Weiwei was much more excited than Xu Shi had imagined. She called her directly.
As soon as Xu Shi answered, she was met with a jumble of shouts from the other end. “Ahhhhhh, Xiao Shi! Ahhhhhh, oh my god! Ahhhhhh…”
Xu Shi held the phone a little farther away.
If Yu Lingshan had left her feeling down just a moment ago, Weiwei’s reaction yanked Xu Shi right back to Earth.
“Calm down,” Xu Shi said.
Weiwei: “What’s going on? What’s going on? What happened between you two again, again, again, again?”
Xu Shi found a bench in the residential complex and sat down. “You might not believe this,” she said, rubbing her eyes and speaking in a very low voice, “but I kissed her.”
Weiwei: “Help! Me! Ah!”
Xu Shi wanted to scream for help too.
Weiwei: “I never knew you were this kind of Xu Shi!”
After another round of screaming, Weiwei asked, “And her? What was her reaction?”
Xu Shi thought for a moment, searching for a suitable description. “She let me kiss her.”
Weiwei: “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Xu Shi laughed. “Yeah, what’s that supposed to mean?”
Weiwei: “When did you kiss?”
Xu Shi: “Just now…”
Xu Shi spent a few minutes giving the non-essential backstory about Ying Jie being downstairs. “Then I took her to the balcony in my room, and then, um, I don’t know what happened, I just kissed her.”
Weiwei finally let out the breath she’d been holding. With a whoosh, she said, “I fucking listened to that long-ass setup, and that’s all you’re gonna tell me?”
Xu Shi laughed. “What do you want to hear?”
Weiwei: “Did you use tongue?”
Xu Shi flushed instantly. An image even flashed through her mind.
Xu Shi: “Jiejie, I’m a little embarrassed.” “Come on, it’s just us,” Weiwei chuckled. “So that’s a yes.”
Xu Shi covered one eye, an inexplicable urge to laugh bubbling up. “Mhm.”
Weiwei: “Did Yu Lingshan use tongue?”
Xu Shi: “Mhm.”
Weiwei: “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
Weiwei’s reaction made Xu Shi burst out laughing. “Stop screaming.”
Once Weiwei calmed down, she asked, “How’s Yu Lingshan’s kissing technique?”
Xu Shi laughed. “What are you talking about?”
Weiwei: “Oh, come on, just tell me.”
Xu Shi: “How do you even judge that?”
Weiwei: “Just tell me, did you get wet?”
Xu Shi: “Chen Weiwei.”
Weiwei: “Hahahahahahahaha, okay, maybe that was a bit much. Never mind, never mind.”
Xu Shi cleared her throat. “So? What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Weiwei said, then remembered Xu Shi’s original reason for calling. “Oh, oh, oh, right. About you liking her.”
Xu Shi: “Mhm.”
Weiwei: “What else could it be? You kissed her and you’re saying you don’t like her? Get a grip, Xu Shi. You’re not a player.”
Xu Shi looked down at the button on the hem of her shirt. “Oh.”
Weiwei: “Holy shit, holy shit. I still can’t believe it. Xiao Shi, you… and Yu Lingshan… you’re actually bent. Yu Lingshan is amazing, truly amazing.”
Xu Shi asked, “Do you think Yu Lingshan likes me?”
Before Weiwei could answer, Xu Shi added, “She doesn’t seem like she likes me.”
“After we kissed, she acted like nothing happened.”
“Maybe she doesn’t really care about that kind of thing?”
“And she kissed me first. Why would she kiss me?”
On the other end, Weiwei scoffed. “Xu Shi, you’re done for.”
Xu Shi: “What do you mean?”
Weiwei: “What’s gotten into you? You’re so full of emotions right now.” She tutted a few times. “Think about it carefully. What are your feelings for her? Are they just those of a normal friend?”
So Xu Shi thought about it carefully, but she quickly ruled out “normal friend.”
She really did care about Yu Lingshan. Her every move affected Xu Shi. Whenever she was around Yu Lingshan, she wanted to make her happy, liked taking care of her, listened to what she said, and was afraid of making her angry.
She was also afraid of getting close to Yu Lingshan, instinctively resisting things related to her while also caring about her immensely.
She had truly never treated anyone like this before.
“I think,” Weiwei spoke up again, “a big reason you’re so unsure right now is probably because Yu Lingshan is a girl. You never considered you might like girls, so the fact that you’ve developed feelings for her has left you confused and conflicted.”
Xu Shi didn’t argue. She told Weiwei what she had just been thinking.
Weiwei was very surprised after hearing her out. “Xu Shi, you… you really…” Weiwei sighed. “You like her so much. How can you like her this much?”
Xu Shi: “Do I?”
A thought suddenly occurred to Weiwei, and she started laughing. “I bet you fell for her at first sight, Xu Shi. And you called it a ‘phobia of beautiful women.’ That’s hilarious.”
Xu Shi slowly let out a sound: “Huh?”
Weiwei: “Hahahahahahaha, case closed! You must have liked her the moment you met! Oh my god, just admit it, aren’t you totally unnatural around her?”
Xu Shi couldn’t deny it. “I am, right? Aren’t I?”
Weiwei confirmed it for her: “You are!”
Xu Shi’s feelings were a complicated mess. “So what do I do now?”
“You don’t have to do anything,” Weiwei chuckled. “Do you know what stage you two are in right now?”
Xu Shi: “What?”
Weiwei: “The ambiguous stage, jiejie. Ambiguity makes one feel so wronged.”
As she spoke, she even started singing on the other end.
Weiwei’s antics made Xu Shi laugh. “What are you doing?”
Xu Shi really didn’t know if they were in an ambiguous stage or not. She didn’t know what Yu Lingshan was thinking. It couldn’t be a one-sided ambiguity, could it?
Weiwei asked again, “Xiao Shi, are you scared?”
Xu Shi understood immediately. “A little.”
Weiwei then asked, “Do you want to be with her?”
Xu Shi: “I… don’t know.”
Weiwei chuckled. “Even though that ‘I don’t know’ sounds a bit like a player’s answer, well…” Her voice softened. “Because it’s you, Xu Shi, and this whole thing… you know? You haven’t known each other for long. I hope you’ll think about it carefully. You’ve never been an impulsive person.”
Xu Shi: “Mhm.”
Weiwei: “Anyway, no matter what you decide, I’ll support you.”
Xu Shi smiled. “Okay.”
Weiwei: “But if there’s a chance, I’m begging you two to get together right away. I’ll be waiting for your good news, hehe.”
Xu Shi: “Heh.”
The phone call didn’t end up being very useful, aside from making Xu Shi laugh for a couple of seconds. Not to mention the ill-timed question Weiwei asked her later.
“By the way, how come Yu Lingshan hasn’t shown any reaction? She’s not just playing around with you, is she?”
That sentence suddenly made Xu Shi’s mood collapse. She mumbled a few vague words and hung up.
Then, alone in the small garden, she felt incredibly wronged.
Right. What if Yu Lingshan was just playing around?
Yu Lingshan was too good at teasing her, always teasing her. Everything she did seemed effortless, including kissing her—it came out of nowhere, with no rhyme or reason, as if she didn’t care at all.
Later, after going back and washing up, Xu Shi sat on her balcony for a long time, lost in thought all night without knowing what she was even thinking about.
Later still, she got back into bed, opened her phone, and typed in the word “lesbian.”
The search turned out to be endless. Back when she was looking up Yu Lingshan’s video, she had only scratched the surface. It was different now. Anything she didn’t understand, she would click on it.
So many new things. Too many.
All night, Xu Shi paced back and forth on the edge of the community, accumulating a pile of miscellaneous knowledge but not seriously thinking about the important matters.
In the end, her brain couldn’t take it anymore. She fell asleep without even putting her phone away.
The next day, when her alarm went off, she opened her eyes to turn it off and the first thing she saw was a message from Yu Lingshan.
At 6:50, Yu Lingshan asked: Little one, are you up yet?
It was now seven. Xu Shi actually had other alarms set for 7:05 and 7:10, but that one sentence jolted her fully awake.
Her eyes half-closed, she replied to Yu Lingshan: I’m up.
Yu Lingshan replied quickly: So our Xiao Zhi’s alarm is set for seven.
Xu Shi couldn’t help but smile: It’s 7:10. The seven o’clock one is just a reminder alarm.
Xu Shi: Xu Xiao Zhi has to get up at 7:10.
Xu Shi didn’t know that on the other end, Yu Lingshan burst out laughing when she saw that message.
Yu Lingshan: Why are you suddenly so cute?
Xu Shi didn’t know why she was suddenly being so cute either. If Yu Lingshan had just played along, it would have been fine, but saying it out loud like that…
So Xu Shi retracted the message she had just sent.
Yu Lingshan: ?
Yu Lingshan: What are you doing?
Yu Lingshan: Type it out for me again.
Xu Shi muffled her laughter in her pillow, tapped “edit,” and sent the exact same message again.
Xu Shi also asked: You woke up at six-something in the morning?
Yu Lingshan: Of course not.
Yu Lingshan: I can sleep until nine.
Xu Shi: Oh, okay.
Xu Shi: So today is?
Yu Lingshan: Making breakfast for someone.
Yu Lingshan: I wonder if said someone will grace me with her presence.
Xu Shi’s heart instantly swelled, but she restrained herself and asked: Who?
Yu Lingshan: Said someone is asking me who.
Yu Lingshan: Who else would I make breakfast for?
Xu Shi smiled, burying her face in her blankets and letting out a muffled laugh.
Xu Shi: What did you make?
Yu Lingshan: I’m not telling you.
Yu Lingshan: See you at the entrance to your complex in half an hour.
Xu Shi: The entrance to my complex?
Yu Lingshan: Where else?
Xu Shi: Isn’t that too much trouble?
Xu Shi: I can go to your place to get it.
Yu Lingshan: I’m delivering it.
Xu Shi smiled and replied to Yu Lingshan: Thanks.
Yu Lingshan: Is ‘thanks’ enough?
Xu Shi knew Yu Lingshan all too well. The moment that message appeared, a million scenarios flashed through Xu Shi’s mind.
“Treat me to a meal,” “Kiss me,” “Have a drink with me,” “Blah blah blah…”
Xu Shi: It’s not.
Yu Lingshan: I’m so thoughtful.
Yu Lingshan only sent that one line. There was no follow-up, and no “typing…” indicator.
Xu Shi: And?
Yu Lingshan: And then…
Yu Lingshan: We’ll talk when we meet.
Yu Lingshan’s words were like a sharp scratch on Xu Shi’s heart, leaving it itching intensely.
How can she be like this?
Soon, Xu Shi’s 7:10 alarm also rang. She put her phone away, washed up, and went out, just in time to see her mom coming out of the kitchen.
After so many years of being a homemaker, her mom had developed the habit of waking up early, going to bed early, and making breakfast. While brushing her teeth just now, Xu Shi had been trying to figure out how to explain this.
There were certainly plenty of excuses, but she didn’t really want to lie to her mom.
If she told her mom that a female friend had made her breakfast and was delivering it downstairs, that should be pretty normal.
Right?
Normal, my ass…
“We’re having noodles today,” her mom said, carrying out a plate of eggs. “I’ve already cooked them.”
Xu Shi hesitated. “I, uh, already have breakfast.”
Her mom was puzzled. “What breakfast do you have?”
Xu Shi told a half-truth. “A friend made an extra portion of breakfast and said she’d give it to me.”
Her mom’s brow furrowed. “Is it that new friend again?”
Xu Shi: “Mhm.”
Her mom asked her, “What’s her name?”
“Yu Lingshan,” Xu Shi said, spelling it out. “Yu, as in lush and green. Ling, as in to listen. And Shan, as in mountain.”
Mom: “How old is she?”
Xu Shi: “Five years older than me.”
Her mom seemed to want to ask something else, but she opened her mouth and couldn’t get a word out for a long time.
It was about time to go. Xu Shi smiled at her mom. “I’m leaving then.”
Mom: “Mhm.”
Xu Shi said goodbye to her mom, slung her bag over her shoulder, and went downstairs.
Even though there were still more than ten minutes left of the half-hour Yu Lingshan had mentioned, Xu Shi was afraid of being late, so she hurried downstairs and out of the complex.
To her surprise, Yu Lingshan was already there.
As she left the complex, Xu Shi saw a familiar car parked by the roadside and immediately checked the timestamp on Yu Lingshan’s message.
It was indeed from 18 minutes ago.
Xu Shi quickly jogged over. On the way, she saw Yu Lingshan point to the passenger seat, so when she reached the car, she pulled the door open and got right in.
“Morning, little one.”
Xu Shi also said, “Morning, morning, morning.”
Yu Lingshan was wearing a different style of clothing again today. She had on a pair of sunglasses, looking incredibly cool.
“In a good mood?” Yu Lingshan asked as soon as Xu Shi had settled in.
Xu Shi: “Hehe.”
After Weiwei’s pointers yesterday, Xu Shi now understood. It was true: seeing Yu Lingshan first thing in the morning put her in a particularly good mood.
There was no point in denying it. A fact was a fact.
Yu Lingshan took a paper bag from the hook.
Xu Shi quickly reached out to take it. “What is it?” She opened it to look. “Eggs, bread, and milk.”
Yu Lingshan: “Don’t you dare say it’s plain.”
Xu Shi’s eyes curved into crescents. “I won’t, I won’t,” she said with a smile. “It smells so good.”
Yu Lingshan: “Eat all of it.”
Xu Shi: “Definitely.”
Yu Lingshan: “So obedient.”
Xu Shi asked, “Didn’t you say half an hour? How come you’re so early?”
Yu Lingshan: “Because I felt like it.”
Xu Shi nodded with a smile. “Okay, as long as you’re happy.”
Yu Lingshan reached over and patted Xu Shi’s head. “Aren’t you going to say thank you, little one?”
Xu Shi snapped back to reality and let out an “ah.” “Thank you.”
Yu Lingshan: “Add a title.”
Xu Shi thought for a moment, then tentatively said, “Thank you, Jiejie?”
Yu Lingshan let out a soft laugh, her tone implying, Is that all?
Xu Shi: “Then…?”
Yu Lingshan propped one hand on the center console, leaning slightly toward Xu Shi. Her eyes were smiling as she looked at her. “Say, ‘Thank you, wife.’”
Xu Shi was stunned. “Huh?”
Yu Lingshan: “Hurry up.”
Xu Shi’s face flushed and her heart pounded. The paper bag crinkled loudly as she suddenly gripped it.
Yu Lingshan leaned even closer and traced a finger over the back of Xu Shi’s hand. “Mmm~?”
Xu Shi: “Thank you, wife.”
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