Fighting For My Wife With Myself After Being Reborn - Chapter 17

The sky in Dali was a brilliant blue, cloudless and vast, generously sharing its hue with the lake until the water turned a matching shade of azure.

Gu Yinghuai sat in a moon chair, her sandals long since abandoned. Her rounded, cute toes pressed into the lush grass, the tips catching the damp moisture of the soil, feeling icy and refreshing.

Behind her was a car Shen Huaixu had specifically borrowed from a friend. The white vehicle was parked under the shade of trees by the lakeshore, with a khaki awning stretched over them. The shadows of the leaves danced upon it, occasionally dappled by flashes of sunlight.

The breeze blowing off the lake was comfortable—at least, far more so than the stifling city winds that were choked with the sound of honking horns and the acrid smell of exhaust.

These breezes were saturated with life-giving moisture and the scent of natural freedom. Gu Yinghuai relished the gentle brush of air against her cheeks, taking it as nature’s way of welcoming her.

She gave a lazy stretch. On the small table beside her sat a lemon soda specially mixed by Shen Huaixu. Ice cubes clinked and swirled under the movement of a straw, sending strings of bubbles racing to the surface.

Gu Yinghuai rested her chin in her hand, watching Shen Huaixu stand before an electric grill, cooking steaks they had made a special trip to the supermarket for that morning.

The beautifully marbled steaks sizzled on the pan, their juices bubbling. Under the high heat, the muscle proteins transformed into an enticing brown, and Gu Yinghuai caught the mouth-watering aroma of seared meat.

She looked at Shen Huaixu. For this trip, the other woman had only brought a few casual T-shirts and trousers. Her long black hair was tied into a high ponytail, the ends swaying slightly with every movement as she flipped the steaks.

A gust of wind swept across the lake, and Gu Yinghuai reached up to steady her hat, preventing it from being carried away.

“The weather is so lovely,” she said, watching Shen Huaixu’s relaxed profile. Fine, adorable beads of sweat had broken out on the tip of her delicate, bridge-straight nose. Wisps of white smoke occasionally drifted up, veiling Shen Huaixu’s lowered eyes. Gu Yinghuai turned her head to look at the lake behind her, where the sunlight glittered finely across the blue surface.

Despite the vast difference in color, it reminded her of Shen Huaixu’s eyes.

Those eyes that always sparkled when they looked at her.

Gu Yinghuai shifted her posture and continued to observe Shen Huaixu.

Lately, her “Axu” had been acting a bit strange. Oh, of course, it wasn’t that she was doing anything behind her back or keeping secrets… it was just… well, intuition!

Gu Yinghuai’s usually dull nerves always seemed to sharpen when it came to Shen Huaixu. Just as she had been able to accurately extract a fierce and sincere confession from Shen Huaixu’s fragmented, nonsensical words back in university, she could still read her emotions now through strange gestures or inexplicable glances.

What makes you show such a sorrowful expression in the middle of the night? What drives you to confirm my presence over and over again without tire? And what sustains you so that you can act as if nothing happened once morning comes?

She must, and absolutely would, find the answer.

But before that, she would give Shen Huaixu a chance to “confess” on her own.

“Is there something on my face?” Shen Huaixu asked, placing the freshly grilled steaks on the small table next to Gu Yinghuai. The tiny table was quickly filled by the plates, leaving not a single centimeter of empty space.

She noticed Gu Yinghuai’s bare feet and frowned. “Why did you take your shoes off? What if you get cut?”

Gu Yinghuai stopped Shen Huaixu from kneeling down to put them back on. “I won’t. I tried it; the grass feels very comfortable.”

“Silly. Don’t come crying to me when you get hurt,” Shen Huaixu said, sitting down in the moon chair beside her.

“I will too. I’ll make a point of crying just for you,” Gu Yinghuai laughed.

It seemed she really had spoiled her “Huai” too much, Shen Huaixu thought, shaking her head helplessly.

“Sit still and wait while I cut the steak.” One moment Shen Huaixu was thinking about how she had spoiled her, and the next, she was reflexively cutting the steak into small, bite-sized cubes for Gu Yinghuai.

But Shen Huaixu didn’t see anything wrong with this. What could be wrong with wanting to dote on one’s own lover?

“You’re going to spoil me rotten,” Gu Yinghuai said, though she made no move to stop her.

Shen Huaixu’s meticulous care had long since integrated into every corner of Gu Yinghuai’s life.

Slowly, like a frog in warming water, she was severing Gu Yinghuai’s instincts for independent living, leaving her no opportunity to ever leave.

As for Gu Yinghuai, how could she not know of Shen Huaixu’s nearly blatant behavior?

She knew, and she permitted it.

It was no big deal. It wasn’t just Shen Huaixu who felt possessive; Gu Yinghuai harbored a possessiveness for Shen Huaixu that others rarely detected.

In every sense of the word, they were a perfect match.

“It’s fine if you’re spoiled. That way, I’m the only one who can put up with my Huai,” Shen Huaixu said grandly, uttering rather scandalous things. “But enough about that—Huai, help me wipe my sweat. My hands are full.”

She tried her best to make her narrow, fox-like eyes look innocent.

Gu Yinghuai stared at her smooth forehead, which didn’t actually have a single drop of sweat on it, and chuckled. She pulled a tissue from the bag by the chair and gently wiped her forehead and cheeks anyway.

“Okay, all clean,” Gu Yinghuai said, the corners of her mouth curving slightly. A breeze from the lake blew through her loose hair, sending dark, silky strands across her face. She tucked them behind her ear, revealing a small, cute ear.

Shen Huaixu’s hand paused for a split second while cutting the steak. She thought she had hidden it well, but her slightly reddened earlobes betrayed her thoughts. She lowered her head and continued cutting the remaining meat.

“Give it a taste.” The cut steak was moved closer to Gu Yinghuai.

The surface was charred and fragrant, while the inside was tender and succulent, the meat revealing a pomegranate-red hue that was exceptionally tempting.

Gu Yinghuai speared a piece of beef and fed it to Shen Huaixu’s lips with a smile, saying, “The chef eats first.”

Shen Huaixu looked up, her silver-grey eyes staring directly at Gu Yinghuai’s pink lips. She leaned down slightly and bit into the beef.

Her sharp canine teeth pierced the meat, and fresh juices flooded her mouth. As she chewed, her eyes remained fixed on Gu Yinghuai, giving the latter the illusion that it was she who was being chewed.

“Is it good?” Gu Yinghuai asked.

“Delicious.” Shen Huaixu swallowed and smiled, revealing her tiger teeth. “Anything fed to me by my Huai is incomparable.”

Gu Yinghuai speared another piece of steak to plug Shen Huaixu’s mouth. “Flirting is forbidden.”

Shen Huaixu bit the fork, her tongue darting out to lick away the residual juice. Only when Gu Yinghuai’s cheeks had turned deep red did she release her teeth.

“Now that is flirting,” she said.

Gu Yinghuai blushed and whispered “idiot,” but she couldn’t help but smile along.

The weather in Dali was truly pleasant.

Since it wasn’t peak tourist season and the spot Shen Huaixu had found was secluded, the two of them essentially had the entire meadow to themselves.

After finishing the steak, they curled up in their moon chairs, enjoying the lake breeze and occasionally turning their heads to exchange a kiss.

Shen Huaixu began fiddling with the camera in her hands.

She hadn’t touched it for a while and needed to reacquaint herself with it to find her old rhythm and feel.

Naturally, Gu Yinghuai became her practice subject.

The lens focused on Gu Yinghuai.

She captured Gu Yinghuai resting her chin on her hands, biting a straw while beaming a smile that rivaled the sun. She also captured the swaying hem of her dress as she ran barefoot across the grass, and the bright expression on her face as she turned back to wave.

The small camera was gradually filled with Gu Yinghuai’s silhouette.

“Axu, I want to be the photographer for a change!” Having played enough, Gu Yinghuai ran back to Shen Huaixu, breathing lightly with sparkling eyes. “Novice photographer reporting for duty.”

“Running so fast… aren’t you afraid of falling?” Shen Huaixu wiped the sweat from Gu Yinghuai’s temples and placed the camera in her hands. “Then I’ll leave the photos to the Great Photographer Gu.”

Gu Yinghuai took the camera and gave Shen Huaixu a playful salute. “Leave it to me!”

She began directing Shen Huaixu, asking her to walk along the shore one moment, and sit under a tree the next, looking up through the gaps in the leaves to find a focal point.

Shen Huaixu cooperated with every instruction.

This was different from her professional shoots. In a professional setting, while she would cooperate, her patience had limits. If a photographer’s demands crossed her boundaries, she would terminate the shoot immediately until the photographer figured out what they actually wanted; only then would she grudgingly continue for the sake of the contract.

However, once the shoot ended, that photographer would be blacklisted, never to work with her again.

But facing Gu Yinghuai’s various requests, Shen Huaixu had no bottom line.

She indulged her lover’s haughty commands, allowing her to use that favoritism to make all sorts of messy requests, and she fulfilled every one of them.

The small camera began to fill with many photos of someone other than Gu Yinghuai.

The sun gradually dipped toward the west, and orange-pink clouds looked like paint smeared haphazardly across a canvas—disordered yet strangely harmonious.

Gu Yinghuai reluctantly put the camera away.

She once again understood why so many photographers loved to shoot her Axu.

Shen Huaixu was simply born for the lens.

Looking at that flawless face and those silver-grey eyes that could make one’s knees go weak, Gu Yinghuai was so enamored with it all. She felt lucky to have caught this wild, rebellious wind.

“Ready to go back?” Shen Huaixu briefly tidied the electric grill and the used utensils. Behind them, the lake had taken on a second color; it was no longer just blue, as the orange-pink of the sky bestowed its own hue upon the water.

This signaled that night was approaching.

Gu Yinghuai refused.

“No, I want to watch the sunset glow a bit longer.” She sat in the moon chair, smiling like a rogue, knowing full well that Shen Huaixu would never refuse her.

And indeed, Shen Huaixu could not.

“But we can’t stay too long; the night breeze is getting chilly.” Shen Huaixu pulled a knitted shawl from her person and draped it over Gu Yinghuai’s shoulders. “Be careful not to catch a cold.”

Gu Yinghuai pulled the shawl tight and leaned gently against Shen Huaixu’s shoulder to admire the sunset and the twilight glow.

The sun disappeared completely.

The sky took on a tranquil deep blue, with dots of starlight hanging in the night curtain, adding a touch of liveliness.

“Let’s head back.” Gu Yinghuai rubbed her slightly hungry stomach. “I’m hungry.”

Shen Huaixu laughed. “Of course you are. We only had a little steak this afternoon.”

The rest of the time had been spent taking photos or resting; they had even forgotten to take the snacks out of the car.

“I want mushroom hot pot tonight. I haven’t tried the local mushrooms here yet!” Gu Yinghuai stood up from the moon chair, her long skirt swaying in the darkness like a white flower blooming.

Shen Huaixu folded the chairs and carried them to the trunk, then turned to Gu Yinghuai. “I already guessed as much. I’ve booked a mushroom hot pot place for tonight; we’ll make it if we head out now.”

Gu Yinghuai raised her hands in a cheer. “Yay! My Axu is the best!”

Shen Huaixu pinched her cheek. “Get in the car.”

The car, which had been parked by the lake all day, drove off toward the town in the darkness.

…

In a dim room, the pale glow of a computer screen was the only source of light.

A person wearing glasses clicked the mouse, uploading several blurry photos into an editor and posting them to the internet along with a pre-written caption.

In the photos, a person wearing a baseball cap was looking down, chatting with someone in their arms. One hand was braced against the wall of the subway carriage, while the other was wrapped protectively around the waist of the person they were holding.

Under the deliberate push of interested parties, these ordinary-looking photos began to spread across the internet at an abnormal speed.

The person in glasses watched the skyrocketing engagement and curled their lips into a smile of calculated success.