Inextricable

Time flew by in the blink of an eye and it was already the middle of February. 

It was a Saturday afternoon and Xu Xingxing was in her shop. As it was past five o’clock, there were some customers, and Du Yizhe was making milk tea behind the counter, while Huangfu Yiduo, who was wearing a purple tutu skirt today, paired with a purple wig and a small top hat, was sitting in the shop playing with Ah Jin. 

As soon as Xu Xingxing entered the shop, Ah Jin looked at her and trotted to her side wagging its tail. Xu Xingxing then leaned over and rubbed its head lightly. 

“Ah Jin.” Huangfu Yiduo called out.

Hearing his name, the dog went to its owner, and before leaving it looked at Xu Xingxing as if asking her to follow it. 

At this moment, Du Yizhe, who saw his boss, smiled and greeted her. “Hello boss.”

Xu Xingxing: “Hello!”

When Xu Xingxing sat next to Huangfu Yiduo’s, she saw that Huangfu Yiduo was holding a small notebook and an automatic pencil and writing something.

Seeing that Xu Xingxing’s eyes fell on the notebook, Huangfu Yiduo generously handed over the notebook and said, “It’s the Christmas special for the comics.”

Huangfu Yiduo, who worked as an independent comedic writer, was creating a festival-specific work, and it was different for each year.

With considerable admiration, Xu Xingxing took the notebook and asked, “There are so many, can you figure them all out?”

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“It’s not challenging, Ah Zhe and I celebrate Christmas differently every year, so I have a lot of inspiration,” Huangfu Yiduo stated with a shy smile.

Looking at Huangfu Yiduo’s smile, the edges of Xu Xingxing’s lips began to twist. She looked down at the young girl’s delicate creation in the tiny book. 

Date: A wintry night

Characters: The protagonist and the heroine

Scene: Under the streetlamp at the end of the long street.

P1 : The male protagonist takes a black umbrella and covers the female protagonist’s head while they are surrounded by a festive holiday ambiance. The heroine is covered with a few snowflakes because she doesn’t have an umbrella.

The script ended here, and Xu Xingxing was slightly taken aback. Seeing her expression, Huangfu Yiduo let out an “ah”, then said, “This is the inspiration I got after seeing you holding a black umbrella that day, do you mind if I…?”

When she heard the little girl’s words, Xu Xingxing recalled her shop’s opening night. Huai Jing had covered her from the rain and told her that he had come to visit her secretly. 

Blushing slightly, Xu Xingxing explained hurriedly, “We…we are not in that kind of relationship.”

Huangfu Yiduo exhaled a sigh of relief when she realised that Xu Xingxing didn’t seem to mind. She then grinned and added, “It doesn’t matter, I understand.”

Feeling somewhat helpless, Xu Xingxing’s face reddened and she responded, “Okay.”

Du Yizhe, who had finished his tasks, came to them and reached out to Huangfu Yiduo’s head to stroke her hair. They spent everyday together, but had never felt the novelty in their relationship wear out since the day they had started dating. Everyday was wonderful, just like vanilla ice cream.

“What’s wrong, jiejie?” Du Yizhe smiled and retracted his hand, asking Xu Xingxing.

[TL Notes:- The Chinese word ‘jiejie’ refers to an older sister.]

Xu Xingxing looked at him and said, “It has already been two weeks since the opening, you have been helping out here and there, and we haven’t been able to have a get-together properly. Today, I am the host, and I invite you both to dinner.”

“Yeah!” Huangfu Yiduo was instantly happy when she heard about eating.

Seeing the two of them be so happy, Xu Xingxing was also happy. She asked, “What do you want to eat?”

“Hey little pig, what do you want to eat?” Du Yizhe glanced at Huangfu Yiduo.

Huangfu Yidou scowled and shook her head angrily at Du Yizhe at this. He smiled softly and asked, “Little fairy, what do you want to eat?” 

Being called a ‘little fairy’ delighted Huangfu Yiduo, who then directly responded to Xu Xingxing excitedly, “Then can I eat barbecue?”

Seeing the light shining in the little girl’s big eyes, Xu Xingxing nodded with a smile and said, “Yes.” 

Huangfu Yidou bent over and touched Ah Jin’s ear and said, “Wow…then Ah Jin will have bones to eat.”

Although most of the restaurants didn’t allow pets inside their premises, the Korean restaurant chosen by Huangfu Yiduo welcomed them.

As they took their seats in the corner with one dog, the server delivered the menu. Xu Xingxing, who had come here for the first time, felt that the young couple was familiar with the restaurant, so she handed the menu to them. “This is my first time here, please order. Oh, just order whatever you want.”

“Jiejie, you are really the best boss in the world.” Huangfu Yiduo, who was a food-lover, was really happy to hear such words.

After accepting the compliment, Xu Xingxing sipped on the delicious pumpkin porridge that had been ordered already. It was tasty and sweet. She felt that she would be full after finishing only the porridge. She had felt something amiss with her body when she had first walked into the store, but was unable to pinpoint where this unpleasantness originated from.

The young couple quickly ordered the rest of the food and Du Yizhe started talking with Xu Xingxing about business.

“Sister, what are we going to do for Christmas?”

There were ten days until Christmas.

“Do you have any suggestions?” Xu Xingxing didn’t have any particular idea so she asked Du Yizhe.

“Normally, most stores offer nothing more than a few discounts, and gift boxes… I think having only gift boxes will be better. Oh, we can directly buy them from Wuyin.” Du Yizhe pondered for a while before giving a reply. 

[TL Notes: ‘Wuyin’ is the name of the brand of tea they used in their milk tea shop.]

Xu Xingxing asked, “Will it be very expensive and how can we buy from them?”

Du Yizhe shook his head and said, “They have an affiliated store. For us, we will have to buy it ourselves. It’s not expensive, so we can order a fixed number of sets.”

After hearing Du Yizhe’s words, Xu Xingxing felt relief. He was both responsible and experienced so Xu Xingxing would not have to worry too much about her shop.

“Okay then, place an order and tell me the amount of money I have to send.”

Du Yizhe said briskly, “Okay.”

He started roasting the meat when it came. Huangfu Yiduo kept telling Xu Xingxing stuff like “This pork belly is wonderful, and this fat beef…” while she was eating.

Seeing her enjoy her food so much made Xu Xingxing feel much better. She didn’t eat much, however, as her appetite wasn’t great.

While Huangfu Yiduo ate cheerfully, she was still aware that Xu Xingxing didn’t eat much. “Jiejie, are you okay?” She inquired with concern as she gave Ah Jin the small bone.

In fact, Xu Xingxing was feeling a little fatigued. She was going to say she was okay, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she felt heat flow from her body.

Though a little taken aback by this sensation, Xu Xingxing finally got it.