Because Wen Zhixu was at the set helping Wang Yun revise the script, Su Yun had no way to handle the plot that Tang Qin had added on her end. Things had turned into an ugly mess. They’d already shot more than half the scenes, and dragging it out wasn’t an option, so Wen Zhixu tried helping out with some revisions.
As a result, she arrived at Song Yi’s place a bit later than Jian Shichu. It had been since that previous incident that Wen Zhixu was formally meeting Song Yi today.
Song Yi had also learned about them making up. Because of the earlier mix-up, Wen Zhixu felt a bit awkward on her face when she saw Song Yi.
When Jian Shichu asked where Bai Xue was, Song Yi glanced down at the time on her phone and replied, “She said she’d be a little late.”
Song Yi was in a tough spot right now. She hadn’t told Bai Xue about the rumors at school. These matters were like a ticking time bomb buried somewhere in the Song Family—ignoring it would lead to an explosion.
They were just chatting about this when Song Yanling got back from school. As soon as she entered, she was holding a box in her arms. When she took off her backpack, she glanced at Wen Zhixu and said obediently, “We have a guest? Hello, big sister.”
Song Yanling had delicate features. When she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents. As soon as she took off her backpack, Auntie reached out to take it.
Wen Zhixu looked at the child. On the surface, she didn’t seem as mischievous as Jian Shichu had described.
“Song Yanling, go stay in your room.” Song Yi lifted her chin, pointing toward the stairs.
Song Yanling plopped down right next to Jian Shichu. “No, I’ll stay right here.” She shoved the box into Jian Shichu’s arms.
“Doudou-jie, I bought a gift for you.”
Of course, she wouldn’t give a gift for no reason at all. She still felt guilty about causing Jian Shichu to get hurt last time. The box was wrapped in colorful paper with a butterfly knot on top.
Jian Shichu took a look and said, “I’ll accept it.”
“Open it and see if you like it,” Song Yanling followed up immediately.
So Jian Shichu opened the gift from Song Yanling right in front of them. Inside the box was a keychain with small imperfections at the corners—it was a handmade ornament.
“Very pretty,” Jian Shichu said, looking at her. “Thanks.”
Wen Zhixu was sitting next to Jian Shichu. Jian Shichu leaned toward her, and the keychain was indeed well-made. The little doll was sewn by hand; it must have taken a lot of effort.
Song Yanling smiled at that. “As long as you like it.” She reached out to collect the wrapping box and placed it on the table.
Casually, she asked, “Where’s Bai Xue-jie?”
At this, Jian Shichu didn’t speak right away. After a pause, she replied, “On her way.”
Song Yanling was busy with what she was holding and just went “oh,” then glanced at Wen Zhixu before asking, “So Xiao Xu-jie is your girlfriend, right?”
Jian Shichu’s brows furrowed. She looked at Song Yi. How was she supposed to answer? She hadn’t talked about her private matters in front of Song Yanling.
“Song Yanling, shut your mouth,” Song Yi scolded her before Jian Shichu could speak.
Song Yanling didn’t care at all. “What’s so weird about that? Girlfriend’s just girlfriend. What’s there to hide? Doudou-jie is a top, right? I’ve known that for a while.”
Her words left the three others in the room silent. Wen Zhixu looked at Jian Shichu but said nothing, feeling both amused and exasperated.
Jian Shichu’s breathing hitched for a moment. The comment made her face look unpleasant. She lightly raised her brows, let out a slow breath, and said, “I’m going out for some air.”
“Song Yanling, back to your room right now.” Song Yi spoke up to stop Song Yanling’s carefree attitude.
“Fine, fine, fine.” Song Yanling popped the peeled gum into her mouth, stood up, turned around, and ran out the door in two or three steps. The living room connected to a small garden in the back.
Song Yi saw her chasing after Jian Shichu and got angry, her expression changing. Normally, she wouldn’t be too anxious, but the situation was different now.
Wen Zhixu could sense something faintly off. “Have some water.”
Song Yi picked up her cup and nodded. “Sorry about that, Xiao Xu.”
“No worries.” Wen Zhixu smiled lightly and turned her head to look out the door. She could only see a corner of the garden.
The potted plant in the corner had withered. Song Yanling had stuck a little sign into the flowerpot, with the crooked words “little tomato” written on it.
Jian Shichu had just looked away when she saw Song Yanling chasing after her. The girl was leaning against the doorframe.
“Doudou-jie, you don’t need to hide.” Song Yanling stepped down, counting the steps as she slid down.
Jian Shichu gave her a flat look but didn’t say anything. Ever since Song Yi had mentioned this today, looking at Song Yanling felt a bit strange.
Song Yanling said, “Last time, I saw the ‘Happy Mid-Autumn’ on your phone. Is Bai Xue-jie still mad at me?”
“I don’t know, but last time, you really did upset her.” Jian Shichu avoided certain sensitive topics. Although Song Yanling had just turned adult, she still felt like the girl was a kid.
Thinking about it, it was the year she turned nineteen when she first met Wen Zhixu. Song Yanling was just a year younger. Could she distinguish between likes? She seemed to understand the definition of liking someone.
The first glance was at the school gate. Someone had called out “Wen Zhixu,” making her unable to resist turning back for a look. Wen Zhixu stood under the shade of the trees, gentle and serene, avoiding the light.
The second glance was in the classroom. This relationship had progressed slowly—from classmates to friends to lovers, like a rock climbing trip up a mountain. It was easy to forget the process and only remember the outcome.
Song Yanling stood there for a good while and asked, “What if she doesn’t forgive me? I’m a bit at a loss here.” She looked a little dejected in the autumn breeze.
Jian Shichu glanced at her. “She will.”
After all, some people were still young. Jian Shichu understood Bai Xue—tough on the outside, but she wouldn’t truly hold it against Song Yanling. Though what Song Yanling was thinking was probably different from Bai Xue.
It was just past six when the food was served.
Song Yanling came down from upstairs, drawn by the smell. Halfway down, her gaze wasn’t on the dining table. Instead, she walked down from the corner, occasionally glancing toward the living room.
Only Song Yi and Wen Zhixu noticed the change in her eyes. The doorbell rang, and Song Yanling’s gaze shifted.
It was Jian Shichu who opened the door. When Bai Xue entered, Song Yanling came down from upstairs. The whole atmosphere turned strange. The younger one didn’t know any better, while the more mature ones seemed to vaguely avoid something.
Until everyone sat at the same table, Bai Xue didn’t ask about Jian Shichu and Wen Zhixu. The reason was simple—with Song Yanling there, they wouldn’t talk about those things.
Halfway through the meal, Song Yanling leaned in and asked Wen Zhixu, “Xiao Xu-jie, now that you’re in Chongqing, do your friends from Suzhou come visit you often?”
Wen Zhixu thought for a moment and smiled. “I don’t have any particularly close friends.”
Bai Xue, who had been eating with her head down, looked up and met Song Yi’s eyes. Then both turned their gazes to Wen Zhixu. Having no friends didn’t seem strange, but it also felt very strange.
“Huh? What about your high school classmates? Don’t you keep in touch?” Song Yanling pressed on. To her, who had a little clique, it sounded like big news.
The mood fell silent for a moment. Jian Shichu was just about to speak.
Wen Zhixu continued, “We don’t keep in touch anymore. I wasn’t very sociable in high school, but I do have one online friend I’ve never met.”
She spoke in a way that was similar to how she wrote her stories—a slow, lingering sense of desolation, narrating the romance of words.
“I’m pretty boring. I don’t go out to play or join activities.” Wen Zhixu said it lightly, with a faint smile, and set down her chopsticks.
Song Yanling got interested and kept asking, “Xiao Xu-jie, you have an online friend too? What if it’s a scammer?”
“It’s not. She’s also an author at Jiuqu Magazine.” Wen Zhixu was very calm about it.
Jian Shichu didn’t ask anything upon hearing this. Instead, it was the thick-skinned Song Yanling who kept gossiping. “Peanut, right!”
Song Yi was drinking soup, and her spoon clinked against the bowl rim. Amid the sound, Wen Zhixu slowly nodded. “Yeah.”
Jian Shichu just looked at her without speaking, a look of relief appearing on her face.
Throughout the rest of the meal, Song Yanling remained the most lively. It was a bit like youthful recklessness—drawing someone’s attention in a unique way. This feeling was really nice, without needing to play the adult game of hiding and testing repeatedly.
In the following week, Song Yi decided to send Song Yanling abroad and started busying herself with it.
Wen Zhixu also deleted Wu Yang. She didn’t dwell on the ins and outs of the matter or care what kind of person Wu Yang really was—none of it had anything to do with her.
In the deep autumn nights of Chongqing, the mist was thick. Jian Shichu had just come out of Mid-Mountain Restaurant and was standing by her car. The manager followed behind, reporting, “This guy has had several girlfriends before. It’s easy to dig up. The main thing is, every girlfriend he dated knew he had a fiancée.”
“Fiancée? What kind of word is that?” Jian Shichu was furious upon hearing this. “Did he tell people that himself?”
“No smoke without fire. That’s how it’s rumored—childhood betrothal.”
Jian Shichu felt like she’d heard the biggest joke. Facing the wind, she took a breath of cool air and asked, “Does he have a mental illness?”
Jian Shichu had looked into it that day. Yun Xiaoli was a mess of trouble. She’d slept with Wu Yang but it wasn’t a big deal. Wanting to secure her position, she’d come to Chongqing looking for Wen Zhixu and ended up getting thoroughly cursed out.
The manager said, “Maybe. That’s all there is to it.”
This person was spreading everywhere that he had an engagement with Wen Zhixu, using her name to boost his own face. Wu Yang was actually very confident that he would marry Wen Zhixu. At the same time, he didn’t care at all whether they needed to get to know each other.
This kind of marriage arrangement was just like: I happen to need to get married, and you happen to fit the bill. Dealing with someone like this was truly tricky.
Jian Shichu hadn’t taken the man to heart at all. She’d only heard about this from Yun Xiaoli, and then today the store manager had filled in the rest of the gossip. Suddenly, she wasn’t happy anymore.
She’d been thinking about it the whole way out of the Mid-Mountain Restaurant—afraid, very helpless, not daring to think any further. This matter seemed impossible to resolve both ways.
At night, with lights flashing red and wine flowing green, Ziwei Road faced the dry wind that clung to her hair strands without any gentleness. Wen Zhixu stood by the roadside. When she saw Jian Shichu’s car, she stepped forward and raised her hand to signal her position.
The car pulled over to the side. She pulled open the door and got in. She had always been very afraid of the cold, and with the weather like this, Jian Shichu had the AC on. As soon as she got in, a blast of hot air blew right at her face.
The back of Jian Shichu’s hand brushed her face. “Why didn’t you wait inside?”
As she spoke, she parked the car and took hold of Wen Zhixu’s hand to warm it up.
Wen Zhixu said, “It takes a few minutes to walk out from inside. It’s inconvenient for you to park.”
“Alright, let’s go.” She drew her hand back and fastened her seatbelt. Her phone dinged. Wen Zhixu buckled her seatbelt with one hand while holding the phone in the other.
Jian Shichu said, “Then straight to my place.”
As the car started up, Wen Zhixu didn’t respond. She stared at the content on her phone screen, her pupils contracting in shock. “Wait.”
Her heart skipped a few beats. Jian Shichu looked at her, full of confusion.
“Go to the hospital first.” Wen Zhixu turned the phone screen toward her.
