That evening when room assignments were being handed out, Qiao Qiao was hugging Meng Xiaoxuan’s arm in the hallway.
“I want to room with Xiaoxuan! We already talked about it!”
Dragged along by her arm, Meng Xiaoxuan nodded with a smile. “Yes, yes, we already agreed.”
Standing at the far end of the hallway, Zhou Ming jingled the room keys in his hand. “Settled then. Qiao Qiao and Xiaoxuan in one room, Teacher Su and Teacher Lu in the other. The guys are at the other end of the hall. Speak up now if you have any objections, or forever hold your peace.”
Nobody had any objections.
Pushing open the bedroom door, Lu Yufei saw two twin beds placed side by side, separated by a wooden nightstand in the middle. The bedsheets were white, the walls beige, and outside the French windows was a small balcony offering a view of half a mountain slope and a few ginkgo trees.
Su Wan placed her suitcase against the wall and turned to look at her. “Teacher Lu, which bed do you want?”
“Either is fine.”
“The one by the wall? There’s an outlet right by the headboard, so it’s convenient for charging.”
“Sure.” She placed her canvas bag on the bed by the wall.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lu Yufei watched as Su Wan folded her clothes one by one and put them into the wardrobe, her movements unhurried and each piece neatly stacked. Silently standing up, she prepared to tidy up her own things as well. When she opened her bag and caught sight of the small blue pouch Fu Qing had stuffed in yesterday, the corners of her lips couldn’t help but curl upward. She obediently took her calcium pills and turned in for the night.
At six in the morning, when Lu Yufei was woken by a knock on the door, the sky outside the curtains was still a grayish-blue. She turned over; the mattress had just the right firmness, feeling much more comfortable than the one in her rental apartment. Su Wan had already picked up the mission card at the doorway, her hair already tied up with the top button of her shirt undone.
“Gathering at seven,” she handed the mission card to Lu Yufei. “Breakfast is being made by Teacher Zhou.”
Lu Yufei took it and glanced down. The day’s schedule was handwritten on the mission card: morning to familiarize themselves with guesthouse operations and division of labor, afternoon to receive the first batch of arriving guests.
Noticing that her toothbrush in the bathroom already had toothpaste squeezed onto it and was laid horizontally across the mouthwash cup, she stared at the cup in silence for a moment before picking it up. Turning around, she asked Su Wan, “Wanwan, did you squeeze the toothpaste for me? Thanks.”
Su Wan was organizing her backpack with her back turned. “Just a habit.”
Brushing her teeth with a mouthful of foam, Lu Yufei thought to herself that this “habit” felt way too natural.
In the kitchen, Zhou Ming wore a dark blue apron as he stood in front of the stove, wielding a spatula much more skillfully than a microphone.
Lin Yuzhou was setting out the bowls and chopsticks, while Song Yiran poured soy milk. Upon seeing Lu Yufei walk in, all three of them looked up simultaneously.
“Morning. How many eggs do you want, Teacher Lu?” Zhou Ming scooped up a fried egg and placed it onto a plate; the shape of the yolk was nothing short of perfection.
“…Just one is fine, I suppose.”
“Make it two. You’re too thin, you need to build up your nutrition.”
He arranged two fried eggs onto the plate and added two pieces of toasted bread on the side. Then he turned around, poured a cup of hot milk from a small milk saucepan in the corner of the stove, and placed it next to Lu Yufei’s plate.
“Drink it while it’s hot.”
Startled for a second, Lu Yufei looked up and murmured a thank you. But Zhou Ming had already turned back to continue frying the next batch of eggs.
Carrying her plate and milk to the corner of the dining table, she took a sip of the milk. Zhou Ming must have added a little sugar to it.
Suddenly, Lu Yufei felt that this faded male singer shouldn’t be faded at all.
At eight sharp, everyone gathered in the courtyard. A pot of herbal tea and several cups were set out on the long table under the ginkgo tree. Zhou Ming stood in front of the table holding a handwritten schedule. He was the nominal manager for this season of the show; the production crew had assigned the role to the most senior person, and after Zhou Ming tried to decline twice without success, he accepted.
“Let me go over today’s tasks first.”
“Morning is for getting familiar with guesthouse operations and dividing up the work, and the afternoon is for receiving guests. The six of us will be split into two groups—one group takes care of the guest rooms, and the other takes care of the courtyard.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping across everyone.
“The guest room side is mainly indoor work—making beds, dusting, changing linens; the physical intensity isn’t too high. The courtyard side requires moving some supplies and decorative materials, outdoor work, which is a bit more tiring. Does anyone have any thoughts? Any particular group you want to join, or any inconveniences?”
As soon as he finished asking, his gaze naturally fell on Lu Yufei, lingering for a brief second.
“I’ll do the indoor work,” Lu Yufei said. “Climbing up and down isn’t very convenient for me right now.”
Zhou Ming nodded and made a note on the schedule.
“I’ll do indoor work too,” Meng Xiaoxuan raised her hand.
Qiao Qiao volunteered for the outdoors, saying “moving things can double as an arm workout,” while Lin Yuzhou and Song Yiran both indicated they would follow whatever arrangements were made. Su Wan spoke up last, her voice soft and gentle: “Then I’ll go outdoors. I’ll team up with Qiao Qiao.”
“Alright, that’s settled then. Red Team Guest Room Group: myself, Teacher Lu, Xiaoxuan. Blue Team Courtyard Group: Teacher Su, Qiao Qiao, Yuzhou. Yiran on standby. Speak up now if you have any objections,” Zhou Ming closed the schedule. “If not, let’s get to work.”
The Red Team was responsible for three guest rooms. Zhou Ming pushed the linen cart in the front, followed by Meng Xiaoxuan and Lu Yufei.
Entering the first room, Zhou Ming first stripped all the bedsheets and duvet covers, piling them up at the door, then grabbed a bucket of cleaning solution to scrub the bathroom.
“Xiaoxuan, make the beds. Teacher Lu, wipe down the tables and windowsills. Just leave the removed linens at the door.”
Meng Xiaoxuan had already shaken out a new bedsheet, her movements quite deft and competent.
Lu Yufei picked up a rag to wipe the nightstand. The tabletop had a thin layer of dust, and a corner of the windowsill had half a cobweb. She brushed away the cobweb, folded the rag into a square, and wiped from the inside out. By the third pass, the windowsill was shining and reflective.
“Teacher Lu, you’re so thorough,” Meng Xiaoxuan glanced back while tucking in a bedsheet.
“I usually like watching house-cleaning videos, I find it really de-stressing,” Lu Yufei smiled, rinsed and wrung out her rag, and went to wipe the TV cabinet.
During the midday break, Lu Yufei sat alone on the steps at the guesthouse entrance. The courtyard was peaceful and quiet; Qiao Qiao and Su Wan hadn’t returned yet, and the distant sound of birds chirping drifted over intermittently.
Resting her elbows on her knees, she closed her eyes as the mountain breeze swept past, making the wisps of hair across her forehead flutter.
Footsteps passed behind her. They were very light, but because the steps were made of wood, they still creaked softly underfoot.
Opening her eyes, she saw Su Wan standing beside her holding two bottles of mineral water. Su Wan unscrewed one of the bottles, handed it to her, and sat down on the step next to her. Having just finished moving supplies in the courtyard, Su Wan still had her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a thin layer of sweat on her forehead, and her clothes slightly dampened by perspiration at the back, clinging to her shoulders.
“Tired?”
“Not bad,” Lu Yufei took a sip of water. “I just wiped the tables. You guys were out in the sun all morning.”
“There’s a sun umbrella, it’s fine.” Su Wan twisted the bottle cap back on and off again without drinking. “Your complexion looks a bit pale, do you want to go back to your room to rest for a bit?”
“No need, just sitting for a moment is enough.”
Su Wan didn’t speak. Sitting quietly beside her, she took a quiet sip of water and accompanied her in watching the shadows of the ginkgo trees in the courtyard inch bit by bit toward the east.
Lu Yufei suddenly spoke up, “Teacher Su.”
“Mm.”
“When you get famous later on, it’ll be well-deserved.”
Taken aback for a moment by this out-of-nowhere remark, Su Wan then smiled.
“Then I’ll take your kind words, Teacher Lu.”
At the same time, Fu Qing was standing outside a milk tea shop waiting for an order. His phone lit up.
A push notification from a short-video platform appeared, titled: Lu Yufei Variety Show BTS Preview · Departure for Leisurely Inn.
In the frame, she sat in the back row of the van while Qiao Qiao held her phone up for a close-up shot. Nodding toward the camera, she said, “Remember to eat on time.”
He watched the video once, then dragged it back to the beginning to watch it a second time.
The bullet comments scrolled past rapidly:
[Sister is so pretty!!!]
[Is she really pregnant? How can she look this good?]
[How come she doesn’t seem quite as hateable anymore?]
The front desk clerk poked her head out. “Brother Fu, your order is ready.”
He acknowledged it with a hum, lowered his head to hit play one more time, then exited the video, tapped into the account’s homepage, and hit follow.
Puttng his phone back into his pocket, he picked up the bag of milk tea and walked toward his e-bike, hopped on, and merged into the afternoon traffic.