Ring

No matter what, she was better than the version of herself with amnesia.

Xu Zhitong’s mind short-circuited. All she could manage was a shy, soft mm-hm.

A moment later, when she blinked dazedly and finally caught up to what had just been said...

It almost felt as if the sip of wine sliding down her throat had gone straight to her head.

Lightheaded.

Of course, a drink with barely more than ten percent alcohol wouldn’t hit that fast.

Xu Zhitong’s heart pounded wildly as she thought: so in Lin Yang’s eyes, she was much better than her former self?

Lin Yang liked the current her that much...

But after that floaty bliss came a faint, sour sting.

That seemed to confirm, from another angle, that before losing her memory, she and Lin Yang had been going through a seven-year itch.

Maybe it was because the grown-up version of her was a little more melancholy.

Even though she was happy, the thought that she was still herself before and after the amnesia brought up a strange unease and dissatisfaction, like a rabbit grieving the death of a fox.

She licked her lips, then couldn’t help picking up her glass again and drinking down half a cup of sake.

Her mind steadied a little.

Anyway, there was no way she’d end up like her pre-amnesia self and let things get to the point of a seven-year itch with Lin Yang.

She had plenty of stamina, plenty of means, and she was good at learning.

At the very least, Lin Yang really liked the current her.

The ring could wait. Once she got home, she absolutely had to start studying—there couldn’t be even a shred of delay.

Feeling gloomily determined, she poured herself another half cup and raised it to clink against Lin Yang’s.

Lin Yang laughed. “Trying to act all grown-up?”

Hm?

Xu Zhitong set down her glass and pouted unhappily. “I’m just... It’s not like I time-traveled. Why wouldn’t I be an adult?”

Lin Yang only smiled and said nothing.

Xu Zhitong leaned in a little, staring seriously into Lin Yang’s eyes, her gaze bright and burning.

“You wouldn’t let me drink before; were you treating me like a high schooler?” she pressed.

Lin Yang shook her head, amused.

“How could I?”

Just how many kisses had she already shared with Xu Zhitong...

Lin Yang paused, then picked up her glass with two fingers and lightly tapped it against Xu Zhitong’s, which was already resting on the table.

A clear chime rang out.

Lin Yang explained, “I wouldn’t let you drink before because I was worried you might still have lingering effects from the concussion. But when you went for your last checkup, the doctor said you’d recovered really well, so I’m not stopping you now.”

Fine, Xu Zhitong could accept that explanation.

She hummed, “I’ve got a tough body, of course I recover fast.”

But this really was her first time drinking in her memory.

It was pretty good; not especially sweet, but with a rice fragrance to it.

Xu Zhitong finished another cup, and Lin Yang glanced at the bottle and its alcohol content before asking the server for a few lower-proof sake cocktails.

The alcohol taste was even lighter, mixed with different drinks; some were a little sour, some had a slight bitterness.

Lin Yang took one sip, then pushed it over to Xu Zhitong.

Xu Zhitong downed it in one go, then passed over a sweeter, easier-to-drink cocktail.

She knew Lin Yang didn’t really admit it, but besides preferring lighter flavors, she also had a slight sweet tooth.

The meal took over an hour.

After paying, Lin Yang asked Xu Zhitong how the food was.

Xu Zhitong praised it enthusiastically. “Delicious!”

Even though each portion was small, it really was tasty, and beautifully plated too.

Besides, Lin Yang clearly liked it as well; she kept taking pictures from every angle.

Lin Yang smiled, and the two of them parted the curtain and headed outside.

“Mm, now that you can go out again, we can come out more when we have time. There’s a lot of good food in Jiangshi,” she said.

Xu Zhitong agreed.

Naturally, she understood that as a date.

She added, “Then should we go somewhere else this afternoon?”

Lin Yang looked puzzled. “Where?”

Xu Zhitong muttered quietly, “I don’t know either. What did she used to go do with you... I’ve never been anywhere with you.”

She was still using “she.”

Lin Yang froze for a moment before she understood.

Xu Zhitong was still thinking it over.

She remembered all those photos Lin Yang had posted on her Moments.

The early cherry blossoms at South Bank, the temple on North Mountain, stray cats in the streets and alleys...

It seemed that even through the seven-year itch, they had been pretty well matched.

Xu Zhitong’s memory was stuck at seventeen, and the only date ideas in her head were the classics.

Go see a movie, head to an amusement park, or maybe a zoo or aquarium.

She followed Lin Yang into the back seat of the car, fiddling with her phone while waiting for Lin Yang to tell the driver the destination.

Then, on the way over, she was going to search for the best photo spots there and take a ton of pictures for Lin Yang.

Instead, she saw Lin Yang press a hand to her lower abdomen, her expression turning a little strange.

Lin Yang glanced at her calendar app and said, “How about we go home first?”

“Sure. What’s wrong?”

Lin Yang replied, “A bit of period pain. I think my period’s about to start.”

Xu Zhitong instantly went on alert.

Damn it; right now, she didn’t even know Lin Yang’s cycle.

Looking at Lin Yang’s somewhat uncertain expression, Xu Zhitong asked, “Is your period not very regular?”

Lin Yang checked the dates again. “It’s a little early... Mm, I’m already cramping. I’ll see once I get home.”

So the afternoon plan went down the drain, and the two of them went home early.

Lin Yang had always had fairly severe period pain.

It was even more obvious when they were in school; at its worst, she’d vomit.

And her period came whenever it pleased, with no warning at all. Lin Yang had to calculate the dates carefully just to prepare in time.

After they got home, Lin Yang went to the bathroom to check.

She was in there for a long time and still didn’t come out. Xu Zhitong knew then that Lin Yang had definitely started her period.

She didn’t waste any time outside either; she dug out the hot-water bottle, filled it, then turned around and made a cup of brown sugar ginger tea before taking out a sanitary pad and laying it out on the sofa.

After she’d prepared everything, she asked from the bathroom door, “Should I bring you some loungewear?”

Lin Yang’s low voice came from inside. “Okay.”

It sounded like she was really hurting.

Xu Zhitong quickly fetched the home clothes and handed them through the crack in the door.

A while later, Lin Yang changed into them and came out to sit on the sofa.

Her face had gone a little paler.

Xu Zhitong let her lean back on the sofa and covered her with a soft blanket, biting her lip. “Does it hurt a lot?”

It had been so many years.

She hadn’t expected Lin Yang’s period to still be this infuriating.

Lin Yang took small sips of the brown sugar ginger tea and said softly, “A little.”

Xu Zhitong said, “It’s all my fault for picking Japanese food today. You’re on your period and I still dragged you into eating all this raw and greasy stuff, and drinking such icy alcohol...”

Lin Yang handed her the mug, cutting off her self-blame.

“It’s fine.”

The ginger tea was quite hot; Lin Yang let out a light breath and hugged the hot-water bottle. She didn’t seem comfortable sitting that way, so she slowly reclined on the sofa.

Xu Zhitong obediently moved to sit beside her.

She watched the way Lin Yang held her lower abdomen, then looked at her pale, delicate face, her heart aching.

After a while, Lin Yang asked Xu Zhitong to go to her place and get some medicine.

Even though this home wasn’t lived in often, it still had the usual supplies for period pain.

They hadn’t been packed when they moved, because her period still wasn’t due for another week.

Xu Zhitong put on a movie for Lin Yang and left at once.

She didn’t think too much about the fact that Lin Yang’s usual things weren’t at this house.

What else was there to think about? They’d already been separated by seven-year itch.

When she opened the door to Lin Yang’s place, she entered the birthday password from memory without hesitation.

The things were in the master bedroom, in a dedicated storage box. Xu Zhitong opened it to check: a few medicine boxes with foreign names, plus some period essentials.

She lifted the box and paused. On the way past the dressing table, relying on her excellent memory, she opened the last drawer she hadn’t looked in last time.

—There was actually a black velvet box inside!

Xu Zhitong’s eyes widened. She picked it up at once and opened it for a look.

It was a diamond ring!

Her mood shot straight up.

Unable to savor the joy any longer, Xu Zhitong stuffed the box into her pocket and hurried out of the room.

She almost ran all the way back home.

Lin Yang was sitting on the sofa with a cushion in her arms, quietly watching the movie.

Even her lips had lost some color.

Xu Zhitong took out the medicine box and handed it over, then got a glass of warm water and watched Lin Yang take out two pills and swallow them with the water.

The hot-water bottle was replaced with warming patches; she stuck two on, one over the lower abdomen and one on the lower back.

After finishing all that, Lin Yang sank back onto the sofa, drained.

“I’m going to sleep for a while,” she said softly.

Xu Zhitong nodded. “Okay.”

She went to draw the curtains and switch off the television.

After that, she sat cross-legged on the carpet beside the sofa and looked at Lin Yang.

Lin Yang looked like she had a lot of experience dealing with period pain.

At the very least, much more experience than when they were in school.

...After all, so many years had passed.

Back then, their school had two days of menstrual leave every month; you could take time off and skip all PE classes and self-study periods.

For someone like Lin Yang, whose pain was severe, she could even get a doctor’s note from the infirmary and be sent home to rest.

Xu Zhitong’s body wasn’t prone to period pain, and her cycle wasn’t very regular either. After playing with Lin Yang for a long time, their periods had barely come into sync.

So it was always Xu Zhitong who handled everything in the days beforehand.

She would fetch warm water, ask the teacher for menstrual leave, go to the infirmary for a note, explain things to the school guard...

Then bring Lin Yang home with her.

That was also one of the few times Lin Yang ever went to Xu Zhitong’s house.

She could stay there from the afternoon all the way until evening self-study ended.

Xu Zhitong’s home had two bedrooms and one living room; it wasn’t big. It was property her two mothers had bought when they got married.

The living room was small too, and the sofa especially so. Lin Yang, all long and lean, could lie on it and fill it completely.

But in that empty house that usually had only Xu Zhitong in it...

Lin Yang, weak from cramps, would sleep across the whole sofa under Xu Zhitong’s thin blanket.

It made the whole house feel full.

What Xu Zhitong did then was much the same as what she was doing now.

There was a cup in the house just for Lin Yang, for brown sugar water.

Back then they didn’t have a temperature-controlled water dispenser, so she waited for the kettle to boil, first filling the hot-water bottle and handing it to Lin Yang.

Then she poured a cup, mixed in some cool boiled water, and carefully tested the temperature herself.

But she was always terrible at getting the temperature right; if it was too hot, she’d add cold water, and if it was too cold, she’d add hot...

She’d fuss around like a fool for ages, until the not-quite-energetic Lin Yang started laughing beside her.

Dinner was Xu Zhitong’s responsibility too. Lin Yang didn’t have much appetite when she was hurting, so Xu Zhitong would make congee for her.

Of course, not some refined Cantonese-style congee; just ordinary millet porridge.

Then she’d secretly add a heap of sugar, because Lin Yang only showed much of a sweet tooth when she was weak.

And things like that.

In the house that belonged only to the two of them, she did her best to take care of Lin Yang.

Once Lin Yang had fallen asleep hugging the hot-water bottle, Xu Zhitong would sit at the dining table a short distance away and do their homework for two.

Xu Zhitong felt that taking care of a period-cramping Lin Yang when she herself didn’t suffer from cramps was only natural.

And at the time, it gave her a kind of happiness she didn’t yet understand.

Now, Xu Zhitong vaguely thought: oh, so this was probably what liking someone felt like.

So she had liked Lin Yang from that early on.

Now, the twenty-five-year-old Xu Zhitong had no homework to do.

She propped her cheek on her hand in the dim, spacious, lavishly renovated living room and watched Lin Yang slowly fall asleep.

Even in sleep, Lin Yang’s brow was faintly furrowed, her face pale and bare, lashes trembling; it looked as though the medicine still hadn’t kicked in.

Time passed little by little.

It might as well have been a century.

At last, Lin Yang’s breathing evened out.

Xu Zhitong inched closer, sitting cross-legged, and stared for a while at Lin Yang’s sleeping face.

Her heart beat like a drum, rapid and heavy.

Like a thief, Xu Zhitong took out the ring box she’d stuffed into her pocket.

She opened it carefully.

Inside were two delicate solitaire diamond rings; the design was simple, and the diamonds weren’t especially large or flashy.

Xu Zhitong knew nothing about diamond rings. That, of course, didn’t stop her from taking out the slightly larger one and sliding it onto her own finger.

...Huh?

It only fit on her pinky.

Xu Zhitong stared at the ring in dissatisfaction.

After a moment, she finally thought of an explanation.

Maybe they’d bought it when they’d just graduated.

That had to be it; the diamond was so small, and neither of them had had much money back then.

And now it had been seven or eight years. Her biology grades had always been mediocre, so maybe after growing up she’d developed a little more.

Maybe her fingers had also gotten a bit thicker overall?

Whatever. Human anatomy was amazing.

Xu Zhitong put the ring on her pinky, then crawled to the edge of the sofa and gently took hold of Lin Yang’s right hand.

She tried it out; it fit on the middle finger.

Hmph. She’d known it.

Delighted, Xu Zhitong held hands with the sleeping Lin Yang for a while, then slowly fell asleep too.