Chapter 51: I’m Glad You’re Back.

The plane made a loop and turned back, landing in Lingjiang the next morning.

After sleeping for a stretch on the plane, neither of them was mentally tired. Dawn had just broken, and a brilliant expanse of crimson and orange-tinted clouds filled the sky. The six o’clock wind wasn’t hot yet. Lu Jue kept stealing glances at Yu Ting’s face from the corner of his eye.

Yu Ting almost never let his emotions leak out. Aside from his breakdown in the flower greenhouse the day before, he was always very composed.

Right now, Yu Ting also looked very composed.

They managed to hail a taxi. Lu Jue stepped forward first to open the door, turned sideways to make room, then looked back at Yu Ting.

“Where to?”

Yu Ting said, “Eat noodles.”

A slight flicker passed through the corner of Lu Jue’s eye. He then got into the car and heard Yu Ting give the driver an address.

It sounded familiar. When they arrived at the place, Lu Jue saw the sign for the Seafood Fried Noodle Restaurant through the car window.

Yu Ting had said in his email that he would bring him here for seafood fried noodles when he came back.

The taxi stopped in front of the noodle restaurant. They got out and entered the shop.

It was the same table as last time. Besides the seafood fried noodles, Lu Jue ordered five or six side dishes. Yu Ting didn’t order any more.

While waiting for the food, Yu Ting quietly scalded the chopsticks and bowls with hot water. His eyes were lowered, his overly long eyelashes seeming much lighter in color under the sunlight, like a doll’s false eyelashes. A few even grew wildly, each curling defiantly in different directions.

After a moment, those few long eyelashes fluttered upwards slightly. Yu Ting lifted his eyes, pulled out a napkin to dry the tips of the chopsticks and the bowl, and placed them in front of Lu Jue.

Lu Jue could tell Yu Ting wasn’t ready to talk yet. He immediately found a topic. “Where to after we eat?”

Yu Ting said, “Buy land.”

The year his father had his accident, their ancestral home and several plots of land were sold off for cash to repay debts. Only the house they lived in was left. Zhao Rufei’s flower nursery was rented.

Over a decade ago, land in Lingjiang was practically dirt cheap. The landlord’s sole requirement was a minimum ten-year lease. In the last two years, the real estate market suddenly boomed. The nursery’s ten-year lease was up. The landlord offered a new contract with increased rent, switching to an annual renewal system.

“It expires at the end of this month,” Yu Ting said. “Those days are final exams. I have free time today, so I’ll go negotiate early.”

Lu Jue asked, “You want to keep running the flower nursery?”

“The flower nursery is my mother’s career. I know she always wanted to buy that piece of land,” Yu Ting explained simply.

Lu Jue understood immediately. In a few months, Yu Ting would be 18, reaching the age where he could apply for a loan. He’d mortgage the house for a loan, add that to the cash Zhao Rufei left behind, and buying the nursery land would be about enough.

This matter, perhaps, Yu Ting had decided upon the very moment Zhao Rufei’s accident happened.

Yu Ting was far stronger than he had ever imagined.

But strength’s twin was suffering. He would rather Yu Ting never learned how to be strong.

A dense, aching heartache gnawed at every bone in Lu Jue’s body. His gaze was profound, only looking at Yu Ting. “Can I help with anything?”

Yu Ting, however, asked him instead, “When are you leaving?”

“Coming right up! Signature Fried Noodles!” At that moment, the boss arrived carrying the seafood fried noodles.

The boss had a loud voice, completely covering Yu Ting’s words. Just as Yu Ting was about to repeat himself, Lu Jue replied, “I’m not leaving. I haven’t fallen behind on this semester’s coursework. I should still be able to sit next to you in senior year.”

Lu Jue raised an eyebrow. “Your current deskmate is Ding Sinan?”

The fried noodles were placed before them. The steaming hot aroma, rich with the scent of the wok, instantly rushed up to Yu Ting’s eyelashes. His movements paused, froze for two or three seconds, then he took his chopsticks, lowered his head to stir the noodles a few times, and uttered an “Mm.”

He twisted a large mouthful of noodles with his chopsticks, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed slowly until it was gone. Then he looked up at Lu Jue again.

He fell right into Lu Jue’s gaze. Lu Jue hadn’t touched his chopsticks yet. A shallow smile lingered in his dark eyes.

“Lele, we’re going to be deskmates again. Don’t you have any reaction?”

His gaze was deep. “For example—” a pause for a beat— “Smile a little, say a word of welcome back for me.”

Yu Ting seemed stunned, staring blankly at him.

Lu Jue’s lips tilted up slightly. He lowered his head to stir his noodles. “Just teasing you, hurry up and eat—”

“Thank you for coming back.”

The spinning noodles stopped. Lu Jue abruptly looked up. Yu Ting’s gaze was still fixed on him. Then, the two arcs of his thin lips curved up into a very warm smile.

Yu Ting said it seriously once more.

“Thank you for coming back, Lu Jue. I’m very glad you’re back.”

~

In the afternoon, Yu Ting negotiated the price with the landlord, signed the contract, and paid the deposit.

In the evening, he brought a few gifts to visit the Zhang family.

Zhang Minhua saw that Yu Ting had regained his vitality, and her anxious heart finally settled back in her stomach.

Zhang Minhua’s husband outdid himself, unleashing a lifetime of culinary skills to make a rich pot of seafood hotpot and kept Yu Ting for dinner.

Yu Ting didn’t refuse. He played with Little Minmin for a while. After dinner, he stated his reason for visiting.

“Aunt Zhang, would you be willing to take over my mother’s flower nursery?”

Zhang Minhua had been thinking about this for a while. During her period of unemployment, she had been helping out at the Rufei Flower Nursery. The two had discussed pooling money once they saved enough to expand and grow the business together. It was just that Zhao Rufei’s passing was so recent; she didn’t have the heart for it, nor did she feel comfortable bringing it up with Yu Ting. But Yu Ting had brought it up first.

She wiped her eyes. “Of course, I’m willing! I only have one condition: the rent and depreciation are all at market price!”

Yu Ting didn’t argue, just said, “Aunt Zhang, you misunderstood. I’m not transferring the nursery, I’m looking to cooperate with you. You don’t need to put up any money. Just continue to run the nursery. You take 70% of the profit, and give me 30%.”

Zhang Minhua took a long moment to react. At first, wasn’t this her taking huge advantage? Thinking about it carefully, it really was a good idea!

Yu Ting was still in school. Tuition, living expenses—he would continuously need money. Having a stable source of income was much better than sitting on a lump sum of money and eating away at it.

She consulted her husband for a few words and then decided, “Cooperation is fine, but it must be 50-50!”

Yu Ting immediately asked for paper and handwrote two copies of the contract to sign.

Zhang Minhua faintly felt something wasn’t quite right. After Yu Ting left, she pulled her husband aside and said, “I still feel like I’m taking advantage. I’m not contributing a cent, just tending the flower nursery every day. Taking even 30% is too much!”

Zhang Minhua’s husband mulled it over for a moment and felt the same way.

The couple looked at each other.

Yu Ting had deliberately started by offering 70/30 to manipulate the negotiation into a 50/50 split!

They both burst out laughing at the same time, exclaiming—

“That Little Ting, his brain works so well!”

…

At the same time, the clever-brained Yu Ting was being driven back to the residential area by Lu Jue.

It was a motorcycle that Lu Jue had fetched from Lu Garden in the afternoon.

In the height of summer’s night, weaving through the streets and alleys, there were especially many young people out, and the rate of turning heads to stare was especially high.

Both their hair flew wildly in the night wind. Yu Ting was quiet the whole way. When they reached the residential building downstairs, he only looked at Lu Jue, who was skillfully parking the bike, and asked a question. “You really don’t know how to ride a bicycle?”

Lu Jue’s motion of removing the key paused for a second, then he quickly pulled it out. The key ring, looped on his index finger, trembled slightly. “Don’t know how.”

Yu Ting didn’t make another sound and went into the stairwell first.

Lu Jue glanced at him and immediately panicked, chasing after him. “I do, just a little bit, I wasn’t trying to set you up…”

Their voices gradually faded as the sensor lights in the stairwell lit up.

Not long after, the lights in apartment 201 also turned on. Warm orange light spilled out, illuminating the twelve pots of Endless Summer Hydrangeas on the balcony, their blooms clustered in full, burgeoning splendor.

~

In the blink of an eye, the holidays arrived, and Lingjiang entered its hottest month: August. Yu Ting and Lu Jue hardly left the house during the day.

Senior year started early, leaving only twenty days of vacation. Under Lu Jue’s forceful insistence, Yu Ting finally managed to sleep in a few days.

Lu Jue didn’t hire a housekeeper anymore. Every day when Yu Ting woke up, Lu Jue had lunch ready. After lunch, Yu Ting usually spent four hours working on practice problems. Occasionally, when he got tired of it, he’d casually whip up a few test papers for Lu Jue to practice with.

In the evening, after eating dinner cooked by Lu Jue, it was less hot outside. Most of the time they would go out to walk off their meal, with no destination, just randomly picking a road to wander.

Sometimes when they were too lazy to go out, they’d spread a bamboo mat in the living room, bring over two standing electric fans to blow on them, and play video games all night long.

Just like that, they almost finished wandering all the main streets and small alleys of Lingjiang. And quietly, without fanfare, Senior Year arrived.

September 2011.

When Lu Jue followed Yang Shuyun into the Senior Year Class 3 classroom, Ding Sinan felt like his sky was falling. He glanced at Yu Ting next door and gritted his teeth, swearing a silent oath.

He was no longer the person he used to be. Now, he was the second-ranked student in Senior Class 3! The title of Yu Ting’s deskmate—he would absolutely not yield it!

As a result, after the first monthly exam, Ding Sinan, eyes brimming with tears, slowly packed his schoolbag and whispered to Yu Ting, “God Ting, you… you aren’t secretly tutoring Handsome Lu on the side, are you?”

Yu Ting, “…”

He responded with silence.

Lu Jue raised an eyebrow. “Move it, quickly.”

Ding Sinan took one step and glanced back three times as he moved to the seat in front of Yu Ting.

Fu Diyang had done well this time, now it was his turn. Seeing the seat in front of Lu Jue was still empty, he came over grinning, showing two rows of big white teeth.

As soon as he sat down, he immediately turned his head to talk to Yu Ting and Lu Jue. “How is God Ting planning to celebrate his birthday in three weeks?”

He was the Sports Representative, and he’d seen Yu Ting’s student file. October 25th.

Yu Ting’s memories of birthdays stopped at early childhood. It wasn’t that life was so hard Zhao Rufei couldn’t afford a birthday for him. On the contrary, on his birthday, Zhao Rufei would always squeeze out a bit of money to buy him a small cake. It was just that he had no interest in birthdays.

Yu Ting continued with his problems. “Not celebrating my birthday.”

Fu Diyang’s mouth fell open. “I super love birthdays! They’re super fun! And it’s your 18th birthday, coming of age! What a regret if you don’t celebrate! Come on, God Ting! I’ll help prepare it, you just need to pay!”

Ding Sinan also turned his head. “No way, let’s just split the cost, AA!”

Fu Diyang finally reacted, realizing Yu Ting’s family situation wasn’t good. He reached out to pat Yu Ting’s shoulder, “Hehe, right, no reason to make the birthday boy pay! My dad’s restaurant’s food is pretty good. I’ll treat—”

His hand was still some distance from Yu Ting’s shoulder when it was smacked away.

Lu Jue withdrew his hand and said blandly, “The Teaching Director is looking at you.”

Fu Diyang instantly looked towards the hallway. Sure enough, Zheng Derong was pressed against the window, staring right at him.

“Whoa… Old Zheng’s like a ghost!” Fu Diyang hurriedly turned back around and sat properly, not forgetting to yank his new deskmate back too. “Hehe, no need to thank me, Class Study Representative. From now on we’re deskmates, helping each other is what we should do!”

Ding Sinan rolled his eyes at him, flipped a page of his book with a rustle, and continued working on problems.

This interruption made them forget about Yu Ting’s upcoming birthday. Yu Ting breathed a sigh of relief.

He really didn’t want to celebrate his birthday.

Just as he was about to refocus and translate an Italian document, a familiar piece of scratch paper was pushed over, a sentence written on it.

【Lele, can you let me arrange things for your birthday?】

It also had a drawing of a little chibi Lu Jue with big, blinking eyes.

He had to admit, Lu Jue’s drawing skills were really good. He’d drawn himself very cute and moe. Yu Ting pursed the corners of his mouth tightly. After a long moment, he replied with a single word.

【Okay.】

Buzz.

Yu Ting’s phone vibrated inside his desk cubby.

During Evening Self-Study when he got home, Yu Ting only then remembered to glance at his phone.

It was from an unfamiliar number.

【Long time no see, I’m back.】