This winter, a heavy snow fell in the provincial city.

Snowflakes fluttered down from the sky, quickly covering the school buildings. Cold wind carrying chilliness blew against Lin Zhixia, making her shiver. She wrapped her down jacket tightly and ran quickly along a small path toward the laboratory building.

It was now seven forty in the morning, with just twenty minutes until the group meeting. Lin Zhixia had arrived neither early nor late—just right. The heating in the classroom was slightly low, so Lin Zhixia rubbed her hands together and sat in a spot close to the heater, immediately feeling warmth spread throughout her body.

The front door of the classroom creaked open, and Lin Zhixia looked up to find herself face to face with Tan Qianche. She said, “Good morning, Teacher Tan.”

Tan Qianche wore silver-framed glasses and a black cashmere coat, with several unmelted snowflakes still on his shoulders.

He too seemed to have just run in from outside, his breathing slightly more rapid than usual, though his voice remained steady: “There are only the two of us in the classroom, yet you still call me Teacher Tan. That sounds too formal.”

Lin Zhixia replied casually, “At this school, we’re colleagues, on the same level. Isn’t it appropriate for me to call you Teacher Tan?”

Tan Qianche mused, “It’s been so long since I heard you call me Senior. I’ve almost forgotten the days when we studied together.”

Lin Zhixia was completely unconcerned: “Past things, if forgotten, let them be forgotten. Look forward, move forward—hope is always in the future.”

Tan Qianche paused in his steps. He raised his hand to push up his glasses, but didn’t respond to Lin Zhixia’s words.

Tan Qianche placed his briefcase on the table, quite far from Lin Zhixia’s seat. He took out a stack of papers from his bag—these were papers submitted by his students a few days ago. He had only started reviewing them this morning, but that didn’t matter. The students’ levels were far below his. Within just a few minutes, he could see through the students’ writing, logic, and flaws.

While looking at the papers, he smiled and said, “When I first met you, you were only a teenager, immature in your interactions with people, and only interested in academics. Now you’ve grown up.”

He sighed softly: “I always have a strange intuition that you understand everything and occasionally even deliberately remind and guide others. Am I right, Teacher Lin?”

This time, Lin Zhixia was briefly silent.

As if to compete with Tan Qianche, Lin Zhixia also took out several student papers from her briefcase. She had already read through the papers, printed them out, written comments, and placed them in folders.

For Lin Zhixia, her students’ academic levels were steadily improving, and the research capabilities of the project team were also significantly increasing. She had many innovative and clever ideas that she alone couldn’t implement in the short term. Fortunately, she had quite a few outstanding students—they were like a group of astronauts exploring the universe. Lin Zhixia had discovered several unknown planets, and the students, following her guidance, deeply cultivated the fertile soil on these planets. Though it was hard work, they also successfully created results that belonged to them.

The so-called “doctoral status” was just the starting point on the research path. From “doctor” to “independent researcher,” there might still be a distant and long journey. So far, Lin Zhixia had proven her strength as an independent researcher, and she hoped her students could persevere as well.

She calmly said, “Actually, I don’t understand that much. Rather than saying I’m guiding others, it’s more like I’m sharing some life insights.”

She nodded to herself: “I have many insights, and also a lot of idle talk. You don’t have to listen if you don’t want to.”

Tan Qianche smiled while lowering his voice a bit: “Little Teacher Lin is truly modest and humorous.”

He put the papers aside and suddenly seemed to remember something: “Have you had breakfast, Little Teacher Lin? Why don’t we take the students to the cafeteria for lunch today? Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and there are quite a few students staying at school this year. They’re eager to do experiments and produce results, and quite ambitious. These kinds of students are easy to guide.”

Lin Zhixia didn’t hesitate and directly answered: “Another day, perhaps. It’s not very convenient today. I promised my family I’d go home early for dinner.”

Such a straightforward rejection seemed somewhat inconsiderate, so Lin Zhixia added a pleasantry: “Teacher Tan shouldn’t work too hard either. Tomorrow is the New Year. After the group meeting, you can give yourself a couple of days off.”

Only the rustling sound of turning pages filled the classroom. Tan Qianche was like a furnace that had gone out, no longer able to produce enthusiastic words. His elbow rested on the table, fingers pressed against the briefcase, with the muscle lines in his arms tensed straight.

His gaze fell on the paper pages, but he wasn’t reading the content of the papers. His thoughts floated around like willow catkins, unable to find a place to settle.

Lin Zhixia also felt somewhat awkward. She noticed Tan Qianche’s dejection but didn’t know what she should say now. Perhaps they could chat about winter and summer vacations?

Vacations weren’t always happy.

In that moment, memories rushed in like a tide, vast and overwhelming. All her emotions were drowned out by the cacophony of sounds.

In a daze, she seemed to return to her childhood, back to her grandparents’ home. The sky was so dark she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. She crouched in the cold sheep pen, her breath condensing into cold mist that hit her face, freezing painfully.

Her face hurt, her hands hurt, and her stomach hurt even more. At that time, she couldn’t cope with this pain, so she could only convince herself that people are born to feel pain, born to endure pain. The only difference from others was that her strange memory connected with her senses, making her continuously and repeatedly experience various torments.

She tried hard to control herself, not to become anxious because of this, not to be afraid because of this. Any anxiety and fear at this moment would be permanently etched in her heart.

There were countless memory fragments in her mind, all related to winter.

She selected moments of happiness from among them.

She remembered when her mom and dad prepared a New Year’s Eve feast, her brother played cat’s cradle with her by the stove, and the bookshelf was filled with books she could never finish reading. Each book was a brand-new world. At that time, she was still very young and found everything fascinating. She had a strong impulse to explore the unknown universe, which was also a constant driving force that made her try to maintain an optimistic attitude.

Later, as she grew up, she met more people, and the wish she made at seven years old—”I want a good friend”—had truly come true. Her thoughts drifted to Jiang Yubai, feeling somewhat delighted. What was Jiang Yubai doing now? And she couldn’t help wondering why her students hadn’t arrived yet.

At this moment, there were two professors sitting in the classroom, Tan Qianche and Lin Zhixia. One of them was enduring mental exhaustion, while the other was enduring physical pain.

Not long after, the front door of the classroom was pushed open again, and more than a dozen of Lin Zhixia’s students, including Zhan Rui, Chen Shihan, Fang Yiwen, and others, appeared together.

Fang Yiwen strode in with her head held high, shouting: “Hello, Teacher Lin! Hello, Teacher Tan!”

Her voice was like a bell, powerful enough to conquer mountains. With just eight words, she pulled both Lin Zhixia and Tan Qianche’s thoughts back to the classroom.

Tan Qianche’s fingers even trembled slightly. He sternly reproached: “Don’t speak so loudly, it’s quite startling.”

Fang Yiwen apologized insincerely: “I’m sorry, Teacher Tan. I’m in such a good mood today that my voice is loud. I’ll pay attention and speak a bit more softly—just loud enough for you to hear clearly.”

Fang Yiwen had originally been doing her postdoctoral work in the United States. This year happened to be her grandmother’s 80th birthday, so she returned home for the New Year. When she heard that Lin Zhixia was about to hold a group meeting, how could she miss such a good opportunity? She immediately wrote an email to Lin Zhixia and obtained permission to audit the meeting.

As Lin Zhixia’s proud student, Fang Yiwen wanted to see just how good Lin Zhixia’s current students were. If Lin Zhixia was too polite to criticize them, Fang Yiwen would certainly offer some additional pointers.

Fang Yiwen sat next to Lin Zhixia. Her posture was still quite relaxed. She rested her left arm on the armrest, leaning to one side, with a pair of bright eyes shining behind her glasses.

The moment Jin Baihui entered the door, she happened to meet Fang Yiwen’s gaze. Fang Yiwen couldn’t help but freeze for a moment, while Jin Baihui’s expression showed no change.

Jin Baihui wore a gray cotton jacket on her upper body, pure black suit pants on her lower body, and a purple-red scarf around her neck. Her glasses frames were also purple-red, but her eyes were like a colorless, formless water surface—extremely calm, without a trace of ripples.

She looked toward Tan Qianche.

Tan Qianche introduced her to everyone: “This is Jin Baihui, also my junior schoolmate. In the second half of this year, she will be going to Princeton University for her postdoctoral work. Her research direction overlaps with two students in our group, so I’ve invited her to provide some explanations.”

Lin Zhixia enthusiastically led the applause: “Welcome, Teacher Jin!”

Scattered applause sounded in the classroom, and Jin Baihui chose a seat at random. She hadn’t expected Tan Qianche to be so considerate of her face. It wasn’t Tan Qianche who had invited her to answer students’ questions; rather, she had heard about Lin Zhixia’s research results and had proactively contacted Tan Qianche, wanting to audit one of Lin Zhixia’s group meetings.

Jin Baihui’s life was very busy, sometimes forgetting even to eat. Throughout the year, she only had free time during the Spring Festival, and only today could she come to audit.

Strangely enough, Jin Baihui paid a lot of attention to Lin Zhixia, but she didn’t dare to stare at her. She sat straight and still, looking straight ahead, with her hands behind her back, inadvertently following the rules she had learned at home since childhood. The four words “sit properly” were always remembered in her heart.

Fang Yiwen looked at Jin Baihui a couple more times, and Lin Zhixia gave a light cough, drawing Fang Yiwen’s attention.

Fang Yiwen stopped staring at Jin Baihui and began to review the student papers on the table, sometimes frowning, sometimes admiring, and finally saying only: “Today’s young students are truly remarkable.”

“I agree,” Lin Zhixia nodded, “compared to previous years, the threshold for doctoral and master’s studies has increased quite a bit.”

Suddenly, a phone notification sounded. Lin Zhixia took out her phone from her coat pocket, looked down, and saw that Jiang Yubai had sent her a message: “Are all the students there? When will the group meeting end? I’m thinking of picking you up at the school entrance.”

Lin Zhixia sat up straight, scanned the room, and quickly typed a reply to Jiang Yubai: “Today, a total of forty-three students came, including my seventeen students and Tan Qianche’s twenty-six students. Each person will give a five-minute report, so we’ll probably finish around noon.”

Jiang Yubai replied instantly: “Teacher Lin works so hard.”

Lin Zhixia: “Not at all, holding a group meeting isn’t tiring at all, it’s quite relaxing.”

Jiang Yubai: “As expected of Teacher Lin. What dishes would you like to eat at noon? I’ll prepare in advance at home.”

Lin Zhixia’s lips curved slightly, showing a faint smile: “Anything is fine.”

Jiang Yubai also smiled: “No requests at all?”

He suddenly remembered that Lin Zhixia had once told him that her standard of living was simply to eat until full, dress warmly, have a bed, and a table—that was enough.

Now, Lin Zhixia’s living standard has changed. She said, “I want to eat with you every day.”

Just at that moment, in the WeChat group named “Safe and Sound Family,” Lin Zeqiu suddenly spoke up: “Lin Zhixia, are you still working today?”

Lin Zhixia answered truthfully: “Yes, I’m about to start a group meeting that will end at noon.”

Lin Zeqiu sent her a voice message, so she pressed “voice to text,” and saw Lin Zeqiu’s roar: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. What group meeting are you holding? Which student would still want to stay at school at this time? Let me ask you, you’re not going to assign them Spring Festival homework, are you? Your group has everything except human warmth.”

Lin Zhixia’s fingers rapidly tapped the phone screen, sending a message: “All of Tan Qianche’s students aren’t going home for the New Year, and only two of my students have left. They strongly requested a group meeting. I didn’t want to force it. Why are you yelling at me?!”

Lin Zeqiu just wanted Lin Zhixia to go home early, but his way of expressing it wasn’t quite right. He originally wanted to ease the atmosphere, but unexpectedly, Lin Zhixia typed another message: “Mom, Mom, please control my brother!”

Lin Zeqiu was startled. From childhood to adulthood, he had always been both respectful and fearful of his mother.

There were five people in their family WeChat group: Dad, Mom, Lin Zeqiu, Lin Zhixia, and Jiang Yubai. At this moment, Dad and Mom had gone out to buy groceries, and Lin Zeqiu was alone at home. He quickly put down his phone, changed into old clothes, took a rag, and started cleaning. He also felt that Jiang Yubai must be laughing at him, which made him somewhat indignant.

Lin Zeqiu picked up his phone and sent a private message to Jiang Yubai: “Are you working too?”

Lin Zeqiu’s subtext was: you’d better not be idle with nothing to do, you should have work in your eyes and tasks in your hands, every family member should have a sense of responsibility.

Jiang Yubai replied instantly: “I’m looking at recipes.”

He shared two links with Lin Zeqiu. The first was “Must-see for Handsome Men! Winter Beauty Nourishment Food Guide!” and the second was “This Winter, Have You Made Soup for Your Family?”

Lin Zeqiu hesitated for a moment, his finger unconsciously clicking on the words “Must-see for Handsome Men,” and began studying the complex topic of “Beauty Nourishment Food Guide.”

Meanwhile, Jiang Yubai was sitting in a chair in the study. He was seriously writing on paper: “Two hundred grams of beef, one hundred and fifty grams of carrots, celery, potatoes…”

Jiang Yubai had a treasured soft-cover notebook that recorded some life tips, including a list of foods Lin Zhixia liked and how to prepare them. He had been honing his cooking skills since last year and had now made considerable progress, his culinary skills far surpassing Lin Zeqiu’s.

Jiang Yubai found joy in cooking. When he thought about how the taste of every dish he made for Lin Zhixia would be remembered by her forever, his mood became unique. What he recorded was not just recipes, but also the memories he and Lin Zhixia created together.

A human life is at most a hundred years. He cherished all the time related to Lin Zhixia, time that was always warm and pleasant, when emotions of loneliness, irritation, worry, and emptiness would all disappear without a trace. This was what he thought in his heart, and his pen unconsciously wrote the two characters “Xia Xia.”

He was thinking about her again.

When would her group meeting end?

Jiang Yubai looked at his watch—still more than three hours to go. This period would indeed be hard to endure.

The group meeting had been going on for more than forty minutes, and Lin Zhixia, Tan Qianche, and Fang Yiwen had jointly commented on eight students.

Lin Zhixia’s attitude was always gentle, while Tan Qianche was much stricter than her. A young student who had just joined the group last year was even brought to tears after being criticized by Tan Qianche, with tears welling up in his eyes.

Lin Zhixia frowned slightly and said very softly, “The New Year is coming, don’t be too direct with your words.”

Tan Qianche replied carelessly: “Today’s students know nothing when asked. They’ve completed their undergraduate studies, but haven’t consolidated their basic knowledge. They expect teachers to teach them everything—this is still a kindergarten mentality.”

He turned his head, looking at the crying student, and raised his tone: “You should plan your time reasonably, know what you should prepare and what you should complete at each stage. You must be clear about this. I’m here to listen to your reports, not to hold your hand and write papers for you. Research exchange is mutual, research work is independent. Think carefully about where your shortcomings are. You should actively identify and address your gaps. The teacher is saying all this for your good.”

Lin Zhixia interrupted Tan Qianche: “Enough. Who’s next? Come up to the stage quickly.”

The next to appear was Lin Zhixia’s student, Zhan Rui.

Zhan Rui’s face was pale as he shakily stood on the podium. Large drops of sweat rolled down his forehead, dampening his cotton robe.

Zhan Rui had a speech impediment from birth, and when he was nervous, the stammering would become even more severe. He supported himself on the podium with one hand, seemingly enduring great pain, turned his face to the other side, and stammered: “I-I…”

Before he could finish, he fainted on the spot. The whole room was in an uproar.

Lin Zhixia reacted the fastest. She immediately instructed her students: “Chen Shihan, call the school hospital! Fang Yiwen, call 120 for emergency!”

She was the first to run toward the podium and called to Tan Qianche: “Teacher Tan, please help me take Zhan Rui to the school hospital. Quickly, he’s foaming at the mouth.”

She crouched nearby, observing Zhan Rui.

Tan Qianche’s expression also changed. He certainly didn’t want a student to have any mishap, as that would affect the project team’s reputation.

He ordered: “Everyone, dismissed. Go back and rest. Today’s group meeting ends here. Liu, Sun, Hao, you three students stay behind to help carry Zhan Rui later.”

“Wait!” Cui Yiming shouted, “Since Zhan Rui is gone, can’t we continue our group meeting?! I’ve prepared a paper on quantum dynamic system prediction models—”

Cui Yiming was very young, just barely twenty years old, nicknamed “The God of Interdisciplinary Studies.” He was Tan Qianche’s student and had inherited Tan Qianche’s tough style, exuding a strong sense of hardness.

Tan Qianche usually valued Cui Yiming highly, but now, looking at him, he found him somewhat annoying. Cui Yiming couldn’t distinguish between priorities and showed no sympathy for his classmate’s situation.

Tan Qianche coldly said, “We’ll have a group meeting after the Spring Festival. It’s not like we won’t have meetings in the future. What’s the rush?”

Being criticized like this by a respected teacher, Cui Yiming’s face reddened: “We can just find a student to take care of Zhan Rui. There’s no need to waste everyone’s time. Learning should be every minute and second, identifying and filling gaps, without delay.”

“Enough,” Lin Zhixia spoke up, “whoever has academic questions, email me directly. Today’s group meeting is over. A human life is at stake.”

Cui Yiming had been paying attention to Lin Zhixia for a long time, but he had never seen such a stern side of her.

*

After about three minutes, the on-duty doctor from the school hospital appeared with a stretcher. The doctor placed Zhan Rui on the stretcher, and two strong students worked together to lift it. Zhan Rui’s phone rolled out from his pocket, fell to the ground, and was picked up by Lin Zhixia.

The phone screen displayed a WeChat message from Zhan Rui’s roommate: “Are you still feeling unwell? The mushrooms you ate this morning…”

The screen didn’t show the rest of the message after “mushrooms,” but Lin Zhixia could roughly guess.

Lin Zhixia followed the doctor to the school hospital. Due to the Spring Festival holiday, only two doctors were on duty at the school hospital. They performed simple first aid for Zhan Rui, and by this time, the ambulance had also arrived.

Lin Zhixia had already contacted Zhan Rui’s roommate, who sent all their chat history to Lin Zhixia.

This morning, Zhan Rui had cooked a bag of instant noodles in the dormitory and took out a bag of mountain goods that had been given to him by his former roommate.

The so-called “mountain goods” were dried mushrooms. After Zhan Rui soaked the mushrooms in hot water, he noticed that one mushroom had a darker color and a strange shape. He took a photo, searched online, but couldn’t find any results. Without thinking much about it, he still ate the mushrooms.

He had been feeling unwell all morning.

When he attended the group meeting, his condition had probably worsened, causing him to lose consciousness and faint in public.

Having clarified the cause and effect, Lin Zhixia again followed the ambulance to the hospital and explained the situation to the doctor. The doctor immediately took appropriate emergency measures for Zhan Rui. Thanks to the timely medical treatment, diagnosis, and treatment, Zhan Rui regained consciousness by noon that day, and the doctor said he was out of danger.

Lin Zhixia breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhan Rui’s counselor finally arrived at the hospital. After greeting the counselor, Lin Zhixia walked out of the hospital doors. The snow had stopped, the wind had also stopped, and the sun shone obliquely on the street. The accumulated snow on the ground was gradually melting, and the azure sky seemed as if it had been washed, particularly clear and particularly vast.

Lin Zhixia looked up at the sky, and from the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a girl walking toward her. She turned to look and saw Jin Baihui, which surprised her.

“You came too?”

Jin Baihui was concise: “I took a taxi here and am about to leave.”

“What a coincidence,” Lin Zhixia said, “I just left the hospital and ran into you.”

Jin Baihui put her hands in her coat pockets: “No, I’ve been standing here for a while. I was waiting for you.”

“Waiting for me for what?” Lin Zhixia didn’t ask this question aloud.

Throughout the entire middle school stage, Jin Baihui and Lin Zhixia had been at odds. But now, they walked side by side on the city sidewalk, like the most familiar strangers who hadn’t seen each other for many years. There wasn’t a trace of malice between them, nor any thought of closeness.

The atmosphere was extremely awkward, so Lin Zhixia found a random topic: “When are you going back to Beijing?”

Jin Baihui said: “This afternoon.”

Lin Zhixia didn’t ask further, and Jin Baihui explained on her own: “I won’t spend the New Year at home. I’m in a hurry to get back to Beijing.”

They passed under a roadside billboard, and water droplets from melting snow dripped down, landing on Jin Baihui’s face. She raised her sleeve and wiped her face. As if declaring her attitude, she said softly, “You sent a student to the hospital, wasting another morning of your time.”

Lin Zhixia had expected her to say this.

Lin Zhixia didn’t argue with her, only encouraged her: “You have clear goals and perseverance. As long as you’re a little more forgiving toward yourself, you’ll be able to do what you want to do.”

Everything in front of Jin Baihui became somewhat blurry. The sun seemed to tilt, and her shadow with Lin Zhixia’s grew longer. Cars sped along the road, the noisy sounds traveling far. She focused, looked up, and seemed to see Jin Baihui from many years ago. Back then, she didn’t understand the principles Lin Zhixia spoke of. She often unconsciously hurt herself, even using “self-punishment” as a way to fulfill her self-discipline. Later, she finally learned how to handle herself. The long-suppressed emotions poured out like floodwaters opening a gate. She let out a long sigh.

“Are you crying?”

“No,” Jin Baihui said, “you must be mistaken.”

Lin Zhixia found a way out for herself: “Maybe it was the snow water from just now that got into your eyes. I didn’t see clearly.”

Jin Baihui reiterated once more: “I should go now.”

Lin Zhixia watched her leave and said to her, “Happy New Year. Until we meet again by chance.”

Jin Baihui waved to her: “Happy New Year! Until we meet again by chance!”

This was the first time Lin Zhixia had seen Jin Baihui looking so energetic and vibrant.