A light rain fell over Hong Kong.
Lin Yingtao hadn’t even had the chance to remove her down jacket from northern China before tightly embracing Jiang Qiaoxi on the subway. Nothing else mattered to her at that moment.
As the subway moved forward, passengers read newspapers, scrolled through their phones, or rested with headphones on. Outside the windows on both sides was darkness. Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head, nuzzling his nose affectionately into Lin Yingtao’s loose hair.
“I bought a fragrant shampoo,” Lin Yingtao said, tilting her small face up. “I meant to use it this morning, but I packed it in my suitcase the day I bought it. I couldn’t get to it today; my mom wouldn’t let me unpack.”
Jiang Qiaoxi chuckled as he listened. Lin Yingtao mumbled, “I’ll use it in Hong Kong…” She buried her face against Jiang Qiaoxi’s chest. Noticing no one else was standing, he leaned back against the railing, one hand protecting her back, the other stroking her hair, allowing her to nestle more securely in his embrace.
Lin Yingtao listened to the sound of the subway moving along the tracks. Holding Jiang Qiaoxi, she closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of his clothes.
She smelled it again. That familiar scent she had first noticed on him when she was very young – reminiscent of fresh grass after rain, familiar, refreshing, and pleasant.
Fighting back tears, Lin Yingtao clutched tightly at the back of his shirt, holding Jiang Qiaoxi close.
Jiang Qiaoxi kissed her hair several times before glancing at the doors and saying, “Let’s go, it’s our stop.”
“Did you text Uncle Lin?” Jiang Qiaoxi asked, pulling her suitcase along.
Lin Yingtao, carrying her backpack, held Jiang Qiaoxi’s hand as they exited the train. With Jiang Qiaoxi there to meet her, Lin Yingtao didn’t bother checking her map or notes on subway transfers; she simply followed him. “I forgot,” she admitted.
Amidst the bustling crowd, Lin Yingtao and Jiang Qiaoxi stood face-to-face on the ascending escalator. She had taken off her down jacket and was holding it bundled in her arms as she called her father.
“I’m in Hong Kong!” she exclaimed. “I’m heading back with Jiang Qiaoxi now. We’ll drop off my luggage before going out to eat!”
Her father cautioned them to be careful on the way: “Is Hong Kong cold? Dress warmly, and don’t catch a fever again. Tell Qiaoxi to bundle up too. Neither of you should get sick!”
Lin Yingtao hurried across the footbridge. Hong Kong’s streets were narrow and congested with vehicles and pedestrians. After descending the stairs, she stopped at the roadside, leaning against Jiang Qiaoxi. She tilted her head up, her eyelashes trembling, and pulled him by his jacket to kiss him.
She wore the light pink sweater – the one she had worn while practicing splits at the dance studio, specifically to take photos for Jiang Qiaoxi, which he had said looked nice.
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his neck, his forehead touching hers. As the kiss ended, his breathing quickened. He raised his eyes to look at Lin Yingtao’s face.
Raindrops fell from the sky, pattering against awnings and leaves. Lin Yingtao’s bangs were damp as they transferred to another subway line. When they emerged from the station, the rain had intensified, droplets bouncing off the pavement. Lin Yingtao looked at the downpour and said, “I have an umbrella in my suitcase!”
Jiang Qiaoxi bought one from a vendor at the exit, worried about Lin Yingtao getting wet. He also seemed to think Aunt Juan was right not to open the suitcase that morning. He opened the umbrella.
“Did you know,” Lin Yingtao said, holding her down jacket and suitcase while Jiang Qiaoxi sheltered her under the umbrella as they walked towards his place, “Beijing built many new subway lines after 2007.”
Jiang Qiaoxi, gazing at the falling rain beyond the umbrella, suddenly understood why Lin Yingtao brought this up.
“After the Olympics?” he asked.
Lin Yingtao turned to look at him. “You haven’t been back to Beijing since then. It’s changed so much.”
Jiang Qiaoxi swiped his card to enter the apartment building, pulling Lin Yingtao’s suitcase into the elevator. Lin Yingtao said to him, “Last time I visited my aunt’s new home, I had braised pork knuckle with rock sugar and ‘doornail’ meat pies again… They even mentioned you.”
Jiang Qiaoxi chuckled softly, raindrops in his hair. “It’s been so many years.”
“We visited their old home in 2007,” Lin Yingtao said, looking up at the elevator floor numbers. “Almost four years ago now.”
After three months apart, Lin Yingtao felt a sense of familiarity as soon as she entered the small rented room. She turned on the lights and air conditioning, took off her backpack, and carefully placed her down jacket on Jiang Qiaoxi’s desk. Turning around, she saw Jiang Qiaoxi standing by the door, his hand on her suitcase.
Lin Yingtao looked at him.
It was no longer 2007, no longer the spacious suite of a five-star hotel in Beijing, but a tiny rented room in Hong Kong, barely five square meters.
“Yingtao.” Jiang Qiaoxi looked at her, suddenly smiling, as if wanting to say something but hesitating.
Lin Yingtao walked over, as if afraid he might say more and wrapped her arms around Jiang Qiaoxi’s waist. “I’m not staying at a hotel…” she said, almost whining.
They went to Queen’s Road Central for wonton noodles at lunchtime. As she ate, Lin Yingtao used Jiang Qiaoxi’s phone to make a list of things to buy in the afternoon. “I brought slippers,” she said, inputting items one by one into the notes app. “I brought most of my things, so we don’t need to buy much…”
Jiang Qiaoxi mentioned that his sister-in-law had visited a few days ago, saying she wanted to replace some of his things. “Let’s buy a blanket,” he suggested, looking at her.
Lin Yingtao had never been to Hong Kong in winter but felt it was quite warm. “Do we need a blanket at night?” she asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi replied, “I don’t have one. Let’s get a thin one.”
Lin Yingtao could only stay in Hong Kong for fourteen days at most. She estimated the dates as she walked back and forth between the sanitary napkin shelves, holding a pack of laundry detergent. Turning around, she almost bumped into Jiang Qiaoxi.
Jiang Qiaoxi put his arm around her and glanced at the shelves. “Do you need to buy some?” he asked casually.
His tone was so normal, this tall young man standing out conspicuously in front of the women’s hygiene products, casually asking. Lin Yingtao immediately felt embarrassed.
She thought perhaps she needed to live with him longer to gradually get used to it.
In the shopping cart Jiang Qiaoxi was pushing, besides a case of beer, a few cans of sweet drinks, and various snacks Lin Yingtao wanted for the New Year like potato chips, preserved fruits, nuts, and milk candies, there were all sorts of daily necessities.
A set of thin duck-down blankets, several packs of moisture absorbers, a set of clothes hangers, two seat cushions, and a few throw pillows – Jiang Qiaoxi, who spent his days working part-time and in the library, didn’t know what his peers typically needed at home, so he let Lin Yingtao buy whatever she wanted.
Additionally, the cart contained complete sets of bowls, plates, chopsticks, spoons, forks, two matching ceramic mugs, coasters, placemats, tablecloths, several empty photo frames to place on the windowsill, and the small night light Lin Yingtao had requested.
Lin Yingtao checked the items in the cart against the notes on Jiang Qiaoxi’s phone. Inexperienced in living together, she was afraid of forgetting something. She noticed an extra box of bed sheet sets in the cart.
Jiang Qiaoxi had put it in.
“Is this a three-piece set or all bed sheets?” Lin Yingtao picked up the box, lowering her head to examine it closely. She thought it looked expensive.
Jiang Qiaoxi glanced at her, then looked away, but after a moment, seeing Lin Yingtao studying it for too long, he reached to take it back.
Lin Yingtao complained, “You didn’t look carefully when buying. These are all bed sheets, six of them. How could we possibly use so many?”
She was about to put it back on the shelf.
Jiang Qiaoxi said patiently, “We can give the extra ones to my sister-in-law!”
Lin Yingtao turned to look at him, finally understanding. “Oh.”
“Before I came, my mom said that since you live alone, buying things might be inconvenient,” Lin Yingtao chattered as she walked beside Jiang Qiaoxi, “But with your brother’s family around, we can buy those cheaper family-sized big boxes…”
“Think if there’s anything else we need,” Jiang Qiaoxi said, standing at the end of an aisle with the cart behind him, looking at her.
Lin Yingtao stood in front of him, glancing around the supermarket once more.
“I think we’ve got everything,” she said.
Jiang Qiaoxi’s gaze moved past Lin Yingtao’s shoulder, looking down behind her.
Lin Yingtao turned around.
When she turned back, she tried to suppress a smile, averting her face.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood there, hand on the cart behind him, not moving. He raised his eyes to look at Lin Yingtao as if waiting for her answer.
Lin Yingtao turned her face slightly, stealing a glance at him.
For a moment, Lin Yingtao suddenly felt that the once confident Jiang Qiaoxi, who seemed so sure of everything, had returned a little.
She endured his gaze for a while before lowering her lashes and sneaking another look behind her.
“They even have strawberry flavor,” she remarked.
Jiang Qiaoxi broke into a smile.
The cart filled with items for their “new home” was set aside. Jiang Qiaoxi reached behind Lin Yingtao to the shelf, picked up a box of condoms, examined it briefly, then put it back and chose a different size. Lin Yingtao still wouldn’t look at him, not even when paying or when he held her.
That evening, Lin Yingtao, carrying her clothes bag and wearing her slippers, went to the shared bathroom at the end of the hallway, its lock newly repaired.
She stood under the dim light, behind the old shower curtain, listening to the sound of water from the showerhead. As she lathered her hair with the newly bought shampoo, Lin Yingtao looked at the yellowed tiles in front of her, her mind filled only with thoughts of Jiang Qiaoxi, along with nervousness, confusion, and some unknown expectations.
It was late, and Jiang Qiaoxi had gone to the hospital again. Something had happened to his cousin, and his sister-in-law had called him. After hanging up, Jiang Qiaoxi hurriedly left, saying he would bring back some frozen yuanyang (coffee with tea). He didn’t know what Lin Yingtao was preparing. Lin Yingtao could only spend about two weeks with Jiang Qiaoxi this winter break, and she wanted to cherish every day. After her shower, Lin Yingtao quickly ran back to the rented room wrapped in her coat. Finding it empty, she opened her suitcase and placed her makeup mirror on the table.
Lin Yingtao sat on the newly bought cushion, carefully applying face cream. She blow-dried her hair, quickly smelling the sweet fragrance that even she found delightful.
She took off her coat and bent down to retrieve the lingerie she had bought. It wasn’t the usual white or pink student-style underwear Lin Yingtao typically wore, but “sexy” lingerie that “women” would wear. Holding onto the bed for support, Lin Yingtao tucked her falling hair behind her ear and put on one piece, then straightened up to put on the other. She looked down at herself, noticing how the lingerie accentuated her milky white skin, then raised her head again.
The thought of Jiang Qiaoxi seeing her like this made Lin Yingtao anxious and nervous once more.
She put on a white silk camisole nightgown with a V-neck that perfectly revealed the cherry-shaped gemstone necklace on her chest, the hem falling over her thighs. Lin Yingtao sat on the bed and began applying body lotion to her calves, even rubbing some on her ankles.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat on the bus returning from the hospital, holding the milk tea he had bought for Yingtao, his eyes brimming with hot tears as he stared out the window.
He exited the elevator, walked down the hallway, and took out his key. Entering the rented room, he found it dark.
Only a small night light at the foot of the bed emitted a faint warm glow, seemingly left on for Jiang Qiaoxi.
On the bed, a lump under the blanket suggested that Yingtao was already asleep. Jiang Qiaoxi smelled a sweet, cloying fragrance in the room. He placed the milk tea on the bedside table and unzipped his jacket in the darkness, taking it off. Jiang Qiaoxi opened the wardrobe door and took out a new T-shirt to wear as sleepwear.
He went out to the bathroom to shower and shave off the newly grown stubble to avoid scratching Yingtao tomorrow. Standing in front of the mirror, Jiang Qiaoxi brushed his teeth while thinking about his cousin’s illness and recalling Yingtao’s adorable reaction to him buying condoms in the supermarket that afternoon.
Jiang Qiaoxi found it amusing, though he hadn’t decided when to use what they had bought. His cousin was recovering better and better, and this winter, Jiang Qiaoxi had also secured the internship opportunity he wanted. He was slowly getting his disordered life back on track.
Perhaps he could ask Yingtao someday if she would accept it, if she was afraid, if she was willing to try, if she had any mental preparation, or if she insisted on waiting until after marriage.
Jiang Qiaoxi, without putting on the T-shirt, pushed open the door of the rented room. He squinted as the light inside had been turned on at some point.
Lin Yingtao sat on the bed, her hair tousled from sleep but still smooth. She looked drowsy, wearing a camisole nightgown with one strap slipped off her shoulder. Lin Yingtao rubbed her eyes, then opened them to look at him.
“You’re back…” she said softly.