Bite Marks

Qin Qingyan wore a cap and mask. When she smiled, the cool aloofness in her eyes disappeared; she looked warm and beautiful.

In a spot with relatively few people, they rested their hands on the railing. The light from the shops behind them fell on the calm river, occasionally rippling gently with the surface before settling back into stillness.

Far away, a boat carrying regular patrons was docked by the shore. Its lights shone bright and dazzling; if one looked closely, they could faintly make out people dancing and singing without restraint aboard.

Yan Yue looked away and tightened her grip on the hand in hers.

The world was chaotic and complicated, and the future even more unpredictable. As for the two of them, she hoped there would be a good ending. At the very least, she had that confidence for now.

“When I win an award, I’ll propose to you,” Qin Qingyan said.

“Why wait until you win an award?” Yan Yue asked.

Qin Qingyan smiled, then looked as though she had thought about it for a long time. “Because I don’t want people saying you chose someone with no future.”

Yan Yue looked out into the distance and gave a soft laugh. “Are you worried they’ll laugh at my taste, or do you think yourself that only then would you be worthy of me?”

“I…”

Before Qin Qingyan could continue, Yan Yue cut her off. “Qin Qingyan, what if you never win an award?”

She was still smiling, as she always did, but Qin Qingyan could see a trace of loneliness in her eyes.

“Then I’ll still propose,” Qin Qingyan said. “I want to work hard for the Best Actress award, and it has nothing to do with anyone else. It’s also not because I think only that would make me worthy of you. Let alone Best Actress; even if I win many more awards, I still couldn’t match the value and weight of you, the great Changyue chairwoman.”

Yan Yue listened quietly. Qin Qingyan went on, “I just want you to see that over these past few years, I really have done my utmost to prepare for proposing to you. That’s my sincerity. In the future, I’ll treat you and everything related to you with the same care and dedication.”

That third answer, one she had not anticipated, was no different from a key, a ticket; in Yan Yue’s heart, it opened another door for her. It was territory Qin Qingyan had stepped into alone. Yan Yue knew it, but Qin Qingyan did not.

The riverside wind was pleasant, neither cold nor stifling; everything was just right.

Li Xian had not yet arrived home. When she saw the lights spilling from the villa, the smile at her lips gradually faded. As soon as she opened the door, Li Xian’s father and mother were sitting upright on the sofa, chatting and laughing with a mature man in a suit; the atmosphere was very harmonious.

The moment they saw her, Li Xian’s parents still wore proper smiles, but there was not the slightest trace of warmth in their eyes. To Li Xian, that smile was almost no different from coercion.

Before she could even turn away, Li Xian’s father said loudly, “You’re back. Come sit down; we need to talk to you.”

The man’s gaze stayed fixed on Li Xian until she reached the side of the sofa. Only then did he seem to realize he had been rude; coming to his senses, he apologized with a smile to Li Xian’s parents.

Li Xian’s mother smiled at Li Xian’s father. He nodded; both of them saw satisfaction in each other’s eyes.

“Ah Li, this is the son of your Uncle Wang. He studied overseas at the same school as you and majored in orthopedics. He’s accomplished a lot at such a young age. The two of you can learn from each other in the future; after all, you’re both doctors, so you should have plenty to talk about,” Li Xian’s mother said just as she sat down.

Li Xian said nothing.

“Auntie,” the man said, “I should be the one learning from my senior, actually. She was Professor Charles’s student. In front of her, I don’t dare call anything I’ve done an accomplishment.”

Li Xian’s father glanced at Li Xian and let out a faint huff, carrying a barely hidden trace of pride.

“So Dr. Wang knows Ah Li too. That’s perfect; I don’t need to introduce her now,” Li Xian’s mother said with a smile.

Li Xian already understood what they meant. She had no intention of playing along with this song-and-dance routine they had set up to make her uncomfortable.

She stood up and said, lightly but firmly, “You all talk. I’m tired; I’m going to sleep first.” Then she went upstairs without looking back.

Li Xian’s father’s angry shout rang out behind her, but she still didn’t stop. The moment she closed her door, the world fell silent. She leaned weakly against it, feeling as though a thousand-pound stone were pressing on her chest; even breathing felt difficult.

Quietly listening to the vague, mocking voices drifting up from downstairs, Li Xian stared blankly toward the window by the bed. The long, drawn-out torment had finally come to an end. The door slammed shut with the hatred of the person closing it, the sound hitting Li Xian’s ears and making her body tremble faintly in response.

She sat unsteadily on the edge of the bed, head lowered, and a few clear tears fell one by one, soaking into the sheet.

The next day, Qin Qingyan woke up before Yan Yue. The two of them were still in the same position they’d fallen asleep in, pressed very close together. The warm brush of Yan Yue’s light breathing on Qin Qingyan’s face made her very fond of these moments of closeness.

She wasn’t in a hurry to get up; there was still more than an hour before work. Propping up her head, she studied Yan Yue carefully. Long, slender lashes. A straight, refined nose. Lips lightly pressed together. Yan Yue’s lip color was slightly deep, as if she had applied a thin layer of lipstick.

Qin Qingyan withdrew the hand resting around Yan Yue’s waist and tucked the slightly disheveled strands of hair behind her ear. Following the motion of her hand, she let her fingers slide over Yan Yue’s cheek; a great sense of satisfaction surged in her heart. This beautiful person belonged to her.

Her side-glance landed on the pale skin at Yan Yue’s neck, then lower; her throat went dry. Yan Yue’s sleepwear leaned toward the conservative side, but after a careless movement through the night, the collar had still shifted a little, faintly revealing a bit of white below.

Just that was enough to make Qin Qingyan’s breathing deepen and her heartbeat quicken.

She swallowed the dryness in her throat, took a deep breath, and finally let her gaze fall on those rosy lips. Only there had she opened up a little ground so far; the rest could wait.

She leaned in and kissed her reverently, brushing her lips there like a dragonfly skimming water before pulling back again. In the early morning, both of them had rather dry lips, so the kiss wasn’t particularly satisfying. Qin Qingyan licked her own lips, then leaned in to kiss Yan Yue again.

She parted her lips slightly; her tongue moved slowly and gently, moistening Yan Yue’s lips, drifting between tenderness and restraint. From time to time, she opened her eyes to see whether she had disturbed Yan Yue’s sleep. Yan Yue was still sound asleep.

Last night, the two of them hadn’t gotten back until close to midnight. After washing up, they’d chatted for a long time; by the time they finally drifted off in a daze, Qin Qingyan had glanced at her phone and seen it was past three. As for the exact time, she no longer remembered.

That was why she was so bold. Deep down, she even hoped Yan Yue would wake up and see this scene, so she wouldn’t have to endure so hard anymore.

And yet Yan Yue slept very deeply.

Qin Qingyan propped herself up and pulled away, staring at Yan Yue’s reddened lips. A fire inside her began stirring again. This time, she moved her gaze to Yan Yue’s fair collarbone, a thought rising in her mind; she immediately acted on it.

After she was done, she nodded in satisfaction, got up quietly, prepared breakfast for Yan Yue, then drove to the film crew. Along the way, she hummed a soft tune, her mood excellent.

Yan Yue might be angry when she woke up. Thinking of Yan Yue angry, Qin Qingyan realized she had never seen that expression on her before. Still, it should be beautiful too.

She even wondered what it would feel like to be scolded by Yan Yue; unexpectedly, she found herself looking forward to it a little.

Yan Yue was indeed very angry. Looking at the not-too-deep bite mark on her collarbone in the mirror, she gave a cold laugh. She found a bandage to cover it. After repeatedly checking that it couldn’t be seen, she changed clothes and left the house.

Qin Qingyan, pleased as punch, stayed in a good mood all the way to the set. Her condition during filming was especially remarkable; compared with the past two days, it was like heaven and earth. Such a good state naturally affected the actors working with her as well, and the director nodded in satisfaction too.

Looks like they could finish early today.

During the break, Su Yan kept sighing in amazement. A woman basking in the honeymoon phase really was different; she was practically bubbling with hearts all over.

Among everyone in the crew, aside from Qin Qingyan, the happiest person was none other than Xu Shushu. She was both infected by Qin Qingyan’s good mood and happy because Qin Qingyan was happy.

A bottle of water blocked the space between her and the script. Xu Shushu looked up and met Qin Qingyan’s smiling eyes. “Drink some water. It’ll quench your thirst.”

“Thank you.”

She took it, but didn’t unscrew the cap. After Qin Qingyan walked away, she stared at the bottle in her hands, lost in thought.

She was almost certain she had fallen for Qin Qingyan. But she could feel that Qin Qingyan only treated her like a younger sister; she cared for her, but there was nothing beyond that care.

She had also thought that being able to greedily keep even this little bit of special treatment should be enough. She wanted to be content too, but every time she saw Qin Qingyan, her heart would race, lose all order, awkward and flustered.

An exclamation interrupted her thoughts.

At some point, Zheng Jingteng had arrived. He held a huge bouquet of roses, still beaded with fresh droplets of water, and walked straight toward Yu Qingyan. He stared at her with eyes full of affection and, under the witness of the surrounding staff, handed the flowers over gentlemanly.

“Do you like them? I took a detour to buy them for you,” he said, his gaze brimming with deep feeling, as if the whole world held only her.

Yu Qingyan was briefly stunned, then quickly smiled and happily took them. “Thank you, darling.”

Someone captured the scene on camera, and about half an hour later, it appeared on Weibo.

Su Yan was sucking on a lollipop, clicking her tongue repeatedly. “How can there be netizens who think those two are a perfect match?”

She really couldn’t understand it.

Objectively speaking, Zheng Jingteng and Yu Qingyan were not bad-looking; one could even say they were quite attractive. But once a person had seen the real faces beneath those skins, even the best looks were only like the moon reflected in a filthy pond; they inspired no goodwill at all.

The commotion here only drew a brief glance from Qin Qingyan, who didn’t pay it much mind and kept watch over her phone. The five or six messages she’d sent Yan Yue still hadn’t been answered.

Could she really still be angry?

That kind of uncertainty, unable to tell whether things were good or bad, was like a kitten scratching at her heart, tugging her thoughts off course again and again. She sighed; truly, she had brought this on herself.

For the afternoon scene, there was a model making a guest appearance as herself in the drama; her part was only a little over ten seconds. Before filming began, she arrived early. Qin Qingyan wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she kept feeling that model was looking at her from time to time. Every time she followed the feeling and looked over, the model would be idly rubbing her fingers.

After it happened several times, Qin Qingyan became certain that the other woman really was studying her.

She only knew the woman’s name, so she searched her on Baidu.

Raised from childhood, famous at thirteen, and now, at only twenty-seven, a sweep of major international awards.

“Zou Yun?” Qin Qingyan murmured.