CHAPTER 90: FIREWORKS AND CHOICES

As soon as the call connected, Qian Zhijun’s lively voice came through.

"Xiaoyu, Happy New Year in advance! Am I the first one to say it to you?"

A while ago, when Rong Xingyu went to the film crew to shoot, Qian Zhijun only found out about it later.

It all started when Yue Yeqiao and the others saw the gossip online about Rong Zhenghao’s "rumored boyfriend."

Even though the photo was not very clear and only showed Rong Xingyu’s side profile...

But because they were with him almost every day at school, they recognized him instantly.

Their jaws almost fell to the floor.

They hurried to poke him on WeChat and only then learned he had gone to film a movie.

Now that Rong Xingyu had finished shooting, Qian Zhijun who was very curious about the crew and acting finally grabbed the chance to gossip endlessly.

They chatted about everything.

When they finally hung up, Rong Xingyu checked the time and realized it was almost midnight.

He put away his phone and was about to walk back to the living room when another call came in.

Rong Xingyu stopped and walked back onto the balcony.

"Dr. Ding?"

He didn’t know what Ding Yixin said on the other side, but Rong Xingyu leaned against the balcony rail and lowered his head a little.

He looked like he was listening seriously to the voice on the phone, while his toes tapped lightly against the floor without him noticing.

On the sofa, Rong Zhenghao happened to glance toward the balcony and saw Rong Xingyu holding the phone while smiling softly.

Rong Zhenghao: "..."

"Yuyu, do you want to watch fireworks?" Ding Yixin suddenly asked over the phone.

Rong Xingyu immediately froze.

However, before he could say "yes," he heard Ding Yixin continue, "Look at your watch. I’ll show you a magic trick."

Dr. Ding could do magic?

Rong Xingyu raised his wrist doubtfully and looked at his watch.

"First, you need to focus. Stare at the moving second hand."

Hearing Ding Yixin’s calm instructions, Rong Xingyu stared at the long second hand seriously.

Only then did he realize it was almost midnight.

All the hands on the watch, the hour, minute, and second were about to overlap.

"Are you ready?"

Rong Xingyu nodded. "Ready."

"The second hand is slowly passing the marks on the dial... one... then another..."

Ding Yixin’s voice became slower.

Rong Xingyu stayed completely focused, watching the second hand move, his eyes following it around the dial.

"Only a few marks left. Ten... nine... three... two... one."

As the last word fell, the second hand pointed to the number twelve and overlapped perfectly with the hour and minute hands.

Ding Yixin said softly, "Yuyu, Happy New Year."

Rong Xingyu’s watch made a soft clicking sound.

Right at that moment, with a loud boom and countless huge fireworks burst open in the night sky all at once.

Rong Xingyu snapped his head up.

He opened his eyes wide, completely shocked by the scene in front of him.

Rong Xingyu had never seen so many fireworks bloom at the same time.

The bright colors lit up the sky until it looked almost like daytime.

And after exploding, the fireworks fell slowly, like countless stars pouring down from the sky.

It was breathtaking.

This grand "firework show" made many people in the city stop and stare, but the true audience was only Rong Xingyu.

Rong Xingyu tilted his head up.

The blooming fireworks lit up his delicate face.

This was the magic trick Dr. Ding made for him.

His heart suddenly beat wildly.

He lifted a hand and pressed it against his chest, feeling something hot and strong trying to spill out.

These were the most beautiful fireworks he had ever seen.

He didn’t even get the chance to say "Happy New Year" back to Dr. Ding.

After staying up late with his family and finally going to bed, Rong Xingyu suddenly remembered it again.

He had been so shocked by the fireworks earlier... Dr. Ding seemed to have said "Happy New Year," right?

Rong Xingyu was already falling asleep. He yawned with half-closed eyes and mumbled to himself, "Happy New Year to Dr. Ding too..."

After the New Year, Rong Xingyu didn’t even stay home for a few days before he had to leave for competition training.

But what Rong Xingyu never expected was that on the night before he was supposed to leave for the training camp, his second brother and eldest brother would "corner" him in his own room.

Rong Zhenghao took out a thick stack of photos from somewhere.

He then placed them on the desk in front of Rong Xingyu and arranged them neatly in a row.

Rong Xingyu: "???"

He lowered his head to look closely and found that these photos were portraits of different boys!?

And the crazy part was there were so many photos of them, yet not a single one repeated.

The styles were so varied it almost made his eyes dizzy.

Rong Xingyu: "..."

He lifted his head and looked at Rong Zhenghao in confusion, silently asking what he was trying to do.

Rong Zhenghao cleared his throat with a finger near his lips. "These are all artists and trainees from our company."

"Huh?" Rong Xingyu blinked his eyes in confusion.

Hmm, they were all quite good looking, but what did artists and trainees have to do with him?

"Ahem, after my early investigation, their personalities should be fine. And they’re all around your age too."

Rong Zhenghao stressed the words "around your age," whether on purpose or not.

"There are all kinds of styles here, Xiaoyu. See which one you like more? They’re all from our company, so if you find one pleasing, you can start as friends."

Rong Zhenghao pointed at the row of photos like he was selling vegetables at a market: "Look at this one, he looked like a cute puppy type. Do you like him?"

"And this one, the girls at the company said he’s the ’little wolf dog’ type. This kind of type is very popular nowadays."