Chapter 37

An old friend?

One of their mutual acquaintances?

Yu Min immediately caught the key point. Her instincts were sharp; she could tell this person probably wasn’t just some ordinary friend. She had never even heard of anyone like that before.

Lin Baixin’s social circle wasn’t all that large. Yu Min knew most of her acquaintances in Kyoto already, so for someone new to suddenly appear now, and someone Lin Baixin didn’t want to see at that... Lin Baixin had always been warm and easygoing with everyone. Even if she disliked someone in her heart, she would never make things so awkward and obvious that the other person was left with nowhere to step down.

“Does Sister Baixin know?” Yu Min held back the suspicion churning in her chest and asked vaguely, pretending she didn’t understand.

“Of course she knows. Didn’t I just tell you? Your sister won’t agree to meet them,” Lin Qi said. “Now someone’s come to me asking for help, and I’m in a pretty awkward spot too. No matter which side I help, it’s not right.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t tell Lin Baixin about this. Just the two of us know; we can’t let a third person find out.”

Yu Min didn’t want to get involved. She hated meddling in other people’s business, and for no reason at all, she felt a little uncomfortable and resistant.

She could agree not to say anything, but passing along the message was out of the question.

“Come on, it’s not a big deal. Just do me this favor,” Lin Qi said, a little too familiar, tugging at Yu Min’s scarf. “I really have no choice, or I wouldn’t have come to you. Right now you’re the only one who can still say something in front of your sister. No one else can. You don’t understand; your sister looks easy enough to get along with, but she’s actually incredibly stubborn. I’m afraid I’ll screw this up, and then she’ll settle accounts with me later.”

“I’m afraid too,” Yu Min replied. “If you want to say it, say it yourself. I can’t. I won’t help.”

“Count it as me owing you one, okay? As long as you help this once, next time no matter what you ask me to do, I promise I’ll do my absolute best to help you.”

“I don’t need it.”

“What if one day you do? Don’t refuse so fast; think about it first.” Lin Qi coaxed her insistently, trying hard to wear her down. “Besides, your sister is only still angry. She and Song Chu just had an argument; it’s not some earth-shattering conflict. Song Chu used to be pretty good to her, and she’s a decent person too. She helped your sister a lot. It’s really not necessary for things to end up like this.”

“It has nothing to do with me; I’m not listening.” Yu Min stood firm, completely on Lin Baixin’s side. “That’s between them. Sister Baixin has her own thoughts. I can’t interfere.”

“Hey, why don’t you get it? I’m not asking you to interfere. You definitely couldn’t interfere anyway; I’m asking you to pass along a message.”

“I’m not passing anything along.”

“Then do you really have the heart to let me go find your sister myself? Minmin, you’re not that heartless, are you?”

“I do have the heart. Go yourself.”

“...”

No matter what Lin Qi said, Yu Min still wouldn’t budge in the end. Lin Qi had no choice but to give up. She couldn’t force her; Yu Min was practically a cold, hard stone, even more troublesome to deal with than Lin Baixin.

After Lin Qi walked off, Yu Min watched her back for a while, until she saw Lin Baixin talking with a customer in the distance, then finally looked away.

Later, after Lin Baixin got off work and they went home together, Yu Min didn’t mention a single word she shouldn’t have. Lin Baixin looked the same as always, not at all like something was bothering her. She was as usual, and halfway through the drive, at an intersection, she even asked Yu Min in a soft voice whether she wanted to buy dessert from the shop on the corner.

Yu Min said no, and Lin Baixin added, “They’ve got a new item. Gu Yue bought some for the shop two days ago and gave me one; it tasted pretty good.”

“Then we can come another time,” Yu Min said.

Lin Baixin talked about other things too, like who had mailed something over here, including Zhou Jin. That kid had gone on a trip to Tibet and sent dozens of jin of jerky over, saying he wanted to let them try authentic beef jerky.

Also, Uncle Xiao had been hospitalized last month. As he reached middle age, all kinds of health problems had started cropping up; high blood pressure and fatty liver, a little of everything. And then—Yu Min’s grandmother, her biological grandmother, had fallen ill. Everyone in the family knew, including Lin Baixin, but Yu Min had no idea.

The old lady had fainted and been taken to the hospital last night. She was old and her heart wasn’t good, and then she suddenly had an acute myocardial infarction. If Aunt hadn’t gone over in time and found her, Grandma might already have been gone. Delayed treatment could have been fatal.

Lin Baixin kept her explanation as flat and straightforward as possible. The matter had already happened; worrying Yu Min over it wouldn’t help. She hesitated for a long time before deciding to tell Yu Min. She figured the Yu family probably hadn’t had time to notify her yet, and sure enough, Yu Min really didn’t know.

Yu Min wasn’t close with her grandmother. The older generation disliked Zheng Qing, and by extension, they weren’t exactly warm toward her either. Since childhood, there had been little contact between the two sides. They were no different from half-strangers.

But hearing something like this now, even without much feeling for the old woman, Yu Min still lifted her head, somewhat startled.

“How is she now? Did she have surgery?”

“She did; she’s out of danger now,” Lin Baixin said. “She had the surgery last night, and she still has to stay in the hospital. She’ll probably need to be observed for a while, and after that there’ll still be a long recovery period.”

Yu Min understood. She understood Lin Baixin’s roundabout way of telling her, and once she got home, she still called over there to ask after her and show concern.

She called Yu Shengyu. Yu Min didn’t have the old lady’s number, but whatever the case, she needed to do her part.

Against all expectations, the call went unexpectedly smoothly; there was even a bit of warmth in it, more than there had ever been before. Yu Shengyu was probably as if his brain had finally flooded, suddenly turning sentimental. People were especially fragile when facing death, and also especially susceptible to empathy and projection. Yu Shengyu was practically crying, going on and on about how terrified he had been during the incident. It wasn’t just because he was worried about Grandma; more than that, he was afraid this might be what awaited him in the future.

Yu Shengyu was scared. He was afraid that one day, many years from now, when he was old and unable to walk, what would he do if no one was by his side? Only then did he suddenly realize how serious the consequences of a broken family could be. Now that the blow had landed on him, he was louder than anyone when he cried out in pain.

This call satisfied the Yu family, but for Yu Min, it only made things worse. She wasn’t very good at putting on a front; it was as if her mouth had been tightly stitched shut with dense threads. Faced with their attempts to curry favor, she wasn’t moved at all. Instead, she felt resistant and repulsed.

So now they regretted it? Where had they been earlier?

That was also why Lin Baixin had hesitated. She hadn’t wanted to tell Yu Min in the first place, knowing full well that once Yu Min found out, she would definitely call over there, and that call would only make her feel worse.

But this was something Yu Min had to decide for herself. It was her life lesson; Lin Baixin knew she shouldn’t interfere too much, so she only gave her a tactful reminder.

With those two things piling up back to back, that feeling of suffocation only grew stronger. Yu Min lay on the bed, burying her face in her arms and pretending to be an ostrich, unwilling to face reality.

But reality would come when it came; she couldn’t stop it.

The next morning, Lin Baixin didn’t go to the shop, and she wasn’t at home either. She had taken a call, and it was still early in the morning. Yu Min stumbled sleepily into the living room. When Lin Baixin saw her come out, she lowered her voice without changing expression, went out to the balcony, and shut the door to keep talking away from Yu Min.

Lin Baixin usually didn’t deliberately avoid taking calls in front of Yu Min. There had never been a situation like this before. No matter who was on the other end, or how important or private the call was, Lin Baixin had never hidden it from her.

Yu Min took it in silently, walking to the refrigerator and stopping there as she thought of the person Lin Qi had mentioned.

Song Chu.

Was it Song Chu calling?

There was chilled milk in the fridge. Yu Min took a bag, bit open a small corner, and drank it slowly.

The refrigerator was fairly close to the balcony, and standing here she could faintly hear the conversation outside, though not very clearly.

Lin Baixin seemed displeased, lacking patience with the person on the other end of the phone. She had lost her usual composure and hung up before the conversation was even over.

The other side called again; apparently they had to finish talking.

Lin Baixin hung up and refused to answer. She stood on the balcony for quite a long time before finally coming back inside.

Before she came in, Yu Min closed the refrigerator door, walked to the sofa, sat down, and finished the rest of the milk.

“I’m going out for a bit. I might be back a little late,” Lin Baixin said after returning to the living room, her composure restored and nothing unusual showing on her face. “You don’t need to wait for me at home. Call me if anything comes up.”

Yu Min’s expression didn’t change. She gave a quiet acknowledgment, as if she hadn’t eavesdropped on anything at all.

“Okay, then go ahead. I’ll wait for you when you get back.”

Lin Baixin put on her coat and was about to leave. After she opened the door, Yu Min called her back and said, “I want the dessert from that shop yesterday. Could you bring me some when you come back?”

“Sure,” Lin Baixin said.

She was gone for quite a long time this trip; she left in the morning and didn’t come back until after eight that night. Yu Min stayed home the entire day. Originally, she had planned to go to the bookstore to buy some books today, but all of a sudden she lost the mood.

When Lin Baixin got home, her hands were empty. She hadn’t brought back any dessert. She probably forgot, or else something had happened and she hadn’t had time to buy it.

Yu Min sat cross-legged on the rug, head down, fiddling with a puzzle. When the other person came in, she sensibly didn’t say much and waited for Lin Baixin to speak first.

But Lin Baixin said nothing. Not a word about where she had gone today, and not a word about the dessert either.

Lin Baixin hadn’t gone out to work at the shop. Yu Min was certain of that, because after she left, Yu Min had gone to Lin Qi to test the waters. Lin Baixin had taken a sudden day off and hadn’t even stepped through the shop door once.

Dragging a body full of fatigue back in, Lin Baixin didn’t look well. It was obvious things hadn’t gone smoothly; she had run into some kind of snag.

Since she wouldn’t say anything, Yu Min simply finished the rest of the puzzle on her own and went back to her room to rest once it was done.

Until the day before school started again, there was still no conclusion to where Lin Baixin had gone that day. Even Lin Qi didn’t know; only the person involved understood.

From that day on, Yu Min found reasons to drop by the shop whenever she could. Being alone at home was boring, so she went over there to help out and pass the time.

“School’s about to start. Don’t you need to prepare, Minmin? Aren’t you tired of coming here every day?” Lin Qi joked, thinking she was showing up a little too often. “You’re here every single day; you’re even more punctual than Gu Yue and the others punching in. At this rate, shouldn’t the shop start paying you? You’re practically one of our employees already.”

Yu Min’s excuse was clumsy: “I just had nowhere else to go. It’s too boring at home, and I didn’t know what to do, so I came to hang out with you guys.”

“Go out and have fun then. Invite a few classmates or friends; anywhere’s fine,” Lin Qi said. “Since you’re still in school, try to get out and look around more. Once you start working later, you won’t get chances like this anymore.”

Yu Min couldn’t listen to any of it. Her mind was entirely occupied by that matter; she had no extra energy for anything else.

By some strange coincidence, Yu Min waited so long at the shop and still never learned the truth she wanted to uncover, but on the first day she went back to school, she ran into a woman with the same name and surname as Song Chu. That woman was the daughter of the teacher who taught Yu Min’s class the course on the basic principles of Marxism, and she had graduated from the same school as Lin Baixin.