Chapter 28: “Pineapple Ice” Part 2

Chi Buyu had gone through her entire puberty in these seasons—the sudden cicada chirps and downpours on the way home, the fresh pimples popping up, the perfect weather for Pineapple Ice today, the grades going up or down after midterms, agonizing over whether to go north or south for college, that great Cantonese song on the radio station whose name she didn’t know, feeling like her mom didn’t love her as much after hitting menopause and then hiding under the covers to cry her heart out in secret, suddenly going nearsighted while staring at the blackboard and worrying her once-dewy eyes would sink in, the new sapphic romance movie that was so cloying and humid, her aunt with the serious illness coming back to Chengdu only to pass away amid her unstoppable tears…

No matter what happened, Mine was always by her side, always responding—

【I saw that rain too】【Cut back on sugar, or even if you get a few pimples it doesn’t matter】【Eating pineapple is like swallowing a thousand needles】【You’ll improve next time】【You really don’t like Chengdu?】【Twins’ “Die Hard”】【Don’t cry under the covers, that’s even worse for your eyes】【Nearsightedness isn’t that scary. Glasses won’t affect your normal life, and Ruby Lin is -600 nearsighted but tons of people still think Princess Ziwei’s eyes are gorgeous】【…Too long, not interested. Can I skip it?】【Coco share link. It says inside that only being forgotten is true death…】

Sometimes she even thought that Mine was like an electronic cloud forever facing just her alone.

As long as she opened that chat window hiding all her teenage confusion and bewilderment, Mine might not always reply right away, but she would surely show up with fresh, juicy Pineapple Ice.

They said more and more to each other, no longer limited to just plant talk but branching into all sorts of other things. To her, this already counted as intimately close.

Later, she even assumed that both sides tacitly understood they were just a little bit away.

Until much, much later—after who knows how many springs, summers, autumns, and winters—when everyone’s online statuses stopped lighting up and graying out, when she couldn’t even remember if it was 2016 or 2017, and QQ rolled out the Friend Spark Feature—

Where two friends messaging back and forth would spark, becoming each other’s most frequent chat buddy, upgrading from a little friendship boat all the way to a giant ship.

She only remembered that by then, Mine had completely vanished.

–

Chi Buyu pulled out her old, screen-cracked iPhone again.

She didn’t turn it on, just pursed her lips tight, staring at the pitch-black screen in a daze.

Ran Yan spotted her during a break in filming, walked over holding a cup of Pineapple Ice, and dangled it in front of her.

“What’s up with you?”

Chi Buyu’s eyes followed the Pineapple Ice, but her heart still felt heavy, unable to muster any energy.

Not until Ran Yan pressed the Pineapple Ice to her forehead. The chill jolted her awake, and she snapped her head up like emerging from a dream, dazedly taking the cup.

She dug in a big spoonful, only to grimace immediately from the brain freeze.

Breathing out cold air through clenched teeth, she mumbled, “So cold!”

Ran Yan patted her chilled forehead. “How else are you gonna snap out of it without a little ice?”

Her gaze flicked to the old phone clutched in Chi Buyu’s hand. She tsked disapprovingly. “Didn’t I tell you last time to get rid of it? Why are you still holding onto it? Don’t tell me no one would take it.”

“No.”

Chi Buyu finally shook off the freeze, her mind still unsettled as she scooped another spoonful of Pineapple Ice and sipped it down.

“Last time I was drunk at night, right? Then Cui… Cui Muhuo twisted her waist, so I forgot all about it.”

That was the truth. Seeing the old phone did make her zone out a bit, but then Cui Qijin got hurt, and she truly forgot this relic existed.

“So why are you holding it now like you can’t bear to let go?” Ran Yan said with clear distaste. “If it were me, I’d say chuck a busted phone like that straight in the trash.”

“Throwing it away randomly is bad for the environment.”

“Huh?”

Ran Yan narrowed her eyes at her.

Chi Buyu puffed out her cheeks, her teeth crunching through a block of pineapple. The sour-sweet fragrance flooded her mouth instantly. She chewed it over and over, the juice gradually soaking into her throat. She decided not to voice her baseless suspicions lightly. After all, Ran Yan didn’t have a great impression of Mine to begin with. Linking her to Cui Qijin so easily could spark misunderstandings and trouble.

Even though she couldn’t help suspecting—

After all, compared to hanging out with people, Mine preferred chatting about plants, was the same age as her, lived in Chengdu, called her dumb, always cleaned up her messes, and even after Mine disappeared, Cui Qijin started showing up around her more often for a while.

The coincidences were there, sure, but on closer thought, coincidences could explain them. During the winter break of her final Senior High School Year 3 semester, she broke her leg. When school started back up, Cui Qijin only showed reasonable concern under the homeroom teacher’s orders. It was her who kept veering into wild thoughts. And there were plenty of real differences between the two. She couldn’t jump to unfounded conclusions just because of this—especially since every time later, it had been proven wrong anyway.

As for what the class president mentioned last time—the donation to the sanitary pad first-aid kit in the girls’ bathroom.

Maybe Cui Qijin had just dealt with that situation herself once, or for some other reason. In any case, it absolutely couldn’t be because… she’d argued with Mine over exactly that back in high school.

Chi Buyu’s head spun a little at the thought. Maybe from too much ice.

She sighed, her wooden spoon pulverizing the Pineapple Ice—and all her jumbled thoughts from the past few days along with it.

She took a sip, feeling relieved.

No matter what, Mine was ancient history, a relic from the 3G era that had faded away. No need for it to ruin her Pineapple Ice.

Another sip, and she frowned again.

But Cui Qijin—Cui Qijin, the one she couldn’t ignore—if, and it was just a one-in-ten-thousand chance, if…

What if Cui Qijin really was Mine? What then? Be sad? Angry? Confront her?

Another sip, and her mind blanked, like a jammed cassette tape clicking and hissing, her brain feeling melted by Pineapple Ice.

Until Ran Yan waved a hand in front of her face again.

“What’s with you? You’ve been all spaced out since splitting up with Cui Qijin after dinner last time.”

“Huh?”

Chi Buyu snapped back, staring blankly at Ran Yan. Ran Yan leaned in, a bit worried, and felt her forehead. “You sure you’re not sick?”

Chi Buyu shook her fuzzy head. “Nope.”

The set buzzed with people coming and going. Ran Yan only had about ten minutes for a break, and Chi Buyu had just stopped by for fruit on her way to check on her. She couldn’t hold up Ran Yan’s work.

Ran Yan still looked skeptical.

The Pineapple Ice was nearly gone. Chi Buyu checked the time, grabbed her bag in a rush, shoved all her scattered thoughts to the bottom, and tossed out:

“I’m off to find Cui Muhuo!”

–

At Ran Yan’s filming site, Chi Buyu realized it was already night. Neon lights flickered, rush hour jammed the streets with crowds and cars. She walked among them, everyone seeming so tiny, like ants hustling to relocate in the rain.

She figured she was one of those ants too.

The metaphor lightened her mood. She suddenly fished a toffee from her pocket. It must’ve been from their last trip to that Southeast Asian place. After Cui Qijin finished that somewhat impatient phone call and came back—having already paid—she’d casually tossed two toffees her way without even lifting an eyebrow, saying flatly:

The boss gave ’em. I don’t eat them. All yours.

Chi Buyu could only think absurdly now that maybe she was the only ant in this crowded, hectic journey who could enjoy two toffees at once.

She unwrapped the bag and popped both toffees in her mouth, sucking on them without chewing soft yet, dodging through the crowd while clutching her phone to send Cui Qijin a WeChat message:

【On my way~】

Cui Qijin replied as usual with just a single “Mm.” Nothing more.

But Chi Buyu suddenly felt lighter.

Maybe it was the inexplicable magic of sweets. She stopped dwelling on that unsolvable, weird, baseless question. Her mind filled instead with Cui Qijin—Cui Qijin waiting for her at home, Cui Qijin innocently misunderstood by her poor thing, Cui Qijin’s waist probably almost healed so she should have Mom stew some tonic soup for her.

Or did eating it fix it, so maybe Dad should stir-fry some kidney? But was stir-fried kidney too heavy right after recovery?

Boom—

A massive crash erupted behind her. Car headlights streaked wildly into her view, followed by panicked screams from the crowd, like icy, dead gasoline creeping up her neck.

Thick smoke drifted across Chi Buyu’s eyes. She chewed her cloyingly sweet toffee and turned unguardedly to look—

Past a few staggering figures, she saw bright red blood spreading across the oil-black asphalt, the scene horrific. Stunned, her canvas shoes rooted in place as a huge wind whipped her hair up. She instinctively stepped back and heard a faint sound. Looking down, she found she’d stepped on a bulging gray fanny pack oozing blood…

She didn’t know that from this day on, she would never taste the sweetness of toffee again.

–

【On my way~】

Cui Qijin looked at the WeChat message.

Then past the swaying Colorful Leaf Taro on the balcony, at the sky that looked sunk into a dead, silent sea.

Nearly two weeks had passed.