Blazing fire is hard to extinguish chapter 66
Extra: If Line: Personal Nurturing 6
The next two or three years seemed to speed up for Li Tingyan.
He was busy with his studies and had started a company with other friends. Although it was just a trial, most of his spare time was spent on work.
But that didn’t prevent him from keeping his promise to Lin Chi.
That winter, he brought Lin Chi to the United States.
Compared to a few months ago, Lin Chi hadn’t changed much. When he appeared at the airport, he was dressed in a loose, ginger-colored sweater, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses with no prescription, black high-top boots, and had a composed expression.
But when Li Tingyan appeared, smiling slightly and opening his arms halfway towards him.
He hesitated for a moment but then slowly smiled, ran over, and threw himself into Li Tingyan’s arms.
His glasses bumped against Li Tingyan’s chest, which didn’t bother Li Tingyan, but he himself let out a little sound of pain.
However, he didn’t let go of Li Tingyan’s waist and said triumphantly, “I’ve caught you.”
He said to Li Tingyan, “I thought you wouldn’t come to pick me up, maybe you’d forgotten me, and if so, I wouldn’t bother with you.”
He spoke as if issuing a grand threat, but it was clear that it was just teasing.
Fortunately, Li Tingyan just patted his head and laughed softly.
“I wouldn’t do that. A gentleman keeps his promises, right?”
Whether Li Tingyan was a gentleman, Lin Chi didn’t know.
But during this brief winter vacation, Li Tingyan indeed set aside his work to accompany Lin Chi to visit the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Grand Central Station, along with many other attractions.
Lin Chi’s English had improved a lot, but it was still not very fluent.
Li Tingyan wanted him to practice more and kept encouraging him to communicate with others. Lin Chi wasn’t shy; although he stuttered, he tried to communicate with gestures and received smiles and praise from foreigners who found him very cute.
Li Tingyan chuckled softly and exchanged a few more words with the foreigners.
However, their speech was too fast for Lin Chi, and he was a bit confused. After they left, he asked Li Tingyan what was said.
“They said you are very lively and outgoing, like an angel, and he complimented me on having such a cute brother. It really made them happy.”
Lin Chi wrinkled his nose.
He asked Li Tingyan, “What did you reply?”
He wasn’t Li Tingyan’s brother.
Li Tingyan chuckled and said, “I thanked them for the compliment and agreed.”
Lin Chi was momentarily stunned, but as he walked hand-in-hand with Li Tingyan through the crowd, he couldn’t help but curve his lips into a subtle smile.
He walked with Li Tingyan for a while, saw a pizza place, ran to buy a pizza, and insisted on eating it with Li Tingyan on the roadside.
They stood at the edge of the square. In the middle of winter, the wind was cold on their faces, and the pizza quickly became cold, but Lin Chi was very happy.
He told Li Tingyan, “I saw this scene in a movie I watched before. The protagonist ate pizza in the square in the middle of winter. At that time, New York seemed so far away, and I thought I would never come here in my lifetime.”
Li Tingyan set aside the cold pizza, took a sip of his coffee with little enthusiasm, and paused when he heard Lin Chi’s words.
He looked down at Lin Chi.
Lin Chi’s nose was a bit red from the cold, and he was wearing a white down jacket, looking like a little snowman, smiling at him, which made him look a bit silly.
He heard Lin Chi say, “I’m very happy that I could come here with you.”
Li Tingyan didn’t know why, but something inside him softened.
He looked at the bustling square and saw someone at the flower shop on the street corner just buying roses.
He suddenly wondered, if he hadn’t met Lin Chi in Changyu County, who would have accompanied Lin Chi to New York?
Would that person also eat cold pizza with him in the square?
The thought made him unhappy, like having a beloved kitten taken away.
But after a moment of contemplation, he softly said, “I think even without me, you would still come to New York and do well on your own. Maybe at that time, we’d meet in New York. Maybe you’d be a young painter by the roadside, and I’d happen to pass by your stall, and you’d ask me to stop.”
Lin Chi imagined that scenario but protested.
“I probably wouldn’t be a painter. Besides, why would I ask you to stop?” He lifted his chin. “I think I might be a photographer or a model, or an actor. I might meet you at a coffee shop or bar on the street. Seeing that you’re a fellow countryman and good-looking, I’d want to strike up a conversation with you, but you’re so aloof, you probably wouldn’t pay me any attention.”
He was a bit unhappy at this point, turning to glare at Li Tingyan, as if already seeing Li Tingyan ignoring him.
Li Tingyan laughed silently but realized he couldn’t refute it.
Because he really was that kind of person.
“But I might respond to you,” Li Tingyan looked into Lin Chi’s eyes again, “Maybe that day I’d be drowning my sorrows in a bar, and you’d come down to me like a star from heaven.”
He smiled, gently clinking his coffee cup with Lin Chi’s.
He said, “I’d buy you a drink and ask if you’re free to chat.”
Lin Chi imagined that scene and cheered up again, easily appeased.
He actually wanted to secretly drink, but Li Tingyan wouldn’t allow it.
He clinked his cup with Li Tingyan’s.
They shared the cold pizza, which wasn’t very good, so Li Tingyan took him to a famous local Chinese restaurant.
Lin Chi only stayed in New York for ten days; on the eleventh day, he returned to Boston with Li Tingyan.
Li Tingyan still had to return to work, but Lin Chi refused to go back to China alone and followed him around like a little tail.
He didn’t make a fuss and quietly did his homework by the floor-to-ceiling window.
Sometimes, when Li Tingyan finished work and came out of his study, he could see him lying on the living room carpet, wearing brightly colored socks, swinging his calves, and nibbling on the pen tip.
Li Tingyan lived in this villa alone; aside from a few servants, there was no one else in the house.
Friends rarely came to visit.
Li Tingyan was always very aware that his villa lacked the warmth of everyday life; it was quite desolate.
However, Lin Chi seemed to be very familiar with and comfortable in the place. He would walk barefoot to the kitchen to pour juice and sit alone on the sofa watching movies. He wandered around the villa like a glowing source, bringing vitality to the entire house.
These scenes lingered in Li Tingyan’s memory for many years.
In the following two winters, Lin Chi, like a migratory bird, would obediently fly back to his palm at specific times.
But without Li Tingyan realizing it, the young man who always sat by the floor-to-ceiling windows had quietly grown up and become dazzling.
He also no longer resembled a small sparrow, chirping and nestling obediently by his side.