Chapter 45

Her hand froze in midair. Yu Min stood there, no longer reaching for the things in front of her.

Song Chu’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly to her ears. By then, there were only the two of them in the room; the hallway outside the office was empty, utterly quiet.

Yu Min lifted her eyelids and finally met Song Chu’s gaze, standing across from her without moving.

“What?” After a long moment, Yu Min lowered her voice, her lips pressed almost into a straight line.

Song Chu said, “You heard me.”

Yu Min tightened her grip on the backpack she had just closed, still trying to stay calm. With a blank expression, she muttered, “I don’t know what you mean.”

Song Chu smiled. Seeing her like this only made her more certain. “Then I’m right. No explanation means yes. If it weren’t true, you would’ve told me straight away.”

Yu Min didn’t go along with her. “Why would I need to explain anything to you? What does this have to do with you?”

“It has nothing to do with me. I’m just asking. Curious, that’s all.” Song Chu said, “Actually, I don’t even need to ask. It’s mainly because you’re being too obvious. Something’s off.”

Yu Min frowned. “What about me is off?”

“You care a lot about Lin Baixin; more than you care about anyone else. Every time her name comes up, you turn just like this; your whole body goes tense.” Song Chu paused, then added, “And you’re very hostile toward me.”

Yu Min didn’t deny it. Not liking Song Chu was a fact.

“You should know about me and Lin Baixin, right? You definitely know; otherwise, you wouldn’t react like that every time you see me.” Song Chu rested her chin in her hand and picked up the pen on the table; it was the one Yu Min had dropped and not put away. She picked it up and handed it over. Her words were unkind, but her behavior was fairly friendly.

Yu Min brushed her off, too tired to waste time arguing. “You’re thinking too much.”

“Did Lin Baixin tell you, or someone else?” Song Chu raised her hand again, signaling for her to take it.

Yu Min glanced at it and took the pen, but said nothing.

“It probably wasn’t Lin Baixin. She wouldn’t talk about this kind of thing; more likely, she’s hiding it from you.” Song Chu thought it over and came to her own conclusion. “It was Lin Qi, wasn’t it? Besides her, you’re not close enough to anyone else.”

Yu Min replied, “If you have something to say, say it directly.”

“That’s all. I just wanted to talk to you.”

“If there’s nothing else, I’m going out. There’s still work outside.”

Seeing her sling her backpack on and really start to leave, Song Chu raised an eyebrow, leaned back against the chair, and spoke slowly. “You look like you really hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Yu Min said; then, even more bluntly, “but you’re annoying.”

“But I don’t seem to have done much, have I? Is that really necessary?”

“I told you last time; I don’t want to get involved. That’s between you two.”

“But now it’s between me and you.” Song Chu picked at the wording, then paused. Worried Yu Min wouldn’t understand, she added, “As long as you like Lin Baixin, then it’s between the two of us.”

Song Chu looked at Yu Min, not bothering to hide it at all. “Me, you—we’re rivals now. Do you understand?”

Yu Min didn’t like nonsense. “No.”

“Talking to you is exhausting. You’re really hard to communicate with.” Song Chu sighed.

Yu Min had no patience left, unlike usual. “Then don’t talk.”

With that, she tugged at the backpack strap and made to leave again, no longer wanting to waste time with her.

Seeing that she was completely unmoved, even more stubborn than wood, the smile on Song Chu’s face gradually faded, and a trace of displeasure surfaced.

Just as Yu Min was almost at the door, Song Chu deliberately called out to her again; this time, her words were even more direct. “Did you tell Lin Baixin?”

Yu Min stopped, hesitating.

Song Chu said, “If not, then you’d better keep it from her. Don’t let her find out, whatever you do. Otherwise...” She dragged out the last word, then laughed at herself. “You’ve seen how I ended up; we couldn’t even stay friends. Don’t end up worse off than me.”

Yu Min’s brows drew together more tightly. She didn’t take the bait. She could tell Song Chu was saying this on purpose in front of her, but she still couldn’t help looking back.

Song Chu looked completely open and aboveboard, not caring how Yu Min saw her. In a mild voice, she said, “I don’t mean anything by it; I’m just giving you a reminder. I know you don’t like me, think I’m in the way. As for me, to be honest, I don’t exactly like you either. But how we feel about each other doesn’t matter. Just think of me as someone with nothing better to do. If you can listen, then listen; if not, forget it. You can even try it, make a bet, and see whether, in Lin Baixin’s eyes, you’ll be an exception, different from me.”

One more minute, one more long-winded sentence, and Yu Min couldn’t accept her so-called reminder. It wasn’t necessary. She dropped a sharp, “You’re overstepping,” and kept walking out.

After leaving the office and crossing the hallway, she ran straight into Lin Qi coming in. They nearly collided head-on; luckily, Lin Qi dodged in time, badly startled by how ghostlike she was.

“Why did you just pop out without a sound? I didn’t hear a thing; seriously... ow, my heart hurts from the scare.” Lin Qi hurriedly patted her chest. She had seen Song Chu go in there earlier and asked Yu Min whether she’d seen her.

Yu Min pointed the way. “In the office.”

“What was she doing in the office? We couldn’t find her anywhere.” Lin Qi complained. “Weren’t you in the office just now? Did she kick you out?”

“No, I came out to get some air,” Yu Min said.

“That’s good. I was afraid she’d come bother you. So troublesome.”

“Mm. She didn’t bother me.”

Afterward, Song Chu seemed to notice the movement outside and came out too. Lin Qi stopped immediately; some things couldn’t be said carelessly, or it would be impossible to clean up later.

“Go on, take a walk outside. I just ordered dessert for Gu Yue and the others; there’s some for you too. It should be arriving soon.” Lin Qi shooed Yu Min away, trying her best to keep Song Chu from bothering anyone other than herself.

When Yu Min got outside, the desserts had indeed arrived. The shop sisters had saved her the flavor she liked. As she went over to pick up a small cake, she heard Gu Yue chatting happily with another employee about how Song Chu had bought a lot of things; today counted as a big sale, and the commission would be substantial.

On the other side, Lin Baixin had already finished with the previous customer and personally escorted her out to the car. Yu Min sat quietly in a corner. There were still other customers in the shop, and she tried her best not to make herself noticeable, so she wouldn’t affect their shopping.

When Lin Baixin came back, Song Chu had also arrived. She walked over to Lin Baixin in just a few steps; since she was here, this trip couldn’t have been for nothing. Lin Baixin didn’t take the initiative to talk to her, so Song Chu started the conversation herself, not caring in the least about Lin Baixin’s coldness, pressing forward as if nothing could stop her.

From a distance, Yu Min couldn’t hear what they were saying. In any case, Lin Baixin only said a few things; she didn’t seem very willing to chat with Song Chu, but because the shop was still open for business, she couldn’t put on an openly cold face. Customers came first. On the surface, Lin Baixin didn’t flare up; after finding an excuse, she left.

Song Chu picked out a pile of bags; neither of them could carry them all, so Lin Qi came over to help and cheerfully played mediator.

When it was time to go back, Song Chu deliberately stopped beside Yu Min and looked her over. She even said goodbye in a soft, gentle voice: “Classmate Yu, see you next time.”

Yu Min turned into both a mute and a blind person, very rude, and ignored Song Chu.

“What did you two do?” Not long after, Lin Qi came back and keenly sensed that something was off between them. “Did Song Chu give you trouble?”

Yu Min’s expression barely changed; she said nothing at all and, after a while, went back to the office in the back.

Once inside, Lin Baixin also asked something similar. Although Lin Baixin had been busy with the other customer the whole time, she had noticed the strange atmosphere between her and Song Chu, and had seen Song Chu head toward the back. Lin Baixin was more observant than Lin Qi. She asked Yu Min, “Did she come talk to you about me again?”

Yu Min nodded. “More or less.”

“This time, for what?”

“Same as always. She wanted to see you alone.”

Yu Min lied; she didn’t want Lin Baixin to know the details, so she brushed it off in a few words.

On the ride home that night, Yu Min looked fine on the surface, the same as always. But she had more or less taken Song Chu’s “advice” to heart. Later, she found Lin Baixin and chatted idly about one thing and another; she was a bit out of line, crossing a boundary.

“Later on... are you really not going to get married?”

Lin Baixin asked back, “Why?”

Yu Min took out a few oranges to juice. “I’ve never seen anyone stay unmarried for their whole life. No one around me does. If it’s just one person... wouldn’t that be lonely?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it would,” Lin Baixin said. “But I’m used to it. It’s fine. It doesn’t feel that scary.”

“But you’re not alone now either. Before—when you lived with Uncle Xiao and the others, that doesn’t count, right?” Yu Min chose her words carefully, speaking in a way that was both direct and roundabout. “That’s different from complete solitude. There’s still a difference.”

Lin Baixin said, “Mm. That’s true. Living alone doesn’t mean you have no friends or relatives. It’s not like you’re cut off from the world and can only be alone every day.”

Yu Min couldn’t find a way to argue. It did seem to make sense.

She washed the cup clean. She hadn’t thought about any of this; all her mind was tangled up in something else, and for a moment her thoughts felt boxed in.

“Yeah,” she said against her heart, “you can live very well on your own.”

Lin Baixin came over to cut the oranges and lend a hand. She seemed as though she wanted to say more, but in the end she held back and only said, “Spending your whole life enduring loneliness is the norm. Whether you live with a few people has no real necessary connection to that.”

Reason was reason. Yu Min still wasn’t at the stage where she could truly understand it; she couldn’t understand Lin Baixin, couldn’t make sense of the reasons behind it.

Why did it have to be the norm? Couldn’t things be changed?

Where there’s a will, there’s a way; that was what books had taught her since she was little.

The orange juice was a little sour, not sweet. Yu Min added syrup and stirred it with a spoon, then handed Lin Baixin a glass first.

This topic couldn’t be pushed any further. Lin Baixin didn’t like talking about grand principles, so she took a sip of the orange juice.

“Too sweet. You put in too much sugar,” she said. “Next time, don’t add any to mine.”

They exchanged glasses. Yu Min passed the other one over and didn’t mind at all; she drank the sweet one Lin Baixin disliked herself.

“Make another glass. Don’t drink that one; I already drank from it,” Lin Baixin said.

“It’s fine.” Yu Min lowered her eyes. “There aren’t any oranges left. I can’t make any more.”

“Then buy more tomorrow.”

“Mm.”

She didn’t like drinking juice, and Lin Baixin, who preferred it without sugar, didn’t drink much either. Yu Min saw it, and after a long while, the restlessness in her heart still wouldn’t settle.

“Can I stay with you forever?” Yu Min blurted it out, so unguarded and so unlike herself that she still couldn’t hold back from pressing for an answer. She looked up at Lin Baixin and added, “Like being your friend.”

But Lin Baixin didn’t answer directly. She set the cup down gently and replied vaguely, “If you want to come, then come. You can stay as long as you like. But in the future, you’ll have your own life. There’s still a long way ahead; it won’t necessarily always be like this.”