Chapter 66 Part 1

Chapter 66: Ah Huan and I are dating!

Su Ye’s mind couldn’t quite process it, and she thought sluggishly: What else is there to learn? Isn’t it just these things?

But since Yue Chengqi said she was going to teach her something new, then it must be something new.

Red lips drew near, and two pairs of warm, moist petals pressed together slowly and deliberately. In the confined space, they exchanged shallow breaths, a slow flow that gradually merged them until they were indistinguishable from one another.

By the time Su Ye regained her senses and realized the state they were in, staring at Yue Chengqi in shock, fingers glistening slightly were already pressing gently against the corner of her eye, slowly rubbing the dark red mark there.

“How was it? Did you learn?”

Su Ye closed her eyes shamefully, struggling to squeeze out two words from her ragged breath, “Ah Huan…”

“Mhm.” The other person’s breathing was likewise unsteady as she responded with difficulty.

As the fireworks symbolizing the New Year bloomed outside the window, Yue Chengqi pulled her up to sit. Tilting her head, she gently kissed her ragged breath, muffling her soft cries and moans almost simultaneously. They lay down on the bed together, their breathing slowing down.

Soon, someone wrapped their arms around Su Ye’s waist from behind. With just this casual touch, her breathing already faltered, but the lingering heat of the night was still building within her body, enough to sustain one more eruption.

Su Ye soon curled up completely. Pressed against her back was someone soft, but it was this very soft person who was detonating the little sanity she had left, until she was no longer curved like a vine but instead stretched taut. After she breathed with difficulty…

That person let her go, merely pressing a hand gently against her still-twitching lower abdomen.

By her ear, like a low murmur, “The accounts are settled. Next time, we’ll start counting from the beginning again.”

A moment later, Su Ye struggled to turn around and lay against Yue Chengqi’s chest, biting her chin. “You still haven’t said those words yet…”

Yue Chengqi looked down at her and smiled helplessly, her voice raspy, “Ah Ye, Happy New Year.”

“I love you.”

She received no response, but the young girl curled her lips and fell asleep, resting contentedly against her chest.

The next day was the first day of the Lunar New Year. In An City, it was a day for visiting relatives; business would be slightly slower than on New Year’s Eve, but it was still decent.

However, there was no need to head out so early anymore; they could sleep until they woke up naturally. It was a rare holiday in the year for those in business.

The two people holding each other were woken up by a large string of firecrackers set off by some unknown household. Yue Chengqi counted them with her eyes still closed and let out a pained groan. “That has to be at least a hundred and fifty bangs. Weren’t they banned? Which family is being so extravagant this year?”

The person in her arms curled up and said irritably, “It’s deafening. It’s the New Year; won’t they let people sleep?”

They both stared blankly for a moment before it finally registered. Su Ye opened her eyes. “It’s the first day of the New Year! We haven’t given our New Year greetings yet!”

Yue Chengqi rubbed her head. “…The people next door probably aren’t up yet either. Don’t worry.”

Still feeling a bit drowsy, she let go of her arm and rolled over, lying flat as she rubbed her eyes.

Suddenly, a bulge protruded from under the quilt.

Yue Chengqi: “It’s so early in the morning, let’s not…”

But the young girl wriggled, not only burrowing under the covers but also crawling into her pajamas, brushing past her chest. Soon, a fluffy head with hair all in a mess squeezed out from the loose collar, looking at her with eyes still filled with sleepiness.

“?”

The young girl just watched her like that. After a moment, she puffed out her cheeks. “Ah! Huan! Happy New Year.” After saying this, she let out a long yawn, smacking her lips, and let her head droop, muttering about how sleepy she was as she slowly wriggled her way out from the covers.

Before she could back away, her hair got caught on a button.

Thus, early in the morning and not yet fully awake, Yue Chengqi had to lower her head again to help her unfasten the button, undoing her own clothing to let Su Ye go.

No matter how strange it sounded, this absurd morning of the first day of the lunar year passed just like that. By the time Su Ye had combed out her mass of tangled curls, the sound of cooking had begun to drift from next door.

They shamelessly went over to mooch a meal again. Also joining this meal was Yue Wenfeng, who had arrived early that morning to pay a New Year visit.

Five pairs of eyes stared at her in unison. The woman held up the gift box in her hand. “I came to… pay a New Year visit?” For some reason, she sensed a hint of awkwardness.

It sounded a bit strange, as they were neither relatives nor old friends, but Yue Wenfeng had come with gifts anyway. In her own words, they were the greatest and best friends she had made in An City over the past year, just like family, so she definitely had to come and offer her New Year greetings.

Su Ye bit the tip of her chopsticks, staring at the large box of milk and the crate of canned food she had set down. After pondering for a moment, she asked, “You took those things from my place, didn’t you? That phone call asking me to deliver items to the traffic police squad—did you have someone make that call?!”

Yue Wenfeng cleared her throat lightly and rubbed her brow, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Oh, you went to so much trouble just to give us some money? Don’t do this next time; we wouldn’t have minded that much. You could have just given it to us directly.”

Yue Chengqi whispered, “Spending money only to have the items sent back, hey, what a good person.”

Yue Wenfeng could only take the initiative to invite everyone to sit; in truth, she was the only one sitting down silently, as she quietly hid the things she had brought. She had originally planned to buy something more meaningful, but she was still working overtime yesterday, so she eventually had Old Cheng make a call to buy some things. That blockhead didn’t know the nature of their relationship, so it was normal for him to buy the wrong items—it was just that having them sent back was rather embarrassing.

Generally speaking, the first day of the Lunar New Year is for eating leftovers from New Year’s Eve, but she was still served a bowl of steaming hot dumplings. Since it was mid-morning, she ate some, treating it as an early lunch.

“Are you not going to the shop today?” She took a bite of the beef and radish dumpling, the meat of which had been chopped against the grain, and sighed at how delicious it was.

Su Ye: “I am, I am. I’m going to set off a string of firecrackers in a bit to pray for blessings.”

The woman closed her mouth, holding back her words again and again, but in the end, she couldn’t help herself and said, “You are not allowed to set off firecrackers inside the market.”

Su Ye gave a hearty laugh and grabbed Yue Chengqi’s hand to give it a playful pat. “Sister Feng, you’re so serious!”

Yue Chengqi also laughed, though she remained silent.

The fact that she was willing to sit here now instead of leaving the table was already a huge amount of recognition for Yue Wenfeng.

Suddenly, her arm was grabbed, and her whole body was pulled up by Su Ye. Her eyes were still dazed as she stared at Su Ye.

Su Ye gave her a sweet smile and then looked at everyone, clearing her throat. “I have something to announce.”

Yue Chengqi instantly realized what she was going to do. While her eyes widened, she grabbed the girl’s arm, but the girl was even faster than her, saying in a voice that was a bit soft and sweet—

“Ah Huan and I are in a relationship.”

Several people present already knew, and one of them, upon hearing this, ground their chopsticks and gave a cold laugh, as if recalling some unpleasant memories from the previous night. However, none of them showed much of a reaction—except for Yue Wenfeng.

Yue Wenfeng tilted her head and let out a confused “Ah?” “You two? Two girls?”

Yue Chengqi already felt a sense of despair. Clutching her forehead, she heard the girl beside her continue, “Yeah, two girls, that’s called being lesbians, hehe. Sister Feng, want to find out more about it?”

What was this? A lesbian sending you a party invite?

Yue Wenfeng flatly refused. After hesitating for a moment, she said earnestly, “Congratulations to you both. You must be happy!”

After Yue Wenfeng left, dazed and carrying even more gift boxes than she had arrived with, Yue Chengqi finished helping clear the dishes. She grabbed Su Ye, who was putting on thick clothes and preparing to head out, and made her sit down, asking with a frown, “What are you doing? I hadn’t even said anything yet.”

Su Ye let out a sigh of relief and rubbed her neck. “I thought you were going to scold me.” After saying this, she began to grin.

Yue Chengqi gave her a tug. “Speak properly; don’t act like a clown.”

“I’m helping Ah Huan ask for a blessing from her mother, isn’t that good? Is Ah Huan still going to be angry with me? Why?”

“This is going to bring trouble upon yourself,” Yue Chengqi said patiently. “This sort of thing isn’t something everyone can accept, and besides, it’s 1998, and Yue Wenfeng is part of the Market Supervision Bureau. If she’s homophobic and wants to label you, what will you do?”

Su Ye drawled, “Would she?”

“She will.” As soon as Yue Chengqi thought of Yue Wenfeng’s later attitude toward Su Ye, and Yue Wenfeng’s attitude toward homosexuality, a bone-chilling coldness radiated from the depths of her heart. She let out a heavy sigh. “You’re going to bring trouble upon yourself.”

If Su Ye could just hold back and not say anything, perhaps Yue Wenfeng wouldn’t treat her that way later on—at least, she wouldn’t find her disgusting…

Yue Chengqi grabbed the young girl’s arm. “Come on, let’s go tell her it was all just a joke.”

The girl she could usually pull along with ease was now sitting motionlessly like a fixed weight. Clutching her own arms, she let out a huff and said, “I’m not going.”

“? Why? Su Ye, I’m fine, really. I’m truly okay, so please, just listen to me.”

“I’m not going,” Su Ye glared at her.

When Yue Chengqi was hugging herself, looking somewhat at a loss, Su Ye finally jumped down from the wooden cabinet. She walked up to Yue Chengqi and gently cupped her face. “Ah Huan, I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid of everyone knowing that I like you.”

“You shouldn’t be afraid, either.”

“If I don’t even dare to take on this much responsibility, then how can I achieve a greater career, greater accomplishments, and a more brilliant future?”

“Don’t be afraid on my behalf. And based on what you’re saying, the future Yue Wenfeng also knows about my sexual orientation. It doesn’t matter; I believe the future me isn’t afraid of her knowing about it, either. There’s nothing shameful about this.”

“Maybe the reason she dislikes me isn’t because of that, either…”

Yue Chengqi pursed her lips.

The moment their gazes met, both of them thought of the same possibility almost simultaneously, but they didn’t dare speak of it at that moment, silently turning their heads away and coughing a few times.

Yue Chengqi thought that perhaps what Yue Wenfeng feared wasn’t that they were lesbians, but that both she and Su Ye were lesbians, and… she was looking more and more like the “Yue Huan” of the past, with a personality that grew more similar as well, while her own actions were just like the “idealist mother” Yue Huan had described, becoming increasingly estranged from her child, even vaguely tormenting each other.

Everything, absolutely everything, was developing exactly as “Yue Huan” had told her that sunny Mid-Autumn afternoon at the grand plaza.

Even though at that time Yue Wenfeng said it didn’t matter, said it was of no consequence, and said she wouldn’t regret it, when she was ground down to the point of mental and physical exhaustion, and when she remembered she was still a mother, she would still feel a sense of dread toward that possibility, even going so far as to direct harsh words at Su Ye.

Yue Chengqi pursed her lips, speechless for a moment.

This absurd fate had ground down more than just her and Su Ye; everyone connected to them had been transformed by time into another terrifying form.

But all of that was for later; she could only set those matters aside for the future.

Now, having been distracted by Su Ye like this, she couldn’t stay angry anymore. She could only say with a cold expression, “Then in the future, you can’t just talk about it wherever you go. You still have to keep it a secret.”

“Okay~ Ah Huan, rest assured~ Now that you’ve received Mom’s blessing today, is Ah Huan happy?”

Ultimately, this didn’t count as a real mother’s blessing. If it were the future Yue Wenfeng, she certainly wouldn’t have given her blessing; she might even have slapped her across the face. But in the end, this was a blessing from “Yue Wenfeng” that Su Ye had painstakingly schemed for. Yue Chengqi’s brow twitched slightly, and the corners of her mouth relaxed as she spoke a single word: “I’m happy.”

“That’s wonderful! To spend the first day of the New Year so happily means you have to be happy every single day from now on!”

Yue Chengqi’s smile deepened as she gave a firm nod.