During the Snowstorm

Some of the pedestrians on both sides held umbrellas, and some walked in a hurry. Only Lin Yiyang and her walked in a hurry. Lin Yiyang was very familiar with the neighborhood here, turned left, walked to the sidewalk of a small road, and pulled Yin Guo to his right.

There is a string of apartments to the left of the two of them, and each apartment has a downward staircase leading to the basement. On snowy days, the steps are covered with snow and cannot be seen clearly. If you get too close, it is easy to fall.

So he still walks on the left side, which is safer.

Of course, Yin Guo didn't understand his intentions at all.

She just thought that Lin Yiyang must have a certain obsessive-compulsive disorder when walking, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, weird...

After another turn, I saw the narrow stairs of the subway entrance.

She stomped the snow on the bottom of her feet and followed Lin Yiyang down.

On the steps, there was a row of wet footprints left by Lin Yiyang, and then she added a row. Lin Yiyang deliberately stopped in front of the bottom step and waited for her. There were three homeless people lying in the subway station, each found a sheltered corner to sleep, and one of them slept next to the ticket machine.

Yin Guo took out his credit card from his wallet and wanted to go to the vending machine to insert the card to buy a ticket, so he politely took two steps away.

"Follow me," Lin Yiyang said behind him, "the car is coming."

Inside the station, the subway roared into the station with the noise of rolling over the tracks.

The New York subway is capricious, and it's too late to buy a ticket if you can catch a trip on a snowy day. He pulled Yin Guo away from the ticket machine, sent it into the ticket gate, and swiped his subway card.

Immediately after, he swiped again and entered the station himself.

Before Yin Guo could see what the platform looked like, he had already been pushed into the carriage.

The door closed behind him.

She looked around, and it was the worst kind of carriage.

No air conditioning, no electronic display, and I don't know if the car speakers are good or not...

No one yet?

She and Lin Yiyang were the only ones in the entire carriage, and there were two rows of empty orange seats waiting for them. You could sit anywhere. Yin Guo pointed to a seat, saw that Lin Yiyang had no objection, and sat down next to the door.

Lin Yiyang sat beside her, took off the club barrel, and stood beside his legs.

It was the only thing he was holding, and it belonged to her. Speaking of which, this man really didn't bring anything except his mobile phone and wallet, so he went to Flushing to gamble on a game, which was really casual.

The soles of the two of them still had bits of snow remaining, and they stepped on a pool of water on the floor of the carriage.

There is no signal in the subway cars, no internet access, and nothing to kill time. There was no scenery outside the carriage, it was dark, only the sound of driving filled the empty carriage.

Lin Yiyang's reticent temper, she almost got used to it, so she had to act as a lubricant between the two.

"We—" she said two words.

Lin Yiyang's eyes turned and stopped on her face.

"I haven't officially known each other yet," she said.

Her face was white and rosy, her nose was small, her eyes were big, but not round, rather long, and her double eyelids were obvious. Because of the high hair, the outline of the entire face is exposed, round, and the chin is not pointed. It is a young appearance, beautiful without any offensiveness, and very sweet.

"How do you want to meet?" Lin Yiyang met her eyes.

"My name is Yin Guo."

"The first WeChat message you sent, I said it." He reminded her.

...well, forgot all about it.

She had to bite the bullet and continued: "My brother and I are in the first year, senior year. He should have told you everything else."

Both of them were in the second half of their senior year, and there were no classes. It was the "internship period" required by the college. She wanted to move to professional nine-ball, and her cousin wanted to study abroad, so she naturally put her internship time in New York.

Lin Yiyang nodded.

When she finished, it was his turn.

Lin Yiyang was silent for a while, and then asked her: "You have seen all my valid documents, what else do you want to know?"

When he asked this, he smiled with a seven-point smile and a three-pointedness.

Nationality, date of birth, and place of birth were all clearly written on those documents, and even the school magnetic card was shown to her. Apart from his major, he couldn't think of anything else to explain.

"I didn't look carefully that day, I didn't look at your privacy." She explained.

Just know that he is twenty-seven years old, six years older than him.

Lin Yiyang smiled.

"I studied in China for my undergraduate degree. I earned two years of money after graduation, and I came here because I didn't think it was interesting." He leaned back on the seat and told the girl simply, "What I study here is communication, part-time, Three years, this year is the last year."

After he finished speaking, he thought about it and said, "Most of the time I live in DC, and occasionally come to New York."

He stopped for a while, Yin Guo was still waiting.

"No," he said finally. "If you want to know anything, feel free to ask."

"I'm gone." She smiled helplessly.

very good. Dry chat content, it is better not to speak.

They continued to sit side by side.

When the subway entered the station, she thought of a more important matter. She was too anxious to get on the subway just now, and the WeChat message she had written had not been sent.

When the subway stops, look for the signal quickly.

She held her mobile phone and swayed left and right for a long time. She didn't know whether it was because of the snow or the poor network on this platform. Whether it was mobile or the WiFi on the platform, she couldn't connect. .

"Didn't send it out?" People around her saw her predicament.

"It's always been like this, there's no signal at all." Yin Guo was discouraged and showed him his cell phone.

Lin Yiyang glanced.

On the screen, there is a WeChat message that she failed to send—

Xiaoguo: I'm starving to death. Is there any instant noodles in the room? If not, you can go out and buy me a pizza while I still can. It's closed when I get back.

She couldn't figure it out, she asked Lin Yiyang, "Is it because I have a domestic mobile phone number? Will it be more difficult to connect?"

"It will be a little bit affected, you can wait for the transfer, get off the bus and send it again."

That's all it is.

She exhaled and put away her phone.

Unexpectedly, Lin Yiyang took out his mobile phone instead, and when the car just left the station, he didn't know who he was chatting with.

When he entered the tunnel completely, he put his phone in his trouser pocket and said, "Are you hungry?"

Yin Guo was stunned for a moment, thinking of her WeChat, she understood.

"It's okay, I can hold on."

Sticking to the hotel should not be a problem.

"Stand on for what? Go back to eating pizza?" He laughed.

What then?

She didn't want to eat that either: "Our hotel is too far away, so late, only the gas station supermarket sells pizza."

"Wu Wei, the one who wore glasses that day. He asked me to eat ramen," Lin Yiyang asked her casually, "Want to go?"

Now?

"Will it be too late?" she hesitated.

"Sit down directly at this station, it will be there in three stops," he leaned there, looked at his watch, and gave a friendly suggestion, "We can go first, and then continue on the subway."

After he finished speaking, he said, "I didn't eat either."

On a snowy day like this, when she was hungry, when she heard the word "ramen", all she could see in front of her eyes was a hot soup, plus pork cartilage, kelp, kimchi, corn... The hesitation just now disappeared.

Don't worry if you're hungry, it's unkind to let others send you hungry. Anyway, I didn't eat it myself, so I might as well get out of the car to solve it together, and also save myself from eating dry pizza.

Thinking like this, it is time to go, not for yourself, but also for him.

Yin Guo immediately agreed.

As a result, the two people who were going to transfer to another line, sat directly after three stops in order to eat ramen.

When the two went to the door of the ramen restaurant, they saw that there were still a few people waiting for a seat at the door of the noodle restaurant in the snow. Lin Yiyang took Yin Guo, pushed aside the crowd, walked down, and entered a ramen restaurant converted into a basement.

At the moment when the glass door was pushed open, the aroma came in.

Every table, every big ramen bowl is steaming with white mist, on both sides of the narrow aisle, every table is full, hot indoor, hot noodles, this is really the best choice to make today.

Wu Wei had already occupied a table for four inside, and when he saw the two of them, he smiled and waved: "Here it is."

Yin Guo met him for the second time, greeted him friendly, put down his bag, and went to the bathroom first.

Seeing Yin Guo leave, Wu Wei immediately lowered his voice: "You're so funny, I took off my clothes, and my hair was covered in foam. You took it out and took a seat? Just to eat a bowl of ramen?"

"Don't talk nonsense when you come."

Lin Yiyang took off his winter clothes, put it on the back of the chair, waved his hand, and said hello to the boss. After the two chatted warmly in Japanese, he asked for sake first.

The boss asked if he wanted to order, but he rejected it, and he had to wait for Yin Guo to come out.

Wu Wei was at a loss: "Didn't you go to Flushing to gamble? How did you meet the little beauty?"

"It happened in the ballroom," he said.

The two said a few words, and in the future, the situation will be explained clearly, and Yin Guo just returned.

Wu Wei immediately put away the face of "watching a good show" and asked with a smile: "I heard him say, you are also here to participate in the open competition?"

"Yes, it's the women's team." She smiled and sat opposite the two men.

"I'm also a member of the list," Wu Wei stretched out his right hand, "Come on, I'm so destined to hold one."

"Good fate." Yin Guo shook hands with him.

"When I walked in the door that day, your brother talked to me, and I thought it was a liar. Later, when I saw that the club was on the box, I felt relieved," Wu Wei said with a smile about the night of Blizzard, "I thought the club was a liar. Your brother's, I didn't expect it to be you."

No wonder, they became friends so easily, and they invited them to drink specially.

She finally figured it out.

The two chatted for a while, but Yin Guo gained a lot of information about Lin Yiyang from Wu Wei.

Wu Wei was studying at New York University. Lin Yiyang helped prepare the materials and came to study for a master's degree. The two have different majors. Lin Yiyang came a year early and had to study for three years, while Wu Wei only needed to study for one year. He didn't leave after graduation, he just wanted to wait for Lin Yiyang to finish his studies and return to China together.

"Actually, I'm just average nine-ball. I practiced when I was young. The nine-ball is popular in the United States, and I have followed the custom in the countryside." Wu Wei said with a smile.

He was right.

Many people in the United States will use nine-ball as family entertainment. They have a ball table at home, but very few people play snooker. Today, she met Lin Yiyang's ball room, and there was only one snooker table in the ball room where she usually trained, and no one was playing.

In professional games, people here are not keen on snooker either.

For Yin Guo, she plays American billiards, and the US Nine-Ball Open is very important.

But from Wu Wei's words, she could tell that the other party was a snooker player who mainly played English billiards.

Just like my cousin.

His friends are all pros, why isn't he?

Yin Guo looked at him.

Lin Yiyang had been sitting there, drinking the sake that was brought first. The small glass bottle, the size of a palm, blue and translucent, was held in his palm by him and took two sips, most of the bottle was gone.

He didn't seem to listen to their conversation seriously. When Yin Guo looked at him, he pushed the menu in front of her: "Order first, then talk."

"Yes, first, first." Wu Wei echoed.

On that menu are pictures.

Ramen is a way to open a shop all over the world, just look at the pictures to choose noodles and add vegetables. Yin Guo quickly liked the menu, and she returned it to Lin Yiyang. Lin Yiyang waved his hand and directly called someone to place the order. He was so familiar with this place that he and Wu Wei could be blind spot without looking at the order.

Wu Wei changed the topic and talked about his daily life in New York, and was concerned about Yin Guo's next accommodation arrangement.

"It should still be a hotel," Yin Guo said, "now that."

"Didn't consider renting a house? Short-term rental?"

"I thought about it, but I think three months is not too long or too short. I'm afraid of trouble, and I can't find a good one."

Wu Wei immediately warmly invited him, saying that the apartment he rented was a three-bedroom apartment, two of which were a pair of sisters, and they were going to move out this month. He can help ask the landlord if he can let Yin Guo rent for a short period of time first. In this way, there are two advantages. The first is to save money at this stage, and the second is that if Yin Guo's cousin gets an offer from New York University, it is not bad to rent it directly.

Good location, convenient transportation, ready-made house.

Wu Wei's words really touched her.

When she came, her friend suggested a short-term rental, but it was just because her friend was in China and it was inconvenient to find a house for her, so she gave up. Since there are reliable listings, renting is certainly cost-effective.

Yin Guo thanked him happily and added Wu Wei's WeChat.

"Wait for me to ask the landlord first, and I will give you the exact news tomorrow." Wu Wei finally said.

Because they had to hurry, they didn't talk any more and finished the noodles quickly.

After supper, Lin Yiyang and Yin Guo got on the subway again, and it was eleven o'clock when they arrived at Yin Guo Hotel.

The hotel she lives in is a relatively remote neighborhood, surrounded by repair factories, and the only lively place is a small gas station. From the subway entrance to the hotel, you have to go through a dark road. Except for the light of the gas station, there are no extra lights, three or five minutes away.

The wind picked up in the middle of the night, and it blew her a chill.

He took Yin Guo to the door of the hotel, where two barmaids were smoking. When the two approached, they just snuffed out the cigarette butts. The two of them helped open the heavy black-lacquered iron door of the hotel and entered.

She stopped in front of the steps: "Do you still have a subway ride when you go back?"

"The subway is 24 hours a day." Lin Yiyang took the cue barrel off his shoulders and hooked the rope, as if he was about to hand it out, as if he was waiting for something.

His hand hooked on the rope was exposed, Yin Guo saw it and thought of his right hand when he was holding the club.

The sport of billiards requires long, uninterrupted years of polishing and hard practice. Like any sports, one cannot slack off in one day. The layman can't see it, and the layman can't see it. His level has been cultivated all year round, not quite like an amateur...

There was a knock on the glass door behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

She looked back and saw her cousin waving at them behind the frosted glass.

Lin Yiyang's arm passed over her shoulder at the same time, pulling open the iron door for her. He pushed Yin Guo into the warm room and handed the club bucket to Meng Xiaotian.

"Thank you, Brother Yang, send my sister back." My cousin smiled and thanked him.

He nodded, saying goodbye.

Immediately, he put his hands in his pockets, turned around, and turned back along the path beside the gas station without street lights.

Yin Guo touched her ears. Just now, Lin Yiyang pulled the door, and the cuff zipper scratched her ears: "Did you come down by chance?"

"Brother Yang sent me WeChat, saying that you are coming, let me pick you up," said cousin, "I guess I mentioned that there is a bar under our hotel. He is worried, is he afraid that you will run into a drunk?"

Unexpected answer.

Yin Guo looked back again.

Lin Yiyang was raising his hat to block the cold wind. In the distance is the light of the gas station, and on the left is the wall beside the road. Gradually, the figure disappeared in the snow and wind, and it should be the subway.