GV – Chapter 81

After visiting her aunt, Ye Yuhuan and Song Zhiqing walked hand in hand down the mountain path. They were supposed to be enjoying the scenery, but feeling Song Zhiqing’s frequent, strange glances, Ye Yuhuan couldn’t help but turn to look. However, the moment she moved, Song Zhiqing moved too, resulting in Ye Yuhuan only catching a glimpse of the back of her dark-haired head.

After this happened several times, Ye Yuhuan reached out and physically turned her around, but the touch… it felt wet.

Was Song Zhiqing crying?

It couldn’t possibly be drool, not at her age.

Ye Yuhuan’s movements immediately became much more cautious. When she met those red-rimmed eyes, her breath caught, and a pang of heartache arose quite naturally.

She asked softly, “What’s wrong?”

Song Zhiqing choked back a sob and lowered her head, trying to hide her face.

Ye Yuhuan let her, gently stroking her head as if coaxing the little cat from earlier.

“Why are you crying like this after just one visit to my aunt? Did I do something wrong just now?” she habitually looked for the cause within herself.

This sentence ignited Song Zhiqing like a spark. She immediately straightened up and said fiercely, “You could never do anything wrong!”

This tear-choked praise left Ye Yuhuan stunned for a second, then she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Like this, I can’t figure out what’s going on at all.”

Song Zhiqing pouted, her large almond eyes seemingly holding a lake, the grievance in her voice almost solidifying into a physical entity. “Then don’t try to figure it out. Just let me cry for no reason. Don’t take everything upon yourself. Aren’t you tired, Ye Yuhuan?”

Ye Yuhuan had a feeling they were talking past each other, and an even stronger suspicion that Song Zhiqing was shouting at someone else.

What on earth had she and her aunt talked about?

Ye Yuhuan sighed inwardly. It seemed there was nothing to talk about besides herself.

“But it hurts me. Seeing you cry is worse than crying myself. It’s as painful as being sawed in the heart with a thin, tough rope.”

Song Zhiqing’s whimpering cries paused for a few seconds, and then she cried even louder.

She was even starting to hiccup.

There was no elegance to it. It wasn’t the kind of crying like pear blossoms in the rain, but a complete mess like pear blossoms in a torrential downpour.

Ye Yuhuan took out a tissue to wipe her tears, but the more she wiped, the more they flowed, unstoppable.

“Wh-what should I do? Right now… I feel like… I can’t do anything, hic. I can’t help you. I arrived… so late, ah, hic.”

Song Zhiqing finished speaking in fits and starts, her eyes even beginning to swell. Ye Yuhuan wasn’t sure what Si Shan had told her, but she really couldn’t stand the sound of Song Zhiqing’s crying anymore.

It was too heart-wrenching.

She planted a heavy kiss on Song Zhiqing’s mouth, which was opening and closing to match the rhythm of her crying.

A loud smack.

It was deafening on the mountain path.

At least, Song Zhiqing’s ears were blasted red.

She covered her mouth and took a step back. “What are you doing!”

Phew, her speech was much more fluent now.

Ye Yuhuan didn’t answer, continuing to kiss the parts of Song Zhiqing’s face not covered by her hand.

The whimpering gradually disappeared, replaced by a soft sound, like a young woodpecker practicing pecking a tree.

Cautious and crisp.

Song Zhiqing’s desire to cry was completely submerged by the dense barrage of kisses. She had already released her hands, letting them fall to her waist, then she gripped the corner of Ye Yuhuan’s shirt.

She tilted her head up slightly, accepting this gentle, almost childlike, kissing.

Feeling Song Zhiqing’s emotions calm down, Ye Yuhuan stopped. “Can you tell me now?”

“You’re such a rogue! How could you use that method!”

Ye Yuhuan looked innocent. “But you wouldn’t tell me no matter how I asked, and you couldn’t stop crying.”

“Besides, you clearly responded to me. Didn’t you even stick out your…”

The last bit of tearfulness in Song Zhiqing was evaporated. Her face felt like it was on fire as she hissed in a low voice, “Don’t talk about things like that in public!”

Ye Yuhuan casually shrugged, a smile on her face. “We already did it, why can’t we talk about it? Besides, it’s just the two of us here.”

Before her voice had faded, they heard a cough from behind them.

“Um… we didn’t mean to peek, but this is a public path, so… it’s hard to avoid, you know?”

Ye Yuhuan and Song Zhiqing didn’t have the courage to turn around and look at the speaker’s face, nor did they have the courage to reply with even a single word.

At the same time, only two words were in Ye Yuhuan’s mind.

Retribution.

Was the world finally starting to get back at me for using my special constitution to cause its favorite daughter to suffer social death multiple times?

Two young women were running rapidly down the mountain path. Seeing their flushed faces, one had to worry if they would get heatstroke in the early spring weather.

The romantic stroll was interrupted by an overly romantic kiss. By the time Ye Yuhuan and Song Zhiqing reached the car, panting, all the romance had vanished into thin air. They finally dared to look back. Fortunately, no one was there.

Their exquisite outfits were a mess from such vigorous running. Song Zhiqing had become a stray kitten, and Ye Yuhuan a roadside weed.

The two looked at each other. After some painful reflection, Ye Yuhuan said gravely, “I was wrong.”

“I was too reckless.”

“This world is more malicious than we imagined.”

“Let’s be more conservative in the future.”

Song Zhiqing’s eyes widened in disbelief. Wasn’t it just an accident?

But seeing Ye Yuhuan’s look of being unable to face the past, Song Zhiqing decided it was best to skip this topic. She felt particularly fond of Ye Yuhuan right now, to the point that she even found her concern for her public image cute.

My Huanhuan had such a hard life growing up, so what if she’s a little strange now!

It’s completely charming, okay!

The sky was approaching dusk. Song Zhiqing removed her thick “Yuhuan filter” and gazed at the slowly setting sun in the distance, gently nudging the person beside her with her elbow.

“Sunset.”

Ye Yuhuan followed her gaze. The sun, exceptionally close, turned an extraordinary red. The surrounding clouds were dyed the color of an old orange, soft and gentle. A clear breeze blew past. The driver, Uncle Yu, brought two folding chairs for them from the trunk of the car. On the roadside, where people and cars were scarce, they sat together and watched a full sunset.

Afterward, the world suddenly darkened, and the chill that had been suppressed by the sunlight began to seep out. Ye Yuhuan and Song Zhiqing’s chairs were placed side by side, and their hands were naturally clasped together. Where their skin touched, their body heat resisted the sudden cold.

Relying on this small amount of warmth, the two did not get up.

Ye Yuhuan returned to the topic that had been interrupted by the kiss. “Why were you crying today?”

She could, of course, guess it was because of her. The ugliness that lay beneath the surface had probably been discovered by Song Zhiqing, and she was likely feeling sorry for her.

Ye Yuhuan wanted to hear about this, to hear how Song Zhiqing pitied her. For her, this was an enjoyment no less than reading an excellent book. She knew this was an unfamiliar emotion. Books described it as vanity, an urgent impulse to prove one’s own importance.

This was, of course, a very flimsy and dangerous intention.

However, only when it was satisfied did people understand why it was a form of temptation.

Song Zhiqing’s index finger bent slightly, slowly caressing the back of Ye Yuhuan’s hand. Her hand was not as bony as Ye Yuhuan’s; it had a slightly fleshy, rounded beauty. That tender flesh was now tracing over the protruding bones of Ye Yuhuan’s hand. Even though she knew this was an unconscious action of Song Zhiqing’s when she was thinking, Ye Yuhuan, on the receiving end of such a touch, inevitably quickened the rhythm of her breathing.

Song Zhiqing’s lips were also full. Even without any deliberate action, they had a pouting look. At close range, it would give a person with ulterior motives a sense of temptation, as if waiting to be plucked.

Ye Yuhuan averted her eyes, deciding to wait for Song Zhiqing’s answer while looking at the distant lights.

After what seemed to Ye Yuhuan like a long period of contemplation, Song Zhiqing said softly, “Auntie Si Shan told me some things about your childhood.”

“And then, while she was talking, you were playing with the kitten on the side, smiling very happily.”

“I felt that the you in Auntie Si Shan’s words and the you in front of me were not alike at all. So even though I was very sad, I tried my best to hold back my tears.”

“But after you gave the kitten to Auntie Si Shan, suddenly, I could find those traces of your childhood upbringing on you.”

At this point, she squeezed Ye Yuhuan’s hand nervously before continuing, “I couldn’t help but think, you only need a little kitten to be that happy, but why did no one give you a little kitten for so long?”

“If, if you had a little kitten, you wouldn’t have been so lonely.”

“If I could have met you sooner, I could have given you a little kitten.”

“But I didn’t get to meet you sooner, and I still haven’t given you a kitten.”

“I even picked out a kitten for someone else before giving you one.”

“Thinking about that, I started to cry.”

The wind flowed between them, carrying the fresh scent of spring’s grass and trees, a reminder that spring is the season of burgeoning life. And among the ten thousand things that burgeon, there is not only life, but also love.

Baring one’s soul to another is always difficult. The nakedness of the soul is as unsettling as the nakedness of the body. Song Zhiqing suppressed this unease because she suddenly understood: it wasn’t just her who wanted Ye Yuhuan to be more clingy. Ye Yuhuan, who had been persistently neglected by her mother, must need intimate contact even more.

And nakedness is often a prerequisite for intimate contact.

And intimate contact requires the shared nakedness of two people.

Ye Yuhuan lowered her eyelashes, her gaze resting on the circle of light under the roadside lamp.

She started this, she thought.

She turned her head, and with her other hand, she gently touched the cat pattern on Song Zhiqing’s hair accessory. “You’ve already given me a kitten.”

“You are my kitten.”

“The only requirement I have for a kitten is that it must never leave me.”

“When I love a kitten, I will be with her forever and ever.”

“I hope the kitten feels the same way.”

Ye Yuhuan had once thought that for something as fragile and perishable as love, making grand vows was a foolish act, one that often even accelerated its decay.

Now that this day had truly come,

She finally understood that making grand vows was, in itself, a part of love.

And so, Song Zhiqing, who was loving her, smiled lightly and said, “The kitten says she will never leave you.”

Night fell. In the darkness, the young lovers held each other’s hands tightly. In the syncopated rise of their heartbeats, they savored the tingling and joy brought by the growth of love.

Yes, spring.