At the airport entrance, people bustled about, and nearby, the road buzzed with the occasional honking of horns. Some cars were parked along the side, and although it wasn’t yet eight o’clock, there was still a significant crowd.
Lin Xiche paid no attention to the gazes of onlookers; she remained glued to Xu Fang, her hands wrapped around his waist, adamantly preventing him from heading toward the airport.
Her original plan was to flag down a taxi, stuff Xu Fang inside, and quickly leave this place. But she struggled for a while and still couldn’t move him.
If only she had a stick, Lin Xiche thought. Then she might have simply knocked him unconscious and carried him away.
Xu Fang stood still, unmoving, his eyes cast downward, watching her.
After a while, Lin Xiche also stopped moving. Suddenly, she felt a bit aggrieved. Her nose tingled, and she buried her face in his chest.
Xu Fang felt that something was amiss. He lifted her chin with one hand, urging her to look up.
Their eyes met.
Seeing her expression, Xu Fang’s mood suddenly worsened. Gone was the carefree laughter from earlier. Lin Xiche’s expression had fallen. Her lips pressed together, the corners of her mouth slightly drooping, and her nostrils flared slightly. Even her eyes welled up with moisture.
As if she was about to cry.
Xu Fang’s gaze stiffened, his face turned rigid, and his tone became exceptionally harsh. “Dare to cry?”
After a pause, Lin Xiche sniffled, blinked her eyes, as if defying him, and shed one teardrop after another.
“…” Xu Fang muttered a curse under his breath, using his hand to wipe away her tears. “For such a trivial matter, I’m only going away for a month. I’ll be back in August.”
Lin Xiche remained silent.
“Isn’t that what you said?” Xu Fang recalled her words from yesterday. “We still have a month to spend together.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiche lowered her head, her voice soft and slightly teary, carrying a touch of stubbornness. “But it’s different.”
“How is it different?”
She didn’t look at him, and her tone was unusually willful. “I just don’t want you to go, anyway.”
Xu Fang hadn’t expected her reaction to be so intense.
Previously, Lin Xiche had appeared completely fine, and while he felt a bit uncomfortable internally, her reaction now left him uncertain about what to do.
He thought about firmly reminding her.
This one month, compared to the eight years he would spend in the military in the future, was just a drop in the ocean.
In the future, their time apart wouldn’t decrease; it would only increase exponentially.
What would she do then?
But Xu Fang couldn’t bring himself to say it. He patiently tried to reason with her, “I have to go. If I don’t, it’ll be a waste of this year of university.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiche was silent for a few seconds before muttering an “Oh” and stopping her tears. She wiped her eyes with a tissue and then took his hand. In a sullen tone, she said, “Let’s go, then.”
Xu Fang lowered his head to look at her, scratching his head.
They entered the airport.
Lin Xiche walked behind him, still appearing quite downcast.
Her eyelashes drooped, her cheeks slightly puffed, and Xu Fang couldn’t tell what she was thinking right now.
Xu Fang licked his lips with his tongue, thinking about how to comfort her when suddenly, Lin Xiche called out to him, “Ape.”
“Hmm?”
“You—” Lin Xiche’s tone rose slightly, sounding a bit stern, but then abruptly stopped, feeling like a sudden brake, and she shifted the conversation, “You’re handsome; don’t get too close to others over there.”
Xu Fang: “…”
Over there, it should be all men.
Her voice still had that slight nasal tone, soft and gentle, yet her face remained stern, her delicate eyebrows furrowing. It didn’t seem like she was joking.
He swallowed the words he was about to say and replied, “Got it.”
After completing the check-in process, Lin Xiche followed Xu Fang to the security checkpoint.
Xu Fang bent down and kissed her forehead.
“Wait for me.”
Lin Xiche returned home.
Her grandfather was watching TV in the living room. After greeting him, Lin Xiche hurried back to her room and crawled under the covers.
After staying wrapped up for half a minute, she started to shed tears again.
When the air inside the blanket became thin, Lin Xiche uncovered her face and whispered, “So frustrating.”
Lin Xiche pushed the blanket away and got up. She walked to her desk and pulled out a notebook from the left-side drawer. Her eyes were still teary, but she managed to stop crying. She flipped to the latest page.
Every page before this had been meticulously written, with Lin Xiche carefully documenting the events of the day with neat, tidy handwriting. But today was different.
Gone was the romantic sentiment of a young girl in love; all that remained was a burning anger. Her writing was no longer delicate and graceful; it was bold, almost threatening, as if she was about to tear through the paper.
She wrote with force:
“Xu Fang is a dog.”
Afterward, Lin Xiche stared at those four words for a while, feeling that her insult wasn’t strong enough. She added two more words:
“Xu Fang is a stinking dog poop.”
Lin Xiche recalled Xu Fang’s previous remark about “Chishi de Chi” in front of others, and suddenly, she felt like crying. Sniffling, she added a few more words:
“I won’t eat it.”
July 13, 2012, the 262nd day together.
Today, Xu Fang went for training, and he won’t be back until August 10th. Although I’ve known since the beginning of the break that he would be going for training, I had no idea it would be this strict, not even allowing the use of phones. The key is, he never mentioned it to me, not a word.
If he had told me earlier, I would have slept less and spent more time with him, even sneaking into his bed to chat with him last night. I wouldn’t have wasted my time on sleep.
At the airport just now, I wanted to scold him, but I held back. I even complimented his good looks. I am truly magnanimous.
We’re going to be apart for a month, and during this time, he can only use his phone four times. I can’t waste this time arguing with him; it’s too much of a waste.
I’ve decided to wait until he returns to have our argument.
After getting off the plane, Xu Fang sent a text message to his parents and Lin Xiche. Then, following the information provided by the school, he boarded a nearby bus.
The location was quite remote, and it would take several hours to reach. The journey was bumpy, and the bus swayed heavily.
Outside the window, a yellow sandstorm raged, obscuring the sky with a hazy veil. The bus was stuffy, unusually quiet, and most passengers were either sleeping or on their phones.
Thinking about how she stood alone in the crowd before he left, Lin Xiche felt detached from all the noise and festivity around her, as if none of it had anything to do with her. And there would be more moments like this in the future.
As Xu Fang lowered his head, his voice sounded almost like a sigh. “What should I do…”
Before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, his phone rang.
It was Lin Xiche calling.
Xu Fang snapped out of his reverie, plugged in his earphones, and answered the call.
Lin Xiche’s voice came through the phone, seemingly back to normal. She spoke with a lilt in her voice, full of cheerfulness, and every sentence sounded like it carried a smile, making the conversation very pleasant.
“Pipi, where are you now?”
“In the bus.”
“Oh,” Lin Xiche lowered her voice, “are there other people sleeping in there?”
“Yeah, I have headphones on.”
“In that case, don’t talk! Just listen to me,” Lin Xiche giggled, “I received a message from the animal rescue center. They want me to go there tomorrow afternoon.”
“Alright.”
“I’m going to check it out tomorrow!” She sounded excited. “Then, when I come back, I’ll send you a message instead of calling. That way, you can read it whenever you have time, and I won’t have to cram all the news into one day.”
Xu Fang’s lips curled into a smile. “Okay.”
“The rescue center is located in the west district, a bit far from here, so I’ll leave early tomorrow.” Lin Xiche chatted about various trivial matters non-stop, as if she couldn’t stop herself. “Oh, Ape, I just checked online, and it seems that military life can be quite tough…”
Her voice trailed off, and Xu Fang responded in a hoarse voice, “It can be quite tough.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiche hesitated for a moment and then gave him a piece of advice, “How about I come pick you up now?”
“Daydreaming,” Xu Fang chuckled lightly, his voice returning to its usual carefree tone. “I’ll take care of you when I get back.”
After Xu Fang hung up, Lin Xiche looked at her phone, let out a soft “oh,” and didn’t reply.
Lin Xige was already back home, sitting nearby, watching her.
Seeing her looking somewhat forlorn, Lin Xige suddenly felt a pang of conscience and thought of comforting her. But just as she was about to speak, Lin Xiche clenched her fist abruptly and raised her head. “Alright, I have things to do too.”
“Huh?”
“I’m going to volunteer at the rescue center tomorrow, and in my free time, I’ll study and spend time with Grandpa.” Lin Xiche pursed her lips and said earnestly, “I don’t have the time to think about Xu Fang.”
“…Okay.”
“I mean it.” Lin Xiche got up and started rummaging through her closet, selecting the clothes she would wear tomorrow. She emphasized, “In my world, Xu Fang is nothing.”
Lin Xige: “…”
I hope she can hold out for three days.
Afterward, Lin Xige didn’t pay much attention to her. She took out a set of clean clothes and went to take a shower.
After the shower, she returned to her room.
The room’s main light had been turned off, leaving only the bedside lamp on. The dim, warm light created a cozy and tranquil atmosphere. Lin Xiche sat on the edge of the bed, holding something in her hand.
Lin Xige glanced at her but wasn’t particularly curious. Lin Xiche had a towel in her hand and was patting her hair to semi-dry it. She absentmindedly took out a new bottle of facial cleanser from the cabinet and then went back to the bathroom to blow-dry her hair.
When she came back, she found Lin Xiche tearing pieces of paper.
Lin Xige paused, and her attention was finally drawn to this. She leaned over to see.
“What are you doing?”
Lin Xige lowered her eyes and noticed that Lin Xiche was holding a calendar, one of those with a page for each day.
At this moment, she had already torn up to August 9th.
Hearing her voice, Lin Xiche’s movements paused for a moment, and she noticed the date in front of her, so she didn’t tear any further. Then, she turned her head and smiled at Lin Xige before saying, “Xu Fang is coming back tomorrow.”
“…”
Author’s Note:
Lin Xiche: I couldn’t hold out for even an hour
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