Love Healing Manual

Chapter 29 Applying Face Masks

night.

Fridays and Saturdays are usually the busiest days for "pork cutlet shops," often requiring 1-3% more ingredients than usual, and they sell out completely after dinner.

Business was exceptionally good this Saturday. Around 7 p.m., the last few ingredients were sold out, and the shop was closed.

I left work early.

After the shop assistant Lingzi left, Lin Yuning finished cleaning the shop, rubbing her aching arms and straightening her somewhat rusty back as she went upstairs. After closing the door to the second floor, she lay down on the sofa with a sense of relief, staring blankly at the ceiling, enjoying a moment of tranquility.

All day long, the constant stream of diners and the noise inside the restaurant filled my ears, leaving me no time to rest. My eardrums were buzzing and my brain was constantly on edge.

The conversations with customers have to be repeated countless times, the action of packaging "fried pork cutlet rice" has to be repeated countless times, and the daily cleaning and preparation of ingredients have to be repeated countless times.

One day, one month, one year.

however.

this is life.

Thankfully... I'm finally on vacation tomorrow!
The thought filled Lin Yuning with joy, and even the soreness in her arms subsided.

Every Sunday, "Lin's Fried Pork Chop Shop" closes for one day and reopens on Monday. Firstly, this makes it convenient for the shop assistant, Lingzi, to take care of household chores, as she also has her own family. Secondly, she herself needs to rest; otherwise, working day and night and living a monotonous life will not alleviate her mental fatigue.

Ideally, restaurants should operate 365 days a year without closing, so that customers won't be disappointed.

Lin Yuning understands this: taking a vacation will inevitably mean losing a lot of business, but she is willing to make this choice.

Humans are flesh and blood, not machines, much less nuclear-powered donkeys. Besides, she had already earned enough to cover Lin Ze's tuition and her own retirement. But the future is unpredictable; perhaps one day inflation will cause her savings to lose their original value, and she didn't want to end up homeless.

However, similar incidents have occurred in Tokyo before.

So her current efforts are for the future.

Lying on the sofa, Lin Yuning felt very at ease. The night outside the window was already quite hazy, and the living room lights were off. In the darkness, she twirled a strand of hair on her shoulder with her fingers, making a circle... and then another circle.

pat-

The chandelier switch was pressed, and the entire living room suddenly became bright. Lin Ze stood at the bedroom door, looking at Lin Yuning on the sofa with some surprise.

"I heard the door close just now, and I thought I misheard. Is the shop closed, Auntie?"

"Yeah," she said lazily and casually, "I'm all done cleaning up. I was almost exhausted. It's so comfortable lying down."

"A day off tomorrow?"

Lin Yuning clapped her hands, winked at Lin Ze, and the smile on her lips was so clear.

"Of course, I've already made plans to go shopping and have afternoon tea with your Aunt Meiyue, take some nice photos, and then get a skincare treatment together."

Aunt Meiyue's full name is Binjiang Meiyue. She works as a white-collar worker in an advertising company. She is lively and kind and is often jokingly referred to by Lin Yuning as a "particularly charming young woman." This description is indeed true. She has a beauty mark under her eye and a plump figure. Her common hairstyle is a bun or a hairpin.

She has a son and a daughter, and her husband is a civil servant.

However, what impressed Lin Ze most about Aunt Meiyue was not her gentle personality, but an incident on the second floor of "Lin's Fried Pork Chop Shop," which is now the balcony of this living room.

On one occasion, Aunt Mizuki, Aunt Torii, Aunt Honoka, and Lin Yuning were all drinking together on the balcony.

Aunt Meiyue got very drunk. First, she cried uncontrollably, telling everyone that her husband might be having an affair. Then, she suddenly went crazy and started waving her arms and legs on the balcony. After that, she lay down on the table and slept for a while. When she woke up, she suggested that the four of them play Truth or Dare. Whoever did the dare would have to go downstairs to take out the trash without wearing a bra.

Lin Ze was to be the referee and keep time for the four people. The person with the longest time had to drink half a cup of sake.

Of course, these suggestions were slapped away by Lin Yuning and were not adopted.

The key point is that when they woke up the next day, sprawled out in bed, they had no memory of what happened the night before, and Aunt Meiyue had returned to her gentle and charming self.

However, from then on, Lin Ze's positive impression of her was shattered—when he was a child, Lin Ze liked Aunt Meiyue the most because he thought she was much gentler than Lin Yuning.

"By the way, is there anything you need me to buy for you? I can buy it for you when we go shopping tomorrow."

suddenly.

Lin Yuning's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"There's nothing I need to buy."

"I'll pick out a few clothes for you when I have some free time; it's been a long time since I bought you anything."

"No need, I have clothes to wear."

"What..." Lin Yuning scolded, "Boys should also pay attention to their clothes. You wear the same T-shirts and trousers every day. Don't you get tired of it? It's not like we're so poor that we can't afford to buy you clothes."

"I think as long as I'm comfortable, that's fine." He shrugged.

“It’s the same outfit again,” Lin Yuning waved her hand. “I’ll decide. I’ll buy you a few more outfits tomorrow. It’s almost autumn, so it’s time to change things up.”

"alright."

Seeing Lin Ze's nonchalant attitude, Lin Yuning really wanted to slap him twice. He had to be the one being asked to buy him clothes.

Other people's children always ask for things themselves, saying they need this or that, and then the parents buy them according to their needs.

But here, things have completely reversed.

Changing the same few outfits all the time is such a waste of that face.

She stared at Lin Ze.

Lin Ze thought their conversation was quite normal, but then he suddenly felt his aunt's unfriendly gaze.

"Why are you staring at me like that..." he asked, puzzled.

"Come here." Lin Yuning beckoned to him with her finger, narrowed her eyes, and the smile on her lips looked sinister.

"You can speak directly if you have something to say, I can hear you."

"I asked you to come over!"

She slammed her hand on the sofa next to her, her eyebrows instantly bristling, looking as fierce as a lioness.

Lin Ze was so frightened that he took a step back.

He was very familiar with Lin Yuning's appearance; once she showed a similar expression, it meant he was bound to suffer some physical pain.

But what good would it do to go?

There's no escaping it; once Lin Yuning decides to teach him a lesson, a beating is inevitable.

The key point is that, often in these situations, he has no idea what he did wrong.

Women's hearts are truly hard to fathom...

With this thought in mind, Lin Ze sighed inwardly and obediently walked over and sat down next to her.

next second.

Two fingers had already gripped his ear firmly.

"From now on, when I say I'm going to buy you something, you're not allowed to object. It's really annoying, you know?"

"understood……"

"Get lost, you brat!"

Since the shop closes early, there's no need to rush for dinner.

After asking Lin Ze and learning that he wasn't hungry, Lin Yuning felt relieved and went to the balcony to get her bathrobe to take a shower. She was going shopping the next day and naturally wanted to look her best. Spending the whole day in an greasy shop was actually quite damaging to her skin. Nighttime skincare was more important to her than eating.

There is plenty of time.

So she stayed in the bathroom for more than forty minutes before she came out satisfied, humming a tune as she dried her wet hair and walked into the bedroom.

During this time, Lin Ze was tired from studying, so he sat on the sofa, holding the remote control to watch the evening news, while thinking about what to do at his senior's rented apartment the next day.

Before you know it, time slips away amidst the trivialities of life.

It was past eight o'clock at night.

It was still in the living room, the coffee table was brightly lit, and the screen on the phone stand was playing the period drama that Lin Yuning liked to watch, but her mind was not on the drama.

The oval-shaped makeup mirror reflected the left side of her face.

Lin Yuning rubbed the corner of her eye with her fingers, her movements particularly serious. In a clear view where she could count each eyelash, she saw faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and felt a little melancholy.

“Excessive work will accelerate aging…” Lin Yuning complained, then reached out and nudged Lin Ze: “You medical students must have learned this, right?”

"What?" Lin Ze only heard half of the sentence.

"Working hard every day will make you age faster and your skin condition worse, right?"

"Of course. The skin is the largest organ in the human body and is constantly exposed to external stimuli. Its aging process is more severe and obvious than that of the internal organs."

"No wonder my face looks so bad these past two years..." Lin Yuning muttered, "Is aging irreversible?"

"Does this kind of common sense really need a medical student to answer?" Lin Ze was speechless.

"No, what I mean is, is it possible to achieve reverse aging someday in the future, such as skin returning to the age of eighteen and the body rejuvenating, when medical technology advances to that level?"

"Given the current state of medical technology, it is unlikely to be achieved."

"But aren't there many celebrities who promote reverse aging? They seem to get younger as they get older," Lin Yuning asked knowingly.

"You know it's just publicity... and it seems there are more celebrities who look older, right? No matter how dashing or beautiful they were when they were young, they will still become ugly when they grow old, and no one is an exception."

"Sigh," she sighed, "If there really were a medical technology that could reverse aging, I would be willing to spend millions."

Lin Ze remained noncommittal, only glancing at her in her delusions.

"Compared to this, retiring a few years earlier is probably a more realistic consideration. By the time you graduate with your doctorate and start a family, and I've saved enough money, we can travel all over the world and enjoy a few years of carefree life instead of being so busy every day."

“Then you’ll have to wait a long time,” Lin Ze counted on his fingers, from graduating from university to obtaining a doctoral degree: “at least five or six years.”

"Never mind... I'll go put on a face mask."

……

Sometimes, Lin Ze really had no way to deal with his aunt because she was in an absolutely dominant position and often acted on a whim.

This is not.

Originally, while she was wearing a face mask, Lin Ze could comfortably enjoy a moment of peace and quiet. His favorite program, "Planet Earth," had just started airing. However, Lin Yuning insisted that he wear a face mask as well.

Lin Ze had no trust in this thing whatsoever.

It's hard to say whether face masks are beneficial to the skin. Even if they are, they certainly won't be as good as advertised. Plus, they're sticky... Who knows if they contain silk extract, seaweed extract, or volcanic ash extract listed on the ingredient list?

He refused in every way.

But the more he resisted, the more Lin Yuning's perverse sense of humor was aroused. The two argued on the sofa for a long time. She coaxed and pleaded with him, almost to the point of tying up Lin Ze's hands to force him to give in.

During this time, Lin Ze felt that he could only avoid trouble and wanted to go back to his bedroom, but she forcibly dragged him back.

Frankly speaking, Lin Yuning doesn't act like an elder in this respect. It's not an exaggeration to say that the relationship between the two in this small family is more like that of siblings.

After struggling in the end, Lin Ze could only lie on the sofa in despair, letting Lin Yuning playfully cover his face with a sticky face mask.

The wet, slippery feeling immediately sent a chill down Lin Ze's spine.

A moment of silence.

The two were leaning against the sofa, their faces covered with white face masks. The vast and boundless mountains on the television screen were reflected in Lin Ze's eyes, which peeked out from between the screens, but his eyes were full of resentment.

"Enjoying this~" Lin Yuning sighed softly.

"How long do I have to wait before I can take this face mask off?"

Didn't you just put it on?

"Ok."

“Oh, right,” Lin Yuning suddenly remembered something: “Your Aunt Meiyue asked me last time if you were busy at school? Since you have time for part-time work, your studies shouldn’t be that busy, right?”

"Things were fine before the internship, but I'm planning to quit my part-time job recently because I'll be taking on more and more academic commitments in the future."

"Then I'll refuse for you."

"Refuse what?"

“Oh, is that so?” Lin Yuning explained, “Your Aunt Meiyue’s daughter is about to start middle school, and she’s planning to hire a tutor. You often go out to work part-time, right? Tutoring should be easier and more cost-effective than working part-time… and the tutor you hire probably doesn’t have as much academic credentials as you, right?”

There is no doubt about this.

The University of Tokyo is among the top-tier universities in Japan.

"Aunt Meiyue's daughter is already in middle school?"

"What do you think."

"So her son is in high school, right?"

"No, her son is only in kindergarten."

"I understand. I remembered it wrong. I thought they were siblings."

Actually, they are siblings.

Lin Ze's impression of Aunt Meiyue's two children was very vague. He hadn't seen them much, only occasionally hearing Lin Yuning and the others mention them at gatherings.

They usually say things like, "Two children are stressful and difficult to raise," "The older sister is more mischievous than the younger brother," or "She always bullies the younger brother at home."

“I remember,” Lin Ze suddenly recalled a few fragments of something and said to Lin Yuning with a smile, “When we first came to Tokyo, my aunt seemed to have said something to me, like, ‘If only I were a girl.’”

Hear the words.

Lin Yuning's hand, which was pulling at the edge of the face mask, suddenly stopped.

She remained silent for a long time.

"Have it?"

"There should be, but I don't remember clearly. It was a long time ago."

“I forgot… but now I definitely think boys are better. They can provide a sense of security and help carry things. With you at home, Auntie isn’t afraid of any perverts loitering at the shop entrance at night. You’ll scare them all away just by standing there.”

Lin Ze smiled without saying a word amidst her words of praise.

Speaking of which, things before coming to Tokyo are really far away, and he can never remember the details. In recent years, all he has been concerned about is whether he can grasp the future of Glory. Time flies by in the blink of an eye... and he has grown up again.

(End of this chapter)