AaSoL 08
Chapter 8: The World Beneath the Snow (4)
Back in her room, Yin Guo took a shower, changed into her pajamas, and threw herself onto the bed. She wanted to discuss with Zheng Yi whether she should temporarily rent an apartment, but Zheng Yi hadn’t replied yet. Considering the time difference, she estimated it would take another half hour.
After these days, her jet lag had finally normalized.
But she still felt drowsy, tired.
As she waited, her eyelids started to feel heavy. She wanted to wait for her friend’s reply, leaning against the headboard, playing with her phone.
She refreshed the screen, and several new WeChat moments popped up. She liked them one by one.
Her finger suddenly froze on the screen. There was a short message that caught her eye:
“It doesn’t matter: Xiao Yang has someone in his heart.”
The name was Wu Wei, the new contact she had added to WeChat just recently.
“Xiao Yang”? Lin Yiyang?
…Good thing she didn’t like it, just barely stopped herself.
In that moment of distraction, Yin Guo accidentally kicked the TV remote off the bed. She instinctively sat up straight, and the pillow behind her scraped her ear. It hurt.
She touched it, and it seemed swollen, the spot where his sleeve zipper had scraped. She got out of bed, shuffled to the suitcase in her slippers, and dug for the万能红霉素 ointment (万能 is the term for万能 cream), opened the small bottle, but she didn’t hold it properly, and it fell into the suitcase.
She searched for a long time but couldn’t find the cap. Frustrated, she squeezed out a bit of the ointment and applied it to her ear.
Back on the bed, Zheng Yi finally replied.
Zheng Yi: I think it’s fine. Anyway, you’re already familiar with them, they’re all good people. Though staying in the school dorm is safer, but it’s expensive. Let your brother try living on his own, renting an apartment for a while.
Yin Guo returned to the topic of renting.
Xiao Guo: If I move, I’d need to switch billiard halls.
Zheng Yi: What are you afraid of? Isn’t Wu Wei going to compete? He’ll need to train too, he’ll definitely recommend a billiard hall for you.
That was true.
Zheng Yi mentioned she had to go out and didn’t continue the conversation.
With no one else to chat with, Yin Guo’s mind wandered back to that WeChat post. She couldn’t help but go back and read it again.
Under Wu Wei’s WeChat moment, there was only one visible comment:
Lin: Delete it, she can see it.
So it was about Lin Yiyang.
Was he talking about secretly liking a girl? She guessed.
A minute later, Yin Guo curiously refreshed the page, and it was indeed deleted.
Clean and clear, as if it had never existed. She didn’t know how many people had seen it, but she was one of them and had to pretend she hadn’t seen it. Things like this, when unfamiliar people saw them… it wasn’t ideal.
Yin Guo leaned back, rotating her phone between her hands.
No wonder he was more at ease talking to her cousin but kept it minimal with her. He must have someone he liked and was avoiding suspicion.
She suddenly wanted to tell her friend, Did you know? Lin Yiyang has someone he likes.
But quickly, she stopped herself. What would be the point of saying that?
Lin Yiyang was in the subway car.
Apart from him, there were two Black teenagers, excitedly chatting with each other. He admired the way Black people naturally brought so much energy, their body language was incredibly expressive.
Lin Yiyang looked down at his phone.
He needed a network signal to refresh his WeChat moments, to see if Wu Wei had deleted the post and to remind the kid not to spread rumors. Also, he looked at his watch, he always preferred wearing his watch on his right hand, but had broken the glass before. After getting it repaired, he briefly thought about switching to wearing it on his left hand. However, after just a few days, he felt uncomfortable, and that idea was abandoned.
He unfastened the metal strap and took it off. He had just realized—after Yin Guo entered the hotel—he remembered the details and that his watch had scraped her ear.
The subway arrived at the station.
The two Black teenagers hopped off the train.
Lin Yiyang immediately refreshed his WeChat moments—deleted, good.
As the subway doors closed, he opened the chat window with Yin Guo.
Lin: Did I hurt your ear?
Red Fish: No, it’s fine.
Red Fish: Just a slight bump.
Lin: [coffee]
Red Fish: [happy]
Lin Yiyang looked at their conversation and couldn’t tell if there was anything wrong with it.
But it seemed he wasn’t good at chatting with girls. After just a few exchanges, it turned into emoji goodbyes.
He put his watch on his left wrist, looked at their conversation on his phone, and thought for a while, unsure of what to say. She must be getting ready to sleep. He slipped the phone into his pocket.
Back at Wu Wei’s apartment.
Wu Wei was in the small room, lying on a yoga mat next to his bed, doing cardio exercises. Sweat dripped down his face as he was in the most tiring moment of his workout.
Lin Yiyang entered the room, removed his thick winter coat, and tossed it onto Wu Wei.
Wu Wei let out a breath and collapsed onto the mat. “Two minutes more, you came at the perfect time.”
The coat was wet from the snow. Wu Wei carefully picked it up, inspecting Lin Yiyang’s expression. “Looks fine? That’s good.”
“I sent that on purpose,” Wu Wei said.
Lin Yiyang gave Wu Wei a warning glance.
He opened the drawer and searched for some coins.
“What, doing laundry now?”
Lin Yiyang didn’t answer, took the coins, and found a paper bag by the bed. He stuffed some dirty clothes into it.
He grabbed a zip-up sports jacket from the bed, put it on, and carried the paper bag as he walked to the door.
“I’m not done yet,” Wu Wei called. “Do you have feelings for that little beauty?”
Lin Yiyang glanced at Wu Wei.
“Do you? You’re interested, right? It’s obvious.”
The sound of the door shutting cut off Wu Wei’s question.
In the apartment laundry room downstairs, Wu Wei’s roommates, two sisters who also rented the apartment, were there chatting and laughing. They greeted Lin Yiyang as he entered, saying goodbye since they were moving out tomorrow.
Lin Yiyang politely responded to them, inserted five coins into the washing machine, added clothes, and set the timer.
The two sisters left.
With no one else around, it was nice to just sit and wait.
He chose the seat in the middle, leaning against the wall, and saw that Yin Guo had just posted a moment. It was a repost about a donation of desks and chairs to an elementary school. Not asleep yet?
Lin: Still awake?
Red Fish: …Can’t sleep.
Lin: Jet lag?
Red Fish: It’s been over ten days, the jet lag’s gone. Probably the noodles were too good?
Lin: This place is average, the taste.
Red Fish: It’s pretty good. At least I’m satisfied with what I ate.
Lin: The chicken soup base tonight isn’t as good as the traditional pork broth.
Red Fish: I didn’t even realize it was chicken soup?
Lin: Yes.
Red Fish: You seem so familiar with ramen.
Lin: 🙂
Lin Yiyang searched for some good ramen places and shared them with her, sending five or six options.
Red Fish: Thanks, thank you.
Lin: I’ll treat you next time.
Red Fish: …
Lin: ?
Red Fish: …You really love treating people to food.
Lin Yiyang chuckled at this.
It was an illusion; he hated eating with people he didn’t know well. Eating was such a personal thing, and he would only invite people he’d known for over four or five years to join him. Otherwise, even if dragged into a meal, he’d only have a drink and leave the real eating for later.
Looking at Yin Guo’s message, he wasn’t sure what to reply, but habitually, he sent an emoji.
Lin: [coffee]
As expected, the reply came back the same:
Red Fish: [happy]
It had been a while since he had this kind of conversation, especially with a girl.
Most of his friends here were billiard buddies, with very few female friends. The one person he was closest to was probably Wu Wei.
That night, he was feeling irritated and wanted to drink in the snowstorm.
He called Wu Wei, and the two of them went to Red Fish. Just before entering, he saw a girl with black hair and black eyes, small, wearing a scarf, talking on the phone through the glass window. The fogged-up glass made it hard to see her eyes, but something about her intrigued him. He guessed she might be Asian? Or Chinese?
In the middle of a snowstorm, with the entire city paralyzed, with work and school canceled, he met a strange, heart-stirring girl from the same country and heritage at a bar he frequented.
It was the only comfort in that snowstorm.
He wanted to get to know her, and that was where everything started.
Wanting to make sure she got back to her hotel safely, that was when the idea formed.
He had originally planned to drink all night but ended up telling Wu Wei he had urgent business to attend to and asked if he wanted to “drop by” and send them back.
Those days were the lowest point in his mood.
An old friend had come to New York, and he didn’t want to meet him, so he spent days in bars and billiard halls, booking a train ticket back to Washington, eager to leave, to avoid those old friends.
It was during the trip to the train station when she sent him a friend request.
On the train, she sent him a money transfer request.
And tonight, everything had led to them finally getting to know each other. What’s next?
Lin Yiyang, what’s next?
He asked himself.
Just then, someone entered the laundry room, breaking his thoughts.
It was still late at night, and people kept coming to do laundry.
Lin Yiyang didn’t want to wait anymore. He grabbed the empty paper bag and went upstairs, tossing five coins to Wu Wei, asking him to time the dryer and bring it back up for him.
He grabbed a comforter, threw it on the couch, and went to sleep in his clothes.
When he woke up, it was morning.
The two sisters were moving out, Wu Wei rolled over in bed, covering his head to continue sleeping. Lin Yiyang didn’t get up to say goodbye. He turned over and continued sleeping, while the noise outside faded to silence. Eventually, he didn’t hear them anymore, unsure if they had finished moving.
At around 11 AM, his phone alarm woke him up.
He sat up, rubbed his face, and took a full minute to wake up, hearing laughter outside.
The fever had just subsided two days ago, and he’d been rushing back to the train station yesterday. He hadn’t stopped all day until late at night. He hadn’t felt tired before bed, but now, all the fatigue surged in. He rubbed his face, his short hair messy, and grabbed his slippers.
He had been wearing the sports jacket all night. It was hot and uncomfortable.
He took it off, threw it on the bed, and got up, opening the bedroom door.
He wanted some water to drink.
The world seemed to quiet down in an instant.
In the living room, three boys and two girls were sitting on the couch, all young, the oldest looking about seventeen or eighteen, with two who seemed around thirteen or fourteen. Behind the kitchen bar, leaning by the fridge, was Wu Wei, facing a man around thirty.
Everyone looked toward the door when they heard it open.
Lin Yiyang, wearing a white short-sleeve shirt and black sports pants in the middle of winter, looked like he had just woken up. He leaned against the doorframe, gripping the handle, his short-sleeve shirt still creased from sleep. His pale face was striking, and his black eyes were the most beautiful feature, though they were tired, barely open.
There was a clear mark on his right cheek, a result of the pillow pressing against his face. Anyone who didn’t know would think it was a scar.
His gaze wasn’t fully focused.
First, he saw the kids on the couch… and furrowed his brows.
What was Wu Wei doing? Running out of money, planning to take on apprentices?
The real deal is so tall, Little Master. The boys on the couch thought.
The real deal is so handsome, Little Master. The girls on the couch thought.
This was the person they had only heard of in the billiard society—the teacher’s sixth disciple.
Just like their teacher, he won the youth championship at twelve, started competing in the professional group at thirteen, and won the first and second places in that year’s competition.
In the billiard community, everyone called him by different names: Xiao Yang, Sixth Brother, Sixth Uncle, Old Six.
And everyone knew who they were referring to—Lin Yiyang.
Seeing these unfamiliar faces, his first reaction was to frown. He didn’t like this kind of noise.
Then he saw the man around thirty—the teacher of those kids, Jiang Yang. His gaze paused for a moment.
“I heard they came last week but didn’t run into you,” Jiang Yang, dressed in a shirt and trousers with white-rimmed glasses, said. “I thought you were going to run away again.”
Lin Yiyang opened his mouth to speak but felt his throat dry.
He shuffled in his slippers from the door to the bar, opened the fridge, found some water, but there wasn’t any. He grabbed a chilled beer, opened it, and took a sip.
After soothing his throat, he leaned his elbow on the bar, looking at Jiang Yang and asking in a hoarse voice, “You here for the competition?”
“Yeah, mainly to bring them for the youth and junior competitions,” Jiang Yang pointed at the kids on the couch. “They’re all my disciples.”
“Little Master, hello,” the group of kids greeted in unison, showing great respect.
Lin Yiyang waved casually, correcting them, “I’ve already left the billiard society. There’s no Little Master here. If you think I’m young, call me Sixth Brother. If you think I’m old, call me Sixth Uncle.”
Jiang Yang scoffed: “If they call you Sixth Brother, what do I get called?”
Lin Yiyang smiled but didn’t answer.
He took another big sip of beer, locking eyes with Jiang Yang and observing each other.
Brothers who hadn’t seen each other in years, thinking that the relationship had faded. But at this moment, they realized that the feelings from their youth—those mornings they woke up at five to practice in the billiard hall, riding bikes to school to make it to early study sessions—were deeply engraved in their bones.
After all these years, meeting old brothers and close friends again.
The burning feeling in his chest hadn’t changed.
Lin Yiyang and Jiang Yang had entered the billiard society the same year, just a week apart, with Jiang Yang coming first.
That night, he had eaten a bowl of knife-shaved noodles in the snow, wrapped up like a small dumpling, riding his bike alone to the billiard hall. When he walked in, Jiang Yang was wiping the billiard table with a rag. Seeing him, he probably realized Lin Yiyang had come to join the society. Before he even went to find the teacher, Jiang Yang walked up to him, compared their heights, and said, “You’re so short? Do your parents approve? Go back and get your mom. Teachers only take in disciples with their parents’ consent.”
“I don’t have parents,” the young boy told him.
Jiang Yang, holding the rag, was stunned.
This senior who tried to bully him was Jiang Yang, and his last name had the same sound but different characters than Lin Yiyang’s.
At that time, Lin Yiyang was in the second grade, and Jiang Yang was in the sixth.
Comparing their heights was really childish. But at that age, they didn’t understand what being a gentleman or a gentleman’s sport meant.
Of course, back then in China, the sport had little to do with gentlemen. It was all about the tables costing a dollar, filled with smoke, loud noises, and cursing… He had just heard that there were competitions with prize money. Good.
And Lin Yiyang, in the end, successfully became the last disciple of the teacher.
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