Kiss Me

Seeing Zhu Qing like this, a trace of regret rose in her heart.

“If it’s inconvenient to talk about, then I won’t ask.” Zhu Qing said.

Li Lan shook her head slightly. “It’s not inconvenient. I was just thinking about how to tell you.”

“I know Yang Huayi,” Zhu Qing said softly. “She was the boss you and your friend had before your debut. Later, the two of you couldn’t debut because of various things. But what does she have to do with Xiao Bao? Why does she want to raise Xiao Bao?”

By normal logic, a family would definitely value a child immensely. Unless someone had no shame, no one would come right out and ask for someone else’s kid; wasn’t that just inviting a scolding?

Unless Yang Huayi had some connection to this child.

Zhu Qing had already thought Yang Huayi seemed creepy and not like a good person. Now that she saw she was actually targeting Xiao Bao, she immediately went on high alert.

Li Lan said softly, “I want to ask you something first.”

“Go ahead.”

Li Lan lifted her head and quietly met Zhu Qing’s eyes. “You read my confession just now. Do you believe it?”

Zhu Qing thought for a moment; Li Lan was talking about the segment from the variety show.

Li Lan rarely said anything mushy, and when she did, it was so tactful, restrained, and beautiful that Zhu Qing of course remembered it.

“You said I was your first love,” Zhu Qing said, unable to hide the smile in her eyes. “That I’m the only person you’ve ever liked.”

A trace of nervousness appeared in Li Lan’s eyes. “You believe it?”

“Of course I do.”

Seeing her answer without the slightest hesitation, Li Lan paused for two seconds, then added, “Even if I have a child, you still believe me? You don’t mind?”

Zhu Qing thought it over and replied seriously, “I believe you. I don’t mind.”

Li Lan stared at her for a long while, then lowered her head in disappointment. Her voice was very low. “That’s true. After you lost your memory, you never asked about Xiao Bao.”

Zhu Qing blinked. “Why does that sound strange? Are you saying I used to pressure you about it? That I minded Xiao Bao’s existence?”

Li Lan was silent for a long time before she shook her head with a bitter smile. “Neither.”

Precisely because there had been nothing like that, Li Lan didn’t know how to bring it up.

Zhu Qing had never asked how Xiao Bao came into being. She simply treated Xiao Bao well, transferring her affection for Li Lan onto Xiao Bao; loving the child because she loved the mother.

When they first married, it had been Li Lan’s doing. She had “tricked” Zhu Qing to her side under the label of a contract marriage.

She had worked hard to follow the plan, starting with all the little things around her, and had treated Zhu Qing better and better. The two of them had followed the pace of marrying first and falling in love later; their relationship had heated up at an astonishing speed.

But after all, it had been a contract marriage. Li Lan had once thought Zhu Qing didn’t ask about Xiao Bao because she minded the so-called “marriage agreement,” felt she was only exchanging something with Li Lan, and therefore had no right to pry.

Yet from everything Zhu Qing had shown after losing her memory, it was clear she really was not curious about Xiao Bao’s background.

After Zhu Qing lost her memory, and under Li Lan’s deliberate guidance and selective concealment, she didn’t know they had once been in a contract marriage. From start to finish, Zhu Qing thought they were a couple formed by free love and mutual choice, and her behavior became even bolder and more matter-of-fact.

She moved back home without a second thought, invited Li Lan to eat the food she cooked without a second thought, inserted herself into Li Lan’s life without a second thought; energetic, bright, and unabashed.

The old Zhu Qing had always treated Li Lan like the moon in the sky, afraid that saying or doing the wrong thing would cause her trouble. But after losing her memory, Zhu Qing was more like the version she had been before their contract marriage, before that paper-bound restraint. She was freer, more unrestrained, relaxed, and happy.

And yet even like this, so carefree, saying whatever she wanted and doing whatever she liked, Zhu Qing still had never asked about Xiao Bao’s origins.

Zhu Qing felt Li Lan’s attitude was off. “What are you thinking? That I don’t care about you? That I should be jealous? That I should keep pressing you about Xiao Bao?”

Li Lan said softly, “I don’t know. I don’t know where your trust in me comes from. Do you really not mind Xiao Bao at all? Not even a little suspicious of my past?”

Li Lan wasn’t doubting that Zhu Qing was lying; she simply wasn’t confident enough in her own place in Zhu Qing’s heart.

If you loved someone, wouldn’t you be curious about her past, ask about it, want to know more?

Zhu Qing’s expression turned extremely serious. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers in front of Li Lan, making her look at her. “I’m going to tell you two things. Listen carefully.”

“First, giving birth is an unfair and deeply traumatic thing for women. I think the most basic respect you can show someone is not to pry into sensitive matters like that. When are you having a baby? How do you lesbians have babies? If you’ve had one, are you going to have a second? You’re a single mother, so who’s the father? All of that is extremely rude, extremely inappropriate.”

Li Lan blinked, a strange look crossing her face.

“Second, a woman doesn’t get branded with some mark just because she had a child; she doesn’t automatically have some past that must be subjected to other people’s investigation and voyeurism. Everyone has a prying streak, but people also have basic moral convictions. I’m a moral person. I only need to hear what you say. If you say it, I believe it. If you don’t say it, I won’t make things up. Unless there’s real evidence shoved right in front of me, we can talk about something else then.”

In short, Zhu Qing would not suspect Li Lan just because of Xiao Bao.

Li Lan’s expression grew even stranger. Her lips moved for a moment as if she wanted to say something.

Seeing that she had understood, Zhu Qing lowered her voice. “So now can you tell me? What does Yang Huayi have to do with Xiao Bao?”

Li Lan drew a long breath and let it out slowly. She decided to solve the other problem first.

“Not much,” Li Lan said. “Do you remember I told you about another friend who was supposed to debut with me?”

Zhu Qing thought of that song and immediately hummed a few lines. “Right, the two of you were going to debut together.”

Li Lan gave a helpless smile. “She and I knew each other from the welfare institute. We were about the same age and often stayed together. Later, Yang Huayi discovered us and brought us to the company, and we were supposed to debut as a duo.”

She paused there and looked at Zhu Qing. Zhu Qing listened intently and urged her on, “Go on. I’m not even jealous yet.”

“...She was basically my only friend. We supported each other for a very long time. After we entered the company, she was more obedient to Yang Huayi than I was. She treated Yang Huayi like the rulebook and listened to everything she said.” Li Lan sighed deeply at the thought. “You can see how things are now. Yang Huayi is already so nostalgic toward me. For the other person, who used to listen to her even more, she would definitely be even more attentive.”

After hearing that, Zhu Qing found it made sense, but she still had her biggest question. “Were you telling me about your past just now? So what if your friend had a connection to Yang Huayi? I’m asking about Xiao Bao. Why would Yang Huayi be fixated on Xiao Bao? Because of you, or for some other reason?”

Li Lan looked at Zhu Qing with a hard-to-describe expression.

She suddenly wanted to take back what she had said earlier.

“My friend was Xiao Bao’s biological mother,” Li Lan said, and when she saw the pure confusion in Zhu Qing’s eyes, she no longer wanted to guide her toward the answer herself. In complete exasperation, she enunciated each word. “I have never given birth.”

Zhu Qing looked like someone had dumped a basin of rice-rinsing water over her head; water seemed to splash across her face, and she stood there rigid as a wooden statue.

“Xiao Bao isn’t your child?!” Zhu Qing blurted.

Li Lan corrected her in a low voice, “She is my child, on my household register.”

“No, I mean, you didn’t give birth to Xiao Bao?!” Zhu Qing was utterly shocked. “You’re not Xiao Bao’s biological mother!”

Li Lan just looked at her with a “==” expression. “Why would you think I gave birth to Xiao Bao?”

“Because Xiao Bao calls you Mom!” Zhu Qing was practically beside herself.

Any normal person, seeing a child call someone Mom, and that person being of the right age, would subconsciously assume the child was hers.

Who would have thought there was such a thing as sending a child to be raised by someone else?

No, Zhu Qing suddenly came to herself. She remembered Li Lan had said that person had passed away.

So Li Lan had taken the child in on behalf of the deceased, not adopted her. Xiao Bao’s only mother in this world was Li Lan.

At once, Zhu Qing let out a breath of relief.

But after letting it out, she suddenly realized that her first reaction upon learning Xiao Bao wasn’t Li Lan’s biological child had included not only shock, but fear.

Fear that because she wasn’t biological, Xiao Bao would be snatched away by all kinds of people under lofty, righteous-sounding excuses.

After all, there were too many people in this world who refused to plant the tree but shamelessly waited to pick the fruit when it ripened.

Fortunately, Li Lan was still the only mother Xiao Bao had; no one else could take her away.

Li Lan looked at Zhu Qing in silence. “Before, even without me telling you, you could tell Xiao Bao wasn’t biological.”

When they had just gotten married, Zhu Qing had even taken the initiative to say that Li Lan didn’t seem close enough to Xiao Bao and told her to be more affectionate with her, that she couldn’t let Xiao Bao feel she wasn’t her biological child.

Li Lan had casually said, “She isn’t biological.”

Zhu Qing immediately swatted her. After hitting her, she startled herself, afraid she had just offended the boss. She hurriedly apologized in a timid voice, “I didn’t mean to... but Xiao Bao is very sensitive. Don’t be too cold to her.”

Li Lan looked at Zhu Qing’s expression and felt all sorts of things stir inside her; she couldn’t think of anything else. She just agreed half-heartedly, “Mm... then help me raise her. Treat her like your own daughter.”

Zhu Qing frowned and hesitated for a while, but in the end she still agreed. “You have to be nicer to Xiao Bao too.”

Li Lan had taken it for granted that Zhu Qing knew this. Even if she hadn’t noticed it right away, how could Qian Cancan, that gossip queen who even knew they had once laid hands on each other during a fight, not have told Zhu Qing that Xiao Bao wasn’t biologically hers?

Whether she was biological or not didn’t really matter, but Li Lan still felt a faint irritation.

Meanwhile, Zhu Qing, learning that she had once been able to tell Xiao Bao’s relationship to Li Lan without anyone reminding her, was also a little shocked.

She could tell that Xiao Bao and Li Lan had different styles of beauty, but she had never guessed it that way.

Zhu Qing pressed her lips together and thought for a moment, then looked Li Lan over from head to toe. “When did I tell you this?”

Li Lan gave the specific date.

Zhu Qing asked, “What did we do before that day?”

Li Lan couldn’t remember the exact details. “We were traveling.”

Zhu Qing drew out an understanding “oh.” “A post-marriage honeymoon? In a couple suite?”

Li Lan thought of the bed full of pink roses, and the person lying in the middle of them; she gave a slight nod.

Zhu Qing said, “Did we do it that night?”

She asked so directly that Li Lan coughed lightly and gave a vague “mm.” “Why are you asking all this?”

Zhu Qing kept pressing. “Was that our first time?”

She remembered the first time had been when she’d been drunk. A drunk person definitely wouldn’t remember the details.

Li Lan squeezed out a “second.”

Zhu Qing slapped her thigh. “After all that, it’s still your fault.”

Li Lan looked at Zhu Qing in confusion. Zhu Qing spoke with conviction. “How do you think I figured it out? You’re a supermodel. Your figure is precise down to every inch. If you had gone along with me last time, I would’ve noticed your body didn’t look like you’d ever given birth at all!”

Zhu Qing was certain she had figured out Xiao Bao wasn’t biological through observation. As for how she observed it, that would require a serious discussion about their intimate life.

Zhu Qing said shamelessly, “You wouldn’t let me touch you. How was I supposed to tell otherwise if I couldn’t get my hands on anything?”

Li Lan’s anger flared immediately, as if that were the most natural thing in the world.

“It’s because you didn’t observe properly!” Li Lan stood up and was about to leave, so angry that she didn’t want to talk to Zhu Qing anymore. But after taking a few steps, she couldn’t help turning back and shouting in a suppressed voice, “Xiao Bao is five years old. Five years ago, I spent the entire year walking runways; that was the year my career had just started taking off. How would I have had time to get pregnant!”

Zhu Qing chased after her with a grin. “Everyone finds problems from a different angle. You can’t crush my method of discovery.”

Only you would come up with this kind of angle!

Li Lan was both angry and helpless. Zhu Qing was really like an incredibly slippery fish; she made you laugh and cry at the same time.

Sometimes you felt she was very sensible, and then she would suddenly toss out a line that left you both amused and exasperated.

Sometimes you worried she might be unhappy, and she would just grin at you without a care in the world, flashing those little tiger teeth.

It had been such a heavy topic, but once Zhu Qing opened her mouth, she somehow dragged it in that direction.

“You can only discover problems on me,” Li Lan said. “No shame at all.”

Zhu Qing accepted the criticism seamlessly, smiling as she wrapped her arms around her and swayed from side to side, Li Lan’s waist in her hands.

“So Xiao Bao is your friend’s daughter. Your friend passed away, and you raised her; Yang Huayi’s attention on Xiao Bao is because of your friend.”

After explaining for so long, it all came down to this one sentence; Li Lan nodded. “Exactly.”

“Fine. As long as it’s not something that would hurt Xiao Bao, I’m not worried yet.” Zhu Qing rose onto her toes and leaned up in front of Li Lan, nose to nose with her, and whispered warm breath between them. “Teacher Li, don’t forget what you promised me after the variety show ends.”

Zhu Qing’s palm brushed along Li Lan’s waist, carrying the warmth of her hand and seeping little by little through the fabric.

Li Lan’s heart gave a faint tremor.

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Zhu Qing slapped the table: strong dissatisfaction with people who had never tasted it and yet acted all sophisticated.

Li Lan sighed: who exactly is the one who should be more dissatisfied...