Chapter 24 Part 1

A plate of bitter melon stewed duck was set down.

Yang Wanxi frowned as she lowered her head, pinching away a small cluster of leaf fragments stuck near the zipper of her school uniform.

A hand reached out to pat her wrist, and she looked up to see Bai Yuqiao gazing at her with clear distress.

【You eat.】 She pointed back at herself. 【I won’t.】

Yang Wanxi pretended not to see and continued pushing the bitter melon stewed duck toward the opposite side. She even said, “I know you don’t eat bitter melon, but this clears internal heat.”

Bai Yuqiao let out an obvious sigh. She picked up her chopsticks, furrowed her brows, and clamped a piece of bitter melon back into her own bowl.

【Just one piece.】 Her raised index finger probably conveyed that meaning.

Yang Wanxi suddenly burst out laughing. “Sis, you’re even pickier than Bai Doudou.”

Bai Yuqiao smiled faintly too. She lowered her head and nibbled at the bitter melon bite by reluctant bite.

The high school cafeteria was extremely lively at lunchtime. While the two focused on picking at their food without talking, an excited conversation drifted over from the next table.

“No, no! Last year it definitely started on the 23rd! 23, 24, 25—all three days! I even got chased and beaten by a bunch of elementary kids back then!”

“It was Ironstone Square, right?”

“Ironstone Square, Jiuguang Department Store… and that little plaza in front of Yichun. Everywhere.”

“Oh, so where are we going tonight?”

At this point, Yang Wanxi set down her chopsticks.

“By the way, I don’t know if Bai Doudou told you, but she, Lu Tongtong, and I are also planning to head to Ironstone Square tonight.”

Bai Yuqiao’s ladle paused in her soup for a second before she nodded, indicating she knew about it.

Yang Wanxi had originally planned to ask if Bai Yuqiao could come along, but seeing the cool expression across from her, it seemed she wasn’t interested in their activity…

Was she really too immature, hanging out with Bai Doudou and that bunch of junior high kids? Yang Wanxi fell into deep self-reflection.

Around 12:40, the two finished eating and walked out of the cafeteria side by side.

They chatted while eating and overate.

Yang Wanxi felt her stomach was a bit full. She tugged at Bai Yuqiao’s hand. “I’m going to walk it off on the sports field. You head back first.”

Bai Yuqiao nodded.

So Yang Wanxi turned around and was just about to step toward the sports field when she felt someone pull her right wrist again.

She turned back in confusion to see Bai Yuqiao gesturing: 【What time?】

Yang Wanxi went, “Hm?” She pulled out her phone to check. “It’s 12:40 now—”

Bai Yuqiao shook her head and picked up her phone to type out a message for Yang Wanxi: 【What time are you all going tonight?】

“Tonight.” Yang Wanxi let her arm drop. “Earliest I can leave here is six to pick her up. Probably 6:20 by the time I get to them?”

Seeing no reaction from Bai Yuqiao after hearing this, Yang Wanxi asked, “What? Can you come too?”

Bai Yuqiao smiled and shook her head, raising her hand in a “goodbye” gesture.

“…”

Yang Wanxi watched Bai Yuqiao’s back recede into the distance.

Puzzled.

Bai Yuqiao returned to the teaching building alone but didn’t go straight to the classroom. Instead, she detoured to the connecting corridor between the buildings, crossed her arms, and leaned on the railing.

She gazed at the blue sky.

When the bell rang, the sky had turned a deep twilight blue.

Bai Kou and Lu Tongtong figured they had to wait for Yang Wanxi anyway and had nothing else to do, so they stayed in the classroom to help the duty students. One held the mop while the other wielded the broom, keeping them company as they cleaned.

Not long after, Pei Yue passed by the back door of their classroom again, backpack in tow.

Bai Kou had actually spotted her the previous two times too, but since they weren’t going together that night, she hadn’t called out.

This time, glancing up by chance, she saw Pei Yue still hadn’t left. Bai Kou thought for a moment, grabbed her mop, hurried out the back door in a few steps, and called from a short distance away, “Pei Yue—”

Pei Yue’s right foot was already stepping down the stairs. Hearing her voice, she pulled back, turned her head toward her.

Bai Kou quick-stepped up to Pei Yue. “I’ve seen you pass by a bunch of times now. Why haven’t you left yet?”

“Huh?” Pei Yue actually blanked for a second and touched her ear. “You’ve seen me a bunch of times?”

“Yeah.” Bai Kou pointed backward. “Right at our classroom door, back and forth, several times.”

“…” Pei Yue fell silent for a moment. “Oh, I…”

“So you had something to talk to me about, right?” Bai Kou revealed a smile.

One minute later, Pei Yue was pulled by Bai Kou into the first-year classroom.

The girl on the podium, organizing the chalk box, glanced curiously at the unfamiliar Pei Yue. Lu Tongtong, who had just set down her broom nearby, dashed down from the podium, weaving through the dense rows of desks and chairs to stop in front of them.

Bai Kou moved her own chair from the desk and patted Pei Yue’s arm. “We still have to wait a bit. Have a seat first.”

“Pei Yue, are you coming to play with us tonight?” Lu Tongtong was thrilled.

“Mm… yeah.” Pei Yue felt her face heating up. She instinctively avoided Lu Tongtong’s gaze and looked toward Bai Kou’s desk.

“Tongtong, where did the teacher say to put the mop today—” Bai Kou’s voice called from farther away.

“Over there, over there!” Lu Tongtong ran off.

In that instant, Pei Yue finally felt the air wasn’t so thin anymore.

She pressed her legs together, leaned her back against Bai Kou’s backpack, looped her white backpack in front of her, and silently glanced at the already dark sky outside the window.

She let out a slow breath.

Relieved.

Yang Wanxi was truly done with this kid Bai Kou.

She had clearly said to keep the electric scooter purchase a secret, but now not only was there Lu Tongtong, but Pei Yue had been added too.

Though she wasn’t close with Pei Yue, having one more unfamiliar person in the know wouldn’t cause her any real harm.

But as Yang Wanxi rode with Bai Kou hugging her waist from behind, excitedly chattering about how they’d beat up the elementary kids in a bit, there was only one phrase in her heart—

“Done with this.”

This irritated mood meant that after they parked the scooter, she didn’t feel like paying much attention to Bai Kou either.

Bai Kou, on the other hand, was immersed in the joy of embarking on the Christmas battle. As soon as she linked up with Lu Tongtong and Pei Yue, she rushed forward to share her “weapons” with them.

“This one clangs super loud! Lots of momentum but it won’t hurt much!” Bai Kou brandished the item in her hand. “This year, I’m definitely getting revenge!”

“Hey, Bai Kou, should we buy two more bottles of that?” Lu Tongtong raised her hand in a spraying motion.

“Oh! Yes! We must!” Bai Kou finally turned to look at Little Xi-jie, who stood there with arms crossed and a bad mood. “Yang Kuikui, you didn’t buy any Snow Spray, right?”

“Nope.” Yang Wanxi responded indifferently.

Bai Kou then took Lu Tongtong with her left hand and looped arms with Pei Yue on her right, charging menacingly toward the roadside Christmas goods stall.

Yang Wanxi trailed behind the three of them at a distance.

For a moment, she wondered.

Why had she come to keep Bai Kou company? Was she asking for trouble? Might as well go home and watch TV.

She thought it, but when Bai Kou slunk back crestfallen, shaking her arm pitifully and saying, “It’s too expensive, Yang Kuikui. Help us haggle?”

Yang Wanxi still let out a smug “hmph” and gave Bai Kou a chestnut knock on the forehead.

“Not so tough now, huh? Not one of you could manage it?”

Bai Kou pouted and nodded submissively. “Yeah, not one could.”

Yang Wanxi slung an arm around Bai Kou’s shoulders and led her back to the stall. She swept a superior glance over the three crates of goods and turned to ask, “Which ones do you want?”

Five cans of Snow Spray, two Christmas reindeer antler headbands.

Yang Wanxi haggled them all down to half price, finally settling just 5 yuan over half for the lot.

Bai Kou immediately felt a surge of admiration for her Little Xi-jie again. Like a wide-eyed kitten, she clasped her hands in front of her, blinking her eyes at Yang Wanxi’s face.

“You’re so awesome, Yang Kuikui.”

And so Yang Wanxi smiled again from the praise.

She took the brown-red reindeer antlers that Bai Doudou wanted from the plastic bag and personally fitted them onto Bai Kou, tidied her stray hairs, and tapped the tip of Bai Kou’s nose.

“Not bad. Cute.”

The Christmas plaza battle officially kicked off amid a sudden chorus of startled exclamations from the crowd.

The four were squeezed into the circling throng.

Bai Kou and Lu Tongtong threw themselves into it the most. Both wore reindeer antler headbands, hooked arms with each other, and thrust out their free hands holding “weapons” from time to time, counterattacking full-force against the colorful inflatable sticks aiming for their heads.

Yang Wanxi walked behind Bai Kou the whole time, frowning throughout. One arm crossed in front of her, the other occasionally raised to block attacks headed for Bai Kou’s head.

She didn’t get it herself.

Back when she was little—well, around junior high—she had actually enjoyed joining in on this kind of crazy game for a while. She didn’t know why, but these past two years since starting high school, she’d lost all interest.

And it felt noisy.

If not for Bai Kou wanting to come, she really would have preferred sitting quietly in the classroom for a boring study hall.

Pei Yue to Yang Wanxi’s right was thinking the same.

Her expression was utterly cold, even more impatient than Yang Wanxi’s. This was her first time joining a Christmas event like this.

Not only did people inexplicably whack her, but they also sprayed Snow Spray on her… That smell was particularly foul. Pei Yue worried that Yellow Doudou wouldn’t let her hold it when she got home tonight.

And so, some joyful, some annoyed, they continued until Bai Kou felt thirsty. The four finally broke away from the reveling crowd temporarily and sat on a nearby bench to rest.

The newsstand selling drinks was less than ten meters away.

Bai Kou quickly fished 10 yuan from her bag, didn’t let her friends or Yang Kuikui come along, and dashed over alone.

“Dong—”

As she paid, a firework suddenly burst in the sky above the plaza.

“Wow, so pretty.” The newsstand owner leaned over to gaze at the sky.

Bai Kou turned her head too, but before she could look up, her peripheral vision caught a very familiar figure.

It even made her unconsciously twist to walk toward it. “Sis?”

“Hey, little miss.” Luckily, the newsstand owner called her back in time. “The water, the money—are they free now?”

“Ah.” Bai Kou snapped back. “Sorry, thanks!”

Yang Wanxi and Pei Yue weren’t thirsty, so Bai Kou hugged the two bottles for her and Lu Tongtong and headed back. Unexpectedly, the spot they’d been sitting at was suddenly packed with people all craning their necks at the fireworks.

“Sorry—sorry—excuse me—” Bai Kou tried to squeeze in.

They didn’t budge.

“Sor—”

On another attempt, her shoulder was pressed from behind.

Bai Kou turned back.

Her mouth fell open.

Bai Yuqiao’s cool face reflected in her shocked pupils.

While Bai Kou was stunned, her sister pulled her back out of the crowd.

Cold wind thick with smoke kept whipping past Bai Kou’s ears, biting cold, but she had no attention for such sensations right then.

She was just very puzzled.

Shouldn’t Sis be in evening study hall? How was she here?

Bai Yuqiao pulled Bai Kou all the way to the roadside, away from the crowd, before releasing her hand. She frowned and gestured: 【Why are you alone?】

Bai Kou smiled and opened her mouth, about to answer.

Then a passing kid piped up crisply: “Mom! So scary! This big sis is a mute!”

“…” Her smile vanished abruptly. A few seconds later, Bai Kou reacted, whipped her head toward the family that had just passed, and yelled furiously, “Hey! You!”

She didn’t finish.

Because her sister tugged her hand again, only asking: 【Why alone? Where’s Yang Kuikui?】

Bai Kou stared at her sister with reddened eyes for a second, her chest heaving dully. She lowered her head and mumbled softly to hide the overwhelming wave of sour ache: “…I came out to buy water. They’re waiting inside for me.”

At that moment, Yang Wanxi’s call searching for her came through.

Bai Kou picked up and let out a subdued “hello.” Instead, the person across from her, who should have been more down, stayed perfectly calm and took the two bottles of drinks from her arms.

On the way back to the plaza, Bai Kou kept her eyes downcast at the pavement, silent.

The two quickly rejoined the group. Seeing Bai Yuqiao, Yang Wanxi blanked for a good while before blurting out in disbelief, “No way? Am I seeing things?”

After chatting a few words, they merged back into the bustling plaza crowd.

But Bai Kou no longer had any mood to play.