On New Year's Eve, after dinner, Tianxin sat with her parents and grandparents in the living room, watching TV.
The annual Spring Festival gala began, much to everyone's anticipation.
Tianxin was multi-tasking between flicking through her QQ social media app, scrolling on Weibo, watching TV and commenting on the show. She was enjoying herself.
However, on QQ, Chen Yiran was offline. Looking at his greyed out avatar, Tianxin couldn't help but send him a message:
"What are you up to?"
There was no reply for a while.
It seemed he was not online anymore.
Tianxin didn't fret over it and continued to watch TV with her grandparents.
Already, some people in her complex began to set off firecrackers outside. Alongside the merry songs and dances on TV, the popping and cracking of the firecrackers made for a lively scene.
Half an hour later, it seemed that Chen Yiran was still offline. Tianxin thought about sending another message to ask what he was doing.
