Chapter 137
“Weed likes Gazing at the Stars.”
Before Gu Yanqiu could fully process the shock of those words, Lin Yuewei lifted a finger and touched her face, tracing from her brow all the way down to her chin. A small smile curved her lips. “So this is what you look like. I really like you.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “You..."
Some vague thread in her heart seemed to suddenly catch.
But after confessing, Lin Yuewei’s cheeks turned faintly red, and she refused to keep talking. Gu Yanqiu was still too stunned to restrain her, and Lin Yuewei slipped easily out of her arms, heading into the room.
Gu Yanqiu glanced at the bedroom door and didn’t follow. Still dazed, she sat down on the sofa in the living room.
The two of them fell quiet separately.
Ten minutes later, Gu Yanqiu rushed back through the door, her expression anxious. Only after seeing Lin Yuewei sitting by the window playing with her phone did she finally let out a breath and walk toward her step by step.
Lin Yuewei’s breathing unconsciously quickened, and her heartbeat followed.
What would Gu Yanqiu say to her?
So I’m your first love?
So you liked me that early on?
Actually, I like you too? No, impossible.
Lin Yuewei held her breath and concentrated. The distance between her and Gu Yanqiu grew shorter and shorter until, at last, Gu Yanqiu stopped right in front of her.
Gu Yanqiu sat down, bringing their eyes level. After a long pause, she slowly opened her mouth and said, “You... online dating?”
Lin Yuewei: “..."
Gu Yanqiu quickly raised both arms to cover her face; the pillow Lin Yuewei had already grabbed in her hand happened to smack against her arm. Lin Yuewei shouted, “Gu Yanqiu! Say that again?”
It didn’t hurt at all. Gu Yanqiu lowered her hands and said, “Online dating.”
Lin Yuewei looked around; if there had been any other weapon at hand, like a broom, she would have absolutely swung it at her. As it was, there wasn’t, so she could only keep throwing the pillow at her. “Use a different word!”
Gu Yanqiu said, “Oh.” Then a thoughtful expression crossed her face..
Lin Yuewei ground her back teeth in frustration.
Was Gu Yanqiu really this clueless, or was she pretending not to understand? She had finally mustered the courage to bring this up herself; could it be that Gu Yanqiu hadn’t heard her meaning at all, that she was trying to say her first love was her?
Lin Yuewei couldn’t help applying the new life skill she had recently mastered: putting herself in someone else’s shoes. If she were Gu Yanqiu, after hearing that rambling, half-finished story, it really would be hard to connect it to first love. When she had confessed before, she had also said the other person was ugly as hell; in other words, she’d admitted she had actually seen her first love. But in reality, she had never met her at all.
Wait. Lin Yuewei’s expression turned subtle. Had she ever said Gu Yanqiu looked ugly last time?
It seemed... yes... definitely... she had.
Then should she keep confessing?
It was a stab either way; might as well get it over with.
Lin Yuewei grabbed Gu Yanqiu by the collar. Forced to tilt her head back, Gu Yanqiu looked up at her. “Ah?”
Lin Yuewei said fiercely, “Do you remember when I told you last time that I had a first love?”
Gu Yanqiu: “I remember.”
Why bring it up again all of a sudden? She didn’t mind, but that didn’t mean she liked hearing Lin Yuewei talk about the other person.
Lin Yuewei continued viciously, “My first love was someone I met online. I never even met her, and I still ended up liking her.”
Gu Yanqiu: “Oh.”
Lin Yuewei stared at her. “Oh?” That was it?
Gu Yanqiu looked back at her.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Gu Yanqiu suddenly let out a shocked “Ah.” She was rarely this flustered.
Lin Yuewei kept a straight face and silently watched her.
Gu Yanqiu seemed unable to believe it. She pointed at herself, clearly trying not to laugh, but held it back with sheer force of will; the expression on her face was extremely strange. “Me?”
Lin Yuewei folded her arms, lifting her chin proudly. “If not you, then who?”
Gu Yanqiu still couldn’t believe it. “It’s really me?”
Lin Yuewei nodded. “It’s really you.”
“No, that’s not right,” Gu Yanqiu said. “When you told me before, you said the other person was ugly as hell, and that you’d been blind. You never met me.”
The corner of Lin Yuewei’s mouth twitched. Gu Yanqiu really had to bring up exactly the one thing she didn’t want brought up. “I was making it up because I hadn’t met you. If I’d seen you in person, would you still have had a chance?”
That sounded a little awkward, but Gu Yanqiu still understood. Lin Yuewei meant that if she had seen the real Gazing at the Stars, she would have gone after her relentlessly, and there would have been no room left for Gu Yanqiu.
Gu Yanqiu said, “But she is me.”
Lin Yuewei clapped and said dramatically, “Wow, then aren’t you amazing. I fell for two people, and both of them were you.”
Gu Yanqiu instinctively said modestly, “Not bad, not bad.”
Before Lin Yuewei’s mood could shift again, Gu Yanqiu burst out laughing.
Lin Yuewei started laughing too, then asked, “What are you laughing at?”
Gu Yanqiu grinned so wide it almost reached her ears. “What are you laughing at?” she shot back.
Lin Yuewei snorted. “If I want to laugh, I’ll laugh. No reason.”
Gu Yanqiu mimicked her snort. “Same here. If I want to laugh, I’ll laugh too. No reason needed.”
They looked at each other. Gu Yanqiu placed both hands on her shoulders and let out an “Ah,” as if she wanted to say something, but the moment she made a sound she couldn’t continue. Then she laughed again, helplessly.
It was as if she had been struck by some legendary laughing acupoint; even after Lin Yuewei had already laughed herself out, she still hadn’t stopped. In the end, she leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window, coughing as she laughed, her eyes never once leaving Lin Yuewei.
Lin Yuewei was a little tired from laughing, and thirsty too, so she got up to fetch two bottles of water. She opened one and drank a few mouthfuls, then twisted open the other and handed it to Gu Yanqiu. “Have some water.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “I want the one you drank from.”
Lin Yuewei switched it out for another bottle and clicked her tongue. “Are you never tired of being clingy?”
Gu Yanqiu held the bottle in one hand and didn’t drink yet, smiling at her. “Do you think it’s clingy?”
Lin Yuewei said, “I don’t think so.”
Gu Yanqiu laughed again, then finally tipped her head back and took a few sips.
The sun on the horizon had only half its body showing above the sea; beachgoers were already walking back in groups of three or five, and the world was sinking into gray-gold dusk.
After finishing the water, Gu Yanqiu said, “How could it have been such a coincidence?”
Lin Yuewei sat beside her, legs stretched out, toes swaying lazily left and right. “How would I know? Ask the heavens.”
Gu Yanqiu hummed. “The heavens have been very good to me.”
Lin Yuewei said, “They’ve been better to me. You don’t even like me; I’m talking about before.”
Gu Yanqiu thought about it and said, “What you said makes sense. But your first love was me. Isn’t that a very good thing?”
Lin Yuewei didn’t answer. Whether it was good or not, they both knew it in their hearts; right now they were just flirting and talking. Lin Yuewei asked, knowing full well the answer, “What did you think of me? I mean online.”
Gu Yanqiu felt like this was a trap. Seeing the hesitant look in her eyes, Lin Yuewei said directly, “Just say it honestly. I’m not going to eat you.”
“Then I’ll say it,” Gu Yanqiu paused. “An online friend.”
“And?”
“That’s all.”
“..."
“If I had to say there was anything special,” Gu Yanqiu said quickly, reading her expression and trying to salvage the situation.
“What was special?”
“Among all my online friends, she was the best at playing cards.”
“..."
Lin Yuewei stood up.
Gu Yanqiu grabbed her. “Where are you going?” She was afraid Lin Yuewei was getting angry again.
Lin Yuewei looked down at her. “To get my phone.”
Gu Yanqiu let go.
Lin Yuewei brought over the two phones from the table and the bed. Holding Gu Yanqiu’s in her hands, she asked in a tone that sounded like a request but allowed no refusal, “Can I look at your contacts?”
“Sure.” Gu Yanqiu had basically no secrets in front of Lin Yuewei. “But I don’t really use QQ anymore. I mostly use WeChat now.”
Lin Yuewei opened her QQ contacts. There were quite a lot of friends in there, with a very blunt, straightforward grouping system: A, B, C, D, E, F... arranged by the alphabet. Gu Yanqiu explained each group for her; what A was, what B was, what C was, and so on. Lin Yuewei asked, “Where am I?”
Gu Yanqiu said, “H.”
Lin Yuewei opened group H and found she was the only one in it. “Why am I the only one?” The earlier groups she had seen all had at least a dozen people each.
Gu Yanqiu said, “That group seemed unsuitable at the time, so I made a separate one. Later, everyone else I met didn’t fit with you either, so they went on to I.”
Lin Yuewei thought: does that count as special treatment?
She cleared her throat and asked, “Am I the only one who gets an entire group to herself?”
Gu Yanqiu said, “Yes.”
Lin Yuewei immediately said, “And you still say you had no feelings for me?”
Gu Yanqiu said, “I really didn’t have feelings for you. I meant the one online.”
Lin Yuewei: “Hmph.”
Gu Yanqiu: “Are you angry?”
Lin Yuewei had originally wanted to answer proudly, “Yes,” but looking at Gu Yanqiu’s foolish, helpless face, ready to coax her at any moment, she decided to tell the truth instead. “No.” She lifted both hands to hold Gu Yanqiu’s face and kissed the tip of her nose. “If you’d really liked Weed before, I might’ve gotten jealous of myself.”
“So that’s how it is.” Gu Yanqiu smiled.
Lin Yuewei pinched her cheek again. “Don’t get this close to online friends next time, got it? Better safe than sorry; what if someone else falls for you too?”
Gu Yanqiu said, “They wouldn’t. I’m so dull; how could anyone like me?”
Gu Yanqiu had already gone through the chat records between Lin Yuewei and Weed today, and the biggest question in her mind was why Lin Yuewei had fallen for Gazing at the Stars at all—a silent, unfunny, completely humorless ‘straight man.’
In real life, Lin Yuewei had first fallen for her face and only later for her person; that made sense. As for personality, Gu Yanqiu wasn’t narcissistic enough to think she could attract anyone on personality alone.
Hearing that, Lin Yuewei got annoyed. “Then what am I? Was I blind?”
Gu Yanqiu said, “That’s what you said yourself.”
Lin Yuewei wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I don’t care. Anyway, in my eyes, you’re the very best in the world.”
She couldn’t remember the reason she had liked her at the time, but the feeling of liking her was still in her heart.
Gu Yanqiu lifted a hand and patted the back of Lin Yuewei’s hand. A little unable to withstand such praise, she said, “Don’t say it like that. I’ll get conceited.”
Lin Yuewei held her tighter. “That’s exactly what I want. I want you to get conceited. If you don’t know it, how would you know how good you are?” Gu Yanqiu had been made insecure by all the troubles in her family, so whenever Lin Yuewei had the chance, she praised her wildly, trying to fix that habit of hers.
Gu Yanqiu smiled and didn’t take it to heart.
And yet she couldn’t help thinking: Am I really as good as Lin Yuewei says? Maybe I am pretty good.
She mentally counted her own strengths; being loyal, being thoughtful, looking good, and, hmm... having money. Thinking about it that way, she seemed quite worthy of Lin Yuewei.
Lin Yuewei held Gu Yanqiu in her arms, and the two of them sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window until the sun finally disappeared below the horizon. Beneath the night sky, the beach looked like flowing broken silver, merging with the shimmering sea.
Lin Yuewei’s phone vibrated on the floor. She moved the arm Gu Yanqiu had been using as a pillow, a little sore now, and picked up the phone. The caller ID showed Photographer Room.
Bali had many night markets; after dark, the carnival began.
After discussing it, the four of them decided to go to a rooftop bar, still meeting in the lobby before setting out together.
The next day, Photographer Room contacted the local wedding photographer they had arranged beforehand and borrowed a full set of equipment. Then he took the soon-to-be-one-year-married newlyweds to the beach and several places Lin Yuewei liked to shoot wedding photos. They were busy all day. Lin Yuewei copied every photo from the camera, planning to sort through them slowly after returning home and then hand them over to Photographer Room for retouching. As the sun neared the sea, they boarded the ship departing from Benoa Harbor and left the crowds on land behind to enjoy a cruise dinner.
On the third day, they went to Lover’s Cliff to try paragliding. Lin Yuewei was usually pretty bold, but she was wary of extreme sports like bungee jumping and skydiving, always feeling something might go wrong. Gu Yanqiu, on the other hand, looked eager to try.
Lin Yuewei glanced at one person who had just flown off ahead of them, then nudged Gu Yanqiu’s arm and asked quietly, “Have you done this before?”
Gu Yanqiu raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Haven’t you?”
Lin Yuewei hedged, “Sort of.”
Gu Yanqiu asked, “Hm? What do you mean, sort of?”
Lin Yuewei gritted her teeth. “I haven’t.”
Gu Yanqiu looked at her. “You’re scared?”
Lin Yuewei said, “Why would I be scared? Not at all. I just worry about the safety.”
It couldn’t be blamed on Gu Yanqiu for thinking too little of it. In her presence, Lin Yuewei had always been the fearless type, and in their interactions, the other side usually yielded to her a little more, which made Gu Yanqiu feel she was very reliable. So Gu Yanqiu believed her and said, “It’s very safe. No need to be nervous.”
Both of them had signed up. The people ahead of them jumped one after another, and soon it was their turn to prepare. Gu Yanqiu spread her arms, calmly let the staff secure her safety harness, and Lin Yuewei stood beside her, legs shaking, both hands clenched into fists so tightly she couldn’t control it.
The coach leading her saw how nervous she was, sweat already beading on her forehead, and asked in English, “Are you sure you want to jump?”
Lin Yuewei nodded hard.
The coach asked again; Lin Yuewei still nodded.
It was time to jump. She was in front of Gu Yanqiu in line, glanced back, and saw Gu Yanqiu cup her hands around her mouth and shout, “Go for it!”
Lin Yuewei: “..."
Fine. Go for it, then.
They ran forward first. The coach looked ahead and counted, “Three, two, one, go!”
Lin Yuewei kicked off the ground, closed her eyes, and leapt from the cliff. Her body rose into the air, and her heart was paralyzed by the sensation of weightlessness. She kept her eyes shut tight, shaking like a sieve, too terrified to open them and look down.
The coach was still shouting in her ear, apparently trying to talk to her, but she couldn’t hear a single word; her whole body had gone stiff.
Not long after she jumped, Gu Yanqiu followed. She had done paragliding many times before, and even suspended in the air she remained calm; one moment she would glance at the city and the pedestrians below, reduced countless times in size, and the next she would look at Lin Yuewei’s glider in the distance, now just a tiny dot.
The coach could tell she wasn’t nervous at all and immediately recognized her as an old hand, so he started chatting with her. Gu Yanqiu looked down at the ground, arms spread wide, feeling the wind howl past her ears.
It was very relaxing; very satisfying.
Lin Yuewei only opened her eyes when she was ten meters above the ground, after the coach kept persuading her. Once she was back on the ground, her knees went weak and she nearly dropped to the floor. She hurried to find a place to sit and wait for Gu Yanqiu, rubbing her cold face and trying to steady the heart that had almost stopped on her.
They’d been so far apart just now; Gu Yanqiu probably hadn’t seen how she’d looked on the glider, right?
The coach took the GoPro from atop his head, the one used to film the ride, and was about to find the traveler just now to offer the video package. But when he turned around, the person was already gone. Fortunately, he soon found Gu Yanqiu with Lin Yuewei.
Lin Yuewei came over calmly to pick up Gu Yanqiu, but the moment she saw the cameras in the hands of the two coaches, her expression changed.
Damn it; how could she have forgotten about that.
Gu Yanqiu took the two videos and left. They were clearly walking side by side, but Gu Yanqiu’s face never once turned toward Lin Yuewei. Lin Yuewei took a deep breath and shouted in Gu Yanqiu’s ear, “Have you laughed enough yet?”
Gu Yanqiu jumped at the yell and finally stopped laughing for the moment. Turning to her, she said, “If you’re scared next time, you can choose not to jump.”
In the video, Lin Yuewei was like a wooden puppet the entire way down; her long hair had been blown completely over her face, and she didn’t even dare brush it aside, maintaining a deathly pale expression all the way to the finish.
Pitiful as it was, Gu Yanqiu really couldn’t stop laughing.
Lin Yuewei stubbornly said, “No, I want to jump.”
Gu Yanqiu deliberately said, “Then what about bungee jumping next time? There’s Royal Gorge Bridge in the U.S., and one in Macau too; they all seem pretty high. New Zealand, Victoria, Peru...”
Lin Yuewei felt her scalp go numb from hearing it. “Shut up.”
Gu Yanqiu obediently shut up.
Today she learned another detail about Lin Yuewei she hadn’t known before.
Following that topic, Gu Yanqiu asked, “Can you ride a roller coaster and a giant pendulum swing?”
Lin Yuewei said, “Yes.” She was only afraid of extreme sports, not so cowardly that she wouldn’t dare ride a roller coaster. Still, even if she dared, under normal circumstances she wouldn’t actively choose those rides; she didn’t especially like them.
Gu Yanqiu looked at her suspiciously. “Tell the truth.”
Lin Yuewei said through gritted teeth, “That is the truth.” She had to reclaim some dignity; if she couldn’t turn things around in bed, then in real life she absolutely could not keep acting this weak.
Lin Yuewei turned around. “Let’s go back and jump again.” Isn’t it just paragliding? You get used to it.
Gu Yanqiu knew she was being stubborn and quickly grabbed her. “No need to jump.”
Lin Yuewei looked at the sky. “It’s only noon. We can jump several more times.”
Gu Yanqiu used her trump card. “I’m scared.”
Lin Yuewei snorted. “Weren’t you not scared just now?”
Gu Yanqiu didn’t blush or blink; she lied through her teeth. “I was dazed when I first went up. I only got scared afterward.”
“Mm...” Lin Yuewei was very satisfied with that attitude and, taking the easy way down, agreed not to paraglide again. Today, she and Gu Yanqiu had split from Photographer Room’s couple; the two of them had gone to Tanah Lot.
This was their last day here; they’d be heading back home tomorrow morning.
A little unsatisfied, a little reluctant.
It was still early, so Lin Yuewei asked Gu Yanqiu whether she wanted to go visit another attraction. Gu Yanqiu countered by asking if she wanted to; Lin Yuewei said either way was fine. She had no obsession with checking off every famous tourist spot in a place; she simply wanted somewhere to relax. She could sit on the beach with Gu Yanqiu all day if need be.
After that intense paragliding, Lin Yuewei didn’t feel like going sightseeing anymore. Once she confirmed that Gu Yanqiu wasn’t especially attached to the idea either, she simply decided to stay at the hotel and laze around together. She didn’t even feel like going out at night, and quietly enjoyed their two-person world.
They kissed in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows; not long after, they drew the curtains.
From afternoon until evening, when they started feeling hungry, they had the hotel send food up.
After dinner, they took a shower.
Lin Yuewei finally understood why Gu Yanqiu had deliberately brought that suit.
That night, it rained heavily again in Bali. The world was soaked in torrential rain, stretching endlessly in one sheet; even the beach was a little hard to make out.
The air was hot and damp, heavy with a stifling stillness.
The lights in the room were off. Gu Yanqiu, still fully dressed and neat, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room. Lin Yuewei stood with her back to her, watching as her own palm pressed against the glass and the mist was smeared into strange shapes.
***
Photographer Room was forever taking pictures of his girlfriend; occasionally he turned the DSLR the other way and snapped the scene in front of him: Lin Yuewei dozing in the waiting area with her head lowered, while Gu Yanqiu leafed through the fashion magazines there.
Photographer Room waved a hand in front of Gu Yanqiu, pointed at the photo, and Gu Yanqiu nodded. Photographer Room made an “OK” gesture.
Then he glanced at Lin Yuewei, who was so sleepy she could barely open her eyes, and gave Gu Yanqiu a meaningful smile.
Gu Yanqiu pretended not to understand the hidden meaning in his expression.
When they came, Lin Yuewei had been full of energy; on the way back, she was practically unconscious the whole trip. On the plane, she slept fitfully, waking and dozing in turns, never once managing to sleep deeply.
“We’re here.” Gu Yanqiu nudged Lin Yuewei’s arm. Lin Yuewei opened her eyes a sliver and struggled to sit up, but halfway through she slumped back down. Gu Yanqiu reacted quickly and supported her, stopping her from falling any further.
“Why are you so sleepy?” Gu Yanqiu asked in surprise.
“You tell me?” Lin Yuewei shot her a resentful look.
Gu Yanqiu’s mind flashed through all kinds of scenes. She rubbed her nose awkwardly, unable to argue. She took the down jacket from her backpack and placed it on Lin Yuewei’s lap, telling her, “Put it on when you get off the plane. I checked the weather forecast; it’s midnight now, and it’s around minus 15 degrees Celsius outside.”
Lin Yuewei said, “I’m not wearing it.”
Gu Yanqiu coaxed her, “Wear it. You’ll get cold if you don’t.”
Lin Yuewei still felt uncomfortable from last night and said sulkily, “Freeze to death, then.”
Gu Yanqiu let out a sigh, then reached toward her lower back as if to massage her. Lin Yuewei dodged it. “No need.”
Gu Yanqiu: “..."
Lin Yuewei poked her shoulder. “Do you know I’m starting filming tomorrow?”
Gu Yanqiu nodded honestly. “I know.”
“And you still—” Lin Yuewei stopped, lifted her collar a little, and leaned closer, hissing in a low voice, “Look at this yourself; what is this, the Big Dipper? When I got up and looked in the mirror this morning, I was almost furious enough to die.”
Gu Yanqiu admitted her fault along with her words. “You can’t die of anger. If you die, I’d be widowed.”
Lin Yuewei shouted in a suppressed voice, “I’m going to throw you out of the plane right now; do you believe me?”
Gu Yanqiu fell silent and lowered her head to take the scolding.
Photographer Room and his girlfriend were sitting diagonally behind them, enjoying the show immensely.
Photographer Room let out an “Ah” and laughed. “Look at President Lin like that; doesn’t she look just like you?”
His girlfriend smacked him.
Photographer Room went on, “And my sister-in-law there, bowing her head and taking her punishment—she’s exactly the same as me.”
His girlfriend: “..."
Was that something to be proud of?
After Gu Yanqiu finished getting scolded, the plane landed. Lin Yuewei stood up, and Gu Yanqiu helped her into the down jacket, zipped it up, wrapped her scarf properly, then put on her hat, sunglasses, and mask; she was fully armed before they got off together.
The shuttle bus was parked not far from the exit. Lin Yuewei was a little unsteady on her feet; the moment she stepped outside, the cold wind from Yanning almost flipped her over. Her drowsiness was blown away in an instant, and Gu Yanqiu cupped a hand around her side and drew her into her arms.
It was bitterly cold, and even on the shuttle bus, cold air kept seeping in from all directions. Lin Yuewei really couldn’t take it, so she buried her face against Gu Yanqiu’s neck at every opportunity, at least to block the wind a little.
After picking up their luggage, they each went home to their own respective mothers. Mrs. Ran Qingqing had specifically waited for Lin Yuewei to come back. The moment she saw her shivering like a bald, molting quail, she immediately let loose with her usual sarcasm.
“Anyone who knows better would think you went on a vacation. Anyone who doesn’t would think you were just released from prison.”
“Then if I’m the one who just got out of prison, what does that make you? A mother’s failure in raising her child. An empty-nest old mother.”
“You’re the empty-nest old mother.”
“I am the empty-nest old mother.” Lin Yuewei lifted the still-sleeping Schrödinger cat in both arms and weighed it. “Whoa.” She turned and complained to Ran Qingqing, “Mom, you’re really something. I told you not to feed it so much cat food.”
“Well, I’ve got something else to do, so I’m leaving first.” Seeing the situation turn bad, Ran Qingqing decisively fled.
Lin Yuewei turned around again and called to Gu Yanqiu, her tone full of complaint. “Look at how my mom’s raised the cat. It’s gotten fat again.”
Gu Yanqiu draped her coat over the back of the sofa and answered naturally, “It’s fine; I’ve got it. Starting tomorrow I’ll keep an eye on its diet, and by the next time you come home, it’ll be nice and trim.”
Lin Yuewei suddenly remembered she was still angry with Gu Yanqiu and glared at her without saying anything.
Gu Yanqiu said helplessly, “Can’t you stop being angry?”
Lin Yuewei said, “No.” Last night her voice had gone hoarse, and she hadn’t seen Gu Yanqiu soften one bit; now expecting her to soften? Impossible.
Gu Yanqiu sat down beside her, close against her side. If she moved in an inch, Lin Yuewei moved out a yard; in short, she absolutely refused to sit with her. Gu Yanqiu said, “I have to start filming tomorrow, so let’s not be sulky tonight. You can do whatever you want to me, okay?”
Lin Yuewei’s eyes rolled as she weighed the offer, then happily agreed.
She’d been waiting for Gu Yanqiu to say that.
But considering that Lin Yuewei had expended too much energy yesterday, the results of the night were far from the plan she had set for herself. In great distress, she only returned Gu Yanqiu the same constellation of the Big Dipper in the same spot, then drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Gu Yanqiu went to work. After breakfast at home, Lin Yuewei took a taxi to the company herself, then met up with the company’s agent and assistant to catch the noon flight.
The atmosphere at the company was a little strange. Lin Yuewei didn’t know what had happened and asked Chen Xuan once she got to her office. Chen Xuan let out a sigh and said an artist had killed herself.
Lin Yuewei hurriedly checked Weibo. Sure enough, the top trending topic was XXX’s suicide, followed by a purple explosion icon.
“Why did she do it?”
“Not clear yet.”
Lin Yuewei didn’t ask further. Chen Xuan didn’t want to linger on the subject either, and instead asked about her real job. “How’s the script coming?”
Lin Yuewei patted her chest. “I can recite it backwards.”
Chen Xuan smiled with satisfaction and told her to sit on the sofa for a bit while she made a few calls before they left.
Chen Xuan had previously competed with another agent for the vice president position, only to have someone air-dropped in later and leave both of them with nothing. Chen Xuan was already in her forties and had a child in middle school, and she was so busy she never had a free moment. That gave rise to the idea of finishing this batch of artists under her and then quitting to change careers. So the artists under her now only went out and never came in; Lin Yuewei was the last one assigned to her, and was treated as her direct line.
At the start of the year, there was a costume romance drama; in the middle of the year, an IP adaptation; they were still negotiating at the end of the year. She was basically moving from one crew to another. If nothing unexpected happened, Mist City would air at the end of the year, and that would help Lin Yuewei刷一波脸, raising her profile along with her market value.
After Chen Xuan finished her calls, Lin Yuewei stood up, and the two of them went out together. Wang Yuanyuan happened to be chatting with colleagues in another department and came over immediately after receiving the message.
Chen Xuan had her whole family in tow and was probably busy even over the New Year; work, even more so, left her no time to breathe. Once she got on the nanny van, she closed her eyes to rest.
Wang Yuanyuan lowered her head and tapped at her phone. A few seconds later, Lin Yuewei felt the phone in her pocket vibrate.
[Yuanyuan: I heard some gossip]
[Two Woods: Hm??? What gossip?]
[Yuanyuan: About the one who died today. They say it was over a relationship dispute; do you know who it was with?]
[Two Woods: With who?]
[Yuanyuan: Bai Hua!!!]
[Two Woods: !!!]
[Two Woods: Didn’t Bai Hua have a really good relationship with her wife? How could there be a relationship dispute with someone else?]
[Yuanyuan: I only heard it secondhand too. The two of them wanted a child, so last year they went abroad for IVF and succeeded. Bai Hua’s wife was the one who carried it, but she miscarried by accident and developed a mental illness; I don’t know if it was depression or bipolar disorder, and Bai Hua was under too much pressure]
[Two Woods: So she went to find a young pretty boy? That’s so scummy???] Even though her sudden freezing out probably had something to do with Bai Hua, the other woman’s acting, which ranked among the very best among actresses in China, had always been something Lin Yuewei sincerely admired. Bai Hua and her long-time same-sex partner became the first celebrity couple to register after same-sex marriage was legalized, causing quite a stir.
[Yuanyuan: Bai Hua’s wife had always been jealous by nature. After developing the mental illness, it only got worse. Anyone who got close to Bai Hua would get imagined into all sorts of things, and then she’d fly into a rage. The young pretty boy seems to have hit the wrong target. During this period, Bai Hua signed him into her studio and was giving him a big push, so Bai Hua’s wife took notice of him. I don’t know exactly why, but he was forced to kill himself]
Lin Yuewei: “..."
This gossip was full of bizarre, fantasy-like vibes, and not tasty at all.
[Yuanyuan: I’m just saying it; you just listen. Colleagues spread rumors, and it’s been passed around who knows how many hands already. There may not be a shred of truth to it, but the whole company is talking about it; I’m afraid the higher-ups are going to find out]
Lin Yuewei thought jokingly: if this gossip were true, then it was lucky she hadn’t been signed into Bai Hua’s studio last year; otherwise, wouldn’t she be the one being forced to death now? But even if someone were pushed to suicide, it was still unbelievable. Lin Yuewei felt it was basically nonsense.
She put the matter out of her mind and, glancing at Chen Xuan still asleep, secretly sent a message to Gu Yanqiu.
[Two Woods: How was work today? Did you get the flowers?]
[Xi Gu: Got them. They just arrived]
Lin Yuewei had gotten addicted to sending flowers. On the first day Gu Yanqiu went to work in the new year, she had prepared another bouquet. The card in it wasn’t as flirtatious this time; it used a love line written by a French author.
At this moment, Gu Yanqiu handed the huge bouquet in her arms to Lin Zhi and told him to throw it into the trash outside.
Of course she wouldn’t throw away the flowers Lin Yuewei sent; what she was tossing was from someone else. The signature said Ke Bin.
She searched her memory. She couldn’t quite recall the face, but the name sounded familiar; he seemed to be the rich young master she’d run into at the racetrack that day. Ke... Gu Yanqiu matched the surname with a certain company.
At ten in the morning, Gu Yanqiu received another bouquet. The name on the signature sounded like a girl’s.
Lin Zhi was ordered to throw it into the trash again.
Looking at the bored rich sons and daughters trying to amuse themselves with her, she didn’t take it to heart. It wasn’t like this had never happened before. Gu Yanqiu’s response was always simple: ignore it completely. If you hit too many nails, they naturally start to back off.
Her phone rang.
Gu Yanqiu saw the caller ID clearly, closed her fountain pen, and said sternly, “Did she agree?”
“She agreed. The time is this Sunday afternoon; she happens to be coming here on a business trip.” The man on the other end, Mr. Liu, said. The daughter of Shen Huaiyu’s ex-girlfriend had agreed to meet Gu Yanqiu.
“Good.”
“I’ll send you her WeChat card. You can contact her yourself.”
“Okay.”
After the call hung up, Gu Yanqiu received the contact card Mr. Liu forwarded to her a few minutes later. She tapped to add the contact and hesitated over the verification note before typing in a single character: “Shen.”
In the afternoon, the other party accepted her request.
[System message: Yin Lingxi accepted your friend request. You can now chat]
Gu Yanqiu soon learned the other person’s name; her WeChat nickname was simply her real name, Yin Lingxi.
Gu Yanqiu didn’t send a message first, and neither did the other side. After adding each other as friends, they simply lay quietly in each other’s contact lists, waiting for the weekend meeting.
News of Gu Huai’s cancer had spread throughout the company. The chairman was “critically ill” — of course, that was a rumor; Gu Huai’s condition had already stabilized, and after another period of observation he would be able to leave the hospital and recuperate. The whole story had been exaggerated on purpose to confuse the two Wus. Gu Feiquan and Gu Yanqiu’s performances were both increasingly convincing. At one meeting, the usually low-spirited Gu Feiquan suddenly flew into a rage, pointing at the nose of the meeting’s presiding Mr. Wu and cursing him out, accusing him of taking advantage of the fire to loot, kicking him while he was down, and forgetting kindness and betraying loyalty. If the people around him hadn’t held him back, he might have actually thrown a punch. Mr. Wu was so angry his Buddha nature burst out of him and then burst again. Like Gu Huai, he was one of the company’s founders. When had it ever been the turn of some hotheaded youngster to point fingers at him? The two of them came to blows in the conference room, and several senior executives were accidentally injured in the melee.
That evening, the bruised Mr. Wu held a meeting with Young Mr. Wu and Gu Yanqiu to work out in detail a big plan for more than a month later.
Meanwhile, Gu Yanqiu acted in the company like she was enjoying a spring breeze, completely unconcerned about Gu Huai’s condition. By rights, with Gu Yanqiu’s acting ability, she shouldn’t have been able to play it this convincingly. But every day when she walked through the company, she imagined Lin Yuewei standing right in front of her; that cut the effort in half. Because her performance was too realistic, even Lin Zhi had been fooled. Several times he looked like he wanted to speak but hesitated; once, during lunch break, he finally said tactfully, “Little Gu, I know you may hate your dad in your heart, but maybe you can show a little more restraint. Otherwise people will start talking.”
Even though Gu Huai had done many things that were outrageous from Gu Yanqiu’s perspective—remarrying immediately after her birth mother died, for one, and even bringing back an illegitimate son—Gu Huai was critically ill, and Gu Yanqiu looked positively jubilant. It really wasn’t something many people could tolerate. The company was full of gossip, with people saying she was cold-blooded and heartless, even toward her own biological father.
Gu Yanqiu looked at Lin Zhi with interest. “So you mean I should just secretly gloat in my heart?”
Though it wasn’t a pleasant thing to say, that was exactly what Lin Zhi meant. He nodded and said, “Anyway, I’ll stand on your side unconditionally. Whatever decision you make, I support you. I believe in you.”
Gu Yanqiu walked around from behind her desk, patted Lin Zhi on his broad shoulder, and said with satisfaction, “I didn’t misjudge you.”
Lin Zhi still didn’t know that from this moment on, he had completely become one of Gu Yanqiu’s trusted confidants, with a bright future ahead of him.
Lin Zhi then said, “Also, Gu Feiquan...” He knew Gu Yanqiu and Gu Feiquan were mortal enemies, so unlike the rest of the company, he didn’t call him ‘Young Master’; he addressed him directly by name. “He’s not someone to take lightly. What if you..."
He didn’t finish the rest, but his eyes said it all. If Gu Yanqiu lost to Gu Feiquan, a centipede’s corpse may fall apart but it doesn’t die right away; besides, Gu Huai probably hadn’t reached his last breath yet. With full backing from behind, the outcome was still unknown.
“I know. Lunch tomorrow is on me,” Gu Yanqiu said with a faint smile.
“Little Gu, I’m not asking you to treat me to a meal; I’m—”
Gu Yanqiu glanced at him, and the meaning in that look was so rich that, for some reason, Lin Zhi didn’t continue.
Everything was moving in the direction she had set. Gu Yanqiu worked during the day and attended social obligations at night; she didn’t go see Gu Huai again, but every day she got the latest report on his condition from Gu Feiquan, and for now, her heart stayed steady in her chest.
At last it was the weekend. The mysterious daughter of her mother’s ex, Yin Lingxi, sent her a message bright and early.
[Yin Lingxi: One to four o’clock; you choose the place]
[Xi Gu: Lunch?]
[Yin Lingxi: Don’t bother yourself]
There wasn’t even a polite word in the whole message; it was filled with the aura of “let’s get this over with and get out of here.” Gu Yanqiu paused, but rather admired her style.
She replied with the address of a tea restaurant in the city center and set the time for one o’clock. The other side answered with an “OK” gesture.
Lin Yuewei’s new drama had already started filming and was now in full swing. Gu Yanqiu only received one “Good morning” from her before she vanished without a trace. Schrödinger had been brought to Gu Yanqiu’s place for a few days and, fortunately, had not gotten any fatter; it had entered the slow process of dieting.
Gu Yanqiu checked the time, made herself a meat dish, a vegetable dish, and a soup, then left exactly at noon and arrived half an hour early.
After giving the reserved name, she learned that the other guest had already arrived.
Gu Yanqiu raised her eyebrows in surprise and followed the waiter to the private room. She lifted a hand and knocked on the half-closed door. “Miss Yin?”
From inside came a voice that made it feel as though she had been plunged into a world of ice and snow: “Come in.”