Chapter 35: 35 Chapter 35 Part 1

◎Four Sticky Notes◎

After witnessing that disgusting scene with her own eyes.

Yu Qinjiu’s sleep quality became very poor. She needed an extremely sealed sleeping environment, or a certain amount of alcohol, to keep herself from getting so anxious she would want to drown in water when she couldn’t sleep.

When she first arrived in England, she often did this.

It was as if the moment she was submerged in water, the moment all the air in her lungs was squeezed out, she could temporarily drive away that butterfly on her neck.

Butterflies are afraid of water.

Once their wings touch water, they drown in it.

She had thought about just drowning the butterfly. But every time this illusory thought appeared, a phantom of Ji Qingyou, who had been separated from her, would appear out of nowhere. She wouldn’t do anything. She would just stand there, in the midst of the illusory bubbles, silently watching her.

She didn’t need to do anything. Just appearing in front of Yu Qinjiu was enough to dispel such thoughts.

But this version of Ji Qingyou.

Only appeared briefly when Yu Qinjiu’s will was about to dissipate.

And the moment Yu Qinjiu surfaced, trying to embrace and grasp her, the phantom would instantly dissolve into a dreamlike bubble, completely shattering into countless fragments, dissipating into the air.

The rest of the time.

Yu Qinjiu was always thinking about whether she should go see Ji Qingyou again. Should she bother her? Would she remember her? What should she do if she didn’t? What should she do if she did?

What should she say when they met, so as not to scare her?

What kind of appearance was most appropriate when they met again?

She didn’t want to appear in front of Ji Qingyou again while still broken. She also didn’t want to share her pain with her.

She hoped that the day they met again.

Would be elegant, perfect, and complete.

After she found out which hospital Ji Qingyou worked at, she secretly watched her from an unnoticed corner of the hospital as she celebrated her twenty-ninth birthday.

The twenty-nine-year-old Ji Qingyou was thinner, more beautiful. She wore glasses. She looked very elegant in her white coat. She spoke softly to everyone. When she wore a mask, her eyes looked sharp and cool. When she took it off, her features appeared soft and gentle.

She really had become a wonderful doctor.

She would crouch down to talk to children. She would hold the door for anyone entering the elevator. She would stop to buy a cake for someone on her own birthday. A few colleagues who had been with her for a long time would secretly bring a cake and say they wanted to celebrate her birthday. There was a very cute junior colleague who kept asking around about her preferences and interests…

She didn’t eat sweets, didn’t touch alcohol, didn’t sleep.

These were Dr. Ji’s “three nos.” They were all the opposite of what Yu Qinjiu remembered. When she heard that, Yu Qinjiu understood that she and Ji Qingyou had indeed missed ten years of each other’s lives.

Ten years was enough to change many things.

Including the Alps lollipops that were never mentioned again. The Alps mountain they would never climb together again. And that sweet alcohol that would never appear again.

All of it could shatter Yu Qinjiu into pieces.

The birthday gift she had prepared was now inappropriate. She decided not to appear in front of Ji Qingyou again. That night, she watched the lights of the distant hospital from a bus stop by the road. Many buses came and went, opening and closing their doors in front of her.

She didn’t have any change. She just stood there in the snow.

When the No. 27 bus stopped, a pair of high school girls who seemed very close passed by her, talking about their plans after the college entrance exams.

Their silhouettes were cast on the ground by the swaying streetlights. They wore matching blue beanies, close and intimate. The snow on Christmas Eve continued to fall. She heard the girl with the twin tails mutter, “Ding Panpan, if I go to Beijing, you have to call me every day…”

“I know. Even if you don’t pick up, I’ll still call. Ten times a day, and video calls too.” The girl called Ding Panpan was the first to board the bus. She swiped her card twice, then turned back and saw Yu Qinjiu standing at the bus stop. She hesitated for a moment, then swiped it again.

“Sister, I swiped for you. Don’t stand in the snow anymore. It’s too cold.”

The girl with the twin tails also looked over. Under the impatient urging of the driver, they pulled the nearly frozen Yu Qinjiu onto the bus.

And so, Yu Qinjiu got on the No. 27 bus. At a turn, amidst the fleeting street scene, she saw Ji Qingyou, standing alone, getting wet in the snow by the roadside.

If Ji Qingyou hadn’t chased after her that day, if she hadn’t recognized her, this would have been their last meeting.

There would be no more Alps lollipops. No more goldfish named Alps and Lollipop. No more Miss Alps and the Southwood Sweetheart. No more stingray plush during the gastroscopy. No more dark green Beetle. No more sweet alcohol on that snowy night…

Their lives would be forever separated on opposite sides of the earth.

—

Thinking back on what happened last Christmas Eve, Yu Qinjiu felt grateful. There were many coincidences to be thankful for. The No. 27 bus that passed the hospital entrance. The two high school girls who brought her onto the bus. The snow that fell on Christmas Eve…

All of it brought her back to Ji Qingyou’s side.

No matter what happened in the future, Yu Qinjiu felt grateful at that moment. Even if the butterfly on her neck hadn’t disappeared, she felt an inexplicable calm.

When she closed her eyes, she could hear the slow flow of a nearby river, the distant sound of a ferry horn. Her nose was filled with the light scent of sea salt and grapefruit. That was the scent of all the toiletries in Ji Qingyou’s house. A single, unified scent.

The wind gently blew in from the window, carrying Ji Qingyou’s scent and her even breathing. The butterfly on her neck flapped its wings slowly.

Yu Qinjiu slowly opened her eyes, patiently gazing at Ji Qingyou in the moonlight. It was hard for her to sleep peacefully, but for the first time, she felt that this long night was a little short.

The moonlight wavered. She didn’t know how long it lasted.

She felt her hand was a little numb from being pressed. She carefully moved it. But with that slight movement, Ji Qingyou, who was lying on her back, turned over. Her breathing tightened.

She thought she had woken her up, so she didn’t dare move again.

But it seemed like Ji Qingyou hadn’t woken up. She just turned over, then slowly reached out, fumbling in the air for a moment, before finally landing very gently on her shoulder.

As if she had finally found a landing point. Ji Qingyou’s breathing slowed. Then she very gently patted her shoulder, the rhythm slow. She let out a breath, then softly hummed a tune. It was like a dreamy murmur, or some kind of habit she had kept since childhood.

Ji Qingyou, who could barely be bothered to say a few words.

Would sing Yu Qinjiu a very strange song when she couldn’t sleep. The song had no lyrics, just a monotonous tune. It was a tune Yu Qinjiu had hummed on a whim one day.

With her tone-deaf talent, the tune was naturally very strange.

But strangely enough, every time she hummed it, it turned out the same. So it became a weapon to annoy Ji Qingyou.

Every time Ji Qingyou didn’t want to do something.

Yu Qinjiu would sing this song repeatedly in her ear until she got annoyed, until she agreed to do it.

Later, Ji Qingyou remembered the tune.

But she didn’t use it to torment her. She just sang it once on a whim one day. Later, every time Yu Qinjiu couldn’t sleep, Ji Qingyou would hum it for her.

Maybe this tone-deaf song had magic.

Or maybe the Ji Qingyou who sang it had magic.

Every time Yu Qinjiu heard Ji Qingyou hum this tune, she felt a sense of peace. Over time, this randomly pieced-together melody became Yu Qinjiu’s exclusive lullaby.

Times had changed.

Yu Qinjiu heard her exclusive lullaby again. And at this moment, Ji Qingyou was lying right in front of her, breathing evenly, patiently lulling her to sleep.

This was a scene Yu Qinjiu couldn’t have imagined during those times she was drowning in water.

The gentle movement on her shoulder reminded her that this was a real touch. She felt like she was wrapped in a very stable cocoon by Ji Qingyou. The confined space bound them tightly together.

It was a quiet night.

But Yu Qinjiu felt like there was a glowing bubble between them.

—

When she opened her eyes again, it was very bright outside. The smell of sunlight wafted through the air. Yu Qinjiu was a little dazed. She couldn’t even remember when she had fallen asleep last night, or when Ji Qingyou had let go of her.

She only remembered.

Under Ji Qingyou’s very gentle soothing movements, her consciousness had slowly sunk, and she had eventually fallen asleep peacefully to the sound of her exclusive lullaby.

Her gaze wandered in the air.

Yu Qinjiu hadn’t slept so deeply in a long time. The temperature on the other side of the blanket was already cold. Ji Qingyou should have gone to work. No matter what happened to her, the punctual Ji Qingyou would never allow herself to be late or absent.

Just like when she was twelve years old. Ji Qingyou had a fever but insisted on going to class. If Yu Qinjiu hadn’t noticed, she would have fainted in the classroom.

It was hard to imagine that at the age of twelve, Ji Qingyou was already stubbornly punctual about everything. Once she agreed to something, she would never miss it.

To Ji Qingyou, going to class was a kind of agreement with her teacher. She wouldn’t agree to things she couldn’t do. And if she agreed, she would definitely do it.

Yu Qinjiu felt she should learn from Ji Qingyou. At least she shouldn’t be so lazy about being late. But high school life was just too tight. If she slept five more minutes, her hair wouldn’t look as good.

So back then, she was late quite often.

Ji Qingyou would wait for her on the bus. She would always be just in time, making the driver, who was about to step on the gas, reopen the door for the always-late Yu Qinjiu.

These kinds of things happened so often. They always slipped through her mind at unexpected moments.

They always appeared in the fragmented moments of time.

After washing up, Yu Qinjiu walked through the empty house wearing Ji Qingyou’s pajamas. The sound of a ferry horn drifted in from outside. The breeze followed the sunlight in. As she passed the long table in the living room, the wind blew off a very light piece of paper.

She froze. She saw that it said:

[The soup dumplings and wontons are in the kitchen. You can heat them in the microwave. I tested it: soup dumplings on low for one and a half minutes, wontons on low for two minutes.]

She picked up the note and went to the kitchen to heat up the soup dumplings and wontons. There was a sticky note on the microwave that read:

[The left side of the bedroom closet is for coats. The right side is for sweaters and tops. You can wear whatever you want. Other… other clothes are in the small cabinet below. If you need to change, remember to take the ones in the storage bag. They’re all new. All my scarves are in the left drawer of the closet. You can wear any of them. If you think none of them look good, the top three on the first layer are the ones you wore before. If you feel they don’t match your outfit today, I’ve already ordered several of the same style you wore before. They should arrive in a few days. If you want to buy some new ones, I’ll have time tomorrow evening.]