When Yun Chun reached the bathroom and glanced in the mirror, she was startled by her own reflection.
Four words summed up her current state: a ghastly sight.
Her hair was the worst of it—a tangled, messy nest that fully deserved the bird’s-nest comparison. Her eyes were swollen too, but only slightly; a cold compress would fix them, and they wouldn’t affect her work today. Then her gaze drifted to her lips. She’d been drinking and crying last night, so the swollen eyes made sense, but why were her lips puffy too?
Had she bitten them too hard that morning?
Or had Lu Qingxue kissed her last night?
None of that mattered. Yun Chun thought about it for a moment and pushed the questions aside.
What really concerned her was this: She’d spent all that time talking to Lu Qingxue with her face looking like this.
So ugly.
What if Lu Qingxue thought so too?
What if Lu Qingxue found her repulsive?
She cupped a handful of water and splashed it on her face. Yun Chun’s bent posture stiffened for a moment.
The cool water cleared her foggy morning mind a bit.
Had she just been worrying about how she appeared in Lu Qingxue’s eyes?
Of course she should. She was so ugly, even she couldn’t stand to look at herself.
Yun Chun usually freshened up quickly, but today Lu Qingxue waited more than ten minutes outside before the Little One emerged from the bathroom.
Her tousled hair was now neatly combed, her features clear and composed.
When she saw Lu Qingxue, Yun Chun walked over. “Sister Qingxue.”
“Mm. Let’s eat.”
Yun Chun murmured in agreement but didn’t head straight to the dining table. Instead, she picked up her phone from the coffee table first, replying to messages as she walked over.
By the time she reached the table, she set the phone aside and stared at the bowl of white congee.
Yun Chun pressed her lips together.
After washing up, she no longer felt the excited buzz from when she’d just woken up in bed.
She had grown calm.
After all, that kiss from Lu Qingxue last night wasn’t just a kiss.
“Last night…”
Yun Chun’s gaze lifted from the congee to Lu Qingxue. Lu Qingxue knew what she wanted to say and smiled. “Eat first. We can talk after.”
Yun Chun shook her head. “Let’s talk now. Otherwise, it’ll bother me and spoil my appetite.”
Lu Qingxue gave in. “All right.”
She sat down across from Yun Chun.
The sunlight streamed in perfectly, illuminating the lush green lawn outside the window. A beam shone through the glass, landing right on the dining table.
The bright light lifted her spirits.
Their eyes met for ten seconds. In that time, Yun Chun’s mind replayed nothing but her demand for Lu Qingxue to kiss her last night. Her lips parted, and with a touch of embarrassment, she spoke:
“I’m sorry.”
Two voices sounded at once.
One hesitant, one gentle.
Yun Chun stared at Lu Qingxue in bewilderment, unsure why Lu Qingxue was apologizing to her.
Lu Qingxue lifted her eyelids with a warm gaze and explained her apology. “Last night, I kissed you when you were drunk and not fully aware.”
Yun Chun: “…”
It had been her who asked Lu Qingxue to kiss her, so why…
She bit her lip inwardly, shy but still speaking up. “I was sober.”
She didn’t want Lu Qingxue to feel guilty.
With those words out, Yun Chun’s lashes fluttered. “You don’t need to apologize.”
Then she added, “I should be the one apologizing to you. I was drunk yesterday, pestering you nonstop, and… and I made some unreasonable demands.”
The sunlight was warm, not at all harsh.
Yet it made Yun Chun unable to lift her eyes. She stared down at the congee on the table. Its perfect thickness, with the rice grains fully bloomed, promised easy digestion and a soothing warmth for the stomach. One look showed the care the cook had put into it.
After saying that, Yun Chun had more to add beyond the apology—she wanted to thank Lu Qingxue too. But as she organized her words, a laugh warmer than the sunlight rang out above her.
“Unreasonable demands?”
Yun Chun looked up, meeting Lu Qingxue’s eyes directly.
Just then, the light shifted to Yun Chun’s shoulder. Under Lu Qingxue’s gaze, Yun Chun felt like she stood in a glass house, watching summer rain gently nourish the autumn.
Yun Chun had only one sensation: She wanted to push open the glass door and step into the rain.
“If you’re referring to the kiss,” Lu Qingxue continued as Yun Chun cracked the door open in her mind, “then Little Darling… I couldn’t have wished for anything more.”
A slant breeze carried fine rain to Yun Chun’s face.
She got her rain, but it wasn’t like she’d imagined. It didn’t soak her at all. Instead, it turned into an intangible softness, gently caressing her cheeks.
Lu Qingxue’s words were the breeze; her gaze, the rain.
Yun Chun’s heart itched.
She could only murmur, “What?”
Lu Qingxue curved her eyes at her and said softly, “I already apologized earlier, but I want to say it again. Little Darling, you were so adorable last night that in my mind, I kissed you a thousand times over.”
Not in a lewd way, but an emotion Lu Qingxue wanted to control yet couldn’t.
Even after all she’d been through, nothing compared to last night’s Yun Chun. And… Lu Qingxue explained, “Because you said that liking someone means wanting to kiss them, so… I couldn’t hold back.”
Just like how she liked Yun Chun—this liking was boundless.
She’d been secretly liking Yun Chun, so she could only secretly kiss her in her thoughts.
But to her surprise, drunk Yun Chun was like an angel—or rather, Yun Chun herself was brave. Sober or drunk, she dared to voice her true feelings.
The moment Lu Qingxue saw Yun Chun hiding under the covers, she’d thought Yun Chun wanted nothing to do with her, didn’t want to face reality. But no—Yun Chun’s first words upon peeking out were a greeting.
She’d thought last night’s events would be swept under the rug, but here Yun Chun sat, serious-faced, apologizing for “harassing” her?
Setting everything else aside, Yun Chun’s habit of addressing issues head-on was something Lu Qingxue loved.
Lu Qingxue stared at Yun Chun. She’d seen this face countless times, yet each time revealed something new, drawing her to explore further.
Especially the sincerity in Yun Chun’s eyes.
It always made her want to give Yun Chun everything good in the world.
In truth, beyond that feeling, she’d chosen Yun Chun as the model for that cover because, when looking at the photo, she’d seen the desire in Yun Chun’s eyes.
Unmasked ambition, a drive to rise above.
A tiny edge star shining boldly red.
That was sincerity too.
Sincerity in showing her innermost wants.
She remembered the day she’d seen the photo but hadn’t yet chosen the model. No matter what she did, a pair of slightly rounded eyes with elongated corners lingered in her mind.
The determination and fiery desire in those eyes scorched Lu Qingxue.
Making it hard for her to let go.
That was how she’d settled on Yun Chun as the model.
That was how Yun Chun entered her heart.
In the days after, she couldn’t help buying magazines featuring Yun Chun, checking if the light in her eyes had changed.
Watching her ambition gallop like on the plains, her seriousness at work, watching…
Watching Yun Chun.
Through that long attention, she had fallen in love with Yun Chun.
Love, not mere liking.
And it began with the sincerity in Yun Chun’s eyes.
She’d thought it a pity she couldn’t see Yun Chun’s eyes while alive.
She’d wondered when Yun Chun’s eyes would hold her.
She’d wished for more time with Yun Chun, believing one day, she’d be in those eyes.
But this extra time together was enough for her.
Lu Qingxue smiled.
Her Little Darling was perfect, no matter how she looked at her.
Meeting Lu Qingxue’s smiling eyes, Yun Chun’s heart nearly leaped from her chest!
What did Lu Qingxue’s words mean?
Was that a confession?!
Sunlight poured in abundantly. Yun Chun’s lips moved. “You…”
Meeting Lu Qingxue’s amused gaze, she faltered. “As long as you don’t mind, that’s fine.”
She said it hastily, then grabbed her spoon and buried herself in the congee, shyly avoiding Lu Qingxue’s eyes.
The congee must have white sugar in it—very sweet.
The corners of Yun Chun’s mouth curved up.
The first time Lu Qingxue had cooked congee for her, she’d seen her add sugar. Since then, whenever Lu Qingxue made white congee, she added just the right amount—no need for Yun Chun to do it herself. It was perfectly sweet, not cloying, melting sweetly from her mouth to her heart.
She took another sip.
Before the sweetness faded, Yun Chun looked up at Lu Qingxue and said what she’d meant to earlier. “Sister Qingxue, thank you.”
“For what?”
“The congee is delicious.” Yun Chun paused. “And for spoiling me like this.”
“You’re young, like a little sister. Of course I have to spoil you. Otherwise…” Meeting Yun Chun’s curious gaze, Lu Qingxue smirked teasingly. “What if you cry? I wouldn’t even know how to comfort you.”
Yun Chun: “…”
She said, “I don’t cry much.”
Then she remembered yesterday’s tears and added quickly, “Yesterday was the alcohol—it stirred up my emotions.”
“All right, all right.”
As Yun Chun sipped her congee, she asked while drinking, “You don’t believe me?”
“No, you misunderstood.”
“Three ‘all rights’ sounds so perfunctory.”
“Then one?”
“Mm.”
“Good.”
Yun Chun: “……”
She lowered her eyes and blinked. “I’m so childish.”
Lu Qingxue smiled without a word. Noticing that only one last spoonful of porridge remained in Yun Chun’s bowl, she asked, “Do you want more? I’ll get it for you.”
Yun Chun rose to her feet, bowl in hand. “I’ll get it myself.”
She went on, “I’ve got arms and legs. If you keep pampering me like this, Sister Qingxue, my limbs will atrophy before long.”
Lu Qingxue let out a soft chuckle. “I can’t stay by your side forever, you know.”
Yun Chun’s steps faltered. She turned to look at Lu Qingxue.
Resting her chin in her hand, Lu Qingxue met her gaze, her eyes brimming with profound depth. “You’ll find your other half someday, won’t you?”
It felt to Yun Chun as if she’d wandered into a dead end, with no path ahead. She turned on her heel and retraced her steps.
Coming to a stop before Lu Qingxue, Yun Chun set her bowl down and touched the tip of her nose.
“Back in school, so many of my classmates were sneaking around with early romances. I was curious about what dating felt like, and sure, people confessed to me—but I never said yes to anyone. I was curious, yeah, but I never actually wanted to date.”
Yun Chun dropped her hand and looked straight at Lu Qingxue. “That way of thinking stuck with me right up to now. Who knows how much longer it will last?”
“What if you meet someone who makes your heart race?” Lu Qingxue asked.
Yun Chun let out an “uh.” “Hard to say that’d ever happen, right?”
She continued, “All these years, I’ve crossed paths with plenty of people, but I still haven’t liked any of them. Never even thought about romance. The only thing that’s ever been on my mind is making money. And Sister Qingxue? That’s still my focus—making a ton of it. Until I’ve stacked up a fortune, I’m not likely to go looking for anyone.”
Lu Qingxue felt a quiet joy upon hearing that Yun Chun had met so many people yet liked none of them—even if she herself was among that crowd.
Her deep gaze flickered. She asked, “So, how much money would count as ‘a ton’?”
There was a hole in Yun Chun’s heart that no amount could truly fill, which was why she’d settled on the vague “a lot.”
Pausing at Lu Qingxue’s question, Yun Chun replied, “No set amount. In terms of time… it might take a lifetime.”
Dark undercurrents stirred in Lu Qingxue’s eyes.
She wasn’t arrogant enough to imagine Yun Chun was vowing a lifetime to her. That “lifetime” clearly wasn’t meant for her.
Still, she had to admit the words moved her.
But lifetimes varied in length, riddled with uncertainties—and those words were uncertainty itself.
Unaware of Lu Qingxue’s inner turmoil, Yun Chun touched the tip of her nose again, a touch of awkwardness in her voice as she asked, “Besides… aren’t you my other half?”
She had owned up to it several times already, right in front of Zhu You.
