BSS - Chapter 156

Chapter 156

Because their previous apartment had been surrendered, Deng Chuan and Xu Wei stayed at home as usual after returning from Beijing.

After all, they were considered family now, and they wouldn't be staying for many days during the New Year. Xu Wei did not decline their hospitality.

Approaching the end of the year, Tang Lijuan had more shifts and couldn't make it to the airport to pick them up, and Lao Deng was on a business trip out of town. It was past ten at night when they came straight home from the airport; no one was home, and pushing open the door revealed only darkness.

In the darkness, two pairs of eyes charged straight at them.

Immediately following that came a warm sensation on their pant legs. Deng Chuan turned on the hallway light and saw the chubby Juzi pressing against her, rolling over and over on the carpet, the flesh on his belly jiggling. Zhou Liu had lost some weight and stood staring from a distance, his gaze both well-behaved and vigilant.

The temperature at home was higher than in Beijing. Deng Chuan hadn't been exposed to much wind on the way from the airport. After taking off her freezing cotton coat, she was wearing a warm sweatshirt underneath. She wasn't very cold, so she simply scooped Juzi up from the floor into her arms.

Juzi let out a soft cry, kneaded her chest a few times with his paws, adjusted his posture, and arched his small head, rubbing his long whiskers right into Deng Chuan's neck.

While holding him, Deng Chuan held his paw to hook at Xu Wei's long hair. "Hm? Who is this?"

Xu Wei was facing away from them, tying up her hair. She had also taken off her coat. Hearing this, she turned back to rub Juzi's head, then pushed her suitcase further inside.

She had been here once before and knew the way to Deng Chuan's room.

Not far away, Zhou Liu seemed to finally recognize who this approaching person was and began to whimper softly.

Xu Wei paused slightly as she passed by it, and it immediately chased after her in a hurry.

When Deng Chuan entered the room, the bathroom door inside was already closed, and the sound of running water could be heard from within. Zhou Liu was curled up on the fresh sheets and duvet cover Tang Lijuan had laid out for them in advance, rolling around in the sweater Xu Wei had just taken off.

The dark black tight-fitting sweater was instantly covered in cat hair.

Deng Chuan couldn't help but laugh as she watched. But as she watched, the desire to pet the cat rose within her. Not only did she mischievously not stop him, but she also put down Juzi from her arms, bent down, and tilted her head to rub against Zhou Liu's head.

Both of them were slightly germaphobic. Deng Chuan hadn't showered yet and consciously knew she couldn't get on the bed, so she just half-squatted by the bedside to play with them.

Zhou Liu's barbed tongue tip licked her palm, making it itch.

After playing for a while, Xu Wei called her from inside, asking her to pass in the large bath towel.

Deng Chuan rummaged through the suitcase for a while and found what Xu Wei wanted. The towel was packed together with the toiletries. Since she would need them later anyway, Deng Chuan simply carried the whole bag of things and knocked on the door.

A fair, slender hand reached out from inside the door, water droplets still clinging to the back of the hand. Warm, fragrant steam instantly drilled out along the crack of the door, giving rise to many romantic thoughts out of thin air.

This beautiful hand grasped Deng Chuan's wrist and groped downwards. The vague wetness and smoothness felt more like flirtation. Deng Chuan had the heart to let her touch, but fearing she would get cold, she handed the big bag of things forward, forcing Xu Wei to open the door crack wider.

Deng Chuan was tall and blocked most of the cold wind that would have blown in. Amidst the concealment, as Xu Wei reached out to take the things, she held onto them tight. Taking advantage of Xu Wei's lack of defense, she squeezed into the door along with the bag.

With the dry and wet separation design of the bathroom, the floor outside the shower was dry. Xu Wei stood behind the door; next to her were the sink and the mirror. The mirror reflected her dripping wet appearance, water running down even from her hair.

A small puddle of water quickly accumulated on the dry floor where she stood.

As soon as Deng Chuan entered and saw this scene, she felt that the temperature inside the bathroom was much higher than outside.

Xu Wei wasn't surprised that Deng Chuan had come in as well. She just glanced at her coolly, her lips, appearing as tender and dripping as if flushed red by the hot water, slowly spitting out a sentence: "What are you doing?"

The little friend pulled her into an embrace, not minding in the slightest that her own clothes were immediately soaked, and said, "Keeping you company."

Xu Wei said, "Who believes you..."

But there was a smile in her voice.

So, Deng Chuan got her wish and wrapped Xu Wei in the large bath towel, carrying her whole to the front of the mirror.

No one came home the entire time.

They stayed in the bathroom for a long time, covered in steam from head to toe. When they crawled under the covers, Zhou Liu and Juzi were already asleep, nestled in Xu Wei's clothes.

The next day. Tang Lijuan returned home in the morning and saw her daughter, whom she hadn't seen in half a year, boiling noodles in the kitchen.

There weren't many groceries at home. Deng Chuan emptied the last few eggs and half a stick of ham from the refrigerator to cook a pot of northern-style hot and sour noodle soup. Tang Lijuan entered the kitchen and, not seeing Xu Wei, asked about her with a groggy head from working the night shift.

The next second, she heard her daughter stirring the noodles in the pot and saying calmly, "She's tired, still sleeping."

Tang Lijuan smacked her on the butt. "You aren't allowed to bully her."

Looking again, Deng Chuan seemed to be smiling heartlessly. She couldn't resist smacking her again before going back to her room to sleep.

Xu Wei was completely unaware of this. When she woke up, she only felt a faint soreness all over her body. Fortunately, the little friend massaged her shoulders while holding her, so she let her be. Held by her, she browsed messages on her tablet, her fingers idly stroking the two cats nestled nearby.

Inside the duvet, it was very warm.

This winter seemed exceptionally long compared to previous years because they had nothing to do.

Work, study—it all seemed to have become part of the monotonous background of the long winter, needing some smell of cooking smoke to awaken it.

Deng Chuan had never been a solitary child growing up. Although she didn't have an exceptionally large number of friends, she still had a normal social circle, and during holidays and festivals, there was a normal frequency of gatherings.

But after growing up, her former playmates seemed to have drifted apart. regarding close relationships, Su Mian was still spending her third New Year in the UK, Pei Qingyu's family had gone traveling out of town, and as for the distant ones, everyone could never quite get together.

So social life drifted away from her too.

Thus, Deng Chuan contentedly stayed at home with Xu Wei.

Staying at home was also a subtle thing. Because Xu Wei was there, Lao Deng and Tang Lijuan found time to come home more often, and the warm moments of the family sitting in the living room chatting after dinner increased significantly. Xu Wei always handled these situations very well. There was no sense of her being forced; she was visibly like a fish in water. After being with Deng Chuan, Xu Wei's scholarly nature gradually revealed itself. When encountering differing views, she would seriously analyze them point by point, not perfunctorily flattering just because the other party was an elder.

Tang Lijuan watched this and felt that Xu Wei was truly like the daughter she had wished for—full of gentle femininity, cute even in her stubbornness.

She spoke appropriately with Xu Wei, but when she looked at Deng Chuan, who was playing co-op games with Su Mian nearby, she wasn't quite satisfied.

She thought that she and Lao Deng had been busy with work since Deng Chuan was small and had neglected her education in romance. Since Deng Chuan was dating such a good person as Xu Wei, for both public and private reasons, she ought to fulfill her responsibility as a mother and have a good talk with Deng Chuan.

Xu Wei noticed her gaze but didn't say much.

It was just that after being together for a long time, the reliance on Deng Chuan in her behavior could not be concealed. Deng Chuan played the game for a while, then finally put it away to peel an orange for her nearby. The clean orange flesh was handed to Xu Wei's hand. At the dinner table, she tasted the food Xu Wei couldn't finish. Tang Lijuan watched and felt that the way these two got along had already been polished to perfection; they were so intimate that no one could offer pointers. Saying anything more would just be her overthinking, so she dropped those words of concern and education.

They lived at home until the New Year. The New Year's Eve dinner was eaten by the four of them at home; they didn't go out to celebrate.

At the start of the New Year, relatives came to pay visits.

Tang Lijuan, afraid Xu Wei would feel uncomfortable, told Deng Chuan to take her out shopping.

The two put on their coats and went out for the first time in all these days. The fresh outdoor air rushed into their faces, making them feel refreshed.

It was snowing a little outside. Snowflakes drifted down onto their shoulders. Deng Chuan had brought the car keys. Having not driven for a long time, she took a while to familiarize herself before hitting the road. Xu Wei didn't move either, just staring at her from the side, smiling reassuringly at her when Deng Chuan got a little flustered.

"Don't rush," she said. "Watch the road carefully and drive well."

The little friend pursed her lips and watched the road, the contours of her cheeks tensed, and gave a serious "Mhm."

After the brief nervousness, Deng Chuan quickly found the feel for driving, and her posture gradually became composed.

Because of the New Year, many shops by the roadside were closed. There were quite a few people on the road, though. Small red lanterns hung on the street trees, burning brightly against the grayish-white background.

It was cold outside, and Xu Wei didn't show any desire to go shopping. Deng Chuan just drove the car, taking her for a joyride through the city.

Commercial districts, suburbs, green parks, overpasses—on different routes, they inevitably encountered vehicles traveling the same way, everyone with their own direction.

Eventually, they circled back to the area they used to frequent most: the school, the hot pot street, the shopping plaza, the art gallery. Here, there were very few people.

Revisiting old haunts after half a year. Looking at the familiar scenery outside the window, Xu Wei inevitably felt some emotion.

A person's sense of stability is given by the environment. She once thought her stability lay in this city—needing no house, no money, just no one knowing her, no one knowing her past. A renewed liberation and beginning, a lasting continuation. This was the stability she needed, as she had understood it in the past.

Thinking this way, Xu Wei couldn't help but look at Deng Chuan in the driver's seat. Deng Chuan was still very young, yet she had already experienced several partings. Beijing, the UK—in those journeys she took alone, where did her stability come from?

Sometimes, Xu Wei preferred to think of Deng Chuan as a child who grew up following the rules. Then she ought to be attached to home, wouldn't have so many messy tangles about hometown and sense of belonging, wouldn't endure the bitterness of having nowhere for her heart to go, and would simply and fervently treat home as a harbor, retaining that concern for home even after growing up, like preserving a piece of pure land in her heart.

But Xu Wei also felt this thought simplified her kid too much. Those journeys Deng Chuan took alone, her first time going to Beijing, her first time going to the UK, cooking noodles for herself, making sandwiches—these experiences of Deng Chuan learning to grow up alone were not days that could be wiped away by a simple thought from Xu Wei.

Those pasts where they were separated, pasts that seemed exceptionally hard to endure when contrasted with the happy days of the present, were just a few short years in Xu Wei's life, but they were the propelling force for her kid's rapid growth.

Xu Wei realized this, realized she couldn't whitewash peace and ignore those pasts. At this moment, the car had pulled over and stopped by the roadside. Deng Chuan noticed Xu Wei's distraction and reached over to hold her hand.

"What's wrong?"

Deng Chuan asked very cautiously. Yet hearing it made Xu Wei feel very sad. The little friend turned her face to look at her; the soft winter sunlight fell into her eyes, allowing her expression to retain a gentle biting cold amidst the snowscape. Her whole being was just like a handful of warmed sake. Xu Wei closed her eyes and felt Deng Chuan gently kiss her lips.

The atmosphere was just right. Xu Wei thought, looking at the past, she hadn't protected Deng Chuan as well as she had imagined. On the contrary, it was Deng Chuan who had protected her well. It was Deng Chuan who had grown up silently, and in the time it took Xu Wei to come to her senses, she had already stood to the point where she was shoulder to shoulder with her.

Coats rubbed together, making a few rustling sounds. Deng Chuan climbed up her wrist, placed her hand on her neck, leaned over the driver's seat, and wanted to deepen that kiss which was as faint as sake. Her movements were gentle yet firm, making one unconsciously want to relax.

Xu Wei leaned into Deng Chuan's overcoat, resting on her soft heart.

Deng Chuan's hand soothed her back, rubbing gently. Xu Wei finally relaxed, looking into Deng Chuan's satisfied brows and eyes. Her features hadn't changed, but her gaze was relaxed and spirited, like a treasured sword not yet unsheathed, housed in a scabbard adorned with gems—one could tell her extraordinariness just from the outside. Looking at such a gaze, Xu Wei suddenly remembered that the eighteen-year-old Deng Chuan had also once held her wrist. She had been very nervous, probing tentatively, afraid to look at her, leaving her with a green and inexperienced silhouette.

The Xu Wei of that time had asked her: "Do you really know where you want to go?"

The eighteen-year-old Deng Chuan answered her: "I know, Teacher Xu."

She didn't dare look at her, but her tone was equally certain and powerful, like a sword already unsheathed.

Then, the twenty-nine-year-old Xu Wei had now also received the answer.

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