An important loved one

Intimacy seemed to be the best way to bring two people closer.

Bai Congming had not even noticed it himself: when he woke up, behind his wish to do something was no longer the hope that Brother Ding would stay, but something simpler and purer.

He wanted him to be happy.

With no holiday or festival coming up, fireworks were indeed hard to find, but not impossible.

Ding Shu had planned her trip to M City a month ago. As she had said, visiting Ding Ding was only incidental.

As a jewelry designer for W.E., she could take some fireworks left over from the branch office's anniversary celebration without anyone saying anything.

An hour's drive was not short. Bai Congming was curled up in the passenger seat, dozing off, when Ding Shu's phone rang halfway there.

Ding Shu tapped to answer, and Ding Ding's slightly irritated voice came through the car speakers.

"Where have you taken him?"

Bai Congming jolted upright in the passenger seat. He did not even care that his head hit the roof, only looked all around for him.

"Brother Ding..."

The thump had sounded loud. Ding Shu ducked her neck and freed one hand to press him back into his seat.

"Stop looking. Your Brother Ding is at home!"

"Little Bai!" Ding Ding called to him from the other end, his voice calm and gentle. "Where did you go?"

"Out... to buy fireworks..."

His voice sounded weak, the words barely more than a mumble, and hearing it filled Ding Ding with inexplicable anger.

But he could not take that anger out on Little Bai, so Ding Shu, at the wheel, suffered instead.

"Ding Zhaodi! With your driving skills, you actually took him out! Where did you get that confidence? Where are you going to buy fireworks at a time like this? What fireworks? You have twenty minutes to bring him back here! Or I'll..."

Ding Shu clicked her tongue and ignored him. She pulled over and rolled down all four windows to give Bai Congming some air.

"Are you carsick? Does this help at all?"

"A little better." Bai Congming nodded, then apologized with a pleading look. "Brother Ding scolded you. Sorry."

The call was still connected, and Ding Ding started shouting again when he heard that.

"Who told her she could just take you out like that? How is that any different from stealing a child?"

"Brother Ding..." Bai Congming lowered his head, not daring to meet Ding Shu's eyes beside him, and said very quietly, "I'm not... a child..."

At that soft protest, which hardly even counted as talking back, Ding Ding fell silent.

Ding Shu sighed. "We're almost there. We'll get the stuff and come back."

Bai Congming hastily added, "Brother Ding, be good."

"..."

What else was there to say? Ding Ding stayed silent for a few seconds, then hung up.

Without Ding Ding's voice, Bai Congming resumed his prim, upright schoolboy posture.

Ding Shu did not drive off either. After watching him for a while, she got out and bought a bottle of water from a roadside shop.

"Why didn't you say you weren't feeling well?"

"No." Bai Congming did not dare take the water held out in front of him. "I'm not feeling unwell..."

Ding Shu raised her eyebrows. "Take it. Drinking some water helps with carsickness!"

Only then did Bai Congming raise his head. Watching Ding Shu's expression, he slowly opened the bottle, turned away, and drank half of it in one go.

"..."

Ding Shu waited for him to recover a little, then kept the windows open for the rest of the drive.

The wind pouring in was a little hot, but the passenger's color had improved considerably. Ding Shu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

They remained silent along the way. Only when they were almost at the warehouse did Ding Shu speak.

"I'm sorry."

Bai Congming did not understand, but instinctively gave his answer first. "It's okay."

It was like a fixed pairing: when someone said thank you, you said you're welcome; when someone said sorry, you said it's okay.

Ding Shu faltered, the words she had prepared stuck in her chest, unable to go up or down.

"Do you know what I'm apologizing for?"

Bai Congming was honest. "No."

"The day I went to your home..." Ding Shu cleared her throat. "I shouldn't have made such a scene."

This time, Bai Congming did not answer quickly. His hands were clenched together, his knuckles turning white; he seemed to be squeezing hard.

Ding Shu was afraid he would dig into his own skin and draw blood. Ding Ding would eat her alive when she got back!

"Back then, I..."

"It's okay!" Bai Congming interrupted her and said it again.

This time, his answer was loud, his fists tightly clenched, as though he were encouraging himself.

"You're a little fierce," Bai Congming said. "But you're good to Brother Ding, so it's okay."

Just as Ding Shu had explained why she was saying sorry, Bai Congming was explaining why he was saying it was okay.

"You're family! Family is very important. No need to say sorry."

At that moment, Ding Shu suddenly felt a sting in her nose, marveling at how lucky that little brat was.

Sometimes, behind the bonds of blood lay not warmth, but a prison.

One reason she had not seen Ding Ding for so many years was that he had witnessed her at her worst. The arrival of a savior meant repayment someday in the future.

And now, she was making that repayment.

That did not mean there was no genuine affection between sister and brother, but Ding Shu herself knew there was not much.

Just as Ding Ding would only accept twenty thousand from her, the two of them were actually very alike. They both had their pride.

Call it coldness or selfishness; this was the philosophy of life she had reached after watching a thousand sails pass her sunken boat, and she believed in it firmly.

Yet looking at Bai Congming beside her, who seemed to understand nothing and yet seemed to understand so much, Ding Shu felt as though a spark had appeared in a dark, cold world.

Fortunately, it was only a tiny spark. Once she left, it would disappear. As long as she did not become greedy, the world would remain as real as it had always been.

People trapped in darkness for a long time were like that: their instinctive response to light was to move away.

Ding Shu exhaled softly. "Okay."

At the warehouse, Ding Shu directed several workers to load three boxes of fireworks into the trunk.

Bai Congming had played with fireworks when he was little-the tiny sticks you held in your hand, which lit up when you set fire to one end.

They were not expensive, but even so, he only got them once a year, at New Year.

Back then, all of Hongfang Street was bustling. The sounds of firecrackers, fireworks, and salutes could last all night.

After he finished setting off his little fireworks, his mother would take him into the courtyard to watch the fireworks other families set off.

"Next year, when we have a little more money to spare, let's buy Little Bai fireworks like those too, okay?"

Bai Congming knew what having money to spare meant, so he sensibly refused.

"Little Bai doesn't like them. Little Bai doesn't want them."

He disliked anything expensive.

His mother paid that no mind. She pinched his little nose and said she would definitely buy them for him.

But year after year passed, and even by the time his mother was gone, no one had ever bought him fireworks like those.

This time, he was going to buy them for Brother Ding.

"How much?"

Ding Shu had already noticed him counting his money, but remained calm. "Three hundred and ninety-seven yuan."

-that was all the money Bai Congming had, as she had clearly seen while standing beside him.

She had thought Bai Congming would be a little disappointed, because spending everything in exchange for fleeting happiness sounded so unworthy of it.

But he was not.

Bai Congming let out a great sigh of relief, his eyes narrowing with his smile, and handed over all the money in his hands.

"Just enough! There's three hundred and ninety-seven yuan here."

"..."