"Of course!" Xu Xingyan replied without hesitation.
"However, you've seen your mother's attitude, and it's definitely not going to change her mind anytime soon. Besides, with the college entrance exam approaching, studying is indeed more important. If you ask me, you should go downstairs later and say a few kind words to your parents, admit your mistake, and try to calm your mother down first."
Xu Xingyan gently rubbed her younger brother's head and earnestly told him, "Remember to make it clear to the girl that during this time, you should focus on the college entrance examination and put dating aside for the time being. Be sincere, and she will understand. If the two of you are really meant to be, you will definitely not miss each other because of the six-month time difference."
"There's one more thing..."
Han Yi stared at her without blinking.
Xu Xingyan couldn't help but laugh. "Although your second aunt has already pulled some strings, your fourth sister still hopes that you will get into the university through your own hard work. After all, to be the boyfriend of the top girl in the grade, you have to show some ability, right?"
Han Yi laughed too, though his eyes were still as big as a rabbit's, he clenched his fist and said excitedly, "Fourth Sister, just you wait and see!"
After saying that, he stuffed the carton of warm milk into Xu Xingyan's hand. It was really hard on him; even with his emotions fluctuating so much, he hadn't let go of the carton of milk for so long.
"Fourth Sister, can I ask you a question?" Han Yi suddenly asked cautiously.
Having finally resolved the matter, Xu Xingyan asked cheerfully, "What was the problem?"
“Exactly,” Han Yi rubbed his face with his hand and whispered, “Did you and the person you like go through this too? I don’t mean anything by it, it’s just… you seem quite adept at handling these kinds of things…”
Xu Xingyan: "..."
Speechless at her revitalized cousin's retort, Xu Xingyan was both amused and exasperated. With a long gaze, she said, "My situation with her was a bit more complicated, and it wasn't handled in this way. After all, back then, I didn't have an experienced older sister who was willing to spend more than two hours talking to me about relationship issues."
"Clang clang clang clang!"
Without giving Xu Xingyan any time to wallow in self-pity, Han Yi took two tickets from the bedside table.
"These are tickets for a play at the Wisteria Theatre next week. We originally planned to go with Xiao An, but now we've decided to focus on our studies and do our homework at home instead. On behalf of Xiao An and me, I'm giving these to you, Fourth Sister."
Xu Xingyan stared blankly at the ticket that was handed to her.
Han Yi blinked and said to her, "I wish Fourth Sister will bring her brother-in-law home soon!"
--------------------
Author's Note:
Han Yi, a younger brother who, even when crying his eyes out, still remembers to warm up his sister's milk.
Chapter 9 Encounter
When Lin Shengmiao received Xu Xingyan's reply, he was sitting face-to-face with Luo Jing in a coffee shop.
[Xingyan: I'm sorry, I haven't had a chance to check my phone. I did say I was going to pick her up at the airport with Jingjie, but something came up with my cousin just before I left, so I couldn't go. I'm really sorry.]
A smile crept onto Lin Shengmiao's lips. She could almost picture Xu Xingyan holding her phone, typing those words with a look of frustration on her face.
The next second, under Luo Jing's watchful gaze, she brazenly replied to Xu Xingyan.
It's okay, is everything resolved?
[Xingyan: Everything's taken care of [cute.jpg], how about you? Are you settled in yet?]
"Yes, I booked a guesthouse in advance. I just need to pack my luggage tonight."
Both sides paused for a moment, seemingly considering how to continue the conversation.
Sitting opposite her, Luo Jing, who had been looking out at the street through the glass window, seemed to notice something, put down her coffee, and turned to look at her.
Lin Shengmiao's gaze hardened, and she typed: 【Let's meet up.】
Almost simultaneously, a message popped up on the other end—
[Xingyan: Want to grab a meal together sometime?]
An uncontrollable smile crept onto his lips, and without hesitation, he typed "OK."
Then I saw—
[Xingyan: How about tomorrow night? There's a Cantonese restaurant on Kangning Street that's pretty good in terms of ambiance and food, is that okay?]
【sure.】
[Xingyan: It's a deal then. See you tomorrow night!]
See you there!
"Is that Yan Yan?" Luo Jing asked when she saw her put down her phone.
“That’s right,” Lin Shengmiao looked directly at her, a gentle smile still on his face. “We just made an appointment to meet for dinner tomorrow night.”
Luo Jing raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised by her frankness. In her memory, although the two of them were very ambiguous, they were always vague when questioned, especially Lin Shengmiao!
She smiled, picked up her coffee and took another sip, thinking to herself, "It really is different now."
"It's that Cantonese restaurant on Kangning Street, right? Yan Yan has been going there a lot lately, and the food is indeed quite good."
Lin Shengmiao's smile remained unchanged, even becoming more profound. "Really? Then I'll have to give it a good try tomorrow."
The two stared at each other for a moment, the atmosphere somewhat awkward. Suddenly, Luo Jing laughed, "Yan Yan hasn't been feeling well lately, so please remember to remind her not to eat too much oily or spicy food."
At this moment, the waiter came over to serve the food: "Hello, this is the croissant you ordered."
Luo Jing: "Okay, thank you."
"Try it," Luo Jing pushed the plate towards Lin Shengmiao. "Yan Yan has always loved the croissants from this place."
She rested her chin on her hand and said with a sigh, "It must have been during college. At that time, Yan Yan had just moved out and was living on her own. I was worried about her, so I often went to see her. Sometimes it was lunchtime and she didn't want to cook, so she would bring me to this place to eat pasta. Almost every time we came, she would order a croissant."
“I’ve eaten it a few times, but I didn’t think it was that delicious. So I asked her why, and she told me that during the winter break of her second year of high school, there was a bakery downstairs from her tutoring center where you worked part-time. Every time she came to see you after class, you would cut her a sample croissant, which was much bigger than the ones you gave to others, and it was fragrant and soft.”
"Later, that shop closed down, and you couldn't buy croissants even if you paid for them. She said that the croissants in this shop tasted just like the ones you used to give her."
Luo Jing took a bite, chewed it carefully, and asked, "I've never had that croissant before, so I specially invited you to try it. I wanted to ask if it really looks like it?"
Lin Shengmiao silently finished the entire croissant, then answered her definitively, "Exactly the same!"
Luo Jing smiled at her, "That's good."
After saying that, she picked up her bag and stood up. "I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now. I've already paid the bill. This seat has a good view, you can sit here for a while longer."
Even after the coffee had completely cooled down, Lin Shengmiao still found it somewhat unbelievable.
In the fairy tales she has created over the years, those who want to win the princess in the castle always face numerous trials, and Luo Jing has always played the role of the fiercest dragon among them.
The situation is that the dragon lifted its eyelids, gave her a light glare, and then told her: Okay, although I'm very reluctant and may not be very satisfied, you've passed the test.
Lin Shengmiao belatedly realized that while she had been working tirelessly and striving with all her might all these years, others were also moving forward in their own directions, and everyone had truly grown into adults.
Some feelings remain steadfast and profound, while others' thoughts have long since changed.
Perhaps this is the magic of time.
Until the mystery is revealed, we will never know what exactly has withstood the erosion of time, or what has been changed by time.
...
In December, the South, though not as cold as the North, still experiences a chilling, damp atmosphere with its continuous drizzle.
Luo Jing walked down the street with an umbrella. A gust of wind blew by, and she was chilled to the bone by the rain and mist that hit her head.
"Achoo!" She shivered, looked at the suddenly overcast sky, quickly wrapped her clothes tighter, and walked towards a sheltered place. It wasn't out of a doctor's awareness of health problems, but simply a habit she had developed over the years.
Anyone who has a little sister at home who is obedient and well-behaved from a young age but is frail and sickly will, like Luo Jing, pay extra attention to her health.
After all, whenever you catch a cold or fever, she's always the first to get infected, and then she drags on for half a month without getting better, sobbing and saying to you with red eyes, "Sister, I feel so bad," making you feel guilty and heartbroken, wishing you could go back in time and beat that naughty, lazy, and careless version of yourself to death.
Welcome!
Luo Jing folded her umbrella and went into a warmly decorated candy store with dim lighting to take shelter from the rain.
The sweet aroma of candy wafted into my nostrils, just like the honey tea my grandfather would hand me on every carefree, sunny day of my childhood, enveloping even the monotonous electronic female voice at the door in a sweet and thick embrace.
Luo Jing stood there for a while, and suddenly felt a craving for candy.
The shop owner was a very young, sunny, and handsome man, much like a senior from my college basketball team. Perhaps due to the weather, business seemed slow today, with only Luo Jing as a customer.
The young man seemed to be new to the workforce, displaying a shyness typical of male college students. He hesitated for a while before approaching and softly asking, "Hello, ma'am, how can I help you?"
Words like "madam" and "you" are not unusual at all, and are even more comfortable than frivolous terms like "beautiful lady." But for some reason, looking into the boy's clear eyes, Luo Jing suddenly felt as if she had aged ten years in vain.
With a cryptic glance at the boy, Luo Jing flashed a bright smile, nodded slightly, exuding both arrogance and composure, as if battling the sudden onslaught of relentless time. She raised her middle finger and disdainfully spat out: "Go to hell, I'm in my prime, still young!"
The boy pursed his lips, looking at the customer who had come on this rainy day. Seeing that she only nodded and didn't speak, he could only bite the bullet and ask, "Are you here to buy candy?"
Luo Jing slowly walked towards the colorful glass display case. "Do you have orange candy?"
When she was little, the thing she always carried in her pocket was orange candy. Adults always thought that candy was every child's favorite snack, but she didn't like candy at all. So whenever her grandfather tried to tempt her to do her homework with candy, she always seemed uninterested.
The reason she finally finished her homework was not only due to her family's upbringing and fear of disappointing her elders, but also because those candies were all Xu Xingyan's favorite foods.
From the time Luo Jing could remember, her parents were always very busy. She and her brother Luo Bin were always going back and forth between their grandparents' house and their maternal grandparents' house.
She really loved staying at her grandfather's house because it had a bright and spacious garden, a swing tied to a big tree, a loving grandfather, an aunt who would give her big hugs, and a little cousin who would always quietly look out the window at the sunlight.
When she was young and naive, she didn't understand why Yan Yan couldn't go out to play with them. She and her brother even plotted many times to steal their doll-like little cousin out of the house, bring her to their friends to show off, and tell them: Look, this is my sister, I'm not lying to you!
Unfortunately, the butler was very perceptive and always thwarted their plans in the bud. In the eyes of Luo Jing and Luo Bin when they were young, the butler in the suit was definitely their nemesis.
Until she was nine years old, her mother, Ms. Fang Yuan, had just taken office as the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee, which was the busiest time for her. Her father was even busier, and it is said that his confidential research was at a critical stage and he had not called home for a year. Her grandfather was also attending an important international conference and had no time to take care of them.
So she and her brother were very happy to be packed up and sent to their maternal grandfather's house.
It was a stormy night when her brother woke her up. She looked in alarm at the white-coated medical staff hurrying past downstairs. Only after that day did she learn that these people were the medical team that her grandfather had brought back for Yan Yan.
The cause was pneumonia caused by getting caught in the rain. No one knows why Yan Yan got caught in the rain that day, or why she secretly changed out of her wet clothes so the maid wouldn't notice.
The girl, raised in a glass house since childhood, was always melancholic and pitiful. No one dared to ask her questions, for fear of accidentally hurting her again.
That same night, she and her brother saw their mother, who hadn't been home for over a month, return late at night in the rain, holding their aunt who was about to faint from crying in one arm and supporting Yan Yan's wrist, which was covered in needle marks, in the other.
The usually decisive and strong woman who believed in Tiger Mom parenting carefully touched Yan Yan's hand, as if she were holding a feather that could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
The next day, before leaving, the mother called the siblings to her and told them that their aunt had been infected with a virus in the early stages of her pregnancy and then had a car accident that resulted in premature birth. As a result, Yan Yan was born not only weak but also had a very serious heart condition. Even though the best medical team was found to perform surgery, she was still different from other healthy children and needed careful care.
The mother spoke to them in a tone of entrustment, saying that Yan Yan couldn't stay at home forever and would eventually have to go out to study and live. She told them that as her older brothers and sisters, they had to protect their younger sister and not let others bully her.
For a long time after that day, Luo Bin got into fights more and more often. This was because, in the past, whenever the group of healthy and lively children mentioned the girl in the Fang family's house, whom they had only heard of but never seen, they would always refer to her as a "sickly girl" as she was, a term they had learned from adults.
To Luo Bin, who had come to understand the horror of illness, this was the most vicious curse!
Even now, Xu Xingyan has walked out of that glass house that trapped her throughout her childhood in the name of protection, but Luo Jing still can't forget that rainy night. She always habitually takes care of her and, like a spoiled parent, tries to satisfy all her demands.