Chapter 14: Scenery After Snow (5)
Her long hair slipped quietly past her ear, brushing against her phone. Her finger hovered over the screen, unable to press down.
The time ticked over to the next minute, stretching endlessly like an entire century had passed...
"Is the signal bad?" Lin Yiyang suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Yin Guo startled, looking up at him.
He pocketed his phone and stood up, stretching lazily. "The signal here's terrible. WeChat won't connect. Going out for a smoke."
With that, he walked past the burly middle-aged man beside them. The man stood over 1.8 meters tall and weighed around 90 kilograms. Lin Yiyang matched him in height but appeared even taller due to his lean frame. As he passed behind the man, the contrast made his gait seem even more carefree, like a guy barely in his twenties.
Yin Guo watched him leave the laundry room.
The burly man also watched him go and chuckled. "Hey, you two weren't talking—thought you were foreigners or something. Had a fight, huh? The atmosphere was so heavy I had to hum just to lighten it."
The man grinned awkwardly, gathered his pile of clothes, and left.
Yin Guo glanced at WeChat again before burying her face in her arms on the long table.
In the shadow of her folded arms, her eyes remained open, staring at her shoes—
Her mind had been blank earlier, but now hundreds of thoughts swirled chaotically, fragmented and illogical. She even wondered if it was a joke, but no one would joke like that. Not just over text, but face-to-face.
He suddenly claimed the signal was bad and left—was he trying to brush past the whole thing?
Should she pretend she never saw it either?
Outside the laundry room, Lin Yiyang lingered for a moment.
The burly man emerged with his pile of clothes and jumped in surprise. Recognizing Lin Yiyang, he smirked knowingly, nodding toward the laundry room before whispering, "Go on in."
Assuming his tactful exit would help the quarreling young couple reconcile, the man resumed humming and headed upstairs.
Lin Yiyang stuffed his hands in his pockets, paced outside the door for a few steps, then finally left the apartment.
He hadn’t dressed warmly enough for the cold, and the wind bit into him. He retreated to lean against the doorway, sheltering from the wind as he pulled out a traditional white cigarette. Click. Click. Five or six attempts later, he finally lit it.
Regret was setting in—he’d rushed it.
After two or three days without proper sleep, his head had been foggy when he returned. A hot shower left him too relaxed.
And the mood earlier had been too comfortable—he’d lost control, acted impulsively.
He believed in proportional returns—that effort dictated results. Chasing a girl was no different. He hadn’t done much yet, couldn’t expect her to actually like him. He should take it slow.
Take it slow, Lin Yiyang.
He took three deep drags, exhaling smoke before fishing out his phone to call Wu Wei upstairs. "Bring me a jacket. Not you—send Anan down."
Chen Anan was the quietest, his mind occupied solely by pool. Sending him down meant peace.
Sure enough, Chen Anan soon jogged over, shoving the jacket into Lin Yiyang’s arms without a word.
"I’m quiet, but you’re even worse," Lin Yiyang teased. "After over a decade apart, you’ve got nothing to say to me?"
Chen Anan smiled faintly, accepting a cigarette from Lin Yiyang. "You called me down because you didn’t want to hear them tease you, right?"Silence doesn't mean ignorance.
Lin Yiyang was amused and ruffled Chen Anan's hair. "Still so short, not growing at all."
Chen Anan tilted his head to dodge the gesture.
"Let me light it for you," Lin Yiyang offered, cupping his hands to shield the flame as he lit Chen Anan's cigarette.
Chen Anan was a man of few words but deep emotions, sensitive to the core. This simple act transported him back to the past. His eyes reddened before the cigarette could catch, and he suddenly pulled Lin Yiyang into a tight embrace. Short in stature, his head only reached Lin Yiyang's nose, and as he buried his face against his shoulder, he looked almost like a bashful girl.
Afraid he might cry, Lin Yiyang kept the cigarette between his lips and patted his back. "Loosen up a bit. People might misunderstand. How am I supposed to find a wife like this?"
"Go to hell," Chen Anan muttered, his voice thick with emotion.
Lin Yiyang chuckled and gently pushed him away. The two brothers stood outside the apartment in subzero temperatures, shivering as they caught up on the years they had missed. Chen Anan's eyes kept welling up, and he kept trying to burrow into Lin Yiyang's arms, much to the latter's amusement. "With so many students upstairs, you're not even keeping up the teacher's dignity. How embarrassing."
Yin Guo finished washing her clothes, took her time drying them, and carried the pile back to the apartment.
All the guests had left. Wu Wei had gone to see off his friends, and Lin Yiyang was tidying up.
Only a simple floor lamp illuminated the living room.
As Yin Guo closed the apartment door behind her, Lin Yiyang was tossing a glass into the sink and wiping down the bar counter. Their eyes met across the counter.
Lin Yiyang didn’t expect her to speak to him, but she surprised him by asking first, "Are you leaving tomorrow?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Morning or afternoon? If it's afternoon, would you have time to go to Brooklyn?" Before he could answer, she added, "Just asking casually. If you're busy, next week is fine too."
Lin Yiyang was about to reply, but Yin Guo didn’t give him the chance. She hurried into her bedroom in three quick strides.
Watching the closed door, he set the white cloth on the counter, braced his hands on the edge, and stared at the surface for a long moment before suddenly smiling. What kind of ugly table was this? He’d replace it soon.
Meanwhile, Yin Guo remained by the door inside her room, her hand still on the handle, lost in thought.
Why did I panic? I didn’t even finish asking. So, is he going or not? Should I text him?
Now, even opening their chat window made her nervous.
Those three messages were still the last ones.
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.
She jerked her hand away from the handle, her heart pounding wildly. Through the door, she heard Lin Yiyang say, "No need to open it. Just name a time."
Her heart raced, but she stayed silent.
"How about ten o'clock?" he asked.
Yin Guo managed a soft "Mm."
He must not have heard, because after a pause, he said, "Or ten-thirty."
"Ten is fine," she finally replied, her throat dry. "Ten o'clock."
...
Outside the door, Lin Yiyang leaned against the frame, lowering his voice as he spoke to the wood. "See you tomorrow."
The girl's voice answered him, "See you tomorrow."
Lin Yiyang lingered by the door for a while. When Wu Wei returned and saw him like this, he thought he was hallucinating. What was this? A secret rendezvous? Did they kiss? Reliving the moment by the door? That was fast—hadn’t they just had a brief laundry room date?Lin Yiyang turned around, picked up the cleaning rag from the table, and in his dazed state, nearly mistook it for a towel to wipe his face.
Luckily, under Wu Wei’s sly gaze, he tossed the rag into the sink at the last second.
Wu Wei watched Lin Yiyang suspiciously as he turned away, eyeing him while he tidied up the room with practiced ease. Wu Wei regretted not insisting on delivering the clothes for Anmei earlier. That girl was so tight-lipped—no matter how much he pressed, she hadn’t spilled a single detail, wasting his only chance to sneak a peek at Lin Yiyang’s date.
By dawn, Yin Guo still hadn’t fallen asleep.
Afraid that Wu Wei or Lin Yiyang might still be in the living room using their laptops, she wrapped herself in her blanket and sat by the window to quietly make a voice call. At first, she skirted around the topic awkwardly, rambling about laundry and complaining how drying machines couldn’t compare to sunlight. Zheng Yi, thinking she was just sharing daily life, chimed in with her own story—when she first arrived to study abroad, she hadn’t known outdoor clotheslines were banned and had hung her laundry outside her dorm window, only to be warned by a classmate that it was illegal. She’d panicked and yanked everything back inside…
Zheng Yi chattered on for a while.
Finally, Yin Guo stammered out her real question: “When someone confessed to you before… how did you usually respond?”
“Huh? Someone’s trying to pursue you?”
Yin Guo quickly defended, “It’s a girl from my club. She asked me for advice, and I don’t know what to tell her.”
“What did he say? How did he confess? I can’t give advice if you don’t tell me the details.”
She recited word for word: “‘Can you tell I’m trying to pursue you?’”
Zheng Yi chewed on the line. “Sounds kinda unserious.”
Really?
Yin Guo actually thought he seemed sincere. “Assuming he is serious… how would you reply?”
“Depends. If I liked him, I’d say, ‘Not really? Maybe try being a little more obvious?’ If I didn’t… I’d just ignore it and let him find his own way to back off. Pretend it never happened.”
Yin Guo mulled it over. People really did handle things differently.
Why was she so hesitant to respond? She didn’t know how to phrase it—afraid that saying “I can’t tell” might be mistaken as rejection, but also that “I can tell” might be taken as agreement.
She hadn’t even sorted out her own feelings yet.
Wasn’t she here for the competition? So what was she doing now? Weighing possibilities?
Yin Guo buried her head under the blanket in frustration, resigning herself to giving up. Forget it.
It was March. The junior and youth divisions were about to start, and the official Open was next month. Once the competition ended, she’d return to China immediately—he’d still be here, with no chance to meet again.
She woke up a little past six.
Normally, Wu Wei and her cousin were early risers, usually out of the apartment by the time she got up—one off to have fun, the other to work a side job—so she’d always had the place to herself. But today, when she stepped out to use the bathroom, she found the light already on.
Dressed in a white tracksuit lined with fleece for warmth, Yin Guo lingered in the living room without feeling cold.
She sat on the sofa, waiting for whoever was in the bathroom to come out. Still half-asleep, she hung her head, her slippered foot tapping the floor— thud , thud . When Lin Yiyang stepped out of the bathroom, this was the scene he walked into: her slumped forward, long hair covering most of her face, still drowsy and nodding off.
“Waiting for the bathroom?” he asked.Yin Guo looked up and met his gaze. "Huh? Oh, right, are you done?"
Lin Yiyang stepped aside from the bathroom door, letting Yin Guo pass by him.
As they brushed past each other, she caught the faint scent on him—that fresh, just-showered smell. Didn’t he shower last night? Twice a day?
She closed the door behind her and locked it, noticing unfamiliar men’s toiletries by the sink. Not Wu Wei’s, nor her cousin’s. She guessed they were his and spotted a razor among them.
He actually used a blade razor, not an electric one. How unusual—didn’t he worry about cutting himself?
Outside, Lin Yiyang rubbed his chin. Truth was, after showering and shaving, he’d realized his towel was too old and had meant to grab a new one, but hadn’t had time to tidy up the bathroom. When he saw Yin Guo, he couldn’t explain, so he just let her go in first.
It was only six in the morning—he hadn’t expected her to be up so early. Exhausted from the past week, he’d forced himself out of bed to go for a run, afraid he’d sleep through the entire morning otherwise. After showering, he wanted to stay sharp for their trip to Brooklyn.
After washing up, Yin Guo examined her face in the mirror. A pimple had popped up on her chin from lack of sleep.
Perfect timing. She pressed a finger to it, annoyed she didn’t have concealer handy—she wasn’t one for makeup. Her bangs were slightly damp from washing her face, so she dabbed them with a tissue and finger-combed them into place.
Back in the living room, Lin Yiyang was frying eggs. "Wu Wei left for Boston."
"At five," he added, pointing to two white plates with freshly fried fries. "Breakfast together?"
Yin Guo agreed, adding a quiet "Thanks."
A peaceful breakfast.
A peaceful lobster spaghetti date.
Lin Yiyang carried a large sports bag with his laptop and other items, clearly pressed for time—he’d be heading straight to the train station from Brooklyn. They parted ways in the subway, the crowd thick and Lin Yiyang in a hurry to catch his train. At the transfer station, they simply waved before turning in opposite directions.
Yin Guo’s line was packed. The platform was crowded as she waited, praying for a train with announcements and digital displays—her first time riding alone.
Two minutes later, lights appeared at the end of the tracks. The train rumbled in—the exact one she needed.
Following a few passengers, Yin Guo stepped inside and glanced around.
"Go right," someone directed from behind.
That voice—
She turned, eyes widening. It was Lin Yiyang, who should’ve been on another line, rushing to his train.
He’d just boarded, more passengers pushing in behind him. Without a word, he guided her to the right, seating her in the only empty spot—right in front of him.
Her mind lagged behind her movements as she sank into the seat, leaning back.
With the car so full, Lin Yiyang stood close, his legs brushing her knees, even crossing with hers...
"Aren’t you catching a train?" Yin Guo whispered in Chinese.
Lin Yiyang leaned down. "Didn’t want you to miss your stop."
He still remembered her complaints about New York’s subway from her first ride. After walking away, he’d doubled back, spotting her on the platform just in time.Yin Guo pointed at the electronic display: "With this, I can find my way." Thinking about his train schedule, she grew anxious for him and said softly, "You should get off at the next stop. You’ll still make it in time for your train."
Lin Yiyang looked down at her and gave a quiet "Mm."
As the subway started moving, the passengers in the carriage retreated into their own little worlds—some chatting, others staring blankly into space. Yin Guo became increasingly aware of how their legs and knees kept brushing against each other with the swaying of the train. Gradually, her face grew warm, her palms damp, and she felt more and more uneasy, unsure where to look.
This station feels so long. Why isn’t it arriving yet? Yin Guo thought.
"Yesterday—" He spoke two words, then stopped.
Hugging her backpack, Yin Guo tilted her head up to look at him.
Lin Yiyang had actually wanted to say that yesterday, he had acted impulsively when he asked her directly, but she didn’t need to take it to heart. He didn’t want her to misunderstand him as the kind of guy who, after barely knowing her for a few days and exchanging only a handful of words, would try to pick her up while she was alone in a foreign country, only to part ways once she returned home.
But looking into Yin Guo’s eyes, he dismissed the thought.
Some things didn’t need to be said aloud. Taking things slow like today was just fine.
The station announcement sounded as the train began pulling in.
The carriage slowed to a stop. Yin Guo found herself thinking, This station was too short. We didn’t even finish talking.
"Let me know when you get back to the apartment." So he’d know she was safe.
Lin Yiyang adjusted the strap of his sports backpack and shifted his footing, only for Yin Guo to suddenly grab hold of the strap. Startled, he paused amid the exiting crowd, someone bumping into his shoulder in the process.
Yin Guo immediately let go, her cheeks burning as she lowered her voice. "When you get to DC, let me know too."
Among all the passengers around them, only they could understand each other’s words—this was their shared mother tongue.
Lin Yiyang hesitated for half a second before smiling down at her. He really wanted to pat the back of her head—something he’d been tempted to do all day but had repeatedly held back. In the end, he restrained himself once more, readjusting his backpack strap. "Okay."
With quick steps, he jumped from the carriage onto the platform. The doors closed behind him.
Yin Guo turned to look back. The glass was smudged, and a few disembarking passengers blocked her view of him. Only when the train started moving again did she catch sight of him—but just for three or four seconds before the light faded and he disappeared from view.
The roaring subway carried her forward into the dark tunnel once more.
The carriage had emptied considerably, yet Lin Yiyang still seemed to stand before her, their legs and knees still touching… A tingling warmth spread through Yin Guo’s chest, and she couldn’t help rubbing her knees. Stop thinking about it.
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