When the unexpected episode was finally solved, the group was tired and hungry, so He Yu asked them if they wanted to go eat something. The first to raise his hand and cheer in favor of this proposal was Bai Jing, who had nothing to do with them.
"Yes, yes, yes, let's freeze, yes? There is a hotel in the Bund that makes the best shark fin and sea urchin congee, how about we go there?"
He Yu turned his head to look at Xie Xue.
Xie Xue wiped his tears and gave Bai Jing an unhappy look: "I want to eat barbecue and I want to eat at a street stall."
"Then we will eat at a street stall."
Bai Jing: "Oh ...... this is too much ...... well ......"
Xie Xue was present, He Yu more or less considered Xie Qingcheng's face a little and also asked him: "What about you?"
"I'm not going. I will take the dog to get the vaccines and have a general check-up. If you want to keep it, I'll send it to you later."
He said and looked at Xiao Huang (little yellow) who was sitting obediently at his feet.
A little yellow liked Xie Qingcheng very much and circled around him happily, moving his fluffy yellow tail: "Wow!"\n\n
.\n
Half an hour later.
Hu Zhou night market stall.
"Bos boss, I want fifty palm skewers, fifty lamb skewers, ten skewers of grilled rice cakes, ten skewers of grilled mushrooms, a dozen grilled oysters, and five bottles of beer." Xie Xue greeted as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the barbecue shop, with absolute familiarity.
"This kind of place is so dirty...... I would never eat here." Bai Jing stretched out his fingers, hating using the tips of his nails to feel the greasy menu.
Xie Xue rolled his eyes in an unpleasant way: "Aren't you the one who insisted on getting in the car and following us?"
"Aiya, little sister, why are you so bad? I'm hungry too." Bai Jing said as he directed his worthy hips towards the seat closest to He Yu: "Please ask for something lighter, it's too late and I'm afraid I'm going to gain weight."
Xie Xue struck her with his eyes and slapped her on the table, raising her voice: "Boss, put ten other fried rabbit heads!" (1)
Bai Jing: "You...!"
He Yu said with indifference: "You can order another 20 if you want, I want to eat too."
Bai Jing: "......"
Preparing palm skewers is a simple task, but also very difficult, for which it is necessary to do it with the soul. The boss's arm is turned, the bamboo skewer is shaken, the soft cartilage is roasted until golden brown and nourished with flavor while the excess fat drips, which falls into the charcoal producing a wonderful chemical reaction. The scorching fragrance of fat and fire are dispersed together by going upwards. The owner, hidden among the smoke, is like an incomparable teacher, his nose shakes and captures the subtle taste of the smoke, knowing that it is time for them to leave the fire. (2)
A handful of skewers, each with just the right point of spiciness, seem to have become the children of the gourmet world, too cooked to be raw, too tender to be woody, too crispy to melt in the mouth like snowflakes.
Xie Xue is a regular customer of the restaurant, and he asked for a skewer board that almost overwhelmed the small table covered with a light plastic tablecloth. While she melted on the delicacy table, Bai Jing was still contained, doing everything possible to perform a trick that is the essence of Sichuan's opera: changing her face.
"The young master He is not from Huzhou, is he?" Bai Jing blinked with her semi-permanent curly lashes and pearly lips outlined a wide smile: "I don't think so."
He Yu smiled and asked, "Miss Bai, do you want to check my family record?"
"Oh, no, no, no." Bai Jing shook his hand and stroked his hair clumsily: "It's just that I previously graduated from Yan City as a graduate student, in the Department of Business Administration of Yan University of Economic Sciences. I heard that your Mandarin is quite standard, so I was wondering if you were from the north."
"Then you are a high-performing student." He Yu smiled shrewdly as he rummaged through the tray to take the head of a dead rabbit with his eyes fixed.
Bai Jing did not listen to it and continued to wander: "Yes, so I am working at the counter mainly to gain experience, I hope to be able to move up to the direction later. I can get first-line information. I have worked with many celebrities and important people, and I even met an actor the other day, the one who was recently in a television prime time..."
He Yu snapped his tongue and his white teeth crushed the rabbit's brain.
Bai Jing choked, as if He Yu had bitten in his throat through the air, so he didn't finish his words. And instantly he felt a slight pain in his neck.
He Yu smiled, and only then did Bai Jing realize that he had tiger teeth. These were not too pronounced and only peeked out under his fine lips when he bowed his mouth to smile. He Yu slowly and methodically ate the rabbit's brains: "Miss Bai," he told her while ate "since you are here with us, don't be hungry, don't you like rabbit heads?"
Bai Jing made a panic gesture with his hand: "I usually eat very little, and I'm full after a few sips of cola, so no ......"
"Is that right?" He Yu threw the broken rabbit bone on his plate and smiled: "It's a shame."
After three rounds of wine, although Bai Jing had restrained himself a little in his words and actions, he finally could not resist the temptation to ask for He Yu's weibo. The woman was on a blind date with her older brother, so what did she mean by asking He Yu for WeChat? It's too disrespectful.
So he told him with rage.
"I'm sorry, he can't give you his wechat."
"Why? Are you his girlfriend?"
"I'm not!" Xie Xue got angry and began to invent things: "But He Yu has a girlfriend, a beautiful woman with a cruel personality, very jealous, a few years older than him, very strict with him, and he will slap him if he doesn't listen to him, so I have to watch him when he comes out. Isn't it, He Yu?"
Who would have thought that He Yu would say: "And he is also an intelligence agent for the government?"
Shit!
Xie Xue was so angry that she trampled on him under the table.
He Yu: "I don't have a girlfriend like that, and I don't like big, jealous, sexy and bad girls."
Damn it!
Xie Xue stepped harder and discovered that his foot hurt a little while doing so, so he looked down and saw that he was stepping on the lower frame of the table.
He Yu smiled, quietly retracted the long legs that were leaning against the bottom of the table, delivered the spikes sprinkled with pepper powder to Xie Xue's plate, and then turned his face towards Bai Jing, who was expectant: "But, miss, I already have someone I like. That's why I don't add the WeChat of random girls, please excuse me."
Suddenly, Bai Jing couldn't hide his disappointment: "Can't we even be normal friends?"
This time, He Yu didn't even sketch a superficial smile, the carefree young man seemed to disappear from him for a moment as he threw a quiet look at the other side.
"Thank you. But I don't think we belong to the same world."
After saying this, it was the same as invisibly demolishing the pride of the other side, and the atmosphere became momentarily tense.
He Yu took out a paper towel and cleaned the oil stains that had been left when he picked up the spikes from finger to finger, then threw away the paper towel, passed coldly by the wonderful-looking lady and said calmly: "I'm going to wash my hands."
Not everyone in this world was socially white and could not understand human speech, and Bai Jing grasped exactly the coldness and hardness with which this handsome gold master treated her with disdain, while the woman at the table whose last name was Xie had obviously experienced what had happened before and did not want to bother much with her. Feeling embarrassed, she finally found a pretext to say that she had a brief warning and got up from the angry table.
Not everyone in this world is socially intelligent, but Bai Jing accurately captured the cold attitude of the wealthy young man and his contempt for her, while the woman at the table whose last name was Xie had obviously seen what had happened before and did not want to bother much with her. Feeling embarrassed, she finally found a pretext to say that she had something pending and left the dining room table with regret.
After a while, He Yu came back and saw that she had already left, raised her eyebrows and did not ask a single question, sitting next to Xie Xue with the face that nothing had happened.
Xie Xue rolled his eyes a few times and scolded Bai Jing a few more times before screaming and biting two palm skewers, turning his head towards He Yu and saying: "Have you just said that you have someone you like? Really, who is it?"
"I'm teasing you."
Xie Xue patted himself on the chest and gave another small sip of his beer: "Oh, then you scared me to death ......".
He Yu's hands moved with a slight pause, looking at the side of this heartless girl's face.
"Why are you looking at me?"
"Are you afraid that I have someone I like?"
"Of course, of course."
"Why?"
"Because I'm still single, and if you get a boyfriend I won't be able to hang out with you so often"
...... What a silly reason.
Xie Xue: "What are you laughing at?"
He Yu raised his hand, his thumb gently wiped the pepper that had involuntarily accumulated in the corner of his lips, unfolded his eyebrows and said as if nothing had happened: "How come you can you eat from a skewer and rub it through your mouth? Come on."
In fact, he had been wanting to confess his love to him for a long time, and he had been planning to do so since he returned to China.
It is that He Yu was a prudent person, and he considered that confessions should be made solemnly, not in a feverish outburst of blood, and without thinking about it, tell him what he had been hiding for so many years in a troubled street.
Thinking about this, he changed the subject: "Don't let your brother go on a blind date with this girl in the future. He is no longer a young man, and with his serious personality not even those of his generation can stand him, much less a girl like this. How deep the generation gap between her and your brother must be."
"Why do you speak ill of my brother? He's not bad with you."
He Yu: "I'm telling the truth."
"Awrysuck!"
He Yu rolled his eyes, unable to understand Xie Xue's fraternal vision: "Really, take off the filter and look at it more closely, your brother is already an old man in his second marriage, it's time for him to find a virtuous girl with a good personality, such a young one does not suit him."
"Shold your breath, my brother is so handsome and so nice, why would he settle for something less?"
"He is handsome, and he always looks at people with his eyes full of arrogance, as if no one owes him anything." From the way he said this, it was as if Xie Qingcheng's indifferent face appeared before his eyes, thinking about the way he slightly opened his mouth, bowed and held the sorbet between his lips.
It was as if he were a president, and he was taken care of by his assistant, as something natural. He clearly didn't even have money. How could I be so calm and relaxed, provocative and sarcastic?
He Yu thought about it and felt angry, wondering what he would have to replace in the mouth of "Mr. Xie" to destroy his composure, so that his eyes are confused and his face is invaded by shame and humiliation.
But to think that Xie Qingcheng's face would really show that kind of vulnerability......
He Yu had never seen it before, and after thinking about it for a while, I couldn't really imagine it.
"What are you thinking about?"
He and distracted answered: "In your brother."
"Hey?"
"...... I was wondering if your brother has ever lost his temper and been overwhelmed."
"Oh, then you can forget it, I haven't seen it that way since I can remember. My older brother is particularly powerful, but hard and sensible. You can't see him now that he's wearing suit pants all day and carrying books, but when he was your age, once a group of hooligans intimidated me. He with just one steel tube charged more than a dozen gangsters and took them to the police station ...... Later that group of hooligans almost put up a red carpet when they saw it pass by, bowing over and calling brother. Everyone except one person ...... but that was an isolated event and it doesn't count."
He Yu saw the light in her eyes and felt even more uncomfortable, smiling: "Why are you still the same as when you were a child? When you talk about him, you always show admiration, as if thinking of your brother as your savior.
"It is! You have no idea how difficult it was for him to raise me alone as a father, mother and brother ......"
"Then you can also be very obedient and you will save him a lot of trouble."
"...... Hey, I can't, I couldn't even with a tenth of what he can do." Xie Xue shook his head while eating a skewer: "I can't, I can't."
While the two of them were talking, He Yu looked at her embarrassed of herself in the middle of the noise and smoke of the street stall. He thought it was fun, and his eyes gradually became gentle. Such a nice girl, he thought, wouldn't be the only one who liked it.
I couldn't really wait any longer.
He Yu did not return to his bedroom that night, it was too late and he did not want to disturb his classmates, so after leaving Xie Xue in the faculty residence, he had his driver leave him in a hotel he frequented, took a shower and lay down among the fluffy pillows of goose feathers.
"I'm here, you..."
His fingers flew over his phone screen, but thoughts hit rock bottom halfway.
Finally, He Yu sighed and deleted the dialog box, looking at the avatar of the sleepwalker in the WeChat interface for a long time before sending only the simplest two words.
"Good night."
Just as he was about to turn off his phone, he heard a ding, and he assumed that it was Xie Xue's answer, so he immediately grabbed him to read it.
But the message actually turned out to be a money transfer message.
"I had reached the limit of internet banking there in the hospital, but now that I fix it, I'll give you your money back."
He Yu originally hated Xie Qingcheng in particular, and now that on top of that it was not Xie Xue's answer, it was even colder.
"I'm just saving one person, why do I need you to pay me?"
Xie Qingcheng also particularly hated He Yu's generosity, and was too lazy to argue with him, so he simply said: "It counts as a fee per service."
"What?"
"It counts as the fee for the service you drove for me. Even if I had been able to find a driver on the spot, I wouldn't have been able to find a driver as young and strong as you who can run like this with the cars."
"......"
He was so self-sufficient.
How many people in this world would really dare to use He Yu as a driver and pay him for his services?
And it sounded the same as if I was paying a prostitute!
He Yu's eyes were gloomy and he was about to respond again when he suddenly accidentally backed up and saw Xie Xue's chat interface.
He remembered Xie Xue's bright eyes when he mentioned Xie Qingcheng again, and the phrase: "You have no idea how difficult it was for my brother to grow up alone...".
"......"
Forget it, at least it was his older brother.
Then He Yu replied: "You're welcome brother Xie, in the future you can call me when you need it, I will make sure you are comfortable in your seat and always satisfied."
"First show me the history of claims for car insurance abroad before doing so."
He Yu's face was darkened again: I shouldn't have given him a face!
At that moment, the phone vibrated again.
This time it wasn't Xie Qingcheng, it was Xie Xue.
Xie Xue replied: "Good night! Thank you for today."
He left the bathroom of the UH teachers' residence, wiping his wet hair and yawning, and had just taken out his phone when he saw that He Yu was sending him good night. He couldn't help smiling and returned the message to him.
He then sat down at the table and opened his diary. Although today there are few who use the pen and paper to write down their daily lives, there are always some rare creatures that have that nostalgic heart and are willing to walk through yesterday with rusty ink, sharp pen and pages of beige paper.
Turning on the light on the desk, Xie Xue began writing her notes before going to sleep.
"Today my brother had another blind date, but I don't like the girl, I think"
He wrote more than five hundred words, probably mentioning Xie Qingcheng's emotional state, and inevitably also thinking about his own singleness so far.
Xie Xue sighed and looked out the window at the dim night with the street lights on.
He was different from his brother, who was already disappointed with love and marriage, and lived too awake, looking at anyone with slight impatience.
But she was in love with someone.
The image of that man hovered before her eyes, a man who had seen hover over her since she was a child, so close and so far away.
I knew that they were not from the same world, that there was a big gap between them. In addition, he was younger than her ......
But now that they were both in the UH, he could see that the harvest of girls interested in him was more enthusiastic than the wheat waves in the fall.
If she did not tell her herself, there would not be much time left, and if she let it go, she could repent later ...... and end up in the same situation as her brother: telling the trivialities of life with someone with whom she does not have much relationship, saying vows that do not mean what they say, entering the tomb of the marriage, and then one day leaving the cemetery again being alone again, having to continue meeting people so that the elders are not sad.
He couldn't really bear to see his older brother like that sometimes, he felt that Xie Qingcheng lived for others most of the time. He said he didn't care about the eyes of others, but he was the one who cared the most about family members.
Xie Qingcheng lived too tight.
It's not that I didn't advise her, but every time her words came out halfway out of her mouth, her older brother looked at her and told her to study a lot and take care of her own affairs, or directly lectured her to take care of her own affairs, what could a young girl know?
In fact, the person who knows the least about feelings is himself. He had lived only a small part of his life, but he had only gotten a failed marriage.
"I want to try to confess to someone I like. My brother told me to be brave when I was young, and I think it's the same in this case. Whether it goes well or not, I will always make the effort. When I think about it later, I won't regret it."
Xie Xue finished writing the last sentence and closed his diary.
What she didn't know was that inside the hotel suite, a few kilometers away, He Yu was having thoughts similar to hers ......
Author's comment.\nPromise me, honey, no matter what episode you watch tomorrow, don't be surprised, okay? ......
Small theater:\nHe Yu: Your brother wouldn't be suitable for someone like Bai Jing.\nXie Xue: So, what type would it be suitable for?\nHe Yu: It is suitable for the type of person who can tear off the face of a great boss, disarm him, crush him and break him.\nXie Xue: ...why...\nYu: Because I want to see him.\nXie Qingcheng: Boy, drink some milk before going to bed, wash and rest early, there will be everything in your dreams.
Translator's note:
1)-about rabbit heads: the images are somewhat impressive, but it seems that was the idea. He Yu is a master of psychological manipulation.
2)-Chicken palms: (treasure palms, in Chinese) is the type of meat they are eating on their skewers. It seems that it is the crunchy part where the chicken's joints are.\nI'm finding out that it existed.