Chapter 11: The Scenery After Snow (2)
Yin Guo washed the vegetables, cut them into plates, and substituted the missing meat slices with sausages.
The electric hot pot was turned on, and the water soon boiled.
Lin Yiyang had arrived by train, and after the long journey, he felt grimy. He took a quick shower. Since this was his usual place to stay in New York, he naturally kept a few sets of sportswear here. After changing into his sweats, he walked up behind Yin Guo. Dressed in the full set of sportswear, his lean frame and clean, fair complexion made him look like a well-behaved student.
Earlier, he had thought about it and guessed that Yin Guo might have been looking at his arm. The tattoo wasn’t exaggerated or excessive—most of it was on the inner side of his right arm. But for a girl… it might still seem a bit much.
So, even though he found the sleeves uncomfortable around his wrists, he resisted the urge to roll them up.
He took a seat beside her, to her right.
After a second of silence, they both spoke at the same time.
“What do you want to eat first?” Yin Guo asked.
“Want something to drink?” Lin Yiyang said simultaneously.
...
“Pick whatever you like,” he replied.
“Alcohol,” she answered at the same time.
They paused again, then suddenly both laughed.
That laughter dissolved the subtle tension between them.
“I’ll get it. You start cooking,” he said, leaving his seat to fetch the alcohol. He returned, opened the bottle, and filled his own glass.
Holding the bottle over her glass, he asked, “How much?”
“Fill it up,” she replied. “I have a high tolerance. The first time I cleared the table in one go, I was drunk.”
Lin Yiyang laughed again.
It was the first time someone had confidently declared their alcohol tolerance in front of him.
As the amber liquid filled her glass, her attention was on the person pouring it.
He looked really good when he smiled. And the difference between his smiling and non-smiling expressions was striking—like two completely different people. When he wasn’t smiling, he was undeniably handsome but seemed distant, with an air of indifference and aloofness. But when he smiled, he resembled the kind of big brother next door, the type younger sisters would chase after in droves.
That evening, the two of them ate hot pot together. When the water boiled, they added ingredients, and when the food was cooked, they politely offered it to each other.
Later, as Yin Guo got more into the meal, she propped her chin on her hand and watched him talk. After a few sips of alcohol, her words occasionally slurred, her sentences tangling.
Lin Yiyang swirled his glass, watching her, occasionally tilting his head back to finish his drink in one go.
Someone who claimed to have a high tolerance was already slurring before finishing one bottle.
Meanwhile, at least six empty bottles lay at his feet, yet he remained completely sober.
By the latter half of the meal, a fierce wind howled outside, bending tree branches at exaggerated angles. Snow began to fall again.
“How will they get back? Will the subway stop running again?” she asked, a little worried.
Lin Yiyang wasn’t concerned. “They’re grown men, not girls. They can spend the night anywhere.”
Fair point.
Most of the food in the pot had been fished out.
Should they sit a little longer, or start cleaning up?
Yin Guo couldn’t help glancing at him. Through the rising steam, he looked just like that night—his pupils dark and fixed on her. That had been the first time she had locked eyes with a man at such close range, and it had startled her. Back then, she had only wondered what nationality he was…
Lin Yiyang bent down, picked up a half-empty bottle from the floor, and tilted it toward her in a silent question—asking if she wanted more.
“No, I’m good. You finish it,” Yin Guo said, standing up and stacking the plates together, ready to start cleaning."Leave it here," he said. "I haven't finished eating yet."
He wanted to clean up himself and could only use this excuse.
But there really wasn't much left in the pot. He picked up his chopsticks and stirred the water symbolically a couple of times.
Probably still hungry but too embarrassed to say so? Yin Guo thought.
Next time, she'd prepare more food.
That night, a blizzard raged across the city. Wu Wei and his cousin were out at a bar and didn't return.
March in New York was as cold as December in the Northeast.
Yet the indoor heating was unbearably hot—much warmer than the hotel. By midnight, Yin Guo felt suffocated, her throat dry. She got up from bed, drank the glass of water on her nightstand, and headed for the bathroom.
She had assumed Lin Yiyang was asleep, but when she opened the door, she found him sitting alone in the living room, browsing the internet at the dining table. With no other lights on, the glow from his laptop screen immediately caught her attention.
"You're still awake?" she asked in surprise.
His first reaction was to snap the laptop shut. "Is the screen too bright?"
Great.
Now the room was completely dark.
"No, not at all. I was just going to the bathroom." Yin Guo groped forward cautiously, step by step.
It was only her first day here, and she wasn't yet familiar with the apartment's layout. She tried to recall where the light switch was.
A soft click later, the room flooded with light as Lin Yiyang turned it on for her.
Under the bright illumination, she noticed Lin Yiyang had already changed clothes. Probably because of the heat, he had taken off his outerwear and was now only wearing athletic shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. As a result, the tattoos he had deliberately concealed during dinner were now fully exposed.
Seeing her gaze linger on his right arm again, Lin Yiyang reached for his tracksuit on the sofa and hastily pulled it on.
Seizing the opportunity, Yin Guo hurried to the bathroom.
She looked at herself in the mirror—what a mess.
Before bed, she had let her hair down, but the heat had made her toss and turn so much that her waist-length curls were now a tangled mess over her shoulders. No wonder mixed-gender roommates were rare—it was indeed awkward to dash to the bathroom in front of a near-stranger.
At least she wasn’t wearing pajamas but a tracksuit instead.
She made a frustrated face at her reflection and splashed some water on her face.
When she came out, Lin Yiyang had already packed up his laptop, the power cord neatly coiled—apparently ready to head to bed.
Yin Guo waved at him and whispered, "Good night," before darting back to her room.
The moment her door closed, she immediately reopened it and poked her head out. "You can keep working. It won’t bother me. I can’t sleep anyway—I’ll be playing on my phone for a while."
Watching the door shut again, Lin Yiyang exhaled softly and rubbed the back of his stiff, sore neck—he’d been sitting too long.
Unconsciously, his eyes drifted back to that door.
Yin Guo lay back in bed, scrolling through her phone.
No sounds came from outside.
A sliver of light still seeped under the door—was he working on his thesis now?
Suddenly, a message from Lin Yiyang popped up on her phone.
Lin: Need to tell you something.
Xiao Guo: Yeah?
Lin: I promised your brother I’d take him somewhere tomorrow.
Xiao Guo: Go ahead. No need to tell me—he always does his own thing.
Lin: Wu Wei’s coming too.
Xiao Guo: Oh, okay.
Lin: If we’re all gone, will you be fine staying home alone?
Of course—she wasn’t a child.
Xiao Guo: No problem. I have training in the afternoon anyway, so I won’t be home.
Lin: OK.
No follow-up?
The light under the door vanished—he must have gone to bed.Yin Guo stared at the chat box between the two of them. It felt like something was missing. Why wasn’t he sending the coffee emoji anymore?
People really shouldn’t develop habits. The slightest disruption to any routine could make one feel uneasy. Holding her phone idly, Yin Guo scrolled to Zheng Yi’s WeChat and started chatting about her and Lin Yiyang’s alma mater. When Zheng Yi heard that Lin Yiyang had been a poor student, she was utterly shocked and couldn’t stop exclaiming—what an impressive man, the kind who truly made it on his own.
Suddenly, a new message notification popped up.
Lin: [Coffee]
Her heart skipped a beat.
Before she could reply, Zheng Yi sent another message.
Zheng Yi: My school had this unique thing—since it was a missionary school, they didn’t give out free condoms. Every other school did, though. Ugh.
…
Reading that—
She couldn’t even reply to Lin Yiyang normally now.
Lin Yiyang leaned against the fridge, wondering if he had expressed himself poorly.
Had she not realized he was trying to ask her out?
She hadn’t replied with the [Smile] emoji again, and he wasn’t used to that.
He stood there, absentmindedly tapping the fridge door twice before deciding to drop it. He grabbed a canned coffee from the fridge, shuffled back in his slippers, picked up his laptop, and returned to his bedroom to keep working.
This time, the snow stopped quickly.
Her cousin came back in the morning and slept in until eleven. After freshening up and changing into clean clothes, he enthusiastically invited Yin Guo to join him and the other two for a trip to Chelsea Market.
His reasoning was simple: since they had to eat lunch anyway, why not make it a fun group outing?
Yin Guo thought it made sense, so she changed and stepped out of her room.
Lin Yiyang and Wu Wei were waiting for them by the kitchen counter. When they saw Yin Guo being coaxed out of her room, Wu Wei nudged Lin Yiyang’s foot under the counter as a hint.
Lin Yiyang ignored him and instead asked Yin Guo, “What time are you planning to come back to practice?”
“Around three or four?” She considered it. “If we eat a big lunch, we can skip dinner and practice straight until eight or nine.”
He nodded, already calculating in his head.
By noon, they arrived at Chelsea.
The entire market was lined with food stalls—you could eat standing, holding your plate, sitting, outside the stalls, or inside the shops. Lin Yiyang, familiar with the place, led them to a seafood spot. The shop was filled with refrigerated displays, with sushi and sashimi lining the walls and seafood counters in the center.
Large blocks of white ice held shrimp, sea urchin, oysters, clams, and more.
Her cousin, who loved oysters, stood in front of the oyster counter, eyeing the thirty or forty varieties while mentally checking his wallet’s limits. Lin Yiyang clapped him on the back. “Get four dozen first. My treat.”
He handed Yin Guo a plate of sliced sea urchin and told her to wait at a small table. Pulling out cash from his wallet, he handed it to Wu Wei to follow Meng Xiaotian and buy whatever small bites he wanted. Meanwhile, Lin Yiyang headed to the lobster stall.
Just the sea urchin and oysters alone were enough to crowd the table.
“Too cramped, too cramped,” Wu Wei said, moving the sea urchin to a long table by the window where a row of people sat, leaving just two empty seats. “Yin Guo, go sit by the window.”
Without overthinking it, Yin Guo went and took a seat, saving the other spot for Lin Yiyang.
Lin Yiyang returned with two lobsters, placing them in front of Yin Guo before turning away. Moments later, he came back with two more.Meng Xiaotian grinned and said, "Thanks, bro."
"Isn't your Brother Yang generous?" Wu Wei chuckled in praise. "He's the most generous."
Damn, a dozen oysters each without discount, a lobster each, plus sea urchins and prawns.
My dear Young Master Yang, your courting standards are truly top-notch.
There goes a month's food budget—though you earn enough to splurge like this.
Lin Yiyang sat down beside Yin Guo when his phone vibrated. He glanced down to see a message from Wu Wei.
Wu Wei: If you dare say you're not interested in her, I'll rip your head off and kick it around for fun.
He didn't reply.
Yin Guo had just taken a bite of sea urchin when Lin Yiyang got up again.
When he returned, he brought hot seafood soup for all four of them, worried they might get stomachaches from eating too much raw food.
Wu Wei and Lin Yiyang had been friends since childhood, yet he had never seen Young Master Yang show such consideration before. He was so moved he could cry. Turns out, for a man to mature, he first needs someone in his heart.
Lin Yiyang sat back down and noticed Yin Guo had eaten several pieces of sea urchin but hadn’t touched the oysters. So he swapped one of the dozen oysters from his plate for more sea urchin from Wu Wei’s table and placed them beside Yin Guo.
"Aren’t you eating?" Yin Guo asked the man seated to her right.
Lin Yiyang picked up an oyster, signaling that he was.
Yin Guo smiled at him.
Seeing her struggle with the lobster body using her fork, he casually snapped off the claws from both lobsters and tossed them onto her plate.
What Lin Yiyang wanted to say was: The claw meat is the tenderest and sweetest, while the body meat is tougher and harder to chew—so eat the claws.
But what came out instead was: "Finish these first."
Yin Guo didn’t think much of it, assuming he might find the claws too small and troublesome to eat, so he’d given them to her.
She picked up her fork and started dissecting the first claw. Men didn’t eat as delicately as she did—he finished the lobster body in two or three bites while she was still working on the second claw.
So he slowed down, leisurely sipping his seafood soup, squeezing lemon juice over the oysters, and eating them one by one as a pastime.
Between bites, he idly played with an oyster shell.
Girls ate slowly, and in the past, he’d been impatient—even with his junior sisters, he’d leave as soon as he finished.
But since last night, he’d started to think that eating slowly wasn’t so bad. It gave him time to learn her tastes and chat. He spun an oyster shell on the table with his index finger as he talked to Yin Guo about past snowstorms.
Meanwhile, he listened to Wu Wei and Meng Xiaotian whispering behind them.
The two were discussing nearby attractions. Wu Wei mentioned the High Line Park nearby—an elevated park built on a disused railway bridge—and an art gallery next to it.
Meng Xiaotian wasn’t interested. What’s so great about a park?
Wu Wei lowered his voice. "From the park, you can see a hotel with floor-to-ceiling windows in every room—like little glass boxes."
So what? A hotel’s just a hotel, no matter how pretty. The cousin looked baffled.
Lin Yiyang could guess what Wu Wei would say next.
Amused, he took another sip of seafood soup.
They were talking about the Standard Hotel.Because each room was like a glass box, standing in the park and looking up at the rooms above, you could see couples doing intimate things inside. Everyone maintained an unspoken agreement—no curtains drawn—and even enjoyed putting on a little show while waving to the tourists strolling through the park below, gazing upward.
It was a kind of quirky charm, not something you’d see every day. If you were lucky, you might catch a live performance.
Last time Lin Yiyang came here with his classmates, they encountered a couple. The moment the two heard him explain this local tradition, they got excited and immediately booked a room, leaving the curtains open for their own show.
Of course, he didn’t watch. He went off to drink coffee near the art gallery instead.
Young men, full of vigor, loved this sort of thing. After exchanging a few words, the two guys devoured all the seafood in five minutes and then dashed off to explore the park. Yin Guo stared through the glass in surprise as the two burly men walked away arm in arm. “Is the park really that fun?”
Wasn’t that park built on an elevated railway? Who’d want to go up there to catch the cold wind in this weather?
Lin Yiyang pulled out a napkin, wiped his hands, and glanced at his phone. “The view’s nice. It’s worth a look.”
On his phone was yet another message from Wu Wei.
Wu Wei: Got rid of the third wheel for you. Big bro’s pointing you toward the promised land—prime spot for picking up girls.
Wu Wei sent a location pin for a particular shop.
Lin Yiyang knew the area well. A quick scan told him exactly what kind of place it was. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and idly spun an empty oyster shell a couple more times.
Suddenly, he stopped and looked at her thoughtfully.
Yin Guo had been sipping seafood soup when she noticed his expression. Thinking he was impatient to visit the park and that she was eating too slowly, she quickly downed two more mouthfuls from the paper bowl, warming her stomach.
She grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth clean. “I’m done.”
“You—” He kept staring at her.
Yin Guo met his gaze. One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Was there something urgent? He looked so serious. Had the subway stopped running? Would they need to take a taxi back—or worse, walk? Or had the landlord suddenly changed their mind about renting to her?
“Do you want a Magnum?” he finally asked.
Huh?
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