AaSoL 02

Chapter 2: Snowstorm Turns to Clear Skies (1)

The seawater in Boston surged in.

Niagara Falls froze into an ice sculpture.

Even the waves were frozen into works of art.

These were the kinds of news they saw after arriving at the hotel.

Luckily, the snowstorm had ended, and the weather had warmed up.

“Those experts always talk about global warming, are they kidding me?” her cousin complained as he grabbed some ham.

“This is the Great Lakes effect. You should’ve learned about it in geography, but I bet you didn’t study well,” Yin Guo, still half asleep, stood by the toaster, waiting for her toast, mumbling and complaining. “If we came a little later, we wouldn’t have been so unlucky.”

Her original plan was to come in March and leave in April. But Meng Xiaotian insisted on coming in January, saying he wanted to adjust to different seasons, but in reality, he just wanted to take advantage of Yin Guo’s presence to force her to be his guide and show him around New York.

Meng Xiaotian, knowing he was at fault, gave a guilty smile and said, “Make me a slice too.”

Yin Guo agreed.

“Sis?”

“Hmm?”

“Aren’t you going to thank the handsome guy?”

With a small thud, the toast fell onto the silver stainless steel tray.

Yin Guo used tongs to flip the toast and continue toasting it. “I was thinking about how to thank him.”

“There’s nothing to be awkward about, we’re all Chinese. I’ll send you his WeChat.”

Before getting off the car that day, Meng Xiaotian had thanked him repeatedly and managed to get Lin Yiyang’s WeChat contact. Apparently, over the past few days, they had exchanged a few messages on WeChat, and he seemed quite friendly.

Yin Guo, still groggy, thought about this and saw Meng Xiaotian had sent over Lin Yiyang’s WeChat.

Name: Lin.

With a thud, the toast dropped again. Both sides were now toasted.

Yin Guo picked up the toast, grabbed a small box of butter and strawberry jam, and returned to the table by the window. Behind her, her cousin noticed she had forgotten to toast bread for him and called out to her three times in vain. He had to reluctantly take care of it himself.

Yin Guo set her plate on the red-checkered tablecloth and looked at Lin Yiyang’s contact card. She hesitated for a while, then decided not to add him. She put down her phone, picked up a fork, and dug into her scrambled eggs.

Thinking about that night made her uneasy. When her cousin and the man with glasses came back from the restroom, they had caught Lin Yiyang putting away his ID card. The man with glasses laughed loudly and asked Yin Guo if she still wanted to see the household registration page. Since it was daytime in China, there was a chance Lin Yiyang’s family could send a picture for her.

It was so awkward.

Meng Xiaotian came back with his food and saw Yin Guo holding her phone, hesitating. He grabbed the phone and, speaking to himself, added Lin Yiyang on WeChat. “What’s there to be afraid of? He’s a good guy.”

As soon as the friend request was sent, it was accepted.

“It’s approved.” Meng Xiaotian showed her the screen, sending a smiley face emoji as well.

Yin Guo grabbed the phone back.

Seeing the smiley face on the screen, she knew she had to send a message.

She held the phone, carefully typing: “Hello, I’m Yin Guo, the Chinese person you helped at RED FISH bar the other day, the older sister.”

She sent it but immediately felt that her introduction was too wordy and considered recalling the message.

Before she could act, the reply came in.

Lin: “I know.”

So brief.

Xiaoguo: “Thank you so much for your help that day. Without you, we wouldn’t have made it to the hotel. If you’re free, my brother and I would like to treat you to a meal to express our gratitude. Would that be okay?”

Lin: “Aren’t you afraid of being scammed?”

Xiaoguo: “…I had just arrived in New York, and with the snowstorm, I was really lost. I’m sorry if I misunderstood your kind intentions.”

Lin: “No problem.”

Xiaoguo: “Are you still in Manhattan? We can come over.”

Lin: “I’m at the train station, heading back to DC.”

Back to Washington?

“What did he say?” Meng Xiaotian asked.

“He said he’s going back to school.”

Meng Xiaotian chewed on his toast. “Then we can go, it’ll be fun.”

Yin Guo said, “Huh?”

“We’ll go find him and have fun. I’m free all day.”

“But we didn’t prepare anything, we need to book train tickets and hotels in advance,” Yin Guo pleaded. “Let’s not make this complicated, just enjoy New York for now. There’s no rush for dinner today.”

Besides, who chases after someone just to invite them to a meal, especially from New York to Washington? It just sounds creepy.

Meng Xiaotian saw Yin Guo wasn’t keen on the idea, so he didn’t argue further.

He quickly finished his toast, grabbed another plate of food, and went back.

The hotel had a restaurant and bar, but once meal times passed, the waitstaff seemed to disappear. A few days ago, with the snowstorm still ongoing, they didn’t want to go out and decided to have lunch in the hotel. But after searching everywhere, they didn’t see a single staff member, let alone a chef. In the end, starving, they went to the front desk to ask where they could eat. The American receptionist cheerfully told them they’d have to wait until 5:30 when the restaurant staff returned. Reluctantly, the two of them searched the hotel for vending machines, hoping to find some food. However, all the machines only sold drinks. Eventually, they gave up and spent hours chatting, drinking water, and surfing the internet until they finally got some steak.

After that hunger ordeal, Meng Xiaotian learned his lesson: never, ever miss a chance to eat when traveling. He vowed to always eat until full at every available opportunity.

They didn’t discuss Washington any further over breakfast.

Later, Meng Xiaotian stopped bringing it up, and Yin Guo didn’t pay much attention either. She rested for half an hour in the room before looking up a nearby supermarket. She dragged Meng Xiaotian, with whom she had been chatting on WeChat, out for some shopping. They were staying in New York for about 3-4 months, and Yin Guo hadn’t brought many daily necessities, planning to buy them locally.

Upon entering the supermarket, Yin Guo immediately went to the household goods aisle, while Meng Xiaotian headed straight for the food section.

Following the signs, she first arrived at the shampoo and body wash section. She quickly picked out a large bottle from the top shelf, just enough for the two of them to use for about three months. After struggling to reach it for half the day, she grabbed it.

“What are you buying?” Meng Xiaotian came around.

“Shampoo,” Yin Guo replied, looking for body wash. “Don’t follow me, I need to buy a lot of things.”

Some of which were things she didn’t want him to see.

Behind her, someone reached over her head and grabbed the shampoo bottle from her hands. “Let’s go. We’ll buy this later.”

The shampoo was returned to its spot.

“I just grabbed it,” Yin Guo protested, “and I had to reach all the way up to get it! Give it back.”

Meng Xiaotian ignored her and pulled her away, heading out. “I just bought the train ticket, we’re short on time. We need to hurry back and pack, or we’ll miss the train.”

“You bought a ticket? How did you buy it? Where did you buy it?” Yin Guo was confused. Hadn’t they entered the supermarket together? When did he buy the ticket?

He waved his phone in front of her, showing an electronic ticket to Washington, D.C. “The handsome guy taught me. I told him you’re a waste and don’t even know how to buy a train ticket. He recommended an app to me.”

Meng Xiaotian bragged, feeling like he was quickly mastering everything, including buying train tickets.

Yin Guo was shocked by how resourceful Meng Xiaotian was. She grabbed his phone and started reading through their chat history. It wasn’t just that he was calling her dumb; he had practically revealed everything about their family to Lin Yiyang. Meng Xiaotian had gone into full “good boy” mode, explaining to Lin Yiyang that he had applied to a university here and came early to adjust to life and tour other prestigious schools, just in case he didn’t get in this year and would try again next year. Yin Guo had been entrusted by her family to take care of him while traveling.

There weren’t many replies from the man.

The last message was sent three minutes ago.

Lin: “There’s a Shake Shack at the DC train station. Try it if it’s your first time.”

“What’s that?” Meng Xiaotian asked from behind.

“A burger joint.”

“See, he’s more reliable than you. You didn’t tell me.”

“We just arrived, right?” Yin Guo defended herself, “There’s one in New York too. If you want to eat, I’ll take you there.”

Meng Xiaotian wasn’t listening to her explanation and immediately pulled her back to the hotel.

He was inexperienced, and the train ticket was for two hours later. They had no time to prepare, grabbed two outfits and toiletries, stuffed them into backpacks, grabbed their IDs, credit cards, and phones, and rushed to the train station.

In the taxi, Yin Guo focused on booking the hotel.

When they arrived at the train station, she was still booking the hotel. She was on the phone with staff, choosing rooms, giving her credit card details. Meng Xiaotian held onto her backpack, weaving through the crowd, guiding her toward the train.

They swiped their tickets and entered the station.

Just like that, they boarded the train, resembling a battle. Most passengers were already seated.

“Find a nearby seat.”

Yin Guo saw that there was no hope in this car; all the two-person seats were taken. They had to walk to the next car. After passing through two cars, she found a free two-person seat, placed her small backpack at her feet, and sat by the window.

Meng Xiaotian threw his big backpack into the overhead compartment and sat next to her on the outer side. “You know, this train doesn’t even speed up. It only takes a little while to get from New York to Washington, but on our high-speed rail, we’d be done in an hour. When I bought the tickets, they told me it would take more than three hours. It scared me. High-speed rail prices with slow train speed—just absurd.”

Meng Xiaotian kept grumbling.

Yin Guo didn’t want to talk. She still hadn’t figured out how Meng Xiaotian had managed to rush her onto the train. She only came to the supermarket to buy shampoo and daily necessities, and somehow, they were heading to Washington?

She looked out the train window and, a few seconds later, suddenly realized something very important—

Hadn’t she forgotten to pay for the train tickets that day?

Before the train left the station, Lin Yiyang boarded.

He didn’t want to walk further, so he took an empty seat. A young black mother sat next to him, holding a one-year-old crying child. The mother was helpless, patting the child gently, repeatedly saying, “Sorry.”

In the soothing voice of the young mother, Lin Yiyang took off his winter coat and stuffed it into the overhead compartment along with his gym bag. Having not slept the night before, he pulled his hat down and tried to block the light from the window.

“Can you help?” The black mother’s voice asked.

Lin Yiyang, half asleep, thought he was hearing things.

The mother asked again, awkwardly. He woke up from his semi-daze, pulled down his hat, rubbed his face, and, fully awake now, whispered, “Sorry.”

So, during the long ten-minute wait after the train left the station, he helped the young mother with her backpack, milk bottle, and powdered milk…

When the mother no longer needed assistance, Lin Yiyang still couldn’t sleep. His head hurt, and his eyes kept fixating on the baby drinking milk. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was a WeChat message.

He pulled his phone from his pocket, opened it, and saw two new messages.

The first was from “No Big Deal”: “Did you get on? I’ll find you at the next stop.”

The second was from “Red Fish,” the WeChat name Yin Guo had saved for the bar where they met that night.

She had sent him a money transfer:

“Thank you so much for your help that day. I hope I’ll have the chance to return the favor. Before that, I hope you’ll accept the money for the transportation and drinks from that night. [Smiley face]”