CH 23

Chapter 23: The other party requested a video call.

Xu Sui was on the high-speed rail for a long time before it took another turn and reached Liying Town. When she got back home, the sky was dim, but the lanterns in front of the house were shining with warm and clear light. The sound from the family show escaped from the gaps in the windows and was heard at twice the volume.

Xu Sui pushed the luggage in and shouted into the room: “Mom, grandma, I’m back!”

The next second, Grandma Xu came out with her reading glasses hunched over and said with a smile: “Ah, Yi Yi is back. Let grandma take a look.”

Xu Sui put down her luggage and threw herself into the arms of the old woman. She took a sniff of the unique scent from her grandma— a faint woody fragrance.

“Grandma, you smell so good. I want to sleep beside you tonight.” Xu Sui said coquettishly.

“Okay,” Grandma smiled and pulled her away. She looked at her own granddaughter up and down, frowning, “How did you lose so much weight?”

“You haven’t seen me for a long time. I ate a lot in college and gained two pounds,” Xu Sui lied.

In fear that the elderly will become suspicious, Xu Sui hurriedly switched the topic: “Ai, it’s 6 PM already. Where’s my mother?”

“She won’t be back until half an hour later. Go revise your homework first.”

Mother Xu knew Xu Sui would come back in advance so that when she got off work, she went to the supermarket to buy flour and leeks, planning to make the dumplings her daughter loves to eat.

Once she arrived home, Mother Xu went into the kitchen after washing her hands. Not long after, Xu Sui also came in to help. When she washed her hands and was about to pick up the dough, Mother Xu urged her: “Go watch TV with your grandma.”

“It’s ok. This kind of work won’t tire me,” Xu Sui began to stuff in the stuffing.

Mother Xu was gentle, standing in plain clothes with a faint smile on the corner of her lips. After a while, she asked: “How are your studies?”

“It’s decent. I won two awards this semester,” Xu Sui answered.

Mother Xu knew that “decent” from her daughter meant that it was quite good, and she smiled with relief: “You haven’t made mother worry since you were a child.”

Xu Sui lowered her head to make dumplings and smiled faintly when she heard the words.

“Are the friends you made at university okay? Did you interact with any unscrupulous people?” Mother Xu always had a smile on her face, but her tone was tentative.

An unrestrained and casual face appeared in Xu Sui’s mind.

Her heart jumped, and she shook her head: “No.” The day back home was pleasant and comfortable. Zhou Jingze occasionally sent her one or two photos of 1017 sleeping on the sofa. Xu Sui was excited and would take this opportunity to ask more about the chubby orange.

In fact, it was only to chat a few more words with him.

Before the new year, Xu Sui helped clean the home and moved the flowers in sunlight. She received a message from Zhou Jingze: 【1017 is sick. The cat had an allergic reaction that it even scratched itself.】

In the next second, Zhou Jingze sent a picture of 1017. The photo was shocking— red blood wounds covered the cat’s ear, some stained the semi-dry cat hair.

Xu Sui revealed panic in her eyes and searched up the problem on the Internet. She sent several messages in a row:

【How long has it been like this? 】

【I’m so sorry to trouble you, but please watch over it as much as possible. I’m afraid it’ll scratch itself again.】

【Have you taken it to the pet hospital? Why don’t I go over now? Wait what am I saying…】

Two minutes later, Zhou Jingze sent a sentence:

【Don’t worry.】

It was obviously just two short words, but Xu Sui’s heart calmed down inexplicably. At this moment, she couldn’t focus on anything else and found a small bench and sat in the sun, waiting for Zhou Jingze to reply.

She stared at the phone, and the words “the other party opened a live sharing location” suddenly popped up on the screen. Her eyelids twitched, and she realized that Zhou Jingze was afraid of her worrying that he started sharing his live location.

Xu Sui clicked “accept” and watched his location move on the map. A strange feeling surged in her heart.

ZJZ: 【It was like that when I got up this morning. I’m taking it to the hospital now. 】

Xu Sui: 【Okay.】

At every point in time, Zhou Jingze will send a message over. Although his words were short and cold, they made her feel at ease.

11:00 am 【Got in the car. 】

11:40 am 【Arrived.】Zhou Jingze also sent a photo of the entrance of the pet hospital.

11:55 am 【Its whole body has been cleaned up.】

12:20 pm 【In infusion.】Zhou Jingze recorded a video of 1017 lying on the hospital bed with eyes closed for infusion. From the surface, the cat’s rage and anger have calmed down.

Xu Sui watched the video and suddenly saw 1017 put his chubby paw on his wrist. Zhou Jingze did not appear on the camera, but she could still recognize that it was his hand. The fingers were slender and clean, with light blue blood vessels running through.

Then the camera shook and focused back on the cat.

1:30 pm 【The infusion is over. The vet said that it’ll be fine after three consecutive days of infusion.】

Xu Sui texted: 【Thank you. Did you eat yet? I’ll order you a delivered meal.】

Thinking about it, Xu Sui lowered her eyes and deleted the message with her fingertips. She sent a new message: 【Thank you. It seems to be lunchtime, and you haven’t eaten yet? You should go eat quickly.】

【En.】 It took half an hour for Zhou Jingze to reply to her.

——

Under the care of Zhou Jingze, 1017 gradually recovered. However, Zhou Jingze seemed to be busy before the New Year that he hadn’t been in contact with Xu Sui much.

Xu Sui was a little worried about 1017 again and wanted to see it with her own eyes. She hesitated for a while and glanced at the time 9:30, which was early. She decided to send a message to him:

【How is 1017 now. Can I see it? 】

After she sent the message, Xu Sui looked at it for a while before putting her phone on the table. She turned on the lamp on her table and sat on the bed reading a mystery novel.

At 10:30, the phone on the table rang. Xu Sui took a look. It was a video call from Zhou Jingze. She held the phone with her fingertips shaking slightly and stared at the video call request without blinking. Her heart fluttered.

Xu Sui accepted it. The screen showed two defined collarbones like hyphens, chest exposed, and the faintly visible tight muscle lines of the man extend down indefinitely…

.

Her cheeks felt hot, and when she glanced again, the camera flickered. 1017 peered its eyes as if it was secretly observing. Zhou Jingze’s voice sounded. He seemed to have turned over. His voice was hoarse with a tint of weariness:

” You can look. I’ll continue to sleep.”

Zhou Jingze’s sheets were gray. 1017 rolled over on his bed and disappeared in front of the camera for a while. Then it reappeared again in the camera.

He held the phone and put it aside. Xu Sui could actually see him from the corner of the screen. Zhou Jingze was wearing a silver bathrobe. His black, short hair was slightly messy, and his eyelashes were thick and long; the man’s jawline was sharp.

Zhou Jingze fell asleep that Xu Sui boldly dared to look at him. When he was awake, he always looked dangerous and aggressive; carelessness and jokes filled his eyes.

Xu Sui held her chin and looked at Zhou Jingze in a daze. Suddenly, Zhou Jingze smiled lightly, as if talking in a dream. His tone was gentle and nostalgic:

“I miss you too.”

Her eyebrows raised, and she clearly realized that it was impossible for it to be directed to her. Fearing to hear another word, she hung up the video call with a “beep”.

After hanging up the phone, Xu Sui’s eyes were dry, and she lowered her eyes and hurried to the bathroom to wash.

The next day, Zhou Jingze woke up with a splitting headache. As soon as the holiday was over, there were more and more hangouts to attend. Zhou Jingze stayed in a lot of loud places and felt bored.

Last night, he drank too much alcohol and hurriedly found an excuse to go home to sleep. His sleep was intermittent, and he dreamed of his mother. In his memory, he also recalled a video call with Xu Sui to show her a cat.

Zhou Jingze pressed his eyebrows and picked up the phone next to him. He actually spent half an hour in a video call with Xu Sui?

He sent a message: 【Did I say anything last night?】

When Xu Sui received this message, she wanted to reply: Yes, who is the person you miss? Which girl is it? But she was afraid that when Zhou Jingze answered, she couldn’t bear it.

In the end, she replied nothing.

On New Year’s Eve, the weather was extremely cold. Xu Sui spent the rest of the year with her relatives. The children’s laughter and joy made the atmosphere at the dinner table more lively.

After dinner, Xu Sui sat on the sofa with her grandma to watch the Spring Festival Gala with her and was dragged downstairs by a few children to set off fireworks. She accompanied them to light two firecrackers, and her cheeks were flushed by the cold and finally ran upstairs.

Xu Sui came back freezing, and her grandma went to play cards after watching the TV for a while. Her aunt and mother went to play cards in the second hall.

Xu Sui logged into WeChat with her phone and received blessings from several friends. She all thanked them one by one. Shen then swiped the screen with her thumb and paused on the profile picture with the name ZJZ. She clicked into it and typed the words “Happy New Year”.

And left again.

She copied and pasted the template blessings she received from others into the chatbox. A long series of blessings that looked like a group message was mixed with her selfishness:

【Although your phone has been filled with New Year’s greetings, those four words are not enough to express my excitement. Even though such simple words are commonplace, I still cannot help but send my blessings. Happy New Year, I hope you can see the sunset every day. ^-^】

In fact, her real blessing was just:

——Happy New Year. I hope you can see the sunset every day.

Not long after, ZJZ replied: 【? Xu Sui, this sounds like it’s your first time on the Internet.】

Xu Sui: 【This is called being rhetoric.】

She sat in the living room texting. Remembering what Hu Xixi said about him having a strained relationship with his family, she wanted to lighten his New Year and asked:

【Where are you now? Have you eaten dinner yet?】

ZJZ: 【I have eaten. At my grandpa’s house.】

Then he sent another message: 【Suddenly want to watch the fireworks, but it’s so quiet here.】

When Xu Sui saw the message, the children downstairs were having fun in the yard, and laughter rang from time to time. An idea flashed, and her mind ran down before her senses.

For the person she likes, she could do anything.

Xu Sui ran down quickly and sent a video call request to Zhou Jingze in the cold wind. The call was quickly accepted. Li Ying’s sky was very beautiful, with stars shimmering above the head.

The yellow leaves of the locust tree in the yard hung on it like a crescent moon. The winter wind in the south was cold and freezing, and the fireworks protruded out of the wall. Xu Sui stood still and trembled. She turned her phone to the sky with a soft voice: “Happy New Year.”

Zhou Jingze was leaning against a railing with a can of cold beer, feeling the cold wind. Suddenly, clusters of brilliant fireworks bloomed in front of him, as well as the laughter of children.

Xu Sui appeared on the screen, wearing a red velvet coat with rosy lips and white teeth. The tip of her nose was red from the cold, and her hair was let loose over her shoulders. Fireworks boomed in the sky and turned into seemingly shooting stars. Her long eyelash tail disappeared into her glass bead-like eyes.

Zhou Jingze slowly stood up and unhurriedly said: “Worth it.”