IMH - 47

The attic was quite large. Besides the areas filled with LEGOs and magazines about Yu Qian, there was a vast empty space in the middle.

The underfloor heating kept the room toasty warm, and despite the light snow outside, the attic was unaffected by the weather.

A thick, reddish-brown carpet covered the light-colored wooden floor, and Yu Qian, having just woken up, was sitting on it.

Her own nightgown was crumpled in a heap nearby, with a few LEGO pieces scattered on it, from when they had accidentally knocked them over last night.

Yu Qian picked up Cheng Xiaonan’s loungewear top and put it on. A faint scent of laundry detergent diffused around her.

Yesterday, when he pressed her for a kiss, the subtle scent lingering near his nostrils had also been this.

The scented candle on the nearby low cabinet had already been extinguished, but as Yu Qian’s gaze passed over it, she still recalled Cheng Xiaonan’s restrained expression in the dim light when only the candle illuminated the room last night.

And the warm drop of sweat that slowly slid down his temple and dripped onto her chest.

Cheng Xiaonan’s diamond watch lay on the floor beside the carpet. Yu Qian picked it up and saw it was already 8 o’clock.

Actually, when dawn vaguely broke, she faintly felt the person beside her get up and place a kiss on her forehead. But still drowsy, she only retained this slight impression before falling back into a deep sleep.

She had been in this house for nearly a week, and last night was the first time they had slept embracing each other.

For the past few days, Cheng Xiaonan had been recovering from a cold and was very cautiously sleeping in the guest room, fearing he might infect her. They hadn’t even kissed.

Sometimes, when one of her unintentional movements teased him beyond endurance, he could only restrain himself and gently kiss the back of her neck, then exaggeratedly ask her if he needed to find disinfectant wipes to clean it.

How did last night begin?

It seemed to have started after dinner, while they were curled up on the sofa watching TV.

The male and female protagonists in the drama, reunited after a long separation, were passionately kissing in the pouring rain.

Cheng Xiaonan looked away, holding a glass of warm water, drinking it absentmindedly.

Yu Qian asked him if he didn’t need to take medicine today.

Cheng Xiaonan said he was already well.

________________________________________

His cold was cured, so there was no fear of infection. What happened next felt natural.

They kissed on the sofa, but in the end, they didn’t go to the guest room or the master bedroom. Cheng Xiaonan carried her up to the attic, almost eagerly pulling a thick blanket from the cabinet and throwing it on the floor, then embracing Yu Qian and falling onto it.

The scented candle was lit later. After the first time, they lay on the blanket, embracing and chatting.

Cheng Xiaonan squinted and asked, “Is this light a bit glaring?”

Later, he found a box of new scented candles downstairs, lit them, and placed them on the low cabinet.

He also brought up two pillows and a thin blanket, discussing with Yu Qian whether they should just sleep upstairs tonight.

That’s what he said, but by the time they actually settled down to sleep after all the commotion, it was already very late.

They came out of the bathroom, passed the living room, and Yu Qian looked at the wall clock: it was 2 AM.

Perhaps people remember the scents, lights, and sensations of special moments with particular clarity.

Yu Qian walked downstairs in Cheng Xiaonan’s loungewear top, feeling like she could vaguely still smell the scent of the candle from last night: bergamot and mint, perhaps a hint of sweet orange.

Cheng Xiaonan, wearing only loungewear pants, stood in the kitchen, pouring hot water into a teapot. Yu Qian caught a faint aroma of Lapsang Souchong black tea amidst the rising steam.

She asked, “What time did you get up?”

“Not long ago, just woke up. I saw Peter’s WeChat Moments while scrolling videos saying he drank lemon black tea, and I wanted to make some too.”

Cheng Xiaonan’s gaze lingered on Yu Qian for a moment, then he smiled, “Early in the morning, dressed like that, you don’t want me to do anything else today, do you?”

________________________________________

It was the weekend, so Cheng Xiaonan didn’t have to go to work. He and Yu Qian brought breakfast and sat by the coffee table next to the living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows, placing two soft floor cushions on the ground.

The black tea was rich, mixed with honey and fresh lemon slices. The bread slices were thickly spread with peanut butter.

The fried eggs were his attempt; their shape wasn’t particularly good, and one yolk had broken, but Yu Qian didn’t offer any criticism when she ate them.

Outside the window, light snow covered the roofs of some low buildings. The entire complex had red buildings, which, paired with the snow, gave off a very Christmas-like feeling.

Cars constantly drove by on the street, melting the snow and revealing a damp blackness.

Yu Qian took a few sips of the steaming black tea and asked Cheng Xiaonan, “It seems like a LEGO set was knocked down last night. What should we do?”

“It’s fine, we’ll just put it back together.”

Cheng Xiaonan wasn’t too concerned about the LEGOs; he only asked, “Did it hurt you?”

“No.”

Cheng Xiaonan himself, however, had two new scratches on his shoulder blade.

She got distracted while eating her bread, taking out her phone to search for information about LEGOs.

Peanut butter smeared on the corner of her mouth, and Cheng Xiaonan leaned in to kiss it off for her.

Actually, Yu Qian’s way of expressing affection was very simple. She wasn’t romantic, nor would she constantly profess her love.

Cheng Xiaonan filled the attic with LEGOs about her, so she also commissioned a LEGO portrait of Cheng Xiaonan. She assembled it in her spare time from work, and on an ordinary day, brought it home after work and placed it in the attic.

Her giant portrait was hanging on the wall. She placed Cheng Xiaonan’s portrait on the floor, leaning against the wall.

She stepped back a few paces to look and felt it wasn’t quite harmonious. She simply moved the low cabinet from the side to use it to display Cheng Xiaonan’s portrait.

Yu Qian’s portrait faced right, and Cheng Xiaonan’s faced left. With the added height of the low cabinet, it looked like the two were gazing at each other.

It looked much better this way.

At first, Cheng Xiaonan didn’t notice. A few days later, Yu Qian was doing her pre-sleep yoga. Cheng Xiaonan came down from the attic, his steps hurried. He walked up to Yu Qian and picked her up: “When did you put this here?”

“A few days ago.”

Cheng Xiaonan seemed to really like his LEGO portrait. He took photos and posted them on WeChat Moments, insisting on getting a nine-grid collage.

Yu Qian was completely unaware of this. When she checked her phone after finishing yoga, she saw a message from Peter:

[Are you two never going to stop showing off your affection?]

It was only with Peter’s reminder that Yu Qian discovered the activity in her Moments.

________________________________________

During her time back in China, both professionally and personally, Yu Qian and Cheng Xiaonan shared many mutual friends.

Thus, Yu Qian could see that under his post, many acquaintances had commented, and some were even chatting amongst themselves.

Ji Ran commented a long string of “wow wow wow wow wow wow wow.”

Shen Shen immediately popped up, “questioning” Ji Ran, “What are you envious of? Wasn’t the lamb offal soup I bought you the night before last not good? Or were the socks I bought you for Christmas not warm?”

Ji Ran said, “It’s because the amount in your bank card hidden under the TV wasn’t big enough.”

After that, Shen Shen suddenly wailed, saying that his last bit of savings for the winter was gone, and he asked Cheng Xiaonan to support him.

Cheng Xiaonan only replied with one sentence, “Why should I?”

Sun Yue’s comment was: “Mom! I’m choked on dog food again, quickly call an ambulance for me.”

Several comments were similar to this, either saying they believed in love again or that there was too much “dog food” (a slang term for public displays of affection).

Even Peter and An Gu joined in the fun below—

“Young people these days, tsk tsk tsk, truly romantic.”

“Indeed, truly romantic. But this LEGO room is really well-designed, and the colors are vibrant.”

“Old An, I have an idea. I want to make a dress with such a mosaic pattern.”

And a photographer who wasn’t particularly familiar asked Cheng Xiaonan below: “You two?”

Cheng Xiaonan openly responded: “Yes, us.”

Because there were too many mutual friends, Yu Qian took a while to read all the comments below.

Funnily enough, some even wished them a happy hundred years together and early conception of children.

It was as if they had gotten married today.

Yu Qian thought for a moment and liked Cheng Xiaonan’s WeChat Moment post.

________________________________________

Because of past experiences, Yu Qian rarely went online. She only watched movies that her assistant had downloaded, and she didn’t enable subtitles; she only watched yoga instructional videos.

The last time she saw so many replies was on a high school forum.

At that time, the school forum’s moderation was far less strict than it is now. People said all sorts of things, and the post about her had over two thousand replies.

Looking back now, she wasn’t entirely unaffected back then.

It’s just that those sorrows had no outlet, so they could only be suppressed in her heart.

Otherwise, what could she do?

Cry? Scream hysterically?

But if she did that, would anyone truly believe her confession?

Or, after doing that, would that malice directed at her truly disappear?

Yu Qian could only remain silent, hiding all her emotions, allowing them to slowly evaporate and dissipate little by little with time.

Those that didn’t disappear continued to hide within her body, like tiny thorns growing in her organs, occasionally pricking her.

Perhaps she had been pricked so many times that even pain had become a habit.

Many people called her cool, called her carefree.

But she knew herself that her dislike for going online was actually a way of avoidance.

But then she met Cheng Xiaonan.

She remembered him loosely wearing his school uniform jacket, zipper only half-pulled, one sleeve rolled up, wearing a wristband.

He tossed the basketball onto the passenger seat floor, his hand resting on the sports car window sill, staring intently at her.

As if trying to see through her eyes and into all the emotions she had hidden away.

Yu Qian quietly met his gaze, fear difficult to articulate. She could only suppress her mortification and calmly asked him, “Are you sick?”

The boy who was retorted to wasn’t annoyed. He just raised an eyebrow: “Sister, why are you always unhappy?”

________________________________________

A slight sound came from the living room. Cheng Xiaonan sat on the sofa, leaned out, and looked towards the bedroom: “Sister, you liked my post?”

The questioning voice matched the tone from her memory.

Yu Qian sat on the yoga mat, looking up towards the living room—

Beside the sofa was a blooming pot of Shirley Poppies. The coffee table had been moved back from the window. The fruit platter on it was not very aesthetically cut; the apples and oranges were of all shapes, and there were oddly shaped honeydew melons, all prepared by Cheng Xiaonan.

The main light was off, only a strip of ambient lighting and floor lamps were on, creating a warm glow that made the room feel cozy.

When Cheng Xiaonan smiled, a small dimple always appeared on his cheek.

He asked, “If you’re not tired, do you want to watch a variety show before bed? I found a super funny one.”

For a moment, Yu Qian suddenly felt that all the foul language, gossip, and slander on forums and message boards, the cockroaches and rat corpses in her desk, all seemed like things from a past life.

She now lived in a brand new world, filled with love, warmth, and hope.

And a boyfriend who, even in the most intimate moments, would suppress his urges and ask her if she was hurting.

Yu Qian said she was tired, so Cheng Xiaonan turned off the TV: “Then no more watching, let’s sleep.”

Before going to sleep, Cheng Xiaonan placed his phone on the bedside table and said, “Old Cheng asked if we want to have dinner together tomorrow, at home. My auntie at home is a very good cook. Tell me what you’d like to eat, and I’ll have her prepare it for you?”

Yu Qian shook her head and asked, “Tomorrow, noon or evening?”

“Old Cheng said it’s up to you. Whenever you want.”

When Cheng Xiaonan said this, the shadow of a young boy appeared on his face again, with the arrogant confidence of someone who grew up in a happy family. “Your status is way higher than mine. You’re the future daughter-in-law! Whatever you say, he has to agree, right? Even if you say you want to set up a barbecue pit at 1 AM, Old Cheng would have to figure out how to get a charcoal grill back home.”

Perhaps Yu Qian’s gaze was a little confused. Cheng Xiaonan said confidently, “You don’t know, but in my family, women have the highest status. My mom used to be the boss of the house. If she said east, Old Cheng wouldn’t dare go west.”

He recounted a time when he came home from school as a child and saw Old Cheng rushing out the door.

At that time, there was no auntie at home yet, so Old Cheng had to do all the shopping himself.

Cheng Xiaonan asked Old Cheng, “Dad, where are you going?”

Old Cheng didn’t even stop, directly got into the car, and started the engine: “Your mom wants to eat the sugar-roasted chestnuts from that place at the central street intersection. I have to go quickly, or they’ll close up shop.”

Cheng Xiaonan chuckled: “Later, he parked the car by the roadside and got caught by traffic police. He got a ticket and was fined 200 yuan. When he came home, my mom kept nagging him while eating chestnuts. Old Cheng was so meek, he didn’t dare argue. He just peeled chestnuts for my mom and nodded, saying ‘Yes, yes, yes, I’ll be careful where I park next time.’“

Listening to Cheng Xiaonan talk about his family’s past, Yu Qian suddenly felt a little excited about tomorrow’s lunch.

She also somewhat understood why Qu Liwen, who had waited for that man for over twenty years, felt a little swayed when she met Cheng Xiaonan’s father and wanted to start a stable romantic relationship.

Before going to sleep, Yu Qian closed her eyes and said, “Let’s go out tomorrow morning and buy something for your dad.”

“Anything’s fine, whatever you say.”