‘SEE YOU MORNING’ 044 Social Bubbles

Li Haojun wasn’t sure whether his relationship with Kesiya should develop, or how it should develop, yet he couldn’t refuse—couldn’t refuse her affection, nor his own feelings. Lost in thought, he wondered how today’s mainstream young people lived. What aspirations and values did they have?

On the flight to Boise, Li Haojun scrolled through social media, observing people’s daily lives, socializing, showing off—perhaps that wasn’t the right word, but with basic social security in place, people would inevitably expand the diversity of life: food, gardening, sports, music, and so on.

Maybe social media had its own sample bias, so he also looked up what local universities were doing. Even though they were regional institutions where expectations shouldn’t be too high, it was still somewhat disappointing. They seemed less like universities and more like slightly upgraded vocational schools. All this brought one word to Li Haojun’s mind: class solidification. Was there no upward mobility for young people anymore?

All right, Li Haojun then checked the open-source resource sites he often used, mostly in theoretical physics—detailed knowledge, with theories and experiments from renowned universities. He also looked into applied mathematics, then back to chemical and biological engineering. There didn’t seem to be any particular restrictions on seekers of knowledge. Clearly, education in society today was more relaxed; personal development depended more on one’s own exploration and efforts. But having an opportunity to enter an industry was important, just like Kesiya had.

Could there be people who didn’t need to go through this channel? Thinking about this, Li Haojun didn’t need to doubt—many high-end private schools from the past had now vanished, but a careful search could still uncover some traces. It seemed that society had been artificially and imperceptibly divided into more bubbles, large and small, but they never intersected.

The thought-filled journey seemed quick. Before he could take in the view outside the window, the plane had already landed on the open ground in front of the Eagle Factory. There was that familiar figure: a short white wide-sleeved top, light blue jeans, but the long hair was gone—short hair at cheek length, a black silk scarf tied around her fair neck.

The plane soon reached the mountainous area northeast of Boise, but this time it wasn’t the same lodge as with Lily. The makeshift airstrip was located in a valley—at least from the air, it didn’t seem far from the mountain ridge last time. After landing, they found nothing in the valley except the simple runway. They had to walk east, following the valley toward the main river valley, where a lodge stood on a gentle slope at the foot of a mountain not too far away. But what looked like a short distance was nearly impassable through the snow in the valley. Only then did Li Haojun realize his oversight in planning the route: he had set the plane to land on the airstrip, only to find upon arrival that the runway was still far from the facilities. This inadvertently reminded him of Malaya. If that clever girl had been there to help, would such a mistake have happened?

After dropping off the two, the plane took off again. The snow whipped up by the rotors danced in the turbulence, blowing into their faces and down their collars. Li Haojun took a big red scarf from his backpack, wrapped it around Kesiya’s neck with his own hands, tucked the ends into the V-neck of her chest, and loved seeing her sweet smile. He put that tender moment aside for now—he still had to find a way off the runway. Holding Kesiya’s hand, they hadn’t walked far before noticing tracks of all-terrain vehicles shuttling to and from the lodge in the snow. He didn’t know if someone would come to pick them up, but it was just noon; there was plenty of time. Walking would take at most half an hour.

So, holding Kesiya’s hand, crunching through the snow, they walked east toward the lodge building. The wind, carrying ice and snow blown down from the slopes, occasionally lashed their faces. Li Haojun glanced back at Kesiya, who was following with a smile.

“When the spring snow melts and refreezes into icy grit, does it hurt your face? Hide behind me.”

Kesiya obediently said nothing, staying close beside him and pressing her face directly against his back shoulder.

This valley was probably formed by river alluvium. The surrounding slopes were gentle, and the river must have frozen over in winter. The path leading to the lodge ahead was slightly uphill. Walking in such surroundings, a song suddenly surfaced in Li Haojun’s mind—he didn’t remember when he had heard it. He turned back and sang it to Kesiya to amuse her:

“You don’t have to worry, cause baby,”
“There ain’t no mountain high enough,”
“Ain’t no valley low enough,”
“Ain’t no river wide enough,”
“To keep me from getting to you babe.”

After a few lines, he wondered if he was getting too carried away. He looked at Kesiya, who was just smiling behind him.

Sweet moments always flew by. Before he knew it, they reached the lodge lobby. Same internal structure. After verifying Li Haojun’s identity and registering Kesiya’s recognition info, they took the elevator directly into the underground facility. It seemed to be a military-controlled facility, but this part had been idle before. Now it was being reactivated and required cleaning and equipment debugging. Due to confidentiality, Li Haojun had received no relevant information beforehand. That afternoon, they could only preliminarily discuss and formulate a work plan.

When work ended, it was again a candlelit dinner in a corner of the restaurant—only this time, across from him was Kesiya. During small talk, Li Haojun asked about Malaya. Kesiya smiled and asked,

“What, do you miss her?”

“Oh, I’m just a little worried. She’s so young, going off to study alone.” Li Haojun didn’t answer directly, then continued,

“What is she studying? How long will it take?”

“Seems like it might take a while. Maybe a few months? I don’t know exactly what she’s going to learn,” Kesiya replied softly.

“Do you keep in touch with her often?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, she’s fine now.” Kesiya could see his concern.

“Oh, good, good,” Li Haojun replied almost mechanically, so distracted that even a girl like Kesiya couldn’t miss it.

“Then call her. She should be free now.” Kesiya handed over her phone.

“Oh, no need.” Only then did Li Haojun realize he might have been a little out of line. Seeing how relaxed Kesiya seemed, he felt somewhat relieved.

“Though she’s young, I’ve found in my interactions with her that Malaya is a clever child. Sometimes she even shows a maturity far beyond her age. But she’s a bit elusive. Do you know her well?” Li Haojun asked, then added,

“Eat first. Take your time, no rush.”

“Hmm, to be honest, even though we’re sisters and live together, I don’t always know what she’s thinking.” Kesiya chewed her food thoughtfully.

“Do you often have heart-to-heart talks with her?”

“Yes. Well, sort of. We chat often, but her thinking seems… seems jumpy, very active. I don’t deliberately chase her train of thought.” Kesiya gave a slight smile.

“Then are your interests or usual leisure activities the same?”

“Not really. Though sometimes she’ll join me in things I like. She reads very fast, so she reads all kinds of e-books, and then to avoid eye strain she meditates.”

“Hey, you said you can feel what I’m thinking. Can you feel what she’s thinking?”

Kesiya pouted, rolled her eyes, thought for a moment, and said,

“Sometimes maybe I can, sometimes I can’t.”

“I’m curious. What does it feel like when you can feel my thoughts?”

“I’m not telling you.” Kesiya gave a mischievous smile, looking at Li Haojun, then said softly,

“It’s just a feeling—feeling what you feel.”

“Oh,” Li Haojun nodded slightly.

The somewhat languid candlelit dinner ended. Though there was no gourmet food, it was warm and pleasant. Li Haojun accompanied Kesiya up to the second-floor rooms—still two rooms across the hall from each other, still Kesiya staying close to him as he opened his door.

“Aren’t you afraid I might eat you?” Li Haojun asked, standing in front of his door.

“No. Don’t forget—you can’t hide anything from me,” Kesiya said calmly.

“Oh,” Li Haojun said, opening the door, letting her in, closing it behind him, and turning to face Kesiya.

They gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment, then held each other tightly. Breathing in the scent of her hair, holding her body close, soothing the longing in his heart. After a long while of cheek-to-cheek intimacy, Li Haojun whispered in Kesiya’s ear,

“You know my situation. You’ve never said what you want. I don’t know what I can give you.”

Kesiya tightened her arms around Li Haojun, swaying gently as she whispered,

“I don’t want anything. I want nothing. I just want right now.”

But the more innocent and pure Kesiya was, the more Li Haojun worried that he would let her down or hurt her. After holding each other for quite a while, Kesiya seemed somewhat satisfied, gently let go, took Li Haojun’s hand, and sat with him on the bed by the window.

There were no lights, no moonlight—only stars and the Milky Way. Fortunately, the valley’s ice and snow seemed to focus the faint light of the sky, illuminating through the window Kesiya’s youthful silhouette.

Holding Li Haojun’s hand as she sat on the bed, she gazed at the stars for a long time, then turned to him and said,

“Look—which star is you and which is me?”

Li Haojun stroked her hand, saw the night light up the contours of her turned cheek and her hair, and didn’t know how to answer such a romantic question. So he leaned his head in, gazing at the stars, but none seemed special. He had to answer honestly,

“I don’t know either.”

“Castor,” Kesiya said softly.

Li Haojun didn’t interrupt her. He just listened quietly. Kesiya continued, pointing at the sky,

“It’s a binary star system. Two stars orbiting each other. Well, actually more than two, but mainly two.” She smiled.

“Kind of like you—lots of stars circling around you.”

Li Haojun didn’t know how to respond. He simply said, “All right,” and gently stroked her hand, thinking to himself—where would that leave Qin Wenjing? After all, there were only two primary stars. But he didn’t want to spoil the beautiful scene or dampen Kesiya’s mood.

Kesiya glanced at the sky again, then turned back and said,

“Now that I’m by your side, you and I are orbiting each other.”

Li Haojun was startled. Could this girl really sense what he was thinking? Since she was right here, he’d better focus on her. As he was lost in thought, Kesiya had already stood up, taking both his hands and spinning him around the room.

Not wanting to spoil her fun, Li Haojun played along. But in this dark little room, avoiding the furniture took most of his attention. He really couldn’t appreciate the joy of this sudden binary orbit. At least she was happy.

Just as they were spinning enthusiastically, Kesiya stopped.

“I’m going to take a shower,” she said, then turned and went into the bathroom, turning on the light. Women’s minds were truly hard to fathom. Li Haojun drew the curtains and lay down on the bed to rest from the day’s fatigue. Recalling the facility’s condition he had learned today—old equipment, the operating system was of the same type but very outdated—he needed to become familiar with it. The only thing not lacking was plenty of labor. Tomorrow he could first assign the tasks they were capable of.

Not wanting work thoughts to interfere with sleep, he turned his mind back to the present after a brief reflection. The dim yellow light from the bathroom and the sound of splashing water were indeed a fine lullaby.

In a daze, a figure approached through the blurry vision and said softly,

“Ethan, I’m done. You can go take your shower now.”

Li Haojun had almost fallen asleep. He took a deep breath to revive himself, took Kesiya’s hand, and first had her sit on the bed.

“Sorry, Ethan. Tomorrow I’ll let you shower and sleep first. You’re very tired, aren’t you?” Kesiya said with a hint of guilt.

What a sensible girl. So gentle and considerate. Why was fate unfair, letting her grow up without family by her side? He must take good care of her. Thinking this, he picked up her hand resting on the bed, gently kissed her fingers.

“It’s okay. Don’t give it another thought.” He got up and went to the bathroom for a quick rinse, but the drowsiness had been washed away.

Back in the room, there was only a single bed. Kesiya lay on her side, leaving space for him. But this would indeed affect sleep quality. Li Haojun thought about going to the other room to sleep well, but worried that she would feel lonely. He decided to tough it out for now, and if it became impossible, he would mention it.

But tonight Kesiya was very well-behaved. When she saw Li Haojun lie down beside her, she simply said,

“I won’t disturb you tonight. Sleep well.” Then she turned to face the wall and lay on her side.

Li Haojun, on the contrary, felt that this was too cold toward her. So he also turned on his side to face her, gently wrapping his left arm around her waist and hip, slipping his left leg between her thighs, skin to skin, and resting his head against the back of her neck. Her steady breathing was a wonderful lullaby.