Lunar New Year's eve
The days flowed slowly through the "safe haven" like syrup dripping steadily from a bar counter. Xu Yan gradually became familiar with the rhythm of this coastal town—the whistles of returning fishing boats in the morning, the afternoon sun casting a golden hue across the sea, and the never-ending jazz music in the bars at night.
He was no longer the apprentice who couldn't even hold a wine measuring cup steady. Now he could memorize orders from three tables simultaneously and accurately reach for any bottle of base liquor on the wine rack with his eyes closed. The bandage on his wrist had long been removed, leaving behind a new, pale pink scar, like a mark of some kind of transformation.
"Xu Yan, don't put bitters in my Manhattan!"
"I know, Sister Wang."
"Xiao Xu, I want to drink something sweet today."
"How about a Lychee Martini, Brother Li?"
He began to be called that by regular customers. No one knew his past; they only knew him as this young man with a simple smile and a slight frown as he mixed drinks. He still spoke little, but it was no longer out of fear, but out of habit.
Gu Yan handed him a leather-bound notebook. "Write down your recipe," he said. "Good bartenders have their secrets." After closing time, Xu Yan began to write and draw under the bar light, sometimes recipes, sometimes casual sketches of the street scene outside the window. On one page, he'd accidentally written the word "road," but quickly crossed it out and changed it to a recipe for "coastline."
On a rainy night, the bar was unexpectedly quiet. Lin Shuyin was huddled in a booth, revising a design, Gu Yan was doing the bills, and Xu Yan was concentrating on cleaning the glasses. Rain pounded against the windows, shutting out the outside world.
"Xiao Yanyan," Lin Shuyin called without even looking up, "If there was a boat that could come in and pick me up right now, I would marry you."
Xu Yan hung the cleaned cup upside down on the shelf: "Sister Shuyin, is a whiskey sour okay?"
"Look," Lin Shuyin raised her chin to Gu Yan, "he's even become so skilled at giving me perfunctory treatment now."
Gu Yan looked up from the account book, his gaze sweeping across Xu Yan's calm profile. The boy's once sharp sense of brokenness was now replaced by a gentle tenacity, like a reef repeatedly polished by the waves.
Xu Yan pushed the prepared drink over and turned back to wiping the cup. He listened to the sound of rain and suddenly thought of the northern city, but the thought was fleeting, like a fleeting bubble on the wall of the cup.
He looked down at his palms. New skin had grown where the chains had once rubbed them. The bar fridge hummed steadily, the whiskey slumbered in the oak barrels, and everything ran according to plan.
This is the peace he chooses—not forgetting, but rather a tacit coexistence with the past. Like the tide, its ebb and flow possesses its own eternal rhythm.
"Sister Shuyin, you're here again." This is the first month since Xu Yan came. He skillfully wiped the wine glass. "What do you want to drink this time?"
"Wuwuwu, Yanyan, save me, sister Wanqing has ignored me for a week, wuwu..." Lin Shuyin threw herself into Xu Yan's arms, crying softly, "We clearly agreed to meet in Thailand, but she actually said something urgent happened! I'm so sad..."
"Okay, don't be sad," Xu Yan patted her back gently, as if comforting a wounded animal, "Your sister Wanqing..."
Wait, Wanqing? This familiar name made his heart skip a beat.
Is it a coincidence?
If it really was Lin Wanqing...
"Sister Shuyin, can you please tell me something?" Xu Yan gently pushed her away and pointed at the water stains on his shirt. "Your snot has gotten all over my clothes..."
Lin Shuyin raised her tearful face and glanced at him: "Wuwu... I'm sorry."
“…”
The two sat down in the corner of the bar. The lights were dim, and Xu Yan couldn't see Lin Shuyin's expression, but he could feel her rare depression.
After a while, he asked tentatively, "Who is Wanqing?"
Lin Shuyin took a sip of tequila and after a long pause said sullenly, "I met a girl in Chiang Mai. Her last name is Lin. What do you think? It's a nice name, isn't it? She has the same last name as me." She swirled her glass, and the ice cubes made a crisp clinking sound. "She was buying jasmine garlands at the night market that day and was almost hit by a motorcycle. I helped her... and that's how we met."
Xu Yan's grip on the shaker tightened slightly—it was indeed her. The girl who always followed Lu Ziyi around, with a smile as bright as the sun.
Before he could say anything, Lin Shuyin continued, "We've known each other for almost half a year. I like her so much, but... she's seven years younger than me, and..." She smiled bitterly and shook her head, "It seems like she always has someone else in her heart. I can only have a one-sided love for her."
Xu Yan lowered his eyes, thinking of Lin Wanqing's eyes that lit up when she looked at Lu Ziyi. It turned out that in this city far from the past, everyone was experiencing their own unrequited love.
"Things like fate," he pushed the tuned "Summer Finale" in front of her, "can't be forced."
Lin Shuyin stared at the salt edge of the cup in a daze: "You're right. Just like Gu Yan waited for his teacher for ten years, didn't he..." She suddenly realized her slip of the tongue and quickly covered her mouth.
Just then, a wind chime rang softly. Gu Yan pushed open the door, carrying the ingredients. Seeing Lin Shuyin, looking dejected at the bar, he raised an eyebrow in understanding. "Are you getting drunk for your 'Sister Wanqing' again?"
Xu Yan lowered his head and continued to wipe the cup. In this salty and humid sea breeze night, the world was very small, so small that all the scattered stories would eventually meet again at some corner.
It was the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, just after the Little New Year, and the air was already thick with the faint aroma of the New Year. Gu Yan's apartment was unusually filled with the air of everyday life. He was wearing an apron and placing a plate of delicious steamed fish on the table.
"Shocking news! Shocking news!" Lin Shuyin rushed in from the balcony, cell phone in hand, her voice nearly blowing the roof off. "Sister Wanqing said she wants to spend the New Year with me! Ahhhhh!!!"
"That's enough," Gu Yan put down the plate steadily without looking up, "The glass is about to be shattered by you."
Xu Yan, who was curled up on the sofa watching a TV variety show, turned his head when he heard the voice. When he heard the word "Wanqing", he was obviously stunned for a moment, and then a trace of extremely complicated emotions flashed in his eyes, but he quickly returned to his usual calmness and just silently turned down the TV volume.
"Hehehe, we're going to celebrate the New Year with four of us!" Lin Shuyin excitedly spun around on the floor, then pounced and sat down next to Xu Yan, hugging his neck affectionately. "I'm going to prepare a big red envelope for her! Oh, and by the way," she pinched Xu Yan's face, "prepare one for our Yanyan too!"
Gu Yan untied her apron, leaned against the dining table with her arms folded across her chest, and looked at Lin Shuyin hanging on Xu Yan like a koala. She raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
"Hahaha...and Young Master Gu..." Lin Shuyin finally noticed Gu Yan's meaningful look and added with a wry smile, but she did not let go of the hand that was around Xu Yan.
Xu Yan felt a bit breathless from her strangulation, and helplessly patted her arm, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly. This kind of lively, slightly noisy warmth was something he had never experienced before. The TV was still playing a cheerful program, the aroma of food wafted from the kitchen, and around him were the laughter and playfulness of friends.
Occasionally, sporadic sounds of firecrackers can be heard outside the window. In this small southern town far away from home, a peculiar "family" consisting of four people, each with a story, is about to usher in their first Spring Festival.
On New Year's Eve, in Gu Yan's apartment, Lin Shuyin was excitedly circling around the newly arrived Lin Wanqing. She hugged her tightly in her arms and couldn't help but kiss her soft cheeks several times.
"Sister Lin, I can't breathe..." Lin Wanqing protested softly, putting her hands on Lin Shuyin's shoulders and pushing her away slightly.
Lin Shuyin finally loosened her grip a little, but she was still reluctant to let go. Her fingertips gently pinched Lin Wanqing's cheek. "After six months, our Wanqing has become well behaved again." She looked at the person in front of her carefully. "Didn't you eat well in Thailand? You look thinner."
"No way," Lin Wanqing smiled helplessly, "I've gained two pounds." She looked around, "Aren't Brother Gu and the others here?"
"I went to buy New Year's goods, saying I wanted to welcome you." Lin Shuyin said as she moved closer, "Let me take another look, am I more beautiful now..."
-------
In the supermarket, Gu Yan was pushing a shopping cart while Xu Yan followed beside him, carefully comparing the prices of the goods.
"This brand of nut gift boxes is on sale." Xu Yan pointed at the shelf and turned around, only to find that Gu Yan had put several boxes of expensive imported chocolates into the car.
"No need to be so frugal." Gu Yan took two more bottles of champagne, "It's Chinese New Year after all."
Xu Yan looked at the increasing amount of New Year's goods in the shopping cart and said softly, "Actually, there's no need to buy so much..."
"Lin Wanqing is coming." Gu Yan explained calmly, "That child likes lively atmosphere."
Xu Yan was silent for a moment after hearing this, and added a bag of osmanthus candy to the car.
When Gu Yan and Xu Yan returned to the apartment carrying large and small bags, they heard whispers coming from the entrance.
"Don't move, this braid will be done soon..."
Xu Yan bent down to change his slippers, and the moment he looked up, he froze in place.
Under the warm yellow light, Lin Wanqing sat obediently on the carpet in front of the sofa. Lin Shuyin was kneeling behind her, carefully braiding her hair. That silhouette, that face that smiled when it looked up...
Lin Wanqing turned her head, her eyes meeting Xu Yan at the entrance. The smile on her face froze instantly, and her half-braided hair slipped from Lin Shuyin's hands.
"Cheng...Xiao Rui...?"
Xu Yan's bag of New Year's goods fell to the ground with a thud, and the dried longans scattered everywhere, like an old dream suddenly shattered. The air seemed to freeze at that moment. The scattered longans rolled slightly on the floor, making a tiny crunching sound, the only sound in the dead silence.
Lin Wanqing stood up suddenly, her half-braided hair unraveling. She looked at the thin figure at the entrance in disbelief, her voice trembling, "Cheng Xiaorui? Is it really you? Why are you here..."
Xu Yan's face turned pale, and he subconsciously took a half step back. His lips moved, but no sound came out. The name he had tried to bury was like a rusty lock that was suddenly pried open, revealing a past that he couldn't bear to look back on.
"Wanqing, do you know Yanyan?" Lin Shuyin looked at Lin Wanqing in surprise, then looked at Xu Yan in confusion. She keenly noticed the unusual atmosphere between the two of them, stood up, and quietly placed herself in front of Lin Wanqing.
Gu Yan, who had just put the New Year's goods into the kitchen, came out upon hearing the noise. His eyes swept over the mess on the floor and the three people with different expressions, his brows furrowed slightly. He didn't say anything immediately, but simply leaned against the kitchen doorframe, observing calmly. His gaze lingered on Xu Yan's pale face for a moment, and a glint of understanding flashed in his eyes.
"He... he's my brother's former classmate." Lin Wanqing took a deep breath, trying to calm her voice, but her clenched fists betrayed her emotions. She looked at Xu Yan with a complex expression, filled with concern, confusion, and perhaps a subtle hint of resentment. "You... why did you suddenly disappear? Brother Ziyi... I went back once, and he told me..."
"Wanqing," Gu Yan spoke at the right moment, interrupting Lin Wanqing's unfinished questioning. His voice was steady, carrying an undeniable soothing power. "What's the matter? Take your time." He walked forward, bent down, and picked up the scattered New Year's goods one by one. His movements were calm and unhurried, as if he was just dealing with a minor unexpected chaos.
Xu Yan finally found his voice. He avoided Lin Wanqing's gaze, lowered his eyelashes, and spoke in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible: "I..."
Lin Shuyin looked at Xu Yan's fragile expression, and her protective instinct instantly took over. She put her arm around Lin Wanqing's shoulders and said, "Oh, this world is really small! We're all familiar faces! But today is New Year's Eve. Can we talk about it after the New Year? Let's eat first. Young Master Gu has prepared a huge table of dishes!"
Lin Wanqing bit her lip, looked at Xu Yan, then at Gu Yan and Lin Shuyin, and finally nodded. She didn't ask any more questions, but her eyes never left Xu Yan.
Gu Yan handed the New Year's goods to Xu Yan and patted his shoulder gently, a silent gesture of support. "Go wash your hands and get ready for dinner."
Xu Yan took the bag, his fingertips cold. He lowered his head and hurried to the bathroom, practically fleeing. The bathroom door closed gently, isolating him from the outside world and the past he had desperately tried to escape. But now, the past had returned in a way he least expected.
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