During the Snowstorm

Chapter 1 (part 3)

Lin Yiyang and Wu Wei waited beside a large parking lot, waiting for the bus they were about to take.

Although it has warmed up in the past two days, it is still windy and the temperature is low as it approaches dark.

Wu Wei put his hands in the pockets of his winter clothes and stomped his feet in the cold. Lin Yiyang was still playing with the phone with one hand, and seemed to be still laughing. What laughing? Wu Wei wanted to see, but was knocked away by Lin Yiyang’s elbow.

It happened that a Chinese bus full of people passing through here, the driver saw Lin Yiyang through the window, stepped on the brakes, and shouted to the outside: “Back to New York? Take you for a ride?”

Lin Yiyang made a call, took advantage of the waiting tone, and said to the driver, “Your bus is full, go first.”

The driver laughed and scolded”fake politeness” and popped a cigarette butt.

The crimson light drew an arc and almost landed on Lin Yiyang’s clothes. He stepped aside half a step and avoided it.

The phone just got through.

“Help me entertain two friends. I have something to do temporarily, so I can’t take care of it”, he said to the person on the phone. “The bet I promised you”.

“You agreed?” Yin Guo was surprised.

The elevator door opened, and two men dressed in business walked in, separating the siblings.

“Come on”. Yin Guo leaned back against the elevator wall and urged in Chinese in a low voice.

“No, he said he wanted a friend to pay for it.” Her cousin passed the phone around behind the two men and handed it to Yin Guo, so she could see it for herself, “I told him that it’s no problem for a friend to come, and I’ll pay for it.”

Yin Guo casually looked at the chat records of the two.

Lin Yiyang didn’t reply much and said that he was on the road. According to his reply to Meng Xiaotian, he was saying that Yin Guo and Meng Xiaotian were guests. When they were here, he was naturally the one who should invite them. This is the rule in Chinese, even in a foreign country, you must keep it.

Meng Xiaotian originally wanted to invite him to dinner, but of course he refused to agree.

After a few words, Lin Yiyang turned concern about their stay in Washington for a few days. Meng Xiaotian said that Yin Guo couldn’t leave New York for too long, so she only booked a hotel for a night and they will be leaving tomorrow afternoon. He asked Lin Yiyang when he would come back here, but Lin Yiyang couldn’t tell.

His last reply was-

Lin: See you later.

As a result, Meng Xiaotian, the greedy ghost, even though he rejected Lin Yiyang’s suggestion of entertaining guests, he still had an obsession with that restaurant. The first thing he did when he got to the room was to make a reservation. Unfortunately it was full.

The two ate briefly in the hotel restaurant. After dinner, she took Meng Xiaotian to the nearby White House to take a set of photos and went directly back to the hotel.

Due to the rush to book the hotel that night in New York, there was only the last room with big bed left. The siblings all slept in their clothes, one at the head of the bed and the other at the end, and they slept very aggrieved. When they arrived in Washington, Yin Guo immediately asked for a room with two single beds, and was finally able to stretch out and sleep. After taking a shower, she couldn’t wait to get under the quilt.

“You have to get up early and go to see the nearby museums, there are many.”

This was the last sentence Yin Guo said before falling asleep.

When she was conscious again, she was awakened by the sunlight falling on her face.

There are takeaway boxes on the small dining table in the room, which should have been ordered last night, but her cousin is gone. She lay on the bed and called Meng Xiaotian several times , but no one answered.

Yin Guo hugged the quilt lazily, and sent Meng Xiaotian a WeChat message: Where have you been? museum?

Tiantian: In Georgetown.

Xiaoguo: Did you go by yourself?

Tiantian: No, Brother Lin woke me up early, and let his friend drive me to visit the school. He said that in case I don’t apply for New York University this year,I could try to apply for this school next year, too.

Xiaoguo: He is so kind to you.

Tiantian: Yes, he’s a good man. Just wait, I will come back later and buy you lunch downstairs.

Yin Guo turned over and got out of bed.

That person looked cold, but he really took care of Meng Xiaotian.

Pulling on her slippers, she stepped into the bathroom door, opened the drawer and found a new box of toothbrushes. She stopped all movements again, and pulled slippers back into the room. She rummaged under the pillow to find her phone, and sent a thank you message to Lin Yiyang.

Xiaoguo: Thank you for specially asking your friend to take my brother to visit the school.

Lin: Good to say.

Xiaoguo: [happy]

Lin: [coffee]

It seems that there is nothing to say

She leaned against the wall and tapped the edge of her phone lightly on the wall. She was scared off by his indifference. It was rare to see someone who spoke so little. Seems like he’s more on tune with her cousin.

‘Forget it, I don’t want to, thanking is enough.’

After that day, Yin Guo never talked to Lin Yiyang alone again.

Just treats him as her cousin’s new friend in America and has nothing to do with him.

After the two returned to New York, the hotel also had spare vacancies. She quickly replaced the big bed room with two small rooms, filled a lot of daily necessities, and officially started short-term living.

The last time she came to New York as Zheng Yi’s guide, standard tourist itinerary, and all the landmarks were her planning. She didn’t want to go to these attractions this year, and let Meng Xiaotian explore by himself. Anyway, with Google maps in hand, she couldn’t lose him anywhere.

From morning to noon every day, the two wandered around, mainly eating.

They parted ways in the afternoon and went on separate ways.

After all, she had competition tasks and need to train on time.

For more than a week after that, Lin Yiyang’s name would occasionally pop out of Meng Xiaotian’s mouth. It was with Lin Yiyang’s supplementary recommendation, Meng Xiaotian was exploring alone that day. With such a new friend around, Yin Guo saved a lot of effort, and she gradually got used to his presence as she listened and listened. It was not like she was always thinking about thanking him for everything that happened at the beginning.

On Saturday, Yin Guo got up late.

Meng Xiaotian came to report on time. She was brushing her teeth and asked, ”Where do you want to go today?”

”Near NYU,” Her cousin leaned against the door frame.

Yin Guo rinsed her mouth and wiped her mouth clean: ”Didn’t you go there a few times?”

”It’s fun over there,” Meng Xiaotian showed her a screenshot, it was a cafe, ”I want to go here.”

Caffe Reggio, she was inexplicably impressed by the name.

It’s okay to go, anyway, there is no fixed goal.

”On the day we arrived, the bar we went to was also nearby.” Yin Guo kept forgetting to tell her cousin.

”Really?” They arrived here at the midnight and he couldn’t figure out where the bar was.

”Well, I will show you when we pass by.”

Yin Guo combed her hair, and twisted her hair into a loose ball, so that if it snowed, she would not be afraid of her hair falling apart when she put on her hat. She was distractedly recalling the specialty store nearby, and wanted to take Meng Xiaotian there.

When she got to the door of the cafe, she finally remembered why she was so impressed by the name: the color was striking.

All the green walls and awnings are hard to forget. At this time, most of the seats outside were empty, with only two young people wrapped in down jackets chatting in the wind. There are many guests inside, looking in through the glass, it is almost full.

”Is there no seat?” She glanced inside.

”It’s okay.” Meng Xiaotian smiled mysteriously.

Yin Guo looked at him strangely. It’s overcrowded inside, but her cousin was smiling so happily.

”Brother Lin ordered.”

Lin Yiyang?

She thought she was hallucinating: ”You asked him out?”

”He asked me out,” Her cousin pushed open the door. ”He didn’t let me tell you in advance. He said that he would come to see you in time. If he can’t make it in time, just take it as our own coffee, so as not to miss it again.”

Yin Guo was pushed on the back by her cousin and led into the cafe.

With a creak, the glass door closed behind her.

There are decorations hanging all over the walls, and people are chatting. There are many guests, and there are not many Asian faces, so you can see him at once.

He was sitting in the corner of the dark red couch under the oil painting of a huge portrait.

The man was leaning against the wall, wearing a black hoodie, and the winter suit was draped over the back of the chair. The table is small and the person is tall, so he had to put one arm the small round coffee table and put the other hand on his knee, feeling only half a body behind the table.

People are most alert to their mother tongue. He heard Chinese and knows that they are here.

Looking up to her.

Is this the second time the two have officially met?

Yin Guo paused subconsciously, two or three steps away from him.

They chatted a lot of words on WeChat, but at first glance, they were still unfamiliar. The facial features and body shape would be familiar, but they were the first impressions left in the bar. Looking at it during the day, it is slightly different…

Lin Yiyang’s eyes were always on her.

Under his gaze, Yin Guo slowly went to the coffee table, hung her backpack diagonally on the back of the chair, and sat down with her cousin. The table is really small.

He pushed over the menu: ” Let’s see what you want to eat?”

”You order it,” she pushed it back. ”You are familiar, I have never been here.”

Lin Yiyang nodded, didn’t push back, ordered tiramisu and coffee for them, and ordered panini for himself. Eating this kind of hard food used to fill the stomach, at first glance, he came directly without having eaten lunch.

After ordering, there was a brief silence between the three of them.

Yin Guo was afraid that she would chat with him like a cold scene on WeChat, so she simply looked down at her phone.

After looking through the circle of friends for a while, she went to swipe Weibo again, and finally came back and started to delete the dialog box. All in all, she has nothing to do. After she deleted it, she arrived at the dialog with Lin Yiyang.

It was the conversation ten days ago, and his last expression was [coffee]

She didn’t expect to meet again, but also for coffee.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, Meng Xiaotian couldn’t help but smooth things out: ” Chat, chat how bad it is to be in the cold.”

So, he chatted with Lin Yiyang first, talking about this cafe. Lin Yiyang told him that this place was built in the early 20th century. In the past 100 years, this place has also happened to be a gathering place for artists and writers, so it is very likely that a certain writer came here before he became famous, such as Hemingway? Or may some pages of Catcher of the Rye are written here. Where there is an era, it can always bring a little legend, and celebrities will naturally be more attractive.

Lin Yiyang said a few words casually and did not repeat them.

But Yin Guo looked at the table in front of her, and around the pendants on the wall.

When he said it, it was quite a feeling.

When the coffee was served, Zheng Yi’s message also arrived.

She asked Yin Guo where she was playing today. She heard that it was nearby New York University. She remembered what she wanted to buy. Since Yin Guo was there anyway, why don’t let her go today, so that she doesn’t have to make a trip herself.

In fact, shopping is not troublesome, the trouble is that she forgot the name of the store.

Zheng Yi: Why don’t you ask Lin Yiyang, anyone who can recommend Caffe Reggio will definitely know that place.

Just ask him.

Yin Guo asked for help: ”My friend said that there is a small shop selling coffee beans here. Many restaurants buy beans there, and they will specially write where the coffee beans come from on the door sign to attract customers. But the front door is hard to find, you know.?”

Lin Yiyang thought for a while and said, ” I’ll take you there.”

”No, you tell me the store name, I’ll search the map and I’ll definitely find it.”

”I’ll drop by.” Lin Yiyang returned to her.

Afraid of delaying other people’s time, she drank the remaining half of the coffee: ”Let’s go then.”

The original intention was not to waste his time, but it was so obvious that it seemed like she was rushing for food…

Lin Yiyang glanced at the empty coffee cup amusingly. As if to say: in such a hurry?

This look, this expression, and this kind of smile also appeared the night they first met, when she stirred the cocktail with a straw and observed the liquor. Yin Guo subconsciously tucked the long hair on the side of her ear behind her ear, feeling very uncomfortable.

Meng Xiaotian completely missed their brief and subtle exchange.

He never heard that they were leaving, so he quickly wiped out the cake, took two sips of coffee, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Looking at the two again, they have already got up one after the other, and are putting on their coats in a tacit understanding.

”You two are so fast.” Meng Xiaotian sighed.

Why do I feel like I’m superfluous?