Water trickled down Ye Jinyi’s body, tracing elegant curves as it flowed over her petite frame.
The rising steam swirled gently around her, casting a misty, mysterious aura.
At this moment, all traces of dye had been thoroughly rinsed from Ye Jinyi’s hair, revealing the light blond color hidden underneath.
Her fair skin, softened by the warm water, glowed with a gentle flush.
There was comfort in the warmth—life’s beauty could really be this simple.
Once she had rinsed off enough, Ye Jinyi grabbed the shampoo and worked it through her hair.
A thick layer of bubbles soon formed atop her head, drifting outward in the gentle breeze.
Once it felt ready, she turned on the shower again to wash away the foam.
Following the usual routine, she finally used a bath flower with body wash to scrub her skin clean of any lingering grime.
After finishing, Ye Jinyi wrapped her towel around her head again, packed her things into the bath bag, and stepped out of the quiet, overlooked corner.
Ye Jinyi returned her items to the locker.
She still wanted another soak in the hot spring.
Stepping back into the pool, Ye Jinyi lay down straight away, treating it like she treated life—no thoughts, just sleep.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a wave of nausea rose up.
She opened her mouth for a deep breath to regain a bit of clarity.
Ye Jinyi slowly lifted her heavy eyelids and looked at her right hand.
“I’m already all pruny…”
Staring at the wrinkled lines on her fingertips, Ye Jinyi knew she couldn’t stay in any longer.
Half-dazed, she left the bath and exited the bathroom. Grabbing a towel, she dried off her body.
After getting dressed, Ye Jinyi left the place.
Back in the lobby, she returned her wristband.
The front desk girl made casual conversation as she processed the bill: “So your natural hair color is light blond, little one?”
Ye Jinyi didn’t answer.
She pulled up her hood, turned around, and used the receipt to retrieve her shoes.
Just then, two girls entered the bathhouse.
“I’ll go buy the tickets. You wait here, Bingxia,” said the girl with matcha-green hair to the red-haired girl beside her.
“No way! I still owe you a milk tea, Shishan! I’m paying this time!”
Duan Bingxia turned her head toward her best friend, Tong Shishan, but noticed her attention was elsewhere.
“Shishan, what are you looking at?”
“Don’t you think that little girl by the shoe rack looks kinda familiar?”
Tong Shishan stared at Ye Jinyi, who was putting on her shoes in the distance.
For some reason, she had a nagging feeling she’d seen her before—and not long ago, maybe just a few days earlier.
“Bingxia?”
When Tong Shishan got no response for a while, she turned back quickly—only to find her bestie had already bought two bath tickets at the front desk…
That move was savage.
Duan Bingxia walked over with the two wristbands and handed one to Tong Shishan.
“Come on, let’s wash up and head home early.”
“…Really now?”
Tong Shishan twitched at the corners of her mouth. Was it really necessary to nickel and dime her like this?
If we’re being petty, then next exam just boost my total score by three points.
You’ve got plenty of room to improve anyway.
Tong Shishan swallowed her words and followed her best friend to the shoe rack to change shoes.
As she walked to the rack, she glanced at the girl in the hood who brushed past her.
That flash of pale yellow beneath the hood still lingered in her mind.
Watching the girl vanish from sight, Tong Shishan finally pulled her gaze away, turned to change into her slippers, and headed into the bathhouse with her friend.
After returning home, Ye Jinyi dug out the remaining half bottle of hair spray.
She dragged over her chair, entered the bathroom, and stood in front of the mirror to start dyeing her hair.
Right now, there was no way Ye Jinyi could show up in public with pale blond hair.
That would be way too dangerous.
After spraying the dye, Ye Jinyi reverted once more into a black-haired loli.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Ye Jinyi couldn’t help but admire the quick-dry hair spray—seriously useful stuff.
Even if her hair felt a bit uncomfortable afterward, it was still better than getting sentenced to death.
Ye Jinyi stepped out of the bathroom and put her chair back where it belonged.
Glancing out the window, she realized it was already noon.
“Why does the day go by so fast?”
Ye Jinyi sighed. Time felt utterly meaningless when there was nothing to do.
But that was life—99% of it was trash time.
And the remaining 1%? Slightly less trashy trash time.
“The real problem is being jobless and having nothing to do.”
Ye Jinyi pinpointed the root of the issue.
Happy times always disappeared the fastest.
Pure sweetness couldn’t even be felt. If life had no meaning, then at least she needed to find something to spice it up.
Ye Jinyi realized she needed to find herself something to do.
“Maybe I could volunteer?”
…
Then it hit her.
“Volunteering just means working for free, doesn’t it?”
“That’s not even a real job!”
Ye Jinyi hadn’t expected to earn a penny, to be fair.
But even if she went the volunteer route, she’d just circled back to the same question—what kind of volunteer work?
Ye Jinyi gave it some thought and ultimately dropped the idea.
“Wait, don’t you have to be at least sixteen to volunteer anyway?”
It wasn’t her age she was worried about.
What bothered her was the fact that she didn’t even have an ID.
No ID meant that even if her age were perfectly legit, no one would believe her.
What’s the scariest thing in the world? The answer: being stateless.
Without a nationality, life was almost impossible anywhere.
Ye Jinyi now basically counted as half-stateless. Why half?
Because she was still scraping by using info tied to her old, outdated ID.
Technically, somewhere in this world, a man named Ye Jinyi still existed.
But for that man to exist in this world—well, that wasn’t exactly possible anymore.
Was this the legendary: “I exist, therefore I do not exist”?
We’ve entered paradox territory, folks.
“This absurd world… really makes no damn sense…”
Ye Jinyi sighed and decided to be more practical about it.
“Screw it. I’ll just do what I’m good at.”
With that thought in mind, Ye Jinyi grabbed the door handle and left the apartment.
