Chapter 113: I Only Care About You

Li Zhe laughed heartily. “Of course!” He rummaged through his pockets for a long time before finally taking down a keychain from his waist. From it, he detached a metal key fob and handed it to her. “Yanyan, I don’t really have anything to give you, so just take this and play with it.”

Dong Yanyan took it and saw that it was a small tank made from a bullet casing. It felt quite substantial in her hand, with the cool, metallic texture.

She reached into her backpack, unhooked the Pinocchio charm from the zipper, and attached it to his keychain. Then she hung the key fob he gave her onto her backpack’s zipper. Lifting the bag to look, she found the combination surprisingly matching.

“Li Zhe, you two have to have a drink! Waiter, two more glasses of draft beer, please!” Zhou Zheng called out.

“My Yanyan doesn’t drink, so she’s off the hook,” Li Zhe said, slinging his arm around Dong Yanyan’s shoulder with a smile. “Yanyan, what song do you want to sing? I’ll request it for you! Zhong Ling, give me the microphone.”

Dong Yanyan glanced at the TV screen, which displayed the title “Rolling Red Dust.” She smiled indifferently. “Let’s just go with this one, ‘Rolling Red Dust.’”

Zhong Ling pressed the remote, and the screen began to play. The instrumental music started, and Dong Yanyan leaned against the sofa, watching the scenes unfold. A gentle melancholy stirred deep in her heart.

“At first, you were inadvertent, and I was a naïve youth. In the world’s dust, our fated love was but a silent struggle of fleeting life… Thinking it is—”

“Thinking it’s the fault of this mortal world and the karmic cause passed down from a past life; all that is lifelong is but to exchange a moment’s yin and yang…” On the other side of the sofa, Lin Feng took the microphone and continued her singing. When he saw her look his way, he smiled brightly—a smile that outshone all beauties in the imperial palace.

“Coming and going is easy, leaving is hard. Decades of wandering through the mortal world, parting is easy, reunion is hard. The eternal sorrow of love and hate…”

“The heart that should have belonged to you still guards tightly against my chest, only for the ever-changing face behind the worldly storms…”

The song ended, but Dong Yanyan remained immersed in the bittersweet emotion, unable to shake it off. She couldn’t help but laugh to herself: her silly infatuation had flared up again.

He looked so charming while singing, yet unfortunately, it wasn’t for her eyes. It was for his ex-girlfriend and his future one—like Zhong Ling beside him. That fiery woman was now gazing at him with such tenderness it almost dripped from her eyes. She realized she would never receive such a gentle look. She had discovered the perfect match between the class president and the literary committee chair—just look at all those pairs!

Except for Liu Siying whispering closely to Lin Mei, the other couples were already cuddling on the sofas, whispering sweet nothings, hands wandering. The entire room was filled with a warm, ambiguous atmosphere that made one’s adrenaline surge—how desperately hungry were these teenagers? Tsk tsk!

Taking advantage of Li Zhe’s distracted attempts at flirting, Dong Yanyan grabbed her bag, ready to leave. She had eaten plenty and wasn’t hungry or thirsty anymore.

“Yanyan—”

Just as she reached the door, she heard someone calling her. Hearing that familiar voice made her freeze, involuntarily stopping in her tracks. Turning around, Lin Feng had already run up to her. She looked up and saw the urgency and passion in his eyes. The moment their gazes met unexpectedly, time seemed to stop. When she remained silent, he hesitated and looked away.

Dong Yanyan lowered her eyes, giving a faint, bitter smile.

Lin Feng reached out and grasped her hand. His palms were sweaty and trembling slightly. Her heart also fluttered. Then, swaying, she was drawn into a tender embrace. The warmth of his body enveloped her like a wave.

This was the embrace she had longed for so many times.

Eyes closed, tears flowed down her cheeks, dampening her face. How she wished to just lean into his arms, regardless of time and space, simply be with him—that was the dream she had nurtured for so long.

But the next moment, she bit her lip, pushed him away, and ran down the stairs as if fleeing.

The neon lights lining the street flickered dimly. Tears blurred her vision, turning the lights into colorful, fuzzy spots.

“If heaven could grant me another chance, I would say those three words to you: I love you. If I must add a time limit, I wouldn’t ask for ten thousand years—just this lifetime, morning and night.” The words she once spoke still echoed in her ears. Yet just now, she had willingly given up.

Dong Yanyan felt as if her brain was flooded. When Lin Feng held her, all she could think about was Ren Jiaxuan’s furious outburst.

Could this be true love? She had always thought herself a young woman with a mature heart, but could it be she was actually masochistic? Unable to live without self-torture? Did love have to be agonizingly twisted before she could feel at ease?

Still unwilling to accept it, she pushed away the pain by refusing to think about it further.

Walking along the bustling street, she occasionally crouched to examine her favorite little trinkets: tiny snuff bottles, pocket watches with long silver chains, ancient copper coins, medallions of the Taizu Emperor, plump little walnuts, and various Buddhist bead bracelets.

“Sir, how much is this?” she asked, pointing to a pocket watch no bigger than a thumb nail. The watch face was a convex half-circle lens, with a bronze back—small and round, quite adorable.

The stall owner, a man in his fifties, looked her up and down disdainfully. “This is precious; you can’t afford it.”

Dong Yanyan smiled. “Give me a price, then.”

The old man held up two fingers. “Two hundred sixty, not a cent less!”

Dong Yanyan lifted the watch to the streetlamp light and looked it over for a moment before smiling. “How about fifty? Fifty and I’ll take it.”

“Forget it. You’d better not buy it! This is from the Qianlong era. For fifty, you can’t even get a watch chain!” The old man snatched the watch back impatiently.

If it really was from the Qianlong period, two hundred plus was cheap, but fifty wouldn’t even buy a watch hand. Though Dong Yanyan wasn’t an expert, she had enough judgment for that.

“Fifty it is. If not, I’m leaving!” She turned to walk away.

“Alright, if you’re sincere, at least two hundred. No less!” The old man said resignedly.

“Fifty!”

“You’re not serious. Go on, leave!” The old man grew annoyed.

Dong Yanyan pouted and turned away.

“I’ll take it,” Ren Jiaxuan said, picking up the pocket watch she had dropped, looking up at the old man.

“Two hundred, not a penny less!” The old man grinned.

“Fine!” Ren Jiaxuan took out his wallet to pay, but Dong Yanyan snatched it away and said to the old man, “Fifty!”

The old man instantly lost his temper. “What’s wrong with you kid? If you don’t want it, don’t want it. Why cause trouble?”

Ren Jiaxuan stood up and smiled broadly. “Sir, we’re together. If she says fifty, then fifty it is.”

The old man stared at them both with a pained expression, almost in tears. “Kids these days, how do you bargain like this? No counteroffer? How about eighty? That’s a fair price.”

Ren Jiaxuan and Dong Yanyan exchanged a glance and smiled. “Eighty then.” They paid promptly and left.

* * *

Turning the corner was Dajing Road. Walking straight ahead for four or five stops would lead back to school. Dong Yanyan walked ahead with her small bag, Ren Jiaxuan trailing closely beside her.

“Not bad at all. A two hundred sixty item haggled down to eighty. I think that old man nearly cried,” Ren Jiaxuan said, playing with the pocket watch, clicking his tongue.

Dong Yanyan smiled indifferently. “You followed me the whole way just to praise my bargaining skills?”

“So you noticed I was following all along? Clever girl!” Ren Jiaxuan draped his arm over her shoulder, grinning.

Dong Yanyan impatiently shrugged him off. “Stay away from me!”

“This watch has a long chain. I’ll put it around your neck. Hold still!” Ren Jiaxuan grabbed her shoulders with both hands, staring at her with a smile.

Dong Yanyan frowned and pouted. “I’m not wearing it! Who knows how many people have worn this old thing?”

“Then why buy it? I’d even say it’s not round enough to be a glass ball,” Ren Jiaxuan said with a laugh.

“I didn’t want to buy it. You did,” Dong Yanyan shot him a glare.

Ren Jiaxuan paused, then cheekily grinned. “I like that stubborn spirit of yours. Fine, no wearing it then. We’ll just take it home and use it as a glass ball.”

Dong Yanyan couldn’t help but laugh. She took the watch from his hand and waved it before his eyes. “Don’t you think it looks like a magnifying glass?”

Ren Jiaxuan looked at her, then at the watch, and suddenly hugged her tightly, his emotions surging as he smiled. “Good that you’re not mad anymore. I finally see the clear skies after the storm. Why do you torment me so?”

“Don’t like me tormenting you? Find someone else. What are you complaining about?” Dong Yanyan pouted. “We both have bad tempers. Being together won’t end well.”

“Complaining is because I love you. Since I want to be with you, I’m determined to overcome any hardship. Nothing is a problem in my eyes,” Ren Jiaxuan said with a low laugh. “I always thought you’d be brave enough to face any disaster with me. That’s why we’d be perfect. But—”

“If you’re not afraid, then what am I afraid of? Let’s just wait and see!” Dong Yanyan bumped his shoulder, defiant. “Let go of me! I’m not your girlfriend yet!”

Her words only made Ren Jiaxuan hold on tighter. “You like hugs best, right? This is warm. With you, I vow to defend my right to hug you to the death. No other guy can! Especially Song Mingcheng!”

“You two are so in sync. He also vows to defend himself against my teasing. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I should have explained better then, but I didn’t expect you to be so slow to understand and jump to conclusions.” Dong Yanyan leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his waist, suddenly feeling incredibly secure. She realized what she truly craved was this embrace—not wide, not particularly warm, but his scent, his roguish spirit. Whether his treatment was good or bad, at least it was hers alone.