Qiao Jing Jing and Zhai Liang played video games together throughout the entire trip back. As expected, Zhai Liang's network on the other side was really bad, but with Qiao Jing Jing being on the highway, her network speed was not any better. After messing up one game for a bunch of random teammates, the two considerately went to play Honor of Kings's new way of play, The Showdown of Five Armies, which was released for Chinese New Years.
The Showdown of Five Armies is played with five teams, two people in each team for total of ten players, in a new melee map. Both of their networks were poor, so they were basically just giving away headcounts. But they refused to concede defeat and played one game after another. In the more than two hours of travel time, they did not take first place even once.
After the car was parked in the underground car park, Qiao Jing Jing was still caught up in her playing, concentrating her attention completely on holding the phone and getting out of the car, and so she turned on her blindly-following mode behind Driver Yu.
Soon the elevator's "ding" signaled its arrival at the floor and the elevator door opened. Qiao Jing Jing was playing on her mobile phone while walking out. Only after taking a few steps did she discover this was not right. How come it was the first-floor lobby?
She looked up in puzzlement. "You can't have forgotten which floor my home is on, right?"
Zhai Liang, on the other end of the phone, was stunned and immediately gave away a headcount to express his shock. "What? What? What? Yu Tu, you're going to Cotton's home?"
Only then did Qiao Jing Jing realize that the voice chat was still on, so she quickly turned off her microphone. However, with this interruption, her Baili Shouyue also died.
Qiao Jing Jing gloomily said an "aiya." Yu Tu sighed, took her mobile phone, stood there, and helped her to play.
It could be the same hero, but in his hands, it was not the same. As soon as he resurrected, he took several heads in a row. He completely did not need Qiao Jing Jing to explain the rules of play to him.
Zhai Liang noticed this straightway and shouted, "Has there been a substitution?"
Yu Tu turned on the microphone again and said leisurely: "What did you two even play throughout the journey? Simply an insult to my ears."
Then he took School Is Starting I'm So Panicked along with him, and, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, took first place.
Qiao Jing Jing stood to the side, basically watched with gleaming eyes. She had to say, when it came to gaming, Teacher Yu was still the best. After the game ended, School Is Starting I'm So Panicked sent another invitation over. Qiao Jing Jing decisively took the phone and pressed decline. Very smartly choosing whom to bootlick, she flattered Yu Tu, "You are right, School Is Starting I'm So Panicked is only half-baked. You are still the best. It's better for me to play with you!"
Saying this, she walked into the elevator.
Let's quickly go home so I can personally earn a first place.
Yu Tu pulled her back. "Wait a minute. I'm getting a letter."
Qiao Jing Jing, with a puzzled look, followed after him to the mailbox in the lobby. She watched him find her mailbox, key in the password to open it without even needing to think, and took out a letter.
Hey, although her mailbox and her home's front door had the same password, his action was just too smooth, alright? She basically had no privacy.
"How come your letter is in my mailbox?"
Yu Tu grudgingly threw a look at her. "Play less games and eat more starch."
"… What do you mean?"
"The brain needs sugar to function."
"..."
Whose boyfriend had such a poisonous tongue? She simply wanted to beat him a few times a day. But she finally came to a realization. "Did you send this to me?"
"Mm. Did you receive only nine letters before this?"
"Yes."
"This is the tenth letter. I sent it out late, so it only arrived now."
"What is written in this letter?" Qiao Jing Jing reached out to take it, but Yu Tu held on to the letter and did not let go.
He looked at her and said, "Jing Jing, guess what I was thinking when I wrote this letter?"
"What?" Qiao Jing Jing looked at him, her head slightly tilted.
"This letter is a bit abstruse. At that time, while I was writing, I was thinking whether I would already be able to read this letter to you when you got it and explain anything that confused you." He paused for a while. The corner of his mouth curved slightly and he asked her, "Do you want to listen to it?"
What was gaming?… What was first place?… Were they even important?
Qiao Jing Jing forgot all about them.
At night, they ate something simple. Qiao Jing Jing sat on the sofa and listened to him reading the letter. Some time while she was listening, he took her into his arms. The content of the letter was a bit too technical. Even with an explanation from an expert, she still frequently was unable to make sense of what she was hearing. But it did not matter since she was not concentrating hard anyway.
She felt that the person who was reading the letter was also not focused on what he was doing. The evidence of that was that he paused from time to time, very, very long pauses.
Winter's nights always arrive very quickly. When the clock hands pointed towards nine o'clock, he finally finished reading the letter. She was lying in his arms, and her voice was a little bit coquettish: "Your reading made me sleepy."
He lowered his head. His breath blew by the side of her ear. "Then go to bed early, since you still have to catch the plane tomorrow. You don't need to pack your suitcase?"
"I had Xiao Zhu finish packing it this morning, so she did not need to come over in the afternoon."
Uh-oh…
Once the words were out, Qiao Jing Jing right away realized it was a mistake. It was good enough to say the first half of the sentence. The latter part of the sentence was simply superfluous! She silently prayed that he did not realize it. But how was that possible? A certain someone reacted very quickly, and immediately laughed softly, his chest trembling. Qiao Jing Jing beat him lightly with her fist once. "If you still don't leave, there will be no more subway trains."
"I'm staying here tonight."
Qiao Jing Jing blinked, suspecting she had heard wrong, and had a blank look. "Huh?"
"I'll sleep on the sofa."
Yu Tu said, "Jing Jing, I will be very proactive in the future."
From his arms, Qiao Jing Jing sat up and looked fixedly at him. Yu Tu also sat up straight and his fingers touched her cheek.
He believed that he would never forget her hurt, almost in tears, appearance at the petrol station that day. And also, the words she said that day.
"I am a little willing, but when I say this, my heart also doesn't feel happy."—— The moment he heard this sentence, he had felt a stab of pain. And afterwards every time he recalled it, his heart swelled with endless aching down to its very bottom.
He knew very clearly that although they were already together, there were some things in her heart that had not been soothed yet. So in the future, every step, every key moment, it had to be him taking the initiative to move towards her.
She had not given him a calculation formula, so he had to find it himself.
The room was extremely quiet.
"But I don't have much experience with being proactive. If I cross the line, remember to remind me." He said seriously, "For example, I want to stay overnight today. Have I crossed the line?"
Qiao Jing Jing was silent.
Yu Tu sighed, took a step back, and explained: "Your flight is at 8 o'clock in the morning tomorrow. I want to take you to the airport. Don't tell me you want me to rush over from my home at four o'clock?"
"You want to see me off?" Qiao Jing Jing asked.
"You have such low requirements of me? I am on vacation from work and I'm not taking you to the airport?"
"Oh."
Qiao Jing Jing was quiet for a while again. Then Yu Tu heard her say,
"You haven't crossed the line."
Her voice was soft, but it was especially clear and solemn. "You haven't crossed the line. I am very happy that you're like this."
On the morning of the fifth day of Chinese New Year, the train sped rapidly on the railroad track to Jing City.
Yu Tu was sitting in a window seat, reading a book. Not long ago, he had taken Qiao Jing Jing to the airport to meet up with the other staff members. Their flight should have taken off by now.
Recalling the stunned looks from Big Sister Ling and other people when they saw him, Yu Tu couldn't help smiling slightly. However, remembering that Qiao Jing Jing would be away for three months, he sighed slightly.
He felt that he really had overthought things before. He had felt that he couldn't take care of her because he was away on work trips a lot and busy at work. In fact, Miss Qiao's time spent away on work trips was probably more than his.
Who was wasting whose youth?
Yu Tu's eyes were fixed on the book, but he unexpectedly smiled.
When the train arrived at Jing City, he received Qiao Jing Jing's WeChat message.
He clicked opened a very cute WeChat sticker sent by Miss Qiao.
Jing Jing:
hello.jpg
Yu Tu typed: The plane landed?
Before he had sent it out, her second message came.
Jing Jing:
"Meeting you for the first time. Guess who I am?"
Yu Tu:
"..."
He deleted his already typed words and played along with his weird girlfriend: "Meeting you for the first time. You are?"
The opposite side sent over an even cuter sticker and then said, "I am your mobile phone girlfriend, AI Jing Jing."