Chapter 44: Four Years

Regarding the appearance of that little white cat who died so unjustly, Jiang Bomu only remembered the black tip on its tail. As for whether its eyes were yellow, green, or blue, she had no impression.

But she would always remember that day, and Jiang Wende’s face.

When he calmly pronounced the death of a cat, Jiang Bomu could even discern a hint of pity and regret on his face.

Yet he was the one who abused and killed it. A butcher. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Jiang Wende’s appearance today triggered an unprecedented sense of crisis in Jiang Bomu. Wan An was right inside their home. She couldn’t stop trembling, the scene from over a decade ago flashing in her mind—only this time, the cat being thrown was Wan An.

She screamed, “Get out!”

“Mu Mu, is that any way to talk to your father?” Jiang Wende didn’t get angry at all, a smile still on his face. “I just came to see you.”

“You want money. I can give it to you. But if you take one step into my home—”

Jiang Bomu’s fists clenched. Glaring fiercely at Jiang Wende, she gritted her teeth. “I’ll kill you.”

At thirteen, the weak girl couldn’t protect the little white cat. But Jiang Bomu at twenty-seven was strong enough now.

History would not repeat itself.

It absolutely would not repeat itself.

“So agitated this time?” Jiang Wende adjusted his glasses. The lenses reflected a sharp glint. “Mu Mu, what are you hiding from your father? Tell me.”

Jiang Bomu paused. Right. He didn’t actually know anything right now. She was the one panicking.

Trembling slightly, she felt the person beside her suddenly grasp her hand, lending her strength.

“What business is it of yours?” Gu Yu laughed as she spoke up. “Aren’t you just here for money? Why the fake concern?”

Her words drew Jiang Wende’s attention. He sized Gu Yu up and asked, “And who might you be?”

Gu Yu looked at him, puzzled. “Why do you always ask pointless questions? Beggars on the street don’t babble this much.”

The veins on Jiang Wende’s forehead pulsed. He’d almost forgotten his previous question to Jiang Bomu, about to burst out in rage, when Jiang Bomu spoke first: “The money’s already been transferred. I’m going back now.”

She pulled Gu Yu inside through the door and shut it quickly, terrified Wan An would meow.

“Hey hey hey, sister, I wasn’t done yet!” Gu Yu felt unsatisfied, wanting to curse Jiang Wende’s entire bloodline.

“That doesn’t matter. Even if you win the argument, what then?” Jiang Bomu said flatly. “What I’m supposed to give him, I still have to give him.”

Gu Yu bristled with indignation. “But why? He’s a middle-aged man. You have no legal obligation to support him.”

“Xunxun, many things in this world aren’t measured by laws and regulations,” Jiang Bomu looked at her. “You’re still young. You don’t understand these things.”

The innocent girl, still untouched by the world’s dust, always believed everything was black or white. The bad guys would be punished, the good guys would live long lives.

So naive, full of childlike wonder. She couldn’t bear to shatter Gu Yu’s illusions.

Gu Yu looked down and murmured, “So just because I’m still young, you tell me nothing?”

By the time she was twenty-seven, Jiang Bomu would be thirty-four, with even richer life experience, still thinking she was young.

It seemed she would never be able to walk into Jiang Bomu’s heart.

“Xunxun, that’s not what I meant,” Jiang Bomu said wearily. “Dealing with him has already exhausted me. Can you just be good, please?”

Gu Yu suppressed the bitterness in her heart, trying hard to convince herself she shouldn’t pick a fight at a time like this. Jiang Bomu had no obligation to confide in her, much less to appease her.

So what if they shared a bed every night? A relationship that could dissolve at any moment over some trifle. Not like they were a lawfully wedded couple.

Gu Yu nodded, afraid Jiang Bomu would see her slightly reddened eyes, and went to the second bedroom to play with Wan An.

The cat teaser jingled and clinked, but the door never opened again.

She stayed in the room the whole afternoon. As evening approached, Gu Yu couldn’t hold back anymore and brought Wan An to the living room to play on the cat tree.

The cat tree had been installed the day before yesterday, a luxurious mansion even taller than Gu Yu herself. Wan An couldn’t jump up yet, obediently curling up on the first-level cat bed. She yawned, her little head nodding as she snuggled in and fell asleep.

Gu Yu sat on the sofa and fiddled with her phone, occasionally glancing at the master bedroom door. On one hand, she worried Jiang Bomu was secretly crying inside. On the other, she was still perturbed by the words she’d said, irritated and restless.

At six o’clock, Gu Yu started feeling hungry. She was just deliberating whether to cook or order takeout when the master bedroom door opened.

She restrained herself from looking up, continuing to swipe through the food delivery app. Pictures and text flashed by, but she didn’t process a single word. Her awareness followed Jiang Bomu until that familiar fragrance lingered right before her.

“Hungry, and you didn’t call me?”

Her voice was still gentle, without the hoarseness or exhaustion that usually followed crying. Gu Yu breathed a silent sigh of relief and said nonchalantly, “I thought you were busy.”

“No matter how busy, nothing is more important than you eating.”

The fragrance drifted away. Footsteps went from near to far, stopping in the kitchen.

Gu Yu was still dazed by those words. Was that considered a romantic line?

Setting her phone down, she went to help, pretending to casually observe the other woman’s expression. Cool, serene, as usual.

Not upset or sad over that scumbag Jiang Wende. That made Gu Yu very happy.

“Where’s Wan An? Asleep again?”

“Yeah, she sleeps twenty hours a day,” Gu Yu smiled. “Such a lazy little cat.”

Gu Yu didn’t bring up Jiang Wende, nor those cold words. She let the matter rest. She knew clearly that only this way could their precarious bed-sharing arrangement survive.

Jiang Bomu also showed a smile. “So carefree. I’m raising her so she can just laze around and nap whenever she wants.”

Gu Yu disagreed. “That’s over-indulgence.”

“Oh? Is it?” Jiang Bomu didn’t care. “I don’t think it’s enough to even qualify as over-indulgence. At most, it’s doting.”

Gu Yu: “…You win.”

The woman who kept saying she didn’t like cats was raising one so excessively even the cat couldn’t handle it.

After a simple dinner, Gu Yu felt lazy and didn’t want to go walking. She sat on the bed reading a web novel. Jiang Bomu looked over her script. Wan An was still sound asleep. A picture of peaceful serenity.

Half an hour later, Gu Yu put down her phone.

Seeing her shocked expression, Jiang Bomu asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The novel I’m following? Actually written by a high school student,” Gu Yu said in disbelief. “In her author’s note, she said she’s going into her final year soon, so she’s stopping updates until after the college entrance exam.”

She looked at the just-completed novel. Three hundred thousand characters, twenty thousand bookmarks. In the niche Yuri genre, that was already quite high. Enough to support herself.

She murmured, “What was I doing in high school? Playing in the mud?”

“Drawing,” Jiang Bomu said casually while writing in her script notes. “Didn’t you stop taking living expenses from your family in high school?”

“True, yeah,” Gu Yu instantly puffed with pride. “I could support myself in high school too.”

Pausing, she suddenly realized. “How do you know that?”

“Because I’m awesome,” Jiang Bomu smiled slightly. “I know many things about you.”

Gu Yu guessed, “Don’t tell me my grandma told you?”

She knew Jiang Bomu was very close with her grandma, but not to that extent, right? Sharing her granddaughter’s stories like that?

Jiang Bomu nodded. “Grandma Qiao has mentioned you many times, always with pride in her voice and expression. She really adores you.”

Gu Yu couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of things?”

If it was embarrassing moments, how mortifying.

Jiang Bomu paused for a moment, then finally spoke. “Like how you started taking on freelance work in high school; scoring over 500 on the humanities track for the college entrance exam. Last semester, your major ranking was in the top 10% and you got a scholarship.”

She listed a few things succinctly, a hint of laughter surfacing in her eyes, then added a summary. “So, Gu Xunxun is an outstanding young woman.”

Hearing the name ‘Xunxun’, she continued, “That nickname was also told to me by Grandma Qiao.”

Gu Yu was stunned. “No wonder you weren’t surprised the first time my mom called me Xunxun. You already knew it was a nickname!”

“It’s a beautiful nickname,” she appraised.

Pausing, she said, “Xunxun, though I still want to ask—can you tell me what ‘Xunxun’ means?”

Her voice was on the softer side, enunciated clearly. It was a childhood name called by elders countless times, but coming from Jiang Bomu’s mouth, it carried an extra layer of ineffable tenderness.

Gu Yu’s heart tingled with warmth before she explained, “When my mom was pregnant with me, she loved the scent of lavender. I was originally going to be called Yiyi—easier to say.”

Afraid she’d think it was the character for “clothing,” Gu Yu added, “Yi as in ‘attachment.’ But my mom liked Xunxun better.”

“Both Xunxun and Yiyi are lovely,” Jiang Bomu smiled. “As long as it wasn’t Caocao.”

[T/N: The Chinese word for lavender is “Xun-Yi-Cao” (薰衣草). The names “Xunxun” and “Yiyi” are derived from the first two syllables of the plant’s name. The third syllable, “Cao,” means grass or weed]

She was joking for once, and Gu Yu immediately chimed in. “I thought the same thing.”

Chatting like this, Jiang Bomu no longer had the heart to look at her script. The two lay down, and the conversation continued.

Gu Yu asked, “So just because my grandma mentioned me once, you agreed to let me live in your home?”

Jiang Bomu nodded.

Gu Yu pressed. “Really, only that?”

Her grandma had that much pull? She was a complete stranger to Jiang Bomu! Even if, thanks to her grandmother’s frequent praise, Jiang Bomu seemed to have a good impression of her—so much so she easily agreed to cohabitate for two months—there had to be another reason.

Jiang Bomu didn’t answer directly. “Grandma Qiao was a benefactor to me. Since you’re her granddaughter, you couldn’t be too bad, by association.”

Gu Yu still didn’t believe it.

Left with no choice, Jiang Bomu confessed fully, “I already remembered you from four years ago.”

Gu Yu froze. Four years ago, that was…

“That period was the lowest point of my life,” Jiang Bomu recalled those gray days. “Then I saw you walking toward me, and suddenly stumbling and rushing away. And for some reason, I felt like it was no big deal. I just had to smile and move past it.”

Gu Yu fell silent. Stumbling and rushing away? More like fleeing in panic.

But what surprised her was that Jiang Bomu had already taken note of her as far back as four years ago.

Hope stirred in Gu Yu’s heart. So it was a fateful meeting. Their destined connection was just delayed by four years before they truly met.

As she was basking in this joy, Jiang Bomu suddenly asked, “So Xunxun, why did you run that day?”

Gu Yu swallowed. Could she not answer?

But Jiang Bomu looked at her steadily, intent on getting an answer.

A little nervously, she said, “Because… because I wanted to get to know you at that time, but you were too beautiful. I didn’t dare approach.”

She didn’t dare say her heart had already stirred right then.

“Too beautiful…”

Jiang Bomu murmured this phrase, then suddenly leaned closer, gazing at the flush spreading across her face.

“So Xunxun, did your face turn as red then as it is now?”