WC ⋆ Chapter 61

According to data from the Ministry of Transport, the total volume of cross-regional population movement nationwide during this year's Spring Festival travel season is expected to exceed 3 billion trips…

The mechanical female voice bored into his ears like a power drill, massacring Jiang Yishen's brain and dragging him bodily out of his dream. He opened his eyes and rolled over on his pillow three times before realizing it wasn't a mechanical female voice at all, but the television news broadcast.

He lit up his phone and glanced at it. Eight-thirty in the morning.

Jiang Changpeng had turned the TV up very loud, filling the small home with unusual noise. Jiang Yishen was dead tired. The night before, he had snuck out in the middle of the night to meet someone secretly downstairs at Qi Lin's building, had nearly been caught by Qi Lin's parents, and had run a triathlon escaping their clutches, only getting home after one in the morning.

He buried his face in the blanket, preparing to sleep a little longer, but a string of loud firecrackers from downstairs woke up all four surrounding buildings.

"Dad," Jiang Yishen howled, "why are you up so early? We're not making the New Year's Eve dinner until the afternoon."

"What time do you think it is!" His dad's voice came from somewhere impossibly distant and faint.

Jiang Yishen was so startled by this voice from the heavens that he bolted upright, threw off the blanket, and ran out, only to find Jiang Changpeng hanging outside the living room window, one foot on the security grille and one foot on the windowsill, with a dish of white paste beside him. He was using a chopstick to spread it onto the hanging paper decorations[[1]].

"Dad, come down!" Jiang Yishen's head swam. "I'll do it, I'll do it!"

"Forget it, go get the mop and wipe the floor." Jiang Changpeng was too tall and had to hunch over inside the security grille. He pressed the hanging decoration onto the window and ended up with all five fingers smeared red.

Jiang Yishen watched for a moment, his drowsiness completely gone. He went back and changed his clothes, then sent Qi Lin a message saying good morning.

This year was Qi Lin's zodiac year[[2]], and he planned to find time soon to get a red string to tie around Qi Lin.

There was no reply from the other side. Maybe he hadn't gotten up yet. Jiang Yishen fetched the broom from the bathroom and swept the floor, keeping Jiang Changpeng company for the big New Year's clean.

In previous years the two of them would just throw together a simple meal and call it their New Year's Eve dinner, but this year Jiang Changpeng intended to make it more of an occasion. He had bought a fish in advance and was waiting to cook it.

Jiang Yishen didn't want him to tire himself out, so he ordered a few dishes from outside and let Jiang Changpeng focus on that half-dead fish.

Jiang Changpeng had many dietary restrictions now, this couldn't be eaten and that couldn't be eaten either, and he had to test his blood sugar every day. Living alone, he always just made do with whatever was convenient, and it had been a long time since he had cooked anything substantial. Watching him set up the cutting board and wield the knife with such sharp-eyed energy, Jiang Yishen felt genuinely happy.

The cars downstairs in the building entrance never stopped, coming and going, and from upstairs you could hear the sound of people chatting. He spent the whole afternoon itching with restlessness, and could only keep sending messages to bother Qi Lin.

He wanted to see Qi Lin but couldn't arrange it, and felt like a demon locked in the grip of old tree vines, unbearably uncomfortable all over. Qi Lin was at home helping his parents with things too. From the description it sounded like things were going reasonably well. Qi Lin's father had brought him some braised meat he had made at home, and hadn't brought up the matter of coming out.

In the afternoon Qi Lin sent him a photo. It was the cactus. The cactus had bloomed.

The tiny cactus had nurtured its bud all the way to full bloom: rose-red petals, pale yellow stamens, blooming in a complete ring all the way around, like a beautiful and vivid flower crown sitting on top of it.

Qi Lin recorded a short video for him. In the video, Qi Lin poked at the petals with one finger and rattled off something or other, apparently giving a little lecture on what the flower was called. Jiang Yishen finished watching it and couldn't remember a single thing, so he tapped it open and watched it again. He couldn't make out anything at all except that one finger.

Jiang Yishen replied: baby I miss you.

Qi Lin took a while before sending a voice message: I was showing you the flower, did you even look at it? The cactus is a lot smaller than it was at the beginning, but the flowers all bloomed.

Seven seconds of voice message. Jiang Yishen played it eight times, and then stubbornly replied: baby I miss you.

Qi Lin was rendered speechless by him. The next voice message came with a laugh in it: we'll be able to see each other in a couple of days.

The cactus blooming seemed to signal the end of the loop. This was the first day without the loop, and you only appreciate what you have once it's gone. Jiang Yishen let his imagination run wild, thinking that if the loop were still going, he would definitely sneak Qi Lin away and do something else entirely without a care in the world.

But it was all over now. That fantastical and extraordinary month had descended like a miracle and then departed without a sound.

Jiang Changpeng's braised fish turned out perfectly. It was brought to the table just as the evening news was ending, and the closing theme drifted through the whole house along with the aroma.

Jiang Yishen boiled dumplings on a separate burner, following a tutorial he had found online, conscientiously carrying out the cycle of adding a bowl of water when it boiled, then adding another bowl of water when it boiled again.

While boiling the dumplings he sneakily called Qi Lin. The other side answered just as furtively. Fortunately the TV was loud enough that Jiang Yishen could whisper: "Baby, I miss you."

Qi Lin paused for a moment before saying quietly, "Press one for customer service."

"You miss me too," Jiang Yishen declared, brooking no argument.

Qi Lin seemed to laugh a little. "I miss you too. I have to go, it's time to sit down and eat. Let's chat on WeChat."

The brief exchange ended. At least he had heard Qi Lin's voice. Jiang Yishen, in his happiness, boiled the dumplings until the skins split open and the filling spilled all through the pot. He scooped them out and brought them to Jiang Changpeng to look at. Jiang Changpeng didn't want to deal with him.

The restrictions on fireworks this year were indeed very strict, and not many people were setting them off. Occasionally a few bursts of fireworks exploded in the sky, and from the direction they all seemed to be coming from the small square in the Residential Complex.

Jiang Yishen hadn't felt such a rich New Year's atmosphere in a long time. In the past he had always assumed it was just that there were fewer firecrackers, that people were busier, that time moved faster. Now he realized it was perhaps only because his mindset had changed.

When he was once again looking forward to the new year as eagerly as he had as a child, the "New Year's atmosphere" surrounded him again. Pulling open the curtain, he felt that everything was renewed and full of anticipation.

Jiang Changpeng took out the firecrackers he had bought from the strawberry vendor and brought Jiang Yishen along to set them off in the small square.

As midnight approached, every household had its lights on. Big red hanging decorations fluttered in front of the windows. The small square was the gathering spot for people from several nearby residential complexes to set off fireworks, and quite a crowd had assembled. The long street blazed with lights, lively and bustling.

Jiang Yishen called Qi Lin. Qi Lin was still with his parents and couldn't come out to meet him, so they could only stay connected through the screen, Qi Lin listening through his earphones to the clamor of the crowd in the square.

A lighter struck a flame, lighting the fuse of a firecracker. Amid the crackling explosions, someone in the distance began the New Year countdown.

For a moment it felt as though they had returned to the street corner on New Year's Eve, the same teeming crowd, the two of them not far apart, gazing at each other from a distance, drawing closer step by step through the deafening cheers.

Firelight lit up the sky and earth. Countless fireworks rose and burst open. The wind was still strong that night, but Jiang Yishen didn't feel cold at all. His ears had been blown red by the wind. Jiang Changpeng stood beside him, both of them tilting their heads back to watch the sky.

There was no countdown screen in the small square, but quite a few residents from neighboring complexes who had driven over got out of their cars and gathered in twos and threes around the area, preparing to welcome the new year together.

This time there was no synchronized shouted countdown. Jiang Yishen simply lowered his eyes to his phone screen, where Qi Lin was on the video call, and where the second hand was moving.

Three seconds left.

He decided to give his dad a hug, and then say the first "Happy New Year" to both his dad and Qi Lin.

One second left.

Jiang Yishen drew a deep breath and turned to face Jiang Changpeng.

00:00.

Jiang Yishen had just raised one arm when suddenly his vision blurred. The ground beneath his feet rippled out of nowhere, colors twisted and drained away, sounds faded and disappeared, all the excitement and joy was pulled far away and turned into a filmstrip, spinning at high speed.

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Yishen snapped back to himself and found that he was standing under a dim yellow streetlamp.

No firecrackers, no smell of fireworks, no overlapping voices. Qi Lin was standing right in front of him, his expression just as stunned.

"Ba…" Jiang Yishen quickly felt around in his pocket for his phone. "What's today's date? What's going on? Where's my phone? My phone is gone?"

"Your phone is in your hand." Qi Lin used both hands to pin down Jiang Yishen's hands, which were groping everywhere, and shook the phone that was nearly being crushed in his grip.

The lock screen lit up. It read: January 29th, 00:00, the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month[[3]], New Year's Eve.

"Huh?" Jiang Yishen couldn't come back to his senses. His whole being was still immersed in the excitement of New Year's Eve. The surroundings were so quiet that he felt disoriented. "Are we… still in the loop? Didn't the cactus already bloom?"

Qi Lin froze for a moment, then furrowed his brow and worked it out: "I understand now. The 30-day deadline isn't up to the 29th, it's up to the 30th. It's tomorrow. Today is the last day of the loop."

The two of them stared at each other, the disconnect between their bodies and their minds leaving them both bewildered, until Qi Lin suddenly shoved him and said urgently, "Wait, if today is the early morning of the 29th, then…"

"Xiao Qi? Is that Xiao Qi?" Two voices suddenly came from behind them.

Jiang Yishen felt as though someone had clubbed him over the head. His three souls and seven spirits[[4]] snapped back into place in one second, a shot of adrenaline plunging straight into his chest. He grabbed Qi Lin's hand and turned to run.

Today was the early morning of the 29th. He had snuck out while Jiang Changpeng was asleep to secretly meet Qi Lin downstairs at his building, and after Xing Yun discovered that Qi Lin wasn't home and came chasing down after them, he had fled in a panic.

"What do we do!" Jiang Yishen hadn't expected to experience such a humiliating loop. He ran without thinking, turning at every bend he saw.

"Why are you dragging me along!" Qi Lin was startled too, stumbling along as he was pulled into a run.

The first time they had been caught out, back on "yesterday," Qi Lin had told Jiang Yishen to run on his own while he waited in place for his mom to come chasing down, saying he had just gone out to buy a snack, which had been enough to get by.

Jiang Yishen didn't know why he had pulled Qi Lin along. His brain had just gotten hot and his hand had moved on its own.

"Hey wait, my mom is going to call the police in a minute!" Qi Lin's vision went dark. "We can't spend today in a police station!"

"I'll send her a message in a bit telling her I took you away!" Jiang Yishen didn't slow his steps.

The streetlamps stretched their shadows out very long behind them. The 24-hour convenience store still had its lights on, a big red double-happiness character[[5]] pasted on its door. Cars flowed steadily along the road. Red lanterns hung in the trees for the new year, and the night wind howled through their hair. They ran down a road that felt entirely unfamiliar.

Jiang Yishen felt his heart about to pound out of his chest. On the last day of the loop, he had decided to elope with Qi Lin.