Xi Shi was left hanging, neither here nor there, and had absolutely no mood to spout nonsense like "I stayed because I was worried about you."
She rubbed her wrist expressionlessly and hummed in acknowledgment.
Lin Youhe turned his head, coughing until his neck flushed red, before asking in a hoarse voice, "I might need to go to the hospital. Would it be too much trouble to ask Miss Xi to drive me there in my car?"
Xi Shi couldn't suppress her true feelings and said irritably, "Going to the hospital again? I thought you had angels watching over you, no need to make trips there."
Bullying an honest man wasn't really any fun.
All he ever did was smile at you!
Lin Youhe sat on the edge of the bed in his loose, soft loungewear, smiling at Xi Shi with eyes that were clearly sick and bloodshot, his gaze hazy and moist.
Xi Shi said, somewhat awkwardly, "What does Mr. Lin want to do now?"
This good-tempered Mr. Lin said, with perfect courtesy, "I'd like to change my clothes."
Xi Shi: "…"
Xi Shi honestly hadn't figured out why she felt the need to play the good Samaritan and play nice by driving Lin Youhe. She rarely went without high heels, and when the car reached a certain intersection, Lin Youhe said he wanted to stop for a moment.
Dragging his ailing body out of the car, he bought a fragrant seafood congee from a shop by the roadside.
The congee was indeed very fragrant, but…
Xi Shi frowned, drawing on the common knowledge she'd accumulated from living with her grandmother in the past, and asked, "Isn't it bad to eat 'trigger foods' when you're sick?"
Lin Youhe smiled and said, "It is, but this is for you. After you drop me off at the hospital entrance, you can drive back. There are too many patients at the hospital—you might catch something."
Xi Shi pressed the brakes at a red light and turned her head to look at Lin Youhe in the passenger seat.
The red light lasted thirty-eight seconds.
Their silent gazes held until the seventeenth second, when each looked away, only to turn back almost simultaneously three seconds later, resuming their locked-eye state.
Xi Shi's breathing was a little uneven. She frowned, and only when the red light jumped to green did she turn her head back, staring aimlessly at the traffic signal.
She started the car amid the honking from behind, drove through the green light, and followed the flow of traffic into the gates of the Municipal People's Hospital, stopping in front of the outpatient building.
After getting out, Lin Youhe didn't hurry away. He braced himself against the top of the car door and leaned down to tap on the window.
Xi Shi rolled down the window.
Lin Youhe's gaze suddenly turned serious. "Back then… I thought it was a dream. I'm sorry if I offended you."
His voice was still hoarse. He left after saying that.
The outpatient entrance wasn't a place for long-term parking.
Xi Shi restarted the car and drove all the way to the entrance of Jinyue Jingyuan No. 1 before she realized what Lin Youhe had meant—
Wait, so it was okay to rub her wrist in a dream?
As if he dreamed about her all the time.
If Lin Youhe weren't so utterly proper, Xi Shi would almost suspect the man was trying to seduce her.
Xi Shi had always harbored a vague suspicion about how smoothly things went when approaching her targets.
Even now, she remained wary.
But what danger could Lin Youhe possibly pose?
Xi Shi's last target had been extremely difficult to get close to—a woman who was a financial director, divorced after her husband had an affair with a young girl, and who harbored a disgust and hostility toward young, impeccably made-up women that even she herself hadn't realized.
To get close to that financial director, Xi Shi had to make herself look pathetic, sloppy, and careless, putting on the act of a woman who'd been dumped and had given up on herself. Only then did that woman, in her gleeful sympathy, gradually come to call Xi Shi a "friend."
As for Xi Shi's new target…
Back home, Xi Shi stood before the full-length mirror and scrutinized herself from head to toe.
Could it be that this face of hers was particularly pleasing to Lin Youhe's eye?
She felt as though a faint, tingling warmth still lingered on the inside of her wrist. Xi Shi raised her hand and cast an appraising glance at the faint blue veins beneath her pale skin.
She thought: whether the target suited her taste, or she suited the target's taste, neither should be a bad thing.
It could be used to her advantage.
Lin Youhe had to receive IV drips at the hospital for three consecutive days before he improved. When Xi Shi next went to his place, he was standing in the kitchen brewing a pot of warm longan and red date tea to ward off the cold.
They'd arranged to meet earlier.
She keyed in the passcode herself, changed into the women's slippers, and leaned against the entryway, raising a hand in greeting to Lin Youhe, who poked his head out from the kitchen.
As Lin Youhe broke into a gentle, refined smile, Xi Shi heard a triple string of worried questions coming from the phone he'd left on the kitchen counter—
"Teacher Lin, are you feeling better?"
"Can you really come tomorrow?"
"It's been so cold these days—don't push yourself!"
"I won't push myself."
Lin Youhe replied in a warm voice, "I can make it."
That was probably one of Lin Youhe's students: "That's great! After the rehearsal, we were thinking of going for hotpot. Teacher Lin, why don't you come eat with us!"
Lin Youhe said with a smile, "If I'm treating, then sure."
In the midst of the noisy phone conversation, another voice came through: "How could we let you pay for all of us to eat? Why don't we split the bill and treat you instead?"
Lin Youhe said they could use their student IDs for a discount, but he insisted on paying for the meal himself—otherwise, he wouldn't go.
Xi Shi didn't continue listening. She waved goodbye to Lin Youhe and walked into the living room where the television sound was clearer. She curled up into a comfortable position on the sofa, vaguely hearing the students on the other end of the phone laughing and saying something more.
After hanging up, Lin Youhe came over carrying a cup of warm red date and longan tea meant to ward off the cold. "I heard this tea is good for women. Try it and see if you like it."
Xi Shi asked deliberately, "Good in what way?"
Lin Youhe said sheepishly, "Your hands are always so cold…"
The two apartments had exactly the same layout, and Lin Youhe's place even had a cooler, more muted color scheme in its decor, but Xi Shi always felt a sense of warmth in his home.
It reminded her of the grandmother she had once depended on.
Lin Youhe said he was going to make a fish head soup to thank Xi Shi for taking care of him that day. After pouring the tea, he disappeared back into the kitchen.
Xi Shi took a sip of the hot tea and began to think:
The original target was Chen Chen. Once contact reached a certain level, the conversation would inevitably turn to family elders.
Even if she had to lie low for three to five years, she would eventually have a chance to learn Chen Lintian's current situation and address.
Now things were a bit more complicated.
Because Lin Youhe wasn't a direct relative or close friend of Chen Lintian's, the opportunities for them to naturally bring up the father of Lin Youhe's friend weren't actually all that frequent.
Lin Youhe's condition had already improved, so Xi Shi no longer needed to drive him around. That meant the previous plan couldn't be advanced for now—she could only wait for the right moment.
How was she supposed to extract from Lin Youhe the address of someone completely unrelated to her?
Xi Shi looked at the tall, graceful figure in the kitchen and thought to herself that maintaining contact and building the relationship couldn't be wrong at this point.
So Xi Shi applied some lip balm, pressed her lips together, and walked into the steaming kitchen. When Lin Youhe turned around at the sound of her approach, she extended the hand that had been holding the teacup.
Her warm fingertips gently touched the wound at the corner of his lips. "This injury still hasn't healed?"
Lin Youhe was silent for a moment, then actually pushed Xi Shi by the shoulders toward the kitchen exit. "The soup in the kitchen makes it stuffy in here. Miss Xi, why don't you wait in the living room?"
With that, he closed the kitchen door.
Xi Shi, who had been planning to lure Lin Youhe into a kiss, stood outside the door, her head full of question marks.
Lin Youhe was wasting that face that looked so kissable and so perfect for sleeping next to!
No, wait.
How could he be so old-fashioned, so proper, and so easily embarrassed?
In the period that followed, Lin Youhe declined Xi Shi's invitations twice, citing his responsibility for rehearsing the school's New Year's Eve gala—and only twice.
Thinking about this, Lin Youhe let out a soft laugh.
Xi Shi seemed to still be figuring out how to extract useful information about Chen Lintian from him, and her approach had lost some of its initial enthusiasm.
Especially after Lin Youhe deliberately stopped bringing up Chen Chen and Chen Lintian, Xi Shi's demeanor became somewhat perfunctory, as if she were going through the motions.
When she received his call yesterday and heard him ask if she wanted to have dinner tonight, Xi Shi had even hesitated for a few seconds before saying, with little enthusiasm, "Oh, sure."
It was snowing outside again.
Lin Youhe stood sideways against the floor-to-ceiling glass of the balcony, hands in his pockets, three buttons of his white shirt undone at the collar, gazing at some spot in the snowy, windy scenery beyond the window.
A taxi pulled up at the entrance to the residential complex.
The door opened, and a pair of high-heeled leather boots with an imposing presence stepped out, followed by Xi Shi emerging with her fluffy berry-brown curls.
When Xi Shi stood up straight, her curls slid off her shoulder. She gathered the open front of her long white coat, clutched her small bag, and walked with her head held high and eyes straight ahead into the drifting snow, beautiful as a white rose blooming in a blizzard.
Just in terms of temperament…
Xi Shi had a regal, keep-your-distance queenly aura about her.
Lin Youhe wished Xi Shi were truly as formidable, proud, and coldly aloof as she appeared.
But she wasn't really like that.
Lin Youhe watched from above as Xi Shi's figure walked step by step into the residential complex. Only three seconds after she disappeared from his line of sight did he lower his lashes and look away.
Lin Youhe strolled unhurriedly back from the balcony. As he crossed the living room, he leisurely buttoned up the buttons at his shirt collar, then bent down to pick up the glasses case from the sofa.
He opened the case as he walked, took out the glasses, and wiped the lenses with a cloth.
By the time Lin Youhe ambled to the entryway, placed the empty glasses case on the cabinet there, and pushed open the security door, he happened to hear the "ding—" of the elevator arriving.
Xi Shi had just turned the corner from the elevator hall when she saw Lin Youhe leaning against the security door.
She walked over gracefully, a teasing smile in her eyes. "Mr. Lin, did you forget your door lock password? I just happen to remember it."
Lin Youhe smiled.
There was gentle apology in his eyes. "I was waiting here specially for Miss Xi to come back."
Xi Shi raised an eyebrow. "What now? Looks like I'm being stood up by Mr. Lin today."
Lin Youhe seemed rather embarrassed by Xi Shi's remark. He pressed his lips together before explaining, "It's my friend's father—something came up and he needs help. I just got the call a moment ago, and I have to head over now. I really owe them a lot. I'm truly sorry, Miss Xi. How about I treat you to dinner tomorrow?"
A single melted snowflake rested on Xi Shi's long, curled lashes. She raised her hand, brushing the droplet away with the back of her finger, concealing the sharp glint that lit up in her eyes.
"I was just joking. Dinner can happen any day—don't feel guilty, go on ahead."
Xi Shi asked casually, "By the way, what's so urgent? Want me to come along?"
Lin Youhe hesitated in silence for a few seconds, then shook his head decisively. "Better not trouble you."
Xi Shi smiled. "A blind date, then?"
Lin Youhe quickly waved his hands. "No, it's just that the elders always… if I show up with someone, they might ask if she's my girlfriend. I'm worried it might make you uncomfortable."
After explaining, Lin Youhe hurried off.
Xi Shi, however, followed that train of thought: The identity of a girlfriend does seem quite convenient.
You could meet the elders.
And you could kiss.