Chapter 31

“Hello? Sister? You’ve been grinning all night. Look at yourself—cheap thrills, honestly.”

Tang Xiaoyu, wearing a face mask, was utterly speechless.

Lin Xuqing kept packing, pretending not to hear.

Tang Xiaoyu pressed on. “Or, more precisely, ever since the drive back this afternoon, you’ve been floating on air. Come on, spill. When your dear sister called you over this afternoon, what did she say to you?”

Lin Xuqing stopped, looked up, and answered, “She told me to be a little happier.”

“Huh? Were you unhappy?”

“And besides, just that one line, a handful of words, and it makes you this happy?”

“I don’t buy it. There has to be something else. Confess. You won’t even tell me the truth?”

Lin Xuqing replayed the scene in her head, and couldn’t help laughing again. “Really, that’s all.”

Tang Xiaoyu gave up on pressing further, peeling off her mask. “Look at you, floating around—still claiming there’s nothing. I’ve been played by you, haven’t I!”

She knew this person was thin-skinned, that many words simply couldn’t make it out of her mouth. She’d given up, so she stopped asking.

She washed her face, applied her skincare, unrolled a yoga mat, and prepared to get a little exercise in. She was determined to build abs—so that someday, if the chance arose, she could dazzle a certain someone.

Lin Xuqing put away the ski suit, stowed it in the closet, and seeing her doing a plank, asked out of nowhere, “So you two soaked in the hot springs last night. How was it?”

“Huh?”

At the question, Tang Xiaoyu’s core collapsed and she dropped flat onto the yoga mat.

She’d just started her timer. All for nothing.

You’re something else, Lin Xuqing—striking back without a sound!

“About what you’d expect. What, did you think something would happen?”

“I saw You Hui-jie looking all embarrassed, so I figured you’d done something to her.”

“What could I possibly do? Is that the kind of person you take me for—handsy, taking advantage under cover of darkness?!”

“I never said that. But since you brought it up yourself… so you have been thinking about it?”

“Hey! Lin Xuqing!”

Tang Xiaoyu scrambled up and sat cross-legged on the yoga mat. “I’ve noticed your talent for twisting black into white and calling a deer a horse is getting stronger by the day!”

She asks how she slept last night, gets nothing out of her, and now the tables are turned and she’s the one being teased.

Lin Xuqing just smiled and said nothing more.

Tang Xiaoyu gave a huff, but inwardly she was quite pleased.

This was nice. This person really had gotten a little livelier than before.

Lin Xuqing packed the last item—and found a button lying in the suitcase.

Pale blue. Not hers.

She hadn’t worn anything that color recently.

Lin Xuqing’s mind snapped back to last night.

Jiang Min’s pajamas were blue. It had to be her button—but how had it ended up in her suitcase?

Lin Xuqing glanced sideways—Tang Xiaoyu had resumed exercising, not looking this way at all. Only then did she, thief-like, swiftly pick up the button and slip it into her clothes pocket, her hand closing around it unconsciously in her palm.

She felt this wasn’t quite appropriate. Almost a little… perverse.

In any case, it looked thoroughly premeditated.

Tang Xiaoyu finished a set of jumping jacks and asked, “What are you standing there like a fool for? Weren’t you saying you still had to pack for going home?”

Lin Xuqing was heading back to her hometown tomorrow, catching the afternoon high-speed rail.

Lin Xuqing came back to herself. “Mm. I do need to pack.”

Her hometown was bitterly cold. She brought out her thick down jacket from the room and stuffed it into the suitcase, her mind wandering the whole time.

That button. She had to return it.

Only—when?

Her hand drifted unconsciously back into her pocket, quietly closing around the button again. After the new year, she thought. The moment I’m back from the holidays, I’ll return it to her.

“Oh, right—have you told Sister Jiang that you’re leaving tomorrow?”

“No. I filed the leave through the OA system. Sister Xuezi approved it.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell her?”

“She said at the meeting that OA procedure is enough.”

“You absolute block of wood! Call her right now! Perfect excuse—you’re leaving, a perfectly legitimate reason to phone! Hurry!”

Tang Xiaoyu looked at her with despair, and in her frustration started shoving her clothes around willy-nilly, leaving the suitcase a complete mess.

Lin Xuqing pinned her hands down. “Enough, stop making a mess of my things. Let me finish packing properly. I’ll call later.”

“I give up on you.” Tang Xiaoyu withdrew her hands and flopped backward onto the sofa. “If not for the fact that you fished me through graduation, I couldn’t be bothered with you.”

“Ah! You Hui-jiejie replied to me!”

Tang Xiaoyu was so happy she rolled back and forth on the sofa twice.

The moment she’d gotten home, she’d sent You Hui a message: Jiejie, I’m home! I had so much fun, thank you for teaching me to ski~ See you next time!

She’d typed and deleted, deleted and typed, before finally sending that one line.

You Hui hadn’t replied until just now, saying she’d gotten home in the afternoon, been too sleepy, and fallen asleep—only just saw the message.

The last message popped up.

You Hui: Good night, Little Yu. See you after the new year.

Tang Xiaoyu let out a howl of joy, clutching her phone, happy to the point of fainting.

Lin Xuqing had just finished packing. Hearing that enormous commotion, she shook her head and laughed. And she had the nerve to lecture me just now.

The suitcase was stuffed full—besides her own clothes, there was the medicine she’d bought for her father with her insurance card at the pharmacy a few days ago, plus odds and ends for the family. She’d bought her sister a scarf, her brother a pair of gloves, and some Mingchuan specialty gifts.

Finished, she returned to her room and stood by the window.

Her room faced a small path below the residential compound. She saw that it was snowing again outside.

It had been quite a while since the last blizzard—no snow since.

Lin Xuqing pushed the window open, letting a bit of the crisp cold air swirl in.

She leaned on the windowsill, looking out. Warm orange lamplight spilled down. A quiet, peaceful winter night, snowflakes drifting silently beneath the streetlamp.

She watched the snow for a while, then called Jiang Min.

When the phone rang, Jiang Min was standing at her own window, watching the snow.

She picked up absently, saw the caller was Lin Xuqing, and was rather surprised.

Forget phone calls—for all this time, Lin Xuqing had rarely even messaged her on WeChat. Never a WeChat call, and an actual phone call—never.

So late at night—what could she want?

She pressed answer. “Lin Xuqing. What is it?”

The voice on the other end was faintly mixed with wind. “It’s a bit late. Am I disturbing you?”

“No.” Jiang Min stood at the window, watching the snowflakes drift down, settling on her little courtyard, settling on the flowers and plants she tended so carefully.

Her voice was softer than usual. “Is there something you wanted to say?”

Still the same straight-to-the-point style. From the other end came a helpless little laugh.

“This Saturday is New Year’s Eve. But—I’ve taken Monday through Friday off. Annual leave. I’ll be back at work on time after the new year.”

Jiang Min’s instinct was to say you could have just filed it through the OA—but she stopped herself.

She glanced at the time and thought, Someone calling this late wouldn’t be calling just to say that.

But then what did she want to say?

Jiang Min couldn’t figure it out, and for a moment didn’t know what to reply.

“Oh, right—it’s snowing. Did you see?”

“Mm, I saw. I’m standing by the window.”

Neither of them spoke again. Silence settled between them.

The snow fell without a sound.

The bustling city slowly sank into stillness.

At this very moment, in two corners of this forest of steel, two lamps burned—one in each of their rooms. In the long quiet, they listened to each other’s breathing, and watched the same snow fall.

“Lin Xuqing, why on earth did you book the afternoon high-speed rail? Isn’t there a morning one?”

“I forgot to book tickets in advance. The morning ones were sold out. This was all that was left.”

“Fine. But you still have to transfer to another train to get to your county, and from the county station you have to take a car to where you live. Good grief, by the time you arrive it’ll be the middle of the night. Be careful, okay?”

“Don’t worry. I know.”

“All right, I’m heading back then.”

Lin Xuqing had planned to take a taxi to the station herself, but Tang Xiaoyu had insisted on driving her. She couldn’t linger at the entrance—had to move along.

“Little Yu.” Lin Xuqing called after her, bending down toward the car window. “Thank you.”

“Thanks for what?”

“Nothing in particular. Just—thank you.”

“You being sudden like this is honestly unsettling. Being sharp-tongued suits you better.” Tang Xiaoyu flashed her a smile. “Fine then. Happy New Year. See you after the holidays.”

As the car pulled away, Lin Xuqing stood where she was and waved.

She knew Tang Xiaoyu would be watching her in the rearview mirror.

Lin Xuqing had booked late and only managed a three-seat row—but at least it was a window seat. A blessing in disguise; she could watch the scenery, and the ride would pass on its own.

The train gradually pulled away from the forest of steel and out into the vast plains. Lin Xuqing watched the trees streak backward past the window. Drowsiness overtook her, and she fell asleep.

Outside the office window stood a camphor tree, its leaves stirring in the wind, sweeping past the windowsill.

Jiang Min stared at the tree, lost in thought.

“A-Min? A-Min?” Jiang Xuezi called twice before she responded. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.” Jiang Min came back to herself and asked casually, “Everyone’s taking leave these few days, right?”

“Yes, all the leave slips are approved. Five or six people left today, and a few more leave tomorrow and the day after. You Hui’s flight is at noon today.”

“No wonder the office felt so much emptier when I came in this morning. People never used to leave this early, did they?”

“Right, they used to split their annual leave—a few days before the new year, a few after. This time the forecast said heavy snow before the holiday, so everyone was afraid of getting stranded and used all their leave before the new year.”

Jiang Min gave a murmur of acknowledgment, her gaze sweeping over the empty workstations, feeling inexplicably unaccustomed to it.

“Honestly, in these last two days before the holiday, nobody has their head in their work anyway,” Jiang Xuezi said, standing to stretch. “Leaving early or late makes no difference.”

Jiang Min nodded. “There’s hardly any work left these days. Tell everyone that if they’ve got nothing pressing, they can head home early.”

“Sure. It’s five already. Want to grab Mi Wei and go get dinner?”

“Fine. Let me grab my coat.”

She went upstairs to tidy up briefly, and by the time she came back down, the floor was nearly deserted. “Everyone’s leaving work awfully enthusiastically.”

“Well, what else? Slack off at quitting time, and there’s something wrong with your head!”

Mi Wei pulled on her fluffy bunny coat, her face practically glowing. “Let’s go, let’s go! Food, food!”

Jiang Min stared at that bunny coat, thinking: I wonder what time Lin Xuqing’s train was. Where she is by now.

She’d called so late last night, and hadn’t even said what for—and Jiang Min had forgotten to ask, standing at the window watching the snow for a while. By the time she looked down again, her phone had died and shut itself off.

She hadn’t even asked what time Lin Xuqing’s train was.

“Senior Sister? Are we going?”

“…Oh. Yes.”

“What are we eating?”

“How about barbecue?”

“I’m easy either way.”

“Then let’s go.”

Just outside the park, across the road, stood a large shopping mall.

The entire basement level was restaurants, and one barbecue place was hugely popular—presumably catering to nearby office workers, the seating was all narrow long tables, so even eating barbecue alone wasn’t awkward.

Only in the corner were two square tables, suitable for groups of friends.

“Perfect, this table’s still free.” Mi Wei, seeing the square table open, hurried to sit down. “Order, order!”

“You order. We don’t mind.”

“Then I won’t be polite!”

Mi Wei ordered grilled beef belly, pork belly, chuck flap, lettuce, miso soup, and a plate of fried chicken. “Haven’t had time for KFC these past couple days—might as well have it here.”

Jiang Min said suddenly, “Weren’t you going on and on just days ago about Little Lin owing you a KFC meal?”

“Huh?” Mi Wei thought for a moment. “Oh, right. Senior Sister, your memory is amazing. I’d nearly forgotten… She even said she’d treat everyone.”

Jiang Xuezi picked up the thread. “True, with Little Lin gone I’d forgotten all about it. Good thing you’re always keeping track of her.”

Jiang Min froze.

She couldn’t help wondering: how many times had today alone she thought of Lin Xuqing?