"You're so disrespectful." Meng Jingnian let out a light laugh, shifting his gaze to the arrival board, neither denying her callout nor seeming willing to remain under such scrutiny.
In Lin Qin's memory, Meng Jingnian hadn't always been like this.
Her uncle and aunt had been university classmates three years apart. They got together when her aunt was nineteen and got their marriage certificate after graduating. The Meng parents hadn't been entirely pleased at the time, but seeing that her uncle was upright in character and showed promise, they ultimately didn't object much.
In the second year of their relationship, her uncle brought her aunt to meet his elder brother and sister-in-law—Lin Qin's parents—and Meng Jingnian had come along too. She was four then.
So young, barely old enough to form memories—that recollection had long been lost, only brought up when her uncle and aunt reminisced about the past.
Her earliest impression of Meng Jingnian came after she turned six—when her parents dined with her uncle and aunt, and her aunt's side brought along a very handsome older boy, wearing a blue-and-white school uniform, his skin as pale as light snow on treetops. Her father corrected her—don't call him brother, call him uncle.
She'd mixed up calling him uncle for a while, and when she was ten, Meng Luodi was born, and her aunt suggested she should follow and call him jiujiu instead. She never quite understood the essential difference between uncle and jiujiu—whatever they told her to call him, she simply called him that.
After being taken in by her uncle and aunt, her contact with Meng Jingnian naturally became more frequent.
Children all like to play with older kids—something like an innate human instinct to admire those stronger. Ever since the time she was caught sneaking bread at midnight, and instead of exposing her, he'd helped cover for her, she'd felt a bit closer to him psychologically.
Whenever he was playing with something, she'd sidle over and watch curiously. He never shooed her away—whether it was the novel he was reading, the retro handheld console he could play Legend of Shadows on, or the 16×16 Rubik's cube he'd half-solved, he'd hand them over to her without hesitation.
When her uncle praised Yiyi at dinner for doing so well on her final exams, Meng Jingnian would, on his way back from playing ball with friends, casually pick up an ice cream cone for her as a reward.
At that stage, Meng Jingnian still retained some of the emotional volatility befitting a high schooler—gloomy after losing a game, spirited and slightly self-congratulatory after winning a competition, and when in a bad mood, he'd curl up on the sofa watching horror movies all afternoon without acknowledging anyone.
It seemed that after starting university, he gradually began to conceal his emotions, eventually developing into the person he was now—gentle and composed on the surface, yet distant within.
It seemed that since he'd become an adult, she'd never seen him lose his temper.
Not once.
Lin Qin said nothing more, leaning forward, palms bracing against the seat beside her.
In the end, they could never achieve complete, unreserved openness with each other.
The subway station was utterly quiet. Passengers standing in the boarding area each looked down at their phones, and for a long while, no one else came down the escalator.
She thought of an apocalyptic movie she'd seen—there seemed to be an almost identical scene in it.
She wished this were the apocalypse.
A dull, heavy roar suddenly sounded from the tunnel, like a ringing in the ears.
"The train's here," Lin Qin said.
Meng Jingnian stood up a step ahead of her, came around, and casually picked up her backpack. She said "No need" and reached out to take it herself, but he'd already turned and walked toward the boarding area.
"What did you pack in here? It's so heavy," he asked with a smile.
"Jacket, shoes, and makeup and makeup remover stuff."
The train arrived, doors slid open, and the carriage was nearly empty. Lin Qin sat down by the doors, and Meng Jingnian sat beside her.
After the train had been moving for a while, Lin Qin noticed that on the other side of the carriage, a man was holding his phone with both arms crossed, his gaze casually fixed elsewhere.
The classic pose of someone trying to take a secret photo, thinking he wouldn't be noticed.
Lin Qin frowned, staring at the man. He naturally noticed, but averted his gaze even further, pretending even more nonchalantly.
Lin Qin couldn't take it anymore and was about to stand up when Meng Jingnian reached out and gently pressed her hand, then rose and walked over to the man.
"Delete the video you secretly took," Meng Jingnian said, his voice low and cold.
"Who's secretly taking—"
Without a word of waste, Meng Jingnian dialed "110," showed the screen to the man, and moved his thumb toward the call button.
"…I'll delete it! I'll delete it right now!" The man panicked.
Meng Jingnian lowered his gaze, watching him as he frantically opened his photo album and deleted the most recent video. A quick glance showed the earlier contents of the album were normal—likely not a repeat offender.
"The recycle bin," Meng Jingnian reminded.
The man opened the album's recycle bin, selected delete all, and showed the cleared screen to Meng Jingnian.
Only then did Meng Jingnian turn and return to sit beside Lin Qin.
The man turned his entire body away, completely facing the opposite direction, and bolted off the train the moment his stop arrived.
The entire carriage was left with just the two of them.
Lin Qin said, "Thank you."
Meng Jingnian shook his head.
"Actually, I'm used to it by now. It happens all the time. Sometimes I bother to deal with it, but other times I'm too tired and just can't be bothered." The colored contact lenses had been in for too long and were starting to feel uncomfortable, but she couldn't rub her eyes, so Lin Qin could only blink hard. "Once I was taking the subway back from a commercial cosplay exhibition—I was cosplaying a popular game character. Someone filmed a ten-second video of me and posted it online, and it went viral. For a while after that, people kept coming to the hospital to find me, or adding me on WeChat. It was so annoying I could've died."
Meng Jingnian looked at her, not knowing how to offer comfort for something like this. Being forced to adapt to such a situation of having one's rights infringed upon was truly unjust.
"So I was thinking—later on, I'll develop an AI program that runs in the background. The moment it detects someone taking a secret photo, it'll overclock and burn out the motherboard and memory completely."
"The difficulty is—how do you get such a program installed on every phone?"
"Uncle, you go become an official—become the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and mandate it."
Meng Jingnian let out a laugh. Her jokes always came out of nowhere, utterly startling.
Lin Qin turned to glance at Meng Jingnian, then quickly looked away.
He must have changed clothes before going to the Jiang family—he wasn't wearing the stiff dress shirt from the morning. This one was more casual, with soft fabric in a smoky tone, making him look like an immortal banished from heaven with bones of white jade. That laugh carried a hint of nasal resonance, lazy and relaxed, and it suddenly made her feel at a loss.
"…Uncle, you don't seem to like driving?" Lin Qin deliberately started a new topic, trying to act natural.
"I'm drinking tonight, so driving wouldn't be convenient. But honestly, I don't really like it—it takes too much focus. I prefer taking the subway."
"I like it too," Lin Qin said immediately. "You can do so many things on the subway."
"Like taking off your makeup?" Meng Jingnian said with a smile.
"Mm."
"Want to take it off now?" Meng Jingnian pointed at her backpack.
"I haven't taken out my contacts yet, so it's not convenient."
No wonder her eyes looked a bit different today—behind the black pupils, there was a faint trace of red. When she fixed her gaze on you, it felt like there was nowhere to hide.
"What do you do on the subway?" Lin Qin asked.
"These past two years, mostly listening to German listening comprehension."
"…That does sound really hard."
Meng Jingnian laughed. "Yeah."
Two more stops passed, and they transferred within the station, boarding another line that went directly to the school.
Halfway through the ride, Lin Qin kept blinking and yawning.
Meng Jingnian looked at her face. "Tired?"
Lin Qin shook her head. "The contacts have been in too long—they're uncomfortable, and they make me short on oxygen, so I keep yawning."
"Why didn't you take them out in the restroom during the transfer?"
"I wasn't sure if there was hand soap in there. If I don't wash my hands properly before taking them out, I could get conjunctivitis."
Meng Jingnian suddenly thought of something. "You came straight here after filming?"
"Mm."
"Did you eat dinner?"
"…No."
Meng Jingnian looked up at the route map across from them—there were still seven or eight stops to go.
About twenty minutes later, they reached the stop before the school.
Meng Jingnian picked up her backpack and said, "Come on, let's get off."
Lin Qin said, "I haven't reached my stop yet…"
"I'm taking you to eat."
Lin Qin was stunned for a moment, then immediately stood up to follow.
They passed through the ticket gates and exited the subway station. As they walked out, Meng Jingnian said, "If you're not too hungry yet, let's go to my place first so you can take off your makeup."
"…Okay."
The night breeze in mid-March was still slightly cool, and it crashed against her heart without any warning.
This stop was very close to the apartment Meng Jingnian rented—about a five-minute walk.
Lin Qin's black backpack was carried effortlessly by Meng Jingnian the whole way.
At the door, Lin Qin looked at the living room, which was noticeably tidier than last time, but hesitated at the entrance—last time she came, Meng Jingnian hadn't done a deep clean, and she'd walked in with her shoes on.
"It's fine, just come in." Meng Jingnian turned back to say.
Lin Qin shook her head and bent down to take off her boots. "I'll go barefoot."
"Isn't it a hassle to take them off?"
High-top lace-up leather boots with countless eyelets—putting them on and taking them off was clearly a major undertaking.
"Not a hassle." Lin Qin showed him—the boots had side zippers, and the laces were just decorative.
"…Alright." Meng Jingnian let out a helpless laugh.
He turned and looked at the shoe cabinet again. There really were no spare slippers, and having a young woman wear his own wouldn't be appropriate at all.
He was about to ask if she'd make do with the bathroom slippers when it suddenly occurred to him that there was a pair of disposable cotton slippers in the drawer, bought for a flight.
He took them out, opened the packaging, and bent down to place them by her feet. "They might be a bit big, but make do with them for now. I'll buy some new ones next time."
The word "next time" was far more dazzling than any definite promise, because it carried enough hope.
Lin Qin shuffled into the slippers and walked toward the bathroom.
The blinds were open, and the half-open window let in a damp night breeze.
The bathroom was exceptionally tidy, with not a trace of grime or hair. Though the wind had been sweeping through for a long time, a faint woody fragrance still lingered in the air.
Lin Qin stood before the mirror, utterly at a loss. The bathroom felt even more intensely "private" than the bedroom, and she had barged in here, carrying a secret she could never voice aloud.
Facial cleanser, electric toothbrush, mouthwash, razor… all the towels were in the same dark gray.
She paused for a moment before reaching out to press one pump from the hand soap bottle sitting in the corner of the counter.
She washed her hands, pulled back her eyelids, removed her contact lenses, stepped on the trash can pedal—a fresh liner, empty inside—and dropped them in.
She soaked a cotton pad with eye and lip makeup remover, pressed it against her eyes to soften the adhesive holding on her false lashes.
"Yiyi, the hand soap is on the counter. Just say the word if you need anything else." Meng Jingnian's calm voice came from the living room.
"I don't need anything, I brought it all." Lin Qin replied.
Once all her makeup was removed, Lin Qin glanced at herself in the mirror, her gaze landing on Meng Jingnian's black-packaged facial cleanser.
Meng Jingnian picked up a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, drank a few mouthfuls, and set it on the coffee table.
He picked up a meteorology journal from the coffee table, casually flipping through titles and abstracts for a few minutes, when a figure flickered around the corner—Lin Qin emerged, carrying her toiletry bag.
She still wore that avant-garde dress, but all her makeup was gone now, and against the richness of the gown, she looked pale, almost faded. Her hair was also loose now, falling in soft waves over her shoulders.
"All set?" Meng Jingnian asked.
"Mm."
Meng Jingnian closed the magazine and set it back on the coffee table.
Lin Qin walked over, pulled a gray jacket out of her backpack, tucked her toiletry bag inside, and said, "Ready to go."
The two walked to the entryway to change shoes. Meng Jingnian held the backpack in one hand and opened the door with the other, holding it open for her to go first.
Lin Qin zipped up her boots, straightened up, and stepped past him out the door.
In that brief, close moment, Meng Jingnian caught a faint, watery fragrance.
…It was the scent of his facial cleanser.