In the afternoon’s practice game, perhaps due to the effect of the free lobster, Xin Dayi was exceptionally fierce, scoring one-third of the points himself, leaving Si Wan staring in amazement.
“Well, where shall we eat? Seine or Avone?” Si Wan smiled helplessly, still grinning despite being pressured by his friend.
“Seine.”
“Avone.”
Yan Xi and Xin Dayi called out simultaneously with beaming faces, but upon hearing their differing opinions, their eyes met, sparks flying.
“What are those?” Ah Heng asked in her soft tone.
Si Wan smiled and explained to his sister: “They’re both Western restaurants specializing in lobster. Seine’s head chef makes exceptional lobster, while Avone’s lobster might not be as exquisite as Seine’s, but the owner’s private collection of beer can’t be found anywhere else.”
Oh. Ah Heng nodded.
“Brother Si Wan, could you not talk about shrimp? It feels like I’m being eaten.” The cap-wearing child puffed his cheeks, very displeased.
Si Wan’s dimples deepened as he rubbed the child’s cap: “Sorry, sorry.”
Ah Heng smiled, wondering what they should call it instead.
Meanwhile, Yan Xi and Dayi were quarreling.
“Avone’s beer!”
“Seine’s lobster!”
“Avone!”
“Seine!”
“Beer!”
“Lobster!”
“Beer!”
“Lobster!”
“Lobster!”
“Beer!”
“Fine, beer!” Yan Xi slapped the table, his cheeks flushed like peach blossoms, smiling triumphantly.
“Yan Xi!!!” Xin Dayi realized he’d been tricked, the crayfish would fly away, and he burst into tears.
“Alright, alright, what’s all the arguing about!” Si Wan puffed out his chest, showing authority and grace, “We’ll get takeout beer from Avone and eat lobster at the Seine!”
Yan Xi shrugged, his peach blossom charm dispersing.
Ah Heng’s face twitched – why did she feel that Yan Xi didn’t want to drink beer as much as he claimed, but rather had a mischievous desire to tease Dayi?
The group arrived at Avone before dinner time when there weren’t many customers.
Avone’s design wasn’t much different from typical Western restaurants – bright floor-to-ceiling windows, walls hung with flamboyant oil paintings, elegant dining tables, silver cutlery, dark napkins folded into swan shapes, and fresh dewy roses on each table.
But looking around, Ah Heng felt something was off about the restaurant. Ah, yes – the wall opposite the bar, where there were no dining tables, had no oil paintings.
“Ah, it’s Young Master Yan, Young Master Wen, Young Master Xin.” A middle-aged foreign man with chestnut hair and brown eyes, wearing a tailcoat, approached them speaking fluent but slightly stiff Chinese.
“Liszt.” Si Wan returned the greeting politely.
Yan Xi merely nodded faintly, while Dayi’s face turned red as he managed: “Hello, how are you?”
Liszt smiled: “Young Master Xin, I’m German.”
Ah Heng stifled a laugh.
Little Shrimp’s eyes sparkled as he stared at Liszt. He always had an intense interest in unfamiliar things or people.
“This time, you’re here for…” Liszt’s tone was questioning.
“To pick some beer.” Yan Xi picked up the plastic gloves from the bar, gently fitting them over his slender fingers, and smiling mildly.
Liszt eagerly stepped forward, walking to the wall without paintings. He hooked his foot into a catch at the wall’s edge and slowly pushed it to rotate. On the reverse side appeared shelves of exquisitely bottled beer in enticing colors.
Ah Heng felt her eyes light up.
These bottles would be worth collecting as artwork even if they weren’t for beer. Flowing curves with perfectly warm luster.
Yan Xi walked to the center of the beer wall, pondered for a moment, and then reached out with his gloved hand to take a beer from the right side. He gently shook it, and the originally clear liquid instantly turned to flowing gold, dazzling and bright.
“Fleeting Time, Liszt, you’ve hidden it for so long, but I still found it.” Yan Xi spoke quickly, raising his eyebrows with excitement and delight.
Liszt was surprised, hesitated, and after a while finally spoke: “Young Master Yan, this beer has been reserved.”
“By whom?” Yan Xi raised an eyebrow.
“Our young boss.” Liszt looked troubled.
“No way, I discovered it first.” The youth tightened his grip on the bottle, childishly glaring at Liszt.
“Liszt, we can pay double the price.” Si Wan stepped forward timely, speaking politely and gently.
“Young Master Yan has asked me for it several times before. I’ve always been very troubled – it’s not that I’m being mysterious, but this beer is our young boss’s treasure, and there’s only one bottle.” Liszt explained.
“Where is your young boss?” Si Wan frowned.
“He’s currently studying abroad.”
“Could we perhaps call him to explain?” Si Wan asked persistently, unwilling to give up.
“Well…” Liszt hesitated for a moment before reluctantly saying, “I’ll try.”
Watching Liszt walk aside to make the call, Xin Dayi started cursing: “Damn! What kind of young boss has more face than me? Si Wan, why are you negotiating with this foreigner? One phone call from the old men at home and what beer couldn’t we drink? Here we are, having to consider some damn young boss’s feelings! Damn it!”
Si Wan smiled bitterly.
If Yan Xi hadn’t wanted to drink it, he wouldn’t have…
The youth holding the beer remained silent, just gently stroking the bottle with his finger, squinting as he watched the golden liquid gradually return to clarity.
When Liszt returned, he apologized: “I’m sorry, our young boss says Fleeting Time is his favorite, meant to be given to his most cherished person, so Young Master Yan’s request, we’re afraid…”
Yan Xi stared at the bottle dazedly, then lifted his head and handed it back to Liszt, smiling faintly: “This young master suddenly doesn’t want to drink it anymore, here you go.”
Liszt finally felt uncomfortable about offending the three people before him and selected several excellent beers as compensation for Yan Xi.
But Yan Xi had lost interest and declined.
Xin Dayi hooked Yan Xi’s chin, snickering: “Beauty, it’s alright, as long as you’re with big brother, who needs that whatever ‘Fleeting Time’, we still have Tsingtao, support domestic products, oh yeah!”
Yan Xi smiled like peach blossoms, grabbed Dayi’s hand, and lightly licked his lips, his eyes overflowing with mischief as he pitched his voice: “You flirt!”
Ah Heng broke out in goosebumps.
Xin Dayi’s face exploded red, stumbling over his words: “Yan Xi, you, you, you…”
Yan Xi laughed, instantly throwing a flirtatious wink, innocent yet cunning. When it came to teasing others, he would never be outdone.
Si Wan smiled faintly, squeezing in between them, casually separating the two.
“Stop fooling around, Little Shrimp is hungry. Right, Little Shrimp?”
Seems so. The child patted his stomach, nodding in confusion.
Ah Heng smiled wryly.
She had to put herself in a detached position to hide her confusion. Si Wan always acted as Yan Xi’s caretaker, always carefully keeping others from too much contact with Yan Xi. And Yan Xi, though annoyed, never resisted.
At Seine, the owner was extremely enthusiastic, like someone they had known for a long time – apparently, the three were regular customers.
“Boss Chen, pick out a few fresh lobsters, slice the biggest ones thin when frozen and add some mustard cloud red wine sauce, bake the smaller ones with Dutch cream.” Xin Dayi ordered skillfully.
“Yes, yes.” The other party spoke eagerly, “How is Old Master Xin’s health lately? Chronic ailments are most likely to act up in spring.”
Xin Dayi gazed steadily, smiling as he said: “The old man is healthy enough to hunt tigers in the mountains, it’s just that the bunch of nursing security staff are so careful, making me look unfilial.” These words were nothing if not proper, the phrasing perfectly measured, the manner just right with sweetness, yet this wasn’t the Xin Dayi that Ah Heng knew.
Ah Heng looked up; Si Wan and Yan Xi wore their usual expressions.
“And who is this young lady?” Boss Chen noticed Ah Heng was unfamiliar and asked with a smile.
“My younger sister.” Si Wan smiled slightly.
“Oh, it’s Miss Wen. No wonder she’s so beautiful and looks exactly like the old Madam Wen.” The other party praised, but had already calculated in his mind – this girl must be the legitimate young miss recently found by the Wen family.
Si Wan’s eyes dimmed slightly as he forced a nod.
But Yan Xi smiled, his eyes like warm water freezing over with ice: “Boss Chen has such a good memory. You said the same thing when Grandmother Wen brought Si Er here before.”
The middle-aged man’s face instantly reddened, rendered speechless. He found an excuse and hurriedly left.
The atmosphere grew cold. After a while, Ah Heng smiled gently, like flowing mountains and waters: “Grandmother would scold him from beneath the ground.”
“Why?” Dayi scratched his head.
“Grandmother would say ‘clumsy mouth, clumsy mouth, no resemblance at all.'” Ah Heng deliberately stuttered to make everyone laugh, providing a way out. Everyone took the opportunity to change the subject, and the atmosphere gradually warmed up to a picture of intimate ease.
Having grown up in the South, Ah Heng had eaten plenty of crayfish, but the biggest was only about two palms in size. However, what lay before her was not even the same species or tonnage as what she was used to seeing since childhood. Long antennae, massive bodies, already peeled hard shells, white tender meat, propped up by ice cubes, along with several plates of sauce emitting strange fragrances – it was truly exotic and tempting.
Little Shrimp was delighted, pouncing toward his namesake, stuffing his mouth too full to speak.
Si Wan smiled, picked up a piece of lobster meat, dipped it in sauce, and placed it in Ah Heng’s dish – he always maintained the demeanor of a good brother and gentleman, which was beyond reproach. Xin Dayi seemed hungry, eating like a whirlwind. Ah Heng already found the lobster delicious, but seeing everyone eating so happily made it seem even more delicious in her mouth.
However, no feast is complete without wine – this was what Si Wan had been taught since childhood, so he ordered several bottles of Carlsberg beer to accompany the meal.
When they were half full, someone called, and Si Wan answered his phone.
When answering the phone, Si Wan’s face was full of warmth and smiles; when hanging up, his face had turned ashen. He grabbed a beer from the table and chugged the entire bottle.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Even Little Shrimp sensibly put down his chopsticks, not daring to breathe as he watched Si Wan.
“Si Wan, what’s wrong?” Xin Dayi couldn’t hold back, frowning as he asked.
The youth didn’t answer, opening another bottle of beer. Before Xin Dayi could snatch it away, he had instantly downed it. Speaking of Carlsberg, its alcohol content is at best only beer level, but the worst thing about drinking is gulping it down recklessly without method. Sure enough, Si Wan’s cheeks had started burning.
The youth’s bright eyes carried suppressed anger as he stared at Ah Heng without hiding it. When he reached for a third bottle, Yan Xi quickly snatched it away, his voice heavy with anger: “What the hell is wrong with you?”
He laughed, staring straight at Ah Heng as scalding tears suddenly fell, catching everyone off guard: “Ah Heng, do you hate Er Er so much that you can’t tolerate her? What has she ever done to obstruct you, what has she done to deserve such treatment from you?”
Ah Heng opened her mouth, lips trembling but unable to form syllables. So she tried harder and harder to smile at him, sad and uneasy.
“Why did you lie to Er Er about waiting for you in Mao’er Hutong? You said you’d bring her home, then pretend as if nothing had happened. And Er Er…” Si Wan’s voice was already choking, “waited for you there for a day and a night. Do you know what she said to me?”
What, what did she say?
All warmth had left Ah Heng’s body, yet she still maintained a weak, kind smile, though her throat was painfully dry.
“She said, ‘Brother, when will Ah Heng take me home? I want to go home so much…'” Si Wan almost shouted himself hoarse, his pain completely torn open. “I never expected you to harbor any kindness toward Er Er. I hoped you would hate her, so I would feel more guilty, would treat you even better, compensate for the familial love you never received as a child…”
Si Wan’s voice faltered, frozen for a long while, before continuing softly yet cruelly: “But, Wen Heng, never in my life have I wished more than at this moment that you weren’t born a Wen!”
Ah Heng’s tightly clenched fists loosened. She felt her fingertips were all sweaty, her whole body’s flesh burning and screaming, yet strangely, her heartbeat remained laughably steady and strong.
Slowly, she crouched down, curling into a ball, even her face crumpling as she buried it deep. Her throat trembled, her eyes burned terribly, yet tears wouldn’t fall.
It turned out she didn’t care about the Wen family – about Wen Si Wan – as much as she had imagined.
Who cares about being a Wen? Who cares…
After thinking for a moment, she shakily stood up again, but just as she was about to smile, tears fell.
“Wen Si Wan, do you think you’re acting in some prime-time soap opera?” Before she could speak, Yan Xi laughed coldly and stepped forward with a clenched fist, his white shirt sleeve flying up as he struck Si Wan’s cheek.
Si Wan was caught off guard, stumbled, and fell sitting to the ground.
Xin Dayi and Little Shrimp stood dumbfounded to the side.
“Dayi, you accompany Young Master Wen in his drunken fit, I’m done here!” Yan Xi rolled down his sleeve, breathing heavily as he grabbed Ah Heng’s hand and strode away, his spine lonely and proud.
Once outside, Ah Heng shook off the youth’s hand: “You… don’t you believe Si Wan? I hurt Er Er…”
Her eyes were bright red, like someone desperate after committing murder, her words chaotic and disordered.
Yan Xi shook his head, remaining silent, not even smiling, but his beautiful eyes slowly filled with understanding tenderness.
She looked at him in panic, utterly despising how he looked at her with eyes resembling pity. It made her want to hide in shame, existing with inferiority and without dignity.
He reached out, his clean slender fingers gently enveloping her hand, binding her fingers one by one, his slightly cool fingertips gradually warming as they walked.
She let him lead her, clinging to the direction of his arm, aimless. Finally, her tears surged forth, losing composure.
“I hate Si Wan, hate him so much…” She kept repeating loudly, seeing only Yan Xi’s black hair through her tears.
Yan Xi stopped in his tracks, sighed, turned around, and pulled the girl into his embrace, gently patting her back as he said softly: “I know, I know…”
Her emotions that day were a rare loss of control in her lifetime, so how could she notice this youth’s equally rare display of gentle indulgence? The girl cried nearly to the point of hiccups in the youth’s embrace.
He held her like comforting a helpless newborn, with the patience of a brother or even a father, telling her many, many things.
She heard much, yet forgot much, because she didn’t know which words were sincere and which should be believed with reservation.
But just one phrase, though she hadn’t deliberately tried to remember it, would stay with her until death.
So clear, so moving.
“Ah Heng, thank you for being born a Wen.”