Already prepared. Two people were already prepared for the art exhibition that Yan Yu would be attending.
But not everyone was like Dai Feng and Bai Yan’er.
Inside an old rental apartment, the atmosphere was completely different from the two aforementioned places.
Ruo Xiaozhen had liked Yan Yu’s friendship circle post almost instantly, and with her fingers flying, she left several enthusiastic comments in the comment section:
“Crazy cheering for you! Xiao Yu is the best!!! The painting turned out so beautiful!!! You’re truly my goddess roommate and sisterhood! So proud of you!”
After posting the comment, she hugged her mobile phone, looking at it again and again with delight:
“I’ll definitely go cheer for you on Saturday! Wait for me!”
As if she were basking in reflected glory.
However, when she casually tapped open the detailed notice for the art exhibition to confirm the exact time, the smile on her face suddenly froze.
“W-wait…”
Her eyes widening, she read the notice two more times, then let out a wail,
“Ahhh—! How could this be?!”
She sprang up from the bed like a shot, hugging her mobile phone and rolling around on the mattress, her legs kicking the blanket messily, like a golden retriever that had its favorite toy taken away.
“Why! Why does it have to be Saturday afternoon! Why does the art exhibition clash with my elective course’s field training! I can’t go to the art exhibition with Xiao Yu anymore, I’m so upset!!!”
Yan Yu was sitting on a small stool by the bed, quietly folding clothes that had been dried warm in the sun and just brought in from the balcony.
Hearing Ruo Xiaozhen’s wail, she looked up, somewhat amused, at her roommate who was rolling into a mess on the bed.
Yan Yu’s voice carried a smile, warm and clear:
“Xiao Zhen, why do you want to go with me so badly?”
Upon hearing this, Ruo Xiaozhen stopped rolling, poking half her body out from the blanket.
Her hair was tousled messily, and her cheeks were flushed from her earlier excitement.
She looked at Yan Yu, her eyes sparkling, and answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Because—I’m happy when I’m with you!”
She said it so matter-of-factly, so sincerely, that Yan Yu’s hands folding clothes paused for a brief moment.
“Happy with me, really?”
Yan Yu asked.
“Of course it’s true!”
Ruo Xiaozhen nodded vigorously.
“You’re so clingy with me, what will you do when we graduate?”
Yan Yu teased her.
Hearing this, the excitement on Ruo Xiaozhen’s face faded slightly, replaced by a hint of vague unease.
“Graduate… hmm…”
That word still felt somewhat distant and unfamiliar to her, who had just started college not long ago.
She didn’t speak right away, falling silent instead, hugging her knees and resting her chin on them.
“What’s wrong, Xiao Zhen?”
Yan Yu noticed the change in her mood and asked softly.
“It’s nothing…”
Ruo Xiaozhen’s voice was muffled, carrying a rare hint of dejection that didn’t match her usual energetic image,
“It’s just that when I think about graduation, I feel a little… sentimental.”
“Sentimental?”
Yan Yu was a bit puzzled.
This girl was usually full of vitality, as if no worry could cling to her for more than three minutes.
Seeing her suddenly get emotional caught Yan Yu off guard.
“I mean it.”
Ruo Xiaozhen looked up at Yan Yu, a complex emotion in her eyes,
“Xiao Yu, after we graduate, we’ll definitely be busy looking for jobs and internships, right? Once work stabilizes, we might start thinking about marriage, then each start our own families…”
Yan Yu’s hands folding clothes paused for two seconds.
From the perspective of the common social clock and life trajectory, what Ruo Xiaozhen said was indeed “conventional logic.”
“If that happens…”
Ruo Xiaozhen’s voice grew even quieter, carrying a loss she herself hadn’t fully understood,
“The distance between me and you will definitely grow further and further apart, right?”
That “distance” didn’t just refer to physical space, but also life trajectories, and that close, inseparable companionship of being together day and night.
Yan Yu fell silent.
She didn’t know how to answer.
She had transmigrated here, becoming “Yan Yu,” caring only about starting a brand new life, striving to survive, and trying to live as well as she could.
As for the more distant future, for worldly destinations like “marriage” or “family,” she hadn’t thought too deeply, or rather, she instinctively avoided it.
After all, from her most fundamental inner identity, even if she were to build a close relationship in the future, she could only accept being with a woman.
But come to think of it, in this world, women and women could get married, right?
Yan Yu didn’t dwell on it too deeply.
“Well…”
Yan Yu chose her words carefully, trying to lighten the mood,
“Who can say for sure about the future? Maybe we’ll still be neighbors by then, or working together?”
But Ruo Xiaozhen shook her head, looking at Yan Yu very seriously.
Those eyes that were always full of laughter now held an unprecedented determination:
“I don’t want an ending like that at all.”
She paused, as if making up her mind, finally revealing a thought buried deep in her heart:
“Xiao Yu, I want to stay with you forever. Even if you think I’m clingy, it doesn’t matter. Even if… even if the two of us just stay together for our whole lives, that would be nice too…”
Having said that, she suddenly seemed to realize that her words carried emotions far beyond the boundaries of “sisterhood.”
Her face turned bright red in an instant, even the tips of her ears flushing crimson.
She abruptly covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes round and wide, full of shyness.
“What’s wrong?”
Yan Yu was caught off guard by her sudden reaction and turned to ask.
But Ruo Xiaozhen had already sprung up from the bed like a startled rabbit, hastily straightening her wrinkled pajamas, then dashed toward the door in a flurry.
“N-nothing!”
Her voice was a bit distorted, not daring to look back,
“Ah, right! My package seems to have arrived! I-I’ll go grab it!”
Before she even finished speaking, she had already disappeared past the door in a flash, leaving only a soft “thud” of the door closing, and the lingering, flustered atmosphere of awkwardness in the room.
Yan Yu was left alone in the room, still holding the white dress she had been folding halfway.
She looked at the closed door, then down at the clothes in her hands, tilting her head slightly, a trace of confusion passing through her clear eyes.
Outside the window, the sky was gradually darkening.
Saturday morning, sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains, casting soft patches of light on the wooden floor of the rental apartment.
When Yan Yu woke up, the bed beside her was already empty.
The room still carried the scent of laundry detergent mixed with sunshine that lingered on her.
Ruo Xiaozhen had an early morning elective class today and had already left first.
Yan Yu sat up, rubbed her eyes, and her gaze landed on the desk.
There sat a clean ceramic plate with two slices of toast cut in half, generously spread with thick chocolate sauce, and beside it, a small carton of fresh milk was thoughtfully placed.
Under the plate was a sticky note with Ruo Xiaozhen’s somewhat childlike handwriting:
“Xiao Yu, good morning! Remember to eat breakfast! I’ll try to rush over after class!”
Looking at that heartfelt breakfast, a warmth spread through Yan Yu’s heart.
She picked up the milk, inserted the straw, and drank it slowly, then ate half a piece of bread along with it.
The chocolate sauce was sweet, sweet just right, dispelling the last traces of morning drowsiness.
After finishing breakfast and washing up, Yan Yu began to prepare her outfit for going out.
She opened the wardrobe, her fingers gliding across a row of clothes, finally stopping at a sky-blue collarless dress.
She had specially picked it out online a few days ago. The style was simple and elegant, the color refreshing, perfect for summer.
She took out the dress, paired it with a pure white woven thin belt, and finally chose a pair of light brown leather sandals.
Yan Yu actually hadn’t known much about dressing up at first.
To research every aspect of being a girl, she had spent quite some time learning styling tips from fashion blogger videos.
Now, she was getting more and more adept at coordinating women’s outfits, and had even started to find a bit of joy in it.
After dressing neatly, Yan Yu stood in front of the mirror, slowly and carefully spinning around once.
The hem of the dress gently swayed in a soft arc with the movement.
Her body gradually recovering, her leg strength returning, now allowed her to perform such simple movements that had once been out of reach.
Though she still couldn’t stand for long periods or walk quickly, the joy of regaining a sense of control over her body was something nothing else could replace.
However, in front of others, Yan Yu still didn’t plan to reveal signs of recovery so soon.
She was well aware that her recovery speed, by this world’s medical standards, was fast enough to be “unreasonable.”
The system’s existence was her biggest secret, and when it was time to keep a low profile, she had to keep a low profile.
She didn’t linger at home too long.
After checking her small bag, she wheeled her chair out the door.
She still used that lightweight manual wheelchair, not an electric one.
A special note here: Yan Yu’s choice wasn’t entirely for economic reasons.
First, a manual wheelchair requires active effort to push, effectively exercising her upper limbs, shoulders, and back strength, and also serving as a mild workout for her cardiovascular system.
For someone like her who needed to maintain and strengthen muscle power, it was more like an active rehabilitation tool.
An electric wheelchair leaned more toward passive mobility, which would cost her many opportunities to move her body.
Second, a manual wheelchair is lighter, foldable, easy to put in a car trunk or take on public transportation, making it more practical for someone like Yan Yu who frequently needed to go out.
Finally, in relatively cramped or crowded indoor environments, a manual wheelchair has a smaller turning radius, more flexible and precise handling, doesn’t take up too much space, and is easier to avoid crowds.
After leaving the door, she took a bus, and after getting off, the mobile phone navigation clearly guided her route.
Yan Yu wheeled her chair through the streets that weren’t yet too crowded on Saturday morning.
The lush camphor leaves by the roadside gleamed in the sunlight.
The summer wind brushed her cheeks with warm air, and the modern gray building of the city art museum soon came into view.
The journey was smooth.
Even from a distance, she could see quite a crowd already gathered at the entrance of the art museum, bustling and lively.
Though events like art exhibitions usually didn’t attract the largest crowds compared to food festivals or flower shows, because this exhibition’s theme was “City·Scenery·Memory,” intimately tied to the land everyone lived on.
The collision of familiar local nostalgia and artistic expression still drew many citizens to come.
Yan Yu wheeled her chair forward.
The ticket-checking line wasn’t long, and she waited quietly at the back.
Before long, it was her turn.
The staff member was a young woman with a smiling face.
“Hello, please show your ticket or reservation code,”
the staff member said habitually.
“I don’t have a ticket,”
Yan Yu replied calmly.
Before the other could show a puzzled expression, she continued,
“My name is Yan Yu, and I’m one of the exhibiting artists in this exhibition. The organizer previously informed me that I could enter directly.”
“Yan Yu?”
The staff member was taken aback at first, then as if something suddenly clicked, her expression immediately shifted to surprise, even carrying a hint of respect.
“Oh my! So you’re Miss Yan! Sorry, sorry, I didn’t recognize you at first!”
She quickly stepped aside, promptly opening the side door for staff and special guests, making a “please” gesture.
“I’m really sorry to keep you waiting. Please, come in! The leadership already gave instructions earlier.”
The staff member was very enthusiastic:
“Um… we also have small souvenirs prepared for the exhibiting artists for this exhibition. After you finish viewing, you can pick one up at the service desk by the exit.”
“Thank you.”
Yan Yu nodded politely at her, then wheeled her chair smoothly through the special passage into the art museum.
Once inside, the air conditioning’s cool air immediately rushed over her, dispelling the summer heat outside.
The interior space of the art museum had high ceilings, and the lighting was carefully designed—bright and soft, focused on each painting.
There were even more visitors inside than it appeared from outside, gathered in small groups in front of different paintings, talking in low voices or quietly appreciating.
Because she was seated, Yan Yu’s line of sight was lower than most standing visitors.
She first paused at the entrance, looking around.
The passing crowd sometimes blocked her view, preventing her from seeing the entire layout of the exhibition hall and the paintings hanging farther away at a glance.
With no other choice, she had to wheel her chair herself, carefully weaving through the visitors, softly saying,
“Excuse me, coming through.”
Gradually approaching the paintings she wanted to see.
She didn’t rush to find her own <Time’s Reflection> first, but instead planned to look at the other exhibitors’ works first.
Just as Yan Yu’s figure disappeared into the crowd deeper in the exhibition hall, not far behind her, behind a partition wall covered with small decorative prints, a figure wearing a black baseball cap, a black mask over the face, a loose black T-shirt, and cargo pants was leaning out slightly, their gaze locked onto the girl wheeling her chair.
“Dai Jie, are you sure… you want to follow her around all sneaky like this?”
A voice full of helplessness sounded from beside this figure.
Dai Feng, wearing the black cap and mask, was startled, quickly pulling back, and glared irritably at A Yue, who had somehow sidled up next to her.