Bullying The Sister-In-Law - Chapter 38

The two woke up at half-past ten. Su Zhiluo couldn’t stay in bed any longer and wanted to get up, but Liu Chengxu didn’t want to. She pulled her back and nestled in her arms for a while.

Chang Ruyin called Su Zhiluo and invited her to lunch. Su Zhiluo quietly replied, “Chengxu is back.”

Yang Jie seemed to be next to Chang Ruyin and asked, “She waited for you?”

“Mm.” Su Zhiluo rubbed her eyes. Just as she was about to get up, she was suddenly hugged around the waist, making it hard for her to breathe.

She told Liu Chengxu, “Let go a little.”

Liu Chengxu didn’t. She continued to rub against her. Su Zhiluo felt ticklish, so she could only gently press her fingers on Liu Chengxu’s head.

Soon, she realized Liu Chengxu was doing it on purpose.

Chang Ruyin let out a long “Tsk,” and then shouted loudly, “Wife, I want tomato and egg drop soup today, with lean meat. It smells especially good.”

Yang Jie heard this and responded with a smiling “Mm.”

Su Zhiluo was about to hang up the phone when she looked down and saw Liu Chengxu’s eyes. The word “Wife” had clearly stimulated Liu Chengxu; her eyes were filled with surprise and a subtle sense of expectation.

Su Zhiluo kept looking at her face. She was still getting used to the curly-haired Liu Chengxu. She couldn’t help but reach out and gently touch her face, tracing her contours—eyes, nose, and lips—with her fingertips.

Liu Chengxu looked up and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Very beautiful.” Sexy and captivating. Su Zhiluo said, “Very much like those elites in TV dramas.”

Liu Chengxu curved her lips, her expression proud and self-assured.

Liu Chengxu also reached out and played with a strand of Su Zhiluo’s hair. She remembered the 18-year-old Su Zhiluo as very innocent and exceptionally beautiful. She had thought then that her sister’s taste was quite good. She said, “I remember you bought a lot of grapes when you came to the house.”

Su Zhiluo had bought them herself. She recalled Liu Jinhuan saying her younger sister loved grapes.

When Liu Chengxu came home from school, she was still quite hostile towards Su Zhiluo, her face stern. She threw her schoolbag onto the sofa and stood in front of her, staring.

Liu Chengxu assumed her sister had bought the grapes. She washed a bunch, walked over, and broke off half, handing it to Su Zhiluo. She raised her chin, reminding Su Zhiluo, “Well?”

Su Zhiluo was surprised. She took them and thanked her.

That day, Liu Chengxu’s parents were in a huge argument. She and Liu Chengxu kept eating grapes. Su Zhiluo noticed Liu Chengxu secretly glancing at her. At that time, Su Zhiluo mustered up the courage to try and make Liu Jinhuan’s family like her. She turned her head and smiled at Liu Chengxu.

Liu Chengxu was flustered and confused, and she broke off another bunch of grapes from her own hand and gave it to Su Zhiluo.

Perhaps it was fate. After that, whenever they encountered something delicious, they would always share half with each other.

Su Zhiluo ran her hand into Liu Chengxu’s hair, smoothing the curls at the bottom, and said, “Truly beautiful.”

Liu Chengxu had high-value looks and was often complimented. But being complimented so directly by Su Zhiluo still made the base of her ears flush, as if a child trying to act grown-up in front of her sister-in-law had been seen through.

Just as she was about to speak, Su Zhiluo’s lips covered hers.

Su Zhiluo rested her lips against Liu Chengxu’s. As time passed, she felt a slight change was needed. She extended the tip of her tongue and gently licked Liu Chengxu’s thin lip. It was very light, very ticklish. After the kiss, Su Zhiluo felt an unbearable shyness and immediately lifted her head, saying, “I’m going to cook. I’m hungry.”

Liu Chengxu was about to pull her hand, but she paused slightly.

She touched her own lips with her finger, feeling that the sensation was still there—a ticklish one.

Su Zhiluo was going to leave straight away, but at the doorway, she couldn’t resist looking back at Liu Chengxu.

Liu Chengxu was standing there, a little dazed and silly, touching her lips, and then holding up her finger.

She looked especially adorable.

Su Zhiluo quickly went to the bathroom to clean herself up. She had been thinking of making a sumptuous feast for her, but recalling Chang Ruyin’s words, she went to the fridge to take out tomatoes.

The frozen tomatoes were especially good for making a thick, slightly sandy soup. She blanched them with boiling water, peeled them, and then started making the tomato, egg, and lean meat soup. She also mixed a little batter to prepare thin pancakes to go with the soup.

After finishing, she turned around and called Liu Chengxu.

Liu Chengxu had already emerged. She stood in the bathroom, washing up, taking pictures of herself with her phone, and saving them to her Moments, habitually setting the visibility to herself.

As she was about to send it, she changed the setting.

Morning Kiss

After getting ready, Liu Chengxu tidied up the living room. A few items were reorganized, and their home instantly felt bigger.

Su Zhiluo didn’t have as strong a sense of space as her. During the two years Liu Chengxu was in S City, Su Zhiluo had her own office, which always seemed to accumulate too many things. She would constantly tidy up, always feeling like something wasn’t quite right. It was Chang Ruyin who eventually said, “Your little dog who helps with chores isn’t here, is that why a lot of things feel more complicated?”

Chang Ruyin told her that Yang Jie would come over and tidy her closet, but she’d mess it up within a month. She absolutely couldn’t stand life without Yang Jie; she was truly dependent on her. As Su Zhiluo tidied things up, she thought, I am also very dependent on Chengxu.

Through countless small things and details, she realized she was more attached to Liu Chengxu than she had imagined, sometimes tearing up suddenly when she thought of her.

Liu Chengxu came in with the soup, saying, “I get to have egg soup too.” She leaned down to sniff it, saying, “It smells so good.”

Su Zhiluo said, “Don’t you know how to cook?”

Liu Chengxu countered, “But it’s not made by you.”

Su Zhiluo handed her chopsticks and asked, “My cooking isn’t as good as yours.”

Liu Chengxu asked, “Then did you ever miss the food I cooked for you?”

Su Zhiluo nodded, her voice low, “Yes, I missed it.”

She didn’t just miss the food she made; she also missed the sight of her delivering the meals and calling out, “Sister-in-law, I’m here.”

After missing her for so long, she had a period where she had hallucinations. She flipped through their old chat history and found the answer there.

Liu Chengxu had once said:

I love you, so much that I fantasize about you talking to me.

The two of them ate quite cleanly, and Liu Chengxu washed the dishes.

It was cold in winter, and even with hot water, her hands would turn red. Su Zhiluo said, “We can buy a dishwasher later.”

Liu Chengxu asked, “Even for just two people?”

Su Zhiluo said, “Then we’ll buy a small one.”

“Okay.”

After eating, Su Zhiluo led her to the supermarket. Now there were shared electric bikes. Su Zhiluo scanned a QR code and said, “The old one broke. The community people said it didn’t have a license plate or something, so they took it away.”

Liu Chengxu wrapped her arms around Su Zhiluo’s waist and said, “What a pity. We could have sold it for some money.”

“We couldn’t. The only valuable part, the battery, was already broken.”

“The other parts could still be dismantled and used.” Liu Chengxu then asked, “Did you get your driver’s license?”

Su Zhiluo hummed in affirmation.

Silence fell after her words. They felt like strangers to each other’s lives over the past years; too much time had been lost in misunderstandings, arguments, and silent treatments.

Liu Chengxu buried her face in Su Zhiluo’s shoulder, breathing in her scent, an embrace they hadn’t shared in a long time.

She couldn’t help but want to call her.

Sister-in-law.

She had met many lesbians in S City. There were several in her company, but most couples called each other “Jiejie” (older sister).

Liu Chengxu was different from them; she liked to call her Sister-in-law.

Su Zhiluo didn’t say anything more, concentrating on driving. The roads outside had also widened. Liu Chengxu looked at the surroundings, observing the nearby buildings. Fences had been put up everywhere, indicating construction for new buildings.

When the bike stopped, Liu Chengxu replied to a message. Meng Zhengyue had concernedly asked if she had been kicked out of the house.

Su Zhiluo glanced at the message and asked, “How’s your friend’s marriage going? I saw the news last time. Didn’t her wife die? The photo in the news looked a lot like her. It also mentioned a stepdaughter, and the stepdaughter was trying to kick her out or something.”

Liu Chengxu was also confused. Meng Zhengyue’s life was like a rollercoaster, and her stepdaughter also seemed quite odd.

She said, “You’ll know when you see her. Anyway, it’s pretty explosive.”

Su Zhiluo thought, Can it be more explosive than ours?

Liu Chengxu asked, “Do you have a driver’s license?”

Su Zhiluo nodded. “I got it later. The factory assigned a car, and Chang Ruyin and I take turns driving it to pick up goods.”

After saying that, Liu Chengxu looked up at their surroundings. It was a sales office. She asked, “Why did you bring me here?”

Su Zhiluo said, “To look at houses.”

Her voice was soft: “Didn’t you always want one? Now we have the money. I’m buying it for you.”

The cold of winter rushed in, making Liu Chengxu’s nose sting and her eyes turn red.

Su Zhiluo parked the electric bike in the designated area and said, “I promised you. It just took a little longer.”