Chapter 100
On the weekend, at a shooting club in Yanning.
A burst of gunfire rang out across the empty range.
Gu Yanqiu didn’t take off her shooting glasses; she had a staff member reload the gun for her.
The electronic system scored her shots automatically. Seventy-seven rings total; averaged out, she had scored less than eight rings per shot. It was a disastrous drop from her usual standard.
Watching Gu Yanqiu’s dark expression, one Cheng Guiyuan had never seen before, nearly made her legs give out. For the third time since they’d met, she apologized. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”
Gu Yanqiu said expressionlessly, “It has nothing to do with you.”
Bang, bang, bang, bang—
Ten shots.
Sixty-eight rings.
Gu Yanqiu’s chest rose and fell once, as if she were suppressing something.
Bang, bang, bang, bang—
Sixty rings.
One shot had even missed the target entirely.
“……”
Cheng Guiyuan couldn’t take the suspense and anxiety anymore. She licked her lips nervously and pointed toward the exit. “Should I go outside for a bit?”
Gu Yanqiu nodded, still not looking at her.
An hour later.
Gu Yanqiu had a white towel looped around her neck to wipe away sweat; she dropped into the seat across from Cheng Guiyuan with a loud thud, and the wicker chair let out an ear-grating creak. She was no longer the proper, gentle, restrained Gu Yanqiu either; her sports jacket was left open, and her face and neck were red, though no one knew whether it was from the heat or from anger.
“You think she has… does she have…” The well-bred Gu Yanqiu, who had been carefully raised since childhood, couldn’t even spit out anything harsher. Her own face was red with fury, so Cheng Guiyuan tactfully filled it in for her. “Does she have a screw loose?”
Gu Yanqiu glared. “Yes!”
Cheng Guiyuan pushed a cup of warm water in front of her. “Have a drink. Cool off.”
“I’m not angry,” Gu Yanqiu said.
Cheng Guiyuan didn’t argue; she just smiled. “Then drink some water anyway. You were in there forever; look how hot you are.”
Gu Yanqiu wiped her neck with the towel and took a sip of warm water.
Cheng Guiyuan counted silently to three in her head: three, two, one.
Just as she got to one, Gu Yanqiu spoke.
“Do you know something?”
She had only just started, and Cheng Guiyuan burst out laughing.
“……”
Cheng Guiyuan quickly smothered her smile. “Go on. Know what?”
What kind of person had Gu Yanqiu been before? Poised, self-disciplined, never showing joy or anger on her face; a high mountain flower that could be admired from afar but not touched. And now? She was exactly like every ordinary woman in love.
Gu Yanqiu said, “She was the one who asked me to check on Qu Xuesong for her first. I didn’t see anything, so I asked you to go look. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing wrong,” Cheng Guiyuan said. Then, in a calm, collected move, she took the blame onto herself. “Actually, most of this is on me. If I’d thought it through better, or told her in advance instead of springing it on her at the last minute, or let her see my photo earlier so she’d know me, this kind of misunderstanding wouldn’t have happened.”
She placed her hand over the back of Gu Yanqiu’s hand. “Sorry.”
Gu Yanqiu took another mouthful of water. “It’s not your fault.”
“……”
Right. She’d forgotten: people in love were immersed in their own little world and didn’t accept blame being shifted onto anyone else.
Gu Yanqiu took out her phone to go on Weibo. Cheng Guiyuan glanced over and saw her editing a post with an old photo of Lin Yuewei, adding the caption: 【So pretty [heart]】
Then she hit send.
Although Gu Yanqiu’s expression didn’t change much, being able to post something like that meant she clearly wasn’t that angry anymore.
Cheng Guiyuan had misjudged the situation and thought it was time to start lecturing her. As someone who’d been through it, she said earnestly, “This is something both of you are at fault for. She was wrong to lash out at you indiscriminately because she was under too much pressure, and you were wrong to explode at the slightest provocation. You can talk things out properly; sometimes couples fight because they can’t put themselves in the other person’s shoes.”
Gu Yanqiu lifted her eyes and gave her a faint look. “Oh.”
Cheng Guiyuan had no idea what that “oh” meant, but since Gu Yanqiu didn’t seem angry at her bringing this topic up, she kept going. “Try putting yourself in her position. Say you’d just barely escaped the risk of being collected, and then someone else came along who seemed like they might try to exploit you. Wouldn’t you be scared? And that fear came from you. If it were someone else, would she still have lost her temper like that? No, because she’s close to you, so she can’t control herself.”
Gu Yanqiu said coolly, “Then why didn’t she think from my perspective?”
Cheng Guiyuan said, “How do you know she didn’t? She might be regretting it right now. What’s so hard about you softening a little? Women are sensitive to begin with; in love, there’s no need to keep insisting on who’s higher and lower.”
Gu Yanqiu curled one lip in a mocking smile. “But she hung up on my call last night.”
“Well, the hanging up part…” Cheng Guiyuan could explain just about anything, but hanging up was such a hurtful thing to do that for once, she couldn’t think of a nice excuse.
“And she still hasn’t apologized to me for hanging up. I can forgive everything else, but not that.” After her huge argument with Lin Yuewei, Gu Yanqiu had thought about a lot of things. She’d thought about putting herself in the other person’s shoes; she understood everything Cheng Guiyuan had said, but what was the use of understanding? Before dating, everyone knew that fighting damaged a relationship. Once you really started dating, when tempers ran hot, people could even argue over whether potatoes should be cut into slices or shreds.
“……”
Cheng Guiyuan was almost dying of anxiety.
So the main problem was still the hanging-up issue. Unable to stop herself, Gu Yanqiu said with a trace of disappointment, “Does she not care about me that much? That’s why she could just hang up so casually.”
The biggest taboo in a relationship was suspicion, overthinking, and making things bigger than they were. Cheng Guiyuan hurried to shut down that train of thought. “How could that be? Didn’t I just tell you that she only got angry with you because she cares about you? Hanging up was just because she got worked up and lost control. She’s definitely regretting it to death right now.”
“If she regrets it, then she should apologize. My phone’s on twenty-four-hour standby.” Gu Yanqiu said matter-of-factly.
“……”
Wait.
She might know why Gu Yanqiu and Lin Yuewei had fought like this now.
Cheng Guiyuan looked at her and clicked her tongue. “With that attitude, even the gods would get pissed. I’m talking from Lin Yuewei’s perspective.”
Gu Yanqiu: “Reason.”
Cheng Guiyuan said, “Do you know one of the biggest taboos for a couple in the middle of an argument?”
Gu Yanqiu: “What?”
Cheng Guiyuan said, “Clinging to one mistake the other person made, thinking you’ve occupied the moral high ground, and demanding that they apologize no matter what.”
Gu Yanqiu looked baffled. “What’s the problem? If you did something wrong, you should apologize.”
Cheng Guiyuan said helplessly, “And do you know people have a rebellious streak? Especially couples. If you keep demanding that she apologize, what are you two, in a debate? Whoever wins the argument wins everything? Isn’t that ridiculous? Winning in a relationship isn’t something to be proud of; losing is the real skill.”
“……”
Cheng Guiyuan waited patiently for her to think it through.
After a while, Gu Yanqiu still looked only half-comprehending, but a flicker of doubt suddenly surfaced. She asked, “Then how did you used to resolve arguments with your girlfriends?”
Cheng Guiyuan raised one index finger. “First: the girlfriend is always right.” She raised a second finger. “Second: if the girlfriend is wrong, please refer to rule one.”
Gu Yanqiu sneered and glanced aside, as if looking down on her. “That’s a twisted view of love.”
Cheng Guiyuan said proudly, “So what if it’s twisted? Which of my ex-girlfriends didn’t part with me peacefully and lovingly, all the way until a civilized breakup? You’re competitive in life, and you’re competitive in love too. She’s soft enough as it is, but she has the same stubborn streak as you. Someone has to back down; otherwise, are you going to fight every day?”
Gu Yanqiu drove a knife straight into her heart. “Oh? Then how did you and your last girlfriend break up? Does that principle even work?”
Cheng Guiyuan’s expression changed dramatically.
Gu Yanqiu realized she’d said too much. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it.”
Cheng Guiyuan waved it off, signaling that she didn’t mind. But from her reaction, it clearly hadn’t been completely forgotten.
Cheng Guiyuan couldn’t talk sense into her; their views on love were worlds apart, so she changed the subject. “When do you wrap filming?”
Gu Yanqiu froze for a moment, lowered her eyes, and said, “Next Wednesday.”
Cheng Guiyuan laughed under her breath. “You remember that pretty well.”
Gu Yanqiu shot her a glare, not knowing whether it was embarrassment or fury. Cheng Guiyuan pressed one finger to her lips, indicating she wouldn’t mention it again.
When the two of them parted and headed home separately, Cheng Guiyuan poked Gu Yanqiu’s shoulder with a finger and instructed her in a commanding tone, “Go back and soften up a little. You hear me?”
Gu Yanqiu shrugged, looking very unconcerned.
Cheng Guiyuan poked her again. “You don’t want a girlfriend anymore? Don’t you know people in the crew are all eyeing your girlfriend like wolves? You’re throwing a tantrum; aren’t you afraid someone will take advantage of the situation?”
Gu Yanqiu’s face darkened a little.
After walking a few steps, Cheng Guiyuan looked back at her again. “Remember: put your pride aside and get the person back first. If you want to settle scores, do it when the two of you are face-to-face; doing it over the phone is the worst possible choice.”
Only then did Gu Yanqiu nod.
Cheng Guiyuan thought about it and still couldn’t quite let it go. So she turned back and hurried over, holding out a hand. “Give me your phone.”
Gu Yanqiu asked warily, “What for?”
“Just give it to me. Why so many questions? Do you want your girlfriend back or not?”
Gu Yanqiu pressed her lips together and fell silent.
Cheng Guiyuan fished her phone out of her bag. “Come on, let me take a picture of your face.”
Gu Yanqiu looked reluctant, but she stood perfectly still and let her do it obediently; it was obvious she still very much wanted her girlfriend.
Cheng Guiyuan smiled to herself.
If not for the fact that Gu Yanqiu and she had no magnetic compatibility, and if not for the fact that they’d been friends for years, she really would have wanted to go after Gu Yanqiu herself. She probably could have lasted several months longer than with any of Gu Yanqiu’s other girlfriends.
The phone was unlocked. Cheng Guiyuan went into WeChat contacts and looked for Lin Yuewei’s name, but couldn’t find it. She had no choice but to search through recent chats. Gu Yanqiu was fairly busy with work, and just two days had passed; the chat list seemed to go on forever when she scrolled down.
Cheng Guiyuan had a headache from looking one by one, when Gu Yanqiu silently leaned over and tapped the screen a few times with a finger, then withdrew.
Cheng Guiyuan looked at the display name she’d highlighted: Two Wood.
“……”
Very good. Very plain.
She typed quickly on the screen and shoved the phone back into Gu Yanqiu’s hands. “Done. I’m heading home. Remember to rein in your temper; if you have something to say, discuss it face-to-face. Don’t bring up sensitive topics when you’re apart.”
Gu Yanqiu nodded.
Only then did Cheng Guiyuan wave at her with her back turned and leave.
Lin Yuewei had finished a full day of filming and was so exhausted her back and legs felt ready to break. She was sprawled on a bench like a corpse, eyes blank as she stared into space, nobody knew what she was thinking about. Wang Yuanyuan handed her a phone and said, “Weiwei, you’ve got a few messages. Want to look?”
Lin Yuewei was both sleepy and tired. She half-squinted at the screen; the instant she saw Gu Yanqiu’s avatar, she snapped fully awake. Her heart started pounding wildly, and she sat straight up before tapping in.
【System message: West Gu retracted a message】
Author’s Note:
President Gu: Didn’t see that coming, did you? You want me to back down first? Impossible [smile]
You hung up on me; this isn’t over!
Cheng Huge Wronged【spitting blood】: I can’t carry this, I really can’t