Ah Heng took off her plastic gloves and smiled faintly, "You've grown up. People will gossip if I live with you. Can I wake you up tomorrow morning and cook corn porridge?"
Yun looked at her, his gaze like clouds, smiling but unclear. He said, "Where's Yan hope? Haven't you been living at his house all this time?"
Ah Heng looked at him, quite confused herself, wondering why Zai Zai was asking this question, but still answered—Yan hope is different.
She went out, closed the door, and went downstairs. After taking only a few steps, she heard a loud thud from upstairs, like a basketball hitting a door. She thought to herself, "Whose kid is this? He's really too naughty. If it were me, I would never be so violent."
From that day on, Aheng had to travel back and forth between the school and the dormitory several times a day to buy groceries, cook, attend classes, cook again, and return to the dormitory.
The clouds are asking Aheng, "Are you tired?"
Ah Heng was cooking corn porridge when she turned around, shook her head, and looked at him with unwavering tenderness and affection.
He smiled and said, "You've been living as a rich man's daughter for a long time, haven't you? You haven't cooked in ages."
Ah Heng was stunned for a moment, then mumbled an "Mmm".
She hopes that Zai Zai feels she is living a happy life.
During dinner, Yun asked me if I had any money left, saying she wanted to buy a laptop.
Ah Heng frowned, unconsciously chewing on some pickled vegetables. Thinking about the money she had earned from her previous part-time job, she hesitated before asking him how much money he needed.
Yun slowly spoke up—more than ten thousand yuan.
Ten thousand yuan is far from enough for a student like Aheng who lives off a fixed amount of money from her family. Even though she receives more pocket money each month, she never spends money recklessly and doesn't act like a spoiled young master like Siwan or Sier. So, the Wen family only gives her about five thousand yuan every six months. Adding the meager savings of a little over a thousand yuan from her previous part-time jobs, it's still far from enough.
Ah Heng was silent for a while, then asked, "Are you in a hurry to use it?"
Yun looked up, a smile playing in her dark eyes—it didn't matter whether she was in a hurry or not, anyway, if I were to buy it, I couldn't afford it for at least four years.
Ah Heng felt a chill in her heart. She lowered her head and said softly, "I'll take you shopping this Sunday."
Then I picked up a chicken wing for him, smiled slightly, and said, "Eat more."
While peeling vegetables, I was absentmindedly thinking about money.
Yun looked at her with a complicated expression; her clear eyes were as gentle as clouds, yet carried an impenetrable coldness.
She called her mother, "Mom, our school requires us to pay the tuition and fees in advance."
Wen's mother smiled and said, "Okay, I'll have Secretary Liu transfer the money to you tomorrow. Is eight thousand enough?"
Ah Heng panicked a little. "No, Mom, it can't be this much. Three thousand...nine..."
She thought for a moment, licked her lips, which were pockmarked, and wrote: "Three thousand nine hundred... thirty yuan is enough."
Wen's mother laughed, then added foolishly, "Who would send thirty yuan? Fine, I'll send you five thousand yuan. You can spend it however you like."
Ah Heng shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. She felt she had betrayed her mother's love. She said, "Mom, how about three thousand nine?"
Wen's mother heard that her child sounded quite upset and didn't understand why, but thinking that she should give her child some space, she didn't ask. She just said with pity, "Okay, okay, that'll be three thousand nine. If it's not enough, you can tell me more."
Ah Heng hung up the phone, her palms sweaty, but she felt she had done something wrong. Her mother had been so good to her, so gentle, yet she had taken advantage of it to demand things from her; it was truly wicked of her.
My relationship with my mother has never been so harmonious. If she knew I had lied to her, would she dislike me even more?
Adding to this, the child's honest and pedantic personality meant he had never lied to anyone, and she worried about him. Her mind was in turmoil for a long time before she finally drifted off to sleep at dawn.
Yun bought a newly released Sony laptop, an imported model with excellent performance, for a total price of 13,000 yuan.
Ah Heng took out all her scholarship money, plus the living expenses she had calculated beforehand, the money she had saved from working, and the money her mother had sent. Fortunately, she managed to scrape together enough. After counting, she only had a little over three hundred yuan left, which she would have to make do until the Spring Festival.
Yun Zai's expression remained a faint smile, showing no particular joy.
Ah Heng always felt that this child had changed a lot since he was a child, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what had changed.
Ah Heng rarely eats with Yun Zai anymore. She always leaves in a hurry after cooking just one person's portion. She says she has a lot of schoolwork, but Yun Zai's face is expressionless. She just looks at her without saying a word.
A few days before Christmas, she developed a low-grade fever. At that time, SARS was still ongoing, and bird flu was also rampant. Afraid of catching it, she went to the school hospital to see a doctor. The doctor said she was fine, just that her blood sugar was a little low. He gave her an IV of glucose and some fever reducer, and told her to eat more nutritious food. Aheng nodded and agreed, and was about to leave when the doctor shook his head.
Kids these days, they don't know how to save money. I really don't know whether saving money on food is cheaper or spending it on medical care is faster!
Ah Heng hadn't eaten breakfast these past few days, and her lunch and dinner were just makeshift meals. Hearing what the doctor said, she felt quite embarrassed and awkwardly tore off the tape from her IV drip before heading to Yun's place.
Yun, with his sharp eyes, asked her what happened to her hand, noting the obvious bruise. Aheng said she bumped her head on the corner of the table. He went downstairs to buy her some medicine. When he returned, Aheng was wearing an apron, chopping vegetables in the kitchen, her head down, revealing her neck, which was fair and warm.
He looked at her for a long, long time, then gently hugged her from behind, closed his eyes, and said with a complicated expression, "Aheng, I hate you."
Ah Heng was busy and thought it was just a child being spoiled. "Hmm, I hate you too. Go away, go upstairs. The oil in the pan is hot, don't burn yourself."
He smiled, his eyes so clear they seemed to dispel the clouds. He let go of her hand, sat down at the dining table, and softly said, "Hey, you've cooked for me for the rest of your life. I'll try to forgive you, okay?"
Those words were so soft, like a sigh, that Ah Heng, in the kitchen, didn't hear them.
*****************************Divider***************************
On the day before Christmas, when Aheng finished class in the afternoon, a classmate told her that someone was looking for her outside the school.
Ah Heng asked who it was.
The classmate thought for a moment, blushed, and had very big, beautiful eyes.
Ah Heng was stunned for a moment, but in the next second, she rushed out of the teaching building.
She ran past the bare trees of winter, past the football field with no grass but only snow, her heart pounding.
Seeing that person standing there, wearing the old scarf she had knitted for him, his tall and handsome back etched in her eyes, tears suddenly welled up in her eyes. She stood not far away, calling out "Yan hope" in the snow, her heart pounding with anxiety.
The person turned around, their eyes very bright.
She quickened her pace, while he stretched out his arm and shook his gloved left hand repeatedly.
Suddenly, Ah Heng felt a pang of sadness. Tears welled up in her eyes, like beads from a broken string, full and burning. She lowered her head and, as if sprinting a hundred meters, rushed into his arms.
He laughed, nearly knocked over by the immense force, but held her tightly in his arms as if she were a priceless treasure.
He didn't even want to ask her why she was crying, didn't want to talk about missing her, and didn't want to talk about how much more painful it was to see her in person than missing her, because this joy was beyond what his heart could bear.
He picked her up and spun her around outside the gates of Z University. He smiled, but his eyes welled up with tears. "Baby, baby, look, I can still hold you."
Ah Heng cried uncontrollably, sobbing as she said, "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm crying. I'm sorry, Yan hope."
He gently kissed her forehead, murmuring, over and over again, "It's okay, it's okay."
She said, "It's all your fault for spoiling me."
It made her miss him, miss being that carefree little child by his side.
He held her hand, his fair fingers gently wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes, with a hint of helplessness—you said you wanted me to beat you three times a day, but I couldn't bear to.
So, I'll just let them be. If anyone has a problem with it, just tell me.
Suddenly, Ah Heng remembered that this was the school gate. He peeked out from his arms, coughed, dusted off his coat, and glanced awkwardly at the passersby. Everyone was walking by with ambiguous expressions, making Ah Heng even more embarrassed.
She didn't see Yan Xi's car, so she asked him how he got there. Yan Xi said he took a plane, then, remembering something, he pulled a bright red apple from his gray-blue coat and handed it to her—"We have a lot of apples at home, Aunt Yunyi asked me to bring you some."
Aheng took the apple, sniffed, and smiled with bright eyes. She opened her mouth wide, but Yanxi snatched it away, rolled his eyes, and said, "Why is this child so greedy? She can eat it when it gets dark."
I said, "Yan Shao, if you're going to send apples for peace, then send apples for peace. Everyone has eaten apples for peace. They're flown in from afar by plane, so why not give them to Wen Ma? You're shy, so you blame Wen Ma for sending apples, fine. But then you won't let the child eat them. And to make matters worse, you say the child is greedy. Is that how you treat someone like that?"
Ah Heng, so you came here just to deliver apples?
Yan hope said, "Sigh, actually I wasn't planning on coming. I just thought it's been three months since we last met, and I figured you'd be missing me terribly, so I came to see you. Actually, the main reason was that Aunt Yunyi asked me to bring some apples, and I couldn't refuse..."
Ah Heng = =, then you should go back. I didn't miss you much. Seeing you gives me a headache.
Yan hope glanced at the child and said, "Don't move, baby. Stand at attention."
Ah Heng.
Yan hope said, "Damn it, I took such good care of you at home. You were a chubby, soft baby who could be pinched and squeezed. You've only been here for a few days, and you've already turned into this. All you've got is skin and bones and dark circles under your eyes."
Ah Heng TOT, grabbed Yan hope's hand, pouted, and said, "I want... to eat meat!!!"
Yan hope trembled as he looked into Aheng's wolf-like, bright eyes and gently stroked them. "Baby, how long have you been hungry?"
Holding the child, we got into a taxi and said, "Which restaurant around here makes the best meat?"
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror and didn't think he was a country bumpkin. He asked, "Do you want a high-end, mid-range, or budget car?"
Yan hope patted the cushion, "Meat, meat, meat! I want meat, and the meat must be well-made!"
The driver was speechless. When they arrived at a place, he dumped the person on the ground and sped away with a thud, afraid that the person might accidentally be eaten alive.
Yan hope ordered a table full of meat: stir-fried shredded duck with soy sauce, Kung Pao chicken, sizzling veal ribs, shredded pork with garlic sauce, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, and pork rib soup.
Ah Heng was in tears. She ate a few bites, but her stomach couldn't take it. She had been eating vegetarian food for a month, and the sudden taste of meat was too much for her. She put down her chopsticks sheepishly. "Yan hope, why aren't you eating?"
Yan hope felt sorry for him. "If you don't have money, just say so. Your family has money, but they don't give it to you. Are they saving it to incubate the baby?"
Ah Heng said I was doing human limit tests, which are related to medicine.
Yan hope was furious. Who came up with this mess? It turns out they don't know how hard it is to raise kids. Damn it.
Ah Heng choked on his soup.
Yan hope took a tissue to wipe her mouth. Seeing how much thinner Aheng's face had become, he felt more and more sorry for her. He said, "Baby, let's not torture ourselves like this next time. Eat properly, okay?"
Ah Heng nodded, choking back tears, "I miss you so much, Yan hope, you never come to see me."
Yan hope was silent for a while, then pinched her nose and smiled, "Little tearful one, little wet baby, isn't Yun here? He's by your side, so I'm at ease."
Ah Heng thought about it and realized that Yan hope and Zai Zai were different.
However, she didn't say this because she remembered something very serious: Zai Zai hadn't eaten dinner yet.
I wanted to use Yanxi's phone to tell Zaizai to grab something to eat first, and that I would cook for him when I got back. However, I couldn't get through to Zaizai's phone, so I switched to voicemail.
Christmas Eve in H City was just as lively as in the capital.
The men and women, mostly teenagers, all carried a touch of the tender charm of Jiangnan. Their hearts were just beginning to open to love; they reciprocated with affection, even with snow clinging to the treetops, their tender feelings remained undiminished.
There are balloons for sale on the street. There are white balloons with doll faces on them, plastic helium balloons, and long caterpillar balloons of various colors.
Yan hope bought Aheng a golden caterpillar = =.
To onlookers, the handsome man and beautiful woman were a feast for the eyes, but then a caterpillar balloon suddenly appeared, shattering the beauty in an instant.
Aheng didn't mind at all; she was quite happy. It was just that the balloon was filled with hydrogen, and she kept wanting to fly into the sky. Yanxi stopped and tied the balloon's string to Aheng's left wrist with a red thread, making a gentle knot.
It was as if the red thread in the marriage register had gently found its place on her wrist.
She smiled, looked at the balloon, and held his right hand with her left. At that moment, many Kongming lanterns floated in the sky.
Each person has their own wish.
Three yuan each, buy a wish.