Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 100
by Little PandaThem (Part 1)
Yan Xi entered the bathroom. Anzhi looked for some clothes for her outside, finding a loose, long-sleeved gray T-shirt dress. She held it up against herself; it fell a little above her own knees, so it should be a suitable fit for Yan Xi.
Then there was the matter of panties. Anzhi felt a bit troubled. They were all ones she had worn herself, even though they were washed perfectly clean.
She grabbed a pair she rarely wore and pushed the door open to go in. “Auntie… I brought the clothes…”
Her voice abruptly cut off. In the small, narrow bathroom, Yan Xi had already taken off her pants. The moment Anzhi walked in, she saw a pair of long, slender, white legs facing away from her, partially hidden beneath a white button-down shirt.
Hearing her voice, Yan Xi turned around. Several buttons of her shirt had already been undone, revealing shoulders as smooth as satin, as well as her high, fair breasts encased in a black bra.
Anzhi instantly froze. Yan Xi was also slightly taken aback, her fingers resting on her buttons trembling faintly.
Anzhi sharply turned her reddening face away. “I brought you clothes… and panties… You’ll just have to wear mine…”
She lowered her eyelashes, her face burning even hotter. “You… don’t mind, do you?”
Yan Xi paused her movements. A sudden, starry ripple of agitation sprang up at the tip of her heart—something difficult to articulate. She subconsciously gave a soft, “Mn,”
Anzhi didn’t dare linger for a second longer. She hung the clothes on the hook, pulled the door shut, and stepped out.
Standing outside for a moment, Anzhi finally heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. She rubbed her burning cheeks and told herself she couldn’t let her imagination run wild.
Steadying her thoughts, she noted that it was still raining outside. Yan Xi probably wouldn’t be going back tonight. She began to tidy her bed, patting the pillows.
Yan Xi must have encountered something upsetting tonight. The way she had looked earlier was simply too heartbreaking. Anzhi bit her lip as a sense of powerlessness washed over her heart once more.
There was nothing she could do to help her; the least she could do was let her get a good night’s rest.
Anzhi took out her phone and checked a food delivery app. Wondering if Yan Xi was hungry, she had just walked to the bathroom door to ask when a call came in: “Anzhi.”
It was Lin-shijie. She said with a smile, “It’s like this: I came over tonight to visit a shijie from my department who’s a second-year graduate student1, and we ordered some beef offal to eat. Want me to bring a portion over to you?”
Outside the gates of Beicheng University of Science and Technology, there was a snack street with a very famous spicy hot pot stall. Their most renowned dishes were the beef offal and beef, and they sold out every single day.
Anzhi felt a bit embarrassed. “Shijie, you guys should just eat it.”
“I’m already at your dormitory door. Come out.” Her shijie’s voice was as mild as spring, carrying a hint of a smile.
“Huh?” Anzhi hurriedly went over to open the door. Lin-shijie was holding a white disposable plastic bowl in her hand. It was cold out; she was wearing a black leather jacket over a long skirt. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Upon seeing Anzhi, she tilted her face slightly, a delicate stud earring resting on her small earlobe.
“Shijie…” Anzhi glanced at the beef offal that had been shoved into her hands. “How much was it? I’ll transfer it to you on WeChat.”
Lin-shijie chuckled softly, her gaze intentionally or unintentionally sweeping past Anzhi to look inside the room. “No need. I actually have a favor to ask you. It’s like this: it’s raining outside, and it’s too late for me to head back. I wanted to ask if it would be convenient to squeeze in here with you for the night?”
“Ah, about that…” Anzhi hesitated, caught in a difficult position.
“Is Mengmeng here? I should let her know too…”
“Ah, she’s not coming back tonight,” Anzhi said.
“Oh.” Lin Han’s eyes lit up. She winked at Anzhi with a smile. “Then, xiao shimei, are you willing to take me in for a night?”
Anzhi was left a bit flustered by these words, which bordered on flirting. Lin Han just quietly gazed at her, seemingly quite confident in the answer.
Right then, she heard a gentle, clear voice call out: “Taotao, who is it?”
A pale, slender hand rested onto Anzhi’s shoulder. Lin Han’s line of sight followed the movement of the hand up to its owner.
She had always been very confident in her own looks.
But this was the first time she truly understood the meaning of the phrase—feeling utterly inferior.
The newcomer was a little taller than Anzhi, wearing a gray T-shirt dress. She must have just finished showering, as her hair was not yet dry. She turned her face slightly to ask Anzhi in a soft voice, her thick, long eyelashes stirring the heart.
“This is Lin-shijie.”
“Oh.” Her voice drew out slightly. She narrowed her eyes, her clear, penetrating gaze meeting Lin Han’s. The rippling light in her eyes seemed to scatter outward, as if the very air had become enchanting from her movement.
This appearance and this aura actually made Lin Han feel a wave of inferiority she had never experienced before.
“Hello.” The woman greeted her, but Lin Han saw the hand resting on Anzhi’s shoulder tighten, shifting into an embrace.
Almost simultaneously, Lin Han took a small step backward. Her smile had long since frozen, yet she still stubbornly tried to cling to something. “This is—”
She watched as the two people in front of her exchanged a look. The woman gazed at Anzhi with a smile, and Anzhi seemed to blush slightly. “She is my family.”
Lin Han suppressed the urge to take a deep breath, listening to Anzhi say to her, “Shijie, I’m sorry…”
Lin Han couldn’t bear to listen to the end. Forcing a smile, she said, “It’s fine. I’ll just go up to the second floor and squeeze in with my shijie.”
“Your shijie brought you food? Did you thank her?”
“I did. Thank you, Shijie,” Anzhi obediently complied. Glancing down, she suddenly cried out, “Why did you come out without putting on any shoes…”
Lin Han also followed her gaze and took a peek. The woman’s straight, ivory-white legs were completely bare, with absolutely nothing on her feet; even the tops of her feet were sexy. And the woman’s tone grew lazy, the end of her sentence hooking upward as if she were acting spoiled: “You didn’t bring them for me…”
“I have another pair right by the bed. Go put them on quickly…”
“All right, all right. Huh, where did your shijie go?”
There was no longer anyone at the door.
Lin Han had practically fled. She didn’t take the elevator, walking straight down the stairs with incredibly complicated feelings. The first time she saw Tao Anzhi in the library, she had taken a liking to her. She remembered Anzhi had been wearing a fluffy white sweater, looking as pretty as a doll. Lin Han had just ended a relationship at the time and was still healing. Yet she had still used a little trick, slipping her meal card into a book to get close to her.
She originally thought she was an Arts stream student, perhaps from the School of English. She hadn’t expected her to be studying chemistry.
After asking around a bit, she found out Anzhi wasn’t even an adult yet, but a little top student.
Lin Han began to approach her, infiltrating her circle of friends to confirm whether or not she liked girls. She herself was in her third year of university, facing the choices of employment or taking the postgraduate entrance exam, so she couldn’t make up her mind on whether to pursue this little girl.
She couldn’t help but be drawn to her—the way she spoke, the way she seriously discussed her major. Whether she wasn’t smiling, or when she broke into a smile, there was always a deep dimple.
This little girl had definitely captured many hearts relying on that dimple.
Lin Han had never been so hesitant. She was afraid the little girl would mind her older age, afraid the little girl didn’t like women.
She had finally decided to confess her feelings tonight, only to run into a scene like this. Even though that woman made her feel utterly inferior and birthed a deep sense of inadequacy within her, Lin Han was absolutely certain that the woman was even older than she was. Furthermore, those two had definitely been together for more than just a day or two; there was a sense of a profound bond between them that could only come from years and months of companionship.
The more Lin Han thought about it, the more absurd it felt. She felt that she had tossed and turned sleeplessly for so long, only to realize she had known the face but not the heart2.
Just as her heart felt like a knocked-over bottle of five flavors3, a WeChat message came in: “Thank you, Shijie.” There was also an unopened WeChat Red Envelope.
“Did you send the red envelope?” Yan Xi sat in Anzhi’s chair, eating that bowl of beef offal.
“I sent it, but she hasn’t accepted it yet.” Anzhi set down her phone. “Is it good? You have to wait in line a long time for this.”
“Mn… it’s alright,” Yan Xi said, swinging her long legs, eating in a carefree and leisurely manner. “This is what she bought for you. Is it okay if I eat it?” Her tone carried a pointed implication.
“Just eat it! It’s no big deal.” Anzhi cast a glance at her feet; they were still slightly damp.
Pulling over a short plastic stool, she grabbed a towel, intending to dry them for her. “Bring your little feet here.”
Yan Xi nearly choked on the last piece of beef offal. “I’ll do it myself.” She set the bowl aside and pulled her feet back at the same time.
Anzhi genuinely hadn’t thought anything of it at first. In the past, after taking a shower, Yan Xi had dried her feet for her too. But watching Yan Xi lower her face and take the towel, a faint blush seeming to rise on her cheeks—was she embarrassed?
Belatedly, Anzhi felt her own face grow hot as well. She didn’t fight her for it, silently gathering the disposable plastic bowl Yan Xi had finished with and taking it outside along with the room’s trash bag.
“Auntie, just sleep in my bed tonight. It’s too late; don’t go back,” Anzhi said. “I’ll sleep in Mengmeng’s bed.”
Yan Xi didn’t decline. After drying her feet, she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
After brushing her teeth, she sat on the bed, pulling the covers over herself, and looked at Anzhi, who had sat down at the desk. “You still have homework?”
“Mn, the courses for the Top-notch class are a bit harder now. There are more lectures, more seminars. The classes are all discussion-based. Sometimes we divide into groups to prep, and then the groups go up to teach the lesson.” Anzhi’s hair was loose; she spoke as she tied it back up.
“Sounds very busy and fulfilling,” Yan Xi said.
Anzhi gave her a small smile. “If you’re tired, do you want to sleep first?”
“Don’t worry about me. Do your homework first.” Yan Xi picked up her phone.
Anzhi looked at her, turned a page in her notebook, but still couldn’t hold back: “Auntie, what happened today? Can you tell me about it?”
Yan Xi paused and looked over at her.
Anzhi’s gaze was earnest, her eyes brimming with concern for her, as well as an obvious heartache.
It was exactly this hint of heartache that brought the starry ripple of agitation she had felt in the bathroom back to Yan Xi’s heart.
Yan Xi weighed her words and, to her surprise, spoke of it quite naturally—though, of course, she omitted the more vulgar terms.
She hadn’t expected Anzhi’s eyes to widen in fury. “This guy is absolutely despicable! Scumbag! Egomaniac! Shameless!”
Yan Xi had initially still felt a bit angry, but upon hearing this string of insults, it was as if Anzhi was trying to use every curse word she knew. Her lips actually curved up into a smile. “It’s not that big of a deal. Society’s malice toward women is often like this… It’s really not worth getting angry over.”
“Of course you should be angry!” Anzhi knitted her delicate brows, then added with worry, “But… will this guy still come looking for trouble with you, even if he’s temporarily detained…”
“Don’t worry, it probably won’t come to that.”
“No, what if there’s a ‘just in case’? You should give First Uncle a call.”
“All right, all right. Focus on your homework. I’ll message First Brother right now.” Yan Xi comforted her, immediately sending a voice message.
Anzhi watched her finish speaking and even heard First Uncle Yan reply with a voice message, saying he would have people investigate and arrange protection for Yan Xi.
“Can you do your homework in peace now? It’s almost eleven o’clock.” Yan Xi looked at her with a smile.
“Mn.” Anzhi’s mind was put at ease, and she urged Yan Xi to hurry up and sleep.
Yan Xi was indeed tired. She scrolled on her phone for a while before lying down. At that moment, Anzhi stood up and placed a filled hot water bottle by her legs.
“Auntie, go to sleep.” Anzhi turned off the dormitory lights, leaving only her desk lamp on. The room fell quiet.
Outside the window, it was already late into the night. The dark sky was filled with dense, misty rain, making even the windowpanes blurry. The misty rain of this severe winter looked fine, but its freezing cold pierced straight to the bone.
An hour ago, Yan Xi had been situated in this freezing cold. But right now, inside this room, with the heater on, covered in a blanket that smelled like Anzhi, her legs were wonderfully warm.
This space was safe and warm, as if isolated from the rest of the world. There was only her and Anzhi.
The light from the desk lamp spilled over the side of Anzhi’s face and across the desk. Her full, soft cheeks were as flawless as porcelain. This scene was like a movie director’s close-up shot of the protagonist, making it impossible to look away.
Under the covers, Yan Xi’s hand found Anzhi’s rabbit plush doll. She pulled it into her arms, squeezing the rabbit ears, and looked again at the diligently studying Anzhi, a smile hovering on her lips.
Anzhi was softly muttering under her breath: “Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of paraben mixtures. The purpose of the experiment is: first, to understand high-performance…”
Suddenly, she scratched her ear, murmuring unconsciously, “Ah, it’s a little itchy. Using the normalization method for quantification…”
Yan Xi cast a surprised glance her way, hearing Anzhi question softly, “A mosquito?”
She pulled the covers halfway up over her face, unable to stop a bright smile from blooming.
Footnotes
- A student in their second year of a master's degree program.
- A Chinese idiom meaning that it is easy to know a person's face, but difficult to know their true heart or intentions.
- A common Chinese metaphor for complex, mixed emotions, referring to the five basic flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty.
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