Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 128 - 125: Strangled in the Cradle

"You really have the heart to not treat your little brother to a meal now that he’s in Guangdong? Are you sure you want to be so ruthless?" Jiao Zhifei asked Yan Yan.

"Based on the time you just mentioned in your talk, your heartbreak is already almost a month past, and the worst, the saddest part should also be over. I asked myself, and there wasn’t a voice in my heart telling me that I absolutely had to change my flight ticket and then go to Shenzhen to treat you to a rice meal." Yan Yan still declined.

Knowing Jiao Zhifei as he did, Yan Yan knew that once Jiao Zhifei made a decision, regardless of what others thought, he would always stick to his own convictions.

"Then do you have any plans to care about your little brother’s future?" Jiao Zhifei asked Yan Yan.

"No." Yan Yan didn’t want to fall into that trap.

"So, can I care about your future?" Jiao Zhifei always had to say what he wanted to say.

"Whatever." Yan Yan said while answering a phone call and exiting the airport.

"You’re going to Italy in a few months, right?" Jiao Zhifei began asking more specific questions.

"Mm." The last time Yan Yan had seen Jiao Zhifei in Wenzhou, she had mentioned her plans to further her education.

"Then when I come to find you, you have to remember to cover food, lodging, and shopping." Jiao Zhifei put forward a new request.

"Ah? You mean you’re coming to Italy to find me?" Yan Yan wasn’t sure if Jiao’s bizarre words meant what she thought they did.

"Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Right now, I’ve applied to be in charge of the Conch initiative, and after that, I’ll probably have to spend some time in the United Kingdom." Jiao Zhifei revealed his new ideas for the future.

"To heal your heart?" Yan Yan didn’t know what the Conch initiative that Jiao Zhifei was talking about was.

"To do charity work." Jiao Zhifei clarified.

"What the heck? Charity? The more you talk, the more complicated it gets. Are you the type who’d rather die than stop meddling in things? Wait, let me see if there’s a flight tomorrow that I can change to." Yan Yan was completely confused about what Jiao Zhifei was up to this time.

Jiao Zhifei had been self-tormenting in matters of the heart for more than a day or two.

If Jiao Zhifei wanted Yan Yan to come over because of the situation with Zhou Yuan, Yan Yan felt somewhat resistant.

After all, if she really went, she would inevitably try to change Jiao Zhifei’s approach while playing her "big sister" role.

But when it comes to matters of the heart, unless Jiao Zhifei himself figured it out, no matter what others said, it was pointless.

However, if Jiao Zhifei was planning to mess around in his newly-started job as well, then Yan Yan felt it was absolutely necessary to go and check on him.

Jiao Zhifei was definitely the type of person who couldn’t stop once he started causing trouble.

So, the only way was to nip it in the bud before his meddling began.

...

Yan Yan still went to Shenzhen.

"Are you satisfied now? By the time I get back to Melbourne, I’m guessing I’ll be frantic." Yan Yan felt a bit helpless when she met Jiao Zhifei.

Jiao Zhifei was usually a congenial but somewhat cold person.

He rarely made demands on others.

Yan Yan didn’t know why Jiao Zhifei insisted on her going to Shenzhen.

First, it was to send him off as he started his first job, and now it was to see him after his heartbreak.

"Do you feel some dissatisfaction with coming to see me?" Jiao Zhifei asked seriously.

"I’m extremely dissatisfied with acknowledging you as my little brother." Yan Yan occasionally indeed had such thoughts due to Jiao Zhifei’s behavior.

Later, Yan Yan had asked Jiao Zhifei why he insisted on calling her "sister," and his answer had once deeply frustrated Yan Yan.

Jiao Zhifei said it was just a verbal habit of his, such as often calling his own mother "sister."

The affinity between people is sometimes really hard to describe with words, especially the fate between normal people and oddballs, which goes beyond what words can express.

"You’ve picked up such a big bargain with a little brother like me, and you’re still not satisfied? Aren’t you being a little too greedy?" Jiao Zhifei asked with an innocent face.

From his demeanor at the time, one couldn’t really tell that he was someone who had recently been heartbroken.

He wasn’t someone who wore his emotions on his face.

"Stop it! Tell me what’s gotten into you that made you decide to do charity? You really liked vanke, didn’t you? Zhou Yuan is not from Vanke, so surely you’re not leaving Shenzhen just to heal your heart." Yan Yan said, half-serious, half-probing.

"When did I ever say I was leaving Vanke?" Jiao Zhifei questioned Yan Yan.

"Didn’t you say something about doing charity and some Conch initiative?" Yan Yan replied.

"The Conch initiative has been part of Vanke since 2005, and they started going to the UK in 2006.

It’s about addressing the housing problem for the urban low-income population.

It’s more like an academic research project, to see how developed countries solve the housing problem for low-income groups.

Then to draw some lessons and see how domestic housing issues can be resolved." Jiao Zhifei had said he applied to lead the Conch initiative earlier, but never said he was leaving Vanke.

"Wow, can’t you make things clear up front?" Yan Yan felt like she had been deceived.

"What did I not make clear?" Jiao Zhifei asked righteously, suggesting if there was any confusion, it was all on Yan Yan’s part.

"I still don’t understand, what does the housing project have to do with Vanke? Isn’t that supposed to be a policy-level thing?

With Vanke’s houses being so expensive, how can you relate it to affordable housing?" Yan Yan was still in a state of confusion. freёweɓnovel.com

"Who told you Vanke’s houses are all sold at high prices?

Businesses also have social responsibilities. And this project was done in conjunction with the Ministry of Construction.

It does have a somewhat semi-official nature." Jiao Zhifei continued introducing the Conch initiative.

"So what? Are you going to the UK because of social responsibility?" Yan Yan wanted to know Jiao Zhifei’s real thoughts.

"Of course not, I’m absolutely doing it to freeload off you in Europe." Jiao Zhifei’s words were both mockingly serious and seriously mocking.

"If it’s just for freeloading, you could easily come to see me during the holidays." Yan Yan looked at Jiao Zhifei with a probing gaze, clearly asking if it was because of Zhou Yuan that he was planning to leave Shenzhen.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Could it be that in the two months we haven’t seen each other, your little brother has become even more handsome?" Jiao Zhifei indicated he couldn’t grasp the true meaning behind Yan Yan’s gaze.

"I just want to ask you one thing, are you planning to keep changing jobs?" Yan Yan asked a seriously and earnest question.

"How could that be? Why would you think that?" Jiao Zhifei found Yan Yan’s question strange.