Chapter 125

Lin Yuewei fell into thought and went oddly quiet.

Jiang Congbi looked at her expression and let out a sudden “hey.” Tilting her head, she asked, “You don’t say things like that at all?”

Lin Yuewei rested her chin on one hand and gave a meaningful “mm.”

Jiang Congbi crossed her arms. “Mm what? I’m telling you, I’m as loyal as they come. I’d rather die than give in.”

Lin Yuewei poured herself a cup of tea and rolled her eyes. “Has anyone ever told you—”

That line sounded like the start of a song.

“You love me very much, I know.” Jiang Congbi cut her off.

Lin Yuewei stared at her in silence. “Go on, keep showing off. We’ll talk business when you’re done.”

She realized love really did change people. It had changed her, and it had changed Jiang Congbi too. The Jiang Congbi she used to know would never have been this slick, always spouting some Jiang-family love philosophy. She seemed steadier now, too, and when she was with her girlfriend, she gave off a surprisingly reliable air.

The milk tea had gotten a little too rich, so Jiang Congbi got up to take a cup from the cabinet in the corner and rinsed it with hot water. Lin Yuewei poured her some tea as well. “That’ll cut the sweetness.”

Jiang Congbi took a sip and said, “It really doesn’t taste good.”

Lin Yuewei smiled. “Then don’t drink it.”

“I’ll drink it.” Jiang Congbi laughed too.

At last, the two of them got back to the point.

Jiang Congbi said, “You know I didn’t exactly have the best temper before. Compared with now, maybe I was about the same as you.”

Lin Yuewei glanced at her. “If you’re talking about yourself, just talk about yourself. Why the side commentary? Was that a comparison meant to put someone down?”

Jiang Congbi laughed twice and said, “Didn’t I tell you already? My girlfriend didn’t have much of a sense of security, and she was young too, still at that stage where love could feed her. I only had to say I liked her and she’d be happy enough to fly into the sky.”

“Isn’t that pretty nice?”

“But she really was a handful.”

“Ah?”

This was the first time Lin Yuewei had heard Jiang Congbi talk about such a completely different way of getting along between couples. That little girlfriend of hers would often take all sorts of minor frustrations out on Jiang Congbi. For example, if she’d been scolded by her mother at home, if she’d done badly on one subject in an exam, or if she’d overslept in the morning, she could pin the blame on Jiang Congbi and say it was because Jiang Congbi hadn’t set an alarm for her—even when she herself had deliberately turned off the alarm the night before.

In short, she was extremely difficult. Jiang Congbi had never dated a girlfriend before, and she’d never dated anyone so young, so she had absolutely no idea how to deal with it. The two of them fought, then made up; sometimes Jiang Congbi apologized, and sometimes the little girlfriend came crying to admit fault. The girl had just started university, and the school rules were strict after enrollment: they weren’t allowed off campus, there were room checks at night, and only Saturdays and Sundays were home visits. The two of them were forced into a period of long-distance relationship.

“Back then I felt like we were about to break up,” Jiang Congbi said now, still feeling those memories were too horrible to look back on. “I felt like nothing I said was right. She’d get mad at the drop of a hat, and then we’d have a cold war. There was one time we fought on Monday and didn’t make up until Saturday.”

Lin Yuewei looked curious. “How did you make up?”

She needed to study this carefully.

Jiang Congbi winked at her. “You guess.”

Lin Yuewei said honestly, “Can’t guess.”

Jiang Congbi’s bait didn’t land, and she looked at Lin Yuewei suspiciously. “You two don’t usually have sex, do you?”

Lin Yuewei: “…” “We do.” Quite a few times, actually.

Jiang Congbi said, “Then what don’t you get? You just do a little exercise, chat for a bit, I comfort her, and that’s it.”

Lin Yuewei almost choked. “Of course I get it.”

“Well, then that’s that,” Jiang Congbi said. “Haven’t you heard that saying? The road to a woman’s heart…”

Lin Yuewei was so embarrassed she nearly burst into flames and cut her off. “Enough. I meant apart from that method.” The move of offering herself up had already been learned by Lin Yuewei; a little note asking for it would put Gu Yanqiu in such a good mood she’d practically float.

Jiang Congbi said, “Apart from that method? That doesn’t really count as a method, does it? It just becomes a habit after a while. Her school’s on winter break now, so aside from staying at home, she comes over to keep me company. Things have been pretty harmonious.”

“Still difficult?”

“Much better than before. Maybe when people have been together long enough, they get sick of the act. Who wants to be difficult every single day? I wouldn’t get tired of it, but she would,” Jiang Congbi analyzed.

“Going for marriage, then?” Lin Yuewei teased.

Jiang Congbi shook her head. “Don’t know.”

Lin Yuewei blinked. “You’ve changed so much for her, and you’re still not going for marriage?”

Jiang Congbi pointed at herself. “I’m not even twenty-three yet.”

Lin Yuewei said, “I’m the same age.” But she was already married; thinking about it made her feel a little proud.

Jiang Congbi snorted. “You think everyone’s like you? Do you remember how, back in college, the thing you found most regrettable was girls who got married right after graduation, like they’d buried half their lives in family life?”

Lin Yuewei smiled. “I was stupid back then. Now I think marriage is amazing. For someone like me, if I miss Gu Yanqiu, there won’t be another shop like this village. Where else am I supposed to find such a great partner?”

Jiang Congbi huffed. “I’ve got one too. I’m not jealous.”

But I’m already married, Lin Yuewei thought smugly. She didn’t say it out loud, only propped her chin in her hands and glanced toward the door before lowering her voice. “How do you usually talk to your girlfriend and make her happy? Teach me.”

Jiang Congbi made an exaggerated “oh my” sound and pushed her chair back two steps, crossing one leg over the other as she looked at her sideways. “So you’re here to ask me for advice?”

“Mm, advice,” Lin Yuewei said, making an earnest little gesture. “Please.”

“How dare I refuse?” Jiang Congbi replied with mock fear and returned the salute. “Your Majesty, you’re too kind.”

Lin Yuewei just looked at her quietly.

Reading the room, Jiang Congbi swallowed the whole basket of nonsense she’d been about to say and said, “First of all, the very first point, and the most important point, is to sincerely treat the other person as…”

Lin Yuewei: “Wait.”

Jiang Congbi: “What?”

Lin Yuewei reached into her bag and pulled out a small notebook and pen, then sat up straight at the table like a grade-schooler, leaving a fist’s width between herself and the tabletop. “Okay, you can continue.”

Jiang Congbi stared at her. “Do you really have to go this far?”

Lin Yuewei clicked her tongue. “Why do you have so much nonsense?”

***

At five in the afternoon, Lin Yuewei came back from her study session with her lessons learned, reviewing her notes on the sofa and silently reciting them with her eyes closed.

Miss Ran Qingqing was meditating in the Buddhist hall; the house was so quiet that even the servants didn’t dare breathe too loudly. The Buddhist hall had only been finished that day, not far from her bedroom, converted from an old, small guest room.

Ran Qingqing had thought about it for a long time before finally making up her mind. She had personally gone to the temple to invite a Buddha statue back, and now she worshipped it day and night, cultivating her mind and temper.

Lin Yuewei and Gu Yanqiu would eventually move back out to live on their own. No young person wanted to live with their mother forever; at most, they’d come back for a night on the weekend and have a meal, and the rest of the time they always had to handle themselves. Ran Qingqing also didn’t want to keep the children tied to her side.

She talked a big game about little milk dogs and little wolf dogs, but only she knew that she was probably never going to fall in love with anyone else again. All that talk was just to put the younger two at ease.

For Ran Qingqing, cultivating a little Buddhism was the best choice right now. The prayer beads Gu Yanqiu had given her stayed on her wrist all day long, and after reciting Buddhist scriptures for several months, she had gained some understanding.

Incense smoke curled upward. Ran Qingqing knelt on her cushion, the prayer beads in her hand completing another full circle.

“I’m back.” The moment Gu Yanqiu stepped through the door, Lin Yuewei sprang up from the sofa and ran over. Gu Yanqiu had only just bent down to change her shoes when she felt the warm weight of her beloved in her arms.

Gu Yanqiu thought in surprise: Why is she so enthusiastic today?

The enthusiastic Lin Yuewei only got more enthusiastic, kissing her on the lips; her hands were also misbehaving, sliding to the small of Gu Yanqiu’s back to knead it lightly and heavily in turn. Gu Yanqiu was pressed against the entryway. “Wai—mmph.”

Lin Yuewei gave her a long French kiss, then braced herself against the entryway and gasped for breath. “Comfortable?”

Gu Yanqiu: “…”

She rubbed Lin Yuewei’s hair and smiled. “If you didn’t look so tired, that line might have had a better effect.” After a pause, she answered, “Comfortable.”

“Do you want to change into your indoor clothes?” Lin Yuewei asked bluntly.

Gu Yanqiu pretended to think it over, then smiled. “Not for the moment.”

Lin Yuewei didn’t bother hiding her disappointment.

Gu Yanqiu kissed her lips and soothed her, “Be good and wait until tonight.”

What Lin Yuewei had said at noon had undeniably had a huge effect. Gu Yanqiu had spent the whole afternoon distracted as well, but on the drive home her mind gradually calmed down. The night was long; there was plenty of time to take things slowly.

“It’s already night,” Lin Yuewei said plaintively. She realized she was becoming increasingly strange. Why did that sound so thirsty? Wasn’t she the top who’d just been suppressed for the time being?

Gu Yanqiu clearly noticed it too and silently met her gaze.

Lin Yuewei cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject. “My mom’s in the Buddhist hall.”

“The Buddhist hall?” Gu Yanqiu raised her eyebrows. “It’s finished?”

“You knew?”

“She’s been working on it ever since you’ve been out running around.”

“Why did she suddenly build a Buddhist hall? She doesn’t look at all like someone who believes in Buddhism. Isn’t the whole point supposed to be cutting off worldly desires?”

“It’s alright. It’s not that strict. I’ve never been free of worldly desires either; even at home, I still offer incense to the Buddha.”

“Where are you impure?” Lin Yuewei asked deliberately.

“Where I’m most impure is when I see you.” Gu Yanqiu removed the prayer beads wrapped around her wrist and recited a proper Buddhist invocation, like some immortal moved by love.

“If the Buddha hears that, he’s probably going to be furious,” Lin Yuewei said, barely holding back laughter.

“He won’t be. The Buddha is very magnanimous,” Gu Yanqiu said. “Wait for me a moment; I’m going to wash my hands and offer incense.”

When Shen Huaiyu was still alive, the first thing Gu Yanqiu would do after school and getting home was wash her hands, then go to the Buddhist hall to offer incense to the Bodhisattva. She had been abroad for so many years, but that habit had stayed tucked away in her heart. Now that she saw the Lin family’s Buddhist hall, the sense of familiarity came rushing back.

Lin Yuewei asked, “Can I go with you?”

“Of course,” Gu Yanqiu said. “Just remember to keep some reverence in your heart.”

Lin Yuewei leaned against her shoulder and answered sweetly, “Got it.”

Gu Yanqiu: “…”

The two of them fell silent again.

Lin Yuewei reflected: How had she become increasingly soft and sweet lately?

In the end, she pinned the blame on Jiang Congbi. It was all because Jiang Congbi had spent the entire afternoon feeding her nonsense about thick skin, acting cute, and being a baby. Useless best friend; give me back my top energy.

Gu Yanqiu coughed lightly and accepted the sweet and harmless Miss Lin with composure. “Go wash your hands.”

Lin Yuewei held her face as she responded calmly, “Mm.”

Gu Yanqiu looked at her, the corners of her mouth slowly lifting.

Lin Yuewei grabbed her cheeks with both hands and covered the smile that was about to break free. “No laughing!”

Gu Yanqiu nodded twice.

Lin Yuewei slowly let go, keeping her gaze locked on her.

Gu Yanqiu’s facial muscles twitched twice, and she couldn’t hold it in. “Pfft.”

Lin Yuewei said, “You’re still laughing!”

She would have been fine if she hadn’t said anything; once she did, Gu Yanqiu laughed even harder, unable to stop. “I can’t help it. Let me laugh for a bit.” Who said Gu Yanqiu was the cutie? Lin Yuewei was clearly the most adorable one in the house.

Lin Yuewei reached out and covered Gu Yanqiu’s mouth.

Gu Yanqiu: “Mmmph mmmph mmmph.”

Lin Yuewei said, “You still laugh—ah!” She yanked her hand away as if shocked. Between her middle and ring fingers was a clear wet streak; the slick touch had already been memorized by her skin.

The tip of Gu Yanqiu’s pink tongue flashed across her vision for an instant.

Lin Yuewei: “You!” How dare she act like a rogue like that!

Gu Yanqiu didn’t speak. She only stared at her deeply, getting closer and closer, her eyes seeming to churn with black water surging toward her with overwhelming force.

Lin Yuewei ducked and dodged the kiss, sidestepped several paces away in a flash, and laughed from behind her. “Gu Yanqiu, aren’t you going to wash your hands?” The panic in her voice hadn’t quite been hidden.

Gu Yanqiu gave a light smile and followed after her.

In the mirror, the two women stood shoulder to shoulder, heads lowered as they washed their hands under the same faucet. The prayer beads they’d removed were set aside on the corner as padding. Lin Yuewei took Gu Yanqiu’s palm and carefully spread the lathering hand soap over her palm, the back of her hand, the pads of her fingers, and then every crease between her fingers, her expression focused.

The air around them was quiet, yet something else was hidden within that quiet.

Gu Yanqiu’s heart thudded hard. In this back-and-forth, her fingers had been teased into a faint numbness by Lin Yuewei; it wasn’t the stiff numbness caused by nerves, nor the kind produced by physical kneading, but something from the deepest part of her mind, controlled by some secret hormone, an uncontrollable desire.

Lin Yuewei could feel Gu Yanqiu’s chin resting on her shoulder. It moved slowly along the skin of her neck, up to behind her ear, where Gu Yanqiu kissed her softly and tenderly. Lin Yuewei struggled to keep her breathing normal.

Silently, she placed Gu Yanqiu’s hands, coated in white foam, under the warm water from the faucet to rinse them. The tepid stream slipped through their fingers, making her whole body shiver slightly.

Gu Yanqiu’s desire reached its peak at that moment.

Unable to hold back, she drew in a soft breath, then suddenly tilted her head and bit Lin Yuewei’s earlobe, murmuring, “Weiwei, I want to fuck you.”

The bathroom door was pulled shut by Gu Yanqiu’s hand, and Lin Yuewei was pressed against it.

Gu Yanqiu urgently found Lin Yuewei’s soft lips, drawing her in to share the moment; every tangled kiss and intimate touch was like adding a new flame to dry kindling, burning hotter and hotter.

…

When the two of them came out of the washroom, their clothes were disheveled and their cheeks flushed. They exchanged a tacit look and didn’t dare bring up the incense offering to the Buddha; instead, they went upstairs together. If the Buddha knew what the two of them had just done, the incense they’d offered might have broken cleanly in the middle.

Although they hadn’t finished, in the Lin family home, getting halfway there was already bold enough. Lin Yuewei kept sneaking glances at Gu Yanqiu and couldn’t imagine she’d be this kind of person. If Lin Yuewei hadn’t called a stop just now and insisted on it, Gu Yanqiu definitely wouldn’t have cut things off early.

So never mind being Buddhist; she was getting more and more wolf-like.

Muttering to herself, Lin Yuewei changed into her indoor clothes in the bathroom and washed her hands again. Gu Yanqiu went downstairs ahead of her, stood at the entrance to the Buddhist hall, silently recited Buddhist scriptures several times, and only after settling her mind did she step inside.

“Auntie,” she greeted Ran Qingqing softly.

“You’re back.” Ran Qingqing made room for her.

Gu Yanqiu reverently offered three sticks of incense each to the Bodhisattva and the Lin family ancestors.

Ran Qingqing smiled and said, “You’re even more practiced at this than I am.”

Gu Yanqiu followed her lead and joked, “In another little while, you’ll be more practiced than I am.”

“Mom.” Lin Yuewei poked her head into the Buddhist hall from the doorway, sniffing. The scent inside was very similar to Gu Yanqiu’s; they were both woodsy, though the one here was stronger.

Ran Qingqing asked, “Why don’t you come in?”

Lin Yuewei said, “I’m observing for a bit.” Once she’d observed enough, she slipped inside and, under Gu Yanqiu’s guidance, also offered incense. At the end she closed her eyes and mouthed something toward the Bodhisattva for a long time before finally placing the incense in the holder.

Ran Qingqing said, “What were you muttering just now?”

Lin Yuewei said, “Making a wish.”

Ran Qingqing rolled her eyes. “It’s your first time worshipping the Bodhisattva and you’re already making wishes. Does the Bodhisattva even know who you are?”

Lin Yuewei said in shock, “Wow, you’re taking digs at me right in front of the Bodhisattva?”

Gu Yanqiu watched the mother and daughter bickering in silence. Only when the argument escalated to actual sparring—of course, that meant Ran Qingqing’s one-sided use of force—did she step forward and place Lin Yuewei behind her, saying with a faint smile, “The Bodhisattva is watching.”

Ran Qingqing: “...Fine, for the Bodhisattva’s sake.”

Gu Yanqiu smiled and ushered Lin Yuewei out.

Ran Qingqing turned back to glance at the Bodhisattva’s serene, kindly face in the shrine; then she clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and murmured, “Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, that was my daughter just now. Please make sure her wish comes true. I’ll handle the offerings.”

After saying that, she bowed twice more and also left.

The incense smoke rose slowly before the shrine, winding around the deity and making the statue seem all the more solemn and majestic.

“There are only two days until New Year’s. Do you two have any plans?” In the kitchen, an auntie was cooking. Ran Qingqing asked the little married couple sitting on the sofa.

“What plans?”

“For example, going on a trip. Don’t young people all like to go out and have fun?”

“Any plans?” Lin Yuewei had so many engagements that her memory was a little muddled. She had no idea what was scheduled before New Year’s, and couldn’t remember anything after it, so she looked to Gu Yanqiu beside her.

Gu Yanqiu shot her a displeased look; after a pause, she said to Ran Qingqing, “We’re planning to have our wedding photos retaken.”

Only then did Lin Yuewei remember. “Right. The one we took before was too casual; the set was just cloth backdrops. Forget Hawaii’s sacred island, there wasn’t even a real sea, just a studio shoot.”

“Alright. Have you decided when you’re going?”

Gu Yanqiu had already checked Lin Yuewei’s work schedule in advance. “The second day of the New Year. We’ll go for five days total; I asked for an extra day off.”

Lin Yuewei could only echo her: “Yes!”

Ran Qingqing looked at that habit of parroting her wife with deep disapproval and flicked her forehead. “Yes, yes, all you know is ‘yes.’ You even said today that you were... making other people suffer and pushing all the work onto them. Aren’t you ashamed?”

Gu Yanqiu looked blank. Making who suffer?

Lin Yuewei suddenly remembered that incident, and her whole aura changed at once. “I’ll handle the plane tickets, the hotel, and the itinerary. And the photographer—I know a good one. I’ll go book him right away.”

Only then did Ran Qingqing’s expression finally soften a little. She huffed. “That’s more like it.”

Gu Yanqiu: “???”

Lin Yuewei happily went off to book the photographer. He was a rich second-generation just like her, studying photography, a famous prodigal son and second-generation heir in Yanning City. Later, he got a boyfriend, settled down, and studied properly. His photography skills improved by leaps and bounds from shooting everyday life with his boyfriend, and he’d won quite a few awards over the past couple of years. It so happened that he’d also said he wanted to find somewhere to have fun over the New Year; this would let Lin Yuewei give him a little extra spending money along the way.

Gu Yanqiu cast Ran Qingqing a puzzled look.

Ran Qingqing said affectionately, “Are you tired?” She hadn’t failed to notice that when the two of them had gone into the Buddhist hall earlier, their lips had still been swollen, especially Gu Yanqiu’s. Her lip color was already on the pale side, and without lipstick she usually looked a little wan; now, however, she was astonishingly lovely. If nothing had happened, Ran Qingqing would have been wasting the twenty-odd years she’d lived longer than the two children.

She knew exactly what kind of daughter she’d raised; Lin Yuewei was the classic type who acted tyrannical only inside the nest. No one knew what kind of trouble she’d been giving Gu Yanqiu in private.

Gu Yanqiu shook her head. “Not tired.”

Look at this poor child; even like this, she was still thinking of her elders. To think Lin Yuewei had managed to marry her—what a blessing earned over three lifetimes.

Ran Qingqing grew even fonder of her and said gently, “Do you still want to eat anything tonight? I’ll have the auntie prepare it for you.”

Gu Yanqiu shivered for no apparent reason and shrank back a little. “No need, Auntie, I’m fine. Ask Weiwei what she wants to eat instead; she’s probably pretty tired. Tonight will be even more exhausting. If she doesn’t eat more now, she might not make it until the middle of the night.”

Ran Qingqing snorted. “Her? Getting any food is already good enough for her. Easy to feed.”

Gu Yanqiu didn’t catch that clearly. “Huh?”

Ran Qingqing said, “Nothing. If you have any requests, just tell Auntie. If Lin Yuewei dares to yell at you again, call me and I’ll help you discipline her.”

“No need, Auntie.”

“It’s necessary.”

“Really, no need.”

Lin Yuewei came back after making the appointment with her friend and, seeing the atmosphere between Gu Yanqiu and her mother, couldn’t help laughing. “What’s going on here?”

Gu Yanqiu hurriedly stood up, showing a rare hint of embarrassment as she hid behind Lin Yuewei. Lin Yuewei shielded her with one arm and asked Ran Qingqing, “Mom, did you bully my wife when I wasn’t looking?”

Ran Qingqing said, “I can’t be bothered with you.” Then she gave the Gu Yanqiu behind Lin Yuewei a warm smile. “If you need anything, remember to tell Auntie.”

Gu Yanqiu: “…”

Ran Qingqing clapped her hands, let her gaze sweep lightly over Lin Yuewei, and stood as well. “I’m going to check on the pork knuckles in the kitchen. You two chat.”

Gu Yanqiu’s tense body relaxed. Lin Yuewei patted the back of her hand, pulled her back down to sit, and smiled. “What happened?”

Gu Yanqiu briefly explained what had happened.

With a flash of understanding, Lin Yuewei got it. She coaxed her, “My mom’s just worried about you. She’s like that; sometimes when she gets too worried, she loses her sense of proportion.”

“Wasn’t she just fine before?”

“She’s a Buddhist now, isn’t she? That, uh, what’s the phrase...” Lin Yuewei had an inspiration and said, “Saving all living beings? Is that what it means?”

Gu Yanqiu: “…”

Lin Yuewei blinked. “Am I wrong?”

Gu Yanqiu lost it at once, her eyes curving with a smile.

Say whatever you want; it’s whatever you say.