Chapter 8: The old enemy is called brother

The small tin can in his arms fell into his palm, revealing an orange packaging with a hospital-certified logo printed on it.

The name was An’yue Loquat Throat Lozenges.

It was indeed a niche brand.

If one didn’t really know about it, they probably wouldn’t be able to buy it.

Lin Huaixu held the lozenges in his palm and quietly studied her.

The little bear T-shirt looked worried.

Because of the cold weather, she didn’t have her hair in a bun anymore, but had let it down, reaching just below her collarbone.

She was wearing round, gray earmuffs.
Because she wanted to talk to him, she had pulled the earmuffs down and hung them around her neck, which pressed down on her hair, making her head look like an unopened mushroom.

She had just said yesterday that she was going to pursue him, and today she appeared so comically, so self-righteously, completely unaware that her competitors wore exquisite full makeup every day, looking beautiful even in the freezing cold.

She spoke again, her voice urgent, “Hurry up and eat it.”

“This one is very effective.”

“My mom’s hospital guided its development.”

When she chattered on, a very faint dimple would appear on the left side of her lips, giving her an incredible innocence, so innocent that she thought she could attract him.

Lin Huaixu didn’t ask the pointless question of whether she had bought it for him.

The little bear T-shirt’s voice was loud and clear, not at all like someone who needed throat lozenges.

“How much?” he asked.

The small tin can in his palm was still slightly warm, clearly she had been warming it with her body heat for a while.

She said deliberately, “Ten million.”

Lin Huaixu looked at her coldly.

That dimple became more obvious.
She leaned in front of him and smiled,

“Then how much was it worth for you to save me?”

“Why do you have to be so calculating?”

“Why don’t you go study accounting?”

She didn’t seem to be affected by the scene just now at all, just like that night when she got up from the ground and ran to find help, completely immune to everything.

But, were kids these days all so sharp-tongued?

Lin Huaixu opened the tin lid and poured out a red lozenge, putting it in his mouth.
He had really reached his limit.

After the cool, slightly spicy taste came a clear sweetness.

The sweetness spread to his throat, covering the inflamed area and suppressing the uncontrollable urge to cough.

Compared to the well-known brand, it wasn’t cloying or overly sweet, but a very comfortable level of sweetness.

The little bear T-shirt took a deep breath, her eyelashes trembling.

She commented, “The one you’re eating is watermelon-flavored.”

“I love this flavor too.”

Only then did Lin Huaixu realize that she was too close, even wanting to press up against him to smell the throat lozenges, not at all reserved.

So he moved away a little and warned her nonchalantly, “I’ll infect you.”

So it was best to stay away.

“It’s okay, I’m healthy.”

“When I was a kid, the whole class got the flu and went home, but I didn’t.”

“I almost outlasted the teacher.”

“…”

Lin Huaixu bit down on the lozenge, crushing it.

The sun slowly set in the west.

One lozenge was quickly finished.

While enveloped in the sweetness, Lin Huaixu was forced to learn her name, her major, her actual age, her favorite subjects and professors, and the research direction she wanted to pursue in the future.

Actually, if her surname had been Si, Lin Huaixu would have quickly become alert to her identity.

Even if he didn’t immediately take any retaliatory measures, he would have avoided her and built a high wall that she could never break through.

Unfortunately, she took her mother’s surname.

He was unprepared, and his dizzy head gave her the opportunity to chatter on.

“Don’t you have class tonight?” Tong An’yu’s mouth was dry from talking, and she finally remembered the time, and the

“Introduction to the Frontiers of Physics” that had been forgotten.

Lin Huaixu chuckled, “You’re quite well-informed.”

He even knew when he had class.

“Hmm?” Tong An’yu was a little dazed by his smile.

In her memory, this was the first time she had seen Lin Huaixu smile.

He was always distant and taciturn with people, as if he couldn’t be bothered to get involved with anyone or build connections.

Lin Huaixu was very familiar with this expression on girls’ faces.

The corners of their lips would be half-curled, their eyelashes wouldn’t tremble, their eyes would be fixed, and their gaze would be on his face.

But her eyes seemed to be brighter than others’, clear and lively.

“Ahem,” Lin Huaixu had to fake a cough to interrupt her.

Only then did Tong An’yu realize what he was referring to.

She wasn’t embarrassed, but instead tried to be clever and hinted, “I only know you have class tonight, and my roommate told me.”
“It would be even better if I had your full schedule.”

Lin Huaixu didn’t take the bait and turned his head away.

The slap mark on his face was no longer clearly visible under the cover of the night.
“I’m not going tonight.”

She hadn’t thought about it, but he couldn’t possibly go to class looking like this.

After Lin Huaixu finished speaking, he put the small tin can in his down jacket pocket, then took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

Perhaps it was because of the strong wind and the cold weather, and the lighter was of average quality, just a one-yuan one from a small shop, so it took about ten tries before a flame flickered to life.

The flame barely managed to burn the tobacco into a bright red, emitting a pungent smell.

Tong An’yu: “You’re still smoking even when you’re coughing like this?”

Lin Huaixu looked at her steadily.
Actually, he wasn’t addicted, and he didn’t want to smoke now.

His lungs felt like they were spasming with a dull ache.

Smoking was a reminder for her to leave.
After all, no girl would like the smell of smoke.

His expression, his demeanor, his actions had all expressed his desire to keep a respectful distance to the fullest, yet she hadn’t understood at all.

Was this the emotional intelligence of a gifted program student?

Tong An’yu was still persuading, “Don’t smoke.”

“Your voice isn’t as nice as before when it’s hoarse.”

“It used to be like a voice actor’s, now it’s like a broken gong.”

Lin Huaixu was so angry he laughed again.
She was truly unusual.

To be pursued by her, he had to satisfy her aesthetic needs.

He was already thinking about how to shake her off and leave, when he saw her rub her hands together, brew for a moment, and exhale a puff of mist, “Mmm… junior, did you explain things to that older sister last time?”

Tong An’yu was still耿耿于怀 about this.
Five thousand yuan should be a lot of money for the current Lin Huaixu.

Fine, it was “junior” and “older sister” again.

“Mmm,” Lin Huaixu remembered the “broken gong” comment and couldn’t be bothered to say another word.

Actually, he hadn’t.

After such a heated conflict, even if it was a misunderstanding, it was difficult to cooperate again, and he never regretted things that couldn’t be salvaged.

“That’s good,” Tong An’yu breathed a sigh of relief.

Still not leaving?

“That piece of clothing…” she asked again.

“I bleached it.”

It couldn’t be washed off directly.
The caramel and coffee were extremely stubborn.

Fortunately, the T-shirt was white, so he borrowed some bleach from the dormitory manager.

But it was his first time using such a thing, and a layer of skin peeled off his fingers.

Of course, he wouldn’t tell Tong An’yu about these troubles.

He was thinking, she should be done talking by now, right?

“Then how’s your hand?”

“That night, are you better?”

Unfortunately, Tong An’yu didn’t have the skill of reading people’s expressions at all.

“It’s fine, I didn’t get an infection and end up in the ICU,” one cigarette was finally finished, his lungs were aching, and he hadn’t managed to get rid of her.

Lin Huaixu squatted down and extinguished the cigarette butt in the melted snow.

His hands were already so cold they had lost all feeling, and dry, white lines had crept up the back of them.

“Junior—” Tong An’yu opened her mouth.

“Can you not call me junior?” Lin Huaixu couldn’t take it anymore.

He was four years older than her.

“Oh,” Tong An’yu thought for a moment, tilted her head to look at him, and tentatively said, “Then, gege?”

“…………………”

The cigarette butt was crushed flat.
Lin Huaixu stiffened for the first time in a long while.

His neck, which had been chilled through by the winter cold, couldn’t help but flush with a hot red.

That wasn’t what he meant.

He looked up at Tong An’yu, wanting to know if she was teasing him, but Tong An’yu blinked her eyes, very frankly.

She even emphasized to him, “If you like me to call you that, it’s okay too, but it’s just a form of address…”

“I don’t like it,” Lin Huaixu’s rejection was very cold and hard.

He wasn’t interested in playing this kind of ambiguous game.

“Oh…” Tong An’yu replied quickly, and then muttered under her breath, “So hard to please.”

Did she always insult people to their face like this?

Lin Huaixu found it hard to understand.

Gurgle.

In the quiet of the night, without the cover of snow, the sound was very clear.

Tong An’yu clutched her stomach, not wanting it to make any more noise and ruin the atmosphere.

She had run to pick up the package as soon as class was over, and then ran into Lin Huaixu’s private affairs.

After chatting with him until now, she hadn’t even had time to eat dinner.

And Lin Huaixu, who was freezing to death and coughing his lungs out, and didn’t feel there was any atmosphere at all, lowered his eyes, looked at the Canada Goose jacket she was wearing and the Celine snow boots, and asked, “Do you eat jianbing guozi from a street stall?”

He needed to let her know that just looking at a face was very superficial, not to mention this face had just been slapped and his voice was like a broken gong.

Tong An’yu’s spending habits were similar to his previous circle of friends.

He knew very well what kind of life that was.

Being with him now, there would be no high-end restaurants, vacation pleasures, or tens of thousands of dollars worth of holiday gifts and romantic surprises.

Seeing that she was hungry, he could only take her to a street stall for jianbing guozi, because it was cheap, high-calorie, and filling.

This was what he had been eating the most for the past one or two months.

For less than ten yuan, he could eat until he was full, which was enough to sustain him for a long time of mental labor.

“More chili and cilantro, no kimchi or scallions.”

“Is it the one in the on-campus faculty housing area?”

“Then I also want to add a pack of enoki mushrooms and a smear of fermented bean curd,” Tong An’yu said in one breath.

“…”
Lin Huaixu was once again speechless.

After about half a minute, he asked in a hoarse voice, “What faculty housing area?”
He always bought his at the subway station entrance.

“You don’t even know this? You’ve only explored less than 1% of T University,” Tong An’yu said.

But on second thought, it was understandable.

Lin Huaixu was so reclusive that he didn’t even participate in his own class’s activities, let alone interact with senior students.

This kind of word-of-mouth delicacy relied entirely on introductions from acquaintances.

“It just so happens that I haven’t eaten it in a long time either.”

“Let… Xiao Tong take you!” Tong An’yu stretched out her sleeves, pulled her hands out from inside, and without a word, grabbed Lin Huaixu’s cold, chapped hand.

The wet warmth touched her for a moment and was then gradually carried away by the night wind, but the feeling of being held was real.

She had taken off her earmuffs a long time ago, and now frost hung on her eyelashes, her nose was red, and the warmth of her hands had been taken away by him.

But the jianbing guozi was like a warm expectation, burning brightly in the distance, carving out a windless street, preventing one’s eyes from growing cold.

The development of things had completely exceeded expectations.

Perhaps it was because his voice was too hoarse that Lin Huaixu couldn’t say a single word to extinguish this warmth.