Chapter 62

On the first day of on-site confirmation, heavy snow fell across Beijing.

The examinees from Shi Yi Art Academy hopped off the bus one by one. Bai Kou was near the end, third from last, wrapped in a woolen coat and a thick black-and-white checkered scarf, bundled up like a perfect sweet zongzi.

However, due to traffic jams on the way, their group arrived quite late and had to line up at the tail end of the long queue.

The sun was out by then, but the temperature remained below freezing.

The long dragon of examinees huddled and shivered in the snow, their breath forming long streams of white mist with every word.

As a southerner, Bai Kou buried half her face in her scarf, leaving only a pair of shiny black eyes exposed. When listening to her classmates, she widened them earnestly to show “Mm-hmm, I’m listening!”

Bai Yuqiao appeared across the street just as Bai Kou pulled her hand from her pocket to brush the snow off her scarf.

She turned her head after brushing it off.

The traffic light turned green right then.

Amid the shadowy figures crossing the zebra crossing, Bai Kou spotted the familiar silhouette.

Bai Yuqiao wore her hair down, dressed in layers of different grays from scarf to coat.

It wasn’t until she stood right in front of her that Bai Kou, peering through the snowflakes, made out her sister’s eyes and felt how unbelievable it all was.

She had only told her sister what time the confirmation started and roughly where…

Yet her sister had shown up without a message or call, finding her by sheer chance encounter.

“Sister!”

In front of all her classmates, Bai Kou spread her arms wide for a hug from Bai Yuqiao.

Bai Yuqiao stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Bai Kou’s waist, and leaned her chin slightly on Bai Kou’s shoulder.

“… , …” Two bursts of warm breath brushed past Bai Kou’s ear.

For some reason, Bai Kou could tell Bai Yuqiao was mouthing the words to her.

“Add, oil.”

Yang Wanxi had been sitting at home watching a movie since early morning. She had no idea Bai Yuqiao had gone to the exam site to accompany Bai Kou. When Bai Kou set off that morning, she had wanted to go along.

But Bai Kou said, “It’s too cold, no need,” and pushed her back inside.

Worried that Bai Kou’s cold hadn’t fully cleared up, Yang Wanxi couldn’t focus on the movie. She clutched her phone, bit her lip, wanted to message Bai Kou but feared interrupting her progress.

After agonizing over it, she opened WeChat and sent: 【How’s it going?】

Buzz buzz.

Bai Kou’s phone vibrated twice in her pocket, but she didn’t notice.

With Bai Yuqiao there, she naturally snuggled up to her sister for warmth, slipping her ice-cold hands unceremoniously into her sister’s coat pocket.

Bai Yuqiao held Bai Kou’s hand, and for a moment, neither moved.

After submitting her materials and receiving her admission ticket, Bai Kou pulled out her phone to check the studio group chat and finally saw Yang Wanxi’s WeChat message.

She first posted a “1” in the studio group, then walked out of the venue, pulled her sister along, and headed to the parking lot while video-calling Yang Wanxi.

“It’s over?”

Yang Wanxi spoke first once connected, lounging on the living room sofa in a cherry-pink short-sleeved shirt.

“Mm!” Bai Kou nodded with a smile. “Everything went smoothly! And look who’s this?”

Bai Kou tilted the camera toward Bai Yuqiao, who was glancing sideways at the scenery beside her.

“…”

“…”

Bai Yuqiao and Yang Wanxi stared at each other wordlessly across the screen.

Just then, Bai Kou kicked a protruding road brick in the snow, stumbling forward as the camera jerked wildly.

Bai Yuqiao quickly steadied her.

Bai Kou clung tightly to Bai Yuqiao, looking back in lingering shock. “That scared me! What was that?”

Yang Wanxi, feeling sour in the video, tossed her phone onto the coffee table screen-up toward the ceiling, hit the remote, and the TV blared on, making the call noisy.

Bai Kou had to board the bus back to the studio with her classmates; Bai Yuqiao couldn’t join.

Before getting on, Bai Kou hesitated reluctantly. “Sis, how about I take you back to school first—”

Bai Yuqiao shook her head and gestured: 【Get on the bus.】

Bai Kou was pushed aboard. Through the glass, she saw Bai Yuqiao standing in the snow, looking up at her and waving with her right hand.

Once the bus left, Bai Yuqiao—who had gotten up early from school to accompany her—took the subway back.

She busied herself in the school lab that morning, then rushed to Blue Seal Pharmaceuticals at noon without eating or drinking a drop of water, working until past eight in the evening before heading downstairs.

Exhausted at last, she called a cab home.

She dozed off against the window the whole ride.

Yang Wanxi, in a foul mood and having barely eaten all day, finally felt hungry. She rummaged through the kitchen and found one last pack of instant noodles.

As she boiled water in a daze, she heard the door click.

Who could be coming back at this hour… For the first time, Yang Wanxi clutched the noodle packet and didn’t want to turn around.

But the footsteps drew slowly nearer to the kitchen.

Yang Wanxi caught the scent of sugar-fried chestnuts.

Crumple crumple. She gripped the packet tighter, eyes dropping, her heart a tangle of mixed emotions.

Before New Year, back when Yang Wanxi happily dragged Bai Kou to movies all the time, they once came home to find a bag of sugar-fried chestnuts on the table.

They were a bit cold, but the taste was amazing.

When Bai Yuqiao emerged from her room to check on them, Yang Wanxi casually remarked, “Yuqiao Sis, where’d you get these chestnuts? They’re so good! They’d be even better hot!”

Bai Yuqiao told her they were bought casually downstairs from the company and that next time she passed by, she’d figure out a way to keep them warm on the way back.

“…” Yang Wanxi felt a light pat on her shoulder.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, really not wanting to turn.

“Yuqiao Sis!” She turned with a smile, following the aroma downward. “Whoa! Sugar-fried chestnuts?”

Bai Yuqiao nodded with a smile, mimed tucking them inside her coat, then held up the bag: 【Hot ones. Try?】

The water stayed quietly in the pot.

Yang Wanxi and Bai Yuqiao sat facing each other at the dining table, both peeling chestnuts with heads down.

Was it her eyes that were too sharp? Yang Wanxi noticed thin Band-Aids on Bai Yuqiao’s thumb and index finger, so she struggled to peel hers after half a day.

Yang Wanxi looked away, sighed inwardly in gloom, swiftly loosened the one in her hand, and—with the shell still on—passed it to Bai Yuqiao across the table.

“Here.”

【Thanks.】 Bai Yuqiao smiled.

“We remind Bai Kou every day…” Yang Wanxi paused, eyes down. “You need to take care of your health too, Yuqiao Sis.”

She looked up to see Bai Yuqiao biting half a chestnut, holding the other half, nodding mildly at her.

Yang Wanxi couldn’t help but smile.

After accompanying Bai Kou through on-site confirmation, they emerged from the Nanjing exam site, and Bai Kou suddenly pulled two more admission tickets from her bag.

She held all three up, shaking them in the sunlight.

“Sigh, it would be great if all three passed.”

Yang Wanxi walked beside Bai Kou, eyes on her phone. Hearing this, she glanced from the screen at the admission tickets in Bai Kou’s hand.

“Believe in yourself. You can do it.”

“I wouldn’t dare believe too much.” Bai Kou lowered her hand. “Last Joint Entrance Exam, I believed too hard and bombed it.” She clasped her hands. “This time, I just wish for a normal person next to me!”

Yang Wanxi chuckled, her finger pausing as she scrolled to a fish tank photo Pei Yue had posted in Moments.

The bottom was lined with white pebbles, pink flowers planted between them, and bean-sprout-like… water plants floating above?

There were five fish; four small ones were blurry, but the one nearest the surface had a purple-red tail, a breed Yang Wanxi hadn’t seen before.

After that contact, Pei Yue had sporadically texted her a few times.

Saying her health was recovering well, she’d seen a psychologist, joined a running club and some overseas Chinese hobby groups.

Treating her like a confidante, really.

Every message ended politely with “thanks” and “wishing you health and happiness too”… Sometimes Yang Wanxi wondered if Pei Yue and Bai Kou really had no further contact.

Maybe she was possessed today, or maybe Bai Kou just seemed in a good mood.

“Bai Doudou.” Yang Wanxi saved the photo, opened her album, and called out.

“Hm?”

She held up the phone with the fish tank photo, saying nothing.

“Wow, so pretty.” Bai Kou’s admiration sounded genuine. “Your friend’s?”

Click. Yang Wanxi locked her screen, suddenly wondering what she was doing.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “A friend’s.”

They traveled from Nanjing back to Beijing, arriving home near one in the morning.

Bai Kou entered first and saw the living room light still on. Turning, she spotted her sister draped in a blanket, asleep on the sofa.

“Shh!” Bai Kou whipped back and held up a finger to Yang Wanxi.

Yang Wanxi gently closed the door.

They bickered normally, but shared perfect rapport for mischief.

They crouched neatly by the sofa, silently counting “three, two, one.” One extended her left hand, the other her right, poking Bai Yuqiao’s face simultaneously.

“…”

Bai Yuqiao opened her eyes to two beaming smiles.

Bai Kou: “Sis, why didn’t you go to bed!”

Yang Wanxi: “Good thing there’s heat here. In Heyan, you’d freeze solid.”

Bai Yuqiao sat up straight, smiling as she rubbed her neck.

Late February, Bai Kou officially entered exam mode with the group, while Bai Yuqiao had to head to Shenzhen on a business trip with her mentor’s research team.

Yang Wanxi saw Bai Yuqiao off at the neighborhood gate. Bai Yuqiao suddenly stopped, turned back to look at her, raising a hand as if to gesture something.

“Don’t worry, Yuqiao Sis. I’ve got Bai Kou covered. You be safe out there alone.”

Bai Yuqiao, towing her suitcase, gazed quietly at Yang Wanxi for a moment, released the handle, and stepped closer.

She hugged Yang Wanxi, patting her back lightly as if to reassure her.

Releasing, 【See you,】 Bai Yuqiao gestured with a smile, then turned toward the subway.

Bai Kou’s provincial exams ran from February 25 to March 1 with no breaks, her hands nearly turning charcoal gray.

They said to relax, but she could tell right there how she did versus others.

All three times, normal people sat beside her… normal geniuses.

So every day after, she headbutted Yang Wanxi’s shoulder and wailed, “So painful! So painful! I can’t take the exams anymore!”

Even staring at an apple during a late snack, she obsessed over its light-dark boundary.

Yang Wanxi probably didn’t dare provoke her these days, dropping the hot-and-cold routine.

Bai Kou could lean if she wanted, hold hands and go wild without pullback—total pushover for Bai Kou.

On the last day in Nanjing, after the exam ended, Bai Kou flopped “poof” onto the hotel bed.

Yang Wanxi turned down the TV volume, barely breathing, only nudging Bai Kou’s foot in passing to check she was alive.

Bai Yuqiao took a 26-inch suitcase to Shenzhen, but over half was empty.

Returning, it brimmed with local specialties and snacks for them.

The examinees, resting two days before heading back to Heyan, lit up and tore into a box of mung bean cakes right on the floor.

Thin crust, dense filling! Not too sweet or greasy! So good! Bai Kou nearly teared up in bliss, feeling her energy surging back.

She waved. “Yang Kuikui! Come try this! NO.1!”

Bai Yuqiao handed Yang Wanxi a box of brownish-red stuff separately. Yang Wanxi took it puzzled, peeked inside: a box of… dried tangerine peel.

Bai Yuqiao typed: 【For Auntie Yang.】

Yang Wanxi stared blankly at the words. Then floor-sitting Bai Kou called, “Sis, come taste a bite!”

The words vanished from view. She gripped the bag, swallowed, looked down.

Bai Yuqiao squatted beside Bai Kou.

Bai Kou held up a mung bean cake in one hand, cupped the other under Bai Yuqiao’s chin. After Bai Yuqiao bit, Bai Kou wiped crumbs from her lip corner with a finger, grabbed a tissue. “How’s that? Good, right?”

Who knew whose souvenir it even was.

Yang Wanxi looked at Bai Yuqiao’s profile.

She felt she’d seen the world’s happiest smile.

Actually, besides Auntie Bai, Bai Kou, and your mom. Yang Wanxi thought, Bai Yuqiao, I’m one of the people in this world who most wants you to be happy.