The Alley Was Always This Long – Chapter 59

The Visitor

A finger brushing over the corner of Cheng Xiang’s lips.

[If one day I really get angry with you, you’re finished.
You’ll be like holding an old key, facing a thick wall,
and finding there is neither a door nor a window¹.
I’m serious! I’m not trying to scare you, hmph.]

            

---

Cheng Xiang pressed the back of her hand against her lips, her eyes widening slightly as she looked at Tao Tianran.

Tao Tianran’s face remained impassive, bathed in the moonlight. “I was thinking, if I’m to visit your house to see the phoenix tree in the future, it’s best to return the favor.”

Cheng Xiang murmured, “Um, you…”

            

“Am I a bad person?”

You might actually be a bad person, Cheng Xiang thought.

Tao Tianran fell silent. She quietly finished her sandwich, then turned to Cheng Xiang. “Why did you put bean sprouts in your sandwich?”

            

“Huh? Well… don’t you think they add a nice crunch? It’s pretty good.”

“I don’t like bean sprouts.”

The words sounded a bit odd—not accusatory, not complaining, just carrying a trace of quiet grievance. It was gentle and natural, as if they would share many, many meals in the future.

            

Cheng Xiang didn’t know what she was thinking, but she gave a soft nod and pressed her lips together. “Okay. I’ll remember.”

She lowered her head, her toes lightly scraping back and forth against the ground.

“If you suspect I’m a bad person, take a look.”

            

Cheng Xiang lifted her eyelids a fraction, expecting Tao Tianran to hand her a business card.

Instead, Tao Tianran handed over an ID card.

Cheng Xiang: “…”

            

What was with this woman?

But then, this was the first time Cheng Xiang had ever seen a Hong Kong identity card.

It looked rather fancy.

            

At the top was her name, 「Tao Tianran」, and below it was a small line of English: 「TO, Tin Yin」. The ID photo was just as clean and elegant as she was.

Cheng Xiang thought of her own ID mugshot and felt a pang of self-consciousness.

Shifting her gaze downward, she locked onto the birth date line, and then, with a look of utter shock on her face, she looked up at Tao Tianran.

            

Tao Tianran: “?”

Cheng Xiang’s mouth stretched into an exaggerated “O” shape. “You’re actually the same age as me?”

Tao Tianran: “…”

            

She pressed two of her fingers to her temple. “How old do I look?”

Cheng Xiang laughed and waved her hands. “No, no! It’s just… you seem so mature, so I assumed you were older than me. Well, you are older, actually.”

She looked down at Tao Tianran’s birth date again. “By eight months.”

            

“Oh, so I’m jiejie.”

For some reason, whenever Tao Tianran used that cool, crisp voice of hers to say “jiejie”, the base of Cheng Xiang’s neck flushed a little red.

“Pfft.” Cheng Xiang swung her feet a couple of times and suddenly burst out laughing.

            

“What?” Tao Tianran tucked the ID card away.

“Normally, people would pull out a business card. Why did you pull out your ID?”

“Business cards can be forged, can’t they?”

            

Cheng Xiang froze for a moment—that was true, why had she never thought of that before?

Tao Tianran glanced at her. “Did you use to believe other people’s business cards?”

“…No.” Cheng Xiang didn’t know why she was lying, but she didn’t bring up the incident with Luo Yan.

            

“Now that you’ve seen my ID, are you coming over?”

“Uh, well… we’ll see. I don’t know if I have to work overtime this weekend yet.”

Tao Tianran pressed her lips together and stood up. “Shall we head back, then?”

            

“Yeah, okay.”

But Cheng Xiang remained seated.

Tao Tianran stood before her, looking down.

            

How embarrassing, Xiangzi! Cheng Xiang forced a stiff smile and looked up at Tao Tianran. “I’m sorry… my legs are numb…”

Tao Tianran softly murmured, “Mmh.”

She didn’t pull Cheng Xiang up. Instead, she stood there with her hands slid into her trench coat pockets, watching Cheng Xiang keep her head lowered, slowly packing the lunchboxes back into her bag.

            

Behind her was the fragrant scent of lush spring greenery. A couple of loosely attached phoenix tree leaves drifted down, along with some tiny pinkish-white petals of an unknown flower.

Cheng Xiang kept her head down, feeling Tao Tianran’s gaze rest on the nape of her neck.

After sitting there for who knows how long, Cheng Xiang gently swung her legs, feeling that the numbness had subsided. She stood up and lightly stomped her feet twice.

            

“Can you walk?” Tao Tianran asked.

“I’m good.”

The two slowly walked toward the roadside together.

            

Tao Tianran always parked her car downstairs from Cheng Xiang’s office since there were designated parking spots on the street. When Cheng Xiang waved goodbye, Tao Tianran merely gave a reserved nod.

She opened the car door and drove away.

What was with this woman?

            

Returning home, Cheng Xiang rolled onto her bed again. Lying on her stomach with her hands propped under her chin, her two slender legs were bent up and swinging back and forth.

Tao Tianran’s manner was completely different from Luo Yan’s.

She wouldn’t message Cheng Xiang out of the blue just to chat.

            

She simply sat quietly in Cheng Xiang’s contact list, popping up only on rare occasions, like she had found herself a companion to watch plays with.

But.

She would invite Cheng Xiang to her house, show Cheng Xiang her ID card, and tell Cheng Xiang that she didn’t like bean sprouts.

            

What on earth did she mean by all this?

Cheng Xiang buried her face in her arms, her feet kicking in another flurry.

---

From Tuesday to Thursday, they had no contact.

            

It wasn’t until Friday evening that Cheng Xiang received a message from Tao Tianran: 【Tomorrow at two in the afternoon, all right?】

At the time, Cheng Xiang was at Qin Ziqiao’s place, sitting cross-legged in a computer chair and eating potato chips.

She glanced at her phone, flipped it face-down on her lap, and without replying, asked Qin Ziqiao, “What is that novel you’re reading about anyway?”

            

Qin Ziqiao spared her a glance. “Since when are you interested in post-apocalyptic web novels?”

“Just wanted to hear about it. There are so many natural and man-made disasters these days, I’m just learning some tips.”

Meanwhile, in the Kunpu conference room.

            

The designers had just finished an overtime quarterly theme design meeting. As they filed out of the room, Yi Yu called out to Tao Tianran, “Teacher Tao.”

Tao Tianran looked back.

“Are you waiting for someone’s message?” Yi Yu raised her eyebrows at her with a shifty-eyed, mischievous look.

            

Tao Tianran: “?”

“You never look at your phone during meetings, but just now, you checked it three times.” Yi Yu made an exaggerated gesture. “Three times, Teacher Tao!”

Tao Tianran: “Mmh.”

            

“What does ‘Mmh’ mean?”

“Mmh means that yes, I did look at it.”

Tao Tianran headed out of the conference room.

            

Astounded, Yi Yu chased after her and grabbed her wrist. “Whose message are you waiting for?”

Tao Tianran brushed her hand off. “Am I obligated to tell you?”

Flashing her wealth, Yi Yu blurted out, “Thirty thousand!”

            

Tao Tianran thought it over. “Some other time. When there’s an opportunity.”

Yi Yu was utterly dumbfounded. This time, Tao Tianran hadn’t shot down her “thirty thousand” bribe—she actually said she would tell her when there was an opportunity! What kind of earth-shattering, soul-stirring secret was this?!

“Can’t you just tell me now?” she yelped, stamping her feet behind Tao Tianran. “If you leave it like this, I won’t be able to sleep tonight!”

            

After leaving the company, Tao Tianran got into her Bentley.

Picking up her phone, she checked it; Cheng Xiang still hadn’t replied.

She drove out of the underground garage, her lips slightly pursed the entire way.

            

While waiting at a red light, her slender fingers unconsciously tapped lightly against the steering wheel.

The phone vibrated. Tao Tianran immediately lowered her eyes to look; it was a notification from some app, telling her that a foreign artist she followed had uploaded new works.

Tao Tianran swiped to close the message. The light turned green, and she stepped on the accelerator to start the car with an expressionless face.

            

Halfway through her drive, the phone buzzed twice on the center console.

Tao Tianran’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. She didn’t look down right away, keeping her eyes fixed on the license plate of the car ahead.

Those two WeChat messages were probably Cheng Xiang replying to her.

            

Why had she sent two?

If she were free, one message would suffice, Tao Tianran thought. Given Cheng Xiang’s personality, she probably sent one saying she was busy, felt bad about it, and then sent another to explain why.

It wasn’t until the next red light that she casually picked up the phone and opened the new messages.

            

Xiao Xiang: 【Sure, see you tomorrow.】

Xiao Xiang: 【A deer running wildly.jpg】

Tao Tianran placed the phone back on the console. She tapped the music app, and a nostalgic, atmospheric old song began to drift through the cabin.

            

A female vocalist with a deep, sultry voice sang:

“Thought I could keep myself from feeling this way,
I guess that was my first mistake…”

Tao Tianran’s shoulders slowly relaxed. Only then did she realize just how tense she had been.

            

---

When Director Ma returned from grocery shopping on Saturday, she found Cheng Xiang squatting in the courtyard.

“Xiao Xiang, what are you staring at that broken flowerpot for?”

Cheng Xiang looked up, raising her snow-white face. “Mom, do you think this trashy flowerpot could be an antique from the Qianlong era?”

            

Director Ma, holding a bundle of asparagus lettuce, reached out to feel her forehead. “You don’t have a fever, do you?”

Cheng Xiang ducked away from her mother’s hand, stood up, and sighed. “Sigh, why doesn’t our family have any decent antiques we can show off?”

She was going to visit Tao Tianran’s home this afternoon.

            

She had gone to the flower and bird market that Deputy Director Cheng frequented. Some of the fuzzy succulents looked quite nice and were reasonably priced, but when she pictured Tao Tianran’s cold, pristine face, she couldn’t imagine her tending to plants.

At two in the afternoon, Cheng Xiang stood at the entrance of the luxury villa complex, holding a bag of oranges and peanuts.

After she registered her personal information at the security booth, the guard used his remote to open the gate for her.

            

She was a little bewildered. “Don’t you need to call the homeowner first? Your security is a bit lax.”

“Hey, little girl, watch your mouth. The homeowner called us in advance.”

“Oh.” Cheng Xiang curled the tip of her tongue, pressing it against the back of her teeth.

            

As she walked in, she realized this was the first time she had ever been inside such an upscale neighborhood.

What did this sister actually do to be so rich?

Shaded by lush trees, a small European-style faux-antique hot spring pool sat in the center, surrounded by red brick pavement. The tall streetlamps were off in the daylight, looking like a pale, old moon.

            

Cheng Xiang stood in front of Tao Tianran’s door and rang the bell.

While waiting for the sound of slippers approaching, she kept her lips lightly pursed.

It was a strange feeling.

            

She counted silently in her head. Including accidental run-ins and planned meetups, Tao Tianran and her had met exactly seven times so far.

Young people nowadays had very narrow social circles; aside from the office and her home, she only really visited Qin Ziqiao’s place. She hadn’t expected to make a new friend so suddenly.

Let alone someone completely outside the scope of her life.

            

And now, she was standing on that person’s doorstep. Her home! Such a private space! The more she thought about it, the more surreal it felt.

Tao Tianran pulled open the door.

Cheng Xiang stiffly raised her left hand. “Hi.”

            

Tao Tianran stepped aside to let her in. “Please come in.”

She had thought Tao Tianran would dress more casually on her day off, but she hadn’t; she was still wearing a white shirt, though the fabric was less stiff, and instead of suit trousers, she paired it with a pair of cotton-linen pants.

Crisp and good-looking.

            

Cheng Xiang looked down at the guest slippers provided for her. They were brand new.

“You don’t get many guests here, do you?”

“Hmm?” Tao Tianran straightened up. “That’s right.”

            

Cheng Xiang changed her shoes and handed the bag she was carrying to Tao Tianran.

Tao Tianran took a look.

“They’re oranges and peanuts.” Cheng Xiang suddenly felt her face grow hot and was the first to laugh. “Super old-fashioned, right? Sigh, blame my mom.”

            

Cheng Xiang felt she still lacked social experience—for instance, when dining with a boss, she never knew she wasn’t supposed to raise her glass higher than theirs during a toast.

So she had sought advice from the extremely socially experienced Director Ma on what to bring when visiting an acquaintance’s home.

“Just buy some fruit, peanuts, melon seeds, that kind of thing,” Director Ma had said, cracking melon seeds. “If you buy something too expensive, it puts pressure on them to return a gift. By the way, whose house are you going to?”

            

“I’m not going to anyone’s. I’m just assuming—a hypothetical, you know?”

Looking at it now, a bag of oranges and peanuts was entirely out of place in Tao Tianran’s little villa.

It was a stacked villa with a refined, understated decor touched with a hint of Southeast Asian flair. Outside the white sheer curtains lay a delicate terrace garden. The first floor was open and spacious, with a wooden staircase winding upward, suggesting the bedrooms were all on the second floor.

            

This was the first time Cheng Xiang had ever seen someone live in a villa, and she stood there feeling rather awkward.

Tao Tianran urged her, “Have a seat. Why so stiff?”

Cheng Xiang: “…”

            

It was her first time here! Shouldn’t she be stiff?

Tao Tianran went into the kitchen to search for something. Hearing a loud clattering of metal, Cheng Xiang couldn’t help but follow her. “What are you looking for?”

“A fruit bowl,” Tao Tianran said. “To hold the oranges you bought.”

            

She turned to Cheng Xiang. “Where’s the fruit bowl?”

Cheng Xiang’s eyes went wide. “You’re asking me?”

Tao Tianran let out a soft laugh. “I’m… usually a bit busy. The housekeeper cleans up.”

            

Cheng Xiang laughed along. “I can tell. Here, let me help you look.”

She stepped into the kitchen to search with Tao Tianran. In the end, they really couldn’t find one.

She let out a sigh. “Don’t bother being fancy. Let’s just keep them in the bag.”

            

“All right.”

“What are we doing this afternoon?” Fearing awkward silences, Cheng Xiang had packed Monopoly, tarot cards, and a deck of playing cards in her canvas bag.

But Tao Tianran replied, “Cook…ing.”

            

“Huh?” Cheng Xiang was dumbfounded, pointing a finger at her own nose. “Am I cooking for you? I mean, I guess that’s fine. Do you have ingredients?”

This sister really wasn’t standing on ceremony, huh.

To her surprise, Tao Tianran said, “I’ll do it.”

            

Cheng Xiang was even more stunned. “You? You couldn’t even find a fruit bowl just now.”

“Is there a causal relationship between the two?”

“Well, no, but…” Cheng Xiang said, “I’ll ask an impolite question—do you usually step foot in the kitchen?”

            

Tao Tianran paused. “No.”

Cheng Xiang genuinely laughed this time. “If you want to eat at home, I should probably cook. My mom’s a great cook and she’s taught me a few dishes. What ingredients do you have? Or should we go out and buy some?”

Tao Tianran insisted stubbornly, “I’ll do it.”

            

“No, really, why do you suddenly want to cook yourself?”

Tao Tianran glanced at her and said, “I just felt like it.”

“Then how should I help?”

            

Tao Tianran raised her slender index finger and traced a semi-circle in the air.

Cheng Xiang’s eyes followed the finger’s path, then she pointed at her own nose. “I… go outside?”

Tao Tianran nodded.

            

Cheng Xiang was amused. Fine, fine, fine. She wanted to see what kind of culinary masterpiece this yujie² who never stepped into a kitchen could produce.

---

She wandered back to the living room and sat down on the sofa, running her fingertips over the material. Whoa, this texture, it must be top-grain calfskin, right?

Cheng Xiang didn’t actually know what top-grain calfskin felt like; she had just heard it was extremely expensive.

            

It was a bright, beautiful spring day. The semi-sheer white curtains by the French windows fluttered up and down with the breeze, and in the small L-shaped garden outside, a cluster of early-blooming roses had just begun to peek out.

Cheng Xiang swung her ankles.

She picked up her phone, wanting to gossip with Qin Ziqiao: 【Guess where I am right now?】

            

On second thought, she put her phone back down.

Slipping on her slippers, she thudded back to the kitchen.

Tao Tianran stood facing the countertop with her back to the door. She clearly heard Cheng Xiang’s footsteps, but she didn’t turn around immediately.

            

Cheng Xiang hesitated.

She realized she had never actually called Tao Tianran by a proper name or title.

Every time they met, they would just raise a hand and say “Hi”, and then whatever conversation they had would flow naturally from there.

            

How should she address her?

Tao-jie? Tianran-jie? The thought made Cheng Xiang want to laugh. It sounded too much like an insurance salesperson.

But since they were the same age, using formal honorifics felt a bit inappropriate.

            

Hesitating once more, she softly called out, “Tao Tianran.”

Tao Tianran held onto the counter with one hand, her neck slightly bent. From Cheng Xiang’s perspective, only a sliver of her pale, elegant spine was visible.

How long had it been?

            

How long had it been since she last heard the patter-patter of Cheng Xiang’s slippers echoing in this house, or heard Cheng Xiang call her by name?

Tao Tianran gripped the counter, calming her emotions before turning around.

Seeing Cheng Xiang peeking in from the kitchen doorway, she walked over.

            

“Call my name again,” she said, her eyes calm and steady.

Cheng Xiang glanced at the chef’s knife in her hand. Oh my god… was calling her by her full name disrespectful?

“Tao… Tao-jie?”

            

Tao Tianran gave her a sideways look.

Cheng Xiang grinned, stopping the teasing. In a soft, gentle voice, she murmured her name: “Tao Tianran.”

Tao Tianran closed her eyes slightly, then opened them.

            

At that moment, a warm spring breeze wafted through the half-open window behind them, carrying a sun-baked, warm scent of spring greenery. As Tao Tianran stood before her, a cool hint of mint chewing gum drifted from her lips.

Suddenly, Cheng Xiang recalled that sentence again—

This means the person in front of you wants to kiss you.

            

---

“Why did you come back in?” Tao Tianran asked.

“Oh,” Cheng Xiang said, unable to explain why she had taken a tiny step back. “I just wanted to ask if I could look at the books on your shelf. If it’s inconvenient, that’s fine! I’ll just play on my phone, hehe.”

“Go ahead.”

            

Slipping back into her slippers, Cheng Xiang thudded back out.

It wasn’t that she loved reading all that much; it was just that this yujie’s house blended Southeast Asian style with a touch of wabi-sabi³, and didn’t even have a television.

Cheng Xiang wandered in front of the bookshelf with her hands clasped behind her back.

            

She harbored a tiny, secret hope—maybe by looking at the bookshelf, she could figure out what the yujie did for a living? Since Tao Tianran hadn’t told her, asking outright felt a bit impolite.

But Cheng Xiang winced internally. The books on the shelf were an eclectic mix, ranging from 《Atomic Physics》 to 《Reading China: Scenery and Culture》. Surely she couldn’t be a physicist or a sociologist?

A university professor?

            

Were there university professors this young?

Cheng Xiang straightened her back, her gaze toward the kitchen turning into one of deep respect.

Worried she wouldn’t understand something too profound, she thought about it, pulled out a book of poetry, and sat back down on the sofa.

            

Opening it, she found that Tao Tianran had tucked a phoenix tree leaf bookmark inside.

It was rather romantic.

Cheng Xiang’s eyes fell upon the poem on that page, and her heart skipped a beat.

            

Talk about a coincidence—her own name was actually written on that page.

The modern poem read:

「Alley,
winding and long,
no door, no window,
I take an old key,
knocking on the thick wall.」

            

Cheng Xiang froze. Her grip loosened, and the pages of the book closed with a soft rustle. She turned her head to gaze at the spring light outside the window. In her young, twenty-five-year-old heart, a faint, unfamiliar melancholy⁴ bloomed for the very first time.

She remembered the night they watched the play 《The Tide》. So many people had cried, but she had only blinked, watching the weeping girls around her.

Because in her sparse twenty-five years of life, she had never liked anyone, she was spared from so much melancholy.

            

She gently set the poetry book down on the sofa and stared blankly into space, her chin propped in her hands.

Why the sudden sentimentality, Xiangzi?

Her gaze focused on the bag of oranges on the coffee table, her eyes darting back toward the kitchen.

            

It wouldn’t do to keep bothering Tao Tianran; she didn’t want to seem needy. Eating one of the oranges she had bought herself should be fine, right?

She fished out the smallest orange, peeled it, popped a segment into her mouth, and chewed away.

Her eyes drifted to the bag of peanuts beside it.

            

She pulled out three peanuts, cracked the shells open, tossed the nuts into her mouth, and chewed.

It was hard to describe this sudden surge of melancholy. It was so intense that she felt compelled to eat something or do something cheerful just to ease it.

It felt as though she had discovered something extraordinary.

            

She had a faint, lingering feeling that liking someone wasn’t about screaming, laughing wildly, or running around. It was actually much closer to a quiet, gentle melancholy.

When Tao Tianran emerged from the kitchen, she found Cheng Xiang asleep against the sofa.

She was sleeping peacefully. Because the cushions on the sofa were neatly arranged, she hadn’t hugged any of them. Instead, she lay tilted back, like a small animal exposing its soft belly.

            

Tao Tianran took a step closer.

She noticed a tiny flake of red peanut skin clinging to the corner of Cheng Xiang’s lips.

Tao Tianran had just washed her hands, and her naturally low body temperature made her fingers feel even cooler. She raised her hand, breathing onto her fingertips to warm them. Standing before Cheng Xiang, her shadow fell over her like a blanket, covering her.

            

Tao Tianran gently reached out toward Cheng Xiang.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Xiang suddenly woke up.

She let out a soft murmur as she stirred, only to find Tao Tianran standing right in front of her. Her breath hitched slightly, but she didn’t move.

            

The two remained frozen in that position.

“You have something on your lip,” Tao Tianran said softly.

“Oh,” Cheng Xiang blinked. “Where?”

            

The corner of my mouth, where else? Cheng Xiang thought. Oh my god, does that mean she’s going to touch my lips?

With restraint, Tao Tianran drew her hand back and tapped her own lips. “Right here.”

Cheng Xiang reached up and wiped at her mouth. “Did I get it?” she asked.

            

Tao Tianran didn’t answer.

Instead, she reached out again, her thumb gently rubbing the corner of the lips she had just wiped.

It felt cool, carrying the clean, crisp scent of water.

            

“It’s gone. Come eat,” Tao Tianran said, turning to walk toward the dining table.

Cheng Xiang sat on the sofa, unsure if she had actually failed to wipe the flake away. Had Tao Tianran reached out just to help her, or was it…

---

The two sat down at the dining table.

            

Cheng Xiang politely offered a “Wow” first. “I thought you’d make Western food.”

“But you don’t look like someone who likes Western food.”

“Western food is… fine once in a while,” Cheng Xiang laughed. “But I have a Chinese stomach.”

            

There were three dishes and a soup: sweet and sour pork ribs, moo shu pork, spinach with peanuts, and tomato egg drop soup.

They actually looked quite decent.

Cheng Xiang: “I’ll make a slightly impolite confirmation…”

            

“Mmh.”

“This wouldn’t happen to be your first time cooking, would it?”

Tao Tianran nodded slightly.

            

“I’m that honored?” Cheng Xiang picked up her chopsticks. “Well, shall I give it a taste?”

Tao Tianran gestured for her to go ahead.

Cheng Xiang picked up a rib and popped it into her mouth. Her teeth paused for a moment, then she continued to chew, chew, chew.

            

Well… she had always prided herself on having decent emotional intelligence. After all, her mother was a neighborhood committee director; when it came to doing psychological work, she had one method after another.

But right now, she was racking her brain to think of a way to praise Tao Tianran’s cooking.

It wasn’t raw, exactly. It was just that the texture of the meat was… a bit off. The seasoning was… a bit off. The heat control was… a bit off.

            

All in all, it was thoroughly hard to describe.

Finally, she couldn’t resist asking, “Um, do you mind if I ask what you do for a living?”

Tao Tianran: “Are you interested?”

            

“I just wanted to know,” Cheng Xiang whispered, “exactly what kind of job results in someone having such terrible hand coordination?”

---