Chapter 17

This was the most comfortable New Year Yu Min could remember having. No messy rules, no complicated social obligations, and none of the sharp, cutting arguments between Zheng Qing and Yu Shengyu. She didn’t have to face a crowd of elders; all she had was ease.

Only her and Lin Baixin.

When the new year came, the first thing Yu Min woke to was the smell of wontons drifting from the kitchen. According to Siping County custom, people were supposed to eat tangyuan on the morning of the first day of the year to symbolize family reunion. Yu Min didn’t like them, so they’d changed it to the wontons the two of them had wrapped ahead of time.

Once the holiday officially started, all the visiting stopped at once and turned into online greetings instead—phone calls and messages.

Lin Baixin’s phone hadn’t stopped buzzing since the pre-dawn hours yesterday, one message after another, one call after another.

Aside from Uncle Xiao’s video calls, Lin Baixin’s replies to everyone else were fairly perfunctory. She didn’t chat much or linger; a quick response to be polite was enough.

It was the New Year holiday. Walking around with a phone in hand all day would have seemed improper.

On the first day of the year, most families would be making offerings or visiting ancestors’ graves. They were different. In the morning they lounged in the chairs on the second-floor terrace and soaked up the sun; in the afternoon they climbed the mountain; at night they stayed in a hotel up there, then got up on the morning of the second day to wander around the mountain temple.

Lin Baixin had booked the hotel in advance. It was a twin room on the cliff side; through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, you could look out over the magnificent mountain scenery, and when you looked up, you could see stars strewn across the sky.

Contrary to Yu Min’s guess, the mountain was not as deserted as she’d expected during the New Year. Unexpectedly, there were quite a lot of tourists. The hotel was fully booked, and the temple on the second day was crowded with worshippers as well. Fortunately, they had bought tickets a few days early, or they wouldn’t even have gotten in.

Lin Baixin was an atheist. Bringing Yu Min to the temple wasn’t about praying to gods or Buddhas; it was simply because the view was good. Standing in the temple pavilion at the mountaintop, you could see all of Siping County—the winding river, the buildings rising and falling in uneven clusters. Lin Baixin pointed in one direction and said that was Heyuan.

Yu Min found it novel and leaned over the railing to look for a while.

People kept burning incense, and the curling white smoke was nearly enough to cover half the mountain. They each offered a stick too; Yu Min went over to do it, while Lin Baixin stood a little farther away and waited.

When she was done, Lin Baixin asked, “Did you make a wish?”

Yu Min shook her head. “No.”

“Then you were asking for protection.”

“Yeah, more or less.”

Lin Baixin smiled. She was bare-faced today, yet her complexion was excellent. She looked even more elegant and beautiful than usual. The wind had messed up her hair, and she lifted a hand to sweep it back before saying, “It’s good to pay your respects anyway. May the Bodhisattva bless you with high scores on your exams.”

Yu Min didn’t say what she had actually prayed for. She couldn’t tell Lin Baixin. What she had asked for wasn’t high exam scores; getting those wasn’t that hard. With more effort and more practice questions, there was no need to kneel to the Bodhisattva for that.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t say it because it was a secret. What she had prayed for was peace and safety—only, she hadn’t asked for herself. Right in front of the person involved, she felt embarrassed and too shy to let the other know.

On the second day, many stalls and shops on the mountain were still open for business. The place was too big; you couldn’t possibly finish wandering it in a day. Yu Min, unusually outgoing, took photos along the way to keep as mementos. When Lin Baixin wasn’t paying attention, she secretly took a candid shot of her from behind. She didn’t dare be too obvious, and she was also afraid Lin Baixin would discover it when they got back, so she used the old plane tree on the cliff as cover; she centered the tree in the frame and took advantage of that moment to catch Lin Baixin in the corner.

Later, she looked through all the photos with Lin Baixin. Lin Baixin didn’t notice anything unusual, or rather, she didn’t think there was anything odd about the shot from behind. She was in the frame, but it was just an ordinary, normal picture—nothing worth paying attention to.

“If you like any of them, you can print them out. Pick the ones you want, and I’ll help you take care of it,” Lin Baixin said.

Yu Min didn’t choose that back-view shot. She only transferred it to her own phone, selecting photos that didn’t include Lin Baixin.

It was only after they had gone back down the mountain that Lin Baixin remembered. “We should’ve taken a group photo up there. What a pity—I didn’t think of it at the time.”

Yu Min was sitting in the passenger seat. For no reason at all, she tugged at her seat belt and, as usual, fell silent.

Lin Baixin had said it casually. They could always take a group photo after getting out of the car, so it wasn’t too late. But once they got out, Lin Baixin turned around and forgot all about it; clearly, even she hadn’t really kept it in mind.

Yu Min had kept her camera bag with her the whole time. Only from the car back to the house were they together again. Just after they went in, Lin Baixin’s phone rang. This time it was probably an important call she had to take. Lin Baixin said, “I’ll step out for a moment,” then answered it while walking out, deliberately avoiding Yu Min. She was outside on the phone for more than twenty minutes before coming back.

It had been her advisor calling. It wasn’t anything urgent; probably just getting in touch about returning to school as early as possible.

Saving the photos on her phone still didn’t feel like enough. Yu Min wasn’t good at doing “bad things.” She was overly careful, and before long she hid the photos, not even daring to trust them completely despite the lock-screen password on her phone.

The photos were only there to preserve the memories; there wasn’t the slightest improper intention behind them. Yu Min still had many other photos on her phone as well—of her family, her friends, her classmates… For example, she also had photos of the three of them, Li Xue Ting and the others.

Because of that call, Lin Baixin’s original plan had to be scrapped. She still wouldn’t be able to make it through the Lantern Festival this year; she had to leave early again.

This time, Yu Min didn’t feel disappointed. They had already lived together for so long; it wasn’t as if those few extra days would make much difference. Lin Baixin had something to do, not deliberately gone back on her word.

Besides, Lin Baixin had never promised her anything.

After Lin Baixin left, Yu Min was still going to stay here. Lin Baixin hadn’t told her to leave, and Yu Min didn’t bring it up either. Aunt and the others didn’t mention it as well. By now, Yu Min truly had nowhere else to go, so she could only shamelessly keep staying on.

Lin Baixin didn’t mind. She had already said it tactfully last time, and this time her stance was unchanged. Yu Min could help keep an eye on the house; otherwise, it would just sit empty. At least if Yu Min stayed, there would be some life in it.

Once school started again and the next vacation came around, Yu Min could still stay there.

Lin Baixin made it clear to her: the second-floor study needed to be tidied up, and she didn’t like housekeepers going into that room. Yu Min was the exception.

After living here for more than half a month, many more things had gradually been added to Yu Min’s room: a matching set of pajamas, a vintage little table lamp, a Bluetooth speaker… Those things couldn’t be packed into one small suitcase; even making a few trips back and forth wouldn’t be enough. And the single wardrobe in the First High dormitory couldn’t hold that many things anyway.

Yu Min couldn’t take them away, so they had to stay behind.

They were studying in different cities, and they weren’t really related by blood to begin with; parting was only natural.

Lin Baixin was an adult in her twenties. She had her own world, a world completely separate from Yu Min’s. To Yu Min, she was simply a good person doing a good deed. To some extent, all of this ultimately came down to empathy; she had walked a similar road before, and the two of them had comparable experiences.

Yu Min’s present life was Lin Baixin’s past. The difference was that Lin Baixin hadn’t even had a single relative to accuse her back then. Although Uncle Xiao and the others cared more about Lin Baixin and paid more attention to her, that too rested on the double foundation of affection and interests tied up between Uncle Xiao and the Lin parents.

Yu Min didn’t know much. She had probably heard bits and pieces from other people. It seemed Lin Baixin and Uncle Xiao’s family weren’t as harmonious as they appeared on the surface. Lin Baixin seemed to have moved out of Uncle Xiao’s place very early. As for why they were now buying houses next to each other, that was even less clear.

Lu An said the villa seemed to have been bought by Lin Baixin’s biological parents, and Aunt and the others only moved over here later.

This separation no longer felt quite so suffocating. What was meant to come would come.

Yu Min kept a calm mind. After school started, Teacher Qi had everyone rewrite their college entrance exam goals. The science-humanities split was over; a few classmates had left, and new faces had joined. The class roster had changed, so the goal board had to be redone.

Yu Min’s goal didn’t change. Last time, she had been lost and undecided. This time, she had made up her mind. She was going to Kyoto; she would get into school there.

As expected, Zhao Shiyu and Li Xue Ting both made it into Class 32, scraping in right at the cutoff. The class was regrouped into new teams, and Yu Min’s desk mate became Li Xue Ting.

Zhao Shiyu insisted that Wen Yun had to sit with her. If Wen Yun refused, she would throw a tantrum and roll around on the ground. As compensation, Zhao Shiyu bought a pile of snacks and put them on Yu Min’s desk, generously treating everyone.

“Minmin, why do you still want to go to Kyoto? Look, your class… no, it’s our class now; a lot of people have changed their goals. Why don’t you change yours too?” Zhao Shiyu tore open a bag of chips and crunched for a long time before blurting, “What’s so great about Kyoto? Why is everybody picking that place? Could there be some reason you absolutely have to go there?”

It was just a casual remark; Zhao Shiyu was rambling and didn’t mean anything by it. Yu Min was writing a test paper. At the words, her pen paused in her hand; only after a long while did she half-heartedly deny it. “No. It’s not that I have to go.”

Zhao Shiyu never stopped talking. “Then why not go to Hai city?”

Yu Min said, “I think the schools in Kyoto are better.”

“That’s true. Hey, then are you going abroad in the future?”

“No.”

Her firm answer made Li Xue Ting, who had been listening, unable to help but cut in. Given Yu Min’s family circumstances, going abroad wouldn’t be a problem. It would be a shame not to.

“Why not?” Li Xue Ting craned her neck curiously.

Yu Min didn’t answer. She didn’t want to keep listening to them chatter, so she turned back around and studied earnestly.

What was so great about going abroad? If she went abroad, she would never be able to see… that person again.

Like rubbing against ink and getting stained black, influenced by Zhao Shiyu, Yu Min also started hiding her phone in the new semester. She didn’t use it; she only occasionally turned it on to see whether there were any messages or missed calls.

Until summer arrived, she still hadn’t received any news from far away.

That same summer, Zheng Qing finally kept her original promise and came to pick Yu Min up.