Chapter 63

Under Lin Yuewei’s gaze, Gu Yanqiu’s steps up the stairs were painfully slow, every inch of the back of her head practically shouting, “I’m unhappy.”

“Wait.” Just as Gu Yanqiu’s irritation was about to rise to a new level, Lin Yuewei finally called out to stop her, a beat late. The two of them had gone quite a long time without saying a proper word to each other, so after Lin Yuewei spoke, she paused before asking a little awkwardly, “Are you badly hurt?”

Gu Yanqiu kept limping up the stairs, and even exaggerated it a little; you could say she was being very spoiled indeed.

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Fine. She understood.

By the time Gu Yanqiu was almost at the top of the stairs, Lin Yuewei went over and politely invited her back down.

Like she was serving the Dowager Empress, Lin Yuewei respectfully guided her to sit on the sofa and sincerely apologized with her head lowered. “I was wrong. I’m sorry. Let me see how badly your leg is injured.”

Gu Yanqiu gave her leg a shake, and the trouser leg naturally fell back down, covering that tiny injury.

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Gu Yanqiu slowly rolled the prayer beads in her hand, her face dark as water, neither sad nor happy; it was exactly the scene Lin Yuewei had imagined. She kind of wanted to laugh, but laughing now would be like pouring oil on a fire, so she straightened her expression, held her shoulders and waist upright, and looked as proper as could be.

Gu Yanqiu stayed silent, clearly making a point of it.

She rarely got a chance to have the upper hand; she had to enjoy it properly. Before Gu Yanqiu fell for Lin Yuewei, she’d mostly been able to suppress Lin Yuewei with sheer presence; ever since then, there was no need to mention it.

Lin Yuewei had one advantage: she could bend with the situation. If she really was the one at fault, she wouldn’t stubbornly deny it; she would admit her mistake honestly. And if the other person still didn’t forgive her, she could lower herself and coax them until they calmed down, so long as they weren’t being too unreasonable.

So she crouched down in front of Gu Yanqiu and said in an almost gentle voice, “I really was wrong. What do you want me to do before you’ll talk to me?”

Gu Yanqiu knew her own self-control around Lin Yuewei wasn’t very strong, but she hadn’t expected it to be this weak. With just that one sentence, she almost blurted out a full “Okay, okay, anything,” and agreed to everything. Gu Yanqiu looked at her for a long while, held back the urge to speak, and stared solemnly at her own nose as if it were a treasure.

“Do you want some fruit? I’ll go wash some for you.” Lin Yuewei glanced at the table. “Ah, it’s already washed; then I’ll cut it for you. How about a pear and an apple?”

“I’m losing weight. Fruit has sugar.” Gu Yanqiu remembered every word Lin Yuewei had said clearly and distinctly.

The stingier she acted, the cuter Lin Yuewei found her; the urge to coax her turned into coaxing mixed with teasing.

“You already have such a great figure. Why are you losing weight? If you lose any more, you won’t look good.” Lin Yuewei brought over a plate from the kitchen and sat to the side peeling and cutting the fruit. Her fingers were long and slender, smooth as jade; although she wasn’t especially skilled at it, the sight of her doing it was extremely pleasing.

Gu Yanqiu turned the TV back on. It was a foreign movie in the original language. Lin Yuewei listened for a bit and started praising her English in all sorts of ways.

Gu Yanqiu: “……”

Having studied abroad for years, she still didn’t understand a word of the movie for the next few minutes.

Lin Yuewei finished cutting the fruit and stuck toothpicks into the pieces before placing them by Gu Yanqiu’s hand. Feeding her directly was a little too intimate, so she didn’t choose that method. Coaxing was one thing, but there still had to be a limit. Gu Yanqiu remained unmoved and kept listening to her movie-like lecture.

Lin Yuewei figured she probably wasn’t going to respond to her anytime soon, so she took another route and sat there watching the movie with her. As an actor, she had to increase the number of films she watched; it was killing two birds with one stone.

She rummaged through the coffee table drawer for paper and pen—she couldn’t even remember whether she’d put them there or Gu Yanqiu had. It was a new notebook. Lin Yuewei’s English wasn’t as good as Gu Yanqiu’s, but it was definitely solid; she didn’t need Chinese subtitles, and besides, Gu Yanqiu had chosen a movie with no subtitles anyway.

She curled her knees up on the sofa. Her head-to-body proportions were excellent; her long arms and legs were tucked into a compact little bundle, making her look small and easy to protect.

Gu Yanqiu watched for a while, then looked away.

The two of them quietly finished an entire movie. When Gu Yanqiu looked to the side, the plate of fruit Lin Yuewei had cut for her had already been eaten clean. Even she herself couldn’t remember when she’d casually finished it off. Thankfully, Lin Yuewei was still taking notes; the look in her eyes was focused, her pen moving with inspired energy. She must have come up with something.

Gu Yanqiu stood up, washed the plate, and put everything away. When she came back, she happened to catch Lin Yuewei looking up with a slightly dazed expression. That was a habitual movement of hers when thinking. The living room lights were bright, and tiny points of light reflected in those peach blossom eyes.

Lin Yuewei was actually very striking, with an aggressive beauty that also carried a sense of distance; it was hard to notice that she had such a languid, affectionate pair of eyes. Gu Yanqiu couldn’t help wondering what it would feel like to be gazed at so deeply by them one day.

She lost herself for a moment.

After a bit, Lin Yuewei lowered her head again and kept writing and pausing in her notebook, for a moment even forgetting why she’d come back tonight.

They always said a woman working seriously was the most beautiful; and if she was already beautiful to begin with, all the more so.

For as long as Lin Yuewei was immersed in her work, Gu Yanqiu stared at her without blinking just as long.

“Sorry, sorry.” When Lin Yuewei finally closed her notebook, the minute hand on the wall clock had already gone more than half a circle. She set down her paper and pen and bowed apologetically to Gu Yanqiu with her hands pressed together.

“It’s nothing. I was free anyway.” Gu Yanqiu gave a long-lost small smile.

This was the kind of smile Lin Yuewei normally didn’t like seeing on her face, but at this moment it felt incredibly warm. Gu Yanqiu was finally smiling at her again, and Lin Yuewei let out a breath. Gu Yanqiu ignoring her was even harder to bear than Chen Xuan refusing to give her roles.

“Does Miss Lin have time to chat with me for a while?”

“Miss Lin?”

“Slip of the tongue.” Gu Yanqiu smiled.

Lin Yuewei’s eyes curved too; she thought, maybe not. But Gu Yanqiu had the final say; she could call her whatever she wanted.

Gu Yanqiu really had misspoken. She also didn’t quite know how to explain to Lin Yuewei what had just been in her head, so she could only gloss over it. She narrowed her eyes and lightly pressed her lips together, as if recalling some very long memory. Lin Yuewei waited patiently.

“I’m twenty-five this year; my birthday is on Arbor Day.”

Lin Yuewei: “???”

What the hell?

Gu Yanqiu: “Wait, let me say that again.”

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Her eyes flickered. She suspected Gu Yanqiu was about to do something big.

Gu Yanqiu’s ears were already burning. She reached up and brushed her hair back behind them to hide it from Lin Yuewei’s view.

Gu Yanqiu: “I……”

Lin Yuewei sat up straight, all ears.

Gu Yanqiu looked at her for a long time, and in the end squeezed out one sentence: “Do you have anything you want to ask me?”

Lin Yuewei shook her head, then quickly nodded. “Can we make up again?”

Gu Yanqiu looked very surprised. “Have we ever argued?”

Lin Yuewei: “……No.” But we did have a cold war.

Gu Yanqiu: “Then it doesn’t count as making up. Anything else besides that?”

Since she asked that, she must want Lin Yuewei to ask her something; but Lin Yuewei really couldn’t think of anything. There was one thing, but she didn’t dare ask. The two of them looked at each other.

If she wouldn’t ask, that was fine. Gu Yanqiu had already prepared herself, and she’d also thought of her first, simplest method.

Lin Yuewei was “forced” to listen to a very, very, very long, trivial story.

“After graduating high school, I went abroad to study. I did my bachelor’s and master’s there. Originally, I’d planned to stay overseas for two years with my friends before returning to develop my career in China. Later, because of things at home… you know about that, I came back early. Your mother found me and said she wanted to help me. After observing each other for a while, I made the agreement to marry with you and your mother.

“We were together for three days. After that, you went to film a program, and I worked at the company. I hired a secretary, Lin Zhi; you’ve met him. He’d just graduated, he was down-to-earth and willing to work hard, and he often followed me around.” Here Gu Yanqiu hesitated a little and said, “Actually, when you were filming the show, I went to see you. I even brought you a gift, but you probably didn’t notice at the time.”

Lin Yuewei: “!!!”

Lin Yuewei asked, “When?”

Gu Yanqiu frowned. “It was during the period when you were getting criticized the worst.”

Lin Yuewei’s face changed. She turned around and dug through her bag; it wasn’t there. After checking her memory, she confirmed she hadn’t brought it home. She asked, “Was it that rabbit plushie?”

Gu Yanqiu shrugged and nodded.

“……” Lin Yuewei should have thought of it. She really had thought about it before; at the time, her preferences hadn’t yet been exposed to the public eye. Even now, fans thought it was Shao Yasi who liked rabbits, not her. Who would be able to send such a precise gift, a plushie that looked completely unlike her? Unless that person knew her very well.

So it had been Gu Yanqiu.

Lin Yuewei twisted both hands together and looked up at her. “How did you start paying attention to me?”

Gu Yanqiu didn’t look like the type to fangirl over celebrities at all; and she was fangirling over Lin Yuewei, no less. That was way too embarrassing. And then there had been that new term floating around lately, “career fan.” Lin Yuewei had been both happy and embarrassed, wanting to bury herself in a hole.

“I saw a billboard outside with your support banners. That’s what they’re called, right? Support banners. So I paid a little attention.”

“Right, support banners.” Lin Yuewei remembered the familiar-looking handsome young man, Lin Zhi, and raised her voice. “Was the person who delivered the gift for you last time Lin Zhi?” If Gu Yanqiu had delivered it herself, she would definitely have noticed; there was no way she would have had to wait until today for Gu Yanqiu to tell her. Thinking back to what Lin Zhi had started to say at the radio and television building that day before she cut him off, it seemed like that was what he’d wanted to say.

“Yes. He said he told you my name.”

“Maybe there were too many people, and I didn’t hear clearly.”

Gu Yanqiu gave her a resentful glance. Lin Yuewei, aware that she was in the wrong, lowered her head. “I was wrong,” she said in a spoiled tone.

Gu Yanqiu looked anywhere but at her, touched her hot earlobe, and said, “No next time.”

The instant she said that, she felt it wasn’t quite right. Didn’t that sound like there would be another time? If she ever gave gifts again, she would definitely do it in person and never let Lin Zhi handle it. What use was Lin Zhi anyway? Lin Yuewei opened her mouth, and sure enough, asked, “There’s a next time?”

“No.” Gu Yanqiu deliberately cut her off.

“Oh.” Lin Yuewei blinked. No next time, then no next time.

Exposing one old secret was enough; Gu Yanqiu had no intention of also revealing that the person who hired the online trolls was her. That wasn’t her purpose. She stood up and poured two glasses of water, one for each of them, then took a sip to moisten her throat.

“After the show ended, you basically knew what I was doing. I went to your house for a meal; after that I went on a business trip to City S and visited an old acquaintance.” Gu Yanqiu thought carefully and confirmed that nothing worth pursuing had happened.

Yes, she was now reporting her entire itinerary to Lin Yuewei.

“I was eating at home, and you suddenly charged in out of nowhere looking for Jiang Congbi. That night you discovered I sleepwalked, and you found a doctor for me, though the doctor didn’t seem very reliable. I wanted you to stay for dinner, but you refused and went home; then that very afternoon Aunt Ran called me over for dinner.” Gu Yanqiu glanced at Lin Yuewei’s expression and recounted it in a flat, matter-of-fact tone.

……

Gu Yanqiu took another sip of water. “Then there was more than half a month ago; I went to Country M to deal with some private matters.”

Lin Yuewei’s eyelashes trembled lightly.

Gu Yanqiu raised a brow slightly and laid the matter out clearly before her. “That morning, I took a video call from a friend. She told me that one of my good friends in Country M was gravely ill and didn’t have much time left, and that she hoped I could go see her one last time. After hearing that, I booked the fastest flight; besides the necessary documents, I didn’t even pack my luggage before rushing to the airport, so I didn’t have time to eat breakfast with you.”

Lin Yuewei suddenly looked up. “Then that day, when you called and cried, it was because……”

“Although I really don’t want you bringing up that embarrassing incident,” Gu Yanqiu nodded, “I did cry, because my critically ill good friend had just passed away.”

Lin Yuewei’s face went pale. Her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn’t say anything.

Now she knew where the mistake had come from.

Since she had already started, Gu Yanqiu explained everything to her in minute detail. Her voice was clean and calm as she spoke at length; Lin Yuewei couldn’t pull her attention away from her by even a fraction.

Gu Yanqiu said, “I hung up on you because another friend came to see me; the same one who video-called me. She was also my former roommate from when I was fostering the cat. Her surname is Cheng, her name is Cheng Guiyuan, and she’s my best friend. If there’s a chance in the future, I can introduce her to you. I went to her place and took the Schrodinger photo for you. I had originally wanted to take a front-facing one, but after dinner I was too sleepy and forgot about it; once I forgot, I forgot all the way until the last flight here. Oh, and before I came back to China, I also had a meal with some other friends and drank a little. I stayed in Country M for two days; during those two days I was adjusting to the time difference, having a meal with friends, mourning the deceased, and I never had the mind to chat with you. I returned to China two days later.”

“What are you telling me this for?” Lin Yuewei’s head was in complete chaos. Gu Yanqiu didn’t have a girlfriend; all of her relationships were clear and straightforward. The final excuse had been smashed to pieces so easily, and nothing else could block her path toward Gu Yanqiu anymore.

Gu Yanqiu sighed helplessly. “I don’t want you to have a knot in your heart. I don’t know what that knot is, but you started acting strange after the day I came back, so I thought that if we made everything clear, at least you were willing to talk to me today.”

She met Lin Yuewei’s gaze, her own expression earnest. “So, can you tell me why you were angry?”

“I……” Lin Yuewei’s heartbeat was thrown into disarray with frightening ease.

Say it, or not?

Lin Yuewei knew she had fallen for her; it was probably impossible to climb back out now, but……

There was no “but” anymore. Every but had been smashed to pieces by Gu Yanqiu with her own hands. If she didn’t say it, then so be it; admitting it wasn’t shameful. If Gu Yanqiu had no feelings for her and thought she’d violated their three rules, then she would move out of here for good. Lin Yuewei’s flickering gaze became firm. Gathering her courage, she was just about to speak.

“I actually——”

The phone on the coffee table rang; it was the system ringtone, the same one on both of their phones.

Gu Yanqiu looked up. It was her call.

She answered, said “Hello,” and was shaken to the core. She made an apologetic gesture to Lin Yuewei, lowered her voice, and walked off to the side.

As time passed, Lin Yuewei’s courage leaked away with it; by the end, she was completely deflated, staring blankly at the empty space in front of her.

“Send me the exact location on my phone; send the rest to my email. I’ll go over when I have time. I’ll contact you again; okay.” Gu Yanqiu hung up and walked back over, apologizing again to Lin Yuewei. “Sorry; something came up.”

“Do you need to handle it right now?”

“It’s temporarily settled. Go on.”

“……”

“Hm?” Gu Yanqiu tilted her head. “What you were saying just now only got halfway out.”

Lin Yuewei lifted her eyelids and no longer felt like speaking.

But Gu Yanqiu had the attitude of someone determined to get to the bottom of it. The two of them stared at each other for a while before Lin Yuewei really did remember something serious.

“Gu Yanqiu, can I discuss something with you?” Lin Yuewei was even more sincere than Gu Yanqiu had been earlier.

“Go ahead.”

“More than half a month ago in the morning, you hugged me. Do you remember?”

“I remember.” This was the very culprit that had caused the two of them to part unhappily; how could Gu Yanqiu have forgotten?

She leaned slightly forward, ready to listen carefully to what Lin Yuewei would say next.

After a long silence, Lin Yuewei said, “Don’t you think it was kind of sleazy?”

Gu Yanqiu: “???”

Lin Yuewei’s lips moved. At last, she found the right words. “I mean those scenes on TV, especially in family drama-type shows, the blind date kind; some straight men… you know what I mean?” Lin Yuewei had wanted to say creepy man, but after thinking about it, changed it to “straight man.”

Gu Yanqiu didn’t watch many TV dramas and shook her head.

Lin Yuewei said, “A straight man forcing himself to flirt with a girl is really awkward. Of course, I’m not saying you’re a straight man, and I’m not saying you were trying to flirt with me.”

Lin Yuewei didn’t want to hit the wrong target, so she automatically interpreted Gu Yanqiu’s actions that morning as unintentional.

Gu Yanqiu: “……”

She really was trying to flirt with Lin Yuewei, so in Lin Yuewei’s eyes, did that count as forced flirting???

Lin Yuewei asked with concern, “Your face doesn’t look great. Are you feeling unwell?”

“No.”

Gu Yanqiu silently clutched at the center of her chest in her mind. She felt an unprecedented sense of defeat.

“And also……”

Lin Yuewei saw that Gu Yanqiu’s expression had become very strange, with an almost collapsing-at-the-edge feeling to it. She paused and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“...Nothing. Keep going.”

“It’s just that in the next few days, you also had a bit of this tendency, and I felt really awkward……” Lin Yuewei’s whole face said, You understand what I mean, right?

Gu Yanqiu nodded solemnly.

So she had really taken a good hand and ruined it completely. From now on, she would never again act on her own initiative and imitate Cheng Guiyuan.

***

Under normal circumstances, Gu Yanqiu almost never complained to friends about anything. But today, she couldn’t help it. She told Lin Yuewei that she had something to handle, so she’d be a little later going to her room to sleep; in reality, she sent Cheng Guiyuan a whole screen full of complaints.

Far across the Pacific Ocean, Cheng Guiyuan received her friend’s unusually long message and for a moment didn’t even know how to reply. Laughing so hard she was shaking, she pet the cat at the same time; the fur on Schrodinger’s head was practically about to be rubbed bald by her. In the end, the cat angrily let out a “meow” at her and jumped off the bed.

Cheng Guiyuan called straight over the ocean. Gu Yanqiu listened to three straight minutes of her nonstop laughter.

“Is it really that funny?” Gu Yanqiu said solemnly.

“Hahahahaha.”

“People who gloat usually don’t end well.”

“Then I’d rather not end well, hahahahaha.”

“……”

“I really can’t take it; this is too funny, you hahaha.”

“……”

“Love makes people lose their minds, hahahaha. No, my stomach hurts.” Cheng Guiyuan rolled around on the bed and reached a hand down to beckon Schrodinger over. The ancestor ignored her completely and gave her a disdainful look.

For her own safety, Cheng Guiyuan sat up from the bed and finally managed to compose herself. “Did you fail political science in high school or what, Miss Gu? Materialist dialectics tell us to analyze specific problems specifically. What you did was basically like a three-year-old kid stealing an adult’s clothes and insisting that everyone treat you like an adult.”

“My issue isn’t with that.”

“Then what is it?”

“My first time actively going after someone, and I got an evaluation like that? A straight man forcing himself to flirt? I’m a straight man? And forcing it?” Gu Yanqiu had been excellent since childhood; she learned everything as soon as she was taught, understood at a glance, a top student among top students. She even learned to cook faster than other people. When had she ever suffered a blow like this?

It would have been better if Gu Yanqiu hadn’t said anything; the moment she did, Cheng Guiyuan lost it even more, laughing like thunder shaking the heavens.

Schrodinger gave her a look that clearly meant, “stupid humans,” then padded out of the room with cold dignity.

“Hey, where are you going?” Cheng Guiyuan chased after the cat while talking to the severely wounded Gu Yanqiu. “Take it slow. Isn’t it just flirting skills? You’ll improve sooner or later; take it step by step, no rush.”

Gu Yanqiu asked, “Then how did you learn?”

Cheng Guiyuan scooped Schrodinger back up with one long arm and laughed. “I was born with it.”

Gu Yanqiu: “……” She really shouldn’t have asked.

Cheng Guiyuan pondered for a moment. “Probably because I’m good-looking.”

Gu Yanqiu rested a hand on her chin. “In terms of looks, I’m at least a little better than you, objectively speaking.”

Cheng Guiyuan didn’t argue with her; she shut her eyes and blew smoke up at her. “See? Just keep that kind of confidence; it’ll definitely be fine. You’ll have her in your pocket in no time.”

Gu Yanqiu narrowed her eyes. “Why do I feel like you’ve got some scheme?”

Cheng Guiyuan said, “What scheme could I possibly have? I’m giving you advice. You’d better do nothing at all and just win her over with your face.”

Gu Yanqiu: “……”

Cheng Guiyuan yawned. “I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m going to grab a quick nap; I still have to go out for dinner with someone this afternoon.”

Gu Yanqiu: “A girlfriend?”

Cheng Guiyuan said, “What girlfriend? Do you think girlfriends just fall from the sky? Am I the kind of person in your eyes who’s constantly indulging in wine, women, and song no matter the time or place? It’s a client. If this deal goes through, the project under us can move faster, and the day I return to China will be that much closer. Get ready to set off firecrackers to welcome me back. I’m really hanging up now; we’ll talk later.”

***

Win her over with her face?

Gu Yanqiu lowered her head and looked at the pajamas on her body. Hugging her pillow, she knocked on Lin Yuewei’s door Lin Yuewei had already gotten used to her coming over to sleep every day; too lazy to get up from bed, she kept working on her notes for the movie she’d watched at night and directly called, “Come in.” When Lin Yuewei realized the other person still hadn’t walked over, she looked up and was instantly stunned.

Gu Yanqiu was wearing a thin black silk robe. Her black hair and red lips made her snow-white neck look long and elegant; the bit of skin visible at the neckline was dazzlingly pale. She was holding a pillow in her arms, standing properly, barefoot on the dark wooden floor; outwardly she was a mature woman, but her temperament strangely blended in a trace of girlish innocence.

Gu Yanqiu stood there obediently like a grade-schooler, and Lin Yuewei’s throat bobbed; the hand holding her pen clenched tightly at once.

Author’s Note:

I started writing pretty early today, but I changed keyboards, and my typing speed still hasn’t caught up, sob sob sob

The misunderstanding is resolved; congratulations to President Gu on entering a new stage: winning her over with her face. Actually, there’s also her figure ﹁_﹁