterward.
[（●＇3＇●）]
Zhou Shirui’s fingertip paused slightly. After a moment, he replied as well: Happy New Year.
Zhou Shirui thought that it should be very lively where Le Cheng was. Perhaps it wasn’t because there were many people, but because Le Cheng himself was lively.
Just three short days, and the house had already felt so lively.
But now it didn’t anymore.
He lay there for a while longer before suddenly turning over and standing up. With a trace of restlessness, he took the two radish flower lanterns that still looked perfect out of the refrigerator. Nothing had changed. They looked as if they had just been put inside.
After being frozen, the cotton wicks were a little damp. Zhou Shirui tried more than a dozen times before finally getting them lit.
He placed the flower lanterns on the coffee table. The two lanterns sat tightly against each other. Zhou Shirui lay back down on the sofa and stared at them for a while.
Fireworks were prohibited in the city center, so it was very quiet outside.
Extremely quiet.
He had long been accustomed to this kind of silence. He didn’t like looking back, nor did he like wallowing in misery or indulging in melancholy. There were far too many people in this world whose circumstances were more miserable than his. He would never truly think that there was something wrong with him, just as he had lived his own life the same way for ten years, day after day.
But.
Zhou Shirui raised his hand and slowly turned on the screen.
[（●＇3＇●）]
The faint light illuminated the high bridge of his nose, while his eyelashes cast a small shadow.
He knew that something was wrong with his current state, but he couldn’t control it, nor could he spare the energy to think about it.
What was this feeling?
Zhou Shirui narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at the screen.
It was like… developing a severe, uncontrollable, addictive…
—-withdrawal.
