Chapter 43

Song Chu had already started working at X University last week, in the Office of International Cooperation. The class monitor had been running an errand at the Student Affairs Office, and since the two departments were on the same floor, she happened to pass the Office of International Cooperation and spot Song Chu inside. She even noticed the desk nameplate with Song Chu’s workstation on it. Only then did she realize Song Chu had actually been a staff member at their school all along.

Yesterday, the class monitor had seen Yu Min talking with Song Chu and assumed they must know each other. So the moment she got back, she hurried to share the news with Yu Min.

“Is she your relative, or something?”

“Neither.” Yu Min frowned faintly, though she kept it from showing. Their school’s staff nameplates didn’t have photos. If the class monitor didn’t know Song Chu and didn’t even know her name, maybe she had mistaken her for someone else.

“There’s no way I’d be wrong. Impossible,” the class monitor said with certainty, sounding almost offended. “I heard someone call her by name, so I put two and two together. Otherwise, how would I know who she was?”

“She’s a regular employee?” Yu Min turned her head. She didn’t really want to care, but she still couldn’t stop herself from being curious.

“Probably. She even has a nameplate, so she doesn’t seem like a temporary hire,” the class monitor said, not entirely sure herself. “Would a temp worker at our school even get a desk nameplate?”

Yu Min knew even less than she did.

The class monitor was more excited about Song Chu than Yu Min was. Their thinking was different; the class monitor had misunderstood Yu Min and Song Chu as acquaintances close enough to help each other out, and she was actually a little envious. Having a relative or friend working at the school was so impressive. If anything came up, they could lend a hand. How nice was that?

Yu Min couldn’t feel happy about it at all. The sense of rejection in her heart only grew stronger. It wasn’t any of her business which school Song Chu worked at; she had no right to interfere. But there was Lin Baixin between them, after all. Everyone knew how Song Chu felt about Lin Baixin. Now that Song Chu had come to work at X University, and given how courteous and attentive she’d been to Yu Min yesterday, Yu Min couldn’t help wondering if Song Chu was up to something again.

It wasn’t that Yu Min was overly suspicious; she just had a vague, uneasy feeling. For some reason, she couldn’t shake the sense that Song Chu wouldn’t settle down so easily.

—Of course, it was also possible she was overthinking it. Maybe it was simply because she cared too much about Lin Baixin, so she had instinctively become wary of Song Chu’s appearance.

Song Chu’s mother taught at X University, so it was perfectly normal for Song Chu to come work here. Family arrangements like that were very common among university staff. Besides, in the current economic climate, an administrative position at a university counted as a pretty good job. X University’s administrative departments weren’t short on highly educated staff with overseas experience; Song Chu was far from the only one like that, and there were plenty of people more outstanding than she was.

Yu Min didn’t dwell on it any longer. It was time to change classrooms for the next class, so she packed up her books and followed most of the class to another teaching building.

Song Chu worked in administration; she didn’t teach, and she definitely wouldn’t be coming to the medical school. They probably wouldn’t have much contact in the future. Thinking too much about it would only cause unnecessary trouble.

Back home, Yu Min acted as if she knew nothing. She didn’t bring up anything she shouldn’t. Instead, she chatted with Lin Baixin about their day. Yu Min said, “We had class all day. It was a full schedule again today. At lunch, the cafeteria had a new stall selling rice noodles. They were pretty good.”

“Then I’ll check it out another day.”

Business at the shop was about the same as usual today. Lin Baixin made one order with a fairly good profit, selling a rare limited-edition bag at a price far above cost.

Yu Min didn’t know anything about bags and wasn’t interested in them, but after hearing the actual amount, she still couldn’t help clicking her tongue. That price was already enough to buy a house in Jincheng, the provincial capital.

She knew secondhand luxury goods could make money, but she hadn’t realized they could make this much. Only then did Yu Min belatedly understand that Lin Baixin was much richer than she had imagined.

Lin Qi didn’t hide it and told Yu Min the shop’s profits over the past half year. Yu Min was shocked. That was almost as much as her family’s factory made in a whole year.

“This line of work doesn’t always make this much either. We were just lucky and caught the trend,” Lin Qi said. “Every business has risks. What we’re earning now doesn’t mean we’ll keep earning it. And there’s a lot of stock tied up in the warehouse. The costs are right there; we’re still a long way from breaking even.”

Yu Min was good at studying, but only had a vague understanding of business. Lin Qi taught her all sorts of random things: online channels, supply chains, financing, this and that. These days, you had to keep up with the times, build teams, do livestreams, run ads, and manage operations with multiple hands at once. Sometimes, the bigger the scale, the greater the chance of losing money instead.

“Still, it’s best to study hard and become a doctor someday. Save lives, heal the wounded; the work is stable, and your social status is high. That’s much better than what we do,” Lin Qi said with feeling, then rambled on with a mouthful of complaints. “This job really isn’t something just anyone can do. If I hadn’t had your sister working with me, I’d have quit long ago. I even regret it now. I should’ve listened to my family back then and just found a proper job. Look at everyone now; they’re all trying to get into civil service. The environment is nothing like it used to be. It’s worlds apart.”

Lin Baixin happened to pass by and only caught the second half.

“Get into civil service? You want to take the civil service exam?”

“I’m not taking it. I graduated years ago. What would I take that for?” Lin Qi said. “Just chatting.”

Lin Baixin said, “You’re not too old yet. You’re not thirty-five, so you can still take it.”

“Forget it, I’m not suited for it.” Lin Qi was the classic case of admiring something from afar but not wanting to touch it up close. “I can’t sit still. I’d never last in that kind of environment. It’d kill me.”

After Lin Baixin left, Lin Qi looked in the direction she’d gone, then suddenly turned back and asked Yu Min whether she had seen Song Chu at school.

Lin Qi had heard that Song Chu had joined X University, and it was obvious that for now, only Lin Baixin was still being kept in the dark. No one had told her; everyone was hiding it from her.

Yu Min played dumb. “I haven’t seen her.”

“She seems to have joined some department at your school. Not teaching—administration,” Lin Qi said.

“I don’t know.” Yu Min didn’t like gossiping about it. “I’m not close with her.”

“That’s true; you’ve only seen each other a few times anyway.”

On Thursday night, Yu Min stayed with Lin Baixin while she practiced yoga. During that time, she ran into Song Chu twice more, but there was no interaction either time. They saw each other from a distance and didn’t greet one another.

Yu Min didn’t know yoga, so Lin Baixin taught her. After studying all day, it was important to balance work and rest; stretching the body was good for health.

Yu Min changed into yoga clothes too; hers were the same style as Lin Baixin’s. She hadn’t prepared her own outfit and was wearing an extra new set that Lin Baixin had.

Starting yoga from scratch was still pretty difficult. Yu Min wasn’t very coordinated, and she couldn’t do many of the simpler movements properly.

Lin Baixin taught her by hand. Wherever Yu Min was off, she corrected her on the spot: her legs weren’t lowered enough, her back was arched too high, her waist wasn’t sinking down far enough... Lin Baixin pressed Yu Min’s back and said, “Lower.” Seeing that she had gone too far, she then supported Yu Min’s lower abdomen and said, “A little higher.”

The yoga clothes were thin and fitted, and after staying indoors and practicing for so long, both of them were warm all over. Yu Min could clearly feel the heat of Lin Baixin’s palm; it was warm, even hotter than her own body.

It felt as if she had been struck hard by a red-hot iron. Yu Min shivered and couldn’t help holding her breath. She even forgot how to breathe for a moment.

Lin Baixin said softly, “Breathe. Don’t hold it in.”

Only then did Yu Min follow along. Even breathing needed to be taught by the other person.

She didn’t know whether it was because this was her first yoga session and the intensity was too much, or because she was simply out of shape. By the time she stood up, her whole body had gone soft. When Lin Baixin taught her the next movement, Yu Min couldn’t keep her balance. Her legs gave out, and she suddenly fell into Lin Baixin’s arms.

Lin Baixin reacted quickly and caught her before she could fall.

The instant someone starts falling, it’s hard to control their own actions. Yu Min’s forehead hit Lin Baixin’s shoulder, and in her panic she also touched something she shouldn’t have. She hadn’t realized it at the time and had kept clutching at Lin Baixin. It took a while before she suddenly understood what she had just done.

Lin Baixin was calm about it. It hadn’t been on purpose, so it was nothing. Yu Min opened her mouth, but she couldn’t get a single word of apology out. She was stuck halfway forward and halfway back, unable to move either way. After a long while, she finally managed to say, “What are we practicing now?”

They exercised for three hours. After that, they rested for a while; once they had rested enough, they took showers one after the other, then came back to the living room to keep resting.

They had ordered takeout for tonight. By the time they finished washing up and came out, the delivery had arrived.

They’d ordered a light, low-fat meal. Yu Min liked vegetable salad, the kind without dressing, and ate it as if she were biting straight into raw leaves.

Seeing her keep eating leaves and nothing else, Lin Baixin asked, “Is it that good?”

Yu Min was dazed, her eyes fixed on the TV drama, her mind already drifting elsewhere. Hearing this, she picked up another chopstickful of greens and held it out to Lin Baixin’s mouth. Without thinking, she answered, “It’s okay. Try it.”

Lin Baixin glanced at her, then bit it and ate it without caring that it had been touched by Yu Min’s chopsticks.

“It’s fine. Nothing special,” Lin Baixin judged, then pushed the stir-fried beef toward her. “This one tastes better.”

Yu Min picked up two slices. Meat really was more delicious than vegetables.

After a moment, when she realized they had been sharing the same pair of chopsticks, Yu Min bit the end of them with her tiger teeth, then pressed the tip of her tongue against them. She turned back and kept eating while watching the drama.

Lin Baixin’s hair was still damp, wrapped in a quick-dry cap and not yet blown dry. She asked Yu Min to help her, saying she’d been tired from teaching all afternoon and didn’t want to do it herself.

Yu Min took out the hair dryer. Lin Baixin sat cross-legged on the carpet; Yu Min sat on the sofa behind her, the two of them back to back.

Lin Baixin had changed into a nightgown. The smooth fabric suited her figure very well. Seen from behind, her long, beautiful neck was pale; her waist was narrow and slim. The hem of the nightgown fell to mid-thigh, revealing a pair of straight, fair legs. Her ankles were slender. Higher up, all the way above her chest, her collarbones were beautiful too; the two faintly raised lines were alluring, and her flesh outlined a clean stretch of skin. The ends of her hair curled over that area.

Yu Min kept her eyes half-lowered, trying as hard as she could not to look around. Lin Baixin was only wearing a nightgown; the rise and fall of her body were half-hidden beneath the neckline. Yu Min’s gaze stayed above her collarbones and never wandered downward.

Sitting on the carpet for too long was tiring too. Halfway through, Lin Baixin changed positions and leaned back slightly, pressing against the inside of Yu Min’s legs as she rested against her.

“Take your time on the back,” Lin Baixin said.

Yu Min didn’t hear her. The noise of the hair dryer drowned out Lin Baixin’s voice. As she moved the dryer from back to front, her fingers brushed Lin Baixin’s earlobe now and then, then her cheek. Lin Baixin wasn’t ticklish and didn’t dodge, as if she felt nothing at all.

It wasn’t until the hair was completely dry, inside and out, that they were done. It took longer than when Lin Baixin usually dried her own hair. Yu Min was very thorough; after putting the hair dryer back in the bathroom, she returned to keep Lin Baixin company, shoulder to shoulder, both of them sitting there barefoot.

“Thanks,” Lin Baixin said, turning slightly toward her.

Yu Min’s expression didn’t change. “It’s nothing.”

Lu Dagun was afraid of the sound of the hair dryer. Only then did it dare crawl out from under the coffee table. There was no empty space between them, nowhere for it to fit. The little thing was clever; it pawed at Yu Min and meowed twice.

Yu Min picked it up and gently set it on her lap.

Lu Dagun then gave Lin Baixin a weak meow. Lin Baixin understood and stroked it.

“Good girl...”