Chapter 16

Around New Year’s, Lin Baixin didn’t go out to visit relatives or friends, but every few days someone still came by. Most of them were old classmates and friends from the area; only a very few were relatives—the sort who really shouldn’t have had anything to do with Lin Baixin at all, relatives of Uncle Xiao, with no blood relation to Lin Baixin whatsoever.

Lin Baixin actually had a pretty wide social circle, which stood in sharp contrast to her own homebody personality. Yu Min was dragged into meeting all of her friends; most of them didn’t know her and were seeing her for the first time. They only knew that Lin Baixin had a cheap younger brother named Zhou Jin, and had no idea Yu Min even existed.

The quiet girl was more likable than Zhou Jin. She didn’t need to do anything; just standing there was enough to make the older sisters feel fond of her. Almost everyone pressed a red envelope into Yu Min’s hands before leaving, truly treating her like Lin Baixin’s little sister. Some even warmly invited Lin Baixin to bring her sister along next time she went out.

At times like this, Yu Min usually stayed behind Lin Baixin. If Lin Baixin told her to greet someone, she greeted them; if Lin Baixin told her to do something, she did it at once. When friends were about to leave, Yu Min would also stand beside Lin Baixin and obediently say to them, “Goodbye, big sister.”

Hearing that, the friends often didn’t even want to leave; their hearts went soft. Unfortunately, Lin Baixin was merciless and had no intention of keeping anyone around. One friend deliberately said, “How about I take your sister home with me for a few days? I’ll send her back after the New Year.”

Lin Baixin hadn’t even answered when Yu Min tensed up first. She couldn’t tell it was a joke; the friend’s expression and tone were simply too serious, too sincere, nothing like a fake offer. On instinct, Yu Min turned to look at Lin Baixin to gauge her reaction, and silently took half a step back behind her.

Lin Baixin remained calm. She glanced at the friend and said lightly, “If you don’t leave soon, I’m locking the door.”

The friend laughed, fully aware of what she was doing, and said, “I think your little sister can’t bear to part with me. Your place is so quiet; it must be boring. Why not come to my house? There are more people there.”

Lin Baixin didn’t take the bait. She really was about to close the door if they didn’t go, and only then did the friend stop and drive off.

Watching the car disappear, Yu Min finally let out the breath she’d been holding. When she turned back, she glanced at Lin Baixin again, as if worried Lin Baixin might actually believe the nonsense. Her lips parted, and she hurried to explain, “I didn’t want to part with her...”

Lin Baixin didn’t care about that. It had been nothing serious to begin with, but Yu Min was taking it too seriously; the girl was sensitive and a little too fragile.

“She’s nice enough. If there’s a chance, I’ll take you to see her place,” Lin Baixin said, seeing that Yu Min had taken it to heart. “She’s a good person; she’s just a little unreliable sometimes. Don’t overthink it.”

It was meant as a casual attempt to smooth things over, but Yu Min didn’t quite hear it that way. She knew Lin Baixin would never send her away, and that she was only staying here temporarily before going back to school. There probably wouldn’t be another chance to live here after this. Still, Yu Min froze for a moment; her eyelids lifted, then drooped halfway again, and she said nothing.

Lu An had prepared New Year gifts for them; both of them got one. Lin Baixin received a luxury bag, while Yu Min got a backpack from the same brand.

Yet even after receiving the gifts, Yu Min couldn’t feel happy. Lin Baixin’s offhand remark had lodged in her heart, and it wouldn’t go away for days.

Lu An saw it at a glance and asked directly, “What’s wrong? Not happy?”

Yu Min denied it without meaning it. “No.”

“You look like you’ve been wronged. What happened? Did Lin Baixin bully you? Tell me, I’ll back you up. Don’t be afraid.” Lu An was all righteous indignation.

“No, Sister Baixin didn’t bully me.” Afraid Lu An would misunderstand, Yu Min hurried to explain. “She... she didn’t do anything. It’s not what you think. It’s my problem.”

“What problem do you have?” Lu An followed along.

Yu Min couldn’t say it, so she shut her mouth.

“So it has something to do with Lin Baixin?” Lu An pressed. It was rare to see Yu Min so downcast and listless, so she couldn’t help being curious.

Yu Min turned her back and pretended to do homework, refusing to pay Lu An any attention. She looked like she wanted to bury her head under the desk.

The more Lu An thought about it, the more confused she became. Later, she went to ask Lin Baixin, but Lin Baixin didn’t know anything and instead asked Lu An, “You didn’t upset her, did you?”

“Do I seem like that kind of person?” Lu An’s eyes flew wide open. “What did I even do? Don’t smear me like that.”

Lin Baixin said, “Stay away from her for a while, and it should be fine.”

“Hey, you’re impossible. How is that on me? Forget it, you don’t get it. You’re not dealing with students all day, so of course you can’t tell. I can’t be bothered arguing with you.”

Teenage girls having moods and private worries from time to time was normal. Lin Baixin didn’t understand, but she’d been through it too. Since Yu Min didn’t want to talk, she wouldn’t ask; she gave Yu Min all the privacy she should have.

A young girl’s worries were secrets, no matter what—secrets she could never bring herself to say out loud.

Yu Min lay on the desk, staring absentmindedly at the sky outside the window, until the phone rang and she pulled herself back.

It was Zheng Qing calling. During this period, the couple had been contacting her more and more often.

That was annoying too.

Fortunately, Zheng Qing still had no intention of coming to take her away. She’d only heard that Aunt and the others weren’t around, so she was calling to ask where Yu Min was now and who she was with.

Late concern was the least useful kind. Yu Min no longer thought about Zheng Qing coming to pick her up, so when Zheng Qing asked if she wanted to come over and offered to come get her, Yu Min didn’t hesitate for even a second; she refused outright.

Her attitude was far too firm, almost as if she were eager to cut ties with Zheng Qing. In truth, Zheng Qing hadn’t really meant to take her away either. If she had, she would already have driven straight to Heyuan; there’d be no need to ask over the phone. But when she heard how anxious Yu Min sounded, Zheng Qing froze. She misunderstood it as Yu Min siding with Yu Shengyu and not wanting to leave Aunt’s house. Her expression turned cold on the spot, ugly to see.

“If you’re not coming, forget it. Do whatever you want. You’re grown now; I can’t control you. Make your own decisions.” Zheng Qing’s tone was stiff. Even over the phone, her anger was impossible to miss.

Yu Min understood that Zheng Qing was overthinking it, but she let her mother misunderstand anyway. She opened her mouth and said with difficulty, “When school starts...”

Zheng Qing cut her off. “When school starts, I’ll still have things to do. Do you think I have time to go looking for you specially? Am I that free every day? Didn’t I tell you, I’m swamped right now. Busy. You think I’m like the people in your father’s family, with nothing to do all day long? I’m exhausted. I really can’t talk sense into you.”

Yu Min was left speechless. She couldn’t calm Zheng Qing’s sudden rage and could only silently listen as Zheng Qing vented and take the blame head-on.

“I originally thought I’d come get you once school starts. If you want to stay over there, then stay. We’ll talk when I’m completely free.” Zheng Qing didn’t let up, training the gun that should have been aimed at Yu Shengyu onto Yu Min instead. Her words were no different from Yu Shengyu’s old, worn-out line of attack: “People from the Yu family are all the same. None of you have a heart. None of you can be fed. If you weren’t the one I gave birth to, I wouldn’t bother with you... You’re already that old, sixteen or seventeen; when are you going to learn to be sensible?”

After she’d cursed enough, Zheng Qing hung up without another word, angry enough to shake.

Yu Min didn’t blame her. She knew Zheng Qing was under too much pressure after everything that had happened. Even a clay figure had three degrees of temper; if someone else had been in her place, they might have been even worse than Zheng Qing.

A few scoldings wouldn’t take a piece of flesh off her. As long as she didn’t take it to heart, it was fine.

Lin Baixin knew nothing about Zheng Qing’s phone call; no one did. Yu Min kept her promise and didn’t mention Zheng Qing to anyone. She’d promised Zheng Qing she wouldn’t, and she meant what she said.

Though she had yelled, once she’d cooled off Zheng Qing still sent another WeChat message, basically reminding Yu Min not to listen to Yu Shengyu. Yu Shengyu had not changed his ways and was still using Yu Min’s custody as leverage against Zheng Qing. Zheng Qing also hadn’t forgotten her promise to Yu Min; she would definitely take her away.

- When I’m free in a couple of months, I’ll come see you again.

Yu Min didn’t reply.

As if on cue, that couple behaved as though they’d agreed on it. That same day, Yu Shengyu also called Yu Min. But Yu Shengyu had more patience, or perhaps he simply cared less about this daughter. He only asked perfunctory questions during the call; in the middle, he did try to probe Yu Min’s thoughts, hoping she would think clearly about which side to stand on. She carried the Yu surname, not Zheng; no matter what Yu Shengyu had done, that was an adult matter. She was a daughter of the Yu family, and that was a fact that could not be changed.

Yu Min had even less to say to Yu Shengyu. She put her phone on silent and set it on the desk, not picking it up again until the other side finally hung up.

It was New Year’s, and they insisted on ruining everyone’s mood; it was infuriating.

“Are you going to keep living here in a couple of years?” Yu Min thought it over and asked Lin Baixin indirectly.

In truth, what she wanted to ask was whether Lin Baixin would still be in Siping County, whether she would leave. But saying it that directly felt too blunt, not very good.

Lin Baixin gave an ambiguous answer. “We’ll see.”

“What do you mean, we’ll see?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

That meant she would probably leave. It was about what Yu Min expected. A small place like this wasn’t suited to Lin Baixin’s future development; it couldn’t hold her back forever.

Yu Min understood and didn’t ask further. Some things only needed to be asked halfway; there was no need to keep digging.

Meanwhile, Aunt and the others had hesitated during that time about whether to come back halfway through the holiday. They couldn’t quite let go of this side; after all, Siping County was the old home. In the end, though, they stayed in Jincheng.

On New Year’s Eve, only Yu Min and Lin Baixin stayed up to see the year out. The two of them curled up together watching television. Yu Min got sleepy and fell asleep before the New Year even arrived, dozing off against Lin Baixin’s shoulder.

The Spring Festival Gala was showing a comedy sketch. Lin Baixin sat perfectly still, turned her head to look at Yu Min, and after a moment pulled a soft blanket over her. Her movements were very light, very careful, trying not to wake Yu Min.

Yu Min slept soundly, her breathing shallow and even, as quiet as she had been during the day; obedient and well-behaved.