Looking up toward the sky… countless pale red paper strips fluttered in the wind within my sight, and faintly visible on their surfaces were words of blessing written in black ink.
Several couples stood beneath the New Year’s tree. The taller boys took the strips densely covered in writing from their girlfriends’ hands and, standing on tiptoe, hung them next to the drooping branches.
“Twenty yuan. Get the glue yourself from the base of the tree. Remember to return the pen after writing.”
As I watched the other couples chatting and laughing while heading into the shopping center, the ever-efficient Gu Fan had already bought two deep red paper strips edged in gold.
They seemed to be decorated with some aged-looking dragons and phoenixes—probably auspicious mythical beasts symbolizing good fortune.
On any normal day, as a pragmatic person, I absolutely wouldn’t waste money on these trivial little things that have little use.
But since patching things up with Gu Fan, I’ve unknowingly spent time, energy, and my hard-earned “dowry” on many things I previously considered meaningless.
“What are you spacing out for?”
A hand waved in front of my eyes, and Gu Fan’s figure soon appeared beside me.
“Mm, nothing.”
There was no way I could say what was on my mind—if I told him I was already preparing a dowry in advance just to marry the boy in front of me, he’d surely recoil in disgust.
Just picturing that scene made me shiver all over, so I quickly took the red paper strip and ballpoint pen he handed me.
Claiming I needed to find a place to lean on, I moved aside, pressed the strip against the tree trunk, uncapped the pen, and began to think about what blessing to write.
From afar, I had seen many of the strips hanging on the tree, with many girls writing elegant and beautiful wishes.
Their handwriting was so refined, like professional writers—not at all comparable to a useless person like me who only knows how to write templated essays during exams.
I glanced discreetly at Gu Fan.
He wasn’t leaning against the tree but had his left shoulder bent, resting on his broad forearm, while his right hand scratched “scritch-scratch” on the paper strip.
“That fast…?”
I was amazed at how quickly Gu Fan was thinking. Had he already decided in advance what blessing to write? Would the contents of his wish relate to me?
My naturally fanciful mind surfaced, and I couldn’t help wanting to sneak a peek at what he was writing on the strip.
I even stood on tiptoe, with the tail behind me bristling vigorously, cheering me on.
But height difference and angle put a clear barrier between us—before I could see the content clearly, he suddenly capped the pen and rolled up the wish strip, then walked toward me.
“Zhinian, haven’t you finished writing yet?”
“Uh… hmm, just a bit more. Let me think.”
I lowered my eyes, avoiding Gu Fan’s gaze, and shuffled slowly around to the other side of the tree.
I handed the glue bottle on the table nearby to Gu Fan so he could apply it, using the blind spot to make sure he wouldn’t see what I was about to write on the wish strip.
Hmph, what should I write that won’t sound clichéd? Come on, useless brain, start spinning!
I clenched my fist and knocked a few times on my head.
My cat ears curled up, as if afraid I might accidentally hurt them—a pair of cowards, just as useless as me, who can’t seem to do anything right. So annoying.
A wave of resentment quickly engulfed my heart. Even though I had long since taken off that too-small old bra and thrown it into the trash bag, why was my breathing still so rapid and uncomfortable?
I pressed the ballpoint pen down hard, the round tip puncturing a tiny hole in the deep red strip with a faint “pop” sound as it rubbed against the rough bark.
“…….”
Stunned for a moment, I sighed weakly and puffed out my cheeks in frustration but didn’t put the pen down.
I hadn’t even started writing yet. If I kept stabbing at it like this in despair, Gu Fan would surely notice and buy a new wish strip for me, and I really didn’t want him to spend more.
Forcing myself to focus on organizing my words, I looked toward a foreign girl not far off, who was smoothly writing her blessing while leaning against the tree.
Her boyfriend stood beside her, the two of them smiling and chatting—such a dazzling scene.
I squinted and gave up trying to find inspiration from their strips. It would be too embarrassing if they caught me spying.
So, I raised my head again to look at the already-written blessings hanging there.
“A new year, I want to write our story into a fairy tale book, hiding little Easter eggs only we know on every page~”
At the end of the strip was a rose and a little fox drawn in black ink.
Hmm… impressive. To actually write a book, and to draw so beautifully. Only such a girl could be considered excellent, right?
Secretly comparing myself to the girl who wrote this, I realized my cultural “soft skills” were absolutely getting trounced from all directions.
Physical “hard skills” like looks and figure inevitably fade with age; I can’t stay this young forever.
Once we marry and have children… my terrible personality and empty-headedness definitely won’t keep Gu Fan interested. He might very well, like my scumbag father, use being busy at work as an excuse to look for a refined, knowledgeable beauty as a mistress.
I looked up at the blessings again but only felt more self-conscious, so I turned my head away.
Since I’m no good at weaving beautiful words, I might as well write down exactly what I want. What’s there to hesitate about?
I want to marry Gu Fan.
After hastily writing that line, my heart jumped into my throat with fear, and I glanced around anxiously.
Fortunately, no one was watching me. Gu Fan was still focused at the table, carefully applying glue to the back of his strip.
Even luckier, the pen in my hand had clearly been used by many others and was running out of ink. Because of this, the words I wrote appeared broken and unclear, so no one could make out what they said.
Breathing a long sigh of relief, I sifted through the wishes bubbling up in my mind and picked the safest, most suitable one.
“I hope Gu Fan can live a safe and smooth life! No illness, no pain, happiness, and making lots and lots of money!”
I kept shaking the pen vigorously and managed to fill about half the strip. I wanted to write more blessings, but the pen, uncooperative as ever, signaled “Out of ink~” How annoying.