Watg the old woman make the tofu pudding, Deng Haijun blurted out, "Granny, it's getting te. Why are you still out here w? Aren't your family worried?"
Zhuang Zi'ang frowhe fortuelling priest had just said she was a widow living alone. Isn't that like rubbing salt in her wound?
Sure enough, the old woman's expression turned sorrowful. "I don't have any family left."
"I'm sranny. He doesn't know how to talk," Zhuang Zi'ang said, pg ten yuan oall.
Each bowl of tofu pudding cost five yuan. After dedug the cost of ingredients, there wasn't much profit left. If it weren't for the harsh realities of life, who would want to be out here in the cold at this hour, at this age?
The old woman's hands were surprisingly nimble. She quickly prepared two bowls of tofu pudding and hahem over.
Zhuang Zi'ang had ordered the salty version, which was topped with soy sauce, chili oil, chopped scallions, and diced pickled vegetables. He scooped up a spoonful and put it in his mouth.
The tofu pudding was incredibly smooth and tender, practically melting on his tohe chili oil had a unique fragrahat was unfettable.
"It's delicious. Goodbye, Granny," Zhuang Zi'ang said with a smile and a nod.
"Thank you," the old woman replied, carefully putting away the money. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the red string tied around Zhuang Zi'ang's wrist. Her already cloudy eyes seemed to dim even further.
"You really have no filter, do you? Why would y up something so painful for her?" Zhuang Zi'ang pio Deng Haijun after they walked away.
Deng Haijun shrugged sheepishly. "I thought she was in cahoots with that priest, making up stories to scam tourists. But I guess not."
"With your ck of social graces, you'll probably end up dying alone," Zhuang Zi'ang said, uo resist a jab.
"No way. As long as I'm immersed in the o of math and physics, I'll never be lonely," Deng Haijued with a ugh. He pushed the bowl towards Zhuang Zi'ang. "Here, it's too sweet. Want to try?"
Zhuang Zi'ang looked disgusted. "Sweet tofu pudding? Even a dog wouldhat. Get it away from me."
Looking back at the solitary figure of the old woman in the growing darkness, Zhuang Zi'a a pang of sadness. And the priest's cryptic words kept repying in his mind, adding to his growing unease.
Why did I have to go and draw such a terrible fortu was a cssic case of unnecessary trouble, self-inflicted.
Night had pletely fallen. The city's neon lights illumihe sky.
Deng Haijun hailed a taxi to go home. Before parting ways, he said with a determined look, "Zhuang Zi'ang, if you keep indulging in this romantitasy, even if you don't give up on peting with me, you'll soon be no mate."
Zhuang Zi'ang scoffed. "Heh, as long as I'm at this school, you'll never be number one."
"Good. You're a worthy oppo."
"If you want to surpass me, you'll need another hundred years of practice!"
After exging their barbs, they went their separate ways.
Ba his rented room, after feeding his fish, Zhuang Zi'ang y iossing and turning. He picked up his phone and typed out a message to Little Butterfly.
"I had a really delicious bowl of tofu pudding today. Want to go try it sometime?"
He hesitated for a long time, then finally steeled himself and hit send.
Immediately after, he regretted it. What a me excuse for an invitation.
As usual, there was no reply.
The m, Zhuang Zi'ang woke up and immediately reached for his phone, only to be met with disappoi.
Still no reply from Little Butterfly.
This was unusual. She always replied to his messages before he even woke up. She had said she would reply as soon as she saw it.
So she hasn't seen it yet. Maybe her phone's dead or she's out of credit.
The m and afternoon exams went smoothly, as expected. Zhuang Zi'ang once again wrote "Su Yudiel" in the sealed se of his answer sheets. He figured that if he got first p the grade using Little Butterfly's name, he could finally track down her css. Surely someone in such a big school would reize her.
After the exams, there were twur school days. The teachers were busy grading the papers, and the results were expected to be released the following Monday.
Zhuang Zi'ang didn't take off the red string, even after the exams were over. The peach blossoms orees had all been blown away by the spring wind ht. Only the fragran this red string lingered.
Over the wo days, Zhuang Zi'ang must have looked at that message hundreds of times, but there was still no reply from Little Butterfly. It was as if she had vanished from his world without a trace.
On Friday m, during math css, Zhuang Zi'ang suddenly got another nosebleed. Large drops of blood spttered onto the front page of his math textbook, staining it crimson.
Li Huangxuan was shocked and quickly helped him to the bathroom, even to take him to the infirmary.
"Son, what's wrong with you? Don't scare your dad like this."
Zhuang Zi'ang forced a weak smile. "I'm fine. I've just beeing too well these past few days. It's just a little too muternal heat."
Li Huangxualy punched him in the chest. "We're practically father and son, don't keep things from me. No matter what it is, I'll help you through it."
"Okay, okay. With all this blood, do you think I'm dying?" Zhuang Zi'ang tio joke.
"Then die quickly. I'll be the one sending you off. Do you prefer a flip-top or a slide-top coffin?" Li Huangxuan quipped back with a grin.
Little did he know that the truth is often spoken i.
"By the way, what about your Little Butterfly? I haven't seen her around these past few days," Li Huangxuan suddenly remembered.
"She, uh, she had something e up. She took a leave of absence," Zhuang Zi'ang said, his expression turning somber.
"Well, you two are really two peas in a pod, both taking time off every other day," Li Huangxuan teased.
Zhuang Zi'ang used a wad of tissue to plug his nose, finally stopping the bleeding. There were still twenty minutes left until the end of css.
Having escaped the clutches of Extin, their math teacher, he certainly didn't want to go back early.
Li Huangxuan raised an eyebrow. "y a round?"
Zhuang Zi'ang grinned. "Let's do it. But no banning Zhuang Zhou."
Li Huangxuan had only suggested it casually. He figured Zhuang Zi'ang, being his usual uptight self, would refuse and drag him back to css. He never anticipated that this straight-ced, goody-two-shoes would actually stoop to this level.
The two of them logged into the game and started a duo queue.
Time is a funny thing. A 45-mih css could feel like ay, an absolute torture. But that same amount of time could fly by in the blink of an eye when pying a couple of rounds of a mobile game.
The two teenagers huddled in a er of the bathroom, engrossed in their game. Zhuang Zi'ang's gaming skills were atrocious, earning him a thh scolding from Li Huangxuan.
"Why is your butterfly flying all over the pce? You used your first skill in the wrong dire."
"I'm taking the red buff, why did you e over here? You stole it with your sed skill."
"Ult, I'm rooted by the bird, use your ult quickly."
...
Zhuang Zi'ang's eyes were glued to the s, diligently trolling his hero, Zhuang Zhou, who rode a giant fish. He might have been a terrible pyer, but he was having fun.
He khat opportuo py games with Li Huangxuan like this would be few and far between from now on.
"Team fight's about to start. Listen to my ands. Use your ult when I tell you to," Li Huangxuan said, his expression tense, as if fag a formidable enemy.
Seeing the enemy Guiguzi initiate the fight, he immediately yelled, "Ult!"
Just as he shouted, there was a loud bang from beside him.
The bathroom door was forcefully pushed open, revealing Zhang Zhiyuan's furious face.
Li Huangxuan, who was leaning against the wall, trembled in fear. "Z... Mr. Zhang, you were ihe whole time?"
Zhang Zhiyuan snatched his phone. "Pying games during css time? Phone fiscated. Go bad write a self-criticism essay."
With that, he adjusted his belt a.
"We were both pying. Why didn't he fiscate your phooo?" Li Huangxuan pined indignantly.
Zhuang Zi'ang just shook his head, bewildered.
On the s, Zhuang Zhou, now without a pyer trolling him, was quickly killed, uttering his death line:
"Ugh, it's time to wake up!"
