32 Chapter Thirty-One

◎Li Yingqiao, have you ever gone skiing with other people outside?◎

The car fell silent for a moment. Li Yingqiao turned her head to look out the window and saw a few drops of rain splashed on the glass, seeping down like tiny crawling insects and into the gaps in the window. The mountain scenery, soaked in the rain, looked exceptionally clear.

Since returning, she hadn't really gone out much, except for that day when she went to the venting parlor to see him and Gao Dian. In this city that had undergone a complete transformation, the only scenery that was somewhat familiar was the mountains.

Looking at the rocky cliffs and jagged peaks along the winding mountain road, Li Yingqiao recalled the time when they went to the countryside to find Fang Yue during their senior year of high school. It was a tranquil countryside like this, with the moon hanging high, the croaking of frogs and the melodious chirping of birds, and Yu Jinyang's white T-shirt still damp with barely noticeable sweat, like moonlight washed clean. He always walked slowly ahead of them, calming their spirits.

He didn't give up dancing during his senior year of high school; he was practicing Breaking at the time, and the pressure of studying made him dance even more diligently.

Sometimes Yu Jinyang would stay in the dance studio all day, changing his T-shirt several times a day, because Li Yingqiao would complain about him every time she saw his T-shirt was covered in sweat, and he would have to stick his head out two miles to talk to him.

Thinking of this, Li Yingqiao turned to look at him and found that Yu Jinyang, who was driving, glanced at her without leaving a trace. Their eyes met suddenly, and the two of them laughed almost at the same time, sweeping away the humming atmosphere from before.

"Meow, are you still practicing dancing?" Li Yingqiao asked, looking at him.

“Occasionally,” Yu Jinyang glanced at the rearview mirror and turned the car down the mountain road. “I’ve been very busy since graduation and haven’t practiced much. I was busy abroad and even busier when I came back. Sweet Cone is almost four years old, and my dad wants to finish the children’s playground before her birthday next year.”

After saying that, he added during the turn, just in case she didn't know: "Gao Dian told you, right? Ice Cream Cone is my sister, born in the 2020s."

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you said you gave birth to him, but isn’t the age gap between you two a bit too big?” Li Yingqiao thought for a moment, then found a tricky angle to praise him, “But this is good, so you’ll have experience when your wife gives birth in the future. You, as the older brother of the second child, are definitely better than many new fathers.”

Yu Jinyang didn't respond to her comment. Instead, he turned the car onto the main lane and stopped it in the traffic at the traffic light intersection before getting down to business and saying, "Let's get down to business. You've offended almost everyone tonight. Are you still planning to continue operating Xiaohua City?"

"Sure, why not?" Li Yingqiao was replying to a WeChat message with her head down. "Just those few people in the private room? It doesn't matter."

"Do you know what Li Boqing represents in Fengtan?" he asked after thinking for a moment.

"I don't care what he represents, I just don't like listening to what he's saying." She replied without even thinking.

Yes, this is the real Li Yingqiao. He thought, if she had really held back tonight, it wouldn't be her. He would have suspected that she had been living such a repressed life outside all these years, but she hadn't. When she left, she even gave Li Boqing a way out that he couldn't save face in public, making him even more embarrassed.

The dispute over the operating rights of the Xiaohuacheng land caused quite a stir a few years ago. As the wooden toy industry gradually declined, many established entrepreneurs in Fengtan turned to the influencer economy, with cultural tourism being a particularly sought-after sector. Yu Renjie had also bid for Xiaohuacheng, but it was ultimately won by Li Boqing with a huge sum of money. In Fengtan, no one could compete with Li Boqing for what he wanted.

However, despite the boom in the influencer economy in recent years, Xiaohuacheng, despite occupying a prime location in the town, has failed to thrive. It also lacks a long history of shipping, which has been ruined by Li Boqing's mismanagement. It no longer resembles a typical Jiangnan water town, and its commercial attractions are unprofessional. In short, the number of visitors is less than the number of people working. Occasionally, when he accompanies his mother for a walk there, he sees the number of visitors displayed at the gate and feels relieved for his father. Otherwise, he might really have to work as a stripper abroad to pay off his debts.

So even though Li Yingqiao made that statement in public, Li Boqing had no way to back down. He knew he wasn't suited for the cultural tourism industry, so he wanted to go back and reorganize the wooden toy industry. Li Yingqiao was willing to come back and take over the hot potato that was Xiaohua City, and Li Boqing was more than happy to do so. However, he didn't expect that Li Yingqiao, this young man, would be the first to refuse to listen to his seniority.

The car finally stopped at the intersection near the gua sha clinic. Before getting out of the car, Li Yingqiao said goodbye to him and reached out to push the car door, but couldn't move it. She looked back at him suspiciously, and Yu Jinyang turned to the side to take an umbrella from the back seat and handed it to her: "Take the umbrella, return it to me next time."

"No, I'll just run a little bit. I'll forget. I'll definitely forget to bring it to you again next time we meet."

"It's alright, I'll pay you back when I remember," Yu Jinyang insisted, pushing the umbrella forward further. "Don't get wet after drinking, or I'll have to get out of the car to hold it for you?"

"Really, no way! It's like I owe you an umbrella every time I see you. I don't even know where I lost the one from last time," Li Yingqiao said helplessly. She leaned back in the passenger seat and suddenly stopped getting out of the car. Looking at the continuous rain outside the window, she joked, "Then I'll wait until the rain stops before I get out."

Yu Jinyang chuckled and tossed the umbrella back onto the back seat. "Fine, that works too."

Li Yingqiao tossed her phone back into the armrest of his car, glanced at him sideways, and called out softly, "Meow."

"Huh?" He tossed the umbrella aside, turned around, and met her eyes. "What?"

"Have you kept in touch with Miaojia these past few years? Do you know what's going on with her in the provincial capital?" she asked curiously. "You know, right? Miaojia is incredibly successful now."

Yu Jinyang simply turned to the side, resting half of his shoulder on the car window, and calmly looked directly at her, saying, "I know."

Li Yingqiao instinctively punched him and said, "Damn, so you had no contact with me all along, huh?"

He leaned against the car door and suddenly laughed, crossing his arms and saying helplessly, "Let's be honest, Li Yingqiao, who blocked whom? I thought you... never mind, there's no point in talking about this now."

He took a deep breath, his chest rising slightly. After a brief pause, he sighed and turned his face away, his gaze falling on the beaded curtain of rain outside the window. He controlled his breathing until he calmed down, and asked indifferently, "How have you been these past few years?"

She smiled and said, "I'm doing well. How about you? How are you doing?"

“I’m fine too,” he said, turning to look at her.

“Liar,” she laughed again, then leaned closer, trying to find some clue in his eyes. “Gao Dian told me you were almost tricked by the club into dancing striptease for rich women, and you even had to work to pay for your tuition. Uncle Yu’s situation must have been tough for Aunt Tang too, of course. No matter what, your family is wealthier than mine. It’s just that Uncle Yu’s business was smooth sailing in the first half of his life, and you and Aunt Tang didn’t suffer much. This experience must have been quite upsetting for you. I’m different. I have such a wonderful Ms. Shuli supporting me all along. How bad can I be? So I’m not lying to you, but you are. Meow, are we still friends?”

The rain hadn't stopped. After Li Yingqiao finished speaking, the car fell silent, with only the windshield wipers swishing back and forth on the windshield like a blackboard eraser trying to wipe away the secrets of those youthful days.

Yu Jinyang remained silent, watching her quietly. He didn't know what to say to satisfy her. The rain outside showed no sign of stopping. He took out his phone from the armrest box and checked the time. Tian Tong had sent him two voice messages on WeChat, saying, "Brother, I'm about to fall asleep if you don't come back soon."

"You miss us, don't you?" He tossed his phone back, grabbed an umbrella from the back seat, and deftly pushed open the car door. "If you miss us, you miss us; if you don't, you don't. You've never given me a choice. Get out, I'll take you inside."

***

Yu Jinyang ate a bowl of noodles downstairs before going upstairs. It turned out that his father had sold the villa in the city center after he took the college entrance exam. A few years earlier, when business was slow, Yu Renjie had sold almost every house he could, except for the two in Shanghai and Xiaohua City. Yu Jinyang was in Chicago at the time and couldn't return to deal with the property issues. Later, when he returned to China and wanted to sell the Shanghai house, the price had already fallen below Yu Renjie's bottom line, so he had left it unsold.

Yu Renjie and Tang Xiang had lived in downtown Nanlai for the past few years. Since their company headquarters were in the city and their son was abroad, they decided to move there as well. They kept an apartment in Xiaohua City in Fengtan. After the recent incident, Yu Jinyang brought them back from the city center to live in a flat he bought after returning from China. It's located at the intersection of the old and new city areas, currently the best-equipped residential complex and property management in Fengtan. You can see Fengtan's landmark building—the Starlight Tower—at a glance. Just two streets away is Li Shuli's gua sha (scraping therapy) clinic, which he often sees advertisements for in the complex.

After finishing his senior year of high school, he stopped eating late-night snacks and didn't deliberately maintain his figure. But Li Yingqiao's words still echoed in his ears. Back then, the two of them often stayed up late at Liang Mei's house to do practice problems. When they got hungry, Liang Mei and Zhu Xiaoliang would cook them late-night snacks. Later, Li Shuli started cooking because she thought Liang Mei's cooking was too bad. In his senior year of high school, he visibly gained a few pounds. When he danced, he was panting more than before. Once, when Li Yingqiao watched him dance, she said she wanted to lift up the hem of his T-shirt to see if the fat on his stomach was "duangduangduang". This made him so angry that he gave up late-night snacks.

Yu Jinyang packed two servings of wontons and went upstairs. As soon as he entered, Tang Xiang was on the sofa applying medicine to Yu Renjie, who was leaning on a cane, wincing in pain and hysterically yelling, "Grandpa..."

"My legs are gone, I have no legs anymore." Yu Renjie thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and cursed, "Damn it!"

Tang Xiang heard the noise at the door. She heard someone throw down their car keys, slip on their slippers, and come in. They patted Yu Renjie, telling him to be quiet: "Our son's back." The next second, they looked at the tall figure at the door and asked, "Jin Yang, have you eaten?"

“We’ve eaten,” Yu Jinyang said, placing the wontons on the coffee table and sitting down on the single sofa next to them. “What about the ice cream cone?”

"She's asleep," Tang Xiang said. "I waited for you for ages and she fell asleep while hugging the chicks."

"Did you wash her? That little chick?" he asked casually, glancing at his phone.

"Not washed."

"So she didn't make a scene?"

"She's making a fuss, I beat her up and she fell asleep. I'm busy as a bee every day, who's going to wash that wretched little chick for her all day long?"

Yu Jinyang smiled and said, "I'll take a shower tomorrow. You guys go to bed early. I'm going back to my room now. I have to meet with a design team tomorrow."

Tang Xiang glanced at Yu Renjie and suddenly called out to him, "Wait a minute, something's up."

He didn't move, gesturing for his mother to continue.

Tang Xiang looked at him, her heart tightening like the finishing touches of a needle. Her son had been back for less than half a year, and he had visibly lost a lot of weight. His features, however, were more rugged and sharp. This T-shirt had never looked so loose and baggy when she had seen him wear it before.

Tang Xiang remained silent for a long time, looking at him with heartache from head to toe. Yu Jinyang followed her gaze and subconsciously glanced down from his chest before asking, "What do you mean?"

"Mom thought about it," Tang Xiang said, "Son, why don't you go to Shanghai to find a job? I can take care of things at home now, and even if you beat me up, I'll listen to you for half a day. Gao Dian told me that many headhunters in Shanghai are trying to recruit you, and you have too little room to grow in Fengtan."

“Don’t actually hit her, ice cream cones are so cute, and she’s at the age where she holds grudges the most,” Yu Jinyang laughed, feeling that her real intention was not what she was talking about. She glanced at Yu Renjie, who had been silent all along, and said, “It’s the same everywhere. Is that all you wanted to say? No, I feel like you wanted to say something else.”

Tang Xiang sighed, "Jin Yang is really not as easy to fool as he was when he was a child."

She really didn't know how to bring it up. When Yu Renjie came back, he told her that the wheelchair Yu Jinyang had ordered for him had arrived a couple of days ago. Yu Renjie drove the wheelchair out for a spin and saw his son sitting cross-legged on the ground in the small square, playing music for a group of elderly women dancing in the square using a Bluetooth speaker connected to his phone.

Tang Xiang said, "What's the big deal?"

Yu Renjie expressed his concerns: "You should introduce him to a girlfriend as soon as possible. To be honest, if things continue like this, I'm worried that our son will bring home a girl who may have even held us when she was little."

Tang Xiang gave him a thorough dressing-down at the time, but once the seed of doubt was planted—

Yu Jinyang went to the balcony to answer the phone.

Li Yingqiao asked him on the phone what color the umbrella was last time, as she was searching the whole house for it while holding the phone.

Yu Jinyang held the phone and replied slowly, "Black, no rush, if we can't find it, it's fine."

He casually held the phone to his ear, but his gaze swept past the neon-lit, bustling city streets, settling fixedly on the solitary, out-of-place building atop Fengtan Mountain—the Star Tower that looked like a victim of telecom fraud. Before its reconstruction, it had been the only artificial snowfield in the entire Nanlai City.

They kissed there.

He thought maliciously, if he just said one sentence now, "Li Yingqiao, have you ever skied with other people outside?"

He could almost picture the other person flying into a rage, ready to break the umbrella in two.

Because he didn't actually remember what color the umbrella was.

[Author's Note]

See you the day after tomorrow.

Two hundred red envelopes.