For The Rest Of Our Life – Chapter 5
by Little PandaAuntie Xiao Sometimes Seems Unexpectedly Distant, Hard to Approach
Once they were home, Xiao Wanqing changed her shoes and headed to the kitchen. She sorted the ingredients that wouldn’t be needed right away into the refrigerator, then set out the ones for dinner in the sink.
Lin Xian, meanwhile, changed her shoes and, clutching her bag of “sanitary pads,” hurried shyly to her own room.
As Xiao Wanqing took an apron from a hook on the wall and was about to put it on, she heard Lin Xian’s voice from nearby, tinged with a smile. “Can I help?”
Xiao Wanqing turned to look at Lin Xian while pulling on the apron. Lin Xian was wearing her new Totoro slippers, her face bright as she watched her. Xiao Wanqing smiled. “No need, there’s not much to do. I can handle it myself.” After a moment’s thought, she added gently, “Dinner won’t be ready for a while. If you’re bored, you can look around the rooms. Don’t be shy—make yourself at home.”
Lin Xian’s lips curved, her eyes full of mischievous amusement. “What if I accidentally discover some big secret?”
Xiao Wanqing was puzzled. “Like what?”
Lin Xian laughed, blinked, and didn’t answer. “I think it’s better if I stay and help. You can show me around the rooms later.”
Seeing her insistence, Xiao Wanqing relented. “Alright, see the carrots on the counter? Can you peel them for me?”
Lin Xian, carefree, made a salute and replied playfully, “Yes, ma’am! Your Majesty!”
Xiao Wanqing couldn’t help but laugh.
Lin Xian’s peeling speed surprised Xiao Wanqing. She finished the task quickly and asked for the next one. Xiao Wanqing assigned her something a bit harder—peeling the Chinese yam.
“Are you this well-behaved at home too?” Watching Lin Xian’s neat, efficient peeling, Xiao Wanqing was half curious, half praising.
Lin Xian shifted her gaze from the yam to Xiao Wanqing, a sly smile curling her lips. “You should ask my mom about that. If I say I’m good, it’s like Old Wang selling melons, praising his own melons.”
Xiao Wanqing let out a soft laugh, her eyes full of appreciation and fondness as she looked at Lin Xian. She shredded the carrots and arranged them on a plate, then suddenly remarked, “Having a daughter like you wouldn’t be so bad.”
Lin Xian was momentarily taken aback, then immediately protested with righteous indignation. “Exactly! My mom is so lucky to have a daughter like me, but she doesn’t appreciate it. She complains about me every day.”
Xiao Wanqing was successfully amused by Lin Xian’s shamelessness. “Aren’t you doing exactly that—Old Wang selling melons, praising his own melons?”
Lin Xian tilted her head, her high ponytail swaying with the movement. She giggled and asked back, “Do you think I’m bragging?”
Xiao Wanqing paused, then answered gently, “Mm, I don’t think so. You’re telling the truth.”
Lin Xian’s eyes curved into crescents, as satisfied as a Samoyed being petted.
However, not long after, Xiao Wanqing wanted to bite her tongue and take back all those words praising Lin Xian’s good behavior. When Xiao Wanqing had stir-fried two dishes and started handling the fresh river shrimp, her helpful assistant Lin Xian began to tease her.
Xiao Wanqing had bought live shrimp. A whole bowl of them, still jumping and flexing as she washed them. Having lived alone for years, she was an excellent cook and handled them with ease. She took a pair of scissors and began snipping off the whiskers and sharp points one by one.
Lin Xian was about to wash the snow peas. She turned on the faucet to fill a bowl, watching Xiao Wanqing with interest.
When Xiao Wanqing pierced the shell of a shrimp with a toothpick to remove the vein, Lin Xian suddenly spoke up. “It’s struggling so hard. Does it hurt?”
Xiao Wanqing’s hand, holding the toothpick, trembled involuntarily.
Lin Xian continued in a low voice. “Look, its eyes are staring at you, aren’t they? Big, black, and round, just staring straight at you. It must be in so much pain.”
Xiao Wanqing couldn’t help but glance down at the shrimp’s eyes, and felt her hairs stand on end.
Lin Xian kept going. “See that red stuff near its head? Is that its blood? Are you going to pull its head off while it’s still alive?”
Xiao Wanqing finally couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted, her voice trembling slightly. “Lin Xian, stop…” She forced herself to calm down, put the shrimp back in the bowl, and turned to look at the mischievous girl who had succeeded in her prank. Gently but helplessly, she said, “Alright, I have some bad news for you. You probably won’t be eating shrimp for a while.”
The smile on Lin Xian’s pretty, bright face froze. In the next moment, she realized she might have really scared Xiao Wanqing, that her joke had gone too far. “I was just trying to tease you. I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, lowering her head in embarrassment.
Xiao Wanqing didn’t blame her. She just put the shrimp in the refrigerator and answered softly, “I know. It’s okay. I’m just easily scared.” Then, to convince Lin Xian that she really wasn’t angry, she explained considerately, “When I was in college, I watched a movie. There was a scene where they put anthropomorphic octopus legs into a machine and ground them into paste. The legs were so thick and the scene was so realistic that after watching it, I never dared to eat octopus legs again. Even seeing an octopus makes me reflexively want to throw up.”
Lin Xian felt even more guilty after hearing that. She hadn’t known Xiao Wanqing was so timid, with such a low tolerance for scary things. She lowered her head and promised gloomily, “Then I won’t scare you anymore.”
Xiao Wanqing didn’t want to see her like that. She chuckled. “Alright, it’s fine.” She changed the subject. “Can you peel these garlic cloves for me?”
Lin Xian nodded.
When Lin Xian had peeled and washed the garlic and was about to hand it to Xiao Wanqing, Xiao Wanqing seemed to sense it and turned to look at her. As their eyes met, Xiao Wanqing’s eyes narrowed slightly, a faint smile shimmering in them.
A few strands of fine hair had fallen across her forehead, blocking her view. With her hands occupied, Xiao Wanqing could only tilt her head slightly, trying to shake the hair aside.
Seeing this, Lin Xian put down the garlic, stepped forward lightly and naturally, looked up at Xiao Wanqing, and reached out to tuck the stray strands behind her ear.
But just as Lin Xian’s hand was about to touch Xiao Wanqing’s forehead, Xiao Wanqing noticed her movement and, almost unconsciously, took a sharp step back.
In the next instant, Lin Xian’s hand met empty air. Her outstretched hand froze awkwardly in midair.
An awkward silence hung in the air for two seconds. Lin Xian withdrew her hand as if nothing had happened and said with a smile, “I’ll go find a clip for you to hold your hair back.”
Xiao Wanqing also composed herself and took the out she was given. “Mm, the clips are in the top right drawer in the bathroom. Can you get one for me?”
Lin Xian said “Okay” and went to get it.
In less than half a minute, she came back with a small, delicate clip. Xiao Wanqing washed her hands, took the clip, and while combing the fine strands of hair back and clipping them, joked, “If you find a hair in your food later, don’t worry. I just washed my hair an hour before you came.”
Lin Xian smiled, accepting the joke. She went back to the sink, picked up the peeled and washed garlic, and placed it in the dish Xiao Wanqing had prepared. She opened her mouth to ask Xiao Wanqing what else she needed to do, but when she glanced at her serene profile, the name “Xiao Wanqing” caught in her throat after just the first syllable, “Xiao—”
Xiao Wanqing turned to look at her, puzzled.
Lin Xian forced a smile, like a well-behaved child, and asked, “Auntie Xiao, is there anything else I can do?”
Xiao Wanqing looked around at everything, then said, “It seems there’s nothing left for you to help with. The kitchen is getting smoky. Go rest in the living room for a while.”
Lin Xian smiled without answering and dashed out of the kitchen. Xiao Wanqing didn’t think much of it, assuming she had agreed to her suggestion, and simply thought she was still a playful child at heart.
But to her surprise, a moment later Lin Xian came back, carrying a small stool. She placed it at the kitchen entrance, sat down naturally, and looked at Xiao Wanqing with a clean, lovely smile. “I’ll sit here and keep you company. Otherwise, you’ll be so bored all by yourself.”
Xiao Wanqing was momentarily stunned, her eyes filling with a warm smile. She no longer refused Lin Xian’s kindness. “Okay.”
Lin Xian quietly watched her slender back, a hint of curiosity and doubt creeping into her eyes. Through a few close physical encounters, Xiao Wanqing’s reactions gave her a strange feeling.
This gentle, elegant woman, though always wearing a soft smile and seeming approachable, sometimes seemed unexpectedly distant and hard to approach?
Lin Xian leaned back in her chair, and a phrase suddenly surfaced in her mind: “Time reveals a person’s heart.”
That’s right. She thought with relief: she still had a long time to spend with Xiao Wanqing, long enough to slowly get to know her. A bright smile gradually bloomed on the girl’s fair, radiant face.
Even though she still didn’t know why she was so curious about Xiao Wanqing.
0 Comments