Running away from the Love-Brain

Not Sweet Mango

Q: Share a secret that only you know.

A: Cui Muhuo must eat mangoes the day after drinking; if she can't find any, her throat hurts. She loves to catch little colds.

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Cui Xijin swiftly cut a palm-sized mango in half.

The skin had already been peeled, and the tender mango flesh was exposed, sliced into pieces by the sharp fruit knife. She speared a piece with her fork and brought it to her lips.

The fruit's fragrance was sweet, and juice burst forth, dispersing the nausea from her hangover and the lingering smell of alcohol that had survived two showers.

She opened her lips slightly, feeling some pain; the area where her lip had been injured was scabbed over, and tugging it hurt a little.

She closed her eyes in irritation, putting down the mango piece that was almost at her mouth.

A moment later, she heard Chen Wenran let out a chuckle.

She opened her eyes.

Chen Wenran was sitting in the sofa area she had prepared for guests, wearing a serious expression and no longer smiling.

Cui Xijin lazily shifted her gaze away, tensed her jaw, straightened her neck, and sat upright on the bar stool. In a very standard posture, she picked up the fruit knife and aimed it at the sliced mango.

She continued slicing the mango flesh into small square cubes.

It was unclear whether it was a long-hidden nature or a cultivated habit, but she had a particular love for mangoes.

In the end, she could only attribute this to the aftereffects of a high fever she had when she was young—

She believed that it was that island-flavored Taiwanese film that ignited her uncontrollable appetite for mangoes, that sweet island fruit.

Yet, at that time, she hadn't been able to satisfy that craving.

The lack and yearning for something in childhood often expands to a hundredfold when one gains the ability to fulfill oneself in adulthood; this psychological phenomenon is known as "reactive compensation."

Thus, after that incident, she developed a particular fondness for mangoes.

She was born with a low white blood cell count, making her more susceptible to viral infections; catching colds and fevers was a common occurrence, compounded by congenital anemia, which made it difficult for her to stop bleeding once she had a wound.

For her, "being sick" was not uncommon, and managing minor illnesses by herself was also not unusual.

Cui He and Yu Hong Dong had already poured their entire life's energy and passion into their careers. When she was eleven years old and her sister Yu Chen Xing was five, Cui He went to Harbin for a long-term project on forest pest control, and Yu Hong Dong also went to Shanghai University for professional title assessment.

She didn't like either Harbin or Shanghai. So, her sister followed Cui He to Harbin, while she lived alone with her grandmother in Chengdu. During holidays and weekends, her grandmother would drive an electric car back to Dujiangyan to take care of the vegetables they had left behind at home, and she would sometimes tag along, though most of the time she was unwilling to go out due to illness. It wasn't until she started middle school that she began boarding.

That fever struck during a rare heat wave. Her grandmother was worried about the cucumber seedlings at home and left a day's worth of food for her early in the morning before heading back to Dujiangyan.