55 Chapter Fifty-Four

I don't really want to continue this relationship.

The two leaned against the trunk, Sun Taihe smoking as he recounted the whole story of the evening. Every now and then, they would glance back at the woman in the passenger seat.

Yu Jinyang recalled the fish in front of Qian Dongchang at the dinner party two months ago—at that time, Qian Dongchang, while sticking his chopsticks into the fish's belly, maliciously told Li Boqing not to worry about things that didn't concern him, saying that their two families would become in-laws sooner or later. He didn't need Li Boqing to mediate any compensation; it was just money going from one pocket to another, nothing more than dowry money.

Li Yingqiao probably wanted to smash that bowl of fish over his head back then, but she had just returned to Fengtan and didn't dare to go too far. Thinking of this, Yu Jinyang turned to look at her, only to see her resting her chin on the windowsill, leisurely admiring the moon, even taking a picture of it with her hand, "click, click," twice. Perhaps noticing his gaze, she turned her head and cheerfully said, "Hi."

"I was really scared to death tonight," Sun Taihe said, still somewhat shaken. "When I used to work as a tour guide for a travel agency, I witnessed the gang of thugs that Lao Qian employed. They preyed on out-of-towners. I can't even imagine what would have happened if Qian Dongchang had gone crazy and wouldn't have let us leave. I would have been completely helpless."

Yu Jinyang then looked away, frowning as he said, "So, he just let you leave like that?"

“I have to thank my family in the live stream for this,” Sun Taihe said, taking out his phone. “Li Yingqiao lied to them that I was live streaming, and the netizens would only think that everything tonight was scripted. But if Boss Qian hadn’t let us leave, then the nature of the matter would have been different. Qian Dongchang would have had no choice but to turn pale and tell us to get out. So I ran downstairs. You know how panicked I was. I was really afraid of being beaten.”

Yu Jinyang nodded slightly to him and said, "Thanks for tonight."

“Forget it. Li Yingqiao is really… Pan Xiaoliang is right, she really doesn’t seem like someone from Tanzhong, her methods are too wild—” Sun Taihe changed the subject, put his hands in his pockets, and his eyes became dark and unreadable, “But it was quite exciting. Do you remember when we used to go down to the ground and battle dance with people, can you still find that kind of passion? To be honest, I’m starting to reminisce about the feeling from just now.”

Sun Taihe had some experience in the street dance scene, and his overall style and appearance were very hip-hop. Yu Jinyang, on the other hand, was a complete oddity among male street dancers. He had never been involved in street dance and didn't have the aggressive, street-style fighting spirit. He only joined the battle in Chicago because someone insulted his nationality, forcing him to fight back. He initially danced purely to grow taller, but it later became a habit.

Yu Jinyang leaned against the trunk for a long time before asking, "You like it a lot?"

Sun Taihe couldn't describe this absurd feeling. He even felt that it might be a bit morbid, since he originally just wanted to shove Li Yingqiao's head into the toilet.

He said he liked her a little, only to find that Yu Jinyang was looking at him expressionlessly with a cold gaze.

Sun Taihe suddenly realized what he had said: "...Um, I need to take care of myself. I might have drunk too much tonight."

Yu Jinyang turned his face away, and the atmosphere became a little awkward. Sun Taihe added dryly, "...I didn't mean anything by it."

“I know,” he suddenly laughed, a self-deprecating laugh, then lowered his head and took a deep breath, saying, “It doesn’t matter if she does or not, I have no right to care if others like her.”

Sun Taihe reiterated his previous statement: "...Just think I'm drunk."

"..."

"Why aren't you saying anything? I'm really drunk. Do you have any tissues? I'm about to sneeze," Li Yingqiao said, rubbing her nose as she sat in the passenger seat.

"Find it in the armrest box."

She looked down and rummaged through the clutter in his armrest box: "Where are they?... Bluetooth earphones, sunglasses, what's this, a travel-sized razor and aftershave? And why is there a cigarette? You smoke, huh?"

Yu Jinyang drove attentively, glancing over: "The cigarettes aren't mine, they belong to Tan Jiu. I was just having dinner with him."

She said, "Oh, your lawyer friend?"

"Um."

Li Yingqiao glanced at the travel-sized aftershave in the armrest box again. "Are you going on a trip?"

Yu Jinyang didn't speak. He kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand deftly reached into the armrest box, silently pulling out a tissue and handing it to her. That day, when he ordered makeup remover, he also bought a razor and kept it in the car, just in case. Men's beards grow quickly, especially at this age; sometimes, even after shaving cleanly in the morning, stubble would reappear by eight or nine in the evening.

"No, I bought it to reach the minimum order amount." He changed the subject, "Where's your car?"

“It’s parked in the hotel’s underground garage,” Li Yingqiao suddenly remembered. “The car keys seem to be with Taihe. He said he’d have a designated driver take Pan Xiaoliang back.”

He hummed in agreement.

As if discovering a new continent, Li Yingqiao, in her drunken state, seemed curious about everything: "Your phone screen is broken."

He hummed in agreement again, keeping his eyes on the road as he drove. The drive was silent, but Li Yingqiao, being drunk, became unusually talkative, even reminiscing about catching crayfish when they were kids, and how she sang on stage in elementary school, only realizing how awful her singing was from everyone's reactions. Then she moved on to the present, saying she had a secret. He asked what it was, and she said she couldn't tell, it was a state secret. He smiled, skillfully avoiding mentioning her years in Beijing. Finally, she fell asleep in the passenger seat, only to suddenly open her eyes a few seconds later and say, "Yu Jinyang, I need to use the restroom."

After taking her home, Li Yingqiao, having reached her limit, pushed open the door without even taking off her shoes, threw her bag aside, stumbled into the bathroom, washed her face, and then kicked off her high heels before coming out and plopping down on the floor by the bedroom door, instantly becoming much more sober. Yu Jinyang tidied up for her, picking up the scattered cosmetics, throwing them back into her bag, and putting them on the sofa before approaching her.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked, squatting down and gently stroking her face.

Her eyes were much clearer now, although her head was still a little lightheaded. She nodded and said, "Okay. Why don't you go back first? I need to take a shower."

"Don't bother washing," he said. "You can wash tomorrow morning, it's already this late. Hmm?"

Li Yingqiao looked up at him, her gaze suddenly fixed on him: "Why didn't you talk to me the whole way? Are you angry? Yu Jinyang, what did I do to offend you today?"

“No.” He simply sat down cross-legged and looked at her.

"Then why didn't you reply to my kiss this afternoon?"

Yu Jinyang paused for two seconds, then said frankly, "Because I wanted to reply to you in person."

Without hesitation, she pouted and said, "Here you go."

He turned his head away again: "No, who knew you'd drink so much."

“See, you’re just angry,” she said. “What’s wrong with you?”

"Are you clear-headed right now?" he asked.

She nodded emphatically: "Let me put it this way, as long as my two feet are still on the ground, my brain will never stop thinking. I'm very smart. Come on, test me anytime."

Yu Jinyang thought for a moment, then held up three fingers: "These?"

She said, "Third brother, do you think I'm stupid?"

"This is the square root of 3, you're so silly." He laughed and casually flicked her forehead with his thumb and forefinger.

Li Yingqiao grabbed his hand and pried open his fingers one by one, saying, "Where's the square root symbol! Yu Jinyang, are you trying to play dirty with me?"

He didn't speak again, his smile faded, and he silently watched her holding his hand. After a long while, he said, "Li Yingqiao, is there any point in this ambiguity?"

Li Yingqiao remained silent. She had just washed her face, and her eyelashes were still damp, like a crescent moon hidden in the forest after a rain, staring at him with a warning, as if asking: What do you want to say?

She was assertive and radical, never leaving herself any room for maneuver in her actions, almost exactly the same as when she was a child. Yu Jinyang turned his face away, his gaze falling on the corner of the wall not far away, where there was still half a box of instant noodles. After a moment, he withdrew his hand and continued, "I'm sorry, I've thought about it carefully, and it's hard for me to continue this kind of relationship. Sooner or later, I'll have psychological problems. If it's not a relationship with love and marriage as the premise, I don't really want to continue."

He'd only thought about it briefly that afternoon, but if things continued like this, he didn't know what he'd become, or what uncontrollable things he might do to her. And Taihe's ambiguous attitude just now had completely proven the fragility of a man's possessiveness. To cut his losses, he decided to stop.

He originally wanted to say that it was on the premise of being in a relationship. However, he decided to be more absolute, because Li Yingqiao might try to bargain. According to Lu Xun's famous "skylight" theory, he could somehow get Li Yingqiao to open a window for him.

Yu Jinyang looked at her and added, "Normal dating, normal relationships, even if it doesn't work out, I can accept that. Actually, before we started this relationship, I thought I could accept it. But I was too naive. I'm not good at handling this kind of relationship, and I don't even know how to look at you when there are many people around."

“OK, let’s continue to be friends then,” Li Yingqiao said quickly, without any hesitation, blurting it out almost without thinking. “Don’t worry, I understand what you mean, I won’t have any more intimate contact with you.”

Yu Jinyang paused for two seconds, then laughed, his chest tightening slightly. Even his smile became forced and superficial. He didn't realize his breathing had become heavier, and he even subconsciously closed his eyes to calm himself down, but he was still so angry at her that he laughed again: "So, you never actually thought about it at all—"

“Yes, I didn’t,” she answered quickly, just as quickly as before.

Yu Jinyang stared at her silently for a long time, turning his head away several times as if to say something. He realized he had no right to criticize her at all; he had been the one throwing himself at her from beginning to end, and it was all his own doing. He slowly stood up from the ground, glancing down at her one last time, as if still hoping she would say something. But Li Yingqiao remained silent, her neck stiff. Then he turned and left without looking back.

Li Yingqiao sat motionless, only slightly tilting her head. No man had ever been in her family growing up. She hadn't been involved in her mother's two failed marriages; her mother had been single since she was born. She had never even seen her mother interact with a man, and as a child, she couldn't even imagine how she came to be. Her mother had also said that women could choose not to marry or have children. Being single had become the norm for Li Yingqiao, but only as she grew older did she gradually realize that women also have needs, and there was nothing shameful about it. Especially now that she was older, Yu Jinyang's marriage advertisement appeared at just the right time; it turned out he was also single, which inevitably led her to some fantasies.

On this point, she admitted she had gone too far. Li Yingqiao had thought that after he left, she would feel somewhat relieved, but why did she feel so sad? She seemed to like him even more than she had imagined. If the feelings she had shared in her youth were the fuse, then at this moment, or more accurately, after spending time together, they were now exploding like fireworks in her heart like wildfire.

…………

“The scenic area doesn’t allow fireworks, so who would want to organize this summer fireworks and music festival? Besides, summer vacation is almost over, and the college students have all gone back home. Where are the young people in Fengtan?” Pan Xiaoliang heard Wu Juan announce this bombshell news as soon as he entered the office after she came out of Li Yingqiao’s office.

"Sister Qiao said she got the inspiration in the middle of the night yesterday." Wu Juan has already started searching for singers' contact information on various platforms.

“It is indeed a way to attract customers,” Pan Xiaoliang muttered, then told Wu Juan about the thrilling scene at last night’s dinner party. “Anyway, our sister is becoming more and more unpredictable. With the Qian Dongchang connection broken, we will have to spend more time and energy maintaining customer relationships with other travel agencies.”

Wu Juan ignored him, looking down intently at her phone, completely absorbed, as if she wanted to crawl into it.

Pan Xiaoliang couldn't help but lean over and ask, "Whose boyfriend have you set your sights on this time?"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Wu Juan blushed instantly and showed him the striking image on her phone. "I was just looking for a show, and then Sun Taihe sent me a video saying it had over ten million views on YouTube a few years ago. It's a dance battle video from abroad, a Chinese guy battling a few black guys. Take a look, and I'll tell you more after you watch it."

Pan Xiaoliang picked up the phone and glanced at it. He had a phobia of trendy men, and was about to throw the phone back when Wu Juan said, "Look! Look! It's true! I was so excited watching it. These foreigners were so arrogant at first, but in the end they were dumbfounded and shrugged in defeat. Their expressions were hilarious."

Pan Xiaoliang then picked it up again and watched it patiently. The video was really noisy, extremely noisy, and for the first time, he felt like his eyes were being irritated by the noise. However, he only found out what the noise was about at the end.

Amidst the deafening roar, he saw a young man effortlessly moving his joints to the rapid, machine-gun-like drumbeats. After completing a high-octane inverted spin supported by one arm, he seemed to be finished. But then, he leaped into the air again, his waist and abdomen working together cleanly to deliver a final, explosive drumbeat that was wildly praised in the comments as a "death move," completely igniting the entire audience.

Then the music stopped, and the entire dance floor fell into an eerie silence for about two seconds, before suddenly erupting into a tsunami of screams that nearly lifted the roof off. Only then did Pan Xiaoliang realize they were shouting—"China! China! China!"

Almost simultaneously, he recognized the Chinese man as Yu Jinyang.

[Author's Note]

See you tomorrow.