Li Xian’s Secret

Qin Qingyan and Su Yan’s stabbing incident stayed on the hot search for several days. Especially after it was learned that Su Yan had blocked the knife for Qin Qingyan, the comments under the studio’s Weibo account were full of concern.

Four or five days later, the studio finally posted: Everything is fine. Thank you for your concern.

Qin Qingyan scrolled through the comments and saw Su Yan’s reply to one netizen: A steel-willed woman has shed tears of emotion. Thank you for your concern!

Not long after, Bai Ruo posted: Cooking with a steel-willed heroine.

The accompanying photo showed her wearing an apron, hands on her hips, with Su Yan standing beside her, holding up a pineapple and grinning broadly.

The comments exploded. Qin Qingyan clicked into the comment section and wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what. Before, she had always replied however she pleased; after this incident, guilt had been pressing on her.

She stared at the comments, still hesitating, when Yan Yue’s call came at just the right moment.

“Teacher Qin, come downstairs?” Yan Yue asked.

Qin Qingyan agreed and didn’t ask why. Before leaving, Yan Yue had only said she was going to take care of something; Qin Qingyan hadn’t asked then, and now that she was suddenly being told to come downstairs, she guessed it was related to her.

After getting into the car, Yan Yue glanced at Qin Qingyan with a smile. “Why does Teacher Qin look so down?”

“I...” Qin Qingyan didn’t know how to answer.

“Your hand’s injured, and I’m not much of a cook, so let’s go mooch a meal together,” Yan Yue said.

“Where to?” Qin Qingyan asked.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never tried Bai Ruo’s cooking,” Yan Yue said.

The gloom in Qin Qingyan’s heart lifted considerably; this was exactly what she had wanted to do.

About an hour later, Qin Qingyan updated her Weibo: Mooching a meal from the steel heroine.

The photo showed four people facing the camera and making hand gestures. The person beside Qin Qingyan had her face covered with stickers, but everyone knew who she was.

The food was still steaming hot. There were six home-style dishes on the table; the drinks had been opened, and everyone’s glass held more or less. Their cheeks were slightly flushed, their expressions relaxed, their smiles bright.

After taking the photo, posting on Weibo, and tidying everything up, the four of them sat on the carpet chatting and laughing. Bai Ruo suggested playing a card game; the loser would let the winner draw a mark on their face.

Everyone agreed.

The others had all played to some degree and at least knew the rules. Only Yan Yue didn’t, so Qin Qingyan patiently explained them once, and Yan Yue quickly understood.

“You learned that fast?” Qin Qingyan asked in surprise.

“It’s not hard. I can give it a try,” Yan Yue said.

Qin Qingyan smiled at her, looking like a teacher admiring her favorite student.

“Is that so? Then I’d better work hard and try to draw a cat on your face,” Qin Qingyan said.

When the game officially began, the first loser was unexpectedly the proposer herself, Bai Ruo. Su Yan was eager to try, so she picked up the pen and mercilessly drew a long line straight across Bai Ruo’s eyebrows.

“The One-Brow Taoist has descended upon the world,” Su Yan said, very satisfied.

“No way! I don’t believe it. Again!” Bai Ruo rolled up her sleeves, full of fighting spirit.

Su Yan suddenly thought of something, turned on the camera, aimed it at the three people excluding Yan Yue, informed them first, and then continued the game.

Fortune soon turned. The second loser was Su Yan. Qin Qingyan picked up the pen and looked her over from left to right with obvious bad intentions.

“Go easy on me. I’m your dear little assistant, the face of the team!”

Qin Qingyan smiled mysteriously and drew a black circle around her eyes.

Bai Ruo immediately laughed so hard she lost all semblance of decorum.

Su Yan hurriedly grabbed a mirror and looked at herself, then huffed in annoyance and stared at the card table, determined to win the next round.

In the rounds that followed, Bai Ruo lost the most, followed by Su Yan. Qin Qingyan lost five rounds, while Yan Yue only lost three, and every time it was to Qin Qingyan.

That made the other two narrow their eyes in suspicion.

“You cut me down with one clean stroke when you were killing me; my half-old face is practically ruined. But when it comes to Qingyan, you just can’t do it. I’m starting to suspect you’re secretly in cahoots!” Bai Ruo analyzed.

Su Yan agreed.

Yan Yue shrugged. “Maybe I’m still in the newbie protection period.”

Afterward, they each went to wash off their faces. Yan Yue only had three long lines on her face, like cat whiskers, and they washed off quickly. Qin Qingyan’s hand wasn’t convenient, so Yan Yue picked up a cloth and carefully wiped them off for her.

The whole time, Qin Qingyan stared at her, her eyes full of undisguised affection. If not for the fact that other people were nearby, she would have kissed her long ago.

Yan Yue probably didn’t even know how much her serious expression attracted Qin Qingyan.

Su Yan assigned the rooms; Qin Qingyan and Yan Yue naturally shared one, while Bai Ruo stayed alone.

While Yan Yue was tidying the room, Bai Ruo pulled Qin Qingyan outside and said in a mysterious, meaningful tone, “There are only three rooms here at Su Yan’s place; the bedding is limited, so you and Yan Zong should take it easy.”

Su Yan, who was drinking water nearby, nearly spat it out, coughing several times before looking at them in disbelief.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Don’t mislead Su Su,” Qin Qingyan said, a little awkwardly.

“Su Yan isn’t that young anymore; she’s only a few months younger than you. Knowing these things doesn’t matter,” Bai Ruo said.

After Qin Qingyan left, Su Yan leaned over to Bai Ruo and whispered, “That fast?”

“Fast? It’s been years. Not fast at all; if anything, it’s slow,” Bai Ruo said. “Besides, I was only teasing just now. Looking at Qingyan like that, there’s no way she’s gotten to sleep with her yet.”

Bai Ruo shook her head in disappointment.

Su Yan understood and also shook her head in disappointment.

Only after the bed was made did Yan Yue notice Qin Qingyan standing at the doorway, quietly watching her, her eyes soft with tenderness.

“Going to sleep?” Yan Yue asked.

Qin Qingyan didn’t answer. She walked over, wrapped both arms around her waist, and rested her head on her shoulder.

After a brief pause, Yan Yue smiled and hugged her back.

“Let me hold you for a bit before we sleep.”

“Alright, then let’s hold each other for a bit.”

Bai Ruo happened to glance inside as she passed by and saw the two of them. Envy flashed in her eyes; the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, then fell again. When she returned to her own room and sat alone on the bed, the earlier bustle only made the loneliness around her feel more pronounced.

The future was still long; was she really going to have to walk this path alone, and so hard?

She thought of Li Xian, but what came to mind next was Li Xian’s husband, that handsome, well-matched man. The scene of the two of them kissing in her memory wouldn’t go away.

She blinked rapidly. The glass window reflected her lonely figure. After a moment of daze, she took a deep breath and wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye. Then she lifted her smile, which quickly flattened again.

At Li Xian’s home.

Li Xian’s father and mother came again to talk to her about Li Xian’s husband. Li Xian remained calm and invited them to sit.

Li Xian’s father looked around. “Where is that person?”

“Dad, he’s your son-in-law, not that person,” Li Xian said.

“Son-in-law? Have you even looked at the things he’s done? I, Li Yi, can’t afford to lose this face; this son-in-law might as well not exist!” Li Yi said, his chest rising and falling.

“What has he done?” Li Xian asked curiously.

Li Xian’s father said nothing. Li Xian’s mother placed her phone on the table, and Li Xian picked it up to look. In the photo, her husband was arm in arm with an unfamiliar woman, acting intimately.

Li Xian calmly set the phone down. “I’ve known about these things for a long time.”

Li Xian’s father and mother stared at her in disbelief; they could never have imagined their daughter would be willing to endure this humiliation.

“I’m pregnant with his child now. After all, he’s the father of my child,” Li Xian said.

“You!” Li Yi was so angry he couldn’t even go on.

“Ah Li, you need to think this through. This is a lifelong matter. If you stay with someone like this, you’ll never be happy,” Li Xian’s mother advised.

“Happy? Do you still care whether I’m happy?” Li Xian sneered. “It’s the same with anyone. I don’t want to keep making a fuss anymore. If he wants to cheat, let him cheat; if he wants to keep a few lovers, let him keep a few. As long as I don’t have to see it.”

“Li Xian!” Li Yi shouted.

But Li Xian remained calm. “Dad, I’m already in my thirties. Life is only a few decades long; however you live it, it’s still a whole lifetime. Not everyone is lucky enough to be like you and Mom, loving each other until old age.”

Li Yi suppressed his temper. “Are you still blaming me for forcing you and that actress to break up?”

Even Li Xian herself hadn’t expected her eyes to redden in that instant, and that was the best answer to Li Yi’s words.

“No. And it’s impossible now, too,” Li Xian said with a smile.

Li Xian’s mother felt awful and looked at Li Yi. Li Yi let out a long sigh as well and shook his head helplessly.

When they left Li Xian’s home, Li Yi remained silent for a long time before asking Li Xian’s mother, “Back then...”

Forget it. He waved a hand. No matter what, there was no possibility anymore.

“If I had known this would happen today, I’d have let Ah Li stay with that actress back then. At least Ah Li was truly happy,” Li Xian’s mother said.

Li Yi said, “Enough. What’s the point of bringing this up now?”

Their slowly receding figures grew farther and farther away.

One day, Yan Yue was driving to the company when she unexpectedly spotted Li Xian. The man beside her was unfamiliar, but she more or less guessed he was Li Xian’s husband. She slowed the car and watched them.

Not long after, another woman appeared. The three of them chatted about something; in the end, the man left with the woman beside him, while Li Xian watched them go.

Yan Yue found this strange and also began to doubt the man’s identity.

She remembered Li Xian’s wedding, when quite a few haters had run to Bai Ruo’s Weibo to mock them. So she searched through the comments and quickly found a fairly clear photo. The groom in the photo was the very man she had just seen.

She glanced in the direction the man had gone and, without thinking further, followed him.

The man first took the woman to a jewelry store. It was a long while before they came out, the woman looking especially happy. Then they went to a clothing store; by the time they came out, the man was already carrying quite a few bags.

Turning a corner, Yan Yue kept following.

It wasn’t until they reached a café that they sat by the window, giving her a full view of everything they did. The man affectionately wiped the corner of the woman’s mouth; the woman smiled shyly.

Yan Yue watched for a while longer, then stopped following them and went straight to the company.

She had Ye Bai look into the man’s background, and very quickly all the information was sent to her computer. Yan Yue read through it one by one.

The more she read, the tighter her brow became.

The man had no record of ever studying or living abroad. He had only once worked as an English teacher at an educational institution, and was later dismissed after dating a female student and causing her to become pregnant.

He had also worked as a company translator, but that didn’t last long either.

Yan Yue leaned back in her chair. From following that man on the road, she could tell his relationship with the woman beside him was far from ordinary. A pregnant woman was sensitive by nature; Li Xian could not possibly have failed to notice.

Or perhaps Li Xian already knew.