6 Chapter 6 Part 2

So many years later, when talking about this again, Yu Qinjiu herself couldn’t stop laughing, but she still had to pretend to be serious. “I really do have a very fierce dog at home.”

Ji Qingyou thought, sure you do.

But what she said was, “You do bite pretty hard.”

“Does it really hurt?” Yu Qinjiu asked, a little skeptical.

Ji Qingyou slowly cut the remaining half of the steak on her plate and looked up at her. “What do you think?”

Yu Qinjiu fell into memory. “It did kind of hurt, I think. I remember once, when I was on my period, the pain was so bad I was rolling on the ground. I couldn’t help it and bit you. You cried harder than I did.”

Ji Qingyou didn’t intend to admit it. “I didn’t cry.”

But Yu Qinjiu continued on her own. “That was the first time you cried that hard since you turned ten. It scared me so much I forgot about my period pain.”

Ji Qingyou pursed her lips, wanting to skip this topic. “No.”

Yu Qinjiu wiped her mouth, considerately changing the subject. “You still eat so slowly. I’ll go to the bathroom to touch up my makeup.”

Ji Qingyou paused in her actions. She stared at the remaining half of the steak on her plate, then shifted her gaze to Yu Qinjiu’s face, which was stunning enough to make anyone look twice. She said, “You still love being pretty.”

She was already very pretty, and she loved being pretty so much.

She was even prettier.

Yu Qinjiu had this talent. From the time she entered her teenage years, she knew exactly how to use makeup and clothes to maximize her already attractive beauty.

For Ji Qingyou, loving being pretty was always a compliment.

Yu Qinjiu neither confirmed nor denied her assessment. She just smiled, tilting her chin slightly. “Then I’ll have to thank Doctor Ji for the compliment.”

Two minutes after Yu Qinjiu went to touch up her makeup, Ji Qingyou finished the rest of the steak. It had already gone cold and was tasteless, but she didn’t like wasting food.

She naturally called the server to pay the bill. The server kindly recommended today’s checkout offer. “Our restaurant has a partnership with POP MART, ma’am. You can scan the QR code on the bill. If you win, you can claim a corresponding blind box at the front counter.”

After paying, Ji Qingyou scanned the code on the bill. A dazzling array of blind box products appeared on the screen, which showed she hadn’t won. When Yu Qinjiu came out, her phone was still on the blind box store page.

Her eyes lingered on one of the items in a particular series.

It might sound unbelievable, and it might ruin her image, but she actually had an obsession with collecting models and toys.

“I just went to pay, and the server said you already did.”

A soft voice drifted over, with a hint of complaint. Ji Qingyou looked up and saw Yu Qinjiu’s expression carrying a slight reproach.

Ji Qingyou stood up, put on her coat, and tied her scarf. “You came specially to find me. Of course, it’s more appropriate for me to pay.”

“Who said I came specially to find you?” Yu Qinjiu retorted.

Ji Qingyou was stunned for a few seconds, pursed her lips, and avoided Yu Qinjiu’s meaningful smile. “You can pay next time.”

An overly familiar sentence came out of Ji Qingyou’s mouth. She was a bit surprised, but by the time she realized it, it was too late.

After all, she didn’t know how long Yu Qinjiu would stay in the country.

Saying something like that wasn’t necessarily appropriate.

But Yu Qinjiu followed. As she pushed the door open, the cold wind hit her face. She squinted slightly, turned back, and smiled at Ji Qingyou. “Okay.”

Dinner had been a bit slow. It was now the busiest time of the night. The hospital across the street was still brightly lit, and the sirens of ambulances sounded from time to time.

They walked side by side along a road outside the hospital. The snow on the road had melted. There was no more crunching sound under their feet. Their footsteps were light.

Yu Qinjiu had her hands in her pockets. She mentioned, “You wore a scarf today.”

Ji Qingyou looked down. “I was actually planning to return it to you.”

As she spoke, she wanted to take off the warm scarf from around her neck, but Yu Qinjiu leaned in, stopping her, and gently smoothed out the wrinkles on the scarf.

Ji Qingyou was enveloped in a soft, clear rose scent.

She breathed lightly but let Yu Qinjiu continue.

Yu Qinjiu straightened the knot of the scarf. Her long eyelashes were lowered in front of her. “I’ve taught you how to tie this knot so many times. How can you still not do it right?”

Ji Qingyou moved her neck uncomfortably but was immediately yanked tighter by Yu Qinjiu.

“Don’t move,” Yu Qinjiu said.

Ji Qingyou didn’t dare move anymore. After a few seconds of silence, she said, “I got used to it.”

Yu Qinjiu paused. “Got used to what?”

Ji Qingyou didn’t answer. She just pursed her lips.

Yu Qinjiu’s fingers trembled slightly. After a few seconds, she let go of her. “This looks much prettier. I mean the scarf.”

She always knew how to use accessories to their best effect.

They were very close, so close that Ji Qingyou could easily see the earring on Yu Qinjiu’s earlobe. A translucent oil painting blue, a little butterfly, embellishing her free but gentle temperament.

“It is pretty,” Ji Qingyou said.

“Of course it is,” Yu Qinjiu said with a hint of pride in her voice. She took a step back, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small square box with the words POP MART on it. Handing it to Ji Qingyou, Yu Qinjiu’s eyes curved into crescent moons, and she pretended to be surprised in an exaggerated tone. “Wow, I won a prize.”

The small square box pressed into her palm still carried body heat and a lingering fragrance. Ji Qingyou was stunned, unable to react.

But Yu Qinjiu walked up beside her, hands in her pockets. “When I saw those sets on the counter, I guessed you’d like the green one. So I asked the guy if I could buy just the green one.”

“But the guy said blind boxes are random. Unless I buy the whole set, I can’t get the specific style I want. I was going to buy the whole set, but that would be too obvious to hide. So I thought I’d just buy one. If I didn’t get it…”

She looked at Ji Qingyou, her eyes curving into a smile. “…then next time we come here to eat, I’ll give you a new one, okay?”

The “okay” was said like she was coaxing a child. Gentle, the ending tone extremely light, like ripples spreading across the water’s surface.

Ji Qingyou clutched the small square box in her hand. She looked down at the scarf neatly wrapped around her neck and suddenly felt like she had become a child.

Others thought she had no emotional ups and downs, no likes or hobbies, no deep dislikes, no temper. But Yu Qinjiu could always tell at a glance what she liked and what she hated.

Others said she didn’t talk much, didn’t smile or cry. But at every reunion with Yu Qinjiu, every slight flutter of her eyelashes seemed to become another way her emotions revealed themselves.

If Yu Qinjiu didn’t exist in this world, she would be even more boring than she was now. But what would a more boring version of her be like?

She didn’t know, and she couldn’t imagine.

She didn’t know how much time had passed. She looked up at Yu Qinjiu and suddenly felt that her previous worries were completely unfounded. Even if time rolled back and forth, the only one who could put a stamp on the glass of her fish tank was Yu Qinjiu.

She said, “Why did you buy it for me?”

“Because you like it.” Yu Qinjiu said it so lightly, as if for her, the most convincing reason and evaluation standard was “liking it.”

This was indeed something Yu Qinjiu would do.

Ji Qingyou pursed her lips slightly, suddenly remembering when they had to choose between arts and science tracks in high school. Yu Qinjiu, who was always better at liberal arts, chose science without blinking. Her reason was only three words: I like it.

“I really like it.” Ji Qingyou didn’t say thank you again.

Yu Qinjiu easily put her hands back into her pockets. She buried her face into the thick wool scarf, rubbing it. She walked a few steps and then suddenly looked up at her, saying out of the blue, “Okay, actually, I really wanted to confirm one thing.”

“What thing?” Ji Qingyou asked, a little confused.

Yu Qinjiu didn’t speak. After a moment of silence, she reached out and smoothed her windblown hair, then said slowly, “Your most hated food is scallions. Your favorite food is chicken. Your personal record is eating only beer chicken for a whole month. When you eat with me, you’re slow, to wait for me. But when you eat with others, you’re always fast because you don’t want to waste time. Your favorite color is green. Your most, most, most favorite is dark green. You don’t have a least favorite color. You have a bit of a hoarding tendency, especially for toys and game cards. So you actually really wanted that blind box just now. Oh, and you collect all sorts of strange architectural models, but you don’t play with them, you just display them. You have to listen to music to fall asleep. The icons on your computer screen can only be in one vertical row; any more and you’re uncomfortable. You’re allergic to many types of seafood, mangoes, and wheat. Your family currently consists of your mother and sister, who are both doctors. Your weakness is that you always put too much pressure on yourself…”

“I just want to know, have any of these answers changed?” There was a stubbornness in her tone. “And…”

A taxi whizzed by, bringing a gust of cold wind and swirling dust and mist, lifting her drifting bangs, blowing the corner of her thick scarf.

She paused for a few seconds. In the loud roar and the unruly passage of time, her voice became so soft it was almost inaudible.

“…Is there a second person in this world who knows all the answers to those questions?”