Chapter 59
“Can you comfort me?”
The instant Lin Yuewei heard that, blood rushed straight to her head. She was dizzy with it, but comfort her? Of course she would. Forget comfort—she’d give her her life.
But how was she supposed to comfort her? She had never comforted anyone before.
Lin Yuewei dragged her laptop over and hurriedly typed into the search engine: how to comfort...
When it came to the person being comforted, she hesitated for a moment, then typed in three words: “girlfriend.”
The search results went on and on. Lin Yuewei skimmed through them, but before she found anything useful, a string of dead air came through her ear: beep, beep, beep...
Gu Yanqiu had hung up.
Lin Yuewei: “……”
[Xi Gu: My friend came to find me]
[Xi Gu: What I just said; pretend you didn’t hear it]
[Xi Gu: I’ll be back in a couple of days. Call me if anything comes up]
Lin Yuewei: “……”
***
From a distance, Gu Yanqiu saw a figure walking toward her and quickly wiped the tear tracks from her face with the back of her hand, forcing an absent-minded expression so the redness in her eyes would fade a little. Crying alone was one thing; being seen was another. Besides, the last time she had cried alone had been back in high school, when she graduated and went abroad, sitting by herself on the plane.
Jenny had already been sent off elsewhere according to procedure to prepare the follow-up arrangements. Cheng Guiyuan and the others stood outside silently wiping their tears; as they cried, they realized one person was missing. Gu Yanqiu was gone.
Gu Yanqiu was usually very reserved. To outsiders, she seemed cold, but Cheng Guiyuan knew she was the sort of person who was cold on the outside and warm within. The closer you got to her, the more you understood how much warmth lay beneath that icy shell; not the kind of heat that burned, but the gentle warmth of winter sunshine, something you only felt after staying near it long enough.
This trip back to M Country, she seemed to have changed a little, hiding her true self even deeper. Cheng Guiyuan more or less guessed it had something to do with what happened at home. Gu Yanqiu had originally planned to develop abroad for a while before going back, and she had even been planning a project with several friends, including Cheng Guiyuan. Unfortunately, heaven’s plans were never as good as people’s.
Cheng Guiyuan thought of Jenny again, and her eyes stung. She pressed at the corners of her eyes and looked up at the sky.
“Yanqiu.”
Gu Yanqiu stood from the bench and asked, “How’s it going over there?”
“Her parents are handling it. How has it been for you back in China?”
“Just the same.”
“Still sleepwalking?”
“A little, but it seems to be getting better. It’ll get better.” Gu Yanqiu’s eyes curved into a tiny crescent.
“Call me anytime if something comes up. I’ll catch a flight back.”
“I’m already this old; there’s no need to worry about me.”
A breeze brushed their cheeks as they walked back together, talking as they went. Some friendships were like Lin Yuewei and Jiang Congbi’s—noisy, playful, full of teasing banter. Others were like Gu Yanqiu and Cheng Guiyuan’s—few words were needed, yet each knew the other’s place in her heart was irreplaceable.
Cheng Guiyuan rubbed her chin and sighed softly. “When do you think I should go back to China?”
Gu Yanqiu answered, “That’s something you have to ask yourself. Have your parents been pressuring you?”
Cheng Guiyuan turned around; Gu Yanqiu took one of her hands, and Cheng Guiyuan walked backward as she said worriedly, “They have. But that’s not the main issue. My mom said my grandma—remember how my grandma fell last year? I even went back to China to see her.”
Gu Yanqiu raised her brows, signaling that she remembered.
Cheng Guiyuan said, “My grandma’s old. Her body was sturdy before, but after that fall, it seemed like her spirit got knocked out of her too. Her health got much worse after she was discharged. My mom means my grandma may not have many years left, and she wants me to go home and keep her company.”
“What do you think?”
“I want to go back too, but the project with Jane and the others only just got underway. You know I have a lot on me; if I leave, I’m afraid the project will be ruined.”
“Mm.”
“Forget it. I’ll keep wrestling with it a bit longer. I’ll find some time to go back first and see my grandma.” Cheng Guiyuan, like Gu Yanqiu, was someone with strong opinions. She was only venting to her; she hadn’t expected any advice, and Gu Yanqiu knew that, so she didn’t waste her breath.
By the time they reached Cheng Guiyuan’s place, Cheng Guiyuan entered the password and opened the door. The first thing Gu Yanqiu saw was her foster cat, Schrodinger, sitting obediently at the entryway with its head tilted up, meowing at her. Its sapphire-blue eyes were gorgeous.
“Schrodinger.” Gu Yanqiu’s face lit up. Without even taking off her shoes, she crouched to pick it up, but Schrodinger twisted away coldly and stalked off with its round little backside wiggling.
Gu Yanqiu: “……”
Cheng Guiyuan closed the door and handed her a pair of slippers, laughing. “It hasn’t seen you in too long. It’s shy.”
Gu Yanqiu smiled too and didn’t take it to heart.
This cat had been bought two months before she returned to China. It had still been a tiny kitten when she left; now it had grown quite a bit. Human children can’t even recognize their dads and moms after a few months apart; if you converted that into cat years, it had probably been several years already.
After they changed shoes, Gu Yanqiu and Cheng Guiyuan, who had lived here together when they were still in school, moved around the place with complete familiarity. Gu Yanqiu poured each of them a glass of water and said, “I already knew from the videos that you took good care of it; now that I’ve seen it, I can tell it’s especially well cared for.”
“Just average, average.” Cheng Guiyuan modestly waved it off with a smile, then leaned toward one of the half-closed rooms and called softly, “Meow—Schrodinger?”
A snow-white head peeked out through the crack in the door.
Cheng Guiyuan called the cat over, bent down and lifted it into her arms, and set it on her lap, expertly stroking the fur on its head and belly. Schrodinger kept a look of utter disdain the whole time, but it didn’t struggle or leap away; very much a case of “I hate this, but I’m not moving.”
After she’d had her fill of petting, Cheng Guiyuan lifted its two front paws from behind and forced the cat’s face toward Gu Yanqiu. “Quick, recognize your long-lost dad.”
Schrodinger’s airplane ears shot up, its face full of caution.
Gu Yanqiu: “……”
She withdrew the hand she’d only just extended and said, “Forget it. It’s closer to you now.”
“Then you can feed it later and let it see what it means to have food and call it dad. Poor little thing.” Cheng Guiyuan tapped its head and set it down. Schrodinger didn’t run; it just crouched by her feet and clutched her ankle in a delightfully silly, clingy way.
Gu Yanqiu was so jealous she could practically feel her eyes go red.
Cheng Guiyuan teased her. “Why don’t you take it back to China? Anyway, I’m just the neighbor across the hall, Old Cheng.”
Gu Yanqiu was tempted, but she still shook her head and refused. “No one would be able to take care of it over there, and I’m often away on business. Lin..."
As it turned out, no matter what kind of relationship friends had, they were always enthusiastic about gossip. Cheng Guiyuan immediately pressed, “Lin what?”
Gu Yanqiu was a little shy and didn’t want to say.
Cheng Guiyuan went on, “Is it that roommate of yours? I’m telling you, as the rightful heiress of a conglomerate, wherever you live is somewhere you live. How could you have a roommate? What even is that weird thing?”
Gu Yanqiu looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself.
“Oh, I know. Is it that marriage partner of yours?” Cheng Guiyuan suddenly understood.
Gu Yanqiu nodded.
Cheng Guiyuan said, “I was wondering why you suddenly had a roommate and got so easygoing. So it’s your wife; you’re living with her?”
Gu Yanqiu was a little embarrassed. “Don’t ask anymore.”
The more she said that, the more Cheng Guiyuan wanted to get to the bottom of it, but Gu Yanqiu was the kind of person who sealed her lips tight; no matter how much she was interrogated, she wouldn’t say. In the end, Cheng Guiyuan had to give up. “When I go back to China, I definitely have to meet this mysterious person.”
Gu Yanqiu thought to herself: Lin Yuewei is even busier than I am; whether I can meet her is still not certain.
Gu Yanqiu hadn’t eaten anything since she flew over yesterday. Now that she was finally relaxed, her stomach began to growl. Cheng Guiyuan heard it and laughed. “I’ll make you something to eat.”
The moment Cheng Guiyuan left, Schrodinger followed after her, its four little legs moving quickly as its snow-white backside swayed from side to side; it was adorable.
Gu Yanqiu’s heart stirred, and she took a few photos of it to send to Lin Yuewei.
[Xi Gu: The cat I raised doesn’t recognize me anymore [sad]]
Lin Yuewei must have been busy; it took a long time before she replied:
[Two Trees: Hahaha, it’s pretty cute. Do you have one facing the front?]
Gu Yanqiu told her to forget what had happened just now, and Lin Yuewei really seemed to forget it. That was good, Gu Yanqiu thought. Looking back, she realized how mortifying she’d been. She hadn’t cried her nose red in years.
Gu Yanqiu glanced at the time on her phone. It should be very late in China by now.
[Xi Gu: I’ll find a chance later and see if I can take one for you]
[Xi Gu: It’s this late and you still aren’t asleep?]
After another while, she got a reply.
[Two Trees: Mm, something came up]
[Xi Gu: Get some rest early]
[Two Trees: I will]
Back in China, Lin Yuewei automatically spun a whole drama in her head: first Gu Yanqiu inexplicably cried, looking terribly fragile; then she said a friend had come looking for her and that she’d need a few days before she could return. After a while, she seemed to be completely fine again and even sent her cat photos. More thought-provoking still, she’d said it was the cat she raised that no longer recognized her. Lin Yuewei had never seen a cat at the Gu residence or at Gu Yanqiu’s place, so this cat must have been fostered somewhere else; it was very likely the friend who had come to find her.
Combined with the cat’s meowing in the video she heard this morning, the friend who made Gu Yanqiu leave in such a hurry that she had no time to eat breakfast with her was probably the same person who made her cry; the one who came to find her was this friend, and the one helping her care for the cat was also this friend.
Lin Yuewei felt that this didn’t look like a friend at all. It was probably a girlfriend.
Why not a boyfriend? From the photo Gu Yanqiu sent, she could see a section of calf and a pair of slippers; those were clearly a woman’s.
Gu Yanqiu had said at the time that she wasn’t single, but she hadn’t said she wasn’t single now. And that sweet, candy-floss kind of scent she’d been giving off from time to time lately was probably the result of dating.
Lin Yuewei stared at the text on the screen in front of her for a long while before moving from one line to the next.
Was she heartbroken?
Not even in a relationship yet and already heartbroken; that sounded pretty embarrassing.
Lin Yuewei thought.
There wasn’t much food in the fridge, so Cheng Guiyuan cooked two bowls of noodles. The two of them sat across from each other at the dining table, and Gu Yanqiu kept her eyes on Schrodinger, which was yawning under the table.
“How many days are you staying this time?” Cheng Guiyuan stretched out one leg to play with Schrodinger.
“Two days? I’ll also see some other people while I’m here.”
“Fair enough. They all know you’re back; if you don’t have a meal with them, you’ll probably get scolded.” Cheng Guiyuan said, “I’ll organize the get-together. Tonight okay? I know you’re busy.”
“Sure.” Gu Yanqiu had no objections. Originally, whenever the two of them were together, Cheng Guiyuan handled this sort of thing.
After Cheng Guiyuan finished eating, she started making calls and sending messages. Gu Yanqiu cleared the dishes, went into the kitchen to wash them, and when she came back out, she saw Schrodinger crouched at the doorway, its sapphire-blue eyes looking up at her with unusual quiet.
Just as Gu Yanqiu made a move to get close, Schrodinger dashed away at a clatter of tiny footsteps, looking like a mischievous child.
She was almost to the living room when the doorbell rang.
Seeing Cheng Guiyuan busy on the phone, Gu Yanqiu went to open the door. Standing outside was a young girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Gu Yanqiu asked in fluent English, “Hello, who are you looking for?”
The girl gave an English name and craned her neck to look inside.
Before Gu Yanqiu could react, the girl rushed in. Cheng Guiyuan looked up and immediately frowned, barking at her in English, “How did you find this place? Get out now.”
The girl had tears in her beautiful eyes, and when she spoke again, it was in Chinese. Her Chinese was surprisingly good, with perfect tones. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
Gu Yanqiu pinched the bridge of her nose and felt that she should probably make herself scarce. She took her phone and went out for a walk.
When she came back, the girl was already gone, and Cheng Guiyuan was pressing a tissue to her lips.
Gu Yanqiu couldn’t help laughing. “Your peach blossom luck again?”
Cheng Guiyuan hissed and said, “What peach blossom luck? It’s more like a peach blossom disaster. What sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this?”
“Come here, let me see.” Gu Yanqiu pulled the tissue away from her hand. There was a cut on her red lips that was still bleeding. She was familiar with the routine by now; she took the first-aid kit from the cabinet, disinfected it, and applied medicine.
“That little girl was ruthless enough; she bit you straight on the lip.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m mentally exhausted.”
“Your ex?”
“No, just some kid. She’s only just started high school. You know foreigners look mature; at first I thought she was already an adult and planned to see if I could develop things. Luckily I realized in time and pulled back from the cliff, but the kid got hooked on me and won’t let go.”
Cheng Guiyuan and Gu Yanqiu were complete opposites in romance. Gu Yanqiu had no particular appetite for love; Cheng Guiyuan was born flirtatious, and on top of that, she was stunning. In the more open atmosphere abroad, she was like a fish in water and very popular. Whether people liked her or stopped liking her, everyone usually parted on good terms; there were also the occasional clingy type, like this little girl, who found her all the way at her house and even took a bite out of her lip.
After going abroad, Cheng Guiyuan had dated a few girlfriends, but none lasted long. The longest was half a year; the shortest, a month. Liking someone was liking them at the time, and when you stopped liking them later, then you just didn’t like them anymore. Love was a very strange thing.
“Got a new girlfriend lately?” Gu Yanqiu asked.
“No. I’ve been busy working; I don’t have time. I’ve been single for almost half a year. Lonely.”
“I’ve been single for twenty-five years. Did I say anything?”
“You don’t know that having had it and then losing it is the worst kind of suffering? Besides, you may not have a girlfriend, but you have a wife. Isn’t that way classier than me?”
“Shut up. You chatter so much; you’ve got medicine all over your chin.”
“Okay.”
After Gu Yanqiu finished bandaging Cheng Guiyuan up, she yawned. “I want to sleep for a bit.”
Cheng Guiyuan pursed her lips. “Your old room; I kept it for you. The bedding is all new, so you can just sleep.”
Gu Yanqiu headed toward the room.
Cheng Guiyuan suddenly went, “Ah,” and said, “Won’t you sleepwalk? If you do, is there anything I can do? Or I’ll sleep with you; I didn’t sleep last night either.”
Gu Yanqiu refused. “I’ll sleep by myself. It’s broad daylight; what sleepwalking?”
Cheng Guiyuan called after her, “According to China’s time, it’s night.”
Gu Yanqiu had already closed the door, and locked it as an afterthought.
Cheng Guiyuan’s phone was then bombarded with endless calls. She answered, and from the other end came a tearful “Sorry.”
Cheng Guiyuan: “……”
She hung up, skillfully blacklisted the number, and before long a different number called again. Cheng Guiyuan simply turned off her phone and wandered into her own room to sleep.
***
Lin Yuewei waited for Gu Yanqiu to send her a front-facing photo of Schrodinger, but she waited until she fell asleep and still didn’t get one, which only made her more certain Gu Yanqiu was off sweet-talking her girlfriend.
She wanted to bother Jiang Congbi, but Jiang Congbi had only just told her in the daytime that the next time Lin Yuewei saw that person, she’d probably fail miserably and fall for her all over again anyway. And besides, if she called Jiang Congbi, she didn’t even know what to say; Jiang Congbi would definitely say she was overthinking things.
People in love were unreasonable; people with crushes were the same. Lin Yuewei knew very clearly that her current self was not normal. Her heart was full of negative emotions.
Just last night, she’d asked her for a “numbered token of love,” and then turned around and was all lovey-dovey with someone else. Hmph.
Lin Yuewei fell asleep while nursing her resentment toward Gu Yanqiu, deciding to leave all her unhappiness for tonight and absolutely not carry it over.
The next morning, she was back to full health. Today she had an audition; it was a supporting role in an online drama, and she had to go try out for it.
Lin Yuewei had traffic. Although her company didn’t take her seriously, that program was this year’s breakout phenomenon. Even if the show fell from its peak after ending, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. The eliminated contestants were now making big money just by appearing at events or taking small ads, and Lin Yuewei was even more so. In general, the chance was still quite good. When she called the director to volunteer herself, the director was stunned for a moment, thinking she was a scammer, and then very happily said she was welcome to come.
Lin Yuewei mainly wanted to see whether the crew was reliable.
The audition was in an old building; the route was winding, and parking was hard to find. Lin Yuewei only managed to park after a long while and nearly arrived late.
Overall, the audition went fairly smoothly. The people auditioning alongside her weren’t as pretty as she was, didn’t have as much traffic as she did, and their acting was roughly on the same level; in fact, Lin Yuewei was even stronger than some of them. The production team for Actor Trainees had selected a total of fifty girls to compete. They were either from formal acting schools or former child stars and veteran actors. Lin Yuewei was one of the few contestants who was neither trained in a school nor had any acting experience. Especially by the time the field had been narrowed down to the finals, the ones left were all top students with outstanding acting skills and high praise from the mentors. In that crowd of top students, Lin Yuewei’s acting looked utterly unremarkable; in fact, it was striking, in the sense of being strikingly bad.
The reason Lin Yuewei dared to enter the entertainment industry was because she believed she had a little talent in that area. Maybe not as much as other people, but she believed hard work could make up for what she lacked; if she kept steady and laid a good foundation, she wouldn’t be worse than anyone else. The teacher at the training class she’d signed up for had also told her that she wasn’t without talent, but she’d started later than others, so she would need to put in much more effort to catch up. The moment she entered Actor Trainees, Lin Yuewei nearly began questioning life. Were first place, third place, and people like Shao Yasi with that god-tier acting really real?
It was called intensive training, but no matter how intensive it was, it still couldn’t compare with the results of someone who had studied formally for years. Lin Yuewei improved very quickly, but not quickly enough to make people look at her in a new light, and then the show ended before she had a chance to prove herself.
Now that she was at this online drama audition, Lin Yuewei realized her acting didn’t seem that bad after all. Of course, that was only because the comparison standards were too much lower than those in Actor Trainees, but it undeniably gave Lin Yuewei a little confidence. Naturally, she still wasn’t arrogant enough to get carried away over it. She knew exactly how much she was worth.
The director was very satisfied with her. She had traffic, she had buzz, and she had “ability”; relatively speaking, at least. He wanted to lock her in on the spot and even asked when she could sign the contract.
Lin Yuewei felt the director was a little too eager and hesitated. Aside from the director, the audition room had only the casting director, the screenwriter, and a producer. The room was quite shabby. Lin Yuewei asked about some details of the crew, such as styling, costumes, props, and the filming location. The director answered fluently, his face glowing.
After some thought, Lin Yuewei said she had an agency; taking a role on her own probably wasn’t appropriate, so she’d need to go back and discuss it with her agent. The director agreed, added her on WeChat, and even pulled her into the crew group, though the rest of the cast hadn’t been fully selected yet.
When Lin Yuewei got home, she called her agent, Chen Xuan, and told her about the audition.
Chen Xuan said, “I’m very busy right now. I’ll get back to you later, okay?”
What else could Lin Yuewei say? She could only say okay.
She waited from day to night, then from night to the next day. Early in the morning, Chen Xuan called and said, “I checked. The crew you auditioned for is a disaster waiting to happen. Don’t take it.”
Concise and to the point; the meaning was crystal clear.
Lin Yuewei almost wanted to shoot back: If you say I can’t take it, then at least give me something I can take, even if it’s just an audition opportunity.
Lin Yuewei said, “Then should I reject the director?”
Chen Xuan said, “Mm, reject him.”
“Okay.” Lin Yuewei hesitated before asking, “Sister Chen, are there any jobs suitable for me lately? I’m just staying at home and I’m starting to...”
Chen Xuan made an “mm” sound through her nose. “There are a few ads, but they’re all pretty low-end. I turned them down for you.”
“Then...”
“Sorry, I’m about to board.” Chen Xuan cut her off.
“...Have a safe trip.”
Lin Yuewei sat on the bed with her knees hugged to her chest for a while, clearing her head. She got up to wash up. While brushing her teeth, she looked at the face in the mirror and sighed.
She’d been running around outside all day, and when she got home at night her legs were nearly breaking off from fatigue. Sitting at the dining table, she began writing a summary on her laptop. After finishing the summary, she turned off all the lights, drew the blackout curtains, and turned on the projector in the living room to copy the performances of her predecessors.
Today Gu Yanqiu was wearing sneakers; her footsteps were very light. She hadn’t driven either. The taxi from the airport was parked outside the neighborhood, and she walked in.
Lin Yuewei was in the middle of acting her heart out when, without warning, all the lights around her switched on, and Gu Yanqiu was standing at the door, dumbstruck.
Lin Yuewei and Gu Yanqiu stared at each other.
Two seconds later, Lin Yuewei quickly pulled her collar closed and wrapped both arms across her front to block herself. “You...”
Gu Yanqiu’s ears were red as she waved a hand in a feeble attempt at explanation. “I didn’t see anything.”
Author’s note:
Another named person has shown up. In Shiliu’s novels, getting a name is no easy thing.
Guess what kind of drama Miss Lin is acting in, hahaha, it’s super classic derr