"The end of the sester is here, and for the next few days, I’m going to stay put in my dorm, so I won’t be coming back," Zhou Li said, sitting upright and expressionlessly looking at the equally expressionless ’himself’ across from him. The sensation was like looking into a mirror. "The teacher might co for a dorm check, especially since it’s a lockdown period. It would be bad to get caught."
"I see."
"Don’t mimic my tone." Zhou Li’s eyelids drooped listlessly, exasperated to the extre.
"Got it."
"..."
"Study hard, make progress every day," Huai Xu’s eyelids also drooped. "Try not to fail any subjects, maybe even get top of the class. That way, the ’’ who looks exactly like you will also shine."
"...What kind of array should I put on your cauldron?" Zhou Li shifted the topic, eyeing Huai Xu’s Little Ding, unsure of what effect to imbue it with to match its antique and robust appearance.
"Figure it out yourself."
"Hmm..."
Zhou Li bowed his head, sinking into thought.
Seeing this, Huai Xu also lowered his head.
The nearby Tuanzi, sowhat confused, looked at Zhou Li, then at Huai Xu. After pondering for a mont, it also lowered its little head.
It looked like collective prayer.
Then Huai Xu caught sight of Zhou Li taking out his phone, and without any hesitation, he did the sa.
Tuanzi, seeing this, paused, lowered its head, and looked at its little paws, rembering it hadn’t touched its phone for a long ti; it seed to have been taken by Brother Lan to the car for the car’s amusent.
It seed it wasn’t going to learn after all...
Tuanzi then put down its little paws and lifted its head again, occasionally glancing at Huai Xu and then at Zhou Li, intensely focused, waiting for another opportunity to join in.
"Zhou Li, are you on Baidu?" Huai Xu asked, pretending to look at his phone while secretly peeking at Zhou Li.
"Not really," Zhou Li replied calmly. "I’m booking movie tickets for the night after tomorrow."
"What movie tickets?"
"The day after tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I’m going to the movies with Brother Nan."
"..."
The old monster put down his phone and slowly looked up. "I thought you were thinking about my Tao Ding!"
"How could I?"
"I’m about to get angry again..."
"What now?" Zhou Li also lifted his head and imdiately saw a pained expression on ’his own’ face. He hesitated for a mont. "Don’t make that kind of face using my image; it makes feel quite pitiful."
"I will!"
"Suit yourself."
"What movie are you guys watching?"
"Not telling you."
"..." Huai Xu’s eyes darted about for a mont. "Are you guys coming back in the evening?"
"..."
Zhou Li felt extrely awkward.
At this mont, the old monster was still staring intently at him, saying, "Young man, don’t be so conservative. It’s a different era now..."
Zhou Li felt even more awkward.
Huai Xu finally cheered up.
Tuanzi, however, still tilted its head, looking at them, increasingly puzzled.
「December 24, Thursday.」
It was the day before Christmas.
In the past, when Zhou Li was in junior and senior high school, businesses along the streets would decorate their storefronts for Christmas and launch related activities to boost sales. But this year, influenced by the pandemic and ongoing national policies from recent years, fewer businesses were doing so, and fewer people were buying into it.
Due to the lockdown around the university town, with students no longer being the major source of inco, business owners were less enthusiastic.
Inside the huge mall, there was only one Christmas tree on display.
Brother Nan, hands habitually stuffed in her pockets, walking with a casual, sowhat swaggering posture, strode through the mall. She kept looking around, giving Zhou Li no chance to hold her hand.
"It’s so empty here..."
"People at work are locked in their companies; students are locked in their schools," Zhou Li whispered.
"Did we also co to see a movie last Christmas?" Brother Nan finally turned to look at Zhou Li, but unfortunately, she didn’t notice how much Zhou Li wanted to hold her hand. Soon, she shifted her gaze to a clothing store nearby.
"That was after Christmas; it was required for that event."
"Oh, oh." Brother Nan pulled one hand out of her pocket, patted her head, and then put it back in. "I forgot. I have a bad mory."
"..."
No matter what, this year was different from last year.
Last year, they were just classmates participating in a pretend-couple event. This year, they were officially a couple, and it was just the two of them going to watch a movie. They could do so of the things that couples typically do at the movies.
The mindset alone was already different.
Like other young couples, Zhou Li and Brother Nan first had dinner on the third floor, then went to the fourth floor, arriving just in ti.
Zhou Li lined up to pick up the tickets.
Brother Nan lined up to buy popcorn.
The two t at the ticket checkpoint.
"Which row did you get?"
"Second row."
"That close to the front?"
"Tickets were a bit tight."
"Were they very tight?" Brother Nan asked.
"A bit," Zhou Li said without batting an eye. In truth, when he’d bought them, hardly anyone had booked tickets. He just figured that movie tickets for Christmas Eve would be in high demand, and with a few days having passed since then, the pri seats would likely be gone, so his fib wouldn’t be obvious.
They were watching ’Wonder Woman,’ a film that had just been released a few days ago. Brother Nan liked this kind of movie.
Superhero, popcorn flicks.
However, because it was a weekday and the university town was under lockdown, business at the cinema wasn’t good. Even though this film was quite popular, the theater was sparsely seated. Most of the audience mbers were young people, many of them couples, who had probably snuck out by climbing over the campus walls.
As Zhou Li had anticipated, many young couples chose seats a bit further back, leaving the front mostly empty.
The third row was empty, and the second row even more so.
But overall, there weren’t many people; even rows four, five, and six—the pri viewing areas—had empty seats.
"Hmm..."
Zhou Li kept quiet and sneakily glanced at Brother Nan.
Brother Nan seed oblivious, head down, using her phone screen for light, focused on the seat numbers on the ticket as she led him to their seats.
Zhou Li hurried to follow her.
After sitting down, he obediently passed over the drink and popcorn. Watching Brother Nan hold the popcorn bucket with one hand and grab popcorn with the other, her hands seemingly full, he found himself in a quandary again.
It was Brother Nan who first noticed sothing was amiss. She turned her head and looked at him strangely. "What’s wrong? Need to use the restroom?"
"No..."
"Then what is it?"
"Shouldn’t we be holding hands?" Zhou Li quietly glanced at Brother Nan, lowering his voice. "Everyone else is holding hands."
"Oh," Brother Nan said casually. "I’ll let you hold my hand once I finish the popcorn."
"Okay..."
"Don’t be impatient. I’ll be quick."
"You... eat slowly."
Brother Nan noticeably sped up her popcorn eating. anwhile, the advertisents on the big screen ended, and the main feature started.
The movie was titled ’Wonder Woman 1984,’ the only superhero movie released this year; there were previous movies in the series. But Zhou Li hadn’t seen the previous ’Wonder Woman’ movie and knew nothing about the series, so he wasn’t very engaged.
Brother Nan, however, was thoroughly enjoying it.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Brother Nan to finish her popcorn, freeing up her hand and temporarily granting him use of it.
Zhou Li was thus able to idly caress the soft palm of Brother Nan’s hand, whiling away the boring movie.
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