Chapter 5

The second movie was the art film *Chungking Express*. Yu Min didn’t like that kind of movie; she was too young to understand it. The tangled, lingering romance and symbolism were like riddles to a blind man, and the twists and turns were just too much for her.

Still, the visuals were beautiful. Stylish camerawork paired with an excellent soundtrack made everything feel restless, ambiguous, dreamlike, and hazy. Yu Min’s fever had finally broken, and her temperature was back to normal. But now her nose was getting more and more congested, and before long she began to feel sleepy.

The shawl was warm, the wool soft and smooth. Yu Min had been distracted, but she recognized the logo on it. Zheng Qing often bought this brand; it was luxury, something that cost at least five figures.

Zheng Qing loved everything lavish and expensive, convinced that only costly things were worthy of her. She had very high standards for Yu Min. Yu Min had been outstanding in school since she was little, excellent in every way; for a long time, she had been Zheng Qing’s most impressive trophy. Zheng Qing and Yu Shengyu ending up like this had always been inevitable. In Yu Min’s memory, the two of them had always seemed harmonious on the surface, but distant underneath. They only acted like a loving couple in front of other people; in reality, they had muddled through married life all these years for the sake of business, and whatever feelings they had once had had long since worn thin. What held them together now was only mutual benefit. Yu Min had already made the worst-case assumption; even if Zheng Qing divorced, she would still take her away. But reality was even worse than she had imagined.

Yu Min had no hope at all for Yu Shengyu, that so-called father of hers. She was more inclined to trust Zheng Qing. Zheng Qing had even promised her that in the future, she would definitely try to win custody of her.

But Zheng Qing was nowhere to be seen right now. At this rate, would she still keep that promise?

The bottled water on the coffee table had been replaced with hot water.

Yu Min was dazed, and by the time she noticed, Lin Baixin had already stepped aside.

Lin Baixin had made herself a cup of tea and, along with it, brought Yu Min a cup of hot water.

It was about time to take her medicine.

Yu Min didn’t hesitate. She picked up the hot water and warmed her hands on it first; the temperature was just right. Then she tipped her head back, tossed all the pills into her mouth, and swallowed them in one go with the water.

There was also a box of hard candy on the coffee table, put there just a moment ago.

The medicine was bitter. With hard candy, it wouldn’t taste so bad.

Lin Baixin wasn’t good at dealing with little girls; she treated Yu Min like a child who was only a few years old.

The tin was hard to open. Yu Min didn’t have much strength, so she worked at it a few times before finally prying it open. She picked up a green sour-apple candy and was just about to put it in her mouth when she stopped midway.

“Do you want one?” she asked softly, turning toward Lin Baixin.

Lin Baixin didn’t eat them. She didn’t like sweet, cloying things.

“Okay.” Yu Min pulled her hand back and put the candy in her own mouth instead, rolling it around to taste it. She liked sweet things, especially sweet-and-sour flavors. Zheng Qing never let her have too much; monopolizing such a big box of candy was out of the question.

“There are more in the drawer,” Lin Baixin said. Since kids eating candy was only natural, and she had plenty anyway—gifts from other people, just sitting there—she added, “If you want more, you can go find them yourself.”

Yu Min was shy; one box was already plenty. She wasn’t greedy. She nudged the round candy to the right side of her cheek with her tongue and answered her, not taking any more.

“I’m not very good at cooking, and I didn’t buy groceries today, so I can’t make a meal,” Lin Baixin said again, asking for her opinion. “Should we order takeout later, or go out to eat?”

She hadn’t bought groceries and still had Zhou Jin coming over at six for dinner. Yu Min had never seen anything like that.

This time, Yu Min didn’t say whatever. She had no opinions, and always saying anything was fine could annoy people. She answered, “Order takeout.”

“Okay.” Lin Baixin was straightforward. “A new place opened nearby; it seems pretty good. I’ll check.” The new place didn’t have online delivery, but Lin Baixin took out her phone, found a photo of the menu, enlarged it, and said, “Pick what you want first.”

“Stir-fried shredded potatoes. Pan-fried cod.”

“What else?”

“That’s it.”

Lin Baixin added a few more dishes, mostly mild ones without spice. After placing the order, she called the restaurant. The new place didn’t do online delivery, but they could send it themselves. The staff gave an approximate time and said it would arrive before six.

Ordering went quickly. Once the call ended, their conversation also came to a stop. There was nothing else to talk about for the moment, and the atmosphere was neither awkward nor natural.

Less than two minutes later, the emergency phone rang again. Lin Baixin glanced at the caller ID; it was a friend. She stood up and went outside to answer.

Yu Min stayed seated, motionless. She could no longer follow the movie at all. She had missed too much of the plot, and the later story was even harder to understand than a heavenly book. By the ending, she still hadn’t figured out what it was about.

Dinner was at six. Zhou Jin arrived more than ten minutes late. The box of candy, along with the shawl, had already been put away, and later they were packed into a bag and taken to Zhou Jin’s house.

At the table, Zhou Jin talked nonstop. The bland dishes didn’t suit his taste; he didn’t like eating them. Lin Baixin didn’t indulge him and said directly, “If you don’t want to eat, then don’t.”

Zhou Jin immediately straightened up. He stopped being picky at once.

“Hey, I was just saying, Sis, don’t take it so seriously. I’ll eat, okay? I’ll eat.”

On the way back, Zhou Jin quietly complained to Yu Min, “My sister is really fierce. She’s almost as bad as my mom.”

Yu Min didn’t answer. She stayed silent.

The long pants had been worn for two days, then taken off, washed separately, and hung up to dry. Yu Min had even hand-rubbed them first before putting them in the washing machine. The housekeeper at home had taught her that trick before, saying it would get them cleaner that way.

The shawl couldn’t be washed with water. Yu Min didn’t have money and couldn’t send it to a dry cleaner for special cleaning, so she steeled herself and returned it after using it; she kept the washed things separate from the unwashed ones.

She couldn’t bring herself to say anything. She didn’t know how to explain it. Luckily, Lin Baixin didn’t mind. Seeing that the pants had been washed, she said gently, “It’s fine. Just leave them there.”

After they left the house, Yu Min’s face felt hot. The girl was thin-skinned and in an awkward position; she was already bad at handling this sort of thing. Lin Baixin was too easy to talk to, which only made Yu Min feel more at a loss, and her heart grew even more uncomfortable.

Catching a cold and fever went quickly; it was just that the sore throat wouldn’t clear up for a while, and her voice grew raspier and raspier. When she spoke, it had a muffled, stuffy quality.

Before her throat healed, Yu Min kept as quiet as possible. Zhou Jin came looking for her to chat; he squawked like a duck for half the day, but she only listened and never answered.

“You’re so boring,” Zhou Jin complained.

Yu Min took him in one ear and out the other, stubbornly boring all the way through, until Zhou Jin finally lost interest and stopped bothering her.

Aunt was going on a business trip. Before leaving, she unexpectedly remembered Yu Min and even sent back several sets of new clothes.

Zhou Jin had a petty streak. Seeing that his mother had only bought girls’ clothes and none for him, he immediately started making a fuss.

“Mom, that’s not fair. Fine, you didn’t take me shopping, but you didn’t even buy me a single thing. Do you even remember you have a biological son? You’re so heartless!”

Aunt raised her hand and smacked Zhou Jin. The new clothes hadn’t been bought by her.

Zhou Jin pressed on, unable to let it go. “If not you, then who?”

Aunt refused to say. “Go away. None of your business.”

Yu Min guessed it was probably Yu Shengyu or someone from the Yu family. Zhou Jin felt awkward and wisely shut his mouth, not asking what he shouldn’t.

The new clothes fit well. There were both long and short pieces, plus shoes and socks, and even a new schoolbag at the very bottom; the style was simple but youthful.

The shoes were half a size too big, but they could still be worn. They weren’t too loose.

After trying them on, Yu Min took them off and quietly looked at the pile spread across the bed. After a long while, she folded them up one by one and put them neatly into the wardrobe.

Aunt went on a business trip, and Uncle Xiao went with her. This time the work was difficult, and Uncle Xiao couldn’t feel at ease leaving Aunt alone; besides, the two children were on vacation and didn’t need anyone to watch them for school, so he went too.

Lin Baixin became their temporary guardian. Zhou Jin had just started feeling happy, thinking that with the tiger gone the monkey could rule the mountain, when the next second he got the news and instantly wilted.

He couldn’t play games anymore. Lin Baixin was gentle on the outside but tough on the inside; she seemed easygoing, but in fact she was even stricter than Aunt. The moment Aunt and the others walked out the door, the computer at home was dismantled the very next second. Zhou Jin cried to the heavens and got no response; he didn’t dare openly defy his sister. He would sulk for a moment and then be done. One look from Lin Baixin was enough to make him more obedient than anyone else, not daring to breathe too loudly.

Yu Min was truly relieved. She wasn’t afraid of being disciplined; Zhou Jin’s howling and keyboard-smashing were just too noisy. Secretly pleased, she looked at Zhou Jin’s cowardly, frustrated expression and couldn’t help smiling silently.

Games were replaced by tutoring. The two of them were both sent to an after-school class so Zhou Jin wouldn’t stay home all day with nothing to do.

Zhou Jin was dead set against tutoring. What normal person would make their own life harder during a vacation?

His resistance was useless. Without comparison, there could be no harm; his shameless, useless habits made Yu Min seem much cuter by contrast. The girl was obedient, not complaining once, never making things difficult for Lin Baixin.

Not only did they have tutoring during the day, but at night they also had to go to Lin Baixin’s side to study and do homework; it was stricter than at school.

“Just kill me already. This is against the natural order,” Zhou Jin wailed.

Yu Min plugged her ears, finished the assignments the teacher had given them, and spent the rest of the time focused on memorizing her lessons. Whenever she came across something she didn’t understand, she circled it with a pen and asked the teacher about it the next day.

“My sister can do it too; just ask her,” Zhou Jin said, deliberately stirring up trouble for Lin Baixin because he was having a hard time himself. “Waiting until tomorrow to ask the teacher is such a pain. My sister’s right here anyway; she’s got nothing to do and plenty of time.”

That was clearly deliberate troublemaking, but unfortunately he had run into Yu Min, who took things literally. Since Lin Baixin had time, Yu Min really did go ask her questions. And Lin Baixin truly answered every one without fail, more capable than even a teacher; whatever you asked, she knew.

There was a faint fragrance on her, the same one as on the shawl. You could smell it as soon as you got close.

Yu Min’s nose had cleared, so her sense of smell was sharp. She always sat up properly, but sometimes she inevitably had to lean in a little. Lin Baixin spoke softly, her voice low; if you stood too far away, you couldn’t hear her clearly.

After memorizing her books, Yu Min moved on to reading extra classics. Her progress was fast, far ahead of Zhou Jin. Zhou Jin’s brain wasn’t quick; he still hadn’t even finished his homework.

The study in this house was on the second floor, and Lin Baixin had many books. Yu Min went up to look for them. She wasn’t familiar with the layout here, so she had to circle the second floor once before finding the study.

The room on the inner side of the west end of the second floor really was Lin Baixin’s bedroom. There was only one bedroom on this floor; the other rooms had all been turned into various functional rooms, or else left empty.

Lin Baixin was used to living alone. Even though she shared the neighborhood with Uncle Xiao and the others, she didn’t seem to welcome anyone else disturbing her. The huge house couldn’t really accommodate one more person.

There were books on the shelf that Yu Min liked, including Shen Congwen’s *Border Town*. Yu Min went a little overboard and opened it, then stayed in the study to read for more than twenty minutes before going back down.

Zhou Jin, trying to be helpful, told her that Lin Baixin hated other people going to the second floor and above. Even Uncle Xiao could only stay on the first floor when he came over normally.

“I couldn’t say it openly just now because my sister was there. Next time pay attention, and don’t go up again.”

In fact, Yu Min had already run into Lin Baixin on the second floor. Lin Baixin had come up to get some materials. That was different from what Zhou Jin exaggerated; at the time, Lin Baixin hadn’t looked angry or displeased at all. She had even recommended another book, saying warmly, “This one is good too. It’s also by Shen Congwen.”

Zhou Jin was restless, and Yu Min didn’t like being around him, so she didn’t take his warning seriously and still went up to the second floor as usual.

The facts also turned out to be the opposite of Zhou Jin’s warning. Yu Min stayed in the second-floor study and finished all of *Border Town*, along with the book Lin Baixin had recommended. For a full week, as soon as she finished her homework she went upstairs to read. Lin Baixin never stopped her or did anything else; she wasn’t nearly as scary as Zhou Jin had made her sound.

Zhou Jin was jealous and refused to believe it. In the end, he concluded, “My sister’s biased. Because your grades are good, she treats you differently.”

Yu Min countered, “She doesn’t.”

“Then why can’t I go up?”

“You can, if you finish your homework too.”

Zhou Jin was speechless. He thought about it for a while, then said grumpily, “Forget it. I can’t be bothered to argue with you. You don’t understand my sister. You’ll know later.”

Sometimes Lin Baixin didn’t supervise them; she had her own things to do, and she would sit at the study computer working for half the night.

Yu Min read by herself, moving carefully and making no sound at all.

At one point, Lin Baixin looked over here after being busy for a while, and Yu Min remained completely focused, as if she hadn’t sensed her gaze at all; she was quiet and still.

TL Note:

like riddles to a blind man (瞎子打哑谜) means something so obscure it’s impossible to understand.

a heavenly book (天书) means something completely incomprehensible.

with the tiger gone the monkey could rule the mountain (山中无老虎猴子称大王) means that when the main authority is absent, a less capable person takes charge.