Chapter 4

“Then you… you don’t like me anymore either?”

As she drifted off to sleep, Si Nanyu carried those words with her into her dreams.

In the dream, she was still eighteen, but Wen Qingyan wasn’t the way she’d been back then. She was the way she’d looked standing at the hospital bed.

Only, her arms weren’t crossed, and she wasn’t standing far away, and she never leaned in to ask what kind of trick Si Nanyu was playing.

She was close enough to touch, yet she felt impossibly far away.

Her tear-filled eyes seemed to accuse, her lips parting slightly, moving now and then.

But Si Nanyu couldn’t hear a single word. She shook Wen Qingyan’s arm, and Wen Qingyan simply refused to make a sound.

Si Nanyu shook harder and harder, until somehow hot tears were streaming down her cheeks…

“Qing… Wen Qingyan!”

Si Nanyu jolted awake from the dream, instinctively wiping at her face.

Her cheeks were half-dry, half-damp, and she couldn’t tell if she’d really been crying.

Only that her heart felt crumpled and ached terribly.

After a few seconds, her head cleared. She glanced out the window.

Dawn had barely broken. The sun hadn’t risen yet.

The hospital bed, cramped last night when they’d shared it, now looked impossibly spacious.

Wen Qingyan wasn’t on the bed.

Si Nanyu’s gaze swept the room and found her on the small cot nearby.

She was cocooned in her jacket, curled into a ball, her back turned.

The feeling from the dream slowly faded. Half forgetting it, Si Nanyu stared blankly out the window for a moment, then crept out of bed.

There was a blanket on the sofa, the one Qin Hua had brought yesterday. She picked it up and headed toward Wen Qingyan’s cot.

She thought her footsteps were light, but she didn’t know Wen Qingyan slept even lighter. Less than a meter away, Wen Qingyan’s eyes snapped open. As if startled, she sat up quickly and scrambled backward, nearly toppling off the edge of the cot…

Si Nanyu threw caution aside, tossed the blanket at the foot of the cot, and lunged to catch her.

In her haste, she grabbed Wen Qingyan by the shoulder, and the collar pulled partly open, revealing the red mark on her collarbone. Si Nanyu’s mind made a connection.

Her cheeks instantly burned, and her whole body went stiff.

She didn’t dare move an inch, just watched Wen Qingyan helplessly, making every effort to breathe… quietly.

“Done pretending?”

Compared to her panic, Wen Qingyan was the picture of calm, a faint smile tugging at her lips as she asked.

But when she glanced over, she found Si Nanyu red-faced and flustered, stammering, “I… I wasn’t pretending…”

“I’m sorry, Teacher Wen!”

She apologized at exactly the same speed she withdrew her hand, then, afraid Wen Qingyan might still fall, steadied her arm with the other.

Si Nanyu had always been the stronger of the two, and after all the scrambling, Wen Qingyan was indeed sitting steady.

She stared straight at Si Nanyu’s reddening cheeks, watching her hang her head, and said in a muffled voice, “…Be careful.”

“I… I was just afraid you’d fall.”

“You can sleep a little longer. I’m fine.”

The thought that Wen Qingyan had been squeezed onto that tiny cot because of her made Si Nanyu feel terribly guilty. She draped the blanket over Wen Qingyan’s shoulders, then quietly backed away, made a full circle, and returned to sit on the hospital bed.

Wen Qingyan, on the other hand, fell silent.

She studied Si Nanyu’s back for a moment, then said, “I’m going out to get breakfast. Jianbing Guozi again?”

“Mm-hm!” Si Nanyu nodded vigorously, back still turned, then seemed to remember something and stood up to face her. “Thank you, Wen…”

“No chili.” Wen Qingyan looked up, cutting her off, casually twisted her hair up, and headed for the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Wen Qingyan emerged, put together and ready.

Si Nanyu watched her with eager eyes and walked her all the way to the door.

Before closing it, Wen Qingyan looked at her and asked, “Want to come with me?”

Si Nanyu’s eyes lit up. “Can I?”

She hadn’t set foot outside this hospital room in a whole day. She desperately wanted to get out!!

Besides, she didn’t think her injuries were serious. She really didn’t need to…

“No!”

Wen Qingyan’s flat, cold refusal crushed her hopes.

The door shut, and Si Nanyu slumped back to her bed in defeat.

Wen Qingyan was gone about half an hour. When she came back, without giving Si Nanyu a chance to say a word, she set down the jianbing guozi and left the room again.

She didn’t leave Si Nanyu the slightest opening for conversation.

It was still early. Si Nanyu dawdled through breakfast, then began waiting for Wen Qingyan to return.

After roughly an hour of waiting, Wen Qingyan still hadn’t come back. Instead, a stranger arrived: a woman dressed in next to nothing, her makeup thick and heavy.

A tiny camisole and a micro skirt, the woman plopped herself down right at the edge of the hospital bed and purred in a syrupy voice, “Nanyu, sweetie~ I heard you got hurt, and I’ve just been worried sick!”

“Come on, let me see where it hurts…”

“Don’t, don’t, don’t…” Si Nanyu held up a hand to stop her and scooted back, repeating, “Don’t touch me, don’t come any closer.”

“My… my wi…”

She wanted to say Wen Qingyan would be back any minute, but the word ‘wife’ stuck in her throat and wouldn’t come out. The girl in the short skirt clearly knew exactly what she was trying to say, and couldn’t have cared less, frowning as she said, “Nanyu, sweetie, what are you so scared of her for!”

“I’m straight! We’re just good friends!”

“Good friends get to grope each other like that?”

Neither of them knew when Wen Qingyan had appeared in the doorway. She was watching the two of them, sitting so close together, her gaze cold, before it finally settled on the girl in the short skirt. Her lips curled.

Si Nanyu’s guilt flared on instinct. She hopped off the far side of the bed, scrambled over in a few quick steps, and hid behind Wen Qingyan, whispering, “I don’t know her!”

Wen Qingyan gave her a sidelong glance. “So this is the girl who was riding on the back of your motorcycle, the day before yesterday.”

The word ‘girl’ was meant literally. Beneath all that heavy makeup, the girl in the short skirt was clearly very young, twenty at most. Si Nanyu glanced at her once, then turned away, muttering under her breath, “How is she so bold?”

She, Si Nanyu, at eighteen could only cower and stammer in front of Wen Qingyan. She’d needed to be drunk just to confess…

Wait. Her confession text?

Ten years later, Wen Qingyan had become her wife. So… that meant the message had gone through?!

It went through???!!!!

Embarrassment, sheepishness, and a tiny thread of giddy excitement all swirled together in Si Nanyu’s chest. She could only follow Wen Qingyan on wooden legs, standing beside her as she faced the girl in the short skirt, listening as she said, “Thank you for your concern for Nanyu, but Nanyu doesn’t need so-called ‘straight’ friends.”

“See you at the Traffic Police Brigade next time.”

The girl in the short skirt glanced at Si Nanyu, saw that she only had eyes for Wen Qingyan, and stormed off in a fury, stomping her foot as she turned.

At the door, before leaving, her anger suddenly deflated, she said to Wen Qingyan, “I only just turned eighteen… my parents don’t know I’ve been out racing…”

“Please leave. Don’t disturb Nanyu’s rest.”

After the girl left, Wen Qingyan busied herself packing things up, preparing for discharge.

She didn’t say a single word to Si Nanyu the whole time, and every time Si Nanyu tried to help, she waved her off.

“Rest well. We’ll be out of here soon.”

“Soon” turned out to mean a good half hour later, when Wen Qingyan handed her a stack of clothes. “Your clothes. Go change.”

“Are we going home?”

“Yes.”

“Home…”

“Home. Our home. Mom’s away on business again. She made a point of telling me you’re not allowed to go to her place alone, that if you want to see her, you’ll wait until she’s back, and that I’m to drive you over.”

Wen Qingyan answered every question Si Nanyu had, every question she’d been about to ask, all in one breath.

Si Nanyu had nothing left to say and obediently went to change.

Only, the clothes were baffling. They were practically identical to what that girl in the short skirt had been wearing!

Except the skirt had been swapped for very short shorts!

Si Nanyu didn’t want to put them on. She cracked the door open and poked her head out. “Is… isn’t there anything else?”

She couldn’t figure out what to call Wen Qingyan, so she simply called her nothing at all. Wen Qingyan didn’t hold it against her and answered directly, “Nothing of yours.”

“But I have some of mine. Want to wear mine?”

Si Nanyu had changed a great deal over the years.

Wen Qingyan wore shirts and suits every day, and Si Nanyu would nag her now and then about how dull it was, three hundred and sixty days out of the year in formalwear.

Then she’d buy her all sorts of clothes for every season. Some were fine, wearable in public. Others were simply…

Wen Qingyan, stubborn in her own way, had almost never worn them.

She knew perfectly well her wardrobe was looked down upon, so she asked very politely, expecting refusal. Instead, Si Nanyu answered without a moment’s hesitation: “Yes!”

The corner of Wen Qingyan’s mouth twitched before she could stop it, and then Si Nanyu was asking, “Is… is that okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“Joint marital property. Nothing that can’t be shared.”

Wen Qingyan said it quietly, pulling out the spare set of clothes.

She’d originally planned to wear that outfit after dropping Si Nanyu at home and changing at the school. Now there was nothing for it. They’d have to finish the discharge paperwork, go home, and she’d dig out something else.

It was a similar outfit all the same: shirt and trousers, much like the one she’d handed Si Nanyu, in nearly the same color. Both moon white.

Different brand, slightly different shade.

When Wen Qingyan came out dressed, Si Nanyu was wandering around the living room looking at everything. She stood up the moment she saw her.

“It’s your home too. Make yourself comfortable.”

“If the clothes bother you, you can change into loungewear in the bedroom.”

“I’m going to the school. Will you handle dinner yourself? Actually, never mind, I’ll order delivery for you.”

Out of professional habit, Wen Qingyan spoke quickly. Only after she’d finished did she realize what she’d done, and she glanced at Si Nanyu.

During one of their fights last year, Si Nanyu had accused her of still treating her like a student, never asking her opinion.

So Wen Qingyan paused, then asked, “Five o’clock work for you?”

“Yep!”

Si Nanyu answered almost instantly, then caught herself and changed her answer. “Actually, no need to go to the trouble. I can cook myself. You focus on work!” Her eyes couldn’t help sneaking a glance at Wen Qingyan’s outfit, words dying on her lips.

Wen Qingyan saw the little furtive looks clearly but didn’t bother asking. “There’s not much in the fridge,” she said instead.

But Si Nanyu glanced at her again. A shy, achingly affected little glance.

Wen Qingyan, worn down by the staring, frowned. “What are you looking at me for?”

“Um… I just realized these two outfits kind of match!” Si Nanyu said with a bashful, coy smile, while inside she was screaming: They’re matching couple outfits!!!

What she got in return was a breezy, “They’re both mine. Of course they match.”

“If you don’t like it, go change.” And then, twisting the knife.

At those words, Si Nanyu’s smile froze on her face.

Wen Qingyan had told her twice now to go change. She must… not want her wearing it. She’d overstepped.

“I… I’ll go change right now.”

If Si Nanyu had a tail, it would have been wagging high a moment ago when she’d thought they matched, and now it was tucked completely between her legs. Head down, she fumbled around looking for the bedroom, hunting for something else to change into.

Wen Qingyan couldn’t read her mood, but something felt off. She called after her, “There’s no rush. Play with your new phone for a while.”

Si Nanyu’s phone had shattered in the accident. Wen Qingyan had bought her a new one online, the same Huawei model as her own.

Technology moved fast. Si Nanyu stared at it curiously, and as she was examining it, Wen Qingyan’s phone rang. It was the school. She answered and got ready to leave.

She rattled off a few things for Si Nanyu to watch out for, and Si Nanyu nodded along at every one.

Only after she was gone did Si Nanyu start playing with the new phone.

She’d never seen this model before, but…

She’d seen it clearly just now. It was a matching set with Wen Qingyan’s!

A full wave of lovesick delirium washed over her. Si Nanyu, bombarded by all these revelations, dizzily powered the phone on and stared at the unfamiliar interface, utterly lost…

A good ten-plus minutes later, she finally managed to recover her WeChat account and was just celebrating that her number hadn’t changed when she fumbled and answered an incoming call.

“Hello, is this Ms. Si Nanyu? The Wind-Forest Iron Cavalry you ordered half a year ago has arrived at our store…”

Si Nanyu’s big eyes went wide with big confusion. “Hold on,” she said into the phone. “I need to ask my teacher!”

Ask her just what on earth a Wind-Forest Iron Cavalry was.