In the end, Xu Tangcheng did not manage to go to that Happy Valley that Yi Zhe was brooding over.

That day, he had not informed them beforehand that he was going home so it was only when he got back that he realised that the house was empty. He made a call and asked, and found out that Grandma was ill.

"Two days ago, she started saying that her throat was not feeling well. Your uncle said he'll take her to the doctor but she didn't want to go. She's been taking medicine for two days already. Just now, she suddenly said that she was feeling cold and wanted us to take her to the doctor tomorrow. I'm just about to check her temperature. Just by touch, I can tell that she definitely has a fever."

Grandma was still considered to be in good health most of the time. Other than high blood pressure, she didn't have any other problems and she didn't fall sick frequently either. But the elderly's physical health could not be compared with ordinary people. Once they had any kind of illness, it was not easy for them to recover. Throughout his hasty journey to his uncle's house, Xu Tangcheng's forehead never once smoothened out. When he saw Grandma and saw that she was even wearing a cotton padded jacket, all at once, he found it difficult to bear. Grandma had always been afraid of the heat and not of the cold. When they switched on the air-conditioning in summer, she would always want to sit somewhere where she could feel the wind. Even when she occasionally couldn't bear to use so much electricity and didn't want to switch on the air-conditioning, and instead switched on the fan, she would also have the fan blowing right at her without letting it revolve. When it was winter and she was at home, they would always need to try every possible way to persuade her before she would wear a vest. When had she ever worn a cotton padded jacket?

"Tangcheng's back?"

Grandma saw him come in and immediately smiled. Hearing that her voice had turned hoarse from the discomfort in her throat, Xu Tangcheng suddenly felt his eyes prickle.

"What happened? How did you fall sick?"

"It's nothing." Grandma patted the seat next to her, wanting him to sit. "It's probably just too much internal heat."

"Why didn't you go to the hospital to have it looked at?"

At the side, his aunt hastily said, "It was only when it was nearly time to eat that your grandma said that she felt like she was having a fever and that she wanted to see the doctor tomorrow. We said we will take her there now but she doesn't want to go. She only wants your Uncle Chen to treat her. In the end, your uncle checked and saw that he'd already closed for the day much earlier on. We just called him. He said he's out, your uncle has gone to pick him up."

The thermometer was taken out. Under the lights, Xu Tangcheng took a look; her temperature was already 37.8 degrees.

"There are paper cups under the water dispenser. When the doctor's here, serve him water in a paper cup. Don't use a glass, he might think it's not clean."

Xu Yueliang was already worried to the point of anxiety but seeing how she was still concerned about other people now, he couldn't help muttering crossly, "You should just stop being so concerned about others, all right? Things are already like this. We keep telling you that you should tell us right away if you don't feel well but you always just bear it yourself, you're always worried about troubling us. Putting aside whether or not this is considered trouble, doesn't it just get worse the more you put it off? If we had gone to the hospital earlier, would we have to do this?"

"Dad!"

"All right, all right." Zhou Hui also gave Xu Yueliang a tug. "Don't say so much. Mum's not feeling good."

Grandma listened to him and didn't say anything. She only patted Xu Tangcheng's hand that was on her knee. Xu Tangcheng turned his hand and caught hold of hers. "Ignore my dad. He worries for you."

Xu Tangcheng knew that Grandma had always been like this. She thought of everything for others, afraid of causing even the tiniest bit of trouble for them. When it came to caring for others, he'd never seen anyone who cared more than his grandma.

"I know." Grandma nodded.

Because she was feeling lethargic, Grandma's eyelids kept falling, unlike her usual self. Xu Tangcheng's heart ached and he gripped her hands, refusing to let go. Very soon, he heard Grandma say, "I just felt that I had too much internal heat and it wouldn't be a big deal to just bear it. But I just didn't get better. I'm afraid there's really something wrong. If there is, it is all of you who have to suffer."

The doctor came very quickly. Grandma even wanted to get up to welcome him and the doctor quickly steadied her. After a careful examination, the doctor prescribed her medicine and told her to take the medicine for three days for the time being. If she did not get better, he would consider giving her an intravenous drip.

Xu Tangcheng went to buy the medicine according to the prescription, then wrote the doctor's dosage instructions on the packaging. Grandma was illiterate. How many times and how many pills—all these had to be indicated using vertical lines and circles. Three times a day was three vertical lines; two pills each time was two circles. If more details were required, for example if it must be taken after meals, then he would also draw the shape of a bowl. This was their habit all these years.

When everything was prepared and after he'd repeated the instructions to Grandma another two times, Xu Tangcheng finally helped Grandma to her room to lie down. After Grandma was settled down, he called Wan Zhi to tell her that he was really sorry but he could not keep their appointment for the day after tomorrow. Wan Zhi found out that it was because his family member was ill and immediately said that it was okay.

"How about this, since the tickets are with you, can you find someone else to go with you? When there's a chance later, I will make it up to you."

"It's okay, it's okay. You don't have to worry about this, I'll handle it. Just rest assured and stay at home to take care of your family."

Xu Tangcheng truly felt very apologetic for breaking an appointment at the last minute, especially when it was even something that would make a girl embarrassed. After hanging up, he was still worried that his no-show would make Wan Zhi feel awkward when she was with that class couple, so he sent a message to the guy in that couple and briefly explained that something had really come up suddenly and that he was sorry.

On the morning of the third day, Grandma's illness finally took a turn for the better. Xu Tangcheng woke up early and first called his uncle to ask about Grandma's condition. After he was reassured, he drove to buy wontons from a particular shop.

Probably because she was not feeling well, Grandma hadn't had much of an appetite recently. The wontons were from a place Grandma frequented back when she stayed at her old home. They were delicious and were soft, a comfort food.

While waiting at the wonton stall, he saw that a new pan-fried bun shop had opened nearby. Xu Tangcheng saw that their business was brisk so he left word with the wonton stall's boss, telling him to wait a while before preparing his order, and went over to line up to buy a portion of pan-fried buns.

While waiting in line, a call came in. Xu Tangcheng looked at the screen and only then realised that he had forgotten to ask Yi Zhe how he was doing in Shanghai.

"Not fun," on the other end, Yi Zhe said firmly. "I don't know why but my dad keeps bringing me and Yi Xun to have meals and socialise with his business partner. For the past two days, I've basically been either eating or accompanying them around."

Xu Tangcheng guessed that it was probably because Grandma's illness was finally going away that when he heard the teenager's grumbling, his heart actually relaxed quite a bit.

"And that boss has a daughter. Yesterday, when we were eating, she said she wanted to go shopping. My dad immediately told me to go with her. I said at once that I don't want to go but in the end, my dad…"

Yi Zhe stopped there. Xu Tangcheng asked, "Your dad scolded you?"

"No." Yi Zhe's voice became even lower. "But he gave me a look."

To be honest, Xu Tangcheng didn't consider himself to really understand Yi Zhe's father. He remembered that back then, Yi Zhe's father sometimes disappeared for a month or two but every time he came back, Xu Tangcheng had known. Because those two days were the time when Xiang Xiyi's verbal abuse was at its strongest.

Even though he didn't understand him, Xu Tangcheng could roughly imagine what kind of situation it had been when Yi Zhe directly refused something that was obviously to win favour with the other party in a meal where business interest was involved.

"Don't think too much. I'm guessing that your father might be the weaker party in this business partnership so he's using some less official ways to get closer to the other party as appropriate. How do I say this," Xu Tangcheng tilted his head and pondered, then picked a more moderate way of wording it. "This kind of thing is rather common."

There was a momentary silence in the call. Then, Yi Zhe told him very simply, "I don't like it."

"Mm, I know."

How could someone who held his head high even after being punished unfairly for a fight be used to this kind of situation?

"But I ended up agreeing," Yi Zhe said. "Yesterday, I followed her to shop for a day, waited for her to try on clothes, helped her carry her bags. So annoying."

His Shanghai trip wasn't as he had imagined it to be. He was completely unable to have a proper chat with his father while his brother avoided anything he could avoid and pushed to Yi Zhe anything he could push. He knew that for some things, if he didn't go, Yi Xun would have to go. Due to all these various reasons, he conceded in the end.

Xu Tangcheng was naturally aware of how awkwardly Yi Zhe handled such matters. Hence, he could hear all the unhappiness Yi Zhe was bearing in his chest and the dislike coming from the very bottom of his heart.

He could hear, so naturally his heart ached.

"If you don't like it, then come back."

It was finally his turn in the line for the pan-fried buns. The boss asked him which flavour he wanted so he moved the phone away and said, "Prawn and beef, one portion each."

"Hmm?"

Yi Zhe couldn't hear clearly and thought Xu Tangcheng was saying something to him.

"Nothing. I'm buying pan-fried buns. I was lining up, it was my turn just now." After saying that, Xu Tangcheng tried to make Yi Zhe's mood better. "Speaking of that, a new pan-fried bun place opened up near our home. Do you know? It's on Guangming Road. It looks pretty good."

Hearing that, Yi Zhe's focus wasn't on the newly-opened pan-fried bun shop. He was stunned for the moment. "Home? Aren't you going to Happy Valley today?"

"I can't make it. My grandma is not feeling well so I broke the appointment at the last minute."

The pan-fried buns hanging from his hand, Xu Tangcheng walked back and picked up the wontons from the wonton stall, then went back to his car. Throughout the whole process, the call was not disconnected.

"Mm, she's a lot better today. I'm buying some food that she likes."

"Then, your schoolmate…" Yi Zhe tried to find out.

"I had no choice but to explain to her and say sorry."

At that point, Xu Tangcheng suddenly stopped. He leaned against the seat and watched the people coming and going, buying groceries at the supermarket. Thinking of the matter of Wan Zhi and Happy Valley, he suddenly sighed.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I just feel that I didn't handle this matter well." He thought for a while, then asked, "Yi Zhe, have you ever liked someone?"

This question nearly resulted in Yi Zhe's heartbeat coming to a stop on the other end of the call. But when he opened his mouth weakly, before he could say anything, Xu Tangcheng was already speaking on his own again in the call.

"I think that I'm very strange. At this age, I still haven't been in a relationship and I've never even had that urge where I liked a girl a lot and wanted to be in a relationship with her. I suspect that I might be more of the type where it takes being familiar with the person to have feelings for her. But I'm afraid that after I start being close with a girl, I may one day suddenly realise that my feelings for her aren't that kind of love and it will be very unfair to her." He let out a bitter laugh. "So, I suddenly don't know what I should do."

After saying that, he waited a long while but Yi Zhe did not give him any response.

"Yi Zhe?"

He called out curiously.

"Mm," Yi Zhe said very quickly. "I'm here."

"What do you think, what on earth does it feel like to like someone? When you see this person, will you really have feelings that are different from when you're with other people?"

The electrical waves carried the thoughts circling endlessly in his heart. Hearing the word "like" being spoken, even the strongest and most unyielding teenager would turn sensitive.

"I don't know either."

He said in a low voice.

The Shi Li Yang Chang of the past, the Shanghai Bund of today; the people who had come and gone were too many to be counted.

Generations after generations of people turned into history; who among them had never told a lie?

T/N:

Shi Li Yang Chang 十里洋场 - literally "Ten Miles of Foreign Sights" - is the old name for the street that encompasses Shanghai Bund today. Shanghai was one of the earliest ports open to European trade in the 19th century after the First Opium War. The location of Shanghai Bund is within the Shanghai International Settlement, an enclave for foreigners that existed at that time, hence the term "foreign sights."

Internal heat is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine. Having too much or too little of it results in different ailments.