Chapter 14

Chapter 14

But that was only because Zhao Linfeng was too smart. She didn’t need to listen to you explain anything!

By ten o’clock that night, the students in evening self-study were about to get out of class. The boarding students would all be heading back to their dorms to rest. At this hour, the only ones who would still come outside the school for snacks were day students, but Aunt Li couldn’t bear to give up even that bit of business, so she was going out to set up her stall again.

Zhao Linfeng wanted to go help, and Yuan Lina and I took the opportunity to leave as well. But Aunt Li wouldn’t let Zhao Linfeng go with her. She insisted that Zhao Linfeng see us off.

“It’s fine, Aunt Li. Our car is waiting outside. It’s very safe. Linlin doesn’t need to walk us out.”

“How could that be fine?! What kind of host doesn’t see guests off when they leave? Linlin, hurry and go with your classmates. Business won’t be too busy right now. I can handle it on my own.” She glanced toward the living room again. “Old Lin, take your medicine and go to sleep. Don’t wait up for me.”

Uncle Lin looked at Aunt Li with a warm smile. “I’ll wait for Linlin.”

“All right, then both of you go to bed early. I’ll be back in a bit!”

Aunt Li went back to the kitchen and brought out three portions of freshly made shredded potato pancakes, stuffing one into each of our hands. The pancakes were still hot against my palm. As she handed mine over, she patted my shoulder. “Look at you, all skin and bones. How did you get so thin? Eat more! Come again tomorrow. I’ll make you something good.”

“Okay!”

Zhao Linfeng saw Yuan Lina and me into the car, but she didn’t go straight back to the rented apartment. Instead, she headed in the direction of the snack street.

I knew she would still go help her mother.

I told the driver, “No. 18 Qutang Road.”

Yuan Lina turned to look at me. “How do you know where I live?”

“Uh… it was on the student roster.”

As soon as Yuan Lina got in the car, she sprawled against the window with terrible posture. The car drove from the school district, which was gradually sinking into silence, toward the city center. When we crossed the river, the neon lights on the bridge shone over the side of her face. Under those dreamy colors, her expression looked especially lonely.

The shredded potato pancake was still in her hand. She held it tightly with both hands, as if she’d forgotten it was something she could eat. She stared blankly out the window, lost in thoughts I couldn’t begin to guess.

I kept watching her, waiting for her to speak to me first.

At last, when we passed the city’s largest Ferris wheel, she rolled down the window and reached out, as if trying to touch its highest point. Then I heard her ask, “Have you ridden that before?”

“Yeah.”

“With who?”

“My… relatives.”

“Your parents never brought you here to play?”

“No.”

Yuan Lina rubbed her nose. “My parents brought me here once, a long time ago. But only once. After that, they left to work out of town… I really envy Zhao Linfeng. Even if her parents can’t take care of her anymore, she still has adoptive parents looking after her. No matter what, they’re still a family.”

“But your parents still love you, don’t they? I heard they even paid a school selection fee so you could attend Baimu.”

“If giving me living expenses and letting me go to school counts as love…” Yuan Lina said with a cold laugh, “then they really do love me.”

“Being loved by someone is rare enough. Not every child is born into their parents’ love.”

“Heh… Don’t take me to Qutang Road. Go to Beicheng. I want a drink.”

“We have class tomorrow.”

“If you won’t take me, I’ll have Feng Wendong pick me up and take me drinking.”

“Yuan Lina!”

“What? Every time I mention him, you act like someone stepped on your tail.”

“You saw how hard things are for Zhao Linfeng’s family today. Uncle Lin can’t earn money, and he has to take all kinds of medicine. The whole family’s expenses depend on that one street stall-on the pancake in your hand! But Feng Wendong got into a fight and smashed Aunt Li’s stall. He nearly destroyed Zhao Linfeng’s family. Don’t you think there’s anything wrong with him?”

“But he paid compensation…”

“But he wasn’t punished. Instead, Zhao Linfeng, the one who reported him, got pushed down the stairs and broke a bone. You said you weren’t the one who pushed her, and I believe you. But if you try to tell me the person who did it has nothing to do with Feng Wendong, I absolutely won’t believe it. A person who makes a mistake, then relies on his family background and money to solve the problem, without a shred of guilt in his heart-it’s perfectly normal for me to hate him, isn’t it?”

“Then I like Feng Wendong, so go ahead and hate me too!”

In what I thought was a very loud voice, I shouted, “A lot of the time, you really are pretty hateable!”

Yuan Lina yelled at the driver, “Stop the car! I’ll walk by myself!”

“Don’t stop!”

“Xu Woruo, don’t think you get to control me just because I had one meal with you. If it weren’t for your money, I wouldn’t waste my time with you at all!”

“Then I’m so sorry, but I just happen to have a whole lot of money. So please, for the sake of my money, keep putting up with me again and again!”

“Lunatic!”

I viciously bit into my shredded potato pancake, imagining it was Yuan Lina’s hopelessly lovestruck brain.

No, wait. Lovestruck brains probably stank to high heaven. They couldn’t possibly be compared to a delicious shredded potato pancake!