The Road Home

Chapter 11

On the drive back, there were several times when Meng Xiaoshan wanted to speak but then held her tongue. She had originally thought that Gui Xiao was merely for the moment unable to hold back her aggravation since, after all, Zhao Minshan would be considered her old schoolmate of the same year as her. However, midway into the drive, she realized that Gui Xiao was genuinely heartbroken.

"Gui Xiao, you honestly still miss him? Truly, sincerely?"

Frowning, Gui Xiao shook her head.

"If there were no Zhao Minshan, if she didn't exist, what would you do?"

Gui Xiao shook her head again. She didn't want to talk, didn't want to discuss this question anymore.

Wordlessly, Gui Xiao leaned against the car window, her face without any superfluous expression on it. Reflected in her black eyes was the scenery of this little town that seemed familiar, yet was also extremely unfamiliar to her.

Meng Xiaoshan's restaurant was in the centre of town, in a location bounded by two military compounds.

It was an individual, three-storey building and was very grand and impressive.

Centered right at the doorway was a bronze lion the height of two people. Words engraved on a bronze sign described in detail the restaurant's long history... Meng Xiaoshan was especially good at doing business and ran this restaurant such that it had a great reputation. In the early years when the restaurant first opened, Gui Xiao had still been in university. To spread the word about Meng Xiaoshan's restaurant, she had specially written up a travelogue on each of the natural scenic sites near the town, and in each write-up she would somehow bring in mention of this restaurant. After graduating and starting work later on, she began to come into contact with people who did public relations and communications, so she had also introduced them to Meng Xiaoshan.

However, it still boiled down to the fact that this restaurant of hers had good food and was also classy. Thus, it became the number one restaurant in town and was deserving of that reputation.

The boss's friend naturally got to be in the largest private room.

Gui Xiao specifically ordered the lamb spine hot pot. When the pot was brought out, its piping hot, white steam rose up and spread in front of her eyes. Picking up her chopsticks, Gui Xiao used them to poke and nudge the bones inside the pot, then stared vacantly for a while, then flipped the bones inside again a couple of times, then let her mind wander again for another long while, then stabbed at the lamb meat inside, which had long since been boiled to mush...

This dish, 羊蝎子 yang xiezi, literally means "lamb scorpion," and is a hot pot that consists mainly of the meaty bones from the lamb's spine. It's Chinese name comes from the way the bones look like a scorpion with its many legs. 

"Are you eating or do you just want to play? If you want to play, I'll shut off the flame for you and you can just stir it slowly."

"It was like I was under a spell." Gui Xiao recounted in a quiet voice, "In Erenhot, my friend's car was stolen, and I asked him to help. Later on, the gang of car thieves wanted to get revenge, but he taught them another lesson..."

Xiao Cai did not know about her and Lu Yanchen's history, so at most she had made suggestive speculations and then merely thrown in a couple words of jest.

Hence, Gui Xiao was actually much calmer and open in front of Meng Xiaoshan. After all, the person before her was most clear on how, back then, she and he had started dating and how they had broken up. She had thought—she had guessed—that Qin Xiaonan's matter had been Lu Yanchen's way of backing down, wanting to give the two of them a chance to start over again. And so, she had been filled with hope and anticipation. And so, she had imagined reciprocated feelings. And so, she had brought about everything, brought about the entire situation of today.