Tea of Summer - Chapter 39 Part 2: Winter Warmth 5

It's happening guys. It's finally happening.

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Chapter 39 Part 2

Winter Warmth 5

Song Qiyan raised his hand to pat her head under the furry hat. “Xia Xia, I have come here willingly.”  He stretched out another hand which was carrying a bag.

Xia Liang found out only now, that Song Qiyan had been carrying a bag in his hand all this time.

“For me?”

Song Qiyan nodded, “Christmas gift.”

Xia Liang took over the bag.  Then she thought in embarrassment; oh, no, she had never thought about getting him a Christmas gift……..She had never celebrated Christmas before, needless to say, she never thought about giving gifts for Christmas.

She opened the bag.  It was a bright red cashmere scarf inside.  Xia Liang used her hand to touch it.  It felt really good.

“Thank you shixiong.”  She smiled to Song Qiyan sweetly.  She was pondering secretly about when she should give him a Christmas gift in return.

“What are you thinking about?”  Song Qiyan asked.  Song Qiyan was a little perturbed by her expression. “Don’t you like it?”

Xia Liang hurriedly clarified, “No, no, I like it.  It is a very beautiful scarf.  I really like it, but I……”  She used her finger to scratch her cheek bashfully. “I don’t have the habit of giving Christmas presents.  So I didn’t prepare a Christmas present for shixiong……”   She then quickly raised her head.  Her brown pupils reflected the warm glow of the street light, which enhanced her attempt to find an easy way out.  “Let’s go pick up one later to make up for it. alright?”

Song Qiyan smiled.  “No hurry.”  He then pointed at the bag in Xia Liang’s hand.  “Actually there is another gift inside.  It’s from one of my friends.”

“Friend?” Now Xia Liang was confused.  Was it from Wei Jian xue zhang?  But were they familiar enough to the point that they would exchange Christmas gifts with each other?  Since Song Qiyan already said so, Xia Liang dug around inside the bag carefully.  Finally she touched a hard square thing underneath the scarf.  She took it out curiously.  It was a CD.

She looked at the name on the cover under the light of street lamp.  She was instantly stunned into silence.

The name of the album was <Dreams of the Past>.  It was a famous ancient style album.  You could say that it was this album, <Dreams of the Past>, which made Qian Sui, the singer, popular in the entire ancient style circle.

And Xia Liang happened to be Qian Sui’s……fangirl.

If Bei Yan was Xia Liang’s god in the voice over circle, then her god in the ancient style circle was absolutely, without a doubt, Qian Sui.  As a fan of ancient style songs, she didn’t like the pop music.  Her music player on her cell phone always played Qian Sui’s songs on repeat.  She never grew tired of it.

Xia Liang hadn’t discovered the ancient style circle yet when this album was published.  She didn’t even know about Qian Sui then.  Later, when she became Qian Sui’s die-hard fan, yet only a couple of hundred copies of this album was published and they had all fallen into his fans’ private collections.  It was impossible to buy one.

But it was not only this album which had shocked her, there was also big flamboyant characters written with marker on the album cover.

[ To Bei Yan’s Xiao Zi Xia, Wish you two love for a hundred years. ------- Qian Sui ]

It was a personal autograph, with a very unexpected message.

Xia Liang was absolutely overwhelmed by everything that it implied.

He saw Xia Liang hadn’t recovered for quite a while.  Song Qiyan eyes became downcast and started to regret a little bit.  If he knew that Qian Sui was so influential on her, then he shouldn’t have given her the album today.  She had become totally distracted.

After quite some time, when everyone around them began to countdown till the fireworks, Xia Liang finally managed to sort through her messy thoughts and raised her head.  Her right hand nervously curled up. “Shixiong……This…..I…..”  She had already become incoherent.

Song Qiyan watched her nervous and flustered expressions and suddenly became extremely soft-hearted.  “I saw on your Weibo that you liked Qian Sui.  So I called him and told him……”  Song Qiyan paused.  His tone was tender and careful, “That I like a girl who likes his songs.  I asked him to please mail me an autographed album…….”  Just as he finished, the countdown ended.  The fireworks illuminated the night sky.  Song Qiyan looked down at her.  His deep dark eyes reflected the bright sky.  His expression was concentrated, expecting.

Xia Liang was so surprised that her mouth opened.  It was as if the fireworks splashing in the night sky had exploded inside her brain and jumbled her thoughts.

Song Qiyan lowered his head and moved closer to her.  His magnetic voice sounded in between the fireworks. “Qian Sui laughed at me, like I even need his help to chase after the girl I like.  He would break his friendship with me if I’m not successful.  So……”  He stopped again.  His tone suddenly became a bit teasing. “Xia Xia, what do you think?”

Song Qiyan straightened up his body and looked up at the fireworks after he finished.  He gave Xia Liang enough time to think.  But he couldn’t see the glamourous fireworks anymore, he could only use the corner of his eyes to peek at the person who was only up to his shoulder.  His heart was perturbed and nervous just the same as all boys when they first confess to the girl they like and worry whether they might be rejected.

The first round of fireworks finished after a couple minutes.  There was a several minutes break  before the start of the second round.

Song Qiyan could almost hear the sound of his heartbeat clearly as time passed by. It had been a long time since it had throbbed in expectation.

The palpitations and uncertainty in his mind gradually grew.  A little hand dragged the cuff of his sleeve.  He looked down at her.  He heard her blame him matter of factly, pouting. “It’s too sudden.  I forgot to watch the fireworks completely!”

After hearing her voice, filled with cute annoyance and shyness, Song Qiyan could finally feel relieved. He stretched out his hand for the first time to touch her face.  “Uhm, my fault.”

After hearing his soft voice, Xia Liang was even more bashful.  Fortunately, the dark night hid her somewhat crimson colored face.  She continued to drag Song Qiyan’s cuff.  Her eyes drifted. “Then, like this, so does it count as the beginning?”

Song Qiyan still gently and devotedly looked at her.  His eyes filled with tenderness. “En.”  He lowered his head and moved close to her slowly.

Xia Liang’s heart skipped a beat.  She closed her eyes shyly.

Then Xia Liang fell into a warm and generous embrace.  It was similar to the one more than a month ago, but the feeling was totally different.

Xia Liang opened her eyes in Song Qiyan’s arms.  She timidly moved to touch his waist.  She silently despised herself in her mind.  Xia Liang, what were you expecting just now!

The embrace did not last long.  Song Qiyan straightened up and stood with Xia Liang side by side in the crowd.  They were waiting for the second wave of fireworks.  But this time, Song Qiyan moved his right hand sideways and when he touched the back of the girl’s hand, he held her hand tightly and stuffed them into his pocket.

Umm, he had every reason to hold his girlfriend’s hand, tiny, soft, and cool to the touch..

But Xia Liang’s ears could only hear one sentence of the lyrics of the hit song <Tilt the World> in Qian Sui’s album <Dreams of the Past> as bright lights splashed on the night sky from the second round of fireworks.

[The young man in white clothes, he promised her, this display of grand fireworks.]