An Nuan had visited Liu Chang'an's home back when she was a freshman, while helping the student council investigate families in need of financial aid. She remembered going with Bai Hui. Liu Chang'an had liked Bai Hui then... No, he still liked her now. He'd probably always like Bai Hui.
On the way back, they passed the market. An Nuan followed Liu Chang'an in to buy some fresh ginger, garlic, and chilies.
"This ginger's a bit old. Give us a discount," An Nuan said, bargaining like a pro, hoping to save Liu Chang'an some money.
"I'm making dog-meat sauce. I need old ginger," Liu Chang'an said, shaking his head.
An Nuan glared at him. When a girl showed off her domestic skills, wasn't he supposed to let her save face?
The vendor chuckled. "Buy this ginger, and I'll throw in a clove of garlic. Want some scallions, too?"
"Yes. And some red chilies."
An Nuan fell silent, watching Liu Chang'an deftly pick through the produce and pack it into plastic bags before they headed home.
As they walked into the complex, the elderly men and women who liked to watch everyone took a greater interest in them, perhaps because they were both wearing school uniforms. When they passed the convenience store, Auntie Xie giggled and said what a pretty young lady An Nuan was.
"Why are they all staring at me?" An Nuan asked, a little embarrassed, yet hoping Liu Chang'an would tell her the real reason they were watching her.
"They're bored."
An Nuan stomped her foot. She wanted to hit Liu Chang'an again. What a clueless jerk. There was a reason he didn't have a girlfriend. Bai Hui had to like boys who were funny and charming, who could say things that made her heart flutter every now and then. So Bai Hui definitely wouldn't like Liu Chang'an, who only ever thought of ways to shut people down.
Ever since Liu Chang'an started sitting with Bai Hui, An Nuan had been coming up with reasons every day why Bai Hui shouldn't like him. The good thing was, she found a new one every single day.
"Brother Chang'an, did you bring your girlfriend home?" Zhou Dongdong asked, holding a ceramic bowl as she squatted beneath the parasol tree.
The little girl was so clever and considerate. An Nuan blushed and shook her head vigorously, her ponytail swinging as she nudged Liu Chang'an.
"Why are you pushing me?"
"Couldn't you explain? She got the wrong idea."
"This is Zhou Dongdong. She's a really annoying kid, and I don't want to talk to her," Liu Chang'an said.
"I don't like you either. You bully dogs," Zhou Dongdong said.
Liu Chang'an pointed at the bowl in her hands. "What's in your bowl?"
Zhou Dongdong glanced at it and hid it behind her back. Rubbing her nose, she said, "Dog meat."
Lying made your nose grow, so Zhou Dongdong was worried and didn't lie.
"How many bowls have you eaten?"
"Three."
"Then why are you saying I bully dogs?"
"Because it's yummy... But you still killed the dog..."
"Go cook," An Nuan said, giving Liu Chang'an a shove. Honestly, he was a grown man. How could he argue with a little kid for so long?
"Big sister, you're so tall!" Zhou Dongdong looked up at An Nuan. "You're as huge as an elephant."
An Nuan could see why Liu Chang'an called Zhou Dongdong an annoying kid. Still, she was so cute that An Nuan couldn't bring herself to take offense.
"Big sister, want to come look at the ants with me? So many of them are dead. Brother Chang'an must've peed here last night and drowned them all..."
"Zhou Dongdong, I didn't do that. You were the one who peed there!"
An Nuan was about to push Liu Chang'an back inside, but he went over to the tree anyway. He crouched down and prodded the dead ants with a blade of grass.
Liu Chang'an picked one up and examined it closely, then glanced back at the van.
"From now on, I'll pee here all the time and stink you out," Liu Chang'an told Zhou Dongdong.
"I'll stink you out! I'll stink you out! I'll stink you out!" Zhou Dongdong cried, running off with her bowl.
An Nuan shook her head and followed Liu Chang'an inside.
Liu Chang'an's room was tiny. It had a bathroom barely big enough to turn around in, a bed in the middle, and cooking utensils and a little table near the door. He told An Nuan to sit wherever she liked and got to work.
First, he stir-fried the dog fat with ginger and garlic. Then he added chopped dog intestines and cooked them until they released their oil. He tossed in some red chilies and perilla, followed by the other chopped dog offal and autumn soy sauce, then poured in broth and let it simmer. Before long, the dog-meat sauce was ready, fragrant and savory.
While Liu Chang'an cooked, An Nuan didn't bother him. She just sat nearby and watched him work. The tiny room soon filled with a delicious aroma, and a faint warmth seemed to settle over it, too. How many boys Liu Chang'an's age knew their way around a kitchen? Just as he'd said, boys that age had hormones pouring out of them. An Nuan knew exactly what they wanted when they pursued girls. Take Bai Hui, for example. Surely she knew what nearly every boy thought first when he saw her. There were so many boys crowding around her, and they were probably all after her breasts. Just imagining being pursued like that made An Nuan uncomfortable.
When Liu Chang'an finished cooking, he called An Nuan over to dig in.
"How is this so good?" An Nuan praised his cooking by eating at top speed. "It's way better than hot pot."
"This is how they cook it in some parts of the north. If we had a turtle, we could boil it down for broth and cook the dog meat in that. That's pretty good, too. It was passed down from Fan Kuai. Liu Bang liked it, though I don't much care for Liu Bang."
Unlike Liu Chang'an, An Nuan didn't feel the need to learn the historical background of everything she ate. She only realized how delicious it was after she was full. "I don't care. Even if you get a girlfriend, remember to call me over whenever you make something good. Or else I'll never forgive you. Don't let a girlfriend come between friends."
"That could be difficult." Liu Chang'an gave it some serious thought, then furrowed his brow. "Girls are all petty. It's impossible for them not to get jealous. If I get a girlfriend and you keep coming over to mooch meals, she'll definitely call you a fake nice girl or a scheming girl and tear into you."
"Who's scared of her?" An Nuan scoffed. She stretched out her legs, kicked off her shoes, and planted her feet on the back of Liu Chang'an's. She was declaring war on the yet-to-exist "Liu Chang'an's girlfriend." "Unless she's prettier than me, has bigger breasts, longer legs, is smarter than me, and cuter than me..."
"Does a girl like that even exist?" Liu Chang'an said, his expression firm as he made it clear that it was utterly impossible.
An Nuan burst out laughing, quietly pleased. She rubbed her stomach, feeling stuffed. She almost asked Liu Chang'an to rub it for her, getting a little coy, but stopped herself just in time. She really was too shameless. Liu Chang'an had said something nice for once, and she was already getting carried away.
"But I have a way to solve this perfectly."
"Let's hear it." An Nuan eyed Liu Chang'an warily. Her instincts told her he was asking for a beating again.
"You know how mothers don't mind their daughters eating at home..."
There it was! Even though An Nuan was full to bursting, she could take it no longer. She leaped up, ran behind Liu Chang'an, grabbed his head, and tried to shove him to the ground.
"Could you have some self-respect? Stop rubbing yourself against me!" Liu Chang'an couldn't understand why An Nuan liked getting physical with him. When girls fought like this, didn't they end up rubbing their waists, legs, and breasts against him—places no one was normally allowed to touch?
"You started it..."
An Nuan wrapped her legs around his arm to keep him from fighting back. Just then, her phone rang. Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao appeared: her mother was calling to ask where she was.
After she hung up and got her mother off her back, An Nuan stopped messing with him. She grumbled, "Walk me home, then come back here by yourself."
"Isn't the usual script that you walk me home afterward, then I walk you back, and finally we part at the bridge, reluctant to say goodbye? We take one step, look back, say goodbye, and once we've lost sight of each other, hurry to send each other messages?" Liu Chang'an sounded quite the charmer.
An Nuan rolled her eyes. If that really happened, any girl would be thrilled and more than willing. But that annoying Liu Chang'an was only saying it. When he actually did something like that, he wouldn't mention it; when he said he would, he definitely wouldn't do it.
Of course, Liu Chang'an was only saying it. He had something he needed to take care of that evening. It wasn't a mahjong game, and he wasn't going to play Pao Hu Zi.
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