Chapter 15

Yu Min actually felt indifferent toward holidays; she didn’t like celebrating them.

Before Zheng Qing and Yu Shengyu’s divorce began to spiral, no matter the holiday, big or small, the house was always packed with visitors—relatives, employees, the couple’s friends and classmates, and so on. Most of them Yu Min didn’t know, or wasn’t close to. Usually, they would prepare red envelopes or gifts for her, and meals would be booked separately in private rooms at restaurants. At the table, Yu Min’s grades, personality, and every little thing she showed would become the bridge for the adults to exchange polite, friendly conversation.

This year was quiet; there were only the two of them. Fireworks suddenly bloomed in the sky, bright bursts spreading across the small patch of sky overhead. Yu Min looked up. The candied hawthorn skewer had been in her hand the whole way, and she’d been eating it the whole way too.

Lin Baixin stayed with her to watch the fireworks and stopped walking. After that, she answered a few calls; they were from Lu An and the others sending holiday greetings, as well as Aunt’s family in Jincheng.

Zhou Jin made a video call from over there and raised his voice to shout, “Sis, Happy Little New Year! Wishing you wealth and prosperity!”

“Mm, same to you,” Lin Baixin said coolly, then turned around and sent him a transfer.

The amount wasn’t small. Zhou Jin was overjoyed; he bounced around and howled, looking like he wanted to spin in circles on the spot.

Yu Min got one too. In fact, she received her red envelope even earlier than Zhou Jin. Lin Baixin had prepared several cash bills, tucked them into a red envelope bag, and put it on the cabinet in Yu Min’s room before they even went out that morning.

Zhou Jin didn’t know that. Spoiled rotten, he started making a fuss and, after his little outburst, said something brainless like, “Sis, you’re so generous. Not like my mom and the others. They force me to do homework on a holiday, and they even stop Grandpa and Grandma from buying me a game console. Sigh, I kind of want to go back. It’s no fun here at all.”

Lin Baixin didn’t like listening to pointless whining and complaints, so she didn’t really respond. After a while, she switched off the speakerphone and chatted with Aunt’s family for another two minutes.

Yu Min listened the whole time, but honestly, she felt nothing at all. No relatives had contacted her that day; she’d been forgotten. But that was fine. It saved her the trouble of dealing with all the messy, meaningless chatter.

The whole call lasted less than ten minutes. Lin Baixin found an excuse and quickly ended the video call.

After finishing the last candied hawthorn, Yu Min quietly trailed beside Lin Baixin. Lin Baixin turned her head and changed the subject casually. “Was it good?”

Sweet and sour. Good.

Yu Min hummed. “It’s okay.”

“I’ll buy you more next time.” Lin Baixin was good at coaxing kids. “There’s a better one on West Street. An old couple runs the shop, the one by the café at the three-way intersection. I’ll take you there when we get the chance.”

Yu Min had never been there, so she agreed.

The wind was strong; a biting cold seeped through the exposed skin and worked its way under their clothes.

“Put this on. There’s a drinks shop up ahead; let’s go in and sit for a while.” Lin Baixin took off her scarf and draped it back over Yu Min.

The scarf was still warm, carrying her body heat.

Yu Min wasn’t dressed warmly enough. Girls her age didn’t pay much attention to keeping warm; even in the dead of winter, she was still wearing jeans, with only a thin base layer under a down jacket. Just looking at her made one feel cold.

The drinks shop sold hot cocoa. Business was booming tonight, and there was a long line at the register. They joined the end of the queue. Lin Baixin told Yu Min to go upstairs first; one person could wait while the other went up.

Yu Min stayed and waited with her. When the hot cocoa was finally in hand, they found a window seat facing the street. From upstairs, they could see the night view outside: lights blazing everywhere, the street alive with chatter and noise. Yu Min held the cup and looked down with curiosity. The scent of the scarf was just like the shawl from before, a faint fragrance, barely there. She propped her elbows on the table with both hands, lowered her head, and took a small sip of hot cocoa, her side glance landing on the person opposite her from time to time.

Lin Baixin didn’t notice. Before long, she ordered two more reduced-sugar desserts.

Someone had also invited her for late-night snacks tonight. Lin Baixin didn’t want to go, but she still asked Yu Min first. If Yu Min wanted to go, they’d go; they’d been out wandering for half the night already, and she should be hungry.

“Not going,” Yu Min said.

“Then we won’t go.”

In the end, they still had more than half a cup of hot cocoa left. The two of them spent over an hour at the drinks shop. Only after their bodies had warmed up again did they return to Heyuan.

It was just past midnight, and the bell had started ringing at the center of the square. Lin Baixin deliberately drove them around in a circle, looping around the square. It was the first time Yu Min had stayed out this late without going home. She pressed herself against the car window and kept looking outside. Her breath fogged the glass white; the dim yellow streets were wrapped in a veil of mist, receding farther and farther away.

This year’s New Year’s Eve and Spring Festival turned out to be much more interesting than Yu Min had expected. After Little New Year came buying New Year goods, then cleaning and decorating, putting up Spring Festival couplets... Yu Min didn’t need to do the labor; almost everything that required effort was handled by Lin Baixin hiring people to do it. The only thing Yu Min had to do was help Lin Baixin paste the couplets.

The couplets were written by Lin Baixin herself, and they were even prettier than the ones sold outside. Yu Min couldn’t hold back and praised her, “They look good.”

Lin Baixin said casually, “Then I’ll write all the couplets at home from now on.”

From now on... Yu Min lowered her eyes slightly, brushed a knuckle over the couplet paper, and didn’t know how to answer.

Even with few people around, the holiday atmosphere could still be strong. Lin Baixin paid great attention to ceremony. She was just too busy normally to make things this detailed, so this time she carefully decorated the whole house inside and out. Even Yu Min’s room had a pot of red wintersweet, plus a whole assortment of bright red ornaments and hangings. Of course, there was still the rabbit Yu Min liked; a huge one, over two meters tall, so big it was almost the size of a bed.

This time it really was the genuine Bugs Bunny, wearing a red hat and a red scarf. Just looking at it made one feel festive.

The moment Yu Min opened the door to her room, she froze. When Lin Baixin was arranging her room, she’d sent Yu Min out to fetch something. In less than half an hour, the room had been transformed. Yu Min blinked, turned to stare blankly at Lin Baixin, and felt something tight in her throat. She stood at the doorway for a long time before going inside.

The giant Bugs Bunny could double as a single sofa; leaning against it was soft and comfortable, perfect for reading while reclining.

Oh, and Lin Baixin was considerate enough to place a small storage rack beside Bugs Bunny for books.

Messages in the four-person group chat were flooding in every day. Zhao Shiyu and the others were also busy preparing for the New Year at home, and since they were all cooped up with nowhere to run wild, they kept throwing photos into the group and sharing updates whenever they felt like it.

Ever since Yu Min had shown up last time, and since the two Class 7 girls had done pretty well on their exams, there was a good chance they could enter Class 32 after school started. More likely than not, the four of them would end up in the same class. Li Xue Ting was no longer lurking silently. The moment she opened her eyes, she was @ing everyone, showing off the golden kitten her mom had just bought her, a plump little golden shaded cat.

Maybe influenced by them, Yu Min took a picture of Bugs Bunny and sent it into the group too. On a whim, she followed after Li Xue Ting and said, -I have one too.

Li Xue Ting: -!!!!

Zhao Shiyu: -?

Li Xue Ting: -What is that thing? What is this?

Zhao Shiyu: -Such a big rabbit!

Li Xue Ting: -My God.

Zhao Shiyu: -@Li Xue Ting Her pet could crush yours flat.

Li Xue Ting: -@Zhao Shiyu Get lost.

Zhao Shiyu: -Yours isn’t even as big as a palm. Not even close.

Zhao Shiyu: -@Li Xue Ting Can you raise a cat this big?

Li Xue Ting: -???

When she found out Bugs Bunny had been bought by Lin Baixin, Li Xue Ting was envious and sighed, -Your Sister Baixin is so good. Just like my mom.

Yu Min: -Mm.

Li Xue Ting: -I want an older sister this good too.

Yu Min started typing, but she couldn’t think of the right words. After a moment, she sent a cute sticker instead.

When it came to anything involving Lin Baixin, Yu Min deliberately avoided the topic and rarely mentioned it in the group chat. Li Xue Ting, on the surface, might have been carefree and careless, but she never said much in the group either. That was Yu Min’s privacy; Li Xue Ting wouldn’t blab.

All of them had heard at least a little about the rumors surrounding the Yu family. The girls were kind and tacitly understood each other; for so long, none of them had said anything in front of Yu Min, not even online.

Wen Yun was a little rich girl and often sent red envelopes into the small group. Every time she did, Zhao Shiyu would report it promptly and privately message anyone who hadn’t claimed theirs in time.

-Get out here, my little sister has made a fortune. Everyone gets a share; first come, first served!

Yu Min was never vague about it. She turned around and sent a red envelope into the group too. She now had her own bank card; although there was a daily limit, it was still enough to send red envelopes.

After sending them to her friends, she didn’t forget to send one to Lin Baixin as well. She transferred the money directly, and it was even more than what the other three combined had received.

Recently, Zheng Qing and Yu Shengyu might have been feeling guilty, because they had successively transferred money to their daughter and were secretly competing with each other; each one gave more than the last. Right now Yu Min had money with nowhere to spend it. To a student like her, someone without much desire to consume, money was nothing more than a string of numbers.

She was willing to give Lin Baixin that much. Returning kindness for kindness; that was only right.

Lin Baixin found this rather unexpected. It was the first time an adult had received money from a child. She neither wanted to take it nor felt right refusing it.

“What’s this? You’re trying to draw a line with me and pay me wages?” Lin Baixin said with amusement, deliberately twisting her meaning.

Yu Min denied it. “No. They all have one; you should too.”

“Everyone gets this much?”

“..."

Yu Min was left speechless. She didn’t know how to lie, and her mouth seemed to seal shut all at once.

In the end, Lin Baixin still accepted the transfer. It was Yu Min’s feeling; sending it back would be rejecting her kindness, and that wouldn’t do.

Two days later, Lu An drifted over to their side and happened to hear about it. The teacher, full of bad intentions, teased her openly. “Oh my, incredible. Student Yu, does this activity still have slots? I want one too. I haven’t gotten a red envelope yet this year. Look how pitiful I am.”

There was only one slot for the activity, and it wasn’t for anyone else.

Yu Min played dead and absolutely refused to budge.

Lu An clutched her chest, looking as though she’d been heartbroken. “Sigh, so biased. So biased it’s gone all the way to the Pacific.”

Lin Baixin stepped in front, shielding Yu Min.

Lu An’s heart shattered even more, but unfortunately, Lin Baixin didn’t fall for it and just pushed the person aside.

“Don’t bother her,” Lin Baixin said.