43 Chapter Forty-Two
Do you still like me now?
A smoky barbecue stall by the Fengtan River was packed with people at this hour. Several tin grills were set up along the riverbank, and the owner, shirtless, was busy at work, laying out rows of various meat skewers on the oily grills. The sizzling sound of the grilling meat mingled with the hissing and panting of diners enjoying their meals—it was a delightful scene, but the waiters were even more impatient.
Li Yingqiao wasn't hungry, and the two walked side by side along the riverbank for a while. The night breeze was cool, and as she walked, she focused on kicking off her skirt, revealing a small section of her slender, white calves. She would kick it off and then cover it up again, repeating this cycle, and she seemed quite pleased with herself.
Yu Jinyang wasn't surprised; she'd been like this since she was little. If no one else wanted to play with her, she'd play by herself. She seemed to enjoy herself immensely, and sometimes he was quite curious about what she was playing and how she could be so focused on it.
After observing her several times, he noticed that she was doing the same thing—kicking her skirt, kicking off her shoes, and swaying them back and forth. He knew that usually, at times like this, she was thinking about how to fool others.
Yu Jinyang stopped walking and leaned against the railing on the riverbank, waiting for her to walk back on her own.
Sure enough, she quickly stopped, glanced back at him, smiled, walked back, rested her elbow on the railing next to him, and then sighed and said slowly, "Yu Jinyang, sometimes I think you're really stupid. I thought I was pretty obvious back then."
He wasn't surprised by her frankness at this moment, only feeling helpless. He turned his gaze from the neon lights not far away to the top of her head: "I really didn't realize. Back then, you were more obvious to Lu Yingchuan than to me."
Li Yingqiao asked, bewildered: "Who?"
"The class monitor of Class 6? I forgot." Yu Jinyang looked away and said, "There was that one who played 'The Blue Danube' on stage during the year's talent show and made you laugh so hard your tonsils got inflamed."
Li Yingqiao was even more confused, "Who's laughing?"
“You,” Yu Jinyang said casually, not really meaning anything, “you even pinched my thigh.”
"Why don't you think about other possibilities? Maybe I'm trying to take advantage of you?"
Yu Jinyang chuckled speechlessly, turned around, and casually rested both elbows on the lever, saying in a flat tone, "There's no need for that. I didn't say anything, but don't try to renege on your promise."
Li Yingqiao turned around too, but stood straight: "Are you really stupid or just pretending? It's Fang Yue. Yueyue almost had a puppy love back then. Lu Yingchuan is a scumbag. Yueyue had already bought her boat ticket and was just waiting to board. But then she found out—"
She still liked to keep people in suspense when she spoke. Yu Jinyang was slightly stunned. She really didn't expect it to be Fang Yue. After all, Fang Yue looked even more like a female warrior than her. How could she be in a relationship with someone so early? However, she could guess Lu Yingchuan's approach. But she still leaned over and unconsciously put her ear closer, smiling and saying, "What's wrong? It's not full, is it? Fang Yue bought a standing ticket?"
"Yes, she jumped ship."
Yu Jinyang recalled some things that happened at school back then and Lu Yingchuan's later abnormal behavior. He guessed that this matter was probably far more than what she had mentioned so casually. He asked in a deep voice, "Did you play him?"
"...Hey! There's a seat." Li Yingqiao ignored him and pulled him towards the barbecue stall. "Let's go, we'll talk later."
The two sat down. The plates on the table hadn't been cleared away yet, and a few leftover pieces of toasted bread were still stuck in the iron shovel. Li Yingqiao picked them up with two fingers and threw them into the trash can next to her. She took out a tissue to wipe her hands and then revealed the purpose of her trip: "Meow, can you choreograph a girl group dance for the ape team for me?"
"...Is this why you came to see me today?"
"Yes, that's right." She smiled.
"You're kidding me." He said coldly.
"How could this be?"
How could you do this?
"What's wrong with me?"
Yu Jinyang didn't respond. After scanning the code, he tossed his phone to her and said, "Let's order. We'll play a game later. If you win, I'll say yes."
Li Yingqiao took the phone, quickly placed the order, and eagerly looked at him with curious eyes, asking, "Come on, what game?"
Yu Jinyang remained seated, waiting for the waiter to clean up the mess left by the previous customers. He quietly thanked her before looking up at her and saying, "Greet me with the Fibonacci sequence. From now on, we'll reply to each other using this sequence, but within a 13-word loop. How about that? If you can't react within three seconds, you lose."
"Three seconds, right? Okay." Li Yingqiao's competitive spirit was ignited like the charcoal fire that had just been lit next door. "1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, within this order, right?"
Yu Jinyang nodded slightly, his gaze slowly shifting away without making a sound.
Li Yingqiao: "Meow."
Yu Jinyang: "Mm."
With a confident look on her face, she said, "You're handsome."
He choked for a moment, then quickly looked at her calmly and said, "...Thank you."
Seeing that he was also eager to win, Li Yingqiao completely forgot about girl group dances and got really into it. She went all out and provoked him by saying, "...The feel is not bad either."
Sure enough, the person visibly became embarrassed again, and their hands inexplicably started to busy themselves, taking apart chopsticks and pouring water.
A triumphant smile began to spread across Li Yingqiao's face as she started the countdown: "3, 2—"
Yu Jinyang: "Why did you come back this time?"
Li Yingqiao suddenly froze, not expecting him to ask that, and was momentarily speechless. This time, he took the initiative, leaning back in his chair with a rare relaxed and casual posture, his eyes fixed on her, and slowly began a countdown: "3, 2—"
Li Yingqiao immediately realized what was wrong and hurriedly counted on her fingers as she spoke: "I told you but you didn't believe me, so you did a population census..." She probably realized she was missing a word and loudly added an interjection, "Ah."
Yu Jinyang chuckled. Seeing her blurt out such a reckless statement, he remained calm and composed, saying, "I'll barely pass. The second round starts with me."
The charcoal fire baked the night in Fengtan, the stove hissing and crackling throughout the night. The people at the stalls were unusually quiet, each occupying their own corner, talking in hushed tones, saying things they kept to themselves, then laughing it off. They didn't care if the other was exaggerating; if the boasting was shattered, it was just a way to loosen the tension in their lives. After all, it wasn't them who would be embarrassed. And even if they were, so what? Who dies a delicious death?
In a more distant corner of the barbecue stall, Zheng Miaojia took off her sunglasses and looked at Zhong Su, who was almost blacked out, and couldn't help but blurt out a curse: "No way, Zhong Su, you can get drunk on beer? Then why are you bragging to me? I'm impressed. Hey, where do you live? Should I call someone to come and carry you?"
Zhong Su, drunk, buried his head on the table and suddenly hissed at Zheng Miaojia. His tongue seemed to be slurring as if it were being swept off a shared bicycle, as if he wanted to travel a thousand miles in an hour. He was so fast that it was impossible to hear what he was saying. Zheng Miaojia only heard the last sentence: "...Don't shout, it's embarrassing."
After saying that, he collapsed onto the table.
Zheng Miaojia glanced at him disdainfully, and as she glanced at him... this man had rather long eyelashes and fair skin, which made her inexplicably feel a little irritated. She put her hands together and silently recited: "A rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow, a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow..."
Just as Zheng Miaojia was about to take out her phone to make a call, Zhong Su grabbed her hand and slammed it onto the table. With his head still buried in the table, he snorted and said, "Zheng Miaojia, our bet isn't over yet. I said... as long as I can walk back to the hotel upright, I win. You promised me you'd draw me more handsome than Yu Jinyang. Let me catch my breath, I'll be fine soon. As long as I can walk back upright... upright... that's all."
Zheng Miaojia looked down at his hand holding hers, then at his face. It felt as if a lukewarm fire was burning down her throat, and her heart warmed slightly: "Zhong Su, what's your hotel room number?"
Zhong Su jerked his head up: "Speaking of this room number, isn't it a coincidence? I even suspect that Yu Jinyang did it on purpose, the room number is actually my ex-girlfriend's birthday."
Zheng Miaojia immediately lost all interest. She paid the bill and asked Gao Dian to find a tricycle to transport the people. After thinking for a moment, she turned back and slapped the bill on his forehead: "Bye."
On the other side of the barbecue stall, like a pot of simmering broth, bubbles were rising one after another, unable to hold back. Both were completely engrossed in the game, playing enthusiastically into the fourth round, where the situation was deadlocked. No matter what Li Yingqiao asked, Yu Jinyang could skillfully deflect the question, and Li Yingqiao grew impatient. "Did you come prepared? I feel like all your sentences are so well-structured, as if you thought they'd planned them out in advance."
"Are you admitting defeat?" he asked.
"I don't."
"Then let's continue." Yu Jinyang raised his chin, his expressionless face reminding her not to use this opportunity to stall for time.
Li Yingqiao frowned. She hadn't realized Yu Jinyang was so aggressive before. She squinted and carefully examined him from head to toe. Sure enough, you can tell a lot about a child's character at three and their future at seven. She remembered Yu Jinyang at seven; he was the kind of child who could make you cry with a single punch. She wondered what Yu Jinyang was like at three. Back then, he was still in Hainan. She vaguely remembered Aunt Tang Xiang saying that Yu Jinyang was very difficult to deal with when he was little.
She gave a sinister smile and said, "Then you go first this time."
Yu Jinyang smiled calmly and said, "If you're so afraid, we can play a different game."
"Trying to advance by retreating, huh?" She wasn't falling for it. "No change, let's play this game, you come on."
"Really not." He said helplessly, "Then I'll begin. First sentence: Humph."
"ha."
"Hmph." He chuckled and hummed again.
"Hahaha." She followed suit, as if she had found the secret to invincibility. She felt that Yu Jinyang had driven her crazy.
The next second, Yu Jinyang's smile vanished, and he looked directly at her, ignoring the rules, and asked, "Now, do you still like me?"
He stopped joking and looked at her intently and calmly, secretly considering whether he should push her like this. Sitting in the smoky, fiery stall, playing such childish games with her, driving away table after table of customers, even extinguishing the hissing charcoal fire in the stove, all he wanted was to confirm one thing.
Li Yingqiao was speechless. The aggression was indeed strong. In fact, the impact of looking directly at Yu Jinyang's face was the strongest, but he himself was completely unaware of it, using this face to ask such a question.
Forget three seconds, three hundred seconds would have passed.
"I give up." He decided not to press her any further, symbolically raising his hand in surrender. He downed the beer in front of him and slowly began to finish off the leftovers on the table. "But I've never danced to a girl group dance before, so I'll have to learn a few dances from scratch. After I learn them, I'll teach a few more to them."
Li Yingqiao went straight up to him, and amidst the neon lights lining the riverbank, she looked him straight in the eye without hesitation and said, "Yu Jinyang, what's the point of asking this? Do you think there's a better option between us than friends?"
If he didn't step on her landmines, Yu Jinyang would have almost forgotten how much they argued back in their rebellious senior year of high school. Clearly, she was already very restrained now; judging from her cold, restrained gaze, she knew she still had many harsh words to say.
He had one last skewer of squid in his hand. He had wanted to ask her if she wanted more, but he couldn't bring himself to ask. He could only put it back, then lean back and wait for her to continue: "Don't hold it in, just say it all at once."
“A relationship from ten years ago,” she said. “Do you think it’s necessary to go back to it?”
“That’s why I’m asking now,” he argued.
"Have you never had a girlfriend?"
"What does this have to do with anything? What are you talking about?"
“Okay,” she looked at him and said seriously, “So, you still like me? Is it since I came back this time, or all these years? If it’s all the time, and you had a girlfriend in the middle, don’t you think that’s contradictory? If it’s since I came back this time, isn’t it a bit too fast for you to rekindle your old feelings?”
Yu Jinyang was so angry she laughed: "I haven't dated anyone, okay? Are you satisfied now?"
She was speechless for a moment.
He didn't mean anything by it; he just wanted to know if she would mind if he might still like her if she stopped liking him. If she did mind, he would reduce unnecessary meetings with her.
Li Yingqiao had told him in high school that she couldn't be friends with boys who liked her. It happened during biology class, when the teacher was discussing the differences in male and female genitalia. A few boys in the back row started making a fuss, and the biology teacher threw down his book and told a story. Yu Jinyang still remembers that story.
"Let me share a personal experience. Don't let my height fool you; I'm not exactly brave. When I was liked and pursued by someone, I was terrified, especially since the other person was a fitness instructor. I was often filled with anxiety. Do you know why? Although this analogy is inappropriate, I still want to share it because I believe many girls in my class share the same feelings."
"Although women are just as capable as men, generally speaking, the balance of physiological strength between men and women has never been equal. From a primitive structural point of view, we are forced to learn various survival skills from childhood because of the weakness of women's strength. Men's advances and pursuit will become a survival pressure for them, because your physical advantages can block any path they want to go."
“When I’m being pursued, I feel like I’m prey that’s been locked on, ready to devour me at any time. The behavior of some of the guys just now has confirmed my inner thoughts. Luo Yuan, didn’t you see that girl was almost crying? She’s not shy, she’s scared, scared of you.”
"I want to give you all a piece of advice: even if you do nothing and just stay quietly by her side, as long as you like her but she doesn't like you, she will definitely be afraid."
Yu Jinyang asked Tang Xiang about it when she got back that day. Tang Xiang explained in more detail that it was indeed scary, which is why she was always extremely nervous on her first date, even with someone she liked. Tang Xiang also said that many first times in this world that seem simple to you actually require a lot of courage.
He had always thought he had been quite restrained, but as soon as she entered the studio, he suddenly realized that he had been using the same interaction patterns he had used when they were children, while Li Yingqiao had already entered adult mode. The clash between adults became obscure and bitter, and the male's power advantage was amplified.
He was afraid she would feel scared or uncomfortable, so he really needed to make sure she didn't mind.
[Author's Note]
Happy weekend!
See you tomorrow!
(Hmph, kneeling here handing out red envelopes while cursing the seafood that gave me diarrhea [crack][crack][crack])
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