Chapter 54

That day, Yu Min carried a huge backpack over to Jiang Zhou’s place. Most of it was books and study materials; the rest were things like a water bottle and a charger. She’d be staying there for quite a while and didn’t want to trouble Jiang Zhou, so she’d packed like she was moving out. Anyone who didn’t know better would’ve thought she no longer lived there.

She arrived at Jiang Zhou’s place at nine in the morning. As soon as she got in, the first thing she did was send Lin Baixin a message to say she’d arrived.

Yu Min was used to giving this kind of update. It was a tacit understanding they’d developed over the time they’d been living together, but after that message, for the rest of the day, until evening came, she wouldn’t look for Lin Baixin again unless something came up.

Lin Baixin was busy with work, and Yu Min was considerate enough not to bother her unless necessary.

Ever since that message, Lin Baixin’s phone had been quiet for almost the entire day. She had two WeChat accounts; the one that added Yu Min was her private account, and she didn’t like posting Moments there. The other was her work account, where a lot of updates came through.

Most of the time, the work account was left to the staff to manage, and Lin Baixin only took it over occasionally. Today, unlike usual, both accounts were unusually quiet. Instead, Lin Qi was the one swamped with work. It seemed as if all the customers in the shop had agreed on it; they all came looking for Lin Qi and not Lin Baixin.

Lin Qi complained bitterly and dragged Lin Baixin into helping her split the load, all while chatting idly with her and sneaking a look through Moments whenever she had a spare second.

When she scrolled to Jiang Zhou’s Moments and saw that Jiang Zhou had posted a group photo with Yu Min in it, Lin Qi was surprised. Without thinking, she turned the phone around and handed it to Lin Baixin.

“Look at these two. They’re hanging out together again, stuck to each other every day like they’re joined at the hip.”

In the photo, there weren’t just the two of them; there were six people in total. Besides the girl from last time, two unfamiliar faces had been added.

Yu Min and Jiang Zhou were in the center of the photo. It had probably been taken by Jiang Zhou in selfie mode. When it was taken, the two of them were standing very close, their heads almost touching. Yu Min was smiling, and Jiang Zhou had one hand on her shoulder. Yu Min didn’t seem to mind Jiang Zhou’s closeness at all; if anything, she seemed to be indulging it.

Lin Baixin didn’t want to look at the photo. There was nothing worth seeing. As soon as she heard Lin Qi’s description, she lost interest. Unfortunately, Lin Qi was oblivious to her expression. Still cheerful, she insisted on making Lin Baixin take a look.

The scene in the photo was warm and lively, but perhaps because the sun outside was so bright at the moment, it somehow looked glaring.

“Move it away,” Lin Baixin said after looking. She was still determined to keep people at arm’s length and wasn’t interested in these trivial details. They weren’t very familiar anyway, so she couldn’t be bothered to pay attention. That would be strange, like she was secretly peeking into someone else’s life.

“What do you mean, secretly? I’m looking at it openly and honestly. They posted the photo on Moments; it’s public. If they didn’t want people to see it, they would’ve blocked me or set it to private long ago, and then I wouldn’t be able to see it at all.” Lin Qi was perfectly righteous and couldn’t understand Lin Baixin’s mindset. She grew even more convinced that Lin Baixin was strange. “You really are something else. Talking to you is exhausting. You, and Yu Min too—you’re really family. No wonder you’re both such difficult people.”

That day, Jiang Zhou posted two Moments in total. Besides the one above, the group also went to a trendy internet-famous restaurant for lunch, and Jiang Zhou specially posted another one.

It was also a group photo. Once again, Jiang Zhou and Yu Min were standing right next to each other. There were plenty of seats around the table, but they just had to sit together, closer than anyone else.

Lin Qi sank into the recliner in Lin Baixin’s office and rocked back and forth, enlarging the photo as if determined to rub salt in the wound. After studying it carefully for a while, she suddenly seemed to discover some earth-shattering secret and said in confusion, “Huh? Our Yu Min even put on makeup today. No wonder. I kept thinking something looked different. So that’s what it was.”

Then she held the phone back toward Lin Baixin, crossing one leg over the other and giving it a shake. “Hey, take another look. Isn’t Yu Min’s eye makeup really pretty? And she went for full makeup too. See, young girls are still better off hanging out with people their own age. Being about the same age makes things more lively. Hanging around us all the time isn’t really appropriate. School and work are so far apart; there’s hardly anything to talk about, and sometimes it gets awkward. I take back what I said before. Actually, having a friend like that seems pretty good for Yu Min, doesn’t it?”

Lin Baixin said nothing. Whether it was good or not wasn’t for her to judge, and she didn’t want to waste time judging such a boring topic anyway.

Lin Qi was like an overbearing old mother. She turned around, chatted with Yu Min for a couple of lines, and asked what they were doing right then.

Yu Min was probably busy and hadn’t even checked her phone. It took more than half an hour before she replied:

-Studying, reading.

—That was a lie.

At that time, Yu Min and the others still hadn’t gone back. They had clearly arranged to study together, but in the afternoon they’d gone out shopping as a group.

Studying needed balance; burying yourself in books all day only made you less efficient. The girls had gone shopping on a schedule and returned after just an hour.

Yu Min didn’t think it was anything worth reporting, so she hadn’t mentioned it.

Lin Qi still found out, and unsurprisingly it was from Moments. It wasn’t that Jiang Zhou had posted anything about shopping; rather, after their study session ended, Jiang Zhou posted another update saying: “A fulfilling day with friends: studying, shopping, studying… tired!”

After seeing that post, Lin Qi had more or less guessed the rest. Lin Baixin was irritated by her chatter and by how she always came over to say these pointless things, so before long she simply kicked Lin Qi out. Out of sight, out of mind.

With Lin Qi gone, the world became quiet, and she could finally catch her breath.

As for Yu Min, when she got home, she still told Lin Baixin about it all over again. It was all normal social interaction; there was nothing she couldn’t say. Yu Min was almost unnervingly frank. Whether or not Lin Baixin had asked, she would report it as a matter of course. At the end, after pausing for a while, she sincerely praised Jiang Zhou: “Xiao Zhou is really nice. She… takes good care of me.”

As for why Yu Min was told to come home early that day, that was even less of a big deal.

That day was the half-year anniversary of Lu Dagun coming home. Counting it up, the little one was already eight months old. Lin Baixin had stuck a candle into a can of cat food to celebrate for Lu Dagun.

After all, it was an important member of the household. Lin Baixin treated Lu Dagun equally; even if the little one wasn’t human, the proper sense of ceremony couldn’t be skipped.

Yu Min paused, thinking something serious had come up. She’d heard of celebrating a baby’s first month, hundredth day, or first birthday, but this was the first time she’d heard of celebrating eight months. Still, she cooperated, picked up Lu Dagun and brought it close to the candle, and helped blow it out.

Time really did pass quickly. It had already been so long.

“It’s gotten so much bigger. More than twice as big, really,” Yu Min said softly, rubbing her face against Lu Dagun’s head.

Lu Dagun narrowed its eyes in comfort. The canned food smelled delicious, and the little one’s eyes went wide as it stared fixedly at it. Once Yu Min let go, it immediately rushed over and started eating.

“Do we need to celebrate again next month? I can prepare in advance?” Yu Min asked seriously. Maybe because Lu Dagun’s response had given her so much emotional value, she didn’t question whether the celebration was reasonable at all; instead, she asked about it.

Lin Baixin said, “We’ll see next month. We might need to.”

“Then I’ll order a cake it can eat.”

“Up to you.”

That night, Yu Min asked in the four-person group chat: -Do you celebrate your cat’s birthday?

Zhao Shiyu, who had never raised a pet before, was the first to answer: -Yes.

Wen Yun: ?

Zhao Shiyu: -If I had one, I definitely would.

Li Xueting, who did have a pet, gave the opposite answer: -Can’t. My cat’s birthday is in April, and I’m at school. The conditions don’t allow it.

Li Xueting: -Why, is your Lu Dagun about to turn one?

Yu Min: -It’s already been eight months today.

Li Xueting: ???

Zhao Shiyu: ???

Wen Yun: ?

Maybe everyone just lacked experience. In any case, none of them had ever seen a cat owner celebrate their cat’s eight-month birthday. Humans didn’t even usually celebrate birthdays by the month; that was a bit too much.

This move was way outside the norm, and none of the three in the group could keep the conversation going. After a long while, Li Xueting finally realized something unprecedented: -Yu Min, our cats are actually the same breed. What a coincidence~

Yu Min lay flat on her bed. In the pitch-black room, she stared blankly at the ceiling. In the next room, Lin Baixin still didn’t seem to be resting yet; from time to time, faint sounds drifted over.

Yu Min turned over to face the direction of the door. The light in the room next door was still on; it didn’t go out until a long time later.

She took out her phone and glanced at the time. It was nearly midnight.

She was up this late. Lin Baixin didn’t seem to have any work tonight, so she probably wasn’t pulling overtime. Yu Min didn’t know what she was doing up until this hour.

The next day, Yu Min got up as if nothing had happened. She slung on her backpack and went to school right on time, acting like she knew nothing.

Before the next winter arrived, Yu Min’s routine still stayed the same. The only difference was that when she had free time, the place she visited most often was no longer the shop, but Jiang Zhou’s place. Jiang Zhou very quickly became part of her plain, unremarkable daily life; an indispensable presence.

No matter how slow to warm up she was, after spending so much time together, by then she ought to have warmed up too.

By the time the next winter arrived in Kyoto, Yu Min and Jiang Zhou had become proper friends. Lin Baixin didn’t put any stop to it. At the very least, she never did so in front of Yu Min.

Lin Baixin remained as open-minded as ever, supporting all of Yu Min’s decisions in every respect.

Yu Min disliked this open-mindedness quite a lot; from the bottom of her heart, she didn’t like it.

During that year’s winter break, Yu Min planned to go on a trip and, as usual before finalizing the plan, asked Lin Baixin for her opinion.

Lin Baixin didn’t object and had no opinion.

“Who are you going with?” Lin Baixin only asked.

Yu Min said, “Still the same people.”

“Which people?”

“Xiao Zhou and the others.”

Lin Baixin stopped asking after that. Instead, she talked about something else, as if she didn’t care much about the matter and still wouldn’t interfere with Yu Min’s freedom.

Yu Min lowered her head to pack her luggage and sort out the clothes she’d need for the trip. Lin Baixin even transferred some travel money to her and said, “Have fun. Are you coming back for New Year?”

“I’m not sure,” Yu Min replied vaguely. “It’s not decided yet.”

“Tell me once it is,” Lin Baixin said.

“Mm.”

That same winter, since she had already decided to go out, Yu Min had prepared everything before leaving. But at the last minute, things went wrong. The night before departure, Lin Baixin ran into an accident. At that time, Yu Min had just finished a call with Jiang Zhou and had agreed on what time they’d leave the next morning, when Lin Qi’s frantic video call came in.

On the other end of the screen, Lin Qi looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. She shouted for Yu Min to hurry to the hospital: “Come fast, hurry up! Your sister’s had an accident!”