NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 22
Ye Ping wanted to get a divorce the next day, but things did not go as she wished. The next day was Saturday and the civil affairs bureau was closed.
After breakfast, Yu Yang went out to play with his classmates, while Yu Shu didn't want to stay at home. She called Lin Fangyu to go shopping, but found out Lin Fangyu was playing mahjong with some old classmates today.
Yu Shu jumped out of bed like a leaping carp, rushed to the closet to find clothes: "Playing mahjong without calling me! It's easy to lose me like this!"
Lin Fangyu spoke haltingly: "This is not... I'll give you a spot, come quickly."
"Coming right away~"
Yu Shu couldn't remember when was the last time she played mahjong. Playing mahjong can be addictive, and Yu Shu belonged to the type who had a bigger craving than skill.
Regarding playing mahjong, Yu Shu had her own unique insights - relying on tile draws to win hands, establishing order amidst chaos.
Yu Shu liked pungs, not only was she bad at counting and memorizing tiles, she also tended toaimelessly collect pungs. Her tile technique was terrible.
But none of that mattered anymore, with her unbelievable luck right now, she could easily win a clean one suited hand.
After arriving at the Mahjong parlor, Yu Shu belatedly realized the reason for Lin Fangyu's equivocal words - Meng Xulin was also there.
There were quite a few old classmates, more than a dozen, enough for two mahjong tables and a poker table. Some even brought their girlfriends, either sitting nearby drinking tea and chatting, or sitting next to their partner watching the game.
As soon as Yu Shu walked in, there was a lively uproar and whistles.
"Make way, make way!"
"The boss is here, the boss is here!"
"Bro Yu!"
...
Yu Shu was carried to a mahjong table by several people, and they joked that they didn't expect to be able to win their class president's money today.
Yu Shu was so annoyed she kept grunting: "How do you know you can win against me?"
Everyone looked at Meng Xulin then back at her, with meaningful ambiguous eyes shifting between the two.
Meng Xulin sat across from her as her opponent, smiling gently at her while holding up a one dot tile and waving it at her.
Yu Shu understood his meaning - the green one dot, little chicken.
He used to like to mock her that way in the past.
Yes, Yu Shu learned how to play mahjong from Meng Xulin teaching her hand-in-hand.
She wasn't a good student, but Meng Xulin was a good teacher. However, he would never let her play with others. Whenever Yu Shu wanted to play mahjong, Meng Xulin would play two-person mahjong with her. They could even play for a whole day straight. More often, they would play online mahjong while physically apart, never tiring of it.
Yu Shu thought two-person mahjong was boring and whined about wanting to play proper four-person mahjong with others. "Is two-person mahjong even real mahjong?!"
Every time, Meng Xulin would chuckle and rub her head: "Can't let you go out there and cause trouble, you can only lose to me. You'll only ever lose to me this lifetime."
For a long time after they broke up, all kinds of mahjong apps became her few pastimes, and she wouldn't rest until she lost all the beans the system gave per day.
Tiles arrangement, tiles coding, tiles sorting.
Yu Shu was slow at sorting tiles, but no one rushed her, waiting for her to finish sorting before she discarded the first tile.
Yu Shu brushed the tiles with her manicured fingertips: "...I have... won."
Heavenly win, and even a clean one suited hand.
The players on either side of her simultaneously yelled out "Awesome!" Meng Xulin's face was all scrunched up, but his gaze was still smiling. The others were also attracted over to watch. They marveled at Yu Shu's insane luck while patting her to get some of the luck to rub off, and joked that she should escape now before using up all her tile luck for next year.
As Yu Shu counted the money she sighed: "Didn't even get to play a single tile, it's over just like that. No sense of participation at all."
"Bro Yu don't get too arrogant, you can't keep winning by luck alone."
"That's right, just you wait. I'll lose this round but win it all back next round."
Yu Shu just smiled noncommittally.
As it turned out, Yu Shu really could keep winning by luck alone.
The tiles she wanted she could draw, and the pungs she wanted to collect she could always complete, win after win by self-draw.
After Yu Shu won yet another self-draw hand, seven pairs of honors and dragons, she was kicked off the table. She blinked her innocent eyes in confusion, shrugged, and voluntarily went to pay the table fee.
"Tsk tsk, Brother Meng Xulin, your preparations were in vain right? With her luck, she didn't even need us to go easy on her."
"I'm not giving back the bribe money!"
Meng Xulin helplessly shook his head, his gaze piercing through the crowd fixed on Yu Shu.
Yu Shu was at the front counter negotiating with the boss lady. The counter was a bit high, so she leaned against it with her body slightly tilted forward. When she came in, she had taken off her overcoat, revealing a loose white sweater underneath. She wore dark blue jeans showcasing her long legs, and tapped her sneaker-clad feet slightly. The boss lady must have said something, because Yu Shu laughed and joked back with her.
Perfect, and poised as always.
"Just looking is useless, if you like her then win her back."
Meng Xulin clutched the pendant hidden under his sweater, repeatedly chewing over the phrase "if you like her then win her back" in his mind.
Yu Shu spent the entire day with her old classmates, chatting and reminiscing about their youth over tea, and having lunch at their old go-to hotpot buffet. They remarked feeling they didn't have the appetite of their youth to eat the boss bankrupt anymore, while complaining the alcohol was too low quality without any kick and the ingredients were all frozen instead of fresh, wondering how they could stand eating here before.
Everyone had changed, but through those young faces, Yu Shu could still glimpse the even younger boyish looks across the rifts of time.
When parting, everyone felt they haven't had their fill of fun and excitement. They exchanged contact info and planned the next gathering.
Lin Fangyu was a bit tired, leaning weakly against Yu Shu's shoulder: "Today was supposed to be a small get-together of a few people, but one called another and it turned into a class reunion."
"It's nice isn't it," Yu Shu smiled. "We haven't seen each other for so long, encounters like this are nice."
Not long after, Lin Fangyu was also picked up by her boyfriend. Yu Shu bid the others goodbye and declined their offer of a ride, walking home by herself.
It wasn't far from here to home, just a shortcut less than 10 minutes on foot.
The sky was completely dark now. The night wind was freezing, carrying the chill as it blew. Yu Shu didn't wear a scarf today, feeling a bit cold as she tucked her neck in while walking into the unlit alley.
Suddenly, urgent rapid footsteps sounded from behind her. In an instant they were right behind her. Yu Shu abruptly turned back and in the moonlight and light from the alley-facing windows, she recognized the person as Meng Xulin.
Yu Shu asked: "What's the matter?"
Meng Xulin's heart sank at her indifferent tone, feeling somewhat angry and helpless. Yu Shu behaved no differently towards him compared to the other classmates today. She didn't intentionally distance herself or act coldly, maintaining appropriate courtesy and manners between long separated classmates.
He even wished Yu Shu hated him instead. At least that would make him stand out from the others.
"I...I'll walk you home. Security hasn't been good recently."
There was a recent murder case in the county. The killer was still at large, leaving the whole county anxious.
Meng Xulin held up a red scarf with tags still attached and tried to wrap it around Yu Shu's neck, but she backed away to dodge it.
Meng Xulin's voice was slightly hoarse: "The scarf is new. I just bought it at the supermarket."
"Thank you, but I don't need it." Yu Shu turned and walked away without chasing him off.
It was just a few minutes down the road. She was too lazy to argue with him.
Meng Xulin clenched the scarf in his hand. His tone carried slight grievance: "You didn't used to be like this."
In the past, Yu Shu happily accepted anything Meng Xulin gave her.
Whether it was wilted roses, a bag of snacks, or even Barbie lipstick, Yu Shu would laugh and tell him "Thank you darling."
Even during their ambiguous younger days, she never rejected his goodwill.
"We're no longer in a relationship where we can give each other gifts."