Chapter 121

“Miss Gu Yanqiu, I’m formally reminding you not to use pity tactics on me again. Sooner or later, I’ll get sick of it.”

After saying that, Lin Yuewei had meant to sit back down across from her in one smooth motion and not let her gaze linger on Gu Yanqiu for even another second. Someone who couldn’t even take care of herself—what did she expect, that someone else would do it for her?

If Gu Yanqiu had already sparked a fire in her heart at the racetrack today, then this was like pouring oil on it. Say whatever needed saying; even if it ended in anger or a fight, that was better than burning herself up like this. What was this supposed to be, anyway?

And yet, miraculously, she couldn’t stop herself from watching Gu Yanqiu’s reaction. Based on everything Gu Yanqiu had been showing lately, she was always afraid she might cry.

Then again, crying would be better than this; at least it would ease the tension a little.

In the end, Gu Yanqiu still didn’t cry. She even curved the corner of her mouth toward Lin Yuewei, then lowered her head very quickly and said softly, “I’m sorry.”

That, instead, made Lin Yuewei’s eyes sting so badly she wanted to cry. But she would never cry in front of other people; not even in front of Gu Yanqiu. So she braced a hand against the back of the chair, tipped her face up, forced the tears back down, then sat back in her original seat across from her.

The air was so heavy it was hard to breathe.

Lin Yuewei sat for less than a minute before standing up and knocking on her mother’s bedroom door. “Dinner’s ready, Mom. Are you cultivating immortality in there?”

“It’s too hot.”

“If you don’t come out and eat, I’m dumping your noodles.”

“Hey, you brat.” Ran Qingqing had no choice but to open the door. She tilted her head and sneakily glanced at Gu Yanqiu, who was eating noodles in silence at the dining table, then asked with gossipy eagerness, “Made up?”

Lin Yuewei answered with the cool sneer she’d worn all night: “Heh.”

Ran Qingqing looked disappointed. “I even went out of my way to create an opportunity for you two, and you couldn’t seize it.”

Lin Yuewei folded her arms, looking thoroughly impatient. “I told you not to interfere, not to interfere. What are you, the matchmaker now? Are you going to eat or not?”

Seeing that her expression was genuinely terrible and nothing like her usual joking self, Ran Qingqing quickly backed off. “I am eating. I’m here now, aren’t I? I really did have something to do just now.”

Young people had their own troubles; an old woman like her couldn’t meddle in them.

When Ran Qingqing came over, Gu Yanqiu looked up and nodded at her. Seeing that, Ran Qingqing immediately shot Lin Yuewei a glare.

Lin Yuewei saw it too, and sure enough, Gu Yanqiu’s eyes were red.

She said nothing and sat down to eat her noodles.

The three of them ate in silence. Gu Yanqiu finished first, cleared away her own bowl and chopsticks, and used feeling unwell as an excuse to go back to her room and rest. Ran Qingqing looked toward Lin Yuewei; Lin Yuewei’s face was so cold it seemed to radiate chill. Ran Qingqing swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.

When a gate catches fire, the fish in the moat are often the ones who suffer.

After Gu Yanqiu left, Lin Yuewei poured out the leftover noodles in her bowl and said she was full too. Then she hugged Schrodinger and sat down in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, not moving a muscle.

With her daughter and son-in-law in such a state, how could Ran Qingqing possibly have an appetite? She ate a few bites at a time, glancing up and down the stairs, and in the end gave up eating as well, sighing as she cleaned up the dishes.

Schrodinger seemed to sense the rift between its parents. It too was listless, head drooping as Lin Yuewei slowly rubbed its fluffy head, listening to one sigh after another drift down from above.

Then Schrodinger suddenly rubbed against Lin Yuewei’s hand. Lin Yuewei looked down at it, and Schrodinger jumped out of her lap. It stood in front of her, then abruptly closed its eyes and dropped stiffly to the floor, its snow-white belly rising and falling.

It took Lin Yuewei a second to realize it was acting dead to cheer her up.

She scratched Schrodinger under the chin; Schrodinger opened its blue eyes and gave a soft, questioning meow.

Lin Yuewei’s eyes curved. The smile quickly vanished again from the corners of her eyes.

When she had been filming on set before, Gu Yanqiu had video-called her while holding Schrodinger. Because the cat had drawn so much of her attention, Gu Yanqiu had gotten jealous and even fought for favor with Schrodinger, imitating it by pretending to be dead. How nice that had been; why had things become like this now?

Lin Yuewei let out a long, mournful sigh.

Schrodinger moved its head in her palm and looked up at her in confusion, not understanding why humans had so many worries.

“Honey water, want some?” Her arm was lightly tapped. Lin Yuewei looked up to see Ran Qingqing sitting down beside her with a glass cup.

“Thanks.” Lin Yuewei preemptively warned her mother, “Don’t play my confidante.”

“What confidante? I’m your mother.” Ran Qingqing scolded her irritably, then put on an exaggeratedly hurt expression. “Honestly, daughters grow up and don’t need their mothers anymore. You won’t even let me ask one question?”

“…”

Ran Qingqing glanced at her. Lin Yuewei silently sipped her honey water and didn’t take the bait, which showed just how badly she had been angered.

Ran Qingqing knew her daughter well enough. Though a bit spoiled in temperament, she was overall very reliable, both at work and in life. She had been independent since childhood and had never given her parents much to worry about, except for her insistence on entering the entertainment industry.

What worried Ran Qingqing wasn’t that she might suffer in the entertainment world. She still believed in the idea that young people shouldn’t fear hardship. Besides, Lin Yuewei had always known how to handle herself, with a good sense of measure; socializing and entertaining people were just normal adult interactions. Ran Qingqing believed she could handle everything well. But Gu Yanqiu was different. Her role in this relationship was different too, though the principle was the same.

That morning, when she had gone out, Ran Qingqing had already felt that Gu Yanqiu’s behavior was inappropriate and had said as much. But Gu Yanqiu hadn’t listened. When she came back, the two of them had ended up in a quarrel.

And that quarrel had turned out to be far more serious than Ran Qingqing had imagined. Gu Yanqiu looked so rational, yet when it came to matters of the heart, she became so restless; and her own daughter was just as stubborn, willing to keep everything bottled up on her own.

“When I was dating your father…” Ran Qingqing thought it over and decided to use herself as an example.

Lin Yuewei frowned. “Didn’t I tell you not to lecture me?”

Ran Qingqing glared. “I can’t even reminisce about my youth now? Is this your territory, or is this house yours? So what if I’m sitting here petting a cat and saying a few words?”

Lin Yuewei stood up, pressed the tip of her tongue against the roof of her mouth, and held back her temper. In a calm voice, she said, “Fine. The house is yours, the land is yours. I’ll go upstairs, okay?”

Ran Qingqing said coolly, “Your wife is upstairs.”

Lin Yuewei stopped and silently sat back down. Compared with going upstairs, she was still more willing to hear Ran Qingqing tell her story from back then. Though she had said she didn’t want to hear sermons, some part of her still hoped someone would help her sort things out.

Ran Qingqing picked the topic back up. “When I was dating your father, we argued too. Most of the reasons I can’t remember now. But I do remember one time I wanted chocolate cake. I was still in college then, so I asked him to bring one over when he came after class. But he brought blueberry cake instead. I don’t like blueberries; I felt really wronged. I clearly wanted chocolate, so why did he buy me blueberry? I was so mad I didn’t talk to him for an entire night.”

Most children liked hearing the details of their parents’ romance. Lin Yuewei, for reasons she couldn’t explain, quickly got into it too. “Then why didn’t Dad buy you chocolate? Why did he insist on blueberry?”

“Because the chocolate was sold out.”

“You really were something else.” Lin Yuewei couldn’t help rolling her eyes.

“That’s not being something else, is it? You don’t know what it feels like when your expectations collapse all at once. It really is... in that instant, you feel wronged to the extreme.” Though Ran Qingqing and Lin’s father had divorced, the memory was still a good one, and she had never regretted meeting him.

“Don’t dress it up. You were just spoiled by his affection and acting up because of it.”

“Yes, yes, yes. I was spoiled because I was doted on; I liked it. Someone was willing to pay for me. Are you jealous?”

“What would I be jealous of? We have a normal, equal relationship. No, a wife-wife relationship.” Lin Yuewei said. At the beginning, Gu Yanqiu had still talked about equality and respect, said there would be no giving in, no one yielding to the other; all nonsense. And now wasn’t she the one who had to compromise first?

“How can a normal wife-wife relationship end up in a fight like this?”

“Which couple doesn’t fight? I’ll calm down for a bit, and we’ll make up in a while.”

“You’re waiting for reconciliation to fall from the sky; you don’t even know what the problem is.”

“I do know. She wants to keep me tied up; ideally, bound right in front of her every day.” Lin Yuewei said. “I’m not a puppy, and I’m not Schrodinger. How is she supposed to tie up a living, breathing person?”

“Did you ever ask her why she wants to keep you tied down?”

“Maybe because her possessiveness is too strong. I hope she reflects on that soon and understands this kind of thing isn’t okay.”

Ran Qingqing’s mouth fell slightly open. “You want her to reflect on it herself?”

Lin Yuewei spread her hands. “Then what, should I reflect on it for her?”

Ran Qingqing: “Why can’t you speak to her properly?”

Lin Yuewei answered with a cold laugh, “You think I didn’t speak properly to her? She’s the one who insisted on bringing up all those irrelevant people.” Once she started on that subject, Lin Yuewei couldn’t stop herself. “Do you know? She thinks everyone she sees is a love rival. Take Shao Yasi, for example, the one I recorded Actor Trainees with. Anyone could tell we were just friends, right? But she insisted that person had feelings for me and wanted to pursue me. And then there’s Teacher Qu; you don’t know her, so I’ll just say she was an older sister almost one full generation above me. I spent nearly four months with her on set. Whether she had feelings for me or not, wouldn’t I know? She even sent her best friend to watch me. Tell me, isn’t that bizarre? And there’s also..."

Lin Yuewei listed Chen Gongzi, Ke Bin, and the people Gu Yanqiu had named today. “I’ve told her over and over that if I can handle it, I’ll handle it. Don’t treat me like a three-year-old child, but she just won’t believe me.”

Ran Qingqing clicked her tongue. “That is a little scary.”

Lin Yuewei said, “Mom, let me tell you, if this were anyone else, I’d suspect they had a problem.”

Ran Qingqing said skeptically, “She doesn’t seem like that kind of person.”

Lin Yuewei snorted. “I used to think she didn’t seem like that either. And now?”

Ran Qingqing: “Could something have happened?”

Lin Yuewei: “I don’t think so. It’s just her family stuff lately; you know about it too. They still haven’t found her mother’s ex-girlfriend.”

Ran Qingqing said, “I mean exactly that. Have you shown any concern for her lately?”

“What counts as showing concern? Whenever I have time, I’m with her. I don’t bring it up normally. Why bring up sad things? If I did, wouldn’t she just be even sadder?”

“I’m not telling you to bring up sad things, I mean...” Ran Qingqing thought about it and said, “With her family being like this now, maybe she’s a little fragile? You should care about her more, show your love, say you’ll be with her and so on. Don’t keep losing your temper.”

“Who’s losing their temper? She lost hers first.” Lin Yuewei’s dog-like temper flared at once.

“…”

Mother and daughter stared at each other for three seconds. Then Ran Qingqing said, “I think you need to reflect too.”

Lin Yuewei insisted she did not need to reflect and still curled up downstairs, refusing to go up.

Ran Qingqing shoved her shoulder. “Are you a woman or not? Can’t you take some responsibility?”

Lin Yuewei shamelessly stayed put. “Yeah, I don’t have responsibility. So what? You gonna hit me?”

Ran Qingqing jabbed her in frustration. “How did I end up with a daughter like you?”

Lin Yuewei shot back, “How did I end up with a mom like you?”

The mother and daughter started bickering on the spot. Schrodinger sensibly moved away from the center of the conflict to avoid unnecessary injury. After the scuffle, Lin Yuewei had burned through most of her energy and no longer had much mood left to stew in silence. She stood up and said, “I’m going upstairs.”

Avoiding a problem wasn’t the answer; it had to be solved eventually.

Before entering the room, Lin Yuewei took a breath, then another breath, then one more, and opened the door. She walked in with steady steps and without looking sideways, pretending she had no expectations at all. But inside there really was nothing; she couldn’t even see Gu Yanqiu.

Lin Yuewei looked around the room. Her gaze fell on the closed bathroom door, and she knocked, pressing her ear to it.

Sure enough, a voice came from inside. “Just a moment.”

Then Gu Yanqiu, wearing pajamas and with wet hair draped over her shoulders, appeared behind the door with an expression so calm it was almost unnerving, stepping aside to leave just enough room for one person to pass.

Lin Yuewei: “...”

Three minutes later, with the shower already running, Lin Yuewei wondered if some spirit had possessed her just now. She had clearly meant to have a proper talk with Gu Yanqiu, but the moment she saw that cold expression, she couldn’t help herself and came straight in.

When she came out, Gu Yanqiu was still turned away from her. She wasn’t reading, wasn’t on her phone, wasn’t using her tablet; she looked determined to carry the cold war through to the end.

Lin Yuewei didn’t know where to start, so she lay down too, her face turned toward Gu Yanqiu’s back. With her fingers, held a little apart from her, she wrote in the air behind Gu Yanqiu.

She wrote her name: Gu Yanqiu, Gu Yanqiu, Gu Yanqiu.

Whoever had named her had chosen beautifully; it sounded beautiful too.

Then she wrote: I lo...

She couldn’t finish the word love. She got annoyed just looking at it. Gu Yanqiu had just said she thought she didn’t love her; love what love, then. Fine, she’d go along with her.

Gu Yanqiu could actually feel the breathing behind her; sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes heavier, then lighter again. Lin Yuewei’s emotions must be fluctuating very intensely.

Lin Yuewei had been like that during the day too. If they talked now, they’d only end up fighting, so she chose not to speak. At the very least, this couldn’t be worse than what they already had.

Gu Yanqiu just wanted tomorrow to come quickly; to see a psychiatrist and have her problem treated, then be together with Lin Yuewei properly, not make her angry, not let herself become a person even she found strange. Someone like that was not worthy of being loved.

If she could sleep, tomorrow would come.

Gu Yanqiu tightened her grip on the corner of the blanket and curled herself into the safest sleeping posture in the womb. Her eyelashes suddenly trembled violently a few times; pretending to be asleep, she turned over and forced her limbs to lie flat on the bed.

Lin Yuewei almost couldn’t dodge in time and got swiped by her hand. She pulled back, watched Gu Yanqiu for a few seconds, and saw no movement at all. Only after confirming that she had fallen asleep did she lie back down, wrap her arms gently around Gu Yanqiu’s waist, and extend one leg over hers. Just like always, she breathed in her lover’s familiar scent and fell asleep with her forehead against her shoulder.

...Still, the sleeping Gu Yanqiu was cuter. Before drifting off completely, Lin Yuewei smacked her lips once and thought with satisfaction.

***

How long had it been since Lin Yuewei had seen a scene like this? She sat dazed on the bed, rubbing her eyes, thinking it must be a dream. She pinched her arm; it hurt. It wasn’t.

In her hurry, she didn’t have time to put on shoes. Barefoot, she stepped onto the floor and chased after Gu Yanqiu, who was heading for the door. She reached out with one arm across Gu Yanqiu’s front, and Gu Yanqiu walked straight into it.

Gu Yanqiu was fine; Lin Yuewei was the one who got hurt by the collision, so she simply blocked Gu Yanqiu’s way with her whole body.

Gu Yanqiu had her eyes only half open, showing just a sliver of the whites beneath them, as though she couldn’t see anything in front of her at all.

After several months, Gu Yanqiu had started sleepwalking again.

Using one hand, Lin Yuewei hooked an arm around her shoulder to guide her back toward the bed, but the sleeping Gu Yanqiu had too much strength. Under her obstruction, she didn’t retreat at all; instead, she took a few more steps forward, closer to the door.

“Gu Yanqiu!”

“Baby!”

“Good girl!”

No matter how many times Lin Yuewei called, there was no response. Out of necessity, she went to the doctor she had consulted last time again; that old friend of hers who was older than generations. After hearing her description, the doctor still remembered this “patient” and said in surprise, “Didn’t you tell me she was cured?”

Gu Yanqiu had already opened the bedroom door and was starting downstairs. Lin Yuewei, half terrified to death, steadied one of her arms and said into the phone, “She was cured. Isn’t she relapsing now?”

Doctor: “...”

Lin Yuewei was frantic. “Then talk to me already! Tell me what to do!”

Wasn’t it just sleepwalking? Why was she acting like it was a matter of life and death? The doctor, used to all manner of storms, couldn’t help complaining, “Can you stop being so frantic? You weren’t this nervous last time.”

Lin Yuewei blurted out, “Can that be the same? She’s my wife now.”

Doctor: “...”

Lin Yuewei: “...Keep this low-key. Don’t tell anyone.”

Doctor: “I know.” He paused, then asked, “When did you two get together? Last time you were already overindulging and still refused to admit it. Was it love that grew over time? I mean the ‘grow’ as in the verb.”

Lin Yuewei hissed, “Do you have any medical ethics at all?”

The doctor answered shamelessly, “It’s not work time right now. Why would I need medical ethics? You and I are in a private relationship. Can’t I gossip a little?”

Lin Yuewei said, “If you’ve got time, gossip slowly. Can you handle my wife’s situation first? She’s already walked downstairs.”

Doctor: “What are you panicking for? This is history repeating itself, isn’t it? According to history, she should be kissing you in a minute. Let’s hurry and talk. What was the main trigger today?”

Lin Yuewei: “I argued with her. Pretty fiercely.”

Doctor: “Anything else?”

Lin Yuewei: “No.”

The doctor was puzzled. “A couple arguing is pretty normal, isn’t it? A fight leading straight to sleepwalking is a bit much, though. Who’d dare date her in the future—ah, sorry, I forgot she’s married to you. You’re really miserable; you can’t even argue with your partner. What fun is there left in life?”

Lin Yuewei’s eye twitched. “Can you be a little less lively at your age?”

The doctor laughed for a while, then grew serious. “Generally speaking, an argument alone wouldn’t cause such a severe chain reaction. Either she’s too psychologically fragile and can’t take even a little stimulus..."

Lin Yuewei suddenly cried out, “Doctor, doctor, she’s crying again! What do I do?”

Interrupted, the doctor said helplessly, “Get some tissue.”

Lin Yuewei’s old habits kicked in. She wiped away Gu Yanqiu’s tears and coaxed her smoothly, “Baby be good; Mommy’s here.”

Baby Gu was even more practiced, burrowing into her arms.

The doctor said, “I recommend seeing a psychiatrist. Last time you asked me to go to your place and talk to her, I didn’t get much out of it. She’s pretty resistant to this sort of thing. Since you’re both legal spouses now, try persuading her properly. It probably isn’t anything serious; she was likely just bottling things up. Some psychological counseling should do the trick.”

“Okay, okay, I will.”

Doctor: “Anything else? I’m guessing you two are about to start kissing soon. Should I excuse myself in advance?”

Lin Yuewei: “...You old pervert, go to sleep.”

Doctor: “Yes, ma’am. Good night.”

Lin Yuewei: “Good night.”

Bottled up. Lin Yuewei kept those words in her heart, planning to mention them to Gu Yanqiu once she woke up tomorrow, and to fix her habit of keeping everything inside while she was at it.

Facing a sleepwalking Gu Yanqiu, quietly crying in her arms, whatever fire Lin Yuewei had been holding on to vanished without a trace. With Gu Yanqiu in her arms, thinking back on what had happened during the day, she realized she herself had done some things wrong too. For example, when she first came down to find Gu Yanqiu, her attitude hadn’t been very good. She had been the one to flare up first, and only then had Gu Yanqiu talked back. If she had been gentler, maybe they wouldn’t have fought. She couldn’t put all the blame on Gu Yanqiu.

As for the rest... she would think about it later. Gu Yanqiu was crying far too sadly, sadder than when she had looked for her mother before. Lin Yuewei was too busy handing her tissues to think about anything else.

Ran Qingqing was woken by the rustling outside. Thinking a thief had come in, she quietly opened the bedroom door a crack and looked out: the living room lights were on, and her daughter and daughter-in-law were tightly embracing each other on the sofa. Her eyes widened at once, eager to see this indecent scene clearly.

These young people were incredible; they actually dared to keep the lights on while doing this kind of thing in a house with elders present.

Ran Qingqing didn’t dare miss a single frame as she watched carefully. But as she watched, something seemed off, and she opened the door and came out.

“What are you two doing?” Ran Qingqing asked as she approached.

Lin Yuewei’s whole mind was on Gu Yanqiu. She had already coaxed her with every possible word, but Gu Yanqiu still wouldn’t stop crying. Hearing her mother’s voice, she jumped in fright and looked up. “Mom? Why are you up?”

Now Ran Qingqing could see it clearly: Gu Yanqiu was crying, and Lin Yuewei had the look of someone who knew she’d done something wrong as she handed over tissues.

Ran Qingqing’s anger surged up immediately. So this was her daughter, then; she really hadn’t expected it.

She grabbed a cushion. Lin Yuewei shouted, “Mom! You’ve got it wrong!”

As the last word fell, the cushion missed her head and hit her arm dead on.

Ran Qingqing said, “What did I get wrong? Look, she’s still crying.”

Lin Yuewei said helplessly, “Can’t you see something’s off?”

Ran Qingqing said, “All I can see is that you’re the one acting suspicious. I’m telling you, if you lose my daughter-in-law, I won’t let you off. Yanqiu, if you’ve been wronged, you have to tell Auntie. I’ll help you teach her a lesson.”

“...”

Ran Qingqing looked down at her face and saw that the other woman had her eyes half open, utterly unaware, sitting there blankly.

Ran Qingqing cried out, “Ah!” and retreated two steps.

Lin Yuewei pushed her mother back two steps away from Gu Yanqiu and said irritably, “You’ve never seen sleepwalking before? You just slapped the blame on me without even asking what happened. Are you really my biological mother?”

Ran Qingqing asked, “Why is she sleepwalking? When did she get this problem?”

Lin Yuewei: “...”

After she said that, Lin Yuewei got hit with another cushion.

“No matter how you say it, isn’t it all your fault?” Ran Qingqing stood up to go back to her room and get her phone. “I know a few famous psychiatrists. Tomorrow I’ll...”

Holding Gu Yanqiu’s shoulder with one arm and gently patting her with the other, Lin Yuewei softly wiped away her tears. Her eyes held a patience and tenderness Ran Qingqing had never seen before.

“Be good. Don’t cry, okay?”

Ran Qingqing’s words quietly faded into her throat.

Seeing her own child treat someone else like that left Ran Qingqing both gratified and wistful.

Lin Yuewei realized she hadn’t heard her mother in a while and lifted her head slightly. “What did you just say?”

Ran Qingqing said, “I know a few psychiatrists. I’ll send you their contact info when I get up tomorrow.”

“Okay, thank you, Mom.” Lin Yuewei lowered her head again and kept coaxing her without the slightest impatience.

Ran Qingqing said, “Go to bed early.”

Lin Yuewei didn’t look up. Glancing at the phone tossed aside nearby, she said, “It’s already been ten minutes. In at most twenty more, she’ll fall asleep. I’ll carry her upstairs later; you go on to sleep first. Good night, Mom.”

Ran Qingqing said, “Good night.”

At the twenty-fifth minute of sleepwalking, Gu Yanqiu finally fell asleep in Lin Yuewei’s arms. Lin Yuewei laid her flat on the sofa, stood up to loosen both arms, then threaded her hands beneath the woman’s knees and under her armpits, watching the stairs carefully underfoot as she carried her step by step upstairs.

A woman’s strength is naturally limited. No matter how much Lin Yuewei trained, carrying an adult up the stairs still left both her mind and body under great strain. After placing Gu Yanqiu on the bed and tucking her in, Lin Yuewei leaned against the bedside, panting hard.

She looked down at Gu Yanqiu for a while, then gently brushed aside the bangs covering her forehead, revealing all her features. Her eyes curved; she bent down and placed a soft kiss on her.

“Good night, baby.”

Her whisper and the light in the room went out together.

Just like every previous episode of sleepwalking, the sleeping Gu Yanqiu knew nothing of it.

It was a secret known only to the night and Lin Yuewei.

***

Lin Yuewei had been dragged up in the middle of the night. When she opened her eyes, daylight was already flooding in, but she was still half asleep. She drowsily felt for the spot beside her and found nothing there.

“Mom—” Lin Yuewei’s voice carried from the second floor all the way down to the first as she moved. Standing at the stairway, she called again, “Mom—”

Ran Qingqing finally answered. She came out from the balcony, watering can in hand. “What are you yelling for?”

Lin Yuewei asked, “Where’s Gu Yanqiu?”

Ran Qingqing said, “Wasn’t she sleeping upstairs?”

Lin Yuewei said, “What time is it? What is there still to sleep?”

Ran Qingqing said, “What time is it? Why are you still sleeping until now?”

Lin Yuewei said, “She turned off my alarm!”

Ran Qingqing: “Huh?”

Lin Yuewei was about to lose her mind. “What do you mean, huh? I’m asking you seriously. Where is she? Did you see her or not?”

Ran Qingqing said, “No. I thought she was sleeping upstairs.”

“I’m really convinced, no, I’m convinced of myself. Sleeping like a pig; I’m basically a pig.” As she spoke, Lin Yuewei hurried into the room.

“If you’re going to insult someone, insult yourself. Why are you insulting me? Hey, where are you going?” Ran Qingqing called after her.

“To call her. She’s disappearing on me first thing in the morning; just wait till I catch her, I’m going to... I’m going to... one of these days she might as well just anger me to death. My heart hurts.” Lin Yuewei had already stepped into the room.

***

Cheng Guiyuan placed a glass of warm water on the coffee table in front of Gu Yanqiu, the clink snapping Gu Yanqiu back to attention.

“Come back to earth.” Cheng Guiyuan waved a hand in front of her eyes, tucked her robe more neatly around herself, then sat across from her with a slight smile. “So tell me, what kind of stunt is this? Running away from home?”