Beijing's streets.
Not many people around.
With Spring Festival coming up, most folks in the city have already gone home for the holiday.
Clearwater University.
Right outside the campus gate.
"Sitting here waiting for him all day won't help. After the New Year, he'll come visit you."
"It's cold outside. Why don't you come inside with me?"
"Look, your cola's almost frozen solid. Drinking it this cold will give you a stomachache."
Professor Gordon Gu crouched down with a smile, looking at Jill Jing, who was bundled up in a red cotton jacket, sitting outside Clearwater University's gate.
Jill wore a little felt hat and fuzzy fur shoes on her feet.
Professor Gu bought all this for her.
Evan Lin went home for the holiday, and Jill Jing had nowhere to go.
So Professor Gu kept her and Gavin Duan here in Beijing to spend New Year together.
But ever since they came back from Whitewood County...
Jill Jing has been spacing out at Clearwater University's front gate all day long.
She hugs her bottle of cola, single-mindedly waiting for Evan Lin to come back.
But after all that waiting—Beijing's snow kept getting heavier, the temperature kept dropping—she still didn't see Evan Lin show up again.
Professor Gu was getting seriously worried.
"I don't want to."
Jill Jing shook her head, still staring blankly outside the campus gate.
Her little face was flushed bright red from the cold wind.
That kind of rosy-with-pale look.
It made her look even cuter than usual.
But lately...
Maybe it was just the weather getting colder.
Professor Gu kept feeling like Jill's complexion was getting paler by the day.
She didn't look all that different from before.
But for some reason, she just seemed weaker and weaker.
Professor Gu even thought about taking Jill to the hospital for a checkup.
But in the end, he dropped it because Jill wouldn't cooperate.
"If you keep sitting out here, and then he finally comes but you're sick, doesn't that mean you can't play with him?"
Professor Gu coaxed her patiently.
He figured he'd never been this patient with the old lady he'd spent decades with.
Honestly, Jill Jing was just too lovable right now.
"Grandma made dumplings for you at home. Dumplings with cola—it's a whole new vibe."
Professor Gu kept smiling as he tried to convince her.
Jill hesitated, unsure what to do.
Maybe she really didn't want to miss out on playing with Evan Lin just because she got sick from the cold. So after a long pause, she finally managed a small compromise.
"One bowl."
She finished speaking and hopped down from the chair.