Fang Rulian lay sprawled for a while, drifting into a blurry sleep until the ringing of a phone reached her ears. Before her consciousness had fully cleared, her hand had already instinctively reached toward the sound, lightly swiping the screen.
The call connected. Fang Rulian struggled to open her eyes. “Hello?”
“Sister.”
Fang Rulian froze, her drowsiness instantly dissipating by half. She touched the red mark pressed into her left cheek, her breathing still slightly hurried from the sudden awakening. “Fang Zhiyi?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” Outside the teaching building, the lights were dim. As the weather grew warmer, insects became more numerous, swarming around the streetlamps like moths to a flame in a dark, dense mass. Fang Zhiyi raised her hand to wave away a mosquito trying to land on her arm. “Sister, I’m coming home tomorrow. Can you pick me up from the South Station?”
“Tomorrow?” Fang Rulian only just realized it was already Saturday.
This week had gone by so fast.
“Sure thing. I have nothing going on tomorrow; I’ll drive straight into the city to pick you up.”
Time was tight during the break between evening self-study sessions. Knowing how exhausted Zhiyi was from her studies, Fang Rulian urged her to hang up and reminded her to get some rest.
Stepping out of the bedroom, she found Mu Yunshu and Fang Hong still chatting in the living room.
Fang Rulian let out a yawn and plopped down next to her mother. “Zhiyi’s coming back tomorrow. I’m going to pick her up.”
Mu Yunshu looked up, somewhat puzzled. “Didn’t she just come back last week? It’s only for one night; all that back-and-forth is exhausting. She might as well rest properly at school.”
“She misses home.” Fang Rulian guessed that the incident involving the rescue from the water must have had some impact on Fang Zhiyi. Combined with the pressure of the college entrance exams, it was normal for her to want to come home. “Besides, I’m driving to the school to get her tomorrow.”
“Didn’t you just get your license recently? You dare drive in the city?” Fang Hong paused the drama she was watching on her phone and tilted her head to look at her.
Fang Rulian waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, it’s fine. I’ll drive slowly.” After reporting her plans, she felt a bit hungry and headed to the kitchen fridge to scavenge for food.
At one in the morning, it started to rain. Thunder rumbled loudly; Fang Rulian woke up in a daze and fell back asleep just as hazily.
Luckily, it was all bark and no bite—the thunder was loud, but the rain was light and didn’t last long. By the time she woke up Saturday morning, the ground was already dry. Sunlight poured from a clear sky, quickly chasing away the dampness.
Mu Yunshu taught Grade 12, so she had classes on Saturdays. Fang Hong drove off to restock inventory, leaving Fang Rulian with “imperial orders” to watch the supermarket downstairs.
As per her routine, Fang Rulian “stole” some novel snacks from the shelves, brought them behind the checkout counter, opened her computer, and began nursing a headache over her thesis while snacking.
She couldn’t focus on a single word of the paper. Recalling yesterday’s conversation with Lu Ke, she thought for a moment, then opened a recruitment app to start sending out resumes.
The morning and afternoon passed in a blur. By 4:30 PM, Fang Rulian figured it was about time, so she went to the second-floor living room and grabbed the car keys.
Since she had mentioned picking up Fang Zhiyi yesterday, Mu Yunshu hadn’t driven to work today. However, the little electric scooter was still parked at the door, so she guessed Fang Hong must have dropped Mu Yunshu off at school while heading out for goods this morning.
It was getting a bit warm. Fang Rulian rolled down the windows and set the navigation for the school.
It was Saturday, and students were being dismissed. As expected, she hit a traffic jam near the No. 1 Middle School. Fortunately, she had left early; there was still one class period left before Fang Zhiyi’s dismissal.
…
Ten-minute class break.
Even with the weekend approaching, a large number of students were slumped over their desks, fast asleep.
Fang Zhiyi rubbed her aching eyes, wove through the rows of desks, and headed toward the restroom from the back door.
This teaching building was close to the road. Looking out from the end of the hallway, she could see rows of cars jammed on the asphalt, packed tight. Despite the “No Honking” signs, a few long blares could still be heard, followed by the faint, muffled shouts of angry drivers.
“Fang Zhiyi!”
Suddenly, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Fang Zhiyi withdrew her gaze and looked back.
“What are you looking at?” Shi Yanluo giggled, stepping up beside her. She leaned against the window, following the direction of Zhiyi’s gaze. “Can’t wait for school to end?”
Shi Yanluo was the girl she had rescued the previous week. She had just been discharged and returned to school this week. After finding out from a teacher who her savior was, she had high-profiledly brought a box of chocolates to thank her.
Caught off guard, Fang Zhiyi had simply said it wasn’t necessary and offered polite deflections. Before she could finish, the girl had stuffed the chocolates into her arms and said, “See you tomorrow.”
She thought it was just a courtesy, but to her surprise, Shi Yanluo really did come to find her every day.
Shi Yanluo was very candid: “You’re such a good person; I want to be your friend.”
Fang Zhiyi was not good at handling this kind of enthusiasm.
“Nothing. The classroom was a bit hot, so I came out for some air.”
“You’re going home this week, right?” Shi Yanluo tilted her head to look at her, the dimples on her cheeks faintly visible. “Let’s leave together.”
“I can’t.” Her answer was crisp and direct. She didn’t notice the smile on Shi Yanluo’s face suddenly stiffen. “My family is coming to pick me up.”
The stiff smile softened slightly upon hearing the second half of the sentence. “Oh, family… okay then.”
The two of them stood by the window for a while until the bell rang, then returned to their respective classes.
During the final period, Shi Yanluo couldn’t focus. She glanced up at the math teacher adjusting his glasses, then moved the high stack of books from the side of her desk to the front. She stood her water bottle up in front as well, let out a satisfied breath, and pulled out a sketchbook to start drawing.
With something to enjoy, the forty-five-minute class flew by like it was only ten. In the blink of an eye, the dismissal bell rang.
Shouldering her bag, Shi Yanluo sauntered out of school. She bought a box of mints at a snack shop and popped two into her mouth.
Students poured out of the school gates in a stream. Outside, the usual long line of traffic was stalled. Shi Yanluo wore her headphones, skipping along as she walked, her long shadow skipping behind her.
Ten minutes later, the surroundings finally quieted down. The number of students in school uniforms on the road had thinned out significantly.
Shi Yanluo checked her phone. Hmm… it’s still early. She didn’t want to go home yet.
Her backpack felt heavy. Shi Yanluo set it on the ground and crouched under a tree. Looking down at messages from former friends on her phone, she gave a wry tug of her lips, then pulled a cigarette from her uniform pocket.
The girl’s movements to light the cigarette were practiced and smooth. Blue smoke drifted from the gaps in her lips before being inhaled into her nose. She held the cigarette between her fingers, looking down to reply to a message.
Before the message could be sent, a pleasant female voice suddenly came from beside her:
“Smoking in high school? And you’re a student from No. 1 Middle School.”
Shi Yanluo looked up.
It was a very beautiful woman wearing a mint-green sleeveless dress that reached just above her knees, revealing slender, well-proportioned calves. A white rope belt was tied loosely around her waist in a soft knot.
Shi Yanluo held the cigarette, smiling indifferently. “Auntie, could you mind your own business?”
The spark at the tip of the cigarette glowed in the twilight, like a poor imitation of the setting sun.
Fang Rulian’s entire body went rigid.
She stared at the girl smoking, her jaw clenching so hard it almost trembled. All her concern for a “flower of the motherland” turned into coldness. She squinted her eyes and spoke slowly: “What is your name?”
Shi Yanluo instantly sensed something was wrong with the way the woman was looking at her—it wasn’t the look of someone being self-righteously angry, but rather the look one gives an enemy. Instinctively, she grabbed her bag and stood up, still acting tough: “What’s it to you? What are you going to tell my parents?”
“Shi Yanluo?”
The girl stopped talking.
Fang Rulian let out a cold laugh. The girl suddenly cried out, “You’ve got the wrong person!” and ran off with her backpack.
Even at dusk, the sunlight was still very dazzling.
Fang Rulian closed her eyes, her heart still hammering in her chest.
The light penetrated her thin eyelids, branding a swaying patch of red in her vision—a color as scorching and eye-catching as blood.
After a long time, she opened her eyes. Feeling as though the strength had been sucked out of her body, she slumped her shoulders and returned to the car.
Traffic was too heavy right outside the school gates, so Fang Rulian had parked a bit further away. Judging by the time, she called Fang Zhiyi when class ended and told her to walk over from the gate.
She should be arriving just about now.
Sure enough, looking past the greenery at the roadside, she immediately spotted Fang Zhiyi in her school uniform walking toward her.
Fang Zhiyi saw her too, her cold expression instantly softening.
Once Fang Zhiyi got in the car, Fang Rulian scanned the parking ticket while asking, “Are you tired? Do you want to go to Peach Blossom Lake for a walk and watch the sunset?”
“Okay.”
When they arrived at Peach Blossom Lake, the sun hadn’t set yet. The two sat on the steps along the lake. An evening breeze blew by, causing the golden reflections on the water to shimmer.
“How was this week?” She leaned over and took a light bite of a marshmallow, her tongue sweeping away a layer of sugar.
“It was fine.” Fang Zhiyi held her marshmallow toward her sister. “Now it’s mostly just going over papers. There are no more formal lessons during evening self-study, just Q&A sessions.”
Noticing Fang Zhiyi’s gesture, Fang Rulian waved her hand and pushed the marshmallow back.
The marshmallow was bought on the way. The vendor was truly heartless—charging twenty-five for a small marshmallow was practically robbery. Spending fifty bucks on two marshmallows felt like being a complete sucker, so Fang Rulian had only bought one for the two of them to share.
Fang Zhiyi kept her head down. Before she could bite, she suddenly heard Fang Rulian say, “Bite the other side. I bit that part already.”
Zhiyi paused. Her long lashes lifted as she looked at Fang Rulian, and she suddenly gave a soft laugh. “Sister, you still care about that?”
“We’re already eating the same one, what difference does it make?” She didn’t listen to Fang Rulian. Instead, she opened her mouth slightly and bit down exactly where Fang Rulian had just bitten.
Her slightly pursed lips were tinged with a bit of rouge-red. As she opened them slightly, the tip of her tongue first curled around a cloud of snowy-white marshmallow. The sugar threads were as soft as clouds, dissolving into a layer of syrup the moment they touched her lips—sparkling and beautiful, like frosting.
A few stray wisps of cotton candy remained hanging at the corner of her mouth.
Fang Rulian pursed her lips and stared at those wisps, her heart feeling like it was being lightly scratched by something, making her a bit uncomfortable.
She felt an urge to do something stupid.
In the past, she definitely would have leaned in to clean those wisps away—after all, Fang Zhiyi shouldn’t be messy with her food; wasting food was shameful.
This wasn’t right.
Forget it.
She turned her head away, looking at the shimmering surface of the lake, and forced herself to change the subject: “I’m heading back to campus this week.”