IMH - 40

Even though Yu Qian didn’t explicitly mention that she was in a relationship, nor did she bring up Cheng Xiaonan’s name, Peter could still sense a hint of gossip from her changes.

As someone who had worked as a model since childhood, Yu Qian almost never wore heavy coats like down jackets or padded jackets during winter.

Even in extreme weather, she would wear long cashmere coats and over-the-knee leather boots, dressed stylishly, ready for a runway show at any moment.

But today, she wore a light apricot down jacket, with a hood trimmed with fur, which was very unlike her usual clothing style.

It was still beautiful and suited her well.

Actually, the down jacket was a gift from Cheng Xiaonan, who said that “Wutongli” was considered a suburb, where the temperature was two degrees lower than Imperial City’s urban area, especially at night when the wind was stronger than in the city. She could wear a down jacket to keep warm.

At breakfast, Peter had asked Yu Qian why she suddenly decided to wear a down jacket.

Yu Qian had been quite frank then, saying it was bought by Cheng Xiaonan.

Without needing to say more, Peter could guess that something had definitely progressed between Yu Qian and Cheng Xiaonan during his time abroad.

Especially now, as Yu Qian waited for the red light to turn green, she took out her phone, glanced at the unread messages, and her eyes held a hint of bright emotion.

For a woman as strong and brave as her, it couldn’t be said that love was saving her. It could only be said that, although she remained silent about love, she still held enough respect for it in some subconscious way.

________________________________________

The messages, of course, were from Cheng Xiaonan. Even a meeting couldn’t stop him from being chatty.

At first, he was seriously saying he had already booked a room for Peter, and Peter just needed to show his ID at the hotel for check-in, no deposit required.

Later, his messages became more and more like his old style. Seeing that Yu Qian didn’t reply, he sent another message a few minutes later.

He amused himself by saying, “You’re welcome, your friends are my friends, it’s all part of the deal~”

But who said she wanted to thank him?

Hearing that it was Cheng Xiaonan who booked the room, Peter deliberately teased Yu Qian: “You’re not going to send me to another hotel again, are you? Last time, it was far from your place, and it made me lose weight from my fatty liver.”

This time, Peter was on the same floor as Yu Qian and them, directly opposite Cheng Xiaonan’s room.

When Cheng Xiaonan finished his meeting and arrived at noon, Yu Qian was just trying on a set of clothes Peter had brought back.

It was Peter’s new design, pure black fabric with hand-embroidered patterns. Large rose petals showed various gradients of red, making it grand and elegant.

Yu Qian, wearing such a formal gown, opened the door for Cheng Xiaonan, stepping aside to let him in: “Help me zip up the back.”

Cheng Xiaonan had just come in from outside. The drive from the company was short, and Yu Qian wasn’t in the car, so he didn’t bother to turn on the heat. His fingertips were cold, and he was afraid of touching Yu Qian’s skin. He carefully pinched the delicate small zipper, muttering: “Couldn’t Peter have designed this thing a bit bigger?”

However, the dress Peter designed was indeed beautiful. Yu Qian twirled around in the bedroom’s full-length mirror, then sent Peter a thumbs-up emoji, considering it a compliment.

She looked up and saw Cheng Xiaonan watching her, chin in hand, so she casually asked him, “Does it look good?”

Cheng Xiaonan certainly wouldn’t just compliment the dress: “Of course, it depends on who’s wearing it.”

After speaking, he reached over to play with her earlobe, suggesting if she wanted to try wearing some jewelry.

It was at this moment that someone knocked on Yu Qian’s door.

The knocking was quite urgent, probably Peter, after receiving the message, eager to confirm how Yu Qian looked in the gown.

Yu Qian deliberately teased Cheng Xiaonan: “Someone’s here, hide.”

Cheng Xiaonan, who had been sitting casually with his legs spread on Yu Qian’s bed, heard her words and pouted discontentedly: “Where do I hide? The wardrobe?”

Yu Qian actually lifted the heavy, intricately embroidered skirt, opened the wardrobe door, and raised her chin.

“Are we having a secret rendezvous here?”

Cheng Xiaonan got up, and as he walked past Yu Qian, he suddenly pulled her wrist, took a big step into the wardrobe, and said with a smile, “Just for a little while, it’s not impossible.”

This half of the wardrobe was empty, with ample space. Two people could fit inside perfectly.

He pulled Yu Qian into the wardrobe and casually closed the sliding door. This confined, dark space, with restricted vision but heightened senses, didn’t prevent him from precisely covering Yu Qian’s cheek with his hand and finding her lips.

Outside, the knocking continued, along with the vibration of Yu Qian’s phone.

They kissed in the confined space.

The layered, sheer fabric of the dress was pressed between them. The zipper on the back had been clumsy when pulled up, but now it slid down smoothly.

Cheng Xiaonan pushed aside the sheer fabric to touch her skin.

The wardrobe smelled of wood, and the air circulation wasn’t great. After an intense kiss, Yu Qian slapped away his wandering hand and bit Cheng Xiaonan hard.

Coincidentally, it was the same spot she bit last night, making Cheng Xiaonan hiss in pain.

The two emerged from the wardrobe. Before Yu Qian could say anything, Cheng Xiaonan dutifully displayed his innocent dimples and said with a smile, “I’m leaving, I’m leaving, I’m really leaving now.”

With that, he actually exited the bedroom.

Yu Qian was a little puzzled. When did this younger man become so obedient?

A few seconds later, she indeed heard Cheng Xiaonan causing trouble.

He had probably opened the door to Yu Qian’s room. Peter asked, “CEO Cheng, you’re here.”

“Teacher Peter, you’ve waited long.”

“You seem to have something on your mouth...”

Yu Qian could hear Cheng Xiaonan’s triumphant laughter in his voice from the bedroom.

He said, “Oh, it might be Yu Qian’s lipstick.”

________________________________________

They didn’t have lunch at the hotel; they chose a restaurant in “Wutongli” that had pretty good reviews.

They also brought Shen Shen, Ji Ran, and Sun Yue along. During the Angu show last time, Peter was quite familiar with these people, and they occasionally commented on each other’s Moments. Hearing he was back in the country, they simply decided to have lunch together.

After lunch, Sun Yue did tarot readings for Yu Qian and Ji Ran. The men couldn’t understand their talk about retrograde Mercury or whatever.

Shen Shen, craving a smoke, couldn’t help but pull Peter and Cheng Xiaonan: “Come on, come on, let’s go outside for a bit and talk about men’s stuff.”

Ji Ran looked over sensitively: “Shen Shen, are you going to smoke again?”

“No, no, we’re just going to the restroom and discuss serious matters.”

It was indeed just smoking. Peter and Shen Shen puffed clouds of smoke in the glass enclosure of the hotel that allowed smoking.

Cheng Xiaonan tore open a packet of mints, popped one into his mouth, and crunched it.

Later, Shen Shen actually went to the restroom, leaving only Cheng Xiaonan and Peter. Only then did Peter bring up Yu Qian.

Peter was worried because Yu Qian was different from others.

She wasn’t like Sun Yue or Ji Ran, who would laugh out loud when happy or cry and pout when sad.

She was a very aloof woman.

Earlier at the dinner table, Shen Shen asked Cheng Xiaonan: “Nan Ge, give us a straight answer, you and Yu Qian, have you started dating?”

At that moment, Peter noticed that Cheng Xiaonan immediately looked at Yu Qian.

However, Yu Qian always found it difficult to speak about romance. In the face of love, her past experiences made it hard for her to be open.

So, Yu Qian paused for a while, then just nodded, indicating agreement.

Cheng Xiaonan then, at the opportune moment, pointed to his lips, which she had bitten, and said, “You can’t just abandon me after this, can you? You weren’t so perfunctory when you bit me earlier, were you?”

Sun Yue and Ji Ran immediately started to cheer, and then Ji Ran, Shen Shen, and Sun Yue enthusiastically discussed their dating. Cheng Xiaonan occasionally said something with a smile in his eyes, while Yu Qian remained silent throughout.

Peter, of course, knew that her silence didn’t mean she didn’t acknowledge the relationship.

In fact, that morning in the car, when she replied to Cheng Xiaonan’s message, her eyes still held a soft glow that only love could bring.

He just didn’t know if Cheng Xiaonan could understand...

After all, Yu Qian’s reaction to this matter could be misinterpreted as her unwillingness to mention it, which also seemed plausible.

And men all cared about their reputation; they loved to see women always acting like they couldn’t live without them...

Yu Qian was so unromantic...

But Peter’s worries were clearly superfluous. Cheng Xiaonan listened to Peter finish speaking, then suddenly smiled.

He was only 25 years old, yet his tone held a confident, assertive, yet humble quality: “Yu Qian isn’t unromantic; she’s merely healing. And the pain she’s endured, others can never truly empathize with.”

Peter extinguished his cigarette and patted Cheng Xiaonan’s shoulder: “As long as you don’t feel let down.”

“I won’t. I still know whether she loves me or not,” Cheng Xiaonan said with a smile.

________________________________________

The day after Peter returned to China happened to be Christmas.

The same group of them had a Christmas dinner together after work.

The hotel restaurant was very thoughtful; even the vegetable salad was arranged into the shape of a Christmas tree, and each person received a complimentary dessert—a small apple pie with a bell pattern printed in frosting.

Ji Ran took out her phone and asked a waiter to take a few photos for them. After dinner, they all returned to their respective rooms and then created a small group chat, dumping all the photos in it.

Cheng Xiaonan, holding his phone, knocked on Yu Qian’s door, came over, and showed her his phone: “Hey, I think we look so much like a married couple sitting together. If we crop this photo to just the two of us, it could totally be our wedding photo.”

In the photo, Yu Qian was wearing a cool-toned dress, and Cheng Xiaonan was in a shirt of a similar color.

Their seats were next to each other, and when he cropped the photo to just the two of them, it really did look quite harmonious.

“Jiejie, I think this photo turned out really well. How about you use it as your phone wallpaper?”

As Cheng Xiaonan said this, he sent the cropped photo to Yu Qian.

After Yu Qian received it, she thought for a moment and actually set it as her wallpaper.

This action of hers startled Cheng Xiaonan.

He looked a bit embarrassed, turned his head away, stared at the wall beside him, and licked the tip of his tooth before turning back: “No, I was just kidding. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to listen to me.”

Yu Qian’s expression was quite calm. She looked at her phone a couple of times and didn’t see anything wrong with it: “It’s pretty good.”

“...Are you used to this?”

“Don’t a lot of girls put shared photos on their wallpapers?”

Although Yu Qian found it difficult to say words like “love,” she didn’t find it hard to do things like this.

Besides, hadn’t Cheng Xiaonan also used that photo she took years ago as his profile picture for many years?

What was wrong with using a photo she liked as her wallpaper?

However, Cheng Xiaonan looked very happy, lowering his head and chuckling to himself for a long time.

Yu Qian watched his shoulders subtly shaking and suddenly found herself smiling too.

The moonlight was just right. Cheng Xiaonan got up from the sofa, walked to the added bed in the bedroom, lay on his back, and clasped his hands behind his head.

Yu Qian asked, “Are you still sleeping here?”

“Well, the bed wasn’t even taken away, so I might as well stay.”

Cheng Xiaonan’s eyes held a smile, “I wonder which staff member did such a good deed. Shen Shen should give them extra chicken legs later.”