The blindingly bright morning sunlight woke Liu Yiyi. She rubbed her eyes and watched the beige curtains being blown at the corner by a breeze. It had been a long time since she was last woken up by sunlight; her curtains were all blackout curtains, so the moment they were drawn, day turned to night indoors. She stretched her limbs, got out of bed, and went to wash her face.
Looking in the mirror, she saw that the red rashes on her skin had almost completely vanished, and her voice had also returned to normal. The clock on the wall showed just past six o'clock. She went downstairs, but neither saw Shao Qi nor heard any movement from his room—he probably hadn't gotten up yet. Liu Yiyi wandered around downstairs and noticed a garden through the side door behind the living room. She opened the door and walked out.
The yard wasn't very big, around thirty-odd square meters, enclosed by stone-built walls. The lawn inside was neatly trimmed, crisscrossed by a wooden path less than a meter wide. In one corner stood a rocking chair, complete with a pad and cushions. In front of it was a rectangular brown wooden table, topped with a large beige-brown parasol. Overall, the garden was very empty; Shao Qi hadn't placed any potted plants or raised fish, which made sense as that might be too much trouble.
Liu Yiyi began practicing Tai Chi in the open space of the back garden, exhaling the stale air and inhaling the fresh. The morning air was quite crisp, carrying the scent of soil and fresh grass that left one feeling refreshed and invigorated.
Hearing movement in the neighboring room, Shao Qi got up, took a shower, and headed downstairs. Leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee, his eyes darted around. Liu Yiyi hadn't appeared yet—was she still in his room? At that moment, hearing rustling sounds from the back garden, he walked over. Holding his coffee and leaning against the doorway, he watched the young woman perform strange postures, following every single move until she finished. "What kind of martial arts are you practicing?"
Hearing the commotion, Liu Yiyi turned her head back. "You're up."
"Would you like some coffee?" he asked, raising his white porcelain cup.
"No, thank you." Liu Yiyi followed Shao Qi back into the living room.
"What would you like for breakfast? Toast? Rice noodles? Or rice?" Shao Qi asked about her preferences.
"Order whatever you want to eat. It's my treat, to thank you for letting me stay overnight. Also, let me know how much the medical bills and food cost, and I'll pay you back all at once."
Shao Qi shook his head. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had to go to the hospital in the first place."
"I just didn't look closely enough. It has nothing to do with you." She reached for her money as she spoke.
"Fine, I'll give you the bill later." Shao Qi was beginning to understand her: she never took anything for free and kept things strictly separated. She always carried an air of detachment, coldly pushing others away.
"Alright. Are there any restaurants around here? Let's go out for breakfast." Liu Yiyi picked up her things.
"I'll take you." It wasn't until Liu Yiyi left the residential compound that she realized why it was impossible to hail a taxi here. Shao Qi's place was nearly five kilometers away from the compound's entrance. Along the way, she had seen fewer than ten houses, and the security guards at the gate meticulously checked the license plates of every entering and leaving vehicle; non-residents were simply not allowed in. She couldn't help wondering: how on earth did food delivery drivers get in?
After breakfast, Shao Qi drove Liu Yiyi back to her place. "Tonight is Tongtong's birthday. Are you going?"
"Yes." Since Tongtong's father had already told her about it, she was going to attend. Besides, they had treated her quite well.
"Do you need me to pick you up?" Knowing Liu Yiyi would refuse, Shao Qi still asked out of gentlemanly courtesy.
"No need, I'll go on my own." It was just at the school, not far away, and she didn't like troubling others.
"See you tonight, then."
"See you tonight. Thanks for driving me back, I'm heading up now."
"Wait, take this." He reached behind him and handed her a black box. Seeing Liu Yiyi's puzzled look, he added, "Your friend Zhang Lin asked me to give it to you."
Liu Yiyi remembered Zhang Lin asking her to mail something last time, saying an idol would give it to her—this must be it. It was supposed to be some kind of disc. "Thanks." With that, she got out of the car and left.
The first thing Liu Yiyi did back at her place was transfer the photos from her camera to her computer. She went through them one by one, picking out the group photos of Tongtong, Shao Qi, and herself, touched them up with Photoshop to make them clearer, and transferred them to her phone, planning to print them out at a photo studio later. Then, she scrolled further and caught sight of a photo of just herself and Shao Qi. She froze for a moment in surprise, then quickly scrolled past it.
She organized the rest of the photos and saved them to a USB drive. Her back and waist ached from sitting for so long. She stretched, stood up, took Shao Qi's pajamas out of her bag, and tossed them into the washing machine along with the clothes she was wearing. Shao Qi's pajamas were something she had brought back specifically to wash and return to him.
The weather in country T was scorching hot, so laundry dried very quickly. She took the freshly washed clothes out and hung them on the balcony. Then she headed downstairs to apply for a part-time job at a place called Mingyu Dessert Shop. She had passed by it recently and seen a hiring sign in the window. Liu Yiyi had done odd jobs back home; she loved all kinds of sweets, though she made many but ate few.
She walked in and saw a young shop assistant. "Hello, I'm looking for the boss. I'm here to interview for the part-time job."
"Boss! Someone's here!" the young man shouted toward the back. The boss was a stylishly made-up middle-aged woman in her forties, wearing a yellow dress with an apron tied around her waist. She radiated energy and gave off an easygoing vibe.
She led Liu Yiyi into a back workshop and asked her some general questions—whether she had done similar work before—and invited her to show her skills on the spot. Liu Yiyi made a few Chinese-style desserts and placed them before the owner. "Not bad at all, they look very exquisite." The owner took a bite. "And the taste is great too—floral, soft, dense, and chewy." She tried the rest one after another. "All of these taste wonderful."
"These are just Chinese-style desserts, but with limited ingredients, I couldn't make them look like their original versions," Liu Yiyi explained, as she could only work with what was locally available.
"You're hired," the owner said, putting down her spoon. "Fifty T-currency per hour, paid at the end of the month. You can just call me Aunt Juan."
"Alright. Then I'll start working tomorrow evening, Aunt Juan."
"I've really struck gold," Aunt Juan said, her eyes encouraging. "Yiyi, what you make is delicious. You can make more of it."
Bidding farewell to Aunt Juan, Liu Yiyi found a photo studio along the way. "Boss, I'd like to print a photo."
"Upload the photo here. Scan this code." Liu Yiyi scanned the QR code indicated by the boss and uploaded the picture. The boss took a look at the image. "Little sister, the celebrity in your photo is photoshopped in pretty well, but this photo can't be printed."
"Why?" Recalling what the owner had just said, she asked, "Is it because of the celebrity in it?" Did photo printing shops have such rules these days? Were public figures not allowed to be printed? Was that a law in country T? But she had never heard of it.
A shop assistant walked over holding some clothes and chimed in, "Big star, someone outside is using a photoshopped picture of you to print photos. You gotta hand it to these crazy fangirls—they'll stop at nothing."
Shao Qi was organizing his clothes and posing for the camera. "What kind of photos?" he asked offhandedly.
Recalling the photo he had glanced at earlier, the assistant said, "It looked like pictures taken on Qingsong Mountain, with two girls posing together. Strangely enough, you weren't even put in the middle."
Hearing the assistant's words, Shao Qi waved a hand. Why did this sound like the photos with Tongtong? "Hold on, let me go take a look."
Downstairs, Liu Yiyi was still arguing with the boss. "Then cut him out of the picture. Can it be printed then?"
The boss looked at her. Such a request—wasn't she trying to get a photo with a celebrity? Before he could speak, Shao Qi walked over. "It's you."
Liu Yiyi looked at the newcomer, dressed in flashy clothes with exquisite makeup—clearly his working look. She had to admit that innate good looks combined with professional styling made it hard not to be moved. Fortunately, Liu Yiyi wasn't a normal person; she merely evaluated him objectively.
"Brother Yi, this is my school junior," Shao Qi said, glancing at the photo and pointing at it. "We took this when we went hiking."
"Ah, you should've said so earlier! Sorry about that, little sister, I'll print it for you right now." The boss felt a bit awkward. He should have known—since the girl wanted to cut Shao Qi out of the picture, it meant she didn't care about him at all, right?
"Boss, can I choose a frame?"
"Browse away. Since you're a friend of the big star, this one's on the house. Come back often!"
Liu Yiyi looked through the elegant frames until her eyes caught one made of completely transparent material with pale blue bellflowers carved along the edges. She picked it up. "Boss, print one to fit this frame's dimensions."
"Got it. Big star, is this really your school junior? She's quite pretty. Wonder if she's taken." Shao Qi turned around from looking at the photos. "Brother Yi, aren't you afraid your significant other will get jealous talking like that?"
"Who said I'm doing it for myself? I want to set her up with my younger brother," the boss said, still eyeing the side profile of the girl choosing frames.
"Don't even think about it. She has a bad temper and hits people," Shao Qi said, shaking a clenched fist and speaking in a low voice.
"That sounds great, then my brother won't have to worry about getting bullied. Wait, no, big star, you—?" The more the boss listened, the stranger it sounded. He turned back, pointed at the big star, and peered at him with probing eyes, eager to get to the bottom of it.
"Boss, is the photo ready?" Liu Yiyi walked over, interrupting their conversation.
"All done." Liu Yiyi looked at the photo, which fit the frame perfectly, and beamed with satisfaction. "Boss, how much is it?"
"This one's on the house." It wasn't often he met someone whose vibe he liked; if Shao Qi wasn't interested, he could still introduce this girl to his own brother.
"I saw the price tag on the frame." Liu Yiyi pulled out the money and handed it to him. Just as the boss was about to say something, Shao Qi stopped him with a gesture, signaling him to take the cash. "Alright, I'll give you a discount next time."
Watching her walk away without another word, the boss patted Shao Qi on the chest. "Got some personality, huh?" he said, raising an eyebrow. Shao Qi smiled with pursed lips.