Tomb Raider: What the hell is this strange commission?

The brief conversation between Chi Yu and Black Glasses ended in the winter afternoon.

When the daylight hours are shortened, people's most intuitive feeling is that the passage of time seems to become faster, as if in just a moment, the sky turns from light to dark.

The sunset, symbolizing the coming of night, painted the clouds with beautiful colors and added a bit of warmth to the courtyard where Chi Yu was. Even though the temperature remained the same, it seemed gentle and affectionate.

The man with black glasses pushed open the door with the wind and met the pair of light-colored eyes in the front yard. He smiled and raised the bag in his hand to Chi Yu:

"I came back a little late, but I brought you some snacks to fill your stomach first."

Chi Yu took the paper bag handed over by Black Glasses, opened it and took a look, raised his eyebrows, picked up a bunch of candied haws from it, and looked at Black Glasses: "Tanghulu?"

Are you treating him like a child?

The underlying meaning in Chi Yu's expression and words was direct and clear. The man with black glasses shrugged helplessly, but the smile on his lips did not diminish, but deepened a little.

"It's almost the New Year, so we have to have something appropriate to accompany it, otherwise it will feel like something is missing. I think this candied haws is good, and it can also be used as an appetizer or something, to whet your appetite, Boss Chi."

Hearing this, Chi Yu calculated the time and said, "Hmm," "Another year has passed."

"Isn't it? Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, it's already a new year."

The man with black glasses sighed, put the remaining snacks on the table, and clapped his hands, "It's getting late, I'll go get the food ready, you can eat these first."

Black Glasses left a table full of snacks and went to the kitchen.

Chi Yu looked at the figure that hurriedly disappeared behind the door, then moved his gaze to the table. Looking at the amount that was so large that he probably wouldn't need to eat any more after finishing it all, he was silent for a moment and took a bite of the candied haws in his hand.

The candied haws that were packed and brought back by Black Glasses were covered with a thin layer of glutinous rice paper. Chi Yu took a tentative bite and tasted a faint rice fragrance. Only then did he feel at ease to eat the hawthorns together with the glutinous rice paper.

With the blending of glutinous rice paper, the sweetness of the rock sugar does not actually have much impact on the taste buds. Instead, the crispness of the sugar coating is more impressive.

The sweet and crispy sugar coating neutralizes the slight sourness of the hawthorn. The rock sugar is sweet but not greasy, and is cooked just right so it won’t stick to your teeth even when you put it in your mouth.

It tastes good. I don’t know which alley Black Glasses bought it from.

Chi Yu thought about it and slowly finished eating the rest.

As for the memory of candied haws, Chi Yu had actually tasted them several times when he was young.

At that time, his memory was not as good as it is now. Many things seemed blurry as if separated by a layer of mist. Only the bright colors of the candied haws were firmly imprinted in Chi Yu's memory, becoming the sweetness that he could ponder over and over again in his later life.

How long has it been since that time?

Chi Yu lowered his eyes and looked at the bamboo stick in his hand.

Thirty years? Or forty years? It doesn’t really matter.

Anyway, the person who decided to buy him a candied haws stick just because he thought the color was eye-catching and took a closer look at it is long gone.

Chi Yu let his thoughts wander around the courtyard for a while, and was called back by the noise made by the man with black glasses approaching.

"What's the matter, Mr. Chi? Are the other snacks not to your liking? Just staring at this bamboo stick will not produce a string of candied haws for you to eat."

The man with black glasses said this, holding the plate in one hand and moving the bag of snacks on the table with the other hand to make some space for their main meal.

After putting down all the plates in his hands, the man with black glasses clapped his hands, looking extremely satisfied with his careful arrangement of the dishes. Even Chi Yu's silence at this time could not dampen his enthusiasm.

Black Glasses glanced at the bamboo sticks that Chi Yu had put aside, smiled and asked him: "If you like it, I'll buy some more?"

"no need."

Chi Yu shook his head at the man with black glasses, "Tanghulu is delicious, but no matter how delicious something is, you should eat it in moderation. Once is enough."

The man with black glasses stretched out his tone, said "Oh——" and sat on the stone bench next to Chi Yu, "Okay, then I'll bring it to you another day."

The azure sky had not yet completely darkened, but the sunset glow had quietly left. They sat in the open-air courtyard, with a cup of wine, a mug of tea, and a table of steaming food, which was enough to get them through until nightfall.

Chi Yu and Black Glasses clinked their glasses as usual. After the tea was finished, Chi Yu thought for a moment and looked up at Black Glasses: "I learned an interesting theory this time when I went there."

The man with black glasses tilted his head. "About what?"

"About longevity."

The man with black glasses smiled and was about to say something when he heard Chi Yu continue, "To be more specific, it is about 'the immortality obtained through some form requires a part of oneself as a price'."

Chi Yu's expression remained calm. Apart from some doubts when he asked, it was difficult for Black Glasses to see any extra emotions. However, his question suddenly made Black Glasses feel anxious.

"Black Glasses, is this how you gained immortality?"

The sky turned completely dark.

The street lights illuminate the alleys, but also stop people from entering the private courtyards. The darkness that always made Black Glasses feel comfortable has lost its original effect at this time.

The man with black glasses was silent for a while. He knew that Chi Yu must have got the answer he wanted the moment his heart reacted, and he couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Boss Chi, you always do this to me out of the blue. Can you please consider that my fragile heart may not be able to withstand your threats?"

Chi Yu smiled and said in a light tone: "Will it?"

The man in black glasses immediately put on a gesture of Xizi holding her heart and was about to perform for Chi Yu on the spot, but he stopped after a look from the other party.

“Well, it seems that this time, you and Jie Yuchen found something extraordinary outside, and you even know about this kind of thing.”

The man with black glasses sighed again, and even the half-glass of wine he had just sipped seemed tasteless.

He looked up at the sky, at the clouds passing by, and felt that he had probably never been so sad in his life.

Black Glasses withdrew his gaze. Chi Yu's light-colored eyes were still staring at him intently, so Black Glasses thought about where to start.

“It wasn’t like this at the very beginning.”

Black Glasses said, "My family has a gene for longevity. For people like us, pursuing longevity is a thankless task."

"But later on, something happened that I don't want to recount - it was a turbulent era. Boss Chi, you should be able to guess a little bit. Anyway, after that, I started traveling around the world."

The man with black glasses chuckled. "It's strange, I've been to many places, but I never stayed there for long. Now that I think about it, the only time I stayed long enough was when I was studying in Germany."

Chi Yu listened quietly to the narration of the man with black glasses.

The past that he had never known, with the words of the man with black glasses, slowly unfolded before him like a scroll.

Winter nights are not as busy and restless as summer nights, but bring a refreshing coolness. If they light a fire in this bleak front yard, it can be considered comfortable.

Chi Yu poured himself a cup of tea. Seeing that Black Glasses' wine cup was empty, he raised his hand and picked up the wine pot beside him to fill it up. He asked him, "So where is the part where you found immortality?"

Black Glasses was silent for a moment.

He looked at Chi Yu, who looked serious and didn't seem to be joking, and sighed helplessly with an indescribable feeling: "Is the story I told not good?"

It sounded nice, but those were other people’s pasts and he didn’t really care.

Chi Yu thought silently.

He looked at the man with black glasses, and he was also looking at him. Neither of them spoke for a while.

Chi Yu's light-colored eyes radiated a soft glow under the moonlight, and that jade-like texture always came to him in a trance.

A gust of evening breeze blew, ruffling Chi Yu's hair. He sighed in his heart, put down the wine jug, and tucked his messy hair behind his ears again.

The jade artifact made a crisp sound when it collided with the stone table, breaking the silence of the night. Chi Yu already had the answer in his mind as to whether he should continue to listen to Black Glasses' past.

“If you want to talk, go ahead,” he said. “I’m listening.”