The year 2012 was the legendary end of the world, but even as that year was drawing to a close, people toiling in this world remained exhausted and weary, those living in fear were still anxious and uneasy. Time continued to run its normal course, grudges still cycled on—nothing had happened.

After school, Yu Jiuqi sent Wen Wen a message saying she was going to a classmate’s house to do homework. She took a bus in the opposite direction from home, arriving at an old shopping mall in the eastern suburbs. Her turtleneck sweater was pulled up to the highest, her wool hat pressed down to the lowest. She walked with hunched shoulders, head down, in small quick steps. Passing by a hair salon, she saw a poster at the entrance urging everyone to get haircuts:

“The End of the World is Also a New Beginning!”

The teenage Yu Jiuqi froze for a moment, then slightly turned her head and saw Sun Xi—tall, thin, and all alone.

Because she wanted to sever this connection that should never have happened in the first place, Yu Jiuqi had finally agreed to come drink milk tea with him the next day.

He still wore that down jacket left open at the front, white sweater, jeans, with a deflated backpack slung over his shoulder. He glanced at Yu Jiuqi once, his eyes hooking backward like a glance over his shoulder, then walked ahead, signaling for her to follow.

Winter nights came early. By the time school let out, it was already pitch dark. She couldn’t see his face very clearly, but it seemed different from yesterday.

They walked with two meters of distance between them, one in front and one behind, to a milk tea shop at the side entrance of the mall. He pushed open the glass door directly and went in. When Yu Jiuqi reached the entrance, she looked through the window and saw him ordering. Confirming there were no familiar faces around and not many people at all, she followed inside.

Sun Xi had recommended the milk tea shop. There were two locations in Shicheng—one near their middle school, the other in the remote east side. During afternoon class, Sun Xi had sent a message with both addresses, asking her to choose. Back then they didn’t use smartphones yet. She looked at the few text messages in the message box and chose this distant one.

Sun Xi took a while before replying to her: Are you sure? She said, Sure.

Sun Xi sent: It’s really remote there, aren’t you afraid? Yu Jiuqi stared at that message, not understanding what specifically he meant by “afraid,” and didn’t ask. She replied: It’s fine.

Sun Xi sent again: Go separately? Yu Jiuqi replied: Go separately.

Sun Xi’s final reply: Okay.

When Yu Jiuqi recalled this later, she discovered that from the very beginning, they had a tacit understanding—neither brought it up, neither questioned it. From the first time they crossed half the city to the suburbs to drink a cup of milk tea, throughout that long secrecy, being unable to walk together openly was their unspoken agreement.

At least that’s what Yu Jiuqi believed.

Although there was almost no one in the shop, Yu Jiuqi still carefully chose a position that wasn’t easily noticed, with her back to the window, elbows resting on the table, hands supporting her chin.

Sun Xi picked up the milk teas, scanned around in a circle, and immediately spotted the girl bundled up tightly in the corner. The tiny bit of her profile that showed was glowing white under the decorative lights. He gripped the two hot cups of drinks and walked over.

He placed the milk tea on the small table, tore open a straw and poked it into one cup. His finger joints were distinct, nails trimmed very short and clean, though they bore quite a few scars both old and new. He lightly gripped that cup of milk tea and pushed it toward the girl sitting across from him with lowered eyes.

Yu Jiuqi took it and looked up: “Thank you.”

Then she suddenly froze there, staring at his face. He showed no particular reaction, methodically tearing open another straw, jabbing it into the milk tea cup, and only then looking back at her, light scattered in his long, dark eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He pressed down his eyebrows.

Yu Jiuqi glanced indifferently at the fresh redness and swelling on the bridge of his nose, the soybean-sized scraped wound at the corner of his eye, and the large band-aid at his left jaw that was seeping bloodstains. She lowered her head and took a sip of her drink: “Nothing.”

These weren’t there yesterday—they were new injuries. Did he get them today?

Judging by the number and quality of these wounds, he must have been beaten by at least three to five people, right?

It must really hurt.

The milk tea was somewhat hot—too hot to taste any particular flavor. Sun Xi had ordered jasmine milk green tea again. Drinking it, there wasn’t much difference from the one made with expired creamer at the previous shop, yet Yu Jiuqi still nodded and said: “Pretty good.”

“What’s pretty good?”

“Tastes pretty good.”

Sun Xi looked at her. The table was very small, and they both leaned forward to drink their milk tea. They were close enough that he could feel the warmth of her breath when she lightly scoffed through her nose, and could also see the cunning in her eyes when she unconsciously lifted the corners of her eyes—slightly different from her usual good girl facade. Inexplicably, his interest was piqued. He wanted to puncture something.

“You mean the injuries on my face are pretty good, right?”

Yu Jiuqi suddenly looked at him. His volume wasn’t high, but each word landed clearly on the ground, bouncing up and smashing down again, carrying deliberate provocation and mischief.

The Yu Jiuqi of that time wasn’t yet the tactful and thoughtful Little Jiu of today. She was still in the stage of learning how to please people, didn’t yet know how to hide malice, and wasn’t good at managing emotions. His one sentence made her face flush red with a whoosh, made her heated, and slightly angered.

So she was also deliberately provocative: “Why did you get in a fight?”

“Because I didn’t want to get beaten.”

“Why did others beat you?”

“I must have deserved a beating.”

“Oh, I see.”

He looked at her again, pursed his lips, seeming to smile lightly. But Yu Jiuqi felt his smile was very stiff and ugly, making that already annoying face even more hideous.

Time is so hard to endure, she lamented resentfully in her heart.

Why is the milk tea so hot, why is the table so small, and why is he still looking at me?

“You also really want to beat me up, right?” he suddenly said.

“No, I don’t.” Yu Jiuqi lowered her head.

“It’s okay if you do.” He held the straw in his mouth, glanced at her, as if seeing right through her. “I can understand.”

Yu Jiuqi felt uncomfortable all over, completely unable to keep up the pretense. She thought that after finishing this cup of milk tea there would be no more connection anyway, so she might as well expose a hint of the rebelliousness in her nature. She asked coldly: “What do you understand?”

“I understand your current attitude.”

“What attitude do I have?”

“The attitude of wanting to leave immediately.”

“Ha, then why is that?”

He paused, showing a kind of delight as if encountering a worthy opponent, then pursed his lips in that stiff smile again. His eyes drifted lightly toward the window. The injuries on his face made him look somewhat tired. Although he deliberately downplayed it, the sentence he spoke revealed an inexplicable sadness:

“Because I’m the biological son of a murderer, and you…”

Yu Jiuqi glared at him. He paused and swallowed back the rest of his words.

“Do you talk to everyone like this? No wonder you get beaten up.” The girl’s courage grew a bit more.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“Afraid of what? The son of a murderer isn’t a murderer himself.”

He froze for a moment, a light flashing through his eyes.

“But I look like him.”

“Yes, very much alike.”

Yu Jiuqi couldn’t stand it anymore. This was ridiculous. She lowered her head and gulped down all the milk tea in one breath. The straw made a series of irritated crisp sounds poking at the bottom of the bottle: “I’m finished. I’m leaving first.”

She really did leave first, pressing her wool hat down lower, covering most of her ears, burying her head and hurrying toward the bus stop. The bus stop was some distance from the milk tea shop. Night had fallen, and the area was already desolate to begin with. At night it seemed even more empty and vast. Occasionally passing cars would speed by, leaving behind a chilling atmosphere.

In that chilling atmosphere, Yu Jiuqi heard steady footsteps behind her. The source remained consistently two meters away from her—not close, not far, neither hurried nor slow—like two strangers with matching strides who happened to be walking one in front and one behind in the same direction. She was a bit surprised that such a thin person could have such solid and steady footsteps.

Overhead hung a turbid yellow crescent moon, beside it a few sparse stars that couldn’t shine brightly. Thin mist hung low in the distant sky. There was no wind, but the air pressure was very low. This was the deep winter weather every northeastern child knew extremely well—heavy, still and stuffy, foretelling that a heavy snow was about to arrive.

She quickened her pace, wanting to get home before it snowed.

But suddenly, she heard a painful dry heave from the roadside, like a loud whistle piercing the tranquility before the heavy snow.

Yu Jiuqi followed the sound and looked to the right, seeing a middle-aged man collapsed in a snow bank beside a row of wooden fences. He was tall and sturdy, wearing a military overcoat and cotton Lei Feng hat. He seemed to have vomited some alcohol, then collapsed in the snow, not moving.

There were no pedestrians around, and cars only passed sporadically. The mall was already far away, and beyond the fence was a winter-barren vegetable garden. Every northeastern child also knows that if a drunk sleeps collapsed on the road during a blizzard, they can freeze to death. In the Northeast, freezing to death isn’t an exaggerated metaphor.

But Yu Jiuqi still hesitated. Although she wanted to save the person, she couldn’t help but worry and have concerns. Just as she stood there struggling for that brief moment, the tall, thin person behind her suddenly strode over and went to shake the collapsed middle-aged man. Unable to rouse him, he turned the face toward him to look.

Not knowing what he saw, his body paused, then his hands gripped the drunk’s armpits, struggling to pull him outward, seemingly trying to drag him. But the man was really heavy. Sun Xi was obviously having great difficulty. After struggling for a long time, he barely managed to move him out of the snow bank. Yu Jiuqi sighed and walked over.

She didn’t immediately offer to help, standing to the side and saying: “Call the police. The police will handle it.”

“There’s no time.”

After Sun Xi pulled the person out of the snow bank, he laid him flat on the ground, removed the heavy Lei Feng hat, unbuttoned several buttons of the cotton coat, and forcefully pulled down the sweater collar, exposing the flushed red neck and chest. Then he checked the breath and pulse at the neck.

Yu Jiuqi saw that the man’s eyes were half-closed and half-open, mouth open, but couldn’t see any breathing movement. She urgently asked: “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s in shock.”

Sun Xi stood up and looked around. Suddenly he lifted his legs, took two large leaping steps and vaulted over the wooden fence. From the winter-barren vegetable field, he found an unused two-wheeled agricultural handcart, simply cleared off the accumulated snow and debris on it, and pulled it over.

Yu Jiuqi suddenly understood what he was going to do. She looked left and right, found a small gate in the wooden fence, and quickly went to open it. Sun Xi pulled the cart out through that gate, pulling it beside the middle-aged drunk, and bent down to lift the person.

“I’ll help you!” Yu Jiuqi stood at the man’s feet.

Sun Xi only looked up at her once and said: “I’ll count one, two, three. We’ll use force together. We need to ensure his body stays level.”

“Okay.”

Yu Jiuqi gripped the man’s ankles with both hands. Sun Xi placed both hands under his armpits. The fog was getting thicker and thicker. They looked at each other across the layers of haze before the heavy snow, bending at the waist, eyes steady, hiding determined trust.

“One, two, three!”

Both gritted their teeth, exerting maximum force simultaneously, lifting the person steadily, then gently placing him on the handcart. But the cart was too slippery and the person too heavy. He slowly began to slide down. Yu Jiuqi quickly grabbed the tail end of the cart and lifted it up, controlling the person on a level plane. Sun Xi immediately pressed down on the cart’s front handle, pressing downward, saving some effort for Yu Jiuqi at the back.

Only then did they look at each other again, with that inexplicable, tacit understanding that had arrived between them.

Sun Xi said: “I know there’s a community hospital ahead. The hospital has an emergency room, but it’s two traffic lights away—not exactly close.”

Yu Jiuqi didn’t waste words: “You walk in front. I’ll follow you and lift from behind.”

Sun Xi also didn’t waste words: “You don’t need to lift that high. That’s tiring. I’ll press down and give you the force.”

“I’m quite strong.”

“If you feel you’re losing strength, call out to me.”

“Got it. Let’s go. It’s about to snow.”

Sun Xi turned back around, his distinctly jointed hands forcefully pulling the handle. He lowered his head slightly and walked steadily forward. When he felt the force on his hands lighten, while ensuring the two wheels remained balanced, he pressed down hard.

Yu Jiuqi lifted the two handles at the tail of the cart, carefully following his pace, watching the drunk on the cart who didn’t know if he was unlucky or fortunate. Her hands didn’t feel particularly heavy, but there was a peculiar sense of fullness in her heart.

She looked forward slightly and saw him hunched over, his shoulder blades jutting up from exertion, making his oversized down jacket seem even more empty and loose.

He turned his head slightly to check the road. Yu Jiuqi glimpsed the band-aid on his cheek seeping with fresh blood. For that instant, she suddenly felt tired of looking at his injuries.

They arrived at a very opportune time. There was a doctor and nurse on duty right at the entrance of the community hospital. Seeing a pair of teenagers outside the door pulling an unconscious middle-aged man, the kindly-looking female doctor put down the thermos in her hand and pushed the door open to come out.

“What’s going on here?” she asked loudly.

“He drank too much and went into shock.” Sun Xi answered.

“Which one of you two is this man’s father?”

“Neither of us. He collapsed on the road. We came across him.” Sun Xi answered.

The female doctor looked at Sun Xi in surprise, then at Yu Jiuqi. When Yu Jiuqi’s eyes met hers, she suddenly buried her face, chin tucked into her turtleneck sweater.

The female doctor turned her gaze to the drunk, gave him a simple examination, praised them for handling it well and bringing him in time. Looking at his vital signs, the problem didn’t seem too serious, but they needed to give him an IV quickly. They might even need to pump his stomach. Hurry and get him inside first—she’d arrange an emergency room.

This time Yu Jiuqi wasn’t needed. Another man ran out from the hospital and helped Sun Xi carry the person inside. She was about to turn and leave, but the drunk’s Lei Feng hat had been forgotten on the cart, and one of his shoes had also fallen off. Yu Jiuqi picked up the hat and shoe and followed inside.

After placing the items at the front desk, she lowered her head and was just about to leave when she was stopped by the female doctor hurrying over.

“Hey, you two, those two kids—leave your names, schools, and contact information. Don’t worry, there’s nothing to be afraid of! I just need to notify your schools and parents about this good deed! We have to give you credit and rewards! Maybe it could even add points for college admission! And when the patient wakes up, he needs to thank you too! We’ll specially go to your school to present you with banners! Big group photo! Frame it!”

Every single word made Yu Jiuqi suffocate! Every single word!

“That’s not necessary.” Sun Xi glanced at Yu Jiuqi and said.

Yu Jiuqi glanced at him but said nothing.

“No, no, that won’t do!” The female doctor pointed at the nurse at the front desk. “Hurry and pour them some tea and register their information!”

The nurse came around from the front desk, smiling warmly, about to usher both of them to the rest room inside. Yu Jiuqi became nervous, at a loss. At this moment, Sun Xi moved two steps to her side, right next to her.

Suddenly, he took her hand.

Yu Jiuqi turned her head in alarm, looking up at him.

“Run.” He made almost no sound.

But she understood. She nodded.

Then Sun Xi gripped Yu Jiuqi’s hand tightly, pulling her as they nimbly circled around the nurse at the door, striding out of the community hospital. They randomly chose a direction and plunged headfirst into the night before the heavy snow.

There were shouts behind them—actually not very urgent, and no one chased after them—but they still ran forward frantically, as if desperately trying to escape from something, and also as if striving hard to run toward something.

He pulled her along, never looking back, but his hand grew tighter and tighter, and hotter and hotter.

Yu Jiuqi really didn’t understand—they’d both been bustling about in the deep winter cold night for so long, so why was his hand burning hot while her fingertips remained ice cold?

Finally they stopped beside a bus stop, gasping for breath. He still held her hand. They looked at each other, and not knowing what came to mind, the two suddenly laughed together—burst into laughter.

It was the first time Yu Jiuqi had seen such an expression on Sun Xi’s face—an open, unrestrained, instinctive smile. Looking at it, she suddenly froze and curled her fingers.

Sun Xi felt a cold sensation in his palm. Seeing her looking at him in surprise, he finally realized he was still holding her hand and quickly let go.

But under the street lamp at the bus stop, in the late night when heavy snow was about to fall, Yu Jiuqi was still looking at him.

“What’s wrong?” He furrowed his brow, suddenly becoming sensitive.

“Your smile…”

“What about my smile?”

Many adjectives formed in Yu Jiuqi’s mind in an instant, but she couldn’t say any of them out loud. She struggled awkwardly for a long time, until the last bus she was waiting for came over. Under his sensitive and serious gaze, at the last moment, she finally found a casual explanation.

She said: “When you smile, you don’t look like him.”

The bus door opened. She turned and got on.

The feeling like a thunderbolt made him stand dazed for a moment, then he used all his strength to resist it. In a very short time, he made a decision. He strode forward and grabbed her wrist.

Yu Jiuqi, who was boarding the bus, turned back.

Sun Xi gripped her tightly: “Will you go?”

“Go where?”

“New Year’s countdown.”

“To watch fireworks?”

“Yes.” The young Sun Xi’s eyes were as intense as a wolf’s. Once again he issued that firm, sincere invitation that would begin to change their lives.

“On New Year’s Eve, I’ll wait for you at the small plaza!”

…