Chapter 68

The whole night was a struggle. The fever wouldn’t break, and neither medicine nor physical cooling seemed to help much.

She’d sweated through her clothes. In the middle of the night, Yu Min changed Lin Baixin into a fresh set; sleeping in damp clothes would only make the illness worse, so they had to come off.

“Just hang in there a little longer. One or two minutes and it’ll be done,” Yu Min coaxed softly. “Bear with me.”

Lin Baixin was so feverish she could barely keep her eyes open. Her head felt heavy, and everything she sensed seemed upside down. She gave a difficult nod, forced herself upright, and raised her arms to cooperate with Yu Min.

She was wearing a matching pajama set tonight. Only after undoing two buttons did Yu Min murmur a quiet “Sorry,” then loosened the rest.

After taking the pajamas off, she still had to wipe Lin Baixin down with water. Lin Baixin was covered in a fine layer of sweat; afraid of chilling her, Yu Min worked as quickly as she could. But when she reached Lin Baixin’s lower abdomen, her movements still slowed slightly. Lin Baixin, whether from being ticklish or for some other reason, tensed all over and drew in a deep breath. Her flat stomach sank a little further, making the beautiful curve look even more distinct and sensual.

With her eyes half-lowered, Yu Min looked down, her expression restrained, and wiped twice more.

Lin Baixin’s reactions were all very obvious.

She tidied things up in a few quick strokes. Yu Min moved briskly; after finishing, she brushed the stray hair from Lin Baixin’s temple and the strands stuck to the side of her neck.

“Now you can sleep,” Yu Min said gently. “If you need anything, just call me. I’ll stay with you, all right?”

Lin Baixin was sick and alone; the other person and the cat stayed in her room all night, not leaving her side for a single step.

With things like this, there was no way they could go back to the room next door and rest. Yu Min later wiped Lin Baixin’s sweat a few more times and kept applying ice packs. It wasn’t until after three in the morning that Lin Baixin’s temperature finally began to come down, and the fever started to break at last.

Lu Dagun was sprawled on another pillow, the little thing closing its eyes for a while to keep Lin Baixin company as she slept, then suddenly opening them again whenever it heard Yu Min moving around, lifting its head to look at her.

Whether Lu Dagun could understand human speech or not, Yu Min still gestured to it, signaling it not to bark and not to wake Lin Baixin.

Lu Dagun was very obedient; it didn’t make a single sound. In the middle of the night, it even circled around Lin Baixin and licked her face.

“Go away. Your saliva is dirty,” Yu Min said, pushing it aside and poking its little head with her fingertip.

This time, Lu Dagun actually didn’t bark in protest. It was surprisingly magnanimous; instead of getting mad, it even licked Yu Min back in equal measure and wagged its tail.

“Go lie down. Don’t keep wandering around,” Yu Min ordered, giving the pillow a light pat.

Lu Dagun understood and obediently went back to lie down.

Once the fever started to break, things got much better. The scary part was when it simply wouldn’t break at all. Yu Min had even hesitated over whether they should go to the hospital again. She’d been too anxious; a minor chill and fever had nearly thrown her completely off balance. She was a medical student, after all, yet she’d acted like she was facing some life-or-death crisis.

It was after four before Yu Min finally fell asleep too, dozing off at the desk beside the bed. Later, Lu Dagun jumped onto the desk and lay down beside her arm to sleep with her; the little one was thoughtful and worried Yu Min might catch cold too, so it climbed up there to warm her.

The next day happened to be Yu Min’s day off; fortunately, she didn’t need to go to work. Otherwise, she’d have had to call in at the last minute, and leave had been hard to get approved lately. She probably wouldn’t have gotten it.

Yu Min, with her iron body, woke up first after less than two hours of sleep. She touched Lin Baixin’s forehead again; by feel, the fever should have mostly gone down. Only then did Yu Min relax. She slipped out quietly. Since the maid wasn’t coming today, she opened the fridge to pick ingredients and went to the kitchen to cook, so that when Lin Baixin woke up later, she could eat hot, fresh breakfast right away.

That morning, the first person to enter the living room wasn’t Lin Baixin but Luoshu. Lin Qi and the others all knew about Lin Baixin’s fever. Yesterday, because Lin Baixin hadn’t been feeling well, she’d left the shop early and had specifically told Lin Qi about it. Lin Qi hadn’t taken it seriously at the time because she was busy working. Only this morning did she remember she should come by and check. But Lin Qi had gotten off work at eleven last night, and this morning she went straight to the shop, so she asked Luoshu to come in her place.

Luoshu was considerate, carrying over two bowls of porridge, some side dishes, and two boxes of medicine. After entering and seeing Yu Min in an apron, she knew the things she’d bought were probably unnecessary. She could only ask helplessly how Lin Baixin was doing.

“She’s broken the fever. She’s still asleep now; probably another half hour before she gets up.”

Since that was the case, Luoshu didn’t stay and disturb them further. Since she’d already bought the things, she left them on the dining table before leaving.

Before she went, perhaps sensing something was off, Luoshu looked back. Yu Min had gone back into the kitchen, an ordinary enough sight; yet Luoshu sharply noticed something amiss and couldn’t help frowning. When she got back to the shop, she obliquely probed Lin Qi a couple of times, but Lin Qi was a block of wood and didn’t understand what Luoshu was asking at all; instead, she only felt puzzled.

“What kind of relatives are they?”

“Sort of like sisters, I think. Didn’t I tell you before? Baixin has a foster father who helped her a lot and raised her for a few years. That kid, Minmin, is her foster father’s wife’s niece, so the two of them count as cousins.”

“They’re still pretty far apart by that logic.”

“Yeah, kind of. Strictly speaking, if it weren’t for Baixin’s foster father in the middle, the two of them wouldn’t have any connection at all.”

“And they’re living together now?”

“Minmin is studying here, so she’s temporarily staying with Baixin.”

Luoshu said, “Wouldn’t living in the dormitory be more convenient?”

Lin Qi said carelessly, “Sure, but Minmin doesn’t like dorm life.”

She didn’t like dorms, so she’d rather trouble a cousin she wasn’t even especially close to and had no blood relation with. After spending this much time around them, Luoshu had long since developed some understanding of the two. Yu Min was always sensible in daily life; in theory, she shouldn’t do something like this. As for Lin Baixin, she was even less likely to. She seemed approachable on the surface, easy to get along with no matter who it was, but in her bones she was actually rather cold. Such a polished, socially adept businesswoman had almost no confidants around her besides Lin Qi, and even the people she was truly close to were few. Lin Baixin didn’t seem like the kind of purely kind older sister who would take in such a “troublesome” person without wanting anything in return.

On careful thought, both of them were odd. It didn’t quite add up.

But Luoshu couldn’t say it plainly; after all, it was none of her business, and there was no need to meddle. She’d only asked casually; there was no need to keep digging.

In any case, it was their freedom. They weren’t breaking the law or committing crimes; they could do whatever they wanted.

Lin Qi was left utterly confused.

“What are you talking about? Why are you being all cryptic? I don’t get it. What’s going on between those two?”

Luoshu did sense there was something, but she still denied it. “No. What are you thinking? I just think they’re pretty close. A lot of real brothers and sisters are distant these days; people like them are rare.”

“Well, yeah. Sometimes I even get jealous. Sigh, why don’t I have such a sensible little sister? Baixin’s luck is just too good,” Lin Qi said, grinning openly.

On the other side, Lin Baixin really did wake up half an hour later. Because she’d had a fever, she felt cold all over after getting up. Yu Min found her a shawl to wrap around her and said softly, “Be careful. Don’t catch cold again.”

Lin Baixin’s throat was hoarse, dry, and a little painful.

“What time is it?”

“Nine. Almost,” Yu Min said, spooning porridge and placing it in front of Lin Baixin. “Sit down. Eat something first. You need more rest today.”

Seeing that there were two takeaway breakfasts on the table as well, Lin Baixin asked a couple more questions. Yu Min explained everything clearly and passed along Lin Qi and the others’ concern.

Lu Dagun only came over slowly after a while. The little thing hadn’t slept well all night and was badly short on sleep during the day. It walked while stretching and yawning, weakly rubbing against Lin Baixin’s pant leg, then hopped onto Lin Baixin’s lap. It refused to lie anywhere else and insisted on plopping down right on her legs.

Yu Min didn’t know whether Lin Baixin still remembered what happened last night. At the time, she had been unconscious. Now that the fever had gone down, everything seemed as if nothing had ever happened. Neither of them mentioned it; Yu Min deliberately changed the subject and chatted about random things.

Soon after, she used a thermometer to take Lin Baixin’s temperature again and confirmed that she really no longer had a fever. Out of habit, Yu Min pressed the back of her hand to Lin Baixin’s forehead. Lin Baixin sat still and let her touch.

Yu Min’s hand was cool; she’d just rinsed it in cold water. When it touched her skin, Lin Baixin shivered, but she controlled her instinctive urge to pull back and unconsciously pressed her lips together.

Once Lin Baixin was fine, Yu Min finally had time to tidy herself up. After several straight shifts and nearly an all-nighter, she absolutely needed a proper shower, to scrub herself clean from head to toe. If she didn’t get herself in order, she’d practically start smelling. She didn’t want to present herself to Lin Baixin like that. She was still quite image-conscious. She stayed in the bathroom for two hours, even putting on a face mask and finishing her skincare before coming out.

When she emerged, she looked even more polished and clean, fresh and neat all over, and she’d even spritzed on a little perfume.

It was a new perfume Yu Min had bought; the scent was different, one Lin Baixin hadn’t smelled before.

“Smells good?” Yu Min asked directly, leaning closer so Lin Baixin could smell it.

Lin Baixin said, “It smells good.”

“I bought it at the mall. The clerk recommended it and said it’s very popular lately,” Yu Min said. She hadn’t used to fuss over this kind of thing, but recently she’d become increasingly concerned with her appearance. At work it was fine; she could go out bare-faced if she wanted. But once she got home, she started doing all sorts of things.

Other people dressed up before going out. She was the opposite.

She’d bought two bottles of the perfume, identical bottles; one for each of them. Yu Min was very thoughtful; whatever she bought for herself, she never forgot to bring Lin Baixin a share.

She often did this. It wasn’t just perfume, but many little things of all sizes: like the thermos from the other day, the bracelet from last Sunday, or the matching hat from the Sunday before that.

Clearly, she didn’t like shopping, yet lately she seemed to have changed completely, becoming the exact opposite. Whatever she saw, she wanted to buy. More and more duplicate items quietly appeared in the house; little by little, many old things were being replaced by new ones.

Lin Baixin was a career-minded person. As soon as she got better, she wanted to go to the shop; she insisted on going and didn’t want to rest. Yu Min let her do as she pleased. Not only did she not stop her, she even drove Lin Baixin over. When they arrived, Lin Qi and the others were genuinely surprised; they’d thought she wouldn’t come today, but she had.

Lin Qi was helpless and had a splitting headache.

“You really are something. What am I supposed to say to you? Why are you like this? Is work more important than eating? Skip one meal and you’ll starve? Don’t work for a day and you’re so uncomfortable you can’t sit still? Minmin already called me this morning and said you wouldn’t even come tomorrow, and then look at you; you don’t appreciate it at all and came today.”

Lin Baixin said, “I’m just coming to take a look. I’ll leave in a bit.”

“Oh, sure. I believe you. I’m an idiot.”

“……”

The shop’s business was holding up pretty well. They were expected to open a branch in Jincheng in two years, and starting this year there were already many things that needed preparation. Lin Baixin simply felt too responsible. Worried Lin Qi wouldn’t be able to manage alone, she wanted to do everything together and handle it herself.

No one knew what to say about her, so Lin Qi simply stopped talking. After a while, her peripheral vision caught Yu Min nearby, and only then did Lin Qi notice something unusual. At first she just felt like something had flashed through her mind; after looking a little longer, she realized the two of them were actually wearing similar earrings, and their hair ties were the same too.

Living in the same house, having the same items didn’t seem impossible; it wasn’t a big issue. Lin Qi only wondered for a moment before quickly losing interest.

But when, a few days later, she noticed Lin Baixin and Yu Min using matching items again, and this time they were both wearing the same style of trousers, just in different colors, Lin Qi couldn’t help but take the matter seriously and pay attention.

“These pants are pretty nice; the style’s good,” Lin Qi said deliberately. “I just saw Yu Min wearing the same pair. Did she buy them for you?”

Lin Baixin admitted, “She bought them.”

“Where from? What shop does buy-one-get-one? I want to get two pairs too.”

“Ask her. I don’t know.”

Lin Qi didn’t show it on her face. Leaning back in her chair, she said, “All right. I’ll ask her later.”

When she really did ask Yu Min which shop had sold the pants, Yu Min actually gave her the store address. But the pants weren’t buy-one-get-one. Yu Min was honest: she’d first bought herself one pair and found them really comfortable, so she bought Lin Baixin another pair too.

That explanation made sense; it was watertight and there was nothing to fault.

Lin Qi half-believed it for the moment, but as more and more matching items appeared on the two of them, the seed of suspicion was planted. Only then, slowly and belatedly, did Lin Qi recall the things Luoshu had asked before, and she ended up bringing it up with Luoshu.

Luoshu didn’t like meddling in other people’s business. She’d stopped caring about this long ago and wasn’t interested.

“Why do you care so much? What does it have to do with you?”

“Nothing, of course it has nothing to do with me. It’s just that I feel like something’s… off,” Lin Qi said, hesitating. Her intuition was usually very sharp, but to admit that possible truth felt awkward to her; the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she became. “Could it be that they…”

Could it be what? Lin Qi couldn’t finish, and Luoshu shot her a look, signaling her not to talk nonsense.

You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t just say whatever you want. A mouth is the sharpest weapon; even in private, you have to be careful about the consequences.

Lin Qi obediently shut up, immediately covering her mouth and hurrying to stop talking. She at once cut off that absurd line of thought, shook the water out of her head, and flung away all those messy guesses.

The biggest beneficiary of their decision to open a branch of the secondhand luxury store in Jincheng wasn’t the two bosses, nor the employees. Yu Min was the one most looking forward to the branch actually opening, because it meant Lin Baixin would likely go to Jincheng later on, or at least visit often.

Yu Min had promised Zheng Qing and the others that she would eventually return to Jincheng. She still didn’t know which day that would be, but that day would come sooner or later. If Lin Baixin didn’t go to Jincheng, then it meant they would be separated; at least for a while. But now that they were opening a branch, things were different. According to the way Lin Baixin and Lin Qi discussed it, Lin Qi would stay behind to guard the Kyoto shop, while Lin Baixin would be responsible for going to Jincheng to expand the market and handle all the branch’s work.

“So when you go to Jincheng, you can stay at my place. Your branch seems like it’s going to open near Xijie, right? I have a place near there; it’s not far, maybe only a few kilometers,” Yu Min said. “Then we can still live together.”

Lin Baixin asked, “After you graduate, are you planning to go back?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet; maybe.”

“Any target hospital?”

“Not yet. I’m still pretty lost; I can’t think that far ahead.”

“Take your time. There’s no rush. It’s still early.”

She didn’t promise that she’d stay at Yu Min’s place when she went there, but she also didn’t refuse. Not refusing was the same as tacitly agreeing. Yu Min only remembered that she seemed to have a house nearby, but she had forgotten exactly where it was. She had to look through her phone to find it. There really was one, and it was even a fully renovated flat, ready to move into.

Zheng Qing must have known Yu Min would go back, because this was the only house specially bought for Yu Min to live in when she returned. So the renovation and everything else had been done with great care.

Yu Min was already making preparations now, and she was more thorough than when they prepared to open the shop. Thinking about what might need to be added depending on where they lived, what style Lin Baixin liked, how it should be adjusted before moving in, and even looking up so-called lifestyle guides from time to time, she kept wasting time and energy on these meaningless things.

When it was learned that she might go back to Jincheng after graduation, the little group chat immediately became lively. What a coincidence; Zhao Shiyu and Wen Yun were also planning to return to Jincheng for work. Zhao Shiyu’s family traditional Chinese medicine clinic was going to open a branch there too, and Wen Yun’s target hospital job was also at a hospital there. Zhao Shiyu and the others were happy too; they agreed that once everyone was back there, they absolutely had to meet up often. How nice it would be to graduate and still be in the same city; good friends walking the same road together, friendship lasting forever.

Throughout her entire senior year, Yu Min’s life felt very different from that of her classmates. For many people, this period was mostly about hardship and pressure; academic exhaustion didn’t have much of an impact on Yu Min. Instead, she felt that everything was going very smoothly. Life was steady and calm; there was nothing better than that.

The only ripple that year was a phone call from Siping County. It was from Zhou Jin, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time. Uncle Xiao had fallen and been taken to the hospital; he’d fallen pretty badly. Zhou Jin said Uncle Xiao had had a myocardial infarction, and fortunately it had been discovered in time, so there was no major crisis. He’d been rescued and transferred to a general ward. The call was to ask whether Lin Baixin could come see him.

Yu Min accompanied Lin Baixin there. She should go see Uncle Xiao too. No matter what, when Aunt’s family took her in back then, they had done her a kindness. Those good things and bad things from the past no longer mattered. People should remember the good more; dwelling on the bad only leads to mental exhaustion.

Uncle Xiao didn’t want Lin Baixin to know about it. He had originally instructed those around him to keep it from her, but unfortunately, they hadn’t managed to.

They stayed in Jincheng for three days and tried living in Yu Min’s house ahead of time. Yu Min’s preparations hadn’t been wasted; once they arrived, everything could be used. This was their second home and much more comfortable than staying in a hotel.

Zhou Jin had changed a lot. Yu Min couldn’t remember when she’d last seen him. After they reunited, Yu Min almost didn’t recognize him. If Zhou Jin hadn’t called them “sister” first, even Lin Baixin might have had trouble recognizing him.

After Uncle Xiao was discharged, he’d still need rehabilitation training later on. There wasn’t much they could do to help with that; at most, they could help take care of him more during this period.

Because they’d spent several consecutive days caring for the patient, Lin Baixin even fell asleep sitting up at one point, her head tilted against Yu Min’s shoulder as she rested for a long time.

In the middle of it, Zhou Jin came over. Just as he was about to call out to them, Yu Min beat him to it with a silencing gesture, signaling him to keep quiet. Zhou Jin immediately stopped and glanced at the intimate scene of the two of them leaning close together. Only when he was alone with Yu Min later did Zhou Jin say, “You and Sister Baixin—you two are really good now.”

Yu Min chatted with Zhou Jin for a while about family matters. Maybe they’d grown up, maybe they’d grown distant; the brother and sister were no longer as close as they had been in previous years. They were like half-strangers, and at one point even the conversation stalled, with nothing to say.

Zhou Jin searched for something to talk about and soon steered the topic back to Lin Baixin again, saying once more, “You used to really cling to Sister Baixin. Seems like you still do now.”

On a subconscious level, Yu Min resisted talking to them about Lin Baixin. She didn’t want to discuss it much, so she changed the subject and didn’t answer, instead asking whether Zhou Jin had started his internship and which company he’d gone to.

Zhou Jin was working in Jincheng too. He hadn’t joined another company; he’d started a studio with friends. In Jincheng, working for someone else didn’t promise much of a future. You could work your whole life and still not amount to much. Running your own business was the right path.

Yu Min didn’t like talking about this. When Zhou Jin asked if she wanted to join, she was about to refuse without a second thought, but Zhou Jin simply cut to the chase and said he actually wanted to bring Yu Min in as a partner, asking her to seriously consider it.

“What kind of field is it?” Yu Min asked.

Zhou Jin said, “Do you know AI? We’re kind of related to that, but not entirely. If you’re interested, you can come take a look in person when you’re free.”

Yu Min agreed, though she still didn’t really take it to heart.

The night before leaving Jincheng, Lin Baixin didn’t go to care for Uncle Xiao. Around six, the two of them were curled up on the sofa, half-limp, watching television.

Yu Min wanted to massage Lin Baixin, and Lin Baixin’s refusal was useless; Yu Min insisted on doing it, so in the end she could only go along with it. Half resisting, half yielding, when Yu Min’s hands reached her calves, Lin Baixin’s body proved more honest than her words. She trembled, and all at once her body went soft and sank down.

“You’ve worked hard. Leave it to me now; don’t move,” Yu Min said softly. Her words seemed to carry a kind of mesmerizing pull, leaving Lin Baixin with no room to resist. She let herself be guided by Yu Min in everything.

Maybe it was because she’d been tired these past few days and the fatigue had spread through her, loosening her will. Or maybe it was because the room was dim, the lighting not bright enough, the warm yellow softening the edges. On top of that, the television was playing a tender scene at the moment. As Yu Min’s hand slowly moved upward along Lin Baixin’s calf, Lin Baixin sank into the sofa and still hadn’t shown the reaction she should have.

Her fingers gripped the sofa’s edge; the numb, tingling sensation traveled upward all the way to a dangerous place before stopping, yet Yu Min didn’t take her hand away.

After that, Yu Min lowered her body, blocking the weak light in front of Lin Baixin’s eyes and slowly swallowing up the last bit of remaining reason. Their lips were almost touching; there was only that tiny distance left.

Yu Min’s breathing was heavy, deep and low. Lin Baixin could feel it clearly; warm, hot, pressing straight toward her heart.