Yan Fei is a man of his word. At dinner, he just haphazardly shoveled a few mouthfuls into his mouth before heading out. Yan Fei bolted to the river and plunged in. After a short while, he surfaced with a couple of fishes in his grip.
The river was currently swelling and teeming with fish which made them easy to catch.
Yan Fei didn’t just bring the fish back for Xiang Changqing. He shared some with Dang Wenzheng too and had those two deliver one to Lin Baoguo.
The fishes were huge, just one each for a household was enough. There were plenty leftovers for the cattle ranch workers to have a feast for a day.
He hadn’t encountered any trouble while patrolling for the past few days. Yan Fei suggested Xiang Changqing and Dang Wenzheng should head back early after their dinner and reassured that he would keep an eye on the area, ensuring that it was safe. Although the duo agreed to return, they leisured around the river bank with their fish in hand and made no move to go back immediately. It seemed that they had dismissed Yan Fei from tagging along, but they didn’t seem intent on returning right away either.
Being left alone left Yan Fei in a pretty good mood. He hummed himself a tune and planned to make a couple of side dishes, ready to wake Xu Xiaoyan up for her meal later.
Xu Xiaoyan slinked over before he managed to finish preparing the side dishes. Yan Fei had heard her scuffling noises a while ago. He’d originally thought of asking her why she didn’t catch more sleep! But hearing her stealthy tip-toe noises, Yan Fei chose to appear oblivious and waited for her to sneak up, cover his eyes and give him a startle.
In the past few days, while Yan Fei was out patrolling at night, Xu Xiaoyan wasn’t getting much sleep. She would rise early every morning without being called for and sneak up on him for a jest. However, Yan Fei and his sharp ears made it impossible for her to sneak up without getting noticed. She eventually ended up stomping her foot in anger each time she failed to give him a scare.
This time, Yan Fei finally decided to play along and pretended to be scared, much to her delight. But his poor acting became evident when she covered his eyes. Despite having his vision blinded, Yan Fei’s rhythm while chopping vegetables remained undeterred. Xu Xiaoyan soon lost interest when she noticed his lack of reaction.
"Yan Xiaofei, try to act a little scared will you! Let me give you a fright!" Complained Xu Xiaoyan, her hands still covering his eyes.
"Ah!" Yan Fei feigned a scared reaction which startled her instead.
"Are you an idiot! You scared me! I’m not lifting my hands from your eyes. Let’s see how you prepare the vegetables this way!" An irritated Xu Xiaoyan kept her hands in place, waiting to see his next move.
Yan Fei quickly chopped up the vegetables and with a toss of his knife, the cut veggies landed directly into the boiling pot. Even with his sight hindered, he sprinkled the seasonings accurately from various containers directly into the pot.
He stirred the vegetables a few times with a spatula which provoked a guffaw from Xu Xiaoyan. Then he dished out the stir-fried vegetables.
"Alright, time to eat! I’m impressive, right..." Yan Fei grinned boastfully as he placed the veggies on the table and poured a scoop of water into the pot.
"Fine! You crossed the hurdle!" A disgruntled Xu Xiaoyan finally took her hands off him. As she helped out with serving the meal, she asked, "No unusual incidents last night, right?"
"What could possibly happen? I already assured you that everything was fine..." Asserted Yan Fei dismissively. "Do you want to try some python meat? If you do, I will get it for you, what say?"
"Eeewww... Don’t mention that." Xu Xiaoyan made a face. "No, I’m not eating that. Neither should you go and willingly search for pythons. There are so many people doing it already! It’s not our turn to hunt, you are not allowed to go hear me!"
Poor Xu Xiaoyan, she thought Yan Fei was planning to kill that giant python for its meat!
"There’s really no danger!" Yan Fei replied and handed her a pair of chopsticks. "If you don’t want to eat it, then be it. I won’t fetch it for you."
"No, I don’t want it. Remember, you are not allowed to go. I know you are very capable okay!" Xu Xiaoyan glared at him, seriously saying, "Whoever wants to be this great python catcher hero, let them do it. But you are certainly not allowed to do it."
Seeing how serious she was, Yan Fei chose to keep quiet. The idea of playing the hero didn’t appeal to him in any way. His original intention was to go back to the island and look for another python if she was open to it, as a surprise for her.
But now it seemed that her reaction to this idea would be more of shock than surprise, so he dropped it.
Before they’d finished eating, Yan Fei heard a car pull over and someone running toward his direction. He had keen ears, and they let him know that one of the two persons approaching must be a girl.
He rose and opened the window of his small wine shop, spotting two familiar faces - Jiao Bing, his classmate, and Xu Xiaoyan’s classmate, Xiao Wen.
"Xiaofei, my cousin and I are heading to the county town to get our results! Are you and your lady joining?" Jiao Bing bellowed the moment he saw Yan Fei. "I heard the results will be out this morning; we plan to get there early and wait!"
This town was indeed small, as Yan Fei didn’t expect to have connections with the two people he recognized.
"The college entrance examination results are out today? I didn’t hear about it!" Before Yan Fei could respond, Xu Xiaoyan quickly stood up in surprise.
"Humph, some lady spends her days pining after a hero and forgets about scores! You probably forgot that you took the college entrance exam!" Xiao Wen mocked Xu Xiaoyan. "So you guys coming? My cousin’s driving us there, the car’s really fast, and we have room. We should all go together!"
"Let’s go, let’s go! I’m ready to leave now. Yan Fei, hurry up...." Said Xu Xiaoyan, ready to whisk Yan Fei away.
"What’s the rush? You haven’t finished eating yet! Finish your meal, and I’ll take you there. Don’t worry, I’ll get us there faster than their car!" Yan Fei tried to calm her down, noting that she hadn’t even touched her food. "The results aren’t out yet right? Even if we go now, we’ll have to wait. Let’s finish our meal first."
"Well, alright then. Xiao Wen, you guys leave first! We’ll be there soon. See you at school!" Xu Xiaoyan nodded after a moment’s thought.
"Alright then! Xiao Bing, we should get going. You two, hurry up! Perhaps the results will be out early!" Xiao Wen ended the conversation as their green jeep was still idling, waiting for them.
"Yan Fei, hurry up! We’ll see you at First High School!" Jiao Bing waved at Yan Fei before leaving.
"Alright! We’ll be there soon!" Yan Fei waved back at Jiao Bing.
After their departure, Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan started eating faster.
But halfway through the meal, Xu Xiaoyan wasn’t so eager anymore. "Oh dear, Yan Xiaofei, what if I don’t want to go and see the results now? I kind of don’t want to go to university anymore! It would be great if I don’t get in!"
"What? Weren’t you always eager to go to college?" Yan Fei was confused.
"I wanted to go to college before, thinking it would keep me from being bullied. I could eat good food, wear great clothes, and live a good life..." Xu Xiaoyan looked dejected. "Now I have all those things, so what’s the point of going to college?"