Chapter 15: The enemy said he liked

It was only eight words, and she couldn’t discern any tone from them, but it was enough to keep Tong An’yu feeling light all day.

She leaned back in her airplane seat, repeatedly savoring his every move as he said those eight words.

Something was shining in her eyes, brighter than the lights.

She looked closely. A bright moon hung in the sky, a soft yellow, shining both in her eyes and on his window.

Landing in Honolulu, her mood, along with the weather, became warm and fresh.

She craned her neck at the back of a long line, just waiting for that internet-famous ice cream. The sun beat down on her sun hat, and her sweat soaked through her T-shirt drop by drop.

The scoop of ice cream was placed in the cone, and just as she was about to take a big bite, a tanned hand suddenly reached out from her side, pulled her arm, and snatched the ice cream away.

Tong An’yu was furious. “Jiang Siyuan! Are you a seagull?”

“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, gege will give you money to buy another one.” Jiang Siyuan, holding a surfboard and covered in sand, said with a cheeky grin.

“Yuming-ge!” Tong An’yu stomped her foot, pointing at Jiang Siyuan. “Look at him!”

Ji Yuming and Jiang Siyuan were twins, but their personalities were completely different. Ji Yuming was steady and reserved, while Jiang Siyuan was never serious.

Both were ten years older than Tong An’yu, but from a young age, Tong An’yu had deeply felt the difference between reliable and ridiculous. So, she respectfully called Ji Yuming “ge,” but addressed Jiang Siyuan by his full name.

Ji Yuming himself hadn’t been bullied any less by Jiang Siyuan when they were young. Seeing this, he could only chide softly, “How old are you? Stop bothering her.”

Jiang Siyuan deliberately teased her, “You little brat, tattling again, tattling again. All you’ve known how to do since you were little is tattle, huh?”

“You’re the one who only knows how to tattle! I’ll fight you!” Tong An’yu abandoned her ice cream, grabbed a handful of sand, and charged at Jiang Siyuan.

“Hey, hey, hey… can’t catch me, can’t catch me.” Jiang Siyuan, relying on his height and long legs, threw his surfboard aside, tucked his neck in, and ran towards the beach.

Si Xu emerged from the sea, brushing aside his dripping curly hair. Seeing the situation, he immediately lunged at Jiang Siyuan, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist and shouting to Tong An’yu, “Little Yu, come quick! Your dear brother will help you!”

Tong An’yu pounced with a ferocious smile, pinning Jiang Siyuan to the sand and burying him.

Pressed down by Si Xu and unable to move, Jiang Siyuan had no choice but to call out to Ji Yuming for help, “Ji Yuming, her dear brother is helping her, where’s my dear brother?”

Ji Yuming smiled helplessly. “You deserve it.”

Tong An’yu: “Bullying me?”
Si Xu: “Bullying my sister?”

Jiang Siyuan finally begged for mercy, “I was wrong, I was wrong, young miss, little miss.”

Si Xu slapped his pectoral muscle hard. “Get lost.”

Jiang Siyuan scrambled up from the sand in a sorry state, sighing, “Sigh, no respect for their elders.”

While they were fooling around, Ji Yuming had already returned with new ice cream scoops, one for each of the four, of course.

Tired from the ruckus, Tong An’yu rested on a beach chair. In her hands were the ice cream Ji Yuming had bought, the coconut Si Xu had brought over, and the beach towel Jiang Siyuan had carried for her.

Their parents were chatting under a beach umbrella, not bothering with their antics.

Being surrounded by love was such a normal thing for her.

In the hotel’s buffet restaurant, while everyone else was getting food, she leaned over and asked Jiang Yao, who was drinking draft beer, “Auntie, what if in the future I like someone who’s… different from my brothers? Someone who’s cold to everyone but is actually a very good person?”

Jiang Yao: “A central air conditioner?”

Tong An’yu shook her head vigorously. “No, he probably has his reasons, like family reasons or something… just very hard to get close to.”

Jiang Yao, deeply understanding, had a radical idea, “So what if it’s hard? If you like him, just go for it. Why care so much? Even if you can’t have him, you have to make him never forget you for the rest of his life, make his head hurt just thinking about you!”

Tong An’yu was quite enlightened and said with gratification, “I think so too!”

Dean Ji, peeling shrimp on the side, looked up. He heard them but only smiled gently.
“Yao Yao, no headaches.”

For several days in a row, Hawaii was blessed with sunny, clear skies.

Tong An’yu visited Pearl Harbor, toured the botanical garden in a jeep, and even rode a horse at a ranch. In the blink of an eye, it was New Year’s Eve.

She timed it to Jing City’s time and sent a message to Lin Huaixu—

[Happy New Year! Little Tong wishes you good health, success in your studies, and to find love soon~]

The last sentence was, of course, her own selfish wish. Her face was already red as she typed it, and her smile never left her face after she sent it.

But while waiting for a reply, she began to overthink again. What if he saw the last sentence and didn’t want to reply?

‘Forget it, forget it… New Year’s wishes should be sincere.’

Just as she was about to retract the message, a reply suddenly popped up below—

[Happy New Year.]

He replied?

He actually replied!

It seemed that on the auspicious day of New Year’s Eve, even Lin Huaixu had become gentler.

Lin Huaixu put down his phone, lowered his eyes, and turned back to the bathroom to continue rinsing the foam out of his hair under the faucet.

Then—ding!

He took a deep breath, straightened up, and went over.

[Had dried fish with fruit for dinner. What did you eat?]

The water dripping from his hair had already soaked his T-shirt, along with the shampoo that hadn’t been fully rinsed out.

Lin Huaixu squinted, wiped his fingers dry.

[Jianbing Guozi from the family residential area.]

After replying, a wave of discomfort hit him, so he felt his way along the wall back to the bathroom, turned the faucet to full blast, and splashed half of his clothes wet.

Finally, he grabbed the back of his collar, ripped off the T-shirt, and revealed his lean, wiry upper body.

‘Sick.’

He cursed himself.

‘Only a sick person would reply to messages while washing their hair.’

Tong An’yu sat up in bed, staring at the sentence, finding it somewhat hard to believe.

He didn’t go home? But it’s the New Year!

The man whose features were twisted with malice appeared in her mind again, along with the slap he had delivered.

Was he the one who didn’t let Lin Huaixu go home for the New Year, or… was it no longer a home?

The lush greens and deep blues of Hawaii gradually faded. She finally remembered that her hometown was still ten degrees below zero, with withered branches and an overcast sky. The Spring Festival travel rush brought crowded, enthusiastic tides of people, leaving only a solitary… someone.

What was Lin Huaixu doing right now?

He definitely wouldn’t be watching the Spring Festival Gala. That kind of family-oriented program, filled with red, smiles, and blessings, would create a huge gap with reality.

How could a person’s heart bridge such a huge gap?

Some Chinese people were setting off fireworks by the sea to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Perhaps there would be fireworks in Jing City too, and he would hear them.

Tong An’yu began to hate all these miscellaneous celebratory rituals.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, her vacation finally ended.

The plane landed in Jing City at three in the afternoon. The family’s auntie had specially made steamed dumplings with a “three delicacies” filling to make up for the missed New Year’s flavor.

The dumpling skins were thin and the filling was generous, with little oil, fully embodying Tong Miao’s health philosophy, yet they were made very fragrantly.

Tong An’yu stared at the plump and tempting dumplings in the steamer, her palms sweating, her heart racing.

While the auntie wasn’t looking, she quickly snatched six dumplings and placed them in a glass food container. Heedless of her fingers turning red from the heat, she snapped the lid shut with a “thud” and then sneakily slipped into her room.

A moment later, the auntie: “Eh?”

Tong An’yu’s heart leaped into her throat.

Fortunately, apart from that “eh,” the auntie said nothing else.

During dinner that evening, Tong An’yu would glance at the time with every dumpling she ate, so anxious she wished she could just drink the dumplings down.

When the hour hand slid to six, her parents finally left the hall and went upstairs. Tong An’yu put on her down jacket, hid the food container inside her clothes, and shouted upstairs, “I’m going out to play with Zhu Yan!”

Before her parents could reply, she had already stumbled out the door, carrying her cotton shoes.

She rushed towards the school with a burst of enthusiasm, feeling like Nezha on his wind and fire wheels, not even the Four Dragon Kings could stop her advance.

‘Thank heavens, thank the earth, thank the taxi driver running on New Year’s, the dumplings are still hot!’

Standing at the south gate with her stomach sticking out, she realized she hadn’t even contacted Lin Huaixu yet.

She was too impulsive, completely unable to suppress that impulse. Without a thought for anything else, she just wanted to fill a corner of that huge gap for him.

She wanted him to have someone to celebrate the New Year with too.

Didn’t he tell her to come back early? So he should be willing to see her, right?

[Lin Huaixu, Cooper misses you. He’s asking where you are right now?]

When the phone rang, Lin Huaixu had just sat down in the Qinghua Cafeteria with Yuan Qing not long ago.

Across from him, Yuan Qing was warming her hands with a cup of hot coffee. The steam rose and settled on her exquisitely made-up face. Her little black dress couldn’t completely block the cold, and her knuckles were still bright red, but this didn’t stop her from enduring it to see Lin Huaixu.

Yuan Qing was surprised. “Why did you turn your phone’s ringer on? Don’t you always keep it on silent?”

She knew Lin Huaixu too well. At his core, Lin Huaixu was a very assertive person. He was a strong executor and very particular about order. He wouldn’t allow any disruption to his plans, so if he was busy and didn’t want to communicate, he wouldn’t answer anyone’s calls.

Although she would sometimes get impatient because of this, it was this strong sense of purpose that made her believe their revenge could be realized.

As long as they had Lin Huaixu.

But he had actually turned on this ringer that could disturb him.

Lin Huaixu glanced at his phone, recognized the number, and picked it up, replying to Yuan Qing at the same time, “I have a project to work on recently.”

The explanation was quite perfunctory; what project, who to contact, why it was important, none of it was clearly stated.

Of course, Yuan Qing didn’t have the standing to press for details.

[Who’s asking? Think carefully before you answer.]

He replied to Tong An’yu with a smile.

Yuan Qing took a moment to glance at Lin Huaixu’s lead-gray T-shirt.

It definitely wasn’t pure cotton. He would never have worn clothes of this quality before. In the past, sales associates would deliver limited editions to his home.

Their lives had all been turned upside down.

[…Little Tong is asking.]

‘To h*ll with “don’t let it happen again.”‘

[Didn’t you tell me to come back early?]
[I didn’t tell you to come back this early.]
It was only the third day of the New Year.

[So where are you?]

‘It’s over, it’s over, I might not get an answer.’

[Cafeteria.]

[You went to the cafeteria!]
[So have you had dinner yet?]
[Can you please not eat?]
[I brought you a surprise!]

A surprise?

Lin Huaixu raised an eyebrow. He didn’t have much confidence in her emotional intelligence, but he still tried to recall what local specialties from Hawaii were worth bringing back.

He had been there once many years ago, but he couldn’t remember.

Yuan Qing pushed the takeout box in front of her, her eyes playful, a look of someone waiting for praise. “Hurry up and eat. I went to buy it early in the morning. I specially brought it for you from Hai City, Mei Garden’s sixi roasted bran and egg dumplings. Aren’t these two side dishes from their restaurant your favorite?”

Half of the roasted bran was eaten, and half of the egg dumplings were eaten. Lin Huaixu said, “You eat too. You went through all the trouble to come here.”

Yuan Qing’s heart warmed. Lin Huaixu’s thoughtfulness and chivalry were in the details, like knowing it wasn’t easy for her to make the trip and leaving half for her.
“I can’t eat this much.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a loud voice rang out from the cafeteria entrance, “Lin Huaixu!”

Tong An’yu revealed her small, white teeth, a perfect blush on her cheeks. She ran over, reckless and excited, her eyes as black and bright as if they were dotted with moonlight ink.

Why was she here? Yuan Qing remembered she was just Lin Huaixu’s schoolmate.

Lin Huaixu remained seated steadily in his chair, his eyes lifting cautiously, wary of what strange thing she might pull out at any moment.

Then she started taking off her clothes in front of him.

Lin Huaixu: “…”

She took out a food container from her stomach and shamelessly showed it off to him, “It’s still warm, as expected! My family’s auntie makes especially delicious ones!”

She handed the food container to him, her down jacket still open, revealing a fluffy white sweater underneath, clinging to her pale pink neck.

“Lin Huaixu, if you don’t go home for New Year’s in the future, I’ll remember to bring you dumplings.”

She had a natural love for smiling, and her emotional intelligence was low. Her nonsensical actions were followed by a passionate and reckless sincerity. She had no idea how sharp this could be.

Once it pierced the heart, it could never be removed.

Pfft.
Yuan Qing couldn’t help but laugh. Her distinctly separated eyelashes cut through her cold gaze. She said to Tong An’yu with regret, “Little sister, only you northerners eat things like dumplings for New Year’s. We people from Hai City don’t eat them, and the only wheat-based food Lin Huaixu likes is roasted bran, the brand you see in front of you.”

Tong An’yu’s smile froze on her face. Of course, she couldn’t sense Yuan Qing’s rejection and just took it as a helpless reminder.

She actually knew that people from Hai City didn’t eat them, but in a rush of blood to the head, she had forgotten.

She was uncharacteristically a bit flustered, because this was an unwelcome food, which meant it couldn’t be considered a surprise.

Sigh. Sigh.

It seemed she really had no talent when it came to chasing people. It looked like, just as her Aunt Jiang Yao said, she could only make Lin Huaixu’s head hurt when he thought of her.

But she didn’t feel particularly wronged, or that her efforts had been wasted or anything. She just wasn’t that sensitive.

“Alright then.”

‘But isn’t Jianbing Guozi also considered a wheat-based food?’

Just as she was about to take the food container back, Lin Huaixu suddenly raised his hand and pressed down on her wrist.

“I’m not that picky.”

Tong An’yu quickly said, “It’s okay, you don’t have to eat it if you don’t like it.”

“…”

Lin Huaixu’s palm pressed down again.

“Don’t move.”

Yuan Qing looked at Lin Huaixu with astonishment.

Lin Huaixu opened the food container, picked up a steamed dumpling with his chopsticks, and decisively stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing for a moment, he paused slightly.

‘It’s not cooked.’

‘At least not fully cooked.’

Lin Huaixu’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the dumpling with a blank expression, as if swallowing medicine.

Tong An’yu bent down at the waist, leaning in to ask him, “Do you like it?”

“…”

Yuan Qing could clearly see that Lin Huaixu didn’t like it very much.

‘This is enough. Being polite to this extent is enough.’

Yuan Qing planned to help Lin Huaixu send the person away. “Thank you for bringing it all this way, but unfortunately Ah Xu is already full. You should take the rest back.”

Tong An’yu also saw the half-eaten egg dumplings and roasted bran on the table, so she enthusiastically invited Yuan Qing, “You should have some too.”

Yuan Qing immediately said, “I don’t eat them.”

Tong An’yu: “Then I’ll help eat one.”

Lin Huaixu found it truly incomprehensible. Did she not taste whether the dumplings were cooked before she came?

Just as she was about to reach for one with her fingers, Lin Huaixu immediately put his hand on the food container.

Tong An’yu: “?”

Lin Huaixu: “I like it. You don’t eat it.”