Wen Qingyan had seen the movie 2012 five or six times already, and she rewatched it every two or three years like clockwork.
She’d gone to the theater alone for its first release, watched it a second time at home out of sheer boredom, and every viewing after that had been with Si Nanyu.
The two of them had different personalities, but their tastes overlapped here. Both loved disaster films, movies with intense, spectacular scenes.
So even though Wen Qingyan knew the plot by heart, she still got drawn in.
And naturally, she’d assumed Si Nanyu felt the same way.
But as the scenes on screen shifted, Wen Qingyan noticed the woman beside her growing restless.
Not only was she inching closer and closer, her hand was practically within reach.
Wen Qingyan’s breath tightened. She shifted her gaze to Si Nanyu’s face and was utterly baffled by the furtive look in her eyes. “What are you trying to do?!”
“I… I’m not trying to do anything.” Si Nanyu played ostrich, guiltily scooting farther and farther away.
Inside, she was silently screaming: She caught me!
How embarrassing!
Still, at least she’d denied it.
Otherwise, what would Wen Qingyan think if she knew she’d wanted to poke her cheek?
Respect! Your! Teacher!
Si Nanyu kept her eyes lowered, repeating those four words over and over, deleting every inappropriate thought from her head.
Only after the purge was complete did she dare look at Wen Qingyan again.
The tsunami was bearing down on screen…
Wen Qingyan was completely absorbed in the film, so Si Nanyu didn’t dare let her mind wander either. She turned back to the movie.
She failed to notice that Wen Qingyan’s ears, half-hidden in her hair, had quietly flushed red.
Something was scratching around in the chaos of her heart.
Her eyes, misted over with a faint haze, had gone a little unfocused. The images on screen blurred.
She seemed to have… guessed what Si Nanyu had been trying to do…
The movie ran nearly two and a half hours, and despite the gripping plot, Si Nanyu was starting to fidget.
Near the end, she stole a glance at Wen Qingyan and saw that she was still sitting with her arms folded across her chest.
As expected of Teacher Wen, Si Nanyu marveled inwardly. So impressive, sitting still for this long.
Granted, Wen Qingyan’s back had long since settled gently against the sofa cushion, but that did nothing to dim Si Nanyu’s admiration.
Even if the admiration was a bit blind.
But just the thought of sitting on the couch with Wen Qingyan was enough to make Si Nanyu’s heart bloom, magnifying every emotion she felt.
So what if her worship was blind?
Her Teacher Wen was simply the best!
The more Si Nanyu thought about it, the happier she got, her gaze wandering aimlessly…
And then it landed on Ribs, right beside Wen Qingyan’s legs. Her internal alarm bells shrieked. She pointed at the dog and asked in disbelief, “Why is Ribs here?!” When did… when did she get there?
“Ribs has been here the whole time.”
As if she’d heard the second half of the question, Wen Qingyan answered with airy casualness.
And Ribs, the little opportunist, gave Wen Qingyan’s leg a soft nuzzle the moment she called her name…
Absolutely shameless!!!
Ribs was exploiting her status as a dog to take advantage of her… of her wife!
Si Nanyu glared, eyes wide with fury, jealousy flooding through her. She didn’t notice at all how she was referring to Wen Qingyan in her head, nor did she catch the suspicious, shocked look Wen Qingyan was giving her.
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to bite her!” Si Nanyu answered without thinking, then froze at her own words.
She looked up and found Wen Qingyan wearing a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.
What had she just… said?
That she, a grown woman, wanted to bite a dog?!
Her face flared crimson in an instant, as if she’d been boiled alive.
Dizzily, she thought that she’d perhaps been a bit too bold these past two days.
Doing whatever came to mind with no plan whatsoever, along with… so many audacious thoughts.
Like the fact that she’d been calling Wen Qingyan “wife” in her head.
She was completely, hopelessly ripe.
“Go ahead and bite her, then.”
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Wen Qingyan’s tone was light, and on her way up she gave Ribs a little push, sending her trotting over to Si Nanyu. Si Nanyu came back to her senses and found herself face to face with the dog. Ribs, of course, had no idea what she meant, and only tilted her head at her.
Si Nanyu… Si Nanyu…
She wanted to crawl into a hole. She covered her face with both hands, yet couldn’t resist peeking at Wen Qingyan’s retreating figure.
The moment she did, Wen Qingyan turned back and looked at her, a smile all over her face.
Feeling her cheeks growing hotter between her palms, Si Nanyu flopped backward onto the sofa without a second thought…
Can’t see me, can’t see me. If I can’t see her, she can’t see me.
She chanted that silently to herself, ignoring the way Ribs stared at her in even greater confusion, ears twitching. Only when she heard Wen Qingyan’s footsteps fading in the distance did she finally relax.
Let’s just pretend… nothing happened!
But she still couldn’t suppress the rush of feelings, and buried her face again, squirming around on the sofa.
Her mood was a complicated mess of embarrassment, and Wen Qingyan, in the bathroom, was even more of a mess.
She’d been so amused by the whole “I want to bite her” comment that she’d walked into the bathroom and forgotten to grab her nightgown.
Halfway through her shower, already flushed from the steam, the realization that she’d have to ask Si Nanyu to bring it made her cheeks burn all the hotter.
But what else could she do?
The loungewear she’d changed out of was already in the washing machine. She couldn’t wear it, and if she went out there as she was, wouldn’t that be…
an even bigger loss.
Hesitation flickered across Wen Qingyan’s rosy features, but she still called out softly, “Si Nanyu…”
The rolling-around-on-the-sofa Si Nanyu didn’t hear.
Wen Qingyan raised her voice a notch. “Si Nanyu…”
Two calls, and no response at all. Her flustered shyness curdled into impatience, and she shouted without restraining her volume at all, “Si Nanyu! Bring me my nightgown!”
In her head, a voice chimed in at the same time: We’re lawfully wedded wives. It’s no big deal.
What part of her hadn’t Si Nanyu seen before?
That was what she told herself, but even as she directed Si Nanyu to fetch the nightgown, Wen Qingyan’s eyes kept darting around. And the moment she saw Si Nanyu blushing even harder than she was, her whole composure fell apart.
She hadn’t opened the door all the way, and with the steam thick in the air, she assumed Si Nanyu couldn’t really see much.
So she dared to be a little bolder, watching the woman outside the door whose vision was perfectly clear. Si Nanyu’s cheeks were bright red as she slowly, haltingly passed the nightgown into her hand.
Without a word. The moment Wen Qingyan took it, Si Nanyu blurted out, urgent and breathless, “I’m going now!”
Wen Qingyan bit her lip lightly, and the bathroom door swung shut with a bang…
Out in the living room, Si Nanyu wasn’t doing much better. The reason for her blush was… her eyesight had always been exceptionally good.
So when Wen Qingyan had reached her hand out, carrying with it that swaying, trembling softness…
She had seen it. All of it.
And right before the door closed, Wen Qingyan biting her lip, flushed pink with shame.
A vague sense crept over her that Wen Qingyan hadn’t actually seen anything of her, which gave her a tingling, one-sided peeping-Tom feeling.
That wasn’t really what it was, of course. But this was Wen Qingyan, the person Si Nanyu had never once imagined she could be this close to.
Reality kept telling her they were wives, and their little interactions kept confirming it, but… but this was different!
She was the first person Wen Qingyan thought of when she forgot her nightgown in the shower!
That night, Si Nanyu was destined not to sleep well.
She got up early, and in a display of what she felt was great thoughtfulness, took the dog out for her walk and went to buy breakfast.
Ribs hadn’t seen much of her this weekend and was a little uncooperative at first, but the prospect of an outing quickly won her over, and she trotted along cheerfully at her side.
It wasn’t even seven yet. She walked Ribs most of the way around the artificial lake before cutting over to another gate to buy breakfast.
The rules were loose this early, and street vendors lined the road, especially carts selling the jianbing guozi Si Nanyu loved. Two or three food trucks in a row had them.
But remembering that Wen Qingyan didn’t seem to approve of her eating them, Si Nanyu’s sparkling eyes dimmed.
She wasn’t actually a picky eater, she just had favorites, so xiaolongbao would do just fine.
There was no dedicated xiaolongbao shop near their neighborhood, but the breakfast place Si Nanyu frequented sold a wide variety: xiaolongbao, wontons, stuffed pancakes, fried dough sticks, all of it.
Si Nanyu liked variety, but Wen Qingyan was devoted to one thing in particular. After a moment’s hesitation, she pointed at the steaming xiaolongbao. “Boss, two baskets of xiaolongbao, please.”
“Coming right up, just a moment!” The boss was a down-to-earth older lady with a naturally kind face, easy to like and pleasant to talk to.
Handing over the packaged xiaolongbao, she said with a smile, “I’ve seen you buying these every day lately. They’re for your wife, aren’t they?”
It was the kind of remark that should have made Si Nanyu blush and squirm, but instead it bolstered her courage. She took the baskets and nodded, red-faced all the same. “Mm, yes!”
Her answer carried such confidence that the boss blinked, then let out a hearty chuckle.
A chuckle with a knowing edge to it.
Si Nanyu had already stepped out of the line, but the boss was still grinning after her, nearly forgetting to serve the customer behind…
Si Nanyu was about to offer a reminder when a sharp, irritable voice rang out from behind the counter. “Luo Jiao! The customers are all waiting…”
A woman emerged from behind the boss, a few years younger by the look of her, petite, and her gaze as it landed on Si Nanyu seemed a little… off???
Fellow travelers recognized each other, and Si Nanyu could tell at a glance that the two shared a deep bond.
As she ducked her head, hiding her smile, Si Nanyu thought that given their ages, things must have been quite hard for them back in the day.
She had a bad habit of letting worries surface out of nowhere, but the thought that same-sex marriage had already been legalized brightened her mood again.
So before leaving the shop, she turned back and waved, smiling at the two of them. “Boss, Boss Lady, see you next time!”
Luo Jiao, quick on the uptake, waved back cheerfully. “See you!”
The Boss Lady… seemed to want to say something but held back, eyes fixed on her, while her hand dropped low and appeared to sneakily pinch the boss around the waist.
Si Nanyu beamed, took Ribs’s leash where she waited outside, and headed home.
How wonderful would it be, if you could be this happy over the tiniest little things every day?
Si Nanyu couldn’t help thinking it, and the last of the gloom inside her gradually lit up.
Before going upstairs, she pulled out her phone and checked the chat window with the person who’d been messaging her on WeChat for days.
The messages were from Qin Hua, of course. Si Nanyu had replied to every one, but without much heart.
Because everything Qin Hua said, between the lines and beyond them, was worry. Worry that she was dwelling too much, that she wouldn’t make it through.
And even though Si Nanyu had made her feelings plain, Qin Hua hadn’t changed a bit.
So, riding the good mood that had carried her all morning, Si Nanyu acted on a sudden impulse and sent her mom, Qin Hua, a WeChat message announcing her plan to pursue Wen Qingyan all over again.
She laid out her entire emotional journey, too.
Qin Hua probably wasn’t awake yet, or was busy, because she didn’t reply. But the longer the silence stretched, the harder Si Nanyu typed, her fingers flying…
[Mom, courage is like a sponge. There’s always more if you just squeeze!]
[I’m heading toward a brand-new life!]
It didn’t matter if Qin Hua never replied. Si Nanyu had settled the matter unilaterally.
And of course, the most important source of her courage was Wen Qingyan herself.
That night, Wen Qingyan had asked her… whether she still wanted her.
And last night, that shy, blushing Wen Qingyan!
All of it proved she wasn’t fighting alone.
