On the same Wednesday, Aoxing's Christmas commercial began its overwhelming, brainwashing-style rollout across social media platforms like Weibo, Douyin, and WeChat.
Cen Jin's team was practically spinning from busyness. Starting this week, almost everyone was staying at the company all day, ready for any unexpected needs.
The Christmas atmosphere within the company was equally rich. The ceiling was draped with cedar branches, from which hundreds of red and white Christmas baubles hung, illuminated by a sea of fairy lights, creating a dazzling display.
Beneath the over-two-meter-tall, brilliantly decorated Christmas tree lay a spread of creative gifts brought by company members—expensive and cheap, exquisite and quirky—all up for grabs based purely on luck. A long white tabletop was covered with an assortment of desserts and pastries.
Cen Jin was still at her workstation, double-checking all the copy for the client’s official blog to ensure there were no oversights.
Suddenly, a plate of cake roll garnished with mint leaves was thrust under her nose.
Cen Jin looked up to see Lù Qíqí, wearing a Santa hat, beaming with joy. "Time to eat! There’s going to be a performance soon."
Cen Jin took the plate, cut off a small piece with her fork, and asked curiously, "What performance?"
Lù Qíqí pointed not far away. "The choir from Yixiao Elementary is here to sing Christmas carols. It’s a company tradition—we invite them every year."
Cen Jin glanced over and, sure enough, a group of children dressed in shirts, sweaters, and red-and-black plaid skirts or trousers were holding lyric booklets, making final preparations before their performance. Boys and girls stood in three rows in front of the company’s giant logo light sign, their faces softly lit, youthful and tender.
Before she could gather her thoughts, Cen Jin was abruptly pulled up by the energetic Lù Qíqí and rushed over to the gathering.
Many colleagues had already gathered there, chatting and laughing, clinking glasses.
Teddy, holding a glass of red wine, was chatting with the client department director. Spotting Cen Jin and Lù Qíqí, he raised his tulip glass and flashed them a bright smile.
The director also glanced over and gave a slight nod.
Cen Jin returned a faint smile and continued working on her cake.
Soon, a familiar prelude began to play.
The children broke into radiant smiles and sang in unison, their voices clear and melodious like nightingales:
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year.
Bathed in the warm light, Cen Jin watched these young faces with a smile, gradually losing herself in thought.
I wonder how Li Wu is doing.
She had originally planned to order a cake for the boy and have it delivered to his school for Christmas, but plans often change. They were in a cold war, and he had left his phone at home—there was no way to contact him now.
Forget it. During the time I brought Li Wu to Yishi, I cared for him as much as I could. If he doesn’t appreciate it, so be it.
On the other hand, it’s truly better for him to focus on his studies right now than anything else.
Cen Jin sighed, brushing aside these thoughts that only left her feeling helpless and frustrated whenever they crossed her mind.
"Time to dance!"
At some point, the students’ choir performance had ended, and more lively music began echoing through the hall, its rhythm infectious.
Someone turned off the lights, plunging the room into momentary darkness, with only the twinkling fairy lights above.
Amid screams and laughter, the usually orderly hallway instantly transformed into a chaotic dance floor.Cen Jin set down her tray and, arm in arm with Lù Qíqí, dashed toward the bustling crowd. Swaying their hips and waving their arms, they vented the exhaustion of recent days with unrestrained abandon.
—
On Saturday afternoon, as the final class ended, Li Wu packed his backpack and walked out of the classroom alone.
The holiday had just passed, and classroom windows were plastered with festive stickers—pine trees, gingerbread men, bells—all bearing Christmas motifs. The students on duty had been tasked with cleaning them off.
The hallway teemed with students racing and darting about wildly. Only Li Wu moved at a steady, unhurried pace, like a solitary whale swimming alone.
Two girls from his class were wiping the windows. As Li Wu passed, they glanced back at him several times before calling out loudly, "Li Wu!"
He turned around.
The short-haired girl raised a ruler, smiling slightly. "The adhesive on these stickers is too stubborn. We can’t get them off. Could you help us?"
Li Wu glanced at the messy window, nodded, and walked over.
His tall frame cast a shadow over them.
The short-haired girl stepped aside, exchanging a gleeful look with her friend, and handed him the ruler.
Li Wu took it, leaned close to the window, and began carefully scraping away the adhesive with the edge of the ruler.
His fingers were clean, slender, and strong. Frowning slightly, he patiently worked at the stubborn glue. The two girls watched, mesmerized.
When he was nearly done, the short-haired girl quickly handed him a wrung-out cloth for the final touches.
The glass now spotless, Li Wu said, "Done."
The short-haired girl beamed. "Thank you!"
The other girl, with a ponytail, stared at him and suddenly asked, "Li Wu, do you know our names?"
The short-haired girl flushed with embarrassment and nudged her friend sharply with an elbow.
Li Wu paused briefly, his gaze resting on each of their faces. "Ke Shuang, Zheng Tian."
Both girls broke into smiles simultaneously. Ke Shuang, the short-haired one, couldn’t hide her delight. "So you do know! I thought you never talked to us because you didn’t remember our names."
Li Wu lowered his eyes and said nothing.
The atmosphere grew slightly awkward. Just as Li Wu was about to leave, Ke Shuang stopped him again. "Li Wu, did you see the apple we gave you the other day?"
Li Wu thought for a moment. "Not yet."
"Ah..." Ke Shuang’s face fell, disappointment evident. "Make sure you look at it. You really must!"
"Mm."
Back in his dorm room, Li Wu pulled out the apple gift boxes he’d received on Christmas Eve from his drawer.
Some were exquisitely packaged, while others contained only a single apple, its skin etched with "Merry Christmas" in English.
He unwrapped a pink one to find a dark red Red Delicious apple inside, its stem tied to a palm-sized card of the same color.
He detached the card and opened it. Inside, a line of small text read:
"To Li Wu: Not everyone dislikes you. Wishing you peace and happiness."
Li Wu stared at it for a while, then rubbed his head before closing the card and placing it back in the box.
He sat in silence for some time, then pulled a workbook from his bookstand and began solving problems. After finishing a few exercises, he habitually pushed back his sleeve to check the time. It was a mistake—the moment he did, a restless agitation surged through him, making it impossible to focus any further.
After several futile attempts, he leaned back in despair, staring blankly at the page.
Perhaps the words on the card had a placebo-like, hallucinatory effect. Ridiculous, shameful delusions began to swirl around him again, like stubborn smog—the more he tried to ignore them, the more they seeped into every corner of his mind.Li Wu began packing his bag and strode quickly toward the school gate. The tree branches cast menacing shadows, and the wind cut like ice, yet he remained completely unaware.
He just wanted to take a look. It wouldn’t hurt to look.
That one look lasted until late into the night.
6:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
8:30 p.m.
9:00 p.m...
9:30 p.m...
Li Wu stood motionless outside the main gate, like a stone statue.
He had waited too long—from the moment the streetlights flickered on to the stationery store across the street abruptly rolling down its shutters, from the continuous flow of people to the deserted streets. He waited so long that passersby cast curious glances, so long that the security guard bundled up in a thick coat came out to check on him: "Student, who are you waiting for? We’re about to close the gate. Where are your parents? Can’t you reach them?"
Li Wu’s dark hair rustled in the wind, but he paid no attention.
The old man raised his voice and repeated the question.
Only then did the boy seem to come back to life, glancing at the guard. Seeing the concern on the elderly man’s face, he muttered a hurried "Sorry" before turning and walking back into the school.
As he turned, a fierce gust of wind swept over him, biting cold seeping into his bones. Li Wu’s eyes reddened abruptly.
He swallowed hard, fighting back the emotion, and roughly wiped his eyes with his sleeve in the darkness.
Early Monday morning, Cen Jin received another call from Teacher Zhang, informing her that Li Wu had been running a high fever since the previous day and needed immediate medical attention.
Cen Jin sat up in bed, frantically running her hands through her hair in frustration. She had just painstakingly wrapped up a demanding phase of work at the company, and now Li Wu’s school was causing trouble again.
Chaos and unrest, one thing after another, an unending series of crises—this was truly a black December.
These thoughts raced through Cen Jin’s mind as she brushed her teeth angrily, rubbing her puffy eyelids.
Before leaving, she folded the gray down jacket she had bought the previous week, placed it in a shopping bag, and brought it along to the school.
Having been informed earlier that Li Wu was in the infirmary, Cen Jin didn’t go upstairs. Instead, she stopped a female student along the way to ask for directions.
Battling the wind, she arrived at the infirmary and immediately spotted the boy sitting by the school doctor’s desk.
He was slumped silently in a folding chair, head slightly bowed, his lips pale. His sickly appearance made his eye sockets appear deeper, and his cheeks had returned to the gaunt state she remembered from their first meeting.
Cen Jin took a deep breath, averted her gaze, and walked over.
Noticing the newcomer, the school doctor quickly stood up and asked, "Are you Li Wu’s guardian?"
Li Wu glanced up at her briefly before hurriedly lowering his eyes, his expression growing even more strained.
"That’s me," Cen Jin replied calmly, her face expressionless. "What’s wrong with him?"
The woman’s detached reaction caught the school doctor off guard. She rummaged through the files on her desk, retrieved a thermometer, and pressed it against Li Wu’s forehead. "The student said he wasn’t feeling well since yesterday. We took his temperature this morning—it’s very high."
Throughout this, Cen Jin still hadn’t so much as glanced at the boy sitting there.
With a beep, the school doctor showed the reading to Cen Jin: "39.7°C. He needs an IV drip. You should take him to the hospital right away."
"Let’s go, then," Cen Jin said, slipping one hand into her coat pocket and turning to leave.
But Li Wu remained seated in silence, seemingly torn between hesitation and shame, as if only that chair could conceal the humiliation of having made bold promises only to let the other person down.
Cen Jin stood still for a moment before finally looking at Li Wu. She took a few steps closer, pulled the down jacket out of the bag, and placed it on his lap. "Put this on. You’re coming with me to see a doctor."
The soft, puffy gray down jacket unfolded in Li Wu’s arms. He froze for a second before standing up and slipping it on.The oversized clothes, long enough to envelop Li Wu instantly, radiated warmth around him.
Cen Jin walked ahead, with Li Wu following closely behind.
Under the vast sky, the woman and the young man moved one after the other along the broad road.
They kept a distance between them, like a clumsy young penguin struggling to keep up with a proud white crane.
Cen Jin navigated to the nearest community hospital, the journey passing in silence.
It was the peak of flu season, and the hospital was crowded. Cen Jin asked the reception for two masks and handed one to Li Wu.
Li Wu took it and mimicked her in putting it on. After adjusting her own mask and tucking away stray hairs by her ears, Cen Jin lifted her gaze to look at Li Wu.
Unprepared, their eyes met in mid-air.
The young man’s dark, moist eyes held a trace of weariness from prolonged illness, so pure they evoked pity.
Cen Jin’s heart twinged slightly. She averted her gaze and let out a soft sigh.
Pointing to an empty chair in the waiting area, she told him to wait there, then turned to queue for registration.
Li Wu obediently sat down, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on Cen Jin. The woman, dressed in a short, all-white down jacket, stood with her arms crossed. Though her expression was cool and detached, she stood out strikingly beautiful in the crowd.
After a while, a middle-aged man attempted to cut in line. Without a word, Cen Jin tapped his shoulder, intending to stop him with a stern look.
The man ignored her, stubbornly holding his ground.
Cen Jin raised her chin slightly, pulled down her mask as if to reprimand him. Seeing this, Li Wu sprang up, hurried to her side, and positioned himself in front of her.
The tall, sturdy youth glared fiercely, and with other people in line joining in to criticize, the middle-aged man had no choice but to sulkily step out and move to the end of the queue.
“What are you doing?” the woman asked, pulling her mask back up.
Li Wu turned his head and murmured softly, “I was afraid he’d… bully you.” The last three words were almost inaudible.
“Are you better now?” Cen Jin’s tone was cold, tinged with sarcasm.
Li Wu fell silent.
“Go sit back down.” “Okay.”
After successfully registering and seeing the doctor, Cen Jin methodically picked up the medicine and led Li Wu to the injection room.
The nurse crouched down to insert the IV needle, praising how easy it was to find the boy’s veins.
Hearing this, Cen Jin glanced at the back of his hand—clearly defined, prominent blue veins crisscrossing beneath the skin.
However, the skin on his hand was red from the cold. Cen Jin turned to her bag and pulled out a company Christmas gift—a pure white hand warmer.
She switched it on and handed it to Li Wu. “Hold this. Your hand will get cold during the IV.”
“Mm.” Li Wu took it, clutching it with the hand receiving the drip.
“Don’t grip it tightly.”
“Mm.” He relaxed his fingers, gently cradling it.
Cen Jin stopped looking at him, retrieved her laptop from her tote bag, opened it on her lap, and began browsing intently.
Li Wu stole a glance—the screen was filled with tiny English text, making his headache and dizziness worse.
In the IV tube, clear intravenous drip fell drop by drop, flowing steadily.
Cen Jin started typing softly, her pace alternating between fast and slow. With nothing to do, Li Wu occasionally glanced at her until, overwhelmed by the high fever, he leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes to rest.
After some time, Cen Jin looked up as if startled, checking the IV bag above. Confirming it was only half empty, she sighed in relief and turned to observe Li Wu.
The young man was reclining, head tilted back against the chair, his Adam’s apple distinct and eyelashes thick, as if he had already fallen asleep.
Noticing the flush on his face had faded slightly, Cen Jin stood up and reached out to feel his forehead.
It was still burning hot.She let out a frustrated and helpless sigh, settling back into her seat before resuming work, typing on the keyboard with sharp, rapid clicks.
Completely unaware, the young man beside her—eyes closed—rested the back of his hand against his forehead for a moment, then quickly lowered it, secretly curling his lips into a subtle smile.
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