Li Wuhui really wanted to contact Qiu Yiran.
She wanted to tell her in an impatient tone—
Someone dumped a bucket of cold water on my head in the heavy snow, and she pretended to be your crazy fan to the outside world, so you have to take responsibility for this.
She wanted to vent all the resentment from tonight on Qiu Yiran, including the emptiness of this gathering and the bone-chilling sting of that bucket of ice water.
But Li Wuhui still didn’t.
Because sometimes she also thought—
To her, Qiu Yiran was like a bonfire, the place she always wanted to go to whenever she sensed cold and loneliness.
But she herself was a bucket of ice water below zero degrees, useless except for extinguishing that bonfire.
So she still returned to her place in Paris. The hotel was in a very bustling location; she almost didn’t need to turn on the lights, as the suite was illuminated by the brilliant lights outside the window.
When Feng Yu hurried over, the suite still had no lights on—
Li Wuhui was still wearing that gold-embroidered halter slit gown from the party, the two strands of hair by her forehead still damp, half-wet and half-dry against her face.
Her high heels were haphazardly thrown by the door; she was barefoot, her spine slightly arched, feeding the goldfish in the tank.
Feng Yu breathed a sigh of relief and walked over.
“Are you okay—”
She stopped midway through the sentence.
Because only when Feng Yu got closer did she notice—the two kissing fish in the tank seemed to be dead.
In that instant, Feng Yu was speechless.
She stared at Li Wuhui’s profile, illuminated by the water’s gleam, for a long time before saying, “The fish seem to be dead.”
“Is that so?” Li Wuhui seemed startled awake. She glanced at the fish drifting in the tank and frowned slightly.
Just as she was about to say something.
The two fish in the tank flipped over and slowly swam around.
“You saw wrong.” Li Wuhui’s brows relaxed.
Then she lazily set down the fish food in her hand, pondered for a while, and finally, as if waking from a dream, rummaged around the living room. “Where’s my phone?”
Feng Yu’s sharp eyes spotted the phone and handed it to her, then turned on all the lights in the room. Only then did she clearly see the fish swimming inside and finally exhaled the stifled breath in her chest.
“The fish scared me half to death, and you scared me too. I thought you had gone crazy just now.”
Li Wuhui squinted against the light.
The call connected by her ear. She casually brushed aside her damp hair and said to the person in charge on the other end, “They’re swimming very slowly.”
Then she hung up and looked up at Feng Yu. “It’s just a bucket of ice water, nothing to it.”
“Yes, you really shouldn’t think that way.” Feng Yu patted her chest. “You’ve encountered plenty of crazies these past few years, even worse ones. I wasn’t actually worried about you.”
Li Wuhui didn’t respond, as if her attention had been drawn to the two fish in the tank.
“What did they say?” Feng Yu squatted down beside her. “How much longer can these two live?”
“I’ll try again.” Li Wuhui said absentmindedly. “Maybe they can live a long time.”
Feng Yu sighed.
“I actually don’t understand why you’re so insistent on keeping fish. Wouldn’t cats or dogs be better? They provide more emotional value and can keep you company much longer than fish…”
“Because she’s really good at it.”
“What?” Feng Yu was stunned.
For a moment, she couldn’t recall who the “she” in Li Wuhui’s words referred to.
Until Li Wuhui finally turned her head and looked at her, saying word by word,
“Because Qiu Yiran is really good at it.”
“You…” Feng Yu hesitated.
She hadn’t expected it to really be about Qiu Yiran again.
She didn’t know how much more pain Li Wuhui was going to put herself through because of this person.
“Do I need to remind you?” Li Wuhui noticed Feng Yu’s hesitation.
“She used to be your idol.”
“Not anymore.” Feng Yu hugged her knees and sighed. “Not after she got together with you.”
“Why?” Li Wuhui didn’t quite understand Feng Yu’s train of thought. At that time, Qiu Yiran hadn’t even hit rock bottom yet.
“Because…” Feng Yu thought for a moment, as if organizing her words.
“Because she was too close then, and she wasn’t like I imagined. So the illusion shattered, I guess.”
Li Wuhui understood. “So what did you imagine her to be like?”
“I thought she would be a very proud person.” Feng Yu thought about it and said.
“But I didn’t expect… how to put it? Oh, obedient. I think she’s too obedient, but not entirely. Most of the time she’s pretty steady too. How to say it… she just doesn’t feel like she’s two years older than you at all.”
Li Wuhui finally understood what Feng Yu meant—actually, she often felt the same way. Qiu Yiran was truly magical.
Before meeting her, she only thought of her as a young genius with fame and fortune that countless young people dreamed of, someone distant and one-dimensional.
But the deeper the contact, the more wondrous she found her—running marathons every half month, carefully checking her shoelaces twice when tying them, shyly asking people not to talk about it after playing the saxophone, naively trusting others, feeling embarrassed when caught peeking at her, tearing at hangnails when anxious and conflicted, and even very good at raising fish…
Even the fish Qiu Yiran raised could live a long time.
She couldn’t really be called “obedient,” nor easily summed up in a single word.
But in her impression, Qiu Yiran was just that kind of person. She was the last one who should have been crushed by hardship, yet right under her nose, she was struck down by pain and turned into someone else entirely.
To the point that Li Wuhui still couldn’t believe it, couldn’t accept it.
She had even thought more than once in the dead of night—
If she could get Qiu Yiran back to Paris, she’d rather be the one who left with broken legs.
–
Before Feng Yu left, Li Wuhui received a call from back home.
It was from the staff at the Mang City hotel—asking if she had left any items behind.
After the reminder, Li Wuhui remembered that she had indeed forgotten her wine flask at the hotel.
The staff asked if they should mail it to her.
Li Wuhui thought for a moment and said in front of Feng Yu, “I’ll come pick it up myself.”
The staff seemed surprised and emphasized again, “Ma’am, we can fully provide mailing service…”
“Yes, I know.” Li Wuhui said. “But my next itinerary isn’t set, so I don’t know where to have it sent.”
The staff understood and didn’t press further, just confirmed the time with her before hanging up.
After that, Li Wuhui booked a flight back home, tossed her phone onto the sofa, and saw Feng Yu’s wide-eyed expression.
“Aren’t you going back?” she asked Feng Yu.
“This wine flask,” Feng Yu ignored her, “you didn’t leave it there on purpose, did you?”
“No.” Li Wuhui denied it crisply. “I really need my wine flask. I’d never discard it lightly.”
Feng Yu stared at her intently.
Li Wuhui lowered her eyes and added softly,
“So I have to retrieve it myself.”
–
Returning to Mang City was now in 2025. But this time it was unexpected, because as soon as Li Wuhui walked out of the high-speed rail station, she saw Qiu Yiran—
The sun was bright that day. Qiu Yiran wore a desert-brown coat that reached her ankles, looking very heavy. She had on a green plaid scarf similar to the one from the day they first met.
She was very thin, with a light frame, so she looked like she might be crushed under the coat.
But she was holding the hand of a three- or four-year-old child.
Like a lost child.
Because Qiu Yiran was anxiously and bewilderedly leading this lost child to find their parents.
The high-speed rail station at the start of the year was bustling with people coming and going, noisy like ants gnawing at a giant tree.
Qiu Yiran struggled through the crowd into the station, protectively holding the child’s hand tightly as she asked one person after another.
Finally, with no other choice, she squatted down—
To look the crying lost child in the eye, then pulled a lollipop from her pocket and coaxed her softly.
Once she had calmed down.
The crying subsided.
Qiu Yiran sighed in relief, took out a handkerchief to wipe the child’s face and blow her nose, then laboriously stood up holding her legs.
And it was at this moment—
An anxious parent rushed out from the crowd, bowed hurriedly in front of Qiu Yiran.
After confirming a few things, the lost child was led away by the parent, giggling as she bit into the lollipop and waved back at Qiu Yiran.
Suddenly, amid the heavy crowd, only Qiu Yiran remained.
The high-speed rail station outside buzzed with voices, dense with faces. Countless people passed by her, through her.
Qiu Yiran stood in place.
She looked up at the red glowing text on the screen outside the station, which listed several routes passing through the provincial airport city.
But she didn’t move for a long time; even her back view looked thin, as if she might snap at any moment.
She had become the next lost one.
Because she didn’t know Li Wuhui was standing right behind her.
Until Li Wuhui decided to walk toward her.
Because Li Wuhui had a certain definite premonition—
She was lingering here because she was waiting for her, for their divorce.
