Chapter 102 (Part 2)

However, it is true that only by not being able to see the future can one stand within it.

If Yu Jinyang had known what he would face when he got home while they were taking the group photo, he wouldn't be standing here listening to her spout this nonsense.

"Say it again, what do you want to see?" He had just seen the two teachers back and followed Li Yingqiao in, his hand still on the doorknob, looking incredulous.

Li Yingqiao kicked off her shoes, one of which was flipped over. She bent down to straighten it, saying matter-of-factly, "I never said I forgave you."

“…You just accepted my proposal.” Yu Jinyang looked down at her.

“These are two different things. I will keep them separate.”

Yu Jinyang glanced at her, closed the door, and said, "Did you only learn the Eight Shames from the Eight Honors and Eight Shames in elementary school?"

"Yu Jinyang, you changed your attitude right after proposing and started attacking my character, didn't you?" She straightened her shoes, stood up, and glared at him.

He leaned lazily against the shoe cabinet, readily mimicking her shameless manner: "Really? Ms. Qiao, your personality is so independent, you even went off to wander the world on your own. How could I possibly aim accurately?"

"You aim so well, you aim the best," she said shamelessly, leaning closer again.

"..."

Yu Jinyang pretended not to hear and went upstairs to change his clothes. When he came out after washing up, Li Yingqiao was still sitting in the downstairs living room, fiddling with something. He peeked at her from the top of the stairs on the second floor.

Still sulking.

He said coldly, "Li Yingqiao, come up here."

The person downstairs decisively refused: "No."

Yu Jinyang tried to threaten, "Then I'll lock the bedroom door."

Li Yingqiao still insists: "I want to watch cat videos."

Seeing Sun Taihe's suggestive dance that evening piqued her curiosity.

She was just teasing him, but seeing his resistance only fueled her competitive spirit. Now she really wanted to see Yu Jinyang do something suggestive.

He firmly replied, "...No."

"you can."

"I can't."

"Did you know that Taihe's borderline dance was being shown in Pingnan? They were actually watching the SSSSVIP version."

She was very envious.

"Then look at hers."

"Really? Is it possible?" She was actually quite excited.

The voice upstairs suddenly turned cold: "Li Yingqiao, do you even want to sleep tonight?"

She said matter-of-factly, "That's why I'm asking you to jump, I didn't go to Pingnan to freeload a membership, meow meow, I want you to take care of me."

The words had barely left her lips when she abruptly looked up and her gaze met that of the man on the stairs. He had just washed his hair, the ends still damp. His hair was jet black, neatly trimmed, with a few stray strands falling casually across his forehead, making his features appear even more defined and striking. He was a completely different person from the disheveled, curly-haired boy she had met before. He had also lost a lot of weight in the past six months, making him look sharper, with a more intense and untamed gaze.

When he was difficult to talk to, Gao Dian and Miao Jia both said that Yu Jinyang's cold face was actually quite fierce. Even when he was young, he exuded a sense of oppression, not to mention now that he is almost thirty, it is a completely oppressive feeling from a cold and mature man.

But Li Yingqiao never thought so. She always thought he looked like a short-legged Napoleon, and was very handsome.

Miao Jia had said back then that Qiao was an incurable looks-obsessed person, as long as someone was handsome, that was enough.

There's no way around it, Yu Jinyang's face has never lost out from childhood to adulthood.

They slept together again that night, of course. As long as he didn't say anything, just staring at her, Li Yingqiao could only sigh and obediently stand up from the sofa.

"Meow." She nestled in his hard chest, feeling safe and secure enveloped by his familiar masculine scent. In her dazed state, she murmured, instinctively nuzzling against him, "Hold me tighter."

He instinctively tightened his arms, holding her firmly in his embrace. Li Yingqiao felt as if he were embedding her into his body, until she couldn't breathe, and then complained, "It's too tight, Yu Jinyang..."

He didn't let go, but kissed her earlobe, his voice muffled in the crook of her neck, "Not enough."

Yu Jinyang lowered his head and said, "Kiss me."

Li Yingqiao was a little tired today, but she still poked her head out to kiss him, her tongue expertly prying open his lips. This time, Yu Jinyang didn't close his eyes; his deep, bright eyes were open as he watched her slowly and deliberately kiss him, watching her last shred of reason being swept away like a wave.

The next second, he rolled over and pressed down on her, deepening the kiss without giving her a chance to refuse. His hands moved skillfully to other places, then he lifted her legs and placed them on his arms, before arching his back and burying his head in hers.

Li Yingqiao slowly ran her fingers through his hair, her fingertips unconsciously tensing. Not long after, they were overturned by a surging wave.

She was panting, watching him silently.

He didn't speak, just looked at her quietly, as if asking if she wanted more.

She shook her head. When this round ended, Yu Jinyang did nothing more, but pulled her close again, holding her tightly in his arms, the blanket and all, and before she fell asleep, he lowered his head and kissed her head and forehead repeatedly, almost obsessively…

Don't cry anymore when you take a bath.

Stop taking sleeping pills indiscriminately.

Call me if you miss me.

My phone is always on for you.

Can you tell me about your life in Beijing sometime?

I don't want to hear it from Zhang Zongxie again.

I'll get so jealous I'll go crazy.

You don't want to see me go crazy.

At this moment, the woman's consciousness was like a waterlogged sponge, drowsy and sleepy.

Yu Jinyang simply lowered his head and pinched her cheek, "Li Yingqiao, Qiaoqiao, Qiaobao."

"What are you doing?"

He laughed out loud. When Li Yingqiao was particularly sleepy, if you teased her, she would probably feel guilty and respond very loudly when you suddenly called her name just as she was about to fall asleep, because she had been caught dozing off in class too many times before, to show that she was not slacking off and sleeping.

Yu Jinyang buried his head in her neck again, and couldn't help but chuckle as he thought of the "What are you doing?" he had said two seconds earlier, because she was now fast asleep.

How adorable! Just like when they were little, they always speak loudly.

Even such a cute little person has to go to work.

He flicked her eyelashes.

***

A week later, Li Yingqiao took the high-speed train back to Beijing. The banner that Yu Renjie had meticulously commissioned for her was met with a chilling and vehement rejection from Li Yingqiao. She practically shook her head off on the phone, though Yu Renjie couldn't see it. Meanwhile, Yu Jinyang, seemingly afraid she would actually shake her head off, reached out to support her chin, laughing uncontrollably. He knew the words on the banner; Li Yingqiao would definitely be furious if she saw them.

After hanging up the phone, Li Yingqiao still followed the scent and came to ask him, sitting on his lap and asking what the words on the banner were.

Yu Jinyang pretended not to hear, leaned back on the sofa, and changed the subject, asking her, "Want to watch some cat videos?"

Li Yingqiao's pupils dilated in shock, then she cupped his face in her hands, her eyes instantly lighting up like searchlights in a tunnel. "Are you really willing to grant my wish? Meow meow, I'm so happy."

They're making heart shapes with their hands like crazy.

When she turned around excitedly, it was "Black Cat Detective"—

The person behind him was suppressing his laughter, his chest trembling with a dull ache. Li Yingqiao turned around and punched him, who suddenly felt a sharp pain and hissed repeatedly.

"Don't pretend."

"No, it really hurts. The wound on my chest that I was hanging on the outside wall from before had just scabbed over."

Li Yingqiao hurriedly lifted her clothes to take a look, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Seeing that she felt sorry for him, he felt better again, being a bit cheeky.

"Yu Jinyang!"

"Hey! Here."

"3, 2, 1—"

He was indeed hit hard on the back of the head.

However, not far away, a sheriff was indeed extremely busy.

The police station was brightly lit. The door to Xiao Bo's office was pushed open by a police officer, who hesitated before saying, "Captain Xiao, Qian Dongchang said he wants to watch an animated film."

Xiao Bo stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, smoking a cigarette idly. A long ash had accumulated on his fingertips. He frowned and glanced back at the police officer again and again, as if he hadn't heard what he was saying.

The officer gritted his teeth and repeated it again to make sure he hadn't misheard.

Xiao Bo had seen even more outrageous demands from suspects detained during this period; one pervert even asked them to bring his wife to jail with him. If these psychopaths had any sense, how could they have gone down this path?

Xiao Bo didn't even turn his head: "Show him."

Before anyone left, he looked out the window at the buildings, their lights gradually going out in the darkness, and added, "What does he want to see?"

The officer said, "He wants to watch episode 985 of Detective Conan."

Half an hour later, Xiao Bo called the on-duty police officer guarding the area, asking, "Finished looking?"

"I've finished reading it."

"What did you say?"

"He swore."

Xiao Bo was taken aback. "Who are you insulting?"

Police officer: "He called out a name, something like 'bath towel'."

"Yu Jinyang?" Xiao Bo prompted.

The officer said yes, and then repeated it verbatim: "He said, 'Yu Jinyang, you son of a bitch.'"

Xiao Bo quickly got the answer from Yu Jinyang.

Yu Jinyang and Li Yingqiao were returning from Li Shuli's gua sha clinic when Li Shuli prepared a lot of health-preserving goji berry tea for Li Yingqiao to take to Beijing. The two of them were carrying large and small bags as they walked home from Chuanming Street.

Yu Jinyang held Li Yingqiao's hand with one hand, while his other hand was full of bags and packages that Li Shuli had insisted on stuffing into his hands. When the phone rang, he couldn't free his hands, so he tilted his head towards Li Yingqiao.

Li Yingqiao understood, and expertly pulled her phone from his pocket, holding it to his ear. Upon hearing the voice on the other end, Yu Jinyang's tone was clearly mocking: "Has he been watching Detective Conan?"

Xiao Bo said, "985 episodes. Is there a problem?"

He chuckled. What problems could there be with 985 episodes?

When Liang Mei confiscated Li Yingqiao's Conan book, Yu Jinyang quietly bought her another one, and he did the same in high school. But in reality, he had never read a single one himself. Li Yingqiao was afraid that he would do something as despicable as marking someone as the murderer on the second page, so she wouldn't allow him to open the plastic wrap and insisted that he take it from him intact.

He studied in Chicago, or more precisely, after he started working, he began watching the Conan anime, catching up on every single episode.

In episode 985, Conan confirms his relationship with Ran during their school trip.

On that foreign night, as he stared at the fleeting subtitles, he suddenly thought of Li Yingqiao.

That episode was released in January 2019.

At that time, she was still in college in Beijing. Maybe she had just finished her homework in the library and couldn't wait to open it and watch it when she got back. Maybe she opened it and watched it while eating with her roommates. In high school, she often played Detective Conan while eating, like an electronic pickled vegetable.

Sometimes when Liang Mei glared at her, she would glare back at him, and if that wasn't enough, she would slap him.

Yu Jinyang stopped indulging her and wouldn't let her touch the back of his head anymore. There was no way around it; there were too many times in high school when you needed to use your brain, and he himself felt that time was running out. Only she was still lazy, acting as if the sky would never fall down. Even if it did, Gao Dian, being the tallest, would be the first to hold it up, so of course she wasn't worried.

Xiao Bo hung up the phone. Qian Dongchang was just being played and was angry out of embarrassment.

The two walked home along Chuanming Street. The streetlights flowed all the way to the end, and moths fluttered in the light. Occasionally, a few would crash into the lampshade and be pinned inside, but there were still moths flying in one after another.

They had walked this road together since they were children. When Yu Jinyang was a child, he would usually quicken his pace when passing by here, afraid that Li Yingqiao would pester him to go to the countryside to catch crayfish again. He wasn't a severe germaphobe, but he just didn't like getting himself dirty. Li Yingqiao, on the other hand, had never been afraid of such things since she was a child. She was like a mudfish and loved to dig in muddy ponds.

"Do you remember that time when my mom saw you covered in mud, she took you home. You took a bath at my house and had no clothes to change into, so my mom gave you my clothes to wear."

Li Yingqiao: "Why bring this up all of a sudden?"

"You kept hugging my clothes and smelling them over and over again, saying, 'Meow, your clothes smell so good—'"

"Yu Jinyang, you're asking for a beating, aren't you!" Li Yingqiao covered his mouth. "Talking about this makes me sound like a pervert since I was little—"

He laughed, his warm breath hitting her palm, and looked down at her, saying, "No, you still haven't returned that dress to me—"

Li Yingqiao remembered something like that. "It seems my mom ruined it while washing it. She originally wanted to wash it and send it back to you, but who knew that your clothes, young master's clothes, can't be touched. She brushed them a couple of times, and they got snagged. Didn't she talk to Aunt Tang Xiang about it? Didn't my mom compensate you?"

“I told her, and my mom said forget it, but I told her to pay for it. It was my favorite piece of clothing at the time. Ms. Tang looked at me speechlessly and said that I wouldn’t like it next year because I would have grown taller and wouldn’t be able to wear it anymore.”

Li Yingqiao waited quietly for him to continue.

"I thought so too, damn it. Who knew I wouldn't grow much at all during that year?"

He chuckled and cursed for the first time almost without warning, his eyes clear and bright, his laughter a soft whisper. For a long while, she didn't hear him, just staring at her intently. Then he stopped, took her hand—which they hadn't let go of since they were clasped—and tucked her hair behind her ear. His fingertips slid down her earlobe, gently pinching it. His voice softened, and he changed the subject: "Can you tell me about your time in Beijing?"

Li Yingqiao was taken aback.

...

The two deliberately slowed down their pace. Li Yingqiao started by talking about her onboarding training when she joined Convey. It was clear that she was still full of fighting spirit back then. When she talked about how she was scolded by Zhang Zongxie for typing the wrong meeting document at the beginning, she was still smiling and did not feel embarrassed at all.

Back then, she was incredibly bold, daring to mess with even the most powerful figures. She would argue and fight with several seasoned veterans in the marketing department who were just trying to get by. Zhang Zongxie used her as a pawn, and Li Yingqiao enjoyed it immensely, not caring at all. She was there to reorganize the workplace.

At that time, she truly believed she could change the world.

Perhaps the highs of fate had given her a hint, making her believe that her life was destined to be extraordinary.

However, however.

In the past six months, Xiaohua City has only realized—

In fact, compared to the things we pursue throughout our lives, courage, willpower, and love are all instincts.

It seems that the things we are born with are being gradually broken down by the rules we are created later in life, and we are gradually forgetting that courage, will, and love are the things that are most readily available to us. If you want them, you have them; if you don't want them, you will never be able to stand up again.

Between the brilliance and the mediocrity lies the mundane routine of daily life and a calm, unperturbed mind.

...

Li Yingqiao was determined to lure him to Beijing: "Meow meow, do you know? There's a calico cat by Houhai Lake that can actually breakdance!"

(End of text)