CH 52.1

—“Li Wei, look. There are fireworks on the coast. It’s beautiful.”

Under the darkness, the silent sea, the luxury villa area halfway up the mountain, the fork road covered with snow, the girl pulled on the youth’s sleeve and looked up at him.

The huge fireworks behind them were gorgeous and bold. It was like the first firework turned on a switch, and gradually more fireworks bloomed at the same time. It lit up half of N City’s sky.

People came out of their homes and stood outside to watch the fireworks.

This was the highest place in N City. It was close to the sea, and had an open view. It was probably the best place to watch fireworks.

The youth looked down at the girl in front of him.

He had not seen her for a long time. She looked like she had lost some weight.

Her white cheeks were red at this moment, and there was sweat on her neck. When she talked to him, she was still slightly panting from exhaustion.

There was a lot of dirt on her canvas shoes. She probably cuffed her pants to make it easier to walk. It exposed her thin ankles during this harsh winter.

She raised her head. The tears staining her entire small face looked dirty. But the eyes looking at him right now were full of light.

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The youth struggled to hold the bag in his hand. Emotions surged in his heart.

At first, he thought he couldn’t endure it anymore and had a hallucination of her. So just now, he stood behind her and carefully observed her for a long time.

Truthfully, after so many days, he could still differentiate between reality and fantasy. Before his eyes, he could see all the little features of the girl with long fluttering hair. She was his Man Man. She was not a fake.

The ice in his heart suddenly shattered.

That’s why it was said that human beings were greedy. His first reaction was bliss.

His Man Man. She came to find him. She found this place by herself. She found the curled up broken body he was hiding in.

She didn’t blame him or curse at him. She told him to watch the fireworks.

She did not look like she had been anxiously looking for him for many days and did not have a breakdown again when she finally met him. She was calm, as if she had arranged this meeting yesterday.

His heart, which had been numb for so many days, suddenly began to beat intensely. His Adam’s apple rolled up and down. He even tasted the dried blood from his cracked lips.

His emotions were exploding along with the fireworks. At this moment, he suddenly did not want to pretend.

As for everything else, they could discuss it after watching the fireworks.

In a few days, he was going to be unable to persevere.

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“Okay, Man Man. Let’s watch the fireworks.”

…

The grand firework display lasted for half an hour. It had all kinds of colors and patterns, and the golden sparkles were like a meteor shower.

If they looked down from the mountain, they could vaguely see that there were many people gathered at the coast. The people were celebrating the end of the year with fireworks.

It was a dreamy and gorgeous scene that would be hard to see ten years later since many cities began to ban fireworks and firecrackers.

Zhang Man tightly held the youth’s sleeve. She leaned against the swing in the yard and listened to the loud sound of fireworks booming. She had a huge silent smile.

She had found him. She knew she would find him.

…

After the fireworks, Zhang Man followed him to the door.

She wanted to hold his hand, but he avoided—he changed which hand was holding things so that the hand close to her would not be held by her.

Zhang Man gritted her teeth and stood at the door. She waited for him to take the key out to open the door.

After entering the door and throught he entryway, there was a huge and spacious living room. An enormous crystal chandelier lit up with a click when the switch was pressed. The bright light shined from the ceiling and illuminated the entire space in a flash.

It was different from the luxurious and refined features outside. The villa was very empty. It was even empiter than his apartment. In the living room where they had just entered, everything was covered with a white cloth except for a single sofa. No one had used any of the furniture for about ten years.

The villa’s ceiling was very high, which made the whole space seem empty and big.

The youth took off his shoes and stood on the snow-white tiles. He handed her the only pair of clean slippers that could be worn.

From the moment he first spoke to her, he never spoke to her again, nor looked at her.

He neither refused nor accepted.

She didn’t know what he was thinking.

Zhang Man put on the slippers and walked with him.

He might not have wanted to understand it yet.

She had to give him time.

But Zhang Man knew that many things could not be like before. She would give him complete freedom and let him do what he wanted. This time, she didn’t care if he wanted to understand or not, she would never leave him.

“Man Man, are you hungry? I’ll cook some noodles.”

The youth took out a large bag of instant noodles from the bag he had been carrying. He tore open the bag and took out two small packets. Then, he looked at her.

The tone was not very warm, but not distant.

It was like he was welcoming a guest from afar.

Zhang Man listened to his tone and suddenly became angry.

The tranquil atmosphere of their reunion seemed to be carried away by the roaring sea breeze as the fireworks ended.

After looking for him for so many days, even if she knew that he was ill, even if she knew that he was forgiveable, and even if she knew his point of view, all of this might be for her own good.

But, how could she not have complaints?

She replied stiffly, “Well, I’ve been looking for you for several days. Today, I walked for two hours to go up the mountain. I’m very hungry. Do you have eggs and ham? I want to add an egg and ham.”

After listening to her, he froze.

The air was silent for a long time.

“No, I’ll go buy it…”

As he spoke, he put the things on the table of the dining room and wanted to go to the entryway.

He really intended to go out.

Zhang Man grabbed his sleeve and remarked in a sarcastic voice, “So you were going to eat instant noodles to celebrate the New Year?”

When she said that, the youth looked surprised.

Zhang Man was angry and bitter at the bottom of her heart. He didn’t even realize that today was the start of the new year.

He didn’t even know it was New Year’s Day.