Incurable Chapter 12 Part 1

Chapter 12 (1/2)

Mu Wan chose stir-fried asparagus with shrimp and salt-seared chicken wings.

After deciding on the menu, the two of them went together to the same supermarket they had visited the day before.

At a little past seven, the supermarket was at its busiest. In the sea of people, Mu Wan was like a drop of red ink falling into water. She drew people’s eyes the way a kite drew a string behind it—and wherever that gaze finally settled, it always seemed to be beside Liu Qianxiu.

She had dressed up on purpose that day.

Liu Qianxiu had only looked at her once and appeared unmoved. Mu Wan did not mind. She was the one who liked him, after all. If he did not want to look at her, then she could simply look at him.

In the produce section, Mu Wan pushed the cart with both pale, slender arms resting across the handlebars, watching Liu Qianxiu choose asparagus.

The stalks were long and evenly shaped, narrow at the top and broader below, packed neatly into plastic trays wrapped in cling film that shone under the lights. The man holding the tray had fingers much like the asparagus itself—clean, long, and beautifully jointed.

So beautiful.

Mu Wan’s eyes were bright and clear, and the fondness in them could not be hidden.

Liu Qianxiu sensed her gaze and turned to look at her.

Mu Wan promptly looked away, the curve at the corner of her lips still there, her ears warming faintly.

Liu Qianxiu turned back and continued picking vegetables.

Mu Wan turned back too and resumed watching him.

Back and forth like that, and Mu Wan was blooming with private delight.

Once they had picked out the vegetables, Liu Qianxiu pushed the shopping cart to the checkout line. Mu Wan stood behind him, lifting her eyes to glance over the crowd gathered there.

The line was long. Even so, very few people in it were as tall as Liu Qianxiu. Mu Wan looked up at his straight back and judged the difference in their body widths. If he were to turn around now, he would probably be able to fold her completely into his arms.

She was just thinking that when Liu Qianxiu turned.

Mu Wan’s gaze stalled. Then, light as air, she shifted her attention to the small shelf beside the register.

That little shelf was packed with snacks and sweets—gum, mints, chocolate drops—wrapped in bright red and green packaging that made the eye dizzy.

In the end, Mu Wan’s gaze landed on a box of matcha chocolate drops.

The bottle was a fresh, pale green, simple, and neat. The chocolate coating looked dark on the outside, while the matcha filling inside was light green; the whole color scheme was crisp and clean.

Mu Wan was reading the net weight on the bottle and idly calculating how many chocolate drops might be inside when a hand entered her line of sight.

Long fingers curled slightly.

A box of chocolates was lifted from the shelf.

And in the blink of an eye, it appeared in front of her.

Her heart skipped.

Mu Wan looked up and met the man’s eyes.

His expression was still calm. He simply looked at her, gave the bottle a little shake so the chocolates knocked lightly inside, and asked, “Do you want it?”

Something melted quietly in her chest, the way chocolate melted on the tongue.

Mu Wan smiled.

“You’re buying it for me?”

Her voice was sweeter than the candy.

“Mm.”

“Then yes, I want it.”

Once he had his answer, Liu Qianxiu withdrew his gaze, turned around, and dropped the chocolates into the cart. The bottle landed among the vegetables with a crisp little clatter.

Tilting sideways, Mu Wan peeked past him into the cart, toward the chocolates tucked among all the green vegetables. They were green too, but much lighter in color.

“Why did you buy me that?” she asked, angling her head toward him, eyes full of laughter.

Liu Qianxiu did not turn around. He only looked at her from the side, and after meeting her eyes once, lowered his gaze again.

“You kept looking at it,” he said evenly.

I was looking at you. Would you give me that too?

Mu Wan smiled to herself, the meaning of it unreadable to anyone else. Then she straightened again, and in her mind, very lightly, she wrapped both arms around the man’s back.

Then you’re mine too.

After paying, Mu Wan carried the chocolates while Liu Qianxiu took the groceries, and the two of them went home one after the other.

Once they arrived, Liu Qianxiu took the groceries into the kitchen. Mu Wan changed into slippers and asked whether he needed help. After he declined, she shook the box of chocolates lightly in her hand and went off to the kitten room.

It was fully dark by now. Darkness filled the kitchen, but it no longer carried the same loneliness as before. The crisp sound of chocolates knocking against the bottle came through the glass from the next room, adding a layer of life to the spacious apartment.

Liu Qianxiu switched on the kitchen light, listened to the sounds from next door, and went to the sink.

He set the shopping bag down and took the spinach out of the top. At the supermarket, Mu Wan had thought the spinach looked pretty and had added one more dish to the menu at the last minute: spinach-and-egg soup.

There were still droplets of supermarket mist clinging to the spinach. The leaves were crisp, the roots earthy with mud, fresh and green. When Liu Qianxiu picked it up, it was cool in his hand, leaving traces of damp soil on his fingers.

“Datou opened his eyes!”

Mu Wan’s voice, full of delighted surprise, came from the doorway.

Liu Qianxiu looked back.

She was standing there, lips curved, eyes full of pure excitement. When she saw him turn, she lifted one long, beautiful finger and pointed toward the kitten room.

“Do you want to come see?”

Judging by when the kittens were born, they are now around 10 days old. It was about time.

The dirt on his fingers was still wet. Liu Qianxiu glanced once at the vegetables in the sink, then, in the end, turned on the tap and rinsed his hands.

“All right.”

Mu Wan spun and went immediately, skirt swinging behind her.

The flash of red disappeared from sight, and Liu Qianxiu followed.

Inside the kitten room, Mu Wan was crouched beside the three kittens, who lay in a heap. All three were from the same litter, but only Datou had opened its eyes.

They were only half-open, enough to show the faint gold of their irises.

Maybe because the kitten was still so small, or maybe because its fur was such a warm shade of orange, the color of its eyes did not stand out the way Zhouyi’s did.

Soft and delicate, they looked almost like translucent pumpkin sweets steamed until tender.

While she was still looking, Liu Qianxiu came in.

Mu Wan looked up at him, smiling all over again, then reached down and lifted Datou carefully into her palms.

Compared to how it had looked when it first arrived against the size of her hand, Datou had already grown noticeably in just a few short days. Cradled there, it blinked half-awake, tiny transparent pink claws opening and closing as it meowed in a soft, milky voice.

Holding the kitten, she brought it toward him and said, “Look.”

Mu Wan wanted Liu Qianxiu to take it into his own hands. She wanted to place every lovely thing she had into them.

Liu Qianxiu glanced at her once, lowered his eyes, and reached out to take the kitten.

At the exact moment he did, Mu Wan looked at him and smiled.

“Our eyes look alike,” she said.

Datou lay in his hands, looking up at him, mewing in a fine, sweet little voice. He looked at the faint gold in Datou’s eyes, then at Mu Wan’s own eyes—just as clean, just as bright, carrying the same flickers of light.

Something in her gaze trembled.

Warmth rose over Mu Wan’s face in a rush. She lifted a hand and fanned herself lightly, then pointed at Datou, then at herself.

“There’s only you in our eyes.”

The kitten room was temperature-controlled and not really hot at all.

Liu Qianxiu looked at her for a long moment.

Then he set Datou back down and said, “I’m going to cook.”

Mu Wan watched his back as he left.

His reaction had been exactly what she expected.

She was not trying to seduce him in some reckless, obvious way. What she wanted was to seep into his life little by little, gently, gradually, until one day he found himself liking her too.

Now she was alone in the kitten room again.

Still feeling warm, Mu Wan turned back to the cat bed, touched her flushed cheek, and asked the little ones, “Ertong, Zhongfen—when are you two opening your eyes?”

As if in answer to her call, after she and Liu Qianxiu had finished dinner, Zhongfen opened its eyes too.

It was black and white, and the color of its eyes seemed even prettier than Datou’s—also pale gold.

Zhongfen was the smallest of the three, frail and sickly, the one who had even needed hospitalization. And yet now its eyes were open, while Ertong still showed no sign of them.

With the other two meowing beside it, all soft fur and newly lit eyes, the kittens had become almost unbearably cute.

Mu Wan finally drew her gaze away from Ertong and looked up at Liu Qianxiu.

“Will Ertong only open its eyes tomorrow?”

She had been feeding the kittens. Liu Qianxiu had not gone in; he was standing just outside the kitten room, looking down at the three little ones in the bed.

After dinner, he had changed into another set of clothes—light brown cotton-linen, loose sleeves and wide trousers, soft and flowing. On his tall frame, the clothes truly gave him the air of a Taoist immortal.

“It’ll happen tonight,” Liu Qianxiu said.

Tonight, though the exact hour was uncertain.

Mu Wan glanced at the time. Still holding the now-empty bottle, she gave it a little shake, then stood and walked out of the kitten room to stand beside him.

She was like a red rose suddenly placed right before his eyes.

“What time do you usually go to sleep?” she asked.

Liu Qianxiu did not seem to know what she was getting at. He simply answered, “Ten.”

“Ah.” Mu Wan parted her lips slightly, as if understanding. Then her eyes lifted and hesitated before she asked, with a little uncertainty, “Then... can I stay until nine-thirty? I won’t interfere with your rest, and I won’t bother you. I just want to see Ertong open its eyes.”

The moment she said it, Mu Wan realized the problem.

From now until ten, Liu Qianxiu probably spent the time in quiet practice. It was his time alone, and surely he would dislike having his life disrupted.

She could ease herself into his life gradually, yes—but not in a way that made him start to dislike her. That would defeat the whole point.

A slight crease appeared between her brows just as she was about to speak again.

Liu Qianxiu interrupted first.

“That’s fine.”

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