Even after the movie let out, Lin Tao still hadn’t fully come back to herself from Jiang Yan’s last remark.

She couldn’t figure out how someone who, not so long ago, had treated Platonic love as a personal creed had suddenly started being so openly bold about it.

The film ended at five o’clock. Lin Tao followed Jiang Yan back to the internet café. On the way, she voiced the question that had been sitting in her mind: “Did something happen to you? You seem… stimulated.”

The car moved swiftly forward. Outside the window, evergreen pines and cypresses flashed past, weighed down with white snow — blue-green and white, layered and distinct.

Inside the car, Jiang Yan held her slender fingers and said, with pointed significance: “Do you think what I went through today wasn’t stimulating enough already?”

Lin Tao: “?”

Lin Tao: “……”

Lin Tao: “Oh.”

Jiang Yan gave a quiet laugh and lowered his head to toy with her hand.

The girl’s hands were exceptionally beautiful — pale and slender, each finger distinctly shaped, the nails neatly trimmed, the nail beds delicately rounded and pretty with tiny little white crescents at the base. The backs of her hands were smooth and white, barely any flesh on them, and yet the palms were soft and warm to the touch.

He played with her hand for a moment, then looked up at her. Laughter filled his light, clear eyes. “What do you want to eat tonight?”

Lin Tao had eaten too much at lunch and still wasn’t particularly hungry. Her gaze drifted across a supermarket blurring past outside the window, and a spontaneous idea struck her. “Do you know how to cook?”

“Yes.” He had lived alone since middle school — clothing, food, shelter, all self-managed. Cooking was the most basic of necessities.

“Can I order whatever I want?”

He glanced at her and nodded. “Go ahead.”

Lin Tao curved her eyes in a smile. Her gaze was clear and captivating, her curled lashes fluttering, hiding the mischief beneath. Her voice came out light and soft: “Abalone congee, steamed hairy crab, garlic-butter butterflied shrimp with vermicelli, curry braised beef brisket, lotus-leaf steamed chicken in bamboo baskets…”

After reeling off a long list of classic dishes, she furrowed her brow and let out a thoughtful little hum, then leaned her head toward him and asked with deliberate innocence: “Is this list going to be a bit much for you?”

Jiang Yan looked at her without moving. After a long pause, he finally spoke, slowly: “Not too much at all.”

Lin Tao let out a delighted sound of surprise, but before she could say another word, she heard him continue in a measured tone:

“I’ll just switch to a different girlfriend and it won’t be too much at all.”

“……”

Why?

What did I do wrong?

You’re the one who said I could order whatever I wanted!?

Jiang Yan gave a low, amused snort, then suddenly reached back and tugged the hood of her coat down over her head. His fingers gripped the brim of the hood and held it firmly in place. “Order again. Properly.”

Lin Tao grabbed his hand and eased the pressure just enough to peek out with half her face. Her chin rubbed lightly against the web of his thumb as she spoke in her most obedient voice, naming a perfectly ordinary home-cooked dish: “Stir-fried green pepper with shredded potato.”

Jiang Yan caught her small gesture and let out a quiet laugh.

There was a daily-life supermarket near the internet café. The taxi pulled to a stop at the side of the road.

The entrance to the supermarket was festooned with decorations — at a glance, it was a sea of red in every direction. People were everywhere, children weaving through the crowd.

Jiang Yan picked up a shopping cart at the entrance.

Inside, the supermarket was packed. The New Year atmosphere spilled into every corner. Jiang Yan pushed the cart one-handed, his other hand holding Lin Tao’s.

The two of them passed through the prepared foods section and entered the fresh vegetables area.

“Anything else you want to eat?” he asked again.

Lin Tao leaned against the shelves beside her, scanning the wide expanse of green, fresh vegetables. An inexplicable urge to laugh rose inside her. She tilted her head up to look at him. “Are you hinting at something??”

Jiang Yan lowered his head to pick out a bunch of greens and place them in the cart. On hearing her question, he seemed genuinely puzzled and frowned at her. “Hm?”

The supermarket’s lights were dazzlingly bright, swirling around the top of his head and forming a multicolored halo — flickering brilliantly.

With such a beautiful sight before her, Lin Tao caved without a spine and mumbled: “Nothing. Let’s go. I want meat.”

They hadn’t taken two steps when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms. Her forehead bumped against his chin.

“……”

People were streaming in all directions around them. Lin Tao quickly pushed him away and stepped back by one pace, maintaining a safe distance. She stared at him with wide eyes, caught somewhere between disbelief and indignation. “In front of everyone — can you please be a little more aware?!”

Jiang Yan’s eyelids lifted slightly. He shifted his gaze and went back to selecting vegetables, his tone casual and distant. “You have so little confidence in me?”

Lin Tao didn’t follow. “What do you mean?”

He glanced at her, placed another bundle of greens in the cart, and helpfully reminded her: “Green.”

“……”

Lin Tao caught on quickly. She shuffled over and hooked her hand through his, her voice soft and coaxing: “I was just joking with you just now, okay?”

She looked up to meet his eyes.

The two of them held each other’s gaze for a few seconds.

Jiang Yan looked away, his eyes dropping downward. His thick lashes cast a shadow at the corner of his eyes. “If I were actually going to do something, you wouldn’t have any chance of knowing in advance.”

“……”

“But I’m not that kind of person, Lin Tao.” He looked up again and met her gaze before she had a chance to pull it back. In his light amber eyes was a hidden light — and barely concealed emotion. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever liked. I won’t fall for anyone else after this, either, so you should prepare yourself.”

Lin Tao slowly blinked. Her mind went blank, and instinctively, she tightened her grip on his hand. Her voice came out dry. “……Prepare for what?”

He looked at her, and suddenly smiled. His eyes were deep, and a scattering of gentle light lived in them.

“To be with me forever.”

The two of them browsed and deliberated for a good half hour. On their way to the checkout with the cart, Lin Tao chatted with him while her eyes roamed the shelves, wondering if there was anything else she’d forgotten.

When they were nearly at the register, her gaze was caught by a display rack tucked in a corner. Not wanting Jiang Yan to notice, she deliberately urged him ahead. “Oh! I just remembered there’s something I forgot to grab. You go check out first — I’ll get it and meet you there.”

“What is it?”

“Just… something very important.” Lin Tao pushed him along and wouldn’t say specifically what. “You go check out! I’ll be right there.”

“Alright.” He reached back and ruffled her hair. “Be quick.”

“I know, I know.”

Lin Tao stayed put, watching until he was well out of sight before slipping over to the display she’d noticed earlier. She didn’t browse for long — just glanced it over and quickly picked up a few items.

The register was right ahead. Jiang Yan was standing there, and if he looked back, he could still make out her sneaky figure.

“What did you get?” he asked.

Lin Tao tucked the items behind her back and smiled at him sunnily. “Nothing! You stay in this line. I’ll go to the one over there!”

With that, she shuffled several steps sideways and joined a checkout line far from his.

Jiang Yan: “……”

During the holiday season, the supermarket was full of people. Just waiting in line took a long time.

Lin Tao had fewer things, so she finished checking out before him. She stood at the entrance with her bag, and when she spotted his figure emerging, she went over. “Let me carry one.”

“No need.” Jiang Yan shifted both bags into one hand, freeing the other to hold hers. He still managed to ask: “What did you buy?”

“Your New Year’s gift.” Lin Tao hung her bag over her wrist and slipped her free hand into her pocket. Her arm brushed against his. “Guess what it is?”

Jiang Yan guessed several things at random — all wrong.

He shook his head. “I can’t figure it out.”

They turned into the lane near the internet café, where the streetlamp — which had been broken — had finally been fixed at some point, its dim yellow bulb swapped out for a bright, cold-white incandescent light.

Lin Tao let go of his hand, retrieved the bag, pulled out its contents, and held them up like someone presenting a treasure, grinning ear to ear: “A collection of Wang Xizhi calligraphy model books.”

“……”

Several seconds passed before he slowly raised his hand to rub his brow bone. The corner of his mouth curved into a very small arc. He said quietly: “I thought it was going to be……”

His voice was too low. Lin Tao didn’t catch it. She looked at him curiously. “You thought it was what?”

“Nothing.”

“……” The more he said nothing, the more Lin Tao felt he was saying something. She grabbed his wrist and pressed: “No, you have to say it clearly. Leaving things half-finished like that is unbearable.”

Jiang Yan lowered his eyes. He met her gaze — full of questions — and uncomfortably ran his tongue across the corner of his lips. “The way you were sneaking around in the supermarket back there, I thought you’d bought a… a thing.”

He deliberately said the last two words very softly. Lin Tao could hear them, but she still didn’t understand what he meant. She furrowed her brow. “What thing?”

“A thing,” he repeated.

“?”

“……”

Jiang Yan looked at her completely pure and innocent expression and suddenly felt a small stab of regret at having brought it up at all. After a tense standstill, he let out a helpless sigh. His lips moved.

“A French letter. A condom.”

Two words — simultaneously foreign and strangely familiar.

Lin Tao needed a full ten seconds to process what he meant. The fair skin of her face lit up like it was on fire. She stared at him with an expression of complete disbelief. “I’m only sixteen — I’m freaking sixteen years old! How could you even think that?!”

“……”

The two of them bickered their way along the road for ten-odd minutes before finally arriving back at the internet café.

During the New Year holiday, the internet café was closed. Guan Che and the other staff had all gone home to their own families. The whole place had only Jiang Yan staying there alone.

As they walked in, the normally lively, bustling hall was completely empty. The dark, blank screens sat in front of rows of vacant chairs, neatly arranged at their stations.

There was something inexplicably desolate about it.

Jiang Yan seemed long accustomed to it. He carried the bags in and went of his own accord into the small living room on the side. Lin Tao paused for a beat, then followed.

He had already taken off his down jacket and was pulling an apron on over his sweater.

Hearing her footsteps, Jiang Yan turned around to look at her. His eyes were full of a smile. “Come here. Help me tie this.”

Lin Tao gave a little sound of acknowledgment and walked over obediently.

The apron was an overhead bib-style. The ties were on either side at the bottom, and when both were pulled up together, they fastened right at the waist.

Lin Tao lowered her head and reached out to grab the two side ties. Thinking of what Hu Hanghang had mentioned that morning, she asked quietly: “Why don’t you ever go home for New Year?”

Because she was holding the ties, the two of them were standing very close. Lin Tao clearly felt his body stiffen for just an instant.

A few seconds of silence.

Jiang Yan tilted his head slightly downward, his gaze dropping to a corner of the floor. His voice was very quiet. “I don’t want to go back. That place isn’t my home.”

His home had fallen apart a very long time ago.

Lin Tao’s hands paused in their work. “So you’ve always been alone out here?”

“Not always.” Jiang Yan said. “Just these past few years.”

Lin Tao said nothing. She quickly finished tying a knot, then took advantage of the moment to wrap her arms around him from behind. Her cheek rested against the soft warmth of his sweater. Her voice came out soft and light: “Jiang Yan.”

“Mm?”

“I wish I had met you sooner.”

Jiang Yan gave a quiet laugh. His palm covered the back of her hands. He turned around and drew her into his arms. “Meeting now is good too.”

Lin Tao hooked her arms around his waist and glanced up at him. Then, on a sudden impulse, she rose onto her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his chin. She quickly pulled back, her forehead resting against his chest, and a bold thought surfaced.

“What if you come to my house for New Year?”

Author’s Note: Brother Yan: this progress is way too fast (??)

My stomach is acting up. The update might be late again tomorrow. (T＿T)