“It is scary.” Duoyao nodded in agreement. This was definitely trauma that came out from Ruan Yang’s relationship with Xin Ziao. One would only run into such scum with eight lives’ worth of bad luck.
“You don’t have to be so pessimistic either,” Changqing comforted her tenderly. “There are still a lot of good men out there. It’s only normal for them to like you and pursue you. You just need time to slowly understand them.”
Ruan Yang shook her head. She didn’t think so. Hadn’t she known Xin Ziao for long enough? But she only really got to know the real him in the end. “If men don’t want you to understand them, you’ll never be able to really understand them.”
“Your way of thinking is wrong,” Duoyao said. “Just look at Song Chuyi—after Changqing gave birth, she’s been behaving like an unreasonable b*tch. Sometimes, even I can’t stand it, but he still pampers her like she’s his treasure.”
Changqing pouted. Is she praising me or dissing me? “Don’t talk about me. You’re the same. You’re so unthoughtful towards men and keep running out all the time, on top of throwing tantrums for no reason. I really take my hat off to Brother Molun for being able to embrace you. If I were a man, I would’ve kicked you out a long time ago.”
“If I were a man, I would’ve kicked you out too,” Duoyao retorted.
After not seeing them bicker for a long time, Ruan Yang found it funny and heartwarming. “Alright, cut it out, the two of you. I know you want to give me confidence but there’s no need to attack each other. Actually, the two of you are just really lucky. Sometimes, I feel that people always meet the same kind of men no matter where they go. Perhaps I’m just afraid of history repeating itself so I’m afraid of getting into another relationship. I’ve already thought things through. There’s nothing bad about being alone; it’s free and unrestricting.”
Duoyao and Changqing exchanged gazes and sighed.
“Then when are you going back to Norway?” Changqing asked and said reluctantly, “Don’t go back.”
“I don’t know. Let’s talk about it another time.” Ruan Yang started to play with Yan Wo. Yan Wo seemed to like her and he was laughing happily, making Duoyao very glum.
…
Duoyao left in her company’s minivan at around 4 pm while Ruan Yang stayed for dinner.
In the evening, Changqing received a call from Song Chuyi. After hanging up, she said to Ruan Yang with a smile, “Song Chuyi said Li Shaobin and Charlotte are coming over for dinner tonight.”
“Charlotte?” Ruan Yang was slightly stunned. She smiled and asked, “His girlfriend?”
“Why do all of you say that?” Charlotte covered her mouth and laughed. “It’s Robben and Lolita’s child. I gave him one and Shaobin named her Charlotte.”
Ruan Yang raised her brows. “I think there’s an American model with the same name.”
“Yes, yes, yes, that’s how her name came about.” Changqing laughed out loud. “He likes big breasts.”
Ruan Yang laughed.
…
Not long after, they could hear the sound of the car engine outside which was followed by Robben and Lolita’s excited barks. Changqing knew Li Shaobin had arrived.
Indeed, not long after, Li Shaobin’s crisp voice came from the door. He was wearing a black jacket today. The color wasn’t bad but the jacket had tassels, which made Changqing cringe. Ever since she started giving Li Shaobin pointers on how to dress up last year, his taste had worsened in the last half year.
“Changqing, do you have guests over?” Li Shaobin came in after changing his shoes and saw a woman with shoulder-length hair standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with her back facing him as she talked on her phone. Her back showed off her glamorous figure, her perky butt, and slender waist. He laughed and said, “When did you have a friend like this? Why didn’t you introduce her to me?”
Changqing chuckled and said, “You’ve seen her before.”
Li Shaobin was slightly bewildered. Just then, Ruan Yang hung up and turned around. Her eyes were glistening with an apparent smile, probably because she heard what he said just now. She said, “Hello Young Master Li, I am Ruan Yang.”
Li Shaobin was dumbfounded for a very long time before he uttered, “F*ck. Why did you cut your hair short? Don’t tell me it’s because of Xin Ziao, that scum? Isn’t there a song that goes: ‘I’ve already cut my hair short, cut away my longings’…”
No one thought he would actually start singing and it didn’t sound good. Changqing looked awkward and quickly interrupted him. “I didn’t think a man like you would sing a woman’s song.”
“Of course. People always sing this song in our triad, especially when someone falls out of love,” Li Shaobin said lazily. “There’s an accountant in our casino and when he fell out of love last time, he got a buzz cut. It was hideous. I think you women are just like that too.”
“I only cut it recently.” Compared to Changqing’s awkwardness, Ruan Yang was rather calm. “It’s not because I fell out of love but because it’s a hassle to make dessert when your hair is long.”
“Oh.” Li Shaobin wanted to continue when Changqing kicked him under the table. He quickly shut his mouth tightly. Fine, Ruan Yang wanted to make an excuse for her hair-cut. Why must he add salt to her wounds? No matter what, both of them had been hurt by Xin Ziao before. “No wonder I haven’t seen you lately. I remembered Changqing said you went to learn how to make pastries. How did it go? Why don’t you make something for us to try tonight?”
“Brother Shaobin, Ruan Yang is a guest.” Changqing clenched her teeth. “Why don’t you make it?”
“I don’t know how,” Li Shaobin said innocently. “If I knew how, I wouldn’t mind making it. I don’t view myself as a guest anyway.”
Changqing facepalmed. Ruan Yang tilted her head thoughtfully and said with a smile, “He’s right—I’ve been learning about making pastries for such a long time but I haven’t made anything for you guys to try. Changqing, I remember you have an oven at home, right?”
“Yes, Auntie Zhang often makes desserts too…”
“Then let me make a dessert for you guys,” Ruan Yang said with a smile as she stood up from the couch, looking excited.
Auntie Zhang took her around the kitchen to look at the ingredients available. Ruan Yang looked around for a while and was a little disappointed. “These ingredients aren’t really great but we can make do with these.”
Auntie Zhang felt immensely hurt. She was pretty happy making desserts here usually.
Changqing quickly went over to comfort Auntie Zhang. “It’s okay, you’re not a professional pastry chef anyway.”
She walked over to watch Ruan Yang making the dessert. Ruan Yang, who didn’t know anything about pastries before, now looked like a professional.
In the living room, Li Shaobin held Yan Wo lovingly, kissing him here and touching him there. He didn’t realize a child could be so cute. As a rough man, Yan Wo brought out a gentler side of him.
—————————
Song Chuyi came back after 6 pm and the first thing he saw was Li Shaobin carrying Yan Wo gently, walking around in the living room, occasionally pulling ugly faces and kissing him, making Yan Wo laugh merrily.
Song Chuyi pressed his glabella. Ever since Changqing gave birth, Li Shaobin had been coming to the Yan Household often. “Since you like kids so much, why don’t you look for someone to give birth to one for yourself soon?”
Li Shaobin nodded seriously. “Seeing Yan Wo suddenly makes me feel like becoming a father now.”
Song Chuyi almost tripped over nothing. Nothing sounded more horrifying than Li Shaobin saying something like that. “Are you sick?”
“You’re the one who’s sick.” Li Shaobin rolled his eyes at Song Chuyi. “Haven’t you noticed that ever since your child was born, Mingwei and Siyao have rarely come out? They’re staying home every day, making a child behind closed doors.”
Song Chuyi nodded. He knew that. “However, it seems it isn’t easy for Siyao to be impregnated. Otherwise, how is she not pregnant even after they’ve been married for so many years? She has to nurse her body back to proper health before she can conceive.”
“That’s a problem. Looks like I’ll have to take note of this in case I marry a wife who can’t give birth,” Li Shaobin muttered to himself. “Now that you mention it, I met a female cop recently and she’s pretty interesting. I think she’s quite interested in me too. We can try to understand each other. I think it might work out.”
“Are you sure as a triad boss that it’s appropriate for you to be with a female cop?” Song Chuyi asked. “I’m going upstairs to shower and change.”
…
At around 6:40 pm, Ruan Yang carried out a white ceramic plate. There was a three-tier black forest cake on the plate. It was an alternating black and white layered cake with cherries on top as decoration and a drizzle of cherry juice. It was exquisite and pretty.
Li Shaobin’s eyes lit up. “You made this? It looks pretty good.”
“Try it.” Ruan Yang cut the cake and gave everyone a piece. They were all full of praise.
Even Li Shaobin gave her a big thumbs up. “This isn’t bad indeed. It feels just like those high-class desserts I had when I went to Europe.”
“Yeah, Ruan Yang. You’re incredible,” Changqing said as she ate. “Why don’t you stay here and open a dessert shop? That way, I can leech on your desserts every day.”
“And then turn into a round fatty within a year.” Li Shaobin laughed loudly.
“You’re the fatty.” Changqing rolled her eyes and quickly put the remaining cake on her plate.
Song Chuyi stopped her. “Eat a little less. You haven’t recovered. You can’t eat too much of this.”
“Don’t eat it; I’ll have it. It won’t go to waste.” Li Shaobin swept all the cake onto his plate and finished it up cleanly.
He had a particularly good appetite and ate two extra bowls of rice during dinner. Ruan Yang clicked her tongue in amazement. “You really eat a lot.”
“Can’t be helped. Auntie Zhang has good cooking skills.” Li Shaobin was full of praise as he curried Auntie Zhang’s favor, making her chuckle happily. She told him to come over for a meal again.
After dinner, they chatted for a while but suddenly, thunder rumbled outside. “I’ll get going first in case it starts to rain heavily later,” Ruan Yang said.
“Sure. You didn’t drive, right?” Changqing quickly told Li Shaobin who had his fill: “Brother Shaobin, it’s getting late. You should get going soon and take Ruan Yang home on the way.”
Li Shaobin stared wide-eyed. “Chuyi, your wife is blatantly chasing me away.”
“Yeah. Leave quickly.” Chuyi also waved him off with disdain.
Li Shaobin stood up with no choice and Ruan Yang said with a slight smile, “Sorry to trouble you.” If it wasn’t because of the thunder, she wouldn’t have really wanted to accept a ride.
“It’s no problem.” Li Shaobin walked out after changing his shoes and called out for Charlotte for a long time but she ignored him. At last, he had to run to the backyard to carry Charlotte up into the car. As he ran, Li Shaobin and a bunch of puppies chased him.
He escaped into the car and quickly shut the car door. Song Chuyi went over to chide the dogs so that Ruan Yang could get into the car. She sat in the passenger’s seat and in the backseat, a strange little dog hung its head. It looked like a Labrador yet at the same time, it looked like a Husky too. It looked a little cute and dim-witted.
She turned around and stroked Charlotte’s head. The little puppy moaned a little and climbed towards the front. Charlotte had long legs and could easily crawl into her embrace.
The dog wasn’t as big as Robben and was plump.
Li Shaobin glanced at the woman and dog. Charlotte’s a female dog—why does she like sticking to women so much? “Do you still live at the same place?”
Ruan Yang muttered “Mm” and didn’t say anymore. She didn’t look like she wanted to talk to him.
Li Shaobin was rarely this quiet. He was usually a chatterbox but he felt that Ruan Yang didn’t seem to like talking a lot. The two of them seemed to belong to different worlds and he didn’t have as many interesting topics to discuss with Ruan Yang as he did with Changqing.
The car drove on for a while when a flash of lightning bolted through the sky suddenly, causing Charlotte to cower in fear in Ruan Yang’s embrace. She quickly covered Charlotte’s two droopy ears and held Charlotte a little tighter.
Immediately after that was a huge downpour. It was just like a cascading waterfall, making it difficult to see the road ahead clearly and only a little glimpse of light could be seen.
Li Shaobin muttered “F*ck” and Ruan Yang felt extremely apologetic. If she had known it would be like this, she wouldn’t have let him take her home, or even if she left a little later, it wouldn’t have turned out like this. “Why don’t you stop by the side of the road for a while and wait for the rain to improve?”
“… There’s no need.” Li Shaobin saw the cars around him driving and felt that he shouldn’t be belittled as a triad boss. Hence, he said nonchalantly, “Don’t worry, I’ve driven in heavier rain.”
Ruan Yang was worried. She could only see faint light ahead despite sitting in the front. The windshield wipers were already at the highest speed.