Chapter 58
“Are you crazy? Say that again. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to Guxian.”
The woman’s flat tone only made her more irritated.
Even Xu Zhiyi, who normally could barely stand her, put aside her usual distance at this moment and couldn’t help lecturing her.
“Cheng Shuyang, has your brain been squeezed in a door, or kicked by a donkey? Do you even know what’s going on in Guxian right now? I’m asking you—how many lives do you have?”
“I just wanted to ask if you have any way to get me to Guxian.”
“No.”
The answer came without the slightest hesitation.
“Then I’ll find someone else.”
The woman made as if to stand. Xu Zhiyi was nearly angry enough to cough up blood; she hurriedly stopped her. “I said, Cheng Shuyang, can you get a grip and understand the situation? Right now, you’re the one asking me for help. How can you still have such a bad temper?”
“Alai is in Guxian. I can’t talk to you about that right now.”
“I know Jiang Lai is in Guxian, but what are you in such a hurry for?”
The woman met her gaze. “I’m going to Guxian to find her. I know you have a way. If you don’t want to help me, I’ll go find someone else.”
“Cheng Shuyang, this isn’t the time to be stubborn. Go back; someone else will go save her.”
“...Forget it, I’ll find someone else.”
The woman no longer wanted to waste words with her and turned to leave.
“Cheng Shuyang, stop!”
Xu Zhiyi let out a helpless sigh. “Wait. I’ll make a call and ask.”
“Thank you.”
The woman opened the door; faint voices drifted in from the hallway.
Cheng Shuyang’s hand resting on her knee unconsciously curled tighter as she thought about who she should look for next if even Xu Zhiyi had no way...
The sound of high heels drew closer and closer. Xu Zhiyi stood at the doorway, her voice stiff. “There’s a supply truck going to Guxian this afternoon. You can go with them.”
At those words, the woman’s straight back unconsciously bent. Her lowered eyes hid the emotions roiling within them.
“...Thank you.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for.” Xu Zhiyi’s voice was awkwardly stiff. “I only asked around. Also, make sure you get there alive; don’t go and not come back.”
Cheng Shuyang said nothing, only gave a faint “mm.”
Just before she left, she suddenly caught the woman’s wrist.
“...Anything else?”
Xu Zhiyi looked at her, her expression complicated. “Cheng Shuyang, have you really fallen for her?”
“That has nothing to do with you.”
Xu Zhiyi raised a brow and leaned against the doorframe, her tone mocking. “Sure, nothing to do with me. I just think it’s novel; even you, the great Movie Queen Cheng, would make yourself look like this for someone else?”
“I’m grateful for your help this time, but that isn’t a reason for you to mock me.”
The woman snorted. “Cheng Shuyang, since you’ve already fallen, then protect her properly. Don’t let what happened back then happen again.”
The footsteps gradually faded. Only then did Cheng Shuyang finally exhale, her palm covered in sticky, cold sweat.
Had she really fallen for her?
Maybe.
She only knew that when she heard Jiang Lai might be in trouble, she wanted nothing more than to fly straight to Guxian and stay by her side.
So, maybe she could be brave just once too...
That afternoon, Cheng Shuyang packed her things and got on the car bound for Guxian.
The rain outside the window still hadn’t stopped, and the glass was coated with a layer of mist.
The driver was a veteran specially found by the convoy; he knew the roads around Guxian well and drove steadily the whole way, never once making her feel uncomfortable.
“Teacher Cheng, there was a landslide in Guxian just now. Some places might be hard to get through, and you may have to walk part of the way.”
The driver glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
“Okay, no problem. As long as I can get to Guxian.”
Her phone suddenly buzzed in her bag. She hurriedly took it out.
It wasn’t Jiang Lai messaging her; it was Zhao Dan and Xia Wanwan.
“I heard from Zhiyi that you went to Guxian. I knew it—your temper really is as stubborn as ever. Take care of yourself. I’m waiting for you to bring my daughter back to me.”
Xia Wanwan’s message was much simpler and more direct.
“Take care of yourself.”
Her fingertips paused on the screen for a moment before she put the phone back into her bag.
Soon.
She said to herself.
Soon she would see her, Alai. Please, you have to wait for me.
The car passed through a tunnel, and the rain seemed to grow even heavier.
Ahead lay an endless mountain road. She tightened her hand slightly. Once they reached the village entrance, the car could go no farther, so she slung her bag over her shoulder and got out.
The moment her shoes touched the ground, they were smeared with a layer of mud.
Someone traveling with her looked at her, then at the clearly expensive-looking pair of shoes. “Teacher Cheng...”
“It’s fine. Just a pair of shoes. Let’s hurry in.”
She took the lead and entered the village. Tents were everywhere.
The muddy ground, soaked by the rain, was hard to walk on; she stumbled along, one deep step and one shallow step, and several times nearly fell, only to be steadied by someone.
But after walking for a long time, she still didn’t see Jiang Lai anywhere.
A kind-hearted villager told her that several people had gone missing during the landslide; maybe the person she was looking for...
The man didn’t finish, but Cheng Shuyang understood what he meant.
She forced out a smile uglier than crying. “No, she has strong luck. Nothing will happen to her.”
“Then keep walking forward. Maybe you’ll run into the person you’re looking for.”
She thanked him and walked a few steps more.
A figure in the distance caught her eye.
A drab gray coat, hair tied up hastily at a glance; little by little, it overlapped with Jiang Lai’s figure in her mind.
Her steps froze at once. Her gaze clung to that back like a magnet and couldn’t move away even a fraction.
“Alai?”
She called out without thinking, her voice trembling so slightly she didn’t even notice it herself.
The figure stiffened, then slowly turned around. If not Jiang Lai, who else could it be?
A glance that lasted ten thousand years.
Many years later, when Jiang Lai thought back on this scene again, her eyes were still full of unhealed tenderness and affection.
The person from her dreams was suddenly standing right in front of her, and Jiang Lai seemed to have lost her voice; she couldn’t say a single word, only stared at her in a daze.
No matter how much time passed, she still could not avoid falling for the woman.
“Cheng...”
Before she could finish, a sharp slap landed on her face.
She clutched her cheek and looked at the woman in disbelief.
Cheng Shuyang’s eyes were red. She grabbed Jiang Lai’s collar, her voice seeming to squeeze out between her teeth, trembling with anger: “Jiang Lai! You bastard!”
Her hands were shaking, burning hot as they pressed against Jiang Lai’s neck.
The girl had been hit so hard that her head turned to the side; her face stung fiercely. But when she saw the woman’s tears pouring out, she suddenly felt that being slapped didn’t seem like such a loss.
She wanted to explain, but the woman cut her off.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone? Not even a single message back!”
The woman’s voice suddenly rose, and tears crashed onto the backs of Jiang Lai’s hands one after another, scorching hot, striking straight into her heart.
“Do you know how worried I was when I saw the news? If something happened to you, what would I do... Jiang Lai, did you ever think about me...”
Jiang Lai stared blankly at her. The woman had always been calm and composed in front of her, but right now she looked like a child who had completely lost control, hurt and aggrieved as she spoke to her.
She suddenly stepped forward and pulled the woman tightly into her arms, her voice choked with tears. “I’m sorry. My phone was broken, I couldn’t turn it on, and other people’s phones had no signal. I didn’t mean it. Really, I didn’t mean it...”
Cheng Shuyang’s body stiffened, then slowly softened, letting the tears soak Jiang Lai’s shoulder.
“You hit me. I deserved it.”
“Jiang Lai, I missed you so much...”
Jiang Lai wiped the mud off the woman’s face, then drew her closer into her arms again. “I know. I missed you too; I missed you so much I was almost going crazy..."
——————————
Because of the woman’s public identity, she took her to the small temporary tent where she was staying.
“Conditions here are rough. Please make do for now. Once the roads are open again, you can go back.”
She didn’t dare ask why the woman had come. What if she was reading too much into it...
The woman gave her a somewhat resentful look. “I’ve only just arrived, and you’re already trying to chase me away?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s unsafe here. There could be danger at any moment. I can’t let you stay here with me.”
“You can stay here, so why can’t I?”
For once, the woman was acting like a child.
“...When did you get so unreasonable?”
“I learned it from you.”
“Then why don’t you learn the good parts of me?”
The woman narrowed her eyes. “What did you say?”
“Nothing... nothing.”
The smile on the woman’s face faded a little. “Turn your face over. Let me look.”
Jiang Lai curled her lips, obediently turning her face toward her.
On the girl’s fair skin, a faint handprint was already visible. She bit her lip, feeling a little guilty; had she hit too hard...
“Are you still angry?”
She watched the woman’s expression and showed the other side of her face. “If you’re still not satisfied, you can hit this side too.”
Just as the woman’s hand was about to rise again, she shut her eyes nervously; the expected pain never came. Instead, a warm palm brushed over her cheek.
“I’m sorry, Alai.”
“Hm?”
Why wasn’t this turning out the way she’d imagined?
“I’m going to get a towel for you and put a hot compress on it.”
The woman turned and walked out of the tent.
Jiang Lai stared blankly, touching her own face. Hiss, it hurt. Why did Teacher Cheng feel so different from before today...
Before long, the woman came back in carrying a towel. Jiang Lai had just reached out to take it when the woman’s arm came around her and placed the towel over her face instead.
“Cheng Auntie?”
“Mm? What is it?”
The warm towel pressed against her cheek, carrying the scent of soap.
“Do you know? I nearly really didn’t get to see you this time.”
“What do you mean?”
“During the landslide, I just happened to be on the bus. You have no idea how scared I was then; I thought I was really done for. Luckily, an old man reacted quickly and pulled me out and made me run.”
The woman just listened carefully to her story, occasionally interjecting a sentence or two.
“Are you done?”
“Mm?”
She nodded stupidly. “D-done.”
The woman took the towel away and looked at her. “So now can you listen to me?”
“Go ahead.”
“On that day, I called you many times. You didn’t answer. That night it rained, and I didn’t sleep well all night.”
The smile on Jiang Lai’s face instantly froze.
“So I went to ask Zhiyi. I asked her to think of a way to bring me here to find you. She asked whether I’d fallen for you, and I didn’t deny it.”
“Huh?!”
The first part had been perfectly normal, but by the last sentence, Jiang Lai’s eyes were wide open, unable to believe what she’d just heard.
“Cheng Auntie, are you joking?”
“Jiang Lai, I’m serious. I can’t control myself from thinking about you; I can’t control myself from worrying about your safety.”
The woman met her gaze, her expression open and steady. “I may not be a very good lover, but I will definitely give you everything I have. So, Alai, will you be with me?”
“Cheng Auntie...”
“Alai, I like you. I really like you.”
The sudden situation left Jiang Lai’s mind a little blank. She tried to search the woman’s eyes for any sign that this was a joke.
But that gaze was too bright, as if filled with stars; looking at it made her heartbeat skip a beat.
A soft kiss landed at the corner of her lips.
The woman’s almost bewitching voice brushed past her ear.
“Alai, I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time.”
It was only a very light kiss, but it instantly set all the emotions in Jiang Lai’s heart ablaze.