Chapter 15.2 - 山楂 Hawthorn
The next morning at the meeting, Mr. Cheng suddenly came up with the idea of holding a hotel year-end celebration, where bonuses would be distributed. Shen Xifan thought to herself that she had finally made it through this year.
On her way home, as she walked alone down the street, she was drawn in by the lively atmosphere. Passing by the supermarket, the place was buzzing with activity. People pushed shopping carts, children ran joyfully in the hall, and the checkout counters were crowded with customers.
Scenes from her childhood New Year celebrations suddenly flashed in her mind. She couldn’t stop her feet and went inside the supermarket to buy rose-flavored rice cakes, white rice cakes, sesame dumplings, and a box of Swiss chocolates.
But she was a little disappointed. Why weren’t there any candied hawthorns?
Just then, as she walked past Times Square, she saw a few elderly people carrying sticks, each filled with bright red candied hawthorns, looking very inviting. A group of children stood nearby, selecting the ones they liked.
She took her time picking out a beautiful, large bunch, and just as she was about to pay, a familiar voice called out beside her, “I want a bunch too!”
“How creepy,” Shen Xifan thought. To run into He Suye at a time like this? He was wearing a brown coat, bathed in sunlight, his eyes lowered with a slight smile, and the dimples on his face made him look as sweet as the candied hawthorns. Shen Xifan couldn’t help but shudder. A handsome, young doctor paired with a bunch of candied hawthorns—it was such a bizarre sight!
In fact, the candied hawthorn completely shattered the serious and cautious persona that He Suye usually worked so hard to maintain. He was eating happily, completely oblivious to the world around him, which left Shen Xifan stunned.
Shen Xifan asked curiously, “Why do I keep running into you recently?”
He Suye smiled and said, “I’ve been busy with the boss’s experiment, usually finishing up around this time.”
“What are you busy with? National secrets, biochemical weapons, or biological viruses?”
“You really can’t have any noble ideas in that head of yours, can you? Not everything a doctor does involves harming people—do you know the digestive pills? It’s something like that.”
“So you’re here to buy candied hawthorns?”
“They’re delicious! Sour and sweet, hawthorns help digestion and resolve bloating. They help with stagnant meat digestion, especially after greasy food. Plus, they bring back memories—when I was a kid, we used to get these for the New Year. It really feels like the holidays.”
“When will you bring me the medicine to try?”
“When you eat so much you can’t move!”
“Then I’ll turn into a pig, won’t I?”
“Who says you’re not one? … I’m just kidding, little girl, don’t be mad!”
The end-of-year celebration at Gu Nan Hua Ting was quite grand, but for Shen Xifan, it seemed that besides the bonus, there was nothing much to attract her.
The subsequent ball was also incredibly boring. During the event, she only danced one dance with Lin Yishen, and even then, she had to politely excuse herself because her dance moves were so ungraceful.
At that moment, she was lost in thought when a fair hand reached out in front of her. “I wonder if Miss Shen would honor me with a dance?”
She blurted out, “If you don’t mind me bombing your left and right feet, then I think…” She froze mid-sentence. That dialogue felt so familiar. Could time have reversed itself, taking her back to five years ago?
At that time, the academy had organized a remedial dance class and forced them to learn how to dance. Shen Xifan was terribly uncoordinated—her feet forgot her hands as soon as she moved. She was stiff, careful not to step on her partner’s feet. Her dance partner kept reassuring her to relax and not to worry.
But how could she relax? Just when she was feeling helpless, a boy said to her partner, “I’ll teach her. At this rate, she’ll end up wearing holes in the floor with how much she’s staring at it!”
Flustered and angry, she looked up and saw a handsome face, with eyes that were warm and filled with a gentle smile. She could no longer refuse, and, before she knew it, she had fallen completely, beyond redemption.
