The barbecue joint was bustling at this hour, packed to the brim when Yan Wei and Jiang Youyi arrived, with barely two tables left even among the temporary ones set up outside.
“Anything else you’d like to eat?” Jiang Youyi found an empty table and had Yan Wei sit first to hold the spot while she went inside to order.
Yan Wei shook her head. “Anything’s fine, you decide.”
Jiang Youyi didn’t insist. “Alright then, wait here a moment.” With that, she headed into the shop.
Yan Wei pulled out a few napkins to wipe the table. Street-side barbecue stalls were all pretty much the same—greasy surfaces that a quick wipe with napkins did little to clean, offering only psychological comfort. If you touched it, it still felt slick.
After placing the order, Jiang Youyi came out holding two opened bottles of soy milk, placing one beside Yan Wei. “Besides the signature items, I also ordered string beans and grilled eggplant.”
“Sure.” Yan Wei stuck a straw into the soy milk bottle and took a small, smiling sip.
Despite the crowd, the food arrived quickly. Within about ten minutes, everything Jiang Youyi had ordered was served, covering the small square table with an enticing aroma.
Yan Wei tried a bite of the beef Jiang Youyi had recommended. The pickled pepper juice had seeped into the meat, its sharpness softened by the high heat, leaving a lingering fragrance in her mouth. It was truly delicious.
Perhaps influenced by suggestion, Yan Wei felt this flavor surpassed most of the barbecues she remembered.
“Really fragrant,” Yan Wei commented honestly. “Too bad it’s a bit far from school.”
If it were nearby, she could enjoy this same deliciousness every week.
“Barbecue is fine once in a while. If you want it, I can buy some and bring it to school.” Jiang Youyi didn’t seem bothered by the distance.
She took a bite of grilled pork belly, the chili powder touching the corner of her wound without so much as a flinch.
Yan Wei chuckled, teasing deliberately. “Barbecue shops don’t open in the morning, do they? Are you planning to buy it the night before and bring it to school the next day?”
Jiang Youyi set down her skewer, appearing to think for a moment.
Yan Wei’s heart skipped a beat: No way? Is she really considering that?
“I could go back on Sunday and stay at school overnight.” After careful consideration, Jiang Youyi proposed a more reasonable solution.
If not for the setting, Yan Wei would have laughed out loud.
This classmate, who would never return to school early under any circumstances, was now willing to bend her principles just to bring Yan Wei barbecue every week.
Once again, Yan Wei regretted missing the chance to get along well with Jiang Youyi in her past life. Jiang Youyi truly was a treasure.
“No need, who eats barbecue every week anyway?” She smiled, picking up a skewer of golden-brown enoki mushrooms and changing the subject. “Why were you angry this afternoon?”
Jiang Youyi paused with her chopsticks, answering expressionlessly, “I wasn’t angry.”
“Really?”
“Mhm.”
“Then smile for me.”
“See, you are angry.” Yan Wei concluded.
Jiang Youyi: She chose to pick up a piece of chicken cartilage and bite into it with a crisp crunch.
Yan Wei cradled the glass bottle, sipping her soy milk slowly, grinning playfully. “Just tell me.” Her tone softened unconsciously, almost like a coquettish plea. “If you don’t, I’ll just have to guess, and if I guess wrong, I might stir up trouble.”
Jiang Youyi was amused by her remark, her expression softening a bit as she asked curiously, “How are you planning to stir things up?”
“For example, I’m just saying for example,” Yan Wei waved a skewer of green beans before taking a bite, devouring a third of it in one go. “I’ll find out if anyone’s been giving you a hard time lately and looking for trouble, then I’ll deal with them!”
Jiang Youyi laughed. “How would you deal with them?”
“Send threatening letters, put bugs in their backpack! Or even find someone to beat them up!” Yan Wei declared righteously, infusing her mischief with an air of solemn justice.
“Are you in elementary school?” Jiang Youyi teased, unable to hold back her smile. “I thought a top student like you would have more sophisticated ways of getting back at people.”
Yan Wei shrugged. “Old tricks are fine as long as they work.”
Jiang Youyi couldn’t argue with that and simply smiled without replying.
Yan Wei nudged Jiang Youyi’s knee lightly with her leg and asked, “Are you going to tell me or not?”
“Tell you what?” Jiang Youyi pretended not to understand, picking up a quail egg and placing it in Yan Wei’s small dish.
“Tsk.” Yan Wei understood now—no matter how much she coaxed or prodded, Jiang Youyi wouldn’t say a word if she didn’t want to.
Compared to their estranged relationship in her past life, things were already much better now. Haste makes waste—their relationship had only just begun to thaw a few days ago. Jiang Youyi didn’t want her meddling in her private affairs, and Yan Wei didn’t want to force it either.
“Let’s leave it for now,” Yan Wei said. “But if something’s bothering you, you have to tell me.”
If Jiang Youyi ever spoke up, Yan Wei would drop everything to be by her side.
It wasn’t just a personal resolve—she even felt that perhaps this was the very reason she had traveled back seven years in time. This was her mission, something she had to do.
Jiang Youyi, chewing on a piece of spare rib, looked at Yan Wei. Her dark, glass-bead-like eyes remained fixed in place for a long moment. She made a soft “mm” sound, as if in agreement, or perhaps just reacting to the heat of the skewer.
“It’s raining,” Jiang Youyi said.
As soon as the words left her lips, a cold raindrop landed on the back of Yan Wei’s hand.
Yan Wei looked up at the sky. The barbecue shop owner rushed out of the store carrying a rain canopy, calling for help from the staff to set it up. Just as the canopy was secured, a visible curtain of rain began pouring down.
In early summer, such sudden downpours were rare. Raindrops pelted the canopy with a crisp, crackling sound.
People strolling or cooling off on the street hurried back home, while customers outside the shop called for the staff to pack up their unfinished barbecue. But before they could leave, the heavy rain had already blocked their way.
Passersby nearby all gathered under the barbecue shop’s canopy to take shelter. In no time, Yan Wei and Jiang Youyi were surrounded by people.
“Is your home far?” Yan Wei put down her skewer and asked Jiang Youyi. “If the rain doesn’t stop, how will you get back?”
“I won’t go back,” Jiang Youyi replied calmly, finishing the last green bean on her plate with composure.
She stood in stark contrast to the flustered crowd, indifferent to the sudden downpour and seemingly unconcerned about her own situation.
Even tomorrow, or the long years ahead, she seemed to drift through life without much joy and rarely cared deeply about anything.
Jiang Youyi chewed slowly, then glanced down at the time on her wristwatch. Her fallen bangs hid the slight furrow of her brows.
Yan Wei stared at Jiang Youyi’s face, momentarily lost in thought. Suddenly, Jiang Youyi looked up, her gaze colliding directly with Yan Wei’s.
Jiang Youyi froze for a moment, as if forgetting what she had intended to say.
The two locked eyes for a couple of seconds before Jiang Youyi was the first to look away. She lowered her head, fiddling with a strand of her bangs and pretending to smooth it out a couple of times. Her voice grew timid, so soft it was almost drowned out by the rain: “It’s hard to get a taxi right now. Later, I’ll ask someone for an umbrella and walk you to the bus stop.”
She had stepped out of that composed, unflappable state from earlier and was now fully immersed in the noisy surroundings, carrying the scent of the mundane world.
At that moment, Yan Wei found it impossible to describe her own feelings. Her heart was beating a little too fast, tinged with a bittersweet ache and a sense of nostalgia for the past.
All this wistfulness and fluttering in her heart were secrets she kept hidden away, never shared with anyone.