Chapter 34

It was strange. After Wei Li asked that question, Su Ci actually felt a trace of relief, and the tension in her body eased with it.

Wei Li didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with liking a woman.

At the same time, though, Su Ci couldn’t tell whether she approved. The seriousness on her face, the earnestness in her eyes—all of it seemed to be saying the same thing.

This wasn’t a bad thing, but it was a big thing.

Why? Back then, Wei Li had told her that liking someone of the same sex wasn’t shameful, that she should get along properly with other people, and that she shouldn’t be prejudiced or look down on them.

Because a person who could break through prejudice and discrimination, and bravely say to someone of the same sex, “I like you,” was truly amazing.

So why now, why did she seem as if Su Ci had done something earth-shattering?

Wasn’t “liking someone is never wrong” something Wei Li had taught her?

Su Ci still remembered middle school, when her best friend Zheng Mo came to her house to hang out. After they finished their homework, Zheng Mo wanted to watch a movie and asked Su Ci to keep her company, but Su Ci didn’t want to.

Zheng Mo pleaded, “Come on, watch it. I’ve got something to tell you after it’s over.”

“You can say it now.” Su Ci wasn’t interested in movies; with that time, she could do several sets of practice questions.

But Zheng Mo said that after finishing homework, they should relax a little and balance work with rest.

Zheng Mo was her best friend, and after being worn down by her pestering, Su Ci had no choice but to agree.

The two of them squeezed into the cramped bedroom. Zheng Mo shut the door and even tried to lock it. Su Ci found it odd; seeing her still fiddling with the lock, she said helplessly, “The lock’s broken.”

Then she added, “Why lock the door?”

It wasn’t until halfway through the movie that Su Ci understood why Zheng Mo had done that.

It was a lesbian film. Although there was a bit of suspense, most of the scenes focused on the two female leads. When it reached the part where they were eating cherries, Su Ci awkwardly looked away.

All the while, Zheng Mo had been watching her.

When the movie ended, Su Ci stood up and said, “Let’s do homework.”

But Zheng Mo grabbed her and said, “I have something to tell you.”

Su Ci vaguely guessed what she was going to say. She wasn’t a lesbian, and she didn’t like girls; what she felt for Zheng Mo was only the kind of liking between friends.

So, sensing that what Zheng Mo was about to say would put a wedge between them, she spoke first: “We’ll always be best friends.”

She wanted them to stay friends forever; she wanted that relationship to remain unchanged.

But Zheng Mo clearly didn’t think the same. She stood up, acting before she spoke, and leaned in to kiss Su Ci’s lips, only to be dodged.

Su Ci frowned. Zheng Mo said, “A Ci, I like you. Not as a friend.”

Su Ci didn’t say anything. With a cold face, she opened the door and walked out, only to see Wei Li standing around the corner; no one knew how long she had been there.

At dinner that day, Wei Li asked her across the table, “Are you and Xiao Mo still going to hang out?”

Her tone was casual, like she was just chatting.

Su Ci thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know.”

She really didn’t know.

She didn’t know how to face her in the future, or how to get along with her after that. Would it feel awkward? Would she resist her closeness? Would she distance herself? Would the two of them drift apart from then on? Would they stop being as natural around each other as before…

Although Zheng Mo was the one who confessed, Su Ci’s mood was no lighter than hers; if anything, it was even heavier.

This wasn’t the first time a girl had told Su Ci she liked her, but it was the first time it had come from a friend by her side.

She really didn’t know what to do.

Wei Li looked at the tightly furrowed lines between her brows and put some food in her bowl, saying earnestly, “No matter how things go between you in the future, I want to say that your friend is very brave.”

Su Ci stared at her in stunned disbelief.

She had always thought adults were old-fashioned, rigid to the point of suffocation. Even puppy love was something they would avoid mentioning, let alone puppy love between two girls.

But Wei Li only smiled, her tone gentle as she said, “There’s nothing wrong with liking someone.”

Su Ci looked at her but didn’t speak; she only repeated those words in her heart—liking someone isn’t wrong.

This was the first time Wei Li had talked to her about feelings at the dinner table. She hadn’t treated her like a child, but like an adult with independent thoughts and an independent personality, someone just like herself.

She looked into Su Ci’s eyes and said, “As long as you’re not hurting anyone and not doing anything illegal, even if you like a puppy, I wouldn’t say anything.”

Then Wei Li told her that in this world, there wasn’t just heterosexuality; there was also homosexuality, pansexuality, monosexuality, asexuality, platonic love, fetishism, paper fetishism, and all kinds of other attractions…

There were quite a few terms Su Ci had never even heard of. Back then, she had thought, Auntie Wei is so trendy.

A few years passed in the blink of an eye, and now she liked a girl. But Auntie Wei didn’t seem happy. Why…

Under the warm overhead light, Su Ci looked at Wei Li sitting on the sofa and kept silent.

In the brief silence, time seemed to stretch endlessly.

Wei Li sat on the sofa, slightly tilting her head up to look at Su Ci.

She didn’t answer, but the flash of relief in her eyes had already betrayed her.

As expected, A Ci likes her.

Wei Li wasn’t old-fashioned. On the contrary, she strongly supported free love; even with puppy love, so long as it didn’t affect studies and didn’t cross any lines, she was in favor of it.

After all, love during school years was purer. If it could continue and go from campus into society, becoming a beautiful story, that would be wonderful too.

But the premise was that the person had to be suitable.

Yan Can, the sole heir of the Yan Group.

Someone like that would have had her future laid out by her parents long ago. Even if her future partner wasn’t some young master from a wealthy family, at the very least it would be someone who could help her career.

But A Ci had nothing.

She knew A Ci’s personality well; once she decided on something, she would keep going no matter what. Even if she ran headfirst into a wall and came away bloodied, she still wouldn’t turn back.

That girl clearly liked A Ci, but her liking was different from A Ci’s.

That was why Wei Li had asked this question; she wanted to know what her classmate’s attitude was.

If her classmate knew that A Ci felt this way about her, how would she react?

A Ci had suffered too much hardship at an age when she shouldn’t have had to bear any of it; Wei Li couldn’t let her keep suffering from love too, loving someone who could never be hers.

Of course, if the two of them liked each other, she had nothing to say.

Fortunately, although Su Ci wasn’t talkative, when it came to Wei Li, as long as she asked, Su Ci would answer honestly.

So it took Su Ci a moment before she said, “She doesn’t know.”

That was the truth.

Yan Can didn’t know Su Ci liked her.

In Yan Can’s heart, she was just a friend she got along especially well with.

Even if they had kissed several times.

That still didn’t change the fact that they were only friends.

Wei Li didn’t ask anything else.

It looked like A Ci had fallen first.

Wei Li glanced at her worriedly. Just as she was about to say something, Su Ci looked back at her with steady eyes.

“Auntie, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m already grown up; there are many things I know how to handle.”

Her words cut off Wei Li’s follow-up completely. Wei Li sighed and didn’t continue the topic, instead saying, “That classmate of yours seems like a good person. Her family’s well off; she doesn’t lack anything, so anything you give her would be awkward. I saw she ate quite a lot of dumplings this morning. Before I go back to the factory tonight, I’ll buy some dumpling wrappers and pork with chives; after I make them, I’ll put them in the fridge, and you can bring them to her tomorrow.”

Forget it; she’d better not say anything else. How far can the hazy feelings of student days really go? Aren’t there plenty of people who break up as soon as they graduate? Besides, these two haven’t even really started anything.

Maybe that girl would have new friends once she finished high school and forget about A Ci.

It was just that by then, A Ci would probably get hurt again.

“Okay.” Su Ci answered and walked toward her bedroom.

The distance from the living room to the bedroom was only a few steps, but those steps felt unusually heavy.

All she could think about was the image of Wei Li looking at her with that worried expression.

What was she afraid of, what was she worried about? Worried because the person she liked was a girl, or worried because the person she liked was Yan Can?

Yan Can. Yan Can. Yan Can… she didn’t know when it started, but her mind was full of this person.

Thinking of how Yan Can had invited her to her house to watch that movie together, and adding in that line she had said—“You’re very important to me”—Su Ci had assumed Yan Can liked her, and suddenly she found herself feeling ridiculous.

Back in the bedroom, her gaze fell on one side of the bed, on the place where Yan Can had slept last night.

The bedsheet had been smoothed flat by Yan Can, without a single wrinkle.

If she knew last night had been deliberate on her part, would Yan Can still treat her the same way now?

Su Ci pressed at her forehead and closed her eyes, her mind a tangled mess.

So messy.

She extended her index finger; long and pale, the blue veins beneath the lamplight were clearly visible. Her knuckle bent slightly as she slowly pressed it to her lips, then bit down hard on the joint. As the pain stabbed through her, she also tasted a faint metallic sweetness spreading between her teeth and lips before she finally managed to calm herself a little.

But it still wasn’t enough.

She pulled a set of test papers from the desk drawer and spread them over her books, picked up a pen, and started from the problem statements. She read questions quickly and solved them even faster; often, by the time she finished reading a problem, she already knew the answer in her head.

But now she couldn’t even work them out; she had to use scratch paper.

One problem after another, then the next one after that. As long as she kept doing questions and turned herself into a machine for solving them, her mind wouldn’t have room to wander.

Yan Can arrived at the airport early. She played a few games, then chatted nonsense in the group chat with Zhang Ru and Yu Ting.

Beside her, Secretary Cen suddenly stood up. Yan Can instinctively looked up and immediately spotted her cheap dad coming out from the exit.

He was far too conspicuous in the crowd. Cheap dad was nearly fifty, well maintained, tall and upright, with proper features; he didn’t differ much from the image of a refined, elegant CEO in Yan Can’s mind from the novel.

When the man saw her, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and walked over at an unhurried pace.

Yan Can put away her phone and, together with Secretary Cen, went up to greet him. An assistant followed behind him, pulling his suitcase.

The assistant greeted her when he saw her and respectfully called, “Miss.”

From Secretary Cen, Yan Can learned that cheap dad had returned to the country for a project collaboration in Province M, which was still quite far from here; by plane it took two hours. This time he had come back for work, and also to see her and have a meal. In the afternoon, he would fly back to Province M.

Who says parents’ hearts belong to the whole world?

Cheap dad was really good to the original owner.

At least before cheap dad brought up the topic of marriage alliance.

At least that was what Yan Can thought.