Still worried that Yan Heng wouldn't be able to catch her, Zhu Yaya quickly finished pasting the banner. She tilted her head back and forth to check it a few times, and deciding it wasn't crooked, she told Yan Heng to let her down.
Zhu Yaya's feet returned to the ground. Before she could steady herself, her body swayed slightly, one hand still tightly gripping Yan Heng's arm. Their bodies were quite close to each other.
A rosy blush crept up Zhu Yaya's cheeks. She didn't look up at Yan Heng, but kept her head down, staring at the tips of her toes. "Thank you!" she said softly.
Even though they were just in this small hallway, a place she saw every single day, Zhu Yaya felt as if she had just arrived here for the first time.
Just as Zhu Yaya's heart was fluttering, Zhu Jianjun's booming voice rang out--
"Yabao, Yan Heng, come and eat!"
Crack!
Zhu Yaya heard the sound of something shattering in her heart. Resignedly, she let go of Yan Heng's arm.
"It's fine, let's go eat," Yan Heng's voice came from above Zhu Yaya's head.
To hide her recent emotions, Zhu Yaya deliberately shouted in a gruff voice, "Let's go, let's go, time to chow down." She even gave Yan Heng, who was standing at the door with her, a tug.
In Zhu Yaya's home, New Year's Eve lunch was just a warm-up; the real main event was the New Year's Eve dinner at night.
Zhu Jianjun saved all his signature dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner, spending the entire afternoon cooped up in the kitchen. The savory aroma of the food wafted from the kitchen into the living room.
Zhu Yaya could smell the mingled aromas of potato and beef brisket stew, spicy hot pot, and braised prawns.
Eventually, she got so hungry that she kept hovering around the kitchen, occasionally reaching out a sinful hand to pinch a bit of food and pop it into her mouth. Later, caught red-handed by Zhu Jianjun, Zhu Yaya was kicked out of the kitchen.
However, Zhu Jianjun was a jinx. After working so hard for so long, right when the New Year's Eve dinner was finished, he received a call saying there was an emergency in the West District and he needed to head over.
Zhu Jianjun hastily shoveled a large mouthful of rice into his mouth while on the phone. After hanging up, he ate a few more bites of food and then left in a hurry. He barely got to eat a few bites of the grand feast he had worked so hard to prepare.
Zhao Jing, on the other hand, stayed to eat the New Year's Eve dinner with Zhu Yaya and Yan Heng. At the dining table, she kept urging Yan Heng to eat more. After dinner, Zhao Jing stuffed a red envelope into both of their hands and looked at Zhu Yaya a bit apologetically.
Zhu Yaya understood immediately; something must have come up with Zhao Jing's work. "Mom, go ahead and do your work!"
Zhao Jing stroked Zhu Yaya's hair. "I'm sorry, Yabao. Mom was originally going to keep you company, but I have a colleague whose hometown is out of the province, so I'm covering her night shifts for the next few days during the New Year."
She then turned to Yan Heng and said, "I'm sorry, Yan Heng. Your uncle and I couldn't host you properly. Just let Yabao keep you company and have fun!"
After Zhao Jing left, Zhu Yaya said somewhat wistfully, "It's a good thing you're still here, otherwise I'd be the only one left at home."
Yan Heng pressed his thin lips tightly together and placed a hand on Zhu Yaya's shoulder, signaling that he was still there for her.
"Uncle Zhu and Aunt Zhao are both incredible people," Yan Heng tried hard to comfort Zhu Yaya.
Zhu Yaya saw through his clumsiness and smiled at him. "I know, I'm fine, I was just saying it casually. By the way, what time is it now?"
Yan Heng glanced at the wall clock. "It's nine o'clock."
Nine o'clock!
The mission seemed to require them to be at the Times Square in the East District by ten-thirty. There wasn't anything fun to do at home right now anyway, and the Spring Festival Gala was getting more and more boring.
Might as well head over early!
Zhu Yaya immediately plastered a bright smile on her face and asked attentively, "Yan Heng, do you feel bored?"
Yan Heng half-lowered his eyes, looking down at Zhu Yaya's attentive smile. He mused inwardly, perhaps she was worried she hadn't hosted him well. Thus, he slowly spoke, "No."
One side of Zhu Yaya's smiling mouth drooped.
Catching sight of this, Yan Heng pondered for a moment and said to Zhu Yaya in a soothing tone, "Sitting here quietly and watching TV isn't a bad idea either."
Since Yan Heng had said so, what else could she say?
Zhu Yaya forced a smile. "Okay."
The two of them sat by the TV and watched the Spring Festival Gala.
As for the content of the Spring Festival Gala, to borrow a phrase from Lu Xun's character, the Nine-Catty Old Woman: "Each generation is worse than the last!"
Only this year's comedy sketches were pretty good.
Comedy sketches, of course, were most interesting when watched with everyone! But the problem was that a cold-natured person like Yan Heng was sitting next to her, watching it with her.
Whenever Zhu Yaya was so amused by the sketches that she couldn't stop laughing, Yan Heng just sat there in silence, completely expressionless. Her own unhinged laughter echoed throughout the entire house. It wasn't a big deal at first, but later, when she realized she was the only one laughing, and her laugh sounded so unhinged, it felt increasingly awkward. Zhu Yaya lost her desire to laugh.
Yan Heng even asked Zhu Yaya, "Why aren't you laughing anymore?"
Uh, how was she supposed to answer that?
Hugging a throw pillow on the sofa, Zhu Yaya buried her face in it and decided to just tell the truth. "It's so awkward laughing out loud all by myself! Plus, my laugh doesn't sound very nice."
"Then I'll laugh out loud with you."
Zhu Yaya looked up in astonishment at Yan Heng sitting next to her.
Noticing Zhu Yaya's gaze, Yan Heng felt a bit embarrassed and turned his head slightly to the side, revealing slightly reddened ear tips. "Ha, ha, ha..."
He was really laughing with Zhu Yaya. His face held a forced aloofness, while his mouth let out a mechanical laughter, pausing between each syllable, like a glitching robot or an AI executing its master's command to laugh out loud.
Before Zhu Yaya could even turn her eyes back to the TV screen, she was tickled pink by Yan Heng's demeanor and strange laughter. Hugging the small throw pillow, she tumbled onto the other side of the sofa, completely forgetting about maintaining her image in front of her crush. She let out a laugh identical to Xiaoyue from the Magic Castle, laughing until her stomach hurt. Yet, her heart felt soft, as if she were hugging a squishy little puppy.
The redness on the tips of Yan Heng's ears gradually spread all over them, but he continued to let out his mechanical laughter.
"Oh my, I'm dying of laughter, hahaha, I hahaha, I can't stop. Hahaha..." Zhu Yaya hugged the small pillow, rocking back and forth with laughter.
Yan Heng protected her with his left hand, afraid she would laugh so hard she'd fall off the sofa; his right hand formed a fist and was placed against his lips as he let out a soft, disguising cough. His ears were so red they looked ready to bleed.
"Hahaha, my, my stomach, my stomach hurts from laughing, hahaha, Yan, Yan Heng, hahaha, how can you be so, so, haha..."
Zhu Yaya kept swaying back and forth, and finally, her body tilted, falling right into Yan Heng's arms. Her eyes were brimming with tears from her uninhibited laughter, making them sparkle brightly. With her sweet little dimples showing, she looked at Yan Heng and said, "Yan Heng, how can you be so cute!"
Yan Heng looked down into her eyes, which seemed to hold the brilliance of a thousand stars and the clear light of the moon, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
