With a swipe of his finger across the screen, Yan Heqing replied to Lin Fengzhi, "[What do you think?]"
He countered with a question.
Lin Fengzhi, who had been holding his phone the whole time, replied quickly, "I don't know. I..."
While I was typing, another message popped up.
I hope not.
Just then, the owner brought in a pot of soup, and a waiter pushed in a food cart.
Yan Heqing replied, "[If you want to know, ask Lu Muchi. I don't want to mention it.]"
I turned off the screen.
Lu Lin returned shortly afterward.
The owner didn't ask the waiters to do anything; he personally arranged the plates and then quietly left.
Mr. Lu prefers quiet.
"It's different from any fish hot pot I've ever seen," Yan Heqing said first. "It's more like sashimi."
The soup pot contained a milky white broth, and apart from tofu, there was only a fish head gazing at the starry sky. The fish meat was sliced into paper-thin pieces and arranged on five large plates, glistening and translucent.
"Hmm, this is hot pot fish." Lu Lin picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks, dipped it into the broth for about a second, and lifted it up. The fish had turned milky white and curled up into No. 1 Primary School ball. He placed it on Yan Heqing's plate. "Try it."
Yan Heqing picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece, and put it in his mouth.
It was surprisingly crunchy. "Delicious."
Lu Lin smiled. "Next time, bring fish you caught yourself; they'll taste even better."
"Next time," Yan Heqing swallowed the fish, a faint smile appearing on his face, "I think so too."
The two ate quietly, the only sound in the private room being the bubbling of the fish soup. The fresh leafy greens were different from those bought at the market, having a subtle sweetness. They leisurely finished a large basket of vegetables and five large plates of fish slices.
Yan Heqing did not rush to pay the bill.
Once back in the car and on the road again, this time he sat in the passenger seat, bent down to fasten his seatbelt, and said softly, "Next time it's my treat."
Lu Lin, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other taking out a thermos, took a few sips and said, "You always calculate things so clearly?"
Fastening his seatbelt, Yan Heqing looked up, adjusted his posture, and gazed ahead. "No, no one has ever needed me to calculate this before."
Lu Lin put down his thermos, lightly pressed his index finger against his Adam's apple, and asked, "Shall I take you home?"
"No," Yan Heqing replied, "If it's convenient, go to the Rainbow Bridge Welfare Home."
Firstly, since they met at the hospital yesterday, Lu Muchi most likely went to his residence.
It's not time for Lu Muchi to meet Lu Lin yet.
Secondly, he needed to go to the welfare home to check on Xu Qiaoyin's current situation.
Lu Lin took Yan Heqing to the Rainbow Bridge Welfare Home.
Stopping in front of the door, Lu Lin didn't go in. Yan Heqing opened the door and got out, not even reaching for his fishing bag. "Can I put my fishing bag and bucket in your trunk? My driver's license won't be ready for another month and a half. Next time I go fishing, I'll have to hitch a ride with you again."
Lu Lin asked another question, "On the fifteenth of the first lunar month, the orphanage has been invited to the opening of Lu Group's Amusement Park. Are you going?"
Yan Heqing smiled and said, "I've never been to an amusement park before. If I can get in for free, of course I'll go."
Lu Lin said, "See you next week."
They reversed and drove away.
Chapter 56
During the Spring Festival, the welfare home organized the children to make dumplings.
The oddly shaped dumplings were put into the pot, resulting in a pot of dumplings with a thousand different shapes and sizes, Yan Heqing happened to catch.
After the children finished eating and left, he took a plate of dumplings and sat down opposite Auntie Zhang.
Auntie Zhang was already waiting for him, and said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to come today. You've been a great help to me."
Yan Heqing smiled, "This is my job."
"That's true, but you didn't receive any benefits or salary, so all you got were a few credits." Auntie Zhang put down her chopsticks. "With your abilities, you could earn those credits anywhere."
Yan Heqing didn't reply; he had already obtained two-thirds of what he needed. He lowered his head and took a bite of a dumpling, when suddenly he bumped his teeth. It was something hard. He pulled out a tissue, covered his mouth, and spat it out—a one-yuan coin.
Seeing this, Auntie Zhang exclaimed with delight, "What great luck, Xiao Yan! You've found this year's lucky dumpling! You're sure to have great fortune this year!"
She felt a little down again. She thought of Xu Qiaoyin, the lucky dumpling from last year, which Xu Qiaoyin had eaten.
" Xiao Yan, have you contacted Teacher Xu recently?" she asked.
Yan Heqing put down the coin, lowered his head, and continued eating his dumplings. "Can't get in touch with them."
"She quit her job," Auntie Zhang sighed, shaking her head. "She called me on New Year's Day. Sigh, I could tell she was upset. I wonder what happened. She loves children so much..."
It was more than ten years ago, there was a little girl in the orphanage.
Born with a cleft lip and HIV, the mother only found out later that her father had infected her with HIV. During an argument, the father killed his mother and went to prison.
The little girl was sent to an orphanage before she was even a month old.
Normal contact will not transmit HIV, but most people are still afraid. The little girl is an innocent victim, and they are just ordinary people who go to work. They all shirk their responsibility to take care of her. It was Xu Qiaoyin who took the initiative to take care of the little girl and even used all her savings to pay for the little girl's cleft lip repair surgery.
Auntie Zhang sighed again, "I hadn't even said a few words before she hung up the phone, like she was afraid of something, sigh..."
Having gathered the information he needed, Yan Heqing increased his eating speed.
On the other side, not long after Lu Lin left the Rainbow Bridge Welfare Home, Chu Ziyu called.
He was slurring his words and was very drunk.
"Brother Lu, my brother, I just want to ask you one question. Your brother has broken up with his girlfriend. Are you... are you coming...? If not, I'll call you 'brother' once. If you do, I'll call you 'brother' once."
The phone was snatched away, followed by Xie Yunjie's voice, with Chu Ziyu's wailing singing in the background. "I'm being tortured to death by him. I don't know who dumped me. I'm going crazy at home. Can you come over if you have time? I'm afraid he'll blow up his house later, and I can't stop him!"
Lu Lin navigated to Chu Ziyu's address.
When they arrived, Chu Ziyu had calmed down and was lying on the bed in his vest and shorts, snoring.
A pile of crumpled paper lay on the floor. Xie Yunjie coughed a few times. "Don't jump to conclusions, he's just wiping away tears and snot..." He suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed intently on Lu Lin. "How far have things progressed between you and Little Master Yan?"