No sooner had Yu Jinyang finished speaking than Tony took a swift step forward, grabbed the payment code from the counter, and “whoosh” shot right back to Yu Jinyang’s side, as if treating him like his personal VIP.
Still unable to suppress his greedy impulse, he asked, “Sir… want to get a membership card? We’re running a summer promotion—charge 2,000 and get 300 free, the more you charge, the more you get. Charge 5,000 and get 900. We also have skincare, spa, beauty, and body care services—”
Tony glanced secretly at his idol.
“The balance can be used interchangeably, both places accept it.”
Li Yingqiao stifled a laugh and looked over at Yu Jinyang.
Yu Jinyang remained calm and collected, still sitting on the bed next to Li Yingqiao.
After scanning the code, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and leisurely lifted his eyelids to glance at Tony.
“Keven still hasn’t come back? It’s been twenty minutes, man.”
Tony caught his meaning immediately, smiling flawlessly.
“Our teacher Keven only drinks Starbucks; he probably went to the old town.”
Yu Jinyang pointed at his chin.
“Isn’t there one in the mall?”
Tony forced a laugh.
“He prefers the one near Tan Zhong—lots of top students there, so he hopes to soak up some of their brilliance.”
Heart.
Since 2016, Fengtan’s government has been determined to turn the city into a tourist destination, embarking on massive construction projects to reshape the city’s silhouette.
In the past two years, the transformation accelerated dramatically.
The new district has been completely rebuilt, with towering skyscrapers, dazzling neon lights, and even several office buildings that are rare for a small county town.
Starbucks opened two branches—one in the old town, the other in the new.
But the old town feels like Fengtan’s gradually decaying old heart.
Aside from the lively areas around Tan Zhong and the Experimental High School, the rest of the place is sparsely populated—so much so that when the wind blows, more leaves fall than the trees have grown.
The once majestic state-owned grand hotel long ago closed down, while two new, lavish five-star hotels have opened in the new district—one of which is partly owned by Yu Renjie.
If Starbucks allowed investment, Yu Renjie would have certainly put in a few shares himself.
Tony seemed pleased with his quick thinking and walked off triumphantly with the QR code in hand.
Li Yingqiao was already blow-drying her hair.
The humming of the dryers filled the shop, casting a brief silence between the two.
They didn’t speak anymore, occasionally catching each other’s gaze in the mirror before quickly looking away.
Yu Jinyang sat properly in the next seat, scrolling on his phone.
Only then did he notice a WeChat message from Gao Dian: “The Bridge is back, currently at the barbershop.”
It had been a while.
Counting carefully, since that stormy summer vacation in sophomore year, they had scattered like fallen leaves, almost never seeing each other again.
Right after the college entrance exam scores were released, Yu Jinyang already knew they were destined to be far apart.
Before the exam, Li Yingqiao had sworn to him she didn’t want to go too far from home—worried that Aunt Li Shuli would feel lonely.
She planned to choose between a university in Shanghai or S University in the province.
In their senior year, their grades were surprisingly stable. In 2016, S Province still had bonus points for self-selected modules.
The total score structure was 750 points for the general exam plus 60 points for selected subjects required by first-tier universities, totaling 810 points.
Their scores hovered just around 700, right on the border between F University and S University. S University was a safer bet, while F University required them to push a little harder.
Zhu Xiaoliang and Liang Mei were already content that they’d likely get into S University within the province.
But the results shocked everyone.
One became a runaway wild horse, completely disregarding their old anxious hearts and charging into the top ten in the province’s liberal arts exam.
The other also performed exceptionally, breaking into the top hundred in the sciences.
Although he stayed the perennial third place, the value of that “three” was far heavier than any earlier academic ranking.
Li Yingqiao no longer worried about Aunt Li Shuli’s loneliness.
After Liang Mei and Zhu Xiaoliang worked overnight convincing her, she confidently chose the flagship major at B University.
Yu Jinyang, having been misled, had already told his parents he wouldn’t want to go too far either—his goal was F University or S University.
His wealthy father, trusting his son’s words, immediately bought him a flat in Shanghai as both a college entrance exam reward and a coming-of-age gift.
Fengtan’s industrial tycoons had little attachment to Beijing; many owned properties in the provincial capital and Shanghai.
Yu Renjie was no exception.
After the exam, he made a bold move and transferred a large riverside penthouse to Yu Jinyang.
Yu Renjie’s extravagant generosity left Li Yingqiao, Gao Dian, and the others wide-eyed. From then on, no one called him by his given name or “Miaomiao” anymore.
Instead, they all slyly called him “Young Master,” competing to play the roles of butler, doctor, and other stock characters from CEO novels—lines simple, but roles both light as feathers and heavy as mountains.
They teased him relentlessly, making him laugh.
Most of the time, Yu Jinyang watched with cold eyes, but sometimes he couldn’t help but smile.
The next second, they’d dramatically recite the famous line: “It’s been so long since the Young Master smiled this happily—”
Immediately, Li Yingqiao’s eyes would sparkle as she swore, “Young Master, I’ve decided to quit literature and study medicine just for you. I’ll be your personal family doctor. From now on, your heartbeat will be my heartbeat—if you don’t beat, neither do I.”
Gao Dian would jump up, suddenly producing a square scarf from nowhere and wrap it tightly around Yu Jinyang’s neck.
“Then I’ll be your butler! No complaints, sir! At your command, I’ll even pick the dirt out of your teeth.”
“I’ll craft the most perfect one-to-eight scale life-sized sculpture of you,” Zheng Miaojia said with mock seriousness as she pushed up her glasses.
“Trust me, I’ll capture every perfect curve and showcase it in the wax museum for all to admire.”
Gao Dian looked up, imagining Thanos.
He closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight.
Yu Jinyang decisively chose Shanghai because back then none of them thought they’d lose contact.
But life is unpredictable, cruelly so.
When he returned to Fengtan last year, he heard many rumors about Li Yingqiao—
That she won a national scholarship at B University, that before graduating she signed with a big Beijing company which later collapsed, and that not long after, she rose again to become a marketing director within two years.
Recently, he heard she launched some kind of cashmere brand that became wildly popular nationwide, with many people scrambling to buy.
The whole story had a beginning and an end, full of twists and turns, vivid and gripping.
Yet its credibility was questionable, because the source of gossip was his great-grandmother—Yu Wanjuan.
Yu Wanjuan, who eats three bowls of rice a day, was now 103 years old.
Thanks to her legendary feat of skewering and grilling Li Wusheng’s kidneys in their town years ago, many people in Fengtan still remembered this heroic old lady.
She lived far too long. Most of her children hadn’t outlived her, except the branch from Yu Jinyang’s grandfather, who remained intact.
But she refused to leave and stubbornly lived alone in the countryside.
Yu Renjie had hired a nanny and caretaker for her, renovating the old gray clay tile house into a luxurious little Western-style home that looked out of place among the drab brick houses.
The courtyard was filled with succulents and grapevines climbing over an entire trellis.
After Yu Jinyang returned, besides working in the city, he spent most of his time either playing ball with Gao Dian or tending to the old lady in the countryside—caring for succulents, trimming weeds.
The old lady was talkative, often spinning wild tales and gossiping about his old friends better than he did.
She said Xiao Gao Dian lost a lot of money starting a business in Shenzhen, a rich woman wanted him to “sell himself” to pay debts, but he refused and escaped back.
She also said Zheng Miaojia was dating several boyfriends simultaneously—one songwriter, one composer—and they accidentally ran into each other—
Yu Jinyang asked how she knew all this.
Despite her age, her hearing was sharp.
Sometimes when Tang Xiang or Yu Renjie visited and chatted casually, she overheard everything.
His parents, in contrast, wisely avoided such topics in front of him.
Instead, the old lady’s ramblings gave him more insight.
But he didn’t quite believe Li Yingqiao was selling cashmere sweaters.
Yu Jinyang had just repotted some succulents and was idle, so he pulled up a chair and sat beside her, deciding to keep her company for a while.
“Cashmere? Wool sweaters? What brand?”
“I don’t remember,” the old lady twisted her brows.
“Why do you care? You’re not buying anyway.”
Yu Jinyang laughed.
“I would buy. If I bought, that would make me her customer—and customers are gods. If she comes back, she’d have to obey me, right?”
Yu Wanjuan wouldn’t believe him, poking his forehead harder and harder with her finger until his head swayed like Galileo’s physics experiment ball.
He deliberately shook more, making the footrest wobble too, as the old lady’s expression remained calm and serious.
“You must have misheard. Li Yingqiao can’t even wear cashmere sweaters all winter; how could she be selling them this season?”
Leaning close, he asked clearly, “Did my mom say it was a Case?”
“That’s right!” the old lady laughed heartily, smacking his head with a fan.
After a moment, her eyes drifted away.