Ch 42: Eating Instant Noodles
After taking the cogwheel train and the elevator to the Sphinx Observation Deck, Yin Chang brought Shao Junling to the open-air terrace. This was the peak of the Jungfrau, where you could enjoy a panoramic view of the longest stretch of glacier in the Alps. The snow-capped mountain range in front of them was majestic and breathtaking.
It was windy outside. The little guy was shivering from the cold, but was so fascinated by the beautiful scenery before him he was reluctant to leave.
Both of them wore down jackets. When Yin Chang saw this, he couldn't help but hug Shao Junling from behind to shield him from the wind. Shao Junling shrank into him, softly calling out "brother." His ears slowly turned red, whether from the cold or for some other reason, Yin Chang couldn't tell.
They looked for a few more minutes, but couldn't bear the cold anymore, so they returned to the enclosed observation deck.
Yin Chang didn't notice when Shao Junling disappeared.
Fortunately, he was wearing conspicuous clothes. Yin Chang made his way around and found his figure at the food counter.
Shao Junling stared intently at the employees at the counter busily preparing bowls of instant noodles for the customers in line. He sniffed the rich aroma, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He looked as if he was about to drool.
Yin Chang felt amused and irritated at the same time.
This little guy... he’s so easily lured away by good food!
Yin Chang was annoyed so decided to sit back and observe how Shao Junling would manage to eat noodles without his help.
A free employee noticed Shao Junling and smiled at him, "Hey little guy, what would you like to order?"
Shao Junling pointed at the instant noodles.
The employee held up five fingers. Shao Junling's eyes lit up. He touched his pocket and pulled out a crumpled five-yuan bill to hand over.
Yin Chang saw from a distance and was momentarily stunned.
Although he was responsible for Shao Junling's daily expenses, he’d never given him an allowance. Even when Shao Junling was at De International, he didn't need cash. Food and supplies for school were paid for with a dedicated campus card that Yin Chang had loaded with thousands of yuan, enough for him to use for a while...
So, where did this money come from?
But even if he had money, Shao Junling couldn't buy anything because it was Chinese yuan.
Indeed, the waiter shook his head apologetically and explained, "We only accept euros, Swiss francs, or credit cards here. Do you have a credit card?"
In this sentence, Shao Junling didn't understand a single word. He saw the waiter shaking his head and thought it was because he didn't have enough money, so he reached into his pocket and took out two coins...
Yin Chang: "..."
He handed over the coins and five yuan. The employee smiled bitterly and shook his hands, "No, we don't accept this. Where are your parents? Let them come and buy for you."
Another customer arrived. The employee became busy serving others, and ignored him.
Shao Junling couldn't understand and couldn't buy the noodles. He watched others take away bowls of hot noodles, and anxiously paced around.
Finally the kid reluctantly thought of him, as a last resort, and started looking for him everywhere.
Yin Chang stood by an open gift shelf, showing half of his body so that Shao Junling could find him. But he pretended he hadn’t seen what had transpired. He busied himself picking gifts in front of him.
Shao Junling found him, "Brother..."
Yin Chang: "Hmm?" You finally remembered to come to me when you want to eat something?
But after Shao Junling found him, he just stuck to him, hanging his head and not saying anything.
Yin Chang: "???"
...No, why, would you rather go hungry than ask me for help?
Yin Chang coughed lightly and deliberately tempted him, "Are you hungry?"
Shao Junling weakly shook his head. He stuck to him tightly, afraid of being abandoned.
Yin Chang was annoyed by this kid and asked directly, "If you're not hungry, why have you been standing in front of this counter for so long?"
Shao Junling suddenly looked up, surprised. His eyes showed embarrassment as though his thoughts had been seen through. As though he blamed Yin Chang for not helping him earlier.
After a moment, he finally asked, "Do you want to eat noodles?"
Yin Chang couldn't help but laugh, thinking this kid's face was quite thin. Clearly, he wanted to eat, but he turned around and asked if he wanted to eat instead.
"Nope." he said.
Shao Junling: "..."
Yin Chang looked at him with a growing headache, feeling that if he kept bullying this little guy like this, he might really prefer to go hungry... So he reluctantly took him to buy noodles.
Ten minutes later, Yin Chang held a bowl of instant noodles. Boiling water had just been added to it. He led Shao Junling to a seat, and said, "Wait three minutes before you eat."
Shao Junling looked at the fragrant noodles in front of him with shining eyes, unable to stop salivating.
Yin Chang began his interrogation, "Where did the money in your pocket come from?"
Shao Junling hesitated for a moment and muttered, "Xue Ziwen gave it to me."
Yin Chang frowned, "Xue Ziwen? Why’d he give you money?"
Shao Junling said proudly, "We made a bet, and I won."
Yin Chang asked, "What kind of bet?"
Shao Junling replied, "We bet on our grades."
Yin Chang raised an eyebrow, "Did you get a higher score than him? How much did you win?"
Shao Junling nodded confidently, "Yeah, ten bucks."
Yin Chang asked, "What if you’d lost the bet?"
...This kid didn't have any pocket money. What if he lost the bet and had to give money to Xuezi? Where would he get it from?
Shao Junling counted for three minutes, eagerly opened the instant noodles lid, and answered Yin Chang, "I wouldn’t lose, he's dumb."
Yin Chang: "............"
This answer...
However, now that Yin Chang knew the origin of the money, he felt relieved. This kind of bet was just a little game between kids. The amount wasn’t big, and it wasn't a big deal.
Lu Lingjuan went to the gift shop to buy gifts for her colleagues and friends. Yin Chang was just about to message her to ask when she’d be back, when someone beside him called out, "Excuse me...are you Yin Chang?"
Yin Chang turned his head and saw three young girls he didn't know. The girl who greeted him covered her mouth in surprise. "OMG It’s really you!"
This was a popular tourist spot in Switzerland. There were many Chinese tourists here. These three girls had secretly followed Yin Chang and Shao Junling for a while and approached them only after they saw the two of them sitting down to eat noodles.
"Yin Chang! We really like you!"
"Um, ever since last July...we've been following you!"
"Can we, can we take a photo with you?"
Since Yin Chang had become a celebrity, he was mentally prepared to be recognized by fans whenever he went out.
He immediately adjusted his mood and generously said, "Sure."
He got up and took individual photos with each of them.
One of the female fans noticed Shao Junling holding a bowl of instant noodles, sitting next to him, and curiously asked, "Is this your little brother? He's so cute!"
Yin Chang noticed that she wanted to take a photo of Shao Junling with her phone and immediately spoke up. "Sorry, I hope you don't take pictures of my little brother."
The female fan stuck out her tongue sheepishly, and made a surrender gesture.
After taking individual photos, they wanted a group photo with all four of them. The female fan asked Shao Junling to help them take a photo, "Can little brother take a photo for us? Here, the camera is here. Just press the dot in the middle."
Shao Junling got up expressionlessly, took the phone, and cooperated with her.
While they were taking the photo, Lu Lingjuan came back. She immediately realized what was going on and quickly stepped forward to play the "bad guy": "Ladies, I’m Yin Chang's manager. Thank you for liking him, but now is his private time, I hope you can give him some space... Let's stop after this photo, okay?"
She requested politely, so the female fans didn't want to continue being a bother.
After dealing with the few in front of her, Lu Lingjuan scanned the crowd and urged Yin Chang and Shao Junling to leave: "There are a few more Chinese people over there, they've already seen you, let's go quickly... Shao Junling, no more noodles! If you keep eating, your brother won't be able to escape!"
Yin Chang: "..."
Originally, they’d planned to play in the snow near the top of Jungfrau for a while, but it was already snowing heavily outside, with strong winds. And there were fans nearby who’d recognized Yin Chang and were "watching like a hawk". So they hurriedly left the mountain.
At night, the three of them stayed in a hotel in Interlaken for a night. Yin Chang checked on the homework he’d assigned to Shao Junling, and corrected his pronunciation one by one.
The next day was sunny, and the tour guide took them to another snowfield with fewer people.
Shao Junling hadn’t gotten enough playtime yesterday, so when he saw the snow today, he plunged into it like a sled dog freed from his leash.
Yin Chang originally didn't have much interest in playing. He just wanted to accompany Shao Junling to see the world... because the last time he went skiing was three years ago with Yin Dong. So whenever he saw a ski resort, he couldn't help but think of Yin Dong.
But seeing Shao Junling bouncing happily in the snow, his mood gradually relaxed.
The little guy ran around and came back to him with a grin, calling out to him "brother" and then running off again excitedly.
Yin Chang couldn't help but feel moved by his silly antics... Since he rarely had such an opportunity, he might as well do it...
By the time Shao Junling ran back, Yin Chang had already changed into his gear, latched in his skis, and even put on his mirrored goggles. He looked badass standing in front of him.
Shao Junling: "!!!"
Yin Chang said to him, "I'll go up for a while, you play with Sister down here."
After saying that, he took the lift up.
Soon, Shao Junling saw Yin Chang appear at the top of the slope, holding ski poles in his hand, and then slowly gliding down. He accelerated faster and faster, with a series of graceful movements, bending, leaning, effortlessly leaving a trail of curves in the snow, even going up a small slope, and enjoying air time...
The handsome posture and stable landing made several ski instructors below whistle in admiration-
"So cool!!!"
"Ama-zing!!!"
Lu Lingjuan trembled with excitement as she took a frenzy of photos of her boss's stylish skiing form with her phone. "Ah, how can someone be so attractive! I really want to post it on Weibo to increase your fans ah!!"
After Yin Chang finished two runs, he was drenched with sweat from the heat.
He returned to Shao Junling's side panting. Seeing the little guy frozen in place and in a daze, he asked him, "Why aren't you playing?"
Shao Junling gazed up at him with wide eyes. He stiffly raised his thumb and said a single word. "Awesome."
Yin Chang: "..."
...His pronunciation this time was pretty good.
At this moment, in China, the annual Youku Gala was taking place. Wang Chen went onto the stage to be awarded the New Idol of the Year award and was feeling extremely pleased with himself.
After returning to his seat, another popular star congratulated Wang Chen. "Wang Chen, you've had a fruitful year. You nearly swept all the newcomer awards."
"Hehe, you're much too kind." Wang Chen said humbly, although he was secretly elated.
The other star smiled at him, "But I heard it was originally supposed to be awarded to Yin Chang. I wonder why he didn't come..."
These words made Wang Chen extremely uncomfortable. He looked around and realized that indeed he hadn't seen Yin Chang at the many award ceremonies he'd attended these days.
After the evening party, Wang Chen got in his chauffeur-driven car and asked his manager in annoyance, "Qu Jie just told me that the award I received today was originally meant for Yin Chang. Do you know anything about this?"
Manager: "!?"
Seeing his manager's expression, Wang Chen knew that the information Qu Jie had leaked was true. "Was this award given to me because Yin Chang didn't want it?" he asked.
The manager quickly reassured him, "Nonsense, it's just rumors... all awards are subject to change until the official announcement."
Wang Chen snorted, "Where is Yin Chang then?"
Manager: "Uh, I'm not his manager, I don't know. He's probably busy with something."
Wang Chen was extremely frustrated. He took out his phone and checked his friend's circle, only to see Yin Chang's latest update.
Yin Chang: "Haven't skied in a long time."
Attached were several skiing photos sent to him by Lu Lingjuan.
The location was Grindelwald, Switzerland.
Wang Chen: "???"
He glanced at the blue crystal trophy next to him, feeling more and more upset. Youku gave him the award that Yin Chang didn't even want? Damn, were they treating him like a trash can!?
Meanwhile, Yin Chang was oblivious to Wang Chen's frustration, and couldn't care less.
After skiing, the group returned to Zurich along a different route, stopping and touring along the way. In the evening, they boarded the flight back home, successfully concluding their trip to Switzerland.
Three days after returning home, Shao Junling finally successfully memorized all the color words and exchanged them with Yin Chang for the box of colored pens.
It was also the last day of the year. Yin Chang called Yao Manhuai and requested a fifteen-day leave.
He planned to take Shao Junling to visit Yin Dong's grave on New Year's Day, and for the next fifteen days, he didn't want to take on any work
Vignette
The female fans looked through the photos Shao Junling took for them.
"Why are they all blurry? We can't see anyone's face!"
Finally, they found one clear photo...
"Why are there only some of us? Yin Chang was cut off!?"
Shao Junling stoking his chin. "It was my brother's fault for being too tall, he couldn't fit in the frame."
