Lin Yingtao has been in Hong Kong for three days. She only goes out occasionally for meals. Most of the time she stays in Jiang Qiaoxi's 50-square-foot rental house.
This is totally different from what she told her mother before she came. She said at that time that it was nice to spend the New Year in Hong Kong, it was like spring there, the wind was warm, the weather was comfortable, and the scenery was beautiful.
But in reality, Lin Yingtao stays in the dim light with the curtains drawn every day, in the circulating air-conditioning, close to the person she loves.
Lin Yingtao didn’t know if other couples who had just gotten together would be like this.
Before crossing that line, Lin Yingtao had always thought that this was just a "ritual" step, like a goodnight kiss before going to bed, and it was over after it was done. But once the skin touched, she immediately found that this was far more than that.
When she was with Jiang Qiaoxi, Lin Yingtao was worried that this might be a bit too much, but at the same time she was thinking, why did she come to Hong Kong? It was not for the spring breeze, but just for Jiang Qiaoxi. Whenever the former thought came up, Lin Yingtao would quickly soften in the smell of sweat on Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulders.
Perhaps Jiang Qiaoxi thought the same.
Jiang Qiaoxi has not been to the hospital or to work these days. He only went to school once when Lin Yingtao was asleep. Jiang Qiaoxi said that classes at HKU are very free, and only a few classes have strict attendance checks. If there is something important, it doesn't matter if you don't go.
After coming to Hong Kong, Jiang Qiaoxi gradually began to become a little different from before, after all, he was no longer so restricted. He still had a regular schedule, but the regular schedule did not change the content of the day when they were together.
They both wanted to make up for the four months they had spent apart, and the three years they had been apart.
The time they had gone without love was too long.
Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulders blocked the window beside the bed, blocking the moonlight outside.
Lin Yingtao opened her eyes. She lay in his shadow, in the gap where his hands supported her. The bed creaked and shook. She always felt like there was a pot of ivy on the windowsill.
"Jiang Qiaoxi." she said.
Jiang Qiaoxi breathed softly, looking down at her with his sweat-washed eyes.
"Kiss me again..." She looked at him.
So Jiang Qiaoxi put his elbow beside her, lowered his neck, and kissed her lips that were dehydrated due to panting.
Lin Yingtao said, I feel like you have been thinking about it for a long time.
Jiang Qiaoxi said, what are you thinking about.
Lin Yingtao's red cheeks were still rubbing her wet hair gently, and she said, thinking about this.
Jiang Qiaoxi bent down and kissed her. Under his eyelashes, his eyes were unfathomable. "I remember the first time I saw you at school," he said, "you had your hair combed up, revealing a part of your neck, wearing a school uniform, and fetching water outside. I suddenly wondered what it would feel like to have sex with Lin Yingtao."
Lin Yingtao was stunned: "Stop talking."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "But you were angry at the time and you didn't want to pay attention to me."
Her shoulders shook.
The head of the bed was banging against each other, making loud noises, and the springs of the mattress were compressing violently.
Lin Yingtao said: "Stop talking..."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "I originally thought it would be possible only after marriage."
Lin Yingtao was the little rabbit who didn't know the danger. She jumped into Jiang Qiaoxi's hand and lay on it. She rubbed her two obedient long ears against the cold back of Jiang Qiaoxi's hand. When he really melted like ice, he caught her.
Lin Yingtao always welcomes her true happiness in tears.
She said aggrievedly, Jiang Qiaoxi, I have liked you for a long time.
Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at her.
Cherry. His voice was full of love, but also full of despair. He said, I loved you too, a long time ago... you know it.
Lin Yingtao suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.
She sat on the bed, looking through the gap in the curtains at the lamplit street outside.
She had no experience and had been confused these past few days. She lowered her eyes and covered her belly with her hand, still worried about what would happen if Jiang Yuyu came.
Remembering that she had to go to the hospital to see her cousin tomorrow, she lay down again. She stayed in Jiang Yuyu's father's arms, holding his hand and closing her eyes.
As soon as the cousin's wife saw Lin Yingtao, she showed great concern for her and even asked her if her fever had subsided and if she had rested well. Although Lin Yingtao didn't understand what happened, as soon as they met, the cousin's wife began to blame Jiang Qiaoxi for not taking good care of her and not fulfilling his responsibilities.
There were other visitors in the ward. The cousin's wife said to Jiang Qiaoxi, "They are your brother's former colleagues and old friends. Go in and let them meet you. You will be doing your internship in your third year of college soon."
In the ward, a group of old acquaintances were chatting. They were all dressed in suits and ties. Some were from Hong Kong speaking broken Mandarin, and some were from the mainland speaking with a Beijing accent. Lin Yingtao listened from a distance. They were talking about someone they knew, who seemed to be a boss who had an accident in 2008.
“… After the stroke, my three children divided up the company. I’m still in a nursing home.”
Lin Yingtao felt that the accent was very familiar.
Jiang Qiaoxi entered the ward and was immediately surrounded by the adults. Lin Yingtao heard their enthusiastic voices, saying things like "HKU" and "Morgan Stanley", probably praising Jiang Qiaoxi.
The cousin's wife smiled at Lin Yingtao and said, "His colleagues and old friends all know Qiaoxi. He has been taking care of his brother in Hong Kong for three years. It's hard to find such a dedicated brother now."
Lin Yingtao looked at her and immediately realized that her cousin's wife had put on makeup today.
After the old friends left, Lin Yingtao went into the ward with her cousin's wife. The last time she came, Jiang Qiaoxi's cousin was still lying in bed, unable to move or speak, with only tears in his eyes. This time, Lin Yingtao was supported by Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulders and walked to the bed. She said softly, "Hello, cousin, I'm Lin Qile, I'm here again during the winter vacation!"
My cousin leaned his back against the raised headboard. He had fewer tubes inserted into his body than last time, and his hair had been carefully combed. His face looked less pale, and his cheeks were fuller, not as skinny as before. He raised his eyes and looked at Lin Yingtao.
His hands hung by his side, but suddenly they were lifted up a little, with trembling fingers hanging above the bed sheet, as if he still had no strength left. Lin Yingtao immediately grabbed his right hand.
"Jiang Qiaoxi, ten years old, came to Hong Kong for the summer vacation..." The cousin suddenly said, weakly, his voice hoarse and intermittent, "He said that he met a little girl named Lin Qile."
Lin Yingtao was very nervous. This was her first time facing Jiang Qiaoxi's cousin.
"He didn't tell me... about his other classmates, right?" My cousin suddenly turned around and asked his wife who was standing beside the bed.
My cousin's wife was smiling and peeling an apple. When she turned around, she saw Jiang Qiaoxi walking around the ward aimlessly with his hands in his trouser pockets, as if he knew that my cousin was going to play a joke on him.
Lin Yingtao sat down and ate the candied apple peeled by her cousin.
She talked about the construction site in Qunshan, and then talked about her current university and the major she was studying.
“Very professional,” my cousin agreed.
Lin Yingtao smiled embarrassedly: "It's just that the salary is a little less..."
My cousin was still rather slow in all aspects. "Not a small amount," he said softly, looking at her, "very good."
Lin Yingtao did not take her cousin's words to heart. Her cousin was a patient who had lived in Hong Kong for a long time and did not understand the situation in the mainland. Moreover, most people did not know much about the current situation of kindergarten teachers. Lin Yingtao stood up because her cousin's wife suddenly stretched out her hand to signal her to take her out of the ward.
Lin Yingtao caught a glimpse of Jiang Qiaoxi walking to her cousin's bed.
My cousin's wife spoke Mandarin with a slight accent, but she tried her best to speak clearly. She glanced at Jiang Qiaoxi and saw that he hadn't followed her out. She lowered her voice and said, "You know Qiaoxi's father, right?"
Lin Yingtao stood in the hospital corridor. She was stunned: "Uncle Jiang Zheng?"
Jiang Qiaoxi and his cousin were the only two people left in the ward. He sat down on the chair where Lin Yingtao had just sat, lowering his head in silence.
"Brother," he said, "I think I should go back to the mainland."
Lin Yingtao took the phone from her cousin's wife and put it to her ear.
"Is it cherry?" Jiang Zheng asked in surprise on the phone.
Lin Yingtao was afraid that Jiang Qiaoxi might hear her, so she lowered her voice and said with a smile, "Uncle Jiang, it's me!"
Jiang Qiaoxi seemed to feel a little guilty, and he explained to his cousin.
"Cherry...can't get used to living in Hong Kong," Jiang Qiaoxi said, "Her parents are both in the mainland, and she's the only daughter in the family. Besides, she's also very homesick—"
The cousin looked at his brother and said, "Go back!"
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his eyes and looked at his cousin's legs lying limply under the quilt.
"Go back!" said my cousin.
Lin Yingtao asked: "Where is the Sudan project department?"
Jiang Zheng said tiredly: "In Africa, to help build Africa."
Lin Yingtao said, "Uncle, why are you so far away?"
Jiang Zheng said: "Make money... Are your parents healthy?"
"Everything is fine," Lin Yingtao said, "Uncle, how are you?"
Jiang Zheng suddenly laughed.
"Cherry, you're talking like a grown-up girl!"
In the ward, Jiang Qiaoxi said helplessly to his cousin: "I haven't finished college yet. Even if you ask me to go back now, I can't."
My cousin said, “I’ll leave after I graduate.”
Jiang Qiaoxi shook his head: "If I don't stay at Morgan Stanley for a few years, how can I get the money to start a family?"
Outside the ward, Lin Yingtao calmed down as she listened to the phone call.
It seemed as if Uncle Jiang Zheng wanted to say something to her but couldn't open his mouth.
Lin Yingtao asked: "Uncle Jiang, are you spending the New Year in Sudan this year?"
"Yes," Jiang Zheng immediately replied, "Cherry, are you going to spend this year with Jiang Qiaoxi's brother?"
Lin Yingtao suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
"Yeah!" she replied with a smile.
Jiang Zheng also smiled: "Then when the time comes, I'll give you a video call?"
Lin Yingtao understood all at once: Uncle wanted to see Jiang Qiaoxi.
Jiang Qiaoxi was still sitting in the ward. Lin Yingtao used her cousin's cell phone to send Uncle Jiang Zheng her own cell phone number. She also sent her QQ number and added, "International calls are too expensive. Uncle, don't you have QQ?"
While typing, Lin Yingtao caught a glimpse of a text message Jiang Zheng had sent to his cousin's wife: "Wire 40,000 US dollars on the 29th, Standard Chartered Bank. If Jiang Qiaoxi doesn't want a gift, forget it. If Cheng's surgery is successful, call again."
On the bus back home, Lin Yingtao drank iced milk tea and asked, "Did you know that Uncle Jiang has been sending money to your cousin's family?"
Lin Yingtao was very nervous, she was afraid that Jiang Qiaoxi would be unhappy.
Jiang Qiaoxi looked ahead, holding the coffee cup in his hand, and said, "I know."
Lin Yingtao looked at him.
Jiang Qiaoxi picked up the coffee and took a sip: "When Jiang Mengchu got into trouble, my uncle also lent him a lot of money."
After hearing this, Lin Yingtao said softly, "Oh."
"What's wrong?" Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his eyes and looked at her.
"Nothing," Lin Yingtao bit the straw and continued, "Uncle Jiang keeps sending money, so why do you still go out to work and work so hard?"
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled softly: "My cousin's family is in big trouble, how can that little money be enough?"
Jiang Qiaoxi has always liked to speak in a loud voice since he was a child. Forty thousand US dollars is more than two hundred thousand RMB. Lin Yingtao thought, how can this be called "a few dollars".
But at the same time, Jiang Qiaoxi was down-to-earth and willing to earn every penny. Perhaps for Jiang Qiaoxi, it was good to earn a little more and pay for his cousin's hospital stay.
"How much money does my cousin need in total?" Lin Yingtao asked.
They happened to see an ice cream truck parked on the side of the road from the window of the city bus. Jiang Qiaoxi took her hand and got off the bus together, because Lin Yingtao had eaten it the last time she came here, and she had always wanted to eat it again.
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "As long as my cousin wakes up and gradually recovers, everything will be fine. He has many friends and he has always been a very powerful person."
Lin Yingtao was eating the ice cream in her hand. She thought, since her cousin was such a capable person, why didn't these old friends come to help him before he woke up and recovered, causing his family to suffer so much.
Lin Yingtao still has a lot of adult things that she needs to slowly understand.
At the pedestrian crossing, there was a red light ahead. Lin Yingtao ate up all the ice cream.
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his eyes in the midday sun and looked at the milk stain on Lin Yingtao's slightly upturned red lips.
It seems that Lin Yingtao has been eating milk cakes like this since she was very young.
The green light came on, and the wooden fish was beating quickly. Lin Yingtao kept backing away, her head held high. Jiang Qiaoxi didn't want to eat milk ice cream just now, but now he wanted to taste hers.
Jiang Qiaoxi's landlord came to Jiang Qiaoxi with a pot full of meatballs and vegetables to have hotpot. He even brought the pot, so Jiang Qiaoxi couldn't persuade him to leave. He only heard the landlord say outside the door: "Jun Ji-hyun is here, and you refused to eat even though I invited you to dinner."
Jiang Qiaoxi opened the door and let him in.
Lin Yingtao was sitting on a mat on the floor, stealing vegetables using Jiang Qiaoxi's laptop, when she looked up and saw him.
For a moment, Lin Yingtao thought she saw Wei Yong.
"Is she Jun Ji-hyun?" The landlord, who had blonde hair with black roots, asked Jiang Qiaoxi while holding a pot.
Jiang Qiaoxi sighed: "No?"
The landlord looked for a place to put the pot and said, "What a beautiful girl!"
Lin Yingtao held the laptop on her lap. She had already had dinner and was playing on the computer. Jiang Qiaoxi and his landlord ate and chatted, as if they wanted to finish the meal as quickly as possible.
Before he even joined a big investment bank or led his own projects, Jiang Qiaoxi had to start getting used to having meals with clients.
"My father wants to invest in mainland China," the landlord looked up at him while eating fish balls, "I want to ask if you have any opinions."
Jiang Qiaoxi drank beer and said, "I haven't been to the mainland for three years."
The landlord said, "Just name one."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "House."
When the landlord heard this, he said, “We’ve already bought a lot.”
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his eyes and looked at him.
The landlord asked, "Anything else?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "I'm only a junior, why are you asking me?"
The landlord put down his chopsticks and said, "Wow, I haven't seen another brother with a GPA of 4.0 in the whole University of Hong Kong. Last year, the full score was changed to 4.3. I felt sorry for you. If you had come a few years later, maybe you would have 4.3."
Jiang Qiaoxi said disdainfully: "What's the point of just looking at the GPA?"
The landlord said, "Then what do you say that will help?"
Jiang Qiaoxi narrowed his eyes and said, "I am a rich man, but I am useful."
The landlord suddenly burst into laughter. He was amused by Jiang Qiaoxi, the serious and reserved student. "What you said makes sense!"
Lin Yingtao was clicking the mouse randomly, wondering if she had heard it wrong.
Then Jiang Qiaoxi said, "What does your father think?"
The landlord said: "My father wants to invest in Internet companies in mainland China—"
Lin Yingtao clicked around on Jiang Qiaoxi's computer, listening to Jiang Qiaoxi and the landlord talking more and more, while pretending to be busy. Lin Yingtao suddenly realized that after three years in Hong Kong, Jiang Qiaoxi actually had his own way of dealing with people, and the changes he had experienced made him more sophisticated and mature than Lin Yingtao imagined.
But he rarely showed it in front of Lin Yingtao.
Lin Yingtao accidentally opened the recycling bin on Jiang Qiaoxi's computer.
"2010 Hong Kong University - UC Berkeley Exchange Student Program Application Form.doc"
Jiang Qiaoxi finished the can of beer, and said with a smile: "Do you know that financial advisors all take commissions?"