Chapter 60 Part 1

The next morning, Bai Kou got up in high spirits and happily hung up the Christmas gift that Bai Yuqiao had given her.

It was a crystal-clear keychain adorned with a bitten apple and a colorful Christmas tree.

In the studio cafeteria, Bai Kou set down her tray. “Um, my sister and I are going to that place… Tan something Temple?”

“Tan Zhe Temple?” Tang Baini asked.

“Oh, yeah, that sounds right!” Bai Kou smiled and nodded her head.

“Mm.” Tang Baini propped her chin on her hand. “What a shame. I thought the three of us could spend New Year’s Day together.”

“I wonder if that place allows proxy prayers.” Bai Kou picked up her chopsticks and shook them. “If it does, I can pray for you all too.”

From Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve, Yang Wanxi carried a sliver of doubt in her heart as she quietly observed Bai Yuqiao.

But it seemed like she had overthought it, or maybe misread the situation?

In any case, Bai Yuqiao and Bai Kou remained as close as ever every day. Bai Kou hung on her sister’s arm, acting spoiled, and Bai Yuqiao didn’t avoid her like she had that Christmas Eve night…

They looked just like they did when they were kids.

“Sis, you’re an idiot. You’re carsick and you still booked a bus? Ouch—” As she spoke, Bai Kou let go of Bai Yuqiao and sat up straight. She turned to Yang Wanxi. “Yang Kuikui, tonight we have to peel a bunch of orange peels and stuff. Tomorrow we’ll wrap up this Bai Yuqiao like a present.”

Yang Wanxi snapped back to reality. She glanced at Bai Kou with a smile, then looked at Bai Yuqiao. “Yuqiao-jie, I bought some motion sickness pills and patches earlier. Put them on before we head out tomorrow morning, and you’ll be fine.”

Bai Yuqiao looked at both of them and nodded with a smile.

The three of them arrived at the bus stop very early, but since they all wanted to sit together, they ended up in the last row.

Bai Kou had Bai Yuqiao sit by the window. She originally wanted Yang Wanxi to take the middle seat.

Yang Wanxi patted her arm. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll sit on the outside. It’s more spacious that way.”

Bai Kou shrugged her shoulders and sat down next to Bai Yuqiao.

As soon as her sister sat down and cracked open the window a bit, Bai Kou immediately recalled their childhood—her sister curled up on their mom’s lap, asleep from carsickness.

Back then, her sister had been so tiny and adorable.

With that thought, Bai Kou reached out and poked her sister’s arm.

When Bai Yuqiao turned to look at her, Bai Kou cupped her sister’s face and grinned. “Don’t be scared, Yuqiao Baby. If you want to sleep, just lean on me!”

Bai Yuqiao furrowed her brows, turned her face away, and ended up laughing.

Twenty minutes later.

Yang Wanxi, seated right in the middle of the last row, set down her phone. She looked down speechlessly at the bag that had slid to the floor.

She held up the heavy head resting on her right side with one hand and bent down slightly to pick up Bai Kou’s bag.

When she turned her head, she saw that Bai Kou was fast asleep… Even in the dead of winter, the sunglasses she’d put on for show had slipped down to her mouth. By the window, Bai Yuqiao had her arms crossed, facing the glass with her eyes closed, sleeping neatly and properly.

And she’d said, “If you want to sleep, just lean on me!” Yang Wanxi chuckled to herself for a few seconds. She lifted her knee, hugged Bai Kou’s bag close, and kept her shoulder raised higher to make sure Bai Kou slept more comfortably.

After more than an hour on the bus, Bai Kou woke up groggily. When she sat up, her ponytail had come undone from sleep, so she simply removed the hair tie and slipped it onto her wrist.

She felt a bit hot from sleeping, so she unzipped her white cotton jacket, revealing a gray hooded sweatshirt underneath.

Yang Wanxi got off the bus first, carrying both bags. Bai Kou hopped down next, then reached back toward Bai Yuqiao, not forgetting her pre-sleep teasing.

“Come on, Yuqiao Baby. Watch out for the puddle—I’ll pull you!”

Yang Wanxi shook her head with an amused smile.

Bai Yuqiao wore a black woolen coat over a light gray turtleneck sweater… In any case, she looked far more mature than Bai Kou. Her expression as she approached the bus door was very aloof, like anyone who’d just woken up in a bad mood.

But after hearing Bai Kou’s words, Bai Yuqiao—who had seemed in a mood—immediately curved her lips. She placed her hand in Bai Kou’s palm, her eyes softening with a gentle smile as she played along with Bai Kou’s “little sister helping big sister off the bus” act.

Yang Wanxi watched with a smile on her face, thinking to herself that only you could tease Yuqiao-jie like this, Bai Doudou.

【January 1st, may we all achieve our heart’s desires!】

In the accompanying photo, there was a fish pond with a stone-carved fish standing in the center. Its mouth was open wide, filled with coins from people’s wishes. Below it, colorful koi fish swam around in the pool.

Pei Yue sat at her desk. She zoomed in and saved the photo, then zoomed back out. She stared blankly at the Moments post.

“Pei Yue, have you ever counted how many fish you have here?” Bai Kou, dressed in her high school uniform, squatted by Pei Yue’s fish pond and asked as she looked back.

“Um—” Pei Yue walked over and slowly squatted down. She trailed her fingertip across the water’s surface, creating ripples. “I counted when there were fewer—around thirty-something. But not in the last couple years.”

“Thirty-something?” Bai Kou was shocked. “That’s even more exaggerated than a goldfish scooping stall!”

Pei Yue smiled faintly. “That’s just how fishkeeping goes.”

“Is it? Well, this pond is huge anyway.” Bai Kou paused, then patted Pei Yue. “Hey, hey, how about we start a paid service later? Build a wishing pond in here. Then our classmates and friends can come over during holidays to make wishes!”

“…” Pei Yue chuckled helplessly. “Mine isn’t magical. Who’d come?”

“Me!” Bai Kou reached into her bag for something. “I’ll be your first customer!”

With that, she pulled out a one-yuan coin. Before tossing it, she suddenly turned to Pei Yue. “This won’t hurt them, right?”

Pei Yue glanced at the coin, then at Bai Kou’s earnest eyes. She thought for a moment. “Probably not… Toss it on that rock?”

“Oh.” Bai Kou turned to look. “That’ll test my skills. Hold on.”

She stood up, blew on the coin twice with a “huff huff,” closed her eyes, and held it in her hands to make a wish. Then, with a “whoosh,” the coin sliced through the autumn breeze and landed precisely on the rock Pei Yue had indicated.

“What did you wish for?” Pei Yue asked.

“I wished…” Bai Kou gently patted Pei Yue’s back. “That we’d be best friends for life.”

“…”

Pei Yue locked her phone screen and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes.

“It’s fine. Bai Doudou’s bag isn’t heavy. I can carry it for her.”

Bai Kou went into the hall alone to pray for success in her studies. Yang Wanxi and Bai Yuqiao waited outside. After saying that, Yang Wanxi suddenly asked, “Sis, aren’t you taking exams lately too? Why not go in with Bai Doudou and pray?”

Bai Yuqiao smiled softly and shook her head.

Yang Wanxi pouted and looked toward the hall door. She thought, yeah, you’re so good at exams. Bai Kou probably ought to pray to you instead.

Bai Kou only had one day off for New Year’s Day.

They only wandered around until five in the afternoon before hurrying onto the bus back to the city.

They sat in the last row again. Bai Yuqiao leaned against the seatback and fell asleep in no time.

Bai Kou wasn’t as sleepy as she had been that morning. She closed her eyes for a bit but couldn’t drift off, so she pulled out her earbuds to listen to some music.

“Bai Doudou.” Yang Wanxi tapped the back of Bai Kou’s wrist with her finger.

“Hm?”

“Aren’t your Joint Entrance Exam results coming out in a few days?”

Talk about bringing up the one thing she’d rather forget. Bai Kou replied, “The 10th. Ugh, I finally managed to forget about it, but now that you mention it, I’m nervous again!”

“Forget what?”

“That way I can fool myself into thinking…” Halfway through, Bai Kou looked down to fiddle with her playlist. She didn’t look at Yang Wanxi as she handed over one earbud. “Anyway, enough about that. Wanna listen to music?”

“Sure.” Yang Wanxi popped in the earbud and whispered, “Let’s see what you kids are into these days.”

Bai Kou glanced at Yang Wanxi, tapped a song, set her phone down, and closed her eyes again.

A moment later, the earbuds filled with lyrics: “Some people spend their whole lives learning to resolve the puzzles of communication.”

“…” The words didn’t quite land. Yang Wanxi closed her eyes too and listened quietly.

As she listened, she heard Bai Kou muttering softly outside the earbuds: “Yang Kuikui, the songs you shared are pretty good.”

Yang Wanxi smiled faintly. “You’ve got good taste.”

“I can’t convey myself—”

“Where to even begin—”

“How to translate ‘I love you’—”

…

On the day the Joint Entrance Exam results were announced, Bai Kou’s homework grading had just jumped to Tier 2. Golden from the next class over heard about it and couldn’t help shouting it out during lunch.

“Bai Kou, you’re amazing!”

But that afternoon, when Bai Kou learned her Joint Entrance Exam scores, it hit her like a bolt from the blue.

She had a feeling her color theory score wouldn’t be great, but she never imagined it’d be only 68.1. The other two sections she thought she’d done okay on were also disappointingly low.

Total score: 226.9.

That was barely enough to qualify for school exams, and even then, it was a stretch for a Tier D undergrad program.

“How is that possible?” Tang Baini grabbed Bai Kou’s wrist. “Shouldn’t you request a rescore? Didn’t you get over 270 on the mock exam last time?”

Bai Kou lowered her gaze and shook her head, saying nothing more.

Yang Wanxi had gone to Future Media that day and got home a bit late. By the time she headed out to pick up Bai Kou, the studio class had already ended.

In the night, students emerged in twos and threes.

She remembered Bai Kou had worn… yes, that outfit.

Yang Wanxi’s eyes crinkled with a smile. Bai Kou looked like a little bear in that getup—thick scarf and a brown velvet horn-button coat.

Bai Kou clutched the strap of her art bag, her face expressionless as she stared at the ground. Her boots sank unevenly into the snow.

The girl who had barely held it together in front of her roommates had forgotten anyone was coming to pick her up. She walked along, shedding tears alone…

Once she got home and finished crying, Bai Kou suddenly remembered that she’d been so wrapped up in her sadness that she might have left Yang Kuikui at the school gate.

Bai Kou sniffled, quickly set down her bag, wiped away her tears, trotted into her room, and pulled open the drawer to grab her phone.

As she turned to run back out, she heard the door slam shut with a “bang.”

Bai Kou stood at her bedroom door, staring wide-eyed at Yang Wanxi, who had just come in.

After a long moment, she lowered her arm and asked, “Yang Kuikui, did you… just get back?”

“Yeah.” Yang Wanxi finished changing her shoes, walked over to turn on the heat while unzipping her coat. “I had something today and forgot to tell you and Yuqiao-jie this morning. Your scores are out?”

“Ah.” Bai Kou looked down. “Yeah, they are.”

“…” Yang Wanxi looked at Bai Kou for a moment before taking off her coat. “Can you still take the school exams?”

Ten minutes later, Bai Kou sat on the sofa. She messaged Bai Yuqiao, who was heading back to school that night, reporting her scores—and adding two crying emojis.

Yang Wanxi didn’t ask much that evening. Now, after her shower, as she was about to head to her room, she glanced at the girl collapsed on the sofa, staring blankly at her phone.

“…”

A hand waved in front of her eyes twice. Bai Kou turned her head and saw Yang Wanxi standing by the sofa with a blank expression.

In the next second, Bai Kou’s motion to push herself up from the sofa synced with Yang Wanxi bending down.

Their noses nearly brushed against each other.

That’s when Bai Kou noticed the sparkly shimmer on Yang Wanxi’s eyelids. It was pretty.