Chapter 47

Later, Bai Kou’s anger subsided. She came back to her senses and felt that she had been too rude to Pei Yue’s mom.

She awkwardly apologized to Pei Yue over the transoceanic phone call.

She even said that if she had another chance to meet Pei Yue’s mom, she would definitely do it properly, logically and correctly re-expressing her own views.

At least, she absolutely would not impulsively say something like “I will hate you.”

Pei Yue on the other end just kept chuckling lightly, as if she had heard the most delightful thing since going abroad.

When the second year of high school began, Bai Kou’s classroom moved to another building.

Far from the main groups of first- and third-year students, they were “exiled” to the smallest building farthest from the school gate.

The classmates analyzed it this way.

“The first-years just arrived and don’t know their way around. They definitely couldn’t be placed too far.”

“The third-years work so hard with such precious time. They definitely couldn’t be placed too far either.”

Bai Kou laughed until her eyes narrowed. She was just about to chime in when she was called from the back door to go to the office with another classmate.

On the way, she ran into Tao Miao and Xiao Ying, who were heading downstairs to buy things—after the first-year class division, these two and most of Bai Kou’s classmates had stayed in the science class. Only Bai Kou had transferred to arts.

But unlike her previous separation from Lu Tongtong, Bai Kou no longer felt sad now. Every time she met an acquaintance, she enthusiastically greeted them.

Occasionally, on weekends when invited out, if she heard topics she did not understand, she crossed her arms and declared: “Wait! Can someone explain what that means?”

So even though they were separated, Bai Kou’s relationships with Tao Miao and the others remained good.

Sometimes, as Bai Kou walked familiar streets with them, she could not help thinking that if the current her could go back to the past and handle those relationships differently, things with Lu Tongtong might have turned out differently.

“Hahaha, exactly. Kids these days aren’t as easy to handle as you were back then.”

Just as she reached the office door, Bai Kou heard the teacher’s hearty laughter. She and her classmate exchanged a silent glance, pushed open the door a crack, and obediently called out: “Teacher Wen.”

“Oh, come in, come in.” Teacher Wen beckoned to Bai Kou and the other girl. Then she introduced the person next to her desk. “Xiao Ruan, the one in front is Chen Mo. She’s the class monitor. And behind her is Bai Kou, your class representative.”

Xiao Ruan?

Bai Kou only then noticed the person standing beside the desk.

Though they had not been close before and it had been several years since they last met, Bai Kou recognized her at a glance as her sister’s high school classmate, Ruan Yao.

Her face had hardly changed. It was just the styling—

Her hair combed shiny and smooth, square thick glasses.

A dark brown chiffon blouse, black suit pants… and a transparent teacup in her hand that had not yet been filled with water.

As soon as their eyes met.

“Thump.”

Ruan Yao flashed a standard smile that showed exactly eight teeth.

“I heard from your sister that you’re planning to take the Art Exam?”

At noon, Ruan Yao invited Bai Kou to her rental apartment. The moment they entered, she immediately removed the hair tie that had bound her hair. Two T-shirts and a pair of ripped jeans were draped over the sofa.

“Um, yes, Teacher Ruan.” Bai Kou replied obediently.

Before following Ruan Yao into the complex, she had specially bought a basket of fruit at the entrance supermarket. Now she placed it neatly on the table.

Ruan Yao found it so amusing that she immediately snapped a photo and sent it to Bai Yuqiao. She said hahaha, hearing your sister call me Teacher Ruan is hilarious! And she’s so thoughtful—she even bought fruit for me!

The two sat down. The phone chimed once.

“Pfft.” Ruan Yao held up her phone screen to Bai Kou. “Bai Yuqiao says you’re always this thoughtful.”

The apartment’s gas line was not connected yet, so they sat by the tea table on small stools, eating instant noodles and chatting idly.

Bai Kou’s class math teacher was occupied with something, so Ruan Yao had come for a temporary internship. After half a bowl of noodles, Teacher Ruan had smoothly learned quite a bit about the class situation.

Finally, she patted Bai Kou’s shoulder. “Little sister, thank you so much!”

Since she was a teacher, Bai Kou felt a bit reserved subconsciously. She tugged the corners of her mouth into an obedient smile. “You’re welcome, Teacher Ruan. You can come to me anytime if you have any questions.”

Ruan Yao burst into laughter again and said repeatedly: “Good, good, good. Then I’ll feel free to bother you from now on!”

After they finished eating, Ruan Yao was in an excellent mood. She hummed a tune as she stacked the two paper buckets together.

Bai Kou sat on the sofa with her legs together and hands resting naturally on her knees. Her gaze followed Ruan Yao as she moved about.

“Teacher Ruan.” She suddenly said, “How did you and my sister become friends?”

Ruan Yao finished putting away the trash. She looked back at Bai Kou for two seconds, narrowed her eyes, and said: “If I tell you, you have to keep it secret, okay?”

There was one thing Bai Kou had never figured out.

Back then, how had her sister so naturally taken her into the school’s abandoned swimming pool? And it did not seem like she merely knew about the place. That door-opening motion… had been particularly practiced.

Honestly, whenever Bai Kou spaced out, she had even fantasized that her sister had gone astray in high school—like climbing over the pool wall to skip class and sneak out to play.

“Actually, my relationship with your sister in junior high was pretty average. Though we both boarded at school, I felt like we weren’t the same type of people. And your sister couldn’t speak, so there was no way to communicate at all.”

“It was probably the first year of high school, right after the semester started.”

“That night, I went to the swimming pool—the one next to the cafeteria. You know it? It might be closed now.”

Bai Kou nodded. “Um, I know.”

Ruan Yao said that during her first year, she had gone through a very rebellious phase and wanted to learn how to smoke. That night, she had deliberately climbed into the locked pool, only to find someone already sitting inside.

At this point, Ruan Yao’s expression grew quite emotional. “God, even thinking back now, I feel… School had only just started not long before. Bai Yuqiao was deliberately locked inside every night, but she never panicked. She just sat there calmly reading. I offered to help her get out, but she refused. She didn’t want to implicate me.”

“I hid nearby and watched as people came to open the door. They mocked her—sigh, the things they said were awful. But your sister stayed indifferent the whole time. She just packed up her book and left. Later, those people probably found her boring and stopped targeting her.”

“But as for me.” Ruan Yao crossed her arms and sighed. “I don’t know. I just thought, she’s handling all that so well, so why was I rebelling for no reason?”

“Later, we somehow got closer.”

“Eh, wait, Bai Kou. I feel like you should already know about these things? Anyway, there wasn’t any specific moment when your sister and I became friends.” Ruan Yao smiled. “I was just purely drawn to her personality.”

“…” She did not know. Her sister had never mentioned it.

Before they left, Ruan Yao reminded Bai Kou again: “Remember! The smoking thing! Secret! Secret!”

That evening, Bai Kou made a video call to her sister.

Bai Yuqiao had originally said she was going out for a dinner gathering that night. Bai Kou repeated: “Sister, I want to see you.” After a pause, Bai Yuqiao replied: 【Okay.】

In the past, they had mostly done three-way video calls with Yang Wanxi there. Someone to keep the conversation going always made the screen feel especially lively.

That night, Bai Kou did not invite Yang Wanxi.

She showered, curled her legs on the chair, and stared blankly at the waiting video interface.

Bai Kou suddenly realized that her impression of her grown-up sister was very blurry. She knew almost nothing about how her sister had spent junior high or high school. Whenever she asked, her sister only said things had gone well. And the report cards her sister brought home were always excellent.

And because she was her sister…

Her sister was older than both her and Yang Kuikui. Sometimes Bai Kou took the initiative to show concern, but the questions she asked were things like “How’s your deskmate?” “Can you chat secretly during class?” “Can you go back to the classroom during PE?” “Will you get caught going to the shop during lunch break?”…

Looking back now, Bai Kou found those questions incredibly childish.

Was it because she had been too young and immature—unable to help even if told—that her sister had not shared these things with her?

What about Mom? Did Mom even know about what her sister had gone through?

The video was still connecting.

Bai Kou missed Bai Yuqiao more than ever before.

She wished she could fly there that very night—to Beijing, to her sister’s side. She wanted to hug her sister and offer some comfort that would change nothing.

“Sis—”

The video connected, but to Bai Kou’s surprise, her sister was surrounded by a group of people who looked like her roommates.

They smiled and hugged Bai Yuqiao, exclaiming: “Wow, Bai Yuqiao, your little sister is so cute!”

Bai Kou hurriedly adjusted her posture to sit properly, as if in class, and greeted lightly: “Uh, hello everyone.”

“Little sister, what grade are you in?”

“Second year of high school.”

“Little sister, when you come to Beijing to visit your sister, come to our dorm too.”

“Ah, okay.”

Whoever spoke, Bai Kou turned her gaze to them. Meanwhile, Bai Yuqiao, at the center of the screen, kept faintly smiling. Bai Kou tried several times to send her sister an SOS signal, but failed.

After about fifteen minutes, her sister’s roommates said they were going to buy some late-night snacks.

The screen finally quieted down again.

Bai Kou let out a breath and slumped onto the table.

Ding ding.

A message chimed. Bai Yuqiao asked: 【Tired of chatting?】

“Not tired…” Bai Kou sat up and pulled her chair closer to the camera. “Just catching my breath.”

Her sister smiled faintly and typed: 【Then I’ll hang up. Get some early rest.】

“No! No need!” Bai Kou leaned toward the screen. “Tomorrow’s the weekend! Can we chat a bit longer?”

Bai Yuqiao nodded, lowered her arms, and quietly watched her.

Looking at her sister’s slightly aloof face on the video, Bai Kou thought for a moment and said: “Today our class got a new intern teacher. Guess who?”

Bai Yuqiao tilted her head, lowered her eyes as if seriously pondering, then typed: 【Ruan Yao?】

Eyes widening, Bai Kou asked: “How did you know?”

Bai Yuqiao smiled again: 【She messaged me.】

After a pause, she added: 【At noon, while you were eating.】

Bai Kou suddenly realized and pointed out: “Ah! So you were just pretending to think earlier!”

Bai Yuqiao narrowed her eyes and, unusually, teased back: 【Yeah, just wanted to tease you.】

As they chatted, Bai Kou’s mood improved. She did not deliberately bring up the old stories she had heard that day. After sharing a bunch of random fun anecdotes with her sister, she suddenly asked: “Sister, will you stay in Beijing for grad school too? Or do you want to try a new place?”

【In Beijing.】 Bai Yuqiao replied.

“But that’s still a year away.” Bai Kou said. “What if you suddenly decide to change places?”

Bai Yuqiao did not type. She just smiled faintly and shook her head.

They chatted about other things after that. Bai Kou told her sister that Yang Kuikui had nearly joined a drama crew, but flooding at the filming location had delayed things until January of the next year.

Bai Yuqiao listened attentively and occasionally typed to ask for details.

Until suddenly, on her end, Bai Yuqiao glanced at her phone and indicated: 【Lights out soon.】

“Oh, okay.” Bai Kou said. “Then I’ll hang up. Goodnight, sister.”

Bai Yuqiao nodded, raised her hand, closed it, and pressed down: 【Goodnight.】

Seeing Bai Yuqiao’s gaze shift right and her hand rise as if about to end the call right away.

“Sister!” Bai Kou called out hurriedly. Then, out of nowhere, she said: “I miss you!”

On the screen, Bai Yuqiao’s movement paused. She pursed her lips and, for a long time, did not look at the camera.

“I miss you, sister.” Bai Kou murmured, repeating herself. “Today, I really… miss you so much.”

Great. She had expressed her longing once, and now she had made herself cry.

Bai Kou lowered her head awkwardly. “Okay, I’ll hang up. Goodnight.”

She hurriedly ended the video call.

Later, Bai Kou madly patted her own face to snap out of it and calm down. She got up to take a shower.

Bai Yuqiao sat in front of her computer, somewhat distracted.

As the dorm lights went out, she closed her laptop and turned her head. A faint desk lamp glowed in the window across the way.

Bai Yuqiao gazed at that lamp from afar. She remembered the day she had been tutoring Bai Kou. Exhausted, she had fallen asleep with her head on the table.

“Mwah.” Bai Kou had kissed her cheek and whispered: “Thanks for your hard work, sister. Please sleep a bit more. I’ll go play on the computer, hehe.”

At the thought, Bai Yuqiao withdrew her gaze and let out a long sigh.

She had always been the type whose decisions, once made, were not easily shaken. She was hard for anyone to influence.

But because this “anyone” was Bai Kou…

Bai Yuqiao raised her eyes to the laptop she had closed long ago. That sentence kept echoing in her mind—

“I miss you, sister.”

Bai Yuqiao’s throat moved. Her lips parted. In the darkness, she mouthed silently: “Bai Kou, I miss you too.”

“I miss you very, very much.”