Yan hope drooled, pretending not to hear—Daughter, I know a new hot pot restaurant opened on West Street, and it's said to be very delicious.
Ah Heng continued—"Ahem, the vegetables I just stir-fried..."
Yan hope twitched his ears—and in front of the East Temple Gate, Old Lu's beef noodle shop had opened a branch.
Ah Heng feigned anger—Oh, I see, you're always so willful.
Yan hope shrugged, a sly smile on his face.
The two children rummaged through drawers and cupboards, found raincoats, put them on vaguely, and rushed outside.
"Where are you going?" In the distance, some car headlights were glaringly bright.
The car moved slowly and stopped next to the nearest tree.
Upon closer inspection, the silhouette in the darkness turned out to be Siwan.
"The power's out. Let's grab something to eat." Yan hope glanced at the car—"Oh, Young Master Wen, are you using your grandfather's official car for personal purposes again?"
Ah Heng looked at the car and saw that it was indeed the one that Secretary Liu often used. He smiled.
Siwan looked up, her hands gently resting on the steering wheel, her voice mild and unreadable—"Where to? I'll drive you there."
Yan hope shook his head and laughed, "You're driving without a license! I want to live a few more years."
Siwan didn't insist on keeping them. She smiled faintly, glanced at the two of them gently, and stepped on the clutch.
Ah Heng watched the car drive away, then lifted the hood of her raincoat and looked inside. Only then did she realize that there was someone else sitting in the passenger seat.
Her figure resembled a girl, yet not quite Si'er. Her slightly wavy hair was unmistakably...
A thought flashed through her mind, and she glanced at Yan hope. Seeing that his expression had not changed, she lowered her head slightly and felt a little relieved.
I thought about finding a taxi, but the rain was too heavy and there were very few vehicles on the road. I searched for a while, but when I saw that I was almost at the East Temple Gate, I gave up and decided to just take a walk before dinner.
"Aheng, there's a small shop in front of the East Temple gate that makes very exquisite masks. After we finish eating, let's buy a few to take home and play with," Yan hope said excitedly, pointing to the distance.
Ah Heng squinted, and the first thing she saw was the antique-style East Temple Gate. The East Temple was originally just a small Buddhist hall, built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It is said that it was built under the supervision of the Yongzheng Emperor, who was then the fourth prince, and used by his family members to offer incense to Buddha. When it was first built, the fourth prince named it "Si Liang Zhai" (Four Coolness Hall). When people asked what the four coolnesses were, the prince said, "Foolishness, folly, laziness, and dissipation. These four things corrupt the mind and should be cooled down." "Si Liang Zhai" was renovated three times. The first time was in the mid-Kangxi period, when it was renamed "Si Bao" (Four Treasures). The second time was in the ninth year of Yongzheng's reign, when it was renamed "Si Gui" (Four Returns) by the emperor himself. The third time was in the early years of Qianlong's reign, when the new emperor renamed it "Si Quan" (Four Completes) and expanded it into a temple to provide incense for lay people.
City B is never short of things belonging to royalty and nobility. The Siquan Temple, located in the east of the city, is known as the "Eastern Temple." Other temples, smaller in scale than the remaining royal palaces and Buddhist temples, haven't developed a thriving commercial sector, but their night markets are booming. Especially famous is the Lu Family Beef Noodles, a place Yan hope insisted on visiting, supposedly made with a century-old family recipe.
Despite the rain, Lu Family Noodle Shop was packed with customers, many of whom spoke with accents from other places. They were probably tourists who had heard of the noodle shop's reputation and decided to give it a try.
The table next to Aheng and his friends was like that; a group of young people, lively and cheerful, speaking Mandarin softly and quickly, mostly from the Jiangnan region.
The beef noodles were quite delicious. Aheng took a bite of the glistening noodles, then savored the soup, and frowned slightly—"Yanxi, there's too much Chinese medicine in these noodles."
"So, it's called Nourishing Beef Noodles, look at the signboard." Yan hope panted, unconvinced.
Ah Heng shook his head—"It's excellent to use Chinese herbs for flavoring and nourishment, but the amount and variety should be carefully controlled. If you're making noodles, you can use a small amount of ginseng leaves, almonds, cloves, and dried tangerine peel, stir-fried until fragrant, and seasoned with mushrooms and yam. The medicinal properties are mild, and although they may not have any remarkable effects, at least they won't harm the spleen and stomach. This beef soup has added red cardamom and amomum villosum to enhance the flavor. Red cardamom dispels cold, and amomum villosum warms the stomach; both are warming in nature, and adding them together for flavoring should be done with caution. But this soup has too much of it..."
Yan hope Xiaobai stared wide-eyed – “Red cardamom, amomum villosum, hairy?”
The group at the next table had quieted down at some point, and after a while, one of them laughed and nudged the boy in the white sweater next to him—"Feibai, this really puts you to shame. See? There are always people better than you. Don't be so arrogant in front of your junior sisters next time, or you'll scare them. Then Dean Gu will scold you for being too young and not making any progress."
A group of girls started making faces at each other.
The boy called Fei Bai was rather strange; he wore a spotless white knitted sweater, as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder about cleanliness.
His voice was extremely cold and deep. Although his words were spoken in the light and airy style of Southern music, every word carried arrogance, like solid ice on a snow-capped mountain, sharp and intimidating—"Even ordinary people know a little about medicine, do you still want to compare yourself with me?"
Yan hope whispered, "Aheng, what are they saying?"
Yan hope had studied the Jiangnan dialect for a while, but he couldn't keep up with people who spoke too fast.
Ah Heng smiled faintly – “It’s nothing.”
He subconsciously took another sip of soup, and faintly tasted a hint of sour and sweet on his tongue. He smiled and said, "Yan hope, the soup is fine now."
Yan hope burst into tears—"Hengheng, what are you saying? Why can't I understand a single word?!"
Ah Heng smiled and explained, "The soup also contains hawthorn, which is cooling in nature. It just happens to balance the heat and toxicity of red cardamom and amomum, so it is harmless to people."
The boy in the white sweater's expression softened a bit. He smiled slightly, raised his eyelids slightly, and glanced at Ah Heng.
Yan Xiqie – “Originally, the noodle shop’s big signboard said ‘Hawthorn Beef Noodles in a Large Bowl’!”
Huh?! Ah Heng turned his head, and sure enough, there were eight big gold-plated characters.
Hehe, blushing, smiling, she changed the subject—"Yan hope, oh dear, your mouth is all oily again..."
Yan hope chuckled, extended her slender index finger, and gently rubbed it against Aheng's lips. The cool touch of her finger conveyed a sense of indulgence—"Silly child, how much better are you?"
Ah Heng felt embarrassed; after the meal, she had become the one who caused the most trouble.
At 9 p.m., there is a custom in front of the East Temple that red lanterns are lit on both sides of the street. It is said that this tradition has been followed since before the Republic of China and is considered a local specialty.
If it weren't for the rainy night, it would have felt somewhat like a lantern festival in Jiangnan.
Yan Xi pulled Aheng along, walking smoothly across the street. The raindrops under their feet sounded like the infinitely amplified sound of dew.
It seems that the small shop selling handicrafts has been around for quite some time. In a unique way, instead of using artificially carved flooring, it is covered with blue bricks.
Upon entering, just as Yan hope had described, the walls were covered with exquisitely crafted masks, each one gleaming beautifully under lanterns wrapped in red silk.
Ah Heng had just removed an ugly but exquisitely crafted scarred pirate mask when Yan hope, with great interest, headed toward the numerous masks adorned with beautiful women.
Coincidentally, between the two walls, there were many layers of white mink fur, mostly covered with Manchu ornaments, small daggers, earrings, and bracelets, filling the space and making the figure appear quite obscured.
Ah Heng put on the pirate mask, revealing another layer of skin, soft and real. Remembering something, she smiled and looked in Yan hope's direction.
The blurry figure seemed so close yet so far, separated by several layers of distance.
A light brown coat and light-colored, straight gray trousers—unusually understated colors—were unfortunately paired with red canvas shoes. Around the shoes, a pool of water slowly seeped into the soil.
The combination creates an illusion and a sense of contradiction, yet it strangely brings out a sense of beauty.
She gazed at that figure from behind, her eyes so focused, so gentle, so quiet and harmless.
I gently placed my left hand on my chest, only to find that its beating was approaching a frantic, desperate pace.
Ah Heng sighed softly.
If he weren't wearing a mask, how much trouble would that gaze cause him...?
Only she knew how...unspeakable her gaze was at that moment.
"Du Qingqing, have you had enough fun? Stop making a scene!" A slightly annoyed, cold voice said as someone removed her mask.
The person opposite, wearing a white sweater, was stunned when they saw Ah Heng.
"I'm sorry, you've mistaken me for someone else." Ah Heng smiled slightly, took the mask from his hand, and gently put it back on.
She smiled and nodded, then turned and left, unaware that another twist of fate was about to unfold.
Years later, the man's voice was proud and aloof—Wen Heng, I knew this day would come.
Ah Heng smiled bitterly—But I don't know.
She had never paid attention to this accident. She simply walked up to Yan hope and chuckled as she wondered if Yan hope would also guess wrong like the others.
He laughed, stroking the long scar on the pirate mask—"Aheng, this is very realistic."
Even through the mask, the warmth of those fingers was suffocating.
10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1
The final ten seconds.
She looked at him, smiled, and the landscape seemed to slowly unfold before her eyes.
With the last glance, something in his eyes was knocked away, and the endless mist dissipated, leaving only calm and stillness.
He gently removed her mask.
Still with her black hair and eyes, she looks...so beautiful.
And then, she was still the Ah Heng he knew.
Ah Heng will not get out of control.
Almighty Aheng.
The gentle Aheng.
Forever... she will only ever be the Ah Heng he envisions in his heart.
Chapter 41
It was a rainy night, and I got home very late. Luckily, the phone came back on.
Although tucked under his raincoat, the beauty masks Yan hope had bought—Wang Qiang, Lü Zhu, Hong Xian, and Wen Ji—were still wet. Their eyebrows and eyes looked like they were painted with real rouge, with some traces of smudging. Yan hope frowned, went up to the attic, retrieved the heat fan used for drying the masks, and turned it on full blast to air them out.
Ah Heng stared at those slender hands, holding the mask, carefully approaching the fan, maintaining the posture for a long time without showing the slightest annoyance.
He is always incredibly persistent about the things he cares about.
Ah Heng smiled, glanced at him, and quietly sat on the sofa knitting a scarf.
Yan hope pouted – “Do you have to be so serious, all for those numbers…”
Ah Heng asked in surprise, "What do you mean, one, two, three?"
Yan hope raised his eyebrows—"One is one, two is two, and three is three!"
Ah Heng chuckled – “Four or four!”
What a load of nonsense...
"The gray one, is it for Siwan?" Yan hope glanced sideways, his dark eyes shimmering with a hint of disdain.
Ah Heng was stunned. Looking at the gray yarn in his hand, he nodded vaguely.
"Tch." He flipped Wenji's mask over, pouted slightly, and his thick, soft black hair covered his eyes.
The child was excessively angry.
After a long time, the rain outside the window intensified with the strong winds, and thunder and lightning followed in quick succession.
"It seems the rain won't stop tonight." Ah Heng put away her knitting needles, looked up slightly, and smiled at Yan hope.
Yan hope had already dried the mask and was now sitting cross-legged on the sofa, idly playing with the beauty mask.
She was playing seriously and determined to ignore Aheng.