Chapter 30

A group of seniors left.

The sophomores became quasi-seniors.

Yang Wanxi became the last one to return home.

Hearing the sound of the key turning in the lock, Bai Kou, who was leaning against her sister while watching Thirteen Curses of the Broken Gate, instinctively turned her head to glance over.

“……” Yang Wanxi panted as she entered, hurriedly changing her shoes.

Bai Kou pursed her lips and withdrew her gaze, continuing to look at the TV screen.

She had originally thought she could tease Yang Kuikui about receiving a love letter, but when she picked up her phone to message Yang Kuikui, she realized that Yang Kuikui’s words implied she did not want anyone to find out.

Bai Kou could not help but think deeply…

Yang Kuikui had never proactively chatted with them about this “QY,” and even though Yang Kuikui’s birthday was in April, over two months had passed without them knowing she was in a cold war with a friend.

“……”

Bai Kou sat on the sofa, lost in thought.

As Yang Wanxi passed through the living room, she quickly shouted, “Bai Dou, Sister Yuqiao—” Then, without paying attention to the dazed person, she headed straight to her room.

“Citywide first place?!”

Upon learning of Bai Yuqiao’s college entrance exam results, Yang Wanxi, sitting by the tea table, opened her mouth wide. “Then, Sister Yuqiao, doesn’t that mean Tsinghua or Peking University are yours to choose? You’ve helped our little Bai Doudou fulfill her dream in advance?”

Bai Yuqiao curved her eyes in a light smile.

Bai Kou did not smile.

No, it should be said that Bai Kou had not even seriously listened to the idle chat between her two sisters.

She sat quietly on the right side of the sofa, with a trash bin placed in front of her. At that moment, she was lowering her head, slightly frowning, twisting a tissue in her hand into a thin strip.

She kept “puff puff puff” dropping bits of paper into the bin.

Yang Kuikui had a secret.

A secret she was unwilling to tell her.

She thought.

Not long after, middle school and high school both started summer vacation, and Bai Kou officially began her “accompanying tutoring” life.

After all, all her good friends were gathered together, so for the first few days, Bai Kou was quite excited. She imitated her sister, putting on a serious face to analyze math problems for Lu Tongtong.

Until the end of July, when Bai Yuqiao received an admission letter from Beijing.

By then, it had been over two weeks of tutoring, and Bai Kou was tired.

So when her sister set down the admission letter, sat back in her seat, and continued lecturing the other two students, Bai Kou picked up the letter and said she would go outside to study it for a bit.

She closed the door to the room and sat down on the sofa alone.

A gray profile picture of a snowy landscape turned into blue-and-white colors and jumped to the fifth slot. Bai Kou let out an “Mm?” and clicked to see that Pei Yue had sent her two words: 【Are you there.】

She immediately replied with a smile: 【Yes.】, then asked, 【Is Xi’an fun?】

【Mm.】 Pei Yue paused, 【Are you all still tutoring every day?】

Bai Kou: 【Yeah^-^ Probably until Yang Kuikui starts school.】

Pei Yue: 【Oh.】

Pei Yue: 【Then】

Pei Yue: 【Can you come out this afternoon?】

“Bai Doudou!” Yang Wanxi pulled open the door, her expression unkind. “I knew you ran out here to play on your phone! Hurry back in!”

Bai Kou pouted, stood up, and said as she walked toward Yang Wanxi, “I don’t even need tutoring, so why can’t I play on my phone.”

Yang Wanxi put her arm around Bai Kou’s shoulders and patted her slowly. “Sigh, because you have to share joys and sorrows with us. Neither Tongtong nor I can play, so how can you be happy alone.”

“……” Bai Kou was speechless as she was dragged back to the bedside and sat down.

She had no choice but to pick up Reader’s Digest and continue flipping through it. As she flipped, she suddenly remembered she had not replied to Pei Yue.

Bai Kou hurriedly picked up her phone: 【Can’t TAT.】

Pei Yue took nearly half an hour to reply: 【Okay/sun/】

After that, Pei Yue sporadically messaged Bai Kou a few more times, but she never explicitly said what she wanted to do with Bai Kou. She always just asked “Still tutoring?” or “Can you come out this afternoon?” Of course, Bai Kou, who had to share joys and sorrows, replied:

【Can’t TAT】.

In the blink of an eye, it was nearing the end of August, and the seniors had to start school a week early.

That noon, Yang Yingyun and Lu Tongtong’s mom chipped in to let the kids who had worked hard all summer eat and play whatever they wanted.

Lu Tongtong wanted to try the new ice cream hotpot in the city, while Yang Wanxi suggested steak, but Bai Kou pulled her sister along, securing victory with two votes and heading straight to the Holiday Hotel for a buffet.

Finally, she got to eat the walnut puff pastry that Zhang Yang had posted in his QQ space!

Bai Kou was fully satisfied.

Across from her, Yang Wanxi propped her chin on her hand and looked at her. “Who told you this was good?”

“Not telling, it’s a secret.” Bai Kou said, “Anyway, it’s delicious, that’s what matters.”

“Tch, you have secrets too?”

Bai Kou paused, the tip of her cake fork circling lightly on the puff pastry. Suddenly, she did not know what came over her, but she raised a smiling face and said, “Of course I do. Don’t you have any?”

Yang Wanxi felt that Bai Doudou’s tone was a bit off and frowned, about to respond.

Lu Tongtong suddenly half-stood up. “Eh, Bai Kou, I think I saw Pei Yue.”

“Pei Yue?” Bai Kou responded and immediately turned her head. “Where?”

“She just passed by the restaurant entrance and went in… Not sure, maybe I saw wrong?”

Bai Kou thought for a moment, set down her fork, and stood up. “I’ll go take a look.”

The corridor outside the buffet restaurant was carpeted. To the right led to the lobby and hotel exit, to the left were the elevators going upstairs.

Remembering that Tongtong said “went in,” Bai Kou stood at the entrance pondering for a second before turning left.

As soon as she rounded the corner, she spotted Pei Yue from afar.

Coincidentally, Pei Yue turned her head at that exact moment, their gazes colliding.

Bai Kou thought Pei Yue had seen her and immediately smiled, raising her arm to wave.

But Pei Yue turned back expressionlessly and walked straight into the elevator.

Clang.

Bai Kou had not even gotten close when she heard the elevator doors close.

Buzz—

Inside the elevator, Pei Yue stood with anger on her face. The dial on her right lit up with “5,” marked as “Conference Hall.”

When the doors opened again, she strode out heavily and stopped under a wall lamp.

Pei Yue looked up at the deer antlers hanging on the wall coldly for a few seconds, took out her phone, went into her contacts without hesitation, and deleted Bai Kou’s number.

“……”

She was so angry she wanted to delete QQ too, but she saw the “crying” emoji that Bai Kou had sent her that morning, rejecting her once again.

Pei Yue paused, standing in the corridor as the fire in her eyes gradually faded.

She decided to settle for second best and delete the chat history first.

But then she received a message from Bai Kou: 【Pei Yue, are you at the Holiday Hotel too? I just saw you! Almost called out to you!】

Pei Yue gripped her phone tightly and let out a deep sigh.

She only replied to Bai Kou with “No,” set QQ to invisible mode, put away her phone, and headed to the conference hall.

After the unexpected summer encounter, Pei Yue had unilaterally decided in her heart to keep her distance from Bai Kou.

Of course, Bai Kou did not know this. A few days after school started, she just noticed that Pei Yue, now in third year junior high, had become particularly studious.

Every time she went to find Pei Yue, the other girl was either doing problems and unable to leave the classroom, or if she came out and saw her, she would immediately turn toward the teacher’s office.

“Mm, she reminds me of my sister during her senior year.” Bai Kou sighed to Lu Tongtong.

After entering senior year, Yang Wanxi was also very busy, and moreover, seeing Yang Kuikui’s face made Bai Kou think of Yang Kuikui’s secret. Anyway… she just felt a bit unhappy inside and did not really want to seek out Yang Kuikui.

What a growing pain.

This kind of worry was fine during the day when she played with Lu Tongtong—it was lively and fun.

But whenever night fell and she returned home alone, with her sister’s room empty, a hard-to-describe sense of loneliness welled up in Bai Kou’s heart.

Once, while sitting on the sofa watching a family drama, she even cried.

Crying, she called her sister.

She blurted out, “Wah wah wah wah wah, sister, I miss you so much,” but Bai Kou’s last shred of reason knew her sister could not respond, so she hurriedly added amid her breakdown, “It’s okay, you don’t need to answer, I just want to cry with you for a bit.”

Then she “wah wah wah wah wah” told her about the super touching drama she had just watched.

The receiver remained completely quiet the whole time. When Bai Kou cried herself out and paused to catch her breath amid sobs, she could almost hear the sound of the night wind in Beijing.

After hanging up, her sister sent her a line:

【Bai Kou, I miss you very much too.】

Bai Kou’s heart was instantly warmed.

At that moment, Bai Xiaochu unusually came home early. As soon as she opened the door, she smiled and said, “Oh my, I heard someone was crying at home alone. Let me see who it is—”

Bai Kou let out a “Wah” and tossed her phone aside, rushing over to hug Bai Xiaochu, chattering and acting spoiled.

By mid-September, two weeks after school started, Bai Kou had finally adapted to this “loneliness.”

And her sister agreed that she could call every night and just leave it connected.

Phone bills, sister would cover.

Hee hee.

Bai Kou felt like the happiest kid in the world again.

She regained her energy and threw herself back into her busy school life.

【H1N1 Influenza】

That day, after Chinese class, the homeroom teacher wrote this term on the blackboard.

“Which is the swine flu you’ve all been talking about lately.” The teacher said, “Experimental Middle School next door confirmed two more cases yesterday, so starting tomorrow, before coming to school, you all need to take your temperature at home first, write it on a temperature slip for your parents to sign, and also, Bai Kou—”

Bai Kou stood up.

“You take the arts and culture committee member, pick a few classmates, and work hard these couple days to redo the back blackboard newspaper on flu prevention. Come to my office during break for the content.”

“Okay.” Bai Kou nodded.

That evening, Bai Kou waited for Bai Xiaochu to return home and relayed the teacher’s words.

“So serious? Signing every day?” Bai Xiaochu was surprised.

“They said Experimental Middle School had two more cases yesterday.” Bai Kou said, “Tongtong and I calculated—over fifty people in half a week.”

“Hmm—” Bai Xiaochu frowned, covered her mouth and thought for a bit. “Alright, then I’ll pause incoming goods these couple days, rest at home, and wait for this illness to pass.”

“Mm mm!” Bai Kou nodded vigorously. “Rest! Computer City is too dangerous with all the people coming and going!”

The next day, as soon as Bai Kou got up, she messaged her sister.

Even though the two were almost constantly in touch except for sleeping and classes, Bai Kou still worried and reminded her sister nonstop to wear a mask and take her temperature often.

It got so much that even the calm Bai Yuqiao could not help sending Bai Kou a string on QQ:

【/penguin falls//penguin falls//penguin falls//penguin falls/】

Bai Kou also checked on Yang Kuikui.

But first, Auntie Yang knew more than they did, and many prevention measures came from her.

Second, did not Yang Kuikui have that super secret “QY”?

Bai Kou really held a grudge.

Every time she finished the routine “How are you today” to Yang Kuikui and wanted to ask more, she would stop her hand and remind herself, QY QY QY QY QY…

“S-So, who exactly is QY? You still don’t know?” On the way running to the small shop, Lu Tongtong turned her head to ask Bai Kou.

Bai Kou: “No idea, Yang Kuikui’s friend, I guess. Probably like you and me.” She had not gone into detail with Lu Tongtong, but she had been too stuffy before and vented a little to Tongtong about feeling left out.

“Oh oh.” Lu Tongtong laughed. “It’s fine, Bai Kou. Little Xi-jie has QY, but you have me!”

“……Mm!” Bai Kou was so moved that she treated for drinks today!

It was a short break, only ten minutes.

The round trip to the small shop was already tight on time, and to top it off, Bai Kou and the others ran into someone who had broken a thermometer at the shop.

Bai Kou heard the sound and turned back. Her mind was still hesitating whether to intervene when her body automatically turned to stop it: “Hey—this can’t be picked up with bare hands—”

She got two A4 sheets from the shop auntie and carefully scooped up the mercury beads on the floor.

After all that fuss.

As they ran back and entered the school building, they heard the class bell “ding ling ling—”

Bai Kou and Lu Tongtong hurriedly gripped each other’s hands, taking two steps at a time, dashing up to the third floor.

Luckily, the teacher who checked temperatures daily had just reached their class and had not started yet.

Unfortunately, the person in the white coat went “beep,” “beep,” pressing the temperature gun to their foreheads one by one—

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!

Over-temperature alarm!

“……We really just ran here!”

“I understand, but just in case, classmates.” The school clinic staff tore off two exit slips. “Have your parents pick you up, observe for two days, and come back if no issues.”

“You’re not happy to go home?” Bai Xiaochu laughed as she drove. “Going home to play without even needing a leave slip—how great.”

“I don’t want to come back either.” Bai Kou rested her head against the glass and muttered, “The blackboard newspaper still has half left to finish…”

“Hehe, I think it’s great!” Lu Tongtong leaned forward from the back seat through the gap between the seats. “No need to go to school and no homework—this is too awesome!”

Refreshing?

Not at all.

The next day, Lu Tongtong cried as she called Bai Kou. “Wuwuwuwu, Bai Kou, come see me one last time! I’m dying!”

The groggy Bai Kou instantly sobered up and sat up from the bed. “Ah?! What happened?!”

“I have a 38-degree fever, wuwuwu. I’m heading to the hospital soon.” Lu Tongtong broke down. “Come over quick. I’ll hand you my last will.”

“Last will?!” Bai Kou quickly threw off the blanket, got out of bed, grabbed the coat she had tossed on the bay window the night before, and ran outside. “I’m coming right away!”

“…” Bai Xiaochu sat in the living room watching the morning news. When she saw her daughter, hair like a bird’s nest, charging toward the door, she froze for a few seconds. “Where are you going…”

“Lu Tongtong!” Without closing the door, Bai Kou’s voice drifted back eerily. “She got hit!”

“…!” Bai Xiaochu jumped in fright and hurried after her. “Got hit and you still go! Hey! Bai Kou, stop right there!”

Lu Tongtong had written two full pages of letter.

It recounted her life, lamented her regrets, and expressed how reluctant she was to leave Bai Kou.

She also handed over the passwords to her QQ account and Tieba account.

The last line read: 【You must help me manage the Tieba well!】

Three days later, Bai Kou—who had normal temperatures for three straight days—returned to school.

The blackboard newspaper was finished, but her deskmate had been hospitalized too.

Bai Kou had no heart for class. All day, she turned to sigh at the autumn breeze outside the window, thinking, Lu Tongtong, you have to be safe.

“Dead?”

The moment Bai Kou got home and opened the door, she heard her mom exclaim in shock. “Just a few days?”

“Plop.” Bai Kou’s schoolbag hit the floor. Her mind went blank, and tears fell in an instant. “It’s… Tongtong…”

“Bai Kou!” The next second, the person she thought had died came sprinting out of her room and hugged her tear-streaked face. “Bai Kou! I’m fine! It was just a regular cold! Hehehe! Oh right, I changed the Tieba password! Don’t log in anymore!”

Bai Kou’s tears still wouldn’t stop.

“It was a third-year student from your school. Acute cerebral failure last night.” After Yang Yingyun finished, she looked at Bai Xiaochu and sighed. “Sigh, that class was a total disaster zone. The whole class got wiped out—all confirmed infected.”

Bai Kou was still basking in relief that Lu Tongtong was okay.

She vaguely caught “whole class wiped out” and jolted. She turned to ask, “Auntie Yang, which third-year class?”

“Class Six,” Yang Yingyun said. “Heard it was a key class too.”

…Class Six.

Pei Yue!