Chapter 45

Yang Wanxi silently placed the scissors on the shelf behind her. “Hm?”

Bai Kou looked up at her, then lowered her head again. She frowned and pressed send on the message, but it still showed a red exclamation mark indicating failure.

“There really is no internet…”

Yang Wanxi walked over to Bai Kou without any hurry, squatted down, took Bai Kou’s phone, and fiddled with it for a moment. “That shouldn’t be. Maybe your phone is broken.”

“How could that be?” Bai Kou wasn’t stupid. “It hasn’t been dropped or bumped.” She pointed to the top of the phone. “See, there’s just no WiFi.”

Yang Wanxi handed the phone back to Bai Kou and leisurely returned to the sofa to pick up the script. “Maybe it’s fate telling you not to chat.”

Bai Kou didn’t respond. She made one last attempt to connect to the network.

It failed.

Amid the quiet sound of pages turning, Bai Kou suddenly twisted her head around and looked toward the black router sitting on the small stand.

“Hey—”

Yang Wanxi looked up and saw Bai Kou walking over. She wanted to stop her.

Bai Kou quickly reached out and picked up the severed black cable. Her back view was utterly silent.

“Ahem.” Yang Wanxi felt guilty like a thief caught red-handed. She slowly stood up. “…This…”

Bai Kou turned her head to look at her, her mouth slightly agape. Then she shouted at Yang Wanxi—

“There are rats here!!!!!!!”

Yang Wanxi froze, as if a bucket of water had suddenly been dumped on her head while she walked innocently down the street.

“No, don’t worry. Look at this cut—it’s very clean. It doesn’t look like teeth marks.” A moment later, Yang Wanxi had taken the router down. She stood face-to-face with Bai Kou, studying it.

“The cut is very clean?” After hearing this, Bai Kou leaned in close to Yang Wanxi’s chin and examined it for two seconds. “Hmm, yeah. From this angle, it looks more like it was snipped—”

“How it was cut doesn’t matter anymore.” Yang Wanxi immediately pulled her hand back behind her and smiled. “Anyway, there definitely aren’t any rats.”

Bai Kou: “Then what about no internet?”

Yang Wanxi didn’t reply. She turned around, put the router back in place, coiled up the severed cable neatly, pulled out a drawer, and closed it.

After a bout of silent fiddling, she stood up. Turning her head, she saw Bai Kou still obediently watching her. “…It’s too late today. I’ll go buy a new router tomorrow morning and install it when I get back. Then we’ll have internet.”

“Oh.” Bai Kou nodded.

No data, no network, and phone credit left only a few yuan—not enough for a data package.

Bai Kou sent Pei Yue a text explaining the situation, then went into the bathroom to wash up.

“Bai Kou.” Yang Wanxi leaned against the bathroom doorframe. “It’ll rain all day tomorrow. Do you want to go out or just stay home and play?”

“Is it heavy rain?”

“They say medium to light rain.”

“Then we’ll see tomorrow.” Bai Kou turned off the faucet and turned toward Yang Wanxi. “Anyway, I only came over this time to celebrate your birthday. No travel plans. Going out or not is fine.”

“…” Yang Wanxi’s heart stirred slightly at such a Bai Kou. She couldn’t find words to respond.

She sat alone on the sofa for half a minute. Seeing Bai Kou holding her pajamas about to change in the bathroom, she suddenly lifted her chin and called out from afar. “By the way, during that cold war we had last year… were you mad at me?”

Actually, Yang Wanxi knew that cold wars after arguments were torture for both sides. Normally, she hated using cold wars to resolve issues.

For example, when she argued with Yang Yingyun sometimes, no matter what, she wouldn’t let conflicts linger overnight. She preferred hot battles that were quick and decisive.

But after realizing her feelings for Bai Kou, Yang Wanxi’s long-held attitude toward arguments collapsed.

Over the past half year, she had thought it over repeatedly and felt the problem lay in “liking her but unable to say it.”

But this issue was one that, even if Yang Wanxi clearly recognized it, would be hard to resolve in the short term—after all, she and Bai Yuqiao nagged Bai Kou every day about “puppy love.” How could she confess her true feelings to Bai Kou at a time like that?

She couldn’t.

What’s more, Bai Kou had someone she liked.

So later, Yang Wanxi thought it through for the Nth time. The root of the problem was Bai Kou, but the knot was in herself.

Either fix Bai Kou, or adjust herself.

Obviously, Yang Wanxi chose the latter.

Bai Kou stood in front of the bathroom mirror, lifting her hand to take off her sweater, static crackling faintly. “Of course I was mad—” she called back loudly. “You were being so inexplicable—”

Hearing this, Yang Wanxi withdrew her gaze from the bathroom, lowered her head, flipped two pages, and muttered softly to herself. “Mm. If I were you, I’d think it was inexplicable too.”

“Yang Wanxi, I just had a flash of inspiration!” Bai Kou came out after changing into her pajamas.

The pajamas were pretty cute.

Yang Wanxi looked at the colorful jellyfish patterns on Bai Kou’s clothes, a slight smile tugging at her lips. She followed up. “What inspiration?”

“I think I should set up a personal fan forum for you.” Bai Kou quickly sat down next to Yang Wanxi. A faint mint scent wafted over. She patted her chest. “A support group—I’m a pro at that.”

“Pfft.” Yang Wanxi put her arm around Bai Kou’s shoulders and patted lightly. “Little one, this is the Weibo era now. Still playing with fan forums?”

“Nonsense!” Bai Kou shook off Yang Wanxi’s hand. “Who uses Weibo? That’s so boring! Our class is still on fan forums! Mm… some people check out Tianya forum at most, but usually that’s for ghost stories. Stanning still needs fan forums!”

“Oh.” Yang Wanxi responded perfunctorily.

But Bai Kou was excited now. She picked up her phone, ready to act.

“Hey, no, I have no internet.” Bai Kou muttered.

Yang Wanxi glanced over, thinking: It’s rare for you to be this enthusiastic. Fine, I’ll reluctantly top up your phone for you.

She had five 100-yuan recharge cards in her room drawer.

Yang Wanxi stood up briskly, about to go get one.

Then Bai Kou said, “Yang Wanxi, do you think the business hall is still open at eight-thirty? Or we could go out and top up. Kill two birds with one stone.”

Kill two birds? Yang Wanxi savored the phrase, realizing topping up would give data.

How many minutes to make a fan forum?

Wouldn’t the rest of the time and data go to chatting?

Yang Wanxi suddenly sat back down. “No, they’re all closed.”

With no phone to play with, Bai Kou nestled next to Yang Wanxi and casually popped in a VCD disc.

An English movie, no subtitles.

“Ha—” Completely lost, Bai Kou yawned boredly.

She saw the girl in the movie enter a supermarket and suddenly remembered. She turned her head. “The business hall’s closed, but supermarkets should be open. Some sell recharge cards too.”

Yang Wanxi had just gotten into the script when Bai Kou’s question scattered her thoughts again. She swept an irritated glance at Bai Kou and looked back at the pages. “You just can’t bear to part with it.”

“Huh?” Bai Kou paused. “Can’t bear to part with what?”

Yang Wanxi closed the script. “You’ve already changed into pajamas and still want to go out. Fine, your affection is firmer than gold.”

Only now did Bai Kou look down. Realization dawned. “Oh right, I’ve changed into pajamas… Should I change back now?”

“…” Yang Wanxi’s mouth twitched. “Sure, whatever.”

The building Yang Wanxi rented was a walk-up, third floor. The motion-sensor lights nearby weren’t working well. As they went downstairs, no matter how annoyed she was, Yang Wanxi still held Bai Kou’s hand with one of hers and reminded her. “Go slow, be careful.”

Bai Kou: “Okay. Hey, how exactly did that cable break? It was so neat.”

Yang Wanxi gripped Bai Kou tighter. “Who knows. Ghosts, maybe.”

There was a supermarket just outside the complex. The owner sat at the register watching TV and munching melon seeds.

“Boss, do you have phone recharge cards?”

The boss waved his hand.

The two left that supermarket and continued ahead. The next three in a row didn’t have any either. They were almost back at Yang Wanxi’s school.

Bai Kou tugged at the other. “Sigh, forget it. No luck, let’s go back.”

The person who had been silently following behind Bai Kou the whole time said coolly, “There’s one next to our school.”

Unlike residential areas, the snack street by the university was entering its liveliest night hours—lights blazing, smoke curling.

Yang Wanxi led Bai Kou, threading through familiarly to a Mobile store.

She pulled open the glass door. “Go on, buy it yourself.”

“You’re not coming in?”

“Nah, I’ll wait outside.” Yang Wanxi’s five recharge cards were all bought from this place. She was very familiar with the boss—bad if recognized.

To be safe, Bai Kou topped up 100 on the spot and bought another 100 as backup.

She pocketed the receipt and walked out, activating the new data package at the same time.

Yang Wanxi held a paper box with steaming cold noodles inside—extra noodles, extra egg, extra cheese. Bai Kou’s favorite.

Through the glass door, she saw Bai Kou walking out while smiling at her phone.

Yang Wanxi pursed her lips, lowered her head, and aimlessly poked at the toothpick in the noodles.

Bai Kou pushed the door open. “Done! This boss is so nice! Even told me the cheapest way to activate data!”

Yang Wanxi nodded without replying and held out the box to Bai Kou.

“Oh, thanks!” Bai Kou took it happily.

“No problem.” Yang Wanxi smiled, crossed her arms, went quiet for a second, then blurted out as if possessed, staring at Bai Kou’s face. “As long as you remember there’s someone like me when you want to date in the future, that’s fine.”

Bai Kou’s motion of biting into the cold noodles froze instantly. “…Huh?”

Yang Wanxi: “Oh, I mean, besides Yuqiao-jie, you have to tell me too.”

“Oh.” Bai Kou nodded in understanding, took a bite, chewed. “Mmm, yummy. Want a bite?”

“No need to feed me.” Yang Wanxi blocked it, pinched the toothpick, symbolically picked up a small piece, and put it in her mouth. “Mm, not bad.”

“Do… people all become like this when they grow up?”

“Like what?”

“You know—” Bai Kou waved the toothpick up and down. “Not liking to be fed food. Will I turn into that too?”

Yang Wanxi smiled. “Who doesn’t like it?”

“Sister does.” Bai Kou said. “She’s even more extreme than you. Last time in Beijing, she even split the blanket to sleep separately.”

Yang Wanxi thought about it. “If it’s Yuqiao-jie, that’s normal. She boarded in junior high, must be used to sleeping alone. Your sleeping posture is bad too—always like a koala bear.”

Bai Kou narrowed her eyes. “Koala bear? You’re the koala bear! Your sleeping posture isn’t any better! When you were little, you nearly squeezed Sister off the bed!”

At that moment, passing an open-air barbecue stall, someone exclaimed in surprise. “Yang!”

Yang Wanxi turned her head and saw two roommates. “Didn’t you say you were going to Wanda to eat today?”

“We were gonna but decided it was too far.” The roommate approached. “This is the little sister who flew in specially for your birthday?”

“Hello, big sis!” Bai Kou smiled.

They got held up to eat barbecue. Yang Wanxi and Bai Kou went inside to grab a few more skewers.

At the freezer picking drinks, Bai Kou saw Yang Wanxi take out two cans of cola and laughed. “You still drink cola too!”

Yang Wanxi: “What do you mean?”

“Nothing.” Bai Kou helped close the freezer door. “Before, I noticed Sister was drinking alcohol—super cool, super grown-up. I was just worried you’d drink too. Good thing you’re still like me.”

Silence for two seconds.

Yang Wanxi sniffled, shoved the colas into Bai Kou’s arms. “These two are for you.”

With that, she opened the freezer again, grabbed two green cans without looking, shook them at Bai Kou. A proud smile spread across her face.

“I drink too.”

…

Yang Wanxi had poor tolerance… poor behavior when drunk… and freakish strength!

Bai Kou broke down. “Yang Kuikui, I’m warning you! Give me the phone! Don’t harass Sister!”

Yang Wanxi ignored her, one hand pinning Bai Kou down, the other clutching the phone tight.

“Bai Yuqiao!” She bellowed from the living room. “Can’t you control your sister? She’s been messaging Pei Yue all night!”