83 Chapter Eighty-Two
A tear landed squarely on the back of her hand.
Yu Jinyang did not do it on purpose.
He treated this relationship just like he did to her in front of the mirror that day; he bit her hand into his mouth, held it there, letting her clumsily manipulate and play with it, wanting her to take control of the rhythm.
She didn't know how to guide him in this area, yet she was unwilling to be at a disadvantage in anything, so he could only plant trees for her with all his might, while whispering in her ear, knowing full well what he already knew, "Teach me, hmm?"
Is this the place?
...
From childhood to adulthood, he knew all too well what Li Yingqiao needed—
You have to go along with her, but not too much. You have to keep her hooked, but not let her have it too late, otherwise she'll lose patience very quickly.
She'll only pay attention to you if she finds it fun to fish with hooks and hooks.
She is a very independent person. You need to attract her enough and guide her to love you, otherwise her attention will be quickly diverted.
These are all lessons Yu Jinyang learned from childhood: feelings should be expressed but restrained by propriety. If love is to develop beyond friendship, it requires patience and finding alternative paths.
From the first time he met Zhang Zongxie at the swimming pool, Li Yingqiao called him seven times but he didn't answer. At that time, he knew all too well what kind of path Zhang Zongxie was on; he was still using the tricks of those in power.
How could Li Yingqiao possibly fall for that? If she did, she wouldn't be Li Yingqiao.
So he never really took Zhang Zongxie seriously and never asked them anything.
It was only when he used the excuse of delivering water to repair his relationship with Li Yingqiao that he realized for the first time that he was out of control, but he was also afraid that she would really not want him anymore.
There was already a huge gap between them. As long as Li Yingqiao was willing to take that step, what did Zhang Zongxie matter? He was nothing to begin with.
Moreover, Yu Jinyang has always been very patient; patience has been his greatest asset since childhood.
The subjective intent behind this act of asserting sovereignty disappeared after he and Li Yingqiao became more intimate.
Especially in front of a romantic rival. Because you only realize this after actually having sex, it involves your girlfriend's and sexual privacy. Even a hickey, after all, men still have plenty of imagination when it comes to this.
He didn't look in the mirror before leaving the house; he just threw on a down jacket and went. However, it wasn't until Zhang Zongxie's gaze lingered on his neck that he realized what was happening.
So Yu Jinyang turned his head away expressionlessly.
Zhang Zongxie finished his meal in silence, the lunchbox and spoon clattering together.
Yu Jinyang didn't say anything more, resting his elbows on his lap and casually playing with his phone.
When Zhang Zongxie spoke again, his gaze didn't even glance at him: "Did she tell you about our time in Beijing?"
Yu Jinyang slowly looked up from his phone, never looking down again. In the quiet ward, a "click" sounded as he watched the other person lock the phone.
With the New Year fast approaching, scenic spots across the country are launching various activities for New Year's Day. Li Yingqiao had a brief voice conference with Pan Xiaoliang and the others that evening, and she suggested, "On New Year's Day, let's hire a few more handsome guys as security guards."
Gao Dianyuan, who was in Shenzhen, was also on voice call and immediately said, "Then who can be more handsome than Miao? When will their dance variety show air? Once it airs, it won't be so easy to book Miao's schedule."
Wu Juan's social media is now full of posts related to You Xiaofan's show, and she has almost all the latest information: "It's still a long way off. With post-production editing, it won't be able to air until at least after the Spring Festival. And I heard that the final episode hasn't been recorded yet, so the studio hasn't been dismantled. It depends on Ai Dingliu's schedule."
“Alright, I’ll take care of this. I’ll talk to Miao. We’ll include Sun Taihe and Zhong Su. What about Lao Tan? Is Lao Tan still around?” Gao Dian said.
“Tan Jiu has returned to Shanghai; he has a case,” Li Yingqiao said. Yu Jinyang had just told her before leaving that they planned to have a New Year's Eve dinner with everyone when Gao Dian returned, a simple and clear official announcement. “Have you decided on a theme?”
Everyone fell silent instantly. The most annoying thing was planning the event. Scenic spots all over the country were vying for attention, and New Year's Day was one of the few big holidays. Not to mention scenic spots, even some mini-games had a lot of creative ideas. In such cold weather, wouldn't it be better to stay home and play games? Why go out to celebrate the New Year?
There was no response. Even without seeing the scene, one could imagine that everyone was hunched over, their heads bowed even lower than when the teacher randomly checked their heads back in school. She said, "I do have an idea, but we'll need a lot of people, so I'll have to trouble everyone to work overtime for a few days. I'll send the proposal to your email tomorrow."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, as long as they weren't the ones writing the proposal. Pan Xiaoliang suddenly said, "By the way, what about Qian Dongchang? He's been sitting downstairs at our place every day after get off work."
Li Yingqiao said, "Don't worry about him. We've already given the evidence to Mr. Zhang's legal team. We'll just have to wait for the court hearing."
Wu Juan remembered one of the victims: "How's Mr. Zhang's back?"
Li Yingqiao: "Still hospitalized."
Wu Juan thought for a moment and said, "Should we organize the employees to go and see him? After all, he was injured while working for our Little Painting City, so this should be considered a work injury, right?"
“Let’s give him a red envelope together,” Li Yingqiao said. “It’s a good deal; Zhang Zongxie probably hasn’t received anything like this in his life.”
After hanging up the video call, Li Yingqiao called Ms. Shuli right on time. Just then, the roller shutter door on the other end was pulled down with a "whoosh." The conversation was still about everyday things: "Have you had dinner yet?"
Li Yingqiao sat on the bed, rummaged through the bedside table, counted how many small umbrellas were left, and found that one box was already empty. She sat cross-legged on the bed, grabbed a Yu Jinyang T-shirt, and said as she put it on, "I ate it. My boyfriend made it for me."
Li Shuli repeated the words "boyfriend," and said, "Okay, let's see when you bring him back to me."
She poked her head out from her collar and said, "It's fine with either of us, it depends on him. When he's free, I'll give you both a proper introduction. He probably has a street dance finale to record, so we'll talk about it after that."
Li Shuli clicked her tongue meaningfully on the other end of the phone: "Oh, Yu Jinyang has become a male celebrity."
"That doesn't count."
However, Li Yingqiao has recently come across many posts about Yu Jinyang, all praising his good looks. They all became fans on the spot during the show's recording and even created a personal super topic for Yu Jinyang. When she clicks on it, it's full of people checking in, and the number of people has skyrocketed in the past two days. She is actually a little confused.
Yu Jinyang is really going to make a living as a male celebrity.
Should they go public with their relationship? Wouldn't it be easier to gain fans if they were single? After all, making money is more important. Then I suddenly remembered that phone call he made in the group a couple of days ago. If You Xiaofan didn't care about appearances, he would have just released it. Everyone would know what he meant by "6789998212," and Yu Jinyang's attempt to maintain a single persona would have failed.
What kind of persona should we create for him to attract more fans?
Li Yingqiao suddenly had a flash of inspiration: her pure-hearted childhood sweetheart whom she loved but could not have.
Then she'll be severely criticized.
It's okay, it's all worth it for Little Painting City! I'm going all in.
She decided to wait for Yu Jinyang to come back and discuss the script with him.
Before hanging up the phone, Li Yingqiao said to Li Shuli, "I'm going to see him in a couple of days. Do you want to come with me?"
Li Shuli quickly realized who "he" was, and said, "I'm not going."
Li Yingqiao wasn't surprised; her mother had never been there, except for the time right after the burial.
She said, "Okay."
After saying goodnight to her mother, Li Yingqiao decided to buy a small umbrella before Yu Jinyang came home. So she put on Yu Jinyang's T-shirt and a down jacket that she had casually draped over the back of the sofa and went out.
The hem of the down jacket just covered her knees, and the cuffs were way too long. The zipper could be pulled all the way up. When she was little, some of the down jackets she wore had zippers that were really hard to pull. She didn’t know why Yu Jinyang’s down jacket zippers were so easy to pull. When she was in her senior year of high school and was studying at Liang Mei’s house, she would sometimes wear Yu Jinyang’s jacket when she went downstairs to buy something.
She pulled the hat over her head, completely covered up, and walked out of the scenic area. Suddenly, she understood why Yu Renjie would rather walk a long way outside the scenic area to buy cigarettes when her family ran a general store when she was a child.
They said they wouldn't let them earn money, but actually they were afraid the children would follow suit. Back then, there were so many children of different generations in Xiaohua City that they could form a square formation.
As Li Yingqiao walked past the alleyway at the dock, a cold wind carrying the familiar salty, fishy smell swept over her. She pulled her boyfriend's coat tighter, thinking that she should still be able to wear Yu Jinyang's old down jacket from high school when she got back. Having his scent made walking at night feel reassuring. Her gaze unconsciously swept inwards, and she saw someone sitting on the bluestone steps.
This spot faces the biting river wind and is rarely occupied. Apart from that time when she and Yu Jinyang chatted at the dock until dawn, Li Yingqiao would occasionally come here alone to enjoy the breeze and have a smoke.
At this moment, the figure on the bluestone steps also had a cigarette between his fingers. He hadn't moved it for a long time and hadn't taken many puffs. The ash had piled up quite a bit, and the embers were flickering.
It wasn't until he raised his hand to flick off the ash, his index finger hovering in mid-air for a moment before slowly flicking it down, clearly lost in thought, that he seemed to finally decide to stand up. Then his hand slowly fell back down, not to his lips again, but instead, with his back hunched, he stubbed out the cigarette with the toe of his foot, the soft scraping sound of the cobblestones against the sole of his shoe particularly clear in the quiet alley.
Turning his head, he met Li Yingqiao's gaze, and his eyes suddenly stopped.
She walked over and reached straight into the pocket of his down jacket. The streetlights were dim, and the river wind was biting. Yu Jinyang chuckled softly above her head and said, "What are you doing? What are you touching?"
"Hiding here smoking, Yu Jinyang, what's wrong with you?"
He kept his head down and remained silent.
Do you smoke?
"No." He shook his head. Sure enough, he couldn't smoke it; his throat was dry from the smoke. "The first one, and the last one, is too hard to smoke."
Li Yingqiao looked up at him and asked, "Is something the matter?"
Yu Jinyang kept his head down, looking at her without saying a word.
Li Yingqiao sat down on the bluestone steps, patted the seat next to her, looked up at him, and said in a particularly open manner, "Come on, let's talk. Is there a problem in our relationship? I knew I wasn't very good at handling these kinds of intimate relationships."
This made Yu Jinyang laugh, his shoulders shaking with laughter, stopping and starting, for several minutes.
As she was laughing, Li Yingqiao sensed something was wrong and looked over.
She reached out and touched his cheek; it was wet. So she turned his face towards her and said, "What's wrong, Yu Jinyang? Look me in the eyes and tell me. Is there something I did wrong?"
Yu Jinyang's face was cupped in her hands. He blinked, and a tear landed squarely on the back of her hand without him even noticing. "Why do you think it's my problem? Aren't you always so self-assured?"
Li Yingqiao was on tenterhooks; she had never seen him cry before: "What's wrong with you?"
Yu Jinyang turned his face away and pulled his hat over his head: "I'm just having a fit, nothing's wrong, just let me sit here and get some fresh air."
Li Yingqiao made a gesture to stand up, "Then I'm leaving."
"Okay, let's go." The next second, she remembered, "Oh right, I love you, haven't I told you yet?"
[Author's Note]
I had a draft of this story saved up a long time ago. But on the day before I was supposed to start writing, I scrapped it all. I have a bad habit of making all sorts of revisions until the day I'm supposed to publish. This story was no exception. On the day before I was supposed to start writing, I scrapped almost everything except for the character settings. So from day one, this story had no drafts saved up. I had at least 40,000 to 50,000 words saved up for "Hot Love," but this story was completely unwritten. Plus, I haven't serialized in so many years, my typing speed has completely dropped, so I decided to make it free to reduce the pressure on me to update.
There are still about 40,000 to 50,000 words left in the final chapters. I may need some time to refine those words. I originally wanted to update daily until the end, but I realized that I overestimated myself. If I couldn't update daily in my twenties, how could I possibly have that kind of drive in my thirties? I have the will but not the strength.
Therefore, in order to ensure the quality of future updates, I may only be able to update every other day.
Thank you so much everyone! I'm giving out red envelopes in this chapter~
(I might revise this chapter tomorrow.)
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