Old residential areas offered convenient living with complete surrounding amenities.

Strangely enough, despite the city’s rapid daily development, some neighborhoods seemed frozen in time. If you were to take any frame from the scroll of time, there would be no difference between ten years ago and ten years later.

Lin Wanxing knew her way around and led Wang Fa into the supermarket.

The supermarket was called “Meijia.”

Lin Wanxing remembered that Meijia had just opened when she was in kindergarten. Each time she entered the supermarket holding her grandmother’s hand, she could buy “Zhenbao Zhu” lollipops and strawberry-flavored ice cream.

She had such wonderful childhood memories of this place that walking in now actually felt somewhat strange to her.

The floor tiles hadn’t been changed in twenty years—dim and cracked. The counters looked the same as they had many years ago. Various cigarettes were arranged in the display case behind the checkout counter, which could only be opened with a key.

Lin Wanxing traced the locations in her memory, leading Wang Fa to the far end of the supermarket. It was darker here, and if not for the dusty glass boxes that used to sell seafood still standing there, she would have doubted her memory.

“They used to sell fish and shrimp here when I was little!” Lin Wanxing told Wang Fa.

Wang Fa looked around and then lowered his head to ask her, “How little?”

“Um… little… elementary school,” Lin Wanxing said embarrassedly.

“Then may I ask when was the last time Teacher Lin went to a market?”

Lin Wanxing thought for a moment. She had started boarding school in junior high and continued through university. Recently, even during winter and summer breaks, she had been working in her department’s laboratory. Her long-term food source had been the school cafeteria. Thinking back, the last time she went to a market would have been…

“Elementary school,” she had to admit.

“No wonder,” Wang Fa revealed a knowing expression and led her out of the supermarket.

Comrade Wang Fa left quite decisively, even ignoring her proposal to buy some dipping sauces.

Lin Wanxing called after him, “What about a gas stove? Or an induction cooker? Pots!”

“The market has those too,” Wang Fa replied over his shoulder.

Lin Wanxing hurriedly caught up with him.

Although Wang Fa had just returned from abroad, he seemed to know the neighborhood better than she did. He would casually go downstairs to buy cigarettes and was familiar with all the streets around here.

“Have you lived here before?” Lin Wanxing asked curiously as she followed Wang Fa into the market.

“No.”

“You seem very familiar with this area,” Lin Wanxing said.

“I’ve been rather free lately, so I explored more,” Wang Fa explained.

By then they had entered the market, surrounded by the bustling evening scene. People streamed by in all directions while vendors displayed enthusiastic hospitality.

Wang Fa passed through the vegetable stalls, unconsciously pulling a cigarette from his pocket with the lighter already in hand. Realizing she was beside him, he only bit the cigarette without lighting it.

“Why did you decide to come to our Hongjing?” Lin Wanxing voiced her curiosity, “I feel like if you wanted to return to China for work, it would be better to go to a big city like Yongchuan. Our Hongjing just has that small Pearl Club.”

“A friend’s recommendation,” Wang Fa said.

“Oh.” Lin Wanxing had intended to follow up by asking how his tryout with Yongchuan Hengda had gone today. But seeing his continually lackluster enthusiasm, she figured the tryout might not have gone well and thought better of asking further.

Lin Wanxing hesitated, overthinking things a bit. When she came back to her senses, she found herself mysteriously being directed by Wang Fa.

Wang Fa shopped like a coach, instructing her to buy vegetables and vermicelli first, then various hotpot balls, and finally shrimp.

He hadn’t forgotten about the shrimp.

At the seafood stall, the air bubbled with gurgling sounds.

Wang Fa told her to only buy white leg shrimp that the vendor had just caught, saying these would be enough for making shrimp paste.

“Young couples know how to live well,” the vendor auntie praised.

Lin Wanxing was studying the relationship between shrimp death time and freshness at that moment and didn’t immediately react. By the time she suddenly realized she should explain, Wang Fa had extraordinarily scanned the QR code and led her to buy something else.

Lin Wanxing carried the various packages, shocked, “Coach, you’re spending money now? Has your conscience awakened?”

“Teacher Lin misunderstands.”

Wang Fa’s gaze swept over, and Lin Wanxing immediately stood at attention.

“Men paying isn’t usually because their conscience has awakened,” he said.

“Then why is it? Because you ordered the shrimp paste?”

“It’s because my male dignity doesn’t want to be accused of ‘living off women,'” Wang Fa said leisurely.

Lin Wanxing nodded, feeling Wang Fa’s explanation made perfect sense. But why specifically not want the shrimp-selling auntie to think he was living off women?

Lin Wanxing looked at Wang Fa’s back, puzzled.

In the end, Comrade Wang Fa only paid for that one purchase of whiteleg shrimp.

When Lin Wanxing and he returned to the rooftop terrace with everything the students had requested, no one came to greet them.

The terrace was quiet, with the autumn evening breeze passing through. The entire space was completely different from the lively atmosphere when she had left.

Lin Wanxing put down the plastic bags, and the dead shrimp twitched nervously.

She listened carefully and, besides the normal background noise of the city, could hear one light and one heavy snoring sound coming from her room.

Lin Wanxing pushed the door open slightly to find male students sprawled all over the floor.

Qin Ao’s snoring was deafening, with Lin Lu’s leg resting on his stomach. Fu Xinshu was lying at the desk, Chen Jianghe occupied the sofa—the bed, sofa, carpet… every place that could possibly serve as sleeping space was filled with students.

They looked truly exhausted, with lightly closed eyes and satisfied expressions. Each slept especially soundly. Lin Wanxing watched for a while, then sighed helplessly.

She left the room. The sunset light was as soft as gauze, creating a lovely atmosphere on the terrace.

Wang Fa sat smoking under the sunshade. Lin Wanxing didn’t disturb him. She began preparing the vegetables they had just bought by the sink. After all, the coach had specifically requested shrimp paste, parenthetically made from hand-peeled live shrimp.

With water splashing loudly, suddenly she heard the sound of a plastic chair contacting the ground beside her. Lin Wanxing turned her head to discover that Wang Fa had lazily brought over a chair and was sitting next to her, watching.

The young man’s expression was indolent.

“Could you help me?” Lin Wanxing rinsed the shrimp with water.

“Sorry,” Wang Fa refused without even hearing what she wanted.

“I’m not asking you to do the work, just look up how to hand-peel shrimp to make shrimp paste!” Lin Wanxing wiped her hands on her apron, emphasizing, “Baidu, Baidu!”

“Oh, that I can do.”

Wang Fa indeed just didn’t want to peel shrimp. When he heard he only needed to search for information, he quickly did so and then held his phone up to her face.

The content on the page was very brief:

1. Buy fresh whiteleg shrimp, remove the shells, and devein them.

2. Take a kitchen knife and gradually chop the shrimp meat into small pieces…

Lin Wanxing used her wet fingers to scroll down the screen…

Water droplets slid across the screen.

When she looked up again, she found herself caught in Wang Fa’s amused gaze. The young man’s eye color was slightly light, with deep-set brow and eye contours, making him appear even more casual when slightly smiling.

Lin Wanxing’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’ve finished reading,” she immediately said, facing the young man’s teasing look.

Wang Fa wasn’t polite either. He put his phone back in his pocket, and with a “tssst” sound, opened a can of cola they had just bought. He just sat there beside her, enjoying watching her peel shrimp-like he was watching a TV show.

The more she was observed, the more Lin Wanxing told herself to maintain a masterful demeanor.

She stubbornly grabbed one shrimp, which again twitched nervously in her hand.

It seemed like the steps hadn’t taught her how to peel shrimp.

Lin Wanxing began thinking about the structure of whiteleg shrimp. Theoretically speaking, shouldn’t she remove the head first? But when she tried, the shrimp head was immediately crushed in her grip. So was her technique wrong?

And she needed to remove the vein, but how to dig it out?

While thinking and experimenting, one shrimp quickly turned to mush in her hands.

At this point, the person beside her stood up. A pair of hands with distinct fingerbones brushed past her fingers, taking over her work without explanation.

Lin Wanxing hadn’t even had time to feel the cool touch on her fingertips before Wang Fa had already pulled off the shrimp head.

She couldn’t see the movement clearly, but a shrimp vein was smoothly extracted. Then he grabbed the shrimp’s body with his left hand and pinched the tail with his right hand. With one squeeze of the tail, the shrimp meat naturally popped out. His right hand held the crystal-clear shrimp shell, while his left hand held the perfectly shaped shrimp meat, looking especially appetizing.

Lin Wanxing looked at the shrimp, then at Wang Fa, then back at the shrimp, and began to applaud obsequiously, “Coach is amazing! So strong!”

“Still not as good as Teacher Lin,” Wang Fa modestly replied.

“Huh?”

“After all, I can’t peel shrimp-like Teacher Lin does—like animal abuse. If you had processed whiteleg shrimp like that in Europe, you might have received a complaint from the animal protection association,” Wang Fa said languidly.

“…” That wasn’t a compliment.

Although she wanted to counterattack, Lin Wanxing still surrendered to reality. She forced herself to show a fawning smile on her face and looked at Wang Fa with flattery, “Coach, how are you so capable? You even know how to peel shrimp.”

“Because my mother required it. Boys must know how to cook, otherwise they can’t trick girls.”

Wang Fa’s tone was natural as he lowered his head, carefully handling the shrimp veins. His eyelashes were long, as if he were simply recounting his family’s instructions.

Lin Wanxing felt she shouldn’t overthink it, yet inexplicably, there was a sense of happy anticipation.

Inexplicably.

They didn’t speak anymore. Wang Fa quickly finished processing the shrimp meat, his movements clean and efficient.

Wang Fa was well-mannered. He didn’t just sit drinking cola but washed vegetables, cleaned the table, re-washed the utensils, and arranged the dishes—everything done in an orderly fashion. Lin Wanxing only needed to assist.

The hotpot was quickly set up, with dishes arranged all over the table.

Lin Wanxing and Wang Fa exchanged a glance, deciding not to be parents who must wait for their children to eat.

The gas stove ignited, pale blue flames flickering gently in the wind.

The dual-flavor pot gradually began to bubble and steam. In the distance, it had grown darker than before, creating a beautiful evening ambiance perfect for dinner.

At first, neither of them spoke. Perhaps after experiencing the day’s bustling activity, they suddenly wanted to enjoy a moment of tranquility in the evening.

The broth boiled. Beef slices went into the pot, chopsticks lightly tapping against the bubbling soup base. Lin Wanxing gently blew on the beef and contentedly took a large bite.

“This is so delicious,” she remarked, then asked Wang Fa, “Is it difficult to eat hotpot abroad?”

The conversation naturally began.

Wang Fa said it used to be somewhat troublesome, mainly because it wasn’t authentic enough, but now it was much better.

Lin Wanxing told Wang Fa that her grandmother was a refined elderly lady who liked bright little leather shoes, didn’t enjoy bargaining or haggling, and preferred certainty over uncertain choices—thus preferring supermarkets to markets.

The food topic continued. Wang Fa mentioned that London’s Chinatown had one of the best Cantonese food suppliers in all of England, hidden in a deep alley where garbage trucks were parked year-round, making it difficult for many people to find. Yet paradoxically, their rice noodle rolls and roast goose were authentic. After the meat slices were finished, it was time for the shrimp paste.

Now, the waiting time stretched even longer.

Lin Wanxing looked at the closed pot lid, steam condensing into the mist on top. She raised her head, asking the question that had been held in her heart all day, “Did your tryout in Yongchuan go smoothly today?”

“Mm,” Wang Fa took a sip of cola and answered.

“So you’re planning to… go to Yongchuan Hengda?”

“Yes.”

The answer remained casual.

Although this was the result Lin Wanxing had anticipated, hearing it directly from Wang Fa felt different.

The students’ snoring still drifted through the night air of the terrace. The originally transparent shrimp paste was gradually turning a light pink. Though the hotpot before them had just come to a boil, the gas stove’s flame color seemed to grow cold.

“When will you leave?” After some time, Lin Wanxing asked.

Wang Fa was putting Chinese cabbage into the clear soup pot. Hearing this question, he paused but didn’t immediately answer.

“Are you only considering Yongchuan Hengda? Isn’t Green Scenery International very strong too? Why not take a look at Green Scenery? You don’t need to rush to make a decision, right?”

Seeing his hesitation, Lin Wanxing immediately said.

These were reasons she had thought of in advance, but now she mustered the courage to say them all at once.

“After the National Day holiday, I’ll go to Yongchuan.”

Wang Fa’s quick answer shattered her fantasy. Lin Wanxing realized this meant Wang Fa would only stay for about two more weeks.

“That’s so soon,” she heard her voice filled with deep disappointment and reluctance.

“I added that Green Scenery coach’s WeChat, right? Why not explore more options? There’s no hurry. Try to earn more?” Lin Wanxing gathered her emotions and tried to make one more effort.

“There won’t be a better option,” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing roughly knew this statement was meant for her.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because they’re offering far too much,” Wang Fa said.

“Ah, how much?” Lin Wanxing’s heart trembled as she bit the tip of her chopsticks, tentatively asking.

“15 million,” Wang Fa said.

Lin Wanxing abruptly looked up.

“Euros.”

“How much?”

“15 million euros, two-year contract,” Wang Fa said very calmly.