Chapter 3: Angelica Root

Sun Mingfen sensed something different about the atmosphere at the dinner table that evening. Was it awkwardness caused by the change in the girls’ relationship after their wedding? Jiang Baizhi was quiet by nature, so that was nothing unusual. But when her own daughter sat there without saying a word, something was definitely wrong.

She turned slightly toward Qi Banxia. “Luhua mentioned that Little Zhi will be going on some show with you this weekend. You know the industry better, so look after her, okay? And remind her what to pack.”

Qi Banxia didn’t eat rice at dinner, only a few bites of vegetables and beef. Once she’d swallowed, she parted her lips. “I know.”

She hadn’t seen Jiang Baizhi in days, and she’d been unable to resist wanting a few secret glances at her. But the moment she found out Shi Zhen would be her partner, the thought made her furious. A sour ache rose in her chest.

Who was Shi Zhen? At only thirty-three, she’d won a string of major domestic and international awards. There was no denying her achievements—Qi Banxia had once looked up to her herself. But when it came to her private life, the rumors said she played for both teams, and gossip reporters had followed her for years. One month, she was whispering intimately with some handsome young actor; the next, she was going everywhere with a newly debuted actress…

And now Jiang Baizhi was walking straight into a trap.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. The words burst out before she could stop them. “She’s going with Shi Zhen from Jiasheng, not me.”

“That wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t asked to switch partners.”

What was a girl supposed to do when her own mother always took her wife’s side? Put up with it, of course. Qi Banxia picked up a piece of stir-fried lettuce and popped it into her mouth, her chest tight.

Jiang Baizhi had already put down her chopsticks, but she’d kept out of the argument between mother and daughter. Now she suddenly came to Qi Banxia’s rescue.

“Mom, Banxia changed partners because she was worried about rumors. The entertainment industry isn’t in a good place right now, and she just won the title of TV Queen. She can’t afford to be careless.”

She called her “Mom” so easily now.

Same-sex marriage might have been legal, but the law had only passed two years ago. Plenty of people still disapproved, and it was unlikely to become the norm anytime soon. So the Jiang and Qi families had agreed not to announce Qi Banxia’s marriage publicly. They’d leave it to the two of them to decide what to do later.

Jiang Baizhi’s words brought some of Qi Banxia’s good humor back. “You don’t need to pack much. Especially not the medicine pot you use at home.”

On their first shoot in her previous life, Jiang Baizhi had lugged two huge suitcases along, one of them packed with a medicine pot and herbs. She said she’d looked the place up online and found that it was damp there, so a little herbal medicine would help. The production crew had confiscated the whole lot immediately. All that effort for nothing.

“Can I bring medicine? The concentrated granules.”

“I don’t know, but probably.” In her mind, Qi Banxia pictured a small, palm-sized round container divided into six or seven sections. It would be easy enough to carry around.

Seeing the atmosphere lighten, Sun Mingfen cheerfully served them both more food. Then she casually added, “You two should go back to your new place in the West District later. You’ve only just moved a lot of things in, so the place could use some company. And it’ll be closer to Little Zhi’s hospital.”

Qi Banxia couldn’t come up with an excuse to refuse. She tightened her hand beneath the table and agreed. The house held too many memories. Once they’d confirmed their relationship in her previous life, they’d spent most of their time there. Every little thing in the house, every plant in the garden, the hanging chair, and…

Qi Banxia’s fingertips began to tremble. But her years as an actress helped her keep her emotions from showing on her face. She saw Jiang Baizhi nod pleasantly, and her eyes began to sting.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” In her previous life, she’d never tried to hide her feelings. If she liked someone, she’d test the waters, tease them, and slowly draw them into her warmth. Before long, Jiang Baizhi had fallen just as hard for her as she had for Jiang Baizhi’s own unique charm.

Now the woman she loved was beside her, close enough to see and touch, and yet she had to keep her distance.

The wooden door closed behind her. Qi Banxia wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against the cold tiles. Memories of her time with Jiang Baizhi flickered through her mind one by one. Her knees weakened, and she slowly sank down.

She might be able to bear a separation while they were both still alive, if she tried hard enough. But Qi Banxia didn’t want Jiang Baizhi to go through the pain of losing someone again. That night, Jiang Baizhi’s tears had slipped hot and damp beneath her fingers. With the last of her strength, Qi Banxia had lifted her head and seen Jiang Baizhi’s reddened eyes and tightly pressed lips.

I wish I could tell her, “A-Zhi, don’t cry.”

The thought steadied her wavering resolve. She rose unsteadily, turned on the faucet, and let the water run. After a quiet sniffle, she waited until she felt calmer, then wet a washcloth and wiped away the tears.

“Banxia, your brother’s back.”

“Okay, I’m coming.”

Jiang Baizhi glanced toward the voice. Qi Banxia’s figure showed dimly through the frosted glass. Jiang Baizhi’s brows drew together almost imperceptibly. It seemed as though the person behind the door was upset.

But when Qi Banxia opened it a moment later, she was already smiling. Jiang Baizhi swallowed the words of concern she’d been about to say.

“Brother, if you don’t come home soon, Mom’s going to think you’ve moved into the hospital.”

“The dorms are convenient. Your brother’s been busy trying to get promoted, remember?” Sun Mingfen said. “It’s not like your Baizhi, who finished her doctorate and made such a good impression that she was promoted to associate chief physician in two years. It took me nearly five.”

At the words “your Baizhi,” Qi Banxia’s hand paused for a moment before she objected. “You only took that long because you didn’t want to get a doctorate after your master’s.”

“If I’d finished my doctorate, I’d have been thirty. These days you can do the four-plus-five program instead.”

Qi Banxia didn’t want to change how she acted around the rest of her family. She kept trying to find the familiar rhythm of their old relationship and was doing a decent job of it. The siblings started bickering and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. Jiang Baizhi helped Sun Mingfen clear the table, then sat down to listen, chiming in now and then.

Then Qi Banxia suddenly looked at her and asked, “Brother, if your birth chart had matched hers, would you be the one married to her now?”

“Your brother values his freedom. I might’ve run away from the wedding. I can be Baizhi’s brother, but there’s no way I’d make a good husband.” Qi Yuanzhi went on, “As for you two, you’re both workaholics, so maybe getting married wouldn’t matter much to you. You could build a relationship over time. And if it didn’t work out, I could suggest something.”

His suggestion, of course, would be to humor the elders for a couple of years, then blame it on irreconcilable differences.

What a wonderful big brother. He knew exactly what his little sister—at least, the one she’d been back then—was thinking. Qi Banxia saw Jiang Baizhi remain silent. She was agreeing again, wasn’t she?

…

Days off always flew by. During their three free days, Qi Banxia spent a lot of time with Lang Yiqiu. Since they were supposed to be best friends, they needed to know each other a little. They couldn’t act like strangers, or like they knew nothing about each other.

Lang Yiqiu was three years younger than Qi Banxia. She’d first made a name for herself on a singing competition show the year before. Her greatest strength was her vocal control. She sang with confidence and precision, and when a song called for it, she could really belt it out. When it called for delicacy, she could be just as subtle.

Taichuan had signed her that year and planned to make her one of their main artists. She was only slightly shorter than Qi Banxia, who stood five-foot-five. Walking beside her, Lang Yiqiu was always ready with a sweet word, calling her “Banxia” this and “Banxia” that.

Qi Banxia liked her personality and liked hearing her sing. She’d made a good new friend.

On the Friday before National Day, the show crew finished filming Qi Banxia’s departure segment at her house. She pulled a suitcase behind her and climbed into the car.

Up in the north of the city, Jiang Baizhi had brought out just one suitcase from the Jiang family home. She got into the car the production crew had arranged. That day she wore a pale trench coat, open over a dark shirt. Her long hair was tucked beneath a brown beret, giving her a touch of old Hong Kong glamour. She looked striking.

There were cameras in the car, and a cameraman named Little Luo would follow her throughout the next five episodes—fifteen days in all. Since Jiang Baizhi was a civilian, there wasn’t much for her to talk about. Bored, she started scrolling through her friends’ feed. No new likes or comments. She quietly closed WeChat.

The assistant director chatted with her for a while, then suddenly asked, “How long have you and Shi Zhen known each other, Miss Jiang?”

“More than ten years.” They’d agreed on that answer a few days earlier. But Jiang Baizhi wasn’t an actress, and she sounded a little stiff.

“I’m sure a lot of people, myself included, wonder what Shi Zhen’s like in private. Could you tell us a little?”

“A-Zhen is more outgoing with people she knows well. She’s easygoing. Since I’m not much of a talker, she does most of the talking and I listen. We don’t keep secrets from each other.” Having to chatter away in front of a camera made Jiang Baizhi appreciate how difficult a celebrity’s life could be.

The director kept making conversation, and Jiang Baizhi gradually seemed to relax. She was much more at ease than when she’d first gotten in the car.

Shi Zhen and Qi Banxia had been on the same flight. They met outside the airport, then boarded through the VIP entrance. The show had asked the stars not to bring their assistants, and the four of them had the first-class cabin to themselves. Qi Banxia and Lang Yiqiu sat on the right, Shi Zhen and Jiang Baizhi on the left.

Jiang Baizhi fastened her seat belt, exchanged a greeting with Shi Zhen, then put on an eye mask and closed her eyes. Lang Yiqiu was the youngest. She loved to have fun and pulled Qi Banxia into taking pictures together. After posing for a few photos, Lang Yiqiu glanced at the woman by the aisle on the left. She watched her for a couple of seconds, then turned to look out the window. A faint ripple seemed to move through her gaze before fading away.

Best Friend Battle was an outdoor variety show, a chance to show the audience how celebrities and their closest friends got along and worked together. The flight took two and a half hours. After landing, they drove for another hour and ten minutes, arriving at the first destination: Xiaoxigou Village in Yangzihe Town, Wuzhou City, Yunnan Province.

Unlike other villages, Xiaoxigou had only one road in and out. Many of its buildings were hundreds of years old. Some of the houses didn’t even have the kind of foundations found in the city. They stood directly on the original stone slabs.

Several cars stopped outside the village. Qi Banxia looked toward the entrance, where two lines of villagers in traditional clothing stood waiting to welcome them.

Shi Zhen pulled two large suitcases out of the trunk. Jiang Baizhi instinctively stepped forward to help. When Shi Zhen gave her a grateful look, Jiang Baizhi smiled back. The cameraman caught the moment perfectly. Then the two of them took one suitcase each and struggled toward the spot the director had indicated.

That thing was seriously heavy.

Qi Banxia stepped out behind them. Watching their backs as they helped each other, she pursed her bright red lips, then turned and gave a rueful smile that was difficult to read. In a soft voice, she asked Lang Yiqiu, who was picking up the luggage, “Little Qiu, do you need a hand?”