Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 117
by Little PandaFeelings
Yan Xi walked a few steps before realizing Anzhi wasn’t keeping up. Looking back, she saw Anzhi standing by the doorway with her head bowed, her small hands pinching her belly.
Yan Xi couldn’t help but chuckle.
Anzhi looked up, pouting as she glared at her.
Yan Xi still wanted to tease her. “Did you really gain weight? I wasn’t lying, was I?”
Anzhi’s cheeks puffed up with anger. She kept her head down and brushed past Yan Xi.
Yan Xi felt a small twinge of guilt, but mostly she just thought the girl was incredibly cute. She followed her into the kitchen, watching Anzhi toast bread and grab some yogurt.
Anzhi ignored her, eating her yogurt spoonful by spoonful, her dimples dancing with every bite.
“Are you only eating that? No proper food?” Yan Xi asked, the corners of her lips curving upward.
Anzhi stared at the slices of toasted bread on her plate, looking eager yet hesitant. “I’m eating breakfast right now.”
Yan Xi pushed the plate closer, the amusement in her eyes spreading. “Go ahead and eat.”
“You’re just going to say I’m fat and heavy again…” Anzhi mumbled.
“I won’t say that about you,” Yan Xi said, looking at her with a smile.
Anzhi took a large bite of the toast. “I’m eating even if I get fat!” She ate with great relish, dipping the slices of toast into the yogurt.
After a few seconds, sensing something, she looked up. Yan Xi was gazing at her with a look she had never seen before.
No, she had seen it, but now it was gentler, more moving—filled with a deep sense of tender indulgence and protective care.
It didn’t seem like a friend, nor did it match their past roles. It was more like…
Anzhi was dazed for a moment, yogurt still clinging to her lips.
Yan Xi’s eyes crinkled as she reached out and gently tapped the corner of Anzhi’s lips.
Anzhi came to her senses and shyly licked her lips clean.
Yan Xi cleared her throat softly, averting her eyes. “Can you really only stay for a week?”
“Yes. I applied for a language course, which requires a separate fee. Classes start in a few days, and we need to maintain our attendance rate and take exams.”
Yan Xi gazed at her quietly. Feeling her gaze, Anzhi kept her face lowered and said softly, “It’s just for this year. I shouldn’t have to apply next year…”
“So you’ll have two months free in July and August?”
“…Sometimes it depends on my advisor. If there are research tasks left unfinished, I have to stay…”
“Mn.” Yan Xi fell silent, looking down in contemplation. Anzhi felt inexplicably nervous. She took large bites of her toast and finished it quickly, then finished the yogurt. But the pressure from Yan Xi’s comment, “You’ve gotten heavier,” was simply too great.
She licked the foil lid of the yogurt, still craving more.
The toasted bread was so fragrant, too; she really wanted to eat another slice.
Anzhi licked her finger, then suddenly heard Yan Xi’s soft chuckle. Yan Xi took some yogurt and another slice of toast and set them in front of her.
“Eat up,” Yan Xi said, pinching her cheek.
Anzhi blinked. Then Yan Xi added, “No matter how fat you get, I can still carry you.” With a laugh, she turned and walked out of the room.
Anzhi was utterly dazed…
So was she still saying she was fat? Just as Anzhi was caught between tears and laughter, Yan Xi popped her head back in and winked at her. “Chubby rabbits are even cuter.”
Anzhi: …
So she was cute, but at the same time, fat?
Anzhi crossly took a bite of her toast. So annoying.
Anzhi had originally thought things would be awkward between them upon her return. She had hesitated, but she simply missed Yan Xi too much.
And over the past few days, she felt Yan Xi’s attitude toward her was incredibly ambiguous. Even though she had never been in a relationship, she could tell it was ambiguous.
Moreover, she treated her even better than before, teasing her, or rather… flirting with her?
Anzhi blushed at the thought of that word, secretly smiling to herself.
She wanted to get closer to her too, but she hesitated, fearing she might disrupt the current atmosphere between them.
Before she knew it, with all this hesitation, the time for her to return to school arrived.
Yan Xi saw her off at the airport. The airport was crowded with people coming and going, but the two of them walked in silence.
“Call me when you get back, and send me a copy of your class schedule.” Yan Xi’s fingers twitched at her side.
“It’ll already be one or two in the morning back here when I arrive.” Anzhi carried her backpack, tapping her Converse shoes against the floor.
“It’s fine, no matter how late.” Yan Xi reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
“Okay, I’ll head inside then?” Anzhi said reluctantly, turning back to look at her with every step.
A deep, warm smile filled Yan Xi’s eyes and the corners of her brow as she waved.
Anzhi turned back to look at her, her dimples sinking deep. Suddenly, she ran back. Yan Xi’s gaze focused slightly, about to ask if she had forgotten something, when Anzhi reached her, stood on her tiptoes, threw her arms around Yan Xi’s neck, and hugged her tightly.
Yan Xi hugged her back, burying her face in the girl’s hairline, her palm resting on Anzhi’s slender waist that could be held in a single grasp1. Closing her eyes, they held each other close, their breaths close enough to feel.
The boarding announcements chimed again and again.
Yan Xi had to be the rational one. She stroked her hair and said softly, “All right, it’s time to board. Call me when you reach your dorm.”
Anzhi let go, trying to calm her racing heart. Her glistening eyes looked up at her as she nodded.
Watching her walk inside, Yan Xi took a deep breath, her heart a mixture of sweetness and ache.
Even as she departed, Anzhi had kept her eyes on her, reluctantly tugging at the corner of her clothes.
What a little tormentor, this little rabbit.
Yan Xi smiled.
So this is what it feels like.
When Anzhi reached her dorm, it was already 1:30 AM in Beicheng. She called Yan Xi, and they talked for over half an hour. Only after Anzhi urged Yan Xi to go to sleep did they reluctantly hang up.
The Daylight Saving Time on the American East Coast differed from Beicheng by twelve hours. When Yan Xi had her lunch, it was exactly bedtime for Anzhi, and Yan Xi would call her then to tell her to go to sleep.
Most of the time, they simply exchanged messages, sent voice notes, and made video calls.
Yan Xi recalled her breakup with Gao Jiming. Part of it had been due to a lack of trust, and part of it was because she couldn’t tolerate a long-distance, cross-country relationship.
But now, none of that seemed to be an issue anymore. She was very happy every single day, only missing her more and more.
On Thursday evening in Boston, right before bed, Anzhi was on the phone with her, lying on her stomach on the bed, kicking her legs back and forth.
An orange wall lamp lit up the room.
“Oh, right, you’ll have a package arriving in a few days. I addressed it to the TV station.”
“Huh? What is it?”
Anzhi laughed. “Your birthday is on Sunday! Well, it’ll be Monday over there. Did you forget?”
“Oh?”
In Beicheng, the weather showed absolutely no sign of autumn. The sunlight was thick like honey, and cicadas chirped in the branches.
Yan Xi had just bought a sandwich in a shop, sat down at a window seat, and taken a bite.
She said, “I stopped celebrating my birthday a long time ago.”
Anzhi’s voice was soft and sweet. “Just make sure to accept it when the package arrives…”
Yan Xi smiled. “I haven’t celebrated my birth—” She froze abruptly.
Anzhi’s end of the line suddenly fell silent as well.
Yan Xi closed her eyes, filled with deep regret.
On her birthday the year before last, Anzhi had meticulously prepared everything, yet she had stood outside the door, too afraid to enter. She had left her completely alone in the dark, wasting her sweet intentions, breaking her heart.
“Taotao,” Yan Xi tossed the sandwich aside and stood up. “I…”
Anzhi didn’t say anything on the other end, but her breathing trembled slightly, and Yan Xi could hear it with absolute clarity.
“I’m sorry…” Yan Xi bit her lip, her voice careful and heavy with heartache. “I…”
“Mn,” Anzhi laughed softly, her voice clear and gentle. “I understand. I understand everything, Auntie. I’m already very happy now, really. As long as you have even a tiny bit of… I’m happy.”
A low sigh escaped Yan Xi’s lips. “Taotao…”
Anzhi seemed to grow shy on the other end. “Ah, I need to sleep now. Bye-bye for now.”
She quickly hung up. The corners of Yan Xi’s mouth curved upward before she locked her phone, her eyes dimming again; her heart ached deeply for her.
It rained on Friday. The campus was a bit chilly as autumn set in, and it felt quite cold at night as well.
Before going to sleep, Anzhi calculated her expenses. She had finally bought the necklace she failed to buy for Yan Xi the year before last, but it was still a significant blow to her wallet. She had kept the money Chen Muqi gave her tucked away; it looked like she would need to withdraw some of it next month.
Anzhi felt she really needed to find another place to live, but Yan Xi wouldn’t allow it.
Nearly two months had passed since she returned to campus, but getting to talk on the phone with her every day made her genuinely happy.
She wouldn’t ask for too much.
As long as Yan Xi liked her just a little bit.
As long as Yan Xi was willing to give her even the slightest chance.
Anzhi hugged her blanket tightly, thought back to their embrace at the airport, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
By the morning, since she hadn’t drawn the curtains, the bright, metallic-textured sunlight crawled through the window and made its way onto her bed. Anzhi rubbed her eyes and woke up.
She reached for her phone. It was just past eight o’clock; she had to be at the laboratory at 9:15. She stretched and let out a yawn.
Suddenly, right at that moment, her phone began to ring.
Anzhi was startled. Seeing it was Yan Xi calling, her dimples showed as she answered, “Auntie.”
Yan Xi’s voice was clear and magnetic. “Come down.”
“Huh?”
She laughed. “Come down and open the door for me. I’m downstairs.”
Eh…?
Anzhi bolted upright in bed.
The author has something to say:
I got the year of the birthday wrong; it should have been the year before last.
Thank you for the reminders.
The timeline has also been made clearer now, so there shouldn’t be any more questions. I’m very clumsy when it comes to numbers—I just can’t wrap my head around them, so I spent a long time calculating this.
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