Kong Yanyan brought beef braised by Kong Jian to visit her and brought up the topic, burning with curiosity. “Uncle and Auntie didn’t beat you?”
Another girl in their class had only started dating the class president next door, and her parents had thrashed her so badly she missed a full month of school.
Fang Nianyun’s case was even more outrageous. Kong Yanyan had figured Uncle and the others would beat her black and blue too.
The girl snickered indifferently. “Those two started dating back in first year of junior high themselves, so what right do they have to meddle in my business? Even if I wanted to kiss my boyfriend, they couldn’t stop me.”
“Kiss!” Kong Yanyan’s face flushed at the sacred word. “You’ve already kissed him?”
Fang Nianyun called her an idiot. “Didn’t you hear the ‘even if’? Of course not. Besides, there’s no way I’d give my first kiss to that guy.”
Sensing the dissatisfaction in her words, Kong Yanyan grew even more curious. “You don’t like him? Then why are you dating him?”
“It’s fun,” Fang Nianyun said nonchalantly. Finally noticing Kong Yanyan’s slightly flushed face, she added, “Kong Yanyan, why is your face red?”
Kong Yanyan shyly shook her head. “It’s nothing. It’ll be fine in a bit.”
“I just realized your lips look really nice,” Fang Nianyun said as she suddenly grabbed Kong Yanyan’s chin and leaned in close. “They’re all pink and way prettier than mine.”
Kong Yanyan felt uncomfortable in that position and frowned. “Nianyun, I’m not comfortable. Let me go.”
“Kong Yanyan, you still have your first kiss, right?”
“Huh?” Kong Yanyan’s face reddened even more at those words. “I haven’t even had a boyfriend.”
“Perfect. I haven’t tried it yet either.”
“Wha—?” The rest of her words were swallowed up by Fang Nianyun’s approaching lips.
Two seconds later, Fang Nianyun let her go and smacked her lips, as if savoring the lingering sweetness. “Did you eat candy? There’s a milky flavor. Tastes pretty good.”
Kong Yanyan’s face was completely red now, but she still obediently shook her head. “No.”
Then, she said word by word seriously, “You can’t do that to me again. You have a boyfriend—that kind of behavior is really immoral.”
“Tch.” Fang Nianyun gave her a sidelong glance. “Then pretend I just broke up with him. That work for you?”
Kong Yanyan still shook her head. “That won’t work either. My little mom and your dad are cousins, so if we do this, it’s called… called…”
“Incest? Kong Yanyan, are you stupid? You and my aunt don’t share blood relations. Incest my ass. Hey, don’t cry. I’m not wrong, and you know it yourself. Hey, why are you crying even harder? Fine, fine, I was wrong. I was wrong. I won’t say stuff like that again, okay?”
Kong Yanyan looked at her with red eyes, all pitiable, and mumbled, “It’s not because of that. You have to promise me you won’t do that kind of thing to me again.”
“Got it, got it. I promise, okay? I’m really scared of you now. Wipe those tears, or if Fang Siyi comes back and sees, he’ll definitely beat the hell out of me again.”
“Oh.”
She obediently did as told, then asked once more, “You really won’t do that again, right?”
Fang Nianyun immediately put on a fierce face. “Say one more word, and I’ll kiss you right now.”
Kong Yanyan immediately shut up and didn’t dare ask anymore.
…
After that breakup, Fang Nianyun didn’t date anyone all the way until they both started high school.
When Kong Yanyan curiously asked her about it, the answer wasn’t surprising at all.
“There’s no point. I just like trying new things. Now that I’ve experienced it, there’s no need to waste energy on it again.”
With that, she buried her head back into her newest hobby—building Legos.
“Yesterday, Xiao Ling and the others asked me why, right after starting high school, you blocked all their WeChats.”
Fang Nianyun didn’t even look up. “I told you, I like new things. Making friends is the same way. New environment means a new circle of friends.”
“Then why didn’t you block me?”
She finally glanced at Kong Yanyan again, looking at her like she was an idiot. “I might despise Fang Siyi, but can I just swap him out and find a new dad? Of course, I wouldn’t mind if Ms. Xi was okay with it.”
The girl’s questions came like a barrage of ‘Why’s. “So, do you see me as a friend or a relative?”
“Can you shut up? You’re disturbing my Lego building. The game console’s charged— if you don’t have anything else, please just sit on my bed and play games obediently, okay?”
“You haven’t answered me yet.”
All grown up now, Kong Yanyan had her own judgment.
She wouldn’t blindly follow whatever Fang Nianyun said like she did as a kid anymore.
Sometimes Fang Nianyun missed that dumb but obedient little Kong Yanyan from back then. She also knew that if she didn’t answer now, this girl would just keep repeating the question until she got a reply.
“You’re a friend, a friend. Happy now?”
Kong Yanyan grinned happily. “So I’m your one friend you won’t abandon just because the environment changes?”
“Yes, yes, yes. Satisfied? Now can you please shut up?”
“Mm, I won’t talk anymore.”
Kong Yanyan obediently sat on the edge of the bed, playing her game.
The room fell quiet for a moment, but Fang Nianyun was the one who started feeling uncomfortable.
“Kong Yanyan.”
“Hm?”
“Talk.”
“Huh?”
“Say anything. Just talk, quick.”
Kong Yanyan looked puzzled. “But I don’t have anything I want to say right now.”
“I don’t care. Talk.”
Catching sight of the clock in the corner of the desk out of the corner of her eye, Kong Yanyan set her things aside and stood up. “It’s time for dinner. I’ll head back first. I’ll talk to you next time.”
The door shut behind her without mercy.
Fang Nianyun stared at the Lego pieces in her hand, suddenly too irritated to keep going.
~~~
Fang Nianyun’s eighteenth birthday.
She turned down Xi Yunyun’s suggestion of throwing a big bash at a hotel.
In the end, she only invited the Kong family over and held the party at home.
Kong Jian and Ning Yan were busy cooking in the kitchen, while Xi Yunyun and her husband handled the decorations.
They had just finished blowing up the balloons when the door swung open.
Fang Nianyun, who had gone to pick up the cake from the shop, dragged Kong Yanyan inside. Spotting her busy parents, she made no effort to hide her disdain. “It’s just dinner. No need to waste time on all this flashy, pointless stuff. The cake’s here. Have the aunties finished up? If they have, let’s just eat.”
The couple, who had slaved away for ages without so much as a thank-you: “…”
Fang Nianyun received a separate birthday gift from each person, which she set aside unopened—including the one from Kong Yanyan.
Once the birthday gathering wrapped up, the four parents launched straight into a mahjong game in the living room.
Kong Yanyan and Fang Nianyun retreated to her room.
“Why didn’t you open the gifts we gave you? Don’t you like them?”
Fang Nianyun fixed her with a stare. “Give me one more gift.”
“Huh?” Kong Yanyan looked distressed. “But I’m out of money. I can’t buy you anything else.”
“No money needed.”
“Hm?”
Fang Nianyun leaned in closer.
“I want to taste what’s in your mouth again.”
Kong Yanyan froze for a second, then composed herself. “Didn’t you say you don’t like trying new things? You’ve already done this before. No need to repeat it.”
“That was the old you. The current you is different. So to me, it’s brand new.”
“That’s twisted logic!”
“Doesn’t matter. Today is the most important birthday of my life. Do you want me to be unhappy?”
Kong Yanyan glared at her, looking aggrieved. “You’re morally blackmailing me!”
“Only you. Hurry up—I’m giving you three seconds. If you don’t close your eyes, I’ll just kiss you.”
“Fang Nianyun!”
“Three—”
“You’re so annoying!”
“Two—”
“Stop counting!”
“One—”
Kong Yanyan squeezed her eyes shut anyway. Then she felt a soft pair of lips brush against hers.
Unlike the previous fleeting peck, Fang Nianyun wasn’t satisfied with surface-level contact this time. She pressed a hand to the back of Kong Yanyan’s head, trying to slip her tongue inside.
Kong Yanyan jolted in shock and snapped her eyes open, shoving her away.
Her face flaming red, she didn’t say a word before bolting from the room.
Fang Nianyun muttered a curse under her breath and ran her tongue over the spot that had touched the other girl. Sweet.
~~~
Kong Yanyan started dodging Fang Nianyun.
But it was only for those two weekend days.
School starting meant they would be heading to campus together—and sharing a dorm room.
Kong Yanyan even considered switching dorms, but she quickly scrapped the idea. It would mean telling her parents, and if Kong Jian asked why, she wouldn’t have a good excuse.
This made her especially resentful of the fact that she and Fang Nianyun were still deskmates.
No matter how much she didn’t want to deal with it, someone still plopped down in the empty seat beside her.
“I stopped by your house earlier looking for you, but Auntie said you’d come to school for something. How come I didn’t know about that?”
The other girl’s attitude was the same as it had been before the birthday—no change at all. Which made Kong Yanyan realize she was the one overthinking things.
With that in mind, she calmed down. “I thought I had unfinished homework, but I remembered wrong.”
“Oh.”
She let out a breath of relief and pulled out her Chinese textbook to preview tomorrow’s lesson.
“Which university are you aiming for?”
Kong Yanyan scrunched up her face, unconsciously slipping back into the coquettish demeanor she used to put on around her. “No idea. With my grades, I don’t even know if I can stay in A City.”
The schools in A City were all top-notch—even the worst ones were solid second-tier universities.
Her grades had improved over the past few years. They weren’t on Fang Nianyun’s level, of course, but she’d reached average territory.
She had Fang Nianyun to thank for that. Ever since they were kids, she’d insisted on giving Kong Yanyan extra tutoring, session after session. Without it, university would’ve been out of reach—heck, she probably wouldn’t have even gotten into a regular high school back then.
“I took a look, and N University’s cutoff score last year wasn’t that high. If you push a little harder from here on out, you should be able to get in.”
“N University?”
“It’s not far from A University at all. By subway, it’s just twenty minutes. You know I’ll be attending A University.”
Kong Yanyan nodded. “You’ll definitely go to A University, sure, but what does that have to do with me going to N University? Actually, I’ve been thinking about E University. I hear their snowy landscapes are gorgeous—it’s turned into a real viral photo spot.”
“E University?” Fang Nianyun frowned. “That’s so far away. It’d be crossing half the country.”
“So what? I’m an adult now. I won’t get lost like I did as a kid. I already asked Mom and the others, and they didn’t object.”
“It matters to me.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t want a long-distance relationship.”
Kong Yanyan widened her eyes. She must have misunderstood, right?
Fang Nianyun ruffled her hair. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking. For now, you need to focus on your studies, so after the college entrance exams are over, I’ll make it official and confess to you properly.”
“Fang Nianyun, have you lost your mind?”
“Oh, and our parents already know about this. Funny coincidence—it’s just like how your mom gave the okay for you to go to E City. She’s also fine with me pursuing you.”
“If you still haven’t changed your mind about E City a year from now, then I’ll just have to compromise. It’s only four years. I can tough it out.”
“Kong Yanyan, I’m giving you one year. A year from now, you’ll give me the answer I want to hear, won’t you?”
thanks for the translation!