As soon as the car started moving, the other three girls charged out into the rain like warriors and blocked the hood. The driver took one look at the three gorgeously made-up, barely dressed beauties in front of the car, then another look at the one in the back seat, and was thoroughly baffled by the situation.
Zhao Han: “…We’re together, sir, please unlock the door.”
Shi Jiu was in the back too. She shoved her bag into Zhao Han’s arms. She herself was half-soaked from the rain, but the backpack was still dry.
Guan Nan wiped the water off her face. “Zhao Han, are you a devil sent from heaven? I finally managed to get one free day, and look at what you’ve gone and done! It’s not like I really want to meddle in your business, but Xiao Shi wouldn’t feel at ease leaving you alone. If she leaves too, what am I and Xu Jing supposed to do, drink air?”
Xu Jing also lectured her. “If it weren’t for Shi Jiu, you’d even forget your bag. Tell me, what exactly can you do?”
Though they were scolding her, Zhao Han felt grateful. She said to Shi Jiu, “It really is fine.”
Shi Jiu hummed. “We’re just taking a look. Seeing it for ourselves will put us at ease.”
The car cut through the rainy night and squeezed into the endless stream of traffic. Along the way, Xu Jing and Guan Nan kept discussing the person waiting at Zhao Han’s door. In the more romantic version, Zhao Han had some scandalous affair outside, discarded someone after fooling around, and that person had come to wait outside her place for revenge. In the more terrifying, suspenseful version, Zhao Han had offended some big shot’s woman, and the big shot’s underling had disguised himself as a woman to come settle the score. In the absurd version, Zhao Han had a long-lost sister coming to recognize her family…
Shi Jiu listened in silence the whole time. Only after the two of them finally paused did she say, “It’s Luo Qingbai, isn’t it? If I’m calculating the time right, she’s graduated.”
Her voice was utterly calm and natural, but with that one sentence she shattered every guess, leaving the taxi quiet.
“That seems unlikely,” Zhao Han said. There were three people squeezed together in the back seat, and she was the one wearing the most layers, yet even she felt a trace of chill in the rainy night. It was probably because the way she was wearing that flashy shirt today did not block the wind, but it wasn’t convenient to change in the car, so she let it go.
As they were nearly there, Shi Jiu lowered her voice and asked, “Even if we don’t call the police, should we have the security guard go up with us? What if it isn’t Luo Qingbai but some bad person?”
Guan Nan immediately agreed. “With what we’re wearing today, nobody’s fighting anything. Better play it safe!”
Zhao Han laughed. “Forget it. Our complex’s security guard isn’t as good as me. If it really is some bad person, then Guan Nan can smash her in the face with a high heel!”
Guan Nan gave an arrogant little laugh. “These shoes of mine are expensive. Is her face worth that much?”
The rain outside gradually grew heavier. The city’s drainage system couldn’t cope, and low-lying stretches of road had already begun to flood. The car plowed through the water like a ship breaking waves, throwing up a spray of mist before stopping outside Zhao Han’s complex. Guan Nan was the first to jump out, looking every bit like she was about to go do battle with bandits.
Shi Jiu was getting out at the same time, but she suddenly paused and lifted her chin toward Zhao Han. “Luo Qingbai.”
Zhao Han wiped the water off the car window and finally made out the figure standing outside the complex gate.
She was about to get out of the taxi when Guan Nan, striding irritably toward the entrance, also saw Luo Qingbai waiting outside. She hurried over and tugged Guan Nan back. “So your shoes aren’t expensive anymore?”
“Smashing her face would still be worth it. I just want to ask her what the hell she means!”
“Don’t. Go back,” Zhao Han said, stuffing both her and Xu Jing, who was still watching from the open door, back into the car. “I’ll handle it myself.”
Only Shi Jiu remained the calmest. After Zhao Han got out, she simply sat back down. Zhao Han could only remind her, “Xiao Jiu, take them two back.”
Shi Jiu smiled and nodded. She urged her, “Hurry up. Luo Qingbai has an umbrella. We’re leaving. Call if anything happens.”
Zhao Han watched the car spray water as it drove off before taking a deep breath in the rain curtain. She held it in for a moment, then slowly let it out. Luo Qingbai, she didn’t know how she’d found her address, how she’d gotten to her doorstep, how she’d ended up waiting at the complex gate, or what she wanted with her.
Take it as it comes, she thought.
Zhao Han actually wasn’t very good at taking it as it comes. Her so-called taking it as it comes was when even she didn’t know what to do.
Zhao Han tried to act as though nothing was wrong and turned around, only to nearly bump into someone. That person hurriedly stepped back, one hand bracing her arm, the other holding up a dark green umbrella. Though she had retreated, the umbrella was still above Zhao Han’s head, shielding her from the dripping autumn rain.
Luo Qingbai, the Luo Qingbai she had not seen in two years.
Startled, Zhao Han blurted out, “Oh.” Luo Qingbai quickly explained, “Sorry, I was trying to hold the umbrella for you. I didn’t expect you to turn around all of a sudden… senior…”
Her voice was soft, with a trace of unease in her lifted eyes. A smile hung at the corners of her mouth, and when she called her senior, there was no difference at all from before.
Two years of time, at barely over twenty years old, really could pass without a trace.
Even at one step away, they were close enough for Zhao Han to see Luo Qingbai’s thick, curled lashes clearly.
Luo Qingbai had the kind of face that was unmistakably classically beautiful, carrying an air of old-fashioned elegance, like someone stepped out of a painting. She had brows like distant mountains, rich and understated, a pair of almond eyes full of feeling and a little sorrow, and beneath her narrow nose, lips tinted a natural rose pink, as if she were wearing rose-colored lipstick.
Even people who didn’t like her type of beauty couldn’t help looking twice at her face once they met her.
Being this close made everything too clear. The two years of sorting herself out felt like a hurricane had swept through, leaving nothing but wreckage, full of shadows of the past.
Memories made the person in front of her vivid again.
Zhao Han paused, then turned and walked side by side with Luo Qingbai into the complex. Luo Qingbai admitted her fault first. “I’m sorry. Earlier I followed someone in when they swiped their card and slipped inside once. Later… it was raining pretty hard, and I thought you might forget to bring an umbrella.”
In that admission of guilt, old feelings and old habits were mingled together.
Zhao Han neither confirmed nor denied anything, only asked as a kind of greeting, “Here to visit?”
“Senior, I’ve graduated. I’m working on this side now. I just arrived, and I’m still in my internship.”
“You graduated? So fast?” Zhao Han sounded as if she had not expected it.
Luo Qingbai was indeed left speechless.
The year she came as an exchange student, she was only a sophomore. Now more than two years had passed. Two years was enough in this day and age for other people to go from meeting to marrying to getting divorced again!
But the faint satisfaction of following Zhao Han into the complex gate under proper justification soon overrode her disappointment, and Luo Qingbai pulled herself back together. “Yes, I graduated. Senior, I’m at Xuyuan Machinery. During my internship I have to go down to the workshop…”
Zhao Han gave an oh. Xuyuan had a project she’d handled. A few days ago they had been short on parts, so after working overtime she took the parts home. She’d arranged for courier pickup, and the shipping label had her address on it. No wonder Qingbai had managed to find her.
The apartment Zhao Han rented was in an old complex from the turn of the century, seven stories high, and she lived on the top floor. The two of them climbed the stairs, panting. After a while, Zhao Han asked, “Are you used to work?”
She deliberately put a smile into her voice, afraid that if she sounded cold it might scare the other girl. It was partly an attitude of not caring about the past, and more a reminder to herself.
Luo Qingbai answered in a mosquito-small voice, “I am.”
Zhao Han knew that tone very well. What it really meant was that she wasn’t.
Zhao Han only glanced at Luo Qingbai involuntarily, but did not press further. She casually steered the conversation elsewhere, and by then they had already reached the door. The old lady next door had pretended to go out to take out the trash just to spy on the situation. Seeing Zhao Han come back with the person who had been lingering at the gate earlier, she finally believed there was nothing wrong. Holding the doorframe, she swept Zhao Han with a look. “Little Han went out to have fun?”
Zhao Han answered and rummaged around in her bag for quite a while before pulling out some chestnuts nestled in a food bag and handing them to the old lady. “Somebody picked these up from the mountain. Green and pollution-free. You can make braised chestnuts with chicken.”
They’d been picked and given to her when she went to the factory today.
The old lady accepted them with a smile, then looked at Luo Qingbai and asked, “A friend?”
“Mm… yes, a classmate.” Zhao Han smiled as she opened the door. “You should sleep early. It’s cold out in the rain. Just leave the trash by the door, and I’ll take it down for you tomorrow.”
She opened the door and let Luo Qingbai in. With a click, the lights came on, revealing the neat, cool stillness of the whole room. Zhao Han smiled. “I haven’t lived here for two days, so it even smells dusty. Sit down. Are your clothes wet? Want me to find you something to change into?”
Luo Qingbai looked at Zhao Han with a smile, almost unable to take her eyes off her. “Thank you, senior!”
Zhao Han swept her a glance and said nothing more. Good grief. After two years apart, the other girl was already using tricks on her. What about her? It seemed she had made no progress at all!
That had only been Zhao Han’s polite offer. Luo Qingbai had been holding the umbrella the whole way, and aside from a little rain on her shoulders, her clothes were dry. More than changing clothes, she needed a change of socks and shoes.
Zhao Han didn’t expose her. When she handed over the coat, the other girl’s eyes curved at the corners with a smile, and even the way she looked at her seemed to carry some meaning as she politely and obediently said again, “Thank you, senior!”
Zhao Han herself was wet through by more than half. Using the pretext of changing clothes, she slipped into the bathroom. Luo Qingbai’s gaze followed her all the way until that door cut the gaze off.
Leaning by the door, Zhao Han caught sight of her reflection in the mirror at once. The dampness from the rain seemed to have soaked into her eyes, and with the reddish corners of them, it had hidden away all her usual coolness. It was a weak, delicate, alluring look.
Only then did she understand the meaning in Luo Qingbai’s gaze.
She wiped off her makeup and changed clothes in front of the mirror before going out. Qingbai was sitting in a corner of the sofa, and whether she was really cold or not, she had the coat Zhao Han had given her draped over her shoulders. As soon as Zhao Han came out, Qingbai stood up. “Senior.”
Zhao Han sat astride the armrest of the sofa on the other side in a broad, easy posture and answered her with a reluctant grunt. Then she corrected her, “You’ve graduated already. Why are you still calling me senior? Just call me Xiao Zhao. Or my name works too, Zhao Han!”
Noticing Luo Qingbai glance up at her before quickly lowering her eyelids again, Zhao Han ran a hand through her rain-soaked hair and pulled over a towel to dry it carefully.
Luo Qingbai immediately stood up. “Senior, you got soaked in the rain. Go take a shower. I won’t bother you anymore, that… today, I was very abrupt… sorry for disturbing you…”
Zhao Han forced out a little smile. “I should really have kept you here for the night, but my place is small. It might feel cramped, and you probably wouldn’t be used to it. Besides, you still have work tomorrow. It’s a long way from here to Xuyuan, so it wouldn’t be convenient for you either. I won’t put on a false show and make you stay.”
Luo Qingbai listened very seriously. “Then senior, rest early.” She changed into her shoes and left. Standing at the door, she waved directly at Zhao Han. “Goodbye, senior.”
A particularly solemn goodbye.
Zhao Han gave a hum. The hallway light came on in response. Luo Qingbai’s wet shoes left a string of footprints on the floor, and those footprints wound around the corner and down the stairs. The sound of wet shoes touching the ground was distinct, with a faint puffing sound of water.
Zhao Han fetched a pair of shoes from the rack. By the sound of it, Luo Qingbai had already gone down one flight. Zhao Han hesitated, did not call out, and placed those shoes before herself instead. She only listened as Luo Qingbai’s footsteps going downstairs were eventually swallowed up by the footsteps of someone else coming up, before turning back into the apartment.
Only then did she realize she hadn’t even poured Luo Qingbai a glass of water. Zhao Han clicked her tongue, worked the stiffness out of her neck, and went to take a shower.
One layer of autumn rain, one layer of cold. These days, morning and evening were so cold it felt impossible to get through them!