Chapter 88 – The Gift

Since her parents moved to a new house, Shen Yu has been living here on her own and is not uncomfortable, but feels free and comfortable on her own.

It wasn’t until a clingy person moved in that the days started to look different.

If Rika is too dependent, then Shen Yu is too independent.

Two people with completely opposite personalities, living together, have gradually got used to it, especially Asaba Rika, who is happy to have Shen Yu to help her decide everything, and Shen Yu doesn’t have to worry about any disagreement between the two, as Rika will listen to him anyway.

Shen Yu is usually busy with work and studies and rarely goes back to his new home except for New Year’s Eve and festivals. This time, his mother asked him to bring Rika home for two days.

Instead of having them come back to live with us, we could take Rika back to live with us and close the door.

He was riding his motorbike home early on Wednesday afternoon and as he entered the alleyway, he saw Su Zhifu running down the road with a small school bag on his back.

“Have you been chased by a dog?”

“No!”

“So what are you running for?”

“It’s a holiday tomorrow! If I run back early, won’t I get a little more vacation?”

“……”

” Shen Yu Brother are you going to chase me? You ride, I’ll run, I’ll race you to get home first!”

“Yeah.”

Then Shen Yu twisted the throttle and was home in the blink of an eye.

Su Zhifu was chasing after the motorbike, tired and spitting, and grunted at him as he passed his house, saying, “You’re cheating! I haven’t even shouted to start!”

Shen Yu ignored her, leaving her unable to outrun the electric car on two legs.

Su Zhifu ran home first to put his school bag away and then to his house to come over and pull the hose to water the plants in the yard.

Asaba Rika was upstairs preparing dinner and Shen Yu had nothing better to do than to find an empty two-litre mineral water bottle in the corner, then a small stick and some string, rummage through the grocery bin and find some wires and the small light bulb Su Zhifu had picked up last time.

Sit down on the stone table and chairs in the courtyard and take the scissors to cut open the mineral water bottle.

Su Zhifu, sharp-eyed, quickly finished watering, coiled up the hose and came bumbling over to him, dirty little hands on his lap, big eyes staring unblinkingly at the pile of rags in Shen Yu’s hands.

” Brother Shen Yu, what are you doing?”

“Do you have a red pen for drawing?”

“Yes!”

Su Zhifu then ran home to get a red water pen and brought it over.

“Paint the water bottle red.”

“Yes!”

She then used the pen to paint the mineral water bottle red, bit by bit, and the colour didn’t stay on and it stained her little hands too.

Shen Yu found two batteries, connected the light bulb to electricity, fixed it with wire inside a mineral water bottle, made a small switch, and finally tied it with a small string and hung it from a wooden stick.

As soon as the switch is flicked, the light comes on, and through the red mineral water bottle wall, it glows red, and brightly.

“Wow! What a bright lantern!”

Su Zhifu’s eyes light up with love.

“Here you go, go home and eat.”

“We are the best!!!”

Su Zhifu carried the lantern that Shen Yu had made for her and ran home with great joy.

Xiaomeng I: ” Shen Yu , Rika is calling you for dinner.”

“Got it.”

Shen Yu washed her hands and went upstairs to eat.

……

The sky was already grey and when I went to the first floor balcony to look, I could see the shadow of the moon faintly appearing high in the sky in the east.

Tonight’s meal was very generous and Shen Yu could smell it from afar. Rika had made his favourite dish tonight, braised pig’s feet.

I don’t know who got wind of it, but it was as if she was so sure she must like the dish that she made it for him once or twice a week.

The taste is a little different from my mother’s, but with her own twist, and it’s just delicious.

” Shen Yu ~ Dinner is ready~”

She took off her apron and hung it up, came out with the fragrant pig’s trotters and placed them on the table with a smile, then picked up a rice bowl and gave Shen Yu a large bowl of rice first and half a bowl for herself, sitting opposite Shen Yu, taking small bites of rice and watching him surreptitiously.

Asaba Rika is now smart enough to stop asking Shen Yu ‘if it’s good’ and ‘if she likes it’ and instead observes silently.

She tries to make different dishes every day and if she finds a dish that Shen Yu tries to make more of, she secretly writes it down in a little book.

Asaba Rika herself doesn’t care which dish she likes to eat, she is planning to lose weight recently, and for her as a cook, seeing Shen Yu enjoying her cooking brings her great satisfaction.

Shen Yu silently picks up a piece of pig’s foot and nibbles on it, smearing the sauce all over the white rice and taking a bite of the rice, the aroma of rice and meat exploding in his mouth.

Can’t talk today because Shen Yu also found out that if on a given day the table is filled with his favourite dishes, then Rika must be hiding something small ……

Sure enough, as he got up to fill his third bowl of rice, Rika spoke up-

” Shen Yu, can you go out shopping with me later?”

Missed a trick, should have stopped eating after the second bowl ……

Shen Yu asked helplessly, “What do you want to buy?”

“It’s just that we’re not going home together tomorrow, so I’m going to buy presents for my aunt and uncle.”

“It’s my home, your home and my home have to be separated.”

“All the more reason for me to buy a present then!”

“……”

Shen Yu always felt he was being set up and had to say, “It’s okay, you don’t have to buy anything, I never go home empty handed.”

Asaba Rika looked at him pitifully with big eyes, “But it would be rude for me to go empty-handed! And I have to help my dad give Uncle Shen a gift to say hello, so Shen Yu must help me ……”

Shen Yu is silent.

Asaba Rika understands that it is difficult to hear ‘yes’ from Shen Yu, and as long as he doesn’t object or say anything, it means he agrees by default, so he happily goes to cut cantaloupe for him to eat.

Xiaomeng I: ” Puffs coming up oh.”

Not long after Xiaomeng I’s voice fell, the sound of Su Zhifu running up the stairs was heard thumping.

In one hand she carried a lantern given to her by Shen Yu, bright enough to light up all the darkness around her, and in the other a bag of mooncakes wrapped in greaseproof paper.

” Brother Shen Yu! My Mum asked me to bring you mooncakes!”

She ran inside and placed the mooncakes on the table.

“Do you want a pig’s foot?”

“Yes!”

“Wash your hands.”

She washed her hands and grabbed a piece of the pig’s foot and ran outside to play with the lantern.

Shen Yu put away the mooncakes sent by Puffs. The mooncakes are made by Auntie Wang’s family and are so much better than the ones sold outside that she sends some over every year.

Take them home tomorrow. I can’t finish the mooncakes I bought outside, but I’m sure they’ll be gone in a while when Auntie Wang makes them at home.

……

Autumn is in full swing.

You’ll have to wear long-sleeved clothes when you go out in the evening.

It was two or three kilometres to the shopping centre and Shen Yu rode there on his electric bike, with Asaba Rika in the back seat, her little arms around his waist, talking to herself while he drove.

” Shen Yu , are you cold?”

“It’s not cold.”

“I know you’re not cold, your tummy is extra warm!”

“……”

Shen Yu is still wearing a single garment, and his clothes are thin against his body. Asaba Rika is afraid of the cold, so he wears two pieces of clothing, and his hands are a bit cold, but when he hugs him around the waist, it is like holding a baby warmer.

” Shen Yu , if winter comes, can I put my hand under your shirt to keep it warm?”

“Is it okay if I reach into your shirt too then?”

” Shen Yu sure is the sickest!!!”

Shen Yu didn’t want to talk to her, why should she be able to reach into his clothes but he couldn’t reach into hers?

“Don’t you talk to me.”

“Heck, I’ll say it myself.”

Rika talks to himself, and when he gets tired of talking, he hums softly again.

The night breeze blew her hair in a wispy flutter.

“When is the bright moon ~ ask the sky for wine ~ I don’t know ~ hmmm ~”

I don’t know when she learned this song, but when she sang it, the words were right and she had a soft voice that was soothing to listen to.

When we arrived at the shopping centre, it was almost as if she was dragging Shen Yu around, from the ground floor to the fifth floor, obviously having a plan of what to buy, but she just loved shopping and looking at the wide range of goods, as if her slender body had an endless supply of energy.

Shen Yu was so exhausted that he couldn’t walk anymore when Rika burrowed into a Japanese brand cosmetics shop and sat on a lounge chair at the entrance, bored with his phone and browsing the forums.

“Sis your skin is super nice yeah, want to try this moisturizing milk from our shop, autumn and winter are coming, it’s very dry ……”

“I want to buy this mask, I want to give it as a gift, can you please pack it in a nice way?”

“Of course!”

“And this face wash ……”

“This one is for men oh.”

“Mmmmmm, I know, it’s for him.”

The sales lady looked at Shen Yu who was resting on a chair and also complimented, “Your boyfriend is very handsome, and your sister is so nice to him!”

“Eh? Well ……”

Asaba Rika, who already knew what her boyfriend meant, wanted to explain, but when she saw that Shen Yu didn’t seem to have heard her, she blushed shyly and stopped explaining.

……

On the way back, Shen Yu aggressively carried a large bag of things and fled the shopping centre with Asaba Rika.

There was a lot of stuff, some in the basket and some hanging on the front handle, and the moment he heard Asaba Rika say he was done shopping and ready to go home, he had never felt so happy to be home.

Rika was happy to have completed her shopping wish and continued to hum her unfinished song in the back seat.

“People have their sorrows and joys ~ the moon has its shades and roundness ~ but may people last a long time ~ a thousand miles together ~ ~”

” Shen Yu, the words are so beautiful! I love it!”

“Do you know what that means?”

“Mmmmmm! A thousand miles together, the thought of looking at the same moon as each other instantly makes you feel closer, especially romantic!”

“How close is it?”

“As close as we are now!”