Hard to Escape - Chapter 15.2

Even upon arriving at the hot pot restaurant and meeting up with Wu Mei and the others, I was still somewhat out of it. The restaurant was especially busy on Sunday, and we had to wait more than ten minutes for a private room. Sadly, these ten minutes for me were filled with suffering. Around me, everyone had brought either a friend or lover. Though it was noisy, the sweet air was undeniable. Many of the female students had their elbow hooked around their boyfriend’s arm and were dolled up beautifully for the occasion. The contrast made me seem all the more lonely.

“Yan Xiao, Wei Yan had a deadline for a document translation so he couldn’t make it. But why are you alone too?” Su Lin Lin had a pair of pumps on. When she lifted her chin, she looked like a proud little hen. The other girls were also subconsciously paying attention to us. Besides looks, studies, and family background, they were also silently comparing each others’ boyfriends. Though only Su Lin Lin was blunt enough to ask directly, the rest were all curious too.

“My boyfriend is also busy with work. He’s a workaholic.”

Su Lin Lin laughed when she heard my response. She clearly didn’t believe me. Her expression said, “You either don’t have a boyfriend or don’t have the face to show him.”

Thankfully, the hot pot arrived. Everyone ate heartily and no one bothered to bring up the topic of my boyfriend anymore. We had ordered a spicy mala1 soup base, so we all ate especially vigorously. Around the table, we chatted about which seniors had found good jobs, which personal connections we could rely on, and about all the gossip in the foreign language department. Some English major had dumped a German major, and the Japanese professors were currently fiercely duking it out for the position of department head.

1 mala is a type of spice that’s especially oily and numbing, often used in Sichuan cuisine.

But tragically, after all those topics were exhausted, the girls started to introduce their boyfriends.

“Mhm, that’s correct. I work as lawyer in China and America. Yes, yes, at that law firm, this is my business card.”

“Aiya Zhang Qing, your boyfriend is a lawyer, that’s so impressive!”

“Forget it, it’s just tiring. When he has a lot of cases, he’ll have meetings nonstop. The last time when he worked on an IPO, he didn’t have time to talk for half a month. Your boyfriend still has it better as an civil servant.”

“How can it compare to Dan Dan’s boyfriend? They’re in the same year. He’s one of the top students in the architecture department. Getting to attend school together is the best, you can see each other every day. Even if my boyfriend is a civil servant, he still has to go to work every day and can’t stay with me!”

Only Su Lin Lin and I had nothing to contribute to this topic. Everyone else was busy with introductions, networking with each other and expanding their circle. Su Lin Lin silently played with her phone while I diligently cooked the beef.

“Ai, if I knew it would be this boring, I wouldn’t have come,” Su Lin Lin grumbled under her breath.

I vigorously blew on the beef to cool it while stuffing my mouth, and at the same time shot her a glance. “Just be content with our lot. If this group had people who’d married and had kids, I’m afraid that instead of comparing our boyfriends we’d be talking about all the troubles we went through to raise our children.” It was natural for people to want to brag about what they had.

Amidst the chatter, there were surprisingly still some girls who were nice enough to talk with me. “Yan Xiao, my boyfriend has a coworker who’s a pretty good person. He thinks the pair of you would be a good match. Want me to introduce you? The guy also comes from a pretty good background.”

Just as I was about to clarify that I had someone, my phone sounded. I could only smile apologetically and say, “Let me take this call.”

It number was Yin Li’s. Calling at this time, I was still feeling somewhat upset and when I picked up, my tone wasn’t that great. Yet he didn’t mind and only asked, “Yan Xiao, where are you? Have you finished eating hot pot?”

I slowly replied, “Not yet.”

“I ended my dinner engagement early, and I’m at the entrance of the hot pot restaurant right now. I don’t know which room you’re in, so come and get me.” I could hear the background clamor on his end. It made his voice sound unclear, but his tone was as calm as always. My heart started racing.

He actually came.

Sometimes I was afraid of how smart Yin Li was. But this sort of perceptiveness, I unexpectedly liked. He must have understood the reason why I invited him to eat hot pot, I was trying my best to give him a different experience. And he came. He could have played dumb and pretended to not know my reasoning, but he didn’t. He was always trying his best to adapt to my lifestyle and accommodate me, yet he did it all without a word. He fundamentally was a taciturn person, who furthermore didn’t like to brag and seek attention.

I gripped the phone tightly. When my heart finally calmed down, I returned to the private room. “Is it okay if I add someone to the party? My boyfriend just arrived and I’m going out to get him.”

The girl I was chatting with stuck out her tongue. “Sure, sure. Yan Xiao, you sure hide your cards well. At first, you seemed to be attending solo, yet you already had a boyfriend. Don’t tell him that I accidentally tried to introduce you to someone, ‘kay?” Right after her words, a wave of loud conversation sounded from behind her. But this time I didn’t catch anything that was said, everything went in one ear and out the other. My mind was already occupied with something else.

As I walked over to the entrance, my eyes immediately found Yin Li. He was already dressed considerably low-key, but this man and the concept of “low-key” simply couldn’t connect. The strong aura of nobleness was written deeply in his bones. He was just this way. No matter what he wore, he was always so eye-catching. At this time he was standing at the entrance, and among the guests lining up at the side, a few girls were already repeatedly glancing his way. Some even covertly took out their phone to take pictures.

I shyly ran over and pulled on his sleeve. “There amount of people in the room isn’t small.”

Yin Li patted my head and smiled.

Sadly, I had still underestimated the destructive power of Yin Li’s face. After all, those inside the room weren’t like me. They didn’t get to see that charming face every day and develop a tolerance, to the point that they could behave with a semblance of self-control in front of it.

When I brought him in, everyone’s expressions were like they were seeing a fantasy. Yet Yin Li was very composed. He took a seat where I gestured for him to sit, nodding politely to those at the table. Then he tightly wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me over, and said, “I am Yin Li, Yan Xiao’s fiance.”

At the sound of this word “fiance” the corner of my mouth twitched, I quickly added, “Actually just boyfriend.” Then I snuck a peek out of the corner of my eye at Su Lin Lin. The instant Yin Li walked through the door, her eyes had bulged. In this group, she was probably the only one who recognized him. Yin Li was very low-key, he rarely appeared in the gossip magazines.

The first to react was Zhang Qing’s lawyer boyfriend. He smiled politely, “I’m Liu Shao Yang. It’s very nice to meet you Mr. Yin.” He then looked at me pensively. He probably also recognized Yin Li. The rest of the crowd were much more casual about it and just directly called him Yin Li. Yin Li himself was very cooperative. He smiled slightly at everyone and seemed to fit in. He didn’t stick out and direct the conversation, nor did he go with the crowd. He only said a few words when appropriate, seeming both modest and quick-witted.

Taking advantage of a moment when the others were occupied with the conversation, I added some meat to the hot pot. Then I dipped it in some sesame sauce and gave it to Yin Li, adding “It’s a bit spicy.”

Yin Li was clearly unaccustomed to this manner of eating, but he obediently took my chopsticks and ate the meat. I then gave him some enoki mushrooms and leafy vegetables. Yin Li dutifully ate them all. His table manners were elegant, completely out of place with the hot pot atmosphere. But seeing his nose and cheeks turn pink from the spiciness, I felt that this really was novel and amusing.

Meanwhile through this whole process, Su Lin Lin looked as if she had a giant banner plastered across her face that pleaded “This must not be real, I definitely must have gone blind. This absolutely must be an illusion!!” Only when I rose to go to the restroom was she unable to restrain herself, and followed along. Right outside the restroom she grabbed ahold of me and hauled me over. “Yan Xiao, don’t play dumb right now. You have nothing to say to me?” Then a cold smile appeared on her face. “Whatever’s in your heart right now, just spit it out.”

Consequently I had no choice but to sincerely oblige her and suggested, “Do you mind letting go of me first? My bladder is about to burst.”

Candle: I wanna eat hotpot…cold weather is the perfect hotpot season *drools* Have you guys eaten hotpot before? If you haven’t, GO TRY IT ITS REALLY GOOD BUT ALSO EXPENSIVE CRIES… My favorite to eat is lamb…….yummy…

Here’s a pic of hotpot for your suffering pleasure:

And here’s what Enoki mushrooms look like if you don’t know what they’re talking about: