Extra Story IV (Husband)

Wen Di always remembered what the first bouquet of flowers Yan Heyu gave her looked like, even the exact number of pink roses and how many lisianthus were paired with them.

After the flowers were dried, her grandma bought a special flower box to hold the dried flowers. She would take them out to air them out from time to time and treated them to prevent pests and mildew.

After she and Yan Heyu broke up, she called her grandma and told her not to keep the flowers anymore.

She didn’t know whether her grandma had thrown them away or given them to someone, and she had forgotten to ask.

The day Wen Di brought Yan Heyu back, after lunch, she and Yan Heyu went to the study on the second floor to help her grandpa clean and organize his bookshelves.

Her grandpa had been chatting with Old Man Zhuang and heard that Old Man Zhuang had found many treasures he had bought years ago after organizing all his bookshelves. Inspired, her grandpa began a major project of his own.

“Di Di, come here.” Her grandma came into the study holding two flower boxes.

“Yes, coming.”

Grandma Wen put the flower boxes on the desk. “I’m having you confirm if I should throw these away.”

Wen Di opened them. One was the bouquet of pink roses and lisianthus, still perfectly preserved. The other box held a dried Juliet rose. Both were flowers Yan Heyu had given her.

She was surprised. “Grandma, didn’t I tell you to throw this bouquet away?”

Grandma Wen said, “As you get older, you can’t bear to throw anything away. I put so much effort into preserving this bouquet for you, so it was even harder to throw away.”

It had been in the storage room ever since.

The storage room was filled with old things, all of which were useless, but she just couldn’t bear to throw them away.

She hadn’t thought about what to do with the bouquet. Maybe after a few years, when she stopped airing it out and it got damp and moldy, she would finally throw it away.

Who could have known her granddaughter would get back together with him?

Wen Di opened the box and took it to the window to air it out in the sun. The midsummer sun was scorching even through the glass.

Yan Heyu saw her squatting in front of the window, tinkering with something.

He put down the book in his hand and walked over. “Why did you open the curtains? Isn’t it hot?”

Wen Di: “I’m airing out some dried flowers.”

Yan Heyu only recognized the Juliet rose, which he had given her on the day they watched a movie. As for the other bouquet, he didn’t remember which holiday he had given it to her.

In their three years together, he had given her over a hundred bouquets. They were mostly the same. He would occasionally give her red roses, but most of them were the pink roses and lisianthus she loved.

“When did I give you the other bouquet?”

“The first one.”

She looked up at him. “You don’t remember it anymore, do you?”

“I do.” Yan Heyu helped her stand up. “You were in Shancheng at the time.” That was the only time that left a deep impression. He probably wouldn’t remember what gifts he had given her on which holidays.

But she had brought the flowers from Shancheng and even dried and preserved them, which he hadn’t expected.

“I only kept one of the gifts you gave me.”

Wen Di looked at him. “What did you keep?”

“The decorative mini-apple.”

“Didn’t you say you ate it?”

“No. It’s been in my office fridge the whole time.”

Yan Heyu asked, “And what about the first Christmas apple I gave you?”

Wen Di smiled, not saying a word.

She had gnawed on it.

Whenever he made her angry, she would take it out of the fridge and gnaw on it a couple of times to vent. The apple was so big and tasted so bad that it took her a long time to finish it.

Yan Heyu looked back. Her grandpa was organizing the bookshelves in another area and couldn’t see them. He lowered his head and kissed her. “You ate the apple, didn’t you?”

Wen Di pushed him away. “Who remembers things that happened so long ago?”

It was hot by the window. She pushed him to a shadier spot and continued to organize the bookshelves.

________________________________________

They stayed in Jiangcheng for two days and then returned.

On the day they left, Wen Changyun and Zhao Yueliang saw them off at the airport.

Before they left, Yan Heyu said in the local Jiangcheng dialect, “Mom and Dad, you should go back.”

Wen Di glanced at him, wanting to roll her eyes. The “Mom and Dad” had come out so smoothly.

At the boarding gate, Yan Heyu didn’t forget her mocking look. “If you feel you got the short end of the stick, you can call my parents Mom and Dad directly when we go to my house.”

Wen Di didn’t fall for his trick and put on her headphones to listen to music.

Yan Heyu planned to take her home soon. He had called his father, who said he had two days off before the Mid-Autumn Festival and would be home. He told Yan Heyu to bring Wen Di with him.

On the plane, Wen Di put on an eye mask to sleep. Yan Heyu wasn’t tired and kept looking at the person next to him. She had turned to face him and was lying on her side.

Even with the eye mask on, she must have sensed that he was watching her, because she fumbled and raised the partition between their seats.

Yan Heyu grabbed her hand and lowered the partition again. “Don’t fidget. Go to sleep.”

It was fine until he said not to fidget. She lifted her eye mask, raised her hand, and pinched his jawline, then gently touched his Adam’s apple, and poked his arm.

Her defiant eyes seemed to say: I am fidgeting. What are you going to do about it?

Yan Heyu smiled helplessly. She used to be like this. There was only one way to make her behave. But now, on the plane, she was taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t do anything to her and was being completely unrestrained.

He took her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers. “I’ll deal with you when we get home.”

Wen Di slept for an hour on the plane and had forgotten all about him “dealing with her” by the time they got home.

But Yan Heyu remembered.

Wen Di was trapped by him at the side of the bed, and he wanted her to call him “husband.”

She turned her head away, being as stubborn as ever.

Yan Heyu pressed against her. “Wen Di, turn around.”

Wen Di was on the verge of breaking, but each time, he would stop at just the right moment.

Over and over again.

In this regard, she was no match for him.

“Yan Heyu.”

She couldn’t help but call his name. Her original intention wasn’t to call him and give him the satisfaction of knowing he had won.

Wen Di took a few deep breaths, but it didn’t work. She couldn’t overpower him.

She had no choice but to turn her head and look at him. She cupped his face, kissed his eyes, and then kissed the bridge of his nose.

Yan Heyu could never resist her sudden moments of tenderness.

It was true then, and it was true now.

He went from wanting to “deal with her” to wanting to “please her” in a matter of seconds. She always had a way of doing this. He knew it was a trap, yet he fell for it every single time.

Tenderness was a two-way street.

The way he pleased her was also incredibly gentle.

Wen Di lost control in his embrace. Her reason left her for a second.

She knew what she was about to say before it came out, but she let herself say it and didn’t try to stop it.

For the first time in so long, Yan Heyu finally heard her call him “husband.”

________________________________________

Yan Heyu poured two glasses of red wine and went upstairs. Wen Di was lying on the balcony letting her hair dry. It was hot, so she didn’t use a hairdryer.

A dry towel on her shoulder was about to slip off. Yan Heyu helped pull it back up.

Wen Di scooted closer to him, leaning against him and sipping her red wine.

She always drank too much of good wine. Yan Heyu told her to drink slowly, trying to be as slow as she ate. “Just one glass, no more.”

Wen Di said, “One glass isn’t enough.”

“It’s enough.” Yan Heyu shook his own wine glass. “I have half as much as you.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I’m going to the study to take a work call.”

Wen Di was alone on the balcony, looking at the garden in the courtyard. She wished they were in a high-rise apartment right now, drinking wine and looking at the city’s dazzling and intoxicating night view.

Even with her best effort to drink slowly, she still finished the wine.

Wen Di held the empty glass and took her phone, planning to ask Yan Heyu for another glass.

After a few steps, Qin Xing called her.

Qin Xing told her that his cousin had authorized his story, and she could do whatever she wanted with it. As long as it wasn’t too outlandish, they had no objections.

The idea of writing a story about Qin Xing’s cousin dated back to No One is Better Than You. In April, the crew was filming at Old Man Zhuang’s second-hand bookstore. Wen Di and Qin Xing went to visit the set, and Qin Xing was so moved by the story of Old Man Zhuang and his wife that he said his cousin’s love story was just like it.

Qin Xing’s cousin was a lawyer, and his girlfriend was also a lawyer. They had been together for more than ten years, ever since their first year of high school. They had never argued or had a falling out.

Qin Xing’s cousin was a child of privilege, while the girl was mute. She had lost her voice later in life, and her father was also deaf and mute.

They were two people from vastly different worlds who had been in a long-distance relationship from college to work, but their feelings for each other had never wavered.

Wen Di felt that the saying “Love separates mountains and seas, but mountains and seas can be overcome” was perfect for them.

There was a kind of love in this world that could not be defeated by time, distance, or even death. And there were good men in this world, too.

Like Old Man Zhuang.

And like Qin Xing’s cousin.

It was just that this kind of love was too rare.

So rare that even she was moved and envious.

Yan Heyu had told her that he hoped that in a few decades, she would add him to her list of good men.

How shameless.

Wen Di snapped out of her thoughts and thanked Qin Xing. “I have something to do in the second half of the year now.” She told Qin Xing her initial plan. “I want to put your cousin’s story and Old Man Zhuang’s story from his younger days into one screenplay.”

“A TV show or a movie?”

“A movie. I’ll invest in it myself, and all the proceeds will go to charity, to help people like your cousin’s girlfriend and people who love to read but don’t have access to books.”

Qin Xing: “Count me in. I’ll sell one of my apartments to invest. It’ll be a wedding gift for my brother.”

“...Is selling your apartment all you can do?”

“You have no idea how many apartments I have.”

“...”

Qin Xing laughed and hung up.

After the call ended, Wen Di went to the study to find Yan Heyu.

Yan Heyu had already finished his call and was looking at emails.

She walked in with the empty wine glass. He had a bad feeling about this.

Wen Di put the wine glass in front of him. Yan Heyu pretended not to see it and stared at his computer screen. She picked up the glass and waved it in front of his eyes. Whichever way he turned his head, she moved the glass.

Yan Heyu pulled her onto his lap. “I said you only get one glass.”

Wen Di ran the rim of the glass against his lips. “I want to drink more.”

Yan Heyu put down his mouse. “If you can give me a convincing reason, maybe I’ll make an exception.” No matter what she said, there was no way she could convince him.

Wen Di said in all seriousness, “When I was drinking that glass of wine, I suddenly wanted to go back and live in your high-rise apartment for a while. I hadn’t made up my mind yet, but then the wine was gone, and the idea vanished with it.”

Yan Heyu: “...”

Wen Di had him exactly where she wanted him. “If you give me half a glass more, the idea should come back.”

Yan Heyu looked at her knowingly, the urge to “deal with her” soaring within him.

They stared at each other in silent defiance.

Ten minutes later, Wen Di was leaning against him, leisurely sipping red wine.

________________________________________

Yan Heyu and Wen Di returned to the Yan family’s old residence three weeks later, on a weekend. They brought Wen Wen with them.

Wen Di was as relaxed as if she were visiting a friend. She wasn’t nervous at all, and she had Yan Heyu to thank for that. Last night, Yan Heyu was on a video call with his parents. She happened to be in the study, and he turned the camera to her and had her say hello.

She was forced into it and didn’t even have time to be nervous. Ye Minqiong and Yan Hongjin started chatting with her first.

They said a few simple phrases in the Jiangcheng dialect, which were not authentic at all, and they ended up laughing at themselves.

Yan Heyan was also home and joined the video call. She wrapped her arms around her parents, squeezing her head in between them, almost completely hogging the video frame. She kept asking, “Sister-in-law, my face is small, can you see me?”

Yan Heyan was exceptionally good at keeping the atmosphere lively, and she talked to Wen Di about anything and everything during the video call.

After more than thirty minutes of casual chatting, they started talking about the new movie script Wen Di was going to write.

They all knew Qin Xing’s cousin and his girlfriend of ten years.

Ye Minqiong often heard the elders in the courtyard talk about how difficult it was for the young couple. They said it took a lot of patience to be with someone who couldn’t speak, for a day or two, or even a month or two. But to still be the same after more than ten years, their feelings for each other had to be incredibly deep.

Ye Minqiong told her, “Our family has a good relationship with Qin Xing’s family. I’ll take you over there and you can visit them more often. Qin Xing’s cousin might not remember many small things, but his family definitely will.”

Wen Di was very touched that Yan Heyu’s parents were so supportive of her career and took her work to heart.

Last night’s video call had eliminated her nervousness about meeting her parents today.

Yan Heyu held her hand. “You don’t need to swallow your food so quickly when we eat at my house. I’ll eat with you.”

He revealed, “Heyan will eat even more slowly than you. She’s been on a diet recently and chews every bite fifty times. My mom is used to it. If you chew thirty times, that’ll be considered ‘divine speed’ in my mom’s eyes.”

Wen Di laughed and hugged him with her other arm. “Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for? It’s not that you eat slowly; it’s that we eat too fast.”