“I’ve already boiled the greens and fished them out into the bowl. Wait for the water in the pot to boil again, add some cold water once, then wait for it to boil again. Once the dumpling wrappers turn translucent, scoop them out with a slotted spoon into the bowl, ladle in some soup, and season lightly with salt and chicken bouillon. Got all those steps?”
Lou Yixuan drew out a long “Mmm”: “Teacher Lin, do you see me as some giant baby who never lifts a finger around the house?”
“If you were, I wouldn’t have let you boil the dumplings.” In her heart, Lou Yixuan was a delicately pampered girl from a wealthy upbringing, but far from a spoiled giant baby.
She had the refined air of a young lady who never dirtied her hands with chores, but none of the petulance that came with it.
If Lou Yixuan had a bratty, rude temper, she never could have fallen for her.
A little sass was perfectly normal.
“Oh, then I should thank Teacher Lin for her trust.” Lou Yixuan planted a kiss on her. “Alright, you go take a shower too. Don’t worry, I can handle it. We’ll eat together when you’re done.”
“Okay.”
Once Lin Huayan left the kitchen, Lou Yixuan kept an eye on the dumplings tumbling in the pot while checking the new message from Du Heming.
The first one was dozens of [Ah]s.
The second: [Lou Lou, you’re not leaving, right? You’re staying with Teacher Lin and not going back to Australia, yeah? ]
[Lou Yixuan: Where my girlfriend is, that’s where I am [cute] ]
[Du Heming: Yes yes yes, jackpot! Our Lou Lou finally has a girlfriend [celebration] ]
The water in the pot came to a boil, and Lou Yixuan added a splash of cool water with the ladle.
In her good mood, everything felt joyful—even the bubbling water and rolling dumplings seemed to bubble “Congratulations!” at her.
[Lou Yixuan: What about you two? Everything okay after last night? ]
[Du Heming: Pretty good, don’t worry. So, us four—dinner in the cafeteria next Thursday? ]
[Lou Yixuan: Sure, dinner works. Teacher Lin doesn’t have time at lunch. ]
[Du Heming: ok ]
[Du Heming: Lou Lou, I’m so happy for you, truly. Wishing you and Teacher Lin all the best! ]
[Lou Yixuan: Wishing brighter days ahead for you too—the fog lifts, clouds part. ]
Lin Huayan finished her quick rinse in just ten minutes.
Two place settings waited on the table. The veggie dumplings looked plain, but to Lin Huayan, they shone with the simple glow of everyday happiness.
It was the most “What a great day” morning since she’d moved into this place—even if the clock meant it was barely still morning.
“You’re done? Perfect timing—the dumplings are ready too.” Lou Yixuan set down her charging phone and walked over from the sofa.
“Not too much salt, right?”
“How could there be?”
Lou Yixuan almost shot back, Worried I’d mix up the salt and chicken bouillon? But then—ding—a thought hit her. She held out both hands toward Lin Huayan. “Teacher Lin, scared I’ll have shaky hands?”
Lin Huayan hadn’t expected her offhand comment to spark teasing: “Don’t overthink it. Eat.”
It was only in the shower that she’d noticed the countless marks on her body.
From her shoulders down to her thighs, they were everywhere.
But every one avoided anywhere exposed—”careful and cautious” enough that she didn’t even need to remind her.
How does she have so much experience?
“Mad at me?” Seeing her odd expression, Lou Yixuan hurried to apologize. “I’ll watch my words from now on. No more of that.”
Lin Huayan shook her head and pulled her to sit: “It’s fine at home.”
A little spicy pillow talk between lovers was flirtatious fun. She felt embarrassed, sure, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t accept.
She was just wondering…
Wondering how Lou Yixuan adapted so quickly, how she was so skilled and…
Lou Yixuan, spooked by Lin Huayan’s sudden mood shift, anxiously scanned her collar and neck, relieved to see no visible marks.
She’d bitten a bit hard, maybe too much, but not to the point of scandal. She had to protect Lin Huayan’s dignity.
They sat side by side, Lou Yixuan to Lin Huayan’s right.
After Lin Huayan zoned out a moment, she saw Lou Yixuan not touching her chopsticks and reached to stroke her hair: “I’m not mad.”
The touch felt like a full pardon to Lou Yixuan.
“Am I getting too cocky, taking advantage of your favor?”
“Even carried away with it.”
“No.” Lin Huayan soothed her. “Even if you are, it’s fine with me.”
What truly bothered her wasn’t the bites and marks. But how could she voice these worries?
Like Lou Yixuan said, on their first full day together, did she really want to pick a fight?
“Anything goes, really?” Lou Yixuan covered her hand. “But I felt you get unhappy for that split second.”
“Not unhappy—just thinking. Be good, eat the dumplings first. I’ll talk after.”
“…” The words “talk about something” put Lou Yixuan on high alert. The bed was the only place she could have her way with Lin Huayan.
She chewed slowly and finished, inwardly cursing her bold mouth. Off the bed, she shouldn’t get so wild.
Lou Yixuan cleared the bowls: “I’ll wash them.”
Lin Huayan stopped her: “No gloves at home. I’ll do it.”
“I checked—it’s neutral dish soap, gentle and non-irritating. I’ll try it.”
Everything Lin Huayan could buy for her, she had—even if she’d “forgotten” dish gloves. Lin Huayan just didn’t want her doing dishes. Good thing she’d scoped the soap earlier while boiling dumplings.
Her love for Lin Huayan was for building a life together, not just chasing bed pleasures. She couldn’t let Lin Huayan spoil her forever—she was nearly thirty.
“Good observation skills.” Lin Huayan let go with a smile. “No crying to me if you get a rash.”
“I won’t cry. Bet you stocked allergy meds too, right?”
“Little smarty.”
A few lighthearted exchanges, and they were beaming again.
Lou Yixuan headed to the kitchen to wash dishes. Lin Huayan opened the fridge and called over the wall: “Lunch: stir-fried asparagus with pork, pickled lotus root, tomato egg soup. Quick to make. What do you want for dinner? Name it.”
“Dinner…” Lou Yixuan thought. “Braised pork ribs with shiitake mushrooms.”
“Got it.”
“And cabbage tofu hotpot.”
“Sure.”
“Just those two. No need to splurge.”
Lou Yixuan had class at one, so even without prep, she’d need to leave by 12:20 at latest.
It was farther from Lin Huayan’s place to Haifan than from her apartment.
But she only went to Haifan a few times a week anyway—no big deal.
Lin Huayan gathered lunch ingredients for the kitchen. Lou Yixuan finished the dishes about then, dried her hands, and asked: “Want me to prep the lotus root and tomatoes?”
“No rush. Hang laundry first.”
“Oh.”
They went to the utility balcony together, hanging sheets and clothes side by side.
Done, Lou Yixuan looked up with a dopey grin.
Lin Huayan figured she was scheming something naughty again, ditched her for the living room—but got pulled back into a hug.
“This is great.”
She heard Lou Yixuan murmur by her ear: “Lin Huayan, this is great. Our clothes are finally hanging on the same balcony. I’m so happy.”
Hearing that, Lin Huayan felt ashamed.
Ashamed for always misreading Lou Yixuan’s heart, ashamed for her pre-breakfast overthinking.
She hugged back: “As long as you’re happy. I am too.”
Since that brief spring night years ago, Lou Yixuan had yearned for this embrace for nearly a decade. Now that she had it, she wanted to cling every second.
Lin Huayan loved the hugs too, but with a touch more restraint.
“Come on, inside. Time to talk.”
“…”
Back in the living room, Lin Huayan sent Lou Yixuan to the sofa and went to the bedroom to put on her glasses.
Lou Yixuan puzzled, racking her brain over recent events for any slip-ups that might earn a scolding.
She couldn’t figure it. They’d just had their loving night—how’d it turn back to lamb-in-wolf’s-den, danger everywhere?
Lin Huayan was so soft in bed; how’d she turn sharp off it?
Lost in thought, she saw Lin Huayan emerge with glasses on, hair tied back—not grade director vibes, but full disciplinarian mode.
Swap the silver ice-silk loungewear for a matching silk blouse, and it’d be perfect.
She pinched her thigh to snap out of it.
Stiffly pointing at the display case: “Teacher Lin, that Disney Castle—when did you buy and build it? How long’d it take?”
“Curious?”
Lin Huayan barely glanced at the case, sat beside her. “You answer my question first.”
“Wh-what question?”
Lou Yixuan’s thigh-pinching left hand got caught in Lin Huayan’s right. She nearly confessed on the spot—admit the “decided to go back to Australia” thing was nonsense, twisted by them.
It wasn’t some ploy like “playing hard to get” or “long line for big fish.”
“Why so nervous?”
Lin Huayan rubbed her hand’s back. “Weren’t you bold bullying me last night and this morning?”
“…” Didn’t sound like settling scores.
“Yixuan, what I want to ask is this.”
She hadn’t just gone for glasses—she’d grabbed something else.
Which now sat in her left palm: Lou Yixuan’s earphone case.
Lin Huayan had noted her ears under the hair—bare since waking: “I didn’t open it. Want to tell me yourself.”
Lou Yixuan froze a beat, then exhaled slowly: “You scared me. Thought you were gonna settle last night’s accounts.”
She took the case, flipped it open one-handed, and smiled at Lin Huayan: “Take a look.”
Lin Huayan hesitated, recalling Lou Yixuan once wiping earbuds with a whole pack of sanitizing wipes.
Catching the pause, Lou Yixuan took out both earbuds and placed them in her palm: “You can touch anything of mine. Look first, then I’ll explain.”
Only then did Lin Huayan examine them closely, turning each over. Nothing special—they didn’t match the hearing aids she’d seen or searched online.
She lingered longest on the right one.
“You’re not wrong.”
Abruptly, Lou Yixuan snatched them back, straddled Lin Huayan’s lap. “My ears do have a problem.”
Lin Huayan instinctively gripped her lower back, heart leaping.
Before she could ask, Lou Yixuan went on: “Car accident a few years back. Permanent damage to my right auditory nerve. Treated for ages, no real improvement. I wear hearing aids usually—doesn’t affect chatting or daily life.”
Seeing heartache well in Lin Huayan’s eyes, Lou Yixuan removed her glasses and kissed each one.
“Teacher Lin, don’t be sad. Don’t cry like I did last night. I haven’t finished. If you cry, I can’t go on.”
How could she not ache hearing her love had been in a crash, lost hearing from it?
Even prepared, the grief piercing her soul lingered.
Lin Huayan tightened her arms, eyes squeezed shut against the tears.
“It’s nothing. I’m used to it, don’t care if people know about my hearing impairment. I didn’t tell you all before not because I can’t face it, but no real need.”
Of course, there was a tiny factor just for Lin Huayan.
Feared her pity mixing into their time together, tainting their love.
But now they were together—hiding her hearing issue would be dishonest.
“Don’t cry, okay? I’ll keep going?” Lou Yixuan’s lips left her eyes, stubbornly waiting for them to open. “Teacher Lin, open up so I can see.”
Lin Huayan’s eyes cracked half-open, shimmering with tears.
Nose to nose: “Alright, alright. Full confession, so no one says I’m bullying you again.”
“At first, the hearing aids I wore were the ordinary kind you see everywhere. I went to school as usual, lived my life as usual, and didn’t face too many inconveniences. But later, as more and more people took notice of my work—both in the industry and the media—some always tried to exploit my hearing impairment as a gimmick, hyping it up for publicity.”
“I hated that kind of behavior, even felt repulsed by it, but I couldn’t let something so petty ruin my entire art career. That would’ve been such a waste.”
“On my 24th birthday that year, Kinla gave me a pair of custom earphones. She pulled in a ton of connections and resources to have them tailor-made for me—a hearing aid and Bluetooth earphones designed just for my needs.”
“The pair I have now is the second one she gave me, for my 26th birthday last year.”
“These two earpieces serve completely different purposes—one in the realm of medical technology, the other in digital tech. They had to match perfectly in material and appearance, maximize their individual functions, and share the same charging case. Not just anyone with money can buy something like this.”
“I cherish them deeply, not only because they’re priceless, but because they let me be ‘that young painter named Lou Yixuan’ again, instead of ‘that female painter with a hearing disability.’ No longer does every new friend I meet get distracted by the hearing aids on my ears at first glance, casting looks of pity for my ill-fated life or admiration for my physically disabled but strong-willed spirit. That kind of attention always troubled me, to some degree.”
“Everyone has a love for beauty, just like how people enjoy doing makeup to cover facial flaws or wearing nice clothes to hide body imperfections. I’m just wearing a good-looking pair of hearing aids to cover my hearing flaw—nothing more.”
Lou Yixuan paused, then asked playfully, “Teacher Lin, you even said I looked good this morning, so it’s okay if I’m a little vain and love beauty, right?”
What’s not okay about that?
“Of course.”
Lin Huayan tilted her head up slightly, her right hand still cupped around Lou Yixuan’s waist, her left hand sliding gradually upward. “Let me kiss your ear.”
Lou Yixuan had dodged her several times over this right ear, but Kinla had touched it—did that mean she couldn’t?
“You said just a few minutes ago that everything of yours is mine to touch as I please.”
Lou Yixuan’s chest rose and fell more rapidly, as if steeling herself mentally. Finally, when Lin Huayan’s fingers brushed her earlobe from the side of her face, she shivered.
“Wait!”
She tossed aside the glasses and earphones she’d been clutching.
Grabbing Lin Huayan’s left hand, her heartbeat erratic and breath quickening, she stammered, “This ear of mine…”
![[GL]Whose Wife Is Always Acting Pitiful? Oh, It Turns Out It’s Mine](https://i2.wp.com/dobytranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/wiffff.png?resize=151,215 "[GL]Whose Wife Is Always Acting Pitiful? Oh, It Turns Out It’s Mine")
