What Are Your Tastes? chapter 13

Stranger

“Sir, here’s your iced mocha.” The waiter served the coffee and left without much interruption.

Not far away, a grand piano was playing “The Girl with Flaxen Hair.”

“You pretended to be sick and went to the hospital?” Lu Yunchu struggled to contain his laughter, not wanting to show his amusement in front of Ning Ruowei’s disappointed face.

“I didn’t pretend to be sick,” Ning Ruowei frowned, “I really don’t feel well.”

“You sneezed a few times, or ate too much and had a stomach ache?”

She immediately glared, “Why do you have such an attitude!”

Lu Yunchu and Ning Ruowei, who spent the weekend separately, coincidentally met in the mall and found a coffee shop to sit in.

It was the first time Ning Ruowei confessed her fondness for another woman in front of her friend. And she had visited the hospital several times in the past two months, each time scheduling An Yuan’s number.

“And then?” Lu Yunchu inquired, following the story. “What did she say?”

“She said the hospital is full of germs, and there’s no need to come for minor ailments.”

“At least she cares about you,” Lu Yunchu said perfunctorily, “the hospital shouldn’t be frequented anyway.”

“But she never replied to my WeChat.”

“She’s not a close friend,” Lu Yunchu sipped his coffee through a straw, “It’s normal not to reply.”

“Let’s talk about something else,” her mood shifted quickly, “Have you found the owner of the dog you picked up?” Ning Ruowei followed Lu Yunchu on Weibo and had seen photos of the little dog.

“Not yet.”

It had been a week since he picked up Sabrina, and the responses on Weibo and forums were all about adopting her; the neighborhood notices yielded no results either.

“I think it’s abandoned. The owner probably won’t want it anymore,” Ning Ruowei said. “Either you keep it yourself or find someone else to adopt.”

Zhou Yanchuan had said something similar, but finding another owner was also a big task. Most of those who left messages were just temporarily interested, with a playful attitude. Perhaps it was better to keep it by his side.

“Not just anyone can take it,” Lu Yunchu glanced at her, “Do you want to keep it?”

“I… better not,” she quickly backed down, “unless it’s for no more than a week.”

“What’s the use of that?”

“How is it useless?” she blew on her coffee, “if you go out, I can help take care of her.”

In any case, this matter had to be dealt with gradually, Lu Yunchu thought. Spending more time with Sabrina wouldn’t be bad.

As the days entered September, it was still dark late into the night, and they planned to go home early. Ning Ruowei didn’t have a car and happened to hitch a ride with Lu Yunchu. They laughed and talked as they took the elevator from the second floor of the mall directly to the underground parking lot.

Before reaching the parking spot, Ning Ruowei grabbed Lu Yunchu and pulled him behind a pillar.

“What’s wrong?”

“Shh,” she gestured desperately, pointing diagonally ahead, “I saw An Yuan.”

Following her direction, Lu Yunchu saw the silhouette of a tall woman entering his field of vision. The last time he saw the doctor for treatment, she wore a mask and couldn’t see her face clearly. The time between then and now was long, so Lu Yunchu could only vaguely judge from his impression that the woman in front of him was indeed somewhat like the doctor he had seen.

However, there was also a man beside her. It was clear they knew each other, and the atmosphere between them was very tense.

“An Yuan, why won’t you give me a chance?”

“Why should I give you a chance?”

“I just want our lives to be better,” the man continued, his voice tinged with malice, “are you standing up for your cousin or Zhou Yanchuan?”

Lu Yunchu and Ning Ruowei, who were eavesdropping, exchanged glances. These two people actually knew Zhou Yanchuan? Could they be talking about Hongchuan’s Zhou Yanchuan…

“Zheng Xun,” An Yuan sneered, “when we were together, you always thought I liked someone else. Even after the divorce, you continue to meddle in my personal life. Do I need a man to survive?”

“That’s not what I meant, because… you don’t often visit Mo Ziyang’s family either, so why did you divorce me? I deceived Zhou Yanchuan, but I paid a huge sum of money and lost my job! Who do you think has it worse?”

The amount of information in his words was overwhelming. Ning Ruowei’s face grew darker, and even Lu Yunchu held his breath. Someone who could deceive Zhou Yanchuan must be quite cunning.

“Your words show no remorse,” An Yuan laughed derisively, “if I tell my cousin that your actions were intentional rather than accidental, what would you do?”

“An Yuan!”

“Don’t worry, I have no interest in meddling in your affairs,” she said coolly, “and you misunderstood. My divorce from you has nothing to do with Zhou or my cousin. I simply can’t trust you anymore.” She turned to leave, but the man grabbed her arm.

“Wait a moment, can we find a place to talk properly?”

“Sorry, I have plans tonight, you’d better not interfere.”

“Impossible,” he insisted, “unless you tell me who you have plans with.”

“Yunchu,” Ning Ruowei whispered to Lu Yunchu from behind a pillar, “you go back on your own.”

Lu Yunchu immediately realized what she wanted to do: “Can you handle it?”

“It’s fine.” Ning Ruowei winked at him before stepping out.

“An Yuan jie,” she quickly walked over to An Yuan, inserting herself between the two tense figures, “let’s go, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Lu Yunchu stayed where he was, unable to see An Yuan’s expression clearly, just noticing the air around them seemed to freeze.

“Let’s go.” An Yuan didn’t push away Ning Ruowei’s hands holding onto her arm and even said these two words to her.

The man was in a daze, probably not understanding who Ning Ruowei was or why she had suddenly appeared.

Lu Yunchu then watched as An Yuan and Ning Ruowei got into a silver-gray car and drove away.

With everyone gone, he had no reason to keep hiding. To avoid looking like some kind of voyeur, he adjusted his clothes slightly and walked out from behind the pillar with a calm and steady stride. He passed the man, who was still standing there dazed, without looking at him, as if they were strangers.

Sabrina was waiting for him at home.

In the afternoon, he had left her plenty of dog food, which she hadn’t finished yet. Lately, Lu Yunchu had almost stopped feeding her his own food. Not knowing if her previous owner had never controlled her diet, she showed limited interest in dog food, and when he cooked meat, she would eagerly squat under the table. He thought it wasn’t good for dogs to eat seasoned food and always ignored her pitiful eyes, only once cooking her some unseasoned lean meat.

Lu Yunchu hadn’t had dinner yet. There was meat congee in the rice cooker, set to cook automatically at noon. He quickly stir-fried some vegetables and made a thick omelette, and his dinner for one was ready. Before eating, he took a photo and posted it on his social media.

His social media rarely contained personal life content, but occasionally he would post one or two updates. Especially for dishes he made himself, he felt a sense of accomplishment similar to completing a sculpture.

After that post, he received a steady stream of likes until the next morning, the last one being from Zhou Yanchuan. Seeing that like, he exited his social media and found a private message from Zhou Yanchuan sent just a few minutes ago.

[How did you make that omelette roll?]