Chapter 14

It was true that none of them had played in a long time. Back in college, they would sometimes go to a billiards hall, where she and Jiang Zao played mahjong while the two men played billiards outside. Sometimes the men came in to join them. It was all to pass the time and relieve stress. Later, one year when Ming Yu came back, Chen Lüli taught her to play, and she learned too.

But none of them could easily beat Chen Lüli. Jiang Yan'an tapped the edge of the table and said, "Brother Lü, how about going easy on the three of us tonight? Let us win a few rounds before you get serious?"

Chen Lüli said lazily, "Have you no shame?"

Jiang Yan'an said, "Come on, if you don't go easy on us, I'll tell Ming Yu on you."

"Go ahead."

He said.

Jiang Yan'an pursed his lips. He got up, ran over to a drawer, and pulled out a stack of paper strips. Seeing that, Jiang Zao said, "Here we go again."

Jiang Yan'an laughed. "What's the fun if we don't play this way?"

Lin Yu and Jiang Zao exchanged a look, each seeing the same helplessness in the other's eyes. Whoever lost had a strip stuck to their face, until they looked like a ghost. Jiang Yan'an never tired of it and insisted on playing this way every time. By the end of a session, either his face or hers and Jiang Zao's would be covered in strips. As for Chen Lüli, most of the time his face was clean.

Lin Yu sighed, but it was actually pretty fun. Having a penalty gave them the motivation to play.

The lower level of the mahjong table began to rumble.

Lin Yu got ready. Mahjong sometimes came down to luck; when skill wasn't enough, she could wait for luck to make up the difference. That was how she saw it. She had tasted the rewards of good luck before, so she was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, she got off to a bad start, losing the very first hand and even letting Jiang Yan'an win on a replacement tile after a kong.

Grinning, Jiang Yan'an tore off a strip and stuck it to her forehead, immediately blocking half the vision in one eye. She looked up. "Do you have to put it here?"

Jiang Yan'an saw her fair skin and the fine, visible peach fuzz on her face. He smiled and said, "Here's good. It's a bit of a challenge."

Helpless, Lin Yu blew at the strip. Jiang Yan'an watched her for a few more seconds, then smiled and returned to his seat.

Jiang Zao held back her laughter beside them.

She patted Lin Yu's shoulder. "You can do it."

As for the man across from her, he gave her a fleeting glance.

Lin Yu caught the faint smile that flashed through his eyes. She wanted to pull the strip off, but the game didn't allow it. She had to be a good sport.

So she began the second round with the strip on her face. She played very carefully. She wasn't good at mobile games, but she had learned mental arithmetic and had some memory for numbers. Just as she thought the hand was going well and she was on solid ground, she put down a red dragon. Chen Lüli said mildly, "Kong."

Lin Yu looked over at once.

He took the tile, set it beside the tiles in front of him, then laid them down. He never arranged his mahjong tiles in order; they were always a complete mess. Yet he could remember them and fight his way out of the chaos.

Jiang Zao exclaimed, "Yuyu, what's with your luck tonight? Is it because Li Yin didn't come? Did he suck all your luck away?"

Lin Yu hardly knew what to say. "It has nothing to do with him, does it? ... My luck is just bad."

"Haha, quick, put another one on her." Eager for a show, Jiang Yan'an handed a strip to Chen Lüli. Chen Lüli took it and came to her side, a faint scent of cedar drifting over and filling her nose. Lin Yu looked up past the strip. Chen Lüli stood there, looking down at her, the group photo from that night coming to mind: smiling eyes, skin fairer than snow, and enticing lips. He reached past the strip on her forehead and stuck the one in his hand to the tip of her nose.

Lin Yu was astonished.

The next second, Jiang Zao and Jiang Yan'an burst out laughing.

Lin Yu felt the strip on her nose rise and fall with her breathing. She instantly wanted to find a hole and crawl into it.

Jiang Yan'an laughed. "Haha, brilliant! On her nose-why didn't I think of that? It's so cute!"

Lin Yu raised a hand to cover it.

Jiang Zao pulled her hand away. "Don't cover it. Haha, it really is cute."

Lin Yu was mortified. Now even her mouth was hidden beneath the strip, and it moved every time she breathed. Through the strips, she watched the man sit down across from her and pour tea. She thought she had to find a chance to strike back. Even if she didn't, she at least had to win a few hands; she couldn't let them keep adding strips to her face.

A new round began. With two strips on her face, Lin Yu resolved to do better and pushed her memory to its limits. She finally held her ground for a hand, and Jiang Yan'an and Jiang Zao seemed to have gotten smarter this time too, dodging Chen Lüli's traps several times. Then, just as they were about to run through the last two tiles-

Lin Yu pushed down her tiles.

Pong!

She took the one bamboo Chen Lüli had just discarded. Chen Lüli lifted his eyes, and Lin Yu gave him a radiant smile.

"Wow, Yuyu, nice one! You took the big shot's tile."

At this mahjong table, no one would dare deny that Chen Lüli was the big shot.

Jiang Yan'an was especially excited. He picked up a strip and stuffed it into Lin Yu's hand. "A rare chance. Don't hesitate-go!"

Lin Yu smoothed out the folded strip, peeled back the adhesive, and walked over to Chen Lüli. He leaned back a little and raised his eyes to look at her.

She didn't often get a chance to see him up close. The last time was when he had a fever. There was a pressure to the way those eyes looked at her. Lin Yu pressed her lips together, thought of the strip on her nose, and went straight for his eyebrow without hesitation. Chen Lüli had never lost and had only had strips stuck on him a few times. He watched her hand approach.

He instinctively grabbed her wrist.

Lin Yu jumped.

She was wearing a two-piece outfit that day, a fitted apricot-colored top under a gray dress. Caught up in the game, she had rolled up her sleeves, revealing part of her arms. Her wrist was bare too, so when he grabbed her, their skin touched. The man's palm was slightly cool.

Her wrist, meanwhile, was soft as cotton, delicate and smooth.

Lin Yu opened her mouth. "... Are you going to go back on-"

She didn't finish the word.

After looking at her for a few seconds, Chen Lüli released her wrist and said, "Go ahead."

Hearing that, Lin Yu hurriedly stuck it over the peak of his eyebrow, blocking half the vision in one eye as well. Yet no matter how much it covered, the man's eyes and brows were still striking.

It even made him look a little more inscrutable.

Lin Yu left as soon as she had stuck it on, but she instinctively rubbed her wrist. She didn't know whether it was her imagination, but she felt that his palm had tightened just now, squeezing her wrist.

The cool touch had left a trace of warmth on her skin. She sat down and rubbed it again and again, her heart gradually calming.

Jiang Yan'an leaned over. "Let me see. Tsk, tsk, Chen Lüli, I never thought I'd see the day."

Resting her face in her hand, Jiang Zao said, "A handsome man really is a handsome man. An extra piece of paper doesn't hurt his looks at all. Yuyu, why didn't you stick it on his nose?"

She looked at Lin Yu.

Lin Yu shrugged. "I was in a hurry and put it on his eyebrow."

Jiang Zao laughed. She had also seen the resistance in Chen Lüli's expression, so when he grabbed Lin Yu's wrist, both she and Jiang Yan'an had held their breath for a moment, afraid he wouldn't let her put it on. But Chen Lüli wasn't that kind of person. Naturally, he wouldn't stoop to going back on his word.

The place on Lin Yu's mahjong-playing hand that she had covered with her sleeve was still a little red.

Chen Lüli arranged the tiles in his hand. The smooth sensation against his palm had naturally not faded entirely either.

Before long, Jiang Zao and Jiang Yan'an couldn't laugh anymore either. Lady Luck didn't favor them forever. Over the next several rounds, Lin Yu and Jiang Yan'an put three strips on Jiang Zao, Chen Lüli put five on Jiang Yan'an, and Lin Yu got one. In the end, Jiang Yan'an, the instigator, had the most strips of all.

"Ah, I'm done. If we keep playing, there won't be any room left on my face." Jiang Yan'an blew the strips covering his face aside. Lin Yu and Jiang Zao exchanged a look and snickered to themselves.

Chen Lüli pushed aside the tiles on the table and said, "Have someone bring in some food."

"Sure," Jiang Yan'an said.

He tore the strips off his face and rang the bell. Before long, four servers in qipaos came in, each carrying a tray. On the trays were small hot pots and hot-pot ingredients, all individual portions, which they set on the coffee table.

Jiang Zao's eyes lit up. "Whoa, little hot pots! You two really know how to eat."

She pulled Lin Yu down to sit. The four young women arranged everything neatly, without the slightest thing out of place. Chen Lüli and Jiang Yan'an came over and sat down across from them.

Jiang Yan'an smiled. "Brother Lü said hot pot would warm us up."

"There's nothing more comforting than hot pot in winter." Jiang Zao nodded and picked up her long chopsticks to put ingredients into her pot.

Lin Yu picked up her long chopsticks too and put in a few slices of potato.

Chen Lüli sat across from her. He opened four bottles of cola and gave one to each of them. When he placed one by Lin Yu's hand, she looked up and thanked him.

His long, narrow eyes gave her a fleeting glance.

Lin Yu felt that he was truly distant tonight. Apart from the occasional smile, he was like this most of the time, making him even harder to approach. Using her long chopsticks, she picked up a few slices of fatty beef and put them on his plate. He glanced at her again. Lin Yu said softly, "One portion of meat is enough for me. I can't finish any more than that."

At this very moment, CLL has been coaxed back into an embryo.

Another 100 red packets for this chapter. See you tomorrow.

Chapter 14

Chen Lüli said nothing. Wisps of steam rose, making it hard for them to see one another's faces clearly.

When Jiang Zao and Jiang Yan'an heard what Lin Yu said, they both knew she had the appetite of a bird and promptly held out their plates to ask for fatty beef.

Lin Yu was very generous, dividing a plate of fatty beef among the three of them.

Jiang Zao leaned against her shoulder and smiled. "Yuyu, you'll definitely be easy to feed in the future. Li Yin is so lucky."

Lin Yu smiled and moved her shoulder, nudging Jiang Zao away.

At the mention of Li Yin, Jiang Yan'an pursed his lips. "Can we not bring him up? My stomach hurts whenever you mention him."

Jiang Zao rolled her eyes. "What exactly did he ever do to offend you?"

Jiang Yan'an said, "Becoming Yuyu's boyfriend was enough to offend me."

Jiang Zao gave another enormous eye roll.

Lin Yu said helplessly, "He's a good guy."

Jiang Yan'an sighed. "Then you have to bring him to meet us next time."

Lin Yu smiled. "Okay."

Jiang Yan'an looked at the gentle, fragrant, soft Lin Yu and felt a pang of jealousy. He gave Li Yin several punches in his mind, then leaned toward Chen Lüli. "Brother Lü, Jiang Zao said Li Yin's company is in your building. Have you ever met him? What's he like?"

Chen Lüli held his long chopsticks as he swished meat through the broth, steam settling on his brows. He took the meat out and put it in his bowl, his voice mild. "I've never had any dealings with him. I don't know."