"Your hands are red," Qing Shan stated. Unlike her, he was wrapped in a shawl made by his mother and gloves gifted by his sister. In comparison, her outfit looked a little shabby.
Jiang Yue looked at her hands and laughed. "Yes they are."
He raised a brow. "Aren't you cold?"
"I am but..." she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sort of used to it? Which is weird considering I'm from the south. I get cold but I don't let it bother me, I guess?"
It is true that she gets cold easily, but that didn't mean she shied away from it. She doesn't sweat much, but she hated the heat. Rather, during the summer she would walk to the nearby mall and hang out at the ice skating rink.
Qing Shan begged to differ. He didn't like feeling cold at all.
"That's worrying," he muttered under his breathe.
"Hm? What did you say?"
"Nothing." He shook his head.
She elbowed his side. "Aw, are you worried about lil old me?"
There was silence for a moment, before he answered, "Yeah."
Jiang Yue didn't expect his answer and looked stunned, but laughed.
"I'm honored that a handsome guy is worried about me."
This made Qing Shan blush at the tip of his ears.
They sat beside each other on the bench next to the river canal where she initially rested. There were a lot more paper boats in the water.
"Kids got the wrong festival, don't they?"
"What do you mean?"
She pointed at the river. "The paper boats."
"They're children. You're awfully bothered by it."
"Hey, I'm just saying. I'm forgetful so if I celebrate a holiday or festival wrongly, my grandparents would smack me on the head and I'd have to help them prepare the meals," she replied with a pout on her face.
"That's not fun now is it?"
Jiang Yue smiled. "It is kinda fun if you think about it. I like chopping vegetables and stuff."
"I see..."
The sun couldn't be seen, hidden by the grey clouds that looked awfully dull. While the crowds came and went, Jiang Yue and Qing Shan continued to finish the tangyuan in peaceful silence. After resting again, she suggested walking around and buying souvenirs.
If she could send some to her family, then they wouldn't continue pestering her about living alone? Not to mention her fussy cousins would be preoccupied with the gifts instead of nagging to visit her.
"There's a nearby arcade right around here. Do you want to play after buying souvenirs? Or are you going home?"
Jiang Yue learned that he's a civil engineer working at FEV, the same company she worked at. He neither looked like the type to play in arcades nor hanging out at festivals, which sounded incredulous to someone like her.
They were in the prime of their life but he worked all day long and hardly played.
"I won't be going home." Qing Shan shook his head.
Delight flashed in her eyes as she smiled. "Great, let's go!"
She unconsciously grabbed his hand as she led him to the gift shops.
Heart beating fast, Qing Shan covered his face with his other hand, suppressing the smile threatening to bloom on his face. He didn't want to get ahead of himself even though he was really enjoying himself.
In his head, he wanted to thank his mother and sister.
At the Qing House, both mother and daughter were watching a local drama with fervor in the living room. If they had known of this, even jumping around would not be enough to express their joy.
"Here!" the two of them stopped in front of a crafts store and walked in.
The store looked old and had a lot of strange handcrafted goods that normal people would not buy. such as a small barrel man in a dusty shelf.
"Pfft! Look at this," Jiang Yue held the little statue in front of him, then pulled the barrel up, revealing a very sensitive part of the man.
Qing Shan widened his eyes in surprised and abruptly hid the statue in his large overcoat.
"What are you doing?" she asked bemusedly.
"I-"
Jiang Yue burst out laughing, catching the attention of the receptionist and a few other people in the store. With a red face, he squeezed her cheeks habitually.
"Shh!"
She furrowed her brows and caressed her now red cheeks.
"That hurts," she pouted. Qing Shan realized what he had done and put his hands in the pockets of his coat, the warmth of her cheeks lingering in his hands. The soft sensation made his heart beat faster.
"Sorry, I did it out of habit."
"Habit? I didn't think you'd be the type to be touchy."
"Why not?"
Jiang Yue shrugged. "I don't know. You just had that impression."
"I didn't mean to pinch your cheeks. I'm sorry."
He hung his head low in rejection. It was a habit he did to his younger sister when she was being a troublemaker. Recently though, his sister studied in the capital and rarely had time to come home. It was an instinctual response because he unconsciously associated Jiang Yue with his sister.
She smiled. "It's fine. Do you have a younger sibling?"
"How did you know?"
"A guess." They walked out of the crafts store without buying anything. "Unfortunately there wasn't anything interesting in there. Wanna head to the arcade and play until the fireworks show?"
In any case, Jiang Yue presumed this would be the only time she'd be free once she gets called in the company to learn the ropes from the retiring analyst. Of course she had to enjoy herself.
Qing Shan bore the same thoughts. He didn't want to go home yet and work. For now, he'd like to enjoy the company.
"Okay."
Both of them headed to the local arcade near the small mall a ways away from the plaza. The arcade looked a little old with tons of games and prizes to win. Jiang Yue was initially hesitant to spend money seeing the price for each game but soon found herself being immersed in a shooting game.
"Want to play with me?" She pointed to the other gun that had been set down.
"No thanks." he shook his head.
Jiang Yue drooped her head but didn't say anything more. Instead, she made up a plan in her head to make him play.