Angry

Hua Yu didn’t get the chance to ask before the hospital called her back again.

"Yaya, take Wei Yin home," Hua Yu said in a hurry. She had no time to say more; she reached out and patted Wei Yin on the head. "Go with her. If you want to go anywhere, tell her."

Wei Yin nodded; the strands of hair under Hua Yu’s palm bounced lightly. "Oh."

This was Hua Yu’s daily routine. Every day was packed with surgeries and cases that never seemed to end; she was busy from dawn to dusk, and overtime was the norm.

Xu Ya Qing was used to it. She waved her off. "Go on, then. We’ll eat a little longer."

The Cantonese dishes were delicate, and Xu Ya Qing still hadn’t had her fill.

Now that it was just the two of them, Xu Ya Qing kept her polite, ladylike distance and smiled warmly. "As the ancients said, inward and outward should correspond; words and deeds should match. Clever deceit is not as good as clumsy sincerity. Don’t you think that’s true?"

Wei Yin spat out a chicken-foot bone; a trace of confusion flashed through her eyes.

Xu Ya Qing added, "If there’s no faith, there’s no standing; without sincerity, nothing can be done."

Wei Yin caught the implication and roughly understood that she was using "sincerity" as her argument, laying it out with quotes from the classics.

Wei Yin applauded her. "What you said makes sense."

"You think so too, right? Honesty is one of our Chinese nation’s traditional virtues," Xu Ya Qing said, enunciating each word with emphasis.

Wei Yin blinked. She was very supportive, but there was no other reaction.

Much less guilt, embarrassment, or anything like that.

Wei Yin said, "Eat your food already. It’s getting cold."

Seeing that she still wouldn’t take the bait, Xu Ya Qing grew anxious. "If you also think I’m right, then why did you lie to me?"

Wei Yin pointed at herself, then at Xu Ya Qing. "Me? Lie to you?"

Xu Ya Qing said indignantly, "You said you’d never been in a relationship."

Even if Wei Yin’s offhand question about a "former girlfriend" had been vague and lacking a clear target, and even if she could have denied it, she couldn’t deny ever having been in a relationship, could she!

If Wei Yin hadn’t said she’d never dated, Xu Ya Qing wouldn’t have made such a scene just now.

One reason Wei Yin felt uncomfortable being constantly questioned about her romantic history; the other was that it truly felt inexplicable, because she really had never dated anyone.

"I didn’t lie," Wei Yin said, furrowing her brow. "I’ve never dated."

Xu Ya Qing stared at her for three seconds, unable to find any sign of dishonesty.

She said bitterly, "Hua Yu said you don’t remember your university years."

Wei Yin became even more serious. "I did lose a few years of memory; that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. And I can guarantee it—I absolutely never dated anyone."

Xu Ya Qing raised her voice. "What are you basing that guarantee on?"

Wei Yin said, "It just is."

Xu Ya Qing puffed up with irritation.

Either Hua Yu had gotten it wrong, or Wei Yin was lying!

But she couldn’t storm up to Hua Yu and demand an explanation, and she didn’t dare say anything else to Wei Yin either.

Wei Yin set the red rice noodle roll in front of her to shut her up. "Eat."

Xu Ya Qing angrily ate three plates.

After wiping her mouth, she said stiffly, "Let’s go. I’ll take you back."

Wei Yin picked up her small parcel. "Thank you; sorry for the trouble."

Xu Ya Qing, all cold elegance, didn’t even turn her head as she walked past Wei Yin and kept going. After taking two steps, she backed up, then suddenly whipped around.

She looked like a robot whose button had been pressed wrong; with red lights flashing in her eyes, she marched toward Wei Yin.

"Let me see this." Xu Ya Qing pointed at the ceramic pendant on Wei Yin’s little parcel.

Wei Yin took it off and handed it to her.

It was an elaborate, three-dimensional flower cluster with many blossoms crowding together. It was about the size of two knuckles, and every flower had a different petal shape. The colors were blended just right, bringing out the bouquet’s luxuriant, colorful side, yet because the saturation was low, the details looked even more refined.

"You made this yourself?" Xu Ya Qing asked after looking at it for a long time.

Wei Yin said yes. "If you like it, I’ll give it to you."

Xu Ya Qing stared at her without speaking.

Wei Yin’s thinking was very simple: people had treated her and Dr. Hua to a meal, and this was something she’d made on a whim. If Xu Ya Qing liked it, she could have it.

"You’re generous," Xu Ya Qing said, giving her a thumbs-up. She didn’t stand on ceremony either; she put it away immediately. "Are you busy this afternoon?"

Wei Yin said, "I’m going home to clean the house, make dinner for Dr. Hua, buy groceries, and do laundry."

Xu Ya Qing said, "The house isn’t dirty; she’s eating at the cafeteria tonight, and the clothes can go in the washing machine."

With that, she grabbed Wei Yin’s arm. "Come on; I’ll take you to my studio."

Being able to draw was common; drawing well wasn’t rare either. But being able to pinch and fire these small ceramic pieces, and combine sculpting with painting like this, was no simple thing.

Wei Yin wanted to refuse, but Xu Ya Qing flashed the chat window between herself and Hua Yu.

Hua Yu had left in a hurry, yet even on the way to the hospital she had not forgotten to tell her:

[Look around; take her out to have some fun and clear her head.]

"This is what Cousin asked me to do—take you out to have fun," Xu Ya Qing said. "Don’t you want to go? You can play with clay in my studio."

Wei Yin’s hesitant steps stopped at once.

An hour later, a warehouse somewhere in the suburbs was opened.

Xu Ya Qing threw the heavy lock used to secure the door to one side, fanned away the dust in front of her, and coughed. "Sorry; it’s been unused for too long."

Wei Yin helped her lift the rolling shutter.

As the light poured in, the warehouse gradually revealed itself.

It was a warehouse of less than forty square meters. The floor had been painted into different colored zones; at the back stood a wall of wooden cabinets filled with paints of every color, and beside them were easels of various sizes laid on their sides. Iron buckets that had held mixed paint but never been washed were scattered around, the paint inside already dried solid.

The middle section was an office area, with a monitor whose cables had been unplugged, several drawing tablets, and materials for laminating and protecting sheets of paper.

The outermost area was what Xu Ya Qing had called "playing with clay."

It wasn’t big, but it had a small potter’s wheel, a shelf for unfired pieces, a glaze table, and tools like scrapers, turntables, carving knives, and polishing stones; small as a sparrow, it had all the vital organs.

"There’s another little warehouse behind this one for storage. There’s an electric kiln inside; it can be used," Xu Ya Qing said as she rummaged around and came up with a dust mask. "If you’re making things, remember to protect against dust. If you don’t want to use this, wear a mask."

"It’s fine; I don’t need dust protection yet," Wei Yin said, not even knowing where to put her feet. "There’s an electric kiln here!?"

It had been a long time since she’d touched these tools. It felt like meeting an old friend, except too much time had passed and she didn’t know how to start the conversation.

"Clay," Xu Ya Qing said, spinning in place twice before pointing. "Over there. Go mix it."

Wei Yin stood still.

It felt a little unreal.

Xu Ya Qing folded her arms and looked at her. "You’re not lying to me, are you? You actually can’t do ceramics."

Wei Yin disliked being misunderstood. She wrinkled her nose, lifted her trouser leg, and crouched down. "Move aside. I’m making a little doll."

The afternoon sun was just right, and Xu Ya Qing had really transformed the warehouse well. She opened the windows, pulled the inner sliding door shut, then used a broom and mop to clean the place once through.

At last, she carried a rag and circled behind Wei Yin.

Sunlight wrapped around Wei Yin’s side profile, giving it a metallic sheen.

She was cleaning the dirt from under her fingernails; beside her hand, there was already a row of small figures with different expressions.

Xu Ya Qing’s fingers itched, so she pulled out an easel and started painting too.

Time flowed by like water. The whole afternoon, the two of them were immersed in their own art, content and happy.

"Ding-ding." Xu Ya Qing’s phone rang; it was Hua Yu calling.

"I just finished surgery. Where are you two? Wei Yin didn’t reply to my WeChat."

Wei Yin took out her phone. It really had rung just now, but she had been concentrating on kneading the clay; she’d heard it, then forgotten immediately.

Xu Ya Qing was also painting seriously, the phone wedged between her shoulder and ear. "At the studio."

Wei Yin stood up and leaned toward the receiver. "We’re at Ya Qing’s studio in the suburbs. She’s painting, and I’m kneading clay."

Hua Yu thought about it. "Like firing porcelain? Or making fridge magnets?"

Wei Yin said both could be done.

Hua Yu said softly, "Mm. You really can do a lot."

Wei Yin said nothing.

Hua Yu asked, "When will you be done? I’ll come pick you up and take you home."

Wei Yin looked back at the setup. "I want to make a set of little figures based on the twelve zodiac animals and collect them all. I’ve wanted to do it for a while; I’m only halfway done."

Xu Ya Qing immediately suggested, "Then why don’t Wei Yin stay at my place? My home is right next door, and you can keep making them tomorrow."

If this had been half a day earlier, after learning that Wei Yin was Hua Yu’s first love, Xu Ya Qing definitely wouldn’t have made such a suggestion.

But after spending half a day together, Xu Ya Qing had developed a real appreciation for talent. Wei Yin was more than just Hua Yu’s first love; she could pinch out ceramic figures with the deftness of an old hand and sketch vivid, lifelike portraits offhand. Any one of those skills taken out into the world would be better than being a nanny.

Wei Yin didn’t know Xu Ya Qing was secretly comparing her nanny work with the things in front of her; in her mind, the hierarchy of professions wasn’t that important. Just like everyone said omegas were more precious, she only found it unlucky.

Still, when she heard Xu Ya Qing’s suggestion, she didn’t immediately object.

Hua Yu’s breathing on the other end of the line was very light. For a moment she said nothing, then asked, "Wei Yin, do you want to stay at her place?"

Hearing Hua Yu’s voice, Wei Yin’s nose stung a little.

Of course she wanted to go back.

But somehow, she still felt uneasy.

That afternoon she had just said the wrong thing and made Hua Yu unhappy, but she herself was unhappy too.

The fact that the two of them had been talking and left her out didn’t matter. Letting them bring up Yu Tiantian didn’t matter either; not allowing her to say Yu Tiantian’s name, that also didn’t matter.

It was Hua Yu’s expression that made her feel awful.

It was a kind of wariness, a very careful sense of boundaries, as if she were afraid Wei Yin might touch something she shouldn’t; that expression made it seem like Hua Yu saw Wei Yin as some kind of flood beast.

At first Wei Yin hadn’t felt it so clearly; she had only felt her chest grow stuffy and tight, so uncomfortable that even the food tasted bitter.

Only later did she gradually understand: Hua Yu was bothered by her eavesdropping.

Being treated like an outsider and pushed aside wasn’t new to Wei Yin. In other words, as a nanny, she had always been looked down on and dismissed in all kinds of ways. Wei Yin could act like she didn’t see it; she was soft-tempered, but she wasn’t going to go looking for sensitivity and pain for herself.

But Hua Yu was different.

Wei Yin had never done any desensitization experiments on Hua Yu; every little shift in Hua Yu’s mood mattered deeply to her.

Wei Yin’s voice came out stiff. "No need. I’ll go home and make dinner for you."

She felt a little bad, but she still remembered that she was a live-in nanny; how could she stay at someone else’s house?

No one understood Wei Yin better than Hua Yu, and she could tell immediately that something was wrong.

She was sulking, uncomfortable, and still forcing herself through it to go home with her. Hua Yu wasn’t some slave owner; what was this turning into?

Hua Yu’s tone stayed normal, even a little more helpless than before. "If you like it, then stay. Call me whenever you want to come back."

With that, Hua Yu hung up.

Wei Yin crouched there, stunned for a long time.

Xu Ya Qing finished her final stroke, glanced at the sky, and stood up. "Let’s leave it for tomorrow. There’s no air-conditioning here at night. We should head back early; I’ll buy you some toiletries on the way."

Wei Yin agreed. She turned and placed the little figures she had made onto the shelf, carefully wiping the dust from the side.

On the way home, Xu Ya Qing passed a pharmacy and parked. "I’m going to buy a box of suppressants. Wait in the car."

Wei Yin rubbed her nose. She couldn’t smell Xu Ya Qing’s pheromones at all. Hearing her say that, she suddenly remembered that she was, after all, an omega, and Xu Ya Qing was an alpha; would it be inconvenient for them to live together?

Only when Xu Ya Qing got back in the car and casually tore open a suppressant to pour into her mouth did she ask, "Will it be inconvenient for me to stay at your place? I’m an omega."

Xu Ya Qing started the car while giving her a sidelong look. "Really? I don’t believe it."

Wei Yin: "…I may not look like one, but I am."

"Then why can’t I smell your pheromones?" Xu Ya Qing laughed. "Not even a little."

Alphas and omegas bought suppressants to suppress heat, not to hide the scent of pheromones. It was like perfume; pheromones leaked in a normal amount would only make people think they smelled good.

But Wei Yin didn’t have that.

Wei Yin deflated. "Oh."

Xu Ya Qing told her not to worry. "Hua Yu already told me; the nutritional supplements and all the other tonics she prescribed for you will be delivered by courier. Your condition has to get mostly better before you can secrete pheromones normally. For now, you can basically count as a beta."

Wei Yin said expressionlessly, "."