Pendant

Yan Yue let herself eat to her fill this time. In the end, there was still half a bowl of thin vermicelli she couldn’t finish, and Qin Qingyan took it over and ate the rest.

When they left the restaurant, Qin Qingyan drove and parked not far from the amusement park. The two of them then walked along the street to help their food settle.

The sky was already darkening, and the streetlights had come on; it was that in-between hour when day gave way to night. The evening breeze was pleasant, and the pedestrians looked leisurely and at ease. There were more people than during the day, though it still wasn’t the busiest time.

“Next time, I really can’t eat that much. Seven-tenths is probably best,” Qin Qingyan said.

Yan Yue nodded. “Too full?”

“A little. I’ll be fine after a walk.”

Yan Yue reached out and touched Qin Qingyan’s lower abdomen. Her usually slim, flat stomach was slightly rounded now; she really had eaten too much.

Qin Qingyan immediately copied her and reached back to touch her in return. Yan Yue’s stomach was flat, without the slightest trace of extra flesh, unlike Qin Qingyan’s slight bulge. Fine. At least she’d come out ahead in that regard.

Through the thin layer of fabric, feeling the warmth from her abdomen, Qin Qingyan felt an indescribable satisfaction. She loved every moment of being this close to Yan Yue.

Not just because she could be near Yan Yue, but because only she was allowed to be this close. It made her feel like she was an exception to Yan Yue; that Yan Yue belonged to her alone.

As for her possessiveness toward Yan Yue, she rarely ever held it back.

The two of them walked slowly, fingers intertwined. Before they knew it, night had fully fallen. The streets were dazzling with lights, traffic flowed endlessly, and the crowds had gradually become lively as well, at least half again as many people as before.

They headed back, drawing even closer to each other, and the hand they were holding turned into an arm linked around the other.

Neither of them said a word. Every now and then they would glance at each other; whenever they saw the deep affection in the other’s eyes, they would smile softly and look away, their steps unhurried. Walking like this for an entire night wouldn’t be bad at all.

There were far more people inside the amusement park now; from a distance, it was a dense mass of shifting heads. More and more young people in costumes from anime and film and television were appearing, each with makeup done to match. They had shed their daytime identities and thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the excitement.

Qin Qingyan bought a half mask and put it on; it covered only the left side of her face. On the lower eyelid under her right eye, Yan Yue had drawn colorful accents with different brushes, the color extending slightly from the outer corner. When she finished, Yan Yue stepped back and looked at her carefully. The rainbow tones under Qin Qingyan’s eye made her already beautiful face look even more vivid and striking.

Yan Yue came back to herself, smiled in satisfaction, and nodded; then she suddenly thought of something. She pressed her thumb to her own lips to pick up some lipstick and pressed it onto Qin Qingyan’s cheek, planning to finish a heart.

Just as she was about to complete the other half, Qin Qingyan caught her hand and looked up, pointing at her own lips. Yan Yue smiled in understanding.

Her thumb lightly pressed against Qin Qingyan’s lips, taking on a deeper red, then stamped it onto the half-finished heart.

Once they were done dressing up, it was hard to recognize them at a glance.

Yan Yue simply wore a fox mask, with nothing else added. In the crowd, people kept turning back to look at her. At first she had worried about being recognized, but after a while she relaxed and, like everyone else, enjoyed herself to the fullest.

At one point, someone took out a phone but hesitated, unable to bring themselves to step forward. The person beside them said something; the young man then looked at the color at Qin Qingyan’s eye corner as if confirming something, and with deep regret, put his phone away.

There were also people bold enough to come forward. One young man walked up to Qin Qingyan and, looking shy, explained why he was there. Qin Qingyan froze for a moment, then smiled and pointed to the colorful mark by her eye. The boy stared blankly, not understanding what she meant.

So Qin Qingyan said, “I have a girlfriend.”

Only then did the boy rush to apologize and leave in embarrassment.

Perhaps it was because Yan Yue carried an aura that kept strangers at a distance; even when some people were tempted and worked up courage over and over, they still never dared to step forward.

They had plenty of time, so they went on every ride they could. By then they had spent most of their energy and were now sitting on the sightseeing train, eating ice cream and letting the breeze brush over them, the thin sweat on their bodies finally turning cool.

Qin Qingyan held up her phone, the lens always pointed at Yan Yue. Then, when Yan Yue wasn’t paying attention, she remembered the CP that had been trending on Weibo these past few days. She zoomed in and took a photo of the pendant with the three letters “QQY” hanging at Yan Yue’s neck.

She looked at it again and again, thoroughly satisfied, and saved it.

When they got home, she immediately edited a caption and posted it on Weibo. There were three pictures in all: the left and right images were half-hearts made with their hands, while the middle one was the pendant photo.

The caption was only one character: love.

Comments flooded in quickly, and the number kept rising. Qin Qingyan glanced back; Yan Yue was still in the shower, so she kept scrolling through the comments.

Every word, every sentence overflowed with genuine warmth. Qin Qingyan’s lips curved. As she scrolled down, one image suddenly caught her attention. A netizen excitedly said they had happened to be there too, and that their photo had captured a blurry figure of Qin Qingyan.

Netizen: I only thought those two sisters were so pretty and wanted to ask for a photo, but I was too timid. Who would’ve thought one of them was actually my goddess! So close and yet so far away!!

Another netizen quickly posted her own photo too: Got it, got it, saving it, saving it, saving it.

Qin Qingyan opened the photo and, judging from the angle, the photographer had been on the same sightseeing train as them, sitting very close by. In the frame, Yan Yue had her head lowered, seemingly doing something, while Qin Qingyan had turned to the right to look at her, her eyes full of tenderness.

Very quickly, this picture sparked quite a bit of discussion, with people speculating about who the woman beside Qin Qingyan was. Some naturally assumed it was Su Yan, but that was soon ruled out; Su Yan’s hair was much shorter than the woman in the photo’s.

So the CP fans immediately thought of Xu Shushu and started digging up evidence that the person was Xu Shushu. The more they tried to prove it, the more convinced they became.

Qin Qingyan saw a comment with an especially reasonable analysis that won plenty of agreement, so she replied, “Nope, she’s a very important family member.”

The netizen immediately sent a heartbroken crying emoji.

Qin Qingyan’s words were no different from clarifying her relationship with Xu Shushu, but many netizens still refused to give up and desperately searched for tiny clues to prove their guess was right.

A sound came from behind her. Qin Qingyan quickly turned off her phone, jogged over, and snatched the hair dryer away just before Yan Yue could reach it, smiling. “I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”

Yan Yue didn’t refuse.

The hum of the dryer filled the living room. Qin Qingyan’s fingers slid through Yan Yue’s black, silky hair; her hands itched, and so did her heart.

After that, Yan Yue sat on the sofa with her laptop on her knees, opening files and taking a few sips of hot tea from time to time.

Qin Qingyan found it boring, but she didn’t want to disturb Yan Yue, so she curled up on the other end of the sofa and idly played with her phone.

Yan Yue’s hair was already dry. It was so smooth that if she lowered her head even a little, a few strands would fall over her eyes, so she took a hairpin and simply pinned it up at the back of her head before continuing to work seriously.

Qin Qingyan was browsing a shopping app, planning to buy a few things to decorate the house. Every now and then she looked up, froze, and stopped paying attention to her phone, simply staring at Yan Yue.

Her thick hair was pinned up with only a single hairpin; a few loose strands fell across her forehead, and her gold-rimmed glasses added a touch of abstinence.

It was such a beautiful scene that Qin Qingyan stared at her with focused tenderness, and a word suddenly sprang into her mind.

Her heart gave a sharp thump; her ears heated, and her throat went dry.

Noticing that unguarded gaze, Yan Yue turned and smiled. “Teacher Qin, you’ve been staring at me for a long time. Time is precious; use it for something more important.”

Qin Qingyan moved closer, a mysterious smile at the corners of her mouth. “I just thought of a word.”

“What word?” Yan Yue asked.

Qin Qingyan smiled and leaned in to whisper it into Yan Yue’s ear. When she pulled back, Yan Yue looked unnatural, her ears red. She shot Qin Qingyan a glare, then turned around so her back was to her.

Qin Qingyan’s smile deepened. She turned as well, back to back with Yan Yue, leaning against her and letting her lean against her too. “I’ll wait until you’re finished, then we can sleep.”

Yan Yue steadied her breathing. When she lifted her cup to drink tea, she finally realized the tea had long since been finished.

Xu Shushu saw Qin Qingyan’s Weibo post very quickly. Looking at that sentence, which clearly carried the meaning of clarification, she knew in her heart that it was the truth. But in the midst of misunderstanding, she had rarely been able to share even that sliver of connection with Qin Qingyan; now, seeing those words, she felt an unaccountable ache in her chest.

Also seeing the Weibo post at the same time was Zheng Jingteng, who was sitting in the same car as Yu Qingyan. He had nothing to say to her, so he busied himself with his phone. When he saw the post, he clicked it open.

For some reason, the pendant photo with the three letters QQY looked strangely familiar to him. He was certain he had seen it somewhere before, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t remember where.

Seeing him frown in confusion, Yu Qingyan glanced at his phone.

QQY, Qin Qingyan…

“You really are relentless. But I can tell you clearly: Qin Qingyan would never give someone like you the time of day. You’re not worthy of her,” Yu Qingyan said with a cold laugh.

Zheng Jingteng ignored her and kept trying to remember where he had seen that pendant before.

Yu Qingyan couldn’t be bothered to waste her breath and leaned back in her seat to rest.

In the end, Zheng Jingteng still couldn’t remember. He rubbed his swollen temples, but one thing he was sure of: he had definitely seen that pendant somewhere.

It wasn’t until he saw Qin Qingyan again a few days later that the fog in his mind finally lifted; however, the truth was not what he had hoped for.

Qin Qingyan had arrived at the film crew very early and was going through the script with the actors, while the background extras were also made up and standing by.

What they were filming this time was a film that Director Nie had begun planning seven years ago. Qin Qingyan had been chosen directly for the female lead, and the remaining roles had, one by one, also been filled by suitable people.

Zheng Jingteng went to find Director Nie and tried once more to get a role, even if it was only male third or male fourth. After all, everything about this film was top-tier; the chances of it becoming a huge hit were extremely high. But he was still turned down. Nie Cong said, “The role I have in mind is already set. You’re not suitable.”

When he left, he saw Qin Qingyan seriously studying the script, and suddenly remembered something. He went over and greeted her. “Teacher Qin, long time no see.”

“Long time no see,” Qin Qingyan said.

Looking at the script covered in her notes, Zheng Jingteng said sincerely, “No wonder Teacher Qin has been able to hold her place in the entertainment industry these past few years. A true gem will shine even if it’s covered in dust.”

As if casually, though perhaps deliberately, he glanced at the pendant around Qin Qingyan’s neck; YY…