The next morning, on the way to Universal Studios.
Sunlight streamed into the car as Wang Luxi sat in the passenger seat, yawning frequently.
From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Yuan Bei—his hands were steady on the steering wheel, and from her angle, she couldn’t detect much fatigue on his face. But from the moment they left the parking garage and walked onto CityWalk, his first priority was buying coffee—extra ice with an additional shot—making all pretense meaningless.
Actually, Yuan Bei had stayed up quite late last night. Wang Luxi had heard him.
He remained in the living room until that movie finished, only then getting up and returning to his room.
The guest room at Yuan Bei’s place was tatami-style, making sounds from outside exceptionally clear. Wang Luxi lay flat, holding her breath as she listened to the movements. She heard Yuan Bei’s footsteps, very light, getting closer and closer. When those footsteps stopped outside her room door in silence, she could no longer bear it and pulled the blanket over her head.
…
Yuan Bei never knocked on that door.
So she would just pretend not to know.
…
“What would you like to drink?”
“Same as you.”
“Ice coffee first thing in the morning?” Yuan Bei looked up at her.
“You can drink it but I can’t?”
When the coffee came out, Wang Luxi was first to grab it and take a sip. Though she wanted to maintain today’s aloof style, she still failed to control herself—the bitterness made her eyebrows start twitching.
Yuan Bei found it amusing and ordered another cup without ice, chocolate, plus a blueberry bagel, stuffing them into her hands.
They followed the flow of tourists along CityWalk heading forward.
CityWalk was the shopping district outside Universal Studios. At the end stood a massive blue globe—Universal—the landmark of Universal Studios. When Wang Luxi saw that blue globe from afar, she went crazy, letting out a shriek before running forward quickly. At that moment, her carefully planned strategy of “not giving Yuan Bei a pleasant face today” officially failed.
She handed the Polaroid to Yuan Bei, asking him to help take a standard tourist photo right in front of those “Universal” letters.
Around the globe, people were posing from all directions. Wang Luxi positioned herself and gave directions: “Try to find a good angle with fewer strangers in the frame, otherwise who knows, maybe years from now…”
She didn’t finish her sentence.
Yuan Bei glanced at her.
So being passive-aggressive could be this interesting. Wang Luxi realized this, but she didn’t want to be too brazen, because no matter what she said, Yuan Bei wouldn’t engage or retort. It was like punching into a cloud, which was different from their interaction pattern over the past few days.
Without Yuan Bei’s comebacks, the fun was cut in half.
She was responsible for finding routes and directions, while Yuan Bei just followed behind carrying bags. Yuan Bei had taken it upon himself to buy Express Passes to shorten queue times and improve the experience, which left Wang Luxi somewhat helpless when she found out.
“I hate owing people favors… I’ll pay you back.”
Wang Luxi felt a bit guilty saying this, because she realized she had already been troubling Yuan Bei for so many days. She didn’t know if she still had time to make efforts to restore the balance between them to its original state.
“…If we can’t finish all the attractions today, it doesn’t matter. I’ll come back again in the future.”
She would be staying in Beijing for at least four more years. In the future, she could come with classmates, friends, roommates.
There would be many, many more opportunities.
As for today.
“Let’s just do our best today,” Wang Luxi crouched down to tighten her shoelaces. “Do our best and see how much I can experience. Let’s go!”
On yelling “let’s go,” Wang Luxi really did charge forward.
One day was too short, there were too many tourists, and she still had to account for photo spots. Besides running hard, there seemed to be no other solution.
She wanted to pull Yuan Bei along to run with her.
In this place that seemed detached from real life, as much as possible, with all her might, run forward.
Amusement parks always had to close, parades always had to end, performers had to clock out, lights had to be turned off—but before that happened, what could she do? What should she do?
Wang Luxi repeatedly asked herself in her heart.
The weather was still wonderful that day, seemingly even better than when they went to Beihai Park. Heaven was generous and considerate, spreading such a pure blue canvas that the photos looked like they’d already been color-corrected. In Wang Luxi’s instant photos, all the highly saturated color blocks on various buildings looked like splashed paint.
She lingered for a long time in Minion Land because there were the most children there, making it even more chaotic than the Jurassic and Transformers areas.
…How could children have so many quirky yet adorable poses for photos?
A little girl hugged a Minion sculpture, posing for an embracing photo, even kissing the few strands of hair on the Minion’s head. When it was Wang Luxi’s turn, she followed suit. From afar, she saw Yuan Bei holding the Polaroid seemingly smile, curving his lips and giving her a thumbs up.
The snack stand had Minion popcorn buckets that looked like little backpacks you could wear.
Popcorn was truly magical—you never thought about eating it normally, but whenever you encountered it at movie theaters or amusement parks, you had to buy some.
The previous batch had sold out, and new corn kernels were put into the machine. They had to wait fifteen minutes, and the waiting crowd formed a long line.
A father with a child wanted to cut in line. Facing the white-eyed stares of various parents, he approached Yuan Bei, seeing him alone and looking easygoing, so he asked if he could cut in line as his child was having a meltdown and crying.
“That’s rich coming from you. Who isn’t here with kids?” Yuan Bei naturally switched to Beijing dialect, nonchalantly taking a bucket of popcorn, and under surprised gazes, called to Wang Luxi who had just come out of the restroom after washing her hands, “Come over here!”
Wang Luxi strapped the popcorn bucket on her back and adjusted the straps.
She had no idea what had happened, only thinking that this popcorn was fresh from the machine, steaming hot, coated with a layer of caramel tasting so sweet.
So sweet that she couldn’t bear to finish it all at once.
“Yuan Bei, let’s go on the roller coaster. There’s going to be a parade soon, most people will definitely go watch the parade. If we go now, there will be fewer people.”
Most of Universal Studios’ rides were suitable for all ages, with the Decepticoaster being the only one that could be considered remotely “thrilling.”
Wang Luxi was someone who could handle drop towers, so this level of roller coaster posed no threat. She didn’t think much of it, but while she was sitting there spacing out, after a few bell rings ended, before she could react, whoosh—they shot forward.
There wasn’t much sensation of weightlessness, but the speed was extremely fast, exceeding Wang Luxi’s psychological expectations.
Getting off the ride, she nearly threw up.
Earlier, she had been the one grabbing Yuan Bei and repeatedly confirming: “Are you okay, Yuan Bei? Don’t try to act tough, Yuan Bei? If you can’t handle it, I can go by myself…”
Now look at what happened.
Yuan Bei stood beside her, patting her back. Wang Luxi first blamed the morning chocolate, then complained that the popcorn was too greasy. When she turned to see Yuan Bei obviously holding back laughter, she got annoyed.
“No way, I have to ride it again!”
To give Wang Luxi a chance to redeem herself, the two went to queue up again.
The Express Pass finally showed its effectiveness.
Although it couldn’t guarantee smooth passage everywhere, it did save considerable time. By near dusk, they had visited most areas.
Wang Luxi had scheduled the Harry Potter area for last, waiting until after dark to go.
The replica of Hogsmeade Village looked virtually identical to the movie. After dark, glass windows of various shops along the street would light up, orange lamps flickering dimly, shop doors repeatedly opening and closing amid the hustle and bustle. Looking up and forward, there was the massive Hogwarts Castle, right within reach. Perhaps even owls would be lazy—Wang Luxi thought that she had only received her acceptance letter to the wizarding world today.
She tugged at Yuan Bei who was walking ahead: “Wait a moment!”
Yuan Bei thought she had seen the passing tourists wearing wizard robes and was tempted, so he naturally headed toward the shops, only to be stopped by Wang Luxi again: “Hey, wait a moment!”
She looked up interactive points for the Harry Potter area on her phone, then pulled Yuan Bei in another direction: “Come on, this way. I absolutely have to try this.”
The so-called wand interaction involved sensors installed in shop windows that could detect wand-waving motions outside the windows, then trigger effects—like making little cakes in the window float or instantly lighting up oil lamps.
“Never mind the robes, they’re too hot.”
Wang Luxi had deliberated but ultimately worried that the bulky black robes would give her heat rash, so she gave up.
But she definitely had to buy a wand.
Beijing Universal Studios released one themed wand each year. This year’s featured phoenix elements, with red and black coloring on the handle—it looked very cool. When Wang Luxi saw the words “limited edition,” she couldn’t move her legs. Looking back at Yuan Bei, sure enough, he was the same as her, their gazes falling on the same spot.
The two snapped out of it, made eye contact, and both burst into laughter.
That’s how Wang Luxi acquired this wand. She experienced all the interactive points in the park once, still not satisfied, and then pointed the wand at Yuan Bei.
“My favorite spell is the Patronus Charm.”
“Expecto Patronum.” Yuan Bei completed the incantation for her.
Wang Luxi’s expression became delighted: “Ha! You know it!”
“…Guilty as charged, I did well in Charms class.”
Yuan Bei maintained that same show-off manner, fully in character, making Wang Luxi laugh again.
The Patronus Charm was a spell in Harry Potter used to repel Dementors, summoning one’s own Patronus. They sometimes appeared in animal form, pure as moonlight, bringing light and hope to wizards.
Wang Luxi asked Yuan Bei: “What about you?”
Yuan Bei thought for a moment: “Lumos?”
…That was the Lighting Charm, making light flicker.
That was definitely Yuan Bei’s style—a low-maintenance person. While others wished for the moon, he only wanted a star.
“Then may I ask, dear Charms class representative, which house are you from?” Wang Luxi raised her wand in front of Yuan Bei, drawing a circle, then was caught by Yuan Bei, whose meaningful look asked: Are we continuing this act?
“I’m from Gryffindor.” Wang Luxi introduced herself first, even “elegantly” extending her hand.
Yuan Bei’s gaze swept over Wang Luxi’s open palm. He smiled, placed his hand over hers in a light grip: “Hello, brave Gryffindor.”
Palms overlapped.
Then simultaneously released.
…Wang Luxi was stunned for a moment. Looking at her empty palm, she suddenly felt she still wasn’t brave enough.
Brave Gryffindors wouldn’t look before they leaped, wouldn’t overthink, and certainly wouldn’t hesitate. They would only focus on what they believed in and charge forward regardless of consequences.
“What are you pondering?” While she was in a daze, Yuan Bei had already helped her put away the wand, placed it back in the box, then tapped Wang Luxi’s forehead.
Too bad.
The chaos in her mind couldn’t be tapped away—it could only be untangled bit by bit.
Wang Luxi had enjoyed a full day of magic, but ultimately still held her magic wand as she returned to the Muggle world.
…
Tonight brought an unexpected bonus.
When they pushed open the front door, she saw Yuan Bei’s two cats, both appearing in the living room at the same time—one grooming itself, one eating. Seeing Wang Luxi follow Yuan Bei through the door didn’t seem to surprise them much, unlike yesterday when they were scared into running away. Perhaps they had adapted.
Adapted to her, this uninvited guest.
Wang Luxi asked Yuan Bei: “Can I pet them?”
“Sure,” Yuan Bei handed her a bottle of water. “Watch out for scratches.”
Wang Luxi had no experience with small animals. After trying for a while, she ultimately only managed to touch the small fur on the cat’s back. The cat turned around, its big tail sweeping across her arm, tickling her and actually startling her instead.
“Yuan Bei, when you go abroad, what will happen to these two? What about your apartment?”
Yuan Bei had just come out of the walk-in closet. Hearing this, he took his phone and sent a string of numbers to Wang Luxi’s WeChat.
“Door passcode,” Yuan Bei said. “When I’m not here, you can come stay.”
Wang Luxi looked up in confusion at Yuan Bei who was drinking water: “…What do you mean?”
She looked at the two little ones lying down nearby, seeming to suddenly get Yuan Bei’s intention, her voice cracking: “Dude, you’re not asking me to take care of the cats, are you?”
Before Yuan Bei could express his speechlessness, she pointed at the entire shoe wall: “Do I also have to take care of your shoes while I’m at it?!”
Yuan Bei nearly spit out his water.
The shock on the young girl’s face wasn’t an act—it was quite funny.
“…The cats haven’t found new owners yet, they’ll go to a friend’s place,” he held back laughter. “There’s a cleaning lady who comes regularly, you don’t need to worry about anything else.”
“Then what do you want me here for?”
“I’m saying, if you don’t want to live in the dorms, you can come here. Sometimes when you’re out late with classmates and can’t make it back to school, you can come here. Or when you’re in a bad mood and want to be alone, or when someone has a birthday and you want a place to gather…” Yuan Bei went through all the experiences and awkward situations he’d encountered during his university years, finally concluding, “Anyway, this place is yours.”
…Wang Luxi digested this briefly and finally understood.
“I don’t want it. I won’t do something like a cuckoo taking over a magpie’s nest.”
What a terrible analogy.
Yuan Bei glanced at her.
“Besides, what would I do hanging around your place for no reason? Like I’m pitifully waiting for you to come back.”
“…”
Wang Luxi went into the bedroom.
A moment later she returned, leaning against the doorframe: “Yuan Bei, can we finish last night’s movie? Where did the progress bar stop?”
Yuan Bei was about to say, didn’t we finish it? But seeing the tentative glimmer in Wang Luxi’s eyes, he suddenly realized he’d almost fallen into her trap.
“You pick a new one,” he said.
Wang Luxi tugged at the corner of her mouth: “Then… the last one, the finale.”
That night, Wang Luxi finally discovered what fragrance Yuan Bei used.
…Actually, it wasn’t cologne—it should be the scent of his bath products, because Yuan Bei’s hair wasn’t completely dry. Sitting on the other side of the sofa, the scent on him was very familiar. A light, shallow grassy fragrance with a hint of bitterness.
Wang Luxi just felt that today the bitter undertone was slightly more intense.
She and Yuan Bei maintained yesterday’s positions, except now there was a cat between them.
It was the cat from that day at the health check-up. It was obviously bolder, no longer afraid of Wang Luxi. It wiggled its bottom and squeezed in, lying right between Wang Luxi and Yuan Bei, against both their legs, eyes slightly closed.
“…Yuan Bei, is it watching the movie?”
“Ask it yourself.”
“…”
Wang Luxi didn’t dare touch it, only lightly brushing the tip of the kitten’s ear with her fingertip.
“Yuan Bei.”
“Mm.”
“The place you’re going… does it have a lot of snow?”
“Yes.”
Nordic winters seemed synonymous with severity and desolation. Most of the time you couldn’t see the true color of the land—it would be covered by heavy snow, daylight hours pitifully short, gloomy weather and darkness seeming to follow like shadows… But that didn’t prevent some people from finding the pedestrians and house lights in the heavy white dreamlike and healing.
This place was only a hair’s breadth from the other end of the world.
Because of this, Wang Luxi had the illusion that Yuan Bei was going to “leave” this world.
“Can’t you wish me well?” Yuan Bei said.
Wang Luxi laughed: “I love snow. I wanted to come north for university partly because I wanted to see snow often.”
She showed Yuan Bei her phone’s saved collection of “Beijing’s holy places for snow viewing.” The most famous was the Corner Tower of the Forbidden City. Almost every winter in Beijing, when the first snow fell, the Corner Tower would gather crowds of young people and photographers.
Wasn’t there a saying? When it snows, Beijing becomes the Forbidden City.
“This year when the first snow falls, I want to go see the Corner Tower of the Forbidden City,” she said.
The cat’s tail swept across Wang Luxi’s arm. She gathered courage and petted the kitten’s head.
“Yuan Bei.”
“Mm.”
“…You’ll take lots of photos for me to appreciate, right? From where you’re studying?”
“…”
Yuan Bei paused. Wang Luxi seemed to hear a faint sigh in that imperceptible gap—whether real or not, or perhaps it was just the cat’s purring.
“I will,” he said.
“Great, then when Beijing gets its first snow, I’ll also take photos and send them to you.” She stared at the movie, trying hard to keep her voice steady, while her other hand dug her nails into her palm.
From that angle, Yuan Bei couldn’t see.
She didn’t want him to see.
“Where else do you want to go?” Yuan Bei asked.
His voice was also very steady.
Tonight’s atmosphere seemed overly quiet.
“I want to visit the school,” Wang Luxi thought about it, “while school hasn’t started yet, while… anyway, I want to scout out the school first. Since I have a senior to show me around, that would be perfect.”
Yuan Bei nodded: “Pick a day.”
…
The cat’s purring was very sleep-inducing.
It made Wang Luxi drowsy despite herself.
The movie was the last Harry Potter film, Deathly Hallows. In the final battle at Hogwarts, everyone’s emotions seemed to explode.
Ron finally admitted he liked Hermione, Harry and Ginny kissed amid the chaos at school, the always-timid Neville ran to find Luna because he didn’t know if life was coming to an end—he had to confess to the girl he liked in person… while he was still alive.
Facing an unknown ending, the Gryffindors would burst with their final courage.
They were the bravest students and the bravest lovers.
Wang Luxi no longer cared about the movie plot. Her thoughts gradually drifted, enormous drowsiness about to overwhelm her. At this moment she only felt the sofa cushion was at the right height, very comfortable.
She closed her eyes.
Then her head leaned against Yuan Bei’s shoulder.
…Similarly, the person being leaned on also had no mind for the movie plot.
Yuan Bei couldn’t even breathe smoothly.
In a space of chaos, something was clamoring and surging tumultuously.
He didn’t know how his brain neurons wove together to give him such a command—he almost instinctively raised his hand, raised the hand closer to Wang Luxi, an unconscious movement that seemed completely unconsidered, startling even himself.
The next second, he wrapped his hand around Wang Luxi’s shoulder, his palm covering her hair, gently stroking.
Then, he moved closer.
His profile pressed against the top of her head.
This was an embrace-like posture, as if one side had torn down city walls and granted the other amnesty.
Amid the smoke and chaos, everything was obscure and muffled, with only one clear voice like a sound from beyond—
Hey, you can come close to me.
Please come close to me.
…
Wang Luxi was trembling.
She kept her head down, eyes closed, needing to bite her lip hard to control herself and not cry out loud.
Her neck hurt a bit, like that day on the plane when she had a stiff neck. The sensation on the back of her hand was strange because it was pressed against the cat’s belly—warm, fluffy, with tiny rhythmic breathing.
She wouldn’t move, didn’t dare move.
Because Yuan Bei hadn’t moved.
At this moment, it seemed like nothing needed to be clearly distinguished. Her assessment of Yuan Bei remained unchanged—he was good, not because she liked him and put rose-colored filters on him, but because he himself was genuinely a good person.
Considerate, patient, responsible, kind, humble, polite…
And tonight seemed to be his only time “crossing the line.”
Just stroking her hair, so tenderly.
Wang Luxi tried many adjectives in her mind, but they all felt inadequate. She finally understood that saying—how do people describe love? When you exhaust everything you’ve learned in life and still can’t respond with reason, then perhaps this is the shape of love.
Yuan Bei was good, very good, but she also remembered that pretending ignorance while understanding perfectly wasn’t something Yuan Bei would do.
“…Wang Luxi, stop pretending if you’re awake.”
His steady voice also carried a trace of roughness and hoarseness unique to nighttime.
“Let’s talk,” he said.
Wang Luxi felt Yuan Bei’s palm move away, his hand slowly falling from her hair to rest on the sofa.
“Stop trembling.”
She couldn’t keep pretending.
Wang Luxi took a deep breath, her nose stuffy: “…Shut up, my hair is sticking to my neck, it’s itchy. Mind your own business.”
“…”
Yuan Bei was about to stand up, seemingly to turn on the lights.
But Wang Luxi was faster.
Before Yuan Bei could get up, she moved swiftly—almost fiercely—toward the bedroom.
“I’m sleepy. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Wang Luxi!”
…The final response was the sound of a slamming door.
Wang Luxi discovered everything was repeating.
Tonight’s scene seemed no different from last night’s. Her back was still against the door, her heart feeling like something had been hollowed out, letting in the wind.
She heard Yuan Bei’s footsteps again.
Just like last night, light, stopping at her door.
Wang Luxi anxiously twisted her fingers, embarrassment and annoyance flooding over her.
She hated that she wasn’t brave enough. She could handle most things calmly, but only when facing someone she liked, only when facing Yuan Bei, she became timid and awkward.
The window paper was already thin enough to see daylight through it. What was the point of stubborn resistance?
But she just didn’t want Yuan Bei to be the one to pierce through it himself.
Knock knock.
Yuan Bei beat her to it.
The door he hadn’t touched last night was finally knocked tonight.
The knocking seemed to pound on Wang Luxi’s heart too.
It was useless.
This scene of the finale had to be performed.
Because it was already the end.
…
Yuan Bei only waited at the door for half a minute.
Maybe less.
When he raised his hand to knock again, the door opened.
The living room was dark, the bedroom was dark too, but he could see Wang Luxi’s eyes, see the glimmer in them, like moonlight descending in magic, light flickering.
“Yuan Bei,” in his view, the young girl standing in darkness took a deep breath, looked up to meet his gaze, “…Fine, let’s talk.”
She added: “But I’d like you to listen to me first, okay?”
Wang Luxi insisted on maintaining eye contact with Yuan Bei: “Because I have so much I want to say, starting from the first day I met you.”
Yuan Bei didn’t speak.
He answered with silence.
Wang Luxi took another deep breath, feeling somewhat more confident.
Moonlight grants the bravest the most steadfast protection.
The moment she opened the door, through the floor-to-ceiling window behind Yuan Bei, she glimpsed a moon hanging in the night sky outside—gentle, calm, unhurried.
I am the bravest Gryffindor.
Wang Luxi encouraged herself silently. She wanted to set an example for Yuan Bei—in this life, especially when facing love, never fear the outcome.