Orange Storm chapter 59

Christmas Eve

The red light lasted for 120 seconds, exactly two minutes. In those two minutes, it felt like a storm had passed through Fang Xing’s mind, yet it also seemed like a complete blank.

It wasn’t until the light turned green that Jiang Zhijin had already driven the car for a while, and Fang Xing’s mind seemed to finally come back to reality.

“It’s not—”

Fang Xing felt like Jiang Zhijin’s words had shaken his mind, and he was looking at Jiang Zhijin with a tilted head, his throat tightening as he spoke.

“What… Do you mean?”

Since Jiang Zhijin learned that Fang Xing liked him, Fang Xing knew that their communication had been walking on a thin line of ambiguity. Whether it was about the boy he liked, the person he liked, or even… talking about a romantic relationship.

But today, when Jiang Zhijin casually mentioned it, Fang Xing was still somewhat shocked.

“It’s nothing, I see you wanted to say something but weren’t sure if you could say it,” Jiang Zhijin said, driving and sighing with a smile. “Poor thing.”

The person you like is waiting for the red light.

This casually spoken, seemingly joking remark was like a feather brushing over Fang Xing’s heart, making him feel a bit itchy.

Fang Xing pursed his lips, turned his head to look ahead with a bit of confusion, and a hint of a smile. He laughed for a while and then cleared his throat.

“I…”

The person I like knows that I like him. How does he perceive it? Has he figured it out? Does he… want to date me?

“I’m also… waiting for a red light,” Fang Xing finally said.

At the intersection of the long journey of life, at the confused and lonely age of eighteen, waiting for a red light with an unknown countdown, releasing the first love and uneasy youth.

Jiang Zhijin turned to glance at Fang Xing and suddenly laughed after a moment.

“Got it,” Jiang Zhijin said softly.

With a three-day suspension, Jiang Zhijin directly took Fang Xing home and put away all the textbooks and review materials he brought.

Jiang Zhijin waited for him to finish putting things in his room before speaking, “Although I can understand the reason this time, after all, you’re a senior in high school, a three-day suspension is still quite serious.”

“Can you study on your own?” he asked.

“Should be able to,” Jiang Zhijin’s tone was no longer joking, and Fang Xing nodded seriously. “For the classes I missed these days, I’ll ask classmates for notes when I get back, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.”

“Alright,” Jiang Zhijin smiled. “No matter what you do, just be responsible for yourself.”

“Oh,” Fang Xing paused for a moment. “Is it the same for dating?”

“…Your love brain is quite serious, Fang Xing,” Jiang Zhijin squinted at him for a moment. “Can you first consider your studies?”

“Yes,” Fang Xing immediately answered.

Jiang Zhijin smiled, “Cloud Seven is probably crowded tonight. Stay here and review a bit. For dinner, I’ll eat with Gu Xun and Zhou Hong directly there. If you’re too lazy to come, just order takeout. If you want to come—”

“I’ll come.”

“…Then come by at 6:00,” Jiang Zhijin laughed.

After Jiang Zhijin left, Fang Xing quickly changed out of his school uniform, took a shower, and sat at his desk. He set an alarm for 5:00 on his phone, put on his headphones, and started reviewing.

His bedroom door was not closed, and Tang Yuan had entered at some point. He circled Fang Xing twice, but seeing that Fang Xing ignored him, Tangyuan curled up under his chair and started napping.

Fang Xing reviewed for quite a while this time, with no breaks in between. It wasn’t until the alarm vibrated that he turned it off, took off his headphones, and moved his body a bit.

His neck and shoulders were a bit sore, but his mind was still clear. He rested for two minutes, stood up, and prepared to leave.

Tang Yuan felt the movement of the chair and immediately rushed out from under it. Fang Xing picked him up with one hand, brought him to the living room, and gave him some cat food, tearing open a pack of wet food for him.

“Christmas Eve. I’ll treat you to something good to eat.” Fang Xing gently tapped Tang Yuan’s head, stood up, put on his coat, and left.

When he got out of the building, Fang Xing realized that it was snowing.

The snowflakes weren’t big, but a thin layer of white had already accumulated on the ground. He didn’t know when it had started snowing.

Perhaps due to the festive atmosphere, even on such a cold day, there were quite a few people in the neighborhood. Some parents were playing in the snow with their children, who were bundled up like little bears. There were also a few nicely dressed girls, laughing on the phone while walking out of the community.

Fang Xing hailed a cab, gave Cloud Seven’s address to the driver, and the driver, a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, asked with a smile, “Are you going out to celebrate with your girlfriend, handsome?”

Fang Xing smiled without saying a word.

There were many people and cars on the street, and the road was a bit congested. It was past six when Fang Xing finally arrived at Cloud Seven’s entrance. When he paid and got out of the car, three people were already standing at the entrance.

Seeing Fang Xing, Zhou Hong called his name. “Hurry, hurry, today Jiang ge treats, let’s go eat something good!”

Jiang Zhijin, smoking a cigarette on the side, saw Fang Xing and extinguished the cigarette with a smile, waving at him.

Because of the cold weather, the group decided to go to a hot pot restaurant. From the outside, it looked quite ordinary, just a courtyard. Surprisingly, the interior was quite spacious. There was no large hall; instead, it had a two-story circular structure with private rooms. Regardless of the room, you could see the central courtyard. There was a small pond and some scattered evergreen trees, still lush even in winter, covered in the recently fallen snow, making it quite beautiful.

Probably due to Jiang Zhijin mentioning something about school, Zhou Hong and Gu Xun didn’t ask Fang Xing why he wasn’t attending school. After ordering the dishes and waiting for the waiter, Gu Xun just smiled and asked, “Today is Christmas Eve. Fang Xing, do you want to celebrate at Cloud Seven with us? We’re organizing an event and need an extra hand.”

“What event?”

“Dress up as Santa Claus and distribute candies and Santa hats to every customer who comes in,” Zhou Hong added.

Fang Xing nodded, “…That’s quite creative.”

“Don’t, we also have writing wish cards and a lucky draw session. What if you’re the lucky one?” Gu Xun said.

“Cut it out. After dinner, he has to go back to study,” Jiang Zhijin laughed.

“Do you have any empathy for teenagers? On a big holiday, you’re making him go back to study,” Gu Xun laughed, then turned to Fang Xing. “Where there is oppression, there must be resistance, Fang Xing.”

“No need. We teenagers usually don’t celebrate Christmas,” Fang Xing said.

Jiang Zhijin glanced at him and inexplicably smiled.

“…Well done,” Gu Xun laughed, “I can’t argue with you two. After all, you two—”

Gu Xun paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the two before continuing slowly.

“Like father, like son.”

Jiang Zhijin swiftly kicked him.

According to Gu Xun, this restaurant served the most authentic copper hot pot. All the beef and lamb were air-shipped from Inner Mongolia on the same day, with exceptional quality. Of course, the prices were quite high. When they paid the bill, the total came out to a four-digit figure for the four of them.

After leaving the restaurant, Gu Xun and Zhou Hong had already gone ahead, preparing to put on Santa Claus costumes before the place opened. Fang Xing planned to take a cab home since the restaurant’s location was quite remote and challenging to pinpoint. He and Jiang Zhijin were going to walk along the alley for a while.

The snow had stopped, leaving a white layer on the ground that crunched under their feet. The two walked side by side with their hands in their pockets, and the red lanterns hanging in the alley had been swaying for who knew how long, casting shaking shadows on the snowy ground.

“Do you really want to dress up as Santa Claus and distribute candies?” Three Santas running around in Cloud Seven, handing out candies… Fang Xing looked at Jiang Zhijin, imagining the scene and finding it a bit funny.

“It’s them two, not me,” Jiang Zhijin corrected.

Fang Xing asked, “Why won’t you wear it?”

“Because I’m the boss,” Jiang Zhijin said.

Fang Xing laughed for a while, then asked, “Really impressive.”

Jiang Zhijin smiled and looked at him, “You’re more impressive.”

“…What do you mean?” Fang Xing glanced at him.

 “Tomorrow is Christmas, and you’ve sadly had your classes suspended. I thought about taking you out tomorrow afternoon, maybe relax a bit…,” Jiang Zhijin said, and his face was filled with an uncontrollable smile.

“But you just said teenagers don’t celebrate Christmas, which is quite impressive. I dare not say it anymore.”

“…Are you doing this on purpose?” Fang Xing looked at him.

Jiang Zhijin laughed for a while and finally asked, “What do you say, study god?”

If he went back on his words which he said an hour ago, it would be quite embarrassing. The dignity of teenagers would be shattered in the hot pot broth…

“I’ll go out with you tomorrow,” Fang Xing sighed.

Shameful or not, he would go.