Chapter 73 Do you want to come back to the old house with me on New Year's Eve?
In reality, Ye Yuying took a deep breath and instinctively took a half step back, as if trying to expel the air that carried his scent.
"With such a low alcohol tolerance, why do you still drink?" Cheng Mingdu's tone wasn't harsh; he seemed to be maintaining a distance while restraining himself, though some perceptions were hard to let go of.
The thought of her drunken state and the fact that someone was about to witness something stirred a resentment within him, which had previously made him feel calm.
Ye Yuying didn't speak, but her brows furrowed slightly. "It's nothing."
After a moment of silence, he was about to turn and go downstairs, but at the last moment he asked helplessly, "Will someone take you home?"
She thought for a moment, then nodded honestly, before she could even register the change in air temperature.
When she looked up, she only saw Cheng Mingdu glance at her indifferently, his gaze unfathomable.
“Since someone is giving you a ride, I won’t interfere.” He said this in a low voice, his tone seemingly suppressed, but Ye Yuying sensed a hint of displeasure in the atmosphere.
He turned away, as if to end the brief, ambiguous exchange.
But after he took a few steps, Ye Yuying inexplicably spoke, her voice trembling slightly: "And you?"
Cheng Mingdu paused, turned around, and looked at her with a complicated expression. After a moment, a barely perceptible smile appeared on his lips.
"What, Mr. Ye, you want to give me a ride?"
Ye Yuying was provoked by his teasing tone, and her originally fluctuating emotions unexpectedly calmed down, which gave her the courage to confront him.
She slightly raised her chin. "I was just asking casually."
Cheng Mingdu stared at her, seemingly taking in every detail of her expression.
"I'm meeting with Uncle Liu today. Do you want to go in and say hello?" he asked, changing his tone.
She instinctively hid her cane behind her back, saying, "I've already seen it."
But he didn't press the matter further. He simply lowered his eyes, the faint light reflected from his cufflinks hidden in the dim lamplight, and said in a light tone, "Then... go back early, don't keep the people who brought you here waiting."
Upon hearing this, perhaps because the Lunar New Year was approaching, the sense of rootlessness she had accumulated over the years surged up within her.
After saying that, Cheng Mingdu turned and went downstairs.
At this moment, as she walked away from the receding scene, the surrounding light seemed to dim, and his figure walked in the long, narrow passageway, just like the one that always appeared in her dreams.
She was breathing rapidly, feeling weak and powerless, as if in a dream.
“Cheng Mingdu…” she suddenly spoke, her voice very soft, like a subconscious murmur, as if only she could hear it, not expecting him to hear it.
But he stopped in his tracks, stood still in the stairwell, turned back to look at her, and asked in a deep voice, "What's wrong?"
Cheng Mingdu's gaze shifted to her flushed face, then down to her hesitant lips.
"It's nothing..." she said in a flat tone, trying her best to hide the loneliness she felt before the holiday. "Tomorrow is New Year's Day, how are you going to spend it?"
“I’m going back to Chengdu to live with the old man.” He said without hesitation, his tone tinged with an indescribable sigh, but that sigh only came after he saw her.
Ye Yuying felt depressed for a while before she managed to put it down and smiled: "It's fine. Happy New Year in advance."
She thought Cheng Mingdu would simply reply with a "Happy New Year" indifferently.
But he remained silent for a long time, just standing there, quietly watching her; the silence seemed exceptionally long and strange.
It was as if time had stood still, making each of her breaths exceptionally heavy.
She clearly wanted to say a lot, but couldn't utter a single word.
She seemed to be drowning in the surging tide of sorrowful memories in her dream, feeling powerless countless times, but she had to force herself to keep going, otherwise, she would become a victim again.
Instead, he asked, "And you?"
Her voice was soft, like the sound of wind chimes blowing from a cool stairwell in an old memory. She became increasingly aware that she had never been able to escape the dream of meeting him tonight.
She swallowed, gripping her cane tightly and loosely, then gave a vague answer: "I... am the same as always."
At the end of the conversation, Cheng Mingdu nodded slightly, glanced sideways, and his Adam's apple bobbed as if he had swallowed something.
At this moment, the five steps separating them made up for their height difference on a horizontal plane.
However, they can look at each other at eye level... just like now, yet the further apart they are, the more it seems as if they are separated by a city.
The light in his eyes was so faint as to be missed, and finally it sank into darkness.
"Then... Happy New Year."
Turning around, his steps were steady but not hurried as he slowly descended the last few steps and disappeared around the corner.
As Ye Yuying watched his departing figure, the more she wanted to speak, the tighter her lips remained closed.
She felt that her dream and reality had intersected. She could never catch up with him. Each time, she would watch him leave, then look down and see that his fingers were cold and his palms were empty.
Ye Yuying looked down and saw the long, lonely shadow of her cane stretched across the ground. These shadows were the dignity she had painstakingly maintained over the years, unchanging and without a home.
She exhaled a long breath, her lips were cool, and the smell of alcohol lingered in the air, like she had just swallowed a mouthful of warm sake—no intoxication, but a bitter aftertaste.
*
The next day was New Year's Eve.
After dinner last night, my colleagues from the north bought plane tickets overnight to go home for the Spring Festival. Ding Chu also boarded the high-speed train home early this morning. Lao Wu's parents came from out of town, and the whole family will spend the Spring Festival in Jiangcheng.
Everyone else had reunited, but Ye Yuying woke up alone in her newly rented apartment.
The Lunar New Year's Eve in China is truly different; the rich festive atmosphere can reach her even through double-pane glass.
Early in the morning, the property management staff came to deliver New Year's greetings. After closing the door, Ye Yuying leaned on her cane and walked around, examining the vouchers and phone holders that the property management staff were giving her.
The neighbor across the street had put up Spring Festival couplets on their door early in the morning, but she seemed to have no sense of ritual whatsoever.
The bustling crowds dispersed and regrouped, filling the streets and alleys like a tidal wave.
Ye Yuying sat at home, watching the main road in the distance completely blocked.
The room was eerily quiet, and a thought suddenly popped into her head—maybe she should eat something special today.
When I was abroad, the festive atmosphere of the New Year was mostly overshadowed by exams and papers, and fatigue replaced homesickness.
But when I came back this year, the loneliness was like fermenting wine, getting stronger and stronger, forcing me to find ways to suppress it.
She picked up her coat, hesitated for a few seconds, seemingly feeling that going out in person was still somewhat inconvenient, but in the end she still went out and took a taxi to the nearby supermarket.
The supermarket was bustling with activity, everyone's face beaming with the excitement of welcoming the new year. Even the sales clerks were working harder than usual, reportedly earning triple pay today.
Ye Yuying wandered alone among them, wearing her exquisite and well-fitting cashmere coat, pushing the shopping cart with one hand and leaning on her cane with the other.
She rarely goes to the supermarket by herself, mainly because of her leg problems. Most of the shoppers are families, and she seems out of place in the bustling atmosphere around her.
She stood in front of the live fish tank, leaning on her cane, staring intently at the fish swimming in the water.
Suddenly, I remembered the steamed fish my grandmother used to make when I was a child. The steam was rising, and the aroma of scallions and ginger filled the air. The festive atmosphere of the New Year always wafted out from the kitchen.
The sales clerk greeted her with a smile, handed her a net, and told her she could catch whichever fish she wanted herself.
Not wanting to disappoint the salesperson's enthusiasm, she reached out and took the leftover net.
The sales clerk then noticed that she had switched her cane from her right hand to her left hand, and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't notice that you were having trouble. Let me help you catch one."
Ye Yuying smiled and waved her hand, saying, "It's alright."
She looked at it for a while, then reached out and scooped up a fresh mandarin fish. Before she could tell the salesperson, her phone suddenly rang.
It was an unfamiliar number.
She felt that it was easy to encounter scam groups trying to meet their targets during holidays, so she wanted to refuse the call. However, the phone rang again after she hung up. It was the same number, and the location was Jiangcheng.
Based on experience, if two local calls come in a row and there are no scam alerts on the phone, it's unlikely to be a scam call.
But as for investors, none of them work on New Year's Eve.
She hesitated for a moment, but then answered the call.
"Hello, who is this?" Her voice was polite but hesitant.
"Ye Yuying..." The other party's voice came through the receiver, silencing the entire noisy store.
She straightened up, just as the fish, struggling violently in the net, leaped into the water, splashing small droplets.
Forget about catching fish, she exclaimed in surprise, "How did you get my phone number?"
Cheng Mingdu gave a brief explanation over the phone, but she didn't quite catch it. However, she did hear the last sentence clearly.
Are you alone?
She instinctively tried to hide her situation, especially in front of Cheng Mingdu.
"...No." Ye Yuying looked around at the people all around her. This shouldn't be considered a lie, right?
Who's spending Chinese New Year with you today? Is he taking you home for the holiday?
Ye Yuying: ?
Who is he referring to?
So, someone who hadn't even understood the context of the question couldn't press for details and could only vaguely and perfunctorily reply, "No..."
At this moment, the sales clerk stepped forward and asked at the counter, "Miss, would you like me to help you catch one?"
The silence on Cheng Mingdu's end was absorbed into the phone call, turning into a faint static.
He keenly sensed something and said seriously, "Would you like to come back to the old house with me? You've met Grandpa and my aunt..."
She fell silent on the other end of the phone, watching the frolicking fish through the glass of the bathtub, her hand holding the fishing net trembling as if she had run out of energy to catch them.
"If it's difficult for you, then forget it," he added, giving her plenty of options.
She paused, and the fish in the bathtub seemed to suddenly struggle, splashing water in front of her that made her heart beat faster for no reason.
"I...I'm at the supermarket right now," she stammered.
“I know,” he said in a calm tone on the other end of the phone, “If you’d like, I’ll send a driver to pick you up.”
Before she could even respond, she had only uttered one syllable: "I..."
"Which supermarket are you at?" Cheng Mingdu asked bluntly.
"The Walmart on Qingyun Road," she said, almost as if possessed.
"You can slowly walk out of the supermarket now and head towards the parking lot. The driver will be here soon."
She felt a surge of courage and quickly asked, "What about you? Have you already set off?"
Cheng Mingdu said, "You'll find out when the time comes."
After hanging up the phone, she looked at the enthusiastically waiting salesperson and forced a smile: "I'm sorry, I don't want the fish for now."
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Author's Note: 50~ [Cat emoji]
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