2013

When Chi Xiaoman got Chen Tong’s first call from Hong Kong, it still didn’t feel quite real.

Through the crackle of the connection, Chen Tong sounded as if she had just landed. Her voice was tired, rough with the dryness that came from being sick for so long. “Xiaoman, I’m here.”

Chi Xiaoman suddenly felt unreal herself.

Actually, she and Chen Tong did call each other often.

Just not very often, and never for long, because they saw each other every night anyway. When they did call, it was usually only to ask where the other was before hanging up.

But this call from Hong Kong sounded so different. Familiar, yet not quite familiar.

Beijing’s temperature had also suddenly dropped a lot that day. Chi Xiaoman parted her lips, and after a long while said, “Okay... are you cold?”

She tightened her grip on the phone. Her voice sounded very small under the background noise of the hospital lobby. “R-remember to wear more.”

Later, when she went to Hong Kong herself, she learned that Hong Kong wasn’t very cold at this time of year either. But she didn’t know that yet; all she knew was that winter had to be cold, all she knew was that Chen Tong must not be cold.

Chen Tong didn’t tell Chi Xiaoman that it wasn’t really that cold there.

She only answered softly, “Okay.”

“Mm.” Chi Xiaoman’s hands were so cold she could barely straighten her fingers. She had actually built up a lot she wanted to say to Chen Tong over the course of the whole day, but she also knew Chen Tong had only just arrived and would have many things to do. She wanted Chen Tong to rest quickly, so in the end she only reminded her very simply, “And remember to take your medicine.”

“Don’t decide you’re better and stop taking it.”

Chi Xiaoman picked at her knee and said slowly, “At the very least, wait until all the symptoms are gone before you stop.”

“Okay.” Chen Tong agreed.

There was a lot of noise on her end; Chi Xiaoman didn’t know if she was outside the airport or somewhere else, but people in the background were speaking to her in words Chi Xiaoman couldn’t understand. Still, she didn’t hang up. She only replied a few times, said a few pleasant-sounding English phrases, and then asked Chi Xiaoman in a low voice, “Has Lang Lang gotten better?”

“She’s much better. I’m at the hospital; I just got her admitted. Don’t worry, Sister Chen Tong, Lang Lang looks like she’s fine for now, and she ate a lot at dinner.”

Chi Xiaoman told Chen Tong, “I think she might slowly get better.”

Then she looked up—

And saw a very large hospital, one she had never been to when she was sick before.

The lights were bright. One lobby could probably hold hundreds of people. There were many rows of seats, more than the school’s large lecture hall, but every seat was occupied. Everyone wore a different expression: worry, uncertainty, anxiety; numbness, emptiness, pain, crying. Yet every face seemed covered by a heavy layer of gray.

Chi Xiaoman had bought dinner for Lang Lang, bought two buns for herself, and because she couldn’t find an empty seat, she could only sit on the floor in a corner with her back against the wall, eating her own meal while taking Chen Tong’s call.

“Have you eaten yet?” Chen Tong asked softly on the phone.

“I’m about to.” Chi Xiaoman tightened her hand around the white translucent plastic bag. “What about you, Sister Chen Tong?”

“I’m planning to eat after I get to the hotel.” Chen Tong’s voice was gentle.

“Okay.” Chi Xiaoman agreed. “Then you should really rest well tonight. You don’t need to call me again. Take your medicine and sleep properly.”

Chen Tong gave a soft “Mm.” There seemed to be a strong wind on her side, rustling in the background.

Chi Xiaoman smiled and said, “Sister Chen Tong, is it windy where you are?”

“Is it blowing all the way into my ears?” she teased her.

Chen Tong also smiled. “Mm, pretty good.”

After that.

They fell silent again.

Just yesterday at this time, they had still been leaning against each other, shoulder to shoulder. Chi Xiaoman had been feeding Chen Tong medicine and warm water.

Today, all at once, they had become two people far, far apart. They both wanted to talk about something easy, but neither of them could truly relax.

Still, neither wanted to hang up.

After a long while, Chi Xiaoman asked, “Sister Chen Tong, are you afraid?”

“Why would you ask that?” Chen Tong said.

“Because you went so far away by yourself.” Chi Xiaoman said.

“I’m okay.”

Chen Tong was quiet for a moment, then said, “Actually, when I first came to Beijing, I came alone too.”

Maybe she was trying to keep her from overthinking.

Chi Xiaoman, however, suddenly thought—

Right. For Chen Tong, Hong Kong was actually closer to home than Beijing.

But she didn’t say that. She only smiled. “Right, I almost forgot. Our Sister Chen Tong is amazing, after all.”

Chen Tong laughed, then asked her, “Xiaoman, are you afraid?”

Chi Xiaoman shook her head. “Not afraid.”

Chen Tong didn’t say anything.

The sound of wind came through the phone again.

“Really.” Chi Xiaoman emphasized, “Lang Lang and I will always be together. Don’t worry about us.”

“That’s true too,” Chen Tong said. After a pause, she reminded her, “If anything happens, remember to tell me right away.”

“Nothing’s going to happen.”

Chi Xiaoman’s tone was stubborn. “Go ahead and audition with peace of mind. Go over the script properly these next few days. After the audition, if you think it’s okay, you can even stay a few more days and have some fun there.”

“I’m here.”

She said to Chen Tong, “I’ll take good care of Lang Lang.”

“Okay.” Chen Tong agreed. She seemed like she still wanted to say something, but then there was talking on her end again, so she had no choice but to cover the receiver and respond patiently.

It was in Cantonese, in a tone Chi Xiaoman wasn’t very familiar with.

Chi Xiaoman listened in confusion for a while and realized she hadn’t understood a thing. She picked at her knee and waited for Chen Tong to finish speaking with the other person, then took the initiative and said,

“Sister Chen Tong, you can hang up.”

“I still have a few things to do here too.” She spoke a little faster. “I might need to go check whether Lang Lang is sleeping well, and then go back and pack up a few things, bring her notebook over. She’s been thinking about it.”

“Okay.” Chen Tong listened to her. “Then I’ll call you again tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.”

Chi Xiaoman nodded very hard.

But Chen Tong couldn’t see it.

There was a brief silence on the other end, as if she felt she shouldn’t take up any more time.

So in the end, she said softly to Chi Xiaoman, “Go to sleep early after you’re done.”

Then she hung up.

Chi Xiaoman stared at the call log for a while, dazed. She had thought they hadn’t talked for long, but it felt like almost half an hour.

She pressed her lips together.

Then she tore open the plastic bag around the cold bun in her hand.

She bit into it one mouthful at a time, not minding at all.

Before she knew it, tears had fallen.

She wiped them away blindly.

Then stared at the call log for a long time.

She wanted to call back.

But she also felt that there wasn’t really anything to say if she did. It would be better to let Chen Tong rest properly and call again tomorrow.

Maybe by then Lang Lang would be awake.

The three of them could talk about something happy together, or talk about the role Chen Tong was going to audition for.

This hospital really did seem huge, so huge that even the heating didn’t seem to help much.

Chi Xiaoman kept wiping away her tears with effort while deleting every call record in her phone except that one, one by one.

Leaving only Chen Tong’s.

In the end, she swallowed the cold bun in her hand.

She wiped her face messily, stood up, and went to find Lang Lang in the ward.

Before Chi Xiaoman came out, Lang Lang had already fallen asleep, lying quietly in the hospital bed with her eyes closed. Unlike last night, she hadn’t had a lot of bright red nosebleeds, and she hadn’t fainted; she still looked like a perfectly normal person.

Chi Xiaoman had printed out all the test results, bought two buns outside, made the call, and when she went back, she suddenly saw a lot of people in the ward, crowding around that tiny bed in a chaotic mass. The nurses and doctors had all squeezed in, all of them talking in words she couldn’t understand.

Lang Lang’s bed was pushed out surrounded by a crowd of people; a tube curved under her nose to provide oxygen.

Chi Xiaoman stared blankly as they wheeled Lang Lang away. She stood at the door holding a brown file envelope, her face deathly pale, feeling as though her legs had been nailed into place and she had no strength at all to move.

A little child from the same ward came over and tugged her sleeve.

Chi Xiaoman looked down and saw that the child also had a similar blue transparent tube beneath her nose.

She crouched down. Tears rolled down like grains of salt, stinging so badly that her eyes and face hurt.

The child’s parent came over, handed her a tissue, and hesitantly said, “She just threw up all her food.”

“Thank you, thank you.” Chi Xiaoman said to them.

After hearing that, she quickly stood up and went inside to Lang Lang’s empty bed, where she saw every sticky grain of rice that Lang Lang had vomited out. She rubbed her nose, which had been wiped so much it hurt, then crouched on the floor and cleaned things up bit by bit.

As she cleaned, tears kept falling like withered leaves.

Another family member from the ward came over to help her clean the floor, and told her she couldn’t leave too long in this situation, because this illness could suddenly become a problem at any moment.

Chi Xiaoman kept saying thank you with her head down.

The family member said nothing. After helping her finish cleaning, she touched Chi Xiaoman’s head with clean hands and sighed. “You’re still just a child yourself.”

Chi Xiaoman didn’t speak.

That little child came over again, looked at her for a while, and shoved an orange-flavored Chokis stick into her hand.

Chi Xiaoman took it in a daze.

The child tiptoed and placed a strawberry-flavored one on the bedside cabinet next to Lang Lang’s bed.

Then ran off.

“She should be in emergency treatment right now.” The child’s parent hugged the child who had run over, then reminded Chi Xiaoman, “You can see her from the room at the very end of this floor.”

“Thank you, thank you.”

In a daze, Chi Xiaoman stood up and bowed to the families in the ward. She didn’t have time to say any proper words of thanks. Like a little sprout yanked out of the ground and suddenly told to grow into a towering tree right away, she hurried in confusion toward the room where Lang Lang was being rescued.

This illness couldn’t be operated on.

So it wasn’t the operating room.

During emergency treatment, they used some kind of medical equipment Chi Xiaoman couldn’t understand. It was lit with many lights and connected to many tubes, and the other ends of those tubes were fixed onto Lang Lang’s body, as if sending her some kind of gas to sustain her life.

Even after finding the place, Chi Xiaoman was still at a loss, because she didn’t know what she could do. So she just stood stupidly at the door, picking at her fingers, watching the doctors inside covered in sweat, and watching the equipment inside beep-beep-beep.

She couldn’t see Lang Lang’s face.

She couldn’t tell whether she really couldn’t see it or whether she was too afraid to look.

That night was the first time she stood outside this room, not knowing that in this winter, she would stand here many times.

From not feeling real at the beginning, to later acceptance, to numbness, and then finally, at times like this, she would avoid this room, separated by a wall from Lang Lang who was being saved inside, and make countless calls, asking many people she wasn’t familiar with to lend her money... university teachers, classmates, group leaders, extra actors she had once worked with, even the classmate who had once made her run laps.

Some of them lent, some didn’t. Some lent her several thousand yuan; some lent her a few dozen. Some transferred the money through bank transfer; some rode electric scooters to the hospital entrance, faces red from the cold, pulling a lot of wrinkled bills out of their pockets... She remembered every single one of those entries in her memo, without missing any.

Later, some would sigh, some would hesitate, and some would mutter before hanging up—what bad luck.

And in the end.

No one would answer her calls anymore.

After many rescues, Lang Lang’s condition worsened and worsened. During the first period after being admitted, she could still sit up by herself to eat, and even ask Chi Xiaoman to take her downstairs for a walk.

Later on, machines were connected to her body all the time, and she could no longer get out of bed on her own. She grew thinner and thinner, until she became a skin-and-bones white little ghost.

She insisted on calling herself a little ghost, and also firmly demanded that every morning, Chi Xiaoman bring her a mirror to look at herself.

One day, while looking in the mirror, Lang Lang saw that the flesh on her cheekbones had sunk in, and also that her hair had become much thinner, with the uneven ends hanging down over her chest in an ugly way. She suddenly asked Chi Xiaoman, “Chi Xiaoman, when are we going to dye our hair?”

“When you’re discharged.” Chi Xiaoman didn’t look her in the eyes.

“Fine.” Lang Lang’s current speech had to be very short. She needed to conserve her energy so she could finish her script.

Lying in bed, she looked like a deflated balloon with the air sucked out of her, her hair hanging limp and her breathing sounding like a broken bellows. She glanced weakly at Chi Xiaoman.

Chi Xiaoman handed her the fully charged laptop, expertly raised the bed for her, propped a pillow behind her head, opened the laptop, found the document, and scrolled it to the part she was revising while muttering,

“Can’t you wait until you’re better?”

“You don’t understand.” Lang Lang struggled to keep her eyes open, poking at the keyboard slowly with her fingers, breathing so slowly it sounded as if she were tugging a thread from somewhere inside her body. “Artistic inspiration never waits for people.”

Chi Xiaoman tightened her jaw and didn’t argue.

Every night now she looked after Lang Lang in the hospital. She had moved the toothbrush, washbasin, blanket, and clothes from the underground parking garage on Xingfu Road over here, and on the narrow little companion bed beside Lang Lang, she wrote her own thesis. During the day she went to school, and also took any odd jobs she could find that would let her rush to the hospital at any time.

It was seven in the morning now. She had to first help sell buns at a breakfast shop next to the hospital. At noon, she’d go to the noodle shop next door to serve noodles, prep ingredients, and wash dishes. In the afternoons, sometimes she’d go to school; if not, she’d return to the hospital to sit in the ward and write. At night, after Lang Lang finished dinner and fell asleep, she’d go back out into the cold wind and ride her electric scooter selling oversized cartoon balloons, standing watch at the children’s hospital.

The time was compressed tightly. The stretch of road from the hospital to the children’s hospital might take half an hour.

In those thirty minutes, Chi Xiaoman would be carrying a whole bunch of pandas, lions, and elephants, along with Pleasant Goat, Pretty Goat, and Hello Kitty, drifting along like a traveling cartoon channel... In the biting Beijing cold, she’d seize the time to talk on the phone with Chen Tong for half an hour.

Because Chen Tong’s audition had passed.

And the production team seemed very satisfied with her, asking her to undergo some training there for a period of time, to learn Cantonese and the habits of the character’s life in Hong Kong. Once she had settled in, they would officially bring her into the role, and filming would go more smoothly too.

—A month of training, with training fees as well. Paid by the day.

Chen Tong didn’t return to Beijing. She trained there, and every other week, she would mail over a lot of her training fee.

Chi Xiaoman was always afraid she wasn’t eating enough, so every time they talked, she would carefully ask what Chen Tong had eaten for lunch and what she had eaten for dinner.

But Chen Tong would answer every detail very clearly, and after Chi Xiaoman asked her not to send so much next time, she would shake her head on the phone and say, “I don’t spend that much here, don’t worry.”

Chi Xiaoman had no choice but to fall silent.

This period passed very slowly, so slowly that she felt Chen Tong had already been gone for a long time. Yet it also seemed very fast, so fast that she felt she had somehow already become an adult, no longer able to have so much stubbornness or persistence.

So every day after listening to Chen Tong talk about what she ate, how long she slept, what she did that day... Chi Xiaoman would secretly wipe the moisture from the corners of her eyes in the wind, then sniff and tell Chen Tong, “Then... you should eat better too.”

“Okay.” Chen Tong agreed warmly. “I’m planning to go home again this weekend.”

It was probably the first week after going to Hong Kong. After the audition ended, before the results came out.

Chen Tong called Chi Xiaoman.

She hesitated and said to her—

that she might want to take this chance to go home for a bit, and come back to Beijing after the results were out.

Chi Xiaoman had been standing dazedly at the door of the emergency ward at the time, seeing the tubes hanging from Lang Lang’s body sway back and forth. Her whole body was too slow to react; she could only nod hard at Chen Tong on the other end and say,

“Okay.”

“Sister Chen Tong, why don’t you stay home a little longer?” she asked.

Chen Tong didn’t speak.

Chi Xiaoman wiped her face, picked at her palm, and tried to make her tone sound normal. “It’s almost New Year’s anyway. We can talk after the holiday.”

Outside the call, she saw the instruments beginning to light up in some sort of pattern, so she covered the receiver and said quietly to Chen Tong, “You didn’t even go home last year. Your mom must really miss you.”

On the phone, Chen Tong was silent for a very long time.

Chi Xiaoman was silent too.

At last, Chen Tong said, “We’ll see.”

This call didn’t last very long, because Lang Lang’s bed was pushed out again. The exhausted doctors had pulled her back from the hands of death. Chi Xiaoman found an excuse to hang up Chen Tong’s call, said “thank you” to the doctors again and again, then chased after them to wipe the sweat from Lang Lang’s forehead and the vomit on her face.

Because if Lang Lang woke up and saw herself like that, she would feel very sad.

That night.

Lang Lang woke weakly and saw how red Chi Xiaoman’s eyes were. She bared her teeth and smiled. “Chi Xiaoman, you look so miserable.”

Chi Xiaoman pressed her lips together tightly.

Lang Lang then asked her on her own, “Is there still money in my passbook?”

“Yes.” Chi Xiaoman answered quickly. She also pulled the blanket up for her, and when she saw Lang Lang’s eyes searching for hers, she explained, “Actually, medical bills are much cheaper than you think now. There are rescue funds for everyone.”

“Really?” Lang Lang didn’t believe it. “Chi Xiaoman, don’t lie to me.”

“Who’s lying to you?” Chi Xiaoman sounded very confident. “Really, just a few days ago the doctor came to find me and said I could apply for a rescue fund for you. Your conditions are very suitable.”

“That’s true too.” Lang Lang pouted. “Our family is on minimum living allowance.”

“Then where’s the money?” Chi Xiaoman asked.

“In my dad’s mahjong table,” Lang Lang said.

Chi Xiaoman fell silent, wiped Lang Lang’s face, and suddenly couldn’t help herself. “What a terrible person.”

Lang Lang tilted her head to look at her and laughed. “Chi Xiaoman, do you not know how to curse people?”

Chi Xiaoman touched her nose. “I’m not talking to you anymore. Go to sleep quickly.”

“Fine.”

Lang Lang stopped talking. She closed her eyes as though she would fall asleep immediately.

Chi Xiaoman finally relaxed.

She stared blankly in front of the bed for a while.

Afterward she curled up on the little bed and prepared to sleep. When she couldn’t, she opened her eyes and saw a little child at the ward door passing by with a Lazy Sheep balloon, looking very proud of themselves.

The next day.

Chi Xiaoman got a whole pile of balloons from the wholesale market, along with a very expensive tank of gas, and at the hospital entrance she inflated them one by one, tying them to her scooter’s handlebars.

But at first she wasn’t very skilled.

After she finally inflated a balloon, she couldn’t tie it tight enough; by the time she inflated another, the one she’d tied earlier had already flown off the scooter.

Fancy balloons had a cost, and the gas she bought cost money too.

Chi Xiaoman was so angry she immediately chased after it, but how could a person outrun a floating balloon? After chasing for a while, she felt exhausted and stood on the road outside the hospital, staring blankly at the balloon drifting away.

A long time passed.

Then she received a text message.

The message told her that an account had transferred a large sum into her bank card.

A lot, a lot of money.

Chen Tong’s account.

Chi Xiaoman was dazed for a while, then struggled to make a long-distance call.

She called once.

Chen Tong didn’t answer.

She called a second time.

The ring went on for a long time.

Chen Tong picked up, her voice sounding very low. “Hello, Xiaoman?”

Even her breathing was slow. “Why are you calling me during the day?”

“Lang Lang is fine.” Chi Xiaoman said, then picked at her stiff, frozen fingers and asked, “Sister Chen Tong, where did you suddenly get so much money?”

At that, a very stern middle-aged woman’s voice came from the other end of the phone.

“Chen Tong, who are you talking to?”

Cantonese. Chi Xiaoman listened hard to make out the sentence, her fingers picking at the edge of the phone without saying anything.

Chen Tong was silent for a moment, then said softly, “Xiaoman, I’m at home.”

Chi Xiaoman froze. The wind blew across her nose, boring into her lungs like a little insect that could chew through flesh.

“You... you went to, to ask your mom for money?”

Chen Tong didn’t say anything on the phone.

Tears suddenly rolled down Chi Xiaoman’s face. Without any warning.

She covered her eyes with her freezing hand.

“Sister Chen Tong, don’t do this.”

I don’t like it when you do this.

I don’t like you doing things you don’t want to do for other people.

If Chi Xiaoman could calm down, she could have said it clearly. But she couldn’t calm down. She was only twenty this year; she was at the age where she valued her pride and couldn’t even sort out her own inner thoughts.

Standing on the very cold roadside, she heard Chen Tong’s silence, and also heard Chen Tong’s mother on the other end urging her not to casually associate with people outside. It would be best to simply use this money and cut ties completely with the two of them right away, because for her to lend so much already counted as benevolence enough. Repaying it later was only a matter of transferring the money back; she didn’t need to personally get involved in it...

Then Chi Xiaoman, like a very small child, started crying and told Chen Tong,

“Sister Chen Tong, you... you can’t do this.”

For the first time.

The first time since Lang Lang’s hospitalization.

Chi Xiaoman broke down completely.

Chen Tong was anxious on the other end of the call.

She seemed to have argued with her mother, then run into another room and closed the door. She breathed into the phone for a long time, and finally, after settling herself, tried to soften her voice as much as possible when she said to Chi Xiaoman,

“Xiaoman, don’t be afraid.”

Chi Xiaoman couldn’t stop crying.

So Chen Tong sounded like she was about to cry too. Chen Tong usually didn’t cry. They had stayed in Beijing for so long, and Chen Tong had never cried once. But that day, she seemed to cry on the phone, as if she too were sitting somewhere very cold, breathing chaotically. It took a long time before she finally settled herself again, and then, like an adult, she said to Chi Xiaoman in a barely steady voice,

“Xiaoman, wait for me to come back, okay?”

-

Chi Xiaoman didn’t remember how that call finally ended.

She only remembered that in the phone call, Chen Tong seemed afraid of frightening her, and explained over and over again—

that going home this time had been a decision she had already made long ago, and borrowing money had only happened to be part of it.

And although Chi Xiaoman didn’t want to use this money.

Although she wanted to behave a little better in front of Chen Tong’s mother, not seem too much like a bad woman who cheated people out of money, and also didn’t want Chen Tong’s mother to misunderstand her and Lang Lang as people utterly lacking in ability.

After that call ended.

Chi Xiaoman received a call from the hospital.

And a billing slip with a huge amount on it.

The balloon that had flown away wasn’t found again, and the remaining balloons hadn’t all been inflated yet; they were left by the roadside along with the battery scooter.

Chi Xiaoman rushed into the hospital and got the bill. At the ATM, she saw her bank balance and realized that if she didn’t use this money, she wouldn’t be able to pay the bill.

Actually, Chi Xiaoman had never been rich.

But in the past, no matter how little money she had, it only meant a few extra hungry meals. At worst, she’d go hungry and then keep dreaming.

But now, if she had no money, Lang Lang would die.

Maybe growing up happens in moments like this. Even if you’re unwilling in your heart, even if your backbone is hard, it isn’t simply a matter of angrily taking the money from the piggy bank and giving it back to Lang Lang.

There wasn’t even much time for her to weigh pride against Lang Lang’s life.

Chi Xiaoman dug her nails into her palm, forced back her tears, wiped her eyes, and withdrew a stack of brand-new bills from the cash machine.

The ground after the rain was very slick.

A light drizzle fell steadily.

Chi Xiaoman hugged those bills tightly and crossed the inpatient corridor to the payment hall, nearly slipping to the floor.

But she still managed to steady herself through the dizziness and pounding fear, and finally handed over the precious bills and the form together at the little window.

The woman inside the window counted everything for her.

Then pushed out a new slip, along with a few coins in change.

And a clean tissue.

“Wipe your eyes.”

She said to Chi Xiaoman.

Then she quickly lifted her chin and said, “Next.”

Chi Xiaoman awkwardly took the coins, the slip, and the tissue, stepped aside, and bowed to the people inside. “Thank you, thank you.”

She wiped her eyes.

Put the coins into the pockets inside her coat, every single one.

Then held the receipt.

And stood dazed in the crowded hall.

A long time passed.

She recorded the repayment from the text message into her memo, then warmed her stiff fingers with her breath and typed in letter by letter, sending a message to Chen Tong far, far away:

【Sister Chen Tong, can you tell your mom that I’ll definitely pay the money back very soon?】

Chen Tong didn’t reply immediately.

Many days earlier, after leaving Beijing airport, she had usually been unable to reply to Chi Xiaoman’s texts right away.

Chi Xiaoman understood very well that it was because Chen Tong was busy. Because the filming had to begin, she had to read the script, enter the role, and train under many pairs of watching eyes. She also had to reconcile with the mother she had argued with so many times, and even borrow money...

Chen Tong was actually suffering because of them.

But she didn’t say it.

Chi Xiaoman also didn’t have much energy to ask.

Because whenever she asked about these things, Chen Tong either wouldn’t answer or would come to comfort her.

So Chi Xiaoman could only ask her every day whether she had eaten, how the training was going, and go on and on asking what the weather was like there, whether the director was good to her, whether anyone in the crew bullied her...

Pretending they were only having a very ordinary long-distance relationship.

Six months, or a year later, they would meet again and give each other an embrace full of longing.

And by then.

Lang Lang would be nearby, covering her eyes and shouting for them to pay a little attention, would they.

Chi Xiaoman hoped things could turn out like that.

-

In the end, Chen Tong still didn’t spend New Year’s at home. Before the holiday, she went to the production team.

Apparently they were very satisfied with Chen Tong’s performance, so the crew decided to start filming early and even moved the shoot start date to before New Year’s.

Chi Xiaoman didn’t know how she had convinced her mother.

Because on the phone.

Chen Tong had only mentioned it lightly, and afterward fell silent for a long time, then said to Chi Xiaoman,

“Xiaoman, do you have enough money to spend?”

“I do.” Chi Xiaoman responded quickly, then added, “I found a rescue fund here. It should be approved after I apply. Also, the name of the fund is kind of cute—it’s called the Rainbow Relief Association. The older sister I’m working with there is really nice. Every time she comes over, she brings me a bottle of milk, and she’s really good at organizing documents...”

She described it all very truthfully.

Chen Tong breathed out over there. “That’s good.”

“Mm, I can breathe a little easier now too.” Chi Xiaoman smiled at her.

“You just focus on training and try to do the role well.”

“If, if there’s anything you need help with in the script, call me. I can spare some time to help you go through it now too.”

She hadn’t forgotten this was Chen Tong’s first film.

Opportunities were precious. Chen Tong was alone in such a huge, unfamiliar place in Hong Kong. Maybe she had argued with her mother again, and maybe she felt helpless and lost.

“Okay.” Chen Tong agreed. After hesitating for a bit, she added, “Then I’ll go read the script first?”

“Sure.” Chi Xiaoman said.

Then, toward the empty corridor, she waved and said to Chen Tong on the other end of the line,

“Oh, I’m hanging up now, Rainbow Sister is coming to find me with milk again.”

Chen Tong didn’t say much and hung up.

The busy signal sounded in the phone.

Chi Xiaoman’s straightened back relaxed. She stared at the empty corridor, picking at the broken buttonhole on her sleeve, sliding her finger through it and tightening it around her knuckles.

For a long time.

She lowered her head.

Looked at the call history between her and Chen Tong.

There were already many entries.

So many it looked dense.

Enough to span several pages.

Every time Chi Xiaoman hung up after talking to Chen Tong, she would scroll through these call records once, just like now.

It didn’t mean anything.

But after looking through them.

She would become a little braver.

Then she put her phone away and looked up, only to see Lang Lang standing very reluctantly at the ward entrance, gripping the walking stool with all her strength. She stood there thin as though half her life had been swallowed away, like someone’s shadow.

They looked at each other.

Lang Lang slowly walked over and stuffed the warmed strawberry-flavored yogurt drink into her hand. After a while of staring blankly, she said weakly, “Chi Xiaoman, you really know how to lie now.”

Looking into Chi Xiaoman’s eyes, she said softly, “And what Rainbow Sister? You even fooled me.”

“Who’s lying to you!” Chi Xiaoman refused to admit it. She forcefully inserted the straw into the milk box, puffed out her cheeks, and sucked hard one mouthful after another, not daring to look at Lang Lang’s eyes. “There really is a Rainbow Sister, okay?”

Lang Lang watched her, as if she had a lot to ask, but said nothing for a long time. In the end, she only patted her head. “Drink slower.”

Chi Xiaoman’s sucking slowed down. Lowering her eyes, she looked at the shadows the two of them cast on the floor—her own shadow looked sturdy and dark. Lang Lang’s looked thin, gray.

She thought that was strange.

She rubbed her eyes.

Rubbed them until her hands were wet with tears.

In the end, while looking at the hair ends on Lang Lang’s shoulders through the blur, Chi Xiaoman slowly said, “You really do need to dye your hair.”

“Sure.” Lang Lang insisted on keeping her company for a while longer. After sitting in a daze for a bit, she suddenly said,

“Why don’t we dye it before New Year’s?”

“That works too.” Chi Xiaoman nodded hard. “I’ll go buy some dye. We can dye it ourselves and not waste money outside.”

“Okay.” Lang Lang nodded.

She already didn’t have much strength. After sitting with Chi Xiaoman outside for a while, she went back to the ward.

Chi Xiaoman stayed alone outside, sitting and staring blankly at her shadow for a while.

She didn’t know that after someone got sick, their shadow would become so thin. If there were such a thing as shadow transplants in this world, then she hoped she could divide half of her own shadow and give it to Lang Lang.

She had known Lang Lang ever since she came to Beijing. Every step she took in this city, every production crew she had been to, had traces of Lang Lang beside her. Lang Lang was like an older sister to her in Beijing.

Lang Lang had brought her to film sets, bowed many times to the assistant director for her scene, lent her equipment to shoot assignments, and taught her that when reading a script, you should start with the character bio. Later, the three of them became a trio, sitting around a round table in the hottest summer eating spicy hotpot, and always eating one-yuan popsicles while riding the seesaw.

Chi Xiaoman, a seventeen-year-old girl from some small place, had grown into the twenty-year-old Chi Xiaoman she was now. She felt fearless about everything, and with Lang Lang there as the adult among them, she could do reckless things without worrying about the consequences.

She didn’t know that if Lang Lang really left one day, whether she herself could become an adult like Lang Lang too.

Chi Xiaoman hugged her knees and curled up by the ward entrance for a while. Then she went downstairs again, continued inflating balloons, and after she finished, took those balloons and drove over to the children’s hospital.

There were many children at the children’s hospital who got scared of needles when they caught colds. She sold the balloons to their parents, took the money, and bought more balloons. Sometimes she would also give a few to children who looked like they didn’t have parents nearby.

One day, after giving away a Tom Cat balloon, Chi Xiaoman looked up and saw snow granules falling, landing on her gloves and her eyelashes. They were cold, icy, and then melted in her eyes.

She sniffled.

Packed up all the balloons, and rode off.

On the way back to the hospital, she called Chen Tong at the usual time.

The call was answered after two rings.

Chi Xiaoman said quickly, “Lang Lang is fine.”

This had become the norm for every call between them now. They always had to start with Lang Lang is fine.

Chi Xiaoman didn’t know what Chen Tong felt each time she saw her call. But every time she said that, Chen Tong would fall silent for a moment, then say softly,

“That’s good.”

“Mm, Sister Chen Tong, it snowed here today.” Chi Xiaoman sniffed her red, frozen nose in the wind. “Is it cold where you are?”

“It’s okay.” Maybe because she had been immersed in the role recently, Chen Tong’s voice also sounded more tired every time she called. “It isn’t very cold. The sun even came out.”

Perhaps realizing her tone wasn’t very good, the next second she forced some spirit into her voice and asked Chi Xiaoman, “It snowed? Is the snow pretty? Did you build a snowman?”

Chi Xiaoman heard the tiredness in her voice and was quiet for a moment before obediently answering, “Yeah, it just started snowing. It’s pretty, just not enough to build a snowman yet.”

Then, before Chen Tong could ask anything else.

She said, “Sister Chen Tong, you should rest. I’m almost at the hospital too.”

“I still have to buy food for Lang Lang and things like that.” She said this.

Chen Tong fell silent for a moment, then agreed. “Okay, go do your work.”

Chi Xiaoman said “Mm,” though she didn’t actually want to hang up so quickly, and before she could stop herself, she called out, “Sister Chen Tong.”

Her voice was very small.

Chen Tong still heard it and immediately responded, “Mm? What is it?”

“It’s nothing really.” Chi Xiaoman curled her hand around the handlebar.

Snowflakes fell through the air and landed on her nose. She whispered, “It’s just snowing, and I miss you a little.”

Chen Tong was quiet for a very long time, then said in a low voice, “Mm, I miss you a lot too.”

She used the word “a lot.”

It was a tone Chen Tong rarely used.

Because of those words, Chi Xiaoman suddenly felt a great deal more courage inside her. She smiled, and though she knew Chen Tong couldn’t see it, she still nodded hard in the wind and snow, sniffed, and said, “Maybe when you come back, it’ll still snow in Beijing.”

“Then let’s watch the snow together, okay?” Chi Xiaoman asked.

“Okay.” Chen Tong answered simply.

But Chi Xiaoman knew that even such a simple word, Chen Tong would definitely keep.

So she smiled too, gave a hard “Mm,” and only really hung up once she had ridden all the way back to the hospital. After parking her scooter, she took the hair dye from the rear storage box, went to the canteen to buy Lang Lang a bowl of mutton soup that looked light and mild, and took it upstairs.

Lang Lang was in the bathroom.

An auntie in the ward pulled Chi Xiaoman over and said softly,

“Someone came looking for you today.”

“Who?” Chi Xiaoman was instantly alert. “A man or a woman?”

“A woman,” the auntie said. “Probably an aunt or someone like that. I didn’t hear clearly what she said, but after she left in the afternoon, Lang Lang’s mood wasn’t very good. She hardly ate, and just kept staring out the window in a daze.”

At that moment.

The toilet flushed inside.

The auntie stopped talking, shook her head, and went back to her own bed.

Chi Xiaoman pressed her lips together and waited beside the bathroom for Lang Lang to come out.

She had originally wanted to ask what had happened.

But she waited a long time. Recently, every time Lang Lang went to the bathroom, it took a very long time, and she’d flush many times before coming out. Once, Chi Xiaoman had stood at the door and heard Lang Lang inside making miserable cries as though she was trying to vomit out all of herself. Chi Xiaoman hadn’t gone in; she had hidden outside the door and cried silently.

The door opened.

Lang Lang came out from inside and froze for a moment when she saw Chi Xiaoman.

Chi Xiaoman froze too.

Every day, she felt that the Lang Lang she saw each day was different, that even her shadow seemed smaller than the day before, and that her whole person was slowly becoming transparent.

Lang Lang had just washed her face, so it looked even whiter, as though painted over with white pigment. Seeing the hair dye she was holding, she looked surprised. “You really bought it?”

Chi Xiaoman tightened her grip on the plastic bag and nodded woodenly. “Yeah, I wanted to dye it for you tonight.”

“Okay.” Lang Lang barely managed to walk to the bed and sit down. Her treatment lately seemed to be helping a little; today she seemed able to stay awake a bit longer. Sitting down, she pulled down the little table for meals and looked at Chi Xiaoman. “What are you standing there for? Not eating?”

Chi Xiaoman walked over, laid out the food, opened the chopsticks for her, and then looked at her face.

After eating for a while, Lang Lang suddenly stopped, looking at her as if she were inexplicably weird. “Chi Xiaoman, do I have flowers on my face?”

“Who came looking for you today?” Chi Xiaoman asked.

Lang Lang paused. “My aunt. She came to see my illness.”

“Oh, oh.” Chi Xiaoman relaxed, then pushed the mutton soup over. “Drink more soup. Soup warms you up in winter.”

Lang Lang took a sip, and some color finally returned to her dry lips. Her drooping eyelids lowered, and she suddenly asked, “Chi Xiaoman, where did you get the money to pay so much of my medical bills?”

“I told you, there’s a Rainbow Sister.” Chi Xiaoman also drank some soup herself. “I told you and you still didn’t believe me.”

Lang Lang pursed her lips. “Did you also go borrow money from your grandma?”

“No.” Chi Xiaoman’s denial was stiff.

Lang Lang sighed. “Old people don’t save money easily in this life.”

Chi Xiaoman looked down. “I know.”

“I didn’t borrow from her.” She emphasized.

Lang Lang was silent for a few seconds, then gave a light “Mm.” “Good thing you didn’t.”

She seemed to believe her.

Chi Xiaoman let out a breath of relief.

After a while.

Lang Lang brought it up again. “Chi Xiaoman, actually I still have another passbook.”

Chi Xiaoman was stunned. “Where did you earn that much money?”

“Please, I’m almost thirty, okay?” Lang Lang sighed, then sighed again. “It was originally for making a movie.”

She said, “It’s at my place, hidden at the very bottom of the clothes in the wardrobe.”

“Tomorrow you go back and get it for me. Take the money out and pay back all the money you owe.”

As though it were really true.

Chi Xiaoman pressed her lips together. “I don’t owe money.”

“Then bring it here anyway.” Lang Lang said with her head lowered, “The password is 660213.”

“Whose birthday is that?” Chi Xiaoman asked.

Lang Lang lifted her eyelids and gave her a look. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll know tomorrow when you bring it.”

“Why do you have two passbooks?” Chi Xiaoman asked again.

Lang Lang took a sip of soup and didn’t answer.

“Fine.”

Chi Xiaoman didn’t ask further. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Then I’ll bring it tomorrow, okay?”

“Mm.” Lang Lang said. “Go ahead and get it.”

Chi Xiaoman nodded.

That night, Lang Lang seemed to have a very good appetite. She drank several more mouthfuls of soup and even finished a big bowl of rice.

By the time Chi Xiaoman cleaned up all the leftovers.

Lang Lang looked like even a little bit of rice was hard to digest. Breathing heavily from exhaustion, she wiped her mouth and said, “Chi Xiaoman, let’s dye our hair.”

“Okay.” Chi Xiaoman wasn’t long-winded either.

The ward for critically ill patients had a lot of everyday life in it; there were children curled up on the small beds doing homework, and pale mothers knitting sweaters for their children to compare sizes with. Seeing that the two of them were going to dye their hair, the mother and child both looked over curiously.

Chi Xiaoman grinned at them.

Then suddenly ran over.

Like magic, she took an orange-flavored Chokis stick from behind her back and gave it to the child who was obediently doing homework.

The child took it neatly, unwrapped it, and was just about to stuff it into their mouth when they paused first, turned around, and handed it to their mother.

The mother smiled and shook her head, saying she didn’t want one.

So the child shyly put the lollipop into their mouth and watched the two of them dye their hair while holding it between their lips.

Chi Xiaoman smiled and patted the child’s head.

When she turned around.

She saw Lang Lang staring blankly at the two of them.

Probably because she saw her too, Lang Lang also smiled at them and muttered, “Chi Xiaoman, why don’t I get one?”

“Here.”

Chi Xiaoman walked over, took out another strawberry-flavored one, unwrapped it, and put it into Lang Lang’s mouth. Then she pulled over a stool, let Lang Lang sit down, mixed the dye properly, and applied it to Lang Lang little by little.

Her movements were clumsy, though, and after she finished, she realized a lot of it had gotten onto the scalp.

Chi Xiaoman ran into the bathroom to rinse a towel with hot water, wanting to wipe it for Lang Lang.

But then Lang Lang pressed her down to sit instead. “You sit. I’ll dye yours too.”

“Can you manage?” Chi Xiaoman was afraid she wouldn’t have the strength. “Actually, I can dye my own.”

“Of course I can.” Lang Lang coughed a few times.

Standing behind her, she copied what Chi Xiaoman had just done and slowly applied the dye to her scalp bit by bit. “This little thing.”

When the dye touched her scalp, it was so cold it hurt.

Chi Xiaoman shivered and bared her teeth.

Lang Lang laughed, pressing her down. “Don’t move.”

Chi Xiaoman stopped moving.

Keeping that grimacing expression, she looked at the snow outside the window and rambled on, “It’s snowing. If you feel better tomorrow, I’ll push you outside to look at it, okay?”

Lang Lang paused her hands for a moment and agreed, “Okay.”

Chi Xiaoman nodded.

It had been a long time since she sat down like this, quietly with nothing urgent to do, just watching a snowfall.

“By the way, Chi Xiaoman.” After applying dye for a while, Lang Lang said, “I finished revising my script.”

“So fast?” Chi Xiaoman was surprised and turned to look at her. “Didn’t you say you still hadn’t figured out whether the ending should be good or bad?”

Lang Lang turned her head back. Then, as if she herself was already tired from standing for a while, she gave her a very gentle application of the dye and said weakly, “I’ve figured it out now.”

“Then I’ll look at it later.” Chi Xiaoman said.

Lang Lang didn’t answer. She didn’t have the strength to stand on the floor for that long, and she couldn’t say many things either. As she applied the dye, she could only painfully drag over a chair and sit down, then very reluctantly work on the ends of Chi Xiaoman’s hair.

The ward’s air conditioner hissed and blew, and warm air baked against their foreheads. After sitting for a bit, Chi Xiaoman started to feel sleepy, her head always tilting.

Lang Lang kept lifting her head back into place without annoyance. After a while, Lang Lang suddenly said,

“Chi Xiaoman, let me teach you how to curse people.”

“Curse people?” Chi Xiaoman was chilled awake by the dye on her scalp and sat straight up. “Who am I cursing?”

Lang Lang laughed a little. She didn’t have much strength, so even her laughter came out without much sound, only a heavy breath.

“I’m afraid if you don’t know how to curse people, you’ll get bullied later and won’t be able to curse back.”

“What’s the use of cursing back anyway?”

Chi Xiaoman wiped her face, afraid of drooling. “If I’ve already been bullied, cursing back won’t make me feel any better.”

“True, that’s true.” Lang Lang thought about it. “But if you’re fiercer, people won’t dare bully you as much.”

“Wang Aimei says that too.” Chi Xiaoman muttered. “But cursing people is so uncouth.”

Lang Lang paused.

Then suddenly tugged her hair and said irritably, “Then do you want to learn or not?”

“Then I guess I should learn a little.” Chi Xiaoman thought for a moment. “Just in case I need it later.”

“Fine.” Lang Lang agreed.

Maybe cursing really was a skill, because she only started teaching seriously after finishing the hair dye.

By then.

The two of them looked like two freshly colored dragon fruits.

One big, one small.

Each with wet scalps, spitting out bad words at the snow outside the window one sentence at a time like seeds.

After learning a few phrases.

Chi Xiaoman looked at the snow melting on the glass and said, “Enough. We can’t learn any more.”

“I don’t want to become someone with terrible manners.”

“That works too.” Lang Lang coughed a few times. She sounded like a kite with a string torn loose. After looking at the snow for a while, her coughing finally eased a bit. In a very low voice, she asked, “Chi Xiaoman, will your Sister Chen Tong come back?”

Chi Xiaoman paused. “Of course.”

“She’s filming in Hong Kong.” She said firmly. “She’ll come back after filming.”

“Okay.” Lang Lang nodded.

She smiled. “I originally wanted to see the developed photos before New Year’s.”

Chi Xiaoman gripped her knees tightly and pressed her lips together. After a long while, she said, “It’s the same if we see them after New Year’s. The photos aren’t going anywhere.”

Lang Lang didn’t speak.

Chi Xiaoman didn’t know why she had suddenly gone so quiet and tried to find something to say herself.

“The day after tomorrow is New Year’s.”

Lang Lang was quiet for a while, turned her face, looked at her for a bit, then suddenly laughed.

“Chi Xiaoman, you look like a dragon fruit now.”

Chi Xiaoman childishly replied, “You do too.”

Lang Lang didn’t argue with her. She wrinkled her nose and kept watching the snow outside, very focused, very hard.

Chi Xiaoman hadn’t seen her awake for so long in a while. Seeing that her complexion didn’t seem too uncomfortable, she looked at her too.

The snow was getting heavier, drifting down in flakes, like warm cotton batting, covering the tall building across from them. At first it was a thin layer used for spring and autumn, then it became a thick blanket for winter.

Summer suddenly became something very far away.

Would next summer be as hot as this year?

Sometimes Chi Xiaoman would think this.

Lang Lang suddenly said, “Xiaoman, I’m sorry.”

Chi Xiaoman had been drowsy, but hearing that, she sat up in a daze. “What nonsense are you talking?”

Outside the glass, snowflakes drifted up. Lang Lang turned her face to look at her, and it seemed like there was also a snowflake in her eyes. She smiled at Chi Xiaoman. “I just think you’ve had it pretty hard during this time.”

Chi Xiaoman didn’t dare look at her for too long. She lowered her head and covered her eyes. “If you know that, then hurry up and get better.”

“Otherwise I’ll spend all the money in your passbook!” she threatened her.

Lang Lang smiled and said nothing. Red dye was stuck in her hair, making her look like a slightly ridiculous cartoon character.

Chi Xiaoman looked down at the two of their shadows and felt like she probably looked the same, so she stood up. “Time’s up, let’s hurry and wash our hair.”

She helped Lang Lang to the bathroom.

First she washed Lang Lang’s hair and blow-dried it.

Then she washed and blow-dried her own.

Lang Lang’s hair was now very sparse, and Chi Xiaoman hadn’t used up all the dye she’d bought. Every time she dried Lang Lang’s hair, her eyes would turn red too. She didn’t know why, in such a short winter, Lang Lang had suddenly become like a snowman about to melt. But because there was a mirror in the bathroom, Chi Xiaoman had to hide her sadness every time and not let Lang Lang see.

That night.

The red dye blended with the water, flowing past them like bright blood, swallowed into a tiny whirlpool and disappearing completely. Chi Xiaoman blow-dried Lang Lang’s hair and realized the dye she’d bought might have been too cheap, not very strong in color; it still left those hair ends in two layers.

“Should I dye it again tomorrow?” Chi Xiaoman asked.

Lang Lang looked down for a while, then said quietly, “No need. Let’s make do for now.”

Chi Xiaoman thought about it and felt that was fine. “Then when you’re discharged, we’ll go dye it at a salon.”

Lang Lang didn’t answer. After thinking for a while, she saw that Chi Xiaoman had also washed and blow-dried her own hair, and then said, “Chi Xiaoman, can you go print out my script? I want to look at the paper version.”

“Now?” Chi Xiaoman asked strangely.

“Mm, preferably now.” Lang Lang said. “I want to look at it now.”

“Okay.”

There was a print shop right outside the hospital entrance. Chi Xiaoman didn’t hesitate much, took the USB drive Lang Lang gave her, put on her coat, and prepared to go downstairs.

“Chi Xiaoman.”

Just before she left the ward, Lang Lang suddenly called out to her.

“Mm?” Chi Xiaoman turned back.

She saw Lang Lang sitting by the bed. Her face was hard to make out, but she was wearing a very thick gray sweater and wasn’t wearing glasses. Her freshly washed hair looked soft, and under the bright light she was still skin and bones, yet somehow looked warm.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Chi Xiaoman found it strange.

“What was my passbook password again?” Lang Lang asked, looking into her eyes.

“660213.” Chi Xiaoman repeated accurately.

Lang Lang smiled. “Okay. Great memory.”

“Of course.” Chi Xiaoman lifted her chin.

Lang Lang said, “It’s snowing outside. Wear more clothes, don’t catch a cold.”

“Don’t worry, I’m wearing enough.” Chi Xiaoman said.

Lang Lang gave a soft “Mm.” “When you come back, call Chen Tong and tell her it snowed here.”

“I already called her just now.” Chi Xiaoman explained patiently, then rubbed her nose.

“Do you have anything else to say? Otherwise I’ll go print it and then come back to tell you?”

Lang Lang looked at her for a long time.

Then she suddenly smiled and said, “I’m sorry.”

Chi Xiaoman stopped at the door and felt that this person was really weird today, so she deliberately walked back and looked at her for a long time, calling her by her full name. “Wang Enqing, what are you thinking about every day?”

“If you keep talking, I won’t go print your script for you.” She tucked her hands behind her back and muttered.

Lang Lang smiled. “I just think it’s a bit much for you to have to run errands for me in such heavy snow.”

That sentence was very long. It took her quite a lot of effort to say it, taking nearly several dozen seconds to finish. After she said it, she even pressed a little at her chest and panted.

Chi Xiaoman listened for a long time too. Seeing how she looked like she had no strength left again, she worriedly wanted to help her back to bed.

Lang Lang waved her away and wouldn’t let her help. She insisted on staying by the bed. “Go on. I want to watch the snow here for a while.”

“Okay.” Chi Xiaoman nodded. “If you feel unwell, call the doctor right away.”

“Got it.” Lang Lang waved her off. “Stop nagging. I’m still waiting to look at the script.”

“Fine.”

Chi Xiaoman didn’t say anything else. It was already very late, and she was afraid the print shop would close.

So her last look at Lang Lang was of Lang Lang sitting under the yellow light, looking at the snow. Perhaps sensing her gaze, Lang Lang turned back to look at her too, a little impatiently. “Go on, go on.”

So Chi Xiaoman curled her lip, waved at Lang Lang, and said very normally,

“I’m going.”

After that.

She hurried downstairs.

Ran to the print shop.

There were many people.

She waited in line for a long time before it was her turn to use a computer.

She inserted the USB drive, found the script file, and had the boss print it out.

There were many folders on the USB drive.

Not just the script.

Printing the script also took quite a while.

Chi Xiaoman glanced at the densely packed folders inside, didn’t look too carefully, and also didn’t quite understand why Lang Lang’s USB drive had so much stuff on it. When the mouse stopped on a folder named “Chi Xiaoman,” she found it strange and thought back to whether she had borrowed Lang Lang’s USB drive before and left some homework files on it without deleting them.

She wanted to click it open.

But then the paper came out of the printer.

She got up to pick up the pages.

And found the paper in the printer getting more and more messy. The people behind her were also getting impatient because of the scattered pages.

Chi Xiaoman had no choice but to stand to the side and sort them one by one.

She didn’t touch the USB drive.

In the end, she stapled the script together, ejected the USB drive, tucked it into her pocket, and rushed back to the hospital through the snow.

This hospital was very large. The building was much taller than the previous one, and the elevator buttons showed it went up to the twenty-fourth floor.

The inpatient building was a little farther in.

Standing outside the building and looking in.

It looked like one warm cave after another. Inside each cave, there were many travelers huddled together for warmth.

Chi Xiaoman pushed through the rustling snow.

When she reached the inpatient building, she suddenly noticed the snow had already piled up quite thickly, thick enough to make a snowman.

So she stopped, pulled her phone out of her coat pocket with some difficulty, and wanted to take a photo of the Beijing snow to leave for Chen Tong to look at when she came back.

When she took out her phone, she also pulled out several receipts from cash withdrawals at the bank. The remaining balance on her card was small as snow grains. There were also several payment receipts, and the money she had paid out looked as huge as pressing mountains.

Chi Xiaoman put the receipts back, rubbed her icy hands, and somewhat stiffly picked up the phone. Her keypad phone was very old, and the camera could only take blurry low-resolution pictures.

Snow was falling.

White snow, landing on the phone.

Chi Xiaoman wiped the phone with her frozen fingers and, with difficulty, pressed the keys to take a picture.

Click—

A black shadow fell from the tiny little frame on her phone, like a snowflake dropping under gravity, hitting the ground and blooming into a huge flower of bright red liquid on the white surface.

Bang—

The snow on Chi Xiaoman’s hair lifted with the wind, like a cheap dragon fruit being torn into thin strands by five horses.

Just like the red figure on the ground.

[Author’s Note]

On time with Little Neon for the forty-eighth day [sunglasses][sunglasses][sunglasses][sunglasses][sunglasses][sunglasses] (today it’s twenty thousand pairs of sunglasses)