Chapter 3: Bone-Stripping

Sunlight slanted through the gaps between the plane tree leaves, scattering a mosaic of golden light across the shaded path. Yuan Xi, clutching her freshly received lab report, walked toward the cafeteria, her phone vibrating twice in her pocket.

"Xi Xi, your sister is coming home for dinner tonight. You should come back too. It's been so long since the family was all together," Xu Jiazhi said, her voice cheerful. "What do you want to eat? I'll go grocery shopping."

Yuan Xi paused.

Several sparrows fluttered away from the plane tree, their wings rustling. She stood still, the sunlight warming her shoulders.

She remembered Qi Huaiyu's gaze following her as she left that day, a look of bewilderment and helplessness in her eyes, like a child caught red-handed after doing something wrong.

Yuan Xi's fingers tightened unconsciously around her phone.

After a few seconds of silence, she said, "I want your braised ribbonfish."

"Braised ribbonfish?" Xu Jiazhi was taken aback. "It's really been ages since I made that."

"Yeah, I'll head back soon."

After hanging up, Yuan Xi stood in the middle of the shaded path, her mind drifting back to events from years ago.

When Qi Huaiyu was still living at home, she loved braised hairtail. Every time Xu Jiazhi made this dish, Qi Huaiyu would hold her small bowl and lean against Qi Zheng, playfully asking her dad to pick out the fish meat for her. Qi Zheng would always shake his head with a smile, saying she was too old to be fed by hand, but his hands would deftly remove the bones and place the clean fish meat on her steaming rice.

That scene once filled Yuan Xi with warmth and a sense of distance.

Later, Qi Huaiyu went to middle school and chose to board at the school, saying she didn't want to stay at home. At first, she came back every week, then every two weeks, and then once a month.

By her third year of middle school, she stopped coming home altogether.

Yuan Xi remembered one Friday evening when Qi Huaiyu lingered at school until after nine, then took a taxi home. That night, Xu Jiazhi and Qi Zheng were out, so Yuan Xi was home alone. She was doing homework in the study when she heard the lock click. When she walked out, she saw Qi Huaiyu standing in front of the dining table, staring blankly at a bowl covered with plastic wrap.

It was a bowl of perfectly deboned braised hairtail meat, its color bright and glossy, looking moist and rich.

"Sister, you're back," Yuan Xi said.

Qi Huaiyu didn't look at her, just hummed in response. Just then, Xu Jiazhi returned. She quickly tidied up, heated some rice in the kitchen, and chided Qi Huaiyu for coming home so late. Qi Huaiyu gave half-hearted replies, burying her head in her food and devouring the small bowl of fish meat completely.

On the second weekend, Qi Huaiyu returned early.

Yuan Xi happened to be reading in the living room when Qi Huaiyu walked in. Her steps were light and brisk, her eyes sparkling as if she were anticipating something. At dinner, a small bowl of deboned hairtail meat appeared on the table as expected. Qi Huaiyu ate with delight, while Xu Jiazhi chatted with her, asking about her studies and whether she had made any new friends.

Uncharacteristically, Qi Huaiyu didn't show impatience. She answered while eating, and the atmosphere was unusually harmonious.

Towards the end of the meal, Xu Jiazhi suddenly sighed. "Xiaoyu, look how good your sister is to you. She spent almost an hour carefully deboning that hairtail just for you."

Qi Huaiyu's chopsticks, halfway to picking up another piece of fish, froze mid-air.

Yuan Xi, sitting opposite her, dared not look at Qi Huaiyu's expression. The chopsticks in her hand trembled slightly.

For the rest of the meal, Qi Huaiyu spoke very little. She didn't touch the hairtail in her bowl again, eating only a few bites of other dishes before pushing her chopsticks aside and saying she was full.

Before leaving that week, Qi Huaiyu said to Xu Jiazhi without turning around, "Mom, I don't like braised hairtail anymore. Don't make it for me again."

Yuan Xi stood in the living room, watching her sister's figure disappear through the door.

After that, the dish rarely appeared on the family's dining table.

Students strolled along the tree-lined avenue in pairs and small groups, leaving Yuan Xi standing alone like a forgotten doll. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and turned toward the subway station.

The subway car wasn't crowded, and Yuan Xi found a window seat. She pulled out her phone and swiped through the screen until she opened an app with a blue bird icon.

Her following list contained only one account: @It's Q.

This was Qi Huaiyu's most popular social media account, boasting nearly 1.5 million followers. Yuan Xi tapped on her profile. Most of Qi Huaiyu's posts featured close-ups of individual fashion items, occasionally interspersed with a few live photos that garnered two to three thousand likes. Posts showing behind-the-scenes footage from studio shoots could rack up over ten thousand likes.

Yuan Xi scrolled down and tapped on the latest post.

It was a before-and-after makeup comparison photo Qi Huaiyu had taken in the dressing room a few days earlier.

In the makeup-free photo, her skin was slightly pale, with faint dark circles under her eyes. Her nude lips were slightly parted, and her gaze held a hazy, languid look, as if she hadn't slept well. Her chestnut-colored hair was slightly disheveled and fluffy, giving her a chaotic yet captivating beauty. Without makeup, her facial features were more pronounced and raw. She would break out from late nights and worry about dry skin.

After applying her makeup, Yuan Xi's appearance was flawless and exquisite. Her eyes slanted upward, exuding a captivating charm, and her aggressive beauty seemed to have just broken free from its shell, sharp enough to cut.

Yuan Xi stared for a long time before liking the post.

She closed Little Blue Bird and returned to WeChat.

The top of her chat list were the Graduate Student Group and the Study Group. Yuan Xi scrolled down until she found the conversation with Qi Huaiyu. Their last contact had been the day she visited Qi Huaiyu's home, when they had tried to make a voice call at the door, which went unanswered.

A week had already passed.

The subway announcement for the next station rang out. Yuan Xi turned off her phone screen and stood up to walk toward the door.

After exiting the subway station, she still had to cross an intersection to get home. Yuan Xi bought a bag of oranges at a roadside fruit stand, and casually grabbed two boxes of blueberries before strolling leisurely toward her apartment complex.

When she arrived home, Xu Jiazhi was busy in the kitchen, with Qi Zheng helping nearby. Yuan Xi washed her hands and joined them.

"Why are you home so early today?" Xu Jiazhi asked, chopping vegetables. "Finished with classes?"

"Yeah, I don't have class this afternoon." Yuan Xi took the knife from her mother. "Mom, let me do it."

"Okay. You chop the onions, ginger, and garlic, and I'll handle the hairtail." Xu Jiazhi gave up her spot and continued her motherly fussing. "Are you feeling stressed lately?"

"Not bad," Yuan Xi replied, her knife moving with practiced efficiency as she sliced the scallions into fine strips. "How are Mom and Dad doing lately?"

"We're fine, it's your sister who keeps us worried," Qi Zheng interjected from the side. "You should talk to her. If you don't take care of your body when you're young, you'll regret it later."

Yuan Xi smiled but didn't respond. In reality, Qi Huaiyu was quite health-conscious, but she was too demanding of herself when it came to work.

The three of them busied themselves in the kitchen, the atmosphere warm and harmonious. As dishes began to appear on the table, Yuan Xi went to clean up the kitchen mess. Xu Jiazhi's apartment was in a nine-story building with two units per floor, and the kitchen window faced the complex's main gate.

While wiping down the stove, she glanced up and saw a silver BMW M4 turn into the complex.

The cold glow of the streetlights reflected off the car's metallic body. Yuan Xi's hand paused for a moment before she continued wiping the stove, as if she hadn't seen anything.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.

"Don't you know the password?" Xu Jiazhi walked to the door, her voice tinged with playful reproach as she greeted her beloved daughter.

Qi Huaiyu stood in the doorway, wearing a fitted black t-shirt that accentuated her slender waist and flared jeans that clung to her curves. With light makeup and her long hair casually cascading down, she looked effortlessly stylish.

"I forgot," she said, changing her shoes as she entered.

Qi Zheng walked over from the living room and immediately started nagging her. "Why have you lost weight again? Look at your face—it's as pale as a ghost."

Qi Huaiyu gave a few perfunctory responses, tossed her bag onto the sofa, and headed for the bathroom.

As she passed the kitchen door, Yuan Xi happened to walk out. They met face-to-face in the narrow corner.

The space was cramped, and they were standing close. Suddenly, Yuan Xi caught a faint, cool, and distant scent on Qi Huaiyu. It smelled like some kind of plant, with a hint of damp, moss-like air.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Qi Huaiyu wanted to say something. Her lips moved, but no words came out. She wanted to explain what had happened that day, but even she didn't know how to explain it. Why had she thrown away Yuan Xi's photo? She couldn't articulate it.

Yuan Xi acted as if nothing had happened, stepping aside with a calm tone. "You're back, Sister."

The word "Sister" landed clearly in Qi Huaiyu's ears. It sounded jarring, though she couldn't say why.

She hummed unhappily and brushed past Yuan Xi. Just as she reached the sink, a voice called out from behind her:

"Water of Senses—"

Qi Huaiyu froze.

She turned her head and saw Yuan Xi watching her, her dark eyes shining like the surface of a bottomless lake.

"Sister doesn't like light perfumes, does she? Says they have no scent," Yuan Xi said with a faint, knowing smile.

Water of Senses was Yuan Xi's favorite perfume.

Its cool citrus notes blended with white musk, lingering subtly without being ostentatious, yet stubbornly clinging to the air.

Qi Huaiyu didn't know what came over her. When Xu Jiazhi called to urge her home for dinner, the refusal was already on the tip of her tongue, yet she inexplicably said, "I know." Before leaving, she had a whole cabinet full of perfumes, but she inexplicably reached for the dusty bottle of Water of Senses.

Qi Huaiyu met Yuan Xi's gaze, her expression turning cold.

"I just used whatever was there," she said. "It really has no scent."

With that, she entered the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

Yuan Xi stood there, watching the closed door, and gave a faint, helpless smile.

Qi Huaiyu's methods were always peculiar. She pushed people away with the sharpest words, yet drew them closer through the most subtle means. Sometimes Yuan Xi wondered if their relationship would have been simpler if Qi Huaiyu's aversion to her had been unclouded by any lingering affection.

During dinner, the family gathered around the table, where four dishes and one soup were laid out.

The moment Qi Huaiyu saw the braised hairtail, she froze.

She thought she had forgotten.

She thought that after so many years, she would have long since moved past it.

Yet now, looking at the familiar dish, she realized she hadn't forgotten anything. She remembered that Friday evening, when she deliberately lingered at school until very late before going home. When she lifted the plastic wrap from the table, she saw a small bowl of meticulously deboned fish meat. She remembered thinking her dad had prepared it for her, and a warmth she hadn't felt in years surged through her. The following weekend, she returned home early and found the same bowl of fish meat. Her mother said, "See how good your sister is to you?"

At that moment, the feeling of something tightening around her heart nearly made her dizzy.

She realized she remembered every detail of what had happened between Yuan Xi and her with perfect clarity. She couldn't even recall how much money she'd earned today, but she clearly remembered Yuan Xi's face turning pale as she heard her words that day. Those fragments played in her mind like a stop-motion film, each scene freezing in place.

Qi Huaiyu picked up a piece of hairtail fish and put it in her mouth. It was a bit too salty, not quite like she remembered.

Xu Jiazhi and Qi Zheng were chatting casually, discussing everything from the neighbor's child who had passed the civil service exam to the upcoming elevator installation in their building and a relative's second child. Qi Huaiyu wasn't interested, offering half-hearted responses until the conversation inevitably turned to her.

"Xiaoyu, how's your love life going?" Xu Jiazhi asked tentatively. "I have a friend whose son is quite accomplished—a PhD in finance. Would you like me to introduce you?"

Qi Huaiyu's chopsticks paused mid-air as she looked up.

"A PhD? Does he make more than I do?" She put down her chopsticks, her tone impatient. "Am I supposed to support him, or he me? What's so great about dating anyway? It drains your energy, money, and time. The men I know are rarely reliable. After 26, they all get fat, start looking like shrimp heads, and still fantasize about being kept by rich women."

Xu Jiazhi was stunned by her outburst, and Qi Zheng opened his mouth, struggling to find a retort.

Forced to change the subject, Xu Jiazhi turned to Yuan Xi.

"What about you, Xixi? Surely there are plenty of eligible young men in your department?"

Yuan Xi put down her chopsticks and said gently, "Mom, I'm still quite busy with my studies and don't have time to think about these things right now."

"Busy with what? You're already in graduate school. You should be considering personal matters..."

"Is there anything else we can talk about?" Qi Huaiyu suddenly interrupted, her brow furrowing. "Why do women have to be in relationships? Why don't you talk about my new car instead? Are you two bored at home? If so, I'll pay for you to go anywhere you want, all expenses covered."

Xu Jiazhi, caught off guard, swallowed her words. Qi Zheng shook his head and smiled wryly.

Though their daughter had silenced them, the parents were deeply relieved by Qi Huaiyu's refusal to dwell on such matters. The girl had been stubborn since childhood and grew up to be even more independent, but she lived with such clarity, never wasting energy on trivialities.

This is good, Xu Jiazhi thought. At least she won't be taken advantage of.

Yuan Xi lowered her head and continued eating, remaining silent.

Her gaze fell on the plate of braised hairtail. Qi Huaiyu had eaten more than usual tonight. She had once said she disliked braised hairtail, but Yuan Xi understood: what she truly disliked was her.