Who Is Better

Lin Yang struggled to rein in her gaze.

She was genuinely shocked. She hadn’t expected Xu Zhitong to dress like this.

Before the amnesia, Xu Zhitong’s style had leaned a little androgynous. She usually dressed fairly modestly and could practically be called the strictest mother in the Phoenix fan circle.

Even when filming videos or dancing to short-form trends, she rarely wore anything this tight or revealing on camera.

Not to mention back in high school, when she had almost no awareness of sex at all.

So at first glance, Lin Yang had never imagined that Xu Zhitong’s body would actually...

be more than she’d expected.

Her skin was also very fair. A silver chain lay against her collarbone, drooping slightly and drawing the eye downward.

Because they were so close, Lin Yang could faintly make out several pale blue veins beneath the skin over Xu Zhitong’s chest, like a faint cyan pattern seeping through the soft black fabric; at the end of it, there seemed to be a tiny mole.

Lin Yang almost stared too long. She jerked her eyes back as though burned.

It was such a simple outfit, but on Xu Zhitong, it looked striking from every angle.

Lin Yang tried hard to look away.

When she first came home, hadn’t Xu Zhitong been wearing just a plain long T-shirt?

She’d deliberately changed clothes; was she planning to wear that out to eat?

Lin Yang forced herself to think about something serious.

Xu Zhitong’s mental state had been pretty good these past few days; the aftereffects of the concussion should almost be gone.

Xu Zhitong’s memory only went as far as middle school, so taking her out to eat and have some fun was perfectly fine.

Lin Yang still remembered that when they were in middle school, Xu Zhitong always wanted to ask her out together on weekends.

Even if the plans were just little outings like that—going to the mall to eat and drink, skating, watching movies.

But Lin Yang had always been tied up back then and could never agree.

Xu Zhitong would always be very disappointed.

Only...

Lin Yang looked at Xu Zhitong’s outfit again.

Even knowing it was perfectly normal, she just somehow didn’t really want Xu Zhitong going out dressed like this.

Even when she usually dressed simply and casually, a little more modestly, she was already eye-catching enough.

If she went out dressed like this, even if no one recognized her, wouldn’t people still ask for her WeChat?

A faint, fleeting irritation rose in Lin Yang’s heart.

But that thought was far too abnormal; she could only keep it tucked away in the darkest corner of her mind.

She knew what kind of image she had in Xu Zhitong’s eyes, which was exactly why she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

After a long silence, Lin Yang said, “Jiangshi isn’t as warm as Hai City. Why don’t you put on something thicker?”

Xu Zhitong: “..."

Her eyes widened a little, and it felt like the sky had collapsed.

She’d thought Lin Yang’s pause was because she was appreciating her outfit.

In the end, Lin Yang just thought she wasn’t dressed warmly enough?

How could that be? She was dressed like this already, and Lin Yang didn’t feel anything at all?

Xu Zhitong’s face nearly heated up, though she couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or grievance.

Her expression was obviously downcast.

Her mind went in circles, but she still didn’t dare ask directly.

It was so strange. After the amnesia, maybe because she’d grown older, she’d become much more roundabout and restrained.

For no reason at all, she no longer spoke to Lin Yang as directly as she had when they were students, when she could plainly tell her thoughts and grievances.

Pursing her lips, Xu Zhitong said slowly, “Okay.”

Her disappointment was obvious.

Lin Yang thought she didn’t want to, and after pressing her lips together, quickly softened.

She gave in, her voice gentling. “Forget it. If you don’t want to change, then don’t. You look good dressed like this...”

The words felt insincere; reason told her that Xu Zhitong had made an effort to dress up, and she shouldn’t interfere too much.

Seeing Xu Zhitong’s aggrieved little look, Lin Yang’s heart softened even more.

She took Xu Zhitong’s hand on her own initiative and squeezed her fingers.

“You’ve worked hard these past few days. Wait for me a moment; we’ll go out for something good to eat later, okay?”

Her tone was very gentle.

Xu Zhitong felt herself being comforted and let out a soft mm-hm.

People were greedy by nature.

At this point, being coaxed was no longer enough for her; this kind of coaxing could also fit the relationship between friends or family.

But they were girlfriends. Shouldn’t they be head over heels for each other, drawn to one another?

Was it really seven-year itch?

Those articles all said that if you dated too long without getting married, the passion would fade.

Xu Zhitong swallowed the string of words in her throat with some difficulty and asked, “Then what are we eating?”

Lin Yang was a little thoughtful.

There were many options.

In the past, they’d rarely gone to the mall together to eat at restaurants. Most of the time, they’d just grabbed food in the school cafeteria or at nearby little eateries.

After returning to the country, whenever she ate at certain restaurants, she would always wonder what it would be like if she were there with Xu Zhitong.

What dishes they’d order, what they’d talk about.

Too much time had passed, and in truth, even the version of Xu Zhitong she imagined was blurry.

But there was no denying it: there were many restaurants she wanted to go to with Xu Zhitong.

She also wanted to bring Xu Zhitong to eat many things she thought were delicious.

Xu Zhitong could only see Lin Yang’s hesitation. Leaning against the edge of the desk, she hopped up to sit on the side.

“Then let’s draw lots. Didn’t we always do that before?”

Lin Yang was easygoing; Xu Zhitong was carefree. In the past, whenever they had to make a decision, they could never settle it.

So later, they gradually got used to drawing lots.

Only then did Lin Yang remember, and after a pause, said okay.

She took a sheet of A4 paper from the side, wrote the options down, tore it up, crumpled it into balls, and shook them in her hand.

Then she spread out her palm. “Pick.”

Xu Zhitong chose one.

Japanese food.

Her eyes lit up. She hadn’t really eaten much Japanese food before.

Her mothers were busy with work and rarely took her out to eat. Even when they occasionally went out together, it was usually business-style banquets.

When it came to Japanese food, the only thing Xu Zhitong could think of was takoyaki outside the school gate.

Lin Yang taking her out to eat definitely wouldn’t mean that.

Xu Zhitong asked, “What kind of Japanese food?”

Lin Yang said, “You’ll know when we get there. It’s good. Just wait for me another half hour, okay?”

Naturally, Xu Zhitong obediently said okay.

Lin Yang had already turned back to her office chair and was preparing to finish her work quickly.

Xu Zhitong looked at her, then at herself after going out of her way to dress up and strike a pose, only to be left hanging off to the side.

Her mood became a little subtle.

In this scene, Lin Yang was a cold, unromantic CEO.

And she was the one sitting on the “office desk,” trying to seduce her but failing...

Mm, a kept mistress?

Office play.

What did that mean?

Xu Zhitong was puzzled by the word that had suddenly appeared in her head.

But her phone had been left in the bedroom, so she couldn’t look it up.

Since she wasn’t planning to leave the study, Xu Zhitong turned to browse the bookshelf.

A proper girlfriend should of course keep Lin Yang company while she worked.

Although this study belonged to Lin Yang, most of the things in it were really Xu Zhitong’s.

Her collection of all kinds of CDs and vinyl records, and several rows of physical copies of web novels.

They were basically all genres she liked to read; her taste had never changed, always consistently refined.

By contrast, there was only one row of serious books.

And they were all still in shrink-wrap.

Xu Zhitong naturally skipped over those and picked an unread novel.

Then she sank comfortably onto the sofa.

After reading several dozen pages, Lin Yang was done.

She rubbed at her temples, sounding a little tired. “Let’s go. Time to eat.”

Xu Zhitong put down the book and said okay, then went back to her room to get her phone.

When she came out again, she saw that Lin Yang had gone back into the bedroom and only emerged several minutes later.

She had changed into a white floor-length dress with bare shoulders, and her hair was twisted into a slanted bun, exposing her pale ears.

She’d added a few accessories, and they matched Xu Zhitong’s hoop earrings and necklace very well.

Like a couple’s set.

The color scheme of the clothes matched too.

Xu Zhitong had felt a little down before, but now her mood brightened again.

She started thinking about how, later on, she could find a chance to hold Lin Yang’s hand while they walked around the mall; the moment anyone saw them, they’d know they were a couple.

Maybe they could even go look at rings and test the waters.

But their destination was not the mall.

The driver wound around and around before finally stopping at a nondescript side entrance of a small building, where even the sign was hard to find.

Led into a private room, they found a Japanese-style space, with two seats in front of a long wooden table and what looked like a grill or cooking station opposite.

Xu Zhitong touched everything curiously.

Then she asked, “Are you ordering?”

Lin Yang was indeed fiddling with her phone, but she shook her head. “The chef will come over later. Whatever he makes, we eat. We’re mainly having yakitori, that is, grilled chicken skewers.”

Xu Zhitong immediately felt fresh excitement. “Ohhh.”

Lin Yang couldn’t help smiling when she saw how curious she looked.

This kind of Xu Zhitong felt very close to her again; very cute.

She wanted to give her everything.

She beckoned Xu Zhitong over. “Help me take a few photos later.”

Xu Zhitong immediately remembered all those photos of Lin Yang on her phone.

She knew it!

It had to be a fixed part of their dates before the amnesia; Xu Zhitong used to go out with Lin Yang and take pretty photos of her wife to post on Moments.

She came over at once. “Okay, how do I take them?”

Lin Yang had already set the filter and, holding the phone, showed her. “Later, shoot from the side, about this angle...”

After demonstrating once, the chef arrived too.

He greeted them very politely, didn’t chat much, briefly showed them the ingredients, and then started cooking.

After the first dish was served, he opened a bottle of sake and paired it with the appropriate side dishes.

Xu Zhitong was greedy, but she had good manners; she first took Lin Yang’s phone and photographed her wife.

Following Lin Yang’s example step by step, she took several side-angle photos.

When she handed the phone back, she saw Lin Yang’s expression pause in a subtle way.

Xu Zhitong looked at her eagerly, waiting for praise. “How is it?”

Not bad, right?

The camera couldn’t fully capture Lin Yang’s beauty, but she’d still done her best to get it to about eighty percent.

Lin Yang: “..."

After a pause, she said, “Don’t shoot only the face. This...”

She seemed to be searching for words.

A moment later, Lin Yang gave up trying to phrase it and opened the camera’s guide lines, then faced the phone screen and explained again to Xu Zhitong.

The person should be on this half; they can’t go beyond this line. The food and the table should be behind this line...

Xu Zhitong promised to complete the mission.

She was very proactive, standing up immediately and pushing her chair back to photograph from every angle.

Then, while reviewing the shots, she encountered Lin Yang’s silence once again.

Lin Yang said, “Like this, you hold the phone... I’ll switch to selfie mode.”

Xu Zhitong became a human phone stand.

After Lin Yang finished taking pictures, Xu Zhitong didn’t even dare ask if they could take a photo together.

She obediently pulled her chair back to herself, only feeling that no one in the world could understand how tragic her mood was.

Her photography skills were actually worse than her past self’s!

Wasn’t her past self just more experienced by a few years of being with her wife? Ate a few hundred more meals with her wife? Took a few thousand more photos for her wife?

She just lacked experience. Once she learned more, she’d definitely be able to take great photos too!

Fuming, Xu Zhitong stuffed an unfamiliar bite from a small dish into her mouth in one go.

That still wasn’t enough to ease her frustration.

As the saying went, bitter liquor burned the throat and pain went to the heart.

Xu Zhitong couldn’t help it; she picked up the small cup and drained it in one gulp.

It was actually pretty sweet.

Xu Zhitong smacked her lips. When she saw the chef refill her cup, she finally remembered she hadn’t been allowed to drink before, and turned to look at Lin Yang.

But Lin Yang didn’t seem to notice at all.

She was covering her mouth with the back of her hand, laughing openly.

Even her beautiful shoulders were shaking slightly.

Only when she met Xu Zhitong’s eyes did Lin Yang stop laughing, lower her hand, and keep the curve at her lips.

“What are you so mad about, Xiaotong?”

Feigning ignorance.

Always making things difficult for her.

Xu Zhitong was a little dazed by Lin Yang’s smile.

But her mood was still tightly balled up.

She puffed out her cheeks and said, “You just wait until I practice more. I’ll definitely do better than before.”

There was a chef sitting across the table, so Xu Zhitong unconsciously glossed over the word amnesia.

Lin Yang’s smile faded, her brows lifting slightly.

Before...

The photos she posted before had all been taken by restaurant staff she’d asked to help.

Only then did she remember what Xu Zhitong had said when she first confessed the truth; something about how they used to eat at a certain restaurant all the time.

Because things felt so beautiful between them, she had momentarily forgotten that their love was a lie.

But if it hurt, then it hurt. It didn’t matter.

Lin Yang carried some hard-to-describe feeling in her heart as she shrugged and tilted her head, looking at Xu Zhitong from a very flattering angle.

She smiled with her eyes half-lidded, her fingers reaching across the tabletop to gently hook Xu Zhitong’s.

It was as if they had already fallen in love back in school, stacking tall books between their desks; while the teacher was lecturing, their hands quietly, secretly, touched and intertwined behind the textbooks.

Lin Yang said softly, “What’s there to compare? No matter what you do, you’re better than before.”