Chapter 71: Paying a Visit

What day was it today? December 31st—what special day was it?

The girl wasn’t asking a question; she was talking to herself. “Today is the last day of my first year liking you. But tomorrow will be the first day of my second year liking you. Yan Ningxi, I want to say these two sentences to you again and again, year after year.”

Yan Ningxi fell silent for a long time after hearing this.

With the rear camera on, she couldn’t see the sincerity and deep affection in Ming You’s eyes and expression as she said those words, but she could hear the determination and conviction in her voice.

Fireworks bloomed brilliantly, their fleeting moment eternal. Just like the dazzling love Ming You gave her—it painted vibrant colors stroke after stroke onto the monotonous, bland scroll of her life. Once colored, it could never be changed back.

She could have stuck to black and white all the way, if she had never seen a rainbow.

The camera panned down from above. On the screen, Lin Yiyang covered one ear as she pulled Gu Xirui along. The two each extended one arm and used sparklers to light the biggest fireworks tube together.

“Boom, boom…”

“Gu Xirui, you’re not even afraid of bugs—what are you scared of, lighting it?”

“Lin Yiyang, you’re the scaredy-cat who fears bugs. If you’re not afraid of lighting it, then why are you running?”

Ming You rarely showed an auntie smile. “Those two… they’re getting more and more alike.”

As Yan Ningxi watched the “bickering” pair of girls, the girl who had moved into her heart appeared before her eyes. “Your friends are cute, but you—you’re even cuter.”

This year wasn’t just Ming You’s first year liking her; it was also her first year liking Ming You. How fortunate she was.

Fang Jie held a sparkler and unintentionally blocked Ming You’s camera lens as he approached from afar. “Ming You, we said we’d set off fireworks together—how come you’re hiding off to the side by yourself? Did the smoke irritate your eyes?”

“No.” Ming You pressed her phone against her clothes, not wanting unrelated people to see Yan Ningxi, but she forgot the camera was already on the rear-facing mode.

“If you don’t come join us soon, they’ll all be set off by them.” Fang Jie lit two new sparklers and handed them over. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Ming You politely took them and held them in her hand, then turned and walked toward a less crowded spot.

Fang Jie chased after her. “Ming You…”

“Go play by yourself. Don’t follow me.” Ming You didn’t control her tone well.

“S-Sorry.”

After walking another dozen meters or so, Ming You glanced at her phone screen, switched the camera back, and pouted as she said, “Sister Yan, I miss you so much.”

A faint smile tugged at Yan Ningxi’s lips. “Next weekend, let’s invite Teacher Qi over to our place for a hot pot mutton soup.”

“Sure.” Ming You waved the sparklers in front of the screen. “I’ve taken up more than ten minutes of your time—go keep Uncle company.”

“That boy just now was pretty handsome. Are all the students at your school this good-looking on average?” Yan Ningxi said seriously, though her eyes sparkled with amusement.

“Is he handsome?” Ming You’s pout grew even bigger. “Oh, so you like his type.”

“I…” She didn’t like any type, but she liked Ming You—and she couldn’t say it outright, so she answered irrelevantly, “You’re better-looking than all of them.”

“Teacher Yan, you’re so perfunctory. With all those words at your disposal, all you know how to say is ‘good-looking’ and ‘cute’?”

Seeing Yan Ningxi look troubled, Ming You stopped teasing her. “Okay, just kidding. Hanging up now. Bye.”

“Mm, bye.”

Video call duration: 18 minutes 20 seconds

【Ming You: [Heart] [Hug] [Rose] 】

【Yan Ningxi: Don’t play too late. Be careful with the fireworks.】

Ming You cleared her throat repeatedly, then sent a voice message repeating what she had said earlier.

“Yan Ningxi, I miss you.”

Yan Ningxi first converted the message to text. After seeing the content, she held the phone to her ear in speaker mode and listened to it several times, then long-pressed to save it.

【Yan Ningxi: See you next week.】

Right after sending that voice message, Ming You booked a ride-share on some app. Heaven rewards the diligent—she got one, departing at seven the next morning.

Gu Xirui couldn’t control her “habitual offender” behavior of acting first and asking permission later.

She could only demand, “I’ve noted down the license plate and driver’s info. Text or call me every half hour after you get in.”

“Okay.”

…

It snowed that night. New Year’s Day—winter snow heralded a bountiful year.

In the early morning, Ming You got into the ride-share on time. A young couple was in the car: the man drove, and the woman sat in the passenger seat, looking sullen.

The man informed Ming You of the travel situation. “Miss Ming, the roads are slippery from the snow. For safety, we can’t go too fast—it might be about half an hour later than expected.”

“Mm, I understand. Safety first. We left early, so hopefully no traffic jams.”

After hitting the road, the man glanced at her several times in the rearview mirror before hesitantly asking, “You look a bit familiar. Are you a student from Hengchuan University? My girlfriend and I watched the performance yesterday afternoon too—every act was great.”

“Thanks. I had something urgent, so I left early.”

“You’re traveling alone, and not heading back to school. You told your teachers and classmates, right?”

“Yeah.”

The woman in the passenger seat barked sullenly, “Stop chatting. I need to nap.”

The man shut up.

Ming You texted Gu Xirui, put on her earphones, and listened to music. The ride-share would drop her at the nearest high-speed rail station; from there, she’d transfer to a bullet train to Yan Ningxi’s county—a forty- or fifty-minute trip.

The sky brightened fully, the snow stopped, and rain started falling.

After enduring an hour of twisty mountain roads, they hit the highway and soon encountered a skidding accident.

It didn’t look like there were any injuries, and it hadn’t caused a blockage yet.

Around ten o’clock, the driver dropped Ming You at the high-speed rail station. “Your ticket’s at 10:30—you’ll make it.”

“Thanks.” As she got out, the woman in the passenger seat also exited, grabbed her suitcase, and hurried into the entrance.

Close to noon, Ming You pulled her suitcase out of the train station.

She snapped a photo in the plaza: 【Sister Yan, I couldn’t wait until next week.】

At that moment, Yan Ningxi was making lunch. She saw the message half an hour later. Stomach empty, she headed out. “Dad, eat first. A friend came—I’m going to pick her up at the station.”

Ming You always flip-flopped between willful and not, obedient and not. At first, Yan Ningxi would occasionally get sulky and correct Ming You’s willful actions, but now she couldn’t muster any anger at all.

Because she really, really missed Ming You too.

After a phone call, Ming You waited for her at a fast-food spot in the station.

The city drizzled with fine rain. Yan Ningxi got out of the car without opening her umbrella before Ming You pulled her into an embrace.

“Happy New Year, Sister Yan.” Ming You didn’t hug too long and took the umbrella to hold it over both their heads.

Yan Ningxi lightly touched Ming You’s cool cheek and brushed the raindrops from her hair. “You disrupted my plans again, acting on whim without following the rules.”

“Loving you is my sickness, pining for you drives me mad.” The romantic line came effortlessly. “So I had to deliver myself right to your door.”

They took a cab.

Ming You asked, “Hotel or home?”

Yan Ningxi said, “Where do you want to go?”

“Where you are is where I’ll go.” On the train, Ming You had rehearsed everything in her head: how to greet the elders properly if she visited, how to answer questions politely, how to explain her relationship with Yan Ningxi.

“Hotel first to drop the luggage, then home for food. It’s just me and Dad at home—lunch is ready.” Yan Ningxi hadn’t expected Ming You to chase after her.

She hadn’t even told Qi Xuexin her exact address, and she didn’t think she’d mentioned the county to Ming You either. How did she find it?

ID card! That time they went to see snow in the mountains, Ming You had borrowed her ID for check-in registration.

Since she was already here, it was fine to let Ming You see her real home situation. Bringing a girl home to meet her father wouldn’t cause misunderstandings and might even ease the tension between her and her dad.

“So tell me about Uncle?” Better safe than sorry.

“He’s been a middle school physics teacher for decades. Totally ordinary, just like the teachers you’ve seen at school.”

“And Auntie, is she a teacher too?”

“Yeah, history teacher.”

Ming You tickled Yan Ningxi’s palm. “Sister Yan, you’re from a true scholarly family.”

“There are plenty of books—whether they smell good or not, you’ll have to come sniff for yourself.”

Yan Ningxi’s chat with her father the night before hadn’t gone pleasantly. After the video call with Ming You, she had laid out the whole story about the 100,000 yuan she’d “returned.” Whether to trust her aunt was one thing, but 100,000 wasn’t pocket change—she needed to verify it carefully. Better for her to say it than someone else.

Yan Qixiang listened without a change in expression, not even looking at her. After a long pause, he finally said, “I’ve still ended up dragging you into it.”

“Dad, it’s my duty as your daughter. My job’s stable, city salary’s higher than here, I live in school-provided housing, low expenses for one person. By now, I do have 100,000 in savings.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. If Chen Xuemei hadn’t squeezed her, she really would have had it.

Yan Qixiang said nothing more and went back to his bedroom. Yan Ningxi sat alone in the living room and transferred the money to the account her aunt had given her.

The TV volume was low—the host droned on, singers crooned, skits played—but Yan Ningxi took in none of it. Only when the countdown hit on TV and she got Ming You’s 【Happy New Year】 message at midnight did she return to her room after mutual “goodnights.”

…

Yan Ningxi booked the hotel, a ten-minute walk from home, and she paid for it.

Ming You hadn’t had a proper shower in two nights; she really wanted one before heading out.

But Yan Ningxi said lunch was just made, meaning she’d come to pick her up without eating. Ming You couldn’t delay over something personal like showering. What kind of first visit kept the elders waiting for dinner?

Thinking of Yan Ningxi’s father waiting at home, Ming You suppressed her urge to kiss her. She quickly dropped the suitcase, stuffed some small personal items into her pockets, and left with Yan Ningxi.

At the door, Ming You’s prepared speech flew out of her head the moment she saw Yan Qixiang, who was over sixty.

Yan Qixiang wore black-framed glasses and had a stern, unsmiling face. Even sitting, his medium height and build looked lean, with a short buzz cut and white hair at his temples.

“Dad, this is my friend, Ming You.” After entering, Yan Ningxi introduced her to her father on the living room sofa.

“U-Uncle, hello.”

Ming You stuttered. She hadn’t expected Yan Ningxi’s father to be so old, with white hair.

The uncles she usually called were men around her parents’ age. If Yan Qixiang weren’t Yan Ningxi’s father, he’d be “grandpa” generation to her.

“Mm. You haven’t eaten yet, right? Ningxi made lunch—warm it up and eat some.” Yan Qixiang didn’t stand. Ming You was the younger generation; no need to greet her formally.

“The bathroom’s this way. Go wash up. I’ll heat the dishes.” Yan Ningxi understood Ming You’s awkwardness all too well—it was just like her own unease the first time she met Yang Guishu. She pointed out the bathroom, then carried the dishes from the table into the kitchen.

Clearly, the food was almost untouched. Only the lotus root pork rib soup in the basin was a bit less, and there was a used set of bowl and chopsticks by the sink.

Ming You didn’t dawdle. She washed her hands and came properly to the living room.

In the bathroom, she saw it was stocked with men’s items, and there was that indescribable manly scent. Not bad, just something she wasn’t used to.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she came out. Good thing Yan Ningxi had her stay at the hotel.

Though the house was far cleaner and brighter than a village guesthouse, Ming You still felt a bit bothered.

Since she could remember, her home always had two bathrooms: the one near the master bedroom for her parents, and the one by the living room for her. After her parents divorced and Ming Tai moved out, it was all women.

In high school, college, and art exam dorms, she always shared bathrooms with girls. She could no longer adapt to men in her daily life.

But the man she had to face was Yan Ningxi’s father, the closest kin of the person she liked. For Yan Ningxi’s sake, she had to work hard to overcome her own psychological barriers.