Chapter 9: My enemy and I

After a brief grasp, Lin Huaixu nonchalantly pulled his hand back.

But Tong An’yu, being thick-skinned, didn’t notice at all.

“The jianbing stall is a kilometer from here.”

“How do you think we should get there?” Tong An’yu pouted, hinting at her bicycle with a back seat.

At T University, bicycles were hard currency.

Because the campus was so large and classes were often in different buildings, you could see large groups of bicycles racing across campus during breaks, their wheels spinning like they were on fire.

Tong An’yu had specially learned to ride a bicycle after getting into T University.

Later, to give her roommates rides, she had even installed a back seat on her expensive mountain bike.

She hadn’t expected it to come in handy like this!

Lin Huaixu knew what she was hinting at.

He looked the bicycle over and asked in return, “I can’t ride.”

“Are you going to give me a ride?”

“…”

He was 187 cm tall, and she was 167 cm.
There was absolutely no romantic charm in her giving him a ride!

Forget it, it wasn’t like they had to imitate a scene from an idol drama.

Tong An’yu shifted her gaze from the bicycle, thinking she was being very subtle as she backpedaled, “Well… it’s too cold to ride a bike.”

“I think we should jog there.”

“What do you think?”

“Mmm, okay,” Lin Huaixu replied crisply, the corners of his lips twitching up slightly before quickly flattening again.

Actually, he could ride.

He had even been a member of the MCBC mountain bike club in the San Francisco Bay Area and had participated in cross-country races.

It was just that when he decided to return to China, he had sold all his equipment second-hand to pay the penalty for breaking his apartment lease.

It wasn’t that he had never given someone a ride, but they were destined to part ways sooner or later.

He didn’t intend to give the little bear T-shirt any unrealistic fantasies.

The jianbing guozi stall was just a tin shed, set up at some unknown time with someone’s permission.

A long wooden pole propped up the window, revealing a dazzling array of ingredients and a round, black flat-bottomed pan.

Steam rose from the pan, and the aroma of the grilled pancake wafted far in the cold wind.

There were six or seven students waiting in line, all with their hands in their pockets, necks shrunk, and feet shuffling back and forth, their eyes fixed on the egg mixture as it slowly solidified.

The owner of the jianbing stall was skilled and nimble, his brush flying between several sauces, painting the pancake skin with a kaleidoscope of colors in the blink of an eye.

Lin Huaixu took out some change and stuffed two ten-yuan bills into a white plastic bucket.

He didn’t have a strong desire for food right now.

He had too many things to think about every day, and every nerve was fully occupied.

Eating was just a means to keep himself from starving to death.

So he said to the owner, “Just make whatever you want.”

Just as the owner was about to get creative, Tong An’yu made the decision, “Then make it the same as mine, but no chili.”

“He has a cold.”

She was determined to have him try her classic combination, which had been perfected through countless permutations, surpassing Black Pearl and outshining Michelin.

The owner smiled, “Your girlfriend is really concerned about you.”

Lin Huaixu’s tone was flat, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

Such words would be hurtful to any pursuer, but hurt was unavoidable.
The sooner the loss, the smaller it would be.

Tong An’yu pressed the cuff of her sleeve against her numb cheek and whispered through a puff of mist, “Not yet.”
“But maybe in the future.”

Lin Huaixu looked at her and said, word by word, “Not in the future either.”

“Are you predicting the future, or have you time-traveled?”

“How do you know what will happen in the future?” Tong An’yu retorted.

Lin Huaixu: “…”

Her logic was impeccable.

Very good. Very good.

Soon, two jianbing guozi were ready.

Perhaps feeling sorry for Tong An’yu’s unrequited passion, the owner added two extra pieces of crispy cracker to hers, but not to Lin Huaixu’s.

Tong An’yu took it and asked enthusiastically, “Where are we going to eat?”

“Wherever you want, I’m leaving.”

He had promised to treat her, and he had fulfilled his promise.

There was no need for them to have any more contact.

So before Tong An’yu could think of a way to hold him back, he had already walked into a side path with the warm plastic bag, the darkest one.

The silent buildings were like gaping wounds, quickly swallowing his figure.

“Aren’t you going to add me on WeChat…” Tong An’yu guessed he hadn’t heard, because he hadn’t turned back at all.

When he got back to his dormitory, Lin Huaixu’s jianbing guozi was already cold, with only the very center still warm.

He opened a bottle of mineral water with one hand and ate the jianbing in large bites without any fuss, his eyes, as usual, fixed on the glowing computer screen, watching the string of code scroll by.

Only after he swallowed the jianbing did he realize belatedly that her combination was indeed much tastier.

It was the first time that a jianbing guozi had left an impression on him.

The illusion replaced the reality.

The ‘mushroom’ with earmuffs flashed before his eyes, and the code became a backdrop.

She seemed to be different from the people in his previous circle.

After all, she had a blind sense of justice, a sharp tongue, and what could be called a negative emotional intelligence.

Lin Huaixu made an merciless evaluation, and after putting the last piece of jianbing in his mouth, he thought, but it’s not annoying.

Tong An’yu wasn’t as wasteful as Lin Huaixu.

She couldn’t wait for the food to get cold, so she found a nearby stairwell and hid inside to finish eating.

Her sensory dullness fully boosted her morale.

She didn’t feel that Lin Huaixu turning and walking away was particularly hurtful.

Back in the dormitory, Zhu Yan turned around and asked, “How did it go?”
She knew that Tong An’yu had bought throat lozenges for someone.

“It was very effective,” Tong An’yu said with great confidence.

“Did you two go on a date?”

“No.”

“Then did you add each other as friends?”

“Almost.”

“Did you walk back together?”

“I came back by myself.”

“…As long as you’re happy,” Zhu Yan said tactfully.

From that day on, Tong An’yu began to audit “Introduction to the Frontiers of Physics.”

She was also very busy.

She already had many major courses in her junior year, and she was also pursuing a double degree.

Her daily schedule was packed, and it was already very difficult to squeeze out one session a week to audit.

The down-and-out handsome guy was still in high demand, and the seats next to Lin Huaixu were very hard to get.

It seemed that he himself knew this, so he almost always entered the classroom right when the bell rang and then deliberately sat among the boys.

Tong An’yu rarely got to sit very close to him, even if she timed it right and entered the classroom with him.

Fortunately, the teacher for this course was very good, and his lectures were humorous and interesting.

Tong An’yu learned a lot.

Every time class ended at nine o’clock, she thought she could have a casual chat with Lin Huaixu on the way, but he would go straight to the library after class and start his second round of life-and-death struggle.

Tong An’yu, who had just been planning to go back to her dormitory to watch dramas:

“…”

She had no choice but to resign herself to going to the library and doing the tasks she had previously left for the weekend at night.

Her learning efficiency improved exponentially, but her fellow fans were already convinced that she had moved on and had mercilessly kicked her out of the fan group.

After all, she hadn’t logged in to follow her idols for a long time.

Then she discovered that Lin Huaixu wasn’t really reclusive.

He was just too busy, too busy to socialize with his classmates, too busy to enjoy university life.

He went out to tutor three nights a week, and spent the rest of his time in the library, either with his headphones on, helping people with English interview training, or tapping away at his keyboard, working on something unknown.

He would only return to his dormitory around eleven o’clock.

Tong An’yu went home to accompany her parents on weekends, and from Monday to Friday, she also started to spend her time in the library.

Over time, she basically figured out the places Lin Huaixu frequented.

When she went to the designated spot in the library every night, she would run into him nine times out of ten.

Of course, she would also run into girls asking to add him on WeChat, who were then politely and mercilessly rejected by him.

Tong An’yu wouldn’t go out of her way to disturb him.

Instead, she would sit aside and work on her own assignments.

Sometimes, when she was focused on her studies and entered a state of flow, she wouldn’t even notice that Lin Huaixu had turned off his desk lamp and was getting ready to leave.

Fortunately, Lin Huaixu would put his backpack on the table with a “thud” before leaving.

Then she would hurriedly pack her things, put on her down jacket, and jog after him.

The library’s elevator was slow, and she would catch up to him while he was waiting for it.

Although their dormitories were not in the same building, they could at least walk together for a few hundred meters.

But “walking together” was Tong An’yu’s concept.

Lin Huaixu just walked his own way, at most slowing down a lot because of the dark and slippery road.

Tong An’yu didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she always felt that by January, when “Introduction to the Frontiers of Physics” was about to end, the seats next to Lin Huaixu were not so hard to get.

When she timed it right and entered the classroom with him, she could sit next to him if she was lucky.

But Lin Huaixu was very focused in class and didn’t even glance at her.

His capacitive pen wrote and scribbled on his tablet, his handwriting fluid and sharp.

A few days later, there was a heavy snow, mixed with hail, which damaged a utility pole and caused a small power outage at T University.

The library was no longer an option.

Tong An’yu rarely packed her bag and left at nine o’clock.

“Lin Huaixu, you’re not going to study at the old library two kilometers away, are you?” the snow under her feet crunched, as if it was accompanying her.

Lin Huaixu wasn’t particularly cold.

When she usually initiated a conversation, he would answer, but she didn’t know if it was because of the “broken gong” blow, but now that his cold was better, his words were still very concise.

But today, he didn’t answer.

Instead, he raised his hand and stopped Tong An’yu.

Tong An’yu was puzzled.

Then she saw Lin Huaixu hold his breath for a moment, suddenly walk towards a snow-covered Mini Cooper on the side of the road, squat down, and pull out a small, mouse-like creature from under the frozen wheel.

Tong An’yu instinctively took a step back.
Only when she heard the small creature, lying on its back, let out a weak cry did she realize it was a newborn kitten.

The cat was only the size of a palm.

It could still cry a little just now, but now, being held by the scruff of its neck by Lin Huaixu, it was already motionless, its head tilted to the side.

In such cold weather, after this night, this life would be gone.

Lin Huaixu didn’t hesitate.

He took off his down jacket and wrapped the gray, nondescript cat in it.

This action surprised Tong An’yu a little.
He was so cold and indifferent to people, but he was so gentle with a cat.

But this warmth was not enough to save a life that was about to freeze to death, especially since this cat was clearly not weaned.

Perhaps it had gotten lost, or perhaps it had been abandoned, but it was destined to be eliminated by nature.

But it had met Lin Huaixu, and her.

“The nearest pet hospital is at the south gate.”

“It’s too cold, wait for me to get a cab,” Tong An’yu felt like she was the perfect teammate.

The moment she realized that little thing was a cat, she had already started searching for a pet hospital.

Taxis were allowed on the T University campus, but they would be questioned by the guards at the gate.

“No one will take such a short fare,” Lin Huaixu stated calmly.

Not long after he took off his down jacket, his body had already lost all heat, and his originally pale skin was coated with a layer of frostbite.

Not only that, but fine lines had also crept up the back of his already dry hands, but this person seemed to be completely indifferent to his own situation.

“Where’s your bicycle?” he asked.

The mountain bike was parked on the shoulder of the road nearby.

It was a top brand, and the tires had just been inflated the day before yesterday.
It would be faster to get to the south gate than a taxi.

“Xiao Tong might not be able to carry you,” Tong An’yu said with difficulty.

Lin Huaixu glanced at her, took the car keys from her hand, and then stuffed the down jacket with the kitten into her arms.

A minute later, Lin Huaixu adjusted the seat height, got on, and rested his long legs on the snow, saying to Tong An’yu, “Get on.”

Tong An’yu stared at him, “Didn’t you say you couldn’t ride?”

Lin Huaixu didn’t explain.

He rode the bike very fast, but it was steady and smooth, with no trace of awkwardness.

At first, Tong An’yu was apprehensive and worried, but later she was finally sure that Lin Huaixu not only knew how to ride, but he rode very well.

He even knew how to adjust the various gears, using the bike as if it were his own.

Liar.

He just didn’t want to give her a ride.

Tong An’yu held the kitten in her arms, feeling a little sad.

But Lin Huaixu couldn’t help but cough a few times, his sweater puffing up in the wind, and she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

‘Serves you right for catching a cold.’
She thought so, and then pressed her whole body against Lin Huaixu’s back, fitting perfectly, trying to cover as much of Lin Huaixu as possible with her down jacket.

Lin Huaixu’s back obviously stiffened for a moment, but soon, his muscles began to move rhythmically with his back, which also happened to rub against Tong An’yu’s face.

She discovered that under Lin Huaixu’s lean appearance, he was actually very strong, and his core muscles were very good.

He must have been very good at sports before.

In ten minutes, Lin Huaixu had arrived at the entrance of the pet hospital.

As soon as he slowed down, Tong An’yu jumped off and ran into the pet hospital with the kitten.

Lin Huaixu frowned at her dangerous action, then locked the bike neatly and followed her in.

When the down jacket was peeled back, the kitten was still motionless.

The pet doctor filled two hot water bottles, covered them with a soft blanket, placed the kitten on top, and began to perform CPR skillfully.

“The cat is too young and has been frozen for so long.”

“I saw that its leg might have a problem too.”

“It’s not certain that it can be saved,” the doctor explained while compressing the kitten’s heart.

“Please do your best, thank you.”

The kitten was very dirty, its fur was matted together, and it was a little ugly, with dark circles around its eyes, which made Tong An’yu feel uncomfortable.

Perhaps it was a blessing from heaven, or perhaps Lin Huaixu’s down jacket had come in time.

After more than ten minutes of compressions, the kitten finally opened its mouth and meowed.

“It’s temporarily saved… you two are students, right?”

“Yes.”

“You’re very kind-hearted, but it might still need a full-body check-up.”

“Its leg might also need treatment after the X-ray.”

“The total cost will probably be a few thousand.”

“What do you think…”

Just as Tong An’yu was about to speak, Lin Huaixu said, “I know, let’s do the check-up.”

Then he took out his phone.

“Let me!” Tong An’yu knew that Lin Huaixu was living on a tight budget, spinning like a high-speed top every day.

She didn’t know how many tutoring jobs he would have to do for a few thousand yuan.

But this was just a fraction of her pocket money.

“No need,” Lin Huaixu insisted on scanning the code himself and pushed her phone down.

Tong An’yu glanced at Lin Huaixu.

His sweater was in such bad shape, yet he dared to spend a few thousand yuan in one go.

The doctor also said, “Let the boyfriend do it.”

Tong An’yu had expected to hear a denial again, but this time Lin Huaixu didn’t explain like he did at the jianbing stall.
Perhaps he found it too troublesome.

The kitten’s check-up results came out.

Fortunately, it didn’t have cat ringworm or parasites, just a small fracture in its hind leg that required surgery.

“This cat is probably congenitally weak.”
“Food is limited in the winter, so it was abandoned by its mother.”

“There’s a certain risk with anesthesia for a kitten like this, so you have to be prepared, but I still recommend surgery.”

“Understood,” Lin Huaixu’s reaction was very calm, as if he wasn’t worried about his money being wasted at all.

The cat was left at the hospital for observation.

It was already eleven o’clock at night when they left.

Her heart was temporarily at ease.

Tong An’yu remembered being deceived and would glance at Lin Huaixu from time to time, silently condemning him.

Lin Huaixu acted as if nothing had happened.

He wiped his down jacket with a disinfectant wipe, put it on for the time being, then got on his mountain bike and asked Tong An’yu, “What’s your dormitory number?”

“Fifteen,” Tong An’yu grabbed his down jacket and sat on the back seat.

There was no reason to cling to him this time.

After riding for half the journey, Tong An’yu was still brooding, “You said you couldn’t ride.”

“Are you worthy of the throat lozenges Xiao Tong gave you?”

Lin Huaixu pretended the wind was too loud and couldn’t hear.

In a blink of an eye, they arrived at building fifteen.

Lin Huaixu stopped the bike, let Tong An’yu off, and returned the keys and the bike to her.

Tong An’yu was unwilling to give up, “Lin Huaixu, is this your first time giving someone a ride?”

“No,” the answer was decisive and crisp.

Tong An’yu’s heart sank with a “thud.”
She had guessed it, but it was still so annoying.

Lin Huaixu put his frozen hands in his pockets and was about to leave when he glanced to the side.

The little bear T-shirt’s head was hanging very low, looking dejected.

Was this worth being dejected about?
What kind of stupid question was that?

His gaze changed from appraising to chiding.

Seeing her slumped shoulders, he couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth and drop a sentence—

“But it’s the first time I’ve given a girl a ride.”

Before Tong An’yu could react, he had already turned and walked away without looking back.