Chapter 35 (1/2)
Liu Qianxiu brought Mu Wan’s suitcase back with him, and Mu Wan brought him home with her.
The apartment had only been lived in for a day since she last returned, but it was already a little messy. This was not Liu Qianxiu’s first time here, yet it was the first time Mu Wan had felt a little self-conscious about it.
After setting the luggage down, Liu Qianxiu glanced at the clock. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms.
“Have you had dinner yet?” he asked.
The living room was warm and faintly humid. The restlessness that had begun outside had not fully left her yet. Mu Wan came back to herself, looked at the tall, lean figure before her, and shook her head.
“No.”
Liu Qianxiu went into the kitchen.
Mu Wan rarely cooked at home. In summer, the weather was too hot, and everything Wu Ma had bought that morning had already been used up, so the kitchen was completely bare.
When Liu Qianxiu came back out, he lifted his eyes to her and said, “Let’s go to the supermarket.”
Mu Wan knew perfectly well he meant for ingredients.
Even so, looking at him, her thoughts still drifted in other directions.
“All right. It’s not far. Let’s walk.”
She pulled her mind back, her face warm, and went over to take Liu Qianxiu’s hand as he opened the door.
His palm was dry and cool. As soon as Mu Wan’s fingers threaded through his, he clasped them firmly, their hands locking together.
One in front of the other, they went downstairs. Their footsteps echoed through the empty stairwell. Mu Wan’s heart felt full to overflowing.
As soon as they stepped out of the building, two stray cats darted out from beneath the trees in the community shade. Mu Wan immediately thought of her own cats.
“Did you go pick up Zhou Yi and the others yet?” she asked, beckoning softly at the strays.
The cats were not affectionate. They ignored Mu Wan and slipped straight into the bushes again.
“No,” Liu Qianxiu said lightly. “I came to pick you up first.”
Mu Wan tilted her head to look at him. He turned and met her gaze.
Something in her chest stirred. She smiled, her eyes curving bright.
“That makes sense. I’m a cat too.”
Then, thinking of how alone she had always been, she added, “A stray cat.”
“No,” Liu Qianxiu said.
Mu Wan looked at him, one brow lifting.
His eyes were deep and still.
“You’re my cat.”
Her heart jumped.
When someone who was usually sparing with words said something like that, it was always more devastating.
Heat spread across her cheeks, then to her ears. Mu Wan leaned close to his ear and bit the word out in a whisper.
“Meow.”
The man’s expression stilled for the briefest second. He turned to look at her, but Mu Wan had already drawn back.
By now, they had left the alley and reached the community entrance. There were people everywhere, wrapping the softness of that moment inside the noise of ordinary life.
Mu Wan pretended nothing had happened and walked forward with a light hum under her breath, but she could clearly feel his grip on her hand tighten.
And warm.
Night had fallen by the time they reached the road. There was no moon, no stars, only a sky blanketed in soft black cloud. Even the dark above seemed plush and heavy, like velvet.
Though Jiayuan Community was old, the nearby infrastructure was excellent. Just across the intersection stood a large chain supermarket.
At a little past six, it was neither empty nor crowded. Mu Wan followed Liu Qianxiu to the vegetable section and, as usual, began naming dishes while he chose the ingredients.
After that, the two of them lined up at the checkout.
Liu Qianxiu stood at the cart while Mu Wan waited behind him. There were only two or three people ahead of them. Naturally, her gaze drifted toward the small shelf beside the register.
On it were rows of small boxed items, all lined up neatly.
Strawberry-flavored. Mint-flavored.
Some of them looked ordinary.
Some of them very much did not.
The brand was famous enough that, even though Mu Wan had never used it herself, she recognized it. Her gaze lingered there, her eyes moving as though she were choosing—or hesitating.
This was something they definitely needed to buy.
In fact, this trip to the supermarket was primarily for this.
Mu Wan’s heart thudded.
Behind her, two girls were discussing which chocolate to grab after they got closer to the shelf. While talking about chocolate, they also noticed the man standing beside it.
“That man is so tall. His back alone looks incredible. I wonder what his face looks like.”
“As long as a guy’s tall enough, he can’t really be ugly. Anyway, ugly-handsome is in now.”
“It’d be nice if he turned around.”
“What for? If he’s handsome, are you going to chase him? Men like that definitely already have girlfriends.”
“Not necessarily. Maybe he slipped through the net. I could still ask for his WeChat.”
They were not speaking loudly, but not quietly either.
Liu Qianxiu could not hear them.
Mu Wan could.
She was just about to turn when both girls lifted their heads and stared past her shoulder, their eyes going wide.
“What flavor?”
Liu Qianxiu asked Mu Wan.
“Huh?” Mu Wan looked toward the shelf, assuming he meant the chocolate. “Matcha.”
His eyes lowered, patient and composed.
“There isn’t any.”
Only then did Mu Wan drag her attention away from the chocolate and look up into his black-and-white-clear eyes.
She understood.
Liu Qianxiu’s expression was perfectly calm, as if he had asked the most ordinary question in the world. Mu Wan, on the other hand, felt her face burn.
Steeling herself, she looked up at the shelf. At last, her eyes landed on a red box. She pointed at it and said, “Strawberry.”
Without changing expression, Liu Qianxiu reached out, selected it, and placed it in the cart.
The customer ahead of them finished paying. Liu Qianxiu took Mu Wan’s hand again and guided the cart forward.
The two girls behind them did not say another word.
After paying, Liu Qianxiu carried the groceries in one hand and held Mu Wan’s hand with the other as they crossed the road and headed home.
When they had entered the supermarket, the sky had still been dimly lit.
Now it was fully dark.
Streetlamps glowed in neat rows. Mu Wan walked along the edge of the curb, still a head shorter than Liu Qianxiu even on the raised pavement.
The scene felt so quietly warm that it tugged at something buried in her.
“When I was little, after cram school, my mom used to pick me up and hold my hand like this,” Mu Wan said. “I was shorter than her too. Back then I used to think that when I grew taller than her, I’d be the one to hold her hand.”
Her voice softened.
“But I never got the chance. She died before I could grow taller.”
Her mother had died the year Mu Wan finished elementary school. She had only been twelve. Back then, whatever expectation she had once had for warmth in the world had gone out completely.
But now things were different.
With Liu Qianxiu, her world had lit up again.
He kept walking, his hand wrapped around hers. His fingers were long and strong. Even if Mu Wan lost her balance entirely and fell, she felt certain he would hold her upright.
Since they had gotten together, they had never really talked about parents or family.
After speaking, Mu Wan tilted her head and looked at him.
“What about your parents?”
“They passed away,” Liu Qianxiu said, as lightly as if he were mentioning the weather.
The moment the words left him, Mu Wan’s expression changed. Her foot slipped. Her whole body pitched sideways.
Liu Qianxiu turned at once, and she fell straight into his arms instead.
Mu Wan was not sure whether she was startled by nearly falling or by what he had said. Her heart pounded hard and fast. She looked up at him.
On the ground, their shadows tangled together beneath the streetlights, long and calm.
He held her.
Her eyes were full of the helplessness of someone who had said the wrong thing.
Liu Qianxiu’s gaze shifted slightly. He lowered his head and kissed her once on the lips.
The instant their mouths touched, the light in her eyes softened into something almost liquid.
“We don’t have the closest blood relatives anymore,” she said with a smile, her cheeks slowly flushing again. “But that’s okay.”
Then, burying her face in his chest, she added,
“I can give you one.”
The man’s embrace carried a faint sandalwood scent, cool and clean.
While Mu Wan was inwardly cursing herself for becoming more shameless by the day, she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head.
Then she heard him laugh softly and say one simple word.
“All right.”
By the time they got home, the night air had turned close again.
The supermarket was not far, but the walk back still left a trace of heat clinging to them. As soon as they stepped inside, Mu Wan went off to shower first. When she came out, Liu Qianxiu went in.
The air conditioner in the living room was running. Cool air flowed softly across the room.
Mu Wan sat cross-legged on the sofa, looking out at the dark night beyond the windows while listening to the sound of water striking the bathroom floor. Her thoughts drifted farther and farther away.
Then the water stopped.
Mu Wan’s body tightened.
Several beats later, the bathroom door opened. Mu Wan’s eyes moved, and she turned to look.
Liu Qianxiu stood in the doorway, his hair only half-dry. He was wearing trousers, but the shirt was still undone, leaving the strong, clean lines of his upper body exposed.
He looked back at her.
The moment he noticed her gaze drifting lower, his expression remained perfectly calm, and he simply finished putting on his shirt.
The room had already cooled under the air conditioning.
Mu Wan, however, felt hotter and hotter.
Lin Wei had once said that men were creatures ruled by the lower half of their bodies.
So what exactly was wrong with the one in front of her?
Even if he was a Taoist, there was no logical reason to come out of the bathroom dressed only halfway.
Mu Wan’s red lips parted slightly. For the first time, she felt that perhaps she had been too passive all along.
Heat rose sharply through her body.
She stood and walked straight toward him.
Fresh from the bath, she was all cool skin and damp fragrance. She moved like a young leopard, gaze steady and proud, a flush at the corners of her eyes. Rising on her toes, she leaned in to kiss him.
Liu Qianxiu slid an arm around her shoulders, his gaze deepening.
“Shouldn’t we eat first?”
Mu Wan had already forgotten what modesty was. She shook her head and asked, “Why not eat me first?”
For the first time, he answered her in kind.
“I’m afraid that by the time I’m done, you won’t have any strength left to eat.”
Coming from someone like him, the line was almost more dangerous precisely because he said it so evenly.
Mu Wan nearly melted where she stood.
She draped herself against him like water, soft and shameless and warm.
“I’m stronger than you think,” she murmured.
Liu Qianxiu looked at her for a long moment, then set one hand lightly against her waist and pressed his fingers just beneath her ribs.
Mu Wan shivered and closed her eyes.
“You still need to eat first,” he said. “An empty stomach isn’t good for you.”
Doctors really were troublesome.
Mu Wan’s momentum faltered. The surge of courage she had gathered thinned out all at once.
Liu Qianxiu went into the kitchen and cooked with the ingredients they had bought.
After dinner, Mu Wan got a call from Li Nan.
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