Chapter 22: Let’s Fall in Love with Enemies

Summer officially began.

Due to the Si family’s tradition of two fixed family trips each year, even Tong Miao, as busy as she was, had to take time off to accompany her family.

With the dean of a hospital temporarily setting aside her work, Tong An’yu naturally couldn’t refuse either.

Si Zhan held a family meeting, asking everyone where they wanted to go this time, then looked at Si Xu on the video call.

Usually, for family trips, Si Xu would plan the itinerary, provide ideas, and create guides.

The siblings had vastly different personalities; Si Xu had liked to worry, manage, and control processes since he was little, while Tong An’yu had always been free-spirited, showing no obvious preferences, very compliant with arrangements, and carefree.

This time, however, before Si Xu could speak, Tong An’yu said, “Let’s go to San Francisco.”

Tong Miao looked surprised at her daughter, who rarely didn’t say “whatever.”

Si Xu: “Eh, haven’t we been there before?”

Tong An’yu: “Cough, I was too young then, I’ve forgotten it all. Let’s go again.”

Si Zhan scrutinized his daughter, smiling lazily: “Alright, it’s cool there now, and I have quite a few friends there.”

Si Xu: “Then let’s make it easy. We can visit the Museum of Modern Art—I’ll see if there are any current exhibitions—then Golden Gate Park, Fisherman’s Wharf, and book a baseball game. I have a professor at Stanford, so I’ll visit them too.”

Tong An’yu’s heart thumped.

She took a deep breath, then said nonchalantly, “Then Brother can arrange it.”

On the hottest day in Jing City in July, Tong An’yu flew to San Francisco.

She casually brought up the matter when sending Lin Huaixu cat pictures.

[I won’t be able to send you cat pictures on time these two weeks.]

[Mhm.]

‘”Mhm” what “mhm”?’

‘Shouldn’t you ask why? It’s your precious princess you personally picked up, after all. Have you fulfilled your duty as a father?’

[Cough, mainly because I won’t be home these two weeks. Jing City is too hot, by the way.]

[Indeed.]

Tong An’yu bumped her head against a pillow.

‘Who wants to discuss Jing City’s weather with you?!’

‘Don’t you want to know where I’m going if I’m not home?’

‘Sigh, they’re just schoolmates who participated in a competition together. Why would Lin Huaixu care where she’s going?’

[I’m going to San Francisco.]

This time, there was no reply.

Lin Huaixu stood by the shabby, crude elevator entrance; the dim yellow light from the small bulb illuminated the extremely high concentration of dust in the air, and the walls on both sides were covered with layers of advertisements and crisscrossing gray smudges.

An old-fashioned “28” bicycle leaned against the wall opposite the elevator, already covered in a layer of yellowed dust, its chain lying on the ground, coated in an indescribable grease.

This made the available space for passage particularly narrow.

Lin Huaixu blocked the only pathway, not inviting Lin De inside.

“Did Kong Jiashu tell you I was here?” Lin Huaixu asked calmly, after briefly replying to Tong An’yu’s message.

“Where exactly is your mother?” Lin De covered his nose and mouth, not wanting to breathe an extra breath of the stale air in here.

Lin Huaixu didn’t answer his question; instead, he warned him coldly, “If I help you get revenge on the Si Corporation, and you still bother my mother, don’t blame me for being impolite to you.”

“Lin Huaixu!” Lin De clenched his fists tightly, the muscles in his jaw twitching.

Years of work pressure had accustomed him to resolving problems with violence, so when Lin Huaixu defied him again, he couldn’t help but tense up, preparing to strike.

But after acknowledging the reality, he ultimately didn’t raise his hand like last time.

Lin Huaixu saw everything clearly, his hands in his pockets, never taking them out.

He felt as though he could astral project, floating to an observer’s perspective to watch himself and Lin De now.

Turns out no one was foolish; people only bullied those weaker and powerless than themselves. Once they realized violence would only lead to a loss, they would learn to restrain themselves.

“Your father, me, I was the top scholar from a small county, came to Hai City, and built everything from scratch. These past years, I’ve worked hard to start a business, staying up for days and nights for projects, drinking until my stomach perforated for funding. Is there any organ in my body that hasn’t had problems? I created the best living conditions for you, allowing you to live a life far beyond your peers.”

“My work was busy, I had no time to accompany you as you grew or make you happy, but I, Lin De, am not ashamed. What I gave you is what ninety-nine percent of fathers in the world cannot give!”

“Now you say you stand with your mother, you think she’s pitiful, she needs protection. Yet when she abandoned our home and children after I hit rock bottom, I became the villain! Tell me that!”

Lin Huaixu knew that since violence didn’t work, he was trying to play the emotional card.

“We don’t need to talk about the past.”

He was past the point of hoping to evoke warmth through dialogue and communication.

“What you gave me, I remember. What you promised me, you also remember. Once the Si Corporation pays the price, we will owe each other nothing.”

Lin De was silent.

If he hadn’t been restricted from high consumption and couldn’t go abroad, he wouldn’t have needed to find Lin Huaixu at all.

Finally, he said, “Alright, if you can make the Si Corporation suffer heavy losses, their stock price collapse, and become universally condemned, then you and I will owe each other nothing.”

Lin Huaixu looked at him with an expressionless face.

Lin De kicked the already dilapidated elevator door, venting his anger.

A loud noise came from the stairwell.

He didn’t look back.

After a while, he took a bottle of ibuprofen from his pocket, poured out a pill, and swallowed it dry.

The work pressure at PhiloLex was indeed high; after several days of overtime to catch up, his old problem flared up again: nerve pain from overthinking.

But he had to be faster, even faster, to fulfill his agreement with Lin De, so his mother could divorce and have a new life.

Lin Huaixu closed his eyes; as the ibuprofen dissolved, his mouth was filled with bitterness.

He took a deep breath, calming himself, but his exhales were full of chaotic, choking fumes that made his lungs ache.

Only when he picked up his phone again and saw his chat with Tong An’yu did his breathing gradually steady.

He reached out and touched Tong An’yu’s Little Carp Bubble cartoon profile picture, realizing her last message had been delayed by ten minutes.

[Have fun.]

[Come back soon.]

Tong An’yu was disappointed, depressed, and listless on the plane, barely eating any of the five-star airline meal.

But when she got off the plane, connected to data, and saw Lin Huaixu’s message, she immediately perked up.

‘”Come back soon” again.’

‘Little Lin, oh, Little Lin, could it be that you’ll miss me?’

The day they arrived in San Francisco, they slept all afternoon at the hotel. In the evening, they dressed up to have dinner with Si Zhan’s entrepreneur friends.

They ate at a creative Japanese fusion restaurant; the prices were exorbitant, and it wasn’t as tasty as the jianbing guozi near the T University family dorms.

The names of those blond, blue-eyed uncles were quite long, and Tong An’yu heard them once but quickly forgot.

Anyway, her brother was there to speak on behalf of the younger generation and demonstrate proper table manners.

The next day, they visited the Museum of Modern Art, and Si Xu specially hired a guide.

The guide spoke at length about a banana taped to the wall with silver duct tape, expounding on the artist’s creative concept and the metaphorical significance of the banana’s reality. Nearby tourists, listening in, rested their chins on their hands, frowned, and nodded frequently.

Tong An’yu looked around, thinking, ‘Aren’t they sick?’

As a purely STEM-oriented girl who had no artistic sensibility since childhood, she always believed that the value of art was purely hype; everything—the themes, concepts, metaphors, and artists’ experiences—were all part of the hype process. People weren’t buying art; they were buying stories.

Then she walked to the next exhibition hall and almost stepped into a pile of garbage in the corner.

Yes, a complete and utter pile of garbage, containing tattered woven bags, dirty empty water bottles, dried-up socks, and oyster shells.

The guide: “This is the inspiration the creator received facing the sea. This work expresses his heartache and compassion for ocean pollution.”

Tourists pulled out their phones and snapped photos of the trash.

Tong An’yu: “……”

‘Forgive her shallow understanding.’

She didn’t pay much attention to what followed, her mind constantly wandering, her legs mechanically following her family forward, embarking on a hiking exercise within the museum.

After leaving the museum in the afternoon, Si Zhan asked, “What do you think?”

Si Xu: “New generation modern artists are starting to emerge; many of them I haven’t heard of before.”

Tong An’yu: “I think I can be an artist too. The artwork itself doesn’t matter; as long as you can make stuff up, it’s fine.”

Si Xu chuckled and tapped her head: “That’s because you don’t like it, you don’t understand.”

Tong Miao: “Your sister just likes to eat. Let’s go, take her for some Mexican grilled meat tacos.”

Finally, the day came to visit Stanford. Tong An’yu was visibly excited, getting dressed early, finishing breakfast, and waiting first at the hotel entrance.

Blowing in the Californian wind, Tong An’yu looked around eagerly, her excitement soaring to its peak as the car drove into the campus area. She couldn’t help but straighten her back, her palms damp with sweat.

This was the place Lin Huaixu had once attended; the roads here had been walked by him, the palm trees here had been gazed upon by him, the lawns here had been laid upon by him.

She felt the subtle connection between people; time always moved forward, but she could still touch his past.

In two years’ time, every brick, every tile, every blade of grass and tree here had not changed; they recorded his footsteps and passed them on to her.

She reached out and hugged the tallest palm tree, calling out to Si Xu: “Brother, take a picture of me! Make sure the whole tree is in it!”

Si Xu: “Silly, if you get the whole tree in, will the proportions be right? You’ll just be a tiny speck.”

Tong An’yu: “It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ll zoom in to look.”

Si Xu reluctantly took the photo for her, looked at it, and really couldn’t stand such a photographic work appearing from his hands.

Entering the core area, the buildings featured distinctive vermilion-tiled roofs and sandstone walls.

Tong An’yu squatted here for a photo, then there for another, touching the hard, brownish-yellow bricks, imagining he had once touched this place too.

While resting on the lawn, Tong An’yu hesitated and hesitated again, thought thrice, and then, feigning nonchalance, sent Lin Huaixu a picture of a corner of the campus.

[San Francisco weather is really nice.]

Lin Huaixu put down his work, looked at his phone, and immediately recognized the Stanford campus.

‘Oh, so she really went.’

He leaned back in his chair, scrutinizing the picture for a long time. Then, unhurriedly, he found an old photo from his cloud album and sent it.

[Is this it?]

In the photo, his hair was shorter than now, his skin was tanned and healthy, and he was wearing a somewhat expensive, niche trendy brand, leaning against a wall, his forearms exposed. His face, though more youthful, was still devastatingly handsome.

“Ah!”

‘It was actually taken here!’

Tong An’yu grabbed Si Xu, who was being chatted up by a foreign girl, and rushed straight to where Lin Huaixu had taken his photo: “Brother, quick, take a picture for me!”

Si Xu’s face was full of question marks: “Haven’t you been taking pictures for ages already?”

Tong An’yu turned her back, hiding her phone, and carefully counted the bricks.

Once she confirmed Lin Huaixu’s exact position, she stood sideways against the wall, raised her shoulders to make her back appear thinner, then puffed out her chest, cupped her face, and made a pose as if looking up for a kiss.

“I just searched for tips, and it looks best taken here. Hurry up and take it,” Tong An’yu fabricated.

Si Xu, suspicious, finished taking her pictures: “Here you go.”

Tong An’yu: “Take a few more, I’ll pick and choose.”

After taking pictures from every angle, Tong An’yu finally let Si Xu go and rapidly started picking photos.

She selected the one with the best angle and the best appearance, chose a filter, quickly sent it to Lin Huaixu, and then casually said—

[What a coincidence, Little Tong also took a picture here :)]

If the two photos were stitched together, one would find that Tong An’yu had found her position very accurately; her pose was precisely as if she was kissing Lin Huaixu’s cheek.

After returning to China, Lin Huaixu hadn’t looked at his old photos again; they were like a scar, looking back would cause a slight ache.

He had too much to do, no time for melancholy, and couldn’t dwell on the past, so his photo album was sealed, and he no longer contacted his old classmates.

Download, save, open album, select photo…

But just now, he no longer felt that slight ache.

People always calculate; he was now very grateful he could return and get into T University.

Stitch, combine, adjust filter, save.

There was something more captivating here that made all his past losses seem insignificant.

A composite photo appeared.

This was their first composite photo, spanning three years.

[It is quite a coincidence.]

He carefully hid the composite photo, smiling lightly as he replied to her.

In a blink, it was August, and the topic for the Qinglan Cup finals was released.

This time, the topic was: “Modeling and Intelligent Recommendation System Design for Personalized Learning Path Optimization Based on New Media Platforms.”

Tong An’yu frowned: “New media, intelligent systems… it seems like we’ll have to learn everything from scratch…”

Yuan Qing was very happy to see the topic: “Ah, this topic is related to what I’m studying!”

This was an unexpected bonus; she could use this opportunity to let Lin Huaixu understand her capabilities. She wanted Lin Huaixu to know that it wasn’t just Tong An’yu who could be his right-hand person; she could too.

Kong Jiashu wondered, “Doesn’t knowing more mean more work? Why are you so happy?”

Yuan Qing ignored him, just smiling at Lin Huaixu: “Ah Xu, this time, I really need to help you.”

Lin Huaixu said, “Let’s work hard together.”

Tong An’yu completely missed Yuan Qing’s intentions; all she knew was that she had another reason to go to Lin Huaixu’s place.

That place was very scary the first time she went, but after going there more often, it wasn’t so bad.

Although most of the residents there were old Jing City citizens, with all sorts of quirks, they were all good people and very enthusiastic.

This time, Tong An’yu had a sudden whim to go find Lin Huaixu. Walking alone in the residential compound, there was an old man in a tank top smoking by the unit entrance. He stared at her for a long time, then suddenly stood up and shouted fiercely in a low voice behind her: “Hey!”

Tong An’yu was startled. She turned her head, and the middle-aged man who had been following her from the subway entrance took off running.

Tong An’yu felt a lingering fear; the old man quickly took two steps forward, cursing at the man’s retreating back: “You wuji liushouzi, try coming again! I’ll beat you to death, you bastard!”

Then the old man turned to Tong An’yu and said, “Little girl, be more careful. All sorts of people are around here. I saw him follow you in.”

Tong An’yu was bewildered: “Thank you, Grandpa.”

The old man: “Are you living by yourself? Is anyone at home?”

Tong An’yu looked up at the fourth floor, where a light was on: “……Yes.”

The old man waved his hand: “Call someone down to pick you up!”

Tong An’yu’s mind was a blur, subconsciously feeling a chill of fear. If it weren’t for this old man, she would have been followed into the elevator. There were no surveillance cameras in this dilapidated hallway, and the consequences would have been unimaginable.

For a moment, she looked on with dread, somewhat afraid to step into the gloomy unit entrance.

She could only send a message to Lin Huaixu.

[I’m downstairs, can you come pick me up?]

Lin Huaixu replied quickly.

[Wait there.]

Not long after, Lin Huaixu came down from upstairs, his hair still wet, wearing a very thin T-shirt that was soaked with water on the back.

As soon as he saw Tong An’yu, before he could even ask what was going on, he heard the old man scold him outright: “At this hour, you let your girlfriend walk alone? Someone followed her and you didn’t even know? There are many places inside without surveillance. If something happened and he ran away, went back to his hometown, where would you find him?”

Tong An’yu quickly explained: “Uh… actually, it was me—” (who snuck over).

“I understand. Thank you for the reminder,” Lin Huaixu said, not even frowning, accepting the old man’s criticism.

Then he took the fruit from Tong An’yu’s hand, carefully checked her up and down, confirmed she was fine, and didn’t ask why she came, only saying: “Next time you come, remember to call me. I’ll pick you up at the subway entrance.”

“Oh.”

‘Wait, Little Lin, Grandpa mistook you for my boyfriend, and you even got scolded because of it! And you didn’t even explain?’