Chapter 36
“Probably... because you said I was frigid.”
Lin Yuewei saw stars. She braced a hand on the sofa arm to keep herself from toppling backward.
“Miss Lin.”
“I’m here.”
Gu Yanqiu let out a faint sigh. “Don’t gossip behind people’s backs. Why did you spread rumors about me?”
“Let me explain.” Lin Yuewei’s words sounded weak even to herself.
Gu Yanqiu clearly had no intention of letting her off easily. She sat down on the sofa beside her, looking as though she were preparing for a serious conversation.
She had come downstairs to talk to Lin Yuewei about something; when she saw Lin Yuewei on the phone, she waited behind her. Who would have thought the conversation would get more and more outrageous, to the point that she’d even forgotten the matter she’d originally come down to discuss and could remember only that Lin Yuewei had said she was frigid.
How could Lin Yuewei know something even she herself did not know?
Lin Yuewei’s thoughts raced. Whatever the case, the fact remained that she had spread a rumor, and the rumor concerned something fairly private. If someone else had been standing behind her and made up something like that, she would have exploded on the spot. Compared with that, Gu Yanqiu was already being very generous by asking for an explanation so calmly.
“First, I want to apologize for saying something like that. I’m sorry.”
Gu Yanqiu lifted her eyebrows slightly, signaling her to continue.
Lin Yuewei looked torn. She didn’t know whether she should tell the truth or invent a new lie.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Lin Yuewei said honestly. She felt lying probably wouldn’t fool the person in front of her anyway, so she might as well tell the truth. “Jiang Congbi has feelings for you and wants to pursue you. I was trying to talk her out of it, so I made up that excuse to scare her off.”
Though Jiang Congbi hadn’t listened to her at all.
Gu Yanqiu: “Oh?”
Lin Yuewei: “Don’t not believe me. I’m telling the truth this time.”
Gu Yanqiu: “So what you said before was a lie?”
“...” Lin Yuewei had walked straight into that one. She gathered her thoughts and said, “No. I’ve never lied to you at any time.” After thinking it through carefully, that should be true; they simply didn’t have much interaction to begin with.
“Then let’s just leave this matter here.” The air conditioner in the downstairs living room was set low, and Gu Yanqiu felt chilled to the bone. Her eyelids drooped lazily, and only then did she notice she was still wearing that low-cut spaghetti-strap dress. She instantly felt uncomfortable all over and wished she could wrap herself in a cotton quilt right away.
“I’m going upstairs, Miss Lin.”
“Okay.” Lin Yuewei seized the chance as Gu Yanqiu turned away and wiped her forehead.
“By the way, Miss Lin.” Gu Yanqiu suddenly turned back.
Lin Yuewei jerked her hand away as if burned, forcing out a strained smile. “Anything else?”
Gu Yanqiu said evenly, “It’s best not to let things like this happen again.”
“Definitely not.”
Gu Yanqiu disappeared from her field of vision once more. Lin Yuewei even followed her upstairs to take a look; the door to her room was already shut, and she wasn’t coming back down. Only then did Lin Yuewei collapse onto the sofa. That scene just now could absolutely rank among the top ten most embarrassing moments of her twenty-two years.
“Great River flows eastward ah, the stars in the sky join the Big Dipper ah——”
Lin Yuewei answered the call from the culprit and sneered twice before saying hello.
Jiang Congbi, over the phone, was utterly unrestrained; she laughed like a fool on the sofa. Although Lin Yuewei had hung up later, that line about Gu Yanqiu being frigid had still been heard loud and clear by her.
Lin Yuewei said, “Keep laughing. Scientific research proves people who laugh too much are more likely to go crazy.”
“What nonsense. Even Lu Xun said that big laughter exercises your abs; the more you laugh, the better your figure.”
“Heh.”
Jiang Congbi had deliberately waited twenty-odd minutes before calling again because she was afraid of interrupting Lin Yuewei and Gu Yanqiu. In truth, she was still afraid of interrupting now; after all, she’d already ruined one good thing. What if those two had gone and cooked up some new trick? But curiosity and the urge to gloat won out, and she made the call. If they were really doing something, then by Lin Yuewei’s personality, her phone should have been on silent or off; nobody would be able to disturb her.
She had bet right.
Not only did Lin Yuewei not have a beauty in her arms, it was the opposite; she seemed to have been lectured by one.
Jiang Congbi said, “That’s what you call reaping what you sow. You went and told me she was frigid for no reason.”
“You knew I was lying?” Lin Yuewei asked in surprise.
Jiang Congbi rolled her eyes. “Big sister, do you think I’m an idiot? Even if she were, you’ve never slept with her, so how would you know?”
Lin Yuewei: “...”
Lin Yuewei pressed her temples. “Forget it. Count that as me being stupid.” What had possessed her just now? To keep Jiang Congbi from spilling everything, and then get caught on the spot.
Jiang Congbi gave her a subtle hint. “Your intelligence has been dropping hard lately.” Especially whenever Gu Yanqiu was involved; her IQ and EQ both plunged straight to the bottom.
Naturally, Lin Yuewei still didn’t catch the hint. She said, “Maybe I’ve just been too tired lately. I’ll be fine after I catch up on sleep for a few days.”
Lin Yuewei asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Jiang Congbi was defeated by her dullness. “Nothing. I just spaced out for a bit. How did you explain it to Gu Beauty?”
“Beauty?”
“If she’s good-looking, then she’s a beauty. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. Call her whatever you want.”
“You still haven’t said it. How did you explain the thing about saying she was frigid?”
“I just said sorry, that I’d been sharp-tongued.” Lin Yuewei stretched out her sore calves, which had been bent up on the sofa, and rested them on the coffee table. “Don’t bring that up again. Every time I think about it, I want to crawl into the ground.”
“Fine, I won’t. Are you going shopping this afternoon?” The whole point of Jiang Congbi’s original call had been this; after all the random tangents, she hadn’t forgotten, which showed just how determined she was about shopping.
“No. It’s too hot.” Lin Yuewei refused without hesitation.
“The mall has air conditioning.”
“It’s hot on the way there too. I finally got a vacation; I just want to stay home. Ask Zuo Qiao and the others if they want to go.”
“Alright. Do you want me to buy anything for you? I can bring it over to your place later.”
“Forget it.” Lin Yuewei lowered her eyes and blew on her long, untrimmed nails, speaking casually. “I’m standing on my own two feet now, so don’t come corrupting me. Otherwise my mom will say again that I’m living off you. Tell me, aren’t parents all like that? They used to wish you’d grow up faster; once you really do, they start nagging nonstop and always find something to dislike.”
“Parents, huh. As long as they give me money, they can nag all they want, hahaha.”
“You’re not young anymore. Can’t you put a little more heart into the company? Your family only has you as a daughter.” Lin Yuewei tried to persuade her.
“You’re the only one in your family too, but you still threw yourself headfirst into the entertainment industry. Being a star is even messier than being a businessperson.”
“What if I’m a businessperson in the entertainment industry?”
“Hell mode.”
Lin Yuewei laughed out loud.
Jiang Congbi finished the last mouthful of her drink and said, “I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m going shopping with Zuo Qiao. If you want anything, call me anytime; your big sister’s got you.”
“Mm. Bye.”
“See you.”
After hanging up on Jiang Congbi, Lin Yuewei fished a nail clipper out of the coffee table drawer, hooked the trash can over with her foot, and sat cross-legged on the sofa to clip her nails. Gu Yanqiu was upstairs; it wouldn’t be convenient to go up, so she shifted around on the sofa over and over until finally she hugged a cushion and fell asleep against the backrest.
Gu Yanqiu woke earlier than she did. After changing back into the clothes she’d worn before, she came downstairs and saw a figure lying on the sofa. The living room was flooded with sunlight, gilding Lin Yuewei’s face in warm gold. Her head had tilted back, her mouth slightly open, her lashes hanging obediently down, her beautiful eyes shut tight.
Gu Yanqiu stood behind the sofa and watched her silently for a while, thinking of that fleeting kiss in the magazine office.
That time had felt especially unreal. Later, when Gu Yanqiu recalled it, she couldn’t even be sure whether she had really kissed her, or whether she had been too nervous and mistaken the things in her imagination for reality.
Better not think about it. Once she did, Gu Yanqiu’s gaze involuntarily drifted to Lin Yuewei’s red lips. Lin Yuewei’s features were much more striking than hers; even without lipstick, they naturally carried a vivid, rosy color.
Gu Yanqiu looked toward the tightly shut door of Lin’s mother’s room, then quietly walked around to the front of the sofa and crouched down before the sleeping Lin Yuewei.
Lin Yuewei was dreaming.
In her dream, she was walking through a tropical rainforest, full of animals and plants, some bright and exotic, some pale and blending into the surroundings. She walked forward step by step, looking up at the sky revealed through the branches.
She didn’t know why she was there; she just kept looking around along the way. When she came across a giant python, she hid behind a tree and escaped danger by a hair. When she passed a narrow spring, she cupped a handful of water to drink; it was sweet and delicious, more wonderful than anything she had ever tasted.
Lin Yuewei braced herself on the sofa and turned her face toward the inside of the cushion, trying to make room to breathe.
Gu Yanqiu let out a soft breath and moved away from Lin Yuewei.
Lin’s mother also took a nap at midday. When she came out, she saw Gu Yanqiu tucking a thin blanket over Lin Yuewei. She stretched, then slowly wandered over.
“She fell asleep,” Gu Yanqiu said softly to Lin’s mother.
“I can see that.” Lin’s mother lightly touched Lin Yuewei’s cheek with her fingers and looked at her fondly.
“She’s too tired. I want her to take it easy, but she insisted on wading into all this mess.” In the yard, Lin’s mother was holding garden shears, and Gu Yanqiu stood beside her, following her instructions as she watered the flowers and plants with a watering can.
“Everyone has their own aspirations, and she’s still young. Maybe she’ll change her mind in the future.”
“Once children grow up, they stop telling us a lot of things.” Lin’s mother smiled. “If she were as obedient as you are, that’d be wonderful. I haven’t seen you much, but I feel like we’re very much in tune. You can tell at a glance you’re a good kid.”
“You’re too kind, Auntie.” Gu Yanqiu felt a little awkward hearing the praise. She only looked like a good kid; when she wasn’t being good, she was enough to give people headaches.
“I don’t care if it’s too kind or not; a daughter raised by a woman like your mother couldn’t be bad.”
Gu Yanqiu often heard Ran Qingqing mention her mother, but her mother almost never spoke of what friends she had. Unable to help herself, Gu Yanqiu asked, “Auntie Ran, why has my mom never mentioned you to me?”
It wasn’t the first time she’d asked this question. She’d already asked when Ran Qingqing first began to have contact with her.
“You think I’m suspicious?”
“No, I’m not suspecting you. I just...” Gu Yanqiu sighed. “Realized I don’t understand her at all.” She had no maternal grandparents, only paternal grandparents; she didn’t know which friends her mother had, and apart from the fact that she was devoutly Buddhist, she knew nothing else. There was nothing to investigate even if she wanted to.
“Do you know where else she used to go besides home?”
“Where else?”
“Or did she ever mention, intentionally or not, where her hometown was? Where she’s from?”
Ran Qingqing frowned.
Gu Yanqiu waited patiently.
After a long moment, Ran Qingqing set down the shears and stared at the flowers and plants in front of her, lost in thought.
“I remember now.”
“What?” Gu Yanqiu, who had already watered around to the other side, immediately came over.
“She never said where she was from, but she did say that there was a lot of water and many rivers in her hometown. She was a very good swimmer.”
“Anything else?”
There were so many places with rivers and water that this was hardly any different from looking for a needle in the ocean.
Ran Qingqing said, “No. We didn’t meet often. That time was because she happened to save your Lin Yuewei, and I mentioned it casually. As soon as she finished speaking, her expression changed; after that, she never said another word about it.”
“So she should be from the south?” Gu Yanqiu thought the whole thing was absurd. At her age, she still wasn’t sure whether her mother was from the south or the north.
“Maybe.” Ran Qingqing’s answer stirred up some of her own guesses. “What does she usually like to eat? People are shaped by the land they come from; you can tell something from someone’s taste.”
“When I’m at home, she eats the usual dishes. She doesn’t like spicy food; she prefers sweet.”
After comparing the information they had, Ran Qingqing suddenly asked, “Why don’t you ask your father? Even though he’s now... this kind of thing should still be okay to ask, right?”
Gu Yanqiu shook her head. “I asked. He wouldn’t say.”
“You asked before and after?”
Gu Yanqiu nodded.
Compared with her mother, the secrets Gu Huai kept were even more bewildering to her. The last time Gu Huai had called her to his study alone and said those things, his tone and expression were clearly still the old Gu Huai; but she couldn’t tell any of this to Ran Qingqing.
It had already been more than half a year since she returned to the country, and everything was still a tangled mess. Gu Yanqiu faintly felt that all of it had something to do with her mother’s past; once the mystery of the past was solved, the confusion that came afterward would naturally be resolved too.
Gu Yanqiu had already hired people to ask around using her mother’s photo, but her mother had married Gu Huai in her twenties; nearly thirty years had passed. Setting aside the changes in appearance, with China’s 9.6 million square kilometers, looking across every inch of it would take forever.
Ran Qingqing let out a long sigh.
***
When Lin Yuewei came out of the house, what she saw was the two women in the evening glow; no, her mother and Gu Yanqiu, one trimming the plants and the other watering them, working together with perfect coordination, occasionally chatting in low, intimate voices, both of them smiling.
“What are you talking about?” Lin Yuewei raked her fingers through her disheveled hair from sleep and squinted over at them.
“About you when you were little,” Lin’s mother said, waving her over. “Come here.”
“I’m not coming over. You’re up to something.”
Lin’s mother: “...”
She clicked her tongue. “Come if you want to, don’t if you don’t. You’re so paranoid.”
Lin’s mother couldn’t be bothered with her. She found chatting with Gu Yanqiu much more comfortable than chatting with Lin Yuewei; not only did Gu Yanqiu never snap back, she had her own opinions, and her voice was pleasant. Lin’s mother was endlessly relieved that she had managed to trick her into bringing her home as a daughter-in-law.
Gu Yanqiu smiled gently.
Lin’s mother continued, “Lin Yuewei did especially well in school when she was little. We originally planned to send her to a private school, but she didn’t want to go and got into a public school on her own instead...”
Lin Yuewei listened for a bit and realized her mother wasn’t distorting the facts at all. She really had been a model student with a spotless record and no dark history at all. Since that was the case, she left them to it, wandered a little farther away, and sat on the swing to play.
When the swing flew high, Lin Yuewei squinted toward the slanting sunset at the edge of the sky; it was almost swallowed by the horizon.
Lin Yuewei suddenly looked toward Gu Yanqiu in the garden: “!!”
What time was it? Why wasn’t she going home yet?!
“Mom.”
Lin’s mother was in the middle of talking and waved her hand without looking back. “Wait a minute.”
Lin Yuewei strode over and pulled her mother aside, cutting off the women’s enthusiastic conversation. In a voice loud enough for Gu Yanqiu to hear, she said, “It’s already six-thirty. She has to work tomorrow too, and you’re still keeping her here talking nonstop.”
Lin’s mother criticized her, “What are you talking about?”
Gu Yanqiu froze for a moment, then realized that Lin Yuewei was trying to show her the door.
She looked at the sky. It wasn’t really appropriate to keep shamelessly staying any longer, so she nodded to Lin’s mother and Lin Yuewei. “It’s getting late. I should head back.”
Lin Yuewei immediately added, “I’ll walk you part of the way.”
“Don’t listen to her.” Lin’s mother shoved the troublemaker Lin Yuewei aside and asked Gu Yanqiu, “Do you have food waiting for you when you get home?”
“I’ll make something when I get back.”
“Make what? Nothing you make tastes as good as mine.”
“Auntie, this...” Gu Yanqiu looked troubled.
Lin’s mother shot Lin Yuewei a glare and said, “Ignore her. Stay for dinner. If she dares say anything, I’ll twist her ears off.”
Lin Yuewei, whose ears were once again in danger: “...”
“Then I’ll be rude and accept your offer.” Gu Yanqiu gave Lin Yuewei an apologetic look.
Lin Yuewei’s suspicion came true; her mother really did keep the person for dinner. One meal, then another, then another—why not just keep her here to live permanently?
Lin’s mother made Gu Yanqiu sit in the living room and called Lin Yuewei away.
“What’s wrong with you? Is that how you treat a guest?” Lin’s mother lectured her.
“How did I mistreat a guest? I even gave her my bed to sleep on today.” Lin Yuewei found the scolding baffling. “It was already getting dark, and you invited her for lunch; now she’s staying for dinner too. Don’t tell me you really think of her as a son-in-law.”
Lin’s mother looked at her quietly and said nothing.
“...” Lin Yuewei knew her mother was serious this time. Her matchmaking instincts were something else. Lin Yuewei raised both hands and shrugged. “Fine. Do whatever you want. I won’t say another word, okay?”
But Lin’s mother’s expression turned stern. She said gravely, “Stop joking around. Don’t you think something’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Forget the son-in-law nonsense. Just treat her as the daughter of a friend of mine who has already passed away, as the daughter of the aunt who saved your life. Do you think your attitude toward her is appropriate? Given her family situation, with a father who doesn’t care and a mother who’s gone, what’s wrong with me taking care of her a little more?”
The smile vanished from Lin Yuewei’s face. She opened her mouth, seeming about to say something.
Lin’s mother cut her off and said firmly, “You’re hostile toward her, and you’re biased against her. I don’t know where that comes from, but I want to advise you: you don’t have to like her, and you can keep your distance from her, but don’t make things difficult for her.”
Lin Yuewei was speechless.
Lin’s mother said, “She calls me Auntie. Just pretend she has nothing to do with you. Anyway, you’re going to get divorced eventually, and you’re not in the mood to date right now. A marriage certificate is just scrap paper.”
Lin’s mother said, “Alright, I’m going to cook. If you want to help, stay. If you think I’m in your way, go outside and do your own thing.”
Lin Yuewei stayed behind and silently followed her mother’s instructions to wash and cut vegetables.
——You’re hostile toward her, and you’re biased against her.
That sentence kept echoing in her head. Lin Yuewei had just been cornered into silence by her mother, and now that she thought back on it, a voice in her heart rose up to tell her: That’s not it. Her mother was wrong.
She wasn’t hostile, and she wasn’t biased. If they were talking about before, then yes, perhaps she had been. But now there couldn’t still be any hostility; otherwise why would she have given up her room for Gu Yanqiu? Did she look like the kind of person whose bed anyone could sleep in?
Then what was it?
Why didn’t she want Gu Yanqiu to stay?
Lin Yuewei glanced outside. Gu Yanqiu was sitting alone in the living room, her back looking a little lonely.
An unfamiliar feeling flashed through Lin Yuewei’s heart. Her hand slipped; the knife angled off.
“Ah—”
Lin Yuewei put down the kitchen knife. She’d cut her index finger; a bead of blood welled up from the wound.
Lin’s mother shot her a look and quickly rinsed her hand under the faucet. “You can even cut yourself while chopping vegetables. Are you trying to scare me to death? Go outside and rest.”
Lin Yuewei put her finger in her mouth and laughed. “What’s so scary about that? I’ll go stick on a Band-Aid. Where are the Band-Aids?”
“In the second drawer of the TV cabinet.”
“Miss Lin.” Gu Yanqiu greeted Lin Yuewei as she came out of the kitchen.
“I accidentally cut my hand.” Lin Yuewei raised it at her. After chatting with Lin’s mother in the kitchen just now, she felt somewhat awkward seeing Gu Yanqiu, so she avoided her gaze, crouched down, and pulled open the TV cabinet drawer, searching inside with one hand.
Gu Yanqiu pressed her lips together and watched her back silently.
“Where did I put it?” Lin Yuewei muttered to herself.
“Do you have a first-aid kit at home?” Gu Yanqiu suddenly asked from behind her.
Oh, the first-aid kit. There was one, but Lin Yuewei was too lazy to get it; it was a hassle. “Yes, but we don’t need the first-aid kit, do we? I’m just looking for a Band-Aid. There’s some in the drawer; let me keep looking.”
“Where’s the first-aid kit? I’ll get it.” Gu Yanqiu’s voice made it sound impossible to refuse.
Lin Yuewei turned around and met the other woman’s dark eyes. She had originally wanted to refuse again, but on a sudden impulse, she said, “It’s in my parents’ room. I should go get it myself.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Is that necessary?”
Gu Yanqiu had already stood up, looking as if she was determined to follow her. “Either I go with you, or you bring it over here; the wound needs to be disinfected.”
Lin Yuewei: “...”
Lin Yuewei drooped her head and went to get the first-aid kit.
Gu Yanqiu’s movements looked very practiced. After opening it, she gave the contents a quick glance and then laid out everything she needed on the table. Lin Yuewei let out an awkward laugh. “I’ll do it myself.”
“You only have one hand; it’s inconvenient.” Gu Yanqiu took a cotton swab on her own, pressed one hand on Lin Yuewei’s shoulder to seat her on the sofa, and knelt on one knee in front of her. “Hand.”
Lin Yuewei still wanted to resist, but she couldn’t outargue Gu Yanqiu and obediently held it out, letting Gu Yanqiu take it gently in hers.
“Don’t brush off small wounds.” Gu Yanqiu’s voice had always been somewhat cool, chilly enough to make people feel a sting just listening to it. But whether because they were too close this time or because she had lowered it, it had turned soft and husky; a thread of itch started at Lin Yuewei’s tailbone and climbed up along her spine all the way to her neck.
“Does it hurt?” Gu Yanqiu softened her movements when she felt the other woman shiver slightly.
“It doesn’t hurt.” It itched. Lin Yuewei answered while her gaze roamed back and forth over Gu Yanqiu’s flawless, exquisite face.
“Bear with it.” Gu Yanqiu’s touch became even lighter; Lin Yuewei could barely feel the cotton swab dabbing at her skin. Gu Yanqiu’s slender fingers took a Band-Aid, peeled it open, and placed it over Lin Yuewei’s tiny wound.
“All done,” Gu Yanqiu said.
Yet Lin Yuewei didn’t move at all.
Gu Yanqiu looked up and met Lin Yuewei’s unwavering gaze. She paused for a moment, then lightly bit her lower lip and looked back at her.
At the deepest point in those eyes, there seemed to be some emotion surging, something so moving it made one’s heart skip. Lin Yuewei couldn’t help swallowing.
“Did you find the Band-Aid?” Lin’s mother’s voice from the kitchen broke the silence.
Gu Yanqiu let go, and Lin Yuewei pulled her hand back at the same time. “It’s on.”
Lin Yuewei turned to put away the first-aid kit, unable to meet her eyes. “Thank you, Miss Gu.”
“You’re welcome.”
After enduring those torturous ten-odd minutes, Lin’s mother called them to dinner, and Lin Yuewei felt as though she had finally been granted relief. She hurried off to carry the dishes.
Lin’s mother found a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet and set three glasses on the table, asking Lin Yuewei to pour half a glass for each of them. Then she said to Gu Yanqiu, “This wine was given by your dad’s business partner. They said the vintage is very good. Try it and see if you can tell which year it’s from.”
Gu Yanqiu smiled at Lin’s mother and nodded, taking a small sip. Before she even said anything, a meaningful smile had already flashed across Lin’s mother’s face.
Lin Yuewei suddenly had a bad feeling.
It wasn’t until dinner was over that Lin Yuewei understood what her mother’s smile had meant.
Lin’s mother stopped Gu Yanqiu, who was about to leave, and said solemnly, “You drank tonight, so you can’t drive. Why don’t you stay here for the night?”
Gu Yanqiu: “...”
Lin Yuewei: “!!!”
Author’s note:
Lin’s mother: I’m the wingman. The world’s number one wingman.