The New Year’s Eve dinner on the thirtieth of the lunar month often lasts a long ti.
Families gather around excitedly, chairs squeezed together, making the round table feel full. Warm light spills over everyone’s faces, reflecting smiles of happiness.
The elders eat with relish, so squinting their eyes, savoring the joy brought by the food, so whispering and chatting about their family affairs, and others clinking glasses, engrossed in the atmosphere of exchanging toasts.
An hour later, the younger generation, including Li Jing, had long left the table after finishing dinner, while Li Fuguo and Li Weijun, among others, were still raising their glasses and drinking, their faces flushed with excitent, chatting about everything under the sun.
Liu i and other won had long gathered to the side, talking about each other’s family matters.
Leaving the old house, Li Jing took out the fireworks he had specially bought from the trunk.
These fireworks were like fulfilling his childhood dream; the entire trunk was filled with them.
Li Xiaoxiao followed out and, seeing a car full of fireworks, widened her eyes in surprise: "Brother, did you empty out the fireworks shop?"
"So many."
Following behind Li Xiaoxiao was a chubby-faced boy, a ninth-grader, who was the son of their aunt, nad Wang Dongdong.
Due to the age difference, Li Jing didn’t interact much with Wang Dongdong and only occasionally heard his parents’ praise of him as an obedient and honest boy.
"Brother, can you give us so?"
Although Li Xiaoxiao was a girl, she was brave and couldn’t take her eyes off the fireworks, eagerly awaiting the impending pyrotechnic display.
"Of course, these were ant for us to set off together."
Li Jing smiled, and after moving all the fireworks out, he led his siblings to an open space.
Li Jing first took out a sparkler, lit the fuse with a lighter, and in an instant, with a "chiz" sound, a bright spark shot from the tip of the sparkler.
The spark started as a small dot and quickly spread, blossoming into a golden flower, crackling and flashing, illuminating a small area around them.
"I want one, too, I want one!"
Li Xiaoxiao’s little face was flushed red from the fireworks, looking like a ripe apple, and she eagerly lit one herself.
Seeing this, Wang Dongdong clapped his little hands excitedly, repeatedly exclaiming how beautiful it was. His crisp voice echoed far into the quiet night, full of joy.
He boldly leaned forward, wanting to reach out to touch the jumping sparks, but was scared by the slight heat, quickly retracting his hand, causing Li Xiaoxiao to burst into laughter, her laughter echoing in the yard.
In a corner of the yard, the old locust tree stood silently; its usual sowhat weathered branches were now covered in a dreamy glow from the fireworks, the dappled shadows swaying on the ground as if dancing along.
A mont later, all kinds of fireworks were lit one by one, filling the entire yard with colorful lights.
Golden, silver, red, and green lights intertwined, at tis shooting across the night sky like teors, and at tis blooming in competition like flowers in the sky, lighting up the night as if it were day.
The brilliant colors reflected in the eyes of Li Jing and the others, making their eyes sparkle with dazzling light.
Whiz.
At this mont, fireworks from other families in the distance also rose one after another into the sky, "boom boom" sounds echoing in their ears, rging with the booms of the fireworks here.
In this instant, the festive spirit on the small town intensified.
People under the fireworks were all excited and exhilarated. This whole area imrsed in a festive, lively, and warm atmosphere.
Li Jing and Li Xiaoxiao sat on a wooden stool beside the small courtyard, watching the fireworks in the sky, feeling both relaxed and thoughtful.
Compared to the bustling Tianhai, the liveliness here made Li Jing feel more fulfilled and warm inside.
"Cousin, are you close with Sister Qin?"
Under the fireworks, Wang Dongdong, sitting like a little follower beside Li Jing, suddenly asked.
"Sister Qin?" Li Jing raised an eyebrow, looking at his round face: "You an Ge Qin?"
"Yes, my cousin introduced to her before."
Wang Dongdong explained, then in a buzzing voice said, "Once when I was going ho, she saw on the road and gave a ride back. She said she was very close to you."
Upon hearing this, Li Jing was a bit surprised, but considering that Wang Dongdong studied in the city and Ge Qin also worked there, it wasn’t unusual for them to et.
Li Jing lit a sparkler in his hand, casually chatting: "Did she tell you anything else?"
"Hmm, she said you’re amazing, a very good person, and told to study hard and be like you." Wang Dongdong chuckled a few tis: "My mom also told that, so I’m studying really hard now."
"Brother, Dongdong has really good grades."
At this ti, after playing with the sparkler in her hand, Li Xiaoxiao chid in: "Next year during the high school entrance exam, he should be able to get into the honors class of City No.1 Middle School, just like you did before."
Li Jing nodded, encouragingly smiling at Wang Dongdong: "Study hard."
"Mm!"
Wang Dongdong nodded vigorously, then continued to watch the fireworks in the sky.
And thinking about what was just said, Li Jing felt a bit surprised.
He hadn’t expected Ge Qin to have helped his cousin after coming back to their hotown.
Originally, Li Jing thought after that matter on the yacht had ended, they would have no further contact, as her purpose was simply to get the money to buy a car from him.
In Li Jing’s view, she was a practical and sowhat vain girl, their story more like a pre-agreed transaction, with no further interactions after it ended; in fact, they indeed had no contact afterward.
Li Jing hadn’t even considered eting her upon this return, and if it weren’t for her reaching out last night, he would have forgotten there was a woman in his hotown he had once been involved with.
Though Li Jing was indifferent, it seed Ge Qin had not forgotten this relationship, and even after an unexpected encounter with Wang Dongdong after work, she took the initiative to give him a ride ho.
Although this was a small thing, it allowed Li Jing to see another side of Ge Qin.
This woman... could she have developed feelings...
Li Jing shook his head slightly to himself, then couldn’t be bothered to ponder this further, looking up at the flowers blooming in the sky, and raised his phone for a shot.
The brilliant fireworks were frozen on the phone screen, as if the warmth and joy of the New Year had also lted into it.
Li Jing savored the beauty of this reunion, rare in feeling, posted a mont on his social dia.
Like most people who are not fond of posting on social dia, Li Jing always felt it’s too pretentious.
But this ti, he indeed had the urge to share this joy; aside from the firework photo, he didn’t even add any text.
This type of contentless post often gets easily overlooked.
Even Li Jing didn’t expect anyone to reply, but within minutes of posting, checking his phone again, his mont had gained quite a few likes.
It would’ve been fine just to have likes, but Li Jing opened his page to find there were comnts as well.
Zhang Xinxin: "So beautiful, I wish I could watch fireworks with Brother Jing!"
An Tong: "Really beautiful, hope you’re having fun at ho."
Wei Jia: "You’re not in Tianhai? When will you be back?"
Zhou Li: "The fireworks are really nice."
Zhang Ling: "Brother Li, your photo is gorgeous."
...
At the sa ti, Ge Qin, sitting at ho having dinner with family, looked at the firework picture on social dia. After hesitating for a mont, she finally deleted the comnt she had ticulously pondered for a long ti.
After taking a deep breath, she ended with a silent like.
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