He could go without a meal, but not his woman.
“I want to eat…” Sun Yuhan hesitated. “Xiaolongbao.”
“I’ll get them for you,” said Jiu Yue, rising. He remembered that there was a popular Xiaolongbao store nearby, where he and Sun Yuhan had dined a few times. She seemed to like the food there.
He opened the door and stepped outside; a gust of cold wind immediately greeted him.
It felt as though the weather had turned cold in the blink of an eye. Just a few days back, he had been wearing short-sleeved shirts, but these days he can’t do without a sweater. He was only wearing a single shirt within, and the cold wind infiltrated his sweaters through its open collars and sleeves. No wonder he was feeling cold.
He had thought about turning back to dress more warmly, but decided against it on second thought; the meat bun store was often crowded, and closed earlier than most stores. Most of the time, it would end business once everything had been sold out. If that happened, he would have to wait for the next day.
He hastened, hoping to make it before everything gets sold out.
The wind lifted the corner of his clothes, sneaking into his warm armor and stealing his heat.
A bicycle rode past him, on which rode a woman wearing a backpack and a white cotton hat. Her sweaters had furry white balls dangling from it too, which made her look like a rabbit spirit from a distance.
Jiu Yue paid little attention to her. Why would he? He couldn’t even see her face clearly.
He never paid attention to strangers.
The woman seemed to be going the same way as him, however. Somehow, she on the bike and him on his feet were around the same speed. She was in no hurry, he observed, for she rode slowly and leisurely.
Yan Huan pulled her hat lower and touched her face mask. Good. It was still in place. She wasn’t doing it to disguise herself, but purely because the weather was too cold. The coldness here was harder to endure than the moist coldness back in Sea City, and the temperature here was lower as well.
Sea City wasn’t as cold as it was back in the days; perhaps due to it being an industrialized city, or perhaps due to global warming.
Yan Huan remembered that winter always came with heavy snow when she was little. She was a soft girl, and always cried when she had to go to school in that weather, and whenever she cried her mother cried too, telling her that it’s okay if she wanted to skip school for a day. Strangely enough, Yan Huan always changed her mind whenever she said that, and insisted on going to school instead.
Perhaps she wanted to prove something, even at that age.
Her mother had told her that she was as stubborn as her grandfather, but would only smile when she asked where he was.
She had no answer to who he was, even after two lifetimes, but she wasn’t intent on finding out either.
She parked her bicycle at the side and joined the queue. The meat buns at this store were very tasty. Nothing special had happened ever since her arrival at this city, but she did fall in love with the meat buns sold at this store. One drawback was the queue was always long. Sometimes, when she came late, the meat buns would be completely sold out. That had happened once just a day ago, and she had to return home drenched in rain and empty-handed. Thankfully, she had not fallen sick after drinking ginger soup in time.
She had arrived on time today; she could tell by looking at the number of people in the queue. The number of people before her was decreasing steadily. She glanced behind her. There were many people queuing still. From where she was standing, she could see that there weren’t many meat buns left, so she knew that some of them had to go home empty-handed.
She was thankful that she had come early. Had she failed to get meat buns again, she wouldn’t have the appetite for anything.
She was going to turn around, when she glimpsed a pair of boots from the corner of her eyes. They were men’s boots, with a dent on the left…
She paused and tried to get a better look, but the long queue of people obscured the man. The man was a couple of inches taller than everyone else, his head hung low. He had a black umbrella in his hand. One, two, three, four…
She counted the number of people behind her. There were five in total. The meat buns would most likely be sold out by the time it reaches his turn.
She recalled that he had held the umbrella for her on the day before, though it was more likely to be a coincidence than goodwill. Back then, Lu Yi had sheltered her and held an umbrella for her in the rain too, even though they were complete strangers.
She took out her wallet and took out some change. When it was her turn, the cashier asked her how many bamboo steamers she wanted. She hesitated, and ordered three.
The boss packed three bamboo steamer worth of meat buns for her; each steamer contained 9 small meat buns. It cost her 10 RMB in total. She usually ate nine for dinner, which proved to be excessive sometimes.
But the meat buns here were definitely tasty. She would keep whatever she couldn’t finish and reheat them the next day for breakfast.
Returning to her bicycle, she rifled out a pack of tissue from her bag and wiped her hands. Then, sitting down on her bike, she took out a bun and began eating.
She took a bite. The dough was thin, the meat tender. Even to someone who wasn’t a huge fan of meat buns, they were undeniably tasty. Lu Yi would have been so happy to see her eating meat buns on her own accord.
She glanced at the rest of the queue as she chomped down the bun. She had thought that there would at least be enough buns for the three queuing behind her, but they ran out at the second guy. The owner began to close up the shop. The ones who got what they came for, like Yan Huan herself, ate a few in celebration, rejoicing at the fact that they had not queued for nothing. The ones who didn’t were understandably a little bitter, wishing they had come just a little earlier. Some people cared less than others, however.
There are all types of people in this world, and you can never find out what went on in someone else’s mind, simply because you aren’t them.
Still, it wasn’t hard to guess the thoughts of the people who didn’t get what they came for: they probably weren’t too happy.
For a long time, Jiu Yue stood on the same spot, unmoving.
