Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 53
by Little PandaIntimate Relationship (Part 1)
After Poetry Conference, Beishi TV launched Idiom Conference.1 This time, they didn’t pair Lin Wei with Yan Xi, instead letting Yan Xi carry the show herself. The program received universal acclaim after it aired, and Yan Xi’s fame grew. More and more people started recognizing her. The show aired every Sunday, was recorded on Saturdays, and her schedule from Monday to Friday was relatively free and regular. She picked up her long-distance running habit again and also set aside three hours a week for fitness.
When she got home in the evenings, Anzhi would be doing her homework, and Yan Xi would go for a night run. Morning runs were completely out of the question, because the uncles and aunties downstairs would stop her to ask all sorts of questions and even try to play matchmaker.
A light rain began to fall, landing on Yan Xi’s face. She caught her breath and slowed her pace slightly.
Due to her work, she had been spending more and more time with Liao Chengyu lately. They would occasionally run into each other at lunch and chat, and they saw each other in meetings. Sometimes, when it was late, he would buy her red bean bread and milk as a late-night snack, wrapped nicely in kraft paper and left on her desk.
He had recently added her on WeChat, and would occasionally send her funny news articles, jokes, and other interesting topics. If a meeting ran late and she got home after dark, he would send a text asking if she had arrived safely. He even forwarded her news articles related to high school students.
It wasn’t overbearing—it was just the right amount of concern.
But even the most oblivious person could sense his intentions.
Let alone Yan Xi, who had seen all kinds of tricks from male pursuers.
Yan Xi didn’t dislike this approach, but…
A glint of light flashed through her eyes.
Last month was her twenty-eighth birthday. Liu Yiyi, who had to fly to Milan, celebrated with her early and had a “woman-to-woman” talk with her.
Yan Xi unwrapped the gift from her, so stunned she was nearly incoherent. “This, this is…”
Liu Yiyi was the picture of calm. “Oh, just some little props to liven things up. A single woman’s best friend. The kind of thing that would make a man weep…”
“Stop!” Yan Xi couldn’t listen anymore and cut her off, two pink clouds blooming on her fair, jade-like cheeks. “I, I don’t need this.”
“Huh? Really?” Liu Yiyi propped her chin on her hand and looked at her. “Xiao Wu, it’s been seven or eight years since you’ve had a man, right?”
As she ran in silence, the raindrops landed lightly in her hair. Yan Xi let out a breath, still feeling a little embarrassed at the memory.
“Sigh, I’m so jealous of women who can separate sex and love. Before you find love, your body gets lonely too, you know? Just think, this flower-like body of mine hasn’t been caressed by anyone in so long…” Liu Yiyi sighed mournfully. “The new male assistant is a ’94. So fresh-faced you could squeeze water from his cheeks. And a rare one who isn’t bent yet. But alas, I can look, but I can’t eat…”
Yan Xi cleared her throat. “How are things with you and my Second Brother?”
Liu Yiyi pursed her lips and gave a few smug smiles. “I touched his hand! Ahhh!!! I can already see the dawn of the revolution’s victory!”
Then, her expression turned serious. “I desperately want to sleep with your Second Brother!” She grinned slyly. “Can you imagine what he’s like in bed? Ah, just the thought of it for a second makes me go ahhhhhh!” She cupped her face in her hands.
Yan Xi sighed and wrinkled her face, forcing the words out. “…I don’t want to… imagine my own second brother in bed.”
Liu Yiyi started to giggle, her laughter growing louder and louder.
“Xiao Wu, honestly. Haven’t you been lonely all these years?”
The rain grew heavier, and the drops started to have weight as they hit her face. Yan Xi gasped for breath and turned to run back home. Once she entered the residential complex, she picked up her pace, listening to the sound of raindrops pattering on leaves. When she reached her front door, a small lamp in the yard was lit, casting a soft glow through the fine rain.
Yan Xi entered the house and said, “I’m home,” then locked the door and went to the dining room for a drink of water.
As she went up to the second floor, Anzhi heard her from her room and called out, “Auntie?”
“Mhm, I’m back.”
Yan Xi went into her room, took a quick shower, and came back out. She grabbed a can of beer from downstairs, put on a documentary, and settled onto the sofa to watch.
Most of the time, when she was relaxing at home, she would watch American sitcoms or documentaries. Sometimes she just let them play in the background, sometimes she actually watched them, and sometimes she just needed the sound.
She checked the time. It was almost nine. Anzhi wasn’t done with her homework yet? That wasn’t like her.
“Taotao?”
Anzhi came out. “Yeah.”
“A lot of homework?”
“No, I finished it all. I just accidentally did too many problems.” Anzhi rubbed her eyes and sat down on the sofa.
“You must be tired.” Since Anzhi had started high school, Yan Xi hadn’t paid much attention, only knowing that she had become the class monitor. Anzhi’s schoolwork had never been something she needed to worry about. But this was high school now. With a touch of apology, Yan Xi asked, “Is everything at school going okay?”
Anzhi nodded, tucking her feet up onto the sofa and pouting.
“?”
“There’s a really smart student in my class… I haven’t gotten first place in a long time,” Anzhi said sullenly.
“Oh, is that so…” Yan Xi thought for a moment. There were some kids who were top of their class in junior high, only for their grades to become average in high school.
“Have you had your monthly exams already?” Yan Xi calculated the dates. It should be too early for that.
“Not yet, but our class has weekly tests. That person either gets the same score as me, or one point higher…” Anzhi’s voice was muffled, and she didn’t realize her pout was so pronounced you could hang something from it.
Well, that’s fine. It’s perfectly normal, Yan Xi thought. But then she reconsidered. Taotao had never not been first in her class. This must be a blow to her confidence.
When Yan Xi was a student, she was the type to slack off normally and then cram at the last minute,2 ending up with above-average grades. She didn’t really understand the mindset of a top student.3 But seeing Anzhi’s lowered eyelashes and pouting lips, her adorable sulking-bun face, she wanted to empathize. But what was she supposed to do when she really wanted to laugh?
“Hmm, is that so…” Yan Xi drew out the sound, trying to suppress her amusement.
Anzhi was frustrated. She had wanted to tell Yan Xi all about this Xu Jia’er person—this girl was special, but sometimes she was just so infuriating. And she didn’t cooperate with the homeroom teacher’s work at all. And she stole her first place.
But Anzhi also had a small doubt. Dyeing her hair was Xu Jia’er’s freedom. And she earned first place with her own ability.
It seemed there was nothing Anzhi could really say. So why did she feel so annoyed?!
Right, that person made fun of her height! That was unforgivable! So what if she is 175 centimetres tall? I’m already 160 centimetres, okay! I used to be even shorter…
But she couldn’t very well say, I was the shortest kid in the entire primary school… That would be exposing her own weakness!
So frustrating!
“This first-place student sounds very capable. You two could learn from each other. Maybe you could even become friends,” Yan Xi said with a smile. Anzhi had been down for a long time after Yang Mengmeng went back to her hometown for school, and Yan Xi genuinely hoped Anzhi could find a friend her own age. Peer interaction and communication was something Yan Xi felt she couldn’t give her.
Anzhi pursed her lips, her expression clearly unwilling.
“What’s wrong?”
“She sits behind me, and she’s so arrogant. She’s always poking me when she’s bored, trying to make me talk to her. If I ignore her, she tickles me. Everyone else calls me Class Monitor, but she calls me Little Class Monitor. And she makes fun of my height.”
Yan Xi’s eyes narrowed. She asked nonchalantly, “Is it a boy or a girl?”
“A girl,” Anzhi said, then fell silent. Although at first glance everyone thought Xu Jia’er was a boy, a closer look revealed she was a very handsome girl—unconventional, exceptionally cool, and frank.
Anzhi had never met a girl like that, especially not after hearing her self-introduction when she first arrived.
Although no one made a big deal of it afterward, daring to say that in public in front of the teacher was, in the eyes of her classmates, an incredibly cool and dashing thing to do.
Word had spread to other classes, but it seemed no one treated it as a big deal. Instead, many female students would come to their classroom during breaks to get a look at Xu Jia’er.
Then they would let out lovestruck squeals of “So handsome, she really is so handsome, so, so handsome.”
Yan Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. A girl is fine, she thought.
Anzhi was in high school now, almost fourteen. While there was no right or wrong age to fall in love, Yan Xi still felt she was too young and couldn’t help but worry. Junior high had been fine. Although some little boys had followed Anzhi around or tried to show their affection, Yan Xi knew Anzhi was always with Yang Mengmeng at school. Later, Yang Mengmeng became her little spy, so Yan Xi had felt confident that she had everything under control.
Yan Xi asked tentatively, “Sounds like a girl with a lot of personality, hmm? Could you become friends? Do you want to invite her out for a meal?”
Anzhi frowned. “No. I don’t like her.”
Yan Xi burst out laughing. “Is it because she’s first place and you’re not?”
Anzhi was speechless. That was part of it. But she also felt like Xu Jia’er was always laughing at her, which was frustrating because she didn’t know how to retort. She pouted sullenly. “She dyed her hair. The teacher told her to dye it back, but she refused. I’m the class monitor! So of course I had to try and persuade her. But she said if I beat her in the monthly exam, she’ll dye it back.”
“Hmm, interesting. Did you agree? Are you afraid you’ll lose to her?” Yan Xi teased.
“Auntie!” Anzhi called out, exasperated, her face a perfect picture of “how could you say that too?”
Far from backing down, Yan Xi just laughed. She had just showered, so her face was bare and her skin seemed to glow. Her eyelashes were long, dark, and fine, as if drawn on one by one with a black crayon. Anzhi stared, a little dazed. She had thought her aunt was beautiful since she was a child, but the older she got, the more she realized her aunt was only getting more and more beautiful. Before, she didn’t know enough words and could only use “pretty” to describe her. Now she was in high school, and her vocabulary should have been much richer, but the first thing that popped into her head was still, She’s so beautiful.
But, in the past, whenever she was feeling down, especially when she was little, Yan Xi would pull her into her arms and comfort her. That happened less and less recently, except when she was sick. Anzhi felt a deep sense of loss. Her gaze drifted over. Yan Xi was smiling, a documentary playing on the screen. She had her legs stretched out, reclining lazily and comfortably on the chaise lounge.5 That embrace was empty, as if it were waiting just for her.
Footnotes
- Original: Chéngyǔ Dàhuì (成语大会). Chengyu are traditional Chinese idiomatic expressions, most of which consist of four characters and allude to a story or historical event.
- Original: bào fójiǎo (抱佛脚), literally ‘to hug Buddha’s feet.’ An idiom for making a desperate, last-minute effort, like praying for help right before a crisis. It’s often used for cramming before an exam.
- Original: xuébà (学霸), literally ‘study tyrant.’ A popular slang term for an extremely high-achieving student or academic ace.
- Original: ài mèizhi (爱妹纸). ‘Mèizhi’ is a cutesy internet slang term for ‘mèizi’ (妹子), meaning ‘girl’ or ‘chick.’
- Original: guìfēi wèi (贵妃位), literally ‘imperial concubine’s seat,’ a common term for a chaise lounge.
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