Su Qinghan actually took the initiative to call her. Yan Yu was extremely surprised.
This was the first time Su Qinghan had voluntarily crossed the boundary she herself had drawn.
‘Was it a test, or had something happened?’ Yan Yu took a deep breath, forcing herself to suppress her racing heartbeat. ‘No matter which answer it was, this phone call was a golden opportunity for her.’
She had been the tender ex-girlfriend for so long, finally stirring a bit of Su Qinghan’s cold heart. ‘That’s good. It means that my hard work playing the substitute for so long has finally yielded some noticeable results.’
‘This was exactly the effect I wanted.’
‘Su Qinghan, come a little closer.’
‘Once you fall into this net, you’ll never escape.’
Yan Yu thought these things in her heart, but her actions were merely a gentle raise of her hand as she pressed the answer button, her movements steady without a trace of tremor.
The moment the phone touched her ear, she could even hear her own slightly slowed breathing.
“Hello?”
Su Qinghan’s voice came through the receiver, a little low, with an unnatural feeling, as if she were deliberately lowering her voice, yet unable to hide the emotions she was desperately trying to conceal.
At this moment, on the other side of the city.
Su Family Villa.
This was a standalone villa located halfway up a mountain.
At this moment, in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor of the villa, Su Qinghan was sitting on a dark leather sofa, holding a crystal wine glass in her hand.
The lights in the room were dimmed very low, only a floor lamp beside the sofa was on, its warm yellow light outlining the profile of her face.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was the night view of the city, the myriad lights like an inverted galaxy on the ground.
She was wearing a black silk robe, the belt loosely tied at her waist, revealing a small patch of skin below her collarbone.
Her short hair was still a bit damp, presumably from not drying it after a shower just now, a few strands of hair sticking to her forehead and ears.
Her fingers slowly circled the wall of the wine glass.
The liquid in the glass showed a deep ruby red, refracting a dull luster under the light.
This was a bottle of Romanée-Conti she had taken from her father’s wine cellar.
She usually couldn’t bear to drink this kind of wine.
But today she was too troubled. Troubled enough to need a bit of alcohol to numb herself.
Several hours had passed since Yan Yu sent that voice message. But she felt her heart hadn’t calmed down at all; instead, it was like being thrown into a blender, spinning round and round.
The curtains were half-drawn, her phone lay on the coffee table in front of her, the screen lit up, displaying the contacts page.
Her thumb was hovering over the name “Yan Yu,” and it had been hovering for a long time.
‘Why?’
She couldn’t understand why she wanted to call Yan Yu.
When had she, Su Qinghan, ever needed to initiate a call to someone? It had always been others looking for her, not the other way around. Moreover, that person was Yan Yu, Jiang Muyun’s substitute, her nominal “guardian,” someone she should keep her distance from.
But that voice.
“I’m content as long as I can guard your happiness from afar like this.”
That voice was like a soft thorn, piercing the softest place in her heart, unable to be pulled out or digested.
She picked up the glass and took a large gulp.
The liquid went down her throat, rich and complex. The alcohol spread along her bloodstream, making her mind less clear, but her heart beat faster.
The phone was still on the table.
WeChat’s chat interface was still open, the latest message from Sister Song—”Mu Yun seems to be in a bad mood, do you want to send her a message?”—she hadn’t replied.
Jiang Muyun gave her attitude, Jiang Muyun’s best friend came to test the waters on her behalf, but Jiang Muyun herself didn’t say a single word.
Jiang Muyun wasn’t like this before.
In the past, Jiang Muyun would act spoiled, coax her, say “Qinghan, don’t be angry.” Now? She just shook off her hand and left in the street, no calls, no messages.
Thinking of this, the scale in Su Qinghan’s heart unconsciously tilted in another direction.
‘If it were Yan Yu instead.’
The thought suddenly popped into her head.
‘If it were Yan Yu, Yan Yu would never treat her like this. That person would carefully send an emoji, then say “I’m just worried about you,” and then speak in that soft voice.’
‘Why?’
‘Why could Yan Yu be like this, but not Jiang Muyun?’
Su Qinghan took another drink.
Then, she didn’t know what she was thinking—maybe it was the alcohol at work, maybe her mind was stirred into a mess by those chaotic thoughts—she picked up her phone, entered Yan Yu’s chat interface, didn’t type anything, and directly pressed the voice call.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
Each beep was like a small hammer striking her heart.
‘What was she doing?’
‘Wasn’t she Su Qinghan? The one always calm, always rational, always unfathomable? Shouldn’t she be with Jiang Muyun? Shouldn’t she be on Jiang Muyun’s side? Why was she calling Yan Yu late at night?’
She pinched her thigh hard, wincing in pain, but her finger couldn’t bring itself to press the end call button.
She told herself it was no big deal. She just… just thought Yan Yu wasn’t that annoying, maybe they could be friends.
‘Right, just friends. It’s not against the law. It doesn’t mean anything. Even if Jiang Muyun found out, it wouldn’t matter. Besides, Jiang Muyun hadn’t come to her on her own, so why couldn’t she do what she wanted?’
These reasons stood in a row, singing in unison inside her head.
But she was so guilty she didn’t dare look at herself in the mirror.
Beep—
The fourth ring.
Then the line suddenly went quiet.
It was the prelude to the call being connected.
Su Qinghan’s fingers holding the wine glass tightened unconsciously.
“Hello?”
Yan Yu’s voice came through the receiver.
That soft voice, with a slight breathiness, like someone who had just climbed out of the bathtub and wasn’t fully awake. Su Qinghan felt her mind explode with a “bang.”
“Qinghan?”
The other side came again, tinged with a bit of confusion.
Su Qinghan took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound normal.
“Mm, it’s me,” she said.
“It’s so late… Qinghan, is there something you need?”
Su Qinghan swallowed and said, “It’s nothing, just feeling a bit stuffy tonight, wanted to find someone to chat with casually.”
There was a brief silence on the other end. Then she heard a very soft sound, the humming background noise was turned off.
Su Qinghan caught that subtle change in sound and couldn’t help asking, “Yan Yu, what are you doing?”
There was another brief silence, then Yan Yu’s voice came again, a little lower than before, with a kind of hesitant shyness.
“I was just taking a shower,” Yan Yu said, her voice very low, “Now… I haven’t gotten dressed yet.”