Soothing Her

From the start, Hua Yu never beat around the bush with Yu Tiantian. She had pushed and cornered her step by step until things had come to this. No matter how hard Yu Tiantian tried to keep her composure, the twisted look on her face had already betrayed how she really felt.

Just then, an email notification chimed.

Yu Tiantian frowned for a couple of seconds, then suddenly smiled. “Do you mind if I take a look at a file?”

Hua Yu said nothing and didn’t stop her.

“Emails aren’t really used much these days, and my private phone doesn’t handle trivial matters,” Yu Tiantian said as she opened the file. She skimmed it once, then went back to the first line and read it carefully. “...So that’s how it is.”

Hua Yu could feel Yu Tiantian’s gaze settle on her face, sticky and full of malice.

“So that’s how the two of you ended up together. Wei Yin was hospitalized at the provincial hospital not long ago, and then she started livestreaming with Xu Ya Qing. Dr. Hua, you don’t look all that dedicated either. Using your position for personal gain, spending work hours with a lover?”

Hua Yu’s expression didn’t change. “You investigated me.”

Yu Tiantian’s smile widened little by little. “How could that be? We’re just getting to know each other a little better. It only took less than half an hour after getting off the elevator. My people aren’t professionals at digging through other people’s privacy; if they could find this much, it only means Dr. Hua never bothered to hide anything in the first place, didn’t you?”

Hua Yu looked at her coldly. “What are you trying to say?”

“If you like her that much, why not just lock her up at home? You let her go out and livestream, and even sell products.”

The more Yu Tiantian thought about it, the more amused she became; in the end, she laughed outright. “Ha. It really is you. So proper, so upright—always respecting the other person, never interfering, never forcing anything. No matter how much you like someone, you still wouldn’t make any decision for Wei Yin.”

Hua Yu looked at her without speaking. Yu Tiantian’s tone turned vicious. “Was the lesson from five years ago not enough? You like someone, and you still don’t even dare to hold on tight. Hua Yu, just how pathetic are you?”

“She’s a fully grown adult with independent judgment; she has the right to decide what she wants to do,” Hua Yu said. Then certain fragments from back then surfaced in her mind. “You like deciding things for Wei Yin. What exactly have you ever forced her to do?”

Yu Tiantian didn’t understand. “You and she are coming and going together right now. If you want to ask something, just ask her directly. Why drag me over here to show off... Don’t tell me the two of you still aren’t together?”

Those words hit Hua Yu where it hurt. She pressed her lips together, then said each word clearly, “No matter what you did to Wei Yin before, I’m warning you, Yu Tiantian. If you dare put ideas into Wei Yin’s head, if you dare scheme against her, I won’t let you off.”

After saying that, Hua Yu drew a deep breath and slowly steadied herself.

Just now, she had seen Yu Tiantian come over holding a glass of wine, then suddenly heard about the obscene rumor Wei Yin had been subjected to at university. Her anger had surged, and only now did she finally drag some reason back to think about the gathering.

Yu Tiantian looked at Hua Yu mockingly, as if to say: What can you do to me?

“You’re not the sort of person who does anything without gain,” Hua Yu said slowly and clearly. “Wei Yin isn’t actually that important to you. The person you want to find is me.”

Yu Tiantian said nothing.

“Are those three projects going smoothly?” Hua Yu asked.

She really hadn’t had much contact with Yu Tiantian. If the interactions from childhood were counted too, at most they could be called people who weren’t strangers; they definitely couldn’t be called familiar.

The reason was simple: their personalities didn’t fit; they never saw eye to eye.

On top of that, Hua Yu was four or five years older than this group of children. When she was little, she was always busy running between all kinds of tutoring classes; at most, she could keep an eye on her own younger cousin. Although these kids all liked running to the home of this “Sister Hua,” the only one Hua Yu had personally looked after was Xu Ya Qing.

If not for Wei Yin, she would never have noticed Yu Tiantian at all.

Yu Tiantian knew there was no real affection between her and Hua Yu. She had gone to such lengths to get Wei Yin to come to the gathering; it was probably for those three projects.

Still, Yu Tiantian didn’t speak.

Hua Yu looked away. Shadows were moving at the bathroom entrance; faint voices drifted over.

“They’re not actually going to fight, are they?”

“I know Yu Tiantian, but who’s the other woman?”

“Didn’t get a good look. I only saw them being dragged in there.”

Hua Yu was getting impatient. “I’ll give you one chance. Otherwise, even if you want to talk next time, I won’t bother listening.”

Seeing that everything had already been exposed, Yu Tiantian simply stopped pretending. “Yes, you’re right. Hua Yu, how many times did I call you, trying to invite you to a meal? And you didn’t give me a shred of face, in the end sending Xu Ya Qing in your place... Ridiculous. I, Yu Tiantian, have never begged anyone like this in my life. I came to you with such sincerity to ask for guidance, and what about you? You were the one who didn’t act with any decency first.”

“There’s no decency between you and me,” Hua Yu said coldly. “I already gave you an answer.”

After Xu Ya Qing and Yu Tiantian had that meal, Hua Yu had taken the initiative to contact her once and given her a list of people who had research in those areas, telling Yu Tiantian to go consult them.

Now it seemed Yu Tiantian had taken Hua Yu’s list as a brush-off.

“Really? Then why did you shove Xu Ya Qing into the medical aid team?” Yu Tiantian sneered. “I said these three projects matter a lot to me. Not only did you not help, you even got in the way. I had no choice but to find another way around.”

That roundabout way was Wei Yin.

At that thought, Yu Tiantian still felt regret. If she had gotten there first, with her understanding of Wei Yin’s personality and Hua Yu’s level of nervousness about Wei Yin, things would at least have been several times better than they were now.

It wasn’t that she insisted on clinging to Hua Yu. Pulling Hua Yu onto the ship would not only increase the success rate, it would also shift the risk... In short, it would be extremely useful.

At that moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door, and Wei Yin’s voice came through. “Hua Yu, are you in there?”

Hua Yu gave Yu Tiantian a warning look, then turned and opened the door.

Wei Yin slipped inside, closed the door behind her, and looked from Hua Yu to Yu Tiantian, as if checking whether the two had fought.

The atmosphere was awful. Wei Yin hesitated. “Hua Yu, dinner’s almost ready. How much longer are you going to talk?”

Hua Yu said, “Go eat first.”

Wei Yin was two seconds slow to react, then remembered Hua Yu’s instructions and turned to Yu Tiantian. “No matter who you are, or what misunderstanding you have with Hua Yu, today is the four-year class reunion. I hope whatever dispute you have can wait until after the gathering.”

The more Yu Tiantian listened, the stranger it sounded. “Who am I? Four-year reunion?”

She studied Wei Yin’s eyes closely. The first time she saw Wei Yin, she had already sensed something; now it was even more obvious. “You don’t know me?”

“You’re Yu Tiantian,” Wei Yin said. “Should I know you?”

No—Yu Tiantian had originally thought Wei Yin was trying to cut ties with her. But now that she looked at it, Wei Yin’s gaze was very direct, with no attempt to cover anything up. She really did not remember her at all.

Yu Tiantian blurted out, “You’ve lost your memory.”

Wei Yin frowned. She didn’t like discussing her private matters with her. “None of your business.”

A flash of realization crossed Yu Tiantian’s face, and she looked toward Hua Yu; sure enough, she caught a trace of guilt on her.

“What about her?” Yu Tiantian pointed at Hua Yu. “You don’t remember her either?”

Wei Yin said, “That’s none of your business either.”

Yu Tiantian understood. She burst out laughing. “Hua Yu, Hua Yu... so you never let go of the past after all. You took advantage of her memory loss to trick her into your arms...”

She didn’t get to finish. Hua Yu strode over in one step and grabbed her hard by the collar.

The white dress wrinkled and tightened as the fabric at her neck was yanked upward; Wei Yin heard a sharp ripping sound from the silk.

Without turning back, Hua Yu said in a low voice, “Xiao Yin, go out first.”

Wei Yin said nervously, “But you two...”

Hua Yu said, “Out.”

Wei Yin was worried, but she still did as Hua Yu said and left the room, glancing back every few steps.

“She still doesn’t know what you did to her, does she?” In just a few dozen seconds, Yu Tiantian had already pieced together the whole sequence of events. Her face was red and purple with strain, yet she looked more and more excited. “You confessed to her, got rejected, and then went into heat on the spot. Wei Yin must have been tormented by you badly... Worse still, after word got out that you liked Wei Yin, those people who secretly admired you went crazy with jealousy and started cyberbullying Wei Yin with no bottom line... Speaking of rumors about Wei Yin, more than half of them are your fault!”

“Photoshopped ugly pictures, memorial portraits; getting bumped into on the street, notebooks on her desk splashed with water, having the water shut off while she was showering... During those dozen or so days when you were heartbroken over your failed confession and ‘cut off from the world,’ Wei Yin’s reputation was ruined beyond repair!”

Hua Yu’s hand, still gripping her, started to tremble. She had only learned about these things after she returned to campus.

It wasn’t that she had been heartbroken and deliberately ignored what was happening outside. Her pheromone levels had been too high; the disorder brought on by heat had caused fluctuations throughout her body. Most of the time she had been unconscious, and even when she was occasionally awake, it never lasted long.

It was only after she was discharged that she learned what kinds of things people had been saying about Wei Yin.

Although she had acted decisively, reporting some of them, warning others, and clearing up every rumor face to face, the damage Wei Yin had suffered still couldn’t be undone.

As Yu Tiantian recounted those old events, pain and guilt surfaced in Hua Yu’s eyes; more than that, there was a deep, crushing self-reproach.

She slowly loosened her grip on Yu Tiantian.

Yu Tiantian sucked in a sharp breath and coughed. “Cough, cough... hahahaha, Hua Yu, do you dare tell Wei Yin all of this?”

There was no expression at all on Hua Yu’s pale face.

Yu Tiantian said with certainty, “You don’t dare.”

Hua Yu said nothing.

With the advantage firmly in hand, Yu Tiantian spoke slowly. “Now, can we talk about those three projects?”

-

Home. Change shoes.

Suddenly, Hua Yu was hugged from behind.

Wei Yin stood behind her with her arms around Hua Yu’s waist, her cheek pressed against Hua Yu’s back.

The warmth against her back came so suddenly that Hua Yu stiffened all over.

Even her voice was a little dry. “...Xiao Yin?”

“I don’t know what happened between you and Yu Tiantian, or between me and you, or what happened between me and Yu Tiantian in the past. Not knowing anything doesn’t feel very good.” Wei Yin rubbed her face against Hua Yu’s back, reluctant and soft-voiced.

Hua Yu’s throat had gone rough. “Xiao Yin, I...”

Wei Yin said quietly, “But I still don’t want to see you frown.”

Hua Yu said nothing.

Wei Yin tightened her embrace a little. The warmth of their bodies seeped through the thin clothes of early summer, and they could even hear each other’s heartbeats.

Wei Yin said, “Dr. Hua, I like all the different sides of you—the serious, professional way you treat patients at work, the gentle, capable way you wear an apron and cook after work, the way you deliberately soften your voice when you talk to me... but I don’t like it when you frown.”

Hua Yu said hoarsely, “Okay. I won’t frown.”

Wei Yin lowered her voice. “Dr. Hua, has anyone ever told you that you’re very good at keeping things in?”

Hua Yu didn’t quite understand. “What?”

“You always keep the same expression; your joy and anger never show on your face. Usually, you’re busy and tired, and only when you’re exhausted to the extreme, or your emotions have fluctuated too much, do you furrow your brow. But I don’t want you to be tired, and I don’t want you to feel bad.”

“I don’t know why our past makes you feel so awful, but tell me what I can do to make you feel better. Don’t be upset, okay?”

Hua Yu’s heart melted into a soggy mess. The person she liked was hugging her from behind, murmuring that she didn’t want to see her frown, that she didn’t want to see her in pain; who could possibly not be moved?

These past few days, Wei Yin had been kept completely in the dark. And yet even though she knew nothing, she was still willing to set aside her own doubts just to make Hua Yu a little happier.

Hua Yu gently patted the back of Wei Yin’s hand; her throat felt even rougher. “I’ll tell you about the past.”