Lunch
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In a Cantonese restaurant on the back street of the school, Lin Nan sat surrounded by her friends, eagerly waiting for the food to arrive.
Lin Qi always acted like a laid-back punk in front of Lin Nan, but when he faced Chen Yao, he suddenly turned serious. Clearly, that little bad-boy act was just for show around Lin Nan.
Maybe he was trying to help his new female cousin adapt—or perhaps he just enjoyed showing off in front of her.
Lin Nan didn’t think much of it. She grabbed a big bottle of cola and took several swigs right from the bottle, letting out a burp that expressed pure joy, completely unfazed by any notion of ladylike behavior.
After all, there were no outsiders in their little room; she didn’t care at all. She stuffed the cola between her thighs and looked up at Lin Qi. “I have to go to work after lunch.”
“Should I walk you? The bus to the city center goes right past my place.”
“Sounds good.”
“And what about next week’s wedding?”
“I’ll think about it.” Lin Nan figured she was only considering it for the sake of her cousin.
It was common for rural kids to mess with each other, and when they were younger, their eldest cousin had always been the one to protect them.
Although it had been a while since she’d seen him, it couldn’t hurt to attend such an important occasion as a wedding. It was just a meal, after all!
Chen Yao interjected, “Does your cousin know what’s going on with Lin Nan?”
“Can he accept it?”
“He specifically wants Lin Nan to go back for it?”
With a whirlwind of questions, Lin Nan was left stunned. But Lin Qi took his time to respond. “He doesn’t know Lin Nan’s situation; he just mentioned he hadn’t seen her in a long time and thought it would be nice to gather a few cousins for the wedding.”
“I think Lin Nan should just skip it,” Chen Yao worried about Lin Nan’s father pulling some shenanigans again.
Lin Qi quickly grasped his concern. After scratching his head for a moment, he said, “Actually, Lin Nan’s dad has gone on the lam.”
“Eh?” Lin Nan lifted her head in shock.
“He can’t make it to the wedding, so he’s asking you to come instead.”
“What did he do?” Lin Nan asked urgently.
Lin Qi caught a hint of schadenfreude in her tone and continued, “He was in an online relationship, got completely infatuated, but the girl turned out to be a scammer and swiped all his savings—around 200,000 yuan? He even took out loans and, unable to pay them back, just ran.”
“Loans?!”
“Yup, I’ve been getting spam texts and calls from loan companies.” Lin Qi pulled out his phone, looking utterly exasperated. “They call me constantly; it’s driving me nuts. He probably didn’t have your number, so the loan companies haven’t hunted you down.”
Chen Yao pressed on, “But he has a house, doesn’t he?”
“That house isn’t just his. If Auntie doesn’t agree, he can’t sell it. Plus, the interest on those loans is sky-high; he’s probably hoping to hide out.”
Honestly, Lin Nan’s mother would never agree to selling the house. It was still tied up in a lawsuit, and she was just longing for the court to auction it off.
“Good riddance.”
Lin Nan spat, then lowered her head and took a few more swigs of her cola.
After a loud burp, her mood had considerably lifted.
If her father had kicked the bucket or had some major accident, she might have felt a twinge of lingering affection and considered going back to see him. But given that this was self-inflicted nonsense, she thought it was better to let him stew in his own juices.
Poor loan companies, minding their own business lending money to swindle people, only to be left in the lurch by someone who ran off without paying. It was a classic case of “dog eats dog.”
Now, her father was on the loose, worry-free, so it was pretty much a lose-lose situation, with the only winner being the scammer.
Lunch finally arrived, and Lin Nan quietly dished out food, her gaze distant.
I wonder if Mom would be happy knowing this?
She probably already knew, right?
Now that Dad was gone, going back to attend her cousin’s wedding meant she wouldn’t have to see him anyway; there was no need to worry, and she could reconnect with some of her closer relatives.
Just wondering if they could accept who she had become.
After experiencing a lot, Lin Nan was no longer anxious about going to her grandfather’s house like she used to be. She had grown more open about family ties, especially with relatives. If they could accept her, great; if not, whatever.
Her Uncle’s wife used to treat her well, even though her Uncle was lazy and often bullied kids.
And there were a few uncles and aunts from the neighbors; Lin Nan loved to go over to their place as a kid and mooch off their food and drinks.
To be honest, Lin Nan hadn’t kept in touch much with her relatives. Even before, they only met during holidays or occasionally went to play for a couple of days during break.
Lin Qi’s life path diverged too far from theirs; the only commonality they had was gaming, but he wasn’t into that anymore. At the dining table, he could only chat with Chen Yao about funny stories from when Lin Nan lived in the countryside.
Recalling those stories was amusing, but telling them felt dry.
“Remember, Lin Nan used to really like a little girl next door? I think her name was Lin Dan?”
Mentioning this made Lin Nan’s memory immediately conjure the image of that girl. She looked up, glaring at her cousin. “No way!”
“How could she not? You were at her place every single day, playing all afternoon!”
“That was because her family was rich…” Lin Nan sighed. “Her family was the only one with a computer in the whole village, so I just went to mooch. We were just playing games on 4399.”
“…” Chen Yao shot a weird look at Lin Nan. Was her girlfriend always so money-hungry?
Lin Qi was left speechless but then heard her say, “When everyone else had computers, we were still stuck with a toy system; of course, I wanted to go over there!”
Well, she had a point there…
Lin Qi always thought Lin Nan liked that girl Lin Dan, but was it really just because of that?
“Guess that could count as childhood sweethearts?” Chen Yao asked with a chuckle.
“If I were still in middle school, living in the countryside, and wasn’t a girl, maybe it could be?”
As Lin Nan spoke, a sense of nostalgia washed over her. Back when she was close to Lin Dan in elementary school, they had also met in college. That girl was getting prettier, which stirred feelings in Lin Nan’s mind, even though she was still thinking like a guy back then.
But now that old Lin Nan was long gone, and Lin Dan probably wouldn’t look as appealing anymore.
Suddenly, a playful idea crossed her mind. She rested her chin on her hand and murmured, “What if I don’t reveal my identity when I go back, just to see if anything funny happens?”
I could test out how relatives and friends feel about my transformation into a woman. If they accept it, I’ll reveal who I really am…
Lin Qi shot her a look. “And what identity would you use?”
“Your girlfriend?”
“Not happening!” Chen Yao immediately refused without hesitation.
“Then… Lin Nan’s girlfriend?” Her eyes lit up, the idea of playing herself sounded amusing.
Chen Yao ran out of reasons to oppose her and just stared at Lin Nan in bewilderment, scratching his head, unsure of what kind of madness his girlfriend had cooked up this time.
