Chapter 80

Her fingertips were pale and delicate, but she’d pressed too hard, and after just a few strokes they were rubbed red.

Since they couldn’t continue the conversation, there was no reason to push it. Lin Baixin didn’t argue. This wasn’t the right setting for that anyway. After a moment, she picked up the stemmed glass in front of her, shifted her seat, set it down again, and pretended she hadn’t heard.

“Mm.”

The reply was light and airy. Lin Baixin did her best not to let anything show, and drew her hand back.

“At the hospital last time, no one else was there that day. I was the only one with time. I just happened to be going out anyway, so Teacher Cui let me go,” Yu Min said bluntly, laying everything out in one breath so there would be no loose ends left for unnecessary questions. She didn’t seem bothered by the awkward tension at all.

“Going out anyway” meant stepping out during a workday lunch break to see someone; Lin Baixin knew exactly who without having to guess, especially since she had seen that person at the nurses’ station that day.

It wasn’t for anything else. At the time, Yu Min had actually been going to see Jiang Zhou. Since she also had to fill in for Cui Zhen and check on the child, after they met, Jiang Zhou followed her up to the inpatient ward.

The explanation was so complete there was nowhere to go with it. Lin Baixin lowered her lashes and looked at the warped reflection in the glass. After a long moment, she forced out, “I know.”

“That’s fine then.”

“...Mm.”

Their seats were next to each other, but the gap between them was fairly wide; from this side, it was almost half a meter. Yu Min was much closer to Jiang Zhou, close enough that there was barely a narrow strip between them.

Yu Min had deliberately kept her distance from this side in every sense. Lin Baixin couldn’t remember whether Yu Min had pulled her chair back on purpose, whether it had happened by accident when she switched places with Jiang Zhou, or whether it had always been that way and Lin Baixin had only noticed now.

One side kept its distance while the other drew near. Sitting like that would have been uncomfortable, and it would also inconvenience the person on the closer side; even lifting a hand would be blocked. Yet neither of them seemed to mind. While they were talking, Jiang Zhou picked up two chopsticks’ worth of fish with perilla and put it into Yu Min’s bowl, leaning in to interrupt their stiff conversation.

“Try this. It’s good. The texture is a lot like the place we ate at in Jincheng last time. The fish is pretty tender and smooth.”

Yu Min accepted it. If someone told her to try something, she tried it.

“How is it? Not bad, right?” Jiang Zhou loved good food and waited expectantly for her answer.

Her attitude toward Jiang Zhou was completely different. The icy distance from before shattered in an instant; Yu Min picked up a small piece and tasted it carefully.

“Pretty good. It really is good.”

“I knew you’d like it. The kung pao shrimp balls are good too. Once they make another pass, I’ll get you some more.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Zhou didn’t forget Lin Baixin either and was considerate enough to look after her as well, but she didn’t pick food for her. That kind of special treatment was reserved for Yu Min; Lin Baixin didn’t get that privilege.

“This fish is pretty good. Boss Lin, you should try some too and see if it suits you,” Jiang Zhou said with a smile. “The whole one we’re all eating from is fine.”

Lin Baixin wasn’t very good at handling this kind of uninvited warmth. She knew Jiang Zhou meant well; there was no malice in it, just simple sharing. But that kindness was brighter than the ceiling lights. She couldn’t face it directly. She picked up her chopsticks and didn’t even look to the side, deliberately keeping her eyes away.

“Okay.”

She answered the same way, but when the fish finally came around in front of her, she didn’t move her chopsticks at all.

The two of them had been speaking in lowered voices just now, close enough for only each other to hear. By then, Qiu Qiu and the others had warmed the atmosphere enough that they started pouring tea around the table. Qiu Qiu pulled Cui Zhen to her feet and led the others in a toast.

“Thanks for making the trip tonight, everyone. You also helped us out a lot last week, so don’t be polite with us today. Eat as much as you like; just say the word if you need anything added,” Qiu Qiu said, and casually included Lin Baixin, who was sitting there alone. In a teasing tone, she introduced her again in earnest. “If any of you want to get to know our Boss Lin, come over and have a couple of drinks. But let me remind you—if any of you don’t want to work in your original field someday, you can come find our Boss Lin. You all keep complaining about how hard and tiring it is, don’t you? This is a ready-made opportunity, so hurry up and grab it.”

Even though these students were in their mid- to late twenties, they still hadn’t really entered society. Once Qiu Qiu spoke, they got rowdy. Hearing that, they really did get excited, and they all rushed over to toast Lin Baixin with tea, echoing Qiu Qiu’s joke and asking Lin Baixin to look after them in the future.

Only Yu Min and Jiang Zhou didn’t move. Jiang Zhou didn’t need a job, and Yu Min wasn’t worried about that either; she certainly wasn’t going to “beg” Lin Baixin.

Suddenly surrounded by a crowd, Lin Baixin, who was usually so good at handling situations, couldn’t quite keep up. Qiu Qiu rescued her from the siege, laughing, “Take it easy on her. Look how scared our Boss Lin is... All right, hurry up and sit down to eat, or the dishes are going to get cold.”

Actually, eating with a group of young people was much easier than dealing with social obligations and formal entertaining. Maybe it was just Lin Baixin’s illusion, but it felt even better than eating with a crowd of her own friends.

At just a little over thirty, Lin Baixin counted as young too. But by this point in life, most of her friends around the same age had basically settled down; either they were already married with children, or they were in relationships, or they were still on the road to finding someone. Someone like her, a proper lone wolf, was rare. At many of the gatherings she’d attended with friends before, she couldn’t really fit in. They talked about family, talked about life, and in every respect she was out of step. But tonight’s dinner, despite all the undercurrents swirling beneath the surface, felt much easier to bear than before.

For her to feel more comfortable sitting here than with friends she knew well—that was really strange.

She couldn’t quite explain why. Lowering her head, Lin Baixin took a small sip of tea.

A plate of blanched bok choy stopped in front of her. She liked this more. Yu Min was turning the lazy Susan, and Lin Baixin instinctively looked up at her.

Unfortunately, Yu Min hadn’t turned it to bring the dish to her. Jiang Zhou couldn’t reach another plate of stir-fried crab, so Yu Min had moved the dish over for Jiang Zhou instead.

The table itself was on a rotating lazy Susan. The students had taken Qiu Qiu’s words about not being polite to heart and were indeed being completely unrestrained, eating and joking at the same time, not the least bit reserved.

Lin Baixin glanced over without making it obvious, doing her best not to look too much and keeping her attention on what was in front of her.

Qiu Qiu had a very good impression of Jiang Zhou. Though they’d known each other for a long time, they weren’t especially close, so after that she chatted with Jiang Zhou about this and that.

Listening in, Lin Baixin learned a lot from their conversation. For example, Jiang Zhou hadn’t become a doctor after graduating; she had given up medicine and chosen to start her own business. She now ran a clothing design studio and several restaurants under her name, and both the studio and the restaurants were in Jincheng.

For another thing, Jiang Zhou had come back to Kyoto on this trip specifically for Yu Min, but she wouldn’t be staying here long. Her studio was in an upward phase right now, and she planned to seize the opportunity to build her brand as quickly as possible.

And then there was the fact that Jiang Zhou had already taken her girlfriend home to meet her parents. She said she admired Qiu Qiu and Cui Zhen, and hoped she could become like them someday. Also, Jiang Zhou had recently been living with Yu Min; to fund her business, she had already dealt with her property in Kyoto. Every time she came back to Kyoto, she stayed at Yu Min’s place.

“Before, I even said I’d let her stay at my place. Now look how embarrassing that is—I still ended up being the one taken in by Minmin. I spoke too soon,” Jiang Zhou said, mocking herself. “See? Fortune turns. You really can’t get too cocky.”

She didn’t openly say who her girlfriend was, and she certainly didn’t spell out her relationship with Yu Min in public, but everyone there could guess. It didn’t need to be said.

Qiu Qiu said with a grin, “You two really do have a great relationship.”

Jiang Zhou lifted her head and, very naturally, put an arm around Yu Min’s shoulder, tilting her head to lean against her. Smiling, she said, “Yeah. It’s always been this good. For the first two years, I was the one taking care of her; she lived with me. Now I’ve got nowhere to stay, so it’s her turn to show what she can do.”

They went on to talk about other things, and Lin Baixin tried her best not to listen too closely, but this part was impossible not to care about.

The first two years... did that mean that after Yu Min’s lease ended, she moved in with her?

Without meaning to, Lin Baixin turned her head and looked at Yu Min, wanting confirmation from her expression.

Unfortunately, Yu Min didn’t deny it. Even when Jiang Zhou leaned on her, she didn’t dodge. She even picked up Jiang Zhou’s favorite juice with the back of her hand and handed it over, saying softly, “It was just poured. Drink this.”

“Did you add sugar? I don’t want it with sugar, or the calories’ll go through the roof and I’ll get fat. I finally managed to lose two jin, and those aerobics are exhausting.”

“No sugar.”

“I knew it. You definitely remember what I like.”

Qiu Qiu was the first to lose patience with them. She kept telling them to stop: “All right, enough. There are so many people here, and you’re making us sick with all this sweetness. We’re already full.”

They were living in a rental Yu Min had found, still in a high-rise near the hospital, but this rental was no longer the cramped, makeshift arrangement from the beginning. It was a large apartment. Jiang Zhou liked big places and absolutely refused to live in a tiny birdcage. She had picked the complex herself; Yu Min only paid for it. Where they lived didn’t matter to her either way.

After all, she wasn’t staying here after graduation, and she had no attachment to this city at all.

“That works out perfectly, then. You’re both going to Jincheng, so you can look after each other there.”

“Exactly. That’s what I thought too. I was still deciding where to go, but in the end I followed her choice,” Jiang Zhou said.

The bok choy sat in her bowl until it went cold, and Lin Baixin still didn’t eat it. She couldn’t eat anymore.

The meal dragged on too long. By the time they finally dispersed, Lin Baixin was walking ahead. The car was parked in the surface lot; she opened the door and was about to get in when Jiang Zhou, who was heading the same way, came over and stopped her, holding up her phone screen for her to see.

“This doesn’t seem very easy to hail a cab from here, Boss Lin. Could you do us a favor and give us a ride?” Jiang Zhou said. “If it’s inconvenient, forget it. We can wait a little longer.”

In theory, Lin Baixin didn’t want to. She didn’t like taking things on. But when she opened her mouth, what came out was the opposite of what she’d been thinking. Maybe it was because Jiang Zhou looked so sincere, and her friendliness made it impossible to refuse outright. As soon as Lin Baixin spoke, it became, “Sure, no problem.”

“I remember this route back should be on the way to your place. We’re in the middle, so it won’t be too big a detour,” Jiang Zhou said. “Then sorry to trouble you. Should I send the address to your WeChat?”

Lin Baixin nodded. “Okay.”

Jiang Zhou was quick. In just a few taps, she sent the location over. It really was a residential complex along the middle of the route; it truly was on the way. Lin Baixin tapped the address, and the navigation showed it was less than ten kilometers away.

Yu Min and the others came out a little later. They were waiting for Cui Zhen, walking and talking with her; the few of them seemed to be discussing something, and they were talking with quite a bit of energy.

Having already gotten Lin Baixin’s consent, Jiang Zhou looked over at the group, then turned back and said to her, “Boss Lin, wait for me a sec. I’m going over for two minutes; I’ll be right back.” Then she went over to Yu Min. She must not have discussed the ride with Yu Min beforehand. Jiang Zhou pulled Yu Min along and spoke to her in a low voice, almost whispering.

Yu Min frowned, clearly unwilling. She didn’t want to ride in Lin Baixin’s car.

But for some reason, after Jiang Zhou talked to her a little longer, she unexpectedly gave in. Maybe she didn’t want to embarrass Jiang Zhou in front of other people. She had always been like this, unchanged; even if it went against what she truly wanted, she still wouldn’t make things difficult for anyone else.

The moment Lin Baixin agreed to Jiang Zhou’s request, she regretted it. Watching Yu Min’s reaction from afar, she didn’t feel relieved at all when she saw that Yu Min didn’t want to come over. And when Yu Min agreed again, Jiang Zhou turned back and made an “OK” gesture toward this side. Contradictorily, Lin Baixin instead felt much calmer, no longer so tightly wound.

The car had been washed the day before, and the interior was clean. The back seat was spacious. Lin Baixin got into the driver’s seat first and waited. Jiang Zhou came over arm in arm with Yu Min and habitually reached for the front passenger door; halfway through, she realized something was wrong. There were two of them. Jiang Zhou was broad-minded to a fault and actually asked Yu Min, “Do you want to sit here?”

Yu Min definitely wasn’t sitting in the front passenger seat. Jiang Zhou then shut the door and said, “Then let’s sit in the back together. Don’t get in the way of Boss Lin driving.”

A ten-kilometer drive could be shorter at night, but it would still take around twenty minutes. Lin Baixin didn’t drive fast; her speed was steady and safe, never exceeding sixty kilometers an hour.

“Sorry, Boss Lin. We came out in a bit of a hurry today, so we didn’t drive here,” Jiang Zhou said, treating Lin Baixin as if she were no outsider at all. “Oh, right, can you stop halfway for a minute? I want to buy something later. There’s a store three kilometers away; it should still be open now, and that way I won’t have to come back out tomorrow.”

“Sure. Just tell me when we’re almost there.”

“Thank you, Boss Lin. You’re really nice.”

“No problem.”

The shop Jiang Zhou wanted was a trendy handmade weaving store. She had preordered a bag there, and she had just contacted the shop owner to say she could go pick it up now. Getting a bag from that place was harder than buying luxury goods; after waiting in line for more than half a year, the item had finally come in. Jiang Zhou was so eager to get her long-awaited little artistic treasure that she practically wished she had wings so she could fly there at once.

Three kilometers wasn’t far. There was no convenient place to park in front of the boutique, so after they arrived the car had to be left by the roadside, and Jiang Zhou walked over herself to pick up the goods.

She wouldn’t let Yu Min follow. Jiang Zhou pressed her straight back into the car in one motion. “You stay here. I’ll be back soon. Stop running around all the time. You and Boss Lin wait for me a few minutes; I’ll be right back.”

She ended up gone for more than ten minutes, and for a long while there was still no sign of her returning.

Not long after going into the store, Jiang Zhou sent both of them a message saying she still had something to handle and that they should wait a little longer.

Boss Lin could wait; she had the patience.

In the back seat, Yu Min kept scrolling on her phone without lifting her head.

The car was off, and the lights were off too. In the sealed space, only the glow from the phone screens lit everything. Lin Baixin sat in the front, first looking out through the window at the street, until the other person opened a game and started playing Tetris.

The sound effects were especially abrupt in the dark; thud, thud...

Out of the corner of her eye, Lin Baixin glanced toward the back seat. With her lips pressed together, she stayed quiet for a long while. Then, taking advantage of the next time the other person scored, she asked softly, “You and Jiang Zhou... what are you now?”

Yu Min didn’t answer. Ignoring her completely, she moved her slender, nimble fingers rapidly over the screen.

Lin Baixin asked directly, “You’re dating?”

The other person still kept her head down, deliberately cold. Only when the game gradually ran into a dead end did she slowly lower her lashes, still not looking up at anyone, and asked back with utter indifference, “Why, is that not allowed?”