CHAPTER 840: CHAPTER 837: FRIENDS

When Zhang Shengnan saw Shen Siyuan, she immediately smiled at him, then walked towards him with the bent steel rebar in her hand.

Shen Siyuan was also quite taken aback. He knew since he was young that Zhang Shengnan was strong, but he didn’t expect her to be this strong. Seeing her frail appearance, it was surprising she had such great strength, truly a unique talent.

"Bro, happy New Year."

Although Shen Siyuan was her brother’s friend, he had a good relationship with her too. Meeting during the New Year, they couldn’t just pass each other without saying a word.

"Happy New Year, how’s everything lately? How many followers do you have now?"

"I already have over 800,000 followers." Zhang Shengnan said with a bit of pride.

"So many?" Shen Siyuan was also surprised when he heard this.

The last time they met, she only had over 80,000 followers, and in just half a year, it had increased tenfold.

Back then, he had said it was easy to become a little popular, but hard to become very popular, not expecting his prediction to be proven wrong so quickly.

Are people becoming this abstract now?

"Wait, you didn’t even follow me?" Zhang Shengnan said dissatisfied.

"I’ve been too busy recently, no time." Shen Siyuan said, a bit embarrassed.

Zhang Shengnan, hearing this, pouted. It was clearly an excuse, who could be so busy they couldn’t even hit a follow button?

Feeling a bit displeased, she directly tossed the steel rebar in her hand towards him.

"Here, a New Year’s gift for you." With that, she tossed the rebar to Shen Siyuan.

Shen Siyuan caught it and, somewhat amused, asked, "Where’s your brother?"

"He’s home, I can call him for you." Zhang Shengnan was about to shout.

"No need, I’ll go find him myself."

With that, Shen Siyuan started walking towards her house. As he passed by her, he remembered he was still holding the steel rebar.

Visiting during New Year’s with a piece of steel rebar in hand didn’t seem right, so he hurriedly handed it back to her.

As Zhang Shengnan watched him enter her house, she looked down and noticed the steel rebar she had bent earlier was somehow straightened.

Zhang Shengnan’s eyes widened in surprise; it’s harder to straighten rebar than to bend it.

But she didn’t dwell on it, walked to the phone camera, and in a rough voice, said, "Haha, let’s continue, little baby...

Shen Siyuan: ...

"Big Head." Seeing Shen Siyuan, Zhang Haibo was very happy.

Shen Siyuan was also happy to see Zhang Haibo but couldn’t call him ’small crooked mouth’.

Because that nickname had a derogatory connotation, since his father had a crooked mouth, everyone called him Zhang Lao Wai, so they gave him the nickname ’small crooked mouth’. When he was a child, Zhang Haibo fought people many times because of this nickname.

If it were now, he might have been the ’crooked mouth dragon king’.

Whereas Shen Siyuan’s ’Big Head’ wasn’t a nickname but a pet name, called affectionately by those who knew him, including his Grandma.

"I heard from my mom you went to my house this morning, that’s how I knew you were back..."

While talking, Shen Siyuan walked inside without any formality.

Zhang Haibo took out a cigarette and handed it to him.

Shen Siyuan shook his head and declined, "I never smoke."

Zhang Haibo didn’t insist, lit one for himself, took a deep puff, and blew a smoke ring.

"Not smoking is good..." he said with a smile.

But Shen Siyuan felt there was a different undertone in his words.

"Aren’t your parents home?" Shen Siyuan asked casually, seeing no one inside.

"They went to play mahjong." Zhang Haibo replied.

Shen Siyuan wasn’t surprised either; during the New Year, everyone rarely got together, so playing mahjong became the most popular activity.

It lasts from the thirtieth of December to the seventh of January because from the eighth, people gradually leave the village to work elsewhere.

"How have you been lately?" Shen Siyuan looked at Zhang Haibo and asked.

The two were the same age, but Zhang Haibo looked more mature and aged compared to Shen Siyuan.

"What else can I say? Divorced, you probably heard from your mother, right?"

Even though Zhang Haibo never talked about it with Shen Siyuan’s parents, with the speed of gossip in the village, his parents were bound to know.

"Oh, divorce is divorce, how’s the child? I haven’t seen them yet." Shen Siyuan said calmly.

There wasn’t much regret, as divorce was becoming quite common nowadays, so he wasn’t surprised or regretful.

"Ah, the child naturally went with his mother, I just miss the kid." Zhang Haibo said.

It isn’t surprising. Zhang Haibo’s son was not even three years old this year, and for such a young child, as long as the woman didn’t commit any principal mistakes and had a stable income, courts typically grant custody to the mother.

"Thinking about it now is useless, work hard, life is still long."

Seeing his dejected appearance, Shen Siyuan casually comforted him.

"Yes, thinking too much about it now is useless, we have to look forward." Zhang Haibo said with a self-deprecating smile, but took a deep drag on his cigarette again.

"Why divorce after all? Did you have an affair?" Shen Siyuan felt the atmosphere was a bit heavy and made a joke.

"No such thing, it’s just incompatibility." Clearly, Zhang Haibo didn’t want to discuss it in detail.

With divorce, it must be one side’s fault. If it’s not the man’s fault, then it must be the woman’s fault.

Being prideful, Zhang Haibo didn’t elaborate, and Shen Siyuan didn’t press further.

He grabbed a paper cup and made Shen Siyuan a cup of tea; it wasn’t anything fancy, just local partridge tea, also called ’dad’s tea’.

Shen Siyuan didn’t mind, took a sip, and looked around his house.

He hadn’t been here in years, and even when he had a blind date with Zhang Shengnan last time, they stayed in the yard and didn’t go inside.

The old house was long gone, replaced by the small Western-style building in front, but the furnishings gave him a strange sense of familiarity, a sense of warmth in its presence.

Noticing Shen Siyuan’s gaze, Zhang Haibo explained, "Our family is mostly outside, so no one’s home to tidy up, it seems a bit messy."

Actually, Shen Siyuan felt it was fine and simply smiled, "Not at all, the house is quite tidy, Auntie is still so diligent."

Talking about this, Zhang Haibo couldn’t help but sigh again.

My divorce made my mom the saddest; she raised my son since he was little...

"Alright, enough about me. How about you? When I went to your house this morning, I saw two young girls, they are really pretty; who are they to your family?"

"My girlfriend." Shen Siyuan said.

"Which one?" Zhang Haibo asked again.

"Both of them." Shen Siyuan said.

"What? You’re such a rascal." Zhang Haibo was surprised, his eyes wide and teeth clenched.

Shen Siyuan burst out laughing, feeling a sense of closeness, the unfamiliarity of not seeing each other for a long time seemed to dissipate at that moment.

Zhang Haibo also started laughing, "Your bragging almost got me, I guess it’s the more mature-looking one."

"Why do you think that?" Shen Siyuan asked, a bit curious.

"Because you like them older," Zhang Haibo said.

"You’re slandering me, talking nonsense..."

"Oh, that’s why you didn’t fancy me; you like older ones?"

When Zhang Shengnan finished her livestream and came to the door, she immediately chimed in upon hearing this.

Zhang Haibo heard and nodded with a smile, "That’s probably the reason."

Shen Siyuan was so annoyed by the siblings he was about to explode.