“She’s coming back to Haicheng tomorrow.”
Tan Xingwei stared at the message from her sister, lost in thought.
The night was already deep, and the chirping of insects rustled from beyond the closed glass window. The message sent Tan Xingwei into a brief daze, as if she were recalling certain past events.
But she quickly came back to her senses, because there didn’t seem to be many memories to recall.
A minute later, Tan Xingwei opened a travel app and typed “Haicheng” into the destination field.
Then came the question: where was the departure point?
After tapping the departure field, a keyboard automatically popped up. Tan Xingwei typed only a “y” before stopping. Then, with a swipe of her finger, she closed the travel app from the background and went back to her work.
But after typing a short passage, she noticed three typos in ten characters. She realized something was wrong.
Four years ago, Su Xu went abroad for further studies. All Tan Xingwei knew was that she was studying business administration and had gone to the United Kingdom.
Tan Xingwei thought for a moment, then sent her sister a message: “Where is she coming back from?”
Tan Yinqing: “The United Kingdom.”
Tan Xingwei: “…”
Tan Xingwei asked again: “Where in the UK?”
Tan Yinqing: “I don’t know. Probably the city where she works.”
Okay, that was a pointless question.
Tan Yinqing added: “She quit her job.”
Okay, so not entirely pointless.
Tan Xingwei placed her phone face down and continued writing her proposal. This time, the writing flowed smoothly, without the need to delete two characters for every four she typed.
After smoothly and fluently typing three lines, Tan Xingwei gritted her teeth, hit the enter key hard, and couldn’t resist picking up her phone again.
She opened WeChat, went to her contacts, familiarly scrolled to the letter “O,” and tapped on a contact named “Oh.”
The profile picture was different from the last time she’d seen it. The new one was a crop from a comic. Coincidentally, Tan Xingwei had also read this comic. Its second season had just finished updating last month, and the picture was from the final episode, where the protagonist successfully escapes the island on a small boat.
Minimizing the profile picture, Tan Xingwei tapped into her Moments.
The background hadn’t changed; it was still a picture of fireworks over Haicheng at night. The status hadn’t changed either; it was still “Just as brilliant.” Her Moments were also the same as last time: visible for only three days, and completely empty.
Tan Xingwei returned to the main profile page and tapped on “Permissions.”
She couldn’t quite remember the last time she’d been here. It was almost funny to think about how she was always manipulating the settings in this unnoticed corner, toggling between “Hide my Moments,” “Hide their Moments,” “Chat only,” and “Chat, Moments, WeRun, etc.”
Who cared?
The screen currently displayed the “Chat only” setting. Feeling that her past self had been too childish, Tan Xingwei magnanimously tapped the screen and switched it back to “Chat, Moments, WeRun, etc.”
Then, with another magnanimous tap, she changed the contact’s nickname back to her proper name, Su Xu.
As she exited this screen, Tan Xingwei noticed that a picture had suddenly appeared in Su Xu’s Moments feed.
Tan Xingwei sat bolt upright and immediately tapped on it.
What a coincidence. Just a moment ago, Su Xu had posted to her Moments.
The picture was of a sunset on the edge of a city, with the caption, “The last sunset here.”
Tan Xingwei stared at it for a long time, tapping to enlarge the picture, then shrinking it, then enlarging it again.
It wasn’t a wasted trip. She liked the post.
She remembered a video she had stumbled upon before. The vlogger would analyze landscape photos sent by fans—examining the terrain, shadows, and vegetation—to pinpoint the exact location within the country.
For a moment, Tan Xingwei thought, if she sent Su Xu’s picture to that vlogger, wouldn’t that be…
…incredibly creepy.
Tan Xingwei ran a hand through her slightly messy bangs and, with a snap, shut her laptop.
“Buzz buzz.”
Just then, her phone, sitting on the desk, vibrated.
Tan Xingwei’s heart tightened. She quickly picked it up to look.
Oh, it was her sister.
Tan Yinqing: “Why are you still awake?”
It was almost two in the morning. Since her sister had asked, Tan Xingwei went ahead and saved her file, closing the laptop.
Tan Xingwei: “Working. Going to sleep now.”
Tan Xingwei: “Why are you still awake?”
Her sister sent a picture from a currently popular modern drama: “Last episode.”
Tan Xingwei: “You watch it. I’m going to sleep.”
Tan Xingwei put her laptop on the desk, and her phone vibrated twice more.
She thought her sister had more instructions, but when she opened it, it was a different message.
The profile picture she had just seen suddenly jumped to the top of her chat list. Next to it was the name she had just changed, a name she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Tan Xingwei’s heart skipped a beat.
Su Xu: “Still awake?”
Tan Xingwei took a light breath in and slowly exhaled.
May I ask, what’s the difference between her sister’s “Why are you still awake?” and Su Xu’s “Still awake?”
Of course there’s a difference. Tan Yinqing had used one extra character, which made it sound so stiff!
Tan Xingwei lightly tapped her forehead to punish herself, then opened her phone’s keyboard.
Then closed the keyboard.
Opened it again, closed it again.
Opened it again, and typed a line: “My sister said you’re coming back tomorrow.”
Su Xu: “Mm.”
A line of text ran through Tan Xingwei’s mind, “What does ‘coming back tomorrow’ mean? Is that tomorrow Beijing time or tomorrow UK time? Departing tomorrow or landing tomorrow?”
So naggy, so many questions.
In the end, Tan Xingwei only typed into the chat box: “Well, it’s getting late. I’m going to sleep first.”
Su Xu: “Okay, good night.”
Tan Xingwei: “Good night.”
It had been a long time since she’d opened this chat window. Tan Xingwei had almost forgotten that right above Su Xu’s “Still awake?” lay their last two messages from four years ago, glaringly obvious.
Tan Xingwei: “Is it fun?”
Su Xu: “Not fun.”
The way it was phrased made it seem like something had happened between them before. Haha, not at all.
Su Xu was just her sister’s classmate, just someone she called “Big Sister Ah Xu,” who was four years older, four grades ahead, 5 centimeters taller, and just a big sister she would have had a hard time finding an excuse to see if not for her own sister.
Overthinking affected her nerves. In the blink of an eye, it was half past three in the morning, and Tan Xingwei still wasn’t asleep. At night, her spirit was even more sensitive and fragile. Tomorrow was the weekend, and her heart felt heavy.
After wrestling with her thoughts for a while, she finally turned on her desk lamp.
Searching for it, who wouldn’t know how?
The UK wasn’t that big, and there were only so many airports. The destination was Haicheng, narrowing the scope even further. Based on Su Xu’s comment about seeing the last sunset, and the fact that a flight from the UK takes at least ten hours, Tan Xingwei finally locked onto a flight from London to Haicheng, departing tonight and arriving tomorrow afternoon.
After a good while of searching, followed by a good while of analysis and confirmation, Tan Xingwei finally saved the flight information in her memos, feeling deeply that with this kind of perseverance and ability, she could succeed at anything.
The next day, she and Tan Yinqing went home for their routine meal. At noon, the two sisters met at the dining table, saw each other’s tired, sleep-deprived faces, and shared a knowing smile.
After the meal, the two sisters sat on the sofa watching TV. After flipping through a few channels, they settled on a variety show rerun featuring a male celebrity Tan Yinqing was currently following.
Their mother cut up some fruit and then went out. Tan Xingwei used a small fork to spear a piece of cantaloupe into her mouth, crunching on it as she watched TV.
While crunching, she casually asked, “How did you know Big Sister Ah Xu was coming back today?”
Tan Yinqing also leaned over to eat some cantaloupe. “She said so in the group chat.”
Their four-person roommate group chat.
Tan Xingwei said, “Oh.” Just then, a funny moment happened on the variety show, and Tan Yinqing leaned back on the sofa, grinning.
Tan Xingwei also leaned back on the sofa. “Is she arriving in Haicheng today?”
Tan Yinqing was also crunching. “Probably. When we chatted yesterday, she was already getting ready to go to the airport.”
Tan Xingwei became even more certain about the flight in her memos.
“Is she coming back by herself?” Tan Xingwei asked again.
Tan Yinqing: “Don’t know, didn’t ask.”
Tan Xingwei chuckled lightly. “Are you two on such bad terms now?”
Tan Yinqing disagreed, her gaze shifting abruptly to Tan Xingwei. “No way. We chat in our group every day, okay?”
Tan Xingwei said, “Oh,” opened her mouth, then closed it again. The question in her heart, “So, is she in a relationship?” stubbornly refused to come out.
Instead, it was Tan Yinqing who said, “She actually asked about you a couple of days ago.”
The piece of cantaloupe at Tan Xingwei’s lips fell to the floor.
Tan Yinqing didn’t notice, continuing to watch her show. “She asked if you were about to graduate from university.”
Tan Xingwei grabbed a tissue and squatted down to clean up the mess. “How did the conversation turn to me?”
Tan Yinqing turned and patted a small charm on her bag. “I mentioned in the group that you suddenly grew a conscience and actually managed to snag this for me, so she asked about you.”
Tan Xingwei scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Tan Yinqing. Who snagged your concert tickets for you last month?”
Tan Yinqing’s expression immediately changed. “You, you, you,” she said, sidling up to her stickily. “Little sister is the best.”
Tan Xingwei pushed Tan Yinqing away. “Get off me, you’re gross.”
Tan Yinqing cheerfully speared another piece of cantaloupe. “It’s been almost four years since we’ve seen her. You hadn’t even started university when she left.”
Tan Xingwei: “I was about to start.”
Tan Yinqing: “So you hadn’t started.”
Tan Xingwei didn’t argue the point. “So, are you going to pick her up later?”
Tan Yinqing had an expression that said she hadn’t considered it at all. Tan Xingwei immediately seized the opportunity. “See? I told you your relationship was just so-so.”
Tan Yinqing scoffed. “We’ve already made plans to have a meal tomorrow.” She thought for a moment and added, “Someone’s probably picking her up.”
Tan Xingwei took another bite of cantaloupe. “Who?”
Tan Yinqing retorted, “You’re asking so many questions. Are you going to pick her up?”
Tan Xingwei crunched. “Yeah, you’re just figuring that out?”
Tan Yinqing started laughing as if an idea had just struck her. She picked up her phone from the table, tapped it a few times, and then pressed the talk button. “Ah Xu, Xingxing says she’s going to pick you up in a bit.”
Tan Xingwei shot over and snatched the phone from Tan Yinqing.
She had actually sent a voice message. Tan Xingwei hurriedly tried to retract it.
It was too late. In the four-person group chat, someone named Chen Jing had already replied: “Xingxing is going to pick up Ah Xu?”
Tan Xingwei’s scalp tingled. “Tan Yinqing!”
Tan Yinqing waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just a joke, no one will believe it.” She took her phone back from Tan Xingwei. “Why are you still like this? You get so nervous whenever it’s about Ah Xu.”
“You’re the one who…” Tan Xingwei started, but then sat back down. “I can’t be bothered to talk to you.”
The living room fell quiet again. Tan Yinqing treated the little episode as just a joke, letting it pass without a second thought, just like many times before.
The variety show continued to play. The two of them occupied opposite corners of the sofa, still a pair of loving sisters.
Time ticked by. Tan Xingwei kept a close eye on her phone, and finally, at three in the afternoon, she received a call from a local courier.
She whispered a few words, glanced at Tan Yinqing sleeping on the sofa, and stealthily left the house.
Five minutes later, Tan Xingwei received the flowers from the courier.
Cool Water roses, phalaenopsis orchids, and globe amaranth—a bouquet with a very spring-like feel. Xue Fu had said it was perfect for a girl, and even more perfect for picking someone up at the airport.
It was very beautiful, fitting for today’s weather and for the white dress with a red bow that Tan Xingwei was wearing. It was just a bit too big to hold in her hands.
So big that Tan Xingwei wanted to give up.
The main door downstairs was a huge pane of glass, which now reflected Tan Xingwei’s figure holding the bouquet.
Tan Xingwei looked at her reflection in the glass door, thinking to herself, isn’t this a bit too much?
Maybe I should just forget it. Who do you think you are, showing up at the airport with such a huge bouquet without saying anything beforehand? You’ll scare her to death.
Maybe I should just forget it. Why go to the airport? Who asked you to go? What if someone else is picking her up? What are you doing, getting your hopes up for nothing?
Maybe I should just forget it. Who even remembers anything anymore?
Tan Xingwei let out a long sigh and started to feel conflicted again.
Her thoughts flew back to a certain night four years ago.
“Then when I come back in the future, will you come pick me up?”
“Okay, okay.”
