Ding Sha was startled and looked over to the side. It was a young and refined looking handsome man.
When the man saw that he had startled her, he smiled apologetically, "Sorry for scaring you."
"It's nothing," Ding Sha shook her head. Remembering what he had just said, she asked, "Do you know Mr. Hu?"
"I probably do," the man smiled faintly without much emotion. Looking up at the sign of the shop, he said, "It's a restaurant, huh..."
"Would you like to come in and sit down?" Seeing his unhappy expression, Ding Sha offered.
"Sure," the man readily agreed and followed Ding Sha inside. First he saw Gong Sister-in-law holding Little Ping An, and his expression softened, "What a cute little baby."
"Yes, he's my son," Ding Sha said with a smile, greeting Little Ping An, who immediately smiled back with two little dimples.
"So adorable," the man said a little enviously.
"Would you like something to eat?" Ding Sha handed him a menu.
The man flipped through it and then closed it again. "What did Hu Zhilin and Sun Yuzhu eat just now?"
Ding Sha hesitated for a moment. "Would you like to order the same thing?"
The man shook his head. "Just wanted a reference."
Ding Sha told him what they had ordered. The man laughed softly after listening, "I won't order those. I don't like sweet stuff. I like spicy food."
The man then ordered a dish called Hairy Blood Cubes.
"Just this. I don't eat much, ordering more would be wasteful," he said.
Zhuang Auntie took the order slip to the kitchen. Ding Sha thought for a moment, then poured a cup of red date cow milk drink and brought it to him. "How's this?"
The man ah-ed. "Pretty good...I guess."
Ding Sha pushed the milk to him. "Would you like to chat? You look very upset."
The man touched his own face. "Is it that obvious?"
"A little. Or maybe it's because I've had a baby now so I'm more sensitive," Ding Sha smiled.
"I... My name is Lin Jiayu," the man said slowly. "I know Hu Zhilin and Sun Yuzhu."
That was all he said before falling silent.
Ding Sha was curious but also knew not to pry into others' sad affairs. She was about to get up and leave when she heard Lin Jiayu speak again.
"We were together for a long time, since university."
"We had a great relationship, loved each other very much. Even during the most difficult times we never gave up on each other. Just didn't expect it to seem a little ironic now."
"They all say it's easy to go through adversity hand in hand, but hard to enjoy prosperity together. I didn't believe it before, now I feel there's some truth to it."
Lin Jiayu still looked calm and composed. His gentle, jade-like voice showed that he was a very cultured person.
Even after finding out about this embarrassing matter, he did not lose his temper or show any distress. He just smiled at Ding Sha with reddened eyes.
Lin Jiayu gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I won't say any more, or it'll get vulgar. After all, it's just another clichéd, dog-blood love story."
"Former lovers fall out of love, stories of three people together rarely end well."
Lin Jiayu exhaled. "I'm actually quite lucky to find out about this not too late, before stupidly and blindly thinking I was happy spending a whole lifetime this way."
Hearing this, Ding Sha knew Lin Jiayu didn't need comforting or sympathy, he just needed some time to digest it himself.
He was gentle yet strong enough inside not to torment himself over such an indignity, but to struggle out of the mire at the first chance.
Ding Sha began to admire him.
To be honest, if this happened to her, she would probably wallow in pain.
"Sorry for rambling," Lin Jiayu said with an apologetic laugh.
Ding Sha shook her head and went to the back kitchen. She had tried baking cakes in the morning, failing a few times but also succeeding.
Ding Sha brought out a mousse cake, the only one she could make without baking.
"Have some cake, please," Ding Sha placed the cake in front of him.
"Thank you," Lin Jiayu did not refuse. Perhaps the sweet-averse man also wanted to draw some comfort from the dessert.
The Hairy Blood Cubes were served up very quickly.
Lin Jiayu took out his phone to take pictures. "It looks great, seems I've lucked out in finding such a good restaurant."
As he spoke, he picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a slice of lunch meat first. "Very fragrant and tender. I haven't found lunch meat this good on the market. Did you make it yourselves?"
"Awesome," Ding Sha gave him a thumbs up. "We did make it ourselves. It has chicken and beef, so the texture is quite special."
Lin Jiayu's interest was piqued. He had only wanted to know what those two people ate here, didn't expect there would be such a nice surprise.
He went on to grab some beef tripe. Crispy and bouncy, not the least bit old. "The heat is just right."
Then he picked up some duck blood. Unexpectedly there were two kinds here, one being the common kind often seen in the market. It was cooked thoroughly and very spicy and savory.
The other was less common, more often seen in Sichuan hot pot places, irregularly shaped cold fresh duck blood. Extremely tender and aromatic, it would shred under the gentlest poke of chopsticks, with an exceptionally fresh, smooth texture.
Even the bean sprouts were not mushy but wonderfully flavored while keeping a crisp, tender bite.
Lin Jiayu's chopsticks did not stop.
His mouth turned red from the food. The Hairy Blood Cubes disappeared quickly while the prepared rice was barely touched.
"You...can really take spicy food..." Ding Sha did not expect him to handle such spicy food so well. Her family used specially purchased Sichuan peppers to make such Sichuan cuisine. At those spice levels ordinary people would start sweating after a few bites and look for water.
Yet the refined looking Lin Jiayu seemed to be eating steadily without pause. Ding Sha was quite impressed.
Lin Jiayu wiped his mouth. "It's really good, I think I'll come again."
He looked completely recovered, not a trace left of the gloomy, depressed heartache and distress from earlier.
Ding Sha felt a little happy. "That's good if you like it, you're welcome back anytime."
Lin Jiayu started on the little cake.
"The cake is delicious too," he finished that as well.
"Hopefully next time I come, if you're selling cakes, can I preorder a blueberry one?" Lin Jiayu asked. "I really like blueberries."
"Of course." Ding Sha gave him a business card. "You can call me in advance."
Ding Sha couldn't help wanting to give him some special treatment, because he looked like a delicate precious little master, refined as beautiful jade.
How could anyone bear to hurt him?
Ding Sha still couldn't figure it out even after Lin Jiayu had walked far away.
Xiao Jun came out and asked, "What is it? Who was that?"
He was very jealous. Why was Ding Sha treating that man so differently...
Ding Sha looked at him. For some reason she suddenly felt a little unhappy and glared at him. "What's it to you?"
Xiao Jun: "......"
What's up with me...??
