CH 29

Yu Zhou woke up early; while the rain hadn’t started yet, she placed an order on a food delivery app for many delicious treats, like AD calcium milk, bear-shaped cookies, caramelized sunflower seeds, and pickled pepper chicken feet.

Then she found a backpack to stuff everything into it.

She searched the room again, looking for anything interesting that could fit in the backpack to stuff those items in as well.

“Do you want to take your toothbrush back as a souvenir? I bet you can’t find one with such good craftsmanship where you’re from,” she said, attempting to zip the backpack, but then thought better of it and opened it back up.

Xiang Wan, still half-asleep, sat on the sofa watching Yu Zhou, who looked like an aunt or uncle in a TV drama, frantically packing souvenirs from their three-day trip at the moment.

Yu Zhou thought she had been clever. Since Xiang Wan had brought her clothes and jewelry with her when she arrived, logically, if Yu Zhou took a backpack, she should be able to take it with her as well.

Anything that was attached to her should be able to be taken out.

So, what if she clung to Xiang Wan like an octopus?

As she thought about it, Yu Zhou couldn’t help but laugh.

“There’s no need to be that happy,” Xiang Wan said, picking up the remote control to turn on the TV.

“Huh?” Yu Zhou was taken aback, as she instinctively replied before she realized, “No, no, I was just thinking about whether I could go through with you.”

Xiang Wan glanced at her as she lowered her neck, covering the corner of her mouth before saying, “You can’t bear to part with me.”

Yu Zhou let go of the backpack and sat down on the sofa, “Yeah, there’s a bit of that. After living together for over a month, even raising a pig would develop feelings.”

Xiang Wan frowned, “A pig?”

“It’s not that I’m calling you a pig, it’s just a metaphor. Besides, I really have spent a lot of money on you, not less than buying a piglet.”

Yu Zhou sighed, “I don’t know if you’ll have time to come back to visit.”

She thought sadly about the equipment in the room, moved her foot before asking Xiang Wan, “How about you bring the microphone as well, as a keepsake?”

Xiang Wan looked at the colorful TV screen, suddenly finding it hard to watch.

She turned to look at Yu Zhou, “How about I take you with me as a keepsake?”

“Pfft,” Yu Zhou looked at her as she laughed, “How am I supposed to fit in the backpack?”

“You shrink,” Xiang Wan said.

So childish. “But that’s good. It shows you have a conscience, so I didn’t raise you for nothing.” Yu Zhou said.

Xiang Wan didn’t say anything else; after sitting for a while, she looked out the window, “When will the rain come?”

“I don’t know, it’s sunny and breezy right now,” Yu Zhou said, looking up at the sky.

This experience was very special, especially because she had never sat with a friend like this before, facing the separation calmly and peacefully .

In real life, the gradual estrangement between people never had a countdown; it always came with a sense of hindsight. Or, one day while browsing through social media, she would suddenly come across that person and remember, Oh, we haven’t been in touch for a long time, but we used to have a lot of fun together.

And the phrase “calm and peaceful” was used because, aside from the silent estrangement, there was another type of relationship breakdown: fighting.

“Will you really miss me?” Xiang Wan leaned on the sofa armrest, her chin squeezed into small wrinkles, making her look a bit unhappy.

“You’ve asked that twice already.”

“Will you really miss me? Will you think about me and be unable to let go of me?”

“Third time.”

“Really…”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Yu Zhou couldn’t take it anymore as she handed Xiang Wan the backpack, “You should wear your previous clothes when you go back later, and put all those hairpins and hair clasps on your head. I’m afraid they might get damaged in the bag or not be able to go through, like exceeding the weight limit or something.”

“I’ll leave those for you,” Xiang Wan said, hugging the backpack, “I’ve told you already.”

She also wanted to leave some souvenirs for Yu Zhou.

“There’s no need, they won’t be able to show their value here. Remember when you first came, I tried but couldn’t even sell them.” Besides, Xiang Wan liked those pieces of jewelry, didn’t she?

Xiang Wan was inexplicably annoyed as she remained silent, with her head down.

“What’s the matter now?” Yu Zhou leaned over to look at her, but this time Xiang Wan had learned to hide her double chin well.

Yu Zhou laughed, and when Xiang Wan realized that her efforts to hide her double chin had been noticed, she laughed too, biting her lip while smiling at Yu Zhou.

“We’re like two little school girls,” Yu Zhou straightened up.

Xiang Wan didn’t understand what “little school girls” meant, but she wasn’t in the mood to ask anymore.

They finished breakfast but the rain hadn’t come.

They finished lunch and the rain still hadn’t come.

After washing the dishes and browsing on their phone for a while, the rain still hadn’t come.

Yu Zhou solemnly scrolled through the heavy rain news on Weibo. Many people were asking when the rain would finally come, whether they could still go out, saying they were waiting online, all in a hurry.

After dinner, the clouds on the horizon were submerged as the rain finally poured down in the damp air that had been lingering all day.

There was no probing or foreplay; it arrived abruptly, like an invading army.

Yu Zhou stared at the sky; after twenty minutes, a flash of lightning finally appeared.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, there’s thunder, there’s thunder!!!” She jogged over to call Xiang Wan and hurriedly helped her put on the backpack.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, when you came here, you were in the bedroom, right!!!” She pulled Xiang Wan around the room in circles.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, you should go back to your bedroom then!!!” She pushed Xiang Wan into the bedroom.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, because if I see a living person disappear, I’ll be terrified!!!” She closed the door before leaning against it to calm herself down.

Exhausted.

Xiang Wan understood the reasoning, but…

“Why do you keep shouting ‘ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah’?” And it was always six “ah”s.

“I don’t know, I just do this when I’m nervous or excited,” Yu Zhou said from outside the door, shaking and then starting to run in little steps.

Through the door, she heard Xiang Wan laughing inside.

As she continued running, she felt a little sad because Xiang Wan’s laughter sounded so genuine, but she would be gone in a moment.

Xiang Wan sat quietly on the bed, just as she had been when she arrived, but now wearing Yu Zhou’s clothes with her hair in a ponytail. She also carried the backpack Yu Zhou had carefully prepared for her.

And then, she listened to the sound of Yu Zhou running outside the door.

Yu Zhou was quite amusing. When Xiang Wan listened, she did so with a smile, but after a while, she began to breathe quietly and restrained.

Her breath rose and fell, slow and lingering, contrasting sharply with Yu Zhou’s rapid footsteps outside the door.

The two of them were separated by the door, one still and one in motion. Yu Zhou’s legs grew sore from running; after more than twenty rumbles of thunder, there was no sound from inside.

But she wasn’t sure what sound time traveling should make. Were there any magical effects?

“Wanwan,” she knocked on the door, “are you still here?”

“I’m here.”

“Oh, oh, oh, sorry.” The reason for her apology was that she was a little afraid of interrupting any spellcasting inside.

Thunder roared from the horizon, rolled to their ears, and exploded in their minds.

“Boom…” Another one.

After three consecutive thunderclaps, Yu Zhou knocked on the door again: “Wanwan, are you still here?”

“I’m here.”

…Ah, this.

Yu Zhou was at a loss. She thought for a while as she looked up at the ceiling, saying, “Could it be the reinforced concrete structure of our modern house that’s blocking the effects of the thunder?”

Ancient houses probably didn’t have such good lightning protection.

The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. So she opened the door a crack, saying, “Wanwan, shall we go outside?”

They had to hurry; who knew when the next thunderclap would come.

Xiang Wan looked at her anxious face, hesitated for a few seconds before nodding, “Okay.”

The two of them found two large umbrellas before going downstairs. Yu Zhou escorted Xiang Wan out into the torrential rain. The downpour was so heavy that it threatened to break the umbrella ribs, drenching half of their bodies and making it impossible to keep their eyes open.

Yu Zhou wanted to take Xiang Wan under a tree, but she was afraid she might be struck by lightning. After some thought, she settled her at a safe distance amidst the deafening sound of rain.

“Hang in there!” she shouted to Xiang Wan, then ran back to the lobby to watch her through the double glass doors.

Trees were swaying violently as several newly transplanted trees were even knocked down, their roots torn from the ground, looking terrifyingly like gnashing teeth and claws.

Xiang Wan braced the umbrella with both hands, standing in the rain. The large black umbrella rattled under the downpour. She hunched her shoulders, but the rain couldn’t be stopped, streaming down her arms.

She wanted to cover her stomach, but then remembered the snacks Yu Zhou had bought for her, packed in her backpack. So, she moved the umbrella backward a bit.

“Hold on!” Yu Zhou yelled from the lobby, “Hold the umbrella tightly, don’t let it collapse backward! What are you doing moving it backward, it can’t shield you like that!”

She screamed with all her might when a child emerged from the corridor, looked at her in horror, picked up a ball, and then ran back as if fleeing.

Xiang Wan shivered in the curtain of rain.

Yu Zhou felt she had done something utterly stupid.

Through the torrential rain, she couldn’t see Xiang Wan’s expression, but she could see her body language and deduce the slightly fearful look in her eyes.

She must be crazy. Everyone was hiding at home in such heavy rain, but she made Xiang Wan stand in the downpour just to try her luck.

The key was that Xiang Wan didn’t object at all but just stood there, holding a battered umbrella.

Yu Zhou couldn’t take it anymore. She dashed out with her umbrella, intending to pull Xiang Wan back.

Xiang Wan looked up at her as Yu Zhou grabbed her wrist. She was soaked like a drowned rat while the dirty water ran down her pale face like small streams.

“Let’s go back! We won’t try anymore! We won’t!” Yu Zhou shouted into her ear.

The sound was intermittent in the rain.

Yu Zhou felt frustrated. Suddenly, she felt like she was in a Taiwanese idol drama, yelling and tugging at each other in the rain.

You guys, don’t fight anymore.gif [1]

The two of them gasped for breath as they ran back to the lobby. Once inside, Xiang Wan still held onto Yu Zhou’s hand without letting go. Both of them collapsed, bending over while panting heavily.

Xiang Wan’s neck twitched, her ponytail disheveled so her hair stuck to her face, rising and falling with her breath.

She asked between gasps, “Are we not trying anymore?”

“We’re not, let’s go back.” Yu Zhou was exhausted.

“Alright.” Xiang Wan was also worn out.