Guo Jingyu handed him a few small gifts and sat there watching as he opened them. Inside the box were some books and game discs that Li Tongzhou liked, these not-so-valuable little trinkets. There was also a sports watch, as Guo Jingyu had bought a pair, and they wore them together.
Li Tongzhou was most interested in the game disc, so he took it and looked at it for a while. Guo Jingyu said, “This is a new release. Let’s play it together during the winter break.”
Li Tongzhou nodded in agreement and seemed to be in a good mood.
Guo Jingyu’s birthday and Li Tongzhou were close. It just a few days apart.
Guo Jingyu loved lively gatherings. In advance, he had already arranged a nice place for a meal with many good friends. He even chipped in with He Xiangyang and others to book a KTV room, where they sent a cake and had a lively celebration.
Standing on the stage, Guo Jingyu sang a song with a gentle melody, a smile playing on his lips as he kept his eyes on the person sitting in the corner.
Li Tongzhou sat in the corner of the private room, also looking up at him. His eyes only had Guo Jingyu.
After the event ended, Guo Jingyu brushed off other invitations, taking only Li Tongzhou to the street near the school. He pestered him in getting him to take photo booth pictures together, wanting a memento of their time.
The photo booth was tiny, requiring the two of them to squeeze together for a complete shot. Li Tongzhou, unfamiliar with this type of photo, initially kept moving backward. But Guo Jingyu grabbed him, refusing to let him escape. “Hey, don’t move. It’s my birthday today, and I’m the boss. You have to listen to me!”
As expected, Li Tongzhou stayed still.
Guo Jingyu leaned in a bit, pressing the capture button. Suddenly, just a second before the photo was taken, he moved in and planted a kiss on Li Tongzhou’s cheek.
The flash “click” echoed, leaving Li Tongzhou momentarily unsure whether to be surprised by the photo or the unexpected kiss. He turned to look at Guo Jingyu, who tilted his head up, still smiling. Their noses brushed, and then, at the corner of Li Tongzhou’s lips, another gentle kiss landed. “My self-delivered birthday gift,” he said with a grin.
Li Tongzhou looked at him and whispered, “I prepared other gifts.”
Guo Jingyu responded, “Those aren’t good enough. I just want you.”
As he observed the blush on the person beside him, a sense of satisfaction welled up in his heart. Li Tongzhou liked him, and he liked Li Tongzhou too. It really felt amazing.
After getting the photos, Guo Jingyu searched for Li Tongzhou’s solo shots for quite a while, claiming all of those for himself. “These are mine now. Let’s split the rest in half.”
Li Tongzhou took their group photo, carefully taking half and placing it into his wallet.
Guo Jingyu playfully leaned in to take a look and noticed that Li Tongzhou didn’t use the cheek-kissing photo. Instead, he had placed only one of Guo Jingyu’s solo shots in his wallet. Guo Jingyu teased him, “Was the kiss not good just now? Let’s try another one?”
Li Tongzhou held his hand, placing it near his lips and gave it a gentle peck, as if pacifying a mischievous child. Guo Jingyu inexplicably blushed for a moment, pulling his hand back, but Li Tongzhou held onto it.
Walking back together side by side, the evening sky already darkened. They were close, and others couldn’t clearly see that they were holding hands as they walked. Li Tongzhou cheerfully said, “I checked, it’s okay to hold hands now.”
“We even kissed just now!” Guo Jingyu added with a playful tone.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Li Tongzhou’s birthday gift was a pair of branded sneakers, which Guo Jingyu wore the very next day. Sure enough, he spotted Li Tongzhou wearing the same pair. He came closer and asked, “Hey, where did you get the money to buy these?”
Li Tongzhou replied, “I won some prize money in a competition.”
Guo Jingyu asked, “More than the scholarship the school gives?”
“Yeah,” Li Tongzhou replied, looking at him. “Do you want it? I’ll give it all to you.”
For some reason, Guo Jingyu suddenly thought of his dad proudly receiving his salary every month. His ears turned slightly red as he responded, “I don’t want it. I have plenty of money. I’ll take care of you.”
Li Tongzhou was quite happy, and his mood stayed pleasant all morning.
Guo Jingyu had classified Li Tongzhou as the “little boyfriend” early in the morning, so there wasn’t anything different, treating Li Tongzhou as usual.
But Li Tongzhou had changed a lot.
He could go through seven or eight pages of practice problems for Guo Jingyu in a day, explaining formulas in various ways. Even the songs he picked now were a series of English songs.
Guo Jingyu playfully teased him, saying that he didn’t like those songs and challenged Li Tongzhou to sing one and record it for him.
True to his word, Li Tongzhou actually delivered it to him the next day.
Guo Jingyu adjusted his earphones, lazily sitting by the easel. He lifted his arm to outline a sketch. In the art studio, almost all the art students had left. They had returned after exams only to head out for further studies. It was said they would be returning after the New Year. Currently, the two small studios in Chengnan were vacant, occupied only by a few science students like Guo Jingyu who were integrated into other classes. He had a classroom all to himself, and was happily relaxing.
Teacher Jin was guiding students in the neighboring room, so Guo Jingyu put on his headphones and started drawing at his own pace.
Li Tongzhou didn’t sing, but he recorded himself reading an English listening comprehension passage. But as Guo Jingyu listened to the serious reading in his headphones, his ears grew warm, and his mind wandered into numerous unspeakable thoughts.
This was the first time he had heard Li Tongzhou speak like this. Listening through the headphones was different from their usual conversations and even distinct from phone calls. He never knew someone reading an English listening comprehension passage could sound so alluring.
Guo Jingyu hadn’t absorbed anything the entire morning. When Li Tongzhou came to find him at noon, he couldn’t resist gesturing for him to come over and playfully stamped a small seal on his hand.
Li Tongzhou was momentarily stunned by Guo Jingyu’s sudden playful gesture, but he quickly caught on, responding with a gentle smile. He playfully brushed his nose against Guo Jingyu’s, exuding an unprecedented level of intimacy.
Guo Jingyu really wanted to give him a kiss but restrained himself.
Li Tongzhou was easily satisfied. As they held hands, he unconsciously rubbed his thumb against the back of Guo Jingyu’s hand and softly asked if he had listened to the recording for school.
Guo Jingyu said, “I listened to it, repeatedly, several times. Li Tongzhou, I suspect your intentions aren’t pure.”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t actually want to date. You just want me to study English.”
Li Tongzhou smiled and said, “I do want to date.”
Every day at noon, Li Tongzhou would come to find Guo Jingyu to have lunch together and occasionally they would run into Song Zhuoran twice.
This time, Song Zhuoran didn’t mimic Guo Jingyu’s way of dressing. But his gaze remained fixed on Guo Jingyu, and several times, he squeezed in to share a meal. Guo Jingyu was wary of him taking advantage of Li Tongzhou, so he took the initiative to strike up a casual conversation with Song Zhuoran, being careful not to say too much. If they spoke too long, Li Tongzhou would also glance over. On this point, the two of them were quite tacit, mutually keeping each other in check.
It wasn’t until the approaching Lunar New Year that Song Zhuoran’s behavior became clear.
Just as the winter break began, Guo Jingyu’s grades weren’t at the bottom for the first time. In addition, Teacher Jin from the art class personally conducted a home visit, praising Guo Jingyu’s artistic talent. This made the Guo family happy, especially Mother Guo, who laughed so much that the corners of her eyes wrinkled. Since Guo Jingyu started elementary school, she hadn’t heard so much praise.
After Teacher Jin’s home visit, Guo Jingyu took the opportunity to suggest going to the provincial capital after the New Year.
Mother Guo immediately agreed, saying, “Sure, your exam scores were good this time. I’ll grant you three days off!”
“One day for the round trip, Mom. Give me one more day, please!” Guo Jingyu added.
“Okay!”
Guo Jingyu happily called Li Tongzhou. Li Tongzhou was also in a tutoring class but managed to adjust his schedule. They agreed to meet on the third day of the Lunar New Year and spend time together until the sixth day before coming back.
At home, Guo Jingyu made plans, creating a chart listing all the activities they wanted to do. When it came to the accommodation section, he thought for a while, then casually circled it, indicating that he would figure it out later.
To be honest, he had entertained a few less-than-serious dreams, all of which involved Li Tongzhou. While he had many ideas in mind, Li Tongzhou was still blissfully ignorant, after all, as they are at an age where simply holding hands could bring joy.
With his plans in place, Guo Jingyu heard the doorbell ring downstairs. Initially, he paid it no mind, but soon his mother called up to him, “Jingyu, Xiaozhou is downstairs, calling for you to come down.”
Guo Jingyu put his jacket down and hurried downstairs, completely unaware that Li Tongzhou would be coming over.
Li Tongzhou wore a thick coat and a scarf. When he saw Guo Jingyu coming down, he took off the scarf and handed it to him. Guo Jingyu shook his head, saying, “I’m not cold. Why are you here?”
Li Tongzhou put the scarf on him and adjusted it. “I want to show you something.”
Guo Jingyu followed him, and they didn’t go far. They ended up in the small garden behind their residential area. Winter was harsh, and few people ventured out for walks in the evening. The dark green holly bushes in the small garden stood proudly under the snow, their deep green contrasting with the white. As they walked, the snow beneath their feet emitted a faint, crunching sound.
Guo Jingyu asked him, “What’s this mysterious thing?”
Li Tongzhou crouched down by the central little artificial hill, rummaging through it. He called Guo Jingyu over and, with a flourish, revealed a fairy wand in his hand. “I’m going to set off fireworks for you to see.”
Guo Jingyu was amused by him. “This isn’t what you call fireworks. This is something little girls play with…”
Li Tongzhou lit each one carefully, showing them to Guo Jingyu. Gradually, Guo Jingyu’s voice quieted down, his gaze fixed on those fireworks. They were small, but each one sparkled brightly, brief but brilliantly shining.
Li Tongzhou set off fireworks for him, then handed him a bag full of snacks. He looked at Guo Jingyu, who was smiling with narrowed eyes, and said, “Jingyu, it’s snowing today. The first snow of the winter. I don’t know why, but I just really missed you.” He reached out and gently ruffled Guo Jingyu’s hair. “So, I came to see you.”
Guo Jingyu suddenly felt a lump in his throat.
He blinked hard to dispel the mist in his eyes and focused on the person before him.
He thought he had covered up the traces of this day with other things. He believed that this first snowfall could only be a beautiful memory hidden in his mind. Li Tongzhou confessed to him under the snow, asking if they could be together…
In a fluster, Li Tongzhou wiped away the tears from Guo Jingyu’s eyes. He didn’t dare to use his fingers, only the back of his hand, saying, “Jingyu, did I say something wrong? I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”
Guo Jingyu shook his head, reaching out to caress Li Tongzhou’s cheek. “Li Tongzhou, were you confessing to me just now?”
A slight blush crept onto Li Tongzhou’s face, but he still nodded.
Guo Jingyu pressed his forehead against Li Tongzhou’s and hoarsely said, “It’s a deal then. You have to stay with me forever. No matter what happens, you can’t break your promise, and you’re not allowed to go anywhere.”
“Okay.”
Li Tongzhou leaned in and gently kissed the corner of his lips, mimicking his earlier actions, giving him the softest of kisses.
The weather was chilly, and snow fell on their shoulders.
Guo Jingyu didn’t mind at all.
Together with Li Tongzhou, they set off the final firework in the snow. Having experienced so many fascinating things, he discovered for the first time just how beautiful a fairy wand could look in hand amid the falling snow.
On the side, Li Tongzhou sat shoulder to shoulder with him, lips curved in a smile, eyes bright. When he looked at him, he would habitually call out his name as if no matter how many times he called, he would never get tired of calling him.
Guo Jingyu was also looking at him.
This was Li Tongzhou, someone who had grown up with him for over a decade, and yet another person he had spent another dozen years unable to forget.
Aaah!!! 😭
They’re so sweet together, and at the same time the bitterness of the last life makes me want to cry every time MC reminisces 🥲