Chapter 227 - 226: The Taste of Happiness

Chapter 227: Chapter 226: The Taste of Happiness

It was almost 8:40 PM at the south gate of the Affiliated Hospital.

Yu Suye jogged over to the briskly walking Yan Ziruo, her voice a mix of worry and self-blame. "Ruoruo, I’ve been thinking, I think I might have scared Feifan."

"I’ve been pushing him a bit too hard these past two days."

"And then I suddenly told him my mom was here. He might have gotten the wrong idea."

She added anxiously, "I’ve already checked all the likely places in the hospital, and he’s not at home either."

"Ruoruo, where do you think he could have gone?"

Yan Ziruo comforted her, "Su Ye, don’t worry. Feifan isn’t a child. He’s probably just hiding for a bit. I’m sure he’s not lost."

She then asked, "Where’s your mother?"

"She’s in the teaching and research office."

Yu Suye explained, "I lied and said Feifan was pulled into an emergency surgery by his professor. I also said I had a patient to see for a follow-up, so I had her wait and rest in the office."

Yan Ziruo gave a soft "Oh," then pressed the Cayenne’s car keys into Yu Suye’s hand. "How about this? You take your mother home first."

"I’ll find Feifan!"

Seeing the urgent look still on Yu Suye’s face, Yan Ziruo tried to persuade her, "Feifan and I grew up together. I can make a pretty good guess where he might be hiding."

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find him."

"Besides, it’s not good to leave your mother waiting by herself for too long!"

Yu Suye thought for a moment and said, "Alright then, I’ll take my mom home first. Ruoruo, the moment you find Feifan, you have to let me know."

"Mhm, the very first moment, I promise..."

After parting ways with Yu Suye, Yan Ziruo frantically searched several places around the hospital: the plastic surgery department, the neurosurgery department, the employee cafeteria, and the general administration building.

But she found nothing, which made her grow anxious.

Growing up, Yan Feifan had never done anything too out of line. Today’s unexpected disappearance was a first.

Despite acting so confident in front of Yu Suye, she couldn’t help but worry as she looked at the brightly lit buildings before her.

The Affiliated Hospital covered nearly 200,000 square meters, packed with buildings and teeming with medical staff and patients.

It would be easy to hide not just one person, but eighty or a hundred.

"You little brat. When I find you, I’ll give you a good thrashing first."

Yan Ziruo spoke harshly, but her face was etched with worry.

She had always acted the part of the older sister, ordering her brother around, but in her heart, he was her pillar of strength.

No matter how difficult things got, as long as she remembered she had a genius brother who could face any problem with calm composure and find a solution, she wasn’t afraid of anything.

But now, it seemed her brother had finally met a problem he couldn’t solve.

’It’s just meeting your future mother-in-law, for goodness’ sake. What’s so scary about that? It’s not like you’re meeting a tigress!’

Yan Ziruo muttered again, her mind racing as she tried to think of where the little brat might have gone...

Houli Snack Street!

A sudden flash of inspiration hit Yan Ziruo, and she thought of the place.

On Houli Snack Street, there was a shaomai shop that made Feifan’s favorite food. He often said you could taste happiness in them.

Yan Ziruo had tried them once.

Feifan had brought them to her specifically, saying he wanted her to taste happiness too.

Yan Ziruo took just one bite, and tears nearly fell from her eyes.

’This isn’t the taste of happiness at all. It’s clearly the taste of Mom’s cooking.’

The shaomai their mother used to make tasted exactly like this.

But Feifan was still young when their mother cruelly left them.

After so many years, he had probably forgotten what their mother looked like, but the taste of this shaomai was etched in his heart.

That day, Yan Ziruo had made the excuse that the shaomai wasn’t to her taste and didn’t eat any more.

It was probably from that day on that Feifan never mentioned the "shaomai that tasted like happiness" in front of her again...

Yan Ziruo rode a shared bike to Houli Snack Street.

At this hour, the snack street was at its busiest, bustling with people everywhere.

Yan Ziruo moved with the flow of the crowd toward the shaomai shop her brother had mentioned, carefully scanning the people around her and the customers in the shops, afraid she might miss him.

After walking a few dozen meters, just as Yan Ziruo was wondering why she hadn’t reached the shaomai shop yet, she suddenly spotted Yan Feifan.

He was leaning against the wall of a shop on the right, staring blankly at a pan-fried bun shop on the left side of the street.

Yan Ziruo squeezed through the crowd, grabbed her brother’s arm, and said angrily, "How old are you? Still pulling disappearing acts..."

"Sis..."

That single word, tinged with infinite sadness, made Yan Ziruo’s heart tremble.

She quickly softened her voice and comforted him, "Feifan, it’s okay. If you don’t want to see Su Ye’s mother, we just won’t see her."

Yan Ziruo realized her brother didn’t seem to have heard her.

He looked dejected and said, "Sis, the shaomai shop is gone. The taste of happiness is gone."

Only then did Yan Ziruo notice.

She was standing right across from where the shaomai shop used to be, but it had been completely renovated and turned into a pan-fried bun shop.

Seeing the deep reluctance and melancholy on her brother’s face, Yan Ziruo’s heart ached for him. She comforted him, "Feifan, it’s okay."

"It’s just shaomai that tastes like happiness, right? Your big sister knows how to make them too."

"When we get home, I’ll make them for you tonight."

"You can make them?" Yan Feifan looked completely surprised.

Yan Ziruo nodded emphatically. "I’m not lying to you this time. I really know how, and I guarantee they’ll be full of the taste of happiness."

Yan Feifan clearly didn’t believe her guarantee. "Forget it. Don’t waste the ingredients."

"It’s not like I absolutely have to eat this shaomai."

"I just suddenly thought of it tonight and made a special trip to come eat it."

"I was just a bit sad for a moment when I saw the shop was gone."

Yan Ziruo noticed her brother’s mood had lightened considerably, and she felt a great sense of relief.

"Feifan, were you scared off by Su Ye’s mother?"

Yan Feifan’s face gradually turned red. He looked away awkwardly and said, "I guess so."

"When I heard her on the phone say her mom was here and wanted to meet me, I just panicked for some reason."

Yan Ziruo chuckled softly. "Su Ye’s mom isn’t here to inspect her future son-in-law. From what Su Ye was implying, it sounds like her mom is here to break you two up."

Hearing this, Yan Feifan’s eyes lit up.

"Sis, does that mean if I deliberately make a bad impression, Su Ye and I are guaranteed to be over?"

Yan Ziruo couldn’t help but laugh. "Feifan, don’t you dare."

"If you do that, you’ll seriously hurt Su Ye’s feelings."

"After all, Su Ye is your junior. She only came here because she was unhappy with an arranged marriage back home."

"You have a responsibility to help her out of this predicament."

Yan Feifan recalled some of the things Yu Suye had told him before. He sighed deeply and said glumly, "Let’s get this straight. I’m just acting along with Su Ye. I’m not actually dating her!"

"Fine, acting it is. Who knows, maybe it’ll turn into the real thing."

Yan Ziruo said this jokingly, then asked casually, "Feifan, you don’t have a fear of marriage because of our family situation, do you?"

Instead of answering, Yan Feifan retorted, "Sis, is your intentionally unrealistic search for a tall, rich, and handsome boyfriend a form of avoidance?"

"Do you just not want to be in a relationship at all?"

Yan Ziruo’s expression suddenly hardened. She said angrily, "Oh, you know so much, do you? Think you can be a psychologist now?"

"You’re a grown man, and you’re turning off your phone and pulling a disappearing act?"

"Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?"

Feeling that words weren’t enough, Yan Ziruo started thumping him with her fists.

Suddenly, several terrified screams of "AHH!" and "AHH!" rang out from nearby.

Yan Feifan looked in the direction of the shouts.

Ahead and to the left, the crowded throng of people quickly dispersed, creating a circular clearing three or four meters in diameter.

In the center of the clearing stood a man with a buzz cut, about 1.7 meters tall.

Yan Feifan’s gaze instantly froze.

The buzz-cut man had a large piece of grilled squid in his mouth. The problem was, a bamboo skewer, more than ten centimeters long, was protruding from it...

The buzz-cut man reached up and grabbed the skewer in his mouth, apparently intending to pull it out.

Yan Feifan immediately shouted, "Don’t pull it out!"