The river murmured gently, its flowing surface like a shattered galaxy of stars.
And the moon hung right before their eyes.
After Yun Chun finished speaking, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Her eyes curved into delighted crescents as she grinned foolishly, staring at Lu Qingxue.
She laughed because Lu Qingxue was so beautiful.
She laughed because the puzzle she’d mulled over for two days had suddenly revealed its answer right there.
She did need to get drunk after all.
Self-deception was no match for alcohol.
Yun Chun tilted her head back, her elongated eyes tinged with a peachy blush—the handiwork of the liquor.
Gazing at Lu Qingxue before her, the heavy fullness in her heart slowly poured out. “You’re really good to me, truly. But it’s so strange—I never realized all these kindnesses until now.”
“First off, let me say, I’m not some dimwit…”
Lu Qingxue let out a soft chuckle. “Mm.”
Yun Chun stared at Lu Qingxue’s smile, momentarily dazed. A few seconds later, she laughed too. “What was that ‘mm’ for?”
Lu Qingxue arched her brows in surprise. Spotting the clear signs of drunkenness on Yun Chun’s face, she knew her friend had zoned out. After a moment’s thought, she replied, “Mm, you’re not a dimwit.”
“Oh, right.” Her train of thought, derailed by Lu Qingxue’s smile, snapped back into place. Remembering what she’d meant to say, she pursed her lips and pressed on. “Deep down, I knew about your kindness, but I never truly appreciated it. It felt just like…”
Yun Chun paused, then declared firmly, “Like air.”
In the comfortable autumn evening breeze, amplified by her drunken haze, Yun Chun’s head swam as she spoke, her words almost slurring into sleep. But after uttering those two words, she lifted her eyelids and stared straight at Lu Qingxue.
She continued, “When I suddenly realize I’m breathing, my first instinct is to hold my breath—to see how long I can last without air.”
That was why she’d played ostrich for two days.
Not even a full two days, really.
All told, it hadn’t even been five hours.
Just like how she couldn’t hold her breath for more than a minute.
She couldn’t stop breathing. She couldn’t be without Lu Qingxue.
As Yun Chun gazed at her, she caught a flicker of surprise in Lu Qingxue’s eyes once she’d finished speaking. It seemed Lu Qingxue hadn’t expected that comparison—air, something utterly indispensable. Did that mean she occupied that same irreplaceable place in Yun Chun’s heart?
But Yun Chun mistook the surprise for judgment on her behavior. She touched her burning cheeks. “Pretty childish reaction, huh?”
She grinned sheepishly. “Don’t make fun of me.”
As she spoke, Yun Chun’s gaze, fixed on Lu Qingxue’s face, zeroed in on one spot—her lips.
In that moment, there were no impure thoughts in Yun Chun’s mind, only pure admiration. She stared as if they were the world’s most delicate pink masterpiece, more mesmerizing than the lights dancing on the river’s surface.
Those lips curved into a smile before her. Then, as though the heavens’ finest carving had sprung to life, they parted slightly and spoke to her. “Why would I make fun of you? I’m thrilled you can show me your purest, most genuine self.”
“In front of me, you can be as innocently carefree as you like.”
Lu Qingxue’s voice flowed like a gentle breeze rustling willow leaves—light and airy, yet piercing straight to the heart.
The words struck Yun Chun’s heart like a meteor streaking down.
The impact drowned out every other sound.
She went momentarily deaf.
Her eyes grew all the more sensitive.
Her reddened eye sockets marked the first outlet for emotions with nowhere else to go. Dampness gathered at the roots of her lashes as Yun Chun’s voice cracked with a sob. “Lu Qingxue.”
Hearing the Little One on the verge of tears, Lu Qingxue asked, panic laced with amusement, “What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”
Yun Chun sniffed and shook her head. “No.”
Yun Chun wore a long, grape-purple evening gown. A necklace of scattered diamonds gleamed faintly red around her neck. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, strands dancing wildly in the wind. Drunk and with hazy eyes, she carried far more mature allure than usual.
She no longer resembled the kid in shorts and a t-shirt, legs folded under her on the sofa as she chomped an apple.
Lu Qingxue’s gaze softened. She’d always called Yun Chun the Little One, but she’d grown up, hadn’t she?
And yet, in this profoundly womanly moment, Yun Chun kicked off her high heels. Her feet pressed into the bunched fabric of her skirt on the bench, her round toes curling tight with tension. She hugged her legs close and buried her face in the crook of her arms.
Once more the ostrich, shrinking into herself.
Lu Qingxue heard a faint sob escape from that hiding spot, followed by a muffled, “You’re so good to me… how am I ever supposed to repay you?”
Lu Qingxue blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected tears over something like that.
But it made perfect sense. Yun Chun had spent years fending for herself in society, surviving the cutthroat fashion world where self-interest ruled and relationships without strings were rare. Naturally, she viewed all bonds as transactional—favors owed and repaid. That was the norm in life, but for someone like Yun Chun, it ran deeper, forming the very boundary of how she navigated the world.
Lu Qingxue let out a silent sigh and reached out to grasp Yun Chun’s arm.
Her cool palm, against the still-warm early autumn evening, felt like devouring ice cream beside a roaring fire.
The sensation drew Yun Chun’s attention. She lifted her head, sniffing, and a single unshed tear tumbled free in that instant, splattering onto her purple skirt and blooming into a deeper stain.
Seeing it happen, Lu Qingxue spoke more slowly. “If I said I wouldn’t hold it against you if I wasn’t happy, would you yield to me when we disagreed?”
Yun Chun’s head was already spinning from the alcohol; crying made it worse. She blinked, her tear-soaked lashes clumping together in wet clusters.
To Lu Qingxue, she looked utterly adorable.
The same woman who’d sworn she never cried had bared her vulnerability before her several times now, every bit as pure as her innocence.
A passerby on the path spotted Yun Chun crying and offered her a tissue, asking if she needed help. Yun Chun shook her head and murmured her thanks.
Once they were gone, Yun Chun’s thoughts began to clear a little. She replied, “I haven’t yielded to you.”
In her heart, it had always been Lu Qingxue tolerating her.
Lu Qingxue smiled. “That’s not the point. Under those terms, would you yield to me?”
Yun Chun hesitated. “You don’t seem like someone who needs me to yield.”
Utterly patient, Lu Qingxue pressed gently, “Would you?”
This time, Yun Chun answered, “Yes.”
Yielding… wasn’t that just another word for tolerating?
If Lu Qingxue could tolerate her, then of course she could yield in turn.
Sometimes, over little things and with someone who treated you well, there was no need to cling so stubbornly to your own opinions.
Lu Qingxue hummed in acknowledgment, then asked, “And if kissing you gave me no energy at all, would you still burn incense to keep me from kissing you out of fear?”
Yun Chun nodded without a second thought. “Yeah…”
Only afterward did she wonder: Was she actually afraid of Lu Qingxue kissing her?
She didn’t think so.
The no-kissing thing was just because they were friends.
Oblivious to Yun Chun’s inner musings, Lu Qingxue posed her final question. “When you did all that, did you ever think about making me repay the favor?”
Yun Chun’s arms loosened around her legs. A gust of evening wind swept by, lifting her skirt in a playful wave goodbye.
Amid the breeze, her mind sharpened a fraction. She answered, “No.”
“Neither have I.”
Lu Qingxue followed right up.
Yun Chun stared at her in a daze.
Lu Qingxue reached out and brushed Yun Chun’s bangs aside, smiling. “Little Darling, I’ve never once thought about you repaying me for anything.”
“My decisions came purely from instinct, with no thought to the consequences.”
“Being good to you is such a small thing for me—so everyday and natural, like…” Her fingertip wiped away the tear at Yun Chun’s eye, then she bent her knuckle to lightly boop her nose, chuckling softly. “Like air.”
The air hung thick with moisture, laced with the faint scent of flowers drifting from the far shore.
“Though it was instinct, it’s not because I’m some saint. My motives were selfish too—like breathing to stay alive. I was good to you because it fulfilled something in me.”
Lu Qingxue cupped Yun Chun’s cheeks. “So, you silly thing, don’t feel any pressure. Don’t worry about repaying me, okay?”
The final word carried a note of negotiation, but it brooked no refusal.
Yun Chun nuzzled into Lu Qingxue’s hand. The cool touch soothed her feverish cheeks. Reluctant to let go, yet afraid Lu Qingxue might pull away unnoticed, she lifted her arms from her legs and pinned Lu Qingxue’s arm in place.
Lu Qingxue watched her. Before she could speak, Yun Chun’s voice came, brimming with coquettish charm: “Sister Lu…”
The streetlamp behind the bench flickered twice and went dark.
Framed in purple, Yun Chun’s elongated eyes gleamed with seductive allure. “I’ll do as you say. I’ve stopped thinking about all that. Now there’s only one thing on my mind.”
“I want to kiss you,” Yun Chun said.
The river flowed before the bench like a swell of hidden emotions.
The pale moonlight was the only thing Yun Chun yearned to seize in that moment.
“Will you let me?” Yun Chun asked.
Lu Qingxue knew she shouldn’t ask for reasons right then. She should just nod. But remembering her bet with Qian Shan—and looking at the woman before her, so thoroughly drunk—she asked anyway.
“Why do you want to kiss me?”
The soft murmur scattered Yun Chun’s thoughts.
But the misty air soon gathered them back.
A single phrase surfaced in her mind.
That was her answer.
Sister Xing had said that liking someone meant wanting to kiss her the moment you saw her. And right now, Yun Chun felt a little urge to kiss Lu Qingxue.
But the words twisted on her tongue at the last moment. “Because it’s been two days since I lit incense for you.”
Yun Chun gave a small nod. “I need to give you a kiss.”
The light in Lu Qingxue’s eyes dimmed, just like the lamp extinguished behind her.
Yet the gentleness remained in her gaze. She said, “Little Darling, you’re drunk.”
“Yeah!” Yun Chun laughed. “Drinking makes you drunk, doesn’t it?”
“So that’s just drunk talk.”
Yun Chun paused for a moment before adding, “But it’s also the truth.”
Her head was spinning as she leaned sideways against Lu Qingxue’s shoulder. “I really do want to kiss you.”
Yun Chun gazed out at the river, her arms wrapped around her drawn-up knees. Lu Qingxue’s shoulder was her anchor as she murmured, “I want to go home too… back to the home where you are.”
Lu Qingxue’s eyes deepened, shimmering with emotion as she turned to look at her.
At that moment, Yun Chun lifted her head and met her gaze. Staring into Lu Qingxue’s eyes, she could almost hear the sound of rain falling. She smiled, raising her arm as if to catch the raindrops. Instead, her fingers brushed a hanging willow branch. She gripped it lightly and accidentally tugged down a single willow leaf. Yun Chun glanced up, then withdrew her hand. She studied the leaf for a few seconds before holding it out to Lu Qingxue. “Here, for you.”
A leaf just like your eyes.
Tears shimmered in Lu Qingxue’s eyes, a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She didn’t ask why Yun Chun was giving it to her. In a soft voice, she simply said, “All right.”
The moment Lu Qingxue took the leaf, Yun Chun blinked up at her, her tone sweet and obedient. “When we get home, I’ll brush my teeth. Once the alcohol smell is gone, then…”
She asked, “Will you let me kiss you?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Yun Chun heard a soft chuckle. Then a shadow fell across her vision.
Finally, her lips were brushed by two petals of lips, soft and cool like snow lotus.
When she came back to herself, Lu Qingxue’s voice rang in her ears: “All right.”
