After Escaping Marriage - Chapter 91
Chapter 91
Yu Qingtang unlocked her screen.
[Cheng Zhanxi]: I'm done, heading home now, so sleepy
The time in the top left corner of the screen showed: 1:37.
Yu Qingtang held her phone with both hands, her fingertips dancing over the virtual keyboard like butterflies, typing out a few words. They sat quietly in the chat box, revealing their owner's eager anticipation. Yu Qingtang looked at them, then slowly deleted them, one character at a time, staring blankly at the empty input box.
Three in the morning.
Cheng Zhanxi: [Good night]
Yu Qingtang picked up her phone, glanced at it, and turned off the bedroom light.
Cheng Zhanxi slept until noon on New Year's Eve. The first thing she did after waking up was grab her phone, unlock it, and it opened to the chat interface from before she went to sleep.
Yu Qingtang had replied "good morning" to her at seven in the morning.
The corners of Cheng Zhanxi's lips curved up. She replied with a "good afternoon" and excitedly went to the dressing room to take a picture of the clothes she was going to wear today for her.
A long red dress with intricate and exquisite embroidery hung in the glass wardrobe.
After washing up, Cheng Zhanxi changed into the dress and came down the curved staircase. Cheng Yuanxi was sitting on the sofa, scrolling through financial news on his iPad. Hearing the sound, he turned his head, and his gaze paused on his sister's figure.
Cheng Yuanxi stood up.
Their eyes met. With the tacit understanding developed over many years between brother and sister, Cheng Zhanxi immediately cooperated by slowing her steps down the stairs.
When only the last few steps remained, Cheng Yuanxi, dressed in a shirt and trousers, stood on the landing at the bottom of the stairs. One hand was behind his back, the other extended forward, and he bowed slightly with impeccable manners.
Cheng Zhanxi placed her hand in the handsome young man's palm, gently lifted her skirt with her other hand, and gracefully descended.
Cheng Yuanxi: "Good afternoon, Capital City's most dazzling pearl, beautiful Princess."
Cheng Zhanxi, still holding her skirt, curtsied, nodded with a slight smile, "Good afternoon."
Then she let her skirt down, concealing the slippers she was wearing underneath, and asked, "Is lunch ready? I'm a bit hungry."
Cheng Yuanxi withdrew his hand, glanced towards the kitchen, and said, "It should be soon. Aunt Yun has been busy for an hour already."
"Where are Mom and Dad?"
"They went upstairs again after breakfast and haven't come down."
The siblings exchanged a look, raised their eyebrows, a silent understanding passing between them.
Cheng Zhanxi handed him her phone and said, "Take a picture of me."
Cheng Zhanxi took off her slippers and walked to the rug in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the first-floor living room, stepping onto it barefoot.
Cheng Yuanxi held up the phone, watching her constantly adjust her pose and angle in the lens.
"Click."
"Click."
Two consecutive camera clicks sounded. Cheng Zhanxi lightly stamped her foot and turned back, saying, "I wasn't ready yet."
Cheng Yuanxi said with a straight face, "Too beautiful. Brother couldn't resist."
Cheng Zhanxi: "..."
Cheng Yuanxi said, "I'll send it to our family group chat later. Mom and Dad will definitely praise you as a fairy."
Cheng Zhanxi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
It wasn't Cheng Zhanxi's fault for being too confident in her appearance. If she occasionally felt there was a flaw, her family would vehemently disagree—none! No one in the world is perfect, except my daughter/sister! When she was little and losing her baby teeth, she looked particularly unsightly when her front tooth fell out. She cried and refused to go to school. The Cheng family members took turns, managing to convince her that she was most beautiful with a missing tooth, and she happily went to school. Of course, when her permanent tooth grew in later, the Cheng family used other methods to coax her back to a normal sense of aesthetics.
Cheng Zhanxi: "Don't take any more yet. Wait until I say I'm ready, then you can shoot."
Cheng Yuanxi put down his phone and looked at her, saying, "Okay."
After about another ten minutes of fussing, Cheng Zhanxi adjusted the hem of her long dress, letting it fall just right to reveal the top of her snow-white foot. She turned her head to her brother and said, "Okay."
Cheng Yuanxi sighed silently in his heart and raised his phone to take a picture.
He walked over and showed the photo to Cheng Zhanxi.
A bright red, ankle-length dress. Her long, curly chestnut hair was casually swept to one side in front. Her figure was tall and slender, with graceful curves. Her waist was so slim it looked like it could be encircled by a single hand. Half of her ankle was exposed, delicate and exquisite, the top of her foot snow-white, resting on the soft wool carpet.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, there was a lake. She stood barefoot before the window, the shimmering green water casting a distant, dreamlike filter over her back.
Cheng Zhanxi looked at the scenery outside the window and hesitated, "Should I just go outside to take it?"
Cheng Yuanxi dispelled her thought with a single sentence.
"It's cold outside."
"True," Cheng Zhanxi said. "I'll wait until the weather gets warmer."
Cheng Yuanxi said, "Send the photo to the group chat later."
Cheng Zhanxi looked down, operating her phone with a smile on her lips, and said, "Okay."
Cheng Yuanxi sat back on the sofa and picked up his iPad again. The phone on the coffee table soon vibrated. Cheng Yuanxi opened the family-of-four group chat and saw two photos.
Two???
Cheng Yuanxi's eyes widened. He checked back and forth several times. Indeed, there were two photos—the two he had taken on his own initiative before Cheng Zhanxi had finished adjusting, not the final one.
Cheng Yuanxi put down his phone with mixed feelings.
Cheng Zhanxi sent the remaining meticulously taken photo to Yu Qingtang. Just a dozen seconds after sending it, she quickly long-pressed to recall it. She repeatedly checked her photo in the album to ensure it was absolutely perfect before finally reselecting it and sending it, letting out a long breath.
She sat in the white lounge chair next to the rug, holding her phone with both hands, waiting motionless for Yu Qingtang's reply, occasionally giggling inexplicably.
Aunt Yun called them for lunch.
Cheng Zhanxi emerged from her own world, placed her phone on the coffee table, and went to the washroom to wash her hands.
Cheng Yi and Song Qingrou came down from the second floor. Seeing Cheng Zhanxi emerge after washing her hands, Song Qingrou was surprised and said, "Where did this fairy come from? How did she descend upon our home?"
Cheng Zhanxi also feigned shock, "I didn't see you when I descended to the mortal realm! Which celestial palace are you from? The other immortals say Fairy Chang'e is the most beautiful. Could you be from the Moon Palace?"
Song Qingrou couldn't hold it in: "Hahahaha."
Halfway through her laughter, she touched the corners of her eyes and said with an "Aiyo," "No, no, I'm going to get wrinkles."
Cheng Yi said, "I already have several wrinkles. You're getting younger and younger. If this continues, people might say we're father and daughter."
Song Qingrou playfully hit his arm, her eyes curving into crescents.
The family sat down at the table, laughing, with delicious dishes spread out before them.
Sicheng City.
Yu Qingtang, wearing a plaid apron, was busy in the kitchen. Various prepared ingredients were laid out on the countertop.
Lively laughter drifted from the living room, sounding unfamiliar and distant, isolating this place into a small world of its own.
Yu Ci had a younger brother, which was Yu Qingtang's maternal uncle. With Wei Tingyu's help, the uncle had settled in Haishi. He had returned to his hometown for the New Year with his family. The uncle had a son and a daughter, both of school age. This morning, as soon as they entered, they obediently called out "Grandpa" and "Grandma," delighting the two elders. Yu Qingtang's maternal grandfather smiled so much his eyes nearly disappeared.
The uncle pointed to Yu Qingtang beside him and said, "Call her Jiejie."
The brother and sister looked at each other. They were polite enough, but there was a clear unfamiliarity: "Jiejie."
When Yu Qingtang came to Sicheng, her uncle and aunt were already working in Haishi. They only saw each other once a year, and Yu Qingtang was face-blind, so she truly had no impression of them in her mind.
Yu Qingtang looked at the couple in front of her and said calmly but politely, "Uncle, Aunt."
Her uncle looked at her with a polite smile and made small talk, "I heard you're a teacher now?"
Yu Qingtang hummed in affirmation.
Her uncle said, "It's good for a girl to be a teacher, it's stable."
Yu Qingtang again: "Mm."
The conversation between uncle and niece ended there. The uncle went into the mourning hall to offer incense to his sister, then came out to talk to her maternal grandfather and Fang Wenjiao. The aunt put down the things they had brought and reminded the two children not to run around and to watch TV quietly.
Yu Qingtang went into the kitchen to cook lunch.
A variety show was playing in the living room. The uncle's two children were laughing heartily. Yu Qingtang's maternal grandparents smiled with affectionate faces. Fang Wenjiao asked her grandson and granddaughter, "Do you want some snacks? Grandma has a lot in her room."
The two children were engrossed in the show and didn't hear Fang Wenjiao's question.
So Fang Wenjiao pushed herself up from the sofa, brought out a large bag of snacks from her room, and asked them again.
The two children each took two packets from the bag and said very politely, "Thank you, Grandma."
Fang Wenjiao's wrinkled hand patted her grandson's head and touched the top of her granddaughter's hair.
The aunt said from the side, "Mom, don't spoil them too much."
Fang Wenjiao disagreed, "How is this spoiling? I only get to see my grandson and granddaughter once a year. Can't I give them some treats?"
Yu Qingtang's maternal grandfather said, "Exactly." His smile faded a little, and he said sternly to his son, "If work isn't too busy, bring the children back to visit more often. Your mother and I don't have many years left."
The uncle repeatedly agreed, then said it wouldn't be like that, Dad would surely live to be a hundred.
Yu Qingtang's maternal grandfather said, "Live to be a hundred? I'm about to be angered to death. Forget it, it's New Year's, let's not talk about this. How many days do you plan to stay this time?"
The uncle said, "Work starts on the seventh day of the New Year, so we'll leave on the sixth."
The two children glanced at each other, seeing the sigh in each other's eyes.
There was nothing to play with at Grandpa and Grandma's house, and they had to stay for so long.
Fang Wenjiao said happily, "Good, good, the rooms are all ready."
Three generations under one roof, harmonious and happy.
Yu Qingtang pulled open the kitchen door, her expression indifferent, and interrupted the laughter in the living room, "Lunch is ready."
The family got up one after another. The two children only came over after finishing that segment of the show. The uncle reprimanded them, and the grandfather, in turn, said a few words to the uncle.
The uncle's son, Xuanxuan, asked, "Are there any drinks? I want to drink something."
The girl, Tingting, said to him, "All you think about is drinks."
Yu Qingtang put down the soup bowl in her hand and said, "Yes, I'll go get them."
Xuanxuan sat on his chair, swinging his legs, looking very happy. His father sat opposite him and said in a low voice, "Remember to thank your Jiejie."
The boy said, "Got it."
Yu Qingtang brought drinks and cups, receiving two "thank yous."
At the table, the uncle and aunt praised her cooking skills, saying she had worked hard and the food was delicious. If one didn't know their relationship, they might think Yu Qingtang was the family's nanny.
After the meal, several of them wanted to take a nap. After washing the dishes, Yu Qingtang took the two children upstairs, pointed to two adjacent rooms that had been prepared beforehand, and said, "The one on the left is for Jiejie, the one on the right is for Didi."
The two children politely said again, "Thank you, Jiejie."
Yu Qingtang turned and went back to her room.
The brother and sister watched her retreating figure and unconsciously rubbed the goosebumps on their arms. Jiejie was pretty, but she was just too cold.
Anyway, they only saw her once a year. They just had to get through these few days.
Yu Qingtang locked her door, walked to her desk, and picked up the phone that was on it.
The screen showed a new message notification.
Yu Qingtang tapped on it and saw a red number next to Cheng Zhanxi's pinned avatar. Her heart instantly became very calm.
The fatigue from being busy since early morning vanished. She didn't rush to open it. First, she washed her hands, took a quick shower, changed into clean, comfortable pajamas, and sat on the bed before looking at what Cheng Zhanxi had sent her.
Yu Qingtang's eyes softened as she tapped into Cheng Zhanxi's chat box.
[Good afternoon, I'm awake]
[I slept too late yesterday, didn't get up for breakfast today, I'm so hungry]
[My mom said I have to wear new clothes for New Year, so she had a dress custom-made for me, it's red, I'll take a picture for you]
[[Photo of the dress]]
[How is it? Isn't it very festive?]
[I've changed, I'm going downstairs]
[System prompt: Cheng Zhanxi recalled a message]
Yu Qingtang: "???"
After a dozen minutes or so.
[Clicked wrong]
Next was a photo. Yu Qingtang tapped it open, and her breath hitched.
Her pupils dilated slightly, not missing a single detail, as she looked at the back view of Cheng Zhanxi in the backless red dress in the photo.
Her long hair was swept from the back of her head to one side in front, revealing her smooth, beautiful back. Her shoulder blades, like butterfly wings, protruded slightly, as if poised for flight. The lines of the dress's opening extended down to her slender waist, cinching it, concealing the deeper scenery, sexy and alluring.
Yu Qingtang stared at the firm waistline in the photo, then looked up at her snow-white back, her long, fair neck, and the pearl earrings she wore.
Cheng Zhanxi had slept enough in the morning, so she didn't nap at noon. She sat at the desk in the third-floor study, reading a book while keeping her phone screen set to always-on mode, glancing at it from time to time.
After two or three hours of silence, a message popped up on her phone.
Yu Qingtang had replied to her.
Cheng Zhanxi quickly picked up her phone.
Yu Qingtang: [Are you going out?]
It was a sentence without context. For a moment, Cheng Zhanxi didn't know what Yu Qingtang was trying to say.
Cheng Zhanxi: [Not going out, having New Year's Eve dinner at home]
Yu Qingtang: [The dress is very beautiful]
Cheng Zhanxi began to understand. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she typed: [Does it not look good if I go out?]
In the second-floor bedroom in Sicheng's old district, the dim light concealed the slight flush on Yu Qingtang's earlobes.
She lowered her head, lightly bit her lower lip, and typed: [It's cold outside, put on more clothes]
Cheng Zhanxi burst out laughing.
Yu Qingtang's hand still hovered over the virtual keyboard, her mind racing on how to smooth over this exchange, when her phone screen changed, displaying an incoming call from Cheng Zhanxi.
Yu Qingtang took a couple of light breaths and answered, "Hello."
Cheng Zhanxi asked, puzzled, "Why is your voice so soft?"
"There are guests at home."
"Who?"
"My uncle's family of four."
"Are they staying upstairs?" Cheng Zhanxi remembered that Yu Qingtang's old house wasn't large; the second floor had only three rooms, all quite close to each other.
"The children are staying upstairs, two children."
"Will they disturb you?"
"It's alright."
"How long are they staying?"
"Leaving on the sixth day of the New Year."
It was a question-and-answer exchange. Cheng Zhanxi could tell from her words that her relationship with her uncle wasn't close, so she didn't press further. Instead, she teased her, "You think my dress is beautiful, so why don't you want me to go out?"
Yu Qingtang explained, "I'm not saying you can't go out. It's cold, you'll catch a cold wearing so little."
Cheng Zhanxi said, "In a couple of days, I have to attend an evening banquet. There's air conditioning inside, so I won't catch a cold. Can I wear this one?"
Yu Qingtang thought for a moment and said, "Didn't you say your mom had it custom-made for New Year? Wouldn't it be inappropriate to wear it to a banquet? Besides..." her voice grew even softer, "if you wash it, it won't dry in time."
Cheng Zhanxi bit the back of her hand to stop herself from laughing out loud while Yu Qingtang was speaking.
She said very seriously, "I have other similar backless formal dresses. Can you help me choose one then?"
Yu Qingtang gritted her teeth.
Did she have to... did she have to wear something backless?!
Yu Qingtang fell silent.
Cheng Zhanxi: "Hmm? Are you there?"
Yu Qingtang let out heavy breaths into the microphone, silently expressing her anger.
Cheng Zhanxi chuckled.
Her baby was getting more and more jealous. It was a good sign.
Cheng Zhanxi laughed and said, "I was teasing you. Actually, it can still be cold in the banquet hall even with air conditioning. I always dress warmly when I attend banquets."
Yu Qingtang slid down from the head of the bed, slipping under the covers from head to toe. She was enveloped by the warm, soft quilt, pretending it was Cheng Zhanxi holding her. "You..." Yu Qingtang hesitated.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"'Nothing' is what?" Cheng Zhanxi had almost figured out her pattern of speech; whenever she swallowed her words, it was something important.
Yu Qingtang was completely under the covers, her vision filled with darkness. She breathed deeply, opened her mouth several times, but ultimately still said, "It's nothing."
Cheng Zhanxi fell silent.
She was very worried about Yu Qingtang.
Even though they messaged and called each other every day, their words intimate, and occasionally Cheng Zhanxi would hear Yu Qingtang unconsciously utter sweet nothings that made her feel like she was floating on air. But not being able to see her expression or feel her warmth always left Cheng Zhanxi with a sense of unease, very unsettled.
Cheng Zhanxi looked at the calendar in the top right corner of her desk, thinking as she circled and marked dates with a pen.
After a long silence, Cheng Zhanxi put down her pen, exhaled, and said, "I'll come back on the tenth day of the New Year, okay?"
A tear slid from the corner of Yu Qingtang's eye.
"Okay." Her true emotions couldn't be discerned from her voice.
"Ten more days. You be good and wait for me at home."
"Okay." Yu Qingtang's voice trembled, and another tear fell, seeping into her temple.
"I will come back, don't worry."
Yu Qingtang's tears flowed more freely. She wiped them away with her hand and, before her voice could betray her crying, said, "I'm going to sleep now. Good afternoon."
"Good afternoon."
Yu Qingtang pressed the microphone on her phone, waiting a moment before hanging up. With tear-blurred vision, she opened WeChat and sent Cheng Zhanxi another "Good afternoon."
Cheng Zhanxi replied with a heart-hands emoji.
Putting down her phone, Cheng Zhanxi's heart sank.
She thought she had just heard Yu Qingtang crying. Was it an illusion?
Shoo—
Bang—
Clusters of fireworks soared into the air, exploding in the silent night sky—pale silver, golden yellow, light purple. They were like giant umbrellas opening, like flowers blooming, like golden meteors trailing long tails, streaking across the sky one after another, adorning the brilliant night.
Only Yu Qingtang remained in the house in the old district; everyone else had gone out to watch the fireworks.
Yu Qingtang stood in the courtyard, looking up. She could see the distant sky, sometimes illuminated, sometimes returning to darkness.
Cheng Zhanxi had messaged her a dozen minutes ago, saying her family was going to watch a movie.
Yu Qingtang asked if she wasn't going out. Cheng Zhanxi replied that they were watching it in the home theater in the basement, and afterwards, they might have a sauna session together, as the sauna room was right next door. So she might not be able to reply to her messages promptly.
Cheng Zhanxi had to accompany her family, so Yu Qingtang tactfully didn't disturb her.
There was no moon on New Year's Eve. Yu Qingtang sat at her desk on the second floor, looking out the open window at nothing but the dark, quiet night.
Laughter from family reunions drifted from every household outside. Yu Qingtang closed the window.
When Cheng Zhanxi came out of the movie theater, her parents and brother were still discussing the movie's plot. She secretly checked her phone, her pretty brows furrowing. Yu Qingtang hadn't messaged her.
It was New Year's Eve. What was she doing? Had she gone out? Or was she at home?
Cheng Zhanxi sent a message asking, then put her phone in the dressing room and changed clothes to go to the sauna.
The Cheng family had very healthy routines. For them, New Year's was about doing things together as a family; there was no need to stay up all night. Cheng Yi and Song Qingrou went back to their room to sleep not long after the sauna. The brother and sister also went upstairs to their respective rooms.
Cheng Zhanxi opened her phone; there was still no reply in the chat box.
Sicheng City.
The phone rang.
A fair, slender hand reached out from under the covers, grabbed the phone from the bedside table. As the caller ID became clear, the phone's owner woke up.
Yu Qingtang: "Hello."
The voice coming through the earpiece had a slight nasal tone. Cheng Zhanxi, who had been pacing in her room, stopped. Her brow twitched. "Do you have a cold?"
Yu Qingtang pulled the quilt tighter around herself and said, "No, I was sleeping."
Cheng Zhanxi took her phone away from her ear and glanced at the time. It wasn't even eleven o'clock.
Cheng Zhanxi asked gently, "Are you not feeling well?"
"No." Yu Qingtang lowered her eyes and said, "I just got sleepy early today."
"What about your grandparents?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of footsteps going up and down the stairs, and the voices of her uncle's son and daughter talking and chatting, could be heard.
Yu Qingtang said, "They're already back."
"Did they go out?"
"Mm."
Without any warning, Cheng Zhanxi hung up the phone.
The busy tone in her ear, beep after beep, grew more urgent. Yu Qingtang's heart contracted sharply. A piercing pain emanated from her chest, drilling deeper and deeper.
Before she could raise her hand to press her chest, the phone rang again.
It displayed Cheng Zhanxi's name.
Yu Qingtang didn't look closely. Only after answering did she realize Cheng Zhanxi's flushed face had appeared on the screen.
Yu Qingtang was stunned.
Cheng Zhanxi awkwardly tilted her head, looking at Yu Qingtang on the screen through the askew camera angle, and smiled, "What's wrong?"
Yu Qingtang looked at her for a few seconds, then yanked the quilt up, covering her face, and bit her lower lip hard.
The phone lay beside her pillow, Cheng Zhanxi's voice continuously flowing out, gently entering her ears.
"Yu Qingtang?"
"Have I become ugly? You won't even look at me."
"Let me see you."
"Yu Qingtang."
"Yu Tangtang."
"Momo."
The phone lay face up. Yu Qingtang carefully extended a hand from under the covers and, using the sliver of vision through the gap, covered the camera with her fingertip.
Cheng Zhanxi's screen instantly went black, except for the top right corner.
Her free hand wiped away the tears on her cheeks as she typed: [Wait for me a moment]
On the screen, Cheng Zhanxi blinked at the camera and said, "Okay."
Yu Qingtang stuffed the phone under her pillow, got up, and went into the washroom.
She washed her face and stood in front of the mirror until her eyes no longer showed any trace of crying, then she returned and picked up her phone again.
The tears Yu Tangtang is crying now, she'll make up for them by drinking water at Cheng Chengzi's later. [Clenched fist]
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