Chapter 78
On the first night after they got together, their eyes were a little sore.
Lin Yuewei had a bit of a temper when she was woken up. It wasn’t serious, but when you were drowning in sleepiness and right on the verge of drifting off, only to have someone keep pestering you, that was another matter entirely. Irritation surged from the pit of her stomach straight to the top of her head.
“Gu Yanqiu.”
“Mm?” Gu Yanqiu rubbed her eyes.
“You—” Lin Yuewei was so annoyed her chest heaved. She didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she rubbed her own eyes too. After being closed and opened again, they were brimming with tears.
The two of them “held hands and gazed at each other through tears.” Lin Yuewei looked at Gu Yanqiu’s face, now crystal clear through the moisture in her eyes, and stared at her without moving for a full ten seconds.
Gu Yanqiu asked, “What is it?”
Lin Yuewei ground her back teeth. “Then why won’t you let me sleep?”
“I didn’t stop you from sleeping.”
“Your arm.” Lin Yuewei let out a long sigh. “Can you take it out? It’s almost crushing me to death.”
“Oh.” Gu Yanqiu lowered her head to look, then pulled her arm back. The back of Lin Yuewei’s head finally met the long-lost softness of the pillow, and sleepiness surged up with it. She yawned, tears sliding from the corners of her eyes, and wiped them away with her hand.
“I’m going back to sleep,” Lin Yuewei said, closing her eyes.
The room was utterly silent. Lin Yuewei opened her eyes again, looked at Gu Yanqiu, who was lost in a daze, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Sleep.” Gu Yanqiu’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Lin Yuewei had already been woken once, and for the moment she wasn’t as sleepy as before. Gu Yanqiu’s distracted look was obviously because she was thinking about something. How could Lin Yuewei just ignore that and go back to sleep?
“What are you thinking about?” Lin Yuewei pulled her closer and kissed her gently on the forehead.
“……” Gu Yanqiu was silent for two seconds, then said, “Crushing.”
Lin Yuewei: “……”
She said, “We haven’t even gone to sleep yet. A little hugging is nothing. You can tell me anything.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “I’m talking about crushing. Why didn’t you say anything when I hugged you before?”
“Which before?” Lin Yuewei frowned.
“Before we got together.”
“At that time I was too busy being happy. How could I still remember little details like that? Don’t mention crushing; even if you made me stand and sleep all night, as long as I was standing there with you, I’d be willing.”
“Then why…” Gu Yanqiu pressed her lips together.
“Hm?”
Gu Yanqiu looked up at her directly. “Why does it still feel less like we’re together after we got together than before…” Her lips moved twice, but she couldn’t find the right words to describe that strange atmosphere.
She hadn’t said it clearly, but Lin Yuewei understood. Thinking back on their day together—or rather, this night—they’d spent every free moment negotiating, making suggestions, arguing, and glaring at each other. How did that look like a normal couple? Normal couples might argue too, but not this often, right? Or at the beginning of a romance, shouldn’t they be all sweetness and tenderness, unable to say a harsh word to each other? Even though neither of them had said anything truly harsh, looking back, it was indeed a little unconventional.
Lin Yuewei opened her mouth. “I’ve never dated anyone before.”
Gu Yanqiu said, “Me neither.”
The two of them didn’t even know how to kiss.
So what now?
Lin Yuewei thought about it and said, “Let’s learn slowly. How to be each other’s girlfriend. Sound good?”
Gu Yanqiu nodded.
Her eyes held confusion, but also a trace of unease hidden deep within. It was the worry of someone facing things she couldn’t predict or control. Lin Yuewei’s heart softened. She wrapped her arms around her and kissed her lips. “Don’t be afraid.”
Gu Yanqiu tucked herself a little deeper into Lin Yuewei’s embrace.
Lin Yuewei was greatly pleased by that. Tightening her arms, she kissed both of Gu Yanqiu’s cheeks in turn and asked, “Sleepy?”
“Not too bad. You sleep first; I’ll read for a while.”
“You’re sleeping with me,” Lin Yuewei insisted.
“Okay.” Gu Yanqiu agreed and switched off the night light on her side.
Lin Yuewei blinked. “I thought you were going to ask me why.”
Gu Yanqiu gave her a very helpless look. She did like asking why, but she wasn’t stupid. Sleeping with her wife and girlfriend was only natural, no matter where it happened.
Lin Yuewei smiled. “Good night.”
She settled her hands properly, and the two of them lay flat, holding hands and even hooking their feet together.
“Good night.”
“Let’s make a pact,” Lin Yuewei murmured sleepily before drifting off.
“What pact?”
“No arguing tomorrow. Whoever argues has to be held all night.” Compared to a sore neck, an aching arm was nothing.
Very fierce indeed.
“Deal.” Gu Yanqiu figured her temper was still much better than Lin Yuewei’s; she was absolutely not going to lose this bet.
In the last second before her consciousness sank into sleep, Gu Yanqiu thought that this pact didn’t look like something normal couples would make either. When would the two of them ever be like ordinary couples?
Although Lin Yuewei no longer used Gu Yanqiu’s arm as a pillow, once they’d confirmed their relationship, her already restless sleeping posture became even bolder. Half an hour after falling asleep, she had turned her face toward Gu Yanqiu and sprawled most of her arms and legs over her.
Because of that sleeping position, when Gu Yanqiu got up during the night, she pushed Lin Yuewei away twice. Lin Yuewei drowsily opened her eyes and saw a dark silhouette sit up beside her.
She had already gotten used to this over the past few days. She reached up and switched on the light, caught Gu Yanqiu’s wrist as she was about to get out of bed, and pulled her back into her arms, wrapping both arms around her from behind.
“Wake up, Gu Yanqiu,” Lin Yuewei called her name against her ear.
“Gu Yanqiu.”
“Girlfriend.”
“Wife.”
“Little darling.”
“Wake up, Gu Cutie!”
She called out recklessly without any restraint. Gu Yanqiu naturally showed no reaction, but her recent episodes had been much milder than before. Lin Yuewei had asked the doctor, who said the chances of waking her were quite high.
Lin Yuewei didn’t dare let go. Afraid she might get out of bed and go downstairs, she stayed seated, covered Gu Yanqiu’s eyes with one hand, and supported the back of her neck with the other so she would lean close to her.
She was experienced with kissing a sleepwalking Gu Yanqiu. Lin Yuewei once again discovered that when Gu Yanqiu didn’t struggle, it felt much better. The more she kissed, the more deeply moved she became, and little by little she laid Gu Yanqiu down.
Only when Gu Yanqiu’s fingers moved and her hand caught the fabric at Lin Yuewei’s shoulder did Lin Yuewei feel the lashes beneath the hand covering her eyes brush lightly against her palm.
Lin Yuewei was overjoyed. She hadn’t expected a blind cat to catch a mouse, but she hurried to keep at it.
***
Leaning against the headboard, Gu Yanqiu looked blankly at her own hands, then at Lin Yuewei sitting beside her.
This was the first time she had ever woken up from sleepwalking.
Lin Yuewei’s eyes curved with a smile.
Gu Yanqiu, looking exhausted, extended one hand. Lin Yuewei moved two steps on her knees so she could lean into her arms. Lin Yuewei reached up to feel her forehead; it was normal, and her hand temperature was normal too. “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
After all, there was that ridiculous claim that the person who woke a sleepwalker could be in danger.
Gu Yanqiu took a while to recover before speaking hoarsely, “No. I’m just a little thirsty.”
“I’ll get you some water.”
Lin Yuewei gave her some water to drink. “Anything else?”
Gu Yanqiu blinked slowly. “I want to sleep.”
“Sleep, then. I’ll watch over you.” Lin Yuewei let her lie down, then lay on her side herself, one hand propping up her head while the other gently patted Gu Yanqiu’s back to coax her to sleep.
Gu Yanqiu looked at her for a long moment.
Lin Yuewei’s voice was very soft as she asked, “What is it?”
“You’re a bit like my father.” Gu Yanqiu closed her eyes, a faint smile spreading at the corners of her lips.
Lin Yuewei’s hand moved downward. Gu Yanqiu instantly stiffened.
With a wicked little curve to her mouth, Lin Yuewei asked, “Still like your father now?”
Gu Yanqiu rolled over and used her own trick against her; Lin Yuewei jolted and nearly backed off the bed.
Gu Yanqiu said, “Go to sleep.”
There was obvious laughter in her voice.
Lin Yuewei waited until she’d closed her eyes before creeping back over and coaxing her to sleep again. Gu Yanqiu’s breathing was steady, but Lin Yuewei found herself unable to sleep very well anymore. Every breath she took was filled with Gu Yanqiu’s pleasant scent.
Lin Yuewei knew that husbands and wives—or rather, wives and wives—did certain things; it was something that happened quite naturally. That little touch from earlier had seemed to switch on some hidden mechanism in her brain, and suddenly her head was full of steamy thoughts.
Lin Yuewei edged closer to Gu Yanqiu and forced herself to close her eyes. She didn’t know when she fell asleep. When she woke the next morning, her head was spinning.
Gu Yanqiu was already gone from the bed. Lin Yuewei pressed her temple, grabbed her phone from the bedside table, and saw a message from Wang Yuanyuan saying she was coming over in the morning to deliver the script and asking when Lin Yuewei would be free.
Lin Yuewei checked the time: 7:30 a.m. After calculating for a moment, she replied that anything after 8:30 was fine. Just then, the bedroom door opened from outside, and Gu Yanqiu walked in carrying washing-up supplies.
“You’re awake.”
“Ah.” Lin Yuewei locked her phone and set it aside, then leaned against the pillow watching her. “Do you need help?”
“No. It’s not much; I’ll be done soon.”
Gu Yanqiu set the toiletries down for the moment and stood in the bathroom brushing her teeth and washing her face. Lin Yuewei could see half of her from the bed; the feeling was novel, so she climbed out too and went into the bathroom. Just as she lowered her head to pick up a toothbrush, she found toothpaste already squeezed onto it.
Gu Yanqiu glanced at her. Because she had a toothbrush in her mouth, she didn’t speak, but her brows and eyes were curved; her good mood was obvious.
Lin Yuewei looked at her for a while and laughed, taking the toothbrush.
The toothpaste was Gu Yanqiu’s, green tea flavor.
After washing up, Gu Yanqiu deliberately waited for Lin Yuewei a little while, and the two of them shared a green tea-flavored kiss.
Lin Yuewei smacked her lips. Although the kiss was more of a spiritual delight than anything else, it was still much more comfortable than yesterday’s chaos. As long as soft lips touched, that was already wonderful enough; everything else was just the icing on the cake.
“Let’s try orange flavor tonight,” Lin Yuewei said after carefully savoring the green tea taste.
“Okay. Should we buy some other flavors too? Like mint, all kinds of fruit flavors.” Gu Yanqiu suggested.
Lin Yuewei rested her forehead against Gu Yanqiu’s shoulder and laughed. “You really are something. At that point, we might as well just buy all kinds of flavored chewing gum; too much toothpaste and we won’t be able to finish it in time.”
Gu Yanqiu looked like she’d suddenly understood. “Why didn’t I think of that? You’re so smart.”
Lin Yuewei stopped laughing and tipped her face up to look at her. “Has anyone ever told you that when you compliment people…”
“Mm?”
“It’s very exaggerated.”
“……”
Lin Yuewei laughed again and pinched her cheek. “All right, I’m not teasing you anymore. Let’s go downstairs and make breakfast.”
“We got up late today; there wasn’t enough time, so I ordered takeout,” Gu Yanqiu said.
“Wow,” Lin Yuewei said dramatically, both hands on her face. “I didn’t even think of ordering takeout. How are you so smart?”
Gu Yanqiu said, “Has anyone ever told you that when you compliment people…”
Lin Yuewei interrupted her even more dramatically, “They have. It’s very exaggerated. I’m very self-aware, but believe me, it’s sincere.”
Gu Yanqiu habitually pressed her lips together.
Lin Yuewei seized the moment to kiss her lips, pressing down the lips she had just pursed.
Gu Yanqiu stood there dazed.
Lin Yuewei asked, “When’s the takeout coming?”
Gu Yanqiu was still dazed. “My phone’s downstairs. I didn’t check. When I came upstairs, there were still twenty minutes left.”
“Then it should be about ready. Let’s hurry downstairs.” Lin Yuewei took her hand without argument and pulled her down the stairs.
While eating breakfast, Lin Yuewei looked at the schedule on her phone. “I’m about to start filming. Wang Yuanyuan is coming over this morning to drop off the script. Since the character I’m playing is very skilled, I might have to go to the set a few days early for training.”
“Which day are you leaving exactly?”
“In just over a week, I think. Then there’s a booking this Sunday that requires flying out of town; I’ll be back Monday.”
“Mm.” Gu Yanqiu lowered her head and took a sip of porridge.
“Will you miss me?” Lin Yuewei blurted out when she saw how calm she was.
“Hm?” Gu Yanqiu seemed not to have heard clearly and motioned for her to say it again.
“Nothing. I was just asking if you have any business trips coming up.”
Gu Yanqiu frowned; she felt like Lin Yuewei hadn’t said nearly that many words just now, but answered anyway, “No. There aren’t any arrangements for now. Oh, and I’m getting promoted; the formal notice should be issued in the next two days, so I may be a bit busy during this period.”
She had already won the trust of the company’s two major Wu factions; she was completely at odds with Gu Feiquan, whom Gu Huai supported, and the two of them were like fire and water in the company, causing a stir everywhere.
“It’s fine, I’m busy too,” Lin Yuewei said.
“What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll buy some groceries, or do you want to go out?” Gu Yanqiu set down her spoon, wiped her mouth with a tissue, then slid the prayer beads on her wrist downward and rolled them one by one in her palm.
“Let’s eat at home. I want to eat…” Lin Yuewei was searching her memory for something delicious when she abruptly looked up and met Gu Yanqiu’s teasing smile, as if she wanted to say something but held it back.
Lin Yuewei suddenly remembered that Gu Yanqiu didn’t eat dinner.
“Gu Yanqiu.”
“I’m going upstairs to change.”
They spoke at the same time. As soon as Gu Yanqiu finished, she slipped away. Lin Yuewei shouted after her back, “Just you wait.”
Wait for what? What exactly was she supposed to threaten Gu Yanqiu with? Lin Yuewei didn’t even know herself. She’d better say the harsh words first and figure the rest out later.
When Gu Yanqiu came downstairs, Lin Yuewei froze. Today she was wearing a light gray plaid suit, dress shirt, and tailored trousers, with a pair of retro gold-rimmed glasses perched on her nose as she descended the stairs with measured elegance.
“Are you nearsighted?” Lin Yuewei swallowed. She hadn’t even known that.
“Not nearsighted. They’re plain lenses.” Gu Yanqiu asked, “Do I look good in glasses?”
“Good-looking.” Not just good-looking; she was downright alluring.
“I think so too.” Gu Yanqiu smiled. “I’m off to work now.”
Lin Yuewei said, “Wait.”
Gu Yanqiu stood in the entryway and turned back. “What is it?”
Lin Yuewei wiped her mouth, rushed over, and kissed her once. “Have a safe trip.”
Gu Yanqiu touched her lips, kissed her back, and said with a smile, “Sorry, I’m not used to it yet. I’ll remember next time.”
“Bye. See you tonight.”
“See you tonight.”
Gu Yanqiu closed the door, and Lin Yuewei was still standing there in a daze. Good heavens, why was Gu Yanqiu so good-looking? She was already that good-looking and still knew how to dress so well; how many bees and butterflies was she going to attract when she went out?
Lin Yuewei ate the breakfast on the table without tasting a thing. She only ate two meals a day, and breakfast was the biggest one; basically all of her energy for the day came from this meal.
She sat on the sofa staring blankly ahead. At this point, it wasn’t just Gu Yanqiu who felt something was off; Lin Yuewei felt it even more strongly. Did other couples get along like this too, plain and uneventful with no spark? They hadn’t even started the fiery honeymoon phase, and they were already at the final stage where the plainness was supposed to be real?
Lin Yuewei ran a hand through her long hair, unable to figure out where the problem lay. Had novels and TV dramas been lying again? What exactly were those authors writing if they’d never even dated and were just making things up?
[ I’ve arrived at the neighborhood ]
Her phone chimed with a message from Wang Yuanyuan.
Lin Yuewei changed into a pair of long pants, threw on a jacket, and went out with her phone.
Wang Yuanyuan handed over the thick script. Just as she was about to leave, Lin Yuewei called her back. “Yuanyuan.”
Wang Yuanyuan turned around. “Huh?”
Lin Yuewei said, “Do you have any—never mind.”
Wang Yuanyuan had no idea what she was talking about.
Lin Yuewei broke into a cold sweat. She was nearly desperate enough to seek help in the wrong place, wanting to ask anyone she saw for a little dating experience. But Wang Yuanyuan was company staff.
Wang Yuanyuan said, “Then I’m heading off, Weiwei.”
Lin Yuewei smiled and waved.
Wang Yuanyuan took two steps, then turned back and gave her a deep look before leaving.
Lin Yuewei hugged the script all the way home with a heavy heart.
Ding-dong—
[ Xigu: I’ve arrived at the company ]
[ Two Trees: Okay ]
[ Xigu: [blown kiss] ]
[ Two Trees: Mwah ]
With the script on her left and her phone on her right, and Jiang Congbi, an old hand at romance, only a phone call away, Lin Yuewei hesitated for a moment but still picked up the script. Feelings couldn’t be sorted out in a hurry; work came first. The production start date was looming, and she couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake.
*Mist City* was an anthology-style drama, but unlike a typical anthology, the cases were tightly connected. In the end, all the cases would link together to weave a giant net of crime, pulling everyone into it. The script was adapted from a Jinjiang novel. Rather than a TV drama, it was more like an extended film; there were only thirty-five episodes, averaging one arc every five or six episodes, yet it was packed with content and far richer than the seventy- or eighty-episode dramas of today.
The series opened with the sudden death of a white-collar woman in the city. Its pace was brisk, with one wave after another, characters vividly drawn, stirring and intense. Lin Yuewei read it in one shot, from the entire morning through half the afternoon, without even drinking a sip of water, all the way to the ending. Only then did she finally let out a breath. This plot…
The script differed from the novel in quite a few places. Lin Yuewei had already read the novel before; the author was extremely witty, with plenty of sharp lines. The descriptions were accurate, but a little verbose, which slightly slowed the pace. Reading and watching were different experiences. Most of the script consisted of actions and expressions, with only a few lines revised or cut. Lin Yuewei had loved the novel when she finished it, but when novels were adapted into scripts, whether for subjective or objective reasons, they often lost the essence of the original. After reading the complete script, though, Lin Yuewei had only one impression: whoever adapted this was a genius. They had perfectly separated the essence from the dross, refined it to perfection, and cut away all the unnecessary excess, presenting a fully mature television script.
Lin Yuewei flipped back to the title page to confirm the writer’s name again: Yang Xiao. The same name as the director. This drama was written and directed by Yang Xiao himself. After so many years, few people still remembered that Yang Xiao had started as a screenwriter; his first work had been dazzlingly brilliant and had stunned the entire industry, but for reasons unknown, he had switched to directing and stopped doing his original work.
This time, he was betting everything on one throw.
Wasn’t Lin Yuewei the same? Through the two Yang Xiao names on the title page, Lin Yuewei seemed to glimpse the silhouette of an old man in his fifties with graying hair, bent over his desk and writing word by word, grinding out every detail before creating this work.
When the drama was first officially announced, the screenwriter’s name hadn’t been included, and it still wasn’t now. Yang Xiao must have intentionally hidden it. As for why he hid it, Lin Yuewei couldn’t guess, and didn’t want to. As a director and screenwriter, his work could reveal his own soul; as for the actors, they were merely the tools through which he expressed his thoughts and soul.
Were actors the soul of a work? No; the director was. Perhaps some actors could transcend the work itself, but people like that had already become legends in their own right. There were very few such legends in the entire entertainment industry.
The role Lin Yuewei played was one of only two women in the criminal investigation team; the other was a technical expert, while she was a calm, sharp-minded deputy team leader with exceptional skills, second only to the male lead, the captain of the criminal investigation team. At the same time, she had a bit of a fiery temper and handled things with decisive, aggressive efficiency; she had a lot to play. Most of the time she was handling cases, either together with the captain or leading people out on her own, and she had a very strong personal presence. Most importantly, she had no romantic entanglements whatsoever with the male lead, the second male lead, or any of the third, fourth, or other male characters. Her only romance had already died in the past; her boyfriend had been mysteriously killed years ago, and the case had never been solved. She had become a cop because of that; she was cold-blooded, and only later gradually found meaning in life.
Lin Yuewei counted it up: the dead boyfriend’s only appearance was in a photo. She breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she rejected love scenes, but her own romance was already a mess; asking her to perform one would probably be very difficult.
What was worth mentioning was that *Mist City* had no CP pairings whatsoever. The male lead was destined to be single forever; the female lead—counted by screen time, and actually not the male lead’s lover—made it a completely ensemble crime drama. The only main thread was solving cases and restoring a clear, open world.
The ending was in the police station office, where a group of joking, bantering detectives shoved at each other, files flying from one side to the other. The deputy team leader Lin Yuewei played straightened the cap and collar of a newly arrived officer, her expression serious as she instructed him on something. The young officer looked at the workplace environment with restrained excitement.
A colleague passing by beside them called out “Hi” to the deputy team leader and made a goofy face. The deputy team leader couldn’t help laughing and cursing, “Get lost.”
The phone on the desk rang. A detective picked up, raised one index finger, and answered solemnly, “Okay, transfer it over.”
“Captain, there’s a new case.”
Everyone lifted their eyes; pair after pair of sharp gazes cut across quick edits, flashing back to the beginning. In the gradually darkening frame, the report on the case drifted farther and farther away; police sirens rose, then finally faded out. The end.
Lin Yuewei read the final case again. The closing stretch had a very strong impact, and the emotions were intense as well. She locked herself in the bathroom, closed her eyes, and tried to sink into the feeling.
***
Gu Yanqiu parked the car in the garage at home. Her face was slightly red; she silently recited something on her phone, opened the car door, and had already stepped one foot out before pulling it back. She lit up the phone screen and opened the browser. The page on it hadn’t been closed yet: *You Must Know—10 Kissing Techniques That Drive Your Girlfriend Crazy*.
Author’s Note: These two still haven’t found the right way to date. Take it slow. ﹁_﹁
The Forbidden City probably still learns faster, 2333