Chapter 103
Lin Yuewei said, “I really, really like you. Can we stop fighting, okay?”
When Gu Yanqiu heard that, an indescribable sense of grievance suddenly welled up in her heart. She didn’t know exactly what she was feeling wronged about, but since Lin Yuewei had already lowered herself this far, there was no point in continuing the argument; it would only do harm, not good.
Her eyes stung. Before Lin Yuewei could notice, Gu Yanqiu pulled her into a hug, forcing the tears that hadn’t yet gathered to retreat.
Lin Yuewei could feel the body in her arms soften. Moved, she gently patted Gu Yanqiu’s back and said earnestly, “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
Gu Yanqiu couldn’t speak. If she opened her mouth, she would definitely choke up; she didn’t want Lin Yuewei to see her looking so weak.
She was nothing like herself at all.
The two of them held each other in silence for a long time.
Then the phone on the side rang again. Lin Yuewei jolted, first tightening her grip on one of Gu Yanqiu’s hands, then looking at her own phone. When she saw the caller ID, she let out a breath of relief; it was her mother, not Shao Yasi or Qu Xuesong.
She glanced at Gu Yanqiu. Gu Yanqiu cleared her throat and said, “Answer it. I think it’s time for lunch.”
Lin Yuewei picked up, and sure enough, it was.
Ran Qingqing asked, “Where did you two run off to? I looked everywhere, upstairs and downstairs, and couldn’t find either of you.”
Lin Yuewei said, “The gym next door.”
Ran Qingqing said, “What’d you go to the gym for? Wrestling in the sheets?”
Lin Yuewei said, “Aren’t we about to eat? We came to work up an appetite so we can eat more at lunch.”
Ran Qingqing said, “Hurry back and eat. The food’s getting cold.”
“Coming.” Lin Yuewei hung up, pulled Gu Yanqiu to her feet from the floor, and said, “My mom’s calling us for lunch.”
“Mm.” Gu Yanqiu nodded. “I heard.”
“Then let’s go?”
“Mm.”
Lin Yuewei and Gu Yanqiu walked back hand in hand. The sun was bright outside; having just made up, Lin Yuewei felt as if the biggest stone in her heart had finally fallen away, leaving her relaxed beyond measure. She turned back to look at Gu Yanqiu and gave her a brilliant smile.
Gu Yanqiu froze for a moment before her eyes curved faintly in return.
Lin Yuewei leaned over to kiss her. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Gu Yanqiu’s hair glinting in the light, so she slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her into her embrace, deepening the kiss...
“Eyes away, eyes away.” Ran Qingqing was standing a few steps away, taking in the show in broad daylight. Only after watching long enough did she finally speak up to remind them.
Lin Yuewei had a thicker skin, after all; she was facing her own mother. Gu Yanqiu couldn’t manage that, and her face instantly flushed red. Lin Yuewei stepped in front of her protectively and said coquettishly, “Mom—”
Ran Qingqing answered in the same drawn-out tone, “Daughter—”
Lin Yuewei: “You—”
Ran Qingqing: “Come in and eat.” She glanced at the two of them, only then noticing how dusty they were, and frowned. “What on earth were you two doing? You’re filthy.”
“Just exercising a little,” Lin Yuewei said. She touched the spots where she’d just been hit and felt that the fight had been extremely worthwhile.
It was a workday. Lin’s father was eating lunch at the company and wasn’t coming home, so at noon it was just Ran Qingqing, Lin Yuewei, and Gu Yanqiu. Ran Qingqing went to the wine cabinet, took out a bottle of white wine, and opened it. Gu Yanqiu politely declined. “Auntie, I still have to go back to work this afternoon. I can’t drink.”
Ran Qingqing said, “A little is fine.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “I still have to drive...”
Lin Yuewei smoothly cut in with a smile, “I’ll take you back this afternoon; I’ve got nothing else to do anyway.”
Ran Qingqing looked at her. “Then you’re not drinking?”
Lin Yuewei: “...”
Ran Qingqing said, “I’ll have the driver send you.”
At that point, Gu Yanqiu couldn’t refuse anymore without being rude. So she poured herself just a thin layer at the bottom of the glass. The three of them raised their glasses, first congratulating Lin Yuewei on wrapping up filming, then congratulating the two of them on finally ending up together.
Lin Yuewei smiled brightly. Gu Yanqiu, though, seemed a little strained.
Ran Qingqing’s brow twitched almost imperceptibly. Her gaze shifted between the two of them, but she said nothing.
There was a large plate of hairy crabs on the table. Lin Yuewei took it upon herself to do the shelling. She broke one crab in half; one half went to Ran Qingqing, and the other half... she asked Gu Yanqiu, “Do you mind if we share one?”
Gu Yanqiu shook her head.
So Lin Yuewei gave them each half, then picked out the roe from the middle and put it into Gu Yanqiu’s bowl. “Eat it while it’s hot.”
Ran Qingqing raised an eyebrow but still said nothing. Since her foolish daughter had finally found a girlfriend, being second place for now was perfectly fine.
Gu Yanqiu might have gone too long without eating hairy crab; her movements were awkward, but she was also very concerned with appearances. Lin Yuewei had already picked out all the meat from the legs for her, and she was still working on the half Lin Yuewei had given her earlier.
When Lin Yuewei peeled a second crab for her, Gu Yanqiu hurriedly said, “Eat it yourself. I can’t finish it.”
So Lin Yuewei gave this one to her mother.
Ran Qingqing clicked her tongue and said with a long sigh, “The leftovers from the wife are what get fed to your old mother.”
Gu Yanqiu lowered her head, her ears going red again.
Lin Yuewei said under her breath, “You’re overacting.”
Ran Qingqing laughed.
Lin Yuewei went to the washroom to wash her hands properly, planning to eat a few bites first. On her way back, she passed Gu Yanqiu and reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind Gu Yanqiu’s ear.
Gu Yanqiu said automatically, “Thank you.”
Lin Yuewei said, “No problem. Want me to get you a small hair clip?”
Gu Yanqiu shook her head.
Lin Yuewei sat down beside her. When she looked up at her mother, she found Ran Qingqing covering her face with one hand, looking like she had a toothache.
Lin Yuewei shot her a look, meaning that Gu Yanqiu was thin-skinned and she shouldn’t tease her. Ran Qingqing, perfectly in sync with her, put down her chopsticks and made an “OK” sign, showing that she understood.
A calm, uneventful lunch finished. Lin Yuewei invited Gu Yanqiu upstairs to take a nap and rest a little, but Gu Yanqiu gently shook her head and refused. “I took a half-day this morning, so I fell behind on a lot of things. I need to go in early this afternoon.”
Lin Yuewei pouted and asked the driver to take Gu Yanqiu to the company. Gu Yanqiu got into the car, and Lin Yuewei climbed in after her.
Gu Yanqiu looked puzzled. “You...”
Lin Yuewei curved her lips. “I’m taking you to the company.”
Gu Yanqiu smiled faintly. “All right.”
Lin Yuewei thought her smile looked a little tired, and her complexion wasn’t great either. “Are you tired?”
“Am I?”
“You are.” Lin Yuewei’s tone was full of concern.
Gu Yanqiu pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Maybe it’s the wine. I’m a little drunk.”
Lin Yuewei frowned. “You only drank that tiny little bit.” Was her tolerance really that bad? And yet she often went out to socialize.
Gu Yanqiu frowned lightly too. “Maybe I’m just sleepy? I didn’t sleep well last night.”
Lin Yuewei asked, “Why didn’t you sleep well?”
Gu Yanqiu glanced at her with her lips pressed together.
Lin Yuewei immediately dropped the subject. Why hadn’t she slept well? Obviously because they’d fought; besides, if she pushed further, they’d probably drag out old grievances again. Lin Yuewei thoughtfully massaged the back of her neck, then guided her down to rest with her head on Lin Yuewei’s lap. “Then sleep a bit on the way.”
The driver was still in front. Gu Yanqiu felt embarrassed and struggled to sit up, but Lin Yuewei was quicker; she pressed a hand on Gu Yanqiu’s shoulder and said, “Don’t move. Be good and sleep.”
Gu Yanqiu couldn’t get up with her held down. The driver kept his eyes on the road and his nose on his business, not even glancing back once. Gu Yanqiu had no choice but to lie there with her eyes closed for the whole trip.
The reason this wasn’t called sleeping the whole way was that Gu Yanqiu hadn’t actually fallen asleep at all. As it turned out, forced reconciliation was useless. She still couldn’t get past that hurdle in her heart; she was still angry with Lin Yuewei. This anger wasn’t something a single apology or a few nice words could erase.
She wanted more. She’d spent the entire ride thinking, but still didn’t know exactly what else she wanted.
Lin Zhi was stopped by Gu Yanqiu before he could leave the office after delivering some documents.
“Lin Zhi, wait a moment.”
“Hm?”
“Have you ever fought with your girlfriend?”
Lin Zhi looked at the ballpoint pen in Gu Yanqiu’s hand and roughly guessed her mood, as well as... the fact that her abnormal behavior over the past few days really had been because of an argument. Lin Zhi answered, “Yeah.”
“What are the usual reasons?”
“I didn’t bring her dinner on time, I didn’t reply to her messages quickly enough, and other weird reasons too. Or if she was in a bad mood, sometimes she’d take it out on me. If I happened to be in a bad mood too, then we’d start fighting.”
That was completely different from the situation between herself and Lin Yuewei, Gu Yanqiu thought, but she still asked, “How did you make up?”
Lin Zhi said, “I apologized to her, took her out to play, bought her good food. Husband and wife don’t hold grudges overnight; after a few hours, it’s fine.”
Gu Yanqiu: “Oh. Nothing else, you can go.”
Lin Zhi said, “Okay.”
He reached the door, his hand on the doorknob, then looked back and said, “Boss, this argument has gone on long enough. If you can make up sooner, make up sooner, all right? Don’t...”
He didn’t finish the rest. Anyone who’s ever been in love would understand; don’t let a small thing blow up until it ends in a clean break.
Gu Yanqiu nodded at Lin Zhi.
After Lin Zhi left, Gu Yanqiu sent Lin Yuewei a WeChat message:
[Xi Gu: What are you doing?]
[Two Trees: Packing my bags, getting ready to take a nap haha]
[Xi Gu: Then I’m going to work]
[Two Trees: Kiss me first]
[Xi Gu: Muah]
[Two Trees: I meant not typing it. I mean saying it in voice.]
[Xi Gu: ...]
[Two Trees: Hahaha, I’m kidding. I’ll kiss you when you get back. When you come home, do you want me to pick you up?]
[Xi Gu: No need]
[Two Trees: I’m coming to pick you up hahaha]
You could tell just from Lin Yuewei’s messages that she was in an excellent mood right now. Gu Yanqiu had no choice but to think about whether she really was, as Lin Yuewei had said, being completely unreasonable. She didn’t doubt Lin Yuewei’s feelings for her. As for people like Qu Xuesong and Shao Yasi, whether they had feelings for Lin Yuewei or not, they were no threat at all. Why did she keep making Lin Yuewei unhappy over other people? If their relationship really developed some crack because of this, wouldn’t that be handing someone else an opening?
Maybe she should go back and talk terms with Lin Yuewei. As long as Lin Yuewei didn’t mention those two names in front of her, she’d completely forget about them. She could do that.
But what about the photos Lin Yuewei occasionally posted on Weibo?
How was she supposed to avoid seeing those?
The pen in Gu Yanqiu’s hand drew a long line across the blank paper; she felt like she was the same as what Lin Yuewei had said in a low voice today: Are you crazy?
She was.
Gu Yanqiu buried her face in her palm and let out a heavy sigh.
Lin Yuewei was completely unaware of her complicated inner struggles. She had happily taken a nap at home, and when the alarm went off, she slapped it off, lay there with her eyes closed for a while, then suddenly sat up and started changing clothes before rushing downstairs.
Ran Qingqing was petting the dog on the sofa and got startled by her. Even the dog started barking. “Woof woof woof woof woof.”
Ran Qingqing: “What are you rushing off for?”
Lin Yuewei looked shocked. “Mom, since when do you understand dog language?”
Ran Qingqing laughed and cursed her out, “Get lost.”
Lin Yuewei laughed. “I’m going to pick up my wife from work.”
Ran Qingqing softened into a kindly tone. “Go on, then.”
Lin Yuewei put on the coat draped over the sofa and said, “I’m off. I might not come back for dinner tonight; I’ll message you later.”
Ran Qingqing waved impatiently. “Hurry up and go.”
Lin Yuewei was like a bright, youthful sun, bursting with energy as she sprang out the front door. Once it shut behind her, Ran Qingqing ruffled the dog’s fur and let out a long, soft sigh.
[Two Trees: I’m downstairs at your company. Are you off work yet?]
[Xi Gu: Ten minutes]
[Two Trees: Okay]
[Two Trees: [cute.jpg]]
Gu Yanqiu looked at the message on the screen and, despite being happy, felt a trace of suffocation. She realized she wasn’t that eager to see Lin Yuewei, at least not before she had figured out how to interact with her again.
Gu Yanqiu slowly tidied her desk and prepared to get off work, a small knot creasing the center of her brow.
They’d agreed on ten minutes, but Gu Yanqiu was five minutes late. Lin Yuewei didn’t mind. Once Gu Yanqiu was seated and had closed the door, Lin Yuewei immediately leaned over from the driver’s seat, bracing one hand against the window by Gu Yanqiu’s side and greedily capturing her lips in a deep, lingering kiss.
The longing of three months couldn’t be eased so easily by a fight in the gym and one kiss.
Gu Yanqiu pressed a hand to her shoulder and pushed her away, breathing a little hard. Under Lin Yuewei’s puzzled gaze, she cleared her throat and said, “Someone might see us. It’s not good.”
“Then we’ll wait until we get home.” Lin Yuewei narrowed her eyes and glanced at the traffic in the middle of the road, then turned on her left signal. “What do you want for dinner?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s have that Western place we went to last time; the one where we got a membership card.” Lin Yuewei said. Back then, she had spent most of her savings there.
“Sure.”
That restaurant was expensive for a reason, and there was now even a small patch of indoor-grown roses. You just had to pay for them, though only one could be bought at a time; otherwise, given the spending power of the people who came here, they’d probably be picked bare in no time. The restaurant was preparing to make it a special benefit for members. Lin Yuewei cut a stem on the spot, wrapped the thorny base in colored paper, and held it out to Gu Yanqiu.
Her lips were curved with a faint smile; her eyes were bright as she looked nervous and expectant. “Gu... Yanqiu, this is the first time I’ve given someone roses.”
Gu Yanqiu took it, her eyes and brows bending with a smile. “It’s the first time I’ve received roses too. Thank you.”
Lin Yuewei’s gaze fell on her pale lips, and she wanted to kiss her again.
Not only kiss her; she wanted to do other things too.
The two of them had been standing here for quite a while, and the server had been watching them the whole time. Gu Yanqiu tugged at her sleeve, interrupting Lin Yuewei’s wandering thoughts, and said softly, “Let’s go order.”
Lin Yuewei gently pried away the hand that held her wrist, sliding down into her palm and rubbing lightly over the smooth back of her hand, full of an unbearable, suggestive intimacy.
Gu Yanqiu’s heart gave a small jolt. She turned back to look at her, and Lin Yuewei met her gaze with a smile.
Lin Yuewei informed her mother they wouldn’t be going home for dinner that night, and the two of them returned to their little nest together. Lin Yuewei switched on the living room light and put the rose she’d brought home into the vase with the others.
“Where’s Schrödinger?” Lin Yuewei felt a little guilty for only now remembering that there was such a daughter at home.
Gu Yanqiu touched her chin. “Maybe in the pot?”
“In the pot?” Lin Yuewei thought she’d misheard and pointed toward the kitchen.
Gu Yanqiu nodded.
Lin Yuewei walked over, turned on the kitchen light from outside, and saw a weathered cat face peering out of the soup pot sitting on the stove. Its ears twitched.
Lin Yuewei: “...”
Gu Yanqiu, who had followed behind her, stood at her back and said helplessly, “She’s recently developed a fondness for the whole iron-pot-stewing-herself act.”
Schrödinger meowed coldly, then turned her head back and looked out into the vast night.
Lin Yuewei asked in a low voice, “Is she shy around strangers?”
Gu Yanqiu replied, “Sort of. She’ll go with whoever feeds her, but you haven’t fed her before. If you don’t mind getting scratched, go ahead and hold her.”
As a long-term cloud cat-owner, faced with a perfectly round-faced ragdoll who looked like the Cat Queen of all Cat Queens, Lin Yuewei was willing to take the risk and try.
Gu Yanqiu went with her.
Lin Yuewei carefully lifted Schrödinger out of the soup pot. Schrödinger immediately struck out with an impolite swipe of her paw, scratching at Lin Yuewei’s trench coat. If she’d been wearing anything cheaper, it would have been torn apart already.
Gu Yanqiu was about to pull Schrödinger over and give her a lecture when Lin Yuewei smiled indulgently and said, “No need. That temper? She’s just like my own flesh and blood.” Schrödinger was still clawing at her hands, but the curve of Lin Yuewei’s lips only grew wider.
Gu Yanqiu pouted.
She had guessed right after all. Once Lin Yuewei came home and saw the cat, her share in Lin Yuewei’s heart would only get smaller. First Qu and Shao, now Schrödinger; Gu Yanqiu actually felt a little grief-stricken.
Schrödinger was arrogant to the extreme, and Lin Yuewei liked her to the extreme. After teasing the cat for a while, she turned her head and realized Gu Yanqiu was gone.
“Gu Yanqiu?”
“I’m here.” A voice came from below.
Lin Yuewei followed the sound and saw Gu Yanqiu crouching in the corner, drawing circles on the floor, aggrieved and adorable. Lin Yuewei was instantly charmed to death by her; she immediately grew fond of the old and abandoned and cast Schrödinger aside, heading toward Gu Yanqiu instead.
Gu Yanqiu’s heart filled with a bleak sense of tragedy: Was her future really just going to be competing with a cat for affection?
“What are you doing?” Lin Yuewei lifted her up and kissed her, saying, “You’re unhappy?”
“No.” Gu Yanqiu said, “I’m just jealous.”
“Jealous of what?”
“Schrödinger.”
“It’s one thing to be jealous of a person, but why are you even jealous of a cat?” Lin Yuewei suddenly laughed and said it in a light, cheerful tone.
She swore she was joking, but she didn’t know that the line had once again hit a sensitive nerve under Gu Yanqiu’s calm exterior.
Gu Yanqiu’s expression changed instantly.
“Little vinegar jar.” Lin Yuewei smiled and reached out to take her hand, but Gu Yanqiu shook it off. “Do you think I’m being especially unreasonable again?”
Lin Yuewei looked blank. “No, I don’t.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “What’s wrong with me being jealous of a cat?”
Lin Yuewei said, “Nothing’s wrong with it. Be jealous if you want to be jealous; I was just saying you—” The words surged to her lips, but with her previous lesson still fresh in mind, she didn’t want to start another cold war on the very first day they made up. So she lowered her head first and said heavily, “Nothing. I was wrong.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “You don’t actually think you’re wrong. You’re just brushing me off.”
Lin Yuewei frowned. “No, I really know I was wrong. I was talking nonsense.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “You think I can’t tell?”
Lin Yuewei quickly lost patience. “Then what do you want?”
Gu Yanqiu shot back, “What do I want? Does what I say matter? Do I have the right to interfere with you? You have no obligation to accommodate me. You’re not my string-pulled puppet; that was your exact wording.”
Lin Yuewei said helplessly, “You know perfectly well I said that in a fit of anger.”
Gu Yanqiu looked at her. “Fine. Then say one thing now that isn’t anger. Can I control you?”
Lin Yuewei opened her mouth but couldn’t get a word out.
Gu Yanqiu gave a cold laugh. “So does anything I say even matter?”
She was always like this, sharp edge for sharp edge. Lin Yuewei had already been through one blowup like this; back then, she’d been under a lot of mental pressure. But today her mood had been good all along. Seeing Gu Yanqiu act so out of the ordinary actually calmed her down. Even the little patience she had left miraculously returned. She crouched down, took both of Gu Yanqiu’s hands where they rested on her lap, and looked up at her gently. “What’s really wrong? Tell me, okay? Aren’t we the closest people to each other?”
Gu Yanqiu held her gaze for a while, then suddenly tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling above the living room.
By Lin Yuewei’s experience, that motion meant...
She stood up at once. Keeping her head tilted back, Gu Yanqiu pressed her shoulder and pushed her back down. “Don’t look at me.” Her voice was soft and hoarse.
Gu Yanqiu was crying.
At first Lin Yuewei didn’t believe it; then she immediately felt she deserved a thousand deaths. She changed from crouching to sitting and pulled Gu Yanqiu into her arms on the sofa, apologizing over and over. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry... Don’t cry. If you cry, I’m going to cry too.”
Gu Yanqiu hugged her back, resting her chin on Lin Yuewei’s shoulder, still speaking in that low, hoarse voice. “Don’t talk. I’m not even crying yet; if you keep talking, I really will cry.”
How could Lin Yuewei dare not listen? She shut up immediately and lightly patted Gu Yanqiu’s back.
Once Gu Yanqiu’s emotions had stabilized, she accused, “You said I was causing trouble.”
All right. This wasn’t going to be one point at a time anymore; it was going to be every single thing dragged back up from the beginning.
But at this moment, Lin Yuewei didn’t even have any anger left, much less a spark of it. Only a heart full of bitter tenderness remained; everyone in the world who made Gu Yanqiu cry was guilty of a crime deserving death, including herself.
Lin Yuewei said, “You weren’t causing trouble, absolutely not. I was the one who asked you to help me look into Qu Xuesong, but you didn’t have time, so I asked my friend instead. I was the one in a bad mood and took it out on you.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “You said Qu Xuesong was good and I wasn’t.”
Lin Yuewei said, “No, no, I never said she was good. You’re the best; you’re the best in the whole world.”
Gu Yanqiu gave a soft sniff and said, “You said you were grateful to her.”
Lin Yuewei shamelessly denied it and played dumb. “No, if she hadn’t falsely reported the situation, I wouldn’t have been scared like that.” Suddenly, she had an inspired moment and added, “Right; it’s all her fault.”
Gu Yanqiu let one hand slide down to Lin Yuewei’s hand, tapped it twice without any real force, then flipped it over and held it in place. “You said you had no obligation to accommodate my friend, and no obligation to accommodate me either. You’re not my string-pulled puppet, left to be played with by whoever comes along.”
Lin Yuewei said, “I’m not a string-pulled puppet. I’m... I’m a kite. No matter how high or how far I fly, the string is always in your hand. If you reel it in a little, I’ll come right back; whoosh, I’ll be back immediately.”
Gu Yanqiu couldn’t help a muffled laugh, then turned her head and bit her neck. Lin Yuewei winced in pain, but her heart felt sweet.
How was she suddenly so good at saying sweet things today? She should compliment herself.
After biting her, Gu Yanqiu said resentfully, “You twisted my meaning. I never said Qu Xuesong was bad; I just didn’t want you getting too close to her. You said I was being unreasonable because I was jealous.”
Lin Yuewei had already adapted to this rhythm and kept saying the things Gu Yanqiu wanted to hear, even though they went against her actual thoughts, but in a happy way: “I know, I know. You being jealous isn’t unreasonable; it’s me being unreasonable.”
Gu Yanqiu lifted her chin off Lin Yuewei and leaned back a little, revealing red-rimmed eyes. Pressing her lips together, she said, “A woman’s mouth is full of lies.”
Lin Yuewei smiled at her, and her own eyes were a little red too.
Gu Yanqiu cupped her face in both hands and leaned closer, confirming that her eyes really were red. She said in surprise, “I haven’t even cried. Why are you crying?”
Lin Yuewei was still smiling. “I don’t know either. I thought you were crying, and I felt awful.” She pressed a hand to the place over her heart. A strange, almost physical ache spread there; her nose stung, and tears were already starting to well up in her eyes.
Gu Yanqiu kissed her eyes and said, “Don’t cry.”
Lin Yuewei said, “My eyes just got a little red. I’m not crying.”
Whether what either of them said was false, or whether both of them were telling lies, neither of them had any intention of exposing the other.
Gu Yanqiu lowered her eyes and said, “That night, I’ll explain it to you again. It was my fault for not letting the two of you know each other earlier and causing the misunderstanding later.”
“Mm.” Lin Yuewei gave a slight nod. “I was wrong too. I shouldn’t have taken my stress out on you.”
“I was sensitive about Qu Xuesong not because I didn’t trust you, but because I didn’t trust her. I admit it; I just don’t trust her. It was because... because...” Gu Yanqiu glanced up at her lightly, then quickly lowered her lashes in embarrassment and said, “I like you too much, and I hadn’t seen you for so long. I missed you, and I...”
She wasn’t the kind of person who was good at laying bare her feelings. She preferred doing things over talking, especially when it came to affection. She said “I” for a long time and still couldn’t continue.
She sighed.
Lin Yuewei laughed out loud.
Gu Yanqiu glared at her.
Lin Yuewei straightened up at once. “Go on.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “I’m done. Your turn.”
Lin Yuewei looked disappointed. “Really done?”
Gu Yanqiu puffed out her cheeks. “Done. You talk.”
Lin Yuewei smiled again. “Okay. I’ll go first. First, I want to apologize for taking my anger out on you; second, I inappropriately dragged the topic onto the Qu Xuesong you hate, which made things worse and led you to lose your temper and say those things; third, I shouldn’t have pressed you like that, then dragged it from Qu Xuesong to Shao Yasi, who you dislike even more. I fell back into my old habit of dredging up old arguments; lastly, I shouldn’t have hung up on you. Especially hanging up on you; I regretted it afterward so much, but I couldn’t bring myself to swallow my pride and make up.”
Gu Yanqiu said coolly, “You just mentioned their names again.”
Lin Yuewei kissed her lips as temporary appeasement and said, “I mentioned them now because I have a reason to. I know you don’t like them and think they both have feelings for me, but the truth really isn’t like that.”
“Then tell me.”
“Shao Yasi really may have liked me before,” Lin Yuewei said, first pressing Gu Yanqiu’s shoulder down to suppress the movement as she tried to sit up, and said helplessly, “Look at you, you’re exploding again. So much for that Buddhist-style domineering CEO. Lower your head and look at the prayer beads on your wrist; calm down a little.”
Gu Yanqiu quickly took off the prayer beads she’d been winding around her wrist and set them on the coffee table.
Lin Yuewei: “...”
“...Fine.” She continued, “But that was during the show recording, and it’s already been more than half a year. Besides, the moment I realized it, I told her I already had someone I liked.”
More than half a year ago, she and Lin Yuewei still hadn’t been together, right? Gu Yanqiu became alert. “Who did you say?”
Lin Yuewei showed a victorious smile. “You. I’d been secretly in love with you for ages; didn’t you know that?”
Gu Yanqiu turned her face away, suppressing the smile that threatened to curl up on its own. When she turned back, her expression had been firmly set. “And then? Is liking someone really something you can just stop doing so easily?”
“I don’t know about anyone else, but Shao Yasi definitely doesn’t like me anymore,” Lin Yuewei said.
Gu Yanqiu said, “And how do you know that about Qu Xuesong?”
Lin Yuewei had accidentally been caught in a loophole. She let out an “ah” and said, “One thing at a time. I’ll explain Qu Xuesong to you in a minute. Can we talk about Shao Yasi first?”
Gu Yanqiu was silent for a while, then said, “Fine.”
Lin Yuewei honestly didn’t know where to start proving it. Just like the method Gu Yanqiu had used before, she laid out every point of contact between them truthfully, and finally held out her phone. “Chat history. Feel free to check. I didn’t delete a single message. The last time she found out I’d gotten together with the person I liked, she badgered me with gossip for a long time. If she liked me, would she have been that nosy? Wouldn’t that just be stabbing herself in the back?”
By then, Gu Yanqiu believed most of it. She wasn’t going to check the chat history; the remaining sliver of distrust came from an instinctive sense of danger and had little to do with this matter itself.
“What about Qu Xuesong?”
Lin Yuewei had already talked herself dry. She licked her parched lips. “Boss, I request a sip of water.”
Gu Yanqiu got up and went to the kitchen to pour her some water. Lin Yuewei reached out to take it, but Gu Yanqiu dodged her, took a mouthful herself, and pressed Lin Yuewei back against the sofa. Then she fed her the water.
Once the water was fed, the tip of her tongue hooked around Lin Yuewei’s, lingering and tender to the extreme.
Lin Yuewei had been nursing wicked thoughts the whole time; one brush of that tongue nearly made her melt into the sofa. She pushed at Gu Yanqiu’s shoulder and, seizing the chance, wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into her lap, continuing with the serious discussion.
If this matter wasn’t explained clearly, then even if Gu Yanqiu stripped naked in front of her... JIA557917313
Forget it. In fact, Gu Yanqiu was never going to strip naked, so they were destined to keep talking this out.
During their four months on set, setting aside the fact that Qu Xuesong had never crossed a line once, she had instead given Lin Yuewei a great deal of guidance and advice. After finishing, Lin Yuewei let out a long breath and said, “I’m not speaking for her, but in fact, Teacher Qu counts as half my benefactor. It has nothing to do with any kind of album-collecting obsession. I promise you, if she shows the slightest improper interest in me, I’ll cut her off immediately. I won’t even hesitate for a second.”
Gu Yanqiu stared at her for a long moment without blinking, then got down from her lap and bent to pick up the ever-watchful Schrödinger before heading upstairs. “Shower and sleep?”
Lin Yuewei wiped the sweat off her forehead and called out, “Are you still angry?”
Gu Yanqiu looked back at her and said, “I still don’t trust either of them, but I’m not angry with you anymore.”
Lin Yuewei thought: as long as she wasn’t angry at me, that was enough; anyway, Gu Yanqiu couldn’t punch Qu and Shao.
Once they were in the room, Gu Yanqiu sat on the sofa, stroking Schrödinger nonstop. Lin Yuewei looked at her pitifully for a long time before finally blurting out, “Didn’t you say you weren’t angry with me anymore? Why aren’t you talking to me?”
Gu Yanqiu said, “Ah, I’m petting the cat.”
Lin Yuewei said angrily, “What’s so great about petting the cat? Talk to me.”
Gu Yanqiu looked up at her and smiled sweetly. “Are you jealous of the cat?”
Lin Yuewei: “...”
So that was what she’d been waiting for. No wonder she was so petty and vindictive!
Lin Yuewei took Schrödinger out of her arms, set her on the floor, and forcibly squeezed into Gu Yanqiu’s lap. “I’m jealous. What are you going to do about it?”
Gu Yanqiu’s smile grew even brighter. “Nothing. I like you a lot more than I like cats.”
Schrödinger: “Meow?”
The two of them had completely made up and lingered on the sofa in sweetness for a while before going to shower separately.
Lin Yuewei showered first. She had already burned through more than half her energy just talking tonight. When Gu Yanqiu came out later, she saw Lin Yuewei sitting by the bed typing on her phone and asked casually, “Who are you chatting with?”
Lin Yuewei simply held the phone up for her to see. The name at the top was Shao Yasi.
Gu Yanqiu snorted through her nose. “Hmph.”
Lin Yuewei said, “She asked me to dinner tomorrow afternoon. I told her I was busy.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “You’re not going?”
Lin Yuewei said, “No. I said I’d have to ask my partner about the time. You’re working during the day, aren’t you?”
The words stuck in Gu Yanqiu’s throat, but she couldn’t get them out. “...Cough.” Her earlobes went red.
Lin Yuewei lifted her phone and said smugly, “Want to see the chat log?”
Gu Yanqiu got into bed, picked up a book from the nightstand, opened it in front of her, and said expressionlessly, “No.”
Lin Yuewei was still typing, with keyboard sounds turned on; tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. The book in Gu Yanqiu’s hands didn’t turn a single page for quite a while, and her ears were standing straight up, as if she could tell from the tapping exactly what Lin Yuewei was typing.
After a while, Lin Yuewei lightly poked her shoulder and asked, “Are you free tomorrow night?”
Gu Yanqiu kept her face stern. “I am. What for?”
Lin Yuewei said, “Shao Yasi says she wants to treat us both to dinner.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “Oh.” She turned a page of the book, looking very calm.
Lin Yuewei said, “Are you going? If not, I’ll go alone...”
Gu Yanqiu immediately said, “I’m going.” She was afraid Lin Yuewei might change her mind.
Lin Yuewei couldn’t help laughing. She cupped Gu Yanqiu’s face with one hand and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.
Then she lowered her head to type. A few seconds later, she looked up and said, “It’s set. Tomorrow night, after work I’ll pick you up from the company.”
“Mm.” Gu Yanqiu then closed the book, lay down, and said, “Sleep. I’m tired.”
Lin Yuewei laughed to herself for a while, then lay down too and hugged Gu Yanqiu to sleep. Not long after, the two of them shifted into a side-by-side, flat-on-their-backs sleeping position, their hands still clasped together.
***
Gu Yanqiu was wearing a fitted long white trench coat; underneath was a lake-blue shirt. Her long dark ash-brown hair, with its soft seaweed-like curls, was naturally draped over her shoulders. She looked exquisitely composed; if not for the tension on her face, that is.
Before leaving in the morning, the carefully chosen outfit Gu Yanqiu had picked out at length almost got a last-minute rejection. “Maybe I won’t go tonight after all. I trust you.”
Lin Yuewei disproved her with a smile. “I’ll pick you up after work. Muah.”
Gu Yanqiu made a miserable face and muah-ed her back before heading out to work.
At five in the afternoon, Lin Yuewei checked her bag for the fifth time and went to Tianrui to pick up Gu Yanqiu.
On the drive to the agreed-upon place, Gu Yanqiu noticed that Lin Yuewei was wearing the same wedding ring as hers on her ring finger. She took her own ring out of her backpack, put it on, and immediately grew nervous, always feeling that the smile tugging at Lin Yuewei’s lips at that moment was full of hidden meaning.
That smile was soon explained when they met Shao Yasi.
It was Shao Yasi’s first time meeting Gu Yanqiu. After being dazzled by her, the moment the door closed she showered Gu Yanqiu with praise; destiny-made match, unparalleled in the world, only envying the mandarin ducks and not the immortals. She praised Gu Yanqiu until Gu Yanqiu was too embarrassed to bear it and kept hiding behind Lin Yuewei, finally understanding just how serious her previous misunderstanding had been.
Shao Yasi had extremely clear eyes. In the short time Gu Yanqiu had been here, she’d seen right through her; she was a genuine, pure-hearted, sweet fool, with absolutely nothing hidden in her mind.
Lin Yuewei sat down in the chair and, from the very beginning, said nothing. She wordlessly dug things out of her bag.
Gu Yanqiu: “???”
Shao Yasi craned her head toward her. “What are you looking for?”
“This.” Lin Yuewei pulled out a small red booklet and pressed it onto the table. “Our marriage certificate.”
She opened the marriage certificate, pointed at the red-background photo inside, then wrapped an arm around the shoulder of the completely stunned Gu Yanqiu and pointed at their faces. “This is her; this is me. No editing. See? Exactly the same, right?”
Lin Yuewei said earnestly, “When I told you before that I was married, you didn’t believe me. This is proof of marriage, with an official seal.” She took Gu Yanqiu’s left hand, lifted it up, and the two identical wedding rings on their ring fingers gleamed brilliantly. After a pause, she smiled a little shyly. “She is my wife.”
Author’s Note:
This was something Lin had been planning for a long time. In yesterday’s fight chapter, when Shao Yasi asked her whether she was free, Lin the top immediately turned around and asked Gu Yanqiu the same question. However, Gu Yanqiu, who was still angry at the time, didn’t catch it.
An argument is a problem for both people; at last, one stage has been temporarily resolved. From here on out, they still have to date properly.
Go, Gu Gong!
#LinGuIsReal#