The moment she heard Lu Xixiao's voice, Zhou Wan felt a chill run from head to toe.
She turned her head to look.
The young man was still frowning, silently watching her.
Seeing her remain motionless, he clicked his tongue impatiently: "Come here."
Zhou Wan didn't know how long he had been standing there, nor whether he had overheard her conversation with Guo Xiangling.
His aura was intense. When she reached him, she didn't dare speak first, keeping her head lowered in silence.
Lu Xixiao pinched her chin and lifted her face: "Running around everywhere, and you still have the nerve to give me attitude."
Zhou Wan froze for a moment, instinctively looking up at him.
Her gaze was urgent and intense, her eyes shining as if holding unspoken words.
That look inexplicably softened Lu Xixiao's heart, dissolving his irritation. He wrapped an arm around Zhou Wan's shoulders and led her away without another glance at Guo Xiangling behind them.
Even late at night, the hospital remained crowded.
Various low-volume but chaotic noises intertwined.
After being hurried along for several steps, Zhou Wan finally remembered to explain: "I wasn't running around. I just went to the restroom and ran into her on my way out."
"What did she say to you?" Lu Xixiao asked.
Zhou Wan remained silent.
Lu Xixiao raised an eyebrow: "Did she bully you?"
"No."
"Really?"
Not daring to meet his eyes, she lowered her gaze and feigned nonchalance: "Didn't you say I'm good at pretending to be obedient? Why would you think she could bully me?"
Lu Xixiao chuckled lightly, ruffling her hair roughly: "So what were you talking about earlier?"
Zhou Wan paused, still looking down: "She just asked me to persuade you to visit your father. Nothing else."
"Oh," Lu Xixiao responded expressionlessly before taking off his jacket and draping it over Zhou Wan: "Where are your clothes?"
"I took them off after accidentally getting them dirty," Zhou Wan protested, pushing the jacket back. "You wear it. I'm not cold."
Not bothering to argue, he zipped up the jacket before she could even slip her arms through the sleeves, enveloping her completely like a cloak.
Zhou Wan looked up at him, blinking.
His eyelashes lowered as he observed her appearance, then he turned his head and smiled: "How tall are you?"
With his jacket on, the hem nearly reached her knees. She pouted: "160 centimeters."
Lu Xixiao raised an eyebrow: "Really?"
"..."
Zhou Wan straightened her face seriously: "Yes."
"How much do you weigh?"
"Last time I checked, it was 39 kilograms. Not sure about now."
He frowned slightly: "Too thin."
"It's fine since I'm not very tall anyway," Zhou Wan said.
Returning to the infusion room, Zhou Wan tucked Grandma's blanket securely and felt her forehead—less feverish than before, with color returning to her cheeks.
"Lu Xixiao," Zhou Wan said, "you should go back first."
"It's fine." He appeared bored and relaxed. "I've got nothing to do back home anyway."
Zhou Wan paused but didn't press further.
Her soiled jacket hung carelessly over the chairback earlier, with broth drips staining the seat. Lu Xixiao grabbed a tissue, bent down, and wiped it clean.
"Let me do it," Zhou Wan offered.
He quickly finished cleaning, but as he lifted the dirty jacket, something slipped from the pocket.
Red and green background.
It was the Christmas card originally meant for Lu Xixiao.Zhou Wan’s heart skipped a beat. She hurried over to pick up the greeting card, but she was a step too late—he had already picked it up, the thin card pinched between his fingers.
A lazy smile played on his lips, teasing and frivolous, as he drawled out each word slowly: “To… Lu… Xi… Xiao…”
It was just an ordinary Christmas card, but spoken in his magnetic, deep voice, it sounded like something illicit.
Zhou Wan’s cheeks flushed involuntarily.
“For me?” he asked with a grin.
“…Mhm.”
He opened it. Inside was written:
Lu Xixiao, Merry Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas.
Wishing you happiness every day, smooth sailing, and success in all things.
The handwriting was elegant, each stroke written with extreme care.
Lu Xixiao looked at it for a moment, then chuckled. “For Christmas Eve and Christmas, you’re just giving me a card?”
“…”
Zhou Wan couldn’t help but pout. “You already have so many cards in your drawer, and you’ll get more tomorrow.”
Lu Xixiao seemed taken aback for a second, then his smile widened. “So those were cards.”
“…”
“I never looked at them.”
Realizing he was explaining himself to her, Zhou Wan’s face grew even hotter.
But she shouldn’t have cared so much about how many cards Lu Xixiao received or whether he’d read them.
Yet, her heart softened in that moment, as if it had become a vessel filled with melted candied fruit, leaving her feeling light and floaty.
“Oh,” Zhou Wan replied flatly.
“If you don’t like it,” Lu Xixiao said lazily, “come to my classroom tomorrow and throw them all away yourself.”
Zhou Wan looked serious. “That’s not right—they’re gifts from others.”
Lu Xixiao laughed.
It was as if he’d heard the funniest joke. His dark eyes sparkled with amusement, his shoulders shaking as he nodded and teased, “Yes, yes, Teacher Zhou is absolutely right.”
“…”
It was clearly sarcasm.
Feeling exposed, Zhou Wan blushed and looked at him.
In his smiling eyes, she could read four words: Keep pretending.
“…”
After enjoying Zhou Wan’s flustered expression, Lu Xixiao finally seemed satisfied. He stopped teasing her, waved the card in his hand, and said, “Thank you, Teacher Zhou.”
Zhou Wan watched as he carefully refolded the card and slipped it into his pocket.
In the end, she couldn’t hold back a small, hidden smile.
But as she smiled, she suddenly remembered what Guo Xiangling had said earlier—You like Lu Xixiao, don’t you?
Zhou Wan finally understood why those girls, fully aware of what kind of person Lu Xixiao was and how hard it was to change a playboy, still charged headfirst into a wall, refusing to turn back until they were bruised and broken.
Lu Xixiao had that kind of power.
In moments of intimacy, he made you feel as if the whole world was in your arms, effortlessly making you dizzy and disoriented.
It all happened so quietly, yet the prey had long fallen into the trap—a killer from a thousand miles away.
But she couldn’t be like that.
Zhou Wan felt as if she had split into two souls.
One soul was drawn to him, feeling joy or pain with his every gesture; the other stood by coldly, watching it all unfold unavoidably, occasionally warning her not to fall for his gentle illusions.
The infusion room reeked of disinfectant mixed with the smell of various meals brought in by patients’ families—an unpleasant combination.
Grandma had already finished three IV bags, with only one left.
Zhou Wan and Lu Xixiao went outside together to get some fresh air.The two stood by the railing of the rooftop outside the third floor of the hospital. He leaned against it with his elbows resting on the rail, back slightly bent, casually smoking as the smoke swirled and dissipated in the cold wind.
It was like a richly colored poster, every frame exceptionally beautiful.
"Lu Xixiao, my grandma will finish her IV soon. She needs another one tomorrow, so she’ll definitely have to stay at the hospital for a couple of days. You should head back first in a while."
He bit his cigarette, his voice muffled. "Mm."
Zhou Wan gripped the cold railing with both hands, her hair tousled by the wind as she gazed at the scenery across from them.
From this height, she could see the pedestrian street not far away—the grayish-white brick walls and the uneven, aged rooftops.
The pedestrian street was mostly filled with young people dressed in festive Christmas attire.
Many vendors were selling beautifully wrapped Peace Apples.
Some shops were running Christmas promotions, with employees dressed as Santa Claus handing out flyers and candies on the street.
"The Christmas when I was nine, Pingchuan City had its first snowfall," Zhou Wan said. "It’s the earliest first snow I can remember in Pingchuan."
Lu Xixiao flicked the ash from his cigarette, trying to recall the past as she spoke, but he had no memory of it.
He never celebrated Christmas, finding it uninteresting.
He smiled carelessly. "You remember it so clearly."
"Yeah, it was the last Christmas my dad spent with me."
Lu Xixiao paused and turned to look at her.
The girl’s profile was pale and soft, her dark hair tangled around her neck. Her bright black eyes gazed into the distance, gentle and focused, with a faint glimmer in their depths.
"Lu Xixiao, when you were little, did you believe that Santa Claus really existed in this world?" Zhou Wan asked softly.
"No."
"Until I was nine, I believed that Santa Claus really existed in this world."
Zhou Wan glanced at Lu Xixiao, meeting his gaze, and smiled. "Pretty silly, huh? Believing it even at nine."
"Every Christmas, I’d write my wish on a piece of paper and put it in a sock on Christmas Eve. My dad said Santa Claus would ride in a sleigh pulled by reindeer to collect every child’s wish and then grant the wishes of the well-behaved kids on Christmas night."
"Sometimes my wish came true, sometimes it didn’t. I’d ask my dad why—was it because I wasn’t obedient enough?"
"My dad said it was because it didn’t snow that year, and Santa’s sleigh couldn’t make it."
At this, Zhou Wan smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Thinking back now, it’s funny that I actually believed such a reason."
Lu Xixiao tilted his head, listening intently to her story.
It was clear that Zhou Wan had grown up as a child surrounded by love.
Protected so carefully that, despite her intelligence, her childlike heart had been preserved enough to believe such a clumsy excuse.
"So when it snowed that Christmas, I was especially happy and full of anticipation, thinking my wish would definitely come true."
Lu Xixiao asked, "What was your wish?"
"I wished for my dad’s cough to get better quickly."
"Did it come true?"
"No." Zhou Wan lowered her eyes. "After Christmas, his cough got worse and worse. He kept putting off going to the hospital because he didn’t want to spend the money. Later, we found out it was lung cancer."
Lu Xixiao was silent for a moment. Instead of pressing for details, he asked, "What about now?"
"What do you mean?"
He exhaled a puff of smoke, his voice low and raspy. "What’s your wish for this Christmas?"Zhou Wan smiled. "I'm sixteen already. I've known for a long time that there's no Santa Claus in this world."
"What if there is?" He tilted his head, his gaze calm and resolute against the nightscape. "What would you wish for?"
Her biggest wish, of course, was for Grandma to be healthy and live a long life.
But Zhou Wan knew such a wish could never come true.
When she was little, if she made vague wishes like growing five centimeters taller next year or her parents loving each other and not fighting, they never came true.
But sometimes, when she wished for a box of chocolates or a beautiful new backpack, they'd materialize almost immediately.
Zhou Wan thought for a moment and said casually, "Well... I'd like a bicycle."
Lu Xixiao tapped off the ash from his cigarette and laughed. "You only get one wish a year, and you're asking for just a bicycle?"
After spending some time on the rooftop where Lu Xixiao smoked two cigarettes, they returned to the infusion room.
Grandma had already finished four IV bags but hadn't woken up yet. She needed to stay for observation, so Zhou Wan decided to rough it at the hospital overnight and told Lu Xixiao to go home first.
The streets on Christmas Eve weren't as deserted as usual.
Lu Xixiao walked alone, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.
The wind accentuated his tall, striking figure, causing many girls to glance back at him as they passed.
When he reached the crosswalk, the light was red. Lu Xixiao took out his phone and called Jiang Fan.
"A Xiao." The expected noise came from the other end. "I thought you said you weren't coming?"
"I'm not. I need to ask you something." He tilted his neck, watching the numbers on the red light count down. "That place you mentioned last time for buying bicycles—where is it?"
"Why do you need a bicycle?"
Lu Xixiao chuckled. "None of your business."
"I'll send you the owner's WeChat. You can go buy one tomorrow."
"Not today?"
"Are you kidding? Look what time it is. At this hour, only the apple sellers are still awake."
Lu Xixiao hung up. Soon, Jiang Fan forwarded the bike shop owner's contact. He paused for a moment but didn't add it. Instead, he opened his navigation app to search for nearby bike shops.
The crosswalk signal turned from red to green, then back to red.
Lu Xixiao remained standing there as people came and went around him.
It felt like a scene from a Wong Kar-wai film.
He called every bike shop one by one, but each told him they were already closed for the night.
It was too late—not a single bike shop was still open.
Early the next morning, Zhou Wan was woken by Grandma.
"Wanwan?" Grandma squinted, unaccustomed to the sunlight and the stark white room. "Where are we?"
"Grandma, you're finally awake! You had a high fever yesterday, so we're at the hospital." Zhou Wan held her hand. "The doctor said we need to see how you are today. If the fever's gone, you'll just need another IV drip. How are you feeling? Still unwell?"
"A high fever?"
Zhou Wan put on a stern face. "Yes, Grandma. How many times have I told you? If you're not feeling well, you have to tell me. You can't keep it to yourself. You suddenly fainted last night, and we had to call an ambulance. You scared me to death."
Grandma smiled apologetically and affectionately, ruffling Zhou Wan's hair. "I didn't feel that bad. I thought it was just a regular cold."
"Thank goodness you're okay. Otherwise, I don't know how I'd go on living.""Don't talk nonsense." Grandma patted the back of her hand. "Our Wanwan is so smart, she'll do well no matter what happens."
Zhou Wan leaned over, gently resting on her grandmother and hugging her, her cheek pressed against her grandmother's chest as she whispered, "I don't care, you have to stay healthy and be with me."
"Alright, alright, Grandma will try her best," Grandma said with a laugh.
Soon, the doctor on duty came to check her temperature again—she still had a slight fever and would likely need two more days of IV fluids.
Worried about the extra cost, Grandma insisted on going home after finishing the current IV bag, but Zhou Wan firmly refused. Only then did she relent and agree to stay in the hospital for one more day.
At seven in the morning, after calling her homeroom teacher to ask for leave, Zhou Wan headed home to pack some toiletries to bring back.
The streets were already bustling with neatly dressed office workers and students rushing about.
The trees along the road were adorned with small colored lights, many of which had gone out after the night.
Taking the bus home, she got off at the stop outside the arcade. As soon as she stepped off, she saw a brother who used to work the morning shift at the arcade leaning against a billboard, dozing off and looking utterly exhausted.
Zhou Wan walked over and called out, "Brother, did you just get off work?"
"Zhou Wan?" He rubbed his eyes and then said, "Don't even mention it. It's the holidays, and the arcade was so busy last night that my night shift turned into a morning shift."
Zhou Wan smiled. "You must have found someone to take over your shift by now. Go home and get some proper rest."
"Yeah, if I don't sleep soon, I'm going to die." He paused, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, by the way, the top prize at our arcade was claimed yesterday."
Zhou Wan froze.
"It was a handsome guy, and he came alone. He probably left around four in the morning. I was already asleep when he woke me up to redeem the prize," the brother said. "But it's strange—someone that good-looking spending the holiday alone."
He seemed like he wanted to say more, but the bus arrived. He stood up, said "goodbye" to Zhou Wan, and boarded the bus.
Long after the bus had driven away, Zhou Wan remained in a daze.
—"I'm already 16. I've known for a long time that there's no Santa Claus in this world."
—"What if there is? What would your wish be?"
—"Then... I'd want a bicycle."
—"You only get one chance a year, and you're asking for just a bicycle?"
Lu Xixiao's expression as he said those words seemed to still be right before her eyes, his voice lingering in her ears.
The faint glow at his fingertips cast his features into the clamor of the dark night and smoke. His gaze was calm, his lips curved into a careless smile, his demeanor nonchalant.
That person... surely, it couldn't be him, right?
He hated trouble so much—why would he stay until four in the morning just for a bicycle?
Besides, he didn't believe in Santa Claus and couldn't care less about Christmas.
Zhou Wan kept telling herself this.
But her steps quickened as she headed home, until she was running.
The cold wind whistled sharply in her ears, as if it could slice through skin and flesh.
She ran until she was out of breath, taking the stairs two at a time up to the third floor. Her low ponytail had come completely undone, her hair spilling over her cheeks like a little madwoman.
She stood at the stairwell on the third floor, staring fixedly at the doorway.
A brand-new, beautiful bicycle stood there.
Zhou Wan's vision kept blurring from her own exhaled white breaths, obscuring and then revealing the bicycle.Until this moment, Zhou Wan couldn't take a single step forward.
It was as if a rare treasure had appeared before her eyes, and she feared that getting closer might ruin it.
After a long time, Zhou Wan finally approached slowly, walking up to the bicycle.
A note was clipped beside the bicycle bell.
She unfolded it and saw Lu Xixiao's handwriting, bold and flowing.
— Wanwan, Merry Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas.
Wanwan.
Not Zhou Wan.
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