The Ring? Let’s Make One

Xi Zhen’s sweet talk left Li Xingqing with no room to resist. The hand that had been at Xi Zhen’s waist slid away at once; Li Xingqing took Xi Zhen by the arm, tipped her chin up, and kissed her lips.

The mint candy she’d eaten in the car earlier left a faint sweetness on the kiss. Li Xingqing savored it carefully, like a child clutching a mountain of candy—content, greedy, and unwilling to let Xi Zhen go even a little.

They were on vacation to begin with, and with the age gap between them, Xi Zhen was unusually indulgent toward Li Xingqing in this matter. She gave as much as was asked, and then some.

Only after the room was thoroughly filled with the scent of sweetness did Li Xingqing let Xi Zhen go. The kiss had been heavy; all the lipstick Xi Zhen had put on before leaving had ended up in Li Xingqing’s stomach.

Even so, Li Xingqing still thought Xi Zhen looked delicious at this moment.

Her phone rang right on time. It was Jiang Shang calling.

Xi Zhen answered and said a few words before taking out her lipstick to touch up her makeup. But in the small mirror, her lips—rubbed raw and red by her lover’s kisses—looked bright enough already.

“Next time, don’t let people spout nonsense in front of you. I can’t do anything about a kid throwing a jealous fit for no reason.” Xi Zhen glanced at herself, then simply put the lipstick away. What was there to fix? Besides, too much makeup wasn’t good for you.

Li Xingqing didn’t deny it, but the look of a child who’d done something wrong still made Xi Zhen want to laugh. “All right, I’m not blaming you. We’re here to have fun, so cheer up.”

The houses here were mostly separate units. A lot of people liked to share rooms, but as the boss, Jiang Shang certainly wouldn’t treat his friend that way.

When the two of them came down from the second floor, they saw Jiang Shang sitting under a sun umbrella in the backyard.

“So you finally showed up. I thought you’d completely forgotten about me.” Jiang Shang was biting a straw and sipping his drink in small mouthfuls.

“Who could forget you, big shot?” Xi Zhen ignored him and pulled Li Xingqing over to the table beside him.

“Hmph. You’ve got quite the temper. Did my call just now ruin something good for you two?” Jiang Shang took off his sunglasses and looked them over.

Li Xingqing didn’t know exactly what their relationship was, but from how familiarly they spoke, it seemed at least pretty good. To keep Jiang Shang from suddenly remembering who she was, Li Xingqing decided to say as little as possible.

But Jiang Shang, with that born-extrovert personality, was never going to let any chance to talk slip by; and besides, this was Xi Zhen’s first relationship after she’d sealed her heart away for so many years. Jiang Shang was practically dying of curiosity.

“Xingqing, I just heard you’re still in school? Are you a doctoral student or a master’s student? Which university?” He meant nothing by the question. Given Xi Zhen’s age, he naturally assumed Li Xingqing was around the same age.

“I’m a senior this year, at A University.” There was nothing taboo about education; A University had so many students every year that Li Xingqing felt this answer was perfectly fine.

“What!” Jiang Shang looked like he’d just heard some huge gossip and nearly jumped up. Then he turned to Xi Zhen. “So you’re going after the younger ones, huh? As expected of you. When I looked at Xingqing just now, I thought she was still young, but I didn’t expect her to be this young.”

“Then if you knew she isn’t even twenty yet, wouldn’t I be committing some monstrous crime?” Xi Zhen took the drink handed over by the person beside her and said calmly.

“If she’s not even eighteen, then yes, you’d definitely be committing a monstrous crime.” Jiang Shang gave his solemn endorsement.

The meal was over quickly. Jiang Shang was very talkative, chatting about everything under the sun; sometimes even Li Xingqing, who didn’t especially like to talk, could join in with a few lines.

Still, Jiang Shang was like a gust of wind—he came quickly and left just as fast. After lunch, he said goodbye and went off to handle his own business.

But his departure had its upside: Li Xingqing finally got what could be called one-on-one time with Xi Zhen.

The resort scenery was lovely, but neither of them had any intention of wandering around. They had just eaten, and rather than go outside to catch the breeze, it was better to stay in the living room and play games.

It wasn’t until evening, when crimson clouds filled the sky, that the two of them decided to go out for a walk.

Because it wasn’t a holiday, there weren’t many people at the resort. The two of them walked side by side through the vacation town, as if they’d gone back to City D all over again.

As they walked, a cat suddenly blocked their way. It looked like a black-and-white cow cat. Li Xingqing waved at it, not expecting the little thing to act as if it knew her; it came up beside her and started nuzzling her for attention.

Being rubbed against by such a fluffy little cutie, Li Xingqing unconsciously crouched halfway down and petted the cat’s head.

“Sister, don’t you think it looks a lot like Xiaohei?” As Li Xingqing stroked the cat, she suddenly thought of that little black cat she’d met in City D. A wave of longing rose in her heart, and she even felt that Xiaohei might have been her lucky star; after all, when she and Xi Zhen first met, that little black cat had basically been the matchmaker standing nearby.

“Mm, it does.” Xi Zhen glanced at the black-and-white cat kneading Li Xingqing’s shoe, then suddenly copied her and patted her head too. “So, do you still want to see Xiaohei?”

Hm? Li Xingqing looked at her, puzzled.

Xiaohei had been the cat they met downstairs at the hotel before filming started. Setting aside the fact that stray cats loved freedom, they also couldn’t just go back to City D without a care in the world now.

Seeing the rare confusion on Li Xingqing’s face, which usually tried so hard to be obedient, Xi Zhen’s smile deepened. “I wasn’t kidding. Before we left that place, I specifically asked a friend there to adopt it. If you want to see it, we can video call.”

So that was the surprise—so sudden and unprepared. Li Xingqing felt as if her heart had been wrapped in honey; it was sweet all the way through.

Yin Yi was allergic to animal fur, so when Li Xingqing was little, their family never kept pets. Later, when Yin Yi went abroad for treatment, Li Xingqing had to shoulder her studies and her life on her own, and she had even less energy to care for another living thing. So she had never once thought about raising a pet, no matter how much she liked them in her heart. It was just like Xi Zhen had told her back then: she couldn’t take on the responsibility of a life.

But now, with just a few words, Xi Zhen was telling her that every single thing she’d said back then, Xi Zhen had remembered clearly.

That feeling of being held in someone’s heart made it impossible for Li Xingqing not to be happy.

“Xiao Mi, time to go home.” At that voice, the cat, which had been nuzzling Li Xingqing a moment ago, wagged its tail and trotted toward the speaker. It turned out the cow cat wasn’t a stray at all, but a free-roaming kitten from the shop next door.

Li Xingqing followed the cat’s retreating figure and saw an old grandmother guarding the shop.

It looked like a silversmith’s workshop. The sign was small, and at the entrance sat a grandmother who looked well over fifty. Her hair was white, and her eyes were nearly narrowed shut as she lowered her head to pet the cat that kept trying to leap into her arms.

Xi Zhen immediately saw what Li Xingqing was thinking and pulled her toward the shop.

As the sun set, there wasn’t a single customer inside. The grandmother was guarding the shop alone. Xi Zhen stepped forward and said, “Grandma, can silverware still be made here?”

The grandmother might have looked old, but her hearing was sharp. She waved her hand. “It’s getting late. This takes a lot of time; come early tomorrow.”

Since the shopkeeper had already refused, the two of them couldn’t stay any longer and had to head back while the moon was still not up. They’d come again tomorrow if they found a good chance.

They had wandered quite far, and by the time they were heading back, it was already dark, but they still hadn’t reached where they were staying. Xi Zhen was actually a little afraid of the dark; although the commercial atmosphere here was strong, there were unfortunately very few people and not many lights.

Walking through the night, Li Xingqing quickly realized something was wrong. She reached out and firmly took Xi Zhen’s hand, beginning to think about how she could help her get out of that darkness.

But before she could come up with a plan, Xi Zhen leaned close to her ear. “It’s fine. I’m not scared. Also, that lamp back then... you put it up?”

Not scared? That was the first thought in Li Xingqing’s mind. The second was that Xi Zhen had already known what she’d done back then.

Li Xingqing hadn’t forgotten that at the time, the two of them weren’t even together. For that kind of behavior to end up in the other person’s eyes, it definitely couldn’t be called innocent. She subconsciously coughed twice and, pretending not to care, tightened her grip on Xi Zhen’s hand. “Ahem, back then... I just thought that place was too dark, and it wasn’t good for people passing by.”

“Mm, I see. So our little Xingqing really is a good child who thinks of others.” Xi Zhen nodded as if she’d just understood, then took Li Xingqing’s hand back and walked home with her.

Sure enough, there was a big difference between walking alone and walking together.

Neither of them had forgotten about the silversmith shop. Early the next morning, Xi Zhen took Li Xingqing back to yesterday’s street.

The scenery in the morning was completely different from the night before. Under the sunlight, everything looked full of life. The cat was lazily stretching at the moment, and the grandmother was sitting at the door, sorting the osmanthus flowers that had been laid out to dry.

“You’re here?” Seeing the two of them come over, Granny Li from the silversmith shop set the osmanthus flowers aside.

“Yes. May I ask how it usually works here?”

“There’s a price list by the door. If that’s okay, I’ll go get the materials for you.”

“That works, thank you.” Li Xingqing stroked Xiao Mi, who had come over to rub against her again, and looked at Xi Zhen standing by the persimmon tree beside them. She suddenly felt moved by how someone could be born so beautiful.

The persimmons were red at just the right time, bright and festive, pleasing to the eye. And right in the middle stood a breathtaking beauty. Li Xingqing suddenly thought of what she and Xi Zhen had been like last night in the private hot spring.

The resort had been built against the mountain, and its biggest selling point was the natural hot spring. Setting aside whether it was truly natural or not, the water was indeed very hot.

Xi Zhen, soaked in the water for quite a while, had a faint flush on her face. Her hair, which had originally hung like seaweed, was tied back, leaving only a few strands falling by her cheeks.

The water in the private bath was a pale white, with faint flower petals floating on top. Xi Zhen’s skin was taut and fair, carrying the slightest hint of muscle from years of working out. Li Xingqing had been a little shy at first, but as she watched, the two of them gradually moved from the pool to the shower, and then to the bed in the room.

What happened after that seemed hard to put into words; in any case, it was enough for Li Xingqing to savor for a lifetime.

“Let’s go. What are you spacing out for?” Granny Li had already brought the tools out, and Xi Zhen noticed that Li Xingqing was still standing there.

“Ah, okay.” Li Xingqing answered and followed Xi Zhen into the room. The shop wasn’t big, but it was very cozy. Even the stools had cat-head cushions.

Xiao Mi saw the customers come in and trotted inside from outside with its tail held high.

Li Xingqing and Xi Zhen chose to make their own rings, taking small carving knives and slowly engraving the patterns they wanted.

“What do you want to carve?” Xi Zhen asked.

“Initials?” Li Xingqing thought about it and gave the safest answer.

“That’s no fun.” Xi Zhen smiled and gave her own answer: a rabbit outlined in clean lines.

Seeing the teasing in Xi Zhen’s eyes, Li Xingqing felt that her own idea was really too lacking in imagination. At the same time, she couldn’t help thinking about herself; was it really because she had never been in a relationship that she always seemed to lack a romantic bone?

So after thinking for a long time, Li Xingqing finally quietly carved what she had been pondering for ages.

“Ten parts? Why carve that?” Xi Zhen asked, curious when she saw the two small characters on the ring.

“Because... I really like your name.”

“?”

“Zhen; the most beautiful promise in the world.”

“Mm. Xingqing, your two characters are beautiful too. I see all living things as grass and trees, but when I see you, you are green mountains.”

“Then I’ll be Sister’s green mountains for a lifetime.”

“You’re always saying such childish things.” Xi Zhen didn’t give a direct answer, but she carefully put on the ring Li Xingqing had given her.

The short trip came to an end, and Xi Zhen became busy again. Li Xingqing stayed alone in Xi Zhen’s home for the time being, waiting for Xi Zhen to come back. But unexpectedly, instead of waiting for Xi Zhen to return, she ran into someone else.