Can't Hide My Love for You - Chapter 67

In the evening, Si Wen sent Cheng Yixin a digital business card. The person was Wei Qi, the main person in charge of this project. Wei Qi was surprised to hear that Yixin had traveled all this way alone to find Chi Yi, but he agreed to keep it a secret to help her pull off the surprise.

The rest of the arrangements had to wait for dawn. If all went smoothly, they would enter the village by noon. Yixin looked at the roses on her table; they were blooming almost too beautifully, with the outer petals threatening to fall off. Worried that she would be handing Chi Yi a bouquet of bare stems by tomorrow, she made sure to water them before going to sleep.

The signal in the mountains was abysmal. For the first few days, Chi Yi’s messages were intermittent; lately, she had only been sending a single “goodnight” message each evening. Only after receiving that message could Yixin sleep in peace.

It felt like she had just closed her eyes when a knock sounded at her door. “Ms. Cheng,” came the guide’s voice. Yixin opened her eyes to the dim light of dawn.

“Ms. Cheng, it’s time to get up. It’s seven o’clock.”

Hearing “seven o’clock,” Yixin bolted upright. Today was the day she would find Chi Yi. Ping County was near the mountains, and at seven, the sun hadn’t even risen; the cold wind bit at her skin. From waking to leaving, it took her ten minutes—she was more efficient than when rushing to a filming set.

The guesthouse provided breakfast vouchers for a shop a few dozen meters away. The porridge was as thin as water, and the fried dough sticks (You Tiao) were hard as rocks due to the cold, leaving an oily film in her mouth. The guide saw her distaste and laughed. “Small towns are like this. Eat up; we have a long road ahead.”

Yixin wasn’t usually high-maintenance, but when she saw a cockroach scuttle across the wall, she lost her appetite. She bought two cans of congee from a department store across the street and gave one to the guide.

At 7:30 AM, they were ready to go. But when Yixin saw their “vehicle”—a vintage, kick-start motorcycle from the eighties—she stood frozen in the wind.

“The four-wheel drive I was going to rent fell through. The owner backed out, so we have to use this.”

Yixin hadn’t expected to ride such a machine after all these years, but she wasn’t in a position to be picky. The guide tied her suitcase securely to the back. “Everything ready? Once we leave, we aren’t coming back.”

“Wait!” Yixin realized her hands were empty. She had left the roses at the breakfast shop. She sprinted back just as the owner was clearing the table. A minute later and they would have been in the trash.

The guide chuckled as she ran back clutching the flowers. “Ms. Cheng, the wind will be strong and the road is steep. You’ll likely lose all the petals on the way. Better to leave them.”

Yixin shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ll hold them tight.”

They set off into the mountains. As the sky brightened, Yixin saw the desolate trees and the yellow dirt road, rutted with tire marks. The wind felt like a cold blade against her face. Fearing the petals would blow away, she unzipped her down jacket and tucked the roses inside against her chest, protecting them in that small, warm space.

They crossed two rivers. They weren’t deep, but while an SUV could simply plow through, the motorcycle had to cross via a very narrow single-plank bridge. Yixin’s heart hammered; the bridge didn’t look much wider than the tires. “Sir, please slow down, I’m scared!”

“Slowing down makes you lose focus! It’s better to just go for it!” The guide revved the engine and shot across to the other bank. Yixin began to wonder why she had come; her heart rate hadn’t dropped below 120 bpm.

After a long stretch of wilderness, she saw white smoke rising in the distance. They were close. Half an hour later, they reached the village. Several off-road vehicles were parked at the entrance. A man leaning against a car smoking a cigarette waved at her. It was Wei Qi.

When she stepped off the bike, Yixin felt like her legs didn’t belong to her—they were numb, sore, and pulsing with pain. But her first concern was the flowers. Wei Qi helped her unload her suitcase.

“You bought flowers? For me?” he joked.

“If I gave them to you, would you dare take them?”

Naturally, he wouldn’t.

They walked into the village. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be back in ten days?” Yixin asked. “Chi Yi said you still have a week left.”

“Well…” Wei Qi rubbed his nose. “Plans changed. A small situation came up.”

“What happened?”

“Ask President Chi yourself,” Wei Qi said. “She should be at the school.”

The school was behind the village, a short walk up a small hill. The building was painted a light blue, standing in stark contrast to the old, drab houses nearby. A slogan on the wall read: Respect others, help others, care for others.

“She’s inside. Do you want me to take you, or will you go yourself?”

“I’ll go myself.” A third wheel would be way too bright right now.

Yixin walked through the teaching building alone. It had three floors, and through the windows, she could see brand-new desks and chairs in the classrooms. All the doors were closed except for the one at the very end of the hall. That had to be where Chi Yi was.

As she approached the room, her heart began to race. Thump-thump, thump-thump. She hadn’t seen Chi Yi in person for days, and she was unexpectedly nervous. She wondered how she’d been. When she saw her, she was going to give her a massive hug!

Yixin steeled herself and lightened her footsteps as she got closer. Chi Yi was sitting in the front row, looking down at a notebook. Sitting in the small child-sized desk, her long limbs looked awkward and out of place. Her hair was gathered up with a simple clip, making the sharp line of her jaw more prominent.

Hearing footsteps and assuming it was Wei Qi, Chi Yi spoke without looking up. “Wei Qi, did you finish the home visit reports from yesterday?”

“I’m not Wei Qi,” Yixin replied.

Chi Yi’s head snapped up. When she saw Cheng Yixin walking toward her, her face was a mask of shock and disbelief. She stared, frozen, as Yixin drew closer. Her throat moved, but she didn’t dare speak her name, fearing she was dreaming and that the dream would shatter the moment she spoke. How could she be here?

Yixin reached her, pushed the notebook to the side of the desk, and sat on the desk herself. She had wanted to play the “tease” like a lead in a drama, but the moment their eyes met, the longing she had felt on the road broke through like a burst dam.

She brought the roses out from behind her back. “Flowers for you.” They had lost a few petals despite being tucked in her jacket.

Chi Yi looked at her, then at the flowers, still immersed in massive joy. “How is there a flower shop here…”

“I brought them from Jingning.”

Chi Yi didn’t wait; she leaned in to kiss her, a surge of emotion breaking out like a tidal wave. Yet, out of habit, Chi Yi tried to restrain herself, and Yixin realized that Chi Yi was always so careful with her, fearing her feelings might be too overwhelming.

As Chi Yi tried to pull back, Yixin chased her, wrapping her arms around her neck and kissing her passionately, venting all the longing of the past few days. She wanted to stay in this moment forever, but she heard a muffled groan from Chi Yi’s throat and saw her brow furrow in pain.

“What’s wrong with your arm?” Yixin pulled back. Chi Yi’s right arm was hanging at her side unnaturally.

Faced with the question, Chi Yi’s eyes flickered away. “It’s nothing, just a scratch.”

Yixin didn’t believe her for a second. She reached for Chi Yi’s jacket, but beneath the windbreaker was a down vest and a sweater, all bundled tight. “Do you want me to strip you right here to check?”

Chi Yi stammered and finally confessed. Two days ago, she had gone for a home visit in a very remote area. The mountain path was narrow and steep, only accessible by motorcycle. It started to rain, and on the way back, the bike skidded. Luckily, her thick winter clothes protected her from scrapes, but she had a large, painful bruise. A village doctor had confirmed nothing was broken and applied some medicine.

Wei Qi had told her to go back to Jingning, but Chi Yi was worried that if Yixin found out, she’d be distracted by worry while dealing with her own troubles. She didn’t expect Yixin to find her.

Yixin was heartbroken, her brow furrowed as if she wished she could take the pain herself. “It’s fine,” Chi Yi comforted her. “It’ll be better in a few days. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? How did you get here?”

Yixin didn’t sell out Si Wen. “I had someone help me coordinate.”

Chi Yi saw through the lie but didn’t push it. “Why the sudden trip? I would have been back in a few days.”

“I missed you. I wanted to see you.”

Chi Yi clearly hadn’t expected such blunt honesty; she seemed momentarily speechless, the tips of her ears turning a faint red. Yixin thought she was incredibly cute. She hugged her and gave her another quick kiss. “Yiyi…”

Just as she was about to speak, a voice came from the door: “Uh… sorry for interrupting.” A young man in simple clothes stood there with a stack of papers.

“This is Mr. Zhang, a teacher at the school,” Chi Yi introduced him. “One of the few university students from the village.” Mr. Zhang needed to discuss some difficult student cases, so Yixin decided to take a walk around the school.

The campus was fairly large, featuring a flag-raising platform and a basketball court. The mountain sky was overcast and gray. Yixin checked her phone; there was only one weak bar of signal, barely enough to receive a text.

“No signal, right?”

Yixin turned around; Chi Yi had finished her meeting, holding the roses in her left hand.

“A little, but not much.” Yixin walked over, zipped Chi Yi’s jacket to the top, and straightened her collar. She gently touched Chi Yi’s arm through the fabric. “Does it hurt here?”

“Right there,” Chi Yi pointed to the joint.

“Does it affect your daily life?”

“It’s fine as long as I use my left hand.”

“But you can’t use both.” Yixin reached behind Chi Yi’s head and removed the clip from her hair. Using her fingers as a comb, she tied Chi Yi’s hair into a ponytail. Then, she took the prayer beads from her own wrist and slid them onto Chi Yi’s.

“Hmm?” Chi Yi looked confused. “These beads, I remember they’re…”

“They’re very effective,” Yixin said. “Wear them. You aren’t allowed to get hurt again. I checked; it’s perfectly fine to give these to someone close.”

She held Chi Yi’s palm, staring at her slender wrist without looking up. There were things she had to say.

“I went to see a psychologist a while ago.”