After the National Day holiday, the weather gradually turned cold. Qiu Xing’s factory was in a northern city, and this year the cold came early.

Qiu Xing called home, talking with his mother every day. Fang Min could chat with him normally on the phone, although her timeline still seemed confused.

Qiu Xing called morning and evening. One day, Fang Min asked about the little boat on the phone.

“Where did the little boat go?”

Qiu Xing answered, “She went to school.”

“Did you make her angry? She was crying before she left.” Qiu Xing listened as his mother rambled on, “When little boat cries, even her nose turns red. Seeing that makes my heart ache.”

Lin Yiran had been gone for a while, but only today did she mention her to Qiu Xing. She never connected Lin Yiran with Qiu Xing, after all, in her world, Lin Yiran existed in the present while Qiu Xing lived in the past.

This was the first time since her illness that she had mentioned Lin Yiran to Qiu Xing.

Qiu Xing paused for a moment before saying, “No.”

Fang Min pressed further, “Then why was she crying?”

Qiu Xing said, “Probably because she didn’t want to leave you.”

“That’s nonsense,” Fang Min retorted.

Qiu Xing was silent for several seconds, then laughed and said, “Then maybe she just cries easily.”

“How could that be!” Fang Min became angry, not allowing anyone to speak ill of the little boat. “I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m hanging up.”

Then she did hang up.

Qiu Xing stared at the disconnected call, momentarily not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Fortunately, he was the only boy in the family; otherwise, his childhood would have been difficult. A son could never compare to a daughter. Even though his mother was so confused now, no one was allowed to say anything about the little boat, not a single word.

Qiu Xing tossed down his phone and got up to take a shower.

The little girl didn’t have many tricks, but she had won everyone over completely, making them utterly devoted to her.

Lin Yiran bought a silk quilt for Aunt Fang and sent it to her.

Before placing the order, she couldn’t help thinking of Qiu Xing and instinctively wanted to send him one too. It got cold quickly where Qiu Xing was, and he seemed oblivious to temperature changes—without someone reminding him, he wouldn’t know when to switch to a thicker quilt.

After hesitating, she backed out without ordering.

A few days of cold wouldn’t hurt him. Someone else would naturally take care of such things for him in the future.

Over these three years, they had left too many marks on each other, not something that could be erased overnight.

But their tacit understanding meant that after ending their relationship, neither disturbed the other’s life, letting everything return to calm.

Lin Yiran’s senior year was quite busy. The few graduate school candidates in her department were all assigned as teaching assistants, led a month of military training, plus she had translations to do, articles to write, and helped proofread drafts for her master’s advisor, Professor Han.

She had little free time and was used to keeping herself fully occupied, so she didn’t have much time to let her mind wander.

But there were still moments when, like now, she would suddenly remember and allow herself to space out for a while.

*

In the evening, the sunken plaza at the school was quite lively with skateboarders, couples, and people playing guitar and singing.

Lin Yiran sat on the steps of the sunken plaza with a female student, watching the skateboarding club practice in the plaza while chatting.

The girl looked very young and was quite cute.

A freshman who was full of uncertainty about her upcoming college years, not knowing who to talk to, had nervously arranged to meet Lin Yiran.

Lin Yiran was kind to them, a gentle senior sister whom all these young girls liked.

“Senior, which department should I join?” the girl propped her face on her hand, looking ahead troubled, telling Lin Yiran, “What does the Women’s Department do? That senior was so enthusiastic, but when I heard the name, it felt a bit strange. Is it about learning embroidery and such?”

Lin Yiran laughed and said, “It’s ‘work’ as in labor, not ‘red’ as in needlework. You can understand it as a department that protects women’s rights. They usually organize activities for female students, help them solve problems, and so on.”

“Oh, that’s what it means!” The girl sat up in surprise. “We all thought it was ‘women’s needlework,’ doing embroidery, paper-cutting, and such.”

Lin Yiran told her, “The Student Union’s Women’s Department has organized quite a few meaningful activities before. You can check their official account when you get back; you should still be able to find the articles.”

“Okay, thank you, senior.” The girl nodded vigorously. “I understand now!”

These freshly enrolled students had faces full of innocence, taking every matter seriously and considering carefully.

When Lin Yiran first started college, her mindset was different from theirs. Her mind was full of worries that weighed her down, and she wasn’t as lively as they were.

Back then, what gave her the most comfort was Qiu Xing calling her. Even if they only exchanged a few words, asking if she had eaten, it made Lin Yiran feel she had someone to rely on, that she wasn’t alone.

Later, when she no longer had to worry about debts and gradually became familiar with everything at university, she finally felt relaxed.

“Senior, are you going to start dating someone?” the girl asked her quietly.

“No,” Lin Yiran asked her, “why do you say that?”

“Then I must have heard wrong. I overheard my roommates talking about it. If it’s not you, then it must be Senior Xiao Wen. Anyway, one of the seniors is going to date someone; someone wrote a song to confess to a senior.”

Lin Yiran shook her head and said, “It’s not me.”

“Have you ever dated anyone, senior?” the girl asked in a small, mysterious voice.

“Me?” Lin Yiran thought for a moment, smiled faintly, and said, “I…”

Her phone vibrated at that moment, interrupting her words. Looking down, she saw it was an unknown number.

“Let me take this call,” Lin Yiran said.

The girl nodded and politely moved a bit further away.

*

“When is Brother Qiu coming back?”

The autumn rain grew colder with each shower. It had rained yesterday, and today the temperature had dropped significantly. Rain began to fall again in the afternoon, and tomorrow would likely see another sharp drop in temperature.

After yesterday’s rain, the power voltage became unstable. Something was wrong with the circuitry somewhere, causing several power trips, with sparks flying from the circuit breaker at one point. Now it was raining, and the electrician said he would come after the rain stopped. If it rained too late into the night, he wouldn’t come until morning.

Qiu Xing had forbidden the use of electricity and wouldn’t let anyone reset the circuit breaker. Mao Jun had an urgent job, but without power, the machines couldn’t run. The battery couldn’t support it, so Qiu Xing had gone to another warehouse to get a generator.

“Your Brother Qiu doesn’t mind the trouble,” Mao Jun said there munching on corn and said, “If we just reset it two more times, I could finish this. It would only take five or eight minutes.”

“Forget it, listen to Brother Qiu.” Xiao Zhang was Qiu Xing’s mindless follower, doing whatever Qiu Xing told him to, extremely obedient. “If Brother Qiu says don’t use electricity, then don’t. What if there’s a fire? It’s all about preventing the worst.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I’m not resetting it, am I?” Mao Jun laughed, “No air conditioning tonight, everyone will freeze.”

“That’s not a problem either. Anyway, if Brother Qiu says don’t use electricity, then we won’t,” Xiao Zhang said.

Qiu Xing’s vehicle returned from outside, and Xiao Zhang jumped up, “Brother Qiu is back!”

Qiu Xing brought in the generator, and Mao Jun went over to connect the machine, saying with a smile, “Like master, like apprentice. Xiao Zhang has certainly been well-taught by you.”

It was now half dark, and soon it would be completely dark. Even wearing a jacket in the factory without air conditioning felt cold, yet Qiu Xing was wearing just a short-sleeved shirt under his work uniform, which had gotten a bit wet from going out.

“Raise your salary,” Qiu Xing said.

“Of course, you really should give him an extra two hundred as an obedience fee,” Mao Jun joked.

Since Qiu Xing was the boss, no one would reset the circuit breaker if he forbade it. Tonight there would be no lights, no air conditioning, and no showers.

Qiu Xing had sent the residents home early, and those who lived on-site had mostly returned to their rooms. Only Qiu Xing and Xiao Zhang remained, waiting for Mao Jun to finish his work before they would each return to their rooms to rest.

The old watchman at the gate had already locked the main door and released the two dogs to roam around the yard.

They heard the two wolf dogs barking, though not fiercely, with a bit of a whining tone at the end.

“Who’s here?” Xiao Zhang casually remarked.

“They’re barking too gently; someone must have come back to get something,” Mao Jun said while working.

“Xiao Qiu!” the old watchman shouted from a distance. “Xiao Qiu!”

“Someone’s looking for you, Brother Qiu,” Xiao Zhang said.

Qiu Xing stood up and walked out.

Halfway there, he saw the person at the gate from a distance. Qiu Xing instinctively froze, his brow gradually furrowing.

Lin Yiran wore a short-sleeved shirt, thin casual pants, and canvas shoes. Her hair was tied up at the back of her head, and she carried a large bag she usually used for books when going to class. Her skin was naturally fair, and now, standing in the rain in the dim light, her face and arms were strikingly white, almost pale.

Lin Yiran stood at the gate quietly watching him, her eyes filled with many emotions.

Qiu Xing ran over with a frown.

Seeing Qiu Xing come out, the old watchman turned and went into his small room.

“What’s wrong?” Qiu Xing asked her.

Lin Yiran was trembling, perhaps from the cold, or perhaps from something else.

Qiu Xing took off his work uniform and draped it over her, asking, “What’s wrong with you?”

Lin Yiran just raised her eyes to look at him, her jaw tightly clenched, her gaze seeming angry, reluctant, and filled with other emotions.

She remained silent, and Qiu Xing frowned, “Speak. What’s wrong?”

Qiu Xing was still the same as before—tall, with broad shoulders, looking fierce when he frowned and glared at people.

The work uniform had a heavy smell of machine oil. Lin Yiran was wrapped in this smell, and the uniform still held Qiu Xing’s body heat.

Lin Yiran’s eyes suddenly reddened.

Her lips were also somewhat pale, unlike their usual red and moist appearance.

“Qiu Xing.”

Lin Yiran called to him.

Qiu Xing looked at her. “Speak.”

Lin Yiran held his hand; both her hands were cold and wet.

She trembled visibly under Qiu Xing’s gaze. Her eyelashes, doused by the rain, hung with fine droplets of water, like her tears.

She looked at Qiu Xing and said, “Let’s not separate, okay?”

Qiu Xing was silent, and after a long while asked, “What do you mean?”

Lin Yiran’s tears fell. Disregarding her disheveled state, she looked pitifully at Qiu Xing: “Don’t let me go. I still need to go to school… don’t abandon me.”