Chapter 53

That Friday, with exam month drawing near, Xiao Zhou helped Yu Min save a seat in the library during the day. They’d originally planned to go back there in the evening to study too, but luck wasn’t on their side; neither of them managed to find an empty seat, so they had to look for somewhere quieter.

They’d originally meant to go to a coffee shop, but Yu Min realized she’d left an important major textbook at home. After a quick discussion, they all ended up going to Lin Baixin’s place instead.

Home was better for studying than a coffee shop. After all, there were fewer people, more space, and talking out loud wouldn’t disturb anyone else.

Yu Min didn’t just bring Xiao Zhou; she also brought two of Xiao Zhou’s classmates.

By now, Yu Min was already quite familiar with them. Lin Baixin knew that, and Yu Min hadn’t hidden anything from her. She had told Lin Baixin everything.

But when she brought people home, she hadn’t told Lin Baixin the whole truth. Yu Min had messaged her ahead of time on WeChat, saying she was bringing a few friends over to study. Lin Baixin had assumed she meant the class monitor and the others; if they were studying together, they had to be classmates from the same grade at least. By the time they arrived, Lin Baixin had just gotten home from work and had already prepared cold drinks and snacks in advance. When she opened the door and saw the group, she froze for a second and didn’t respond to Xiao Zhou’s greeting right away.

Xiao Zhou was warm and took the initiative. “Boss Lin, sorry to bother you. Thanks for letting us come over.”

After a moment, Lin Baixin pushed past that brief lapse and collected herself. She had to play the host properly; guests were guests, and besides, the one standing in front of her was a real big customer at the shop.

“No trouble at all. Miss Jiang, you’re too polite.” Lin Baixin turned slightly and stepped aside to make room, keeping the polite, proper expression she should have worn. “Come in, everyone. Sit wherever you like.”

The other two classmates greeted her too; one called her “Boss Lin,” while the other followed Yu Min and called her “Sister Baixin.”

It was their first time here, and the girls were all a little stiff. In their eyes, Lin Baixin was practically a stern parent, not a peer. So as soon as they came in, the two girls felt awkward sitting in the living room. Seeing that Lin Baixin was still there too, they secretly tugged at Yu Min’s sleeve and whispered to each other, “Should we go to your room instead, or the study? It feels like we’re bothering your sister. That doesn’t seem right.”

Yu Min glanced over at Lin Baixin, who was typing at the computer. With several meters between them and the screen turned away, Yu Min couldn’t tell what Lin Baixin was doing. She hesitated, a little troubled.

“Forget it. Should we just go out and find another coffee shop?” the tall girl said bluntly. She’d always been the type to say exactly what was on her mind. Seeing Yu Min hesitate, she added, “Otherwise this is just going to be awkward for everyone.”

Since they were already here, going back out didn’t seem any better.

In the end, they went to Yu Min’s room. The study was a shared space, and some of Lin Baixin’s personal things were kept there, so Yu Min could only take them to her own little territory.

They weren’t exactly hiding from Lin Baixin, just trying to stay out of her way. Once inside, they left the door half shut and sat in a circle on the carpet. They stayed there for over three hours.

They’d arrived around six, and by nearly ten they still hadn’t left. Faint sounds drifted out of the room in waves; sometimes it was the rustle of pages turning, sometimes their low voices chatting. They naturally needed to take breaks now and then, and whenever they did, they couldn’t help talking.

Lin Baixin stayed in the living room the whole time. Working didn’t require changing places; anywhere was fine.

Hearing the intermittent soft laughter from the room, mixed with that familiar voice—unmistakably Yu Min’s—Lin Baixin paused her long fingers over the keyboard. She stopped and lifted her eyes, her gaze drifting unconsciously in that direction.

At one point, Yu Min came out for a while. By then, Lin Baixin had already put away her laptop and was looking through a magazine.

Yu Min went to the fridge to get the cold drinks and snacks Lin Baixin had prepared in advance. Passing by her, she hesitated for a half step, as if only then realizing Lin Baixin was there, and remembered to ask, “What do you want to drink?”

Lin Baixin didn’t want anything. She turned a page at an unhurried pace, eyes lowered. “Don’t worry about me. Go ahead and do your thing.”

Hearing the stiffness in her tone, Yu Min turned to look at her and said softly, “I’m not busy.”

“Done studying?”

“Not yet.”

“Mm.”

“But almost. They’ll be leaving soon.”

“Mm.”

Still, Yu Min set a cup of cold drink down in front of Lin Baixin. She hesitated a moment longer and didn’t go back in right away.

After saying a few more words to Lin Baixin, Yu Min looked at her and suddenly asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Lin Baixin raised her eyes and answered calmly, “Nothing.”

“Is it because I brought people home?” Yu Min put it plainly.

Lin Baixin denied it. “No. Don’t overthink it.”

“You seem like you don’t really...” Yu Min chose her words carefully. Glancing over her shoulder, she bit her lip and lowered her voice even more. “Like them very much.”

“No, that’s not it.” Lin Baixin answered just as quickly. She set the magazine down and picked up the cold drink on the table, her expression calm and steady, as if she couldn’t understand why Yu Min would think that. She lifted her eyes and let her gaze fall into Yu Min’s face. “Aren’t you going back in? They’re looking for you.”

Through the doorway over there, while they’d been talking, one of the girls had already leaned against the back of the door and peeked outside. She was too embarrassed to come out, worried she’d interrupt them, so she could only look out secretly.

Lin Baixin saw it but acted as if she hadn’t. Her expression stayed cool and indifferent.

Yu Min turned back. By then, the girl was no longer looking this way; Yu Min hadn’t seen who had been looking for her, and thought Lin Baixin was trying to send her away. After a pause, she nodded. “Okay.”

Then, as if she hadn’t expected Yu Min to agree so quickly, a complicated look flickered across Lin Baixin’s brows. Her lips moved; she seemed ready to say something, but the words caught in her throat and wouldn’t come out.

“I’ll see them off later. I still need to go out.” Yu Min added.

Lin Baixin couldn’t stop her. She answered and let her do as she pleased.

A little later, the three girls came out one after another and followed Yu Min. Before leaving, with her back to Lin Baixin, Jiang Zhou leaned close to Yu Min’s ear and said a few words. The gist was that they were making plans about where to meet on the weekend; it was all ordinary business. But from where Lin Baixin stood, it didn’t look that way at all.

They were too close. Standing side by side, they were almost the same height, and their builds were similar too. Only then did Lin Baixin realize Jiang Zhou was actually a little taller than Yu Min. The girl had a strikingly aggressive kind of beauty—distinctive, with deep-set eyes and sharp features, and a pair of phoenix eyes that were especially memorable. Her double eyelids were barely there, but her eyes were large, and they looked much better than a plain, ordinary pair of double eyelids.

As they left, all the girls greeted Lin Baixin and waved.

“Goodbye, Sister Baixin.”

“Thanks, sis.”

“We’ll come again another day. Thanks for having us, sis. The milk tea was delicious!”

Lin Baixin waved them off and watched them go.

At the door, Yu Min was changing shoes when the lace on her left shoe came undone. Before she even had time to bend down and tie it again, Jiang Zhou suddenly crouched down and, without a word, tied it for her.

How could Yu Min let someone do that? She instinctively tried to dodge away, but she was half a step too slow. Jiang Zhou was quick; in just a few movements, she had tied it neatly. Yu Min didn’t even have time to react before she froze there, and after a moment she could only say, “Thanks.”

Jiang Zhou was easygoing and didn’t think it was anything special.

“No need to be polite. You’re still holding things, and it was just a small favor.”

It wasn’t until they’d walked far away and the door had already closed that Lin Baixin finally managed to pull her gaze back. Her eyes seemed fixed in place, unable to move for a long time.

They’d been gone for more than twenty minutes before coming back. By rights, dropping them off at the neighborhood gate should have been enough and wouldn’t have taken this long, but no one knew exactly what they’d done to take so long.

When Yu Min came back, the things she’d had before were gone, replaced by a bag containing something else. You couldn’t see what was inside. Lin Baixin had only caught a glimpse of it, and not long after, it was only when Yu Min opened the bag herself that Lin Baixin could see clearly it was a booklet—Jiang Zhou’s notebook. They were in the same major, so Yu Min could use it.

The booklet turned out to be quite useful. For the next half month, Yu Min took it with her wherever she went. There was even one time she came to the shop carrying nothing else at all; the only thing in her bag was that notebook.

Yu Min and Jiang Zhou’s friendship advanced by leaps and bounds, which surprised everyone. Yu Min was slow to warm up, with a steady, unhurried temperament; for her to become such good friends with someone she didn’t know well was nothing short of a miracle.

For that, Lin Qi was the most “heartbroken.” She’d worked hard to get along with those two—Yu Min and Jiang Zhou—and who would have thought the troublesome pair would end up inseparable?

Lin Qi somehow developed a feeling of being abandoned. She turned to complain to Lin Baixin, but Lin Baixin didn’t want to hear it. Her temper was even worse than usual. The moment she heard Jiang Zhou’s name, she cut Lin Qi off and wouldn’t let her continue.

“What, you’ve got a problem with your big customer?” Lin Qi blurted out nonsense without thinking.

Lin Baixin didn’t admit it. “No. That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you mean?” Lin Qi looked her over from top to bottom. “Keep pretending. I can smell it on you already. Let me sniff again—what’s that smell...” Leaning in and taking an exaggerated breath to tease her, Lin Qi said, “Ohhh, sour. You and I are the same; you’re still nowhere near as good as that Jiang Zhou, and you and Minmin aren’t going to get that close that fast either.”

Lin Baixin shoved her away in disgust and told her to get lost. She had a problem and should stay away from her.

Lin Qi laughed at Lin Baixin until she was out of breath, then suddenly remembered something important. Only then did she ask, “Hey, did you have dinner alone with Song Chu last time? What was that about? Was something going on?”

Lin Baixin met her eyes. “How do you know?”

“Don’t worry about how I know. Just answer me honestly. What did you go do? Weren’t you afraid of getting tangled up with her? And you still dared to go out for dinner alone—weren’t you afraid she’d cling to you again?”

With no way to dodge the question anymore, Lin Baixin finally said that the meal that day had really been to make things clear with Song Chu; it wasn’t a private dinner date at all.

Lin Qi understood, then asked, “Will that work?”

Lin Baixin said, “I don’t know.”

The next day, early on Sunday morning, before eight o’clock, Jiang Zhou drove over to pick Yu Min up. Since Lin Baixin was still home, it was Lin Baixin who opened the door when someone knocked.

Jiang Zhou was thoughtful and romantic; she’d actually brought three bouquets of flowers. The moment she came in, she first gave one bouquet to Yu Min, then smiled at Lin Baixin and set the flowers down directly on the most eye-catching coffee table.

Yu Min was going out again. As always, before leaving, she made a point of telling Lin Baixin. But this time, Lin Baixin didn’t pretend not to hear. While Yu Min was gathering her things, she said lightly, “Come back early today.”

Yu Min looked up. “Is something up?”

Of course not.

But Lin Baixin kept her expression calm and said it as if she were being perfectly serious. “You’ll know when you get back. I’ll tell you then.”