After several games, no one was more immersed and emotionally invested than Zhou Ji.
He thought it was so much fun!
In the final round, he swore to be the last person hiding. He ran wildly all the way and found a hidden spot below the embankment. He didn’t know how long he waited, but no one found him. This made him feel even more accomplished. Indeed, someone like him could excel in any game he played.
Among the three “seekers” in this round, one of them was Ning Zhiyu.
She truly lived up to her reputation as a top student. She found most of the people. Even in the context of playing games, she demonstrated her top scorer side—meticulous thinking and unwavering determination. Even when the other two were tired and sat on the ground, refusing to find Zhou Ji, she pursed her lips and continued, analyzing Zhou Ji’s personality to deduce where he might be hiding.
Hard work pays off.
Ning Zhiyu found Zhou Ji, who was nearly numb from crouching, near the water beach below the embankment.
Ning Zhiyu : “…”
Well, it must be admitted that throughout the entire game, only she played with him with the utmost seriousness and immersion.
Zhou Ji : “…”
The two looked at each other, and Ning Zhiyu couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into laughter.
They were indeed a little childish.
Zhou Ji also felt somewhat embarrassed. He lowered his head to look at other things, and to his surprise, he discovered a small crab!
He was somewhat astonished and squatted down, reaching out to poke the little crab. The crab was especially small, small enough to be squashed with just one hand.
“Look, there’s a crab,” he said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
Ning Zhiyu couldn’t help but smile wryly and said, “It’s quite common.”
Zhou Ji nodded. The crab was too small, with even its pincers being soft, so it couldn’t really pose any threat. “I’ll take it back with me.”
Does that mean he wants to keep it as a pet?
Ning Zhiyu had never seen someone like this before… Well, someone a bit simple-minded.
She reminded him, “It probably won’t live for very long, and it would prefer to stay here.”
Zhou Ji: “.”
He poked the little crab again and said, “Alright, you have the final say.” Then he muttered to himself, “If I had known Ningcheng was this fun, I would have come here earlier.”
Ning Zhiyu could only remain silent.
People are like this. He came from Yanjing and thinks Ningcheng is great. He wants to stay here all the time. But she was born and raised in Ningcheng, yet she wants to leave all the time.
During a game of hide-and-seek, Yan Qing noticed that Zhou Ji’s gaze towards Ning Zhiyu became more obvious.
She secretly complained to Sun Mengting and Jiang Yumo, “Can’t you see it? Zhou Ji’s eyes towards Zhiyu are so flirtatious, like he’s obsessed.”
Sun Mengting lowered her voice, “Then what do you think about Brother Duan’s gaze towards Yuno?”
Jiang Yumo thought, Why is the topic back to me again?
Yan Qing glanced at Jiang Yumo and said, “Well, Brother Duan Ge is better. He’s different from Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji is obvious, like a child’s infatuation. But Brother Duan, he keeps holding back, as if he has a switch on him. If Yumo presses it one day… tsk tsk, it’ll be amazing! It would scare our Yumo!”
Jiang Yumo said with a sinister tone, “No R-18 content allowed!”
Sun Mengting, seemingly ignoring Jiang Yumo’s warning, touched her chin and asked, “So, where do you think Brother Duan’s switch is?”
Yan Qing chuckled, “Well, how would we know? We can only let Yumo give it a try.”
She added, “Or maybe not just try, but ignite it.”
Jiang Yumo realized that fighting around with them now had little effect. When hearing these words, the most effective counterattack was to turn around and leave.
Today was a very enjoyable day.
After returning home, Jiang Yumo didn’t forget to post on Weibo:
@Xiao_Jiang’s_High_School_Life_Journal : [I watched a very exciting basketball game, and the sauce chicken was really delicious! Today is a very memorable day. We are all so happy and even played hide-and-seek like we did when we were young. I really hope we can always be this good. Oh, by the way, we also have a ten-year promise!]
After a while, someone was the first to like her post.
It was Traveler.
Traveler : [Sauce chicken? Is it tasty?]
Jiang Yumo : [It’s really good! Good quality and affordable. I can eat two bowls of rice with that sauce chicken!!]
Traveler then messaged her privately: [Did you come to First High today?]
Jiang Yumo noticed the use of ‘come’ and was slightly surprised, but then suddenly realized: [Are you from First High?]
In fact, she had gotten used to not thinking too much about unrelated things.
She always feels that this is just a mistaken online friend, not a real-life friend, so she wouldn’t inquire about other people’s affairs, let alone speculate on what school they attend…
Because there is simply no intersection in real life…
Traveler : [Yes, so you’re from Fifth High.]
Jiang Yumo realizes that this topic is somewhat dangerous.
Is the next step to exchange each other’s information?
No, no.
It feels so awkward!
Her emotions are contradictory. She likes to occasionally share negative emotions with Traveler, but there is a premise for that—they must not know each other… She is not very willing to turn online friends into real-life friends, especially since she already has friends in real life.
Online friends are online friends, and real life friends are real life friends. Virtual and reality should be kept separate.
Jiang Yumo : [Yes, it’s getting late now. I’ll go to sleep first! Bye-bye~]
Traveler : [Yeah, good night.]
In December, Ningcheng also entered winter.
Jiang Yumo’s life is still the same. She has even become accustomed to the high-intensity training and studying. Christmas is approaching, and classmates will exchange holiday gifts with each other. Not to mention Jiang Yumo’s relationship with Duan Ye. It’s rare for her to have a whole day free without evening self-study or dance training. She goes shopping at the boutique store she hadn’t visited for a long time with her friends, but she’s still worried about what gift to give Duan Ye for Christmas.
She believes that he will definitely prepare a gift for her.
So, of course, she should also give him a gift.
She can’t just let him make all the effort.
Nowadays, among female students, it’s popular to knit scarves or embroider cross-stitch. Yan Qing is feeling nostalgic, saying, “I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting old, but when I see junior and senior high school girls knitting scarves during break time, I find it so childish… I must be getting old! Anyway, in this lifetime, I can knit scarves for my best friend, but for a man, he must’ve been dreaming!”
Sun Mengting took a cross-stitched pillow and studied it.
The three of them have been good friends for many years. Even if one person doesn’t say it, the other person can understand their thoughts. Jiang Yumo snatched the cross-stitched pillow from Sun Mengting’s hand, put it under her feet, and then put it back on the shelf before saying seriously, “Let’s forget about cross-stitch! It takes too much time and I won’t be able to finish it even if I embroider for a year. I can’t make things difficult for myself! Besides, if my mom finds out that I’m knitting a scarf or doing cross-stitch now, she’ll kill me.”
Yan Qing also nodded, “Indeed, you’re about to take the art entrance exam. You can’t let this distract you.”
Jiang Yumo added, “Let’s think about it some more. We still have a week, we’ll definitely come up with a better idea.”
It’s unknown whether it’s to encourage Jiang Yumo or not, but on this day, the Jiang family of three went to Jiang Yumo’s Uncle’s house for dinner. Mother Jiang also announced a piece of great news. After several months of observation and visits with Jiang Yumo’s Aunt, the two of them finally settled on a new house and paid the deposit. They were just waiting for the bank to approve the loan.
Jiang Yumo was shocked and said, “Mom, didn’t you say we didn’t have money at home?”
She thought buying a house was definitely out of the question. Although she felt regretful for not being able to catch up with the trend, she had fully accepted it. After all, she couldn’t burden her parents with huge debts just to buy a house, right?
Little did she know that things had taken a turn. Her mother had already settled on a house?
Her Mom glared at her and said, “Why are you, a little child, worrying about all these things!”
Her Aunt smiled and said, “Momo, your parents bought the house for you. Your mother and I bought houses in the same neighborhood but different buildings. From now on, you and your Brother will look after each other. Isn’t that great?”
Jiang Yumo : “Ah!”
She still couldn’t react.
Her Mom just… bought a house??
When she finally came back to her senses, she was so happy! Her family had bought a house!!
Her Aunt continued to smile and said, “It will be convenient for you to stay and work in the provincial capital in the future. At least you won’t have to go out and rent a house, and it will be safe there. Momo, don’t let your parents’ efforts go to waste. They did it all for you.”
Jiang Yumo also knows that this house is not a bargain at the vegetable market.
Currently, compared to the future, the housing prices are indeed relatively cheap. However, in the face of housing prices, her parents’ salaries are not considered high. If they want to buy a house, they will undoubtedly have to empty their savings.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to be happy or not.
According to what she heard, they would also have to take a loan from the bank and repay the mortgage every month.
How much pressure is there on her parents!
With this mindset, Jiang Yumo was called out by her cousin, Chen Shuhang. They were similar in age, one in her final year of high school and the other in his first year of college. They had many common topics. At this moment, both of them shared the same mood. Having a new house naturally made them very happy, but it also emptied all of their parents’ savings and temporarily burdened their parents with mortgage repayments. This joy was greatly diminished, replaced by a heavy psychological burden.
Chen Shuhang sighed but still comforted Jiang Yumo, “I found a part-time job recently and earned some pocket money. I’ll buy you some snacks. Don’t be polite with your Brother. Take whatever you want to eat.”
Jiang Yumo looked at him and asked, “Did you already find a part-time job?”
Chen Shuhang nodded and said, “That’s what I thought. They have done their best to buy the house for me, and I can’t contribute much to the mortgage at the moment. So, I’ll try to earn my own living expenses in the future and lighten their burden a little.”
“Well, when I go to college, I’ll also earn my own money,” Jiang Yumo said.
Chen Shuhang smiled and gently patted her head. “Great, you have ambition. I’m quite happy about it. We’ll be in the same neighborhood in the future, so I can take care of you.”
Although they were not biological siblings, only cousins, the two of them were both only children. They grew up together since childhood, so there wasn’t much difference from being real siblings.
Jiang Yumo’s mood came and went quickly. Regardless, buying a house was a good outcome. She believed that with her Mom and Aunt’s careful and shrewdness, they must have chosen a good community. In the original work, housing prices indeed skyrocketed, and many people regretted not buying houses… So, happily, she followed Chen Shuhang to the supermarket to buy snacks.
Thank you for translation!
I really like this. It’s such a relaxing read. No magical fix all and unrealistic changes/ miracles brought about just because of a dream of the future. A very nice feeling of just taking life one day at a time.