Amidst a Snowstorm of Love | Chapter 40 | Bittersweet Regrets | Novela.app

The chefs left, and with them, he ended that conspicuous display of affection. He had kissed her with a trace of temper—a first for him. Once the kiss ended and he let her go, he asked pointedly, "Did you come because you missed me, or because you wanted to comfort me?" Yin Guo had just been suppressed by her sister and was now taking the brunt of his mood. Her heart felt stifled. She watched him turn around and rummage through the trunk. If he had nothing to say, then fine, but he was clearly pretending to look for something. Staring at his back, she said, "Neither. I just came to find you for no reason." Lin Yiyang stopped and turned to look at her. "If there’s no reason, go back up. I’m leaving." Then, he added stiffly, "My brother lives in another province. It’ll be late by the time I drive him back, and the kid needs to sleep early." Yin Guo stared at him. She could clearly feel his anger; her own eyes were beginning to redden from frustration. Just as she turned to leave, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. Lin Yiyang moved to kiss her again, but Yin Guo turned her face away. "You’ve been smoking. I don’t want to." Lin Yiyang pinned both her hands behind her back, gripping them tightly with one hand so she couldn't move. With his other hand, he fished a piece of dark chocolate out of his trouser pocket. He held it up, making sure she saw it clearly. "Wait," he said, his eyes fixed on her. Lin Yiyang tore the wrapper open with his teeth and took a bite of the chocolate. ... "Chocolate won't work either. A mouth full of chocolate... I won't be able to face anyone." Her family was all upstairs; one look and they would know. Lin Yiyang’s movements slowed, but he didn't stop. He ate the chocolate slowly. Though he didn't let go of her, he seemed to have abandoned the idea of kissing her. However, the grip on her wrists tightened significantly. "It hurts. Let go." This wasn't her being petty; it actually hurt. Suddenly, the pressure vanished. Lin Yiyang finished the rest of the chocolate and crumpled the wrapper into a ball, tossing it onto the pile of cigarette butts. He turned back to the trunk again, searching for something. Seeing that he was silent once more and looking for distractions, Yin Guo turned and walked away. "Xiao Guo’er," he called from behind her. She wanted to stop, but her anger hadn't faded. "Yin Guo, stand still." His voice was low and heavy. The more he spoke, the faster she walked. Standing behind the SUV, Lin Yiyang couldn't shout her name, nor could he chase after her. He felt a suffocating pressure in his chest. In his hand was a handful of cherries he had found in the trunk. He had taken a detour to a specific village just to buy them, and he had washed them all, wanting her to taste them. There was a large bag of them there, so tender that the skins would burst with the slightest pressure from a finger... Lin Yiyang gripped the fresh cherries for a long moment before throwing the whole handful onto the pile of cigarette butts. *** When Yin Guo entered the restaurant, her family was coming downstairs. She stepped aside, intending to go up and get her bag. Her aunt was the last one down, holding Yin Guo's bag in her hand. "I have it right here. No need to go back up." Her aunt stepped toward her and whispered, "Still mad at your sister?" Yin Guo knew her expression was poor. She murmured, "No." "You were down there for ages. What did you get?" Her aunt looked at her empty hands, puzzled. Yin Guo had said she was going to get something, but after all that time, she had returned with nothing. "I couldn't find it," Yin Guo prevaricated. "It's probably at home. I must have forgotten to bring it." Just as her aunt was about to speak, she suddenly smiled and nodded at someone behind Yin Guo. "That kid of yours is quite funny. He just came to our table looking for Xiao Guo." Yin Guo turned around and saw Lin Yiyang carrying his jacket. He gave her aunt a polite nod. "The boy is young and doesn't know better. Please excuse him." His voice was low and his aura was heavy, but he maintained his manners toward a stranger. Lin Yiyang walked up the stairs past Yin Guo's right side. After one final glance at her, he went straight up. Yin Guo felt a surge of grievance. She stared at the row of seafood tanks, refusing to meet his eyes, yet she still noticed him pause for a moment at the turn of the stairs. She could feel him standing there, looking at her... However, he was soon obscured by guests coming down. Two groups of people descended at once, crowding the space and forcing her to step away from the foot of the stairs. When she looked up again, he was gone. *** The car ride back was exceptionally quiet. Yin Guo’s mind was filled with Lin Yiyang—this was essentially their first fight, their first real fallout... Beside her, her grandmother suddenly asked, "That boy's business... that Lin Yiyang. Tell Grandma a bit more about him?" Because it involved Meng Xiaodong, her grandmother was particularly concerned. "I'll tell you when we get home," Yin Guo said softly. "I'm feeling a bit carsick." Her sister, sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly asked, "Xiao Guo, are you very close with him?" "We hit it off quite well," Yin Guo replied. "Doesn't Meng Xiaodong have anything to say about it?" her sister asked from the front. Yin Guo rested her face in her hand, looking out the window. "Dong-ge is very close with him." "Didn't Meng Xiaodong ever tell you?" her sister continued. "When he was a kid, Lin Lin hit him with a brick. It was this Lin Yiyang who accompanied Lin Lin to deliver the money for the medical bills." Yin Guo was stunned. "So it was him," her grandmother said sympathetically. "That time... it scared me so much. I thought Xiaodong had offended someone dangerous." "But that was when they were kids," Yin Guo argued. "Dong-ge and Lin Lin are on good terms now." "He’s done more than just that one thing. There’s been trouble following him since he was small," her sister paused and looked back at her. "It seems you really do have a very good impression of him." ... Yin Guo could tell her sister had a major prejudice against him. She wanted to argue further, but her mother spoke up. "I’ve said many times, don't argue in front of your grandmother." "We're not arguing, Mom," Wu Tong said. "We're talking sense." "I'm not arguing either," Yin Guo added. "I just saw that Lin Yiyang came today specifically to offer a toast out of sincerity, and I wanted to explain a few things for him. Mom," she hesitated but continued, "You're with the Sports Bureau, and so is my sister. If you both have a prejudice against him, isn't that unfair to him?" Yin Guo’s mother smiled. "Do you think your mother would say something that would affect him?" "No." But she was worried that her mother's attitude would influence colleagues, indirectly affecting him. "I don't know him, I have no personal relationship with him, and I have no grudge against him," her mother said as she pulled up to a toll booth. She stopped briefly, took the change Wu Tong handed her, and passed it out the window. "But I truly do not like him. Setting aside Xiaodong’s matter, I started as a referee, and I cannot appreciate someone who has clashed with a colleague. Perhaps because I love you, I won't comment much on your friend, but my internal view won't change." Her mother drove out of the toll booth and continued, "Xiao Guo, you're an adult now. You have to learn to accept that there are no two people in this world with identical thoughts or positions. Everyone speaks from their own perspective, based on their own personality and life experiences. Even the closest relatives are different." Yin Guo fell silent. "And Tongtong," Yin Guo’s mother glanced at her eldest daughter in the passenger seat. "You can say these things because we're all family in this car. You cannot say them at the Bureau, the Association, or in public. I am being very serious about this today; you must remember it." Wu Tong also fell silent. "Is the China Open starting soon?" Yin Guo’s mother asked her. "Yes," she said. "Next week." Lin Yiyang had timed his return for exactly that—the Snooker China Open. *** After Lin Yiyang dropped off his brother’s family and returned to the pool hall, Jiang Yang was still there. Last night, Lin Yiyang had claimed he needed to visit graves the next day and had shooed away the friends who had brought over cases of alcohol, telling them to go sleep. Only Jiang Yang had stayed behind to rest. Jiang Yang had also just returned from a closed training session. Being a bachelor, he was happy to see Lin Yiyang back and looked ready to move in for the long haul. The third floor here had been renovated last month. The second floor had been delayed for several months because the hotpot restaurant was slow to move out. Consequently, the upstairs was fully equipped and finally looked like a proper pool hall. In the northernmost corner of the third floor, there were two living quarters with attached bathrooms. Jiang Yang had moved in some temporary furniture for him beforehand—simple, designer pieces that made it feel like a small home. Lin Yiyang couldn't sleep. Leaning back on the sofa, he pulled a sticky note from a hidden compartment in his wallet. The adhesive on the edges had turned black from being handled so many times. "Did you ever call?" Jiang Yang sat up, intending to go to the bathroom, and saw him holding the note. Lin Yiyang didn't speak. Jiang Yang figured he wouldn't get an answer. He walked forward, his hand finding the bathroom light switch, when he heard the man behind him speak. "His health was already poor. If he heard my voice, he'd probably get even angrier and make himself worse." Jiang Yang had no rebuttal. Their teacher indeed had never mentioned Lin Yiyang’s name. Even this past year, when Jiang Yang had intentionally leaked news of Lin Yiyang’s return to the scene, the old man had just listened and moved on without asking a single question. One was the teacher, the other the youngest disciple; their tempers were identical, and Jiang Yang was helpless to bridge the gap. In the moonlight, Jiang Yang saw the toilet in the northeast corner. He didn't turn on the light and just went in. Lin Yiyang toyed with the note in his hand before finally tucking it away. He left the room and stopped by the nearest nine-ball table. This one was prepared for Yin Guo—specifically for her. He had even tested a few shots on it with Chen Anan the night before. On the table, the balls were scattered across the blue felt. Lin Yiyang picked up the nearest ball with his right hand and threw it hard along the table. The white ball struck the black ball like a bolt of lightning. With a *clack*, it dropped into the pocket. The sound of the ball falling echoed through the hundreds of square meters of the open hall. Jiang Yang took off his glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and leaned against the doorframe. He watched the blurred figure in the darkness under the table lights, seemingly retrieving a ball. "Something on your mind?" "Go to sleep," Lin Yiyang replied. From his tone, Jiang Yang could tell his mind was indeed heavy. *** Lin Yiyang didn't contact her all night. She hadn't forgotten to argue with her mother and sister on the way home, yet he didn't reach out, refusing to even back down an inch. She was supposed to head to the closed training camp this afternoon. Sporting two dark circles under her eyes, she and several of her fellow female players had booked a seven-seater business van to head to the training base early. Everyone chatted about everything on the bus, and eventually, the conversation turned to the Snooker China Open. When the name "Lin Yiyang" came up, a senior teammate nudged her arm discreetly and asked why Lin Yiyang hadn't participated in the China Open last year. Yin Guo shook her head; Lin Yiyang had never mentioned it. "It's such a shame," another teammate added. "If he had played last year, his ranking definitely wouldn't be lower than Jiang Yang's." "Hard to say," Yin Guo smiled. "Jiang Yang has always been in good form." Halfway there, they stopped at a highway rest area for half an hour. This rest area was at the border of two provinces. It was large, with shops selling local specialties from both regions and several fast-food restaurants. Since this group had left the earliest, they had plenty of time. They disbanded on the spot, agreeing to meet back in thirty minutes. Everyone went to buy snacks and local specialties to stock up for the closed training session. Seeing that Yin Guo showed no intention of getting out, the driver smiled and said, "I'll leave the door open for you. I'm going to stretch my legs too." In the end, she was the only one left. Yin Guo wore a bucket hat and sat sideways by the open door, her legs soaking in the sunlight. On her phone, Lin Yiyang had sent a WeChat message half an hour ago. *Lin: Awake?* *Lin: I want to talk to you.* She hadn't replied. Firstly, because she had been fuming all night and he hadn't reached out, and secondly, because there were too many people in the van, making a phone call inconvenient. She held the phone with both hands, staring at those two messages, wanting to reply. As if they were sharing a telepathic connection, a new message popped up. *Lin: ?* He knew her routine; she should have been awake long ago. After some mental preparation, Yin Guo initiated a voice call. The call connected. The background noise sounded empty, as if he were outdoors, with the distant bustle of a roadside. She didn't speak. "Still mad at me?" Lin Yiyang asked on the other end. She remained silent. "I'm outside your apartment complex," he said. "Whenever you get up, come down. But there's no rush." ... "I'm not at home," she pulled her hat down to block the sun, her heart slowly softening. "Closed training. I've already crossed the province line." This time, it was his turn to be silent. "I'll be back in time for the second half of your Open," Yin Guo said. Hearing his continued silence, she murmured, "Who told you not to look for me last night? I got angry and left early this morning. Otherwise, we could have seen each other for a bit today." A long moment passed, and he still didn't speak. Yin Guo saw the driver walking back toward the van and whispered, "Say something, quickly. Someone's coming, it won't be convenient to talk." "Let me know when you're back," the man on the other end finally spoke. "I miss you." *** In the span of a morning, Lin Yiyang had mapped out the front, back, and north gates of Yin Guo's complex, as well as the two entrances to the underground garage. He had driven Jiang Yang's car yesterday, but Jiang Yang had taken it today, so he had come by subway. At the moment, he wasn't in a hurry. He walked along the small road by the back gate, crossed a stone bridge over a river, and went to the other side. He wanted to walk the paths Yin Guo usually took when he spotted a motorcycle shop. There weren't many people in the morning. At the very back of the shop stood several top-tier sportbikes and a few Harleys. Seeing Lin Yiyang’s build and style, the owner knew he must have experience with bikes. He came over with a flurry of introductions, pushing a brand-new all-black Harley model outside for him, followed by an Aprilia. The owner pointed out a small path. Lin Yiyang swung his long legs over the bike, took the helmet and buckled it, then leaned low and started the engine. Amidst the thunderous roar of the exhaust, he rode out. When he returned, even before he took off the helmet, he had drawn a crowd of onlookers—he was practically a walking advertisement. He took off the helmet and rested it on the bike, leaning his elbow on it as he asked the owner, "How long for a domestic license?" "You can finish all the tests in one day. The license will be ready in a few days. Tell me first what you want to customize." Lin Yiyang had the owner modify the handlebars, which were too high, to be level with the seat. He swiped his card for the deposit, picked out a black helmet, then looked around and said, "Order another helmet. A white one." *** | Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 总裁判 | Chief Referee | Yin Guo's mother's professional title. | | 中国公开赛 | China Open | A major professional snooker tournament. | | 封闭训练营 | Closed training camp | A secluded training session for athletes. | | 九球 | Nine-ball | A discipline of pool. | | 斯诺克 | Snooker | A cue sport played on a large table. | | 师姐 | Senior (female) teammate | A term for a more experienced female peer in the same field/sect. | | 阿普利亚 | Aprilia | An Italian motorcycle manufacturer. | | 哈雷 | Harley-Davidson | A famous American motorcycle manufacturer. |