Chapter 24 Part 3

Fang Nianchen wore a long black down jacket with a ring of fluffy fur around the hood. With the hood up, she looked like a snow monster as she struggled to raise her hand and wave at Tao Zhixing. “You head home first and wait for me.”

“Don’t worry about me, have fun.” Tao Zhixing waved back, rubbing her frozen-red nose tip, suddenly feeling a bit pitiful herself.

Yu Wan had picked a theater three kilometers from school—a fair midpoint between their homes.

Naturally, Fang Nianchen didn’t want to ruin the mood by mentioning she actually had to rush from school five kilometers from home, tripling her travel time.

But she had no complaints. Instead, she was secretly pleased that she hadn’t made Senior Yu travel too far.

Out of the subway station, rose vendors lined the streets. Plenty of couples stopped to buy, soon paying the price of love. Seeing the happy smiles on faces clutching roses, Fang Nianchen felt drawn in.

If she could, she wished she could give Yu Wan a rose too.

Just one—not too many, not too few—from her.

But she had no right, and she didn’t dare risk exposing her carefully hidden feelings with a single rose.

Hands in pockets, she hurried on.

At the theater, she spotted Yu Wan from afar in her white cashmere sweater, standing out clearly.

Fang Nianchen’s heart pounded as she jogged up to her side.

Yu Wan was checking her phone, startled by the sudden approach and jumped.

Recognizing her, she relaxed with a smile. “You’re here.”

“Wait long?” Fang Nianchen eyed her light outfit with concern. “Aren’t you cold in so little?”

The weather was freezing enough for her down jacket, but Yu Wan’s clothes looked thin, her hands tucked into her sleeves—not warm at all.

“I just got here too. The mall’s pretty warm inside.” Yu Wan had already gotten the tickets and handed one over. “Sorry, calling you out for a movie in this cold.”

Sure enough, Yu Wan said nothing about Valentine’s Day, just mentioned the weather being cold.

Fang Nianchen touched the scarf around her neck and shook her head. “No big deal, I wasn’t doing anything anyway.”

“Xiao Ning’s out playing with her boyfriend.” Yu Wan tossed out the line out of nowhere.

Xiao Ning’an was busy with her boyfriend today, already posting several lovey-dovey updates on her Moments. Fang Nianchen had seen them and liked them.

Hearing Yu Wan bring it up out of the blue, Fang Nianchen blinked, unsure how to respond.

“I thought you’d be out with a boyfriend too.”

Fang Nianchen was allergic to certain phrases.

Boyfriend by itself was fine, but strung together like that, it made her frown.

She forced a neutral expression. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Yu Wan nodded lightly. “I see…”

The festive atmosphere permeated everywhere, and the theater was ground zero—especially the evening show, packed with rowdy crowds of couples as far as the eye could see.

Just standing there felt like being surrounded by couples. She knew Yu Wan must sense the weirdness around them but hoped she wouldn’t mention it.

Fang Nianchen’s face grew hotter, fidgeting uncomfortably, just waiting for check-in to start.

Yu Wan kept glancing at her phone, her expression grave—not like someone out to relax.

After a bit, she put it down and asked, “Does your family… force you into blind dates or anything?”

The topic came out of nowhere, but thanks to the Valentine’s Day excuse, it felt a bit more reasonable.

It was unclear if she was using this to confirm something, but Fang Nianchen’s heart started racing unconsciously. “They mentioned it once, but since I’m still in school, they didn’t bring it up again. And I haven’t come of age yet.”

“That’s true… you’re still young.” Yu Wan’s smile was full of helplessness. “Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

Just as the words fell, the announcement for ticket checking rang out. People had already crowded at the entrance long ago; one might think getting in first meant free movie tickets.

Feeling there was no need to squeeze, Fang Nianchen voluntarily stepped back.

With the long line and so close to the ticket counter, the sweet, grainy aroma wafted over. Fang Nianchen noticed everyone in front holding super-large buckets of popcorn, while she and Yu Wan had empty hands, making them look a bit stingy.

So she asked, “Do you want popcorn?”

“No need, right? I don’t really like sweet things.” After saying that, Yu Wan worried she might want some. “If you like it, go ahead and buy some. The movie’s pretty long—two hours.”

“Then never mind, I don’t really like it either.” Fang Nianchen had never bought popcorn at movies since she was little. For one, the crunching sound was annoying, and for another, sticky fingers afterward felt gross.

Plus, such a massive bucket might not even get finished.

Taking it home, she wouldn’t want to eat it, and throwing it away felt wasteful. The best way was not to buy it and let it become someone else’s burden.

After entering, they quickly found their seats using the flashlight light. Both had excellent manners—no exchange of words throughout the entire movie.

The film was overall passable: the funny parts drew knowing smiles, and the atmosphere stayed light and pleasant all the way.

But when the touching segment at the end appeared, the whole theater fell eerily silent, as if everyone was infected by the sad mood. Faint sobs from the audience could be heard.

Unfortunately, Fang Nianchen’s eyes suddenly felt itchy right then. The discomfort made her want to scratch, but she feared Yu Wan would misunderstand her as crying, leaving an impression of a crybaby, which would be mortifying.

She endured it again and again, her brows furrowing in discomfort—not moved at all by the tearjerking plot.

In that moment, she became the most heartless woman in the world.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of tissue packaging being torn open beside her. Stunned, Fang Nianchen turned her head and saw that Yu Wan seemed to have cried too, gently dabbing at the corner of her eye with a tissue.

Yu Wan’s tears were like a silent lament, an extremely infectious way of crying. A beauty’s tears always stirred pity in people’s hearts—even someone as thin-skinned as Fang Nianchen, whose face could break at a blow, steeled herself to watch a little longer.

A few seconds later, Yu Wan glanced at her casually and handed over a tissue without saying a word.

Fang Nianchen immediately froze.

She wouldn’t think I was crying too, would she?

With the atmosphere like this, she didn’t want to waste Yu Wan’s kindness, so she silently took the tissue. Mimicking the audience who had already bawled their eyes out, she brushed it over her dry eyes and then balled it up in her palm.

The last ten-plus minutes before the film ended were all emotional manipulation; the sounds of sniffling never stopped, and some even buried themselves in their boyfriend’s neck, sobbing.

Fang Nianchen’s acting talent was awakened in that moment.

She periodically dabbed at her eyes with that bone-dry tissue ball, just to make herself look like a person with empathy.

When the lights came on at the end of the film, her eye corners were actually a bit red from the rubbing.

Yu Wan swallowed, then let out a breath, considerately asking her, “Were you crying?”

Fang Nianchen felt lying outright would bring thunder down on her, but faking the action wouldn’t.

Her mouth corners tugged downward, and she nodded.

After the movie, it was already pitch black outside. Aside from having to pretend to be fragile, the viewing experience was still pretty good.

The two walked side by side toward the subway station, chatting occasionally about the plot, so it wasn’t awkward.

Speaking of the unexpected ending, Yu Wan couldn’t help sighing, “Their screenwriters are really talented to write such a touching plot.”

“Oh, yeah, pretty impressive.”

“But this is the first time I’ve seen you cry.”

Fang Nianchen told the truth, “Yeah… maybe my tear threshold is pretty high?”

“Come on, why do you always like pretending to be mature?” Yu Wan teased her.

Hearing her speak in such a lively tone for the first time, Fang Nianchen was a bit surprised and stood there dazed, forgetting to retort about being called “pretending to be mature.”

But the plot really wasn’t anything to cry over.

Halfway there, snowflakes began drifting down from the sky, sparkling under the lights.

Not the first snow, yet pure and biting.

Fragile things always made people reluctant to disturb them—even a tiny snowflake could halt one’s steps.

Unknowingly, Fang Nianchen stopped, tilting her head up to watch the swirling snowflakes. It really seemed like an exceptionally special day; even the snow fell as if vying for credit.

Yu Wan was walking ahead, with some distance between them. A gust of strong wind blew, nearly knocking people off their feet.

“Happy Valentine’s…”

“Hm?” As if hearing something, Yu Wan turned around. “What did you just say?”

Half of Fang Nianchen’s face was buried in her scarf, and she looked at her all wide-eyed and innocent. “What?”

“Didn’t you just say something?”

“Nope.”

“Then I must have misheard…” Yu Wan turned back dubiously. The fierce cold wind mixed with snowflakes made anyone underdressed shiver.

Rustling sounds came from behind for a moment, then quieted. Feeling a warm breath draw near, the scarf slipped from overhead.

“What did you just hear?” Fang Nianchen pretended nonchalance as she wrapped the scarf around her, tying it neatly without giving her a chance to refuse.

“Wait…” Yu Wan was still surprised that Fang Nianchen had given her own scarf and hurriedly reached to block it. “Aren’t you cold?”

“There was a flower seller just now; she seemed to shout something.” Fang Nianchen ignored her question, chattering on. “She said, ‘Happy Valentine’s.'”

Now she was certain Yu Wan had heard crystal clear.

—

Her recollections pulled back. Fang Nianchen couldn’t explain why she suddenly thought to wrap the scarf around Yu Wan, why she suddenly got so bold, even telling her “Happy Valentine’s.”

She just knew she had been brave, more than once.

No response, so her enthusiasm faded.

Her attention returned to the screen. Watching a comedy alone, she found it not all that funny.

And this film kept getting sentimental from the start; Fang Nianchen’s face remained utterly unmoved. No need to pretend in times like this.

Hearing sniffling start up, she inexplicably felt annoyed and got up to leave the theater, not even finishing half.

On the way back, passing the milk tea shop Yu Wan had mentioned, she went in and ordered a signature one, half sugar.

An hour and a half later, Yu Wan came down punctually.

Fang Nianchen had been waiting by the car since returning. Seeing her approach, she raised her hand and handed over the bag.

“Buttering up the boss?”

“It’s for you—thanks for letting me slack off with pay.” Fang Nianchen phrased it nicely.

Clearly, those thoughts from the movie hadn’t affected her. Back to reality, Senior Yu had become President Yu; she knew how to treat her superior.

Taking the milk tea and cradling it in her hands—the temperature just right—Yu Wan was pleased with the answer too. She curled her lips and asked, “Where’d you go just now?”

“Watched a movie.” Fang Nianchen was still hugging a nearly full bucket of popcorn, thinking to herself how crazy and childish she’d been.

Buying these snacks and not eating them— the guilt of waste made her feel sorry for the corn.

Actually, for a long time before, she’d resented herself. In such a great atmosphere that day, sharing a bucket of popcorn would’ve added so much color to the memory.

Senior Yu said no, so she didn’t buy? Why be so honest?

“Nice.” Seeing not only hadn’t she shortchanged herself but had used the time to watch a movie and decompress, Yu Wan asked curiously, “What film?”

Fang Nianchen’s lips curved inexplicably, her smile tinged with bitterness. “Monodrama.”