Chapter 83

Xi Yu was going on a five-day business trip.

Yu Nianyi didn’t find out until that night, after Xi Yu had already left.

At nine in the evening, Xi Yu sent a message saying she’d be staying in Shencheng for five days and would contact her when she got back.

Yu Nianyi let out a long breath, flopped onto the sofa, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Five days. That meant she wouldn’t see Xi Yu until next Thursday.

Yu Nianyi blinked. Then she let her body sink deeper into the soft sofa. The phone screen beside her was still glowing by itself, and the whole living room was quiet.

【Xi Yu: I’m leaving for five days. Once everything is settled, I’ll come back.】

【Yu Nianyi: That long?】

【Xi Yu: Mm.】

【Yu Nianyi: I’ll miss Xi Yu-jie a lot.】

...

【Xi Yu: I know. I’ll come back as soon as I can.】

【Xi Yu: Remember to close the windows before you sleep at home.】

【Yu Nianyi: Xi Yu-jie too; take care of your health.】

【Xi Yu: There’s still a meeting here. I’m going to get busy now.】

【Yu Nianyi: Okay.】

Not far away, the cage gave off a steady rustling hum. A faint warm light covered it, and Baby was running hard on the wheel.

Yu Nianyi glanced at the chat log from half an hour ago, then gently locked the screen.

After that, her gaze fell on the black overcoat hanging by the entryway. Maybe because things had been too rushed last night, Xi Yu still hadn’t had anyone send it out for dry cleaning. The coat hung dark and still on the rack, with a faint, cold sheen to it.

Yu Nianyi looked at it for a while, then braced herself on one hand and walked over, gathering it into her arms.

There was still a trace of alcohol on the fabric, mixed with a sweet jasmine scent, creating a somewhat strange smell. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, and it wasn’t unpleasant either; it was just odd.

Yu Nianyi lightly rubbed the coat in her hands. The fabric felt very nice, but it held no warmth.

She lay back on the sofa and instinctively pulled the coat closer, hugging it tighter. A faint rustle followed; Xi Yu’s scent drifted out, and Yu Nianyi’s nose started to itch. She carefully buried her face in it.

She sat motionless on the sofa for a while, dazed; then she suddenly lifted her head. Looking down at the faint creases pressed into the coat in her arms, at the shadows of the folds shifting in deep and shallow tones, the pressure marks were obvious.

Only after a beat did she shift back slightly and set the coat aside. She picked up her phone and unlocked the screen.

【Yu Nianyi: Xi Yu-jie, I’ll take your coat to the dry cleaner tomorrow when I go out.】

At ten that night, there was still no reply.

Yu Nianyi packed the coat into a bag, then went to take a shower. When she came out, her phone still had no new notifications.

She crawled under the covers, opened their chat history, and read it over and over, then poked at Xi Yu’s profile picture.

Buzz buzz.

【Xi Yu: Okay, I just finished up.】

Yu Nianyi’s brows lifted with delight.

【Yu Nianyi: Xi Yu-jie, you’ve worked so hard】

【Xi Yu: Going to sleep?】

【Yu Nianyi: Yes. What about Xi Yu-jie?】

【Xi Yu: Tidying up the materials, then I’ll go shower.】

Yu Nianyi tapped open the keyboard and typed for a while. Looking at the words “Do you want to video call?” in the input box, she stared at them for a bit; in the end, she deleted them one by one.

【Xi Yu: It’s late. Rest early.】

Yu Nianyi sighed.

【Yu Nianyi: Okay, good night.】

【Xi Yu: Good night.】

-

After that, Yu Nianyi went to the art supply store and bought some painting materials. Once she had bought everything, she was ready to head back. But after thinking it over, she decided it would still be more convenient to paint at Xiangyang Community. After all, her art supplies and reference materials were all in the studio, so she could start painting directly.

And Baby would have to be moved too; it was better to bring it back to their original home.

Yu Nianyi moved the easel over as well, then glanced sideways at the window. Right now, the streets outside were noisy, and bright sunlight poured in; it was the perfect light to fully illuminate her canvas.

“So my sister just left you alone at home?” The screen of the phone on the side lit up, and Xi Yao’s voice came through it.

Yu Nianyi casually tied up her hair, then slid open the tablet beside her and said, looking at the photos, “It’s not really being left alone. It’s just work. Xi Yu-jie is very busy; I don’t understand the company matters either, so I can’t just follow her there, can I?”

“How could you not?” Xi Yao retorted instinctively. “There are still ten days before school starts; of course you can go with her.”

Yu Nianyi hummed softly, her eyes fixed on the Songshan Park image on the tablet. “That won’t work. Sister Mengyao’s gallery is opening at the beginning of next month. Even if Xi Yu-jie were fine with it, my schedule wouldn’t allow it.”

“Oh right, I forgot about that for a moment. So how’s your painting going?”

Yu Nianyi sighed. “Not a single stroke yet.”

Xi Yao let out an “ah,” sounding a little surprised. “I didn’t expect you still wouldn’t have started by now. I thought you’d already settled on the base colors.”

Yu Nianyi opened the video and studied it closely, not answering Xi Yao.

“Then where are you painting? At my sister’s place?”

“No, still at Xiangyang Community.”

“Okay. My work’s almost done here, so I’ll go eat with Luo Luo tonight and come find you.”

After saying that, Xi Yao hung up.

Yu Nianyi began studying the tablet video very carefully. Although it was only a few minutes long, the part she wanted to paint had already been shown very clearly.

She fixed the tablet onto the easel, then casually put on her apron and sat down in the chair.

Fortunately, before she started, she had already worked out her painting steps and the rough effect she wanted. So from the very beginning, the composition wasn’t especially difficult or time-consuming; once she made the first brushstroke, time passed very quickly.

When she came back to herself, it was already completely dark outside the window. By then, the painting had taken on a faint outline.

Yu Nianyi took off her apron and stretched. She instinctively picked up her phone to check it; there were still no new messages from Xi Yu, only one from Xi Yao three minutes ago saying she was downstairs.

Then the doorbell rang, and Yu Nianyi went over to open the door.

Xi Yao and Luo Yiran came in together. After taking in Yu Nianyi’s outfit, they both tacitly moved over to crowd around Baby and watch it.

“You didn’t reply, so I guessed you were still painting. Is this just finished?” Xi Yao asked as she picked Baby up and stroked it.

Yu Nianyi hummed, casually pulling on a coat. Seeing her tied-up hair in the mirror, she subconsciously reached up to take it down; after thinking about it, she let her hand fall again.

Luo Yiran took Baby from Xi Yao’s hands and lowered her head with a smile to tease it.

“Where do you want to eat?” Yu Nianyi asked.

Xi Yao and Luo Yiran exchanged a look, then said in unison, Wangjie Restaurant.

Wangjie Restaurant rolled out new dishes from time to time; the menu was always fresh, and the food was consistently good. They had practically all defaulted to going there whenever they ate out.

Xi Yao and Luo Yiran played with Baby for a while longer before reluctantly putting it back into the cage.

The two of them were basically living together now; after being together for so long, they had developed a strange sort of tacit understanding, and they even seemed to have picked up traces of each other.

Yu Nianyi couldn’t tell whether Xi Yao had become gentler or Luo Yiran had become livelier, or whether they had always been like this. Either way, they had been feeding her dog food for quite a while.

“A few days ago, my sister was coming home pretty often too,” Xi Yao said in the car. “I heard she contacted quite a few new partners; it was basically act first and report later. By the time everything was more or less settled, my mom and dad finally reacted and called her back to ask about it for ages.”

Yu Nianyi nodded. “Did Aunt and Uncle not let her do that?”

Xi Yao thought for a moment, then said slowly, “It’s not exactly that they did or didn’t allow it. Being a company leader isn’t that easy; you have to think about everything. Especially with my family’s situation, one thing gets involved and it affects a lot of others.”

“Come to think of it, it’s kind of interesting,” Xi Yao went on. “These past few days, Aunt Kang and Uncle Chen have also been coming over more often; even Chen Shuo has been coming along, and sometimes he runs into my sister.”

As she said this, Xi Yao glanced at Yu Nianyi in the front passenger seat. Seeing that Yu Nianyi didn’t have much of a reaction, she instinctively exchanged a look with Luo Yiran, then said softly, “But it’s nothing much. They just say a few unimportant things; it’s all the elders stirring things up. My sister doesn’t really react to it either.”

Yu Nianyi smiled and glanced at Xi Yao through the rearview mirror.

“You’re worried I’ll overthink it?” Yu Nianyi asked with a smile.

Xi Yao clicked her tongue. “What else? I’m very thoughtful.”

Luo Yiran burst out laughing.

Yu Nianyi turned to look at the Wangjie Restaurant sign growing closer in the distance. “Fine, fine. Thanks for worrying about me.”

By the time the car arrived, the students still hadn’t started school yet, so there weren’t many people or cars in the alley; it was very quiet.

The three of them had arrived early, so they didn’t need to wait in line and went straight inside. When Wang Jie saw the familiar trio, she immediately came over with a smile to greet them, saying they hadn’t seen each other in so long and that she’d missed them very much; she also said there were quite a few good dishes lately and wanted them to try them.

Xi Yao was already quite familiar with Wang Jie and had no airs at all; she started chatting with her right away.

Seeing that there weren’t many people in the dining hall, the three of them unexpectedly wanted to sit here. But after only a few steps, they saw a familiar figure.

Yu Nianyi’s gaze met hers; then the person at the opposite table stood up and walked toward them.

“Sister Nianyi, what a coincidence.” Song An Ning’s eyes swept over the others one by one, then finally settled on Yu Nianyi’s face.

The people with her were clearly all young; they looked Yu Nianyi over without hiding it, and from the atmosphere around some of them, Yu Nianyi could tell at a glance that these were people from the old friend group chat.

“What a coincidence.” Yu Nianyi smiled.

Xi Yao and Luo Yiran, who had been walking ahead, stopped and looked over too.

“I didn’t expect you to come so early too. I thought I was already early enough.” Song An Ning turned slightly and gestured toward the table behind her. “Those are friends we used to know in the group; some of them are actually pretty interested in Sister Nianyi.”

Yu Nianyi looked over into the open space and happened to meet the eyes of a few girls at the table. Their eyes were bright as they nodded at her; some of the more outgoing ones even raised a hand to greet her.

Yu Nianyi nodded back one by one, then looked at Xi Yao and Luo Yiran beside her. “No, maybe another time if there’s a chance.”

Song An Ning nodded. She also knew her table couldn’t fit any more people, so she didn’t say anything else; she just looked over Yu Nianyi’s surroundings. “Is that sister not with you?”

Yu Nianyi pressed her lips together, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.

Song An Ning blinked. After a few seconds, she said softly, “I thought you two…”

Yu Nianyi didn’t hide it either. “We’re dating.”

Song An Ning gave an unruffled “Oh.” “Looks like my later guess wasn’t wrong. It’s just that you never showed it on social media, so I thought I was overthinking it.”

Yu Nianyi looked toward the table behind Song An Ning. “Then you guys eat first; my friends and I will go over there.”

Song An Ning came back to herself and smiled, nodding. “Okay. Let’s make a separate appointment another day.”

“I didn’t even react in the first few seconds to who she was,” Xi Yao said as she walked beside Yu Nianyi. “You’re still in touch with her?”

Yu Nianyi shook her head. “No, I haven’t contacted her in a long time either.”

Luo Yiran also said, “Sometimes we run into her at school.”

Xi Yao was very surprised. “She still goes to your school?”

Luo Yiran said, “Yeah. One of my roommates is really close with her, and that roommate seems to like girls too.”

Xi Yao nodded and didn’t ask any further.

After that, the three of them sat down in a relatively spacious part of the dining hall, ordered everything newly added to the menu, and ate to their hearts’ content.