My Youth Began With Him

Huo Mian opened her clear, beautiful eyes slowly, speck of gentleness pouring out from them…

She would only ever reveal her womanly side to Qin Chu, and no one else.

How many people on this earth were lucky enough to grow old with the person they loved?

She had made a wish to the shooting star, that starry night on Yunding Mountain…

When Qin Chu asked her what she wished for, she didn’t answer, because to her, everything used to be just no more than an enchanting dream…

Torn between dream and reality, Huo Mian’s body was light as if she was a floating cloud…

In the end, she could no longer tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Exhausted, she fell into a deep sleep…

The next morning –It was already 7 AM when Huo Mian woke up…

After washing up, she went downstairs. Qin Chu had already made breakfast and was watching financial news on his phone.

“Morning.”

“How did you sleep last night?” Qin Chu immediately put down his phone upon hearing Huo Mian’s voice and asked her gently.

“Pretty good.” Huo Mian nodded, somewhat shy.

Last night, they… in the bathtub… never mind, it was too dirty to bring up something like this in the morning.

“You made Chinese?” Huo Mian was surprised to see Chinese dishes placed on the dining table.

Qin Chu rarely made Chinese food; even if he did, he only made fried eggs or veggie noodles…

However, today he made congee with pork and preserved egg, as well as pumpkin patties. Gosh, pumpkin patties.

The pumpkin patties weren’t that round and were even a little burnt.

“The congee was easy to make, but the pumpkin patties weren’t. I timed it wrong, and kind of burned them…”

“Not at all, they look delicious.”

Then, Huo Mian placed a patty in her bowl and took a small bite.

“How is it?” Qin Chu asked nervously.

“It’s delicious and sweet. Did you steam the pumpkin first before mixing it with flour?”

Qin Chu nodded…

“Genius…” Huo Mian exclaimed.

Pumpkin patties were hard to make; although Huo Mian loved them, she was always too lazy to make them from scratch. Usually, she bought semi-finished patties from the supermarket, which she then fried at home.

This was her first time eating pumpkin patties that were made from scratch. They didn’t look that good, but they sure tasted delicious.

With a hearty appetite, Huo Mian had three pumpkin patties and two bowls of pork and preserved egg congee.

After breakfast, the couple went downstairs together to go to work…

“Honey.”

“Yeah?”

“There’s a charity auction tonight to raise funds for the Mian Foundation. It starts at 7 PM, so come straight to GK after you get off work. The ballgown I picked out for you is at my office. We’ll attend it together,” Qin Chu said.

“Okay.”

Huo Mian was interested in everything that was related to the Mian Foundation.

While they were at Yunding Mountain, she and Qin Chu experienced the lives of those living in poverty-stricken villages. The children there were all jaundiced and seemed to be malnourished. Some of them could only afford pickled radish for lunch. What Huo Mian saw made her incredibly sad. To her, the charity wasn’t for the sake of ‘big love for the world’. Rather, she just wanted to help out as many people as she could within her ability.

At least… seeing those children live better lives because of something she did would make her feel much better.

As the saying goes, a bit of fragrance will linger on the hand that gave out roses.

After driving to South Side, Huo Mian began her day’s work.

“Head Nurse, the new patient admitted to room 7 last night won’t cooperate with our treatment.”

“What was he admitted for?” Huo Mian asked as she looked at the patient’s chart on her computer.

“Mania.”

“Are you kidding me? Aren’t mania patients supposed to be admitted into psych? Why was he sent to the Ortho Department?” Huo Mian looked at the nurse in surprise.

“Psych’s rooms were all full, and since we had a lot of empty beds, they…”

“What nonsense. Let’s go, I want to check him out.”

Then, Huo Mian and the nurse went to room 7. As soon as she opened the door to the patient’s room, a pillow came flying at her, almost hitting her in the face. The good thing was that Huo Mian had fast reflexes and avoided the pillow.