"Hey, have you arrived yet? The show has already started over here. Where are you?"
In the broadcast hall, the Spring Festival Gala live broadcast had begun, but Chu Tian was still standing at the main entrance, shivering. From the tone of his voice on the phone, it was evident he had reached the limit of his patience.
A few days ago, when Xu Ruyan learned that her sister, Xu Qingqiu, couldn’t co ho for the New Year because she had to perform at the Spring Festival Gala, Xu Ruyan had insisted on coming to the venue to watch. After all, Xu Ruyan was Xu Qingqiu’s younger sister, so Xu Qingqiu had found ti to ask the director team for a few tickets to the venue. Though called tickets, they were essentially passes—or perhaps, invitations. Of course, these invitations were different from those given to the perforrs; they were for the on-site audience.
Xu Ruyan ntioned that a few of her friends wanted to co and watch Xu Qingqiu perform. Upon hearing this, they had specifically decided not to go ho for the New Year. Therefore, Xu Qingqiu had specially contacted Zhao Fengsheng to acquire four tickets. After all, the total number of seats in the entire broadcast hall wasn’t very large, even fewer than the live audience for so variety shows. And by this ti, the tickets that were going to be distributed had long since been given out. Managing to free up these four tickets required specially asking soone to make adjustnts; otherwise, they would have gotten one or two at most.
The tickets had been so hard to co by, and now, with New Year’s Eve upon them, Xu Ruyan inexplicably kept saying over the phone that she was still out having fun with friends. Thinking that it was her younger sister’s first ti not spending New Year’s at ho, and that she was with friends, Xu Qingqiu found it quite normal that Xu Ruyan would want to have so fun, so she wasn’t surprised. Although, she couldn’t understand what on earth these young people could be doing for fun, given that it was New Year’s Eve and a holiday. But fun was fun; shouldn’t they have so sense of ti? The tickets had been obtained with great difficulty, yet the show had already been on for several minutes, and they still hadn’t arrived. It was indeed getting hard to justify.
While upstairs, Xu Qingqiu had been on tenterhooks, worrying that sothing might have happened. This kept her on edge, and she was visibly anxious. Finally, she called to check. The good news was that Xu Ruyan was perfectly fine. The bad news was that Xu Ruyan kept saying she was "almost there," but she still hadn’t arrived even after the show had started.
The key is, have you arrived or not? Just give a straight answer! Chu Tian had actually believed her repeated assurances of "almost there, almost there," and was now standing foolishly at the entrance with the tickets, waiting. He had to wait. Without the tickets, they couldn’t get in at all. Plus, they were late, so he would have to explain things, otherwise, it would be even harder for them to enter. As a result, he stood at the entrance for ages while the chilly north wind whistled by, his clothes frozen through, yet there wasn’t a shadow of them in sight.
"Ah? Ah! Almost there, almost there! We’ll be there any minute!" Xu Ruyan’s voice ca over the phone. She felt incredibly panicked when she picked up, hurriedly responding before her brain could catch up.
"Stop with the ’any minute now’!" Chu Tian retorted. "How much longer will you actually be? I’ve been standing in this freezing wind for ages. If you’re still a ways off, I’ll go upstairs and rest. If it’s just a few more minutes, I’ll wait. Can you just give a definite ti?"
"Huh? Huh? You’re waiting outside?"
"Obviously! Well, not exactly outside, but in the first-floor lobby. I have your tickets; you can’t get in without them from . Do I have a choice but to wait?"
"Oh, oh, okay. Um, probably about ten more minutes. We’re almost there, really soon."
Hearing the tearful quaver in Xu Ruyan’s voice over the phone, Chu Tian figured she was probably genuinely anxious but truly couldn’t get there any faster. Thinking this, much of his resentnt dissipated.
"Alright then," Chu Tian said. "I’ll wait here for you a bit longer. Call when you arrive, and I’ll co to the entrance to et you."
"Oh, okay. I’m sorry."
"It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. Just be careful on your way."
What else could Chu Tian do? He couldn’t really get angry. For one thing, she was his sister-in-law, and still just a kid. Besides, it was New Year’s Eve, and taxis were hard to co by. So, late was late. If he hadn’t been worried they’d get cold waiting downstairs for too long, Chu Tian wouldn’t have needed to go down and wait so early.He’d figured that as a grown man, a little cold wouldn’t bother him much, but the young girls wouldn’t tolerate it as well. But look how that turned out—he was the one freezing for ages.
It wasn’t that the building itself wasn’t warm. The heating was adequate in areas where people were present. However, the lower floors had previously used central air conditioning. Now that it was the holidays and those floors were mostly empty, the AC had been turned off.
After hanging up, Chu Tian muttered to himself, "They probably couldn’t get a taxi... sigh." He felt this was a reasonably plausible excuse. Then, with a resigned sigh, he looked around the lobby, found a place to sit, and settled down to wait patiently.
「anwhile, in a car rushing towards the venue, four people were anxiously on their way.」
As soon as Xu Ruyan hung up the phone, soone beside her asked curiously, "Whose call was that? Your sister’s?"
"No, it was... my sister’s... my sister’s assistant," Xu Ruyan replied, having almost let it slip but luckily catching herself in ti.
"Oh, her assistant, huh? Are you pretty familiar with him? Listening to his tone, it sounded like he was your older brother. You must visit your sister often when you’re around here, right?"
"Oh, Mom, of course not! I’m usually swamped with classes. How would I have ti to go see her?"
"No? Look, her assistant already knows you. And from his tone, it sounds like you’ve pestered him quite a bit. You still say you haven’t gone to see her? As if I’d believe that!"
"Mom, I really haven’t! That assistant... he’s just... he’s naturally annoying!"
"Hey, how can you talk like that? He’s your sister’s assistant. Your sister relies on him to help with her work and things. You can’t speak about him like that."
Seeing that her own mother wasn’t taking her side, Xu Ruyan was so upset she was on the verge of tears. She just wrinkled her nose, not wanting to speak, and instead turned to the man driving, urging him:
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